Bro Tim Poole ELLC City West Chairman,. Bro David Mills, Secretary City East ELLC and Bro Francesco Toto, ELLC Chairman city East at Droylsden lodge
Droylsden Lodge at the Second Degree team
Saturday the 18th of January, Droylsden lodge 3282 hosted a Presentation and Consideration of the Second-Degree Tracing Board, delivered by members of the East Lancashire Level Club (ELLC) most ably supported by WBro Martin Hughes, PPGSwdB.
Also, in attendance were, WBro Ed Beaman, City East Chairman; WBro Harold Cooper.PProvSGW; Bro Francesco Toto, City East ELLC Chairman; Bro David Mills City East ELLC Secretary and Bro Tim Poole, City West ELLC Chairman.
Droylsden 3282 is a lodge with a difference: an E. Lancs, City East Lodge that meets, mostly, in North Wales. This curious anomaly arose as all the members came from around Manchester, but decided to retire in and around Prestatyn, North Wales. Their Installation only is held in Manchester.
The Tracing Board is a picture that encloses the peculiarity of the ritual of the Degree and transmits it through symbols and images, well known by most Freemasons but very few of them dwell on its real meaning and on that of the symbols contained therein.
But what is the Tracing Boards really for? The operative mason uses them to draw and calculate the design of the proposed building but, speculatively, the Tracing Boards are allegorical illustrations of the mysteries of the various Degrees, in Freemasons Lodges. They offer an opportunity for the candidate to reflect on his own journey through a visual representation that a Freemason takes on board during his first-degree ceremony and to contemplate the lessons learned along the way to becoming a full member of the Masonic Order.
The presentation/explanation of the Tracing Board shows how Freemasonry uses various drawings and articles to illustrate the fundamental principles of Masonic philosophy, emphasizing the importance of ethical and moral behaviours present moral lessons to us all.
In a consideration entitled from “Nomads to Nation”, Bro Poole asked us to reflect on how the story in the 2nd Degree is rather different from that of the 1st Degree. All brethren engaged in a lively debate including Bro Toto who gave a scientific explanation of the meaning of the Waterfall (visualizing that the Water is the strongest thing in nature but could be bottled up; at the same time it could change direction along the way) and the Pomegranate (which represents the different “faces” of the human brain, that can be filled with culture, knowledge and anything we decide).
The Brother further defined that the meaning, in his opinion, “stands for a life to live fully, learning, asking questions, gaining the knowledge step by step using the different sections of his brain”. Along the journey we move in different directions like the water does, avoiding or bypassing obstacles which could bottle us up for a long period of time. Letting the past go and learning from it while moving forward.
At the end of the Presentation all the members attended a delightful social board before a farewell until their next meeting. The joy of being a Freemason is also this: being surrounded by men with the same ideas, people we wouldn’t have met in different circumstances.
Until our Next Merry Meeting!
Story by Bro Francesco Toto
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