Some Jargon Explained
There are lots of terms which Freemasons use which may be unfamiliar, or unkown to non-members.
InitiatedThe completion by a candidate of the First Degree. |
InstallationThe act by which a Lodge Office-Bearer is installed to the position of authority he is to fill. In Freemasonry it is, therefore, applied to the induction of one who has been elected into his office. The Officers of a Lodge, before they can proceed to discharge their functions, must be installed. The ceremony is an old one, and does not pertain exclusively to Freemasonry. The ancient Romans installed their priests, their kings, and their magistrates; but the ceremony was called inauguration, because performed generally by the augers. The word installation is of comparatively modern origin, being medieval Latin, and is compounded of in and stallum, meaning a seat. |
LodgeA group of Freemasons assembling under the authority of a charter issued by a Grand Lodge; also a building or a room where Freemasons meet. |
Master MasonThe third of the Degrees involved in becoming a Freemason. While the earlier terms (Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft) originate from the operative mason, the Third Degree dates only from the Eighteenth Century, and is wholly speculative. |
ObligationThe solemn promise made by a Freemason on his admission into any Degree is technically called his obligation. In a legal sense, obligation is synonymous with duty. Its derivation shows its true meaning, for the Latin word obligatio literally signifies a tying or binding. The obligation is that which binds a man to do some act, the doing of which thus becomes his duty. By his obligation, a Freemason is bound or tied to his Order. |
Operative MasonAn operative mason is an individual involved in working as a stonemason - actively involved in fashioning and building in stone. |
PassedThe completion by a candidate of the Second Degree. |
ProfaneThe word profane comes from two Latin words, "pro" meaning "before" and "fanum" meaning "temple". In earlier usage, profane had a more literal meaning of "outside the temple". It was simply an antonym for the term "sacred" just as "secular" still is. (Classical music lovers will note, for example, the Debussy work, "Danses sacrees et profanes" as a use of the same word in French with this meaning.) |
RaisedThe completion by a candidate of the Third Degree. |
RegularA classification of Freemasonry that practices customs which conform to the "Basic Principles of Grand Lodge Recognition" agreed by individual sovereign Grand Lodges. |