# Freemasonry: Two Questions
Why so secretive?
I don’t think that its very secretive, I have had a good look around the net and in a few books and I do actually believe that the only secrets are the grips/passwords and also the exact details of the degree ceremonies… as ‘pilgrim’ says on http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061222070217AAixmvb
you dont want to know how a movie ends before you see it
More details about secrets can be found here and here
(they aren’t terribly secretive, I have found out details about lodges before, I have also visited Freemasons’ Hall in London — and I saw no evidence of evil or satan-worshipping… or any of that anti-masonic rubbish you get on the net) (I did however see a few images of Oroborous, but that can be considered as a purely philosophical image and was even used by Christianity, see wikipedia for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroborous)
Next question: Why not let women in?
I have no idea about this one…. could be just tradition. The wikipedia article on Women and Freemasonry goes into a bit of detail. There are some freemasons lodges that let just women in, and some that let both sexes in, and there are two groups that are kind of approved by the UGLE (the english freemason authority) that let women in.
I think that I would like to see all masonic lodges accept both males and females.
[EDIT date=”20th April 2007″ time=”10:33am”]The HFAF is the regular Freemasonry organisation for women (recognised as a ‘regular’ masonic organisation by thew UGLE, with standard masonic rituals/ceremonie/etc), their website is http://www.hfaf.org/ )[/EDIT]
Final Note
Its annoying that when you search for things about freemasons on the net you get a load of anti-masonic things. I suspect that this is just because there are some secrets in masonry, even if they are just handshakes etc. I suppose the only way to properly find out what goes on behind those closed doors is to join them.
