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

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Steps
Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
Il est prescrit de ne s'avancer en loge que suivant une marche
appropriée, variable suivant le Rite de la loge et le degré auquel elle se
trouve ouverte. Au Rite Émulation, un pas rituel unique doit même
précéder le 'Signe'. Le 'Pas' maçonnique rappelle un us consacré dans de
nombreux cultes, notamment en Orient, où il est prescrit de ne
s'approcher d'un point consacré que par une marche ad hoc. 714
Masonic encyclopedias vaguely state that "certain steps are used in the three
degrees, and have particular numerical values," 715 but the real explanations of
them are only to be found in the rituals themselves; mostly in cipher since they
form a part of the esoteric work of the lodge, just as the signs and passwords.
The way of approaching something sacred, like the East where the Master sits, or
the altar, is equally reverential as the scene where Moses takes off his shoes to
approach the sacred ground in front of the burning bush. Sometimes, Masonic
rituals expressively allude to this scene, e.g. in the Royal Arch Degree where a
burning bush belongs to the stage equipment for degree conferral. Since Chapter
8. on rituals describes the particular steps in detail, this section only mentions the
steps of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason when
approaching the altar for obligation. In the First Degree, the Senior Deacon asks
the Senior Warden to teach the candidate how to perform his "first regular step in
Masonry":
Brother Senior Warden, it is the orders of the Worshipful Master, that
you teach this candidate to approach the east, the place of light, by
advancing on one regular upright step to the first stop; the heel of his
right foot in the hollow of his left [...], his body erect at the altar before
the Worshipful Master in the east. 716
In the Second Degree, there is one step added and the formula is varied
insofar as the Senior Deacon says: "it is the order of the Worshipful Master, that
you teach this candidate to approach the east, by two upright regular steps, his
feet forming an angle of a square, his body erect at the altar before the
Worshipful Master in the east." 717 Here, we can observe the forming of a square
again. The candidate for the Second Degree performs both the Entered
Apprentice step and his own one after the other. The climax is in the Third
Degree where the candidate executes all "three upright regular steps" in a line,
ending with a perfect square:
714 DFM, p. 183.
715 TRMC, p. 693.
716 Duncan, p. 32.
717 Ibid, p. 63.