Grade of True Mason, Academician

by Don Pernety

1770

Grade of True Chemical Mason

In this grade the Lodge is called Academy, the assemblies, session; the venerable is called very wise; the first supervisor, first wise man; the second, second sage, and all the other academic brothers. Decoration of the Lodge The academy will be tinted black with white and red columns placed at intervals, it will be lit by three lights placed in a triangle. The academy board will be furnished with all the instruments necessary for the work of the great work.

Ornament of academicians

The apron must be lined and edged in poppy red, on the bib, there will be a cross with two letters VM one on each side embroidered in gold; on the middle of the apron, there will be a sun embroidered in gold with its rays, on the sides also embroidered in gold the following letters:

D C (God Creates)
N P (Nature Product)
A M (Art Multiplies)

The gloves will be white bordered black and red. All academicians will have an iron rod in their right hand. The Jewelry will be worn as a hackle or necklace, and will be attached to a white, black and red ribbon. We will find at the end of this grade the traced figures of the grade and small jewel, and that of the academy table and the table.

Sign

The first is to place the right hand squarely over the mouth, the response is to do the same with the left hand and then both let them fall on their stomachs with both hands crossed and look at the sky and the earth.

Touching

Touching is taking both hands and kissing each other on both cheeks and on the forehead.

Sacred word

Jehova, pronounced jehova

Password

Metraton (intelligence which presides over metals)

The name The name is amateur, which means the intelligence which presides over metals.

Age

Age has long ceased to matter to me.

Walking

We will start from the west with the left hand on the mouth at right angle, and holding in the right hand the elongated wand while advancing towards the east, we will take one step of an apprentice, one of a companion and one of a master, we will place then the feet at right angles. We will cross both hands on the stomach and we will salute the very wise and all the academicians on the right and on the left.

The order

The order is to cross both hands on the stomach with the wand in the right hand.

The drums

We will strike ten shots in this way 1.2.4.3.

Statutes

Article 1 The academy may not consist of more than fifteen, and it will hold its sessions at least once a month.

Art. 2

No mason will be admitted if he has not passed through several philosophical grades, such as those of the black eagle, the sun and the Rose Cross, and if he is not a discreet and learned Christian.

Art. 3

Each academician will be obliged to write, in turn, a dissertation on the subject which will be proposed by the academy, and the dissertations as well as the deliberations, speeches and receptions will be recorded and written in Masonic characters adopted by the academy and the figures of which will be found at the end of this grade.

Art. 4

Each academician will be obliged to always carry with him the little jewel of the academy, and to go exactly to the sessions indicated, unless essential business prevents them from doing so and in this case, they will be obliged to state the reasons they had for abstaining, under penalty of a three pound fine for the benefit of the poor.

Art. 5

There will be a trunk intended for fines, and a box where each brother will be obliged to put every year a louis of 24 K for manipulations, and where the writings of the order will be locked up. This trunk as well as this box will be furnished with three locks, one of the keys of which will be in the hands of the very wise, the other of the first wise and the third in the hands of the second wise, and it will only be possible to open it when the academy is assembled.

Art. 6

If any academician falls ill, all academicians will be obliged to visit him once a day and provide him with all the spiritual and temporal help they may need.

Art. 7

One of the academicians dies, we will take care to remove the jewelry, the apron, the gloves and the writings, and to mark the pain we feel at his loss, we will wear on the ring of the jewel a small black rosette for the space of three months, we will observe never to erase from the register the name of the deceased brother.

Art. 8

Approximately four days after the death of an academician all the academician brothers will go to the academy, there will be proposed the subject which should to replace the deceased and the academicians after having conferred among themselves, will give their opinions by secret ballot and no one will be admitted unless they receive all the votes in their favor.

Art. 9

After the election has been made, the very wise man will deputize an academician to warn the candidate of the choice that the academy has made of him; he will tell him to prepare to thank the academy for the favor it was kind enough to do him, and to at the same time praise the deceased whose place he will occupy.

Art. 10

In this grade there are only three officers, namely: the very wise, the first wise and the second wise, all the other academicians each fulfill their turn and at the will of the very wise, the other different jobs.

Art. 11

The election of officers will be made every year, by a plurality of votes, on the day of Saint John the patron evangelist of the academy. They can never be confirmed.

Art. 12

In this grade no serving brother is admitted. The last two receipts will have this function.

Art 13.

Academicians, as being the only true masons, will enjoy all the privileges granted to all the other different grades of masonry.

Opening of the Lodge

The academicians being decorated with their aprons, gloves and jewelry, and having their wands in hand, the very wise strikes with his a blow , which will be repeated by the two wise men and he will say "to the order wise academicians", which being executed, the very wise will ask the first wise :

D. First wise man, what is your duty?

A Very wise thing is to make sure if the brothers here present are true masons.

D. Do your duty.

A. Then the first wise man goes around the academy and demands from everyone the sign, the word and the touch. He then comes and says to the very wise: “Very wise, all the brothers present here are true masons. » D. Second wise man, what is your obligation?

A. Very wise, it is to make sure if the academy is safe from eyes and vulgar ears.

D. Fill in there.

A. The second wise man having done so, said: “Very wise, we can begin our operations, we are safe. » D. First sage, what time does the academy open?

A. Very wise, at any time.

D. Are the materials ready?

A. Yes, very wise.

The very wise: “Since all the brothers here present are true masons, since we are sheltered from vulgar eyes and ears, since the academy opens at all hours and since the materials are ready, first and second wise , announce to all academicians that the academy is open and that we are going to begin our operations.”

Then the very wise man strikes the blows that the first and second wise men repeat.

We make the sign, we say: “Glory, Praise and Honor to the Creator, Peace, Blessing and Prosperity to true Masons. » and the hands being crossed on the stomach, we make a deep inclination respectively.

And afterward the very wise man strikes a blow, which the first and second wise men repeat, and says: “First and second wise man, ask the academicians if they have anything to propose for the good of the academy. ".

The academician who is to write the dissertation stands up and reads it, after which all the academicians applaud or clap their hands ten times.

The academician responds to the clapping of hands with the same number, and the entire academy having put into deliberation the subject which must be treated in the following session, the very wise one proposes it aloud to the one who must be responsible for treating it. , and all together will examine the work and put everything in order. If there is a reception to be held, the first sage says: “Very wise, there is a philosopher mason in the preparation room, whom the academy has judged worthy of admission among us.”

The very wise man again asks for the consent of the academy which must demonstrate it by striking the bucket on the pavement.

Reception

Consent having been given, the very wise delegates one of the academicians to prepare the candidate.

This one, after having greeted the very wise man and all the academicians, leaves the academy, goes to find the candidate and says to him: “Philosopher, are you still in the mood to achieve the rank of true mason? ". If he answers yes, he orders him to strip himself of all his metals, to take off his clothes, his jacket and his shoes, and to roll up the sleeves of his shirt on his arm. He then reads his hands behind his back, blindfolds him and leads him by the arm to the door of the academy, and knocks like a true mason.

The first wise man said to the very wise man: “We knock at the door like a true mason.”

The very wise man told the first wise man to ask an academician to go and see what it was.

The latter having knocked on the door, when he repeated it, he opened it and said: “What do you want? let us operate.”

The preparer responds: “I am bringing you the candidate who has been admitted by the academy. Have the kindness to announce it to the very wise, and to the academicians.”

The deputy closes the door, places himself in order between the two wise men, greets the very wise man and says: “Very wise, the preparer brings us the candidate we have admitted.”

The very wise said: “Order his entry if he is in good standing.”

The deputy having greeted the very wise man and the academicians, comes to the door, knocks like a true mason and the knocks having been repeated by the preparer, he opens the door and says to the wise preparer: “Bring the candidate in if he is in good standing.”

Then the preparer introduces it, the position to the west between the two wise men. A step away going to the east, there must be (which is only done on the day of receptions) a terrine where we have put wine spirits, mercury and salt, which 'we will light), and which alone will light the academy.

The very wise will then say to the candidate:

D. Philosopher mason what are you asking?

A. Very wise, I ask to be admitted into your august academy if you deem me worthy.

D. Wise academicians, do you judge the candidate worthy of being admitted among us?

A. All academicians will be careful to observe profound silence throughout the reception. To indicate their consent, they will strike their chopsticks together on the pavement.

This being done, the very wise man said to the first wise man: “Since the academy judges the candidate worthy of admission among us, have him travel in a circle, in a square and in a triangle. » After the three journeys, the candidate will be placed in the east, and the very wise man orders the first wise man to open his eyes and make him look at the terrine.

All academicians will be in order at that time.

After the candidate has considered for four minutes the terrine, the very wise man orders the first wise man to bring him to the foot of the throne to take his obligation, where having arrived, he will kneel down and repeat with the very wise man the following obligation.

Obligation

I promise, word of honor and under penalty of having my lips nailed and my stomach opened, to never reveal, either directly or indirectly to anyone , the mysteries which will be revealed to me. The great Jehovah holds me in his holy and powerful guard.

And all academicians will respond: Amen!

When the candidate takes his obligation, all the academicians must line up around him, and will place their wands on his head.

The obligation carried out, the academicians return to their places, and the very wise unties the hands of the candidate by saying to him: “By the power that I received and with the consent of the academy, I constitute you a true mason and you allow you to enjoy all the privileges granted to this august rank.”

He then gives him the sign, the words, decorates him with jewelry, an apron and gloves and a wand, and orders him to go away and be recognized by all the academicians.

This done, we spread the painting on the pavement, on which we place three candlesticks in a triangle. He is made to take the three steps, and having taken his place on the right side of the very wise man, he delivers his speech to which the very wise man responds with the following speech. Speech of the very wise “Wise academician, the science in which we have come to initiate you, by entrusting you with the rank of true mason, is the oldest of sciences. God, the creator sorting out the chaos. It is the most universal, all the others borrow their principles from it. She is the most necessary. Without it man is nothing but darkness, infirmity and misery. It emanates from nature, or rather it is nature itself perfected by art. It is based on experience. Throughout the centuries, it has had followers, and today a crowd of artists waste their goods, their work and their time, is that far from imitating the noble simplicity which characterizes it, and from following the straight paths which it traces for them, they adorn it with a make-up which it cannot bear and get lost in the labyrinth, where a wild imagination leads them from there, these piquant taunts of these profane people, who, without respect for God, without regard for nature, without esteem for art, make fun of our most serious mysteries. Of the ; the crude satyrs of those ignorant people who, too weighed down by their senses, to rise to the sublimity of our knowledge, blaspheme everything they cannot understand. From there, the vicious affects them and those indolent who, unless a skillful and a laborious hand does not bear for them all the costs of discovery and work, scorning everything that has neither the strength to imagine, nor the courage to execute. From there, finally, the insulting libelists of these reckless people, who with a boldness full of bad faith, dare to place the truth of their hermetic science among human inventions, popular superstitions without any other motive than the desire to invalidate it. authenticity and the impassibility of destroying its testimony.

Let us abandon the children of darkness and these enemies of themselves, to all the shame of their vain and inconsistent ideas. For us true children of light and sincere friends of humanity, who see in its teachings and practices the truth clearly stated. Let us taste at length the sweets she presents to us. Let us enjoy with gratitude the advantages it provides us, and animated by the same holy transport, let us not cease to exalt the omnipotence and the infinite mercy of God who delights in humiliating the great and elevating the humble.

Do not wait, however, wise academician, for us to first clear up the obstacles encountered in this science; it would be so much to regulate your studies and in your sagacity we will rather apply ourselves to showing you the sources from which you should draw, we will put you on the right path that you must follow.

All that remains is for me to urge you to follow in the footsteps of the great man whose presence was so dear and useful to us and whose memory will be forever precious to us. His talents and virtues earned him our votes and earned him your praise. His loss will always cause our regrets and our tears. Deign the great Jehovah cast upon us a favorable look to make us walk with patience and perseverance in the difficult but learned career that you are about to pursue. These are the wishes that the august academy has for you , which is pleased to possess you and which will regard you as always one of its dearest infants. The first wise man will now give you the explanation of the table. Then I will instruct you.

Lend an attentive ear, you will learn in both the nobility of your rights, the extent of your obligations and the grandeur of our hopes. » Explanation of the table “You first see, wise academician, at the top of the table, a luminous triangle and a large J in the middle. The triangle represents a God in three persons, and the large J the initial letter of the unpronounceable name of the great architect of the universe. The dark circle signifies the chaos that God created in the beginning, and the cross which is within signifies the light by means of which he developed the four which signifies the four elements which resulted. The triangle, the three principles that the mixture of elements produces.

What surrounds the starry circle designates the firmament. The starry circle are the waters that God placed above the firmament. The other large circle with the signs and planets, denotes the zodiac, the middle circle water and earth.

The cross which surmounts it means that from the same God who created the universe by his omnipotence, he redeems it by his goodness. The four figures surrounding it are the emblem of air and the four winds.

Man, the sun, the plant that we see on the surface of the earth, are the image of the three kingdoms of nature, namely: the animal, the mineral, and the vegetable, which by means of the elemental fire and the central fire that the dew puts in continual agitation, come to their perfection. The two highest letters mean God creates. Those which are below, which nature produces. And the two lowest, that art multiplies. The altar of the perfumes marks us the fire that we must give to matter. The two towers, the two wet and dry furnaces in which we must work.

The tube in which we must find the degree of fire that we must give it.

And the starry circle designates the firmament of the sky that we see. The ball, the hollow of the oak which must surround the philosophical egg which is below the wand used to stir materials. And the two figures surmounted by a cross are nothing other than the vessel of nature and art in which the double marriage of the white woman with her red servant must take place and from which a double marriage will give birth to a very powerful king. Note that the first sage must still make the philosophical explanation of the rank of journeyman apprentice and master mason.

Instruction

D. Who are you?

A. I am a real mason.

D. Give me proof.

A. We make the sign, we give the word and the touch.