So Mote It Be by Mike Miller, Junior Warden
Why do Freemasons end their prayers with “So mote it be”? We may ask ourselves, what do these words mean, and where did they originate?
Mote is an Old English verb meaning may or might (“may” is more indicative of present time and “might” of past time). Therefore “So mote it be” means “So may it be” or more briefly “So be it”.
The earliest Masonic reference of “So mote it be” traces back to the Regis Poem of 1390. This oldest known Masonic document describes the duties of lodge members and contains a charge to which every Mason was required to pledge on his admission to the fraternity. The charge ends with the famous lines:
Amen! Amen! So mote it be!
So say we all for charity.
This ancient tradition, more than 600 years old, comes to us from the time when Masonry was truly operative and our brethren actually cut and laid stone. Our fraternity was founded on these strong principals, passed down from our operative forbearers and now carried forth in our modern speculative practice.
Fraternally,
Mike Miller,
Junior Warden
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