# Black Book



## stevenson8877 (Aug 20, 2014)

Just received it and doing some reading. I'm a pretty fast learner but it's so much information don't no where to start first any suggestions?


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## Levelhead (Aug 20, 2014)

Blackbook?


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## ARizo1011 (Aug 20, 2014)

I'm in darkness on this subject as well...


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## Brother JC (Aug 20, 2014)

If you mean your ritual or monitor, start at the beginning. Learn to open an EA lodge before moving on.


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## Levelhead (Aug 21, 2014)

Oh we have a red book and a blue book.


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## stevenson8877 (Aug 21, 2014)

Thanks and i was speaking of my ritual.


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## dfreybur (Aug 22, 2014)

Getting a ritual book should only happen after being raised and make sure you learn the rules for using it.  I've seen everywhere from openly reading from the book during a degree through no books allowed in the building.  I've seen ritual booklets for EA/FC through only outside learning type booklets for EA/FC.

Something that makes sense for most brothers to do - Scan through the book to learn the mechanics of meetings.  What does it mean and what happens to open, close, call to refreshment then back to labor, call from one degree to another.  Each jurisdiction does these slightly different.  Then scan through the book to get the general story line of how each happens plus the story told in each degree.  There is no need to memorize anything in this phase so treat it like a college textbook.  Pay very close attention to the table of contents to have context then scan the rest of the book.  The table of context tells what's primary and what's secondary just like any textbook.  It tells what is the supporting bones and what is the fill out flesh.  Secondary material like the funeral ceremony or consecrating a building might even be in a different book.

Once you know the story lines, you'll start to notice when the line advances and steps are skipped or done in the wrong order.  That's so easy to do when you're jamming through to qualify for the next chair.

Something that brothers in chairs need to do - Pick a  a chair and a degree part to memorize.  If you want get a set of colored highlighters to accent the parts you're interested in.  Start with picking one of the smallest speaking parts in the chairs and one of the smallest speaking parts in the degrees.  Repeat them until you know them by heart and until you can say them with feeling.  The degrees are theater in the round so be able to ham it up a bit.  Over time do this with larger and larger parts until you can do the east.

You'll see brothers who deliver wooden ritual - They push on to the next part as soon as they can to qualify for the next chair.  You'll see brothers who deliver like they are living in the degree - They practiced until they could ham it up a bit.

Something that can be done by brothers not in the line to become a valuable degree team resource for the entire district - Learn lectures or modular parts of lectures.  Almost every brother who goes through the line learns every chair for opening, closing and other mechanics.  Almost every brother who goes through the line learns most of the parts in the degrees.  Not all that many brothers learn lectures except to qualify for their chairs.  While in the line was so busy on other tasks I qualified and tapped other brothers for lectures.

The dream step - If your jurisdiction has short form and long form, learn the long forms.  The previous generation wanted to get through the mechanics quickly to engage in the social, fraternal and charitable activities so the short form was used more and more until we now have brothers of many decades who have never heard a long form delivered.  The new generation yearns for meaning and there's a lot of meaning in the long form versions.  The era of the long form should be back now.

Do all of that and it will be time to think about qualifying for a card or certification or however your jurisdiction handles official instructors.


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## ARizo1011 (Aug 22, 2014)

dfreybur said:


> Getting a ritual book should only happen after being raised and make sure you learn the rules for using it.  I've seen everywhere from openly reading from the book during a degree through no books allowed in the building.  I've seen ritual booklets for EA/FC through only outside learning type booklets for EA/FC.
> 
> Something that makes sense for most brothers to do - Scan through the book to learn the mechanics of meetings.  What does it mean and what happens to open, close, call to refreshment then back to labor, call from one degree to another.  Each jurisdiction does these slightly different.  Then scan through the book to get the general story line of how each happens plus the story told in each degree.  There is no need to memorize anything in this phase so treat it like a college textbook.  Pay very close attention to the table of contents to have context then scan the rest of the book.  The table of context tells what's primary and what's secondary just like any textbook.  It tells what is the supporting bones and what is the fill out flesh.  Secondary material like the funeral ceremony or consecrating a building might even be in a different book.
> 
> ...




Thank you this was great on what I will expected when receiving.


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## Levelhead (Aug 22, 2014)

Arizo: you will receive a "blue book" (masonic monitor) & A "red book" (florida masonic code) they are still in code. 

The monitor is in text but all the important stuff is still coded. 

The florida masonic code book is every ceremony and meeting, all in code also. So you need to start listening to the different stations so you can learn the chairs (if thats the way you want to go).


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## ARizo1011 (Aug 22, 2014)

Levelhead said:


> Arizo: you will receive a "blue book" (masonic monitor) & A "red book" (florida masonic code) they are still in code.
> 
> The monitor is in text but all the important stuff is still coded.
> 
> The florida masonic code book is every ceremony and meeting, all in code also. So you need to start listening to the different stations so you can learn the chairs (if thats the way you want to go).



Wow that's awesome!


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## Bro. Staton (Oct 20, 2014)

As several have stated above read how to open and close the lodge which is important to know. Since it's a ton of information to take in read it from the beginning to the end. Keep in mind as you move into a position within the craft you will need to study that part so you can perform it when called upon. I was told take your black book with you and read it as often as possible. Best of luck!!


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## BroBook (Oct 22, 2014)

Verbatim is the way!!!


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## mrpierce17 (Oct 25, 2014)

stevenson8877 said:


> Just received it and doing some reading. I'm a pretty fast learner but it's so much information don't no where to start first any suggestions?


 Brother i would suggest reading it from cover to cover and further investigating" anything" that particularly  strikes your attention along the way . I have discovered in doing so will reveal much more liGht , I was told the ritual is only a guide and that one must also search elsewhere {VSL}exc. to find all the mysteries in masonry . Keep building my brother .


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## AndreAshlar (Dec 1, 2014)

dfreybur said:


> Getting a ritual book should only happen after being raised and make sure you learn the rules for using it.  I've seen everywhere from openly reading from the book during a degree through no books allowed in the building.  I've seen ritual booklets for EA/FC through only outside learning type booklets for EA/FC.
> 
> Something that makes sense for most brothers to do - Scan through the book to learn the mechanics of meetings.  What does it mean and what happens to open, close, call to refreshment then back to labor, call from one degree to another.  Each jurisdiction does these slightly different.  Then scan through the book to get the general story line of how each happens plus the story told in each degree.  There is no need to memorize anything in this phase so treat it like a college textbook.  Pay very close attention to the table of contents to have context then scan the rest of the book.  The table of context tells what's primary and what's secondary just like any textbook.  It tells what is the supporting bones and what is the fill out flesh.  Secondary material like the funeral ceremony or consecrating a building might even be in a different book.
> 
> ...


Excellent advice!


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