Grand Lodge and Subordinate Lodge

Why this matters

Your Lodge is one of about a hundred Lodges in New Mexico. All hundred are chartered by, and answer to, the same body: the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, which meets in annual communication and elects a Grand Master for one year at a time. Cross the state line into Colorado or Arizona and you are in a different jurisdiction with a different Grand Lodge and a different Code. By the American published doctrine of exclusive territorial jurisdiction, the two do not overlap.

Almost every important rule about your membership (who can join, when you can visit, what you can be tried for, how your dues are set, what you may wear in procession) is set by your Grand Lodge, not by your Lodge. Members who do not understand the published two-tier structure tend to argue with their Worshipful Master about rules he did not write and cannot change.

What this chapter is

American Masonry is organized by state. Each state has one supreme Grand Lodge, which charters and governs every Craft Lodge in its territory. Pound's Masonic Jurisprudence is the published classic on how that authority is exercised, where its limits lie, and how Grand Lodges recognize each other.

How to practise it

A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.