What is Freemasonry?
Freemasonry is a men’s fraternal order that traces its roots back to the stone mason guilds that formed in Scotland, England and France during the middle ages when the great cathedrals and castles of Europe were built. Stonemasons that were full members of these guilds were free to travel from country to country to work on building projects and used secret passwords and signs to identify themselves as expert members of the stone builders’ craft. These methods of recognition, which were highly guarded by members of the craft, also helped prevent untrained and unskilled imposters from working on the same jobs.
These early masons were organized into lodges, which were headed by a Master
of the lodge. They held private meetings and trained workers in three phases, each lasting a number of years. During the first phase of training the new mason was known as an Entered Apprentice. Once he had completed the required amount of time in training and demonstrated proficiency in what he had been taught, he advanced to the second phase of training, that of Fellow Craft. After the required number of years of training as a Fellow Craft, and again after demonstrating proficiency, he was finally elevated to the ultimate degree of proficiency, that of Master Mason. Being deemed by one’s lodge as a true Master Mason meant that the Mason could not only receive the wages due an expert stone worker but also travel freely to accept work and not be held to one job site or lodge.
Eventually these lodges of masons, often referred to as operative masons, began to also accept for membership persons who were not stonemasons but rather learned men of science and even members of royalty. These non-workers in stone became known as speculative masons. These great men had a major impact on the road Freemasonry would take in history and eventually all Masonic lodges became speculative rather than operative.
Today’s Freemasons seek not to build grand buildings but to build their own character. They use rituals based upon the stories and building tools of their ancient operative brethren to teach valuable moral lessons. However, it is not the aim of Freemasonry to reform men with problems. Its goal is to make good men better. Therefore, the members of a lodge admit new members only after careful investigation and a successful unanimous vote.