FREEMASONRY
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Freemason) Jump to: navigation, search "Freemasons" redirects here. For other uses, see Freemasons (disambiguation). "Masonic" redirects here. For the ghost town in California, see Masonic, California. The Masonic Square and Compasses.("Found with or without the letter G")
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FREEMASONRY
CORE ARTICLESFREEMASONRY. Grand Lodge. Masonic Lodge. Masonic Lodge Officers. Grand Master. Prince Hall Freemasonry. Regular Masonic jurisdictions
HISTORYHistory of Freemasonry. Libert'e ch'erie. Masonic manuscripts
[SHOW] MASONIC BODIES
MASONIC
Masonic bodies. York Rite. Order of Mark Master Masons. Holy Royal Arch. Royal Arch Masonry. Cryptic Masonry. Knights Templar. Red Cross of Constantine. Scottish Rite. Knight Kadosh. The Shrine. Tall Cedars of Lebanon. The Grotto. Societas Rosicruciana. Grand College of Rites. Swedish Rite. Order of St. Thomas of Acon. Royal Order of Scotland. Research Lodge
MASONIC GROUPS FOR WOMEN
Women and Freemasonry. Order of the Amaranth. Order of the Eastern Star. Co-Freemasonry
MASONIC YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS
DeMolay. A.J.E.F.. Job's Daughters. International Order of the Rainbow for Girls
[SHOW] VIEWS OF MASONRY
Anti-Masonry. Anti-Masonic Party. Anti-Freemason Exhibition. Christianity and Freemasonry. Catholicism and Freemasonry. Suppression of Freemasonry. Masonic conspiracy theories. Taxil hoax
[SHOW] PEOPLE AND PLACES
Masonic Temple. James Anderson. Albert Mackey. Albert Pike. Prince Hall. John the Evangelist. John the Baptist. William Schaw. Elizabeth Aldworth. List of Freemasons. Lodge Mother Kilwinning. Freemasons' Hall, London. House of the Temple. Solomon's Temple. Detroit Masonic Temple. List of Masonic buildings
[SHOW] OTHER RELATED ARTICLES
Great Architect of the Universe. Square and Compasses. Pigpen cipher. Eye of Providence. Hiram Abiff. Sprig of Acacia. Masonic Landmarks. Pike's "Morals and Dogma". Propaganda Due. Dermott's "Ahiman Rezon"
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FREEMASONRY is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the jurisdiction of the United Grand Lodge of England and just under two million in the United States. The fraternity is administratively organised into independent Grand Lodges or sometimes Orients, each of which governs its own jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or "constituent") Lodges. The various Grand Lodges recognise each other, or not, based upon adherence to landmarks (a Grand Lodge will usually deem other Grand Lodges who share common landmarks to be regular, and those that do not to be "irregular" or "clandestine"). There are also appendant bodies, which are organisations related to the main branch of Freemasonry, but with their own independent administration. Freemasonry uses the metaphors of operative stonemasons' tools and implements, against the allegorical backdrop of the building of King Solomon's Temple, to convey what has been described by both Masons and critics as "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."
CONTENTS
[show]
* 1 History
* 2 Organisational structure
* 2.1 Regularity
* 2.2 Masonic Lodge
* 2.3 Lodge Officers
* 2.4 Prince Hall Freemasonry
* 2.5 Other degrees, orders and bodies
* 3 Principles and activities
* 3.1 Ritual, symbolism, and morality
* 3.2 The Supreme Being and the Volume of Sacred Law
* 3.3 Degrees
* 3.4 Signs, grips and words
* 3.5 Obligations
* 3.6 Landmarks
* 3.7 Charitable effort
* 4 Membership requirements
* 4.1 General requirements
* 4.2 Membership and religion
* 5 Freemasonry and women
* 6 Opposition to and criticism of Freemasonry
* 6.1 Religious opposition
* 6.1.1 Christianity and Freemasonry
* 6.1.2 Islam and Freemasonry
* 6.2 Political opposition
* 6.2.1 The Holocaust
* 7 See also
* 8 Notes
* 9 External links
HISTORY
Main article: History of Freemasonry " Goose and Gridiron, where the Grand Lodge of England was founded The origins and early development of Freemasonry are a matter of some debate and conjecture. A poem known as the "Regius Manuscript" has been dated to approximately 1390 and is the oldest known Masonic text. There is evidence to suggest that there were Masonic lodges in existence in Scotland as early as the late 16th century (for example the Lodge at Kilwinning, Scotland, has records that date to the late 16th century, and is mentioned in the Second Schaw Statutes (1599) which specified that "ye warden of ye lug of Kilwynning [...] tak tryall of ye airt of memorie and science yrof, of everie fellowe of craft and everie prenteiss according to ayr of yr vocations").England by the mid-17th century. There are clear references to the existence of lodges in The first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England (GLE), was founded on 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. This rapidly expanded into a regulatory body, which most English Lodges joined. However, a few lodges resented some of the modernisations that GLE endorsed, such as the creation of the Third Degree, and formed a rival Grand Lodge on 17 July 1751, which they called the "Antient Grand Lodge of England". The two competing Grand Lodges vied for supremacy - the "Moderns" (GLE) and the "Antients" (or "Ancients") - until they united on 25 November 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). The Grand Lodge of Ireland and The Grand Lodge of Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736 respectively. Freemasonry was exported to the British Colonies in North America by the 1730s - with both the "Antients" and the "Moderns" (as well as the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland) chartering offspring, or "daughter", Lodges, and organising various Provincial Grand Lodges. After the American Revolution, independent U.S. Grand Lodges formed themselves within each State. Some thought was briefly given to organising an over-arching "Grand Lodge of the United States", with George Washington (who was a member of a Virginian lodge) as the first Grand Master, but the idea was short-lived. The various State Grand Lodges did not wish to diminish their own authority by agreeing to such a body.[10] Although there are no real differences in the Freemasonry practiced by lodges chartered by the Antients or the Moderns, the remnants of this division can still be seen in the names of most Lodges, F.& A.M. being Free and Accepted Masons" and A.F."> " View of room at the Masonic Hall, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, early 20th century The oldest jurisdiction on the continent of Europe, the Grand Orient de France (GOdF), was founded in 1728. However, most English-speaking jurisdictions cut formal relations with the GOdF around 1877 - when the GOdF removed the requirement that its members have a belief in a Deity, thereby accepting atheists. The Grande Loge Nationale Francaise (GLNF)[11] is currently the only French Grand Lodge that is in regular amity" with the UGLE and its many concordant jurisdictions worldwide. Due to the above history, Freemasonry is often said to consist of two branches "not in mutual regular amity":
* the UGLE and concordant tradition of jurisdictions (mostly termed Grand Lodges) in amity, and
* the GOdF, European Continental, tradition of jurisdictions (often termed Grand Orients) in amity.
In most Latin countries, the GOdF-style of European Continental Freemasonry predominates,["citation needed"] although in most of these Latin countries there are also Grand Lodges that are in "regular amity" with the UGLE and the worldwide community of Grand Lodges that share regular "fraternal relations" with the UGLE. The rest of the world, accounting for the bulk of Freemasonry, tends to follow more closely to the UGLE style, although minor variations exist.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
" Freemasons Hall, London, home of the United Grand Lodge of England. Main article: Grand Lodge Grand Lodges and Grand Orients are independent and sovereign bodies that govern Masonry in a given country, state, or geographical area (termed a jurisdiction").[12] There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide Freemasonry; connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition.[13]
REGULARITY
Main article: Regular Masonic jurisdictions "Regularity" is a constitutional mechanism whereby Grand Lodges or Grand Orients give one another mutual recognition. This recognition allows formal interaction at the Grand Lodge level, and gives individual Freemasons the opportunity to attend Lodge meetings in other recognised jurisdictions. Conversely, regularity proscribes interaction with Lodges that are "irregular". A Mason who visits an irregular Lodge may have his membership suspended for a time, or he may be expelled. For this reason, all Grand Lodges maintain lists of other jurisdictions and lodges they consider regular.[14] Grand Lodges and Grand Orients that afford mutual recognition and allow intervisitation are said to be "in amity". As far as the UGLE is concerned, regularity is predicated upon a number of "landmarks", set down in the UGLE Constitution and the Constitutions of those Grand Lodges with which they are in amity. Even within this definition there are some variations with the quantity and content of the Landmarks from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Other Masonic groups organise differently.[15] Each of the two major branches of Freemasonry considers the Lodges within its branch to be "regular" and those in the other branch to be "irregular". As the UGLE branch is significantly larger, however, the various Grand Lodges and Grand Orients in amity with UGLE are commonly referred to as being "regular" (or "Mainstream") Masonry, while those Grand Lodges and Grand Orients in amity with GOdF are commonly referred to "liberal" or "irregular" Masonry. (The issue is complicated by the fact that the usage of "Lodge" versus "Orient" alone is not an indicator of which branch a body belongs to, and thus not an indication of regularity). The term "irregular" is also universally applied to various self created bodies that call themselves "Masonic" but are not recognised by either of the main branches.
Also read these ebooks:
Castells - The Apocalypse Of FreemasonryCaptain William Morgan - The Mysteries Of Freemasonry
Charles Webster Leadbeater - The Hidden Life In Freemasonry
