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Venerable Master in the pulpit and all of you my dear brothers, We are happy for this new outfit To be able to celebrate, with sincere fervor This customary feast of ebb and flow. On this twenty-fourth day of this month of June, We will be assembled to celebrate together Like our brothers before us, a saint who looks like us, Which impregnates our wool like grease! If we are reunited, the living and the spirit, In this familiar place, with banal feasts, Isn't it above all, to try the bet To honor this solstice feast in front of everyone. These are not meaningless words Which could be stated without the slightest decency For the Word in the lodge is not just an opinion, Discarded over time as an impression. Generating force of Fire by the Word kindled, Behold the heirs of an affirmed greatness Honor this chain that binds us to the past, Celebrating our values, strengthening the site! By all of you, beloved Brothers, for this day at table Here and elsewhere, but always together, May the light erase the shadows that threaten Let peace spread for tenacious happiness. ​ Often, by our thoughts, we seek the way Which could lead us to Brotherhood! There were many expectations where we reached out! Many were the sterile dead ends in freedom! And the earth constantly imposed its constraints. Enduring hardships, you had to accept! Who of us has not had in those moments of fear The confused feeling of uselessness? Yesterday we were alone waiting for the wind In an affectionate breath transmits the word to us, Sweep away the avatars, keep us away from the fools, Light up the coldness, announce the new year! On the way and in the wind, very gently, The mists released, our senses solicited, The temple appeared to us and we were happy Now you know who to work with! Here we are reunited, out of time, very present! Heirs of our brothers, we have remained faithful At that time of mysteries when salt was thrown, In this bliss unknown to peasants. In this immense happiness like no other Our thoughts wander, a companion awakens us Cuddled and captivating looks, Hand pressure while panting Sea chilli with a slow kiss! Brothers, Children of Light, here we are today, Present in the universe where men are agitated, Convinced despite everything that a new order exists Who will see us tomorrow give meaning to life! In this perverse world where men tear each other apart Let us understand that they are mad, intoxicated with distress By letting oneself slide into the spiral of the worst, Not knowing what to do to overcome their weaknesses. Fear reigns in this world in defiance of the human, Obscene flower of a land delivered to ignorance, Blind and lawless fear, breeder of violence, Abject fear, midwife of an unhealthy universe. In this lawless world, we are fighters, Without weapons and without violence, respecting the law, To ward off fear and restore meaning To all those who have lost their faith! E educated and trained not to be afraid, We were initiated to lead destiny, Of all these human beings, far from Happiness, And generate in them the desire to be mutineers! By the porch crossed in this place gathered, Far from the fears of the profane we are ready to live again The immutable ritual of all initiates Companions on the path and bearers of the Book! The sun has set on such a short day. Without giving in to rest, we draw from among ourselves The energy we need to know, above all, Faithful to our quest, do not change your attire. Without forgetting, we respected The duty to see us, around the blazing fire, Willing to find this momentum among us Necessary and vital to pacified minds! From all continents and all orients, In this month of December, when nature calls The decline of life in conscious rest, Freemasons rise and join the ritual! Faithful to our ancestors, we are united In Peace and Love, to honor this day, Glory of the Grand Orient, Hope Revived Who will see our words heard from the most deaf! This is not a party where attendees Let go of their more or less delusional instincts Dominate their minds and go beyond the forbidden Thinking that tomorrow will be another life! It's not a party for all those idolaters Intoxicated by rumours, succumbing to fumes, Which hide the miseries and their indignity By believing that life is nothing but a theater! Death is behind us, we have passed it! Hope is in us, we must celebrate it! Those who initiated also hope in us Realize this dream a thousand times discarded! Erase the sadness of the children of Bombay, Dry the sad tears that water the skies, Save unjustly violated dignity! Keep away the carrion that offends the Gods! This call for more humanity, A hidden emotion that we dare to reveal, Her name is Hope, and she shines in the evening A thousand bright lights that only we can see! Our health is a wish, addressed to all those Which we freely chose To lead the herd of rebel initiates So that they may make the faithful word heard! Our health is nothing to praise, To all those who claim to support our words For we also know the fate of idols Who dared to profane the wisdom of heaven. Our health is balm to erase wounds To calm the suffering that plagues our lives To strengthen the bonds necessary for Peace To relieve sadness and restore desire. Music and words will be the first beats Then the flesh and the powder will boost the energy, And our united cries will launch to the stars The accents of a call for more truth. I dream of a party that is more than today A celebration extended to all initiates Who carves their mark over the year Which affirms our incredible hope in the world. May this holiday remind us of unceasing work That we must dedicate to the happiness of children Wonderful Innocents and Bringers of Light Incredulous sacrificed by the bullets of the perverts. Let this party exaggerate our endless appetite For fraternity, the cement of our bonds, The energy of our lives, the essential spring, Which still allows us to live among the dead! After such a long day, full of energy, Without a doubt, let's continue this marvelous project. Faithful to our quest, let's invent harmony, Let us affirm, loud and clear, a radiant renewal! Excerpt from the collection of poems "Masonic Emotions" - Editions Edilivre 2021 More info < /a>

To be free and to be aware of the attacks on freedom in the lodge The Masonic approach finds its credibility in the freedom granted to the initiate. This freedom can only be exercised insofar as it is accompanied by respect for that which the other also possesses. This dialectic is not easy to implement because many factors come into play: ​ What favors the exercise of freedom in the dressing room: equality mutual respect tolerance and kindness emulation valuing personal work ​ What thwarts the exercise of freedom in the lodge mediocrity the stupidity of psychorigid obsessive hyper-regulation fear the ambition of honors Two essential and existential questions: Why? How? Whatever the moment of a life, wouldn't our questioning be summed up in these two fundamental questions? Why do I live? Why am I unhappy? Why is he/she dead? How to be loved? How to be rich? How to be happy? Etc Depending on the cultures, the countries of the world where we are, the religion that we have been taught, the training that we have followed, the questions can differ according to the form and the answers can be more or less satisfactory. There are those who find answers and are satisfied with them and there are also those who are dissatisfied and who flit from answer to answer! Today, the questions that keep coming up seem to be: why this violence, this insecurity? How to protect yourself? How to be guaranteed? Why this unemployment and this poverty? How to put order? Couldn't we agree that the Masonic field provides more answers to the "how" than to the "why"? The Masonic approach, by proposing a method, a rule of the game, principles and an ideal, relies on reason and love to find solutions: this is why it is current and can satisfy a contemporary questioning. The "Why" is not always found in Masonic reflection and this is perhaps what explains the necessary tolerance and the essential open-mindedness towards the other because everyone can have different answers to these “whys”! Free in a free box: A "Wirthian" formula ​ It is Roger Dachez who on his on blog recalls the paternity of Oswald Wirth; famous Masonic author of the 19th century who invented this formula at the time when he frequented a lodge of the Scottish Symbolic Grand Lodge, an obedience known for the presence among its members of many brothers with libertarian fiber. ​ Nevertheless, the formula is beautiful and sends us back to our own responsibility. ​ To understand it again, you have to go back to the issue of life in the lodge: Presentation of the Masonic problem The usual organization of Masonic life is organized from two organizational levels: ​ - The lodge: this is the basic structure which includes a variable number of members (between 20 and 100, sometimes more); its operation is very structured and takes place according to a ritual (each lodge is free to choose the ritual that suits it). A dozen officers have defined roles. ​ - Obediential structures: the lodges are free to group together in a federal structure, the obedience, which generally takes the name of Grand Lodge (other denominations are possible). ​ For the vast majority of Freemasons, most of the Masonic experience takes place at the lodge level. With seniority and depending on the circumstances, it happens that the Masonic experience also concerns obediential life (i.e. the convent, regional congresses, inter-lodge relations). ​ At all levels, the functioning of lodges and obediences is not free from problems that should be addressed with lucidity in order to consider credible and realistic solutions. ​ In the vast majority of cases, the difficulties encountered relate to interpersonal relationships. ​ There is also the question of the difficult balance between a principle of freedom and therefore of responsibility and obligations of all kinds that do not fail to enamel daily life. ​ The formula "To be free in a free lodge" or "A free mason in a free lodge" popularized by Oswald Wirth, prolix Masonic author of the end of the XIXth century and the beginning of the XXth, deserves to be specified in a modern and contemporary perspective. ​ The freedom of the Freemason and the Freemason is a concept that has been added to the Masonic tradition in the context of the development of the reference to the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. ​ This notion of freedom completes the notion of "Masonic duties" which, it must be said, is applied in a very variable way according to the lodges. ​ Freedom only has meaning within the framework of the Masonic project which aims to improve "Man and Society". ​ Freedom for the Freemason (and the Freemason) is not easy but for the lodge, it is even more difficult because the obediential constraints lead, in essence, to a limitation of the freedom of the lodges , because these need an obedience that is able to play its role. ​ To understand, two prerequisites can help: have an overview of the different spaces in which the Freemason is positioned at one time or another, and imbibe the moral dimension that must always prevail, altruism. The spaces of the Masonic course: 7 and more When one has some experience of Masonic life, one can differentiate at least seven spaces in which find themselves, at one time or another, the sisters and the brothers: The space of the temples: and first of all the temple of the mother lodge and those that we visit; the temple is the lodge itself with its decoration, the courts, the wet room and for large temples, other rooms. It is naturally the space most frequented by all, the one we discover when we change direction. Each temple has its own personality and there are some that we like more than others. The space of intellectuals: it is first of all the space of Masonic libraries, book fairs, bookstores; there is a universe of generous ideas that flourished during the era of Enlightenment Europe in the 18th century; it is still referred to today because big names in philosophy, science and the arts have taken an interest in it and it is still rewarding. It is an unorganized space frequented by individuals according to personal research; it is in this space that we encounter atheist and anarchist expressions that sometimes clash! One sometimes has the impression today that Masonic intellectuals are more interested in historical and bibliographical research than in other themes. The obedience space: it is a space of an organizational universe: the seats of the obediences, the regional congresses, the convents and the prestigious events where the obedient staff must be present; the obediences function as institutions with regulations, historical references and an indirect elective mode which secrete an intermediate caste; everyone can enter this space, but to have a place there requires time, patience and a good knowledge of the procedures and practices; language holds a very important place because it is a space where the mastery of the verb imposes; as in any institution, there are layers of power: lodges, regions, convent, council of the order and great mastery for some! The mode of operation requires immobility and conservatism and it takes exceptional personalities to be able to impose a change! The space of rites: it is a space parallel to obediences with a logic of their own: the language is a little different there, and the progression is made according to the degrees of each rite to access a more subdued power! Although the rites seek to refer to a certain esotericism, their sociology concerns a different, more traditionalist and pragmatic public. The space of networks : they are diverse and varied both in size and in the subjects that justify them; each network has its specificity: professional, business, political, union, associative, religious, ethnic, mystical or other; networks can be formal or informal, fraternal or informal; the networks often function by reference to a personality so that their vitality is very variable according to times and circumstances; Francafrique is one example among others, certainly not the most rewarding, with a fraternal and other more or less formal organizations! Networks are often the basis of Masonic recruitment: for example, comrades from parties, unions, business clubs, or ministerial cabinets are very often contacted by their "colleagues" to enter a lodge, where their entry is will usually pass without any problems! The space of the networks is very particular because under cover of a Masonic language, the objective is always self-interested: from the constitution of address books to the search for favors through commercial offers, not to mention the search for "sensitive" information! The esoteric space: they concern sisters and brothers interested in a deepening of what are called "traditional sciences" whether, for example, astrology, occultism, the Kabbalah, the tarot, Martinism with its spiritualism or magical practices; for example, Martinism, very popular with the sisters, seems to influence a not insignificant current but which wishes to remain in a certain discretion; in Africa, the esoteric investment in the hope of having the possession of magical practices is a strong motivation for membership. The stewardship space: it is a more intimate space: outside the temple there are the technical rooms, the kitchens, the technical meetings to ensure that everything is put in order; each lodge works a bit like a meeting club with its regulars, its friendly practices and its temperament; in this space, only what concerns the life of the lodge matters! the veneer of Masonic practice is of course present but in fact it is not the most important! This space concerns only a small proportion of brothers or sisters but they are generally the pillars of the lodge: they are the ones who take care of stewardship and practical matters; they ensure the sustainability of the lodge and are among the most diligent! These spaces obviously interpenetrate according to the periods of the lives and experiences of the brothers and sisters. In the context of an elderly population, the decline in vitality plays a big role and if the obedient space rather attracts the 40-60 year olds, that of the rites concerns rather the upper age groups! And then, there are surely other spaces we could talk about and in particular: the space of public places, such as bars and cafes run by brothers where it is fun to meet at random for a drink, the space for solitaries: they are not very demanding, are rather discreet and conformist, keeping a certain distance from events; their Masonic initiation is not the essence of their lives and their participation varies according to the circumstances; they constitute the "deep" Freemasonry which is rather legitimist and without passion! The Masonic approach: an apprenticeship in altruism To the question “Being initiated what did you get? » the most frequent answers seem to be: I learned to be more tolerant I am more composed when I speak in public I made connections, sincere friends I discovered topics of interest that I did not know about My loved ones find me changed There is another area that could be highlighted: learning to be altruistic. Altruism, which is defined as a "benevolent disposition towards others, based on sympathy" is not something innate in a society where, from an early age, we are educated in confrontation, in the "fight for life", in the use of all the "tricks" to extract an advantage or a prebend. Religions talk about altruism but most often it is only for their members. Learning about altruism in the lodge goes beyond the limits of the temple because it applies to our charism. Altruism cannot be decreed because it requires many changes in behavior: First, learn to listen to others: it's not so easy, especially if you feel like you're hearing the beginning of a story you've already heard or if what you listening is riddled with obvious errors or misinterpretations. And yet, you have to listen without reacting until the end because it is a mark of respect for the other. Learn not to criticize for the conscious or unconscious pleasure of dismantling an argument: criticism has no interest if it remains at a negative stage; we are not obliged to agree from the moment we agree to share values, an approach, a mode of relationship. Learn not to convince: you think like this, I think otherwise, but that does not prevent us from having a dialogue because neither of us wants to convince our counterpart! No matter the different opinions as long as we all agree to transform this world which in some ways displeases us; whatever the path chosen, if this initiate accepts me with my difference! Learn to understand the suffering of the other: suffering most often hidden, sometimes shameful, but which explains many behaviors and many opinions. An individual is not just a declaration of intention on philosophical subjects; this has its source in a lived experience and Masonic work can help to express this lived experience! Also learn not to want to be right in front of others; this humility is difficult to acquire because we always tend to want to justify ourselves or to revolt in front of what we consider to be ineptitude. Finally, understand that you have to let time do its work, that no deadline justifies wanting to find an answer to everything without delay! OK, let's see that we don't have the same point of view and then we'll talk about it a little later! All this learning can be done in the dressing room: How many sterile debates could be avoided! How many beginnings of internal quarrels would deflate before doing their sad job! Everything would be easier! Altruism is of course a virtue of peace but it is even more: it is real brain food that brings powerful stimulation to thought to offer our organic functioning real harmony and real serenity. . To live altruism is therefore also to ensure a personal return that will help us to live better. The Masonic approach helps us to develop our altruistic feelings for our sisters and our brothers but also for all the living beings we meet; in this sense, it is exceptional. Without proselytizing, we can bring to others an exemplary testimony of the merits of our approach.

If the doctor of today has become a technician, he remains the heir of the sorcerer-healer of ancient times when he was also the doctor of souls and the one who best knew the mysteries of the initiation. The function of the witch doctor in the tribal model One cannot understand the complexity of the concept of initiation, with the ambiguity of certain interpretations, without referring to the major social functions that allowed the tribal group to function; classically, there are three, which are found in different formats depending on the culture of the tribe: Socialization processes, The need to ensure the intellectual and moral development of individuals, The need to organize the expression of group members so that consensus reigns in the tribe. The need to ensure intellectual and moral fulfillment was described in different chapters; one of them concerned the taking into account of the need for spirituality; this was the function of the sorcerer-healer. It was he who knew how to appease the spirits and sanctify major events. It was the Sorcerer who provided the answers to the fundamental questions: Where are we from? What are we? and Where are you going? He was also the medium between the tribe and the world of mysteries; he knew how to implement the ritual practices necessary to ensure the spiritual protection of the tribal group. He was also the one who was able to understand the dysfunctions of the body and the mind; to regulate them, he knew how to use both healing rituals and traditional pharmacopoeia. To do this, he had a corpus of legends and myths of which he was the custodian and which he knew how to use when the time came and according to methods adapted to the circumstances. In a way, the sorcerer-healer was the doctor of body and souls. Under the guidance of the sorcerer-healer of the tribe, the older adolescents acceded to adult status during an initiation ceremony, a real rite of passage intended to welcome and transmit a collective responsibility that new initiates will have to assume. This explains why, in its very essence, this type of initiation is first and foremost an act of socialization. This modeling of the function of the sorcerer-healer in tribal society is found in other ancient societies with naturally their own particularities. An evolution to take into account even if a need remains! The evolution of human societies and the progress of knowledge have led to the virtual disappearance of tribal functioning. While initiations persist in some villages, particularly in Africa, they are practiced in a watered-down, less involving form, and the witch-healer has become the master of ceremonies. The increasing complexity of knowledge has also led to a specialization of social functions; thus was born the profession of doctor (the term refers to one who gives remedies or medicines) which itself has diversified into a multitude of specialties. All in all, today, in contemporary society, where technicality has become expertise, the doctor no longer has any function that falls within the scope of the sacred. But if tribal functioning has disappeared, the fact remains that the essential needs of the human group persist, whether it is the need for socialization, the intellectual and moral development of individuals or the need for consensus to acquire cohesion and pacification of populations. Economic development, the multiplication of exchanges, the popularization of knowledge, the demographic reality and the existence of multiple poles of power explain that contemporary human societies have, despite an apparent insolent success, a problem of coherence and many internal fractures. While the performance of contemporary societies is remarkable in economic terms, with access to comfort and material security for a large part of the population, the disorders of all kinds that make headlines in the news clearly show the reality of a societal malaise linked in part to existential angst, the absence of consensus and an unsatisfied moral quest. We saw this during the covid-19 epidemic; Faced with the absence of a moral authority capable of responding to the deep concerns of the population, multiple voices from different backgrounds have emerged to try to fill this void. At the individual level, in each family, in each small community, human beings are looking around for answers. This is particularly the case for essential questions concerning the cause of seemingly incomprehensible events. Spontaneously, and this is a sort of proof of affiliation with the era of tribal groups, the answers sought are found, almost always, in what is of the order of magical thought. If, officially, the doctor no longer has the function of the sorcerer-healer, the fact remains that, in the singular colloquy between the doctor and his patient, the magic dimension still exists today in our Western society, most often implicitly; you have to know how to decipher it through the words used. Having had the opportunity to practice medicine in France, Africa or Oceania, in urban or village settings, in completely different cultural backgrounds, I can testify that, when the conditions of trust and secrecy are united, human beings, whatever their environment, question the doctor, in the register of magical thought, being persuaded that his quality as a doctor gives him "the expertise" to provide a credible answer. What does it matter to them that a disease has a viral origin? “Doctor, ever since I saw this person, it hasn't been going well for me! Doctor, your hand has healed me! , "Keep going, do what he must!” “Doctor, I saw it in your eyes, you understood me; I am bewitched (or marabouted)! » The essence of magical thinking could be summed up in the issue of "protection". The sick person is convinced that his illness is of external origin and that the absence of "protection" has allowed it to do its work. The doctor, like the sorcerer-healer of old, alone has the "power" to provide "protection" because he, as an "initiate" knows! These confidences resulting from the singular dialogue between patients and a doctor are naturally exceptional in the context of medical practice. But their lives in very different conditions cannot leave anyone indifferent. They also provide an understanding of what initiation really is in traditional popular thought. Different categories of initiation In popular thought, there are clearly two broad categories of initiation: What could be called the “great” initiation: it concerns that of the ancient sorcerers-healers, whom some have also called the high priests or “the great initiates”. In tribal society, it was most often a family initiation with the transmission of magical power during a very particular ritual. It was part of what is now called esoteric initiation: The initiate initiates an individual he has chosen and the latter will later be led to do the same to transmit. It is clear that the notion of transmission is an important factor of legitimacy; it is through it that the new initiate acquires his power! And the “small” initiation: this category includes both rites of passage and corporate rites; Masonic initiation also falls into this category. These are “belonging” initiations which consist, in a way, of issuing an “authorization” to practice. The initiate is recognized or "accepted" because of his qualities and his knowledge but, unlike the "great" initiation, he will not acquire any power. The common point of these two categories of initiation is found in what could be a definition: initiation leads to the acquisition of either power or knowledge. In the great initiation, it is a question of the power relative to the intervention on what were formerly called “the mysteries”; in the small initiation, it is a know-how, in particular for the operative initiations, or a knowledge of the unspeakable for the speculative initiations. In popular thought, the “great” initiation enjoys considerable respect but also causes a certain dread linked to the fear of unwanted influence. This is how, in particular circumstances, the human being seeks "the great" initiate who will know how to save him, and it is this search that can be perceived in certain medical consultations. It is very difficult to answer it but the simple fact of understanding it and not rejecting it is very important for the person in pain. In the mystical process, there is not strictly speaking an “initiation”; we enter the register of “revelation” or “possession”, with a direct relationship between the applicant and God (or his equivalent). The mystical quality does not have a vocation to have a social dimension if not in a desire for apology and glorification of a God (or his equivalent). As Mircea Iliade writes in “Initiation, rite, secret societies”, religions have banned initiation! “ It has often been asserted that one of the characteristics of the modern world is the disappearance of initiation. Of paramount importance in traditional societies, initiation is nowadays practically non-existent in Western society. Certainly, the different Christian denominations retain, to a varying extent, traces of an initiatory mystery. Baptism is essentially an initiation rite; the priesthood includes an initiation. But we must not forget that Christianity only triumphed and became a universal religion because it broke away from the climate of the Greco-Oriental Mysteries and proclaimed itself a religion of salvation open to all. .” When fake news testifies to societal malaise! This reflection also provides an explanation for the phenomenon of more or less delusional remarks circulating on social networks. It is tempting, for some, to denigrate them, to condemn them or even to make fun of them or to categorize them as conspirators. In fact, it is another form of expression of magical thinking. You have to know how to respect it, understand it and also respond to it, not by using rational logic but by providing credible answers to this existential concern that torments people.

It is clear that the inventors of Freemasonry were surely not particularly research-oriented of an existential harmony as we define it today! Concerned by religious and social issues, they designed the operation of a lodge based on major principles such as freedom and certainly inspired by what could be done in certain circles of the time. . Although the history of Masonic obediences can be understood as an accumulation of mystical-political and business drifts, Masonic thought has continued to arouse the interest of generations and in particular of intellectuals in many countries. As soon as a movement is created, the collective dimension imposes a certain simplification to facilitate membership. For Freemasonry it is more complicated because the active level by nature rich and complex, is at the level of the lodge while the inevitably poor and reductive public expression takes place at the level of obedience. With time and the evolution of knowledge, with work on the functioning of the brain, we come today to reconsider Masonic work at the level of the lodge and to discover its potential. real in what could be called the learning of Wisdom! This intrinsic richness of Masonic thought is not, despite everything, automatic; it assumes a certain number of conditions to avoid the trap of mediocrity in which many lodges succumb for multiple reasons! The objective of this contribution is to propose a possible explanation of the conditions of emergence of this Masonic work conducive to an emulation of collective thought and also to the emergence of a harmonious individual feeling. Four prerequisites play a prominent role: 1 – The ritual: Experience shows that, whatever the ritual, as long as it is staged in a serious and solemn way, we obtain silence, concentration and a meditation. It is a conditioning of the individual in the group which plays the role of stimulation. For the ritual to play its role, several conditions must be met: The reappropriation of the ritual by the group that forms the lodge; The participation of everyone in order to eliminate interference, The quality of the officiants and the mastery of their role, The integration of meditation time for participants When the ritual resembles a litany, it loses its interest, is no longer followed and leads to rejection. 2 – The fundamental Masonic values: There are four of them: Freedom of conscience, Tolerance and mutual respect, The search for perfection, Universalism. These fundamental Masonic values must naturally be sincerely shared and lived as the basic foundation of the Masonic community. Each lodge can naturally add others on the condition that the added values are not incompatible with these. 3 – The relay function between tradition and modernity: imbued with biblical references, open to the occult, Freemasonry also claims a certain progressivism. This gives it a central position making it possible to make a link between the different civilizations in a universal dimension which explains its polycultural relevance. 4 – The pedagogy of degrees: Traditional Freemasonry is practiced in three degrees which refer us to a biblical content, a frame of reference for the main rituals; each degree also has a specific symbolic content and a particular function: The 1st degree corresponds to learning the two fundamental tools that are the mallet and the chisel; there is also at the 1st degree the ability to become impregnated with the knowledge of about thirty symbols which form what we could call our protective symbolic universe: the number 3, the rough stone, the cubic stone with a point, the square, the compass, the level, the plumb line, the Volume of the Sacred Law, the two columns with the letters B and J, the box table, the mosaic pavement, the sun, the moon, the chain of union, the flaming sword, the ordinary sword, the apron, the white gloves, the cords, the baldric, the luminous delta, the rough stone, the tracing board with the X and the #, the jagged tassel, the black and white balls, the three windows and in certain rites the three columns. Understanding the concept of protective symbolic universe makes it possible to globalize the synergy of symbols and to appropriate them. The particular function of the first degree is naturally the break with the profane world and the highlighting of the need for progressiveness in the acquisition of knowledge. The 2nd degree is the degree of work, of the beginning of the realization of the work within the framework of a collective concern; to do this, 2 new tools appear: The lever and the ruler; three other symbols are presented: the number 5, the letter G and the blazing star. The 3rd degree is the degree of completeness (it is for this reason that the "side degrees" are not part of the specifically Masonic curriculum). A new tool: the trowel; four new symbols: the numbers 7 and 8, the step of the master (mistress) and the acacia, symbol of Masonic resilience. The encounter with an original scenography leads us into what could be understood as our destiny: betrayal, death and resilience! The synergy of these four components of Masonic work is not obvious; this presupposes a reappropriation by the initiate/initiate of these different cognitive approaches with one objective: the acquisition of harmony and a certain wisdom. This is only possible through a process of self-training where all the Masonic symbolic achievements come to complete a philosophical and psychological knowledge. We can imagine the importance of the personal work that this implies. In such a configuration, we understand the need to revolutionize work in the dressing room by favoring 3rd degree outfits, which should be much more frequent than at present. The different aspects of Masonic work Like all work, Masonic work offers dignity to the Freemason and Freemason who carry it out. Even if it is essentially intellectual work, there is also a social component because it is accompanied by meetings and sharing. Beyond the approaches presented, we can define three levels of expression of this Masonic work: 1 / The primary level which could be likened to secular work: It is essential to maintain the cohesion of the Masonic community whether at the level of the lodge, the obedience or more broadly in inter-obediential relations; this implies organizational, managerial, accounting qualities and also an ability to speak in a public relations dimension. 2 / The psychological level: It is essential to avoid the risk of transfer and allows real fraternity to live. The acquisition of a certain degree of Wisdom involves self-training in detachment, letting go and benevolence. 3 / The philosophical level: It feeds both on purely Masonic reflections and on the contributions of great contemporary philosophers in a universal dimension! Each Freemason, each Freemason is led to develop a personal reflection on each of these levels. It is clear that the collective exploitation of the personal contributions of each one, each one, deserves more investment so that the "feed back" is done! In conclusion Everyone knows that Masonic investment is a modular system that ranges from simple coffee shop cronyism to a demanding philosophical commitment accompanied by personal transformation; this one testifies that Masonic thought is not “wind”! It is clear that if the collective level is often disappointing, parasitized by quarrels of ego, and suspicious ambitions of conflicts of interest, personal work is possible with an unlimited field of investigation! It is in this field of personal work nourished by the experience of participating in Masonic outfits that we must work! This Masonic work is part of a global process of self-training: by definition, there is no Master or Mistress in Freemasonry! It is naturally first of all research and learning; then it's a critical analysis and finally it's a meditative practice! Even if it is difficult, it is still possible to see lodges regain a taste for cultivating our specificities with high standards and rigor. The responsibility of the lodge is first of all to provide support to facilitate the self-training that falls to each of us. There is no Grand Lodge without the involvement of all its members in quality collective work!

Editor's Note: We are honored to welcome a new contributor; Camelia López is an Argentine sister who already has a solid experience of Freemasonry. He has very kindly agreed to give us his point of view on the experience of Freemasonry in South America. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. They say that if you seek, you will find. But it was not my case. I was not on a search when I found Freemasonry. However, today I cannot get out what Freemasonry has been building inside me and the response of my environment to that enormous change that operated in me. Freemasonry has brought me together with a group of people I wouldn't have met if I hadn't been initiated. I will always appreciate the opportunity they gave me to share my thoughts and knowledge. But more than that, I appreciate what you shared with me. I have had the joy of being able to travel through Argentina, my country, and learn about the idiosyncrasies of other regions and the way in which they practice Freemasonry. In a country like Argentina, long distances are the least of the problems. Different climates make people live in different ways. There are areas with a greater predominance of religion or conservatism. Even the monetary income, for the same work, varies significantly from one zone to another. Furthermore, Argentina is a country of immigrants par excellence. But to the north there are more Latin American immigrants and to the south there are more European immigrants. All of them leave their mark on the Argentines. These abysmal differences among Argentines generate a lack of consensus when it comes to managing a national organization. On the other hand, the density of the population has a special influence on Freemasonry, generating the agglomeration of lodges in a few points of the country to the detriment of provinces with fewer inhabitants. People who have had the opportunity to be more active in Grand Lodges and Grand Orients always notice an inconsistency between what is said and what is done. There is widespread confusion, accompanied by misinformation or the total absence of a coherent response with the purposes of Freemasonry as an Institution and as a way of life. As a consequence, the Institution wanders between personalities that generate disunity and conflicts without reaching all corners of my country. This space gives me the opportunity to offer my opinions and read other people in order to find that new direction that Freemasonry has to take in our times. That is the reason that drives me to write these lines waiting for a response from those who want to share what they know with me in pursuit of a fairer and more fraternal Freemasonry. Carmela Lopez To learn more about Freemasonry in Argentina Noelia Antonelli and Sergio Goycochea tour the "Casa de la Ciudadanía" in Buenos Aires, a place that brings together more than 400 lodges from all over the country. Freemasonry is a powerhouse of ideas in which people participate that have totally different points of view. These" organizations function as a "place of agreement" where various issues are discussed in which favorable resolutions for the citizens are reached.

We are fortunate to live in a time when we benefit from both traditional knowledge and considerable contemporary knowledge; although there are still a lot of discoveries to be made, all the knowledge made available to us puts us in a special situation compared to our predecessors who were often reduced to guesswork. If today, the audience of Freemasonry is not up to our expectations, despair is not the solution! As you know, the purpose of this site is to help restore Strength and Vigor! It is possible to do better! Understanding why today we are not playing our role and how to achieve this is the objective of this article! The initiation process as it usually takes place is left to the initiative of the lodges, which for the most part organize the operation on the basis of a ritual to which is added the presentation of boards of reflection on different topics. Overall, Masonic work essentially corresponds to self-training! It is a self-training because essentially it is the personal research work that will allow us to acquire clear thinking, dignified behavior and respectable confidence! Remember that Freemasonry is not an esotericism insofar as we have no spiritual master! It is also a collective self-training because all the members of the lodge follow the same path with variations of course; there is, to a certain extent, an inter-reaction in particular for the "twins". Moreover, the training sessions organized by the supervisors can have an influence. This self-training has a ritual character which can be a difficulty when it is not understood. This self-training feature is very demanding and time consuming and perhaps it is not explained enough! The history of Freemasonry could be summed up in the history of the biases that made the initial project problematic. What can be the point today of meeting in an enclosed place? Ape the religions? Playing the politicians? Turn the tables and see the dead appear? Become zombies? Predict the future? Obtain the martingale of success and wealth? Submit to authority to hope to have the 33rd cord? Looking for support to get a good place? There are better things to do! In our humble opinion, it is the specificity of the Masonic Lodge to offer a place, a method to access Knowledge and Wisdom! It still has to be done properly. During that time, the world has changed! Today, chaos reigns! He rules at such a level that survival on our planet is in question! This world needs Peace and Reason, this is also the meaning of the Masonic approach! In the definition of Wisdom, universal brotherhood holds a great place! It is what allows us this benevolent approach, this ability to listen and this respect which encourages us not to feel hatred, to be fundamentally pacifist and to know how to forgive the offenses which could be addressed to us!< /p> Wisdom is also the search for Peace! Peace in our thoughts, societal peace too! It is also this societal peace that the initiators of English Freemasonry were looking for and we will come back to this. If the Masonic approach still has meaning today, after more than three hundred years of existence, it is because the reason for its creation remains. : find social peace between groups in perpetual conflict! Objectively, we live in 2022 in a prospect that promises to be dramatic: wars, environmental crisis, extreme poverty in certain continents! This Masonic approach for Peace is all the more necessary! Initiation is the act that allows you to enter this process! It is a commitment to work to achieve this societal agreement that is so lacking! But everyone is left to their fate! Becoming a Freemason today has meaning: try to acquire this wisdom that will give meaning to our lives! How to facilitate this achievement is the objective of this reflection! A prerequisite: a freedom to establish and respect! Isn't one of the lessons of our own history to see the futility of a dirigisme that would like to be imposed on everyone? Whether in the lodge or at the obedience level, the search for consensus must be privileged. Freedom is also accepting different ways of being as long as they respect other ways of doing things. Several approaches to the initiatory process can co-exist without being contradictory! The important thing is that everyone advocates this "living together" made of tolerance, a search for harmony and peace. Improve the functioning of obediences Each obedience has a history and it is understandable that those and/or those who belong to it want to preserve their specificity. To bring together the obediences so that a certain pooling improves their operations, it is clear that the federal mode is the most suitable. A federation of denominations could allow progressiveness, learning and consolidation. Progress in pooling activities to potentiate solutions! Learning about mutual knowledge, possible sharing and setting up new collaborative tools. Consolidation: step by step we can hope that this federal organization will improve trust and the services provided. Each obedience would retain its organizational chart and only the delegated areas would be managed by the federal structure; a service could be created to manage relations between the different persuasions, propose initiatives and anticipate developments. The ideal would be that this pooling concern all European persuasions. Improve the functioning of the lodges First challenge: the training of lodge officers This is one of the observations that we can draw from our common history: knowing the crucial role played by the officers of a lodge, it is essential, for a lodge to benefit from a group dynamic, that they are properly trained. This training could take the form of five training weekends spread over the course of a year. Second challenge: Study the relevance of collaborative tools intended to facilitate the emergence of collective intelligence. Third challenge: Study the advisability of creating other forms of Masonic meeting to adapt to social realities. If the Masonic dress with its staging of the ritual is a major moment in our approach, other modes of meeting can be conceived for different reasons: Getting to know each other better; To raise methodological technical issues; Implement training; Keep a link despite the distance; Allow pre-membership to better discover what the Masonic approach entails; Allow post-membership to maintain contact in situations of relative remoteness for medical or other reasons. Several forms of meeting can be developed, each one would be related to a particular problem. This approach is also an element of success for societal peace! The Masonic approach is thus a response to a societal expectation to create the conditions for lasting peace! The responsibility of those responsible for lodges and obediences: the difficulty of setting up the conditions for this self-learning of Wisdom is obvious! In this sense, life in the lodge is a test: if those who have the responsibility of animating life in the lodge and in the obedience are not able to create the conditions for productive collective work, it's because they are not in their place and a sentence from the ritual reminds us of this: “Woe to the one who accepts a charge that he or she is unable to assume!” Many articles on this site talk about the pitfalls in which we can get stuck. In particular: For science in all conscience Finding his place< /p> The reason: OK, it's useful, we keep it! The Masonic group facing the challenge of 21st century group dynamics! The interest of a collective Masonic approach! Make the lodge a place where harmony, Joy and Responsibility must be able to bring out a real consensus and a real fraternity and be a model of social peace such could be the credo of a frank - uninhibited and unveiled modern masonry! If we accept to consider the Masonic approach as a self-training in Wisdom, it seems to me that this would facilitate personal research, it would avoid sterile polemics and it would encourage sharing and exchanges! When you follow this path, you quickly realize the importance of respecting irreproachable ethics and you can see how much this is one of the weak points in the functioning of Masonic institutions! Wisdom, Ethics, Rigor in commitment, three criteria that deserve to be respected! The weak point of self-training is naturally the difficulty of implementation; it would be necessary at least to have advice and a guide that allows to acquire the basic knowledge essential to develop a personal thought! Furthermore, it is clear that many sisters and brothers stick to simple ideas, sometimes to simplistic ideas! Finally, self-training does not necessarily promote exchanges and we observe a relative loneliness! In this solitude the temptation is great to be seduced by commercial Masonic training offers that cannot be intellectually credible! Faced with these realities, perhaps it would be desirable for Masonic denominations to offer their members the possibility of free access to training cycles that offer real credibility.

Asking for membership in a Masonic lodge is an act of joining with other individuals! As such, we can think that a collective approach is pending! There is the collective Masonic approach of the lodge to which one belongs and also that of the obedience to which the lodge belongs. We could also mention the collective approach of Freemasonry in general in relation to other organizations of civil society. At the level of the lodge: a requirement "A free mason in a free lodge!" (see the origin of this expression) Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, an old structure like a Masonic lodge functions on the basis of an anteriority which has fixed codes and rituals. The "how" imposes its mark while the "why" is hardly ever addressed. The beings meet again, make gestures as they have always been and return home! As the Masonic group functions, the exchanges are superficial and general; rarely personal involvement is put forward. Similarly, sharing most often boils down to the gestures of the encounter. Everyone is in their own world; we live together, we declaim, we also listen to beautiful words, but the main thing is the personal work that everyone can do! There are, of course, interferences with what is happening in the news, politics, the economy, the upheavals of nature; everyone can have other affiliations to other collective dynamics. But what is the specificity of Freemasonry? Historically, one could say that it is a political-philosophical movement with esoteric connotations playing a role of socialization. The search for cohesion and the desire to create a fraternal atmosphere often results in a mode of operation with a sectarian tendency where self-censorship and self-satisfaction dominate. Despite this, or because of it, lodge splitting and resignations are common. So that the lodges experience very varied moments of greater or lesser cohesion with dynamic periods and others of a certain lethargy, all this depending on the personality of the animators, their agreement or their disagreement. However, there are few processes of collective reflection that can restore shared meaning to a collective approach. What is a collective approach? Space for collective actions Collective actions vary along two dimensions: the mode of interaction used (ranging from personal to impersonal) and the mode of engagement felt. (ranging from entrepreneurial to institutional) among participants in collective action." (source ) Regrouping finds its justification in the will to implement a collective action intended to achieve one or more collectively defined and approved objectives. In a Masonic lodge, there are preliminary objectives "Improving man and society" for example, which remain very vague, are never questioned by the group and which do not arouse the desire to be explained. And these objectives rarely lead to the development of collective action projects. We can easily understand the contradiction that runs through the Masonic group: A collective dimension with imposed objectives, vague and without collective actions to achieve them! What's left? A place where a ritual is practiced which everyone is free to join or not! The collective dimension translates into two components: - get together to perform a ritual with dramatization, - the ability to build personal relationships with group members. At the level of obedience In each obedience, the definition of common objectives and the implementation of collective actions concern either charitable actions or various events (conferences, fairs, commemorations, exhibitions, for example) This generally concerns a minority of people who most of the time hold elective office. At the level of Freemasonry in general Sometimes press releases co-signed by officials are issued. this concerns the Grand Master of each obedience. This text does not specifically concern the Masonic group but do not you think that this description is often encountered in the lodge? Barriers to collective action: There are two kinds of collective action possible at the lodge level: - Collective action concerning objectives involving the internal life of the lodge - Collective action regarding externalizing goals - Obstacles at the dressing room: Lack of availability Low motivation The fear of revealing oneself for the manifestations of externalization Letting go, routine, "no waves, please and other reasons The different groups can be classified according to two essential criteria: The cohesion of the group (this criterion concerns the quality of the bonds existing between the members of the group: mutual aid, absence of internal divisions, benevolence) Freedom of initiative of members of the group: freedom of expression, consideration of individualities, ability to integrate specificities, mutual respect) The false societal/symbolic dialectic Most lodges operate without a compass: no thoughtful goals, no thoughtful actions! It is a question of putting on the agenda one or two boards and/or a ritual ceremony. and on the basis of one or two monthly meetings 10 months out of 12, the year goes by cahin-caha! Among the board themes, some workshops favor either themes related to social problems or symbolic themes! The reputation of the work in certain obediences means that the so-called societal boards are often accompanied by passionate interventions. In our humble opinion, it is not the theme that is in question but the poor organization of the speeches which transgresses the rule that in the lodge we do not argue, we do not judge, we transmit a proposal concerning a subject! Interventions must also be moderate and benevolent! The officers of the lodge who have the responsibility of organizing and animating the functioning of the Masonic group at the level of the lodge must ensure that the group effect does not disturb the dynamics of the group! It's very difficult ! To avoid this, the ideal would be on the one hand to ask the officers not to express their opinions, to always proceed by voting by black and white balls or by depositing proposals in a ballot box and to avoid a passionate environment. . What collective dynamic? As we said, participating in a group only makes sense if you want to be part of a collective dynamic that will set goals and actions to achieve these goals! Designing this collective approach requires a methodology that is not compatible with ritual work; this is usually done in so-called committee attire where the ritual is reduced to what concerns speaking Some examples: A dressing room is free; it can therefore decide collectively: - to work for one or more years on a favorite subject, for example "self-knowledge - once the theme has been determined, the whole lodge will have to decide on the actions to be implemented to achieve the chosen objective: speakers, work to be shared, animations, etc. At the obedience level Obedient collective commitment is often decided at the level of the council of the order; however, sometimes the convent has to set one or more objectives! Most of the time, it only affects a few members! This inability to mobilize all the members of an obedience on a specific objective with well-calibrated actions poses a problem! Is it due to a loss of meaning? At the level of Freemasonry, some interobediential actions manifest themselves in the form of a common press release: is it well suited to the requirements of communication? We can doubt it! Very few (if not none) collective action concerns an objective that could be common to several obediences! How to implement the collective intelligence of a group Working together, cooperating is one of the characteristics of human beings. This ability can be very effective in the field of work. Collective intelligence is “a state of maturity of a collective where the level of collective performance is very high”. Collective performance combines two factors: productivity (quality of resources, decision-making process) and positivity (M. MORAL, 2010). To allow the development of collective intelligence, it is necessary to know how to constitute a group made up of individuals with complementary skills, trusting each other, around a common project with objectives shared by all. This group must be animated, managed in order to promote: effective cooperation participant motivation and commitment the differentiation of tasks clear and accepted by all the expression of all recognition of member contributions Source: CEDIP This is, it seems to me, the criterion of the quality of functioning of a group of a philosophical nature as can be the Masonic group! Conclusion As we have seen, there is a real lack of collective Masonic commitment! Many authors of Masonic works seem to question the interest of a collective approach by valuing the individual initiatory approach supposed to make known the ecstasy of the mysteries! Everything is said to try to demonstrate that initiation causes an individual change that accompanies the discovery of a mystical dimension! For centuries, the same speech with personal variants: Seek and you will find! And in the meantime, silence! And that everyone draws from the literature of the various "wise men" of the "tradition", from ancient Egypt to the cabbala, including occultists, Knights Templar and other "Nibelungen". Easy speech since it is not asked to provide evidence or to evaluate the promises! Destructive discourse because during this time, any hint of collective dynamics is thrown away! It is as if high priests or high priestesses wanted to keep their hands on an immutable, colorful liturgy! And of course what better way to justify your rights than to exorcise the demon who claims to want to do "social" or "societal"! That all of this borders on the sidereal vacuum of delirium, that no scientific credibility is advanced, that many of these "gurus" have had paths that are disturbing to say the least, is not a problem: Truth is transcendence! If we claim to want to be serious, couldn't we go back to a proven rationality? It's no problem that the individual dimension allows all imaginations, but that adopting a collective structure does not translate into a search for a collective thought, that seems completely unreasonable! Apart from the charitable commitment highly developed by Anglo-Saxon obediences, we must note the lack of collective reflection carried out in a dispassionate way, the rarity of collective actions whatever the level concerned which can be considered as an overcoming of individual thought! All of this is regrettable but also explains a certain disenchantment of those who do not understand our specificity! It is also damaging to society as a whole because we seem unable to play our role as promoters of a center of union. And yet, this current deficiency deserves serious inter-obediential reflection! Everyone has to win! Each obedience can keep its specificity without fear of being manipulated! Collectively define one or more objectives, then set the terms of action and get to work! Then evaluate what has been done! Other ways of seeing The study of symbolism is essential to the construction of the Freemason? How to become responsible individually and collectively? The influence of Freemasonry on the development of the norm under the Fifth Republic Operation of a masonic lodge Masonic Lodge Facing Perverse Temptations FAQ of those and those who suffer in the lodge! Freedom in the lodge, until 'where? To be under the influence! A risk for all!

Directory of Masonic lodge websites (mainly French speaking) Directory of French-speaking Masonic sites Directory of English-speaking Masonic sites Ranking of French Masonic sites with the most audience (December 2022)

The crossing of the coffin is not a frequent gesture in the various rites practiced by human beings. In Freemasonry, it is practiced three times during the last three steps of the master's (mistress') march, on the occasion of the ceremony of elevation to mastery. In some rituals, stepping over is interpreted as the evocation of a vertical dimension. In reality, this ritual practice of crossing over in a Masonic ritual is particular; without any obvious, coherent and logical symbolic content. Especially since we do not find this gesture in Christian rites. Everything happens as if it were a magic gesture of possession and transmutation that allows the transfer of the soul of the deceased to the soul of the celebrant by activating his resurrection. It would look more like a popular animist practice! This crossing ritual is found in mortuary rites in Africa; here is a description: The ritual of "stepping over" consisted of speaking in front of all witnesses to say or reaffirm one's loyalty and probity which one has shown towards a father or a mother during one's life on earth. effect, when it was a question of the death of an old man, after the announcement of the death and as soon as the preparations are completed for the burial, in addition to the rites of washing or body, of taking the last meal and dog slaughter (only for the burial of men in some Moose communities), before the rite of the last round of the mortuary plot, the rite of stepping over the frame takes place. on its terrace. All the sons, daughters and relatives are invited to come and give a last testimony of their loyalty and fidelity to the deceased. Each candidate for the exercise, stops in front of the frame and pronounces the discourse like: "During your lifetime I have never betrayed you or told lies about you, even less done what is forbidden towards you. If I did, you who are in your truth, don't leave me. If I have not been loyal to you only in complicity with the ancestors, you grab my foot to bring me there”. He straddles the body three (3) and the women four (4) times. It is therefore necessary to know that when you have committed a package, it is better not to venture. Examples of crimes can be infidelity in the couple, rape, theft, slander and slander having led to serious damage to the morality and/or notoriety of the deceased during his lifetime. When a candidate is at fault and strives to perform this rite, the harbinger of his next punishment will be to stumble or fall in public, proof that the deceased has entered to "catch his foot". (Sources: Dr Patrice KOURAOGO, Research Fellow, Sociologist at CNRST-INSS) A mortuary practice present in the West Indies On the one hand, "The women tidied the house, covered the mirrors white sheets and adorn the bed with the finest attributes after a board has been placed on the mattress to keep the body straight. It was also a tradition to have all those who feared the dead straddle the remains ». (Source: Antilles: Funeral rites of yesteryear) Pesach and the crossing over Everyone knows that Passover is the name of a Jewish holiday; Bernard Marquier in his book From Moses to Hiram: And if that was Freemasonry?" refers to Passover: But not everything is simple because in the Jewish tradition, there is also a ban on stepping over! The enjambment is also... a versification technique used in poetry Rejection at the beginning of the next verse of one or more words essential to understanding the meaning of the first verse (Source CNRTL) In conclusion: The stepping over of the empty coffin in the Ritual of Rise to Mastery is a gestural symbol with no logical explanation; except ignorance on our part, this symbolism is not found in any Christian tradition of the end of the Middle Ages. We have to keep looking! Source: - Survival of the Dead - Three small steps…towards the March of the Master - The rite of the dance of the corpse and the transfer of the geniuses of a deceased among the Baatombù of North Benin Thank you in advance for sharing with us your contribution to the knowledge of the symbolism of the stepping into the elevation ritual of the Master Mason (Mason Mistress)!

Editor's note: We are very honored by the confidence shown in us by BAF Luca by authorizing us to reproduce the board that you will read below which deals in a particularly innovative way with this traditional symbol.< /p> The Creative Star All matter around us is made up of atoms. Atoms are the building blocks of all things. They are rather round and composed of a dense ball-shaped nucleus surrounded by tiny electrons. It is possible to classify them by size. The smallest is hydrogen, next is helium. Together these two atoms represent 98% of the known matter in the universe. At the origin of our universe, 14 billion years ago, these two atoms probably constituted all known matter. Nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, silver, for example, did not exist at the time. Inside a star like the sun, the temperature reaches almost 20 million degrees. The hydrogen atoms are stripped of their electrons and are nothing more than bare nuclei which form a kind of plasma subjected to the crushing energy linked to the gravitational pressure which reigns in the heart of the star: they have no no choice but to stick together and merge. This is thermonuclear fusion. The creation of large nuclei by agglutination of smaller nuclei. These new nuclei, which have become heavy, as they move away from the core, find electrons and become new atoms. Thus are born nitrogen, oxygen, carbon or silver, etc. The core of a star is a huge thermonuclear fusion powerhouse forced by nature to forge matter. All the heavy atoms present on Earth, all the atoms essential to life, including those that make up our body, were once created in the center of a star. We are stardust. We breathe, we drink, we eat, we touch, we love stardust. Without stars life would not exist. But to allow life, the star must die. Because if these atoms are in us, around us, it is because they come from vanished stars. When two atoms merge in the heart of the star to form a larger nucleus, part of their mass disappears. The mass of the new nucleus is less than the sum of the masses of the nuclei that gave birth to it. The missing mass is transformed into energy by virtue of the famous formula: E=mc². Obviously the missing mass during each merger is very low, but there are so many nuclei merging in the heart of the star every second that the total energy released is colossal. This energy produced radiates out into space. It warms us and ripens the many ears of wheat and pomegranate fruits as it causes roses and mimosa to grow. As long as the fusion has enough to feed, as long as there are enough small nuclei to merge, the star lives. Then when the nuclear fuel runs out, the star contracts, its energy production no longer being sufficient to oppose gravitation, the matter becomes more and more concentrated, a new and ultimate fusion reaction takes place. then engages which dominates and surpasses gravitation. So the star grows, grows. Gravitation is defeated. The star explodes. This fatal explosion of the star disseminates in space all the atoms forged during its existence, plus a few others formed during the final explosion, such as gold, forming immense clouds of interstellar dust which may give birth to new stars or new worlds. And allow life. Thus, following a long process that began billions of years ago, a cloud of stardust gave birth to the Earth. And to each of us. The star is therefore the first forge, where all matter is born, where the buried or rather constituent metals of our planet and its depths are born, from which they will have to be extracted to bring them back to their original purity by fire, air and water, the work of the Tubal-Cainite blacksmiths. I will not approach here the figure of Tubalcain which could inspire a work in the first degree. But it is indeed thus again by the fire that rings will be reborn in their purity of stellar metal. Masonic symbolism therefore distinguishes pure metal from metals that should be abandoned because they are symbols of earthly vanities, the most obvious of which is money in its polysemy describing both a metal and also a fiduciary medium. The second impure by nature in our culture when it is basically only intended to guarantee the fairness of the exchanges therefore the confidence as its etymology indicates. It is therefore less the nature of the metal that is in question than the excesses of its use that pervert its purity. But also the duality of everything. Iron can be used to forge the ploughshare like the sword, the instrument of life like the instrument of death. And the money of the penny as much to corrupt as to give a fair wage. We can add that the gold of the piece is rarely pure because it is too soft, but rather in the form of an alloy. Basically, the metal does not cease to be pure in its nature and to abandon its metals is more an invitation to renounce their profane representation, even to their desecration, to detach oneself from the appearance to seek and find the truth in an alchemical metaphor of transformation of being. The matter of which we are made was thus born somewhere in the immensity of the universe, in the heart of stars that have now disappeared. We carry within us the fruit of these vanished worlds. We are their memory, their legacy. Our primordial mother is a star. Thus the macrocosm engenders the microcosm which, through its awareness of it, in turn gives it life. The star within us connects us to the universe. Like the Vitruvian man, the starry pentagram, by its anthropomorphic representation, can say that our pole star, the guide of our Masonic quest, its purpose too, is the love of humanity. But, beyond the philosophical allegory, the symbolism of the star, through the atoms of which we are made from its merging entrails, unites our ephemeral microcosm to the eternal macrocosm. As an invitation to think about our existence through our relationship to the cosmos and therefore to nature in a community of destiny of burning relevance. And not only in the possession/domination of nature but in its knowledge, in the understanding of our role and our place in the cosmic order. Because if we are mortal, our atoms are not. Tomorrow, freed from our being or freed by our being, they will return to nature to unite with other atoms to be reborn in another form or in another life. The star, by its created atoms, is eternal in us. She entrusts us for a time with a bit of eternity, this infinite chain that comes from the past and goes towards the future. Of which it is up to us to be for a time a solid link of pure metal which we will have to ensure the transmission. Matter being eternal, it is up to our finiteness to transmit the knowledge/awareness of the world around us. By the star, our finitude is thus made of grains of eternity, creation is in us as we are in it. Which refers to a meditation on philosophical concepts, since we are friends of wisdom, of nature nature, the creative principle, and of nature nature, what is created. In the West from Aristotle to Spinoza via St Thomas Aquinas, those who believe will see the divine principle in the creative principle, those who do not believe will see the laws that govern nature. Both have in common to be beyond man. So transcendent. But the distinction is perhaps formal since the star is both created and creative. Without it no elements necessary for life, without life no consciousness of the cosmos and without cosmos no star. In our symbolic language, the anthropomorphic analogy of the starry pentagram is an invitation for the FM to become aware of what creates it as much as to be itself a creator, therefore to take its place in the order of the world and to contribute to it. . If, by anthropomorphic analogy, we are the star, it is also an invitation to be that merging force that brings together what is scattered and, through creative energy and work, brings about a better and more human being. enlightened. It is perhaps also an invitation to forge in us, through the fusion of the true, the just and the beautiful, the truths and the changes that we want to see in the world. In short, these new atoms resemble the acquired truths, fruits of the initiatory process of each Sister or Brother/star. As Christian Bobin wrote, "Intelligence is the strength, solitary, to extract from the chaos of one's own life the handful of light sufficient to illuminate a little further than oneself, towards the other over there , like us, lost in the dark”. Gravity The memento of the Companion teaches "that gravitation is the primordial force which governs the balance of matter but also a force which brings hearts together...". Now, let's say it straight away, this conception is a legacy of Newton but since Einstein and his theory of relativity, Gravitation is no longer a force but a deformation, a succession of curvatures of space-time . Indeed, in classical, Newtonian mechanics, gravity or gravitation is an attractive force proportional to the product of the masses of the two interacting bodies divided by the square of the distance separating their centers of inertia. In general relativity, gravity is not a force but an illusion due to the distortion of space-time. This explains why the trajectory of the light carried by the photons, corpuscles until proven otherwise without mass, is deviated as if there were attraction: this is the gravitational lens effect which cannot be explained in physics Newtonian classic. Imagine space-time as a large stretched canvas. If we place bodies on it, for example ping-pong balls, they will spread over the canvas without deforming it too much. Let's place a petanque ball, it will create a depression, a curvature of the canvas which will also attract nearby ping-pong balls: this is the gravitational effect. Thus space-time is a succession of slopes, gravitational curves generated by the stars, galaxies, stars, planets. And as everything moves in the universe, these slopes, these curves mingle, add up, come apart. When we fall to the ground, we are actually sliding down a slope created by the Earth, this is what we call gravity or gravitation. And the more massive the object, the greater the slope created and the more difficult it is to climb it. Gravity is stronger on Earth than on the Moon. In space, light, like matter, does not propagate in a straight line. Any object creates an invisible slope that we call gravitation, each of us creates one of these slopes but as its mass is negligible compared to that of the Earth its gravitational effect is almost nil. The gravity that we feel is the sum of the gravities that surround us, that is to say the slopes generated by the objects that surround us but also by our neighbors on the columns. What lies below us is much more massive than what is above. The Earth below our feet contains far more matter and energy than the sky above our heads. What is below therefore creates a much steeper gravitational slope: it is the gravity of the Earth. Einstein showed that gravity is not a force but a geometric result of the curves and slopes created by matter and energy in a place in space. Gravitation is therefore not a force in the classical sense of the term but a curvature of space-time under the effect of the mass of matter and energy. The Moon therefore also curves this space-time causing the water on the surface of the Earth to tend to fall towards it, these are the tides. This effect is also exerted on the rocky earth's crust but as it is a solid whose density is much greater the effect is much less. The Sun with its very large mass bends space-time around it even more, creating a slope along which the planets of the solar system rotate. All the curvatures generated by the stars of the Milky Way add up to create the curvature of our galaxy that rivals that of neighboring galaxies, etc. But then why, if the sun exerts such a powerful gravitational force on the Earth, does it not fall on its surface nor the Moon on the Earth? Because that would be the case if nothing compensated for such influences. The Earth is animated by a movement of rotation around the Sun which propels it at 107,000 km per hour and this trajectory tends to propel it outwards, thus balancing the power of attraction. Centripetal force versus centrifugal force. This is the slingshot effect. To popularize the phenomenon, scholars compare the sun to a hammer thrower and the Earth to the metallic sphere that the athlete spins around him at the end of a steel wire to give him the necessary momentum. The more the athlete accelerates his rotation, the more the hammer will tend to escape to the outside as the steel wire attracts him towards his source. When the athlete stops, the weight falls, the same in gravitation: the Earth would fall towards the Sun. Astronomers know that if the earth were to increase its speed of rotation, it would tend to move away from the sun. However, if it were to stop or greatly slow down its movement, it would inevitably be drawn towards the sun. In the universe as a whole, the galaxies, the stars, all the celestial bodies are governed by the laws which regulate the orbits and without which a collapse of the stars would precipitate the universe towards chaos. Thus, thanks to gravitation, the universe is in a state of permanent equilibrium. Each star exercising its action on the others, being influenced in return in the same way. The interaction between all these forces ensures the stability of the universe in relation to other movements, notably rotation. What to deduce from this on a symbolic level Firstly, in terms of contemporary physical science, gravity is not a primordial force, strictly speaking. But that it results from the formula E = mc². Gravitation is therefore a relationship between energy, mass and light. Now to develop the energy in him is the duty of the Companion and the mass, the density could be equated with the work that the rank of companion glorifies. Through work and creative energy, the Companion will therefore generate around him the gravitational force which will bring hearts together and, by uniting them, will ensure the solidarity and solidity of the Masonic edifice. As for the light, we received it during our initiation, but it is also a reference to the star. Einstein showed that through the curvature of spacetime, gravitation was not a force but geometry created by matter and energy. It therefore reinforces the second meaning of the letter G. So that the first sentence of Comp's libretto:. defining gravitation is certainly scientifically questionable but remains valid on a metaphorical level. On the contrary, if gravitation were a primordial force, even symbolically, we could not exert any influence on it, nor free ourselves from its determinism. The fact that it is not a force in itself symbolically makes it possible to make it the result of our will through energy and mass-work, whether it is the gravitation that we generate in this way or the gravitations that we suffer from which it becomes possible to emancipate ourselves when their effects are negative. This is how the Companion's newfound ability to generate its own gravitational effect allows it to free itself from sad passions and attract light to itself. This is reminiscent of the duty of the Comp:. FM:. to maintain in him the physical balance, the intellectual balance and the moral balance and by the union of the three to develop the creative energy. Just as the great cosmic physical laws maintain the balance of creation. Thus unifying microcosm and macrocosm. If, metaphorically, gravitation is the force that brings beings closer together, a slightly critical reading could point out that at the astronomical level it is the balancing of this force by opposing forces that ensures cosmic order and not the action of gravitation alone, which would lead to chaos. So why highlight it. To this one could reply that the figure of Isaac Newton was admired by Desaguliers, propagator of his works, and by Anderson, all united by the FM:. , Newton appearing, with Mozart, La Fayette or Washington, in the Masonic pantheon. So it is not surprising to find, even indirectly, in one of our rituals, this almost obligatory reference to the one who is considered one of the founders of the FM:. English. Consequently, one of the meanings of the letter G could therefore probably not be: gravity, gravitation. Gravitation also realizing a progression or even an elevation on geometry and generation by laying down a fundamental principle of the universal order of creation and no longer only terrestrial before the transition to Genius and Gnosis which allow access to knowledge and to the consciousness of the whole, all five manifestations of the Gadlu, whether God or Equation. The gravitational physical phenomenon can inspire us with two main thoughts. The first would be to say that if gravitation is not sufficient, it is necessary and fundamental. Its scope would be, in physics, infinite, making its effects felt on the scale of the entire universe. Without it, there would be no harmony of the cosmos, of days following nights, of sunrises and moonlights, of starry skies, in short, a force at the service of the beauty of creation, of creative energy. But, as we have seen, a force that must find its balance in duality with other forces in the harmony of creation. And it is undoubtedly also this notion of balance and harmony which must guide the work and the path of the Companion in his quest for Beauty. Because it is this balance with gravitation that keeps stable the blazing star that we contemplate in the firmament, symbol of the permanence of our ideal. And when the companion passes from the vertical to the horizontal to go towards the other, if he then brings into play the gravitation which brings people together, it is his associated quest for balance and harmony, like the comic order, which will make this rapprochement be brotherly love and not confrontation. Gravitation therefore reveals to us the necessary balance of opposites, which we find suggested by the mosaic pavement but also in the fresco by JGJ, to maintain harmony. In us and around us. No music without silences, no light without darkness. Balance is to be sought in the union of differences. Feminine and masculine principle, as expressed in the fresco by Jean-Gabriel. Immanence and transcendence. Knowledge and Consciousness. Rational and spiritual. But also, more prosaically between individual and society, old and new, Lodge and Obedience. In everything, in him and around him, the FM:. is in search of balance. To aspire to be the center of the union is not to seek harmony in uniformity but in maintaining the balance of differences. The second reflection comes that gravitation is therefore not only the ability to create a phenomenon of attraction on a specific object, being or idea, but to act on our space-time. And first of all to become aware of our space-time. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors had an infinite space but time was limited to them. They revered their natural space. Having become sedentary in the Neolithic period, their space contracted without their time increasing much. They discovered the infinite and the eternal beyond. Today the end of the world is hardly more than a day's journey away and only the present, the moment seems to exist. We have little hope. We have lost all relationship to long time, the present has lost all depth. In short, the future has left the present. And yet, as Bergson wrote, the idea of the future is more fruitful than the future itself. It is amusing to note that "idea of progress" has the anagram "degree of hope". So much so that it seems important to reclaim our awareness of our space-time and therefore of our place in the cosmos. So if Gravitation appeals, as we have seen, to Geometry, the thought of space-time mobilizes Generation, Genius and Gnosis. Then we saw that it is the density that generates the gravitational effect. By analogy, it is through density or intensity that we act on our space-time, that is to say on our life. Basically, the initiatory quest for wisdom is the acquisition of the density of being which influences its space-time, that is to say its existence. But also the existences that surround it. And more than a bearer of light, the or the FM:. is a light attractor. When we aspire to work for the moral and intellectual improvement of humanity or to work for the material and social improvement of the human condition, we will achieve it less by postures of communication than by the density of our collective thought and our actions. who will make our order loved by the example of our qualities. Similarly, a workshop will attract and retain laymen by the density of its work and its fraternity more than by a vain proselytizing or communicational agitation. Density, in FM:., passes through work more than through speech. Therefore, let us always glorify work! As you will have understood, this work aims less to be a presentation of physics than to demonstrate that symbolism is a living language that is not confined to the past nor, in this case, to physics of the 18th century and must be inspired by acquired truths. The past, by being erased, must sow the seeds of the future, not confiscate it in a vain repetition of what has been and is no longer. If we are guided, as we affirm, by the search for truth, then our language must integrate the results of this search which, far from calling it into question, enriches it and opens up new avenues of application. Symbolic language is not a dogma but a midwife of thoughts, of ideas. A language which makes it possible to treat in the equality and the freedom of the workshop of all subjects as our RP indicates it, the opposition symbolic subjects/subjects of society is thus totally artificial and has basically no sense since it It is the methodological practice of the former which makes it possible to deal with the latter without the need for university qualifications. Symbolic language is not a dead, fixed language, reduced to a few recited definitions like a five-minute catechism. On the contrary, it is a language that must remain alive by exploring and revisiting its meanings and meanings, while having, out of discretion, the innocuous and nevertheless hermetic appearance of the expressions of operational companionship, in order to help us give birth to our ideas, to elaborate our thought, to be creator of ourselves by mixing square and compass to become builders of the Temple. We must therefore not be afraid to pass through the filter of the critical spirit certain assertions of our works or definitions of reference, it is at this price that symbolism will be part of modernity and will remain the language of free women and men. . For that is the art we teach here. I said.

Here is a symbol like no other! Fire is omnipresent in our unconscious. In Freemasonry, from the opening of the work, the flaming sword of the Venerable Mistress indicates the importance that is devolved to this symbol! And yet, not everything is so simple. Who has not had the nightmare of a burning apartment from which we could not escape and projecting us into the agonizing choice of death in the flames or being crushed on the floor? Who hasn't dreamed of making love in front of the flames of a crackling fire in a fireplace, delivering sensual warmth? And let's not forget the reality of our distant ancestors in paleontological times, who took care to keep the fire of the hearth as the most precious good, a fire which transformed their existence by giving them a fantastic tool at the base of so many evolutions ! I see myself again with my grandmother, whom I accompanied to look for the wood she needed to start the fire in the stove. Servant or rather mistress of fire, such appears to me today this grandmother who knew how to use fire so well to prepare meals. I like to let myself be fascinated by the constantly moving flames of the fire in the hearth of my fireplace; nourished by beautiful logs of very dry wood, they create a real spectacle by varying the scenes. This silent fascination directs me towards daydreaming: it's a protective fire that wards off negative thoughts. Yes, I accepted that, following my death, my body be placed in a crematorium where the fire, in its extreme power, will consume it to reduce it to ashes. In his work, "The Psychoanalysis of Fire", published just before the Second World War, Gaston Bachelard sketched for the first time a study "refusing the historical plane" and referring to the permanent structures of the reverie of fire. Denouncing the scientific valuations of fire, he killed two birds with one stone: on the one hand he ruined the whole pseudo-scientific theory of the "four elements" (alchemical), on the other hand he showed that, behind an element apparently homogeneous to the conceptualization and even to the sensation, the fire, hid divergent structural intentions. Fire is one of the major themes treated by many researchers: to testify to this, let us quote J. G. Frazer's book, "Myths of the Origin of Fire" (Myths of the Origin of Fire, 1930), the series of Mythologies by Claude Lévi-Strauss (Le Cru et le Cuit, 1964; From Honey to Ashes, 1966), and "Blacksmiths and Alchemists" (1956) by Mircea Eliade. Compared to the three other elements of the classical theory, (water, earth and air), there is, with regard to fire, a major technological intention. The "discovery" of the latter is rightly held to be the primordial invention. Also, while the symbols of the other three elements were rather the responsibility of the psychologist, even of the psychoanalyst working away from social and cultural implications, the symbolism of fire is of particular interest to social and cultural anthropology. More than that of any other element, the symbolism of fire is “a plural symbolism”. It almost never fits the simplistic definition given by the theory of the elements. Its symbols are in no way the result of the combination of "hot" and "dry". On the contrary, it refers to a swarm of the most concrete images: flame, ember, spark, lightning, lightning, fire, hearth, etc. The symbolism of fire is outlined by the whole series of qualifiers which clearly highlight alchemy (cf. Dom A. J. Pernety, Dictionnaire mytho hérmetique, 1758): luminous, soft, hot, ardent, digesting, dry, burning , and even wet. If we then examine the indirect complements of fire, we find the same diversifying plurality: forge, cooking, incineration, coction, fusion, cremation, piston lighters, friction lighters, percussion lighters, etc. It is the alchemist, the "philosopher by fire", who will attempt to coordinate operationally - and not according to a logic of the elements - all these disparate symbolic accents. 1. The warming fire Calorific fire is what the alchemist likens to “baths” of different degrees (ash fire, sand fire, manure fire, filings fire, Persian fire, Egyptian fire); it refers to two major symbolic polarizations: erotic symbolism and filial symbolism. Eros and fire Erotic symbolism is given by all the images and metaphors that make fire coincide with the sexual act, amorous passion or simply love and affectivity. It is the most popularized meaning, especially by the iconography and literature of the Christian West. However, already in the Greco-Latin tradition, Eros-Cupid, the god of Love, is very often represented carrying a torch in addition to his bow, these two instruments both suggesting the wound of love. In this erotic symbolism - whose structures seem to obey the nocturnal regime of the image (cf. Gilbert Durand, Les Structures anthropologiques de l'imaginaire) - we can discover psychophysiological, and above all technological, motivations, closely intertwined. Psychophysiological motivation arises from the concomitant variation between the thermal increase, the "heating up" of the body and the emotion of love, then the sexual act which, in mammals and humans, is accompanied by a rhythmic friction (caresses, intercourse, nuptial dances, etc.). Bachelard, who devotes two-thirds of his Psychoanalysis of Fire to this erotic experience of "shared heat" - which he calls "the Novalis complex", "synthesis of the impulse towards fire caused by friction, the need for shared warmth" - even wonders if friction lighters (in which fire is generated by friction of a blade of hardwood on a grooved board of softwood, the two objects directly suggesting the image of coitus) would not have been born of the dreamy reflection on erotic friction. Love would then be “the first scientific hypothesis for the objective production of fire”. This is further evidenced by the very curious Course in Experimental Electricity, published in 1753, in which Charles Rabiqueau links “electric fire” and the complacent electrostatic phenomena to the image of the couple. In this way, Bachelard, very close to the theories of Eugène Minkowski, places the figurative meaning on an equal footing, if not as a priority, with the proper meaning, showing how words and human productions, even the most objective in appearance, are filtered and overdetermined. by the transcendental subjectivity of the imagination of the human species. The technological motivation of the lighter therefore only reinforces the first and tender reverie of warm caresses. As Frazer writes, the idea that fire springs from a woman's body, and particularly from her genitals, finds a certain explanation in the analogy that many primitives see between the workings of the drill -to-fire, on the one hand, and the relations of the sexes on the other ”. The friction lighter, distant ancestor of our matches rubbed on the scraper (popular speech says both of a dog in love that she is "in heat" and of an overexcited girl that she is a "tease") , is, if not the most primitive process for producing fire, at least, according to A. Leroi-Gourhan, the process of the “most primitive of living peoples”, the Melanesians. The fire and the table Frazer has emphasized throughout his book the character of content (in the belly, the female organs, the bird, the wood, etc.) that fire takes on. Popular speech also names the female genitalia by terms borrowed from culinary containers (pot, pot, basket, etc.). In addition, Claude Lévi-Strauss's Mythologiques leads quite naturally to Les Manières de table. The symbolism of the hearth is understood both for the intimacy of the bridal chamber and for the almost constant femininity of the hearth where the pot is heated. The nocturnal regime of the image of fire closes in a way on the intimate themes and the mystical structures of the imagination. As Bachelard says, the "Novalis complex" then gives way to the "Hoffmann complex", that of flaming water, of the punch dear to the author of Les Contes: When the flame ran on alcohol, when the fire brought its testimony and its sign, when the primitive water of fire was clearly enriched with flames which shine and burn, one drinks it." Alone of all the materials in the world, eau de vie is so close to the material of fire. One could add that it was already born from the fire, from the almost alchemical fire that smolders under the still. Through another kind of production, the symbolism of calorific fire can be maintained in synthetic structures: sexualized fire entails, in fact, the symbols of fecundity, and more particularly filial symbolism. Quite logically, the theme of the igneous content slides towards the theme of the son, of the "fruit" of the mother's womb. Fire is a son, it is a natural or industrial product, it in turn produces birth, rebirth or regeneration. Generated by the cross-wheel of the arâni, fire becomes the symbolic prototype of any product technologically provided by a coupling, a whirl, a friction: mill, churn, press. Jung remarks that the root math or manth is the one found both in the Sanskrit word meaning churn (manthasa) and in the name of Pramatha, the Hindu Prometheus, the hero who brought civilizing fire to the earth. The result is a confusion between fire and the products of the churn, the mill, the press. And especially what in turn feeds the fire: the essential oil. Among the Latins, Vesta, the goddess of fire, of the hearth (focus) is also protector of the oil mill (pistrinum) [cf. G. Dumézil, Tarpeia]. Similarly, the Promethean elf of L'Ela, Nékili, brings men the recipe for extracting oil from the shea plant (cf. F. J. Nicolas, Myths and mythical beings of L'Ela de la Haute-Volta). The Vedic altar of fire is flanked by the indispensable press at Soma, and Agni, the god of fire, means the anointed, just like the Son par excellence of the Christian tradition (khristos, from khrio, I anoint, j 'coat, I rub). In the philosophical egg of alchemical manipulation, the symbol of the son is combined - in the form of the homunculus - with the symbol of the thumb. In many legends relating to the origin of fire (cf. Frazer, op. cit.), the latter is contained in the body, or even in the tail, of a small animal: woodpecker, robin, raven, dog, rabbit, beaver, etc., or even in a modest plant such as the wild fennel in which Prometheus hid the stolen fire. Unless Prometheus himself was simply an eagle, as Salomon Reinach suggested. Be that as it may, all these legends "gulliverize" the being or the object that carries the fire and equate the power of the latter with the omnipotence of the infinitely small. Many peoples, especially in Africa, only know periodic cremation as fertilizer. In summary, in this caloric symbolization, strongly motivated by technological daydreams, fire is a major symbol of the act of love as well as of its "product", this product being itself overdetermined in threads, the emblem of fertility, but also in agricultural and food products. This connection suggests a passage between what psychoanalysts call the "buccal" and the "genital", which would not be liable, as for the latter, to a mysterious ontogenetic maturation, but would be linked to the technological phylogenesis of the human race. We see on this point how the structural analysis, both anthropological and symptomatic, makes it possible to approach the symbolism of fire in a much finer way, more motivating, and therefore more explicit than the formal pseudo-scientific elementarism or the overly biological schema of Freudian psychoanalysis. 2. The dazzling fire The dazzling fire is located in a completely different structural universe, that of heroic (or schizomorphic) structures, and is the symbol of purification, of radical change, of baptism. One passes easily from one to the other of these two divergent constellations, the calorific and the dazzling, thanks to the intermediate symbolism of birth. Birth in light here becomes rebirth, baptism by fire. The emblem of the Phoenix ensures this continuity between the hot and fertile ashes and the dazzling and resuscitated flame. Fire relates to the great archetype of light. Also he frequently constellates with the accent of masculinity that light brings to everything it illuminates. Fire is sexualized as a male; it is thus that in China it is the support of the yang principle, the male principle, and that the flame is the erection. The fulguration of lightning further reinforces this last character. A whole warlike, heroic symbolism relays the virility of fire. The flaming sword of the vigilante angels, the thunderbolts of Jupiter or the emblem of the flaming grenade on military uniforms are the products of the pyrotechnic inductions of the daydream of the dazzling fire. The silence of the hearth is replaced by the roar of thunder or cannon, the crackling and humming of the fire, the forge, the volcano. Finally, many societies use cremation as the basis of the funeral ritual. André Piganiol has shown that, in Indo-European societies, incineration is always accompanied by a solar or uranian cult linked to the notion of transcendence. The fire of Vulcan would be in Rome the antithesis of the chthonic Saturn. Cremation and sacrifices by cremation involve death to ordinary, impure life and rebirth to spiritual life. Among the Matako Indians, fire plays an analogous role - separator and purifier - to the circumcision knife among other peoples. Again in this cathartic series, the speculation of the ancient Greeks, then that of the alchemists attributes to fire the principle of all volatility, of all rarefaction: ether, the very substance of fire (in alchemy called “lion fire”); among the Moderns, as Littré notes, ether signifies the purest air: the symbolism of fire is then entirely reabsorbed into that of the volatile, of elevation. Fire in Freemasonry It all starts with the will written in the cabinet of reflection and which will end in flames and then there was the trial by fire and then the flaming sword which consecrates us and creates Freemasonry. It will then be the flaming star and in other rituals we will find it. Fire in Freemasonry refers us to the Great Architect of the Universe and of course to God. It is found in the 3rd degree in the (complete) march of the mistress where we find the salamander, another symbol of fire. ( see a development on this topic) Fire, attribute of the male? What polarizes and animates the symbolism of fire, as Bachelard foresaw, is less the objective substances than the important dynamisms of human gestures that constitute the “axiomatic metaphors” of the imagination. This shows that symbols “should not be judged from the point of view of form... but of their strength” (G. Bachelard, La Terre et les rêveries du repos). How not to understand how many human beings, and first of all men, who at all times have only wanted to instrument us, how not to understand that these men were subjugated by this phenomenon which fascinated! And this is how this physical phenomenon entered into another existence, that of the symbolic universe where everything that humanity has made sacred rubs shoulders! What can I do against this fire of males, sometimes destructive, sometimes passion and vibration? He is not me! I know this fire well, which I have learned to master, and also to understand, to sense these reactions! I know how to keep it soft and sensitive, malleable and servile! Anticipating his demands, I control his appetite and know how to provide him with the wood he needs by refusing the easy way of disdainfully throwing lousy material at him! In the fire of the males which wants to be Power or Hell, Mutation or Temptation, I see the subtle Fire, this helping fire which transforms and ennobles, the gentle fire which makes me what I am! Source: Extensive borrowings from the board on this subject published on the site of the building Expressions containing the word "fire": Tongue of fire designates (source wikipedia): a plant, Anthurium, or anthurium, or flamingo; a disease of the tongue, glossodynia; a coding used by some children or adolescents, the langue de fe or tongue of fire, which is a form of Javanese; a 1994 piece for soprano and instrumental ensemble by Claude Lenners; the name of a bean, the tongue of fire bean; the term for a narrow, elongated flame, the most famous example being the form taken by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; a fairly strong cocktail, often consumed in the form of shooters, made up of 1/2 vodka, 1/2 beer, and garnished with a few drops of liquid tabasco or directly with powdered pepper, so as to obtain a pink/reddish tint. Be all fired up Having the Holy Fire Fire all wood Playing with fire See nothing but fire Standing between two fires Put your hand on fire Setting the powder on fire Walking the fire of God A slow fire Get your ass on fire Firearm Baptism of fire Fireboat Fire Brick Fire mouth Ceasefire Fire cider Backfire Fire Rated Curfew Fire eater Being on fire To be caught, to be between two fires To go further: The symbolism of fire by MONIQUE PIETTRE. - Review of the two worlds The symbolism of fire in the Bible Fires de Saint-Jean < /strong> “The Middle Fire”, by Touhfat Mouhtare: all the lives that can be lived - (Touhfat Mouhtare is a Comorian writer. Born in the Comoros, Mouhtare has lived in various African countries and studied in France, where she obtained a degree in foreign languages from the Sorbonne. She is the second Comorian writer in published prose, after Coralie Frei, and has also written poetry. Source: Babelio.com) The Psychoanalysis of Fire by Gaston Bachelard (possibility to download in pdf format) Confession d 'a repentant arsonist

As regards the Masonic approach, we are very careful insofar as our stated concern is to be "in search of the truth"! This "gallantry" of language authorizes all the "exercises" of thought! Being “in search of...” leaves us free to state untruths, even to fantasize or to put forward more or less eccentric hypotheses! This formulation, which in a way is in our collective DNA, has placed on Freemasonry the seal of "Not Serious" which sticks to our skin and explains all the difficulties we have in being credible! How can you claim to be serious when you claim not to know the Truth? No one can believe you since we admit we don't know! But this “Not Serious” also allows us to exist, to recruit and to dream, because the “Not Serious! aren't they more "bons vivants" than the "serious ones" who are sad to die for? But things get complicated when the ritual prompts us to “Spread the truths acquired”. We understand that in 18th century Europe the inspiration for Masonic rituals was biblical and these famous "acquired truths" concerned faith in the Great Architect of the Universe, in other words God! In an issue of Humanisme, the GODF magazine, Yuri Chelkovski writes an article entitled "The freemason's blooper" in which he addresses this issue of confusion between truth and the search for truth. Not telling the truth is de facto lying! The lie is adorned with the worst intentions and yet, could we not say that it is despite everything a quality? In any case, one might think so, lying has become an institution of language! Recent events, with the release caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, have provided an excellent illustration of this! Fake news creates a buzz more easily than the wise and measured words of those who know! Lying is a natural and spontaneous practice! We all lie cheerfully with a smile and the conviction of being benevolent! Because Lying is avoiding conflicts, finding an elegant way out, being humorous and ultimately making the other person happy! Should we tell the truth? If I answered yes, you wouldn't believe me! I would be, for you, a sweet dreamer, unaware of the realities of life! Should we say that a board is awful and boring? Never! It will be “My TCF, I really appreciated your work, but…. » ; or "My TCS, your board is amazing and I learned a lot but don't you think..."! Truly, I tell you, the Truth is a secret that must not be divulged! If you advertise it as “Urbi et Orbi”, it will not be recognized as such and will lose its credibility! Keep it to yourself, never talk about it and you will preserve it! There is only one exception to this rule; we sometimes feel the need to transmit the Truth; it is an intimate need for a particular person for whom a mixture of affection and respect binds you. It's exceptional and few beings encounter it, but when it happens, you have to do it! If the new Masons and new Masons were informed of this recommendation, there is no doubt that the life of the Lodges would be more peaceful! By not paying any attention to what we can tell you, TCS and TCF, you will not be disappointed! As a result, you won't blame anyone! And so there will be no bickering! The Masonic approach is a solitary exercise and to believe that there can be collective intelligence at the level of a lodge is wishful thinking! Hear, listen, read, take notes and, in your personal reflection cabinet, digest all this to extract the substance, that is to say what will influence your commitment! To go further: What happens in the liar's brain? (an article published in Le Monde on 03/10/2019) Post-truth: the face brain dark Truth or light by Peter Bu in The chain of Union The Freemason's blooper par Yuri Chelkovsky