What is the process for initiating a new member in a Lodge?

The process begins prior to formal admission with an approach or inquiry followed by an interview, as described by the United Grand Lodge of England. Candidates are required to be free men of mature age, as an article on the Grand Lodge of India's website notes, and the lodge must elect the petitioner by a unanimous secret ballot to preserve harmony among the membership 1.

The specific ceremonial particulars, obligations, and modes of preparation are received within the lodge itself and are not to be had from books nor from enquiry made outside it.

What the literature does explain is the symbolic significance of the sequence. Mackey writes that the candidate's initial entrance symbolizes a disruption from worldly ties and a rebirth into Masonic life, while the subsequent enlightenment represents the transition from intellectual darkness to light 3. Wilmshurst views this entry into the dedicated atmosphere of the lodge as awakening the dormant faculties of a properly prepared candidate 2. Following initiation, the new Entered Apprentice is considered a "rough ashlar" in the process of being shaped into a perfect one 12, and must demonstrate suitable proficiency through study and examination before being eligible to advance 1.