The Covering

In the Entered Apprentice degree we are taught that a Lodge has a covering...... the covering of a lodge is a clouded canopy or starry decked heaven.....okay.

Delving into some of the meanings of the above mentioned phrase we find some interesting definitions of those particular words.

A covering is defined as something laid over or surrounding a thing for protection. Clouded refers to covering or laying over something as with clouds. In searching further a canopy is defined as a roof-like covering, an ornamental awning over a person of importance in ceremonial occasions.

Starry refers to abounding with stars or brightly lit by the stars. Moving forward the innocent word decked, means something that is covered or put under one roof. Heaven has many definitions and many different uses, perhaps the most interesting and appropriate for our use......heaven was a term used in Elizabethan Theater in reference to a wooden roof or canopy over the outer stage of the theater.

Elizabethan Theater took place primarily in London from roughly from 1567-1642. Permanent theaters were built for the plays of Shakespeare and others. Pretty interesting stuff considering this predated our fraternity by by less than a 100 years....maybe?????

So the lodge is covered or protected by a clouded canopy or awning of clouds over our important ceremonial occasions....or..... a star lit roof or heaven, if you will.

My interpretation is that during the daylight hours the Lodge is covered by billowing puffy clouds protecting us from the outside world and at night a star lit roof or canopy. Remember clouds are only visible during the day and I remember as a kid that sometimes it felt like a dome over us......visions of a canopy of trees also comes to mind.......also at night when the stars are in full display it gives the feeling that a heavenly dome covers over the earth. Now days when one ventures out of the city into the country at night and away from the light pollution of the urban sprawl this effect seems almost surreal as we've grown accustomed to our city environments.




Another illustration I believe they were trying to make was that the lodge....really the fraternity was covered or protected by a symbolic dome created by the Grand Architect. If one looks outside regardless of the location, because of the curvature of the earth the sky has a dome-like appearance. As we look toward the horizon the dome appears to end.....but as we move toward the horizon it is never ending....thus wherever we are we are beneath the dome. Therefore wherever we are with the fraternity we are under that covering.

 Little did I know that when I started my search of this small passage that I would learn of the Elizabethan Theater and some of it's history. Obviously this influenced the writers of our ritual in trying to describe the heavenly star lit dome. They referred back to what they knew and were able to describe it. The word heaven has a very apparent dual meaning here.

Each time I engage in these brief studies I am simply astounded at what unfolds from so few words. It is quite apparent that the writers of our ritual had a very intricate understanding of words and how to use them, and to preserve their thoughts and illustrations for many years to come.