The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

196
At the word 'light' the Senior Deacon
snatches off the hoodwink, and all strike their
hands together and stamp with right foot.
Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
Shock of Enlightenment 541
in the First and Third Degrees in the Second Degree
Master and brethren clasp their hands
together and stamp with right foot, and the
Senior Deacon snatches off the hoodwink
[...]; or in some lodges instead of the clapping
of hands, all make the due-guard of a Fellow
Craft, holding their hands in that position a
moment, as shown in the cut [...]. This latter
method is a modern innovation, unheard of in
many jurisdictions, but is growing in favor.
When giving the Masonic light, the Worshipful Master, quoting from the
Bible, says: "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." 542 In
Freemasonry, the brethren try to establish a link between the antitheses of light
and darkness, viz., life and death. They conceive the two opposites as a unity of
contrasts, as the befriending of hostile powers. Life and death are one. This is the
riddle of human existence, and mystery cults suppose to have resolved it by
uniting light and darkness in their ceremonies, which the candidate has to live
and experience, not just to see:
541 Illustrations taken from Ezra A. Cook (publ.), Standard Freemasonry Illustrated, p. 258; 182.
Stage directions taken from ibid, p. 258 and 181/182.
542 Duncan, p. 35.