[AlphaSigOU]

Like wptw, I also am a student of ritual and ceremony, and I also treat the rituals and secret work of other fraternities and sororities with the same respect as I would my own.

I am not as active in research as wptw is, but it's very interesting to know that out of the many rituals I've studied, the Masonic virtues of faith, hope and charity, as well as fraternal love for each other are centerpieces in the teachings and ceremonies of Greek-letter organizations, even though they may arrive at it in different ways through different interpretations.

We are NOT in the business of swaggering all over campus or boasting at the local bar, "hey, everybody... I know XYZ fraternity's secrets!" or "let's crash ABC sorority's initiation at a nearby college, 'cause I know their method of recognition!"

To become a serious student of ritual and ceremony is not easy, and takes a high degree of trust, as wptw already mentioned in his post. How these rituals are obtained are considered part of the 'intelligence sources and methods' and are carefully guarded against unauthorized disclosure. We've been burned before by people who at first appear sincere, whose true motives are to expose and denouce the fraternity and sorority system as evil, satanic and un-Christian.

I am also a Mason, and also a dedicated ritualist in my local lodge. Every year I take an examination on how proficient I am in the ritual of the three Masonic degrees, so that I can become certified in teaching the ritual work to newer members. It's not easy, since the ritual work is transmitted orally and very little of the work appears in print. The Texas Masonic ritual is probably unique in that it has changed very little in over 150 years, considering it has never been officially committed to writing and passed down from Brother to Brother from 'the instructive mouth to the attentive ear' and the secrets of the fraternity retained in 'the repository of sacred breasts'.

While a dedicated researcher might be able to find an expose on Masonic ritual and ceremonies on the Web or in your local library, almost all of the grand lodges in the United States have different interpretations of ritual. Simply stated, we get to the same point, but take a different road to get there. For a brief time, I lived in Oklahoma, and was active in the local Masonic lodge there. I had to learn the ritual as exemplified in Oklahoma, and that was difficult enough to keep straight after learning the Texas work. Eventually my proficiency improved until I was able to be examined in the Oklahoma work, and I passed it successfully. Some Masonic grand lodges have it a little easier by issuing ciphers of the work to their members, but Texas and Oklahoma are but two of the twenty-five Grand Lodges that do not have a printed ritual or cipher.

That's my take on the whole situation... your mileage may vary.