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

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13. Pronounced clear or foul
Chapter 5 - Technical Terminology
This technical expression belongs to the balloting ceremony. It is a metaphor
for favorable and unfavorable. As we have seen in our chapter 5.5 on elements
and nature, in Masonic phraseology an incorrect synonym of "foul" is "cloudy."
In some jurisdictions, it is the custom for the Senior Deacon to carry the
box containing the ballots around the Lodge room, when each officer
and member having taken out of it a white and black ball, it is again
carried around empty, and each Brother then deposits the ball of that
color which he prefers - white being always a token of consent, and
black of dissent. [...] if all the ballots prove to be white, the box is
pronounced "clear," and the candidate is declared elected. If, however,
there is one black ball only, the box is pronounced "foul," and the
Master orders a new ballot [...]. 813
The same diction and custom are prevalent in German lodges: "Im
allgemeinen wird eine Kugelung als helleuchtend erklärt, wenn nur weiße
Stimmzeichen fallen, als trüb, wenn zwei, als dunkel, wenn mindestens drei
schwarze Kugeln geworfen werden." 814
14. Communication
A "communication" is another expression for a lodge meeting. According to
MD, this term has a special sense:
The meeting of a Lodge is so called. There is a peculiar significance in
this term. "To communicate," which, in the Old English form, was "to
common," originally meant to share in common with others. [...] Hence,
the meetings of Masonic Lodges are called communications, to signify
that it is not simply the ordinary meeting of a society for the transaction
of business, but that such meeting is the fellowship of men engaged in a
common pursuit, and governed by a common principle, and that there is
therein a communication of participation of those feelings and elements
that constitute a true brotherhood. 815
The meeting of Grand Lodges thus is called "Grand Communication." 816 It is
different whether a degree is "communicated" or "conferred" on a neophyte:
when the degree is communicated, the candidate receives merely oral instruction,
813 MD, p. 126/127.
814 IFL, p. 884.
815 MD, p. 167.
816 Cf. IFL, p. 293.