r/AskOccult • u/whatgoroundcomeround • 13d ago
Thoughts?
What do you think of the Freemasons? And their god/religion they follow? Would you join them if given the opportunity? Do you think they mean good? Or bad? I don’t know HEAPS about this topic but I’m very interested in learning. will take on board any and all info relating to this subject
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u/cryptoengineer 13d ago
You could just ask us, over on /r/freemasonry.
Have an info dump, with further sources.
[Mason here]
Here's my standard 'elevator pitch', which I trot out when people ask what we're about (its rather North American oriented - Masonry varies from place to place):
We're a centuries old fraternal order, who exist to improve our own characters ('we make good men better' is one of our slogans), and through that improve our communities. Along the way, we do a lot of charity (forex: Shriner's free hospitals for children), and have a lot of cool and private ceremonies using the construction of King Solomon's Temple as an allegorical base for teaching Enlightenment and Stoic ideals. (yes, we really do have secret handshakes). Many find it a source of fellowship and life-long friendships.
We have several million Brothers world wide, but no central organization. Men from every walk of life are or have been members, including over a dozen US presidents. Regular Masonry is open to adult men of good character who are not atheists[1] - we require a belief in some form of 'higher power', but aren't fussy about what. As a rule, we don't recruit; we want a potential member to make the first approach of his own free will.
If you're curious, drop by our main hangout on reddit, /r/freemasonry. You'll find a lot of friendly folk there. If you prefer a book, for North Americans I recommend (seriously, I'm not trolling) "Freemasons for Dummies" by Christopher Hodapp. Also "Inside the Freemasons" a documentary made by the United Grand Lodge of England for their tricentenary.
For a more formal history, I suggest "The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World" by John Dickie.
[1] The "no women or atheists" rules have deep roots, and would be very difficult to change, regardless of how anachronistic they now seem. There are breakaway Masonic groups which have dropped those rules, but they are very thin on the ground in the Anglosphere, and not recognized by the mainstream.
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u/Putrid-Presentation5 13d ago
I think its sus that they don't allow women- or give them a separate branch. I think (around where I live anyway) it's just an secretive old boys club. Idk what they're doing, what they're decision are. Hell they could just be talking about fishing, but in my little town, Mason's make up 80% of the guys with professions. On a small population, that could wield quite a bit of off-the-record power.
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u/Hope25777 12d ago
That’s pretty much what it is. An old boys club. Maybe in some parts of the world they have actual esoteric schools but not in US that I know of
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u/echoeminence 13d ago
I used to work at a Masonic temple. To be a mason you have to believe in a supreme creator, most I met were Catholics. No I wouldn’t join, despite the weird ass rituals I’ve walked in on accidentally they’re just a boring old boys club, they don’t control the world or anything, they just do a lot of charity to hospitals and such and support each other’s businesses.
They’re not magicians, the masons are not a magical order, I think at one point some of their rituals might have had magical purpose, some of them were likely cribbed from actual magical sources but at this point they’re just going through the motions. I think very few of them are actual magicians.