First Degree: Entered Apprentice Mason, Initiation into the Mysteries

Redacción Cámara de Maestro · 11 November 2022

Introduction: The Doorway to the Mysteries

The First Degree of Freemasonry, known as the Entered Apprentice degree, represents the first step in a journey of self-knowledge and spiritual perfection that has captivated men and women of good will for centuries. Far from being a simple admission ceremony, initiation into the First Degree constitutes a transformative rite whose symbolism is rooted in the deepest currents of Western philosophy, sacred geometry, and the unceasing pursuit of truth.

Speculative Freemasonry, as it has been known since the founding of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717, structured its system of degrees so that each represented a stage in the initiatory journey of the human being. The First Degree, in particular, symbolizes birth into a new consciousness, the casting off of ignorance, and the beginning of a learning that encompasses both technical knowledge and moral and spiritual perfection.

For the candidate who crosses the doors of the Masonic Temple for the first time, the experience constitutes a moment of rupture with profane life: its symbols, its trials, and its teachings seek to awaken the capacity for reflection, cultivate virtue, and prepare the spirit to access truths of a deeper nature.

The Foundations of the Entered Apprentice Degree

The Triadic Base of Masonic Initiation

The structure of the Masonic system is organized into three fundamental degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. This triadic division responds to a principle of progression recognized in multiple esoteric and philosophical traditions. The Entered Apprentice, as the first degree, possesses not only an initiatory meaning but embodies a specific state of consciousness: openness to new possibilities, readiness to learn, and acceptance that ignorance is the starting point of true knowledge.

The ancient operative masons, those cathedral builders who possessed the secrets of the art of stone, established a tripartite system of classification: Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master. Each degree corresponded to a level of technical competence and, therefore, to a capacity for contribution in construction. When Freemasonry transitioned to its speculative form, it integrated this model but transformed it into a system of spiritual elevation in which the Stone to be hewn was the human spirit itself.

The Symbolism of the Number One

In the First Degree, the number one acquires fundamental symbolic relevance. It represents unity, non-duality, the principle without which nothing can exist. In Masonic cosmology, this unity is both a reflection of the Creative Principle (termed the Great Architect of the Universe) and an invitation for the candidate to recognize his undivided essence, beyond the fragmentations that profane life imposes upon human consciousness.

The Apprentice’s journey in the Temple is, in many senses, a solitary voyage of return to that primordial unity. Although surrounded by his brother masons, the candidate must traverse his own dark night, his own inner labyrinth, to emerge transformed and aware of his true nature.

The Initiatory Journey: Trials and Transformation

The Symbolic Structure of the Journey

The First Degree is not simply a ceremony where the candidate utters words of commitment and receives theoretical instruction. Its essence resides in a symbolic journey that evokes, through metaphors and ritual acts, the passage of the candidate from ignorance towards knowledge, from moral weakness towards inner strength, from dispersion towards integration.

This journey takes the form of a progressive experience that includes multiple moments of contrast: light and darkness, silence and voice, solitude and brotherhood. These contrasts are not accidental but respond to a deliberate pedagogy whose objective is to impact the candidate’s psyche in such a way that the teaching is engraved not only in the intellect but in emotion and will.

Moral and Spiritual Trials

Although the specific trials of the First Degree are secret and form part of the experiential journey that each Mason must personally undergo, it is possible to speak of their meanings and general purposes without revealing ritual details.

The First Degree seeks to evaluate and strengthen fundamental virtues in the candidate:

Sincerity: The Mason learns that truth is the foundation of all spiritual construction. The moral trials of the degree seek to confirm that the candidate is moved by a genuine desire for self-improvement and not by vanity, ambition, or superficial curiosity.
Courage: Not only physical courage, but especially moral courage. The candidate must demonstrate willingness to face his own fears, prejudices, and mental limitations. The initiatory experience demands that he step out of his comfort zone and venture into the unknown.
Prudence: The capacity for discernment and judgment. The Apprentice must learn to separate the essential from the incidental, to see beyond appearances, and to understand that true knowledge requires patience and reflection.
Temperance: Self-mastery, moderation, and balance. In a world of excess, the Mason cultivates self-control and the ability to act with measure in all circumstances.

Symbolic Rebirth

One of the most profound aspects of the First Degree is its connection to the symbolism of rebirth and transformation. The candidate, upon completing his initiatory journey, experiences a symbolic death of his former profane self and a birth into a new life as a Mason. This death-rebirth is not a poetic metaphor but a real psychological experience that marks a before and after in the initiate’s life.

This idea has ancient roots. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, in Dionysian rites, in the initiations of the Pythagorean schools, we find the same pattern: the aspirant dies to his former identity and is reborn into an expanded consciousness. Freemasonry, as a vehicle of Western wisdom, preserves and transmits this fundamental initiatory pattern.

Masonic rebirth implies:

A purification of preconceptions and inherited dogmas
The discovery of unknown inner capacities
A reorientation of values and priorities
The feeling of having entered a community of common purpose

The Fundamental Symbols of the Apprentice

The Rough Ashlar and the Perfect Ashlar

The central symbol of the First Degree is the Rough Ashlar: an unhewn stone representing the state of the candidate before his initiation. This stone, rough and shapeless, contains latent all the possibility of being transformed into something beautiful and useful, but it requires the patient work of the craftsman.

The Rough Ashlar is the perfect metaphor for the human condition. Each person possesses innate capacities, but these remain dormant, unpolished, undirected, as long as they are not developed through practice, study, and reflection. The Apprentice, by committing to his initiation, accepts to be like that rough stone that consents to be transformed.

Contrasting with the Rough Ashlar is the Perfect Ashlar (or Cubic Stone), a symbol that the Apprentice barely glimpses on the horizon of his learning. This perfectly hewn stone, with right angles and smooth surfaces, represents the ideal of moral and spiritual perfection towards which the Mason strives. It is not a destination that is reached, but a permanent north that guides the journey.

The Square and Compasses

Although in some Masonic systems these instruments are presented with greater emphasis in later degrees, in the First Degree the candidate already begins his familiarity with them. The Square, with its right angles, represents the virtue of rectitude, just action, living at right angles with universal moral principles. The Compasses, instruments that trace perfect circles, symbolize the circumference of jurisdiction and moderation, the capacity to maintain balance within well-defined limits.

Together, Square and Compasses represent the perfect synthesis of the angular and the circular, of the determinate and the unlimited, of reason (which fixes limits) and intuition (which embraces totality).

The Temple and Its Directions

The Masonic Temple is not a specific physical building but a sacred mental and symbolic space. In the First Degree, the candidate accesses this transformed space for the first time and shares with his brothers his experience of this inner Temple.

The cardinal directions of the Temple carry specific meanings:

East: Place of light, of birth, associated with wisdom and spiritual direction
West: Place of decline, of rest, but also of introversion and self-examination
North: Symbol of cold, of trials, of adversity
South: Symbol of heat, of energy, of activity and dynamism

The Apprentice’s journey through these directions is an interior journey through the different aspects of human experience.

The Obligation of Confidentiality: Custody of the Mysteries

Spiritual Meaning of Secrecy

One of the most misunderstood elements of Freemasonry is its emphasis on secrecy and confidentiality. From external perspectives, there have been speculative interpretations, often tinged with prejudice, that consider this secrecy as a sign of nefarious activities or occultism. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Masonic secrecy is not the secrecy of compromising information, but the secrecy of lived experience. It is like the difference between reading a description of a landscape in a book and actually being in that landscape. The words, signs, and gestures that form part of Masonic symbols are not “secrets” in the sense of dangerous information, but experiences that lose value if they are told rather than lived.

The candidate of the First Degree swears to maintain confidentiality, not because he must conceal criminal information, but because he recognizes that each person deserves the opportunity to have their own initiatory experience without it being contaminated by advance descriptions or voyeuristic curiosity.

The Nature of the Commitment

The obligation that the Apprentice pronounces is a solemn promise to himself and before his brothers. It is not an oath of blind obedience to an authority, but a commitment to certain principles:

Protect the initiatory experience of others
Maintain the integrity of the Order
Keep confidential the secrets of the degree
Live according to Masonic principles of brotherhood, liberty, and tolerance
Constantly seek moral and spiritual perfection

This commitment is voluntary. At no point does Freemasonry coerce anyone. The candidate must be completely sure of his desire to be initiated and must clearly understand the nature of his commitments before proceeding.

The Acquisition of First Knowledge

Beyond Information

The “first knowledge” of the Apprentice is not a body of data or information that can be transmitted in words. It is rather an orientation, an opening to new dimensions of understanding. The Apprentice, after his initiation, possesses what esoteric tradition calls “initiatory knowledge”: a transformation in his way of seeing and being in the world.

This knowledge has several dimensions:

Knowledge of self: The Apprentice begins to explore the geography of his own being, recognizing both his strengths and limitations and the infinite possibility of growth
Knowledge of Purpose: He understands that human life has meaning beyond the accumulation of wealth or status, that there exists a higher purpose related to service, brotherhood, and the search for truth
Knowledge of Context: He situates his small individual existence within a vaster context of humanity, of cosmos, of divinity, according to the individual’s own understanding

Progression Towards Greater Mysteries

It is important to note that the First Degree is exactly that: the first degree. The Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees that follow contain deepenings, additional revelations, and more subtle understandings. The Apprentice, in a sense, is barely at the threshold. His knowledge is broad in terms of the opening of perspective, but specifically limited regarding the mysteries that still await him.

This structure of progression responds to a fundamental pedagogical wisdom: the whole truth is not given all at once, but the student is allowed to grow at his own pace, to integrate what he has learned into his life, and to be truly prepared for deeper understandings.

Cardinal Virtues of the Apprentice

The Practice of Perfection

Freemasonry emphasizes that initiation is merely the beginning. The Apprentice receives the symbolic tools and necessary guidance, but it is through constant work that these symbols become living wisdom. The cardinal virtues that the Apprentice cultivates are:

Prudence: The wisdom to know when to speak and when to keep silent, when to act and when to wait. Prudence is not timidity, but mature discernment.

Temperance: Balance in all things. Not renouncing legitimate pleasure, but neither being a slave to appetites. Moderating anger, maintaining calm under pressure, acting with measure.

Fortitude: The capacity to persevere in goodness despite difficulties. To maintain commitment to principles even when it requires sacrifice or faces resistance.

Justice: Treating others as we wish to be treated. Recognizing in every human being the inherent dignity that deserves respect, regardless of social rank, beliefs, or circumstances.

These four classical virtues are the Mason’s code of life. They are not imposed from without, but the candidate comes to understand them as expressions of his own deepest self.

The Fraternal Spirit: The Initiatic Community

Solidarity and Universal Brotherhood

Initiation into the First Degree is not only a solitary experience but entry into a global community of Masons united by common ideals. Masonic fraternity transcends the divisions of nationality, religion, race, and social class that fragment profane humanity.

In the Lodge, a prince and a baker, an intellectual and a manual worker, a young man and an old man, a believer in God and a free thinker, can work side by side in the construction of the Spiritual Temple. This example of fraternal coexistence in diversity is one of Freemasonry’s most valuable legacies.

The Apprentice learns that true strength resides not in domination or oppressive hierarchy, but in the voluntary cooperation of men and women who recognize their interdependence and seek the common good. In the Lodge, there are no masters or servants, but brothers committed to a shared purpose.

Responsibility Towards Humanity

Freemasonry has never been an order of escapism from the world or of contemplative retreat. On the contrary, it has emphasized from its origins that the Apprentice must carry his knowledge and virtues into the outside world. The ultimate purpose is that the Lodge be a school of virtue whose lesson radiates outwards into society at large.

Historical Masons have been among the promoters of ideas of freedom of conscience, human rights, universal education, religious tolerance, and philanthropy. Not as imposed dogma, but as a natural expression of the principles they learn in the Temple.

Conclusion: The Beginning of an Eternal Journey

The First Degree of Freemasonry represents the beginning of a journey that, in truth, never ends. It is not a diploma to be obtained and filed, but the first step on a path of self-exploration, spiritual growth, and service to humanity that extends throughout life.

The Entered Apprentice Mason who crosses the doors of the Temple for the first time enters a tradition that stretches back centuries, to the cathedral builders, further back still to the philosophers and mystics of the ancient world, to truth-seekers of all ages. He enters also a living community of millions of Masons worldwide, united by ideals of brotherhood, freedom of conscience, justice, and the pursuit of human perfection.

Initiation into the First Degree opens a door which, once crossed, fundamentally changes the initiate’s perspective on himself, on his brothers, on humanity, and on his place in the cosmos. Greater mysteries await him, but the Apprentice must first learn to work the rough stone of his own being, slowly, patiently, with all his strength.

As the Masonic adage says: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The First Degree is that first step. What follows will depend on the dedication, sincerity, and willingness of the Mason to apply in his life the principles he has learned in the Temple.

Freemasonry offers the tools, the symbols, and the brotherhood. The work, the transformation, and the final glory belong solely to the Mason himself.