I'm getting my 1st degree in January and then one a month for the next two degrees.

What exactly entails a masonic lifestyle, anyhow? Lots of hiding of hidden treasure and secret handshakes? I never get what those people do.

My Great-Gradfather was a Mason & my Grandmother was ..er...uh...a female type Mason thingy.....Masonette?

I couldn't tell you a thing about it though.

I'm not any kind of joiner-inner.

are you going Scottish rite or the other one? Blue Lodge??

I was a DeMolay.

we threw the best parties, and had the best bands.

PS - does anyone know the Zappa tune where he says something about "going down to play the demolay?"

My dad is an inactive member but I know very little about it save for a bit about the history of the organization. Also, I know the Catholic Church isn't fond of Freemasonry, which makes it ok in my book.

Stupid boomers ruined a fun group.

I only belong to the The Water Buffalo Lodge.

Setting world currency and commodity rates, undermining foreign governments and ours in the name of the interests of worldwide Freemasonry, and secretly replacing the heads of foreign governments and international corporations with duplicates whose appearances have been altered by doctors belonging to the lodge. You know - the usual stuff.

And free booze on Thursdays. Bowling Friday.

Wooo ah wha
Wooo ah wah

OH HA HA HA HA HA HA OH DAT FUNNY OH WAIT NO IT ISN'T

Order of the Eastern Star.

Really? Why did you join? How do you like it? Is it a bunch of geezers, or have they managed to bring in some new blood?

Make sure they don't really whack you with that mallet, Hiram.

Once more, YouTube provides all the answers.

Who controls the British Crown?
Who keeps the Metric System down?
We do! We do!
Who leaves Altantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do! We do!

Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We do! We do!

Who robs cave fish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do! We do!

my buddy, in his mid 40s, is head of soem "all star" chapter of masons, he's in line to be head mason of teh state....someday.....

he's like the youngest guy in his group by far.

I went to his installation, free turkey dinner....

25 YEARS ago my band played his Demolay installation when he was president....the after party was awesome, I learned the power of alcohol that night...

Next year Mike is going to join the Friar's Club.

I think they are hurting for members cause I've seen/heard some commercials for it lately

the freemasonry is a religion.

they try to make the rest of the public think that it's "just a men's club"

take a stroll through any graveyard and you'll see how important this religion is to them.

they worship "jahbulon," a god-figure made up of aspects of jehovah, baal, and osiris

anyone joining this religion is, in my opinion, making a huge mistake

the angel of light, lucifer, also get a lot of praise from these guys

mormonism is based on freemasonry.

I'm going into my first three degrees into the blue lodge and then I can decide if I want to go Scottish or York Rite.

It's been somthing that I wanted to join for a while. The lodge I'm going into is a mix. There are a lot of younger guys in other lodges, and I'm sure you know some of them.

...man, this picture creeps me out every time i see it...

I like the Shriners better. Look at this fez:

and they have the circus and the cars painted yellow red and green.

i spend a lot of time with rocks

i know some masons and considered it

but one of the expectations is that you never question those above you....which is pretty stupid.

where is eric D?

The Shriners are a philanthropic group within the Masonic fraternity.

remember that dead kennedeys album cover?

that band knows what's up.

for those who like myspace:

www.myspace.com/pathofresistance

Order of the Eastern Star

Not true. Everything within Freemasonry is democratic, infact, Democracy would not exist were it not for the Craft and it's influence on the founding fathers.

The Catholic objection to Freemasonry is that you don't have to be a Catholic to be a Mason. Your religious views are your own, you need only believe in a Supreme Being.
Most religious fundementalists objections boil down to the fact the Freemasonry is inclusive, and you don't need to be specifically born again, or baptized, or whatever, to be a Mason.

What's their deal?

Judging from the artwork alone I would say they are a bunch of mooks who read some conspiracy theory by Linden LaRouche about the Illuminati and now it's their schtick.

are you a mason?

I could tell you but I'd have to......yup.

...don't judge a book by its cover...

It most certainly involves men drinking alcohol at some sort of club?

Sadly, no.

Whaaa...?!?

OK, fine. But, how do they feel about jews?

In my town they allowed Italians and Jews to be Masons.

In fact, my grand father in law was a mason....so even long ago it probably was not a problem.....as long as you are against the King.

Howsabout them NEW jack the ripper dudes?

Masons?

I have may Jewish Brothers.
Islamic, Catholic, and unafiliated as well.

Do a bit of digging, you'll find that at the highest levels Masonry is anti-Catholic.

They're also farging weird!

"While there are many numerically higher degrees, the third degree (or Master Mason degree) is considered the highest degree in Freemasonry. This is because the Master Mason degree, in an extensive allegorical drama in which the candidate participates, teaches Masonry's sublime belief in the resurrection of the body. This drama is also called the Hiramic legend or the legend of the third degree.

In the third degree, the candidate participates in a drama where he plays a biblical character named “Hiram Abif,” a stonemason who worked on King Solomon’s Temple. In the lodge drama, Hiram is accosted in the Temple by renegade Masons who are trying to extort from him the secret Masonic word. When Hiram refuses to divulge the secret Masonic word, the Masons kill him (the candidate is symbolically murdered by being hit over the head with a padded setting maul, knocked off his feet, and caught in a large sack by his Masonic brothers). The Masons then bury the body of Hiram Abif (the candidate is instructed to remain lying down and materials are spread over his body).

As the drama unfolds, Hiram’s body is later discovered by other Masons who work in King Solomon’s Temple. When he is discovered, King Solomon and the other Masons make a procession to the gravesite and then pray for Hiram’s salvation. After the prayer, King Solomon raises Hiram (the candidate) up by the Strong Grip of a Master Mason. The candidate is then told that he has been raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular in the Masonic faith of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.

After a Mason reaches the third degree, he may advance in his Masonic journey to either the Scottish Rite or the York Rite. The Scottish Rite confers the fourth through thirty-second (and honorary thirty-third) degree. The York Rite also confers advanced degrees and is known as Original or Ancient Craft Masonry. These bodies are not under the authority of the Grand Lodges but have friendly relationships with them. The purpose of these higher degrees is to amplify what the Mason learned in his Blue lodge. These degrees, like those of the Blue lodge, require oath-bound secrecy. When a man becomes either a thirty-second degree or York Rite Mason, he is eligible to join the Shriners.



The Shriners are an organization of 32nd degree or York Rite Masons who are best known for their red fezzes, little motor cars and circus parades. The Shrine is also known for its hospitals and other philanthropic activities. Masons call the Shrine the "playground of Freemasonry." Most of the public is unaware of the fact that all Shriners are Master Masons (but not all Masons are Shriners).

Like the previous Masonic degrees, candidates for the Shrine are initiated with a solemn religious ceremony at the local Mosque (the Islamic gathering place of the Shrine). All candidates, including Christians, must swear an oath to Allah on the Koran declaring that they would be worthy of having their eyeballs pierced to the center with a three-inch blade, their feet flayed, and forced to walk the hot sands of the sterile shores of the Red Sea, where the flaming sun shall strike them with a livid plague, rather than to violate their Shriner Masonic "

They're a creative bunch!!