Are all secret societies invite only? what criteria do the bosses have when recruiting new members? I mean could I just turn up at a Freemasons lodge and say "Hi, I'm new round here, I've heard you have fun and would like to join you?"

[Edited on 7-1-2003 by moonclamp]

Yep, that's all I did, sorta, I actually emailed them asking to petition and they called someone in my area to have a lunch with me. And that was the first time ever that I had met such decent people, and nothing's been the same since

So pretty much yeah, you could turn up at a Freemason's Lodge and say Hi, to the tiler only though who's job it is to keep you out but that too would start the process.

2B1ASK1

Sincerely,
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so basically you know most of your # from books and what not, and thats it? i can tell you must not be too high up because you have no lineage. if you were a *somebody* they would actually have invited you in. and yeah, moonclamp, you could do that, but why join a fraternity made up of all these 80 yr olds?

No one invites you in, why don't YOU pick up a book maybe you'd know that. Plenty of my friends whom are 32nd degrees NEVER got an invite, and their families were masonic back to their great grandfathers, and their grandmothers being OES the works.

Will you please get back to your studying, because you obviously still know nothing.

Sincerely,
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yeah and those friends of yours are only 32nd

Only is right considering you're basically given to 32, you can't NOT get to 32, unless you are completely off your rockers, or quit the scottish rite.

Sincerely,
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my uncle is freemason here in slovenia, europe...and in our country you must be invited to join in...but i know that in USA freemasonary has longer history, so i think it is different over there.

You have to ask to get in. You don't know what you're getting into until it's too late.

Dont know too much about the masons, but i live near to the town which has lodge '0' in kilwinning, ayrshire. i know plenty of members and quite a few who where invited because of their family ties. incidently the lodge contains a masonic flag that used to hang above the whitehouse!

[Edited on 10-2-2003 by kegs]

The masons have many factions. So you can argue all you want. All you really need to know is what you are getting into, not how you get into it. The Researcher made a good point and said it best, so I will let him be my voice as well.

You have to ask to get in. You don't know what you're getting into until it's too late.

I agree that you usually have to ask to join, although it is common for masons to suggest that members of their family join (as my grandfather did). However there is both an interview and a vote on any new candidate.

As for what exactly it is you are getting into - I've spoken to a few masons (both in my family and outside) who have told me that in the 'average' lodge, masonry is seen as nothing more sinister than the women's institute - just a group of men meeting to perform some rituals they don't understand, make donations to charity and socialise.

I don't doubt that as with any organisation certain branches may well have other agendas, but I feel strongly that these elements use the masonic organisation to shield themselves and perpetrate rumour, rather than representing freemasonry as a whole

FM is full of crap. He is NOT a Freemason.
Times have changed. It used to be that you could only join if you actually asked a Freemason. The problem was that with masonry sort of being driven underground after the world wars, not many people actually knew freemansons. Sure, they might know a guy who was a mason but they didn't know that he was a member.
Nowadays, things are much more open. It's literally only the ritual that is still kept from the general public. Freemasonry is much more relaxed and members are welcome to tell others of their membership. They can also now invite people in. If a candidate doesn't know any members he can always telephone Grand Lodge in London and they wll put him in touch with a local lodge. Then he can arrange a meeting with a few of the members, maybe attend a social function, get to know the members and join that way. Don't just turn up to a lodge as FM suggests. When a lodge is working it has other tasks and won't have the chance to give you much time. The tyler won't be able to help you out other than to tell you to ring the secretary.
You can also telephone the lodge steward (most lodges have them). He will normally be more than happy to show you around the building and explain a few things to you as normally these guys are masons too and because they spends a lot of time working with masonry they can be a fount of knowledge.

The impression that Freemasonry comprises of only old men is a false one. Freemasonry contains a cross section of society and you will find all ages from 21 upwards. I myself have not yet reached 30 and of the 4 candidates joining my lodge last year, all were between the ages of 30 and 40.
Also stating that people enter Freemasonry with their eyes closed is not true. Follow the advice I give above and you can learn a lot. There is normally a wait of a few months before you can actually join and in that time you can further educate yourself. Obviously you will not discover everything but then the whole joy of freemasonry is that it is a learning process and rather than being a secret society, masonry is simply a society with some secrets.

can i join and make it to the top very fast. So i can learn all the secrets about the secret societs fast. and then tell them all on this board.

Leveller wrong, not even in britain is there an "invite" policy I asked. Perhaps you should just come on over here, the "Empire of Masonry", where we don't have to scurry around like beetles like you would have people think.

All you need to do is show up, ask for a petition and that at the LEAST gets the ball rolling, doesn't mean ANYTHING else.

Now I think it was Echelon who was saying that in England you need an Invite, so I asked a friend in England and he debunked that. He also debunked the rumor that the Blue Lodge ritual and York Rite are mingled (Not sure what they were meaning by that), but he also has no experience of that.

I'd see no reason why you can't just pop your head into a lodge one day, since here they say as such, "Show up and ask for a petition, or ask for one from a friend that is a mason".

This post seems pretty recent, are you becoming a fool again!?

The first time was understandable but for you to sit there and say that the way the brits do it is the ONLY way is beginning to get annoying.

Most of the world doesn't act like Masonry is some fancy social club where you toast the WM 15 times and praise your well beings. Like-wise most people don't "hide" their membership, at least in America, where we have Masonic License plates, bumper stickers, hell I should look to see if they have masonic Hood Ornaments.

Ugh *shakes head*, Leveller you are beginning to show arrogance more than anything else.

First you completely lost your credibility when you complained about No body being allowed to go to an Installation of Officers unless they were masons, which have you know is completely wrong. Since my first time EVER in a lodge was at an installation and I turned in my petition on the SAME day.

I figured I had settled your wrongs in U2U when telling you that's the way we do things here, that no, only masons open and close but they go to recess and anyone can come and watch the actual Installation.

And you seemed to agree.

And now here you are again throwing around insults, when you make yourself look the fool only.

Um. Firstly you are completely and utterly wrong. In the UK it is now accepted that we can invite our candidates into freemasonry. I'm waiting for a guy whom I invited to join my lodge atm. So yah boo sux too you.

Secondly. You wanna bring up U2U?
You call me out for flaming Freemason and contact me on U2U as Hammerite. You speak of Freemason in the third person and try to distance yourself from his actions when all the time all you were doing was making an act of deception.
Dude. I accused yo of being a fraud. You proved it yourself on U2U.

As for pulling me on the installation line? You're showing your true colours again. I've already explained my mistake to you on U2U over that one. How things are done differently in different countires? Want me to quote it?

Dude. You are, how should I put it, very economical with the truth. If you think that by my having that opinion it makes me arrogant then hell yeah!!! I'm the most arrogant person posting here. But the good thing about arrogance is that it helps you to spot a bullsh!tter from miles away.

From now on the words of Hammerite/Freemason are worth about as much in my book as a fart on a stormy day.