Frequently Asked Questions and some possible answers

WARDEN'S COLUMNS Q. Why do the Wardens in a Craft Lodge raise and lower their Columns`? The usual explanations in the Lectures, etc., seem trivial, in view of the importance many brethren seem to place on the columns being moved at the right time and placed in the right position. A. One might fill pages with the various so-called interpretations of the functions of the Warden's Columns, and the reason for the things we do with them. By and large, our present procedure is a result of the work of the Lodge of Promulgation, 1809-1811, which was commissioned to make the necessary revisions in Lodge Work and Ritual, in preparation for the union of the rival Grand Lodges (in 1813). On 23rd January, 1810, the situation of the Wardens was settled, JW in the South. Three days later, 26 January, the Lodge considered, and apparently agreed, the position of the Warden's Columns, and the agreed procedure was of course adopted at the Union. The present explanation is indeed trivial, and that is invariably the case with such problems as 'one up and one down', 'left-foot, right-foot','left-knee, right-knee', etc., because each interpretation has to give a satisfactory explanation for a particular procedure and for the reverse of that procedure, which is virtually impossible. The only satisfying explanation in this case is the simplest of all, i.e. the procedure was laid down to mark a distinction between the Lodge when open and when closed. During my American tour I visited lodges in seven different jurisdictions, and never saw a Warden's Column, or Pedestal. In 18th century England, i.e., before the Union, both Wardens sat in the west (where JD and IG sit nowadays), almost certainly without pedestals or columns, but in many cases there would be a Pillar near each of them, which formed, so to speak, the portal into the lodge. No columns up or down, and that probably explains why there is no reference at all in early masonic literature to the position of the columns. Finally, in such questions as this there is rarely an answer as to what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' . The practice of your lodge is right so far as you are concerned. Other lodges do things differently; so much the better. For them, their practice is right, and none would dare say otherwise.

Q. Should the V.S.L. be placed so that it can be read by the W.M. or the Candidate'? A. The V.S.L, is an essential part of the Lodge when in session, and there is no specific rule as to which way it should be turned. But when it is to be used by a Candidate for the purpose of taking an Obligation, it becomes a certain sense his Book. Our lodges are required to provide for each Candidate that particular version of Holy Writ which belongs to his, faith and for the Obligation, at least, there can be no doubt that the Book should be so arranged that he can recognize and read it.