I figure it’s about time to share an important part of my identity at 47: I am a Freemason. For most of you, that’s not necessarily interesting or of note; for some, it is likely a badge of dishonor. For a few men, I hope it’s a sign of Brotherhood. I would like to share a bit about this sub-culture with you as I think it is a good use of my time and attention.
When I was first made a Mason, I was shocked to find out that the values of a centuries-old organization were so appealing that, on the spot, I realized that I was born to be a Mason. As I am decidedly not a joiner, this was a major surprise. And although I am not currently active in a Lodge, I still read, think upon the lessons, symbols, and men that have made me a better person.
Question at the Door
Q: Who comes here?
A: Mr AB, a Free man, of good report, and well-recommended.
Freemasonry is about the never-ending pursuit of the Light. This Light is Enlightenment, as in The Enlightenment. We value morality, education, knowledge, insight, wisdom, and Charity. And Liberty. That’s a very important one – we are all Free men.
The American Revolution was planned by many Masons meeting in and around Boston in pursuit of these values, and they helped shape this country’s legal and philosophical systems. And although it’s become a very conservative Brotherhood in many states as the fraternity has pulled in fewer, less-educated members, there is still a spark of the true Liberal spirit that remains.
We have lessons, stories, rituals, and procedures that use stories from the Old Testament as a cloak. A central theme is King Solomon, the building of his Temple, and its perfection. There are just three levels in Masonry – Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason – as each class of stone masons was employed in building the Temple. All other degrees beyond these three come from associated Masonic organizations such as Scottish Rite and York Rite. The Shriners are one of the most well-known Masonic organizations, but there are others – Order of the Amaranth, Order of the Eastern Star, Royal Order of Jesters, etc. And there are a number of Masonic bodies for children, mostly to inculcate an interest and understanding of Masonic values so that when they are older, they become lifelong members.
As in many Secret Societies, we keep copious records. The first records from my Lodge, from 1868, share some reflections from three Brothers who rode up to Colorado Springs to attend a different Lodge (an overnight trip each way back then) and had to evade hostile Utes on the way back, sleeping nervously without a campfire and congratulating each other upon their successful return to their home. There are many more stories in our Lodge archives, though not so colorful.
In my last year in Colorado, I was elected to be Secretary of my historic Lodge in a small town of 20,000. In that role, I tried to recruit new Brothers, encourage older Brothers to rejoin us in Lodge, and help out my fellow Brothers as much as I could. We worked hard to renew the energy of the Lodge, and that work was noticed – we won an award for the best small Lodge in Colorado!
Once I got my hands around the paperwork and procedures, I found myself sharing my own, synthesized lesson about Masonry with new and prospective Brothers: “Masonry helps good men stay good.” I truly believe that. It does much more, but its most important duty, and effect, is to offer moral and character instruction to younger men from older men. This support is lifelong, available off and on, when a man may need it. And should I become destitute, alone, in a strange town, I am at peace knowing that a Mason will give me food and shelter, or will oversee my funeral no matter where I go or what should befall me. I can always reach out for help here, or anywhere a Mason can be found. It’s nice to know that when I’m a geezer, I will always have access to some fellowship, a cheap meal, and something to do once or twice a month.
Upon finding out that I am a Freemason, people usually make a few jokes about ruling the world, secret handshakes, hidden symbols, plots, and, of course, devil worship. So please feel free to ask questions below; I will endeavor to answer them and won’t be offended, but first, a bit of history.
Freemasonry is a fraternal order descended, at least allegorically, from the medieval guilds of stone masons. These guilds protected their knowledge so that they were the monopoly in the skilled building trade. Cowans and other ne’er-be-wells did inferior work, putting up walls that weren’t plumb, and so if you wanted your cathedral, castle, or palace built well, you hired the guild’s masons.
Freemasons took this idea of a closed group with secret knowledge, rituals, language, and symbols – i.e., geometry, best practices, terminology, and written plans – and applied it to the betterment of man. Not Man – all of us – but man, each of us (males only, I know….don’t get me started). They built a moral framework to encourage and support moral behavior in men. And they hid it in secrecy, symbols, and rituals because much of the Masonic message is revolutionary to a King or other conservative/authoritarian power structure.
We are encouraged to circumscribe our passions lest they rule us. We are not to cheat, lie, or steal. There are specific oaths (called Obligations) we take that bind us to supporting our country and community, helping the young, poor, and infirm, and continuously improving our character. We are instructed to always act and be moral, forthright, honest, helpful, faithful, charitable, and merciful.
Part of the Entered Apprentice Obligation
I furthermore promise and swear that I will not write, print, paint, stamp, stain, cut, carve, mark, or engrave them, nor cause the same to be done, upon anything movable or immovable, capable of receiving the least impression of a word, syllable, letter, or character, whereby the same may become legible or intelligible to any person under the canopy of heaven, and the secrets of Free Masonry be thereby unlawfully revealed through my unworthiness.
Although we take an oath to not write down (see above) any of the material, the Grand Lodge of Colorado regularly publishes a Clear Text key that has everything written down. I was given printouts, some hand typed in the 70’s, of the pages of stuff I had to memorize by high-ranking Masons. As Secretary, I retyped the materials for new Brothers to study. As a Master Mason, I have a copy of this key, as well as a book of Lodge and Grand Lodge operations. And of course nowadays, lessons use PowerPoint, printouts from PDF or Word documents, etc. Here in Virginia, that information is not written down; they are much more old-school and so new Masons must spend countless hours with their Brothers, learning the lessons orally. There is much talk of the secrets of Freemasonry, but since the 1920’s numerous people have published the rites, Obligations, and associated information.
To me, this needs to continue changing – we need to adapt to the modern world and lack of time otherwise we will have even fewer members. Not many men can spare 1-3 hours 2-6 nights a week for a year or two just to become a Master Mason, much less learning the lectures. Everything that is done in Lodge is by memory, word-for-word. Imagine having to learn a 10 minute lesson full of archaic language and grammar and full of Old Testament names, stories, and events. And then imagine delivering it in public, with 10 or more older Masons looking to catch you in the slightest mistake. There can be lot of pressure.
When we take our profficiencies, we must, with a Brother prompter/questioner, sit in Open Lodge in front of all other Brothers present and answer a bunch of questions and swear an Obligation (oath). It must be perfect, word for word; all the other Brothers are listening intently for the slightest error as it is a point of pride for a Mason to be able to teach a lesson or make an Obligation perfectly. Many 80+ year old Brothers can give a 15 minute lecture perfectly, word-for-word. It’s truly a beautiful thing.
We don’t worship Lucifer, the Devil, or anything else. This is not religion, it is moral instruction cloaked in allegory and Old Testament stories. There is an altar at the center of the Lodge room, but it is used to hold the Holy Book (usually a Holy Bible) when Lodge is open and in session. When making an Obligation, a Mason can use the Holy Bible, Talmud, Holy Koran, or a few other recognized holy books; this is to ensure the faithfulness of the Brother when taking a serious oath. By the rules (and Obligations we take), Atheists are not welcome, but I’ve heard lots of creative religious beliefs such as belief in the Force, Order in the universe, Mathematics, Geometry, etc. God is often referred to as the Great or Supreme Architect in Lodge, which opens with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, and ends with a prayer.
Although the Nazi crimes against the Jews of Europe were unspeakable, they did not spare the Freemasons. Before Hitler’s rise, there were over 175,000 Freemasons in Germany, after the war, there were just 5,000; they had been targeted for extermination. Freemasons represented democracy, a mortal enemy to Fascism. In defiance of Hitler, Freemasons used an alternate secret symbol, Hitler’s favorite flower, the “forget me not”.
In preparation for the Japanese invasions of Singapore and other British-controlled territories, for years the Germans mailed anti-Masonic propaganda to households, hoping to spread disunion and mistrust. Having actually been to the Grand Lodge of Singapore and seen some of these mailers and relics from the war, I can assure you that the result of this was horror: the Lodge was occupied and ransacked, used to quarter Japanese troops, and across the street was one of many interrogation/torture chambers. It is likely that torture, rape, and execution defiled the Lodge.
The reaction by Christian churches to Masonry is mixed. Sadly, some sects are anti-Masonic. It still pains me to know that a destitute Brother moved to my small town, was dying, and the local Catholic priest he talked to told him we were Satanic and that, since he was dying, he needed to worry about his soul going to heaven and not to hell. So he avoided us and died alone – without the Brotherhood to give him company, food, and love.
Part of this Brotherhood is taking care of our elders in those later days and at that final moment; it is a sacred duty I care about more than most and I hope to learn and be allowed to perform the Masonic Funeral rites. They are short, beautiful and respectful and coexist well with a religious ceremony.
When we close the doors and open Lodge, all Brothers present are equal, and the outside world stops existing for a couple of hours. This is a nice ritual – blocking out the world and any other concerns than those present in front of us. My Lodge was a poor one compared to many, so we didn’t require suits or tuxes for officers, but we are instructed and constantly reminded that in Lodge, we are all equal, young or old, rich or poor, black or white. That’s a nice thing, rare in the modern world. There are stories I will share of Presidents sitting down with common Brothers without extra respect or attention because we are equal.
The Lodge Room Over Simpkin’s Store
By Lawrence Greenleaf
The plainest Lodge room in the land was over Simpkins’ store,
Where Friendship Lodge had met each month for fifty’ years or more.
When o’er the earth the moon full-orbed, had cast her brightest beams,
The Brethren came from miles around on horseback and In teams,
And 0! what heavy grasp of hand, what welcome met them there,
As mingling with the waiting groups they slowly mount the stair,
Exchanging fragmentary news or prophecies of crop,
Until they reach the Tyler’s room and current topics drop,
To turn their thoughts to nobler themes they cherish and adore,
And which were heard on meeting night up over Simpkins’ Store.To city eyes, a cheerless room, long usage had defaced,
The tell-tale lines of lath and beam on wall and ceiling traced.
The light from oil-fed lamps was dim and yellow in its hue,
The carpet once could pattern boast though now ’twas lost to view
The altar and the pedestals that marked the stations three,
The gate-post pillars topped with balls, the rude-carved Letter G,
Were village joiner’s clumsy work, with many things beside,
Where beauty’s lines were all effaced and ornament denied.
There could be left no lingering doubt if doubt there was before,
The plainest Lodge room in the land was over Simpkins’ Store.While musing thus on outward form the meeting time drew near
And we had glimpse of inner life through watchful eye and ear.
When Lodge convened at gavel’s sound with officers in place,
We looked for strange, conglomerate work, but could no errors trace.
The more we saw the more we heard, the greater our amaze,
To find those country Brethren there so skilled in Masons’ ways.
But greater marvels were to come before the night was through,
Where unity was not mere name, but fell on hearts like dew
Where tenets had the mind imbued, and truths rich fruitage bore,
In plainest Lodge room in the land, up over Simpkins’ Store.To hear the record of their acts was music to the ear
We sing of deeds unwritten which on angel’s scroll appear
A widow’s case for our helpless ones Lodge funds were running low
A dozen Brethren sprang to feet and offers were not slow
Food, raiment things of needful sort while one gave load of wood,
Another shoes for little ones, for each gave what he could.
Then spoke the last ‘I haven’t things like these to give out then,
Some ready money may help out’ – and he laid down a ten.
Were Brother cast on darkest square upon life’s checkered floor
A beacon light to reach the white was over Simpkins’ Store.Like scoffer who remained to pray, impressed by sight and sound,
The faded carpet ‘neath our feet was now like holy ground.
The walls that had such a dingy look turned celestial blue,
The ceiling changed to canopy where stars were shining through.
Bright tongues of flame from altar leaped, the G was vivid blaze,
All common things seemed glorified by heaven’s reflected rays.O! wondrous transformation wrought through ministry of love-
Behold the Lodge Room Beautiful! fair type of that above,
The vision fades-the lesson lives! and taught as ne’er before,
In plainest Lodge room in the land-up over Simpkins’ Store.
It is a brotherhood, but I hope that changes as Masonry is shrinking as it has less appeal in these days of internet, TV, video games, and too-busy lives. I expect that some state will decide to let female members in, and likely will get kicked out of their Jurisdiction, but should that happen, I will try to join a Lodge in that state to register my support, let me tell you! As with many organizations, if something new gets attention and membership swells, then change begins to take place. A man can hope.
My Worshipful Brother informs me that there are a number of female Lodges in Europe, and that some “women are very fond of their Lodges in Holland.” In the near future, I will be writing about The Order of the Eastern Star and some of the other Masonic Bodies that admit women. And I’ll research these female-friendly Lodges in Europe. I expect that’ll be as neat to learn about as it will be to share!
There is much more tolerance for gay men now, but it’s certainly not the most gay-friendly group because so many members are old men stuck in their biased ways. It was a valuable lesson for me to learn to look through the bigotry some older Brothers ooze and see their beauty as a Brother Mason, with much insight, knowledge, and fellowship to offer. To be honest though, with some of them I could never get over it.
Some other time, I’ll share some lessons and insights, stories, and more history. Along these same lines, I hope to explore some other sub-cultures that I belong to, as well as other ones that other Front Pagers or commenters enjoy. In these days of national turmoil, it’s important that we find other things to discuss and bond over lest we become 100% fixated on politics and subject our attention to the whims of a madman.
I’m happy to answer any and all questions to the best of my ability; I don’t know it all. But first – to you men out there, should this topic have sparked any interest, please seek out the nearest Masonic Temple/Lodge and call or email them and tell them you’re interested. I wasted years not knowing that the best way to become a Mason is to ask – there’s a bumper sticker around that says 2B1 ASK1.
Not: this post was slightly edited for clarity, accuracy, and to note that there are female-friendly Lodges in Europe, an important detail!
Peter
This post is way too long to not be under a Read More link.
Alain the site fixer
@Peter: thanks, i’ll fix asap
Major Major Major Major
Thanks Alain. Will read later… See if I ever help you again!!1
My grandpa was a Mason. I was interested but they weren’t keen on the gay thing when I was peeking my head in.
Larkspur
It may be long, but it’s interesting. Alas, my first question was already answered: no girlz. Which brings up a second question: does the tradition acknowledge in any way that women have souls?
Alain the site fixer
@Larkspur: souls, yes. I hate many of the patriarchal aspects of Freemasonry and its integrated organizations as they explicitly make women subservient to men, but there’s lots of value and good, too.
Me
Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do, we do!
Alain the site fixer
@Major Major Major Major: I’d suggest giving it another shot, especially in the Bay area I expect numerous gay-friendly Lodges. I tried to support a gay applicant, but he had some mental issues and a criminal past, so we couldn’t accept him. When we say “well-recommended”, we mean with a good reputation, and no criminal history!
ETA: his issues related to engaging in theft/self-destructive behavior to get kicked out of the Army, getting caught, charged, convicted, then treated.
Jane2
So, do you let Catholics in yet?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Nice! I am, too. Haven’t been to Lodge in a few years, but I do keep my dues paid up.
I did have an odd moment about 10 years ago – I was at my church (Orthodox Christian, under the Antiochian Patriarchate). It is a VERY multiethnic parish – we had Arabs, Russians, Greeks (that were angry at their Greek parish – it happens), Serbs, Ethiopians, Bulgarians, Romanians and Indians, along with a not insubstantial number of converts from the local populace, some of whom weren’t married to members of the parish.
One of those single converts was an elderly black gentleman who I liked very much (I think he had gone from Baptist to Catholic to Orthodox – turned out, he’d known my grandfather 50 years before). Anyway, while talking to him one day, I noticed that he was wearing a Masonic ring. Being kind of new, I was delighted and mentioned that it would be great if he could come and stand lodge with me and a couple of other guys from the parish sometime. He gave me the funniest look, then broke into a grin and laughed, thanking me and saying that “things do change, then”.
It was only then that I realized that Masonry had its own self-governed past segregation.
dnfree
Once in my life I joined a group that restricted membership. It was a college honorary society, but not everyone with the requisite grade point average was accepted, only those that the existing members believed met the somewhat vague personal criteria. So at the end of my year of membership, here came a new group of young women, hopeful of being members, and I found myself sitting through the closed-door analysis of which of these young women were “true” Cwens and which didn’t measure up to the lofty standards of those of us already ensconced. Some hopeful and admirable young women were not accepted on extremely petty grounds.
I will never again join any organization that selects its members based on some criterion other than interest in the causes of the organization. Hence, AAUW (American Association of University Women) is an automatic no, League of Women Voters, which does accept men, would be a yes.
Emma
In his younger days my father was a practicing Mason in the Scottish rite. Whatever that means, since as a gurrrl I wasn’t supposed to know. But I do know they took good care of others in trouble.
Bobby Thomson
@Alain the site fixer: but other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
Fuckin Templars.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jane2:
Always. The problem for Catholics is their own hierarchy, which frowns on such things and which is why you have the K of C here in the US.
Alain the site fixer
@Jane2: Oh yes, we welcome Catholics. Some of my favorite Masons are Catholics; there’s a certain intellectual air they bring with them that is so welcome. I’m of that type, so I love to talk with thinkers, and a Catholic brave enough to join is often one with a great mind!
Major Major Major Major
@Emma: it used to mean you had to stab a pope hat or something.
ETA: side note, my other grandpa was Knights of Columbus. I have his sword.
Alain the site fixer
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yeah I plan to write about race, some famous Masons, and some more history another day. Once you start writing about something you know, it’s amazing how many things you feel get left out, even in a long piece like this.
Shalimar
Most of my experiences with masons have been positive. Organizations that bring people together are good things. The exception was a small-town Alabama judge who many readers here have hears of because he wears a judicial robe with the 10 commandments embroidered on it. Asshole is well known for doing favors for fellow masons in divorce cases, small claims, etc.
Timurid
Jooiiiiiiiiin usssssss…. it will be… blissssssssssssss…
Alain the site fixer
@Bobby Thomson: I remember how I felt the first time I went to Japan (1997), seeing women walk dutifully behind their man. I wanted to scream and yell and educate and open eyes, then I realized that change happens slowly. Since then, that practice is much rarer as women have a more equal role. I hope and pray that something like that happens to Masonry. In an older time, when men were educated and worked and women were at most teachers but usually housewives, it might have made sense to exclude women. It doesn’t anymore, but traditions are hard to break until urgency necessitates rethinking.
scav
Practically speaking, it seems at ultimate root a support and insurance network for a “trade” (eventually defined loosely) where so many members wandered into areas where they did not benefit from familial / home town connections (parish, town and guild). (clue being the focus on elder-care, on the death and burial, on feeding fellow members.) A hometown association but without the geographic base for membership, so even more elaborate rules and conventions had to be built up to foster trust and cohesion. Hadn’t known about all the more practical benefits that came with it, had lumped it in with the usual business network stuff of modern Elk/Rotary/Moose.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Fun Fact – the Order of the Eastern Star (a parallel Masonic organization for women) was created in by Rob Morris, a Freemason in Lagrange KY. He was the second Poet Laureate of Freemasonry, the first having been Robert Burns.
There have been no other such Poet Laureates.
He was pretty prominent, and his house still stands in Lagrange.
I have now given you about three minutes of my “Discover Downtown Lagrange Ghost Tour”. Next stop, Buddy Pepper’s childhood home…
Alain the site fixer
@Shalimar: Yeah and I’d be complaining up and down the chain of command about that if I lived in that state! Like so many things, it seems to me that a lot of Lodges in the South have corrupted Masonry. I expect there’s a huge overlap in their roles and those of the local KKK chapter.
low-tech cyclist
Fuck King Solomon with whatever rusty tools were lying around the palace tool room back in his day. He was a tyrant. The Bible says he had 700 wives and 300 concubines; the sheer number alone tells you they were essentially his slaves. And as soon as he died, the Israelites were finally able to speak the truth of his tyranny without fear; see 1 Kings 12.
Alain the site fixer
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That’s interesting, I’ll have to learn more. In trying to find a digital copy of the poem, I found this site: Masonic Poems
I expect lots of dreck,but assume there’s some good stuff too.
Oatler.
@Alain the site fixer: You excrement! Sitting on your spotty behinds! Not caring a tinker’s cuss about the struggling artist!
Miss Bianca
Awesome, Alain! I remember your sharing this part of your Sekrit Identity with me, and my thinking it was SO COOL. Glad to see you’ve “outed” yourself!
Major Major Major Major
There is a major world religion that does something similar…
And Lucifer wasn’t such a bad guy, you know. Read Milton (the first part).
Jane2
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: My only experience with the Masons was in the 90s in southern Ontario where no Catholics were allowed, and one couldn’t get a job in the police or fire service without a Mason ring. They were also tied closely to the Orange Order….their roots were likely in the Northern Irish Presbyterian variety.
And they still don’t accept women? What’s with that.
zhena gogolia
Pierre Bezukhov!
Superintendent Strange!
Some of my favorite fictional characters are Masons.
Alain the site fixer
@scav: that is very true. I think that the business/networking aspects are a more modern side-effect. We declare that we are not Masons to do that, but it’s obvious, especially in smaller communities, that it is a major business networking opportunity. I like to think that the lesser minds use it for that, and those of us with higher and deeper aspirations gain something more.
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: Jamie Fraser. (For the “Outlander” fan girlzz out there – I know I can’t be the only one!)
hellslittlestangel
I have taken the guided tour of the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia several times, and it’s awesome, rivaled in local weirdness only by the Mutter Museum. Nowhere have I ever seen such a melding of beautiful craftsmanship and profound goofiness. A recommendation for anyone so inclined: get high before you go.
Alain the site fixer
@Miss Bianca: thanks Miss B! Hope the weather is more seasonal for you..talked with a mason last week and he said it was 75! CRAZY
Iowa Old Lady
My father and several of his brothers were Masons. Cool gear.
scav
@Major Major Major Major:
Not to mention followers of a certain series of Orc-featuring movies.
or late-night Transylvanians in heels and fishnet.
Gelfling 545
@Major Major Major Major: my Dad was Knights of St. John. He was a pretty conservative Catholic in some ways, in others not so much. He felt that the Popes in his lifetime just didn’t “get” modern life in some ways. He was nearly denied marriage in the Church for arguing with the priest who informed him that it would be my mother’s duty to bear as many children as possible, even at the expense of her health or life ( this was 1948). He’d have loved Pope Francis who, coincidentally, shares his name. He dearly loved the brotherhood of the Knights, though.
Nicole
My grandfather, a lifelong Democrat, was very proud of being a Mason. His license plate was his initials and “33”. :)
Alain the site fixer
@hellslittlestangel: I’m planning on touring the George Washington Masonic Memorial (Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia). Some of the old Temples in large cities, such as Philly, are amazing works on their own. As a Mason, I see meaning where you see decoration, but that’s the point.
randy khan
@Alain the site fixer:
The Masonic Memorial is well worth the trip, although it gets a little strange in places. It is something of a temple to the great god George Washington. If you do the tour, make sure you get downstairs to see the model of a Shriner’s Parade. It’s not always on the tour.
Sebastian
Alain, can you recommend a lodge in (West) Los Angeles?
scav
@Alain the site fixer: The Modern Woodman of America are a different take that blur the old-school fraternal network, Hometown/Ethnic/plus association (I forget the overarching term for these) and insurance aspects. There’s a blur into banking as well (Ethnic Enterprise in America: Business and Welfare Among Chinese, Japanese, and Blacks 1972 is an old book I remember). Interesting general subject.
cmorenc
If you are a Freemason, when you die, you get a gloriously silly but honorable ceremony at your funeral, put on by your fellow surviving Freemason lodge members. I saw this at my brother-in-law’s funeral (he was a Mason).
Alain the site fixer
@randy khan: Thanks. To be truthful, I have a major crush on George Washington, the Mason. For all of his faults of the time, he was a good, upstanding, honorable man who all Masons would be wise to emulate. Seeing the paintings of him adorning Lodge walls makes me stand up a bit straighter, reflect a bit more deeply, and hope that I can continue trying to meet his measure.
Alain the site fixer
@Sebastian: Just from looking, there are lots to choose from! Looks like LA Harbor Masonic Lodge #332 might fit the bill plus good food! There’s a Liberal Arts lodge as well; seemingly it might be a good fit…
The Moar You Know
Alain, great piece. Not a Mason but I have respect; it’s a group that actually requires you to have something on the ball, intellectually. Were I not married I’d join (my wife would want in as well, because that’s her way, and she was perfectly willing as a young teen to tell the Catholics she’d known all her life to fuck right off when Pope John Paul I died and his successor, the execrable John Paul II, went full retro on Vatican II and said “no altar girls”). So I belong to the Elks instead. Good thing they don’t allow discussions of politics, because a slight majority in our lodge are Trumpites. There WOULD be fistfights.
Anyhow, there is a LOT of value in fraternal organizations, they provide a body of your fellow citizens to both measure yourself against and keep you in line. Not in a totalitarian state kind of way, but in a human nature way – if none of your friends are tax cheats, you probably won’t be either. If most of your friends went to college, odds are very high that you did as well. So I see the value of these organizations and truly believe that the good ones help a great deal in making good people.
Plus, we have a bar. All top-shelf.
Manyakitty
Fascinating! Several of my friends’ fathers were involved in the Freemasons, and got to 45th level (if I remember correctly), but were stuck there because Jews were restricted from the top.
Sherry
@low-tech cyclist: 700 wives and 300 concubines ? At one time or over his lifetime? Either way, that’s a lot of women to take out of the general population. Pawns in his power games perhaps. (I’ve been watching The Tudors and all those women at court were pawns, although some did not know it.)
Alain: What do the Masons have to say about how to treat the women in their lives?
AliceBlue
My uncle was a Mason. The beautiful old Lodge in my hometown (built in the 1870s) still stands, although I don’t know if it’s still in use.
Alain the site fixer
@cmorenc: the ones I’ve been to weren’t silly but I can see that they might go that way. I like the simple, sincere language and care to the deceased, and I’ve seen how much pleasure it gives surviving family to know that a bunch of men, strangers all, would come to show respect for someone they’ve never met. Where I was, we often went first, then the military, then the priest would finish up. More than once, I was the only Mason besides my Worshipful Brother who would perform the ceremony.
Larkspur
@zhena gogolia: Oh yes, Pierre! I remember being struck by the utter honest simplicity of his feelings when, on the battlefield for the first time, he realized that soldiers were firing at him. People wanted him dead. Him, Pierre, specifically. He was astonished because while not everyone loved him, no one had ever wanted to kill him. He realized how personal an impersonal war is. (Unless I’ve totally misunderstood that section.)
Alain the site fixer
@The Moar You Know: Elks are on the maybe-for-the-future list. You are so right that the community does influence you, circumscribing your behavior.
Larkspur
@AliceBlue: There’s a lodge on a main street in my town. I walk by it all the time. There’s a placard with a number to call if any Mason wants to reconnect. I never see anyone going in or out. (They rent some back space to a yoga teacher.) But the roses in front are always well-tended.
ETA: It’s Lodge No. 556.
hellslittlestangel
@Alain the site fixer: As a hardcore atheist, I see humor where you see meaning. That’s not a knock. The temple’s jambalaya of cross-cultural symbolism is something that has helped me make peace with my own vanity and insignificance.
Mzinformation
My favorite uncle was a Mason and my very Catholic Mom is in an Eastern Star assisted living facility. She’s 97, mostly blind, and pretty much deaf. My sisters and I took care of her for 10 years (she never spent a night alone). We were all working and she needed more care. We tried 2 for profit facilities and got her out quickly. We finally discovered Eastern Star. She’s well-cared for and happy. Huge huge relief. Grateful!
Major Major Major Major
@hellslittlestangel: most of the cultures they’re picking from are jambalaya too, if you know your occult history.
Or perhaps more of a bouillabaise.
G. Alain Chamot
@Larkspur: my former Master of the Lodge broke down in rural Wyoming. He found a Lodge nearby and they put him up for the night, fed and accompanied him, and sent him off the next day with a smile and wave. It’s so nice to find help and friendship when you are far from home!
Hawes
This explains why when I open Balloon Juice William Morgan dies again.
scav
An important detail about these fraternal allegiances (defined large) is how much they cross-cut other existing ties. If they merely replicate other allegiances (my town, my church, my economic class, my gender …) they’re less useful, although still can do a lot of socially beneficial actions (charity etc). But, when your Masonic etc membership helps cement bonds with vastly different people (think military service with a draft) then things get especially interesting.
Greg
Alain,
Glad you have something that means something to you. No need to be ‘out of the closet’. Just be out and open as you see fit. Forget about any closet.
DanR2
@Alain the site fixer
Do you have to learn/do any actual masonry work?
Big Ole Hound
Masons are the original “good old boys” political organization. Fuck ’em.
Origuy
My uncle was a Shriner. My only contact with Masonry is using their buildings as dance halls. The local Scottish Country dance branch holds our annual Valentines Ball at the Oakland Scottish Rite temple. A magnificent building.
My grandfather was an Odd Fellow. He died when I was young but I remember my grandmother was active in the women’s auxiliary, the Rebeckahs. The Odd Fellows also derived from the medieval guilds. They were an association of men in trades which were too small to form guillds on their own (the odd men out.)
Comrade Scrutinizer
My granddad was a Mason, Scottish Rite and York Rite. I petitioned the day I turned 21. I was raised 40 years ago, and have seen both the good and bad side of Masonry. Always loved the ritual (I was a Certified Lecturer by the time I was 23), and granddad, who was also a CL, and I traveled all over WNC to different lodges. The very best thing about Masonry is it’s liberal view of education and charity. Since I’m in the South, I drifted away from the lodge due to the segregation, and the refusal of the GLNC to recognize Prince Hall masons, never mind actually admitting PoC. There are signs that may be changing – the GLNC and Prince Hall Masons mutually recognized each other back in 2008 – and I’ve been thinking of getting back in.
Wow, Alain, now I’m waxing nostalgic. Thanks for this.
G. Alain Chamot
@DanR2: my former Master invited all Brothers over for a BBQ and “practical lessons” in operative masonry as opposed to our speculative Masonry. i.e. he had them build a wall for his new stable. Boy weren’t they all surprised! I had left before he sprang that on them; I had local Democratic Party duties to attend to.
AliceBlue
@Larkspur:
There’s still an active Lodge in my hometown (Rome, GA) but I think they moved to a newer, smaller building a long time ago. I imagine that magnificent gothic structure looming over Broad Street was hella expensive to maintain.
Alain the site fixer
@Comrade Scrutinizer: I’m so glad to hear that. I am planning to write about race and American Freemasonry soon. Prince Hall interest me but I understand that they don’t look kindly on Brothers also belonging to Blue Lodge; it’s 100% PH or go elsewhere. But me, white guy, has found the PH Brothers I’ve met and seen attend special events to be fascinating, engaging, and an important part of Masonry. And they have something, a grace, that is appealing.
Jon
Thurgood Marshall, whom I worked for once, was a Mason and an Episcopalian; both of those surprised me.
Major Major Major Major
@Alain the site fixer: you change usernames?
Indy
None of my direct ancestors that I know of were Masons, but my father did a long conservation report on the speaker’s chair from the colonial house of burgesses in Williamsburg.
The chair is essentially a masonic artifact, very architectural, decorated with masonic symbols (squares, levels). As he explained it, freemasonry was very popular in revolutionary era America (heyo Enlightenment), with several founding fathers members- notably Washington.
Jefferson wasn’t one despite huge rumors, mostly related to his freethinking religious identity / politically motivated accusations of atheism.
Anyhow, as the Great Awakening happened, with Methodism, Baptists, and all the other Protestant splinter sects exploding across north America, Freemasonry came into very ill repute, constantly accused of being atheists, and their lodges burned, members beaten, etc. They nearly disappeared in the 1820s.
Tragically, what brought them back was the know-nothing movement of the 1840s. Their enlightenment sensibilities mutated, so that the longstanding ambivalence about religious hierarchy and authority and contempt for “superstition” became very anti-Catholic, and their writings contained a lot more on the topic of “superstition”, where that word became a less an argument for rational enlightenment thinking and more of a euphemism for bashing the rituals of the Catholic church. This period didn’t start easing up until probably WWII or so. My mom’s aunts was married to a man who was a Master, and remembers reading one of his masonic texts in the 60’s- a very old book, and mostly an anti-catholic screed.
My father went through the mason’s state archives (they have a largeish retirement home and office complex in Richmond) and the huge, lovely temple in Alexandria- got to go up to the top of it when I was about 13 or 14.
in terms of rites and orders, there is an entirely black masonic organization, African Order- the Prince Hall masons, named after their founder. They reunited with their original hall sometime back in the 90s. My dad had a co-worker who got in a fender bender, and took the other party to court (this would have been Newport News in the 90s). The defendant made some signs, and boom, the judge tossed out the case. All three men were African Order masons.
I’m vaguely interested in joining, because enlightenment, when I get back to the point where I can be a dues paying member.
I’ve been an occasional Rotarian, and I’d imagine it has some awkward similar elements, with old coots simultaniously doing tremendous local public service work and griping about how Obama is rubbing everybody’s face in how black he is because something something Beyonce.
Alain the site fixer
Riffnraffing iphone. Thanks T….. um Major
chris
@Jane2: I am a Roman Catholic and I was welcomed and have served as my lodge’s Worshipful Master (the titular head who is elected yearly by the brothers of a lodge). As the article states – Masonry is NOT a religion!
germy
http://wfmu.org/LCD/21/shriner.html
opiejeanne
@Larkspur: We ladies get to join Eastern Star. If you are a teenager you can be a member of Job’s Daughters. The boys in that age group can join DeMolay. I think you need to have an uncle sponsor you.
Mel
@Alain the site fixer: “…women were at most teachers…”
Hmm… I know that you were trying to convey that women (or women’s professions) were seen as not socially relevant to a men’s work guild, but wow. Maybe not the best way to put it. Try managing the emotional and social issues of 150 kids (and their parents) every day, while teaching the kids essential academic skills and advocating for them through a tangled maze of administrators and bureaucracy, on a shoestring budget,with supplies bought out of your own salary, while putting in 12 hour days (plus weekends, plus extracurricular time, plus in-service and continuing ed. during those “months off in the summer”). The vast majority of teachers, whatever gender, are tough, caring, inventive people fighting an uphill battle every day.
My father is a Mason, and his lodge included numerous teachers, and a couple of male nurses, so… it really is, and always has been, a gender bias against women themselves, not so much a bias against professions historically staffed by more women than men and thus perceived as “less important” professions.
That being said, I really appreciate many of the good works in which Masonic organizations engage, esp. the children’s and medical charities, and I agree that the history of Masonic orgs is very intriguing. Masons seem to go back down my Dad’s family tree all the way to Revolutionary era Virginia and Maryland.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Can’t get past the all male piece, no matter how wonderful the service that is done by the organization may be.
Rex
Good stuff, Alain. It’s always interesting to see the very subtle differences in how the institution is understood among members from different areas.
Regarding the Catholics, there is a theory that I’m sure you’ve heard that the rift goes back to the abolition of the Knights Templar by Pope Clement V in the early 1300s and followed by the Peasants’ Revolt/Wat Tyler’s Rebellion in England in 1381 when the Archbishop of Canterbury was beheaded and holdings of the Knights Hospitaller (who inherited much of the Templar holdings) were sacked. There is some speculation that early Masonic Lodges assisted in organizing that revolt.
And it’s not as though the acrimony is a one-way street. The Catholic Church specifically prohibits membership in Freemasonry. Freemasons may not receive Holy Communion and it is the church’s position that they are in a “state of grave sin” as issued by Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, in the Declaration on Masonic Associations from 1983.
Pogonip
My grandfather was a Mason; we still have his Masonic Bible, which is quite interesting.
Somebody was asking about female Masons; Alain, isn’t the female half of the group called Eastern Star?
PaulW
I am not entirely keen on becoming a Free Mason. My architectural skills are limited to working with Lego.
/owstophittingme
Honus
@Jane2: the Masons never excluded Catholics. The Catholic Church excommunicated masons.
AliceBlue
@germy:
W. T. Sherman was a Mason too. According to local Atlanta lore, there was a mansion that escaped burning in 1864 because he found Masonic symbols inside.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@Alain the site fixer:
The reference to the KKK brings to mind my own Southern family. My Irish g-g-g-grandfather was a Mason (I know because of the Masonic symbol on his tombstone). Anyway, I have cousins, also his descendants who practically worship his memory and they are without a doubt some of the most racist people I have ever met. I’ve always wondered about their participation in the Masons and/or the KKK. In the South, how much of a tie is there? If there was one, I would assume it would have been much stronger immediately following the Civil War and through the early 1900’s, yes?
On a lighter note…I’ve been working on my grandfather’s bio off and on for 20 years and am stumped when it comes to his Masonic participation. He rejected Catholicism at 15 and I would hazard to guess that the Catholic Church’s disapproval of the organization would have only made it more attractive to him. He wrote a lot of letters and journals, etc so I know quite a bit about him but his participation in the Masons is a complete black hole. I suspect some of his lifelong friends and fellow Confederate soldiers were also Masons but have no way to be sure. Do they keep lists of members? If they do, what are the odds of my finding those lists from the time period between 1860-1890? Are there any other ways to confirm dates and places for Masonic members?
EBT
There was a cool discovery special last decade where they filmed a Scottish Mason group induct a woman.
Alain the site fixer
@Mel: I was referring to 18th and 19th centuries, not times more recent I should have made that clearer, thanks!
Alain the site fixer
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: I’m out getting lunch right now but I’ll respond in detail when I’m back.
Alain the site fixer
@EBT: wow I’ve got to find that!
opiejeanne
@cmorenc: It can’t be any sillier than an Eastern Star funeral. My husband’s beloved great aunt was a member. Maybe part of why it seemed silly was because it was in Indio, CA in a room with beige linoleum tiles on the floor and 60s motorhome paneling on the walls, and fluorescent lights.
Pogonip
@Rex: I once asked my priest why joining the Masons was frowned upon; he said the reason was that when you get into the higher levels it becomes a religion, and Christianity is a solo religion. Which did not stop my Theravada Buddhist aunt and Christian uncle from having a civil wedding, a Christian wedding, and a Buddhist wedding. Buddhists don’t really get the one-God idea anyway, especially if it’s explained in a foreign language; I suspect my aunt just nodded politely as it all sailed over her head. They remained married till death did them part.
scav
I’m off amusing myself amidst the UK Masons here where there’s lot to click on. Some info on women here (pdf) as it seems of immediate interest. Must admit, I’m amused by the thought of The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (see here).
J
Many thanks, Alain!
Without knowing much about them, I have always been favorably disposed to the Masons. I’d be interested in hearing a little more about two things, one good, one bad. The first is the Masonic connection in the Magic Flute; the second is the infamous lodge P 9 in Milan.
K488
Let’s not forget that Mozart was a Mason, and that The Magic Flute is full of Masonic symbolism. Here’s to the key of Eb Major!
K488
@J: You beat me to it!
Rex
@J: Do you mean Propaganda Due?
Sturgeonmouth
@low-tech cyclist:
Alternatively, the sheer number alone tells me the Bible is fiction not to be taken literally.
scav
@Sturgeonmouth: Does seem to be a lot of foreign treaties cemented by ceremonial ties of matrimonial kinship. Or, maybe he was just shy about parading about the actual number of actual slaves he had so indulged in a little creative bookkeeping.
Tom Spears
@Peter: worthwhile reading though.
debbie
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Or the Jewish restriction.
opiejeanne
@G. Alain Chamot:
This is John D.Bishop’s house ca. 1900, in the Missouri Ozarks. He was so proud of his membership in the local lodge that he put his lodge information on his house. The woman in the wheelchair is his wife, my distant relative.
Lodge 433 Macks Creek, MO
Yarrow
Thanks for sharing this, Alain. Really interesting. My grandpa was a Mason and they made a big show at his funeral, but that’s about all I know of them.
J
@Rex: Thanks, Rex. That’s an odd trick of my memory.
Pogonip
@debbie: What, other than a good name for a band, is the Jewish restriction?
They could open for Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. ?
Mom Says I'm Handsome
@hellslittlestangel: @Larkspur: There is a branch of Masonry called Co-Masonry that allows women. One of my good friends is in a leadership position in it. They are headquartered in Larkspur, CO (halfway between Denver and Colo Springs), which made me wonder whether you were gently trolling Alain!
debbie
@Pogonip:
I was reacting to manyakitty’s post above. I’m happy to be wrong, but no one contradicted it.
ETA: Good ol’ Kinky!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@debbie: Also problematic, as is the segregation of lodges…
Matt
Does Freemasonry help you understand Die Zauberflaute, and if so does it convince you that Papageno/a don’t have the better philosophy of living?
canuckistani
I’m glad atheists are unwelcome. I’ve always wondered if I should follow in my forefather’s footsteps and become a mason, but I was put off by the appearance of well-off white men forming a secret society for the benefit of well-off white men.
I’m relieved to know it hasn’t been an option for me since I was 15.
RareSanity
I see that you have somewhat touched on it in the comments, but the first thing that stood out to me reading your post:
Being a black man that grew up in the city of Atlanta, and having a Great Uncle that is a Grand Lecturer for a Prince Hall lodge…there are many, many, many PH Masons that would take extreme issue with that statement.
ETA: It’s one of the things that always gave me pause when I considered joining, and I still haven’t.
debbie
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Yep.
The Moar You Know
@Sturgeonmouth: If you had to deal with demands for foot rubs from 700 women, not to mention questions as to why your new guitar amp was a necessary purchase, you’d kill yourself in a day. Obvious, obvious made-up story.
scav
At this point, being a wide-spread organization prone to organizational fissioning, I’d imagine you can find any flavor of Mason you’d care to. Fundamentalist Masons, Reform Masons, Masons with Guitar rites and rainbow t-squares, Masons that shelve Dan Brown as non-fiction and require DNA tests . . .
john b
@dnfree: I’m pretty sure the League of Women Voters accepts men these days.
Alain the site fixer
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: Great, and important, question/topic:
Freemasons make records of everything, and everyone who has ever been a Mason in the US has been documented. So, the thing you need to find is some contact information for the appropriate Lodge, and then contact the Secretary.
There are books for each year going back to the Lodge’s foundation with minutes, attendance, etc. There are members rolls with the dates of birth, death, and when they were made an Entered Apprentice, Passed to the Fellowcraft, or Rasied to the Sublime level of Master Mason. And so if you know the town, find a Lodge there and ask.
If there is no Lodge there anymore, you can contact the Grand Lodge of ____ (your state). It will usually be in the capital, but not always. The Grand Lodge oversees all the Lodges in the state and so when one goes under and returns its charter to the State Lodge, they also deliver their records, etc. and so the Grand Lodge is the custodian of those records. Some Lodges, and certainly most Grand Lodges, have one or more pro-quality researchers who aid in such efforts: these are big, dusty, leather-bound books that take time and care to access.
Lee
Waaaaay back when I was in the military, I seem to remember that one of the questions in getting a security clearance(?) was if I was a Mason or other type of organization. I think the logic was those organization want you to place them above even country.
Would you happen to know if that question is still required for a security clearance?
Pogonip
@debbie: He always makes me laugh!
Phil
I have more of a request rather than comment to leave here. I would like to know what your position is regarding doing a question and answer sit down with to air in video? I would be very hospitable and would not push for answers that would against your wish to talk about. I do think that there may be negative views held by many when it comes to Freemasonry and perhaps hearing the facts in person may just set some folks straight. I understand you do not know me, nor do you owe anyone any kind of one on one time but perhaps if you took a moment to speak with me in private you may just see why it would benefit not only public perceptions but also put minds at ease.
Alain the site fixer
@Pogonip: I am level 3 – 4-33 happen in Scottish Rite and York Rite and in theory, there could be some great secret religious aspect but having known a few Most Worshipful Brothers (former Grand Lodge officers) and lots of Worshipful Brothers (past Masters of a Lodge) who were very involved in other Masonic bodies, there is not a hint of it except in anti-Masonic propaganda.
As for me and Scottish Rite or York Rite. I expect I’ll grow into one of them someday, but for now I’m content being a Master Mason. Since so much of the SR and YR lesson-wise is little more than weekend seminars and pro-forma rising to the next level/lots of levels in a weekend, I don’t see as much value for me. I spent a year as an Entered Apprentice because life took over, but it taught me a lot to not rush through the degrees.There is lots of value to considering your lessons over and over again and not just rushing along. And to looking around the Lodge – when you are different levels of Mason, you sit in different parts of the room.
Similarly, I spent lots of time considering things as a Fellowcraft, with its unique perspective. When it came time for me to be Raised to Master Mason, I chose the long form and used the extra ritual time to consider what I was instructed. My fellow-Master Mason did the short form, and he said since I went after him, that he understood so much because of watching me undergo the long form but was happy that he didn’t have to spend as much time for the ritual. I am after Enlightenment
As we were often short a man or two, I was often impressed into being Tyler, and occasionally Junior Deacon. So I was still learning and contributing, but obviously I could do more once I became a Master Mason. So perhaps there’s some anti-Catholic or anti-Christian secret worship thing somewhere, hidden in the highest levels. But I doubt it; that sounds like the squeals of an organization fearful of losing its stranglehold on parishioners.
Alain the site fixer
@J: I will most definitely write about The Magic Flute and some other Masonic music/art. And I would be remiss in ignoring that Italian Lodge as well, good idea.
Alain the site fixer
@opiejeanne: that’s a thing of beauty – thanks for sharing! I might use it in a future article.
Alain the site fixer
@Mom Says I’m Handsome: did not know, will learn more. The glorious thing about this community at Balloon Juice – so many neat, smart, helpful people who know odd things of interest.
Alain the site fixer
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): yes but its getting better and that’s a positive thing.
Alain the site fixer
@Matt: I’m saving that discussion for another post. Perhaps I’ll include some good video for that one!
Alain the site fixer
@canuckistani: I think you’ll find a great number of otherwise good organizations (and causes!) officially exclude atheists, mostly on the (archaic and incorrect!) grounds that, not believing in a higher power, an atheist cannot really take an oath because they don’t believe in a divine judgement. This is the world as it is, not as it should be, and it is changing.
Alain the site fixer
@RareSanity: I plan to write about race and American Masonry. Like so much of our national history, racism has infiltrated and affected the Fraternity. If you, or anyone else, would like to discuss racism, Prince Hall, etc., please feel free to use the web form and send me an email if you want to discuss offline. It’s a topic I care about deeply and wish to do my part to help smooth over separatist tendencies among different Lodges.I plan to read some more before I write too much on the topic because I need to ensure my details are correct.
Alain the site fixer
@Lee: I don’t but I bet Adam does. The oaths I’ve taken (called Obligations) specifically state that my God, Country, and Family come first. Period.
steverinoCT
I was in the DeMolay (my grandfather was a founding member of our chapter, but I came to it on my own). I never was interested in Masonry as I developed in my atheism and didn’t want to be hypocritical. I never held anything against it, though, nor any of the other various orders I have encountered.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@Alain the site fixer:
That info is very helpful. Thank you!
Alain the site fixer
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: do let me know what you find out! That could be an interesting post.
Monkeyfister
So Masons don’t really do anything helpful for Society at large? All internal and selfish?
In a take it/leave it option, I will leave it.
All this says it’s not a worthwhile organization.
At least Lions Club helps blind people, and whatnot.
Freemasons don’t seem to do anything useful.
PaulW
just wondering, do you guys enjoy the Monty Python Architect’s Sketch?
Alain the site fixer
@Monkeyfister: no we do lots of Charity, but the real value is shaping men’s character. Any old non-profit does Charity and focusing on that for Masonry would leave out the most important parts.
Alain the site fixer
@PaulW: many of us do, and we love the attention Freemasons get, and the Dan Brown movies and books, etc. are a hoot.
Monkeyfister
@Alain the site fixer:
My (Late) SAC Air Force Father, and vicious Catholic Priests and Nuns taught me character– beat it into me if I didn’t learn it the easy way. Learned I didn’t need shitassed, hate-filled Catholicism in the process. Don’t need a spooky secret club for any reason in my life.
Glad it works for you, though.
Alain the site fixer
@Phil: drop me an email using the Contact a FrontPager form and we can certainly discuss.
Mandy
@Jane2:……..OWFM look into this web site and get yourself informed, PLEASE.
DWalt
Would you mind explaining the viewing/funeral ritual? I vaguely remember my uncle’s service. There were a few things the family wanted to know, but never asked about.
Mandy
The Order of Women Freemasons, please look into this web site and be informed.
Gravenstone
Interesting post. My grandfather was a Mason, and told me he planned to sponsor me into the group once I turned 21. However, he passed when I was 19. I’m not sure how I might have fit, given my general agnosticism. Something that has only deepened as life has moved on these many years since. But I do thank you for evoking the memory. The one story I remember most clearly about his time was as he’d gotten older and in diminished health, one of his Brothers actually had to carry him piggy back up and down the (quite steep) steps to their small Hall.
Theodore Wirth
Thank you Alain, for you have enlightened me. Also, it beats the heck out of worrying about my WordPress site.
The Lodger
No mention of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon? That was my dad’s Masonic organization back in the day. Green conical hats, vests, the whole Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes deal.
Origuy
Alain, if you like Dan Brown, you may enjoy Katherine Kurtz’s Adept series. It’s modern fantasy set in Scotland. The main character is a mage who is also a Mason. One of the books takes place in Roslyn Chapel.
Aduna Joseph
Dear Sir, Am residing in ltaly. Palermo and would like to join the Mason.Please assist me. Thanks and counting your cooperation
LongHairedWeirdo
Here are two questions.
You meet someone. You think “By golly, this person should become a Freemason.”
Why? What struck you that made you think that?
You want that person to learn more. That person says that their life is very busy and full, and, okay, maybe they could make room in it for something important – but all the jokes about ruling cabals aside, what’s the *point*? And don’t tell me it’s about fellowship, or meeting people with similar interests, because you can go to church, or, hell, the local Model Airplane Appreciation Group for those things. What would be your pitch?
(A third question could be: you realized you flubbed your pitch – something you said, or the way you said it, and you saw them lose interest. And you know that you flubbed it – maybe you were tired or stressed, or maybe you realize you talked about what excited *you* rather than thinking about what would excite *them*. You say that you want to talk to them, please, just one more time, tomorrow over lunch, and you promise, if they aren’t interested, it’s a dead issue, unless/until they ask you. You spend a day thinking about what you want to tell them – what do you tell them this time?)
NB: I will confess that these questions are, in part, a springboard from which a person could talk about something that really matters to them, which is cool in and of itself. But I have often wondered about the “why?” of fraternal orders in general.
Joy in FL
Thank you for writing this. I learned a lot. I look forward to reading more from you.
dnfree
@john b: Yes, the League of Women Voters accepts men, hence meets my criteria for inclusion. We had males in the LWV group I belonged to way back in the 1970s.
scav
@LongHairedWeirdo: Could be you’re just not that interested in model airplanes but rather fancy whatever flavor of ethical structure is provided by the local fraternal org over that of a bog-standard church. Or, maybe its the symbolism that is intriguing or the structured organization for both thinking about and discussing a class of issues that is what tempts. If model airplanes or book clubs or Tuesdays at a certain bar don’t require extraordinary justification, why do these organizations? If people showed up in ComicCon in these exact hats and aprons, they’d seemingly be fewer eyebrows raised. Fraternal organizations are somehow just an entire class of social relationships that seemingly have been lost from the cultural vocabulary and practice.
Melvin L Shaw
Wow are you guys gay ?
Feathers
Coming to this thread late. i grew up in Alexandria. Visited the Masonic Temple as a kid and swear that I had nightmares set there for quite a while. Dimly lit suits of armor was my recollection. Went again recently, was happily surprised and enjoyed it, although the Mason history and meanings of everything was more than i could digest. The cheerful young man really did try though. We were basically taking the tour to be able to go out on the observation deck at the top (and curiosity). Could not find where my nightmare spot was. I suppose it was somewhere else, or wisely redone during one of the renovations they’ve had since I was a child.
Fun note: the ceremonial chair in the main meeting room is still the one that George Washington sent up to Alexandria from Mount Vernon because the chair the Lodge had was too small. It was used by the head of the Lodge, until someone broke it when he sat down. Now the Lodge leader, don’t know the exact title, very gently sits upon it for a moment when he is installed. After that, display only.
The Temple did cause some hard feelings among the neighbors because it used to be a fantastic sledding area, but the Temple, probably wisely, planted the hill with shrubs. It has a wonderful Deco/30s theater and ballroom.
Anyway, I hope you do enjoy it when you get there. There is a lot to see in Alexandria. There are actually more revolutionary era houses in Alexandria than Williamsburg. And Mount Vernon. The other houses of the Founding Fathers are worth seeing as well.
Sandia Blanca
@Miss Bianca: Oh, yeah baby! Love me some Jamie Fraser.
LongHairedWeirdo
@scav:
You know, Scav? I hope someday, you reach out to someone in hopes that they can share one of their joys with you – so you can learn something cool about them, and maybe learn something interesting about something that matters to a lot of people – something you don’t quite get, not on your own, but that maybe you’ll learn a bit more about. And I hope you feel a bit happy at doing so, and a bit vulnerable and just then – at that very moment! – I hope you realize what a butthead you just were, and can forgive yourself with minimal distress.
I didn’t ask anyone to JUSTIFY anything. I asked for someone to share some of their interest, and, possibly, some of their joy, with me, if they wanted, after they’d offered.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Indy:
This, in a nutshell, is my problem with Masons and every other fraternal/”secret” order: the extension of insider privilege to one’s “brothers” at the expense of law, justice, and due process.
Michael Rozenkreutz
So tell me, how do you reconcile the activities of the ROJ with the idea that Freemasonry is about making good men better?
DJ ROMEO
This is helpful information I am in my EA stage if becoming a mason, and I have received more love and brotherhood from these group of guy and I am blessed to be apart of this organization….
Daniel
“the selfish giant” and “the happy prince” are some of my favorite stories. You either get it or you don’t. If you don’t, there is no point in trying to explain it. I believe that the same applies with the masons (and other orders). Those members who oppose women, don’t get it. How many apronned women have stood on checkered floors, reciting over and over again, various lessons, similar to the Oscar Wilde’s lessons. Those mrmbers who are against members, over past criminal record, don’t get it.For the past several years I have witnessed things that can not be explained by one’s hacking. I believe I am not the only one who believes in Ocar Wilde’s “Happy ptince” and “The selfish giant”; who believes in people.
Martin Lewis
@Jane2: In many European Lodges the majority of members are Catholic, hence the need for secrecy even today.
scav
@LongHairedWeirdo: well, on that day of ultimate personal revelation, maybe a clue about how you come across to others will break through your skull.
Sean
Interesting read. I am glad you found it important to share your experiences in freemasonry. I do question your commitment to your obligations…you literally posted,ironically, the part of the obligation where you promise never to communicate the secrets of that degree to anyone unless they are a mason and here you are communicating the obligation publicly.
Daquan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: The secret is out Hiram is buried in the North Gate, i am the secret 666
Tony Ponto
@Larkspur: We have the order of the eastern star. That includes women . Also rainbow girls for female youth . So , yes we honor women !!
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@Alain the site fixer: Will do!
Jado
@low-tech cyclist:
And Pecos Bill dug the Rio Grande with a stick cause he was thirsty.
There is a non-zero possibility that those stories are not documentary notes, and that this aspect was inflated to reflect on Solomon’s prowess way back when such things were looked upon as positive traits.
There is also a non-zero possibility that it is accurate, but I prefer to doubt accounts from 1900-2300 years ago
Jacalyn
@opiejeanne: I cannot speak highly enough of the Order of the Eastern Star. I treasure my sisters and brothers in the Order. We are co-ed. Also for girls and young women who do not have a Mason in their extended family, there are the Rainbow Girls from which one can join the Order of the Eastern Star.
My grandfather was a 33rd degree Mason, Knight Templar, and physician in a small Southern town in the early 1900s. Blacks were not allowed in the local hospital, so my father treated them, including surgery, and cared for them in his home with the help of my grandmother,a devoted member of the Order. He was a good man made great by the values practiced in his Lodge and in his church.
sayling
@Jane2:
As a British Freemason, I can say we have no problem with any man’s religion.
I’ve learnt, of late, that the Roman Catholic Church seems to have a BIG problem with their followers becoming Freemasons, however – seemingly from misunderstanding and misinformation, from my perspective
Dee
What do you mean by you follow the light? Who is the light and why do you follow them?
Thomas
@Jane2: @Jane2: Yes, we’re non-denominational. I’m Catholic and we have a fair mix of Protestants, Lutherans, Christians as well as a handful of Hindus, Jews and Buddhists.
The issues between Catholics (Knights of Columbus) and Masons stems mostly from the Catholic side and roots back to the 1800’s. There was an annual records book I found in the archives of the Cincinnati Masonic Center from one of southern Gulf states that discussed concern over orders from the church to execute parishioners that were found to be Masons. If you give me a month or two I can go back and try to find it.
On the other hand, we don’t have any edicts to execute anyone.