Building Hiram Scavenger Hunt

Building Hiram - 10/10/09

Hello Fellow Travelers!


33 Questions for “Just Raised” Masons to Explore and Answer

(Based upon the book: Building Hiram – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 1 by Dr. John S. Nagy)

The Work of a Raised Mason does not end with his Raising and proficiency. If he did his Work well, he is now responsible for reviewing all that has been handed him and making sense of it beyond the obvious. Below are questions designed to assist him in that Work.

1. What are Freestones, Bastard Ashlars and Perpend Ashlars and why are they called these names specifically? (Chapter 1)
2. How is the Height a Mason can climb determined? (Chapter 1)
3. What is Perfection? (Chapters 1, 4)
4. According to Ritual, what specific Work, Working tools and actions Perfect Ashlars and what specific qualities must a Rough Ashlar have for it to be accepted into Masonry? (Chapters 1, 2)
5. What are the Six Working tools stated within American Rite, what are the Nine Working Tools stated within English Rite, what other tools are there and what are all their speculative uses? (Chapter 2)
6. What are the Trivium and Quadrivium, what do they classically represent and what does a Mason prepare for by studying them? (Chapter 4)
7. What do each of the separate subjects of the Trivium and Quadrivium represent the Study of, respectively? (Chapter 4)
8. What do the Trivium and Quadrivium have to do with Raising Masons? (Chapter 4)
9. When joined, how are the Trivium and Quadrivium represented two and three dimensionally? (Chapter 4)
10. Besides the actual physical act, what actually Raises a Mason? (Chapter 4)
11. What two events should occur next for any Ashlar once it is Perfected and Raised; and what tool and material are involved in these two events? (Chapters 1, 4, 12)
12. What are the four specific Wages that a Master Mason can expect to receive for his Work? (Chapter 12)
13. What classical elements do each of these four Wages represent and why? (Chapter 12)
14. Where are the four Wages of Master Masons disclosed within the Volume of Sacred Law? (Chapter 12)
15. What historical significance does the fourth and final Wage of a Master Mason have in relationship to covenants, payment and preservation? (Chapter 12)
16. What are the names of the five Pillars stated within the five orders of architecture, whom do these Pillars represent within the Lodge and how do these five Pillars represent the Masonic Journey from Candidate through to Master Mason? (Chapter 3)
17. What number is assigned to the second flight of stairs in the FC lecture and what does this specific section of the flight of stairs represent symbolically for Master Masons? (Chapter 4)
18. How do the Square and Compasses relate to Heaven and Earth, what Hebrew words do they represent separately and what words do they represent when overlaid upon each other? (Chapters 1, 9)
19. Why is it said that the “Square is the offspring of the Compasses” and how is this proven geometrically? (Chapter 9)
20. Name the offices of the Lodge, their corresponding Jewels, and how each office functionally supports a Mason’s life outside the Lodge. (Chapter 10)
21. What other Working Tool is referred to by the Hebrew word symbolized by the Square? (Chapter 2)
22. How do the symbolic Penalties manifest in real life for anyone, Mason or profane, who does not honor his Word? (Chapter 6)
23. As represented by each of the penalties, explain what is physically, functionally and spiritually lost by a person who does not keep true to his Word. (Chapter 6)
24. What specific Working tool does each Due-guard represent and how does each relate to Heaven and Earth? (Chapter 11)
25. What do the first flight of Stairs in the Fellow Craft degree, the steps leading up to the Worshipful Master within the Lodge and the Three Ruffians in the second part of the Third Degree all have in common? (Chapter 4)
26. What evidence does Ritual show for the implied existence of a fourth Ruffian, what season does he represent, what is his name and what aspect of a Mason’s life does he characterize? (Chapter 5)
27. What symbolic demands were placed upon the central Character of the second part of the Third Degree and how did each test his Integrity? (Chapters 5, 6)
28. What is the Sacred Triad and how is it used as a measure the worth of a man’s Word when he gives it? (Chapter 8)
29. What Three Hebrew words are alluded to by the three principle elements of the Sacred Triad and when using only the first letter of these elements, what acronym does it Spell out? (Chapter 8)
30. What is "the fourth part of a circle," what classical element does it refer to and how does it apply to Masonic teachings? (Chapter 9)
31. What Working tools provide Masonic clues that explain the 3-4-5 triangle and which tool denotes which number and why? (Chapters 7, 8, 9)
32. What conditions must exist for the Lost Word to be revealed and why can it only be revealed but not spoken? (Chapters 8, 11)
33. What are the three primary Working tools of Master Masons, how can using only two of these Working tools reveal what would normally be required using the third Working tool and if one tool is Lost, how can it be revealed once again by using the remaining two? (Chapter 9)

Fraternally,

Brother Coach N.