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Considering how frequently our ritual repeats the Craft's close connections with King Solomon and his Temple, it is not surprising to find Freemasonry so closely equated to Judaism, among the uninitiated particularly. It is all the more ironic, therefore, that Jews would have had to have been excluded by our Masonic forbearers because of the very nature of the early charges. The preamble to each begins with a prayer to '... the Father of Heaven, the Glorious Son ...'. Without wishing to be embroiled in the debate as to our origins, the charges may be described as the founding documents, so to speak, of modern speculative Freemasonry. ...

By: R.W. Bro. Michael W. Walker, Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Ireland Over the last number of years and with increasing concentration in recent times, individual brethren and Grand Lodges seem to be getting more and more involved in matters which clearly lie without the stated "aims and relationships of the Craft". There are probably as many reasons for this as there are cases of it happening but, in any case, the fact that it is happening at all probably indicates that it is time for a close and searching examination of what Freemasonry is, what is happening to it and what action, if any, needs to be taken to reverse undesirable trends by channelling energies and enthusiasms down acceptable paths, as we approach the year 2009 and beyond. ...

By: Duncan C. Howard, Past Grand Master-Texas Howard Hill, the famous bow hunter, says that unless you know the habitat and the nature of the game you hunt you are not hunting at all, you're just walking in the woods. Our discussion will include some background in the habitat of citizenship and some discussion of the nature of Masonry and the principles of motivation, or else we're just talking in the woods. Along with the word 'motivation', I've been thinking of another word, and this word is 'motivator'. Both words come from the Latin 'motivus' and both words mean 'motion or movement'. When we think of a motivator we think of someone who is capable of generating an action within him and then cause others to move around him. ...

HOWEVER improper curiosity may be as a principal motive for applying for the degrees, it is probable that no man ever passed through the West Gate for his initiation as an Entered Apprentice without an eager desire to know "what will happen next ?" Immediately thereafter the candidate usually develops a healthy curiosity as to the "why" of that which "happened next."' Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts are generally hungry for explanations of reasons for motives behind the words and acts of a degree. ...

One of the most frequently corrected errors in lodge procedure is the failure of a Warden to raise or lower his column appropriately. Let an absent-minded Junior Warden forget to lower his column when the lodge is called from refreshment to labor, and many a frantic gesture from the side lines will remind him of his dereliction! Almost every Brother sitting in the lodge room knows the proper position of the Wardens' columns during labor or at refreshment, and will hasten to signal a Warden if the emblem of his office is awry. "Up in the West during labor; down in the West at refreshment. Down in the South during labor; up in the South at refreshment." Every Brother knows that simple rule for positioning the Wardens' columns. ...

By W. Bro. A. L. Blank, M.A., I.P.M.; 24 March 1955 The origins of masonic ceremonies are fully discussed by Knoop and Jones in Chapter X of The Genesis of Freemasonry. The authors deduce the origins of eighteenth-century Masonic ceremonies from two main sources. Firstly, the Invocation; the legend or "history" of the Craft; and the Masons' regulations, as commonly contained in the Ms. Constitutions of Masonry, these being the respective prototypes of the Opening Prayer, the Traditional History, and the Charges of later Masonic ritual. ...