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Why is it called a Blue Lodge?

hanzosbm

Premium Member
Another theory I came up with recently is tied into part of the Lodge Furniture, specifically the I. T..

http://www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/mosaic-pavement.html

If we assume that the I.T. was/is a cord that went around the Lodge and that in the book of Numbers that tassels were to contain blue threads, this could have the effect of having the color blue wrapped around the Lodge. Nothing definitive, but a theory.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
In my view the question is better framed: which color blue?

And having identified the color reasonably accurately then it is easier to discover what it veils.

I'm a guy. Put two patches before me and I can tell apart very fine gradations of color. What I can't do is *care* about very fine gradations of color. It's *blue*.

To me your question about "which color blue" may as well be in Sanskrit. I don't know how many other guys feel that way. Probably a lot.
 

Ripcord22A

Site Benefactor
We Aren't talking about the word color we are talking about a color. So once again you post makes no sense.....where do u hail from james the just?
 

LAMason

Premium Member
Is it worth pointing out that the word "color" also means to alter or contaminate, as in "it colored his view of the world"?

From this we might consider that the use of color in Masonry is a form of veiling.

Here again we are considering the genuine secrets.
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William Herzig

Premium Member
bluel.png


Why have we adopted blue into the lodge name? Where does it come from? What does it represent and mean? I’m glad you asked!

The mother of all Freemasonry. The place where every man begins his journey into the Ancient Craft of Free and Accepted Masons. “The Blue Lodge” - It has been here in America that the term “Blue Lodge” has become popularized and so widely used. Originally, it was frowned upon, and Lodges were called, Craft Lodges or Ancient Craft Lodges, some were even called a St. Johns Lodge. 


According to Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia, there may be a number of reasons why symbolic lodges are called Blue Lodges. Since ancient times, the color blue has been associated with immortality, eternity, and fidelity. References to the color blue in the Bible emphasize the special place blue has as a color symbolizing goodness and immortality. The Druids also honored the color while the ancient Egyptians used the color to represent Amun, one of their most important gods. The ancient Babylonians associated the color blue with the gods. In Medieval times, Christians saw blue as the symbol of perfection and hope, and well as of immortality and fidelity.

It is not known when blue first came to be associated with Freemasonry, although some historians think that initially the color was used in Craft Masonry to represent the sky. Today, blue for Masons symbolizes brotherhood and symbolizes the fact that Masons should seek out virtues as extensive as the blue dome of heaven.

Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry under “Blue” has further light to share. He says “Blue is emphatically the color of Masonry. It is the appropriate tincture of the Ancient Craft degrees.


The Hebrew word for blue when referring to spiritual matters is tekhelet התכלת derived from a root word meaning perfection.

It is well known that among the ancients, initiation into the mysteries and “perfection” are synonymous terms and this is why blue is the appropriate color for the greatest of all the systems of initiation the world has ever known, The Ancient Blue Lodge Craft.”


Beyond the allegory and symbolism of the color blue, there is the reality of millions of men who have experienced things beyond themselves, transformed and evolved into their highest potentials, reached even further to give the same to other men, while standing in and being a member of a Blue Lodge. 


It is said over and over again, “There is no other degree “higher” than the third degree and being a Master Mason. There is no higher distinction in our entire institutional Fraternity! ” With that being said, we all should remember, support and love our Blue Lodges, where we began as good men and through the motherly love of our Ancient Craft Lodge, we were brought into the world anew….literally brought from the dark to the light, to rise as GREAT MEN!

Source: Sotoyome-Curtis Masonic Lodge
 

William Herzig

Premium Member
Enjoyed the article. A comment on the color blue in regard to "The Hebrew for Blue". Tekhelet or T'cheleth referred to the blue thread in the Tallit or fringed Prayer Shawl worn during prayers and its aim in arousing direct awareness of Divine Presence. A single blue thread was to be sewn on each corner of the garment because this blue resembles the color of the sea, and the sea resembles the color of the heaven and the heaven resembles the "Color of G-d's Throne of Glory". The sight of this colors will thus induce a mental vision of the Divine Presence. The color is no longer used today in the Tallit because the dye for the blue referred to in the Torah was extracted from the chilozon which is presently unknown but thought to be a kind of sea life, but the significance of the color is still retained. This information was obtained from lectures by Rabbi Immanuel Schochet (1935–2013). I wish I was this smart.
 

GKA

Premium Member
It has been speculated that the reference to blue is related to the Scottish Blue Blanket, a banner which tradition claims was carried in the Crusades, this banner is the oldest known object with Masonic affiliation.
It is also called the Craftsman's Banner, or Blanket depending on sources, and is mentioned in 1543 in documents. It is described in detail by Alexander Pennecuik in his work An historical account of the craftsman's banner 1722
 
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