So Mote it be

I received a short note some time back that asked the seemingly simple question of where the term "So Mote It Be" came from.

Surely, this term is well documented, At least so I thought at first glance.
Simple enough to answer... Right?
Wrong.

Searching the Internet for the term left me deep in a sea of meanings that were almost the same, but whose origin was shrouded in mists.

I did find that the term seems to have been adopted from the Freemasons, whose rituals make frequent use of it. Even so, the origins of it were difficult to find.

Let us start with what definitions exist for "So Mote It Be":

From a Masonic web site:

"So mote it be". The word "mote" is derived from the Anglo- Saxon word "motan" meaning "to be allowed".  Hence, the phrase "So mote it be". These are the last words in the Regius Poem

From About.Com

Definition: It translates to "Let it be so" or "So shall it be", and is often used as part of the dialog during rituals, typically in closing. The actual origins of the phrasing is a little obscure and based in old Anglo-Saxon.

"So Mote It Be" may have been used as a phrase as early as 926, but is generally agreed upon as having been reliably traced to the 1300s in the Regius poem and which many sources repeatedly refer to as having come from a much older and unknown poem.


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