Attending an Initiation at a Sister Lodge: My First Visit
This personal account of attending an initiation at a sister lodge has remained one of the most-read articles on this site for over two years — and for good reason. Witnessing an initiation from the sidelines offers a unique perspective that every Freemason will recognize. Here is what it was like to visit another lodge for the very first time as a newly made Apprentice and to watch an initiation ceremony unfold up close. It was as if the opportunity was handed to me on a silver platter. I had the chance to attend an initiation of a candidate at a sister lodge — a Masonic lodge that meets in the same building as my own. The timing could not have been better, because my own lodge was scheduled to hold an initiation just three weeks later. Why Attend This Initiation? In three weeks, our own lodge would be initiating a candidate, and I was going to play a role in the ceremony. The thing is, at that point I had only been inside our temple once — during my own initiation. And if you have been through it yourself, you know exactly what that is like: you are stiff […]