Encyclopedia Masonica

Benjamin Franklin is credited in the literature of the Order with receiving the degrees in England and bringing the Ritual to America where we are also told it was conferred upon George Washington, he in turn communicating the ceremonies to his wife and that for years it therefore received the name of the Martha Washington Degree. The legend and instruction are taken from the Bible, particularly Genesis iv, 18-23; Ruth I-ii; First Kings vii, 21; Second Chronicles iii, 17, and Proverbs xxxi, 19. Members must be the own kin—hence the name—of Master Masons.

There are three Degrees, True Kindred, Heroine of Jericho, and Good Samaritan, the second obtained after six months probation, the third after one year of the second. A Royal Arch Mason, Prude Parsons of Whitewater, Wisconsin, conferred the Degree in 1853 upon his daughter and the daughter of a Masonic friend. Mrs. J. Mathews of Rockland, Wisconsin, received the Degree in the early fifties which then was known as the Lady Washington or Martha Washington Degree which during the first part of the Civil War period is credited with many members in Virginia. Several Freemasons in 1894 at San Francisco organized Conclaves.

Among the Californian members was Mrs. M. E. De Geer Gilmore who moved to Chicago and continued the work there until 1905. In the fall of that year the Order was reorganized at the request of several Conclaves. Rituals of 1847, 1851, and 1895 were reported, a Ritual Committee appointed, and a Supreme National Conclave established. The work of the Committee was adopted, but at a meeting of the National Body in Chicago, March 2-3, 1911, a Committee was again appointed which exemplified a Ritual and this, with amendments, was approved, April 10-17, 1911.

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.