Not necessarily, but that's the experience in my area at least. Lodges run like most clubs and associations, for anything you need a proposer and a seconder. If you had Masons that knew you, it'd probably be them and away you go. If you didn't know them, it'd be a recommendation on how they got to know you during the application process. Like I said somewhere up above, the process can take longer when you don't already know a Mason. That being said, you'd be surprised who you may know who is a Mason. I know when I joined my Lodge, I looked around and saw a few guys that I knew and had no idea they were Masons; including a guy who used to service my car and one of my dad's oldest customers who I had known since I was 6. And I recognised maybe a dozen more names of people who were professionals I had had minor dealings with through work. Rejection rates are pretty low. We're pretty good at feeling people out quickly and if we think that someone is a tourist then they won't get far enough to even warrant a mention in Lodge (we announce and record all applications to join). I'm scratching my head and can't remember an instance where someone has gotten far enough to go to get an approval for ballot from Grand Lodge and been rejected. And I've only seen a handful of times where an application has been sent in and no further mention was made. There's "movement" and there's "movement", so to speak. If you're talking about remaining a member of your Lodge and going to visit other ones, go for it. Masons love visitors. We've had some meetings where the visitors outnumber our own members. Once you've gone to a Lodge a couple of times, or know members there, you can cut right through the formalities and have a walk up start. Going and visiting another Lodge reflects well on your own Lodge, and it's encouraged. Moving membership between Lodges is another matter. Generally, within the same district it's not done without a decent reason. We have, for example, what's called an "Allied Daylight Lodge" which is for old members who don't feel safe or unable to attend night meetings. Meetings run late into the night, and some guys just can't handle that time or health wise. Movement to an Allied Daylight Lodge is fine, and I've even seen a movement back if I read my last notice paper right. If you move to new area, especially where there is a different Grand Lodge, you have become affiliated. This is, in some ways, similar to being a new applicant. Except, in this case, our Grand Lodge will get your details from you current Grand Lodge and check you out to make sure everything is alright. You'll be asked for your Masonic history (when admitted, passed and raised etc) and what positions you may have held. You do need to be balloted on in Lodge. The main thing to look for is to make sure the person wasn't kicked out in another district. As long as that checks out fine, it's generally a walk up start.
I've never seen that, or anything like it, in any Lodge I've been in. But then I haven't been into any Lodges in the U.S. so maybe it's a local thing. And it may be an Order thing as well, there's a ton of them and they all do something different. Some concentrate on one particular part of the mythos and something around the Ark of the Covenant wouldn't be outside the bounds of reason. We generally have no problem showing people Masonic items. There's only a couple that I know we have that are not on public display. What we don't tell people is why they're there, how they fit in, when they fit in and so on. Knowing something exists is useless if you don't know how to use it. A cursory internet search will reveal most of the content of Freemasonry (albeit mixed in with a ton of bullshit so the truth is hard to discern) but it's useless unless you know how, where, why, after what, to whom, in response to and so on. The leaning towards western religions is a product of two things. We're part of a western society so it's a default position as Judao-Christian beliefs tend to permeate our society. I've never seen an Islamic based Lodge or Order (they do exist, but I'm not sure of Islam's attitude). I would imagine their imagery may be significantly different. The other reason is that Freemasonry started in western society and that may have carried through from its inception.
A lot of Masonry, especially in the ceremonial side and predominantly in the first three degrees, involves morality plays revolving around the story of the construction of King Solomon's temple. It's utterly pervasive right down to the names of the degrees - Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. Freemasons are ostensibly stonemasons that joined the guild without the ability to work stone. Those stonemasons are said to be the descendants of the workers who constructed King Solomon's temple. Almost everything we do in Lodge is tied back into some aspect of that story. It's a method of teaching morality through parable. It makes it more palatable and memorable. And some of them wind up in positions of no power too. But you're right, they do. I don't know the exact reason, and I'd like to think there's no sinister cabal deep in the shadows but I could neither confirm or deny it. I can't say there isn't, because proving something doesn't exist is pointless. My opinion on it is that every Mason I've ever met has been an upstanding, likeable, earnest, community and charity minded, self responsible, caring man. They're all good guys. Never met one I didn't like, or at least respect, after spending five minutes with them. That sounds like the sort of guy I'd want in charge of things. A lot of important role-models through history have been Masons too, and like tends to attract like. An impressionable young man who looks up to [insert famous Mason] wants to emulate him, so he gets interested in the same things and nature takes its course. Unfortunately, having Masons in various positions of power does lead to conspiracy theorists drooling all over the place. But they're pretty much harmless and fun. The first questions I usually get asked when people find out I'm a Mason (and I'm surprised it hasn't come up yet here) is, "so what's the deal with the goat?"
I think I remember reading somewhere that the creator of the Simpsons is a freemason. Is that true, and what's your opinion of this video? Thanks for answering all of these questions. I am very good friends with a father/son who are Masons (both are the exact kind of people you're describing), and I've always been curious about it. I'll certainly have a lot more knowledgeable conversation about it next time I see them; this thread has me really considering asking to join.
So do you get to choose which Rite you join or is it down to which one the Mason/s that you ask to join are already in? If you get to choose why did you go with the York Rite? Im reading 'The Holy Blood and the The Holy Grail' at the moment and it touches on the beginnings of freemasonry after the downfall of the Templars and how the Scottish Rite arose. From this text it seems to indicate the Scottish Rite is the oldest form of Freemasonry, its certainly the more well known (at least I hadn't heard of the York Rite before this thread). Do you know much about this? Is there any animosity between the two Rite's members? Id imagine not in this day and age but you did say it arose out of the hatred between the English and the Scots, so does any of that still persist? Do the two groups intermingle with the charitable works or do they operate totally separately?
That's the first time I've heard that but, really, I'm not surprised when I find out someone is a Mason. In direct answer, I don't know. There's no worldwide directory, or even a local one. Each Lodge obviously has a roll of its members to send notices, accounts for dues and the like, but it would be suspicious to send a request to any Lodge asking if X is a member or for a copy of a list. And, realistically, even if you walked up and asked him only another Mason is really going to know if he's telling the truth. As for the video, I've always loved the Stonecutters episode because it's so obviously (to me at least) a massive send up of the conspiracy theorist's view of Masonry. Although, we're still hurting in Australia that we couldn't keep the metric system down....
What goat?.... In my understanding it's an evolved in-joke from an old accusation that Freemasons were Satanists. And because they were, they had to have a goat at the Lodge for their "dark ceremonies". Part of that was that someone would have to "ride the goat" (literally or biblically, I'm not sure). I've even seen pictures in books denouncing Freemasonry by "ex-Masons" which show illustrations of applicant Masons being led around on a goat inside the Lodge. It's become quite a common joke that's tossed around lightly, such as "let's get this meeting going. Disgustipated, go get the goat please." The night of my initiation, I found out that a lot of my prospective brethren were vicious, deadpan practical jokers. I was warned several times about the goat, what to do, what not to do. This was particularly done by the guard who stands outside the Lodge room whose duty it is to get the initiates ready. I spent all damn night waiting for that goat to come out.....
You mentioned an initiation. Not thinking that it's like a college hazing, maybe more of an interview type experience. Can you shed any light into it? How deep do they go? How personal does it get? Do you have to do anything to prove your worth? If I'm looking to apply, should I look for anything? There's two lodges nearby. One is in a neighboring small community, it's the closest lodge to me, however, not sure how active it is (their website hasn't been updated since 2005). There's also a lodge in a nearby city, about 20 minutes away. I work in this city and do all of my shopping and other dealings there, so it wouldn't be a problem to drive there. Any insight on what makes a good lodge, or any tell tale signs to look for?
I had no idea of anything beyond the very basics when I joined, being only a sliver of some of the information I've already stated here. So, naturally, I didn't know a rite from a wrong, so to speak. It was just a matter of being that I joined a Lodge that practised in the York rite. In our hall, at the time, we had five different Lodges meet: Broadwater, Surfers Paradise, Southport, Stradbroke and Allied Daylight. I was initiated into Broadwater (which has since amalgamated with Surfers Paradise as they had too few members). Of these, Southport is Scottish rite and the rest are York. It tends to have a lot to do with the make up of the community. You'll find that where there's a large representation of Scottish people or ancestry, there'll be more Scottish lodges. We're more British ancestry in our area. There's more rites than this. For example, the Irish have their own rite. And I've done a little checking and the American York rite isn't the same as our York rite (and apparently can be better called the American rite). I haven't read the book, but I know my dad has. There's one before it from memory called "The Temple and the Lodge" which I haven't read either. They're fiction, with some historical cross over (think Da Vinci Code). My information is that the York rite is older, but I guess it would depend on the particular Masonic historian's own rite and how he wanted the define "roots". The English and the Scots hate each other to this day, but mostly in the UK. And the Scots hate the English only slightly more than they self-loathe if you can believe the line in Trainspotting where Ewan McGregor says, "The English are wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonised by wankers." Here it's more a case of good natured ribbing. Because we share space with other Lodges, we tend to visit with them and work together quite often. It's quite common to hear sarcastic comments go back and forth, but with absolutely zero malice. It's just a bit of fun. Realistically, if there was a problem between two brothers they'd be asked to step outside and sort themselves out. If they couldn't, one of them would have to leave rather than disrupt the harmony of the Lodge. I've seen arguments within our own Lodge over the best way to do a particular thing bear more venom than anything between a York and Scottish Lodge (watching Masonic arguments is enthralling, it's a real art. There's passion, with respect and no ill will as you're all friends; but it's also a bunch of mostly old codgers who have been doing things their own way for tens of years and are not going to back down easy). Hopefully that answers what you're after.
It's nothing like a college hazing from what I've seen and heard (as we don't have that here). You'll probably be looking at the following sequence, or some slight variation of it: 1. Approach a Mason and ask to join. He'll take your particulars, usually by getting a form from the Lodge Secretary; 2. They'll have what's called a Committee of Inquiry which is where they come out and interview yourself, and your significant other (if you have one); 3. At the same time, they're going through your complete history and finding out everything about you. If you think there's something you should be owning up to, item 1 and 2 are the place to do it. I can't give away trade secrets, but like I said earlier: they knew things about me I wasn't even sure I knew about myself; 4. Approval from Grand Lodge will be sought to ballot for your admission; 5. Once received, a ballot will be held in a Lodge meeting; 6. If that's successful everything goes back to Grand Lodge for formal permission to initiate you; 7. You'll receive contact and be told when and where to be. That will be your initiation which is one of the most important nights of your Masonic life. From your point of view, you'll see steps 1, 2 and 7. This could take weeks or months, and patience is a virtue. If you don't hear from them, you've been unsuccessful. Be a good, upstanding person is pretty much it. Things will be asked of you at the appropriate time, but it's nothing you can't freely give. Freemasonry never asks anything of its members at any time that would cause them to suffer. That's a hard question to answer, and a lot of it comes down to personal preference. What really makes a good Lodge is its members and to a lesser extent the quality of their work. I'd rather be in a happy Lodge with average work than a dull Lodge with brilliant work. Unfortunately, there's no way you can know these unless they hold a public meeting. A city is more likely to have a bigger Lodge and if that's where you do your dealings it may be more likely that you'll find someone you know is already a member of that Lodge. The city Lodge may (and I stress may because I'm generalising) be more likely to have a younger membership base. Even just asking can be hit and miss. Most Lodges need new blood, so every potential applicant is going to be "courted" for that Lodge. A good way to get some information might be to ask if they can give you any insight into the charitable works they've been doing. Not only will you see how active they are, but a passionate Mason will light up about the topic. Passionate Masons make for good Lodges.
Here is a question that I've been asked countless times by people who have no idea. Masons are not satanists. I'm not sure if this was discussed, but the whole satan thing comes about from one line in one book on a random page. Albert Pike was a significant Masonic scholar who also was responsible for much of the Scottish Rites rituals, from my limited understanding of that branch. His book Morals and Dogma is his analysis and philosophical interpretation of the symbolism and allegory in the 32 degrees of the Scottish Rite. Not even a part of the main path of Masonry. It's one of the appendant bodies that you can join after you've been raised to Master Mason. It's a huge huge piece of work. In it, on page 271 or so are these three sentences, "Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!" That is what sparked every single debate about whether Masonry is evil and worships the devil and blah, blah, nonsense. The problem is the people who focus on that fail to look at the preceding sentences of that paragraph, "The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth Degree, the Apotheosis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness!" I have not read the entire Morals and Dogma, and am not yet in the Scottish Rite, so I don't understand the full context of this within the philosophical teachings of that particular degree, but even without the knowledge, nothing there indicates any level of worshipping of the devil. Very ridiculous misunderstanding by people who just want to persecute something they don't like. I am very proud of the lack of a specific god. All you need is a belief in A god. Could be anything. Just believe in something. It means that while the rest of the world fights to defend your god, Masons can meet in a place without judgement. It's left at the door. It's why he/she/it is sometimes called, "The Great Architect of the Universe". One of the things that attracted me to Masonry beyond my father and grandfather having benefitted in many ways in life by being involved is the fact that I'm an Architect. Masonry involves a large amount of philosophical ideals about life, living and death. They are symbolically linked to many of the tools of traditional operative masonry. Ancient Masons are the precursors to modern day Architects. Although I am not a stone mason, I utilize very similar tools as the masons did back then. A lot of the teachings are tied to elements within the built world. I won't name specifics, but other Masons will probably be able to instantly know what I'm talking about when I say that the Fellow Craft Degree holds a very high level of meaning for me. But, I also think that so many people of all walks of life can find something within it that they connect to. This thread is pretty fantastic and I'm glad that there are a handful of you guys interested in it.
Here's another thing for people who are interested in joining a lodge. Don't just go to the very closest lodge to you. Try to go to a few local ones. They will all have slightly different personalities as, of course, the people will be different. Most of them have dinners before meetings. With the internet, you can pretty easily find out when all the lodges meet. Also, all the local ones in a district usually meet different times of the week. Mine meets every 1st and 3rd Tuesday. Perfect. Another one I love going to by me meets 1st and 3rd Mondays. Not as good. I would never have been able to be as involved if I had to go on Mondays. My dads lodge in Ohio meets every 2nd and 4th or 1st and 3rd, not sure, Friday. FRIDAY NIGHT! No way would I ever be able to commit going to a meeting on Friday nights two weeks a month. So, find out the local lodges schedules, arrange to go to their dinners if they have them. You'll be able to meet a lot of people this way and get a feel for things. At that point, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have many people willing to sponsor you. Then once you've chosen a specific lodge go through the motions. Once raised to Master Mason, you can then freely visit all the lodges in your area. You will just be paying dues and much more active in your home lodge. It's a very important decision. While the closest lodge might be the most convenient, it might not be the best for you.
Coincidentally, our state newspaper's online version posted a Masonic article and picture gallery today. As part of a city wide event, the Grand Lodge will be opening to guided tours. Here's the article. Here's the gallery. Since I doubt many of you will make the trip to Brisbane (but I'm happy to arrange a package deal....) here's what each of the pics show: 1. As the picture says, this is the Deputy Grand Master. Normal Lodges don't have deputy Masters. But, as Grand Lodge has hundreds of Lodges to look after someone has to be there to assist. This is often a training position for Grand Master as the job has a ton of responsibilities and the GM is always getting invites to attend various Lodges. The massive gates are locked to make sure people don't break in, basically. We have a locked steel gate similar at our Lodge to stop unauthorised people getting upstairs. It's predominantly to stop theft and vandalism. The Deputy GM is wearing Grand Lodge regalia (collar, cuffs and apron) over what we call summer dress (white shirt, dress pants, bow tie and white Eton jacket - we always dress formal). I mentioned above somewhere Masonic jewels (the blue and gold medal on his chest), and you can see him wearing one. 2. Classic architecture is a hallmark of Masonry and Grand Lodge is no different. Note the prominent "square and compasses" symbol, the international symbol of Masonry. 3. Closeup of apron, collar, cuffs, jewels and assorted Masonic artifacts. 4. This the Junior Grand Warden's chair (in normal Lodge, just Junior Warden but since this is Grand Lodge....). He's one of the three main officers of the Lodge (the others being the Master and the Senior Warden). Almost everything you see there has a very specific meaning and use. No, I can't tell you what they are. 5. A meeting room, I suppose. This might be used for a South, for example, or a small banquet. 6. A clock. Very nice, but still a clock. If it has any special significance, it's to an Order I don't belong to. 7. Grand Lodge's Grand Hall. As in 4, pretty much everything you see here has intricate meaning. I've seen this filled to the brim with Masons, and once for a Order of the Knight's Templar installation. Until modern times, there is no way any non-Mason would ever have seen this or any other Lodge's hall. This photo is taken from the entrance door. The Grand Master's chair is in the middle background. The Junior Warden's chair is to the right. The Senior Warden's chair (not pictured) will be to the immediate right of the photographer. 8. The Grand Master's chair. It figuratively is the East as the Master of any Lodge sits in the east to signify the rising sun, the beginning of a new day of work and the light of knowledge. In front of his chair you can see a pedestal. On that sits the "Volume of the Sacred Law". This is the Bible/Koran/Torah/whatever is relevant to the society and beliefs of the brothers (it can be swapped, it just has to be there). In all Lodges I've been to, these things are MASSIVE. Generally they're the complete Old and New Testaments and I know our one is as old as the hills. 9. Close up of the Grand Master's chair. The officers get gavels which you can sort of see on the left of the pedestal. From sitting in the Master's chair myself I know that one bang of that thing will immediately get every Mason in that room's attention. We've got an inbuilt conditioned response to it. A lot of Lodges are now putting in PA systems. Increasing age means that voices and ears are not working so well, and you really have to hear what's going on (at least if you want to avoid an elbow in the ribs every two minutes with a "what did he just say?"). All Lodge halls differ slightly in the way they look, but this is due to budgetary constraints and size. Every Masonic Lodge I've ever seen or heard of is set out in exactly the same way with respect to placement of items and what is there (various orders add and subtract things). Aside from the window dressing, if you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all.
Thanks mad5427, it's good to see we've got some brothers here and thanks for your support. It's rare to get someone knowledgeable enough to come up with anything except "you're a devil worshipper" when they find out you're a Mason, but it does happen. It's more than a little frustrating when a great deal of the information would need to use to overcome that is the very information you've sworn to keep secret. And that's a big part of the reason Masonry has had such a bad name over the years. But they would rather suffer the slings and arrows than to break their oath. I know of Morals and Dogma, but haven't read it, and Pike is a household name to Masons. What a lot of people don't fully grasp, if they know anything at all, is that the basis of Freemasonry pre-dates the organised religions we know today. It's old, old, Old Testament stuff (you know, when Methuselah played quarterback for Nazareth). In many respects, that's one of the reasons Freemasonry has the belief in the higher power without the bias to one religion. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all share the same core beginnings, the branching out came much later (all those faiths share the same God). It's fire and brimstone type stuff. Lucifer is variously referred to as the Son of Morning and the Light Bearer (that's what Lucifer means) in the old texts. He's often attributed to Venus, which is the Morning Star. Many people seem either not to know, or refuse to believe, that Lucifer was once an archangel who was cast out of heaven for getting uppity. Maybe there was a rebellion. I'm no theological scholar, and there is a differing of opinions out there amongst them. For many people Lucifer and Satan are the same being, but I've heard even that is in dispute now. Either way, at one time he was considered "good" and I think I saw somewhere that his purpose as light bringer was to shine the light of truth on darkness or something similar. In some respects (and if I'm right) you could say that at the time Lucifer was an archangel, he was God's investigating detective to Archangel Michael's SWAT team. In any case, I would say that people see "Lucifer" and "Light" (especially) and immediately go "satanists". It's completely incorrect. mad.. thanks for your input.
I've seen your emblem on the back of cars before. Just admit that's used to get out of tickets from cops who are members. Kinda bullshit and hypocritical against the whole "moral character" thing, but I'd take advantage of it too. Then again, I never claimed to have strong moral character.
True but it makes up for the rocks that get thrown at the car and the number of fanatical religious folk that try and drag you out of the car to convert/save/exorcise you.
I was attempting to get to sleep last night and my brain was cycling through the days events, some of which revolved some of the questions I'd answered here. And then, naturally, my brain started picking out bits and pieces from the Masonic rituals I'd had to jam in there by rote (to give you an indication our 'handbook' is over 200 pages long, although small pages, and I've had to know most of it off by heart). Some passages are beautiful storytelling. Some passages are couched in terminology and phrasing that make your tongue wish it had a heart, so it could have a coronary. And it struck that there are a lot of nuances and everyday ways of saying things that many people wouldn't know are purportedly from Freemasonry. So here's some of those (and other things that may be interesting). Some of these may only apply to my area though, but I've usually seen the same or some derivative in my travels: - The phrases "on the level" and "fair and square" derive from Freemasonry. Because its subject matter revolves around architecture and building, levels, plumbs, squares, compasses and gauges are common symbols. - I can't find anything but I've always wondering if the term "crafty" to describe a skilled but secretive person is derived from Masonry. It makes sense, as Masonry is often referred to as the Craft. - To "square things away" or "get things squared away" can be attributed to Masonry. In building, a square was used to make sure angles were right and consistent so the building was straight and didn't fall over. So, to square things away means to make sure everything is right so you can move on. - To give someone the "third degree" is probably derived from Masonry too. Taking the third degree in Masonry signifies that you've finished your "apprenticeship" and can work to move on through the various orders. As part of taking that degree, you complete your commitment to uphold the principles and you're put through some rigorous explanation and testing to make sure you understand what you're agreeing to do. Giving someone the third degree to find out what they know and get the truth out of them sits exactly with that. - I've mentioned blackballing above. When we conduct a ballot for anything, it's not by raising hands (as that may lead to arguments if two brothers feel strongly for opposing viewpoints) or marking on paper. We're distributed objects to vote with and use these. A black ball is used to cast a no vote. So if someone is "blackballed" it traditionally means they've applied to join a Mason's Lodge and have had the ballot got against them. - At our banquets and Souths we don't clap. There's various toasts and speeches and so forth, but we consider it rude to clap as we are all equal (including guests). Our reasoning for that is if you clap for everything there will naturally be some things that receive a bigger or longer clap than others. Instead, we bang our tables once in unison. It's not expected of invited (non-Masonic) guests, but it's funny to watch them struggle get their heads around it and then start copying. - The Freemason derives from the term "free and accepted, or speculative, mason". Originally, Lodges were all stonemason guilds. Over time, non-stonemasons wanted to join so they were signified by a different title as they weren't qualified to work with stone. They weren't indentured as apprentices were in those days, so they were free. They were accepted as masons even though they weren't workers. And they were speculative because they were curious about the group and wanted to join, but didn't want to work with stone.
No questions to wake up to this morning, so we're probably running out of steam here. Let me take the opportunity before the thread dies off then to ask my own questions: Did you have any preconceptions of Freemasonry before reading this thread? How has your attitude changed (if any)? Feel free to be honest, we're thick skinned.