As early as 1723, special ceremonies were used to install the newly elected Master of a Lodge. By 1792, there appears to have been a separate ceremony attended only by the retiring Master and the Past Masters. At this separate ceremony, the newly installed Master of the Lodge was obligated, given a sign in commemoration of that obligation and invested with a grip and word so that he could thereafter make himself known to other present and past Masters of Masonic Lodges.
By the time that this ceremony came to the United States, it had grown beyond an obligation, a sign, a grip and a word. It had become more like a degree. The intent was not simply to bind the newly elected Master with an obligation but to teach him the course of conduct necessary to discharge his newly assumed duties as Master of a Lodge.
While our California Blue Lodge ritual does not include this degree, the lessons of this historical ceremony are too important to be abandoned. They have been preserved by the Southern California Past Masters Association. All new members of the Association participate in this ceremony, with some modifications. They take the Past Master’s obligation and receive the sign, grip and word of a Past Master. The ceremony illustrates certain lessons which a new Master should learn before he can preside successfully.
All Masters and Past Masters who have not yet joined the Association are encouraged to do so to share in this important, historical ceremony.
HOW DO I JOIN?