Freemasons - are you one?

[JazzyComposition]

So what's it all about?

my great-grandfather was GM of a lodge. All very secretive, nothing was ever said about what went on but when he died apparently the lodge took over the funeral arrangements, stood by the widow etc. My grandfather was a mason but never spoke about it, not even to his wife. My father wouldn't say whether he had anything to do with it when I asked him and I have no idea at all why all the secrecy is necessary. My mother said quite a few men on her side of the family were in it too.

I am sure I wouldn't have been so good at keeping it all under my hat

thegreylady Sat 15-Sep-12 16:28:05
We once had a meeting in a masonic lodge-they rented out the hall-and there was a big wooden box in the corner-someone [not me] opened it and there was a skull inside!!! What was that about??

If you really want to know, emblems of mortality. You will soon meet your maker; live your life well.

ZZZenAgain the secrecy rules have changed. A lot.

Thank you OMC-that actually makes sense.
When my grandad died we found a piece of masonic jewellery-a golden globe which opened into segments[a bit like an orange] and each segment had a symbol engraved on it.I took it to the Freemasons lodge near us and gave it to someone there-it didnt feel right to keep it'

I hope the "you will soon meet your maker" was general...it made we feel a bit creepy.

My mum was a mason for many years before she died The Order of Women Freemasons
She was Grand Master of her Lodge and everything. I used to read all of her stuff when I was a child. I remember she used to have to memorise speeches a lot. She used to record herself reciting them and listen to it back over and over.
It was just social, I'm sure. There was a lot of charity work etc.
I would never have time, I work full-time, mum was always a 'lady who lunches'.

Many moons ago I worked in a hotel as a General Assistant. The owner was a Mason and we held a fair few Ladies Nights etc.
I was once given a Masonic coin in my change in a local shop and idly showed it to my boss in passing. It was whipped away before I could protest!
At some of the 'functions' I waitressed at we had to leave the room at a certain point and the doors were closed.
My Great Grandfather was a Mason. My Grandmother said it was all very secretive then.

We have a strong masonic history in my family, it was quite funny when my boss at work once told me (in a boasty manner) the he was a member of a local lodge and I quite innocently asked him what he thought of the temple. He was very junior and hadn't been to temple yet. Oops.

Made for quite an interesting working relationship as he was quite a social climber!

My dad is one. From what I can tell it's like the rotary club with more booze and some rituals.

I only just discovered this. I am a female Freemason - women can also be Freemasons. There are several women's only orders in Britain and two that are for both men and women and one for men only.

The aim of Freemasonry is to provide an environment for like-minded people to connect, work on their own personal and spiritual development (in its broadest meaning) to become 'better' people. Better in terms of more open-minded, tolerant and generous in both behaviour and spirit.

It has and still provides me with a wonderful way to do that and I know I am so much more open-minded now than I was before I joined 20+ years ago.

Smadar - is there any difference in the rituals or the meetings in women's lodges/mixed lodges, or are they run along the same lines as men's lodges?

Shhh whispers....(cheap night out in the little clubs though)

They don't take Roman Catholics. Don't know about other religions though. Says it really doesn't it...

I knew a girl who's father was in the freemasons (he was a policeman) and she did the waitressing for them.
She said it was just a men's club and they sat around drinking.

Actually joni that is a bit of a myth. All religions are welcome to join. The objection comes from RCs not the Masons.
The denomination with the longest history of objection to Freemasonry is the Roman Catholic Church. The objections raised by the Roman Catholic Church are based on the allegation that Masonry teaches a naturalistic deistic religion which is in conflict with Church doctrine.[86] A number of Papal pronouncements have been issued against Freemasonry. The first was Pope Clement XII's In Eminenti, 28 April 1738; the most recent was Pope Leo XIII's Ab Apostolici, 15 October 1890. The 1917 Code of Canon Law explicitly declared that joining Freemasonry entailed automatic excommunication, and banned books favouring Freemasonry

IL's have a huge Freemason connection and I know that DH was invited to join the local lodge. He declined on the basis that he has precious little free time as it is and didn't want to get involved in anything else at the moment
The people I know who are definitely masons are very much upstanding members of the community with a lot of money Christ knows why they asked DH, we're skint!! and business contacts. Nice blokes in the whole but a little show offy..

I know a few masons, most are pretentious knobs, selfish, egocentric, lacking in care, thought or respect for others, not very bright but think they are - so all in all, not that impressive at all - I think brownies would be a bit too grown up for them

I know on good authority of an incident where a solicitor was arrested for drink driving. He was very drunk, and shouting to the arresting officer that it didn't matter because he was a mason and knew a policeman in the local station who would get him off. Lo and behold, he got off because some officer, not involved in the case 'mislaid' some original documents he had no business having in the first place.

Hopefully this is rare, but it does happen.

My Dad is one. He's been organising his regions fundraising over the last couple of years. My mum gets fed up as he's very busy. To be honest, I think its kept him going after retirement - he treats it like a full-time job.
I think it's pretty harmless on balance.

Women can be Freemasons.

The United Grand Lodge Of England (which only accepts men) is not the only Masonic obedience in the world.

"I knew a girl who's father was in the freemasons (he was a policeman) and she did the waitressing for them. She said it was just a men's club and they sat around drinking."

That is because she only sees the dinner/drinks part before and after the actual meeting, which happens in the Masonic lodge. This girl would not have been admitted in there.

"I think they are all brainwashed"

About what?

Our local bunch of masons have a hall on the Main Street, opposite the Spar. They don't have a car park, so they all park out the back of the Spar and troop through the shop and across the street to their meeting.

Makes it pretty obvious who the local masons are, so if it's meant to be a secret they are really bad at it.

I did tell DH that if he joined he would be sorting out his own apron, keeping cricket whites clean during the summer is enough of a job thank you very much!
I don't see the big deal in all honesty, apart from the potential conflict of interests mentioned above where the 'old boys network' could in theory be used to avoid trouble it's just a group. Don't see the need for secrecy either, it would avoid so many conspiracy theories (done of which are incredibly harmful I think) if it was more open. They do themselves a disservice by being so quiet about it.

When I think of myself wearing a cloak and weird symbols, and chanting, and calling myself "grand master" I just can't help laughing out loud. You really need to be a man to take shit like this seriously.

Very interesting