# On Freemasonry
Masonic Myth Busting
First of all, I thought that I should do some myth busting, because there is an awful lot of false information out in media (particularly at the moment with various TV shows, newspaper articles and books).
Myth 1: “Masons are all Conservatives (Tories)”
Masons are not all Tory supporters. First of all, Masons are not allowed to talk about politics in lodge - as it breaks unity amongst friends. Second of all, not only am I a Liberal Democrat supporter but I know of many Masons who support Labour or who are of other political persuasions. There are also a few famous Liberal British politicians who were Masons.
Myth 2: “Masonry doesn’t allow Catholics to join”
Roman Catholics are allowed to join. In fact a person who is a member of any religion can join - the only prerequisite in this area is that the person must believe in a “Supreme Being”. There is no creed in Freemasonry, nor any requirement on dogma. Therefore Roman Catholics are allowed to join Freemasonry from a Masonic point of view - however, there have been statements by previous Popes discouraging Roman Catholics joining Masonry from a Roman Catholic point of view. I do know of Roman Catholics who are Masons though. I also know of Masons who are of other religions (including various denominations of Christianity, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus etc etc).
Myth 3: “Women can’t join the Masons”
Women can join Freemasonry. Men and Women both have two choices when wishing to join Freemasonry, they can either go into gender-specific Masonry or “Co-Masonry”. Here are the acknowledged Masonic bodies in England & Wales (which although they do not share lodge meetings, there is plenty of fraternal dialogue and research): UGLE (for Men), LDH (for Men & Women), OWF (for Women) and HFAF (for Women). You’ll find that sometimes Men and/or Women have a wife/husband/partner in one of the other Masonic bodies - indicating that there exist bonds (albeit unofficial) between the bodies in England & Wales, plus last year the UGLE put on a exhibition on Womens Masonry at their library in London.
Myth 4: “Freemasonry is a Secret Society”
Freemasonry is a friendly society, or “fraternity”. The only real secrets that Freemasonry has are the various passwords and handshakes (and “mysteries”). There are no secrets as you can find everything out from books or the Web. The reason why British Masons are often very quiet about their membership is because they are scared of all the people who have misconceived Freemasonry, which is a great shame because the only way to show that Masonry isn’t bad is to be as open as possible. I will always attempt to be as open as possible while still respecting my obligation, this is why I have created this page. I guess the only way to understand the fraternity is to either join it, or do a lot of searching into the truth (and busting all of the myths).
Myth 5: “Masons are involved with corruption/fraud/lawbreaking”
Every Mason promises to abide by the local, national and international laws of wherever they are based. This means that a Mason cannot get away with breaking the law. If they do break the law then their membership to the fraternity will be terminated. Only just and upright people are allowed to be Masons, and if an applicant has a Criminal Record then they are very often turned down. There is even recent news of a Mason who committed fraud being chucked out of Masonry - see “Freemason jailed for cheating Masonic friends” (and here). The fact is Masons are obligated not the break the law.
Myth 6: “Masonry separates someone from their family/community”
Masonry does not separate people from their family or community. In fact, Masons are obligated to be a servant to their family and friends, they are taught to help the community, and they are encouraged to worship the divine in their own ways.
Myth 7: “Masons are elitist”
Masonry is not elitist. The only requirements to joining the fraternity is a certain age limit (dependent on the Masonic body and the location), and a crime-free record (or a desire to break away from any existing crimes and be open to being a good citizen), and a belief in a “Supreme Being”, and have strict moral values. This basically includes almost everyone over the age of 18!
Myth 8: “Masons are shape shifting reptiles”
Masons are not shape shifting reptiles. Masons are human beings just like everyone else. Anybody that believes this believes in some crazy magic!
Myth 9: “The Masons are (or are controlled by) the Illuminati”
The Illuminati died out soon after it was created in the mid-1700s due to disagreements amongst the founders. Membership of the illuminati never reached more than a dozen, and so it just disintegrated. The idea behind the illuminati was a kind of political syncretism which was against the Roman Catholic church. The idea never took off. In terms of a relationship between the Illuminati and Freemasonry, the only relationship is that a few of the Illuminati founder/members were Masons — but Masonry was a lot more common in those days than it is now and so it’s just a case of statistics really. The original Illuminati don’t exist now, as said they have died out. For more details see “Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies for Dummies” by Hodapp and Von Kannon (or their blog of the same name). Freemasonry doesn’t want to take over the world, nor is it in control of the world, it just wants to make society that little bit better by helping people improve themselves socially, morally and spiritually.
Myth X: Any other myths that you would like me to bust/break? (please do send me an email)
What is Masonry then?
Now that some myths have been busted, you’re probably wondering what Masonry is:
It is a group of human beings who are spiritually aware, and want to help make the world a good place to live by personal development of themselves and of what they do in the community. The three advocated subjects in Freemasonry are: Brotherly Love, Truth and Relief. These subjects are taught using three rituals (aka “degrees”) which use certain symbols found within stonemasonry and the stories found in the Old Testament / Torah. Simple as that!
The origins of Freemasonry are unknown - it is completely lost in time. Some people speculate it was founded at the time of the building of Solomons Temple, some people speculate that it was founded within the Stonemasons guilds, some people speculate that it was the mystery schools of Greece/Rome, some people speculate that it was the Knights Templar, some people speculate that it was the Cathars (or other Gnostic Christians), some people speculate that it was the Rosicrucians. We just don’t know, my feeling is that it was a mixture of some of the above, namely the stonemasons guilds, the knights templar and the rosicrucians… not necessarily with direct lineage from originations, but potentially with symbolism borrowed from them due to the interest in Enlightenment concepts.
What brought me to Freemasonry was simply:
1) Curiosity
However, the things which actually kept me on my Masonic path:
2) The rich history, philosophy and ethics associated with Freemasonry.
3) Masonry is a society which puts aside all dogma found within religion and politics, and brings together *all* spiritual people.
4) It is a place where we can develop ourselves in an entirely free and accepting environment. For instance - I am getting a lot better at speaking out to a group of people, all thanks to Masonry, something which I probably would not have been able to develop as quickly without it. I think my memory has got better too!
5) The mystery associated with some of the appended degrees (particularly those of a Christian and Mystic nature).
And so I’ve described my journey into Freemasonry on The Sanctum Sanctorum website in an article entitled “Let’s Walk“.
My Masonic Details
- Initiated (Bristol Rite 1st Degree: Entered Apprentice): Saint Vincents Day 2009 (22nd January 2009) in Saint Vincent Lodge, Province of Bristol (UGLE).
- Passed (Bristol Rite 2nd Degree: Fellow Craft): Saint Georges Day 2009 (23rd April 2009) in Saint Vincent Lodge, Province of Bristol (UGLE).
Selected Resources
And now some selected resources to whet your appetite, which are truthful about Masonry:
- Books
- Freemasonry for Dummies by Chris Hoddapp - a wonderful book which tells you everything you need to know about Masonry, and more!
- Websites
- Province of Bristol - the “Provincial Grand Lodge” of which my lodge is a part of. Contains some useful information on the “About Masonry” page.
- UGLE webpage is full of really useful information to get your teeth in to, and contains a few “links out” to other resources in and out of the UK.
- Freemasonry Wikipedia page - is actually quite good!
- Paul Bessel’s website has thousands of Articles about Freemasonry.
- University of Bradford’s “Web of Hiram” - goes in to detail about the “lectures” given in Freemasonry
- The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon info pages contain a huge amount of information about Masonry and Masons of the past
- The Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism at the University of Sheffield, has a lot of historical data about Freemason lodges and Freemasonry.
- Magazines
- Freemasonry Today - the independent (but official UGLE supported) Magazine
- Web Forums:
- Lodgeroom International UK - Forum and a lot more! Good for finding people in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
- Novus Ordo Saeculorum - Has members of various Masonic bodies, not just Men’s Masonry)! Has members from all over the world (Inter-fraternal discourse)
- The Sanctum Sanctorum Forum - Orientated towards Masonic Education, quite USA and Canada based, but a few people from the UK and the rest of Europe.
- 21st Century Mason Forum - A relatively new Masonic forum which seems to be favourable to the more Esoteric type of Mason.
- Interesting Web Blogs:
- Freemasonry for Dummies - yep, by Chris Hodapp again
- The Tao of Masonry - by Tom Accuosti
- On the Level - by Ken Dennis
- Masonic Portals:
- Freemason Information
- The Sanctum Sanctorum
- Podcasts:
- X Oriente
- Masonic Central
- Digital Freemason
