Freemasonry
Freemasonry consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is considered the oldest existing secular fraternal organisation, with documents and traditions dating back to the 14th century. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of three main traditions:
- Anglo-American style Freemasonry, which insists that a "volume of sacred law" should be open in a working lodge, that every member should profess belief in a supreme being, that only men should be admitted, and discussion of religion or politics does not take place within the lodge.
- Continental style Freemasonry or Liberal style Freemasonry which has continued to evolve beyond these restrictions, particularly regarding religious belief and political discussion.
- Women's Freemasonry or Co-Freemasonry, which includes organisations that either admit women exclusively or accept both men and women. Women Freemasonry groups can lean Conservative or Liberal, requiring a religion or not as determined by their Grand Orient.
The degrees of Freemasonry are the three grades of medieval craft guilds: Entered Apprentice, Journeyman or Fellow of the craft, and Master Mason. The candidate of these three degrees is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry and entrusted with grips, signs, and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The degrees are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. These three degrees form Craft Freemasonry, and members of any of these degrees are known as Free-Masons, Freemasons or Masons. Once the Craft degrees have been conferred upon a Mason, he is qualified to join various "Concordant bodies" which offer additional degrees. These organisations are usually administered separately from the Grand Lodges who administer the Craft degrees. The extra degrees vary with locality and jurisdiction. In addition to these bodies, there are further organisations outside of the more traditional rites of Freemasonry that require an individual to be a Master Mason before they can join.
Throughout its history Freemasonry has received criticism and opposition on religious and political grounds. The Catholic Church, some Protestant denominations and certain Islamic countries or entities have expressed opposition to or banned membership in Freemasonry. Opposition to Freemasonry is sometimes rooted in antisemitism or conspiracy theories, and Freemasons have been persecuted by authoritarian states.
Masonic lodge
The Masonic lodge is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry.Lodge activities and meetings
The Masonic Lodge meets regularly to conduct various activities. While practices vary by jurisdiction, Rite and local tradition, there are common elements across Freemasonry.In many jurisdictions, Lodges conduct the usual formal business of any small organisation during regular meetings. This includes approving minutes, electing new members, appointing officers and taking their reports, considering correspondence, reviewing bills and annual accounts, and organising social and charitable events.
However, some Lodges, Rites and jurisdictions consider an opened Lodge to be a sacred space where profane business activities are strictly forbidden. In these traditions, administrative matters are typically conducted either before the Lodge is formally opened, in a separate business meeting or handled by special committees outside of Lodge meetings.
Whether business is conducted during an opened Lodge or not, all Masonic meetings include ritual work and also educational activities such as:
- Performing Masonic ceremonies
- Conferring Masonic degrees
- Receiving lectures on aspects of Masonic history or ritual
- Reading of Masonic papers - Can be on a wide variety of topics including Masonic, philosophical, technological or personal
- Philosophical discussions
- Research on a particular topic
- Sharing personal Masonic experiences
- Proving proficiency to the Lodge to obtain a new degree
The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies. Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. At some later time, in separate ceremonies, they will be passed to the degree of Fellow Craft; and then raised to the degree of Master Mason. In each of these ceremonies, the candidate must first take the new obligations of the degree, and is then entrusted with secret knowledge including passwords, signs and grips confined to his new rank. Although these symbols and gestures are nominally secret, they are readily found in public sources, including those published by Masonic organisations themselves.
Another ceremony is the annual installation of the Master of the Lodge and his appointed or elected officers. In some jurisdictions, an Installed Master elected, obligated, and invested to preside over a Lodge, is valued as a separate rank with its own secrets and distinctive title and attributes; after each full year in the chair the Master invests his elected successor and becomes a Past Master with privileges in the Lodge and Grand Orient. In other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge.
Most Lodges have some sort of social functions, allowing members, their partners, and non-Masonic guests to meet openly. Often coupled with these events is the discharge of every Mason's and Lodge's collective obligation to contribute to charity. This occurs at many levels, including in annual dues, subscriptions, and fundraising events; and may be organised at the local Lodge level, a regional/district level or at the Grand jurisdiction level. Masons and their charities contribute for the relief of need in many fields, such as education, health and old age.
Private Lodges, which serve as the foundational and most autonomous units within the broader structure of Freemasonry, form the backbone of the fraternity by exercising the exclusive authority to elect their own candidates for initiation as Masons or admission as joining Masons, often operating with localized jurisdictional privileges that may include sole rights over residents in proximity to their premises, thereby reinforcing both the independence and community-based nature of Masonic membership selection. There are non-local Lodges where Masons meet for wider or narrower purposes, such as in association with some hobby, sport, Masonic research, business, profession, regiment or college. The rank of Master Mason also entitles a Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the basic Craft or "Blue Lodge" degrees described here, but generally having a similar structure and meetings.
There is much diversity and little consistency in Freemasonry because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent and sets its own rules and procedures while Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their constituent member Lodges, which are ultimately private clubs. The wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Almost all officers of a Lodge are elected or appointed annually. Every Masonic Lodge has a Master, two Wardens, a treasurer and a secretary. There is also always a Tyler, or outer guard, outside the door of a working Lodge, who may be paid to secure its privacy. Other offices vary between jurisdictions.
Each Masonic Lodge exists and operates according to its own by-laws and the rules and regulations of its own Grand Orient or Grand Lodge, which elude any universally accepted definition and vary depending on the jurisdiction.
Joining a lodge
The process of joining a Masonic lodge follows similar general patterns worldwide while preserving regional and local variations between individual Lodges, Jurisdictions, and traditions. Historically, candidates "were not to be admitted but by unanimous consent," a principle that continues in many lodges today, while some other jurisdictions have developed different systems to counter a potential problematic situation with a single black ball system. Additionally, some Lodges use black cubes instead of black balls to avoid confusion.Initial approach
In the early days of Freemasonry, one had to be approached and "co-opted" to the Fraternity by an existing member but had to do it of his "own free-will and accord". This tradition continues in many jurisdictions mainly in Europe, Africa and South America. However, other jurisdictions take an opposite approach, requiring a potential candidate to express an interest before being invited to join. Many obediences now allow those without prior Masonic connections to express interest through online forms or during public events such as Masonic exhibitions and open conferences.A consistent rule throughout most Jurisdictions worldwide is that Freemasonry is not allowed to blindly recruit members. The prospective candidate must be qualified and either contacted by a member or reach out on his own.
In some Lodges the candidate is allowed to meet the members of the lodge they wish to join before being proposed for initiation; this allows all of the members to meet and get an idea of the candidate. While in other Lodges it is strictly prohibited for a non-mason to meet the members of the Lodge before initiation in order to protect the identity of the members.
An old masonic term for the brother that proposes a candidate to a Lodge is that he becomes his 'Godfather' after invitation. This term is found in one of the earliest Masonic exposures "Reception of a Frey-Macon, 1737":