Why are you a secret society?

We are not, but lodge meetings, like those of many other groups, are private and open to only members. The rules and aims of Freemasonry are always available to the public.

Meeting places are known and in many areas are used by the local community to activities other than Freemasonry.

Members are encouraged to speak openly about Freemasonry.

What are the secrets of Freemasonry?

The secrets in Freemasonry are the traditional modes of recognition which are not used indiscriminately, but solely as a test of membership. e.g. when visiting a Lodge where you are not known.

What happens at a lodge meeting?

The meeting is in two parts. As in any association there is a certian amount of administrative procedure - minutes of last meeting, proposing and balloting for new members, discussing and voting on financial matters, election of officers, news and correspondence.

Then there are the ceremonies for admitting new Masons and the annual installation of the Master and appointment of officers.

The three ceremonies for admitting a new Mason are in two parts - a slight dramatic instruction in the principals and lessons taught in the Craft followed by a lecture in which the candidates various duties are spelled out.

Why do Freemasons take oaths?

New members take solemn promises concerning their conduct in Lodge and in society.

Each member also promises to keep confidential the traditional methods of proving that he is a Freemason which he would use when visiting a lodge where he is not known.

Freemasons do not swear allegiances to each other or to Freemasonry. Freemasons promise to support others in time of need, but only if that support does not conflict with their duties to God, the law, their family or with their responsibilities as a Citizen.

Are Freemasons expected to prefer fellow Masons at the expense of others in giving jobs, promotions, contracts and the like?

Absolutely NOT!

That would be a misuse of membership and subject to Masonic discipline. On his entry into Freemasonry each candidate states unequivocally that he expects no material gain from his membership. At various stages during the 3 ceremonies of his admission and when he is presented with a certificate from Grand Lodge that the admission ceremonies have been completed, he is forcefully reminded that attempts to gain preferment or material gain for himself or others is a misuse of membership which will not be tolerated.

The Book of Constitutions, which every candidate receives, contains strict rules governing abuse of membership which can result in penalties from temporary suspension up to expulsion.

Arn’t you a religion or a rival to religion?

Emphatically not. Freemasonry requires a belief in God and its principals are common to many of the worlds great religions. Freemasonry does not try to replace religion or substitute for it. Every candidate is exhorted to practice his religion and to regard its holy book as the unerring standard of truth. Freemasonry does not instruct its members in what their religious standards should be, nor does it offer sacraments.

Freemasonry deals in relations between men, religion deals in a mans relations between his God.

Is Freemasonry an international Order?

Only in the sense that Freemasonry exists throughout the free world. Each Grand Lodge is sovereign and independent, and whilst following the same basic principles, many have differing ways of passing them on.

There is no international governing body for Freemasonry.

How and when did Freemasonry start?

It is not known. The earliest recorded ‘making’ of a Freemason in England is that of Elias Ashmole in 1646. Organised Freemasonry began with the founding of the Grand Lodge of England on 24th June 1717, the first Grand Lodge in the world. Ireland followed in 1725 and Scotland in 1736.

All the regular Grand Lodges in the world trace themselves back to one or more of the Grand Lodges in the British Isles.

There are 2 main theories of origin. According to one, the operative stonemasons who built the great cathedrals and castles has lodges in which they discussed trade affairs. They simple initiation ceremonies and, as there were no City or Guild certificates, dues, cards, or trade union memberships, they adopted secret signs and words to demonstrate that they were trained masons when they moved from site to site in the 1600’s.

These operative lodges began to accept non-operatives as “gentlemen masons“. Gradually these non-operatives took over the lodges and turned them from operative to ‘free and accepted’ or ‘speculative’ lodges.

The other theory is that in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s, there was a group which was interested in the promotion of religious and political tolerance in an age of great intolerance when differences of opinion on matters of religion and politics were to lead to bloody civil war.

In forming Freemasonry, they were trying to make better men and build a better world. As the means of teaching in those days was by allegory and symbolism, they took the idea of building as they central allegory on which to form their system.

The main source of allegory was the Bible, the contents of which are known to everyone even if they do not read and the only building described in detail in the Bible was King Solomon’s Temple, which became the basis of the ritual.

The old trade guilds provided the basis of administration of a Master, Wardens, Treasurer and Secretary, and the operative masons tools provided them with a wealth of symbols which which to illustrate the moral teachings of Freemasonry.