The Entered Apprentice

The Meaning of Initiation

Learning objectives

Explain what initiation means as a general human pattern and how Masonic initiation fits within it.
Interpret the movement from darkness to light and the idea of symbolic rebirth.
Describe why the candidate must come of his or her own free will and accord.
Analyse the general symbolism of the candidate's preparation without reference to private ritual detail.

The first degree of Freemasonry is called a degree of initiation. That word is often used loosely, as if it meant no more than admission to a club. In the study of religion and culture, however, initiation has a precise and much richer meaning. It refers to a structured experience through which a person passes from one condition of life to another, and after which he or she is understood to be changed. This lesson examines what the word means, why Freemasonry chose this form for its first ceremony, and how the candidate's own attitude shapes what the ceremony can achieve.

It is worth saying at the outset what this course will not do. It will not describe the words, signs or private details of any ceremony, and it will not quote the wording of any obligation. Those matters belong to the lodge. What can be discussed openly, and what is far more important for real understanding, is the meaning behind the forms. A Freemason who knows every word of the ritual but has never asked what it signifies has learned only the outside of the degree.

Initiation as a Universal Pattern

The word comes from the Latin initium, a beginning, and from the verb inire, to go in. An initiation is therefore both a beginning and an entrance. In the early twentieth century the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep described what he called rites of passage, and he observed that they tend to follow three stages across very different cultures. First there is separation, in which the person is removed from ordinary life. Then there is a threshold or transitional stage, in which the person is neither what he or she was nor yet what he or she will become. Finally there is incorporation, in which the person is received back into the community with a new status.

The Masonic first degree follows this pattern closely. The candidate is separated from the everyday world before the ceremony begins. He or she then passes through a series of experiences in an unfamiliar place, guided by others and unable to rely on ordinary means of orientation. At the end the candidate is received as a member, given new knowledge, and placed in a defined position within the lodge. Understanding this structure helps the new Apprentice to see that what may have felt strange in the moment had a clear and deliberate shape.

The classical world had its own initiatory traditions, the best known being the Mysteries of Eleusis near Athens. Writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries sometimes claimed that Freemasonry descended directly from such ancient mysteries. Modern historians do not accept this claim, because there is no documentary evidence connecting the two. The more modest and defensible view is that Freemasonry draws on the same human instinct that produced those older rites: the conviction that a serious change in life should be marked in a serious and memorable way.

Darkness and Light

The central image of the first degree is the passage from darkness to light. Light is one of the oldest symbols of knowledge, truth and the divine. The opening chapter of the book of Genesis begins the story of creation with the making of light, and many philosophical traditions speak of enlightenment as the goal of the seeker. In Masonic usage, darkness represents the condition of a person before instruction, and light represents the knowledge and moral understanding that the Craft hopes to offer.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

It is important to read this symbolism correctly. The darkness of the candidate is not a judgement that he or she is ignorant or wicked in ordinary life. Many candidates are educated and accomplished people. The darkness refers specifically to the new field of experience that the candidate is entering, in which he or she has not yet been taught. Every one of us is in darkness with respect to something, and wisdom begins with the honest admission of that fact.

The movement from darkness to light also carries the idea of rebirth. Many traditions describe initiation as a kind of death to an old way of life and a birth into a new one. The candidate enters as an outsider and leaves as a brother or sister of the lodge. Some Masonic writers have compared the experience to the moment of birth itself, when a child passes from a dark and enclosed place into the light of the world, helpless and dependent on others. The comparison is useful because it reminds the new Apprentice that a beginning is a time of dependence, humility and openness, not of mastery.

Light in Freemasonry is also never given all at once. The first degree offers a certain measure of light, and the later degrees offer more. Even after the third degree, thoughtful Masons speak of their continuing search for light. The image therefore describes not a single event but a direction of travel. Initiation opens a door; it does not complete the journey.

Of Free Will and Accord

A long-standing principle of the Craft is that a candidate must come of his or her own free will and accord. Traditionally, Freemasons did not invite others to join. In recent decades many have relaxed the custom so that members may mention the Craft to suitable friends, but the decision to ask for admission must still belong to the candidate alone.

The reasons for this principle are both moral and practical. Morally, the work of self-improvement that Freemasonry proposes cannot be forced on anyone. A person who is pressured into joining may go through the ceremony, but the inner change it aims at will not happen. Practically, a lodge depends on members who wish to be there, who attend willingly and who support one another freely. A society of reluctant members could not sustain the fellowship on which the Craft depends.

The principle also expresses respect for the candidate's freedom of conscience. Freemasonry asks its members to believe in a Supreme Being but does not tell them what to believe about that Being. It asks them to be good citizens but does not tell them how to vote. In the same spirit it does not recruit them. The candidate is treated from the first moment as a free and responsible adult, capable of choosing his or her own path.

Before admission the candidate is usually asked, in one form or another, to declare that he or she is not moved by curiosity, by hope of profit or by any other unworthy motive. This declaration is not a formality. It invites the candidate to examine his or her intentions honestly, and it signals that the Craft offers no worldly advantage. What it offers is an opportunity for moral growth, and that opportunity can only be taken up by someone who truly wants it.

Preparation and Its Symbolism

Before entering the lodge the candidate is prepared in a particular way. The details are best experienced rather than read about in advance, and this course will not describe them. Their general meaning, however, is widely discussed in published Masonic literature and can be summarised here.

The first meaning is equality. The candidate arrives without the outward marks of rank, wealth or position that might distinguish one person from another in daily life. Whatever his or her standing in the world, the candidate enters the lodge in the same condition as every other candidate before. This expresses a basic conviction of the Craft, that worth lies in character and not in status.

The second meaning is humility and dependence. A person who enters a new world cannot rely on his or her own resources and must accept guidance. The preparation makes this condition visible and physical, so that the candidate feels, and does not merely think, what it means to be a beginner.

The third meaning is inward readiness. Masonic writers have long said that a candidate is first prepared in the heart. The outward preparation is a picture of an inward disposition: sincerity, openness and a genuine desire to learn. A candidate who brings these qualities has already done the most important part of the work before the ceremony begins. A candidate who lacks them will gain little, however carefully the outward forms are observed.