For the Initiate

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Before we had Solomon UGLE had Official Orations. Many of the Orations are only suitable for presentation in Open Lodge, but the one below is rather thought provoking.
  
Dear Candidate for Initiation, you are about to depart the profane, material world and enter another region where time and eternity, God and humans meet. You have therefore been deprived of the trappings and chattels of all that is mundane and your vulnerability and common humanity are exposed. Stripped of familiar associations, you will soon experience the ritual of separation from a former life. You are about to commence a journey towards wholeness where life is performed without a mask. 

During the journey you will not be humiliated but you will be made to feel humble; you will not be demeaned but the living merits of truth, honour and virtue will be exemplified; you will not be harmed but your human frailty and innocence will be demonstrated; your human dignity will not be degraded but your true identity will be challenged.

In the Lodge beyond this door, across the threshold, you will become aware, through shared experience, that you are part of an indivisible whole. Please now contemplate quietly for a few moments, clear your mind of all that has gone before and open your heart and soul ready to be moved by a ritual whose significance and wisdom transcend the passage of time and prepare to experience a transformation that all Initiates into Freemasonry have undergone from time immemorial. 
 
Prepare to perceive the power of symbols and rich imagery which appeal to intuition and experience as much as to understanding. Freemasonry, through your imminent initiation into its ancient rites and privileges, will assist you find the direction in which to set your new course through life, in the presence and with the support of your fellow Brethren. But first you must shed your defences, open and free your senses and perception and allow the invisible to become real.



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