Masonry is a secret society. What can be told and what cannot?

Masonry is not "a secret society" but "a society with secrets." A secret society is one of which the membership, aims and ideals are unknown. There is no secret about who is, and who is not, a Freemason. Lodges publish their rosters. Many Grand Lodges publish the names of their members in annual Proceedings. The world at large knows that the aims and ideals of Freemasonry are religious, charitable, friendly, fraternal.

What is secret in Freemasonry is well phrased in the Ninth Landmark as adopted by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey: "The legend of the third degree; the means of recognition; the methods of conferring degrees; the obligations of those degrees and the ballot of every brother are, and must continue to be, inviolably secret."

What is a "recognized Grand Lodge"?

The Forty-nine Grand Lodges of the United States have different conceptions of "regularity." Thus the Grand Lodge in State A will "recognize"-that is, accept as equal, regular, legitimate Freemasonry -the Grand Lodge of Foreign Country X, while the Grand Lodge of State B is not satisfied that the Grand Lodge of Foreign Country X conforms to all the requirements of the Grand Lodge of State B. Thus a Grand Lodge of a foreign country may be legitimate Masonry to the Grand Lodge of one State, and "clandestine" or "irregular" or "unrecognized" by another State. The Masonic Service Association publishes every July a chart showing what Grand Lodges outside the United States are "recognized" by each of the forty-nine Grand Lodges of the nation.

What is a cowan? What is an eavesdropper?

"Cowan" is an old Scotch word, meaning an ignorant Mason who put stones together without mortar, or piled rough stones from the field into a wall without working them square and true. He is a Mason without the Word; the Apprentice who tries to masquerade as a Master.

The eavesdropper in ancient times was that would be thief of secrets who listened under the eaves of houses (there, was often a space between wall and roof, for the purpose of ventilation). Because to hear he had to get close to the wall under the eaves, he received the droppings from the roof if it rained-hence, eavesdropper. In modern times the eavesdropper is that bold man who forges a good standing card, or finds one and masquerades as its owner; the man who has read a so-called "expose" of Masonry and tries to get into a lodge, in order to ask for charity or help. He is very rare, and few tilers have ever met him! The cowan, however-the Fellowcraft or Entered Apprentice stopped for cause, the one-time member in good standing who is now dropped for one cause or another-these not infrequently try to pass the tiler.

What is jurisdiction?

1. Refers to the State. The Jurisdiction of Massachusetts-the Jurisdiction of Oregon-mean the Grand Lodges and all the individual lodges of those States.

2. Refers to the power of the Grand Master. He has jurisdiction over all the Masons in his State whether they be members of his lodges or sojourning Masons from other Grand Lodges.

3. Refers to the territory over which a lodge has control as far as applications are concerned. Often in rural districts, jurisdictional lines are tightly drawn, so that no lodge accepts applications from men who live within the territorial jurisdiction of another lodge. In cities, "concurrent jurisdiction" is usual, any man being free to apply to any lodge within the city limits.

4. Refers to the power a lodge has over its rejected candidates; the right to give, or withhold, permission for rejected material to apply elsewhere. "Penal jurisdiction," as this is sometimes called, varies in different Grand Lodges. In some, it is perpetual, in others, it lapses after a certain length of time.

What Masonic penalties are enforced?

The only penalties known to Freemasonry are reprimand; definite suspension from membership; indefinite suspension from membership; expulsion from the Fraternity. To these must be added that intangible penalty which comes to any one who loses all or any part of his reputation. Other penalties suggested in the ritual are wholly symbolic-are not now and never have been enforced. They were legal punishments in the middle ages, designed with special reference to the religious beliefs of the time that an incomplete body could not "rise from the dead"; that a body buried in unconsecrated ground (as between high and low water mark) could not ascend into heaven. Some Grand Lodges offer an interpretation of the ritualistic penalties, in order to be sure the initiate understands the symbolic character of these other. wise difficult phrases.

Why "Grand" Lodge? What is grand about it?

Grand is used in the same sense as in grand total, grandfather, meaning first, principal, most important. It does not mean a lodge which is "grand" in the sense that it is big, impressive, beautiful, as when the word is used in "a grand spectacle," "a grand performance."

Why are Masonic rituals not the same in all States?

Freemasonry came to the United States from several different sources (England, Ireland, Scotland) and its spread westward formed Grand Lodges from lodges which sprang from the thirteen original colonies. These admixtures of rituals produced variations which were occasionally increased by actions of Grand Lodges acting on recommendations of Grand Lecturers and Ritual Committees. In the early days of Freemasonry in the United States many "travelling lecturers" brought their own conceptions of "the true Masonic work" to far areas and taught these.
All rituals are "correct." What a Grand Lodge approves as its ritual is "correct" for its lodges. No rituals in the United States contradict each other; they vary in words and details, not in essentials.

Why are Square and Compasses more important than other working tools?

Without compasses no accurate square can be made: without a square no building can be erected. Square and compasses are universally the symbol of a Master Mason; of Freemasonry. Symbolists have read many meanings into both these tools of a Mason. Both symbols are much older than Freemasonry; Chinese manuscripts give them a Masonic significance (although there was no Freemasonry in that country) two thousand years ago. No symbols in Freemasonry offer so many possible interpretations. But many symbols mean different things to different men; each interprets according to his best light.

In modern Masonic rituals, the compasses are "dedicated to the Craft" and are emblematic of the restraint of violent passions. Here "passions" refers to any over-emotional lack of control. It is passions in the larger sense; intemperance, temper, unjust judgment, intolerance, selfishness, that the spiritual compasses circumscribe. The positions of the square and compasses in the three degrees are universally symbols of light, further light, more light. (Compasses becomes compass in six United States Grand Lodges.)

Why do Masons wear aprons?

The use of the apron is extremely old, not, as with the operative Masons, as a protector of clothing and body against tools and stone, but as a badge of honor. It was so used by the priests of Israel, by candidates for the mysteries of Mithras in Persia, by the ancient Japanese in religious worship. Ethiopia knew aprons as did Egypt. In all times and climes, it has been a badge of distinction. It is as such that a Mason wears it.

The material of the Masonic apron-lambskin-is a symbol of innocence, as the lamb has always been.

Color and material are important in its symbolism but Masonry admits the "symbol of the symbol"--as, for instance, an electric light in place of a candle. Hence a Mason has more than once been "properly clothed" when the lambskin aprons of the lodge were all in use and he came through the tiled door clad in a white handkerchief!

Why has Symbolic Masonry three degrees only and not a larger number?

Three is the numerical symbol of the equilateral triangle, which is man's earliest symbol for God. It was the "most sacred number" at the dawn of civilization. Masonry emphasizes it: three degrees, three circumambulations in the Third Degree, three Great Lights, three Lesser Lights, three steps on the Master's Carpet, three Fellows who stood at the gates of the Temple, three who discovered the Master Workman, three principal rounds, three Grand Columns, etc.

Evidently the ritual makers of an early age believed that there should be a symbolism of number as well as of object in the teaching of Masonry regarding the fatherhood of God, to instruct that He is present at all times in every ceremony and meeting.

Who discovered, designed or invented Masonry?

No one man, any more than any one man discovered, designed or invented democracy, or philosophy, or science, or any one government. Freemasonry is the result of growth. Many Masons had a part in it; it has taken to itself teachings from many religions, philosophies, systems of knowledge, symbols.

The most generally accepted orthodox belief as to those who "began" Freemasonry is that the Craft is a descendant of Operative Masons. These Operatives inherited from unknown beginnings, of which there may have been several and were probably many, practices and some form of ritual. Speculative Masonry, reaching back through Operative Masonry, touches hands with those who followed unknown religions in which, however, many of the Speculative principles must have been taught by the use of symbols as old as mankind and therefore universal, and not the product of any one people or time.

Why is the Masonry of today called "speculative"?

The word is used in the sense that the Masonry of today is theoretical, not practical, building; that it is a pursuit of knowledge, not of the construction of edifices.

Source: Detroit Lodge No.2 F&AM (Detroit, MI)