So mote it be
Bill Maddox
Why is a lodge always opened with a prayer? No lodge can be opened or closed without a prayer which is offered by the Chaplain. The wording of these prayers attempt to avoid sectarianism in the lodge. Following Amen, each member responds with the words
"So Mote It Be", meaning "So May It Ever Be".
In the lodges I have visited and belonged , I have never heard the Amen followed by So Mote It Be. Just the So Mote It Be.
Hope this helps, Bill
Anonymous wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> On Sun, 31 Oct 1999 22:51:46 -0500, "Jan Eaton"
> <jme...@starpower.net> wrote:
>
> >OK to archive
> >
> >Anonymous <nob...@replay.com> wrote
> >> x-no-archive: yes
> >>
> >> After watching the Blair-Witch movie, I also watched a movie
> >> called "The Curse of the Blair Witch". In the latter movie
> >> about the Blair Witch program, a gent refers to himself
> >> as a Witch and uses the Masonic term "So mote it be".
> >
> > I find it interesting that you identify the phrase ("So mote it
> >be") as being a Masonic term. If memory serves, somewhere
> around the early
>
> It isn't a masonic term? It is used as such at:
> http://www.jovenet.fr/glnfoc/topics.html
> If it isn't a masonic term, please contact your brother
> and correct him.
>
> SNIP
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Anonymous <nob...@replay.com> wrote:
[snip]
>>> After watching the Blair-Witch movie, I also watched a movie
>>> called "The Curse of the Blair Witch". In the latter movie
>>> about the Blair Witch program, a gent refers to himself
>>> as a Witch and uses the Masonic term "So mote it be".
>>
>> I find it interesting that you identify the phrase ("So mote it
>>be") as being a Masonic term. If memory serves, somewhere
>around the early
>
>It isn't a masonic term? It is used as such at:
>http://www.jovenet.fr/glnfoc/topics.html
>If it isn't a masonic term, please contact your brother
>and correct him.
It might be a phrase used by Masons, but it hardly originated with
them. Likewise, the term "Great Architect of the Universe" originated
with John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian denomination, although
the term is used frequently in Masonry. The Masonic ritual also uses
passages from the Bible (Psalms, Amos, Ecclesiastes, Job), but we don't
claim those are uniquely Masonic passages. Even a phrase from
Shakespeare has found its way into the ritual.
I'm afraid that Masons using a phrase which originated elsewhere doesn't
make that phrase uniquely Masonic. There _are_ some things unique to
the Masons, but I decline to discuss them in the presence of
non-members. Sorry, but you continue to engage in silly, illogical
arguments contrary to the known facts.
Roger M. Firestone, 32 KCCH
Jim Bennie
> Why is a lodge always opened with a prayer? No lodge can be opened or
> closed without a prayer which is offered by the Chaplain.
Bill, this may be the case in the US, but not necessarily elsewhere
in the world. In my Mother Lodge, for example, there was an invocation
by the Master in the opening, but certainly no prayer like I've seen
in US Lodges.
For that matter, few Lodges in our jurisdiction even *had* a Chaplain
prior to the 20th century).
Btw, I learned yesterday that there is a Chaplain at the speedway
in California where Greg Moore died in the Marlboro 500 yesterday.
I guess that makes the CART racing circuit and Marlboros a religion ;)
> In the lodges I have visited and belonged , I have never heard the Amen
> followed by So Mote It Be. Just the So Mote It Be.
I think it's in the Regius Poem that way, isn't it? It's in some
early document dealing with stonemasons and likely Lodges picked
it up from there. But it's certainly not an exclusive Masonic term.
Jim Bennie, G.Stwd
WM, Lodge Southern Cross No. 44, Vancouver
Eugene Goldman.·.
*Btw, I learned yesterday that there is a Chaplain at the speedway
*in California where Greg Moore died in the Marlboro 500 yesterday.
*I guess that makes the CART racing circuit and Marlboros a religion ;)
My Boot Camp and my Scout Troops all had Chaplains, so I guess that
makes The U.S.Navy and Scouting religions too.
Makes as much sense to me.
|O| Be well. Travel with a light heart.
Who said that?
Brother Gene .*.
http://www.calodges.org/no442
http://www.blackmountainlodge.net
http://www.freemason.org
MBBFMN #387
And in case I don't see ya' - Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night!
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