Click to expand.Well, it was a mid-18th-century innovation - so it's old, but not quite from the 'earliest times'.As you say, it's a French idea. It has no part in the Craft tradition of any of the British GLs, and of course your Craft (blue lodge) working is mainly based on the British tradition.Where it is used in Craft, it's usually because that jurisdiction is working the Craft degrees of the Ancient & Accepted Rite (or Scottish Rite, as you call it).
The Chamber of Reflection 3 The Symbols and Their Meaning The symbols used in the Chamber of Reflection, like all of those in Freemasonry, can be found in the various Hermetic, Alchemical, and Qabalistic texts which are its source and inspiration.
The British GLs don't permit the Craft degrees of the A&AR, and also none of the regular US GLs allow that version of the ritual except for the GL of Louisiana (which naturally acquired some French traditions in the old days).In Europe, the various French GLs (both regular and irregular) all allow that form of working (although they also have other workings which don't use the CoR). In Spain, the A&AR version of the Craft degrees became very popular, almost universal at one time (although more recently, since Spain returned to regularity, they now have quite a lot of Lodges which use an English-style working instead, although the A&AR version is still their majority ritual).Therefore most of the GLs in French-speaking or Spanish-speaking countries allow (or in some cases even require) the Craft degrees to be given using the A&AR working, and therefore they have a CoR.
- Mar 20, 2016 - The Chamber of Reflection, dark, mysterious, and full of reminders of mortality, is one of the most overtly esoteric devices used in Freemasonry.
- Nov 3, 2016 - Guidelines for the Lodges Desiring to Use a Chamber of Reflection. Looking back over 300 years of speculative Freemasonry, we find. Questions propounded to each man prior to his first entrance into the lodge.
Chamber Of Reflection Album
A few GLs in places which don't speak French or Spanish have also devised Craft workings which make use of a CoR, but that's rare.However, we all use a CoR in some of the additional Degrees, even here in England. So in that sense, it's known everywhere. Just not necessarily for Craft purposes.T & F,Huw. I would ask: In Texas craft lodge practice, what is a Chamber of Reflection? Is it not what we have always known as 'The Texas Masonic Preparation Room?'
In recent years, some lodges have attempted to introduce a more solemn approach to the Texas Masonic Preparation Room, in order to prevent the members from joking with and harassing the candidate, thereby allowing the candidate to reflect upon his decision to become a Mason, and focus his attention on the degree that awaits him. In doing so, however, these misguided brethren have abandoned some of the more traditional symbolic elements and practices of the 'Texas Masonic Preparation Room.' Thankfully, however, this is being rectified, as some among our Masonic leadership are making an attempt to bring Texas lodges back in line with more traditional and symbolic Texas Masonic practices.In my own Masonic experience, I have, over the years, developed a very well-formed idea of what symbolic elements should be found in the Texas Masonic Preparation Room. I would ask: In Texas craft lodge practice, what is a Chamber of Reflection? Is it not what we have always known as 'The Texas Masonic Preparation Room?'
Masonic Chamber Of Reflection Questions Examples
In recent years, some lodges have attempted to introduce a more solemn approach to the Texas Masonic Preparation Room, in order to prevent the members from joking with and harassing the candidate, thereby allowing the candidate to reflect upon his decision to become a Mason, and focus his attention on the degree that awaits him. In doing so, however, these misguided brethren have abandoned some of the more traditional symbolic elements and practices of the 'Texas Masonic Preparation Room.' Thankfully, however, this is being rectified, as some among our Masonic leadership are making an attempt to bring Texas lodges back in line with more traditional and symbolic Texas Masonic practices.In my own Masonic experience, I have, over the years, developed a very well-formed idea of what symbolic elements should be found in the Texas Masonic Preparation Room.