Color of books

So I am a newer Master Mason. And some times i hear about black books or red books. Just wondering hat this is referring to.


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arMyMedic604 said:

So I am a newer Master Mason. And some times i hear about black books or red books. Just wondering hat this is referring to.


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I can only assume, and I do mean assume... This is a codec reference towards a jurisdictional ritual monitor. Instead of calling it a "code book", they make reference to the color of the outer cover.

That would be my guess as well. *looks at bookshelf* My Craft Lodge cipher is blue, Chapter ritual is red, Commandery is black, College is red... well, you get the idea.

trysquare said:

*looks at bookshelf* My Craft Lodge cipher is blue ...

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I put out that I collect old lodge books so I have built up a collection of old ritual books with a snapping cover from before the days the books were authorized given to me by families of passed brothers. Most are blue but are are some black ones.

I also have ones that are authorized with various restrictions including an English Emulation Ritual. The ones in my collection have blue covers but I have seen black covered ritual books in the possession of brothers at lodges I've visited.

Here is the cipher I was given when I was Raised. It had a clear cover which I "personalized." I still carry it the majority of the time, even though I'm a long ways from the Jurisdiction.

I have that same one, haha

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I'll just echo what others have said. My Lodge monitor is blue, Chapter is red, Council is purple, Commandery is black.

Black here in Kentucky.

To echo what others have said, here in Maine Blue Lodge ciphers are blue (and VERY small, they can fit easily into a shirt pocket let alone that of your suitcoat or tux), Chapter red though not as thick as Blue Lodge cipher books. I'm not a member of the Maine Consistory, but rather the Massachusetts Consistory, where the books are black as they are in Maine as well. My father's Consistory cipher is much fancier, being leatherbound in black with gilt edges, of course, the two colors of Consistory at least in the Northern Jurisdiction, black and gold.

While I suppose that's symbolic ("Blue Lodge, Red Lodge", etc), in size, shape, and binding I could never confuse them though the cipher for Consistory differs in some significant ways from that of Blue Lodge and Chapter, which are similar in our state.

I'll add that our current Blue Lodge cipher books have no identifying markings whatever on the outside binding or on the spine, unlike that in the picture trysquare provides upthread. As far as any casual observer would be concerned, I could be holding a small journal or a tiny copy of "Alcoholics Anonymous" printed for people with extremely good eyesight. Only another local Master Masons might recognize what it is should it fall out of my pocket in public (I only carry it to lodge, pretty much, or to help someone study for their degree proficiency), let alone make any sense at all out of its contents.