Last night I was advanced into Mark Masonry at Mark Masons Hall on St. James Street in Piccadilly, right across the street from St. James Palace.
The ceremony was to begin at 5 pm, so I arrived at around 4:15 pm to ensure that the Lodge Secretary didn’t have a panic attack–the worst fear of every Lodge officer is that a candidate won’t show up or will show up late. When I got there, the Tyler told me to go to the bar and come down at 5:10 pm, as the Lodge members were in their Royal Ark Mariners meeting and they would not be ready for me until then.
The building is a former gentlemen’s club that fell on hard times and was bought by the Mark Masons Charity and leased to the Grand Lodge of Mark Masonry. The Mark degree itself is only about 150 years old or so, and carries on from the Fellowcraft Degree. The candidate acts as one of the stonemasons working on King Solomon’s Temple, and presents his work to the overseers for acceptance. What else happens is not for me to say, as any future Mark Masons would find themselves shortchanged if I were to tell them. Suffice it to say that it’s a fun degree and well worth taking if you are a Master Mason.
The bar of this former gentleman’s club is on the second floor of the building, and is quite opulent in a Masonic way. Lots of wood panelling, stencilled wall paper, and portraits of dead Grand Masters and various Grand Whatevers of side orders, many of which meet in Mark Masons’ Hall. I sat up there rather nervous and surveyed the mostly elderly gentlemen, some in very purple waistcoats (which must be a uniform for some side order or other), and some young men (one at least pinged my gaydar pretty heavily). I sipped a Diet Coke and waited for 5:10 to arrive.
When I got downstairs, I signed the book and got myself ready (in my Master Mason apron). When I was finally admitted into lodge, I was astonished to discover that most of the officers were reading the ritual from books, instead of delivering it from memory, as I am accustomed to see in Lodges everywhere. The ritual was a bit disconcerting as people addressing me were actually looking at their books, rather than looking me in the eye. I was assured later that this is exceptional and happened because the Worshipful Master was not good at memorising and several people had been press-ganged into doing various offices with which they were not familiar.
The Director of Ceremonies and the Junior Warden are members of Goliath Lodge, and thus are friends. That helped immensely. The Lodge is named Tower Hamlets Lodge, and I discovered at the Festive Board after Lodge that one of the Founders of this Lodge was Aleister Crowley, the renounded occultist of the turn of the 19th Century. Somewhat scary, really.
The Festive Board was very good: the menu included Lobster Tortellini (which, thankfully, didn’t really taste much of lobster), Lamb Chops with mixed vegetables and potatoes, and crepes with apple sauce (not applesauce, but apple-flavoured sauce). The wine was good too. And, most important, we got out a few minutes past nine. This makes for a welcome change from most Festive Boards, which often don’t get out until after 10 pm.
All in all, an enjoyable experience.
I received an incomplete copper coin, sort of a big penny, upon which I had an icon engraved. It must still be around here but after more than two decades I’m unlikely to be able to locate it.
Like the York Rite, the Scottish Rite degrees were usually conferred twice a year, spring and autumn, with each of the three groups of degrees being done together, usually on Saturdays. They were almost never done individually. A few of the old-timers had memorized a few of the degrees, but most of it was read to us, as in your experience.
Our Blue Lodges were under charter of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts but our Scottish Rite was chartered by the Southern Jurisdiction and used the ritual least favored by the Catholic Church. The ritual of the Northern Jurisdiction had several references the Catholics found objectionable removed over a century ago.
Here Mark Masonry is a separate organisation from Craft Masonry, but of course they share many characteristics and the movers and shakers in Craft Masonry also normally join Mark Masonry.
At one time years ago the Mark and the Craft were close to joining together, just as Royal Arch Masonry did, but negotiations were not successful.
I did get a coin, my “wage”, which is a curious design and which I shall study further. I received my Mark as well, which will end up on my Grand Mark Lodge certificate and is mine alone in the Lodge.
I was told last night at my Craft Lodge LOI that many Mark Lodges do read the degrees, mainly because they rarely have a Lodge of Instruction and meet only three times a year, but I understand that some of the difficulty at Tower Hamlets was due to people not being present, and due to the WM having a problem with memorisation. Normally their ritual is to a high standard, and I look forward to seeing that happen in the future.
The Scottish Rite, the York Rite and the Shrine are all distinct from the Blue Lodge, which has the first three degrees. Scottish Rite has degrees numbered four through thirty-two, with two honorary degrees: KCCH (Knight Commander of the Court of Honor) and the thirty-third degree. One must be awarded the first before being eligible for the second. The York Rite also uses a number of degrees, each with a name instead of a number. One must be a member of one of the Rites before being allowed to join the Shrine.
Within each Rite are four levels that function as Lodges:
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