Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society - Volume 2 - Number 2 - Winter 2014
The Iconography of the Lodge Tracing Board of the Thirty-Second Degree of the AASR , Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret
Dominique Jardin A
The seal and / or tracing board of the
degree of Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret have not , it would seem , yet been the object of a specific or heraldic study . A specific lodge tracing board of the degree has not been identified , though it is stated in one of the first rituals 1 that it should be drawn on the floor in the middle of the lodge :
In the middle of the apartment a Nonagon shall be traced whose every corner will be indicated by one of the letters SALIX NONI . . . . In the Nonagon a heptagon will be drawn and in it a pentagon . . . . In the Pentagon a triangle will be placed , and in it a circle that will designate the space occupied by the Princes of the Royal Secret .
There are iconographic representations of these designs and patterns on paper . They are referred to as a “ camp ” or “ seal ,” and , by extension , “ lodge tracing board .” The latter case is not a lodge carpet laid on the ground , but rather a tracing board presented to the East , in front of the Grand Commander ’ s desk . There are also some rare old aprons that bear the camp ’ s motif . This motif , the composition of which is beautiful , with its colors and the movement from the wind that makes its flags flutter , is enigmatic , complex , and fundamental for understanding the degree . The ritual gives us a detailed but “ literal ” and descriptive explanation of it that does not seem to cover all of its meanings .
The story of the degree depicts a powerful army , consisting of corps sheltered in tents that are “ placed in a nonagon ” on the one hand , and a pentagon on the other , so as to build a camp . The recipient is questioned by each of the heads of the various army corps , who correspond to different high degrees and are sheltered under tents with pennons and flags . He is then admitted to participate in the expedition to reach Jerusalem . The different army corps can then set off and form a procession , “ each under the banner of its leader ,” before “ coming to a stop ” to pray before each of the five ports that punctuate the route of the expedition and that are the cause for a number of symbolic journeys .
A
University of Mannheim
1
The ritual that I use here is , unless otherwise stated , the manuscript of the Bibliothèque nationale de France listed under Nouv . Acq . Frçs 10960 ( the Cabinet des Manuscrits series entitled Nouvelles Acquisitions Françaises , and therefore not part of the Masonic collection ). The title of the ritual , which can be dated to between 1810 and 1825 , is Knight of Saint Andrew , Faithful Keeper of the Sacred Treasure and Valiant Prince of the Royal Secret . It has sometimes been called “ Morin ,” a name that has in fact nothing to do with Morin and that I will not use here .
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