I'm thinking of becoming a Freemason.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
I think brothers should return catechisms and show their proficiency in the preceding degree before advancing.

Applause

Unfortunately thats usually not the way it works...

Originally posted by AugustusMasonicus

Originally posted by mjleonid12
What is a WM, by the way?

Worshipful Master. The individual who runs his repsective lodge for a year (hopefully for only one).

Oh, ok. Thank you. I love all the replies and comments, because I learn a lot, and I also learn that there is a lot more to learn.

reply to post by mjleonid12


That is the thing about the Masons....

The more you learn, the more there is to learn!

Originally posted by getreadyalready
From what I hear of the Scottish Rite, it is possible to advance from 3rd Degree MM to 32 Degree Scottish Rite in two weekends (even 1 weekend on occasion.) To me, that limits the value of the whole thing and cheapens it.

It's increasingly rare to do all the degrees, 4–32° inclusive, at once. In the Southern Jurisdiction, you MUST perform 14°, 18°, 30° and 32° (and also possibly 4°) at every reunion, but the others are optional. When running properly, we try to rotate through different sets of degrees so that someone can come back and eventually see all of them, but there are a couple that haven't been done in my city in years.

There are some groups that do run them all… Guthrie Oklahoma comes to mind, and I think possibly somewhere in Arizona, but there 29 degrees to perform, with many taking an hour or more to get through. (Guthrie does it in 32 hours over 3 days…)

I honestly don't think most people who join the Scottish Rite are really up for that much, much less all at once. It's literally a lifetime of education that you really have to do on your own studying anyway.

reply to post by Masonic Light


I live in the Midlands, a small town called shrewsbury. up here there is a very very small ethnic community. there are the (traditional) Chinese and Indian/Bangladesh?Pakistani that you have due to the food industry, but when people go out on a night out to the bars and pubs, you will never see any other skin colour but white. I could go out and end up being the only person of different ethnicity (south american). I was raised in a white town and i loved it!! And that is also why i say that i always thought the lodges were white recruiting only. Birmingham is just down the road and maybe its different there, I've been there on numerous occasions for a few beers and the atmosphere there is very very different.

Yeah, I have thought of becoming or looking into it myself. I don't know where to start. It wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't any in Mississippi. I have never even had a parking ticket, much less arrested. My great grandfather had a weird mason tool emblem like some of you have as avatars, he orignated from Baltimore. I was young and by the time he passed I wasn't old enough to know anything to ask. I have this natural ability/want to build and when I was young and since I have been told many times i'm wise beyond my years, but thats besides the point, I know I would qualify, just never took it serious cause I don't know where to start so I never researched it with intent.

If you have any info for my neck of the woods PM me.

reply to post by JAGx1981


I'd start here…

Originally posted by JoshNorton
I honestly don't think most people who join the Scottish Rite are really up for that much, much less all at once. It's literally a lifetime of education that you really have to do on your own studying anyway.

I would have to agree with that. As with all of masonry, you shouldn't bother trying to learn anything until you are mentally ready to do so. I think just becoming a Scottish Rite member is the first step, and then you can spend years trying to learn the true meaning of each degree. It would be nice if the 32nd degree title actually meant something, but whatever. But I will say that you cannot learn as much if you don't go to the reunions.

reply to post by network dude

Same thing for the York Rite Festivals. Every time I attend or partake in one I learn a great deal.

reply to post by mjleonid12


hey man i don't blame i am thinking about joining the Freemasons also where i stay at in north carolina there is a lodge in almost every town but if you look online there only shows a handful in the state.

Originally posted by Doax919
reply to post by mjleonid12

 

hey man i don't blame i am thinking about joining the Freemasons also where i stay at in north carolina there is a lodge in almost every town but if you look online there only shows a handful in the state.

No, by my count, their grand lodge website lists more than 160 lodges in North Carolina that have websites. I'd wager there are some active lodges that don't have sites and are not on that list. (Sadly, North Carolina's Grand Lodge Website doesn't have a good "lodge locator" function to make it easier to find something in your area.)

reply to post by Doax919


you can U2U me your location and I will point you to a lodge near you. I know a few people in different parts of the state that can help with this if needed.
Good luck.

First post for me!

I stumbled on this site, and I find it to be yet another very interesting and time-sucking resource that will no doubt keep me wonderfully captivated for a long time!

I am a Freemason, and like many Freemasons who are obviously involved in this thread, I can't help but sit back and laugh at all of the misconceptions and inferences made to make Freemasonry into something that it is not. Is there really a conspiracy at the "high levels"? I'm not at that level, so I can honestly say that I don't know. But what I do know is what goes on at the local, district, and state levels, and frankly, the conspiracy allegations are really just too humerous. Freemasonry, like any organization, has its noble and virtuous members and its seedy and corrupt members. Is it because there's a conspiracy? Nah, it's more likely because we're all just human.

I became a Freemason in 2007 under the jurisdiction of the great state of South Carolina, and have since joined the York Rite, the Scottish Rite, and several other invitational Masonic bodies. I am currntly an appointed Grand officer for the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of the State of South Carolina, and I currently sit in the East as Master at our local lodge.

I've debated both openly and anonymously about various Masonic issues with many people including some notorious anti-Masons. It all really boils down to this: Any genuine discussion of Freemasonry will never be accepted by an anti-Mason because the anti-Mason views the Freemason as either a "follower" and thus is misled, or he is a "leader" and is thus intentionally misleading. So it's a classic no-win scenario for the Freemason because from the start, the anti-Mason has preconceived (and often misguided and incorrect) views of who the Freemason is and what he represents.

That said, I offer the following information:

1. Freemasonry does not solicit.
There are jurisdictional exceptions, but by and large, Freemasons do not recruit or solicit members. If you want to join, you must ask a Mason. And honestly, when someone asks to become a Mason, they are usually welcomed withopen arms.

2. Freemasonry is not racist.
It is true that there are jurisdictions that do not yet "recognize as regular" some predominately black Masonic orders, however the issue is administrative, not racial. As in any organization, there are some Freemasons who are racist, however they do not represent the vast majority of Freemasons or Freemasonry at-large.

3. Freemasonry is not elitist.
Well, I guess that depends on your definition of elitist. In the United States, the socioeconomic makeup of Freemasons is as varied as the people in the cities they represent. In South Carolina, there are very well-to-do businessmen who are Freemasons, and there are hard-working, under-paid, and largely unappreciated blue-collar workers who are Freemasons. I am proud to say that we are brothers all. And I'll give you one guess who tend to be the more passionate and active members.

4. Criminal background.
How a candidate with a past criminal record is handled is typically a jurisdictional issue. In some states, any felony offense would prevent you from joining. In others, it depends on the circumstances. Has the candidate paid restitution for his crime? Has he reformed and honestly put his criminal past behind him? Has he made real and tangible efforts to better himself to be be a good citizen, husband, father, etc.? If he has, in many jurisdictions, he would be accepted freely. In others, he may not. Freemasonry doesn't make bad men good, but good men better.

5. Masonic Drinking
Purely jurisdictional. In the state of South Carolina, like a previous poster said about Florida, alcohol is prohibited at any and all Masonic events, yet I have never heard any complaints. I've also been to lodges that have full bars and freely serve to members and guests. But it's not about drinking and getting drunk, it's about being responsible and brotherly. Prudence and temperance are virtues that are clearly taught to every Freemason (and for those who do not know, "temperance" is not the same as "abstinence".)

6. Religion.
Freemasonry is not a religion, though there are some who may and do treat it as such. I consider myself to be a Christian. It's one of the fundamental reasons why I got into Freemasonry, and why I branched out to the York Rite (it being specifically Judeo-Christian in its teaching.) The York Rite affirms and strengthens my personal beliefs. The Scottish Rite, on the other hand, takes a more "comparative religion" approach providing wisdom and insight from many of the world's most prominent and sometimes more esoteric religions and philosophies. In any case, neither teaches that you MUST believe what they teach, only that what they teach has deep and far-reaching historical and mythological roots.

7. Albert Pike and Morals & Dogma.
Before anyone gets their panties in a bundle, please take the time to actually read the "Preface" to this amazing book. So many take what Bro. Pike says without even understanding the position that the Scottish Rite itself takes. (My emphasis added.)

...In preparing this work, the Grand Commander [Albert Pike] has been about equally Author and Compiler; since he has extracted quite half its contents from the works of the best writers and most philosophic or eloquent thinkers. Perhaps it would have been better and more acceptable if he had extracted more and written less.

Still, perhaps half of it is his own; and, in incorporating here the thoughts and words of others, he has continually changed and added to the language, often intermingling, in the same sentences, his own words with theirs. It not being intended for the world at large, he has felt at liberty to make, from all accessible sources, a Compendium of the Morals and Dogma of the Rite, to re-mould sentences, change and add to words and phrases, combine them with his own, and use them as if they were his own, to be dealt with at his pleasure and so availed of as to make the whole most valuable for the purposes intended. He claims, therefore, little of the merit of authorship, and has not cared to distinguish his own from that which he has taken from other sources, being quite willing that every portion of the book, in turn, may be regarded as borrowed from some old and better writer.

The teachings of these Readings are not sacramental, so far as they go beyond the realm of Morality into those of other domains of Thought and Truth. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite uses the word "Dogma" in its true sense, of doctrine, or teaching; and is not dogmatic in the odious sense of that term. Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound. It is only required of him that he shall weigh what is taught, and give it fair hearing and unprejudiced judgment. Of course, the ancient theosophic and philosophic speculations are not embodied as part of the doctrines of the Rite; but because it is of interest and profit to know what the Ancient Intellect thought upon these subjects, and because nothing so conclusively proves the radical difference between our human and the animal nature, as the capacity of the human mind to entertain such speculations in regard to itself and the Deity. But as to these opinions themselves, we may say, in the words of the learned Canonist, Ludovicus Gomez: "Opiniones secundum varietatem temporum senescant et intermoriantur, aliæque diversæ vel prioribus contrariæ renascantur et deinde pubescant."

8. Considering joining.
Finally, to anyone considering joining this historical ancient order, my word of advice is to not focus on if you are or are not qualified. Do some research. Open your mind. Pray about it. (What? You don't pray? Why not start?) Then stop waffling and go ask a Mason.

reply to post by jbarr


welcome to ATS! Us masons up north are enjoying our nice cold beers. I hope you are enjoying your sweet tea though .

One word of advice, don't get too sucked in to debating the crazies here in this particular board because they will never change their thoughts and they often omit certain information in articles or just have plain horrible sources.
Enjoy the other boards on this site too!

reply to post by jbarr


Well that's a hell of a way to jump into ATS! Nice post!

Here is the Introduction Forum where you can start a thread introducing yourself. You won't be able to start any other threads until you have at least 20 posts.

Here is an Index of Important ATS Related Technical threads.

reply to post by mjleonid12


Well, I might be able to help. I'm a freemason who joined this forum to set straight some miss information. First off we have a thing going now "To be 1 ask 1" the Grand lodge of my state has sent out stickers for our cars. Membership is down. In the past few yrs guys have joined in hopes of getting all the "secrets", and an easy road to richeness & power. Well, most are shocked to find out that it is far from that. Yes there are secrets, but I wouldn't tell people my college frat paswords either. Freemasonry is all about the brotherhood, and fellowship. In the day to day, you have a bunch of stuff to memorize. It is not easy Also plan on wearing a suit, or tux a few time a week. The brotherhood is great, but it is mostly memorizing your degrees, and cooking to raise money for the lodge.

Keep this in mind also 33 degree is honorary. 3rd is the highest degree. It's not the Army were a 32nd is of more authority than a 3rd. 32&33 are from the scots rite, so if you go on to the york, shrinners, tall cedars the degrees don't go that high. If you stay in the blue lodge as a 3rd, learn the degrees and become an officer you get the most respect. In the scots you can go from 3rd to 32 in a day. It is just joining a different part of freemasonry.

Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll get in as long as you are honest about your past, and aren't a felon.

reply to post by Skyfloating


I'm new on here hello. I live in Indiana and we have to have the proceeding degree up to the obligation until MM. I've been offered to go to get 4-32 in a weekend event, but it is a far drive, and to be honest I do'nt want to sit though 2 days of degree work. Now about 30 mins away from me in Chicago, the will put you though ea-mm in a few hours! I feel that is Wrong! How are you proficiant in the proceeding degree? They must need members

reply to post by Skyfloating


Before you try this freemason stuff I suggest you look into the Order of the Golden Dawn

or the Order of the Eastern Star as they are all based of old hermetic and gnostic teachings.

by in large they are harmless, but the magical nature of the organization can lead to the development of many mental health issues.

Safety first

Originally posted by MasterGemini
or the Order of the Eastern Star as they are all based of old hermetic and gnostic teachings.

Really? When I went through the initiation I saw that it was based more on the Bible and figures from its books.

Originally posted by KSigMason
Really? When I went through the initiation I saw that it was based more on the Bible and figures from its books.

True. The Order of the Eastern Star has absolutely nothing Hermetic or Gnostic about it.

The Golden Dawn was a Hermetic, Qabalaistic, and Rosicrucian order.