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

Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols 255
to take possession of the earth, the underworld, and the heavens with three
strides. 721
What can these facts prove? They merely show that Freemasonry is not the
only institution that uses certain ritualistic steps and circumambulations. Similar
practices exist in churches, as well as at royal courts. The article cites an early
Masonic exposé, the Mason's Confession from 1755, in which is said that the
Apprentice when entering the lodge had to take three steps over three lines
drawn with chalk upon the floor, simultaneously giving a formal greeting to the
assembled brethren. 722 This is done away with in modern Masonry, where the
circumambulations in fact have only one sense, namely to present and to test the
candidate. They have nothing to do with encircling a certain space in order to
consecrate it. This would make no sense since lodges are already dedicated (cf.
Section 4.1.1):
On serait tenté de voir ici une marche circulaire, destinée à sacraliser un
lieu en le circonscrivant. En Maçonnerie, cette interprétation serait
fausse, tant parce que la loge est déjà consacrée que parce qu'il serait
inefficace de confier cet office quasi-sacerdotal à un profane sous le
bandeau. C'est, en réalité, une présentation et une identification. [...]
Une circumambulation se retrouve dans la cérémonie d'exaltation au
Royal Arch, comme aussi dans celle d'avancement à la Mark. 723
Retrogradation
Another form of Masonic marches through the lodge room are
retrogradations, which are rarely used. It has been said that Masonry is
progressive and that the candidate advances steadily. So why should he turn
back? According to the DFM, in certain rituals of the Third Degree the candidate
enters the lodge going backwards, which is reminiscent of his travels in the two
previous degrees that he thus experiences again. In the Emulation working, the
candidate does not walk backwards, but looks backwards at a certain instance:
Rétrogradation: Au 3e Degré, le myste entre en loge à reculons. C'est la
rétrogradation (du latin Retro, en arrière, et Gressus, pas). Il est ainsi
convié à revenir sur ses pas, à refaire en sens inverse ses "voyages" des
grades précédents, avant de se retrouver dans ce sanctuaire de la
désillusion absolue qu'est la Chambre du Milieu.
721 Cf. as quoted from Bros. A. L. Kress and R. J. Meekren, "The Form of the Lodge," printed in The
Builder from 1926, vol. XII, p. 187.
722 Ibid.
723 DFM, p. 95.