The Secret Masonic Word Most Masons Don’t Learn

As Freemasons, we love our secret words. They are used to protect our secrets, arts and hidden mysteries so that only true and proper Masons are recognised.

But there is one secret word in Freemasonry that many masons don’t learn, and they spend most of their Masonic life never using it.

This secret word should be taught on our initiation but it isn’t and many new Masons don’t know they can use it.

They instead use a substitute word that gets them into trouble. The substitute word they use puts them under pressure and causes them stress leading them to the inevitable resentment of the Craft and is the leading cause of early onset Past Master Syndrome.

In this edition of Daily Masonic Progress, I will share what this secret word is, why its important that we use this word freely and in full and how we can avoid the mistake of using the substitute word that causes all the issues.

Now I didn’t learn this secret word until recently and if I had learned it earlier my Masonic life, my own personal life would have probably been very different.

I became a Mason at 19 and over the last 18 years, I have enjoyed what many would say is a “successful” Masonic career. I went through every progressive office in Lodge, was “identified” as an emerging Masonic Leader by my Grand Lodge, was Installed into the Chair and served as District Inspector by my mid-late 20’s. I’m now 37, serve on the Board of Grand Lodge, and hold the Right Worshipful Rank of Past Senior Grand Warden. I’ve also been through the Chair of my Scottish Rite Chapter.

(I need not remind you, Daily Masonic Progress is my own opinions and not those of any Lodge, Grand Lodge or Masonic body of any kind)

You could say that I have enjoyed “Masonic Success”, and to be fair, the Craft has taught me a lot, making up for my lax attention during high school. There are also many skills that I learned and took into my working career because of my involvement in the Masonic system.

But I would caution you to not think that this is the norm. I don’t want to say I am special, because by no means am I. However, it’s important to note that my situation and experience are an exception to the rule, an edge case or an aligning of the stars that has worked out well for me. Except, it has still brought about its perils and limitations.

That being said, I still wish I had learned this secret word earlier and not used the substitute word so often. The secret word and the substitute word are…….

“NO” and “YES”

I say the secret word is “NO” as in the word “NO”, but we substitute this with the word “YES” in many situations when we should be saying “NO”.

This is something I see many new Masons make the mistake of doing because they don’t know they can say no. They say yes because they don’t know any better, they want to contribute, they want to fulfil the promise they made during their membership interviews, they don’t want to let others down and they just don’t have the experience to stand up for themselves. So they substitute No with YES.

When they say YES, it often leads them to the last-minute pull-out. They have “family” or “work” commitments. You know the two things we told them that come before Freemasonry. These cards get played frivolously so they can get out of the pickle they put themselves in because they didn’t know they could say “No” to begin with.

It gets worse if they don’t pull out, often they go through with the thing they said yes to and do so under stress and at the detriment to themselves. Maybe not an immediate detriment, but like deposits and withdrawals in a bank they add up over time and with interest.

I mean, it’s not like it’s their fault, our ceremonies are full of “YES” orientated questions, or questions that require positive affirmation. However many new masons often overlook the many times our ceremonies remind them and instruct them that a “YES” should be of their own free will and accord. It’s one of the earliest lessons they are reminded of.

Are you exhibiting your own Free Will if you don’t feel you can say No?

This is where that interest, like interest on money, starts to compound, if it’s compound interest on debt, it’s bad, if it’s on deposits it’s good. Like all deposits/withdrawals at the bank, they don’t seem like much at the time, but over time they matter.

So what are the things that we substitute YES for when we should be saying NO?

Well, how many times have come into a situation at the lodge where we don’t have any work for the month so we turn to an Apprentice or Fellowcraft. We ask them if they’re ready, and they say yes because they don’t want the lodge to not have work.

After all, if they’re not ready who is then seen as the cause of the void, well, it’s not the Senior Warden who is in charge of the Work. It’s not the Master who the buck stops with, It’s not the lodge who didn’t properly plan or they haven’t built a culture of proper education and don’t have a plan B. It’s the Apprentice and the Fellowcraft, so they say yes.

But it’s not their fault. It is the fault of the Senior Warden for not organising the work. It is the fault of the Master as he rules the lodge and it is the fault of the lodge for not having any real backup plans and just defaulting to pushing an Apprentice of Fellowcraft through their next degree.

Even if they have memorised the exam, they still need time to properly learn and develop a thorough understanding of their current degree before they go through to the next one. Remember, proficiency in a former degree is not “have they memorised the card” it’s whether are they proficient in the lessons of the degree itself.

Then the other thing we have Masons say yes to is taking office or skipping offices to progress towards the chair. Saying Yes to taking a Warden’s chair with no intention of seeing it through to becoming the IPM.

However, the biggest one that many newer masons say yes to is joining every order. They join one, and then that opens them up to a whole lot more, they get asked to join those, and they say yes to them. These enthusiastic brethren end up saying yes to so many other orders because they feel they can’t say no.

What ends up happening is most of these masons end up doing a lifetime of Masonry within a few short years, burn out and then leave the craft. They do this to the detriment of themselves and their connections, resulting in their resentment of the craft and not ever wanting to come back to it in the future.

I can hear the rebuttal now from the other PMs. Oh, but our ceremonies have these lessons to warn them not to say yes to these things. We tell them about temperance, the 24-inch gauge, the Compasses, the length of their cable tow and many other references from our ceremonies.

Yes, these lessons are in the ceremonies, but guess what, because you, the PMs just pushed them through the degrees once they memorised the card, they can repeat these words from memory, but guess what, they never learned these lessons because you didn’t give them the time nor did you invest your time and effort to teach them what the words on the page mean and the lessons behind them. You didn’t encourage them to apply those lessons, you just pushed them through.

So, brethren, the secret word is NO. Give it in full and at length. You are not obligated to say Yes, but rather the opposite. You must only say yes if you do so of your own free will and accord and not because of any situation creating a scenario where you don’t feel like you have the power to say no.

If you ever feel like you are in that situation, say no. If those Brethren don’t accept it. Tell me, and tell them to contact me, I will have your back.

But I warn you, once you say yes, you are obligated to complete your responsibilities. Taking on responsibility is optional, fulfilling the responsibility you take on isn’t.