Chamber of Reflection

[DJGurkins]

I would like to see it be used as a way for the candidate to pray and reflect on the great and laudable task he is about to undertake. With that being said can't they just be told "in this room I will leave you to reflect and pray on this great and laudable event in your life" or something to that effect.

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[tomasball]

Absolutely. No overlap whatsoever with the existing ritual, and optional as well. The only degree I've seen that used it the CoR happened as was complete before we saw the parts of the degree that happened inside the lodge room. We were told about it while we were waiting for the candidate to be prepared.

...and if my lodge doesn't have a spare room besides the preparation room?

 

[DJGurkins]

I would think it wouldn't be a problem if it was optional. So I would hope it would be optional.

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[dfreybur]

...and if my lodge doesn't have a spare room besides the preparation room?

The first step is to say that's why the CoR must be optional. it can't be required of lodges that don't have the facilities to work it.

The second step is to say that's why the CoR has to be over and complete before the opening ceremony begins so it does not collide with anything in the proscribed ritual including the rooms used by the proscribed ritual.

 

[Brother JC]

Are they proposing that the candidate be taken into a CoR, given a ceremony there, then taken to the Preparation Room for the Senior Deacon's charge? Sounds clumsy.

In my experience, there is no "ceremony" in the CoR. It is a space for the Candidate to reflect upon the path he is about to embark on. Some Lodges give him questions to answer in writing.
When it's time, the SD (or MoC) do the Prelude, the Stewards prep him, and the Degree goes on as always. Nothing clumsy about it.
As for your other question, my MotherLodge has the CoR set up in the prep room. It has never been an issue.

 

[chrmc]

What the whole debacle with the CoR basically comes down to when you look at it is the fact that when set up properly it has a skull in it, which many masons are very afraid will scare the profane and confirm that we are in fact devil worshipers.

Most of the discussions will be centered about whether or not it's Blue lodge and whether or not it's part of the authorized ritual, but most of the times it's the damn skull which is the issue.

 

[JJones]

I don't see a point in worrying about outside opinions. Once an organization starts trying to impress outsiders it loses it's focus IMO.

I'm curious why the CoR and the prep room can't be the same room? It seems as though that'd make the most sense to me...put the candidate in the CoR and have him reflect, then when ready, the ritual can begin as though he had been sitting in a normal prep room all along. There are no guidelines on how a prep room should be set up anyhow, is there?

The first step is to say that's why the CoR must be optional.

I'm in absolute agreement on this.

I haven't seen anybody post exactly what procedure and wording they want to use in the CoR, which I think would be required for the idea to be considered. And then you would have to explain why that is better than our current ceremony in the preparation room.

That's a fair point. Here's a link to the guidelines that Michigan established for CoR usage in their district. I think this is as good a start as any. I couldn't find any of the guidelines that Colorado uses though.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0zQPEJQHgQFSndhTW1sRk1WMkE/edit?pli=1

 

[Brother JC]

Repeating myself, but my Lodge has used the CoR (with the "damned skull") for every Candidate (including myself) in the last 12 years, and not once has anyone left before their Initiation.

I'd be glad to send a PM detailing the way I've seen it done, using both the preparation room and a separate room.

 

[dfreybur]

Repeating myself, but my Lodge has used the CoR (with the "damned skull") for every Candidate (including myself)in the last 12 years, and not once has anyone left before their Initiation.

So it's allowed in New Mexico then. Very good to know CoR is in active used in a jurisdiction that is a next door neighbor to Texas. Thanks!

You're listed in California with a lodge membership in New Mexico. That's a huge commute, but I know a brother who bounced back and forth that far monthly. He's the father of a father and son pair who went through the line in my mother lodge. You must be so good a customer at Goodyear they've given you a ride on the blimp!

 

[dfreybur]

I don't see a point in worrying about outside opinions. Once an organization starts trying to impress outsiders it loses it's focus IMO.

That's happened more than once once over the centuries. Public charities were the result of doing exactly that yet they have been a core value longer than any living Mason can remember. Having no interest in apologies to outsiders is one reason I like the Observant movement that has become popular recently. I have gotten to the point that I rather like that certain outsiders object to us - It says we are living up to our values of open thought and open membership.

I'm curious why the CoR and the prep room can't be the same room?

Answer specific to Texas and specific to this year - Because a lodge did it that way and screwed it up by introducing the candidate directly into a tiled lodge rather than switching the purpose of the room to non-ritual optional-imported-ritual Chamber of Reflection to the proscribed-ritual Preparation Room. Making an error like that paints with a very broad brush. In general the error got everything about CoR condemned this year.

 

[Brother JC]

So it's allowed in New Mexico then. Very good to know CoR is in active used in a jurisdiction that is a next door neighbor to Texas. Thanks!

You're listed in California with a lodge membership in New Mexico. That's a huge commute, but I know a brother who bounced back and forth that far monthly. He's the father of a father and son pair who went through the line in my mother lodge. You must be so good a customer at Goodyear they've given you a ride on the blimp!

I'm new to Cali and not commuting, to NM or East Lancs (that would be the blimp ride!). I'm visiting one of the local Lodges and will probably Petition to Affiliate soon. Then I have to decide if I'm keeping both NM lodges... tough call.

To my knowledge, only two Lodges in NM use the CoR, and they are in the same building. For the past couple years, Cerrillos Lodge has used the one Montezuma set up, but they are putting their own together now. Cerrillos actually voted against it several years ago when I made a motion to use it, but a recent WM decided to implement it without a vote, and no one argued.
Grand Lodge has never approved, or forbidden, its use. It does not affect or change the Ritual, so they have let it be used at the Lodge's discretion. Cerrillos is also now including the Chain of Union at the end of their meetings.

 

[dfreybur]

Cerrillos is also now including the Chain of Union at the end of their meetings.

So far I've only experienced that at Scottish Rite States meetings in Raleigh, NC. Illumination #5 in Illinois excuses visitors and does it members only so I was out of the lodge room when they did it.

 

[Roy Vance]

So far I've only experienced that at Scottish Rite States meetings in Raleigh, NC. Illumination #5 in Illinois excuses visitors and does it members only so I was out of the lodge room when they did it.

I wonder why they would excuse the visitors, aren't they part of the chain, also? That seems sort of discriminitory to me. Just sayin'.

 

[Warrior1256]

I went through the AASR this past weekend and was in a Chamber of Reflection. Had heard of them but this was my first actual experience with one.

 

[The Traveling Man]

The Chamber of Reflection is a great experience. My current Jurisdiction doesn't do it, and most other Lodges in the U.S. don't either (although there are, I think, 10 in Louisiana that do), but prior to joining my current Lodge I was a Co-Mason and they use the Scottish Rite Craft rituals so at my first Initiated I was placed in the CofR. I think it should be adopted by all GL's. It is very beneficial.

 

[Warrior1256]

I think it should be adopted by all GL's. It is very beneficial.

I totally agree.

 

[Classical]

Why not build your own at home? After all, some men build "man caves" to watch sporting events or some other type of superficial nonsense. But Masons could build their home studies into Chambers of Reflection.

 

[Mindovermatter Ace]

Being a mason from Louisiana, I have a slight disdain for other jurisdiction mixing Rites in clandestine ways, such as incorporation of the Chamber of Reflection into an Ancient Craft Masonic lodge. I prefer that the Scottish Rite be preserved in its proper form, meaning operated and worked by true Scottish Rite lodges which were born of the Rite; not of a Grand Lodge dispensation, and personally consider it a mockery of that part of the Craft to charter a Scottish Rite lodge for the pleasure or entertainment of brothers. In my humble opinion, it takes away from those true Scottish Rite lodges what have fought to keep their traditions alive, against the will of those who sought to eliminate it during the 19th century. Just my two cents.

 

[Glen Cook]

Being a mason from Louisiana, I have a slight disdain for other jurisdiction mixing Rites in clandestine ways, such as incorporation of the Chamber of Reflection into an Ancient Craft Masonic lodge. I prefer that the Scottish Rite be preserved in its proper form, meaning operated and worked by true Scottish Rite lodges which were born of the Rite; not of a Grand Lodge dispensation, and personally consider it a mockery of that part of the Craft to charter a Scottish Rite lodge for the pleasure or entertainment of brothers. In my humble opinion, it takes away from those true Scottish Rite lodges what have fought to keep their traditions alive, against the will of those who sought to eliminate it during the 19th century. Just my two cents.

I don’t disagree with your general thought, but am bothered by the use of the words “disdain” and “clandestine” in this instance. I don’t think the practice is clandestine, either in the common use of the term or a a Masonic term of art. Surely disdain isn’t the better word. Perhaps object? Bemused?

 

[hanzosbm]

California allows the COR, and it is codified, but in my opinion, it has been so sanitized as to defeat the purpose.

Some of the original CORs incorporated symbols from well outside of Masonry (alchemical and astrological to name a few) as well as inscriptions in Latin. There was a time when the brothers joining were highly educated and would have recognized these symbols and understood their purpose and how it related to their preparation for initiation. Those days are gone. Having alchemical symbolism in the COR now serves only to make it seem more occult than it is and doesn't really contribute anything. At the same time, California goes so far as to remove the skull (in my opinion, the second or third most important item in the COR and one that can easily be understood). Unless a lecture was added to the degree (fat chance of that happening) explaining some of the symbolism (V.I.T.R.I.O.L. to me is not only beautiful, but a very clever play on words once you understand it) then I thing that anything being inscribed on the walls ought to be in the native language (in our case, English), on the table ought to be the skull, a mirror, a candle, a pen, and a sheet of paper, and that's it.

Of course, that's just my opinion, which, added to $7, might get you a cup of over roasted coffee.