Masonic Degrees

[5-HT]

In another theard abour FreeMasony and their desire of conquer the world(IMORTANT: this thread in no way meant to turn into a debate about the allpowerfull and/or completely benign intention of said group), many present and former freemasons alluded to the degrees attained by themselves and others.

Now, I was under the impression that masonry contained only 3 degrees(the questioning sension to obtain a the 3rd degree lent to the addoption of the police innterrigation ususage term), now in these links many people mentione advanced degrees(most often the 33rd) Are the confined the the offshoots of freemasonry(ie the rather tradion [scottish rites) to Crowley’s O.T.O. and other hermetic orgs.

So getting back tott the OP(oh wait this is the OP), Does anyone have a detailed layout of the heirachy of The Masonic and Masonic-related brotherhoods(and sisterhoods, I admit I know little about these women groups through the co-ed nature of the rosicrusions )?

thanks…
5-ht

0

[King_Rat]

Click this link and scroll about 1/5 of the way down.

http://www.freemasonwatch.freepress-freespeech.com/secrets.html

Cecil Adams is a “perfect master” (per his profile) which is only a 5th degree.

[kniz]

Go here or here.

Note : Coding fixed. - E.

[Edited by Eutychus55 on 11-23-2001 at 06:05 AM]

[Badtz_Maru]

My grandfather made it to a rather high degree. I’ll have to see if my parents still know where his ring is, but I seem to recall it was over 30th.

[jb_farley]

Now, I was under the impression that masonry contained only 3 degrees

the highest degree of freemasonry is the 33rd degree.
shriners (old guys in little cars with funny hats) are freemasons who have attained the 32nd level.

jb

p.s.- yes, they are tring to take over the world. and george washington carver was a robot.

[Eutychus]

According to Masonic historian John J. Robinson :

“The …lodge confers but three degrees: the Entrant, or Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason. Not until he is a Master Mason can a member join any other aspects of the fraternity.”

You will find quite a few differering “flavors” of Masonry (such as the “York Rite” and the “Scottish Rite”) because as he says:

[The freemasons chose] “… to have a Grand Lodge for each state, with no central governing body. In the Masonic tradition, the Grand Lodge is supreme. There is no control above it and no Grand Lodge can tell any other Grand Lodge what to do.”

Later he states :

“In Masonic tradition, a man can get no “higher” than his status as a Master Mason. Therefore, the other Masonic systems are never called “higher” orders, but “appendant.” All of these appendant orders were created after Freemasonry revealed itself in London in 1717, and many of them function in just one country.”

[Monty]

C’mon. Tell us about Prince Hall Lodges, Blue Lodges, Knights Templar (the current ones, not the actual knights), and how some jurisdictions allow “communication” between them all and some don’t. That ought to start a debate!

[5-HT]

Thanks Euty,
That’s pretty much what I was looking for.

[PhiloVance]

Why free and are they all bricklayers?

[AskNott]

*Originally posted by Monty *
**C’mon. Tell us about Prince Hall Lodges, Blue Lodges, Knights Templar (the current ones, not the actual knights), and how some jurisdictions allow “communication” between them all and some don’t. That ought to start a debate! **

I’ll see what I can do, Monty. The Blue Lodges; Most Masonic Lodges, the ones you see in every hometown, are Blue Lodges. Men who join are taught through the first 3 degrees, Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason. A Master Mason can go on to the appendant degrees if he wants, but many don’t.

The Knights Templar, IIRC, is a degree within the York Rite attendant degrees.

Many Masons go through the appendant (4th through 32nd) degrees simply as a way to get to the Shriners. The Shriners are the mostly social arm of Masonry. No Blue Lodge serves alcohol, but you can buy a drink at a Shriner function.

The Prince Hall Lodges are a longer story. I’ll make another post for that.

[AskNott]

Prince Hall was a free black man in the time just before the Revolutionary War (USA.) He was made a Master Mason, and came up with a document from the Grand Lodge of England giving him authority to charter Lodges in America. At the time, the colonies were under the umbrella of the GL of England. Then the war happened, and communication between England and the new USA was screwed for a few years. After the war, the GL of E disavowed Prince Hall’s document, and said he was a fraud. In the meantime, though, Hall had chartered some lodges for black men. The white Lodges in the USA called Hall’s lodges “clandestine” and forbad their members from associating with clandestine Masons or their Lodges. After nearly 2 centuries, some state Grand Lodges began to recognize the Prince Hall Lodges. Today, I think, all USA Lodges recognize Prince Hall Masons as brothers. Here in Indiana, the change was rather recent, and I’m told there is still a chilly distance. Reportedly, the Prince Hall guys are chillier toward us than we are to them. It’s an embarrassing remnant of the past. The barely patched rift is the main reason I’m not very active in my Lodge.

By the way, the 33rd degree is an honorary degree conferred on a man who has served Masonry for a long time.

–Nott, a 32nd deg. Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner

[DPWhite]

And this stuff isn’t really all that secret. These guys have books that describe all of this stuff, how to do it and why it is done. There are in fact bookstores that specialize in it and you can probably get the literature on ebay. It is just a fraternity that engages in charitable endeavors and like any other such group, a bunch of 'em get drunk every once in a while and raise a ruckus. It is not a conspiracy.

[yabob]

*Originally posted by AskNott *

By the way, the 33rd degree is an honorary degree conferred on a man who has served Masonry for a long time.

–Nott, a 32nd deg. Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner

Yep. I had a great uncle who was a 33rd degree Mason. He was one of the few people whose sole source of livelihood was the Masons - he administered an educational fund which granted scholarships. And any thought of modern Masons being the secret masters of the world is hard to reconcile with my uncle - he was a silly old buffer, to be quite honest.