Highest Level, and Most Powerful Masons Revealed!

Originally posted by Masonic Light
The worshipul master is the highest authority in his Lodge, and is only outranked by the Grand Master. These rankings are only temporary; after their terms have expired, these people go back to being regular members.

Just wanted to add for the edification of non-Masons the only residual is that Past Masters become permanent voting members of their repective grand lodges.

I know muzzleflash will particularly appreciate this aspect as it is very similar to the Roman practice of senators becoming consuls (and then proconsuls). In New Jersey we even use similar designations on our aprons as the Romans used on their togas. A narrow purple band for a senator's togas which is similar to the fringe on a Past Master's apron. Grand Lodge officers get a wider band which would be similar to a consular toga.

These guys don't look like the types that would have a secret cave laden with mad scientist working to build a doomsday device to hold the world hostage!

I haven't ever understood why the Freemasons get connected with the NWO. I understand it has to do with the longevity of the Freemasons, but beyond that they've had hundreds of years to take over the world. If they had some kind of grand scheme to do so, I'm sure it would already be done by now.

But, yes, you have done excellent research on who the highest level, most powerful ranking Masons are.

Originally posted by JoshNorton

Originally posted by muzzleflash
I am still learning a lot, but from what I can tell so far, if you get a pentacle and turn it 33 degrees to the side, it will become a pentagram. This is a mathematical concept.

Well, if you're going for the pure math, you'd actually have to turn it 36°... The angle between points of a regular 5-sided figure are 72°. (360°/5) So if the point up is at 0°, the first one clockwise from that is at 72°, the second at 144°. To turn the symbol so that that second point is pointing down (180°), you'd have to rotate the figure 36°. If you only rotated it 33°, the bottom point would be at 177°…

edit on 2011.12.27 by JoshNorton because: (no reason given)

Ahh ok thank you. I admit I was just eye-balling it and making a generalized guesstimate.
I appreciate the clarification, it is indeed helpful.

You have got me contemplating this even deeper now, thank you very much!

reply to post by muzzleflash

It could be a typo, but I know the Tabernacle in Idaho has 33 members in it.

reply to post by AugustusMasonicus

That's interesting with the aprons. Each Lodge has their own version of the Past Masters apron, but our Past Masters do become permanent voting members of Grand Lodge once their time in the East is done.

Originally posted by AugustusMasonicus

Originally posted by Masonic Light
The worshipul master is the highest authority in his Lodge, and is only outranked by the Grand Master. These rankings are only temporary; after their terms have expired, these people go back to being regular members.

Just wanted to add for the edification of non-Masons the only residual is that Past Masters become permanent voting members of their repective grand lodges.

I know muzzleflash will particularly appreciate this aspect as it is very similar to the Roman practice of senators becoming consuls (and then proconsuls). In New Jersey we even use similar designations on our aprons as the Romans used on their togas. A narrow purple band for a senator's togas which is similar to the fringe on a Past Master's apron. Grand Lodge officers get a wider band which would be similar to a consular toga.

I want to thank you both for pointing out these things to me. I am feeling a little overwhelmed as you have both given me a lot of things to research and look into. I will proceed to spend the day reading and searching for answers to my many questions.

The purple symbolism is very significant and so I am going to try to find out what exactly it signifies and represents in the more contemporary modern usage. I don't know if it is the same as it's usage in antiquity but I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be similar in many respects.

Your statements actually reveal a lot of doors and I am already anticipating what may lay behind some of them. I expect surprises but I am learning the patterns as well, so yes I do indeed appreciate this very much!

Originally posted by KSigMason
but our Past Masters do become permanent voting members of Grand Lodge once their time in the East is done.

Oh wow that is really interesting!

I am going to find out what you mean by this, I assume it may be both literal and symbolic at the same time.

Although it may be cryptic at first glance, I think it is very revealing and makes a whole lot of sense, all things considered.

Originally posted by AugustusMasonicus

Just wanted to add for the edification of non-Masons the only residual is that Past Masters become permanent voting members of their repective grand lodges.

This is not the case for many Grand Lodges (including my own). Here, Past Masters do not have voting rights.

reply to post by muzzleflash

In Idaho at least, the 3 dais officers are the delegates to the Grand Lodge and have voting power. Once the Master year is done, and he becomes a Past Master, he is a member of the Grand Lodge and entitled to vote as he wishes.

In Idaho, every Master Mason is a voting member of their respective local Lodge, but only certain people are voting members of the Grand Lodge. In Idaho Grand Lodge voting members include GL officers, PGM, and PM.

reply to post by AugustusMasonicus

33rd is honorary 32 allows you to be a Shriner but still does not allow you near the families of power, only selection will bring you into the fold

Originally posted by sweetnlow
33rd is honorary 32 allows you to be a Shriner but still does not allow you near the families of power, only selection will bring you into the fold

There aren't any "families of power" recognized in Freemasonry.

Furthermore, the Shriners used to require that new members be eith 32nd degree Scottish Rite Masons or Knights Templar in the York Rite. This requirement was dropped 11 or 12 years ago, and the Shrine now allows third degree Master Masons to become members.

reply to post by Masonic Light

well that wasn't the case 20 years ago, and just keep wishing there aren't higher orders and you'll be OK

Originally posted by sweetnlow
well that wasn't the case 20 years ago

Which I mentioned.

and just keep wishing there aren't higher orders and you'll be OK

Why would I wish they not exist? I'm an officer in them!

Here is an interesting link about 'purple stripes' in reference to Roman traditions.
Purple

It's a bit dramatized, but it seems to be fairly educational.
There are also additional resources linked at the bottom.

Here is a link to the Toga wiki.

Toga praetexta: An ordinary white toga with a broad purple stripe on its border.

Toga picta: This toga, unlike all others, was not just dyed but embroidered and decorated. It was solid purple, embroidered with gold.

Here is the link to the laticlave wiki.
Laticlave appears to be the terminology referring to the 'wide purple stripe'.

And this appears to be the 'narrow purple stripe', angusticlavia wiki

Purple traditionally represents or signifies 'nobility, power, wealth' etc.

Here is the wiki on Purple.

The word 'purple' comes from the Old English word purpul which derives from the Latin purpura, in turn from the Greek πορφύρα (porphura),[4] name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.

Porphura phonetically (in my contemporary tongue) sounds very similar to "phosphorus", which has a significant meaning in Greek myth. Also incidentally, the element 15 - phosphorus, can bear the color violet. See the difference between violet and purple in the wiki article.

The purples are colors that are not spectral colors – purples are extra-spectral colors. In fact, purple was not present on Newton's color wheel (which went directly from violet to red), though it is on modern ones, between red and violet. There is no such thing as the "wavelength of purple light"; it only exists as a combination

Here is an article from wiki on Tyrian (imperial) purple

There are variations within the hues of the colors, as the wiki articles show.

Also other interesting connections include:

The thistle plant -

The color thistle is associated with Scotland because the thistle is the national flower of Scotland and Scotland's highest state decoration is the Order of the Thistle.

The Orchid flower family.

The Heliotrope flower, again a reference to the 'Sun'.
It claims that the Danainae butterflies frequent them, and leads to a reference to Egypt through Greek myth.
Danaides

In Greek mythology, the Daughters of Danaus or Danaids (also Danaides or Danaïdes; Greek: Δαναΐδες; English pronunciation: /dəˈneɪɪdiːz/) were the fifty daughters of Danaus. They were to marry the fifty sons of Danaus's twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them kill their husbands on their wedding night, and are condemned to spend eternity carrying water in a sieve or perforated device. In the classical tradition, they come to represent the futility of a repetitive task that can never be completed (see also Sisyphus).

Danaus
Aegyptus
Sisyphus

There are other plants with the color purple mentioned in the purple article. But alas I am going off track a bit here.

Oh and I just realized something funny. I am going to see if there are any real connections between the terms "Egypt" and "Gypsies". Although I studied the Gypsy peoples in anthropology, I do not remember noticing this similarity. I will go look into this now.

Aha yes, the Gypsy people are supposedly from Egypt after all. I wonder why this was never revealed in my anthropology class? I suppose the professor wanted to focus on more recent times.

Etymology

also gipsy, c.1600, alteration of gypcian, a worn-down M.E. dialectal form of egypcien "Egyptian," from the supposed origin of these people.

As an adjective, from 1620s. Cognate with Sp. Gitano and close in sense to Turkish and Arabic Kipti "gypsy," lit. "Coptic;" but in M.Fr. they were Bohémien (see bohemian), and in Sp. also Flamenco "from Flanders." "The gipsies seem doomed to be associated with countries with which they have nothing to do" [Weekley]. Zingari, the Italian and German name, is of unknown origin. Romany is from the people's own language, a plural adjective form of rom "man." Gipsy is the prefered spelling in England.

A reference to Bohemia. Hmmm...
etymology

"a gypsy of society," 1848, from Fr. bohemién (1550s), from the country name (see Bohemia). The modern sense is perhaps from the use of this country name since 15c. in French for "gypsy" (they were wrongly believed to have come from there, though their first appearance in W.Europe may have been directly from there), or from association with 15c. Bohemian heretics. It was popularized by Henri Murger's 1845 story collection "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme," the basis of Puccini's "La Bohème." Used in English 1848 in Thackary's "Vanity Fair."

This is really strange.
So "Bohemian" actually has a distant relation to "Egyptian".
I never knew that.

Originally posted by sweetnlow
33rd is honorary 32 allows you to be a Shriner but still does not allow you near the families of power, only selection will bring you into the fold

You seem to be mistaken regarding a good many things about Masonry, including the above. You have still not established what, if any, relevance there is for a non-Scottish Rite Mason and the Scottish Rite's degree system.

Hint: There is none.

Originally posted by sweetnlow
reply to post by Masonic Light

 

well that wasn't the case 20 years ago, and just keep wishing there aren't higher orders and you'll be OK

I am willing to entertain the idea that you are correct. Now all you need to do is prove to me that you know what you are talking about. Provide a link to something that will explain how the masonic world really works.

(and just to be clear, Icke and Schenobelen will be laughed at immediately if not sooner, so don't use them)

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Here is an article from wiki on Tyrian (imperial) purple

This is relevant to Masonry as Hiram Abiff, the builder of King Solomon's Temple and sent by Hiram, King of Tyre, has several specific skills detailed in the Master Mason Lecture, one of which is his ability to create and work with purple fabric.

Originally posted by AugustusMasonicus

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Here is an article from wiki on Tyrian (imperial) purple

This is relevant to Masonry as Hiram Abiff, the builder of King Solomon's Temple and sent by Hiram, King of Tyre, has several specific skills detailed in the Master Mason Lecture, one of which is his ability to create and work with purple fabric.

I have heard about 20 references to "Hiram Abiff" but I still don't know anything about him/it (?).

I am going to devote myself to a full on investigation of him(or it?) sometime tonight. Thanks for bringing it back up, I see this name a lot but don't know anything about it. I will find out though.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
I have heard about 20 references to "Hiram Abiff" but I still don't know anything about him/it (?).

I am going to devote myself to a full on investigation of him(or it?) sometime tonight. Thanks for bringing it back up, I see this name a lot but don't know anything about it. I will find out though.

He is the central character in the 3rd Degree of Masonry which uses allegory to remind us of our own mortality.

reply to post by network dude

There are many secret societies interlinked with the masons, just as there were masons hidden within the ranks of the KKK and in every usable department of the highest positions of all the governments throughout the world and secret societies, this is how the bother hood has evolved to ensure its monopoly and survival throughout the ages, just like religion itself, the proof is everywhere but if you don't know the math you don't get to play