Freemasonry

[Willamena]

They are the subject of conspiracy theories and a "secret" organization that some churches frown upon. Wikipedia describes them as a fraternity. They have always struck me, in my admitted uninformed opinion, as amateur dabblers in the occult, people who explore for the fun of the mystery.

Do you know anyone who is a Freemason? Are they a religious group or something else? What reasons do people have for joining such an organization?

 

[sandandfoam]

I joined out of curiosity

 

[Willamena]

I joined out of curiosity

Is it secret, such that you can't tell us any more about them?

 

[sandandfoam]

Is it secret, such that you can't tell us any more about them?

I joined out of curiosity. My curiosity was quickly satisfied. I wish it had been something interesting and mysterious. But it wasn't.
A couple of middle aged fellas meeting up and talking about nothing. That's the big secret.
We moved away for a couple of years and I never had any more to do with them.
If they were women they'd have been knitting. Very boring. I was hoping for flashing lights and mystery. Oh well.

 

[Willamena]

Perhaps they weren't doing it right.

 

[Random]

It's like any group that knows the true history of this world: that's the power - History.

@ the bottom level, 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees etc. you will find it as StephenW did - nobody knows very much or esoteric interest. This is the public face.

@ the middle level, one finds a more informed class of businessmen, academics, politicians, advisors, lobbyists etc. who all keep stum about the org.

@ the top level, you find the mega-rich, the founders and sometimes directors of "charity" orgs and Think-tank foundations etc. Real, hugely influential people, but not ever celebrities or even generally publicly known @ all. If asked about Masonry, they will usually deny being members of the rank they are (or members @ all, in some cases).

Above them, @ the capstone of the Pyramid (so to speak), there are 12 men who sit at a "round table" of 13 seats, and these are the Most High Worshipful Masters of Masonry, the uber-bosses. The 13th Chair is vacant, and is prophetically said to be one day filled by Christ-Lucifer (same thing in their doctrine, see New Testament of the Masonic Bible), who will be the new King of the World and Incarnate representative of the GAOTU (Great Architect of the Universe, the Masonic Supreme-Being).

The history of Masonry goes back to prehistoric times, but within the current continuity of recorded history their cult is a continuation of the Egyptian religious mysteries, through which the secrets of the Pyramids (and their many esoteric meanings as applied to culture and society) were passed only onto a select few.

Masons use their belief in Reincarnation, and Resurrection as a logical consequence of a sequence of such, as part of a general but complex metaphysical economy of souls. The Roman Catholic church, initially unbeknownst to the Church Fathers, adopted much the same system in CE times and applied it in secret to their theology.

The heritage of Masonry in its present form consists primarily of Druidism (from which the essential scientific arts of Alchemy, Numerology, Astrology etc. were derived) and of both the Eastern Shamballah tradition and the Western Agartha tradition. It also has it's roots in Babylonian and Sumerian culture. In fact, there is nowhere in the ancient world that proto-Masonry did not have its tentacles extended.

Masonry has today numerous branches and sub-sects, including but in no way limited to: Rosicrucianism (Eastern Masonry), Theosophy, OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis) and the Orange Order (of Scotland and Ireland). Weisshaupts 1776 (important date) "Illuminati" organization was eventually subsumed into Masonry, becoming one and the same as it. Kaballah is Jewish Masonry.

Its relationship with the Catholic Church changed officialy in 1982 when the RCC unbanned Catholics from becoming Masons and effectively legitimised the org. Regardless, the Roman Catholic Church has always had often cordial "business" relationships with Masonry, even as lay-people were unable to join, and many Masons are simultaneously members of Order of the Knights of Malta and other Catholic societies. Masonry's relationship with the core of Catholicism, the Jesuits, is one of each attempting to exert more power and influence over world affairs than the other. Sometimes, however, they nonetheless work together.

Masonry has created directly through subterfuge and manipulation a great many religions, not least virtually all original forms of Protestantism (with Evangelism as the unifying idea, the New Model Army was Masonic, and Luther's nailed up 99 doctrinal demands were ghostwritten by Masons), and including also LDS (Mormonism), Religious Zionism, the Rastafarian movement, Wahabi Islam, Raelism, LaVey Satanism and all modern New Age movements (such as Wicca and Goddess-worship). Any religion it didn't found it has eventually influenced, interfered with or altered in some way.

Despite the unified pyramid structure @ the top, Masonry operates on a dialectic principle. There are many Lodges of different colours, but the two primary ones are the Blue conservative Lodge and the Red revolutionary Lodge. The former is capitalistic and the latter socialistic. On the dialectic principle, both appear to work against each other @ a certain level, whilst both serving a higher agenda overall (where it really matters).

Masons were the first internationalists whose association with virtually every Royal dynasty since the Pharonic period of ancient Egypt has consoidated their positions as players in world affairs even as in times past when lower class people were kept in ignorance and still thought for sure that the world was flat.

They founded America through the Founding Fathers, and created the modern corporate business and Banking system using the principles of the KnightsTemplar. They have manipulated, destroyed and recreated world cultures old and new repeatedly through intermediaries and, in modern times, forged the globalist New World Order agenda that Bush senior spoke about in his Presidential address in 1991 (on Sept. 11, no less. Coincidence?), hand in hand with every significant level of socio-economic and political power on Earth, from the Royal Institute of International Affairs (and its American branch the Council on Foreign Relations), to the Club of Rome to the Tavistock Institute.

But, again, understand the structure of their org; there are numerous degrees of Mason beyond the 33 available to lay-persons who join. These people you never hear about.

A Mason is bound by the Oath (his honour) and the Measure (as symbolised by the compass, right-angle and Masonic Bible). Sworn to secrecy, the high ones even regard lower level members as amongst the "Profane", which is their word for those not "in the know", ie. people on the outside of the fraternity, the ones to be kept in the darkness of ignorance.

Top Masons believe in the guiding principles of a form of Natural Law, which essentially was the evolutionary paradigm of "Survival of the Fittest" long before the ToE went public in the guise of Darwinism. Their form of evolutionary theory (fact) is Deistic, for reasons too complicated to go into here.

Sexuality and the phallus particularly are very important. Sexism is considered a virtue by most, as is many forms of racism intellectually justified.

I could go on.

The movie "The Matrix", serves as an efficient Masonic allegory. Note the Red and Blue pills Morpheus offers (meaning the two main Lodges) in the building with checkered black-and-white floors (classic Masonic symbolism, and the preferred decor of their meeting places and ceremonial chambers). Then of course there is the Architect himself and the Oracle, the Masonic God and Goddess.

Hope that helps, in some way Patty.

 

[Willamena]

Wow, thanks Conor. It will some time to digest all this.

 

[Random]

Wow, thanks Conor. It will some time to digest all this.

No problem.

 

[sandandfoam]

That's what I was looking for. Instead I got the knitters!
Very interesting stuff. Like Patty says - thanks.

 

[MasonicLodge]

You must have gotten the knitters because Fremasonry...like even Christianity itself, is what you make of it as a Lodge or Church respectively.

You can go to Church and be utterly bored, finding no relief from life, no education in your spiritual life, and be totally unfulfilled, but you could go to the Basillica in the Vatican and be awe inspired and deeply moved.

It is no different with Lodges...perhaps you should look into finding a Lodge that is so much more oriented to Masonic Education.

 

[cemab4y]

There is no secret in Freemasonry. I am a 32d degree Freemason, I have been in the organization for 26 years.

Here is a good capsule description:



I will be delighted to answer any question at all about Freemasonry, or any of the appendant and concordant organizations (there are over 100). Such as the Shrine. I am a Shriner, and we run a network of 22 FREE hospitals for crippled and burned children.

email me directly at

 

[grandsecretary]

There is no secret in Freemasonry.

Oh yes there is. :yes:

 

[SugaCubez352]

I see there are some very colorful historic discourses on Freemasonry of it going way back into prehistory?

Speculative Freemasonry proper - as far as tangible document goes - technically begins in the year 1717 in England with the union of four pre-existing Masonic "Lodges" forming the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).

Back then Freemasonry had only two initiation degrees - Entered Apprentice, and Fellow Craft. The Fellowcraft Degree is the one that is the most... "Deistic" or Scientific of the two, attesting to the age and era Speculative Freemasonry actually was born in. By "desitic" and scientific I mean to suggest the Natural Philosophy prevalent during the Age of Enlightenment.

Back then the two degrees were primitive in form consisting of only simple Oaths. Back then it was mostly a convivalist institution (drinking buddy group). Then some groups of people came along and began the mythos of the "Revival" which states that Freemasonry was very ancient and that it had dilapidated into a deplorable drinking fraternity. So the third degree was added, and Anderson wrote out the Constitution for Freemasonry, and with those three degrees and their Constitution, the United Grand Lodge of England began to spread Freemasonry claiming to have created it.

But there were factions of Scottish Freemasons who hated the UGLE stating that the English had stolen Freemasonry from them. The Scottish Masons claimed they they have had the original two degrees long before it was brought to England by King James. And they actually had some sort of evidence to back their claims. The oldest Speculative masonic Lodge in existence - as far ad hard evidence in the form of documentation and minute records goes - is Mother Kilwinning Number 0 which has minute records of meeting that goes as far back as the 1500's.

Beyond documents and records, Freemasonry proper does not go. Meaning that Freemasonry proper only recognizes its own history in so far as paperwork can provide evidence. So Officially Freemasonry proper began in the year 1717 if you are a conservative Mason, or it may have begun as early as the 1500's as the Scotts claim if you are a "Liberal" Mason.

Not all Masonic Lodges during the time was happy about the idea of this "Grand Lodge" thing. A "Lodge" in Freemasonry is not a building but a group of Masons. The building Masons meet in was called a Temple, but is now called a Center in the US.

One set of Masons, influenced by the rascal Scotts, claimed that not only were they the real and true Masons, but that they were Ancient and had an ancient special degree called the Holy Royal Arch which they had gotten from some ancestors. So these guys who were also English started their own rival Grand Lodge.

So from the very early beginning there was a hundred year rivalry between two competing and opposing Grand Lodges. One calling it self the Moderns or the Free and Accepted Masons (F&AM) and the other calling itself the Ancients or the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (AF&AM).

The Moderns believed that Freemasonry proper consists of only 3 Degrees - 1. Entered Apprentice; 2. Fellow Craft, and 3. Master Mason.

The Ancients believed that Freemasonry proper was 3 degrees PLUS the Holy Royal Arch Degree.

So for the first 100 years these two rivals chartered other Lodges and Grand Lodges around the world as the British Empire expanded. So that today most Grand Lodges that are descendants of these two take on the Letters of their ancestral progenitor, either F&AM or AF&AM. But after a hundred years under the two rival Grand Lodges unified which formed the United Grand Lodge of England. It was Constitutionally agreed during the Union that Freemasonry proper consists of "Three degrees only, and sometimes the Royal Arch." Whatever that means.

The English seemed really happy with their Freemasonry being the descendant of Operative Stone mason guilds. But others weren't so happy with that history.

The French were unhappy. They were a hoity-toity people, and their nobles who had become Freemasons thought it was really undignified for a royal or noble to be a member of some stone mason guild of commoners. So they started to invent all these extra degrees and they began to create themselves a new history that was more becoming of such hoity-toity people.

So enter the Cavalier Ramses. He was the first Freemason with French and Scottish connections who began to give birth to the mythos that Freemasonry had actually evolved out of a Chivalric order of knights. He never named this order of knights, but the idea caught on in that shortly thereafter all these knight degrees was made which made the French Freemasons very happy.

During the 1800's there were literally thousands of "Masonic" degrees floating around. There were also hundreds of Masonic Orders too. All of these extra degrees and orders are not officially a part of Ancient Craft Masonry which Constitutionally consists of only the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason... and sometimes the Royal Arch.

Theses extra degrees usually came in an organized bundle called a "Rite." Rites were like independent orders that were open only to Master Masons (3rd degree). These Rites had to recognize the authority of the Masonic Grand Lodge.

There were Rites like the Ancient & Primitive Rite of Memphis and Mitzraim which some people in this forum may want to research because all Rosicrucian styled orders and organizations - which included the original Pre-Crowley Ordo Templi Orientis are descendants of this now defunct Rite with 90 degrees.

The other Masonic "Rite" that is today very famous and entirely misunderstood was Adam Weishaupt's Order of the Perfectibles, or what is commonly known as the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati. This "Rite" was open only to Freemasons of the 3rd degree. The O.P. offered at least 4 extra degrees, which were Templar degrees. The thing that made this organization strange for its time was that it rejected the Christian God, was sort of atheistic, and openly taught Deism and Humanism to its initiates. Weishaupt's "Rite" also taught this crazy idea that the church and state should be separated and that state politics should be secular?! *Gasp*, how evil! At no time did the O.P.'s membership ever exceed 2000.

There was this scare that took hold of the idiot commoners of Bavaria where churches started spreading rumors that Weishaupt's Organization was trying to take over the Bavarian government. So the Bavarian Government raided the O.P.'s Lodges and banned the organization. The organization stop existing at that time because it's members just returned to their several Lodges and other Rites. This is where the rumors and mythos of some Illuminati taking over the world comes from. The myth indeed has a real foundation, but as with everything unbelievable - as someone in this thread has discovered - if its to unbelievable to be true, it usually is boring and ordinary in actuality.

(part 1)...

 

[SugaCubez352]

(part 2)...

Most of all those extra Rites and degrees are all dead (dormant in Masonic lingo). Today there exists only two major Rites. One called the Scottish Rite and another called the York Rite in America.

The Scottish Rite is the most well known of the two. It has 29 extra degrees. It's famous 33rd degree is an Honorary Degree which is rarely given. The Scottish Rite today has dilapidated such that a Master Mason who joins the Scottish Rite doesn't get 29 initiations. He sits in a theater and watches a play of each degree and every so often everybody stands up and says a gauntlet of Oaths and the 29 degrees are conferred "by word" in about 3 days. And if you think there is anything satanic about the Scottish Rite, in one of its degrees - I think the 18th which is one of its Rosicrucian degrees - you actually swear and Oath to live by and uphold the Biblical 10 Commandments.

The lesser known York Rite has an extra 10 degrees (adding up to 13). This Rite has the Royal Arch and a Knight Templar degree. The Scottish Rite has it's own Knight Templar degree called the Knights Kodosh. The York Rite's Templar degree or actually the last top 3 degrees are emphatically Christian. Youu have to declair that you believe in Christ Jesus as the son of god and the savior of man, and then you must swear an Oath to forever defend the Christian Religion from its enemies.

Some Grand Lodges of Freemasonry, such as the Scandinavian ones ONLY accept professed Christians.

Popular to common assumption, a 33rd degree Mason is not higher or knows more than a 3rd degree Mason. Its hard to learn anything new when 29 degrees is stripped down to 4 enacted plays and nothing but a bunch of Oaths are given.

The highest degree a Freemason can get is the Third Degree because Freemasonry proper ends at the Third Degree. Those Rites and their extra degrees are only accepted as being "Masonic" and are only open to Freemasons in so far as they submit to the power and authority of the Blue Degree Grand Lodges. The Three Degrees are collectively called the Blue Degrees or the Blue House if you are Prince Hall (African-American Freemasonry).

There are no central power or authority in Freemasonry. Each Grand Lodge is independent and sovereign, just like nation-states are each independent and sovereign. In fact, these Masonic Grand Lodges were the ones that gave birth to the game of "Recognition" that Nation-States play today. Such like how Taiwan thinks it is a State, but no Recognized State RECOGNIZES Taiwan as a State.

So, to figure out who or which Grand Lodge is real or "Regular" Freemasonry has these things called "Landmarks" which defines what "real" Freemasonry is. There are about 24-ish Landmarks. The first and most important Landmark is - "The Belief In A Supreme Being."

So if you are an atheist you can't be a Freemason because you broke the first landmark. And if you are a Grand Lodge and you reject God or the belief in a God, then your Grand Lodge, it's Jurisdiction, and all of its Masons are called "Irregular" which basically means you are not "real" Freemasonry. If you follow all of the Landmarks your Grand Lodge is called "Recognized," or "Regular." If you are a single Lodge and not attached to any Grand Lodge, not only are you "Irregular" but you are also "Clandestine." All irregular and clandestine Lodges are Unrecognized and are not considered real Freemasonry by the 200 and something Grand Lodges of the world.

Each Nation has its own Grand Lodge, except for countries like communist China, the former USSR, other communist countries; and most of the Islamic world. The USA has 51 Grand Lodges, one for each State, plus Washington DC which has it's own Grand Lodge.

Contrary to myths, and common belief, Freemasonry isn't trying to take over the world. Because the very old men who composes a Lodge can barely walk without the aid of walkers, let alone take over their city.

Actually Freemasonry is dying of old age, literally. Most of its members are around the age of 70, and they are dying faster than new young Masons can be made. To try and fix this problem Grand Lodges are scammering around biting their nails and trying to do anything to keep the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity from dying.

Some of these changes are drastic. In some states in America the Grand Lodges have turned initiations of the Three Degrees into a mass cattle call where thousands of "Initiates" gather in a stadium of field and some guy just reads you the Oaths for the Three Degrees and you become a Master Mason on the same day with 10,000 other people.

Other Grand Lodges like the UGLE in England are mutilating their once ancient degree rituals to please the Christians who say that Freemasonry is Satanic. Like the UGLY mutilated its three degrees taking out the bloody oaths, and Duegards (hand signs for those bloody oaths). They've also taken out the supposed evil satanic name given to initiates of the Royal Arch to please the Christian mob.

This is what Freemasonry is in actuality and the dire state it is in. It's not as spectacular and imagination captivating as the myths, rumors, and legends make it out to be, as many often find out after seeing a Dan Brown movie and joining out of curiosity.

I find Freemasonry fascinating... in a boring way... sociologically I can go on and on about it. Most of the males in my Family are all Freemasons. They are actually good people. Very well mannered, caring, religious, and charitable. The Greatest aspect of Freemasonry which nobody cares to talk about are its most beautiful assets. Freemasonry owns 100's of state of the art Children's Hospitals which offers free service and care to any child in need. Most of the hospitals care for children that will die from terminal illnesses.

As someone associated closely with Freemasons who knows what actually goes on behind closed doors (which isn't much) I am disappointed and angered at times when I hear outsiders looking in say things like Freemasonry is evil and bad, when all they really do is contribute a lot of their money and time to try and put a smile on the face of some kid with cancer before they die. It makes me wonder what these people who talk shyt about Freemasons and Freemasonry do with their time and money?

 

[freethinker44]

The movie "The Matrix", serves as an efficient Masonic allegory. Note the Red and Blue pills Morpheus offers (meaning the two main Lodges) in the building with checkered black-and-white floors (classic Masonic symbolism, and the preferred decor of their meeting places and ceremonial chambers). Then of course there is the Architect himself and the Oracle, the Masonic God and Goddess.

I thought the matrix was a retelling of plato's cave.

 

[Mr Cheese]

I thought the matrix was a retelling of plato's cave.

the matrix is clever in that it can be seen to be many things

I however think the directors centered it around neo platonism mostly....

I could be wrong

 

[Mikael]

I just read a book... "the Hiram key"... A good fresh attempt at the history of masonry by two of it´s members. Check it out...

 

[darkendless]

I just read a book... "the Hiram key"... A good fresh attempt at the history of masonry by two of it´s members. Check it out...

I've heard many good thngs about that book.

Personally i am reading "Cracking the Freemasons Code," its a lot different, mainly about the structure of the masons and a lot less about the history.

 

[geoexplorer]

It is interesting to read all of these comments. My grandfather was a Mason.

 

[England my lionheart]

They are the subject of conspiracy theories and a "secret" organization that some churches frown upon. Wikipedia describes them as a fraternity. They have always struck me, in my admitted uninformed opinion, as amateur dabblers in the occult, people who explore for the fun of the mystery.

Do you know anyone who is a Freemason? Are they a religious group or something else? What reasons do people have for joining such an organization?

Yesi know some Freemasons, my Brother is one,i got my first Mortgage through their contacts with no questions asked,from what i know its a kind of not what you know but who you know kind of outfit,i really don't think theres anything dodgy about them,they do a lot for charity and i have been to quite a lot of their functions and they all seem pretty normal to me.