Open ArcanaARCANA APERTA

DISC-0007 / ITEM-0001

Craft degree rituals (Entered Apprentice / Fellow Craft / Master Mason)

Freemasonry · Worldwide

Disclosure date
1826
Date precision
Year
Disclosure method
Defector testimony
Extent
Full
Record review
Unreviewed

View in explorer ↗This record as JSON

Restricted material and access

The three ceremonies through which a candidate becomes a Master Mason including obligations and lectures.

Material type
Initiatory rite
Restricted to
Members of the corresponding degree
Restriction mechanism
oath, grade_requirement
Stated reason
Preserving the experience of initiation; traditional obligation
Tradition origins
c. 1717 (first grand lodge)

Recorded practice status

Practiced

Provisional: no dated status evidence is linked.

Status as of
Not recorded
Status claims
Not recorded

Disclosure dates, source publication dates, tradition origins and dates of practice are separate.

What this disclosure covers

Not recorded.

Author was a self-described former member.

The source

Illustrations of Masonry ↗ (SRC-0005; authenticity: Unassessed)

Author
William Morgan
Original publication
1826
Linked edition
Not recorded
Format
Book
Provenance
defector_account
Rights of source work
Public domain
Identifiers
ol:OL16834925W;ia:illustrationsofm00morg
Source content hash
Not recorded

Published after the author's disappearance; sparked the US Anti-Masonic movement.

Claims about this item

These claims may cite other sources for the same restricted item. Supporting and contradicting evidence remain separate.

CLM-0001 · Historical practice

A three-degree system ending in the Master Mason degree was being worked in English lodges.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Unreviewed
Period
by 1730
Locators
Not recorded
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Prichard's exposure describes the third degree; no second independent source is recorded yet.

  • SRC-0002: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0002: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • CLM-0001: Record review status is unreviewed; review is not proof of truth.
  • CLM-0001: No page, section, exhibit or timestamp is recorded.
  • ITEM-0001: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0008 · Content

In the Entered Apprentice obligation the candidate promises not to write, print, carve or engrave the secrets, under a penalty of having his throat cut, his tongue taken from the roof of his mouth and his heart plucked out, these to be buried in the sea sands a cable's length from shore, and his body burnt and the ashes scattered.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1730
Locators
Enter'd 'Prentice's Part, pp. 11–12
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04.

  • SRC-0002: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0002: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0001: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0009 · Content

In the Entered Apprentice obligation the candidate swears under a penalty of having his throat cut across, his tongue torn out by its roots and his body buried in the rough sands of the sea at low-water mark.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1860s (United States)
Locators
p. 35
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04. Pagination is that of the Dick & Fitzgerald third edition as marked in the open transcription. Not counted as corroborating the 1730 wording: Duncan may draw on earlier exposures.

  • SRC-0006: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0006: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0001: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0010 · Content

The Master's Part tells how Hiram was killed by three Fellow-Crafts with a setting maul, setting tool and setting beadle, hidden under rubbish and then buried on the brow of a hill, and found fifteen days later by fifteen brethren when a shrub came away easily from the disturbed ground; a sprig of cassia was placed at the head of the grave.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1730
Locators
Master's Part, pp. 25–27
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04.

  • SRC-0002: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0002: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0001: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0040 · Change

In the United Grand Lodge of England a permissive variation of the obligations was allowed in 1964. On 11 June 1986 Grand Lodge resolved that all references to physical penalties be omitted from the obligations of the three degrees and of a Master Elect at installation, while keeping them elsewhere in the ceremonies; the resolution became an edict of Grand Lodge.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1964–1986 (England)
Locators
opening paragraph and account of the 1964 debate
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the online copy of the paper on 2026-11-04. Mendoza quotes the 1986 resolution. The Grand Lodge proceedings for 11 June 1986 would corroborate it.

  • SRC-0046: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0046: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0001: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

Evidence qualifications

Reviewed means checked against a source. It does not establish source authenticity, independent corroboration or present-day practice.

Item notes

Wording differs widely by jurisdiction and era.