Posted on by Kyle Roques

So, What is Masonic Ritual?

Traditionally, the primary purpose of the ritual is to educate the candidate. The rituals are closer to a play/drama/performance than anything else.

The ceremonial lore revolves around the period during which the First Temple at Jerusalem was built by King Solomon. King Solomon. The stories build from a peaceful and regal beginning which explains the inspiration for and construction of the Temple, leading up to a cataclysmic event which has come to symbolize the central morality of Speculative Freemasonry.

Throughout the series of short plays, you’ll come across dozens of metaphors, imparting the moral criteria which a Freemason is expected to aspire to. The ritual is composed of exquisitely crafted language, and for most masons the messages go in and stay in, enabling them to live a more positive and fulfilled live.

Rick Smith

Many avoid Freemasonry because they feel it would be “too religious” for them (myself included, until I learned more about the fraternity). If you have no issues with attending a church wedding or funeral, or being a Godfather for someone’s new baby, you should not meet any greater religious demands in craft masonry. Masons do not worship in craft lodges; that is the role of the Church.

The obvious overlap between Religion and Freemasonry is morality, which both teach as a primary function. The key difference in their approach is that fundamental religion tends towards ‘God-fearing morality’ whilst craft masonry speaks more to the Moral Compass, and the idea that your behavior in life should be geared towards preserving the stability of society and the happiness of everyone around you. For the purpose of learning and executing Masonic craft ritual, religion has no direct relevance whatsoever.

The say that “Politics is showbiz for ugly people!” For the rest of us, there’s Masonry. Ritual’s primary purpose is to implant the moral metaphors of Masonic teaching. That’s unequivocal.

Rick Smith

Being initiated into the 1st degree of Freemasonry, passed to the 2nd degree, and raised to the 3rd degree of Master Mason, does not at all make you instantly enlightened. You’re more or less just obligated into keeping the “secrets” of Masonry at that point. Being the candidate, going through the three degrees (plays), you’re really not participating, you’re just being instructed and walked through. So actually learning the ritual, being engaged and involved, actually playing a role in the ritual (drama/play), is what enables you to really learn the metaphors/teachings. It really is something you’ll be taking in and learning for a lifetime – and that’s the point. While also finding fulfillment in having an active role in passing down these teachings, bettering yourself, your brothers, and community.

So in short: As I’ve stated before, there really is no secrets in Freemasonry, all the “secret” knowledge is passed down through the ritual. This secret knowledge being universal teachings we all know and live by as humans. The only real secret being how this knowledge is delivered, via the ritual.

The main reason for the secrecy is because it’s like spoiling a movie. If I tell you what the ritual is, everything that’s in it and how it’s delivered, then when you experience it yourself it won’t have the same impact and effect as it would if you didn’t know anything about it. Knowing all that beforehand would totally ruin the experience and the effect it is supposed to have on your psyche.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Ritual and the Freemasonic Tradition

Freemasonry is different things for different men. We all join the fraternity for different reasons, nonetheless, we are all bound by one core tenet, and that is: to make good men better. We’re all here to improve ourselves individually and to help lift each other up as a group. 


I became a Freemason, and maintain my position in the lodge, for a few reasons. One of the main reasons, the one that has had the most profound effect on me, is the ritual. 


There really are no secrets in Freemasonry. All of their teachings are self evident, universal truths, known to all of humankind. The only thing that is “secret” (i’d say a better term is hidden, or rather, occult knowledge) about Freemasonry is how that information is taught/delivered. They do this through ritual. Most people start thinking Satan worship when they hear of occult rituals, this couldn’t be further from the truth in Freemasonry. Their rituals are basically just plays we act out and that’s how the knowledge is delivered. 


As humans, we all have a part of ourselves that extends itself out to the world, in an attempt to understand the things that we don’t know. We do this in our behavior, in image, myth, story, drama, ritual, symbolism, etc..There is something very profound about ritual as a phenomenon. Evolutionarily, this is one of the most vital and essential ways we have passed down our knowledge, for 100s of 1000s (if not millions) of years. The most ancient stories we have as a species allude to this. Using the Bible for example, the biblical stories were created in part from observing each other and our behavior for millennia. They are patterns of human behavior that we observed, acted out (ritual/play/drama), then articulated in the biblical narrative. (Partly why Bible verse is used in our ritual)


Ritual is at the very core of how we evolved as a species, it cannot be stressed enough how crucial this has been for our evolution. Understanding and knowledge begin with ritual. We first act things out as human beings, behaviorally, it’s essentially just a drama/play. Understanding isn’t just knowledge, understanding means you embody the information and act it out. It’s like children playing (“rough housing”), they don’t KNOW what they’re doing conciously, they’re just acting it out, observing each others behavior (learning), then distilling that information. That’s why we are able to dance with each other, it’s just knowledge and understanding that we embody and act out.


So this process of acting things out in our environment behaviorally, observing it, then distilling that information, is a process that has taken place for millions of years (arguably since beings with nervous systems have existed). This eventually led us to a place where we could actually articulate that knowledge, like the biblical narratives. This is powerful beyond comprehension. This how we have been able to pass down information, largely un changed, for millennia. Just like you can only get certain information/knowledge from a book that you can’t get from a movie, or movie to a book, or video game to movie or book etc., ritual is unique in the information it contains and how it distills that information. Ritual being a core process for our evolutionary success, it can teach you in ways nothing else can. It is absolutely fundamental to understanding. Ritual is powerful in inarticulate ways, something you just have to experience yourself to understand. These rituals are far from being just archaic and silly superstition (as many believe).

Many people may claim to understand and know Masonic teachings, and while they are universal truths, you will never quite understand what Freemasonry is about without experiencing their rituals. One thing is for sure though, I can attest to the profundity in the Freemasonic tradition. There is also a very powerful feeling knowing that you are part of, and have gone through, the same experience as many other very influential men from the past (14 presidents included). With vague ties as far back as the ancient Egyptian temple initiations, all the way through the ancient Mystery School traditions, culminating in the Age of Enlightenment when the fraternity was founded. 


I am an initiate of the flame, a seeker of Truth, bringer of light, warden of wisdom, and a candidate that has been raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. I have been forever changed for the better, this no doubt has been another rebirth for me, and a start to a very new and exciting chapter of my life. 

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Freemasonry’s Priceless Heritage

The sanctum sanctorum of Freemasonry is ornamented with the gnostic jewels of a thousand ages; its rituals ring with the divinely inspired words of seers and sages. A hundred religions have brought their gifts of wisdom to its altar; arts and sciences unnumbered have contributed to its symbolism. Freemasonry is a world-wide university, teaching the liberal arts and sciences of of the soul to all who will hearken to its words. It’s chairs are seats of learning and its pillars uphold an arch of universal education.

The philosophic power of Freemasonry lies in its symbols – it’s priceless heritage from the Mystery schools of antiquity. In a letter to Robert Freke Gould, Albert Pike writes:

“In it’s symbolism, which and it’s spirit of brotherhood are its essence, Freemasonry is more ancient than any of the world’s living religions. …”

Though Zoroaster, Hermes, Pythagoras, Plato. and Aristotle are now but dim memories in a world once rocked by the transcendency of their intellectual genius, still in the mystic temple of Freemasonry these god-men live again in their words and symbols; and the candidate, passing through the initiations, feels himself face-to-face with these illumined heirphants of days long past.

Manly P. Hall
Posted on by Kyle Roques

The Redemptive Hero

Watching Son(s) of Sam on Netflix got me thinking about the human desire of wanting to be a part of a group, something bigger than yourself. This seems to be neurophysiological condition hard wired into us.

The problem being, not knowing if a group, organization, religion, cult, policy or the like, is dangerous or worthy of your time/sacrifice. There is one concrete and guaranteed principle you can use as a rule to determine if any said group is dangerous and should be avoided. That is: the group should never require you to sacrifice your individuality for the group.

Any group, society, organization, etc. that requires you to sacrifice your individuality for the “greater good” of the group is doomed to fail. This is a tenet that has been potrayed in the oldest myths – from the ancient Summerian’s to the Egyptian’s all the way through the East to the West including Christianity.

The “group/society” will stagnate and die without renewal from the heroic individual. That’s what these myths are essentially saying, that we need to embody and act out being the redemptive hero to revivify the stagnated state.

The most glaring examples of groups doomed to failure, from sacrificing the individual for the group being Communism and Fascism. This is how our laws are set up in every successful civilization – that there is something redemptive and divine in every individual, as a human being. This includes murderers, rapists, or any criminal – we acknowledge that there is something divine, worthy and capable of redemption in each individual. Whether you know this and/or believe this explicitly or not, this is what we all act out.

This is how I know Freemasonry, as a fraternal organization, is founded on safe and solid principles. They explicitly state that your first priority as a Brother Mason is your “vocation”, not just meaning your work, but meaning working on yourself, as an individual, is priority #1 – then comes your brothers and the lodge (the group).

So this applies to any group (ie. LGBTQ, cars, environmental, etc.), government, organization religion, etc., etc.. While this isn’t the only criteria, it is the first and foremost, one that CANNOT be infringed upon. If they want you to sacrifice yourself for the group (whether explicitly stated or not – typically it’s not and cleverly veiled) GET OUT! It will be doomed to fail and could be dangerous.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

Occultism

The Occult, what is it? The only time I ever hear the term is in conspiracy videos when someone is referencing Satan/demon worship, human sacrifice, demonic rituals, and lately pedophilia. Or in the mainstream to talk about vampires or, again, satan worship. The term Occult is one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented words that people with zero knowledge of the Occult like to throw around to any ritualistic practice they deem evil. The Christian church has worked for millennia to distance themselves from the term, by using it to label anything spiritual they deem heretic and claiming none of their practices are of the occult, or have any occult origins. Their smear campaign has been so effective it is embedded into all of western thought in both religous and atheistic cirlcles.

The term is a bit vague so it can mean alot of different things, sort of like the term religion. So in simplist terms the occult as a noun is defined as: supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena and/or matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them. It is also used as an adjective, simply meaning: not revealed/secret, not easily apprehended/understood, not manifest or detectable by clinical methods alone, and used in astronomy/astrology to mean: hidden from view/concealed.

In none of that is occult defined as Satan worship, pedophilia, or blood rituals. If you were to define Christianity as Occult is being defined now, then Christianity would mean Jim Jones and kool-aid. Now to briefly address the word “magic”. Again, another totally loaded word that I could make another lengthy post out of, so I’ll define it as simply as possible (doing the word injustice) to not detract from this post. Magic for me is defined as: the means of infulencing/manipulating the subjective and objective world through the act of intention and concentrated will power.

So with these definitions in mind you can see how the Eucharist ritual (Christianity’s communion) is an Occult magic ritual. Many aspects of Christian belief, prayer and ritual/ceremony are of occult narure, utilizing ritual magic. So indeed many of your own beliefs are occult beliefs – whether you practice any religion or not – and are of occult nature/origin.
Native American (or any indigenous people) Shamans, Christian priests, Buddhist, Hindu, and the like prcatice occult arts.

Practically all of the philosophy I profess and all of the books I read are of the “occult”. Any spiritual leader prcatices occult arts. Tarot is occult, meditation and prayer can be ritualistic magic, anything from personal/private, all the way through to Freemason, and on up to Christian rituals are occult rituals.

So as you can see the “Occult” isn’t what you think it is and it is likely you have occult beliefs and practices. The people who throw the term around to call something foreign to them evil have, I’m sure, never truly investigated the occult, or the word wouldn’t be so stigmatized. Please use this to see the term occult as it truly is, just a loaded word that describes a “hidden” magical practice/belief that isn’t at all evil or sinister.

Posted on by Kyle Roques

The Reality of Freemasonry (a system of morality)

Elias Ashmole recorded it in his diary that the symbols and signs of Freemasonry were borrowed partly from the Knight-Templars and partly from the Rosicrucians. It is claimed for Freemasonry that it is a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, and, according to Dr. Oliver, ‘The noble and sublime secrets of which we (Freemasons) are possessed are contained in our traditions, represented by hieroglyphic figures and intimated by our symbolic customs and ceremonies.’ ‘Again’ says Dr. Oliver, ‘we have declared over and over again that the great secret of Christian Freemasonry is the practice of morality and virtue here as a preparation for happiness in another world.’

Harold Bayley