Becoming a Mason

Would the Masons consider you for membership if you are a college student.

Oh indeed!

I joined as a student.

what if you are already a member of a fraternity?

Originally posted by Ruffy
what if you are already a member of a fraternity?

Do you mean a college fraternity? If so, that makes no difference. I, too, was in college when I joined in 1989. I was also very active in my college fraternity. All you have to be is 18 or 21 (depending on the state you're in) You have to believe in a Supreme Being/Creator and you have to ask a Mason to join.

If you'd like more info, feel free to U2U me.

Regards

We hold a masonic information booth at the local colleges during "frat week". We do NOT recruit, but we are there to answer questions, and have gotten no few petitions as a result.

Students, pensioners, firemen, politicians, trash haulers, truck drivers, all men, of goodwill, with a faith in g-d are welcome in the fraternity.

Oh,... and having been in a greek letter fraternity in college,... I can attest that initiation into Freemasonry is not only more dignified,... but the dues are also much cheaper...

From my experience I can tell you that sometimes it is not as easy as it may seem. I guess answering my e-mails requires superhuman powers for the one that is sitting there at the pc or maybe the lodge just doesn�t need me.

What if you lived overseas and wanted to be a mason say from the States could that happen?

Originally posted by drunk
What if you lived overseas and wanted to be a mason say from the States could that happen?

Well, my experience is that most grand lodges require you to be a resident of the state where you want to join for at least six months, so it would be hard for a subject of the UK, for instance, to join a lodge in Montana... but I guess you could live here for a while, join and then travel. As long as you kept your dues current, there would be no problem.

If you were a brother in a lodge in another country, say Dubai, you could AFFILIATE with a US lodge, which would make you a member of that lodge.

Is that what you mean?

Yeah exactly but the prob is i live in Hong Kong

Originally posted by drunk
Yeah exactly but the prob is i live in Hong Kong

There are several lodges in Hong Kong. Need a hand finding a couple of them? They may be sort of going underground due to the Chicoms...

I can find out though, if you want... isn't the Chinese government cracking down on masons and such like freedom loving folk?

Could you find out please, Hong Kong is free-er than China the mason lodges are still around i am sure China advises Hong Kong not tells Hong Kong whats wrong or right

The Grand Lodge of Scotland controls several Lodges in Hong Kong. You can email the District Deputy Grand Master of Hong Kong at this page:

sky.air.com.hk...

The Communist Party of China has officially banned Freemasonry, but Masonic Lodges can be found in both Hong Kong and Taiwan (the latter being under jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of China).

China's Scottish Rite is under jurisdiction of the Supreme Council, 33�, Southern Jurisdiction, USA, and uses the Pike rituals. Brother Tommy Weng, 33�, is Deputy of the Supreme Council for Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Fiat Lvx.

Originally posted by Agnis
From my experience I can tell you that sometimes it is not as easy as it may seem. I guess answering my e-mails requires superhuman powers for the one that is sitting there at the pc or maybe the lodge just doesn�t need me.

If you can get the e-mail address, can you get a phone #? I ran into the same situation a couple of years back, and again a couple of months ago. I e-mailed someone that was out of the country, but when I phoned a couple of numbers that I found on the net I got through and am now in the midst of becoming a Freemason (my initiation is on the 28th).

As for being a student, I am a student, I work, have a wife and two kids and am on a tight budget, but all these things almost seemed to work to my advantage when going through the interviews and getting sponsored. It is called responsibility. The only thing that seemed to work against me was the fact that I am not a "Lewis" (son of a Freemason), both sponsors and two of the three investigators were "Lewis'" and when I said that there were no Freemasons in my family they all had the same expression of "Oh" and they seemed kind of disapointed, but I just lightened it up with a story of my father being mistaken for a Shriner after he bought a Shriners belt buckle at a garage sale.

This is a little off topic but can a Freemson here explain what the difference is between the rituals? Emulation, Ancent, Canadian, American, etc.. I have asked this question to some other Freemasons but I always get a very vauge answer. And I don't want to start a new topic because knowing my questions this will be a one post answer. Is anything lost in the Emulation ritual, seeing how it is shorter?

Thanks and don't give up Agnis, remember there is something about the number 3 when it comes to Freemasonry. Three degrees, three lights, etc. So try contacting them three times, that is the advice that I got from a MM when I was having problems getting a hold of someone.

Originally posted by amike555
This is a little off topic but can a Freemson here explain what the difference is between the rituals? Emulation, Ancent, Canadian, American, etc.. I have asked this question to some other Freemasons but I always get a very vauge answer. And I don't want to start a new topic because knowing my questions this will be a one post answer. Is anything lost in the Emulation ritual, seeing how it is shorter?

amike555,

It's difficult to explain why the rituals are different, but they are. Emulation is a popular version from the UK and worked around the world. But there are differences in it from place to place. Even in London there are several different "versions' of Emulation worked. In the U.S. the most common ritual is considered the "Webb-work" (named for Thomas Smith Webb who put together the "American" version) However, it differes from state to state. I became a Mason in Kentucky where there was no official ritual. Everything was "mouth to ear" so the ritual varied a bit from Lodge to Lodge, if you can imagine that. When I moved back home to Missouri the ritual was VASTLY different. The ritual in Pennsylvania is a form of the so-called "Antient Ritual" and is quite different from the surrounding states. Probably the biggest reason for the differences is the fact that it was at one time communicated verbally and not written down. Human error, in other words. But even though it's slightly different to vastly different, the basics are the same and the teachings universal.

Makes it interesting for ritual collectors like myself, too.

Regards,

Originally posted by Agnis
From my experience I can tell you that sometimes it is not as easy as it may seem. I guess answering my e-mails requires superhuman powers for the one that is sitting there at the pc or maybe the lodge just doesn�t need me.

Agnis,

I'm sorry to hear that. Who have you tried to contact? Do you know any Masons in your community? If so, that might be the best method of getting in touch with them.

Feel free to U2U me if you'd like to discuss the situation more.

-John

Originally posted by senrak
...
...The ritual in Pennsylvania is a form of the so-called "Antient Ritual" and is quite different from the surrounding states. Probably the biggest reason for the differences is the fact that it was at one time communicated verbally and not written down. Human error, in other words. ...

Pennsylvania is still an "ear to mouth" state. We DO have official ritual, but it is not written. To make sure that it stays consistent, we have School of Instruction once a month, that the officers are encouraged to attend.

Senrak and Jase, thanks for the info, although this is the same kind of responce that I have gotten from other Freemasons. I would like to know about the differences, I don't need details or really expecting any as I know this is a tuchy subject for Freemasons. But I am joining a Lodge that practices Emulation, so...

Emulation:
1) Effort or ambition to equal or surpass another.
2) Imitation of another.
3) A compolation of many other rituals.

Which definition best suits the Emulation ritual?

ML care to shed some light??

I am emulation , UK, what do you want to know. Within reason. ?

Canada if I am correct yes, Emulation is wide spread there, relics from a Colonial past I suppose.

I can point you towards Canadians if you would like. Or I can answer some of your questions,. Canada does it seems have a foot in both camps USA style and UK.

You will be able to go York or Scottish I believe, UK we England we normally do not go that route.

Master Mason then Royal Arch, then side degrees. Is the most common path.

Originally posted by amike555


Which definition best suits the Emulation ritual?

ML care to shed some light??

Emulation is a revised version of the York Rite's Blue Degrees; most Lodges in the UK and Canada practice the Emulation Rite, while those in the US practice in the York Rite. There aren't very many differences, but those that exist are interesting. For example, most versions of the Emulation Rite have eliminated the traditional penalties in the obligations (although, judging from the posts of the anti-Masons here, they seem to believe that the symbolic physical penalties are still universally used).

Also, the Emulation Rite degrees have a strong focus on Lectures, while the traditional York Rite has more of a focus on active ritual. If you're in Canada I would recommend that, after you become a Master Mason, you come south of the border to visit an American Lodge, which will allow you to compare differences and similarities between Emulation and York.

Fiat Lvx.