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o
O The fifteenth letter in the English and in most of the Western alphabets The corresponding letter in the Hebrew and Phenician alphabets was called lye, that is, eye; the primitive form of the Phen...o'brien, jeremiah
Born in 1744 at Scarborough, Maine, and died September 5, 1818, in Machias, Maine, in which town the family of O'Brien settled down and lived shortly after the birth of Jeremiah. He was a Captain...oak apple, society of the
Instituted about 1658, and lapsed under the disturbances in England during the reign of James II, but it lingered among the Stuart adherents for many years.oannes
The earliest instructor of man in letters sciences, and arts, especially in architecture, geometry, botany. and agriculture, and in all other useful Knowledge, was the fish-god Oannes, according to an...oath
In the year 1738. Clement XII, at that time Pope of Rome, issued a Bull of Excommunication against the Freemasons, and assigned, as the reason of his condemnation, that the Institution confederated pe...oath of the gild
The Oath that was administered in the English Freemasons Gild of the Middle Ages is first met with in the Harleian Manuscript, No. 1945, written about the year 1670. The 31st Article prescribes: "...oath, corporal
The modern form of taking an oath is by placing the hands on the Gospels or on the Bible. The corporate, or corporal both, is the name of the linen cloth on which, in the Roman Catholic Church, the sa...oath, tiler's
Before any strange and unknown visitor can gain admission into a Masonic Lodge, he is required in the United States of America to take the following oath: I, A. B., do hereby and hereon solemnly and ...ob
A Masonic abbreviation of the word Obligation, sometimes written O. B. * OBED The Hebrew word meaning serving One of nine favored officials, selected by Solomon after the death of Hiram Abiff.obedience
The doctrine of obedience to constituted authority is strongly inculcated in all the Old Constitutions as necessary to the preservation of the Association. In them it is directed that ''ever...obedience of a grand body
Obedience, used in the sense of being under the jurisdiction, is a technicality borrowed only recently by Masonic authorities from the French, where it has always been regularly used. Thus 'the G...obediency acts
The Strict Observance so named the printed Constitutions.obelisk
The obelisk is a quadrangular, monolithic column, diminishing upward, with the sides gently inclined, but not so as to terminate in a pointed apex, but to form at the top a Cattish, pyramidal figure, ...objections to freemasonry
The principal objections that have been urged by its opponents to the Institution of Freemasonry may be arranged under six heads: 1. Its secrecy; 2 The exclusiveness of its charity; 3. Its admission o...obligated
To be obligated, in Masonic language, is to be admitted into the Covenant of Freemasonry. "is obligated Freemason" is tautological, needless repetition, because there can be no Freemason who...obligation
The solemn promise made by a Freemason on his admission into any Degree is technically called his obligation. In a legal sense, obligation is synonymous with duty. Its derivation shows its true meanin...oblong square
A parallelogram, or foursided figure, all of whose angles are equal, but two of whose sides are longer than the others. Of course the term oblong square is strictly without any meaning, but it is used...oboth
Ventriloquism. It will be found so denominated in the Septuagint version, Isaiah xxix, 3, also xix, 3.obrack, hibernus
Grand Master of the Order of the Temple in 1392, according to the chronology of the Strict Observance of Germany.observance, relaxed
The French expression is Observance Relache. This is the term by which Ragon translates the lata observantia or lax observance applied by the disciples of Von Hund to the other Lodges of Germany. Rago...obverse
In numismatics that side of a coin or medal which contains the principal figure, generally a face in profile or a full or half-length figure, is called the obverse.occasional lodge
A temporary Lodge con-voked by a Grand Master, as for the purpose of making Freemasons, after which the Lodge is dissolved. The phrase was first used by Anderson in the second edition of the Book of C...occult masonry
Ragon, in his Orthodoxie Maconnique, proposes the establishment of a Masonic system, which he calls "Occult Masonry." It consists of three Degrees, which are the same as those of Ancient Cra...occult sciences
This name is given to the sciences of alchemy, magic, and astrology, which existed in the Middle Ages. Many of the speculations of these so-called sciences were in the eighteenth century made use of i...occupied territory
A state or kingdom where there is a Grand Lodge organization and subordinate Lodges working under it is said to be occupied territory, and, by the American and English law, all other Grand Lodges are ...oceania
Includes all the islands of the Pacific Ocean between the southeastern shores of Asia and the western shores of America. Fiji Islands On March 12, 1872, Polynesia Lodge established itself at Levuka w...octagon
The regular octagon is a geometrical figure of eight equal sides and angles. It is a favorite form in Christian ecclesiology, and most of the Chapter-Houses of the cathedrals in England are eight side...odd numbers
In the numerical philosophy Of the Pythagoreans, odd numbers were male and even numbers female. It is wrong, however, to say, as Brother Oliver and some others after him have that odd numbers were per...odem
The Hebrew word are. The carnelian or agate in the High Priest's breastplate. It was of a red color, and claimed to possess medical qualities.odin
The chief Scandinavian deity and father of Balder, which see. The counterpart of Hermes and Mercury in the Egyptian and Roman mythologies. Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve, the sons of Boer, or the f...office, tenure of
In Freemasonry the tenure of every office is not only for the time for which the incumbent was elected or appointed, but extends to the day on which his successor is installed During the period which ...officers
The officers of a Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, or other Supreme Body in Freemasonry, are divided into Grand and Subordinate; the former, who are the Grand and Deputy Grand Master, the Grand Wardens and...officers of french lodges
The office of Orator exists throughout Continental Freemasonry. He is presumed to be a Brother of some eloquence and facility of speech who is called upon to deliver an oration whenever thought advisa...ogmius
The Druidical name for Hercules who is represented with numberless fine chains proceeding from the mouth to the ears of other people, hence possessing the powers of eloquence and persuasion.oheb eloah
The Hebrew words meaning Love of God. This and Oheb Karobo, meaning Love of our Neighbor, are the names of the two supports of the Ladder of Kadosh. Collectively, they allude to that Divine passage, &...ohio
With the close of the War of the Revolution came the introduction of Freemasonry to Ohio. Several members, including Brother Jonathan heart the Master of American Union Lodge, moved tee Marietta. Thei...oklahoma
The history of Freemasonry in what is now the State of Oklahoma is the history of the Craft in Indian and Oklahoma Territories which were originally separate from each other. The pioneer Lodge in Indi...old masonic ceremonies
"We are accustomed to flatter ourselves that Freemasonry has never obtained such eminence of culture as in the present day, yet we find that even in the middle of the eighteenth century, our anci...old regulations
The Regulations for the Government of the Craft, which were first compiled by Grand Master Payne in 1720, and approved by the Grand Lodge in 1721 were published by Anderson in 1723, in the first editi...olive
In a secondary sense, the olive plant is a symbol of peace and victory; but in its primary sense, like all the other sacred plants of antiquity, it was a symbol of resurrection and immortality. Hence ...olive branch in the east, brotherhood of the
An Order, which was proposed at Bombay, in 1845, by Dr. James Burnes, the author of a History of the Knights Templar, who was then the Provincial Grand Master of India for Scotland. It was intended to...oliver, george
The Rev. George Oliver, D.D., one of the most distinguished and learned of English Freemasons, was descended from an ancient Scottish family of that name, some of whom came into England in the time of...om
From the Sanskrit language and of an especial importance as a sacred word in the religion of the Hindus. We are told in the Katha-Upanishad, one of the Hindu treatises on philosophy, that whoever know...omnific word
The Tetragrammaton is so called because of the omnific powers attributed by the Cabalists to its possession and true pronunciation (see Tetragrammaton). The term is also applied to the most significan...on
This is a significant word in Royal Arch Masonry, and has been generally explained as being the name by which Jehovah was worshiped among t he Egyptians. As this has been denied and the word asserted ...onech
The Hebrew word play The bird Phenix, named after Enoch or Phenoch. Enoch signifies initiation. The Phenix, in Egyptian mythology; call sculptures, as a bird, is placed in the mystical palm-tree. The ...ontario
The first Masonic meetings in Ontario were probably held by Lodge No. 156 attached to the Eighth Regiment of Foot at Fort Niagara between 1775 and 1780. On March 7, 1792, Brother William Jarvis was ap...onyx
The word for this in Hebrew, Oaf, is pronounced Shohem. The second stone in the fourth row of the high priest's breastplate. It is of a bluish-black color, and represented the Tribe of Joseph.opening of the lodge
The necessity of some preparatory ceremonies, of a more or less formal character, before proceeding to the despatch of the ordinary business of any association, has always been recognized. Decorum and...operative art
Freemasonry is divided by Masonic writers into two branches, an Operative Art and a Speculative Science. The Operative Art is that which was practiced by the Stone-Masons of the Middle Ages. The Specu...operative masonry
Freemasonry, in its character as an Operative Art, is familiar to everyone. As such, it is engaged in the application of the rules and principles of architecture to the construction of edifices for pr...operative masons
Workers in stone, who construct material edifices, in contradistinction to Speculative Masons, who build spiritual edifices.operatives
Name applied to those, as Dr. Thomas Carr, Dr. C. M. Merz, Sir John A. Cochburn, Sir Frederick Pollock, Clement E. Stretton, active in the modern study and practice of old gild customs.ophites
The Brotherhood of the Serpent, which flourished in the second century, and held that there were two principles of eons and the accompanying theology. This Egyptian fraternity displayed a living serpe...option
When a Masonic obligation leaves to the person who assumes it the option to perform or omit any part of it, it is not to be supposed that such option is to be only his arbitrary will or unreasonable c...oral instruction
Much of the instruction which is communicated in Freemasonry, and, indeed, all that is esoteric, is given orally; and there is a law of the Institution that forbids such instruction to be written. The...oral law
The Oral Law is the name given by the Jews to the interpretation of the written code, which is said to have been delivered to Moses at the same time, accompanied by the Divine command: "Thou shal...orangemen
The stated object of this organization was to preserve the supremacy of the Crown and Protestantism. Founded in 1795 by Thomas Wilson, a Freemason; composed of one grade. John Templeton, in 1796, intr...orator
An officer in a Lodge whose duty it is to explain to a candidate after his initiation the mysteries of the Degree into which he has just been admitted. The office is therefore, in many respects, simil...order
An Order may be defined to be a brotherhood, fellowship, or association of certain persons, united by laws and statutes peculiar to the society, engaged in a common object or design, and distinguished...order name
The name or designation assumed by initiates of the Illuminati, the members of the Rite of Strict Observance, and of the Royal Order of Scotland, was called the Order Name, or the Characteristic Name ...order of business
In every Masonic Body, the By-laws should prescribe an Order of Business, and in proportion as that order is rigorously observed will be the harmony and celerity with which the business of the Lodge w...order of jeanne d'arc
Organized at Berkeley, California, by Brother Henry Byron Phillips, who wrote the ritual, and after whom the first Assembly was named. Membership limited to girls between the ages of 14 and 21, sister...order of light
In l90l this body of students in occult philosophy was revived at Bradford, England, by the Rosicrucian Adepts, Dr. J. B. Edwards and T. H. Pattinson.order, rules of
Every permanent deliberative Body adopts a code of rules of order to suit itself; but there are certain rules derived from what may be called the Common Law of Congress and Parliament, the wisdom of w...orders of architecture
An order in architecture is a system or assemblage of parts subject to certain uniform established proportions regulated by the office which such part has to perform, so that the disposition, in a pec...orders of architecture, egyptian
The Egyptians had a system of architecture peculiar to themselves, which, says Barlow (Essays on Symbolistrns, page 30), "should indicate a people of grand ideas, and of confirmed religious convi...orders of the day
In parliamentary law, propositions which pre-appointed for consideration at a particular hour and day are called the orders of the day. When the day arrives for their discussion, they talk precedence ...ordinacio
The Old Constitutions known as the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, fourteenth century, speak of an ordinacio in the sense of a law, "Alia ordinacio artis gemetriae (line 471). It is borrowed from...ordination
At the close of the reception of a neophyte into the Order of Elect Cohens, the Master, while communicating to him the mysterious words, touched him with the thumb, index, and middle fingers, the othe...ordnungen der steinmetzen
German, meaning Regukions of the Stonecutters. For an account of the German Fraternity of Steinmetzen see Stone Masons of the Middle Ages.ordo ab chao
A Latin expression, meaning Order out of Chaos. A motto of the Thirty-third Degree, and having the same allusion as lug e tenebris, which see in this work. The invention of this motto is to be attribu...oregon
The Grand Lodge of Missouri granted authority for the organization of Multnomah Lodge at Oregon City in 1848. When two other Lodges were opened under the Grand Lodge of California the requisite number...organist, grand
An officer in the Grand Lodge of England, Scotland, and Ireland whose duty it is to superintend the musical exercises on private and public occasions. He must be a Master Mason, and is required to att...orient
The East. The place where a Lodge is situated is sometimes called its Orient, but more properly its East. The seat of a Gand Lodge has also sometimes been called its Grand Orient; but here Grand East ...orient, grand commander of the
The French title is Grand Commandeur d'Orient. The Forty-third Degree of the Rite of Mizraim.orient, interior
A name sometimes used in Germany to designate a Grand Chapter or superintending body of the higher Degrees. The French title is Interieur Orient; the Gerrnan, Innere, innerster, Orient.orient, order of the
In French, Ordre d'Orient. The Order was founded, says Thory (Acta Latomorum, volume I, page 330), at Paris, in 1806, on the system of the Templars, to whom it traced its origin.oriental chair of solomon
The seat of the Master in a Symbolic Lodge, and so called because the Master is supposed symbolically to fill the place over the Craft once occupied by King Solomon. For the same reason, the seat of t...oriental philosophy
A peculiar system of doctrines concerning the Divine Nature which is said to have originated in Persia, its founder being Zoroaster, whence it passed through Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt, and was fina...oriental rite
The title first assumed by the Rite of Memphis (see Marconis, also Memphis, Rite of ) .orientatio
The orientation of a Lodge is its situation due East and West. The word is derived from the technical language of architecture, where it is applied, in the expression orientation of churches to design...oriflamme
The ancient banner which originally belonged to the Abbey of Saint Denis, and was borne by the Counts of Vezin, patrons of that church but which, after the country of Vezin fell into the hands of the ...origin of freemasonry
The origin and source whence first sprang the institution of Freemasonry, such as we now have it, has given rise to more difference of opinion and discussion among Masonic scholars than any other topi...original points
The old lectures of the eighteenth century, which are now obsolete, contained the following instruction: "There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the basis of the system and c...orleans, duke of
Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, better known in history by his revolutionary name of Egalite, meaning Equality, was the fifth Grand Master of the Masonic Order in France. As Duke of Chartres, ...ormuzd and ahriman
Ormuzd was the principle of good and the symbol of light, and Ahriman the principle of evil and the symbol of darkness in the old Persian religion (see Zoroaster).ornaments of a lodge
The lectures describe the ornaments of a Lodge as consisting of the Mosaic Pavement, the Indented Tessel, and the Blazing Star. They are called ornaments because they are really the decorations with w...ornan the jebusite
He was an inhabitant of Jerusalem, at the time that city was called Jebus, from the son of Canaan, whose descendants peopled it. He was the owner of the threshing-floor situated on Mount Moriah, in th...orphans
A brief paragraph in the Book of Constitutions edited by John Entick, M. A., 1756, announces January 31, 1738-9, the rejection of "a scheme for the placing out Mason's sons apprentices."...orpheus
There are no less than four persons to whom the ancients gave the name of Orpheus, but of these only one is worthy of notice as the inventor of the Mysteries, or, at least, as the introducer of them i...orphic mysteries
These rites were practiced in Greece, and were a modification of the WIvstelies of Bacchus or Dionysus, and they were so called because their institution was falsely attributed to Orpheus. They were, ...osiris
He was the chief god of the old Egyptian mythology, the husband of Isis, and the father of Horus. Jabloniski says that Osiris represented the sun only, but Plutarch, whose opportunity of knowing was b...osiris. mysteries of
The Osirian Mysteries consisted in a scenic representation of the murder of Osiris by Typhon, the subsequent recovery of his mutilated body by Isis, and his deification, or restoration to immortal lif...oterfut
The name of the assassin at the west gate in the legend of the Third Degree, according to some of the advanced Degrees. Doctor Mackey said he had vainly sought the true meaning or derivation of this w...otis, james
American statesman, born February 5, 1725; graduate of Harvard, 1743; inaugurated patriotic movement by famous trade relations speech in 1760; died May 23, 1783. Made a Freemason in Saint John's ...otreb
The pseudonym of the celebrated Rosicrucian Michael Maier, under which he wrote his book on Death and the Resurrection (see Maier).out of the lodge
The Charges of a Freemason, compiled by Anderson from the Ancient Records, contain the regulations for the behavior of Freemasons out of the Lodge under several heads; as, behavior after the Lodge is ...oval temples
The temple in the Druidical Mysteries was often of an oval form. As the oblong temple was a representation of the inhabited world, whence is derived the form of the Lodge, so the oval temple was a rep...overseer
The title of three officers in a Mark Lodge, who are distinguished as the Master, Senior, and Junior Overseer. The jewel of their office is a square. In Mark Lodges attached to Chapters, the duties of...ox
The 0x was the device on the banner of the Tribe of Ephraim. The ox on a scarlet field is one of the Royal Arch banners, and is borne by the Grand Master of the Third Veil.oxnard, thomas
A prominent Freemason, Provincial Grand Master for North America, March 6, 1744 to June 25, 1754. Born 1703 in the Bishopric of Durham, England, and died in Boston, June 25, 1754. Brother Oxnard becam...oyres de ornellas, pracao
A Portuguese gentleman, who was arrested as a Freemason, at Lisbon, in 1776, was thrown into a dungeon, where he remained fourteen months (see Alincourt).ozee
Sometimes Osee. The acclamation of the Scottish Rite is so spelled in many French Cahiers. Properly Hoschea, which Delaunay (T'huileur, page 141) derives from the Hebrew word yfln, hossheah, deli...oziah
The Hebrew word any; Latin, Fortitudo doming courage from above. A Prince of Judah, and the name of the Senior Warden in the Fifth Degree of the French Rite of Adoption. ArtworkAntiquesApparelEmblemsPinsRingsJewelrySupplyCustom RingsItems On SaleMasonic Military ProductsRing Buyers GuideAbout The FreemasonsGrand LodgesBecoming a FreemasonMasonic EtiquetteLost and FoundMasonic WallpaperFamous FreemasonsMyths about MasonsMasonic RitualsSite Seeing TourSketchley TokensFamous QuotesBlogs By MasonsGift CertificatesCipherFact CorrectionsArticlesToastsGracesPoetrySongs Encyclopedia Library Education Price MatchingHome PageMasonic CatalogContact UsAbout UsStore PolicyPrivacy PolicyTerms of UseAdministrationShopping Cart info@MasonicShop.com
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