So I want to become a Freemason....All opinions welcomed

reply to post by AvisNigra


I agree that it cheapens the experience. Just as the Scottish Rite does a 1 day reunion at times. If a brother never goes back after one of those classes, he will have virtually no idea what Scottish Rite Freemasonry is about. From what I have heard, the English system is much more in depth.

Accepted lodge as per freemasonry.bcy.ca...

reply to post by BrianG


Greetings Briang.

The journey of Masonry, is if nothing else, a journey of self discovery and education. Every Mason you meet will likely have a different reason for becoming a member, and their personal experiences, and lessons learned will, consequently, be different. I wish you well in your search, and trust you will make the right choice for your own path. BTW, the site you referenced, is the site of my home jurisdiction, and is an excellent source of information.

Originally posted by BrianG
I have to admit I had not heard that much about them before a certain movie came out, but after doing some research online I believe it is for me. Never have I felt drawn to join anything!

Also I have to admit all the negative posts and websites about the "evil doings" and worship that supposedly goes on had caused me to take a step back and look at it all again.

Today I am very confident that it is the right move for me, I have even taken the first steps and asked one to be one.

Now if they would just be able to meet up with me so the ball can start rolling

then i will see you on the battlefield of the next revolution so if u will do me a favor save me the trouble

Originally posted by dredz
reply to post by BrianG

 

Greetings Briang.

The journey of Masonry, is if nothing else, a journey of self discovery and education. Every Mason you meet will likely have a different reason for becoming a member, and their personal experiences, and lessons learned will, consequently, be different. I wish you well in your search, and trust you will make the right choice for your own path. BTW, the site you referenced, is the site of my home jurisdiction, and is an excellent source of information.

We just might meet up it seems

Originally posted by MorbidToxicology

Originally posted by BrianG
I have to admit I had not heard that much about them before a certain movie came out, but after doing some research online I believe it is for me. Never have I felt drawn to join anything!

Also I have to admit all the negative posts and websites about the "evil doings" and worship that supposedly goes on had caused me to take a step back and look at it all again.

Today I am very confident that it is the right move for me, I have even taken the first steps and asked one to be one.

Now if they would just be able to meet up with me so the ball can start rolling

then i will see you on the battlefield of the next revolution so if u will do me a favor save me the trouble

Your statement perplexes me...

reply to post by Miri08


My wifes Uncle, who I have come to know and respect, Was a master mason who took the Scottish Rite and attained his 33rd degree. Not sure where he took his rite but it wa not in North America from what I have gathered. I guess after a short time after his 33rd degree he was very involved and then suddenly (and mysteriously, as he would not talk about it with anyone) left the order or whatever you would call it. I guess he became very ill afterwards (about a week after) and was so for about 3 months where he almost died. not too sure what happened to him to make him sick (and im not one to believe in conspiracies lightly) but whenever anybody asks him about his days as a mason or why he left or what he was sick with he becomes very, very defensive and stops all attempts to learn about it.

From whaty i know about the local Lodge is that they are a bunch of men who get together 2 thursdays a month and drink and eat and also are involved with local charity. But when you ask my wife's uncle he says things like " I would never be involved with the local Lodge. they are just a "mickey mouse" operation" (his words not mine.

I think alot of lodges are genuine in that they are good people who do alot for their communities but I also believe that there is a darker side to some lodges or maybe that the degrees you attain are a way of seeing who will be loyal and willing to go to the darker side.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated, as i am by far not an expert on the Masons but I am very interested in their beliefs and rituals and have started, in my own time, trying to research them

Originally posted by smithas05
My wifes Uncle, who I have come to know and respect, Was a master mason who took the Scottish Rite and attained his 33rd degree. Not sure where he took his rite but it wa not in North America from what I have gathered.

I am not personally aware of any Scottish Rite system outside of North America that confers the 33rd degree. So that bit confuses me some... (Not saying there aren't any, just saying the Scottish Rite is a particularly American system of degrees…)

reply to post by JoshNorton


Thats what I thought as well. But from what I gathered he didn't do the scottish rite here, or that he finished it elsewhere. Like I said he is very secretive (like most masons im sure) about his past.

Still the bulk of the story is very strange considering the confusion

reply to post by JoshNorton
As I understand it, the competing systems of "high" degrees in Europe coalesced into the Scottish Rite system of 33 degrees in the USA by the first Supreme Council SMJ 1801 (Ordo ab Chao), other Supreme Councils were formed in Saint-Domingue in 1802, in France in 1804, in Italy in 1805, and in Spain in 1811 and it continued from there.

Originally posted by network dude

I agree that it cheapens the experience. Just as the Scottish Rite does a 1 day reunion at times. If a brother never goes back after one of those classes, he will have virtually no idea what Scottish Rite Freemasonry is about. From what I have heard, the English system is much more in depth.

In the English system, degrees 4-17 are conferred on joining the Order and 18 is worked. A candidate must do ALL the work in the 18th degree, pass through the chair and must install his successor in the 18th degree. Only then are degrees 19-29 conferred and 30 worked for the Candidate.

Degrees 4-17 and 19-29 are worked by Lodges of instruction throughout the year, but not with real Candidates.

Originally posted by smithas05
Thats what I thought as well. But from what I gathered he didn't do the scottish rite here, or that he finished it elsewhere. Like I said he is very secretive (like most masons im sure) about his past.

Actually, you'll find that Masons aren't particularly more or less secretive than anyone else. Privacy is privacy regardless of affiliations. That said, any idea what countries he might have lived in? Or did he keep that secret from the rest of his family too?

Originally posted by Saurus
In the English system, degrees 4-17 are conferred on joining the Order and 18 is worked. A candidate must do ALL the work in the 18th degree, pass through the chair and must install his successor in the 18th degree. Only then are degrees 19-29 conferred and 30 worked for the Candidate.

Degrees 4-17 and 19-29 are worked by Lodges of instruction throughout the year, but not with real Candidates.

We had a guest lecturer from Scotland at my Scottish Rite once, so we opened the meeting on the 18th degree in his honor.

Out of curiosity, the numbers you list above seem to stop at 30. Is there a 32nd or 33rd degree in the English system to your knowledge?

reply to post by JoshNorton


Yes, 31 and 32 are worked, but are affectionately referred to as "Dead man's shoes" degrees, since a 30th degree Rose Croix Mason must wait until a 31st has either been promoted, resigned or has died before the space opens up.

Stangely enough, amity exists between English Rose Croix 31 and 32 degrees, and the American Scottish Rite, so an English Rose Croix Mason may join the American Scottish Rite, enter at the applicable degree, do up to 32° and is allowed to attend those degrees. However, he may not take an office in an the Rose Croix in one of those degrees unless he has done the degree in the English system. This is to avoid people "cheating" the English system by joining the degrees in another constitution.

33° is also worked, but is almost impossible to achieve in English Freemasonry unless you've been a Mason for 50-odd years.

I don't know why the English don't just make these degrees available to all Rose Croix Masons like they do in other constitutions. The degrees must be the same as those offered in the other constitutions (such as the Scottish Rite), or amity wouldn't exist. Just English stubbornness, I guess...

reply to post by JoshNorton


I do know that he lived in Germany, Bulgaria and Bolivia.

reply to post by smithas05


Nothing against your story, but I have heard that same scenario about 10 times here in the past years and so far, nobody has been able to offer any explanation. So it could be as mundane as the person got in a fight with another brother and couldn't let it go, to they were told they had to eat mouse turds. Speculation in this case will lead to fantastic imagination type stories and none of it productive. Is this man still alive?

reply to post by network dude


Yes he is still alive. He just retired from teaching at the University of Toronto.

Originally posted by AvisNigra

Originally posted by BrianG

Originally posted by GIBBORIM
reply to post by BrianG

 

Are you worthy and well qualified?
Are you Duly and Truly prepared?
By what further right or benefit do you expect to obtain this important privileged?

I believe I am qualified
I believe I am prepared
I expect to better myself, my person and my knowledge

And I hope to make some good new friends along the way

Uh oh. Time for more proficiency studying.

To the Ante room

reply to post by BrianG


I am pretty sure one of the requirements for being a member is that you must either belong to one of the different religions out there or at least have some sort of belief in a higher power. I dont think you can join if you are athiest or agnostic. If some of the brightest minds of our species are unwelcome in their special little club than their claims to be a society of intelectual minded people open to the discussion of all kinds of ideas don't hold water. I think they just like being a part of something exclusive. Its like people paying thousands of dollars in membership fees to hit balls at a country club just so they can feel superior to their coworkers who pay five bucks for a bucket of balls at the local range without seeing the irony. Time to change the rules guys. They were established in an era when just calling someone an athiest was worse than calling them a baby eating demonic leper from hell. I'm not really sure but I would bet that before the 1940s there were Freemasons who also happened to be members of the Nazi party. Even if the rules are literally set in stone than they of all people still shouldn't have a problem editing them. Buy a chisel and be one of the first Freemasons to actually put a tool mark on a rock in the last few hundred years or drop the word Free and on the next line in small print add "some restrictions may apply". My great grandfather on my mother's side was a Freemason and all his lodge did was play card games and smoke cigars. Want to know the secret of the Freemasons? Back in days when professionals formed guilds to ensure their value to society stone carving was an art and there were techniques and tricks of the trade that were only shared with fellow guildmates. Now that we have concrete, anybody wearing a hardhat is qualified to pour it in a mold and watch it dry. The only secret left is that there is no secret. If you were to find a 33rd degree master mason and put a gun to his head and threaten to blow his brains all over the wall unless he spills the beans. Make him tell you all about how Freemasons have been safeguarding the detailed account of bigfoot building the pyramids with alien technology to power a spacecraft flown by a god that looked like he switched heads with a bird. He'd say "I don't know, just keeping old traditions alive cause they're old not cause they make sense. Why do you think athiests can't be Freemasons?"

You don't need to join the formal boys club - you can learn from the mystery of the pyramids by taking a geometric attitude towards your mind, lay a good foundation, and start building now.