I've been asked to join the Freemasons
Discussion
K50 DEL said:
rednotdead said:
K50 DEL said:
Chaloner Lodge 2644 in Wiltshire Province.
When you have your date etc let me know, might just turn up 
Since your council spurred me on, it would seem only fair!!
They have said I'm welcome back at any time though, so I'll pick it up when I move back to the UK full time.
AUDIHenry said:
I didn't read the thread and I don't know how your Freemasons are different from ours, but here you can't be asked, but must seek out two existing Masons, get their recommendations, pass an interview and some other dealies, and only then will you be allowed to join.
this^^^.....you don't get "asked"
and if you were "in" you wouldn't be talking about it on a forum
y2blade said:
AUDIHenry said:
I didn't read the thread and I don't know how your Freemasons are different from ours, but here you can't be asked, but must seek out two existing Masons, get their recommendations, pass an interview and some other dealies, and only then will you be allowed to join.
this^^^.....you don't get "asked"
and if you were "in" you wouldn't be talking about it on a forum
Just looking at the last two posts (before snailboy snuck in), and not to disagree with them, but as a lapsed mason myself (moved and didn’t have time or funds to join the local lodge then got a g/f who is very anti) all this ‘not talking about it’ stuff is a load of squit.
Freemasonry should not be some sort of shady, nasty little secret to be kept from others, anymore than should being a member of Round Table or Rotary. The main problem these days in this era where everyone believes they are entitled to know everything about anything they want to know about is that people can’t cope with knowing there are a group of people who know something they don’t, or aren’t supposed to.
Freemasonry has been abused by some to their personal gain but in the vast majority of cases what is seen by some as cronyism is actually nothing of the sort. People deal with people and who are you more likely to use, some bloke out the Yellow Pages who you don’t know from Adam, or the chap who Derek from your lodge uses, or Derek himself, who you have half an idea about.
Freemasonry is a society with secrets, not a secret society. It is not for me these days but I know a number of freemasons still and, like anything else in life, they get out of it what they put in.
These days it is nonsense that the membership is the one driving the ‘secrecy’ angle, it is down to the extremely successful hatchet job done by people whose morality or conduct is such that they have been refused membership and others who gaze upon it with envious eyes, that it is almost seen as socially unacceptable to be a member, hence people are not as open about it as they might otherwise be.
Freemasonry should not be some sort of shady, nasty little secret to be kept from others, anymore than should being a member of Round Table or Rotary. The main problem these days in this era where everyone believes they are entitled to know everything about anything they want to know about is that people can’t cope with knowing there are a group of people who know something they don’t, or aren’t supposed to.
Freemasonry has been abused by some to their personal gain but in the vast majority of cases what is seen by some as cronyism is actually nothing of the sort. People deal with people and who are you more likely to use, some bloke out the Yellow Pages who you don’t know from Adam, or the chap who Derek from your lodge uses, or Derek himself, who you have half an idea about.
Freemasonry is a society with secrets, not a secret society. It is not for me these days but I know a number of freemasons still and, like anything else in life, they get out of it what they put in.
These days it is nonsense that the membership is the one driving the ‘secrecy’ angle, it is down to the extremely successful hatchet job done by people whose morality or conduct is such that they have been refused membership and others who gaze upon it with envious eyes, that it is almost seen as socially unacceptable to be a member, hence people are not as open about it as they might otherwise be.
escargot said:
That might be true in the US but it certainly isn't true of UGLE Freemasonry. Nor is there anything that prohibits disclosing membership on a forum.
maybe times have changed then, my otherhalf's grandfather was a freemason and he never spoke about it outside of his circle. it only really came to light at his funeral and in the weeks afterwards
AUDIHenry said:
I didn't read the thread and I don't know how your Freemasons are different from ours, but here you can't be asked, but must seek out two existing Masons, get their recommendations, pass an interview and some other dealies, and only then will you be allowed to join.
then you've got to run the gauntlet when they do the ballota sneaky officer tilting the box might undo all the good work unless the WM thumbs a ball (naughty, naughty)
sleep envy said:
then you've got to run the gauntlet when they do the ballot
a sneaky officer tilting the box might undo all the good work unless the WM thumbs a ball (naughty, naughty)
When Del-Boy tried to join Boycie's Lodge, Boycie reported that the ballot box, "Looked like the bottom of a rabbit's cage". PML.a sneaky officer tilting the box might undo all the good work unless the WM thumbs a ball (naughty, naughty)
"Thumbing a ball". That is one of the secrets we are not suppose to disclose.
Saddle bum said:
sleep envy said:
then you've got to run the gauntlet when they do the ballot
a sneaky officer tilting the box might undo all the good work unless the WM thumbs a ball (naughty, naughty)
When Del-Boy tried to join Boycie's Lodge, Boycie reported that the ballot box, "Looked like the bottom of a rabbit's cage". PML.a sneaky officer tilting the box might undo all the good work unless the WM thumbs a ball (naughty, naughty)
"Thumbing a ball". That is one of the secrets we are not suppose to disclose.
Saddle bum said:
"Thumbing a ball". That is one of the secrets we are not suppose to disclose.
really?on initiation I was told not to carve, mark or otherwise deliniate any secrets or mysteries of or belonging to freemasonry
then when I was raised I was given a little book with all the details of 1st to 3rd ceremonies
don't take masonry too seriously is my advice
btw, where is thumbing a ball listed in a MM's book?
IforB said:
I thought it was just dastardly plots to take over the world, the drinking of fair maidens' blood in all initiation ceremonies and the book that contains 1001 ways to ensure that your parking tickets/speeding fines never need to be paid that weren't supposed to be disclosed?
no, that's the knights templar or being in the Labour Cabinet - I get confusedWe may have already discussed the history of secrecy in this thread, I can't remember.
Freemasonry was widely reported in both national and local press before WW2. The war changed everything. The Nazis treatment of Freemasons made people nervous. Over 100,000 masons were murdered in Europe, just because they were members. Nowadays, it is the other side that is always taking a poke. Sometimes it just does not pay to admit membership and enjoy a quiet life. Believe me, I speak from personal experience from working in Education.
The new spirit of openness is a breath of fresh air.
Freemasonry was widely reported in both national and local press before WW2. The war changed everything. The Nazis treatment of Freemasons made people nervous. Over 100,000 masons were murdered in Europe, just because they were members. Nowadays, it is the other side that is always taking a poke. Sometimes it just does not pay to admit membership and enjoy a quiet life. Believe me, I speak from personal experience from working in Education.
The new spirit of openness is a breath of fresh air.
sleep envy said:
really?
on initiation I was told not to carve, mark or otherwise deliniate any secrets or mysteries of or belonging to freemasonry
then when I was raised I was given a little book with all the details of 1st to 3rd ceremonies
don't take masonry too seriously is my advice
btw, where is thumbing a ball listed in a MM's book?
Calm down dear, I was being rhetorical.................on initiation I was told not to carve, mark or otherwise deliniate any secrets or mysteries of or belonging to freemasonry
then when I was raised I was given a little book with all the details of 1st to 3rd ceremonies
don't take masonry too seriously is my advice
btw, where is thumbing a ball listed in a MM's book?
sleep envy said:
IforB said:
I thought it was just dastardly plots to take over the world, the drinking of fair maidens' blood in all initiation ceremonies and the book that contains 1001 ways to ensure that your parking tickets/speeding fines never need to be paid that weren't supposed to be disclosed?
no, that's the knights templar or being in the Labour Cabinet - I get confusedGassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff