Why this website?
Site contents
About the endowment
The Initiatory
The Endowment Proper
The
Creation
The
Garden
The
Telestial World
The
Terrestrial World
The
Veil
Baptism for the dead
Sealings
Second anointing
Timeline
Historical documents
Masonic parallels
The endowment on film
Garments & temple clothes
Suggested readings
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After the introductory pages, this website has two main sections, designed to serve different research agendas. Section I is for the more casual researcher. Section II is for those with more intensive historical interests.
I. THE CEREMONY & OTHER TEMPLE RITES
This section provides complete texts for the initiatory and endowment, with footnotes explaining the rite's historical development. The texts describe a live pre-1990 endowment and the pre-2005 initiatory. These texts are used, rather than transcripts of the current initiatory and endowment, in order to give readers a feel for what these ceremonies were like during most of their history. Significant 1990/2005 revisions are explained in footnotes. Like the footnotes, the rubrics (or stage directions) that appear in the text are my own. So too are the headings that divide the text into smaller, more reader-friendly units.
If you want to read the current ceremony or a side-by-side comparison of the 1990/2005 revisions, go to the Historical documents page.
In addition to the endowment, I have provided texts for other temple rites that are likely to interest the casual researcher: baptism for the dead, sealings, and the second anointing.
II. FOR FURTHER STUDY
This section is for researchers who are interested in exploring the history of the endowment more closely. Here you will find the following resources:
Timeline: A handy summary of the endowment's historical development.
Historical documents: Electronic versions of various source materials, including
- Texts or descriptions of the endowment, from the 1840s through the 1990/2005 revisions.
- Side-by-side comparisons highlighting all the 1990/2005 revisions to the ceremonies.
- Transcripts of second anointings from nineteenth-century Church records.
Masonic parallels: An overview of the endowment's relationship to Masonry.
The endowment on film: A discussion of the transition from live to filmed endowments.
Garments & temple clothes: An introduction to the garment and other temple vestments.
Suggested readings: A selected bibliography for additional reading.