I was a DeMolay. Back then another DeMolay had to recommend you and if you passed muster you’d be mailed an invitation.
Otherwise you never really knew that a group of your peers secretly voted and some jerk slipped a black ball into into the pot (actually a black cube–the balls were white).
The Freemasons didn’t like to refer to DeMolay as “Jr. Masons.” They preferred to call it a young mens group. Pay no attention to the fact that the group met once a week in the Masonic Hall, had a secret handshake, passwords, heavy ritual behind closed doors and your advisors (“Dads”)all happened to be Masons. I don’t remember any Catholic members.
Is there a Jr. K of C?
Personally, My Grandpa was a Stonecutter, my Dad’s a Stonecutter and now I’m a Stonecutter. I don’t have any sons, but if I did, they’d be Stonecutters. My wife’s a Stonecutterette and my daughters are Lil’ Stonecutterettes. And that’s all I can tell you, or I’d have to gouge your eyes out with a pencil sharpener.
“Remove the Stone of Shame… Attach the Stone of Honor!!!”
“Who keeps the metric system down?”
Freemasons aren’t free. Are they masons? If they are free masons, why do they charge?
It’s free as in “freedom”, not free as in “free beer”. Or was your next statement going to have to do with driveways and parkways?
Free mason’s aren’t free and head cheese isn’t head. If it was there would be a longer line at the deli.
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
Kylen,
I believe Job’s Daughters are thrown to the crowd for purposes of mass rape.
The real story of Jobs daughters in the bible is pretty weird.
Forgive me for wandering into this so late, but I don’t get over here very often, and I’m catching up.
I am a mason, and I can freely answer your questions. Masonry is not a secret society. The only real secrets are the signs (handshakes) of each degree and the passwords. Anyone can get a full list of members, and many bookstores sell a nearly complete script of our rituals. If you read one of those, you’ll see a lot of antique-sounding language. You’ll also run across some promise of dire consequenses for anyone who reveals any part of the ritual. NO ONE TAKES THESE DIRE WARNINGS SERIOUSLY. We do not go around killing blabbermouths.
No one will ever invite you to join. This is an ancient rule meant to assure that you join of your own free will. You must ask on your own. Ask a mason, or if you don’t know one, call a lodge.
The G on the square and compass stands for God and also for Geometry.
The Shriners are a social club whose membership is only open to 32nd degree masons. You get to be one of those by joining either the Scottish Rite or the York Rite. I’m Scottish Rite, myself, and a Shriner.
The basic (Blue) lodge runs you through 3 degrees, ending in Master Mason. The rituals amount to moral instruction, with a smattering of architecture thrown in. The Scottish Rite degrees are more of the same, with each degree teaching a seperate ethical lesson. In the first three, the new mason has to memorize part of the ritual to advance to the next degree. The rest of the degrees have no memorization.
To join, you must be at least 21, and male. If you’re younger, you can join DeMolay. If you’re female, you can join Eastern Star. The younger version of the Star is Job’s Daughters.
The thing about no embarassing or compromising positions… In olden times, some lodges had the new mason ride a mechanical goat. We don’t do that anymore. The new mason will never be required to forsake any of his religious beliefs, nor any obligation to his government.
As for the “free” in freemason, we date back to the days when there were slaves.
Up until recently, lodges were strictly segregated black/white. This dates back to a controversial guy named Prince Hall. He was a free black man who was a mason before the US revolution. He had a document, perhaps genuine, from the Grand Lodge of England, authorizing him to start a lodge in the colonies. During the war, he started several lodges of black men, and by the time the war was over, the GL of E said he was a faker. For a couple of centuries, white masons used this pretense to shunt all black applicants to the Prince Hall Lodges, which they called “clandestine.” Today, the lodges in most states officially recognize each other. Slowly, slowly, the lodges are becoming integrated.
Sorry I got so longwinded, but I hope I cleared up some of the mystery.
–Nott, the large
AskNott
Yeah sure, nott. Did any body else read that news article about the guy they found in Indiana,sealed up in a brick wall? I always thot the free part refered to the guilds the masons started back when they were building the Cathedrals. Guild masons were free as opposed to those that were controlled by the church.Of course that is a bit like saying the knights templar are the same orginization as the originals. Or it could be just part of the insidious plot. An odd thing I see every time I go to the Scottish Rite Children’s hospital is the corner stone. It says
" Leveled on suchnsuch date by members of lodge…" Course I under stand what it means,them being masons and all,but still I gotta look to see if the building is still there.The square is also a representation of the old masons plumb bob level.My son is dyslexic and I got nothin but respect and thanx for them masons and shriners with their hospitals and such.
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx
A buddy of mine is a librarian at the central library in the city I live (better not say which city, thar’s masons among us). He tells me the most stolen-not returned books are the ones talking about Masons and Masonic rituals.
If you really want to find out without joining, surf the web, but watch out where you leave those cookies.
AskNott, what about marrying? Do Masons have to marry other Masons?
Mr john, I haven’t seen any story about a man sealed up in a brick wall, and I live in Indiana. Can you tell us where you may have seen it? You’re not thinking of Poe’s short story, are you?
handy, as I said, all masons are men. No state in the US regognizes marriage between men. If you mean masons marrying daughters of masons, I know of no such rule. I married a mason’s daughter, but that was before I joined the lodge.
–Nott
AskNott
Doug Bowe asked, as an afterthought, if there is a Junior K of C (Knights of Columbus).
There is. Young men ages 12 through 18 may join the Columbian Squires.
Unlike the Masonic Job’s Daughters, however, there is no official young ladies’ organization, although many state K of C councils have filled this void on their own. In Virginia, for example, we have a parallel organization called Squire Roses.
A mechanical goat? Amateurs. I had to ride a mechanical bull when I joined the Illuminati, but I suppose I can’t expect mere Masons to live up to our standards.
>>Unlike the Masonic Job’s Daughters<<
I am totally unfamiliar with this group. I do remember Rainbows, a girl group sponsored by Eastern Star. The first female I got to poke was active in it. She was damn cute. Could not say that for most of them.