Deutsche Orden der Harugari
Ritual of the Second Degree
The Guide retires and examines the candidates as to the pass word of the
first degree, conducts them to the inner door and gives two raps.
n.d.
I.G.: Who knocks?
Guide: A brother with brothers of the order who wish to be
initiated into the secrets of the second degree.
Inner Guard reports the same to the U.B.
U.B.: Permit them to enter.
On arriving in the lodge room the Guide places himself in front of the chair
of the U.B. and says:
Guide: Brother U.B., I hereby present to you … brothers, who
wish to be initiated into the secrets of the second degree.
U.B.: Who guarantees that these brothers are worthy of being
initiated into such secrets?
Guide: A brother who has examined the recommendations from their
respective lodges, and can recommend them himself.
U.B.: If this be so, prepare yourselves, place your right hand
over your heart, raise your left hand, and repeat after me.
The O.B. gives the sign to rise.
I, …, in the presence of the brothers present, do hereby promise and vow,
that I will keep locked in my breast as a holy secret the secrets, signs, grip
and pass word which shall be here to-day entrusted to me, that as long as I live
I will never communicate or betray any part thereof to anyone not a member of
the second degree of the Deutschen Orden der Harugari.
Should I ever violate this, my promise, may the disgrace of expulsion and the
contempt of all the brothers befall me.
The O.B. gives one rap.
U.B.: The vow which you have just taken entitles you to be
informed of all the secrets and signs of the second degree. But before this
shall take place, I must send you to our brother Ex B., who will inform you of
the principles by which the brothers of the second degree should be governed.
Brother Guide, conduct the brothers to the chair of the Ex B.
Ex B.: The principles, which are impressed upon us in this degree,
are especially qualified to ennoble our hearts, even to win over that of the
roughest man to friendship and virtue, and to kindle and to call into activity
the tenderest feelings of human love. If any association among mankind is able
to raise and ennoble the soul and the heart, and to bring man again nearer to
nature and innocence; if any institution is entirely devoted to awakening the
power of investigation, the love of truth, and sincerity in thought, to inflame
man to love of mankind, to make him virtuous, generous and gentle, to kindle in
him feelings of friendship and brotherly love, of patience and peaceableness, to
link him in the closest bond for the promotion of happiness, to vouchsafe him
pure, wise. and peaceable friends, to help him forget during the happy hours of
closer union the burdens of life and at other time to lighten them, it is our
order,
and so may it ever be. Herein consists its spirit and its life, its grandeur
and its worth. The lodge meetings should be considered sanctuaries of peace and
order.
Our order is a German order; the maintenance of the German language and good
German customs lie therefore near to our hearts. It is a fraternal order.
"Friendship, love and humanity," is its motto.
To rise to the highest perfection is our aim. Our purpose is social virtue,
i. e., to make human happiness more common.
Human happiness consists in freedom. The chains which oppress mankind are its
prejudices. And is it beyond human strength that men, raised above all
illusions, circumstances, time, opinion, and prejudice, should come together to
make purely conspicuous the nature of virtue, and that they in order to make the
noble chain indissoluble, should bind themselves with an oath to remain true to
their principles, and finally to make them general?
Surely, dear brothers, if we follow all of the principles of our order we
shall certainly contribute our mite to the realization of this noble thought.
Brother Guide, please conduct the brothers to our brother O.B., that they may
be more deeply initiated into the secrets of the second degree.
Guide: Brother O.B., I hereby present to you the brothers who have
taken the oath and have been informed of the principles of the second degree
that you may further instruct them.
O.B.: Dear brothers, you have been informed by our brother Ex B.
of the principles of the second degree, it is my duty to inform you of the pass
word and all other signs and symbols of this degree.
Brothers, we have in this degree:
A sign of admission
A pass word.
A sign of salutation,
Two symbols.
The O.B. here explains the signs.
The color of this degree is red.
The anchor and the ark are symbols of a well founded hope. and a well used
life. They symbolize that ark, which conducts us safely through this stormy
life, and anchor which holds us fast in a peaceful harbor, whither the wicked do
not pursue us, and the weary find rest.
This degree is of such great importance because two brothers of the order
having this degree rendered much services to the German people in the most
remote antiquity. The history of our people tells us their names and places
these by the side of those of the greatest heroes, Loki and Baldur. Long before
the time of Hermann, the Cherusker prince, there ruled tyrannically in the
German provinces Walliroth, who by deceit and intrigue succeeded in winning over
one tribe after another.
After he had subdued them all, he showed his faithless and unworthy character
by gradually robbing the tribes under his rule of their liberties more and more,
instead of making them contented. How can one then wonder that the brothers of
our order felt the deepest sorrow at the decline of the fatherland, and that
they thought night and day of means and ways to put a check on the ruinous
efforts of the tyrant. Two brothers of the order having the second degree, Loki
and Baldur, lamented with one another the disgrace which rested on the German
provinces, and each swore to himself to put an end to this disgrace.
One of them disclosed his plan to the other. Both plans were alike, namely,
to drive a dagger into the tyrant's breast. There arose a noble rivalry between
them, because each wished the honor and glory of having accomplished the noble
deed, so that chance had to decide.
It decided for Loki. Loki set out now for the palace of the tyrant, in order
to perform his holy deed. He stepped before the tyrant, who by accident
discovered the dagger under Loki's raiment. Thereupon the tyrant called in his
bailiff's and ordered them to chain Loki. This done he ordered them to depart.
Then he asked the chained Loki: "What did you intend to do with the
dagger?" Loki's answer was short. "To drive it into thy tyrannical
breast and with one blow free the fatherland of its oppressor."
The tyrant answered sneeringly: "You shall repent of this in the deepest
prison, and pay with your life therefore." After the bailiffs were
recalled,, Loki was reformed to the deepest part of the prison. He notified then
his friend Baldur of all that had happened and begged him to come to him, as he
wished to give him several commissions to perform for his family. As soon as
Baldur received word from his friend he hastened to seek out Walliroth in his
palace and to request of him to be placed as a hostage for his friend Loki, that
he might have the opportunity to arrange his household affairs himself, care for
his family and take a last farewell.
The tyrant granted Baldur's request with the condition that if his friend
Loki did not return at the fixed time, he must suffer death for him. Baldur now
visited his friend Loki in prison and acquainted him with all he had procured
for him from the tyrant. Loki embraced his brother, thanked him for the proofs
of his friendship and love, departed and promised to be back at the fixed time.
The minutes, hours, and days passed; but no Loki appeared. The tyrant
Walliroth, for whom it was a pleasure to sneer at the friends because of the
love and friendship they had shown each other, called to Baldur as he was on the
way to the place of execution: "How beautiful your faith in your friend has
proven itself to be! Do you still believe in true Friendship, Love and
Fidelity?''
Baldur answered, "Tyrant, my friend will surely yet appear, and even if
I should fall a sacrifice because of his non-appearance, I shall still preserve
my belief in the faithfulness of my friend, for only insurmountable obstacles
would keep him away so long."
Meantime they arrived at the place of execution, the last minute had almost
arrived in which the handsome young man was to be transported from life to
death. The eyes of the surging crowd were turned on him, who; full of peaceful
resignation, with a serene, glorified countenance turned his eyes toward Heaven.
The tyrant was just about to give the death signal, when from a distance there
squealed Hold! Hold! Hold! The sound came nearer and nearer, and Loki forced his
way through the crowd and up to his friend, and into his friend's arms.
At this sight no eye remained dry: even the tyrant could not resist. With
generous emotion he stepped up to the two friends, gave Loki his life and
liberty and begged them to admit him to their holy order.
The later history tells us that Walliroth restored to the German people the
liberty of which they had been robbed, and that he became one of the noblest
princes, and one of the most distinguished brothers of the order.
Brothers’ in this our ancestors have given us a precedent, which shows so
clearly the sublimity of true friendship, and should serve as an example for
every brother; for with such a mutual confidence we can attain the goal for
which we are striving.
Dear Brothers, since you are now initiated into the secrets of the second
degree, we wish you good fortune. The inner, not the outer, characteristics
commed the brother. Just as you increase your knowledge, just so will you become
better by intercourse with good men.
It is unnecessary to repeat to you the duties, which you as brothers of the
order are bound to fulfill. You must conscientiously obey our rules and laws and
constantly see to it that others do so.
Your former conduct and good behavior have won for you the privilege and the
honor of becoming a participant in all the secrets of this degree, and we expect
that you in your new character, as brothers of the second degree, will conduct
yourselves strictly according to its demands, and that you will constantly
strive for that which is honorable and praiseworthy. This, dear brothers, is
your duty, and hereto you have bound yourselves by a solemn vow.
Please take your place now.
The O.B. closes the degree lodge in the second degree, has the brothers
examined for the pass word of the third degree, and any further business is
transacted in the third degree.