joining a lodge blind?

I've been looking at freemasonry with a great deal of serious interest since I was 17 (I'm now 22). I have decided that the ideals of the craft are my own, and would like to take steps to join, however I find myself a bit lost on how to proceed.

I don't know any masons, have never met any and I've only ever seen 2 or 3 in public, and this I know only by the stickers on their cars. My family has little affiliation with masonry- I had a great grandfather in england who was a mason, but never shared it with the family, and nobody knew he was a brother until he passed on and his brothers arrived at my great grandmother's door.

I now live in Florida, in the Sarasota area, and I have located the nearby lodges and attempted to research them, but their is scarce little information on the internet. I sent the nearest (and apprently best known)lodge in downtown Sarasota an email but never received a reply. I've driven by a few times but its always deserted when I go by (nice clean building, very asthetically pleasing I have to say).

So what should I do next? Is it appropriate to go knock on the door? Should I wait until there's a scheduled meeting and then go knock on the door so I know there would be people there? Is knocking required? Should I go in and see if anyone is home? I'd feel a little silly calling up and leaving a message to the effect of what I've just outlined above - and I don't want to make a bad impression.

More importantly, can a fellow such as me without brothers as friends stand any legitimate chance of being accepted?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Please visit the Grand Lodge of Florida's website at www.glflamason.org... and email the Grand Secretary with your request. He will be happy to contact someone in your local area in your behalf, and instruct them to contact you.

I might recommed calling the GL over email only because, emails sometimes don't get answered. Where as a phone call can be short and sweet.

A Sample call could be like this...

"I'd like to know how to petion for Masonry?"
Where do you live?
"[answer]"
Here's the address for the lodge nearest you. Would you like the secretaries number?
"Yes please"

Call the secretary and tell him you want to join masonry.
It all goes from there.

Phone calls are always much faster than email.

Grab your butt with both hands and RUUUNNNN

Another thread tarnished by ignorance and childish posting, well done.

canadianinthesouth don't bother yourself with some of the idiots on the boards, think they are just board.

I am similar to yourself, didn't know, well actually didn't realise I knew, any masons and was keen on finding out more. In the UK we have provincial lodges as well which cover each county, I contacted them, just for info and not with reference to joining. They still arranged for someone to come and see me and answer any question I had.

In fact, three of them met me a my local pub, we talked for a few hours and they answered everything. Some thought it strange that three came , but it was not a mob handed scenario, merely one was really clued up on the history of Freemasonry, another was a recently joined member and would be able to understand my curiosity more than those who have been in the craft for a length of time, and the third was the secretary who had contacted me to arrange the meeting.

You can't get answers without asking the question first, the guys above have directed you to the source of the answer, you merely have to ask now.

Good luck.

Originally posted by Bondi


Some thought it strange that three came.

Not only that, but would you go meet a stranger on your own? Imagine if it turned out to be someone like Gleamer. At least you'd have your two mates to talk to when he starts spouting his BS.

Canadianinthesouth, don't just turn up on the doorstep, dude. Chances are that nobody will have the time to speak to you if the Lodge is meeting. Go for the email route to the link that ML gave you and then the phone call if you get no joy from that.

I have to admit that being poor at answering emails is a worldwide masonic phenomenon. It can be very frustrating at times but what you have to remember is that it's normally the one guy who gets the e.mail and he probably has to answer lots of them. So just keep trying.

You can also grab your local Lodge number from your phone book, try calling them directly and ask for their secretary. Once you manage to get a local secretary's number, they're pretty good at phoning you back.

When I became a Mason I was (and still am), the only guy in Lodge who didn't have any family connections. I think it does help but it's not a hard and fast rule by any means. Simply call the local Secretary and talk to him, guess I'm just repeating what has already been said here by the other Brothers. I will say one thing about Lodges here in Canada...they are always interested in good fellows joining the Craft and treat their candidates good, at least at first.

Originally posted by canadianinthesouth
I've been looking at freemasonry with a great deal of serious interest since I was 17 (I'm now 22). I have decided that the ideals of the craft are my own, and would like to take steps to join, however I find myself a bit lost on how to proceed.

I don't know any masons, have never met any and I've only ever seen 2 or 3 in public, and this I know only by the stickers on their cars. My family has little affiliation with masonry- I had a great grandfather in england who was a mason, but never shared it with the family, and nobody knew he was a brother until he passed on and his brothers arrived at my great grandmother's door.

I always admired Freemasonry, but never knew I'd have a chance of joining, as I dind't know any Freemasons. My great-grandfather was a Freemason in Argentina, and he also didn't share any of this with his family.

After a bit of research, I realized that all I had to do was call my local lodge and ask for a time when I could come by to talk to someone about the Craft, joinnig up, etc. They invited me to a stated dinner at the lodge. I was nervous, but the guys there made me feel right at home. THEY ADMIRED THE FACT THAT I HAD THE COJONES TO JUST CALL AND SHOW MY INTEREST IN FREEMASONRY WITHOUT ANY "IN". I left with an application and with an offer by two of the guys at the lodge to vouch for me, even thought I had just met them.

The master of the lodge helped me through the whole application process, and answered all my questions about Freemasonry. Needless to say I would not be where I am today had it not been for taking that first step. I was at the same place you are, and it all worked out.


[edit on 7-1-2005 by sebatwerk]