Freemasonry - Wikipedia. Freemasonry or Masonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow (now called Fellowcraft), and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft (or Blue Lodge) Freemasonry. Members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are usually administered by different bodies than the craft degrees. The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the regional level (usually coterminous with either a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups. Regular Freemasonry insists that a volume of scripture is open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Deity, that no women are admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics is banned.
Masonic Education CourseThe Working Tools – An Operative Perspective. Sir Robert Moray Lodge No 1641; Lodge Anniversaries; Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial; The Travels of a Prestonian Lecturer; Illuminated Addresses; North Munster. Continental Freemasonry is now the general term for the . The Lodge meets regularly to conduct the usual formal business of any small organisation (pay bills, organise social and charitable events, elect new members, etc.). In addition to business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree. Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. Some time later, in a separate ceremony, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft, and finally they will be raised to the degree of Master Mason. In all of these ceremonies, the candidate is entrusted with passwords, signs and grips peculiar to his new rank. This occurs at both Lodge and Grand Lodge level. Masonic charities contribute to many fields from education to disaster relief. There also exist specialist Lodges where Masons meet to celebrate anything from sport to Masonic research. The rank of Master Mason also entitles a Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the Craft, or . Because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent, each sets its own procedures. The wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. Every Masonic Lodge has a Master, two Wardens, a secretary and a treasurer. There is also a Tyler, or outer guard, who is always present outside the door of a working Lodge. Other offices vary between jurisdictions. These principles have thus far eluded any universally accepted definition. The process varies between jurisdictions, but the candidate will typically have been introduced by a friend at a Lodge social function, or at some form of open evening in the Lodge. In modern times, interested people often track down a local Lodge through the Internet. The onus is on candidates to ask to join; while candidates may be encouraged to ask, they are never invited. Once the initial inquiry is made, an interview usually follows to determine the candidate's suitability. If the candidate decides to proceed from here, the Lodge ballots on the application before he (or she, depending on the Masonic Jurisdiction) can be accepted. The underlying assumption is that the candidate should be a mature adult. In a few cases, the candidate may be required to be of a specific religion. The form of Freemasonry most common in Scandinavia (known as the Swedish Rite), for example, accepts only Christians. In the course of three degrees, new masons will promise to keep the secrets of their degree from lower degrees and outsiders, and to support a fellow Mason in distress (as far as practicality and the law permit). Some will further explore the ritual and symbolism of the craft, others will focus their involvement on the social side of the Lodge, while still others will concentrate on the charitable functions of the lodge. There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide Freemasonry; connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition. The largest single jurisdiction, in terms of membership, is the United Grand Lodge of England (with a membership estimated at around a quarter million). The Grand Lodge of Scotland and Grand Lodge of Ireland (taken together) have approximately 1. Each Grand Lodge maintains a list of other Grand Lodges that it recognises. When two Grand Lodges are not in amity, inter- visitation is not allowed. There are many reasons why one Grand Lodge will withhold or withdraw recognition from another, but the two most common are Exclusive Jurisdiction and Regularity. If two Grand Lodges claim jurisdiction over the same area, the other Grand Lodges will have to choose between them, and they may not all decide to recognise the same one. Other Grand Lodges had to choose between them until the schism was healed. Regularity is a concept based on adherence to Masonic Landmarks, the basic membership requirements, tenets and rituals of the craft. Each Grand Lodge sets its own definition of what these landmarks are, and thus what is Regular and what is Irregular (and the definitions do not necessarily agree between Grand Lodges). Essentially, every Grand Lodge will hold that its landmarks (its requirements, tenets and rituals) are Regular, and judge other Grand Lodges based on those. If the differences are significant, one Grand Lodge may declare the other . Master Masons are also able to extend their Masonic experience by taking further degrees, in appendant bodies approved by their own Grand Lodge. This system is popular in North America and in Continental Europe. The York Rite, with a similar range, administers three orders of Masonry, namely the Royal Arch, Cryptic Masonry and Knights Templar. Freemasons are encouraged to join the Holy Royal Arch, which is linked to Mark Masonry in Scotland and Ireland, but separate in England. Templar and Cryptic Masonry also exist. A moral lesson is attached to each of these tools, although the assignment is by no means consistent. The meaning of the symbolism is taught and explored through ritual. During these three rituals, the candidate is progressively taught the meanings of the Lodge symbols, and entrusted with grips, signs and words to signify to other Masons that he has been so initiated. The initiations are part allegory and part lecture, and revolve around the construction of the Temple of Solomon, and the artistry and death of his chief architect, Hiram Abiff. The degrees are those of Entered apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. While many different versions of these rituals exist, with at least two different lodge layouts and versions of the Hiram myth, each version is recognisable to any Freemason from any jurisdiction. These painted depictions of Masonic themes are exhibited in the lodge according to which degree is being worked, and are explained to the candidate to illustrate the legend and symbolism of each degree. Accordingly, Masons swear at each degree to keep the contents of that degree secret, and to support and protect their brethren unless they have broken the law. In Progressive continental Freemasonry, books other than scripture are permissible, a cause of rupture between Grand Lodges. Alluding to the membership of a lodge of operative masons, they relate a mythologised history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining. Scotland show a continuity from an operative lodge in 1. Lodge. Many English Lodges joined the new regulatory body, which itself entered a period of self- publicity and expansion. However, many Lodges could not endorse changes which some Lodges of the GLE made to the ritual (they came to be known as the Moderns), and a few of these formed a rival Grand Lodge on 1. July 1. 75. 1, which they called the . They united on 2. December 1. 81. 3 to form the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). The Collector for the port of Pennsylvania, John Moore, wrote of attending lodges there in 1. Grand Lodge in London. The Premier Grand Lodge of England appointed a Provincial Grand Master for North America in 1. Pennsylvania. Grand Lodges formed themselves within each state. Some thought was briefly given to organising an overarching . The various state Grand Lodges did not wish to diminish their own authority by agreeing to such a body. In 1. 77. 5, an African- American named Prince Hall. When the military Lodge left North America, those fifteen men were given the authority to meet as a Lodge, but not to initiate Masons. In 1. 78. 4, these individuals obtained a Warrant from the Premier Grand Lodge of England (GLE) and formed African Lodge, Number 4. When the UGLE was formed in 1. U. S.- based Lodges were stricken from their rolls . Thus, separated from both UGLE and any concordantly recognised U. S. Grand Lodge, African Lodge re- titled itself as the African Lodge, Number 1 . As with the rest of U. S. Freemasonry, Prince Hall Freemasonry soon grew and organised on a Grand Lodge system for each state. By the 1. 98. 0s, such discrimination was a thing of the past, and today most U. S. Grand Lodges recognise their Prince Hall counterparts, and the authorities of both traditions are working towards full recognition. From France and England, Freemasonry spread to most of Continental Europe during the course of the 1. The Grande Loge de France formed under the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Clermont, who exercised only nominal authority. His successor, the Duke of Orl. Briefly eclipsed during the French Revolution, French Freemasonry continued to grow in the next century.
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