Welcome
Freemasonry means many things to many people and it contains many facets and moral codes that inspire, educate and instil moral standards and accepted ways of conducting your life. It is not for everyone but to those privileged few it is a very important part of their lives which is fuller because of their Masonic involvement.
This website is designed to give an insight into this fascinating world, to take a peek behind the veil and to promote Freemasonry in the 21st century.
‘A peculiar system or morality,
veiled in allegory
and illustrated by symbols’
For those un-initiated this is a description of Freemasonry given by the candidate in answer to a question from the Worshipful Master during the course of one of the ceremonies. Whilst it might at first appear simplistic, if you consider the true meanings of the statement then it will become clear exactly what Freemasonry is about.
Let us look at the above statement carefully
This refers to the methods by which Freemasons are taught their system of morality. For hundreds of years allegory has been an accepted method of teaching. Today we still communicate by means of allegory. It is often used to convey abstract ideas or concepts that normal language has difficulty in describing or which would take some considerable time to communicate by normal means.
The teaching of morals by allegory is a time-honoured technique still relevant, though members new to the Craft may not be familiar with it. Allegory is a story that can be read on two levels, firstly as a surface narrative and secondly at a deeper level which is moralistic. It is the embodiment of a train of thought in a visible form by means of images and thus involves a transfer of meaning with a number of correspondences with the real world. For example, the whole of the third degree is allegorical for behind the story of the central character lies the foundation of the philosophy of Freemasonry.
The signs used in Freemasonry are derived from the allegory and are used as a method of recognition. The signs and the symbolic instructions are the only secrets of Freemasonry.
A symbol is used to assist in understanding an idea or a concept. It is not necessary to use a symbol to describe something like a house or a garden as ordinary language, together with their own knowledge, can do that readily enough for most people but trying to describe abstract concepts, ideas and beliefs in plain language could fail. Symbols, therefore, can help one person to understand another’s explanation of something nebulous. Freemasonry explores an enormous range of intangible notions, and so symbols are used as ‘visual aids’ which, in a similar way, religions also use for the same purpose.
The symbols used derive from the distant past when the wisdom of the ancient peoples was largely symbolic. It was in the early seventeenth century that speculative Masons adopted symbolism. The symbol is an image which hides an inner meaning. The meaning is usually hidden behind a form which most people think they can understand immediately. The Masonic Lodge itself is a symbol and the interior abounds with them. For example, the three lesser lights. Light in Masonry has a symbolic meaning. Light is opposed to darkness and suggests many opposites such as right and wrong amongst many others. Symbols illustrate the principal tenets of Freemasonry. These are brotherly love, relief, and truth.
Every true Freemason shows tolerance and respect for the opinions of others and behaves with kindness, patience and understanding towards his fellow creatures. In fact Freemasons are not permitted to discuss in open lodge topics that may cause differences of opinion, such as religion and politics.
A Freemason is taught to practice charity and to care for their own families and Brethren but also for the community as a whole. This charity can take the form of both charitable giving and by voluntary efforts and works as individuals within the community
A Freemason strives for truth continually. This requires high moral standards and a desire to achieve them in their own lives inside and outside the confines of the lodge room.
There are approximately 5 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. With adherents in almost every nation where Freemasonry is not officially banned, it forms the largest secret society in the world. There is no central Masonic authority; jurisdiction is divided among autonomous national authorities, called grand lodges, and many concordant organizations of higher-degree Masons. In the United Kingdom, the highest authority rests with the United Grand Lodge of England and Provincial Grand Lodges. Custom is the supreme authority of the order, and there are elaborate symbolic rites and ceremonies, most of which utilize the instruments of the stonemason—the plumb, the square, the level, and compasses—and apocryphal events concerning the building of King Solomon’s Temple for allegorical purposes.
The principles of Freemasonry have traditionally been liberal and democratic. Anderson’s Constitutions (1723), the bylaws of the Grand Lodge of England, which is Freemasonry’s oldest extant lodge, cites religious toleration, loyalty to local government, and political compromise as basic to the Masonic ideal. Masons are expected to believe in a Supreme Being, use a holy book appropriate to the religion of the lodge’s members, and maintain a vow of secrecy concerning the order’s ceremonies.
The basic unit of Freemasonry is the local Blue lodge, generally housed in a Masonic temple. The lodge consists of three Craft, Symbolic, or Blue Degrees: Entered Apprentice (First Degree), Fellow Craft (Second Degree), and Master Mason (Third Degree). These gradations are meant to correspond to the three levels—apprentice, journeyman, and master—of the medieval stonemasons’ guilds.
The highest degree in Freemasonry is the Third Degree, that of a Master Mason. There are Ranks within Freemasonry that candidates can rise through and side degrees that will further their Masonic knowledge if so desired.
If he does, however, he has the choice of advancing through about 100 different rites, encompassing some 1,000 higher degrees, throughout the world.
