Lodge Burroughs Strange No. 87
Vijayawada, India

When M.W. the Grand Master, M.W.Bro. G. R. Divan graced the annual meeting of the Regional Grand Lodge (SI) in February 1992, he said in his address: “….the ritual contains a message not only to the candidate, but also to the Brethren listening to its delivery, and the person reciting the ritual…..”

There can be no better way than what M. W. the Grand Master had stated to stress the importance of proper delivery of the rituals.

One of the major obstacles which a new Master Mason faces is the preparation for the delivery of the Rituals inside the Lodge. It can be a frightening experience the first time we are asked to learn some ritual and present it in open Lodge. Often it is years since we have had to memorize anything, and we’ve forgotten how to go about it. The following observations may prove helpful to some brethren in such circumstances.

1. What does the Passage Mean?:

   First read it aloud two or three times, to determine what the words mean A language is a precise tool for expressing thoughts. Here we are concerned, not with our own thoughts, but with the intention of the persons who wrote the ritual. This preliminary interpretation is not really difficult if you pay attention, and read with your mind as well as with your eyes. You should decide what it means to you. In general terms, this will correspond to the meaning intended the writer, but there may be a few passages in which the words could have more than one interpretation. For example, in the sentence.

   “At my In, n, I was taught to be cautious, …I will either I… ..or h…. .. it with you” Consider the worlds “with you”. Should you say “with you” (but not with others)? Or “With you” (but not by myself)? What you take out of the passage is one method of getting variety, and hence of keeping the interest of your hearers. If you have not decided what it means, then you cannot give it any meaning at all. It becomes a monotonous recitation of words, and your hearers will either half heartedly ascribe their own meaning to it, or, more likely, pay no attention at all.

2. Aids to memory:

   There are several little tricks that will help to fix the words in your mind.

   Visual: Always use the same ritual book. Book to book, and edition to edition the location of the words may be in a different place. Your eyes must get used to seeing the same word at the same place whenever you refer to the Ritual book. Your eyes get used to the actual printing. It will help to stamp the words on your mind.

   Auditory: Get a good pronouncing dictionary or glossary, and learn the correct way to pronounce the words and names. There is a right way. and a wrong way, to say, such words as “heinous” “beneficence” and “sublunary”. If you have trouble with some of them, say them over and over again, until they slip easily and naturally off your tongue. You have already decided what the passage means to you. As you read aloud to learn the work, always try to use the emphasis and shading that will convey that meaning to your hearers.

   Subconscious: If you have a mental picture of the text, and if your cars are used to hearing your voice say the words, and if you have repeated them enough, there will come a time when, once you have started to speak, the words will come without conscious effort on your part. Most of us do this with certain sets of sounds we have learned in our childhood, such as the letters of the alphabet or the multiplication table. Perhaps it is partly a sort of “muscular” memory; your organs of speech get used to saying the words in the same order. This may be akin to the memory which is in the fingers of a typist.

3. Mechanics of Memorizing:

   There are various techniques which are suitable for different people. Few of us have an almost photographic memory; after reading the passage over from beginning to end several times, we know the whole thing right off. Most of us have to work harder at it than that, and memorize it a bit at a time. Once way to do it is as follows:

   Begin with the first sentence, or as much of it as you can repeat immediately without peeking. (In time you will be able to do this with longer sentences) Keep repeating it until you can say the sentence naturally and without hesitation.

   Take the next sentence or group of words and get them to the same state of perfection.

   Then read the first and second sentences together (always aloud). Then try them together without reading and keep at it until you can repeat all of the first topic or heading. When you first succeed in doing to, then read it aloud once (to make sure no errors have crept in, and say it from memory.

   Do not start on the next topic until you have mastered the first. Then take the last sentence of the first group and the first of the second topic, and proceed in the same way until you come to the end of the passage. Now, tie it together. Read the whole thing aloud two or three times, and then try your luck. If you get stuck, glance at the copy and go on. Then go back to the place where your memory failed, and say the words before and after the failure several times.

   If it is a long piece of ritual, this will likely take quite a few sessions in your private room.

   Always begin each session by reading what you have already learned, and then reciting it.

4. Deliver:
   1. Posture: It always helps in the control of the voice to stand perfectly erect (not necessarily with your feet in the form of a square). Stand easily erect, balance evenly on both feet. Do not be afraid to shift your position a little if the work is long. It will help you, and relieve your audience.
   2. Gesture: A few gestures may well he used to emphasize certain passages. They should be so natural and inevitable that your audience is not specifically aware of them, but only of the cumulative effect of your presentation.
   3. Projection: Your audience is supposed to here what you are saying. Therefore, speak so that you can be heard in every corner of the room. Do not let your voice drop in volume at the end of a sentence or paragraph.
   4. Pace: Do not hurry. A good many ritualists (especially those with good memories) speak too rapidly. Your audience is always a few words behind you in their understanding and you may lose them completely if you go too fast.
   5. Enunciation: Pronounce the consonants in the words distinctly. Remember there are only five vowels, but twenty one consonants. If you slur them, the word is likely to be unintelligible. Do not run the words together, particularly if one word ends with the same consonant with which the next one begins, as for example in “dedicated and devote”, “moral or religions”, “meant to represent” Pronounce the short words clearly and distinctly. These are mainly the prepositions, conjunctions, articles, pronouns – the framework on which the sentence is built. Without them, there is usually no meaning.
   6. Tone and pitch of the voice: Avoid monotony. The tone of the voice should be appropriate to the words you are saying. Quite different tones are used in an obligation from those suitable for dialogue or instruction. Proper word stress will help to prevent monotony.
   7. Dramatic pause: Do not start in a hurry. Stand up and wait for a moment. This will focus attention on what you are going to say, Then, as you proceed, a pause or two will enable your audience to catch up with you, and will make the next thing you say more impressive. A pause, short or long as the occasion demands, should precede a statement which you wish to drive home.
      
      It should be long enough to make your audience conscious of the silence, but not long enough to make them wonder whether you have forgotten the next word.

All this advice can be summed up in a single sentence. “Know you ritual, say it so you can be heard, and try to make it convey to your audience what its meaning is for you”.