Freemasons - are you one?

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So what's it all about?

I'm a Catholic and a woman they're not that fussed on me

Hey Val - I haven't had a chance to order them yet, been a bit of a 'mare settling DS2 into new High School (he has ADD).

Was massively supported by them financially as a child, as were my siblings. They help my mother now because my Dad was a (lapsed) mason. I think they do a great deal for charity and are a real force for good. There is a school in Rickmansworth but the boys' one closed in the 1970s and was in Bushey. Many of the girls at the school are given a (free) private education when their family circumstances (usually the father was a Mason and has died) mean it would help. Boys are "out educated" - ie paid for to go to a local private school, boarding school, or simply supported to remain at home with financial help. The Duke of Kent was the highest ranking Mason some years ago, but I am not sure about now. I expect they too are struggling to raise money nowadays and can't help people as much although I do know someone who is in an old folks' home, supported by them.

Reading this, I have noticed not one mention of The Buffaloes. My Dad joined but never continued. He was presented with a wooden pipe. Red Indian traditon or Drug paraphenlia???

Maybe they are more secret than the Masons?

Thank you Pinot and Valium i knew there was a handshake i remember exp showing it to me.

wiggles my dh is Catholic - never been an issue.

Would an agnostic be an issue?

My Husband is in the Masons. So is my Dad, Dad was the Worshipful Master for a bit. I know a little about it, it is like a big boys club. I know my hubby has to learn lines and things when he's involved in rituals. I also know that they get their dinners there.

My Mum had to give a speech when Dad was WM, and call him 'your Worship'. I can't wait until I have to do that with hubby if he gets that far!!

My father was one, it was very big in the police in the 70s and 80s. I remember the insane white gauntlets and apron in a drawer at home.

He asked me once if I fancied going to boarding school, it was never properly dicussed but I remember wondering how my parents could possibly afford any kind of private education, let alone boarding. In retrospect it would have been funded through the masons.

He also had occasion to find a solicitor for my brother once and bro insists the solicitor gave him a weird handshake when they met, but he might have imagined it.

Oh and dad had this funny gold ring, it looked plain but part of it revolved to reveal a masonic symbol. Daywear and lodgewear, I guess.

I was sitting next to a man on a train once and reading over his shoulder because his book looked weird (as you do), and it was essentially a book of ritual mantras for want of a better word, I asked my dad about it and he said yeah that's the stuff you have to learn for the joining up ceremony.

I was once a Cardiff to London train with a whole load of masons on their way to a convention. The man next to me left all his books open on the table next to me when he went to the loo. I didn't read any of it. Not that interested, tbh.

Good day to have been a robber in Cardiff, I reckon.

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you!

Seriously, my grandpa was. My grandma had a locked box in her wardrobe that she'd kept when he died, but never opened. She believed that if she looked, Freemasons would come and cut her tongue out, because women can't keep secrets . I think that level of feat and intimidations is really sad tbh, but realise it may say more about my grand parents' relationship than the organisation.

Local government officers do have to declare if they're Freemasons, Latara :)

you dont have to be c of e at all you just have to belive in a higher power,and yes there are lady masons but not if they have children under 5

Dh is one. But he doesn't go that often cos he is the youngest and got fed up of having to make the sandwiches all the time!

I know a free mason. He is a seconder. Means he gets a say in new recruits or whatever. I never asked anything further, if they are happy doing whatever do be it! And I am rubbish at keeping secrets!

My husband became a Mason, if you knew me you'd know how ridiculous that is! What a load of old misogynistic bollocks it is.

Sounds like going to a wedding reception full of middle aged or old mostly right wing C of E men. They drink, have a three course meal and give toasts.

It's just so old fashioned and sexist. It's like modern life doesn't exist, but fine if you're into all that I guess!

My husband can't be arsed with it, he only joined to be nosy then realised there was no one there the same age as him.

It's a very silly place where blokes like to go to dress up and do strange things with their bodies whilst spouting a lot of tosh from some old book

NameGotLostInCyberspace my dad was in the Buffs. Apparently he was a knight and had been in it for yonks I just rang my mum about it to see of she had received any help from them after my dad died, she says that she didn't ask. Because none of the members came to see him whilst he was seriously ill in hospital for a almost a year, or when he got out. Mum says he wasnt happy with that so stopped paying his dues, so that's why she didn't ask. He's been dead since 97, your post was a proper blast from the past! I thought the Buffs was an RAF thing!

Am a Freemason.
Have been for 30 odd years.

Not a secret society, "A society with secrets" - but the secrets and cribs are easily looked up.

Yes, there are handshakes; yes there's load of ritual.
Yes there are elements of costume.

You must profess a belief in a Supreme Being, who's called various names in varying parts of the ritual.

I have met agnostic, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Methodist and Catholic Freemasons.

No you don't have to be employed; you can ask to join.

[Hint: man in dark suit, white shirt, black tie and briefcase leaving the office at a fixed time once or twice a month might be a good candidate to ask]

Member of United Grand Lodge of England, and can visit lodges of other jurisdictions if in amity with them.
(So I would say there are no Lady Masons. Virtually every mason I have ever met has practiced ritual with their wife...)

Most lodges give loads to charity locally, and support a great many non-masonic charities www.grandcharity.org/pages/grants_to_charities.html.

Yes, you are expected to help brother masons, but without detriment to your family, your business, and the laws of the land.

Most lodges I visit tend to limit the number of professionals from any group, as it gets a tad boring.

at last a real Freemason!!
true for a 'secret society' they seem very open, I used to work right by Freemasons Hall in Great Queen St (who IS the 'great queen'?) and you can walk in and look around any time. Also there are some very unsecret shops right opposite where you can see books and weird stuff in the window.
also right opposite is a pub called 'the Newton Arms' which I thought was interesting...but then I am just into psychogeography.

No, a non secret society is when you say things like:

"I'm off to brownies, I go with Sarah and Jane"

Or

"as I was saying to John last night at the tennis club social..."

Or you put up notices saying "Hounslow squash club looking for members - see Alice in accounts".

Or maybe you join the National Trust.

It's not when you have to follow people around with briefcases. That is more on the joining MI5 end of the secretiveness scale.

maybe

There's all sorts of tics which suggest someone is a Freemason.

Including the way they:
Stand
Talk
Move
Shake hands (I could shake hands with your DH/DP, and if he isn't on the Square he probably wouldn't know.)

If you were a chap, and learned the signs, and there were any suspicions you'd be asked some questions about the vast ritual. If you weren't a Freemason, or an obsessive you'd be rumbled straight away.

If someone is a Freemason, and you are, it achieves what, exactly? Never got me a discount, not that I asked for one. Got me an invite to the odd few Lodges, which is nice if you work away a lot.

For business networking... probably the golf club is better.

I remember being told very seriously that the big corporate I was doing work for was run by the Masons. If I was careful they'd point one out. They did... he was a very junior Mason (though pretty senior in the company). He'd visited the Lodge I was Master of the previous month.

I was told I wasn't senior enough to be a Mason, and they didn't know any directly. They were rather surprised when I said I knew they knew at least 5. They were a bit let down that the Masons weren't some big exclusive club; I think more so when I offered to take them to the Masonic Hall.

We could press a Pom bear into the recipients hand or some such.

merrymouse Thu 13-Sep-12 17:28:15

It's not when you have to follow people around with briefcases. That is more on the joining MI5 end of the secretiveness scale.

Ah right, didn't know there was a public membership list for the National Trust.

Secret?
www.warwickshirepgl.org.uk/
www.freemasons-hall.co.uk/
www.pglel.co.uk/District_Pages/Manchester/Manchester_News.asp

My heavens! there's a leak!
See: www.pglel.co.uk/About_Freemasonry_Pages/Your_questions.asp
Aren't you a secret society?
We are not!

our ceremonies have been published in books and are freely available in libraries
our meeting places are known and often used for other purposes by the public such as blood donor sessions
members are free to speak openly about freemasonry (like me)
information can be found on the internet