DUTIES:

Dispense light and knowledge.

Practice the Masonic virtues both in and out

of the lodge.

FOR REFLECTION:

Is your behavior the same both in and out

of the lodge?

IMPORTANT SYMBOLS:

Triangle, square, octagon, candles, three pillars,

Pythagorean right triangle.

The Twentieth Degree

"Master of the Symbolic Lodge"

~ Summary ~

This degree teaches that a Mason who knows that he

does not possess the qualities of leadership, and who

has not duly prepared himself to be a leader, should

not want to be one. Notwithstanding, every Mason

should endeavor to educate himself, bearing in mind

that one day he may be ask to lead. Because he is of

his community, it expects him to dispense light and

knowledge; to practice the virtues both in and out

of lodge.

The cordon is a broad ribbon of yellow and sky-blue; it may also be two ribbons, one of each color, crossing each other.

The jewel is gold, like the triangles on the apron, with the same words and letters.

The apron is yellow, bordered and lined with sky-blue. In the center are three concentric equilateral triangles, with the initial letters of the nine Great Lights in the corners. The letters stand for the following: Charity, Generosity, Veneration, Heroism, Patriotism, Honor, Toleration, Truth and Justice. In the center of the inner Triangle is the Tetragrammaton in Phoenician characters. Across it, from below upwards, are the Hebrew letters Yod, He, Yod, written vertically bottom to top and sideways. The remaining letters are Aleph, Vau, Ras; together the letters form the Hebrew for "Let Light Be!" or, as in the King James Version of the Bible, "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3).

   "Over the many years that the ceremonies of the Scottish Rite have been performed, many acceptable changes, additions and minor deletions have been made. The Rubric (a text of acceptable modification) says of this degree:

The 20th Degree is a most beautiful Degree; conferred in full, including the opening and closing, it presents the lessons of the Degree in pure, classical drama, scarcely excelled anywhere. Nothing should be added, and nothing subtracted. Finish the Degree according to our ritual. Do not spoil it by introducing a single thing (p. 10).

    This Degree is considered classical drama for many reasons. The most significant are its simplicity in set and action, the ceremonial use of candles, and the use of squares, triangles and pillars, the classic symbols of Masonry. In Morals and Dogma Pike notes that Masonry should be returned to its primitive purity (p. 325). The ceremony is a dramatic statement of this "primitive purity." (A Bridge to Light, p. 170)