CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS OF PANSOPHIC FREEMASONRY

 

PHILOSOPHICAL MISSION:

The basic mission of this new mixed Masonic study group and obedience is to preserve, study, improve, develop, practice, and perpetuate esoteric spiritual and initiatic degrees and schools associated with Pansophic Freemasonry and other spiritual traditions, such as the Eastern schools, as part of the general Masonic practice of social and self-improvement, and to revive the universal and spiritual traditions of Freemasonry as they were originally practiced by speculative or philosophical Masons within the context of Rosicrucian, Templar, Kabbalistic, Gnostic, and other esoteric European schools.

GENERAL PURPOSE:

Our purpose is to establish and maintain a new obedience of esoteric Pansophic Freemasonry which:

  • admits qualified mature men or women of all races, religions, and ethnic groups, providing that they adhere to traditional Masonic principles of moral character, social service, and spiritual orientation;

  • overcomes the limitations of time and space in our culture by intelligently employing contemporary means of electronic communications such as e-mail and the internet to facilitate fruitful interaction and spiritual-intellectual growth of all qualified members in virtual lodge meetings;

  • studies, preserves, develops, and works the initiations, advancements, and practices of the Pansophic Rites of Freemasonry, which are:

MASONIC: Ancient and Primitive Rite; Rites of Memphis and Mizraim (Egyptian Rite); Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; Swedenborgian Rite; the United Templar Lodge.

ULTRA-MASONIC: Order of the Illuminati (Fratres Lucis); Order of the Martiniste; Order of the Rose Croix of Hiredom; Order of the True Rosy Cross; Order of the Ecclesiae Rosicrucianae Catholicae; Order of the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch; The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail; Order of the Fratres Lucis

  • studies, preserves, develops, and works the initiations, advancements, and practices of all other appropriate Eastern and Western mystery schools which may have been, or will be, chartered or otherwise legitimately warranted for members of this obedience, including (but not limited to) Hermetic, Kabbalistic, Pythagorean, Magical, Theurgical, Alchemical, Tantric, Shamanistic, and Theosophical traditions.

 To this end, the main activity of Conventicles and Lodges is to form study groups and offer lectures, presentations, and demonstrations of topics in esoteric Freemasonry. Secondary to this is the function of initiating, advancing, and raising Pansophic Masons.

ORGANIZATION:

 

1. Admission and Process for Application

Every seminarian or ordained ministry of the Home Temple and/or THG has been vetted and interviewed. Acceptance into any of the Home Temple or Caduceus Institute programs including JIVA and DVH qualifies a person for admission to Pansophic Freemasonry. He or she must formally request candidacy and study materials by emailing the Grand Master CLICK FOR EMAIL.

2. Initiation of Apprentices: Lodge Initiation or Private Initiation.

Accepted candidates for Entered Apprentice must download and study the EA Study Guide linked above and submit their answers to the study questions as an email attachment. The formal acceptance of a Candidate for Entered Apprentice is traditionally done in a Lodge initiation as a ratification of the decision to admit during the Apprentice rites after seclusion in the Chamber of Reflection. For a private initiation, however, this procedure will be omitted, as the sponsoring Master will be well and personally acquainted with the candidate's qualifications. Private initiations and advancement rituals adapt lodge rituals for operation by a minimum of one Master with possible assistance from Pansophic Masons of any degree.

3. Elections and Lodge Queues

Members of every Lodge except the Grand Lodge will advance on a queue based upon seniority by date of first membership in that Lodge. Members in good standing will advance through the Offices according to this queue, with the Venerable Master becoming a Past Venerable Master, the Senior Warden becoming Venerable Master, etc. The Venerable Master may hold office for two consecutive years if ratified by vote, thus keeping the queue at status quo for another year. If an officer drops out of the queue, a Past Venerable Master will take that position so that every member will continue to be able to pass through each lodge office.

Each of the floor positions, from Tyler to Venerable Master, carries the subtle energies and forces of one Sephira of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. An important aspect of advancement in the Blue Lodge of the Pansophic Rites is that each member be able to experience, hold, and emanate each of these forces in Fall and Spring equinoctial Masonic rites.

Major Lodge Offices consist of Venerable Master, Senior Warden, and Junior Warden. If a Brother or Sister has not advanced to the degree of Master Mason but moves in the queue to the first major office of Junior Warden, he or she must trade queue positions with the Master Mason most proximate below him or her in the queue.

4. GRAND LODGE OFFICERS:

Grand Master

As Vicarius Salomonis, or sole conservator, steward, and lineage holder of the Pansophic warrants and charters, and as founding Grand Master of Respectable Lodge #1, St. Germain, Bro. Lewis Keizer is authorized to serve as life-long Grand Master for the Grand Lodge of the new Masonic obedience hereby designated as the Pansophic Rites of Freemasonry. He will hold the floor position of Past Venerable Master, or may occupy any floor vacant position.

Deputy Grand Master

The person designated to succeed the Grand Master will hold the floor position of Venerable Master.

Development of Pansophic Master Masons

Initially, Pansophic Masters will be initiated, advanced, and raised in the Grand Lodge. Different cases:


    1. Existing Master Masons who complete all requirements for a Pansophic Master will travel to the Grand Lodge to be raised in one ritual, after which they may establish a Pansophic Conventicle in their local area.
     2. When no Pansophic Conventicles exist within reasonable traveling distance, non-Masons may complete all requirements and studies for the degree of Pansophic Master and be initiated, advanced, and raised at the Grand Lodge all in one weekend.

As Pansophic Masons develop, both existing conventional Master Masons and non-Masons may be initiated, advanced, and/or raised in Pansophic Conventicles following rules and rites of the Grand Lodge.

Development of New Lodges

Initially, all members of the Pansophic Rites of Freemasonry will be adjunct members of St. Germain Lodge #1 while associated with a Conventicle led by a Pansophic Master. When there are seven members living within a reasonable geographical proximity, of whom at least three are Master Masons, they may petition the Grand Lodge to establish a separate numbered Lodge for their area that will operate as a separate named lodge.

Lodge Officers

New Lodge officers will be established by their chronological queue positions, which they are free to interchange by mutual agreement.

Lodge Rites

Each Lodge will be sovereign with respect to its development of higher degrees, but must use versions of the Blue Lodge rites approved by the Grand Lodge.

The Grand Lodge Archives

Each lodge will send files of its meetings, lectures, presentations, and studies to the Grand Lodge archives, to be made available to all other Pansophic Freemasons.

Conventicle and Lodge Masters Virtual Convention

Once each year all Venerable Masters of Pansophic Conventicles and Lodges will convene in an electronic Internet virtual meeting to discuss and decide issues with Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master concerning the operations of the entire obedience. The annual meeting will be established each year by email poll from the Grand Lodge.