Freemasonry - WikiHQ

thumb|alt=Standard image of masonic square and compasses|The [[Square and Compasses, the main emblem of the Freemasons]]

Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is considered the oldest existing secular fraternal organisation, with documents and traditions dating back to the 14th century. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of three main traditions:

Anglo-American style Freemasonry, which insists that a "volume of sacred law" (such as the Bible, Quran, or other religious text) should be open in a working lodge, that every member should profess belief in a supreme being, that only men should be admitted, and discussion of religion or politics does not take place within the lodge.
Continental style Freemasonry or Liberal style Freemasonry which has continued to evolve beyond these restrictions, particularly regarding religious belief and political discussion.
Women's Freemasonry or Co-Freemasonry, which includes organisations that either admit women exclusively (such as the Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Masons in the UK) or accept both men and women (such as Le Droit Humain or Universal Co-Masonry). Women Freemasonry groups can lean Conservative or Liberal, requiring a religion or not as determined by their Grand Orient or Obedience.

All three traditions have evolved over time from their original forms and can all refer to themselves as Regular and to other Grand Lodges as Irregular. The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. These private Lodges are usually supervised at the regional level by a Grand Lodge or a Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate.

The degrees of Freemasonry are the three grades of medieval craft guilds: Entered Apprentice, Journeyman or Fellow of the craft, and Master Mason. The candidate of these three degrees is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry and entrusted with grips, signs, and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The degrees are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. These three degrees form Craft Freemasonry, and members of any of these degrees are known as Free-Masons, Freemasons, or Masons. Once the Craft degrees have been conferred upon a Mason, he is qualified to join various "Concordant bodies" which offer additional degrees. These organisations are usually administered separately from the Grand Lodges who administer the Craft degrees. The extra degrees vary with locality and jurisdiction. In addition to these bodies, there are further organisations outside of the more traditional rites of Freemasonry that require an individual to be a Master Mason before they can join.

Throughout its history Freemasonry has received criticism and opposition on religious, moral and political grounds. The Catholic Church, some Protestant denominations and certain Islamic countries or entities have expressed opposition to or banned membership in Freemasonry. Opposition to Freemasonry is sometimes rooted in antisemitism or conspiracy theories, and Freemasons have been persecuted by authoritarian states.

Masonic lodge

thumb|alt=Italian lodge at Palazzo Roffia, Florence|Lodge in Palazzo Roffia, [[Florence, set out for French (Premiere Grand Lodge) ritual]]

The Masonic lodge is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry.

Lodge activities and meetings

The Masonic Lodge meets regularly to conduct various activities. While practices vary by jurisdiction, Rite and local tradition, there are common elements across Freemasonry.

In many jurisdictions, Lodges conduct the usual formal business of any small organisation during regular meetings. This includes approving minutes, electing new members, appointing officers and taking their reports, considering correspondence, reviewing bills and annual accounts, and organising social and charitable events.

thumb|Kosmopolis Lodge: A young Freemason (Entered Apprentice) explains the symbols, Bratislava, 2025

However, some Lodges, Rites and jurisdictions consider an opened Lodge to be a sacred space where profane business activities are strictly forbidden. In these traditions, administrative matters are typically conducted either before the Lodge is formally opened, in a separate business meeting or handled by special committees outside of Lodge meetings.

thumb|Depiction of Masons at work in Lodge in the "three globes Lodge" in Berlin, circa 1740. Free-Masons can be seen measuring globes and discussing various topics whilst holding masonic instruments

Whether business is conducted during an opened Lodge or not, all Masonic meetings include ritual work and educational activities such as:

Performing Masonic ceremonies
Conferring Masonic degrees
Reading of Masonic papers (also called "Piece of Architecture" or "Planche" in some jurisdictions) - Can be on a wide variety of topics including Masonic, philosophical, technological or personal
Philosophical discussions
Research on a particular topic
Sharing personal Masonic experiences
Proving proficiency to the Lodge to obtain a new degree (also called a wage increase)

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge may hold a formal dinner, called Agape or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song. These meetings are typically held in a Masonic temple, though other venues may occasionally be used.

The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies. Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. At some later time, in separate ceremonies, they will be passed to the degree of Fellow Craft; and then raised to the degree of Master Mason. In each of these ceremonies, the candidate must first take the new obligations of the degree, and is then entrusted with secret knowledge including passwords, signs and grips (secret handshakes) confined to his new rank. Although these symbols and gestures are nominally secret, they are readily found in public sources, including those published by Masonic organisations themselves.

Another ceremony is the annual installation of the Master of the Lodge and his appointed or elected officers. In other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge.

Most Lodges also hold purely social functions, allowing members, their partners, and non-Masonic guests to meet for fellowship. Often coupled with these events is the discharge of every Mason's and Lodge's collective obligation to contribute to charity. This occurs at many levels, including in annual dues, subscriptions, and fundraising events; and may be organised at the local Lodge level, a regional/district level or at the Grand jurisdiction level. Masons and their charities contribute for the relief of need in many fields, such as education, health and old age.

Private Lodges, which serve as the foundational and most autonomous units within the broader structure of Freemasonry, form the backbone of the fraternity by exercising the exclusive authority to elect their own candidates for initiation as Masons or admission as joining Masons, often operating with localized jurisdictional privileges that may include sole rights over residents in proximity to their premises, thereby reinforcing both the independence and community-based nature of Masonic membership selection. There are non-local Lodges where Masons meet for wider or narrower purposes, such as in association with some hobby, sport, Masonic research, business, profession, regiment or college. The rank of Master Mason also entitles a Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the basic Craft or "Blue Lodge" degrees described here, but generally having a similar structure and meetings.

There is much diversity and little consistency in Freemasonry because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent and sets its own rules and procedures while Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their constituent member Lodges, which are ultimately private clubs. The wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Almost all officers of a Lodge are elected or appointed annually. Every Masonic Lodge has a Master, two Wardens, a treasurer and a secretary. There is also always a Tyler, or outer guard, outside the door of a working Lodge, who may be paid to secure its privacy. Other offices vary between jurisdictions.

Organisation

Grand Lodges

thumb|[[Freemasons' Hall, London|Freemasons Hall, London, home of the United Grand Lodge of England|alt=Freemason's Hall, London]]

thumb|right|The Historical Grand Lodge of the [[Grand Orient de France]]

Grand Lodges and Grand Orients are independent and sovereign bodies that govern Masonry in a given country, state or geographical area (termed a jurisdiction). There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide Freemasonry; connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition.

Estimates of the worldwide membership of Freemasonry in the early 21st century ranged from about two million to more than six million.

The fraternity is administratively organised  into independent Grand Lodges (or sometimes Grand Orients), each of which governs its own Masonic jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent) Lodges.

The largest single jurisdiction, in terms of membership, is the United Grand Lodge of England (with local organisation into Provincial Grand Lodges possessing a combined membership estimated at 175,000). The Grand Lodge of Ireland claims it has approximately 19,000 members.

In the United States, there are 51 Grand Lodges (one in each state and the District of Columbia) which together have a total membership of around 875,000 according to the Masonic Service Association of North America.

Grand Orient de France, the largest jurisdiction in Continental Freemasonry in terms of membership, claims to have over 50,000 members.

Other degrees, orders and bodies

Blue Lodges, known as Craft Lodges in the United Kingdom, offer only the three traditional degrees. In most jurisdictions, the rank of past or installed master is also conferred in Blue/Craft Lodges. Master Masons are able to extend their Masonic experience by taking further degrees, in concordant or other bodies whether or not approved by their own Grand Lodge.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is a system of 33 degrees, including the three Blue Lodge degrees administered by a local or national Supreme Council. This system is popular in North America, South America and in Continental Europe. In America the York Rite, with a similar range, administers three orders of Masonry, namely the Royal Arch, Cryptic Masonry and Knights Templar.

In Britain separate bodies administer each order. Freemasons are encouraged to join the Holy Royal Arch, which is linked to Mark Masonry in Scotland and Ireland, but completely separate in England. In England the Royal Arch is closely associated with the Craft, automatically having many Grand Officers in common, including Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, as both Grand Master of the Craft and First Grand Principal of the Royal Arch. The English Knights Templar and Cryptic Masonry share the Mark Grand Lodge offices and staff at Mark Masons' Hall, London. The Ancient and Accepted Rite (similar to the Scottish Rite), requires a member to proclaim the Trinitarian Christian faith, and is administered from Duke Street in London. Conversely, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a fully independent esoteric organisation that requires members be United Grand Lodge of England Master Masons.

In the Nordic countries the Swedish Rite is dominant; a variation of it is also used in parts of Germany.

Ritual and symbolism

thumb|The [[Ottoman dynasty|Ottoman noble Ahmad Nami dressed in full Masonic attire in 1925]]

thumb|Freemasonry structure showing the symbols associated with the organisation

Freemasonry describes itself as a "beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". The symbolism is mainly, but not exclusively, drawn from the tools of stonemasons—the square and compasses, the level and plumb rule, the trowel, the rough and smooth ashlars, among others. Moral lessons are attributed to each of these tools, although the assignment is by no means consistent. The meaning of symbolism is taught and explored through ritual, All Freemasons begin their journey in the "craft" by being progressively "initiated", "passed" and "raised" into the three degrees of Craft, or Blue Lodge Masonry. During these three rituals, the candidate is progressively taught the Masonic symbols, and is entrusted with grips or tokens, signs, and words to signify to other Masons which degrees he has taken. The dramatic allegorical ceremonies include explanatory lectures and revolve around the construction of the Temple of Solomon, and the artistry and death of the chief architect, Hiram Abiff. The degrees are those of "Entered apprentice", "Fellowcraft" and "Master Mason". While many different versions of these rituals exist, with various lodge layouts and versions of the Hiramic legend, each version is recognisable to any Freemason from any jurisdiction.

The idea of Masonic brotherhood probably descends from a 16th-century legal definition of a "brother" as one who has taken an oath of mutual support to another. Accordingly, Masons swear at each degree to support and protect their brethren. In most Lodges, the oath or obligation is taken on a Volume of Sacred Law, whichever book of divine revelation is appropriate to the religious beliefs of the individual brother (usually the Bible in the Anglo-American tradition). In Progressive continental Freemasonry, books other than scripture are permissible, a cause of rupture between Grand Lodges.

History

Origins

Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought the origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the Old Charges, dating from the Regius Poem in about 1425 to the beginning of the 18th century. Addressed to members of operative masons' lodges, they relate the craft to a mythologised history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining. The 15th century also saw the first evidence of ceremonial regalia.

There is no clear mechanism by which these local trade organisations became today's Masonic Lodges. The earliest rituals and passwords known, from operative lodges around the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, show continuity with the rituals developed in the later 18th century by accepted or speculative Masons, as those members who did not practice the physical craft gradually came to be known. The minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. 1 in Scotland show a continuity from an operative lodge in 1598 to a modern speculative Lodge. It is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge in the world.

thumb|left|View of room at the Masonic Hall, [[Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, early 20th century, set up for a Holy Royal Arch convocation|alt=Royal Arch Chapter in England, beginning of c20]]

Alternatively, in 1803 German professor J. G. Buhle put forward the theory that Freemasonry may have been an outgrowth of Rosicrucianism, an idea taken up by Thomas De Quincey.

The first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the Grand Lodge of England, was founded on St John's Day, 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. Over the next decade, most of the existing Lodges in England joined the new regulatory body, which itself entered a period of self-publicity and expansion. New lodges were created, and the fraternity began to grow.

Over the course of the 18th century, as aristocrats and artists crowded out the craftsmen originally associated with the organisation, Freemasonry became fashionable throughout Europe and the American colonies.

Between 1730 and 1750 the Grand Lodge endorsed several significant changes that some Lodges could not endorse. A rival Grand Lodge was formed on 17 July 1751, which called itself the "Antient Grand Lodge of England" to signify that, in their opinion, these lodges were maintaining older traditions and rejected changes that the Premiere Grand Lodge had adopted. As an insult, the self proclaimed "Antient Grand Lodge" coined the term "modern" to designate the Premiere Grand Lodge (historians now use Premiere Grand Lodge and Antient Grand Lodge to differentiate the two bodies). These two Grand Lodges vied for supremacy until the Premiere Grand Lodge made a compromise with the antient Grand Lodge to return to a ritual that worked for both Grand Lodges. They re-united on 27 December 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England.

The Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodge of Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736, respectively, although neither persuaded all of the existing lodges in their countries to join for many years.

18th-century Enlightenment

thumb|Goose and Gridiron, where the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the [[Premier Grand Lodge of England|Grand Lodge of England, was founded]]

During the Age of the Enlightenment in the 18th century, Freemasons comprised an international network of like-minded men, often meeting in secret in ritualistic programs at their lodges. They promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment and helped diffuse these values across Britain and France and other places. British Freemasonry offered a systematic creed with its own myths, values and set of rituals. It fostered new codes of conduct—including a communal understanding of liberty and equality inherited from guild sociability—"liberty, fraternity, and equality." Scottish soldiers and Jacobite Scots brought to the Continent ideals of fraternity which reflected not the local system of Scottish customs but the institutions and ideals originating in the English Revolution against royal absolutism. Freemasonry was particularly prevalent in France—by 1789, there were between 50,000 and 100,000 French Masons, making Freemasonry the most popular of all Enlightenment associations.

Jacob argues that Masonic lodges probably had an effect on society as a whole, for they "reconstituted the polity and established a constitutional form of self-government, complete with constitutions and laws, elections and representatives". In other words, the micro-society set up within the lodges constituted a normative model for society as a whole. This was especially true on the Continent: when the first lodges began to appear in the 1730s, their embodiment of British values was often seen as threatening by state authorities. For example, the Parisian lodge that met in the mid-1720s was composed of English Jacobite exiles. Furthermore, freemasons all across Europe made reference to the Enlightenment in general in the 18th century. In French lodges, for example, the line "As the means to be enlightened I search for the enlightened" was a part of their initiation rites. British lodges assigned themselves the duty to "initiate the unenlightened". Many lodges praised the Grand Architect, the masonic terminology for the divine being who created a scientifically ordered universe.

On the other hand, the historian Robert Roswell Palmer noted that lodges operated separately and Masons politically did not act together as a group. American historians note that Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were leading Masons, but the significance of Freemasonry in the revolution is a topic of debate. Daniel Roche contests freemasonry's claims for egalitarianism, writing that "the real equality of the lodges was elitist", only attracting men of similar social backgrounds.

In long-term historical perspective, Norman Davies has argued that Freemasonry was a powerful force in Europe from about 1700 to the twentieth century. It expanded rapidly during the Age of Enlightenment, reaching practically every country in Europe, as well as the European colonies in the New World and Asia. Davies states, "In the nineteenth century and beyond it would be strongly associated with the cause of Liberalism." In Catholic lands it was anti-clerical and came under heavy attack from the Catholic Church. In the 20th century, it was suppressed by Fascist and Communist regimes. It was especially attractive to royalty, aristocrats, politicians and businessmen, as well as intellectuals, artists and political activists. Davies notes that prominent members included Montesquieu, Voltaire, Sir Robert Walpole, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Steven Bullock notes that in the late 18th century, English lodges were headed by the Prince of Wales, Prussian lodges by King Frederick the Great, and French lodges by royal princes. Napoleon as Emperor of the French selected his own brother as the Grand Master of France.

Emergence of Continental or Liberal Freemasonry

thumb|Masonic initiation, Paris, 1745|alt=Masonic initiation, Paris, 1745

English Freemasonry spread to France in the 1720s, first as lodges of expatriates and exiled Jacobites, and then as distinctively French lodges that still follow the ritual of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. From France and England, Freemasonry spread to most of Continental Europe during the course of the 18th century. The Grande Loge de France was formed under the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Clermont, who exercised only nominal authority. His successor, Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, reconstituted the central body as the Grand Orient de France in 1773. Briefly eclipsed during the French Revolution, French Freemasonry continued to grow in the next century, at first under the leadership of Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse, Comte de Grassy-Tilly.

France

In the 18th century, liberal French politicians met together in Masonic lodges to develop some of the Enlightenment ideas that dominated the French Revolution of 1789. Avner Halpern has traced French Freemasonry's major role in building France's first modern political party in 1901, the Radical Party. It used two Masonic devices: the "civil leadership model", which Freemasonry developed in late 19th century France, and the local Masonic congresses of the Grand Orient of France federations.

Russia

Freemasons had been active in Russia in the 18th century, working to introduce Enlightenment ideals; however, they were increasingly suppressed by the government. According to Ludwick Hass, Freemasonry was officially illegal in Tsarist Russia, but would later be introduced by exiles who returned after the 1905 revolution. These individuals had been active Masons in Paris, where lodges were politically active in the new Radical Party. In Russia, the Freemasons supported constitutional liberalism and maintained ties with France while simplifying many of the ceremonial rituals. Their secret meetings became a centre of progressive ideals, attracting politicians and activists. The lodges initially supported World War I, promoting close ties with France. The liberal activist Alexander Kerensky, who came to political power with the overthrow of the tsars in 1917, was a Mason. The organisation collapsed as the Bolsheviks took power and was again outlawed.

Italy

According to Adrian Lyttelton, in the early 20th century, Freemasonry was an influential but semi-secret force in Italian politics; with a strong presence among professionals and the middle class across Italy, its appeal spread to the leadership of the parliament, public administration, and the army. The two main organisations were the Grand Orient and the Grand Lodge of Italy. They had around 25,000 members in some 500 lodges. Politically, they promoted Italian nationalism, focused on unification, and undermining the power of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was a vigorous opponent of unification, and thus of the Freemasons; various national governments would repeatedly alternate and backpedal between the anticlerical side and the Church side. Freemasons took on the challenge of mobilising the press, encouraging public opinion and the leading political parties in support of Italy's joining of the Allies of the First World War in 1914–1915. In 1919 they favoured a League of Nations to promote a new post-war, universal order based upon the peaceful coexistence of independent and democratic nations. In the early 1920s, many of Mussolini's collaborators, especially the leaders in organising the March on Rome, were Masons. The lodges hailed fascism as the saviour of Italy from Bolshevism; however, Mussolini decided he needed to come to terms with the Catholic Church, in the mid-1920s, outlawing Freemasonry.

Germany

North America

thumb|[[Erasmus James Philipps, first Freemason in present-day Canada, Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)]]

thumb|right|Federal Hall, New York City, site of George Washington's first inauguration, April 30, 1789.

thumb|right|Masonic Conescecration of Solder Monument Gettysburg PA July 1865 (Made from Alexander Gardner Photograph Harper's Weekly July 22,1865 p.453)

thumb|right|upright=1.5|Illustration promoting African American ascent of the ladder of success, from a Prince Hall Masonic convention program book in 1920

The earliest known American lodges were in Pennsylvania. The collector for the port of Pennsylvania, John Moore, wrote of attending lodges there in 1715, two years before the putative formation of the first Grand Lodge in London. The Grand Lodge of England appointed a Provincial Grand Master for North America in 1731, based in Pennsylvania, leading to the creation of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

In Canada Erasmus James Philipps became a Freemason while working on a commission to resolve boundaries in New England and, in 1739 he became provincial Grand Master for Nova Scotia; Philipps founded the first Masonic lodge in Canada at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

Other lodges in the colony of Pennsylvania obtained authorisations from the later Antient Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Grand Lodge of Ireland, which was particularly well represented in the travelling lodges of the British Army. Many lodges came into existence with no warrant from any Grand Lodge, applying and paying for their authorisation only after they were confident of their own survival.

After the American Revolution independent US Grand Lodges developed within each state. Some thought was briefly given to organising an overarching "Grand Lodge of the United States", with George Washington, who was a member of a Virginian lodge, as the first Grand Master, but the idea was short-lived. The various state Grand Lodges did not wish to diminish their own authority by agreeing to such a body.

On 30 April 1789, Washington took his oath of office at his first inauguration upon a Bible belonging to St. John's Lodge No. 1 of New York. Robert Livingston, Chancellor of the State of New York, also the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, administered the oath.

Prince Hall Freemasonry

Prince Hall Freemasonry exists because of the refusal of early American lodges to admit African Americans. In 1775, an African American named Prince Hall, along with 14 other African American men, was initiated into a British military lodge with a warrant from the Grand Lodge of Ireland, having failed to obtain admission from the other lodges in Boston. When the British military Lodge left North America after the end of the Revolutionary War, those 15 men were given the authority to meet as a Lodge, but not to initiate Masons. In 1784, these individuals obtained a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of England (Premiere Grand Lodge) and formed African Lodge, Number 459. When the two English grand lodges united in 1813, all U.S.-based Lodges were stricken from their rolls—largely because of the War of 1812. Thus, separated from both English jurisdiction and any concordantly recognised U.S. Grand Lodge, African Lodge retitled itself as the African Lodge, Number 1—and became a de facto Grand Lodge. (This lodge is not to be confused with the various Grand Lodges in Africa.) As with the rest of US Freemasonry, Prince Hall Freemasonry soon grew and organised  on a Grand Lodge system for each state.

Unlike other fraternal orders, there was never any blanket rule against the admission of men based on their race. Each lodge and grand lodge had their own rules, both written and unwritten. A few non-Prince Hall lodges did admit Blacks, with Angelo Soliman being one notable Masonic personality of African descent. Nonetheless, widespread racial segregation in 19th- and early-20th-century North America made it difficult for African Americans to join Lodges outside of Prince Hall jurisdictions.

Today most (but not all) US Grand Lodges recognise their Prince Hall counterparts, and the authorities of both traditions are working towards full recognition. The United Grand Lodge of England has no problem with recognising Prince Hall Grand Lodges. While celebrating their heritage as lodges of African Americans, Prince Hall is open to all men regardless of race or religion.

Latin America and Caribbean

Jamaican Freemasonry

Freemasonry was imported to Jamaica by British settlers. In 1908 there were eleven recorded Masonic lodges, which included three Grand Lodges, two Craft lodges, and two Rose Croix chapters. During slavery, the lodges were open to all "freeborn" men. After the full abolition of slavery in 1838, the Lodges were open to all Jamaican men of any race. Jamaica also kept close relationships with Masons from other countries. Jamaican Freemasonry historian Jackie Ranston noted that: