Grand Lodge of Texas Codebook

[owls84]

That's not true. Keep saying the sentence that you are speaking of and it allows you to do so if it is legal or lawful. However it is your choice if you would purchase or own one.

 

[lwdunaway]

as a New Mexico Mason i will say that we have a cipher.

it was never used to teach me the work, i never even knew it existed until i was a MM.

i have not seen it in lodge.

if used properly i see no reason to not have one. i have since moved to Texas and on the rare occasions i get to go back to my home lodge i like being able to read over the work
to make sure i still know it before i get there.

having said that i have no dog in this fight since i am not a Texas Mason.

 

[Papatom]

(quote)"i am not a Texas Mason"

There are plenty of lodges that would welcome you. Where are you located?

 

[lwdunaway]

(quote)"i am not a Texas Mason"

There are plenty of lodges that would welcome you. Where are you located?

Thanks Papatom, i split my time between arlington (where i have a house) and the beaumont area where my mother lives. i go to the lodge where my dad was active when i visit my mom and have been to 3 lodges in the dfw area.

 

[Papatom]

Anybody, are we going to answer.

 

[jwhary]

Unfortunately, I can see it both ways. The traditional method of rote memorization is fine for most people; however, we have folks that need to visualize the words instead of just hearing them. It's just the way they learn. Having said that, in my opinion if you don’t know the words, the codebook isn’t that much help.

 

[Dave in Waco]

Unfortunately, I can see it both ways. The traditional method of rote memorization is fine for most people; however, we have folks that need to visualize the words instead of just hearing them. It's just the way they learn. Having said that, in my opinion if you don’t know the words, the codebook isn’t that much help.

It is still in Grand Lodge Law that a Code Book can not be used by or in front of someone who has not turned in their MM work. So even if they published a Code Book, it would have to be used for review of the work that was learned by the instuctive tongue.

 

[rhitland]

Brother Dave I believe Right Worshipful Brummit takes all the questions on the code book.

 

[Dave in Waco]

Brother Dave I believe Right Worshipful Brummit takes all the questions on the code book.

You're quite right. I'd like to change my answer to a forceful, "I have never seen or heard of this 'Code Book' in which you speak!"

 

[gilv]

My obligation said I wouldn't have one.

With all respect and brotherly love your OB must have been different than mine. Mine has nothing about having or owning anything.

That being said I will ring in. I have the blue book which I refer to as "memory Jogger". As it has been stated here one can't read the words if one does not know them. SO at best it can be used as a reminder of that I have been thought by the traditional method of mouth to ear. Now my instructor is the SW and usually too busy to help me. So I must gather as much information I can then reinforce it with the assistance of the blue book. Also I am one of those who learns much better in a visual way. So I literally see the codes when I am saying the words.

In my lodge they seem to recommend the book only to brothers they seem to think will continue on the work. So for some they wait until the reach MM for others they make us ware of it even as EAs. I am 52 and can sure use all the help I can get and I defiantly am not violating my OB in any way.

Respectfully
Gil V.

 

[Dave in Waco]

It isn't against the OB, but it is against GL Law for a candidate to possess or be in the presences of one.

Art. 505. Certain Other Masonic Disciplinary Violations. It shall be a Masonic disciplinary violation for a Lodge, a commit-tee or any combination of Masons, or an individual Mason to:

20. Possess, or use a cipher/code book anywhere on a Lodge premises, and to use a cipher/code book in the presence of a candidate when instructing the candidate in the esoteric work of a Masonic Degree. (Revised 2007)

 

[rhitland]

It isn't against the OB, but it is against GL Law for a candidate to possess or be in the presences of one.

I am reading that law and I do not see where it is illegal for a candidate to own a code book?

 

[Dave in Waco]

I am reading that law and I do not see where it is illegal for a candidate to own a code book?

Art. 505. Certain Other Masonic Disciplinary Violations. It shall be a Masonic disciplinary violation for a Lodge, a commit-tee or any combination of Masons, or an individual Mason to:

20. Possess, or use a cipher/code book anywhere on a Lodge premises, and to use a cipher/code book in the presence of a candidate when instructing the candidate in the esoteric work of a Masonic Degree. (Revised 2007)

 

[rhitland]

20. Possess, or use a cipher/code book anywhere on a Lodge premises,
I read it as "that no code book be on lodge premises by any person"

and to use a cipher/code book in the presence of a candidate when instructing the candidate in the esoteric work of a Masonic Degree.
I read it as "a MM cannot have a code book in the presence of a candidate"
I am not seeing where it indicates that a candidate cannot own this book? Please correct me if I am wrong on this?

 

[Ashton Lawson]

That's how I read it also Rhit.

Like a lot of Grand Lodge Law, I am quickly discovering it is not very solid when it comes to covering all bases.

 

[Dave in Waco]

I agree that it is fairly vague, but it was the resolution that makes it legal for us to even possess one. And we had it clarified with GL about a candidate possessing one at all, and they pointed us at this one. I think they are referring more to the spirit of the law then the letter of the law.

 

[rhitland]

10-4 good buddies

 

[MGM357]

No, I can see clearly what having a "codebook" has done to Chapter & Council. If there were a GLoT Code book our degrees would all be read and take away from the experience, JMHO

The C&C ritual is not a codebook compared to the Blue Lodge,but it is a crutch. Allowing the rituals to be used in the Lodge room during the C&C stated meetings is why no one can remember the work.

 

[kmfisher1]

Wow, why are so many of you against an official codebook? I think it's a better idea than having a 3rd party publish one with errors. Plus it would provide a little revenue to the GLofTX.

Agreed.
Make the "additional" law and obligation changes which would allow a correct version to be controlled by the GLOT.
Continue to control where it is allowed to be used. We can't even agree on how many mistakes there are or where they actually are in the current outdated version. Correct and control the publication of the cipher, a new cash cow for the GLOT.
The GLOT controls the content of the Monitor and the Law book, why would we not want the cipher correct too?

 

[MacFie]

Kind of glad to have done things without a cipher, but the fact is, I didn't even know what one was until a brother in New York, a dear old friend of mine who initiated up there a month or so after I did down here, mentioned that a cipher was part of what they did. Just personal traditional preference of my own culture and the whot, but I kinda like oral tradition of teaching.