Sarah Tumlin

Freemasonry, a Secret Fraternity

Secret society, masonry, ritual, Renaissance, psychology, charity, religion, knowledge, psyche, mythology, philosophy, morality

I. Abstract

The Freemasonry was established by medieval stone masons as an all-male fraternal organization deeply devoted to God and morality. The instruction, involving ritual and symbolic structures used to communicate morals, within this system seeks to provide guidance for the individual’s understanding of a universal natural religion. The Masonry is an interpretation of buildings and tools as elements of creativity, microcosms of the Divine Architect’s creation. The individual who explores his psyche through his own free will can invoke the guidance of God while still continuing his earthly activities (building and carving). The Mason considers all of humanity a “Temple of God,” as he will use his life experiences to make himself into a stone with its own shape arranged into the larger structure of the whole temple. Grand Lodges are independent from one great lodge but require a belief in God, all teaching one philosophical ideal despite the cultural differences among members around the world. While the Masonry calls upon its members to share their thoughts and beliefs in the Supreme Being, this system is not a religion in itself, unlike the Rosicrucian Society that developed a set of certain beliefs its members must respect. Freemasonry does not discriminate among its members, but there are three levels of information, known as the “Three Degrees,” that the candidate for Masonry can achieve, the highest of which is the Master Mason. Secrecy is necessary and unavoidable within the Freemasonry. Each individual Mason, because he has his own personal relationship with his Deity, cannot possibly fully express to an outsider his experience within the Freemasonry, and Masonry prohibits spread of information concerning the nature of their official meetings and discussions. Because of its secretive nature, opposition (primarily religious) to Freemasonry has arisen throughout history, as people outside the system assume the Masons operate their secret society through witchcraft. Members like Benjamin Franklin, however, refute these claims through their assurances, in personal writings, of their own highly religious and moral beliefs.

II. Scope and Purpose

The Freemasons’ Society, a worldwide fraternal organization, adheres to one set of principles, but is not one single association. The Masonry usually has one Grand Lodge for each country (one for each state in the United States) that governs the activities of the Freemasons in certain regions. While Masonry, or the Craft, reflects a range of societies, these Grand Lodges operate according to one philosophical viewpoint that requires belief in a Supreme Being. Freemasons dedicate themselves to the practices of tolerance, respect of others, morality, and charity. Also integral to the Masonic tradition, which includes members of any monotheistic religion, is its devotion to the “Great Architect of the Universe.” Masonry was founded as an organization of masons, the men who physically worked on buildings and carvings in medieval Europe, so its members would have strictly been white males, due to the social arrangement in Europe at the time: neither women nor other races were masons at that time. As the system has developed and spread to other countries, becoming less centered on the tradition of technical masonry, women and African Americans are now admitted into the Freemasonry. The first African American Lodge was created in 1791 by Prince Hall, and all African-American Lodges have been named for him ever since. In the 1960s, several mainstream white Lodges opened up to visiting relations with Prince Hall Lodges, but no steps have been taken to integrate the two Masonic organizations (Ridley, 266). In the United States, the Craft values self-made businessmen, unlike the hereditary membership in Britain. Freemasonry operates on a basis of intricate psychological “secrets,” representing insights into the unconscious, that are revealed to the new member in three stages of initiation, the Three Degrees. These secrets are characteristic of each individual, so it is futile to try to explain or generalize the revelations each person experiences. Even though the regalia and symbols of the Freemasons are now recognized by the general public, the true meaning of such entities cannot be effectively understood by anyone outside the system. The American legal system provides Freemasons the right to maintain their secrecy, and cannot be forced to admit their membership in this system.

II. A. Sources and Criteria of Knowledge

Masons consider the creations (architecture, carvings) of their profession a microcosm of the element of creation connected to God, the divine Mason who created all that is in existence in only six days. Because of the religious foundation within the Masonic system, every Mason must thoroughly study the “Volume of Sacred Law.” This literature is understood to be the Bible, Koran, Torah, Vedas, or any other religious scripture, depending upon the religion of the country in which each Lodge meets (MacNulty, 17). People had heard of the “Mason Word,” used by medieval Scottish master masons as a codeword to distinguish between the true masons and the apprentices. The Mason Word became another mysterious aspect of the Masonic Tradition that caused non-Masons to suspect an element of witchcraft within the system, as one minister accused a local mason “donated his first child to the Devil in return for the Mason Word” (Ridley, 37). It was not until 1723, after the formation of the English Grand Lodge, that James Anderson published the Book of Constitutions, which relates the origin and development of the Masonic tradition. Soon after this book was released to the public, the Freemasons began to advertise, through plays and charitable works, the existence and activities of their society.

Candidates for membership into the Freemasonry join in the ritual dramas, known as “Degrees,” that teach morality. The symbols involved in these rituals come from customs associated with the medieval stone masons’ guild. During the meetings, Masonic Lectures offer interpretations of these symbols and rituals. However, these lectures do not explain the symbolism in the rituals, as they merely direct the member to a wide source of Renaissance literature. The actual interpretation of the material is left for the individual Freemason, who is guided in the exploration of his psyche by his God (MacNulty, 7).

B. Methods of Inquiry

Masonry consists of two elements: the solid and the psychological or spiritual.

These two elements are combined in the impressive cathedrals built during the medieval time period. The very magnitude of these building projects exemplifies the devotion that the masons’ guild expressed towards their work. Cathedrals are symbolically divided into four parts that are representations of the Western metaphysical system: the nave, or physical body; the choir, or soul; the sanctuary, or spirit; the tabernacle, or divinity (MacNulty, 9).

Just as the work of the Masons represents their connection to the Great Architect of the Universe, the Freemasons place symbolic importance in the “Three Great Lights:” the Volume of the Sacred Law, the Square, and the Compasses. Seventeenth century Englishmen found the required reading of the Bible particularly useful in emphasizing the individual’s source in the Deity at a time when the Pope was regarded as the sole interpreter of the Divine. Apart from individual study and reflection, members also engage in elaborate rituals, which constitute the “Degrees,” depicted in various frontispieces and engravings in Masonic literature. Masonic symbols and meanings were revealed by Freemasons and were often used as motifs for decorative art in the eighteenth, and the Masons held public ceremonies in the early 1920s. Recently, however, the Masons have been criticized for having become more secretive in their activities.

The apprentice mason must go through three stages of initiation (“Degrees”). Tools are the tangible objects that a craftsman uses to complete his work, and their use suggests a learned skill. In the Masonic Tradition, these tools represent psychological abilities that the Mason must identify, secure control of, and then apply in his daily life. The “Apprentice,” or first degree initiate, is given the working tools: the “gavel of passion,” the “chisel of analysis,” and the “gauge of measured choice,” all tools of action. Once the initiate completes his training on the first level, he is elevated to second degree, or “Fellowcraft.” He then receives the tools of testing that deal with individual morality: the level (symbolizing justice), the plumbrule (representing mercy), and the “square of truth.” During the First and Second Degree ceremonies, the entrant must pass the “testing by the Wardens,” during which the individual must demonstrate part of the ritual for the wardens. This represents the internal maturity of conscience and self-discipline by which the developing individual is directed. Advancement to higher degrees depends upon the individual’s progression of understanding the system, but the entire process generally takes only a few months. The initiate then advances to the third degree, the status of “Master Mason,” whose tools indicate design and creativity. The Master Mason’s tools allow him to plan and lay out his work, as the pencil represents his ability to create, while the skirrett limits the pencil’s movement, showing its role as “understanding and guiding creativity.” The third tool, the compass, is an instrument of consciousness that maintains proportion (MacNulty, 22).

With each degree that the individual achieves, he is given a “Tracing Board” that serves as a visual aid to illustrate the doctrines taught in each Degree, using symbols reminiscent of the Renaissance. As the apprentice progresses further into the system, his Tracing Boards give the impression of turning inward to his soul and entering deeper into the “Temple of God,” a physical representation of humanity (MacNulty, 23). The compasses on the Tracing Boards offer the visual representation that the mason’s conscious awareness of himself has changed. This ideal is most fully expressed in the ritual of the Third Degree, when the candidate realizes that he is a “spiritual being who has both a soul and a body” (MacNulty, 29). During this ritual, the initiate must begin the psychological process himself. Once the ritual begins, external aid is offered to him as an escape. This help must be rejected so that the Deity can come forward into the consciousness as the guiding force within the candidate. The individual lies on the ground on top of a floor cloth covered with footprints. This represents the idea that the initiate is not physically dying, but is experiencing a psychological death, suggesting that the initiate “passes from the level of the psyche to the level of the spirit” (MacNulty, 81). The individual does not experience the confusing period between his lost consciousness and intervention for a long time. As a result of this exercise, the new Mason realizes that he can no longer exist in the illusion of “independent existence,” but thinks of himself as a “spiritual being possessing both a soul and body” (MacNulty, 30).

The Rosicrucian society, a religious sect, was founded on the writings of Christian Rosenkrantz. His claimed to have had a vision of a Paradise in which all men believed in a Supreme Being and had no qualms about religious differences; specifically, Protestants and Catholics could worship together. While Freemasonry allows membership to all religions and requires belief in God, the individual Masons continue to practice their long-established religions. The Rosicrucians created a separate religious order that only requires the acceptance of a divine being and the willingness to lead a moral life, two basic principles of the Freemasons Society (Davis, 480). Rosicrucians, like the Freemasons, adopted occult symbols (the rose and the cross). The Brothers of the Rosy Cross also study natural philosophies that challenge religious conventions. The Freemasons continue to follow the protocol of their own religions, at the same time some lodges became interested in Rosicrucian mysteries: Kabbala, magic, alchemy, theosophy, demonology, and spiritualism (Davis, 525).

C. Institutions and Professional Structure

Each Grand Lodge has absolute authority within its jurisdiction but there

is not one supreme Lodge. Masons belong to different degrees, corresponding to the amount of information they have learned: the first degree, or Entered Apprentice; the second degree, or Fellowcraft; the third degree, or Master Mason. All members within the Masonry are treated as equals, and a member may choose never to advance past the First Degree. He will not be penalized or demeaned for remaining at one level, but he will also not learn as much about the system. Each level of initiation involves new information about the symbols and rituals of Freemasonry, so the individual’s ability to participate in philosophical discussion is limited to his desire and ability to learn more about the system. Some meetings may only be open to Master Masons, who have advanced to the highest level of Freemasonry, but this does not mean that the First and Second Degree initiates are less important within the entire Masonry.

The Craft considers each officer of the Lodge in the context of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences. The Lodge elects the “Most Worshipful Master,” “Secretary,” “Treasurer,” “Junior and Senior Wardens,” and “Tyler,” while the Master appoints the “Senior and Junior Deacons,” two “Stewards” and a “Chaplain.” Officers traditionally “pass through the chairs,” so a Mason progresses through the titles from Steward, Jr. and Sr. Deacon, Jr. and Sr. Warden to become Master, so the names on the election roster of lodge officers change little each year. The qualifications for these offices depend less on ritualistic and charitable concerns and have more to do with the member’s personal skills in organizing social activities and in keeping the Masonry an interesting organization (Dumenil, 194). Each of these officers is associated with a particular service for the individual’s understanding of the “dimension of consciousness” that connects the Divine and the corporeal world (MacNulty,23). The “Tyler,” associated with Grammar, sets strict rules for structuring ideas so they can be successfully recorded. “Inner Guard,” or Logic, teaches the guidelines for rational analysis—representing what is now known as the ego that allows the psyche to relate to the rest of the world. Rhetoric is embodied in the “Junior Deacon,” representing the psychological level of feeling and the ability to remember events, teaches a candidate that invoking the emotions of the reader allows for the most persuasive writing. The “Senior Deacon” is described in terms of arithmetic, used for organizing abstract ideas. This member is aware of events as they occur in the physical world as well as within the psyche. “Junior Wardens” are associated with geometry, similar to the self that emerges into consciousness and learns about the unconscious through routine experiences. Music is connected to the “Senior Warden” as a mystical relation to the Renaissance, based on balance and ratios of musical notes, which represents the level of the soul’s relationship among the workings of the individual psyche. The head of the Lodge, known as the “Worshipful Master,” is related to astronomy. Astronomy functions as a level of consciousness that can describe the Divine Architect’s plan, just as the Worshipful Master is in contact with the spirit.

Individual Lodges also give their members grandiose titles, such as “Illustrious,” “Noble,” “Potentate,” “King,” “Prophet,” “Captain General,” or “High Priest.” The Masons also use “Worshipful,” “Venerable,” and “Super Excellent,” followed by the word “Master.” A special name is given to express the importance of the individual’s role within the group, but not to demonstrate respect for the individual himself (Ridley,72).

IV History

Freemasonry has its roots in the “Mysteries, a body of thought that involves ritual and symbolic structure relating to philosophy and morality” (MacNulty, 5). The Mysteries were schools that provided the knowledge to understand the natural principles that control the non-material domains, particularly the psyche. The teachings of the Mysteries exist in Masonry’s symbolic framework, but mystery has been associated with architecture since ancient Greece. The temples connect architecture and mystery, as though a stone structure dedicated to a god could contain and explain the psychological essence of that particular deity. The Roman architect, Vitruvius, put together the architectural forms into the “orders of architecture”(MacNulty,8). He explains that buildings affiliated with religions should have “dimensions which reflect the proportions of the human body”(MacNulty,8). These mystical architectural ideas spread to Britain through the Roman armies, whose influence remained after the Roman departure in the fifth century. In 900, the masons’ guild grew to involve the secret ancient traditions in the Freemasonry. (MacNulty,8).

The term “Freemason,” established in English vocabulary during the fourteenth century, applies to the highly skilled “free-stone masons” who worked with soft, chalky stone used to carve the facades on cathedral faces. Masons were well respected for their abilities and traveled, at the request of bishops, across Britain to help build cathedrals. The craftsmen built huts, also called “lodges,” near the cathedral construction sites. They ate and kept their tools in these lodges, but the Freemasons slept only in local inns. (Ridley,3).

The young builders learned geometry, architecture, and carving. Moral lessons were also passed down in the form of biblical stories written about the construction of King Solomon’s temple. Everything written in the Bible has great significance for the Masons, including the measurements of Solomon’s temple. The first Freemasons were convinced that these numbers had some great spiritual meaning. Based on the importance they placed in this temple, they created a story. The Masons claim that King Solomon wanted to know the secret of this meaning so badly that he sent his own masons to find the builder’s dead body, in order to uncover the mystery. Solomon’s craftsmen supposedly found the hand of this body first, and from that hand adopted a secret handshake to be used among masons.

The first official Masonic Lodges emerged in seventeenth century England. The British ruler at the time, King James, condemned Renaissance mystical tradition as a source of witchcraft. By the 1650s, members of the “Invisible College” (an association that also founded the Royal Society, an organization of scientists) still privately continued the mystical traditions (MacNulty, 14). During the uncertain period of the Protestant Reformation, many people had broken, without the guidance of strong leadership, away from the Catholic Church. The Masons allowed men who were not masons by profession to join their organization, labeling them “Accepted” Masons. This new “symbolic Masonry” had four main groups that formed Lodges and met at “The Goose and Gridiron,” “The Crown,” “The Apple Tree,” and “The Bunches of Grapes.” These four units decided that on June 24, 1717 in London, England they would meet as one group, called the Grand Lodge (Demott, 3). By 1722 there were thirty Grand Lodges in London alone. The Grand Lodge of London issued charters to Lodges around the world, in order for those Lodges to apply the doctrines of Anderson’s Constitutions, from which rituals and teachings of the Masons are drawn. In 1731 Freemasonry spread to America, the first Lodge built in Boston. Rivalries among Lodges soon developed, particularly between the “Ancients” (developed the Army) and the “Moderns” (associated with the Navy). Finally in 1813 the two groups reconciled and met together in Freemason’s Hall, London.

Albert Pike, the son of a farmer, devoted much of his life to establishing order and meaning to the rituals of Freemasonry. In 1871, he wrote “Morals and Dogma,” which explains the philosophy of Masonry. As the Grand Commander, Pike was assigned the duty of settling jurisdictional disputes. In 1879, he criticized a group of Masons for showing extreme “pompousness” in the elaborate titles created for several members. As a result of his complaints, the Lodge assigned those men less ostentatious titles. The position of Grand Commander is still valued today as an authority on legitimate behavior and restrictions within the Masonry (Demott, 108).

V. Representative Examples of Argumentation

Opposition to the Freemasons’ Society has always existed due to the secretive nature of the organization. Because this organization operated in secrecy, the American Masons have been accused both rightly and falsely of beginning trouble with British authorities in Boston in the 1700s (Ridley, 96). The Masonry’s ideals of freedom and acceptance of all religions within a society directly conflicted with the oppressive British control over colonial America. Because of the mysterious nature of these conspirators, dressed up as “Red Indians,” involved with the Boston Tea Party, the Freemasons are assumed to have begun the American Revolution (Ridley, 96).

Those opposing Freemasonry, unfamiliar with the true function of the system, mostly resist in the name of religion, mistrusting the “oaths, considering its religious ritual blasphemous”(Dumenil, 7). Samuel W. Dexter, in 1830, gave an anti-Masonic speech in which he states: “Freemasonry, by mingling prayers with bloody and profane oaths, by uniting the mummery of masonry with passages from holy writ…stands forth as the apostle of Deism, if not Atheism”(Dumenil, 3). Women, excluded from the fraternity, enhanced this anti-Masonic sentiment, claiming that morality was within the realm of the female’s duty. Jonathan Blanchard actually ran for the American Presidency, and included in his platform the “withdrawal of the charters of secret societies, and the acknowledgment of God as giver of civil government”(Dumenil, 249).

The Craft only accepts those men who seek admittance into the Freemasonry, so its members must feel that the participation in the rituals bring each individual to a clearer understanding of God. Franklin thought this as well, and wrote about the Masonry for the newspaper, including essays such as “The Usefulness of Mathematics” and “Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion.” The most revealing of Franklin’s essays, “Sacrifice is not the Essence of Virtue,” was not published until after his death. This article explains his adoration for the “one Supreme most perfect Being, Author and Father of the Gods themselves” (Franklin) and his determination to live a life that “pays Divine Regards to SOMETHING,” while constantly “considering in what manner (he) shall make (him)self most acceptable to the Divine (Franklin).” Franklin declares that he “loves God for his Goodness and adores Him for his Wisdom.” He found that he was able to share his feelings within the Masonic Tradition. Through these writings, Franklin conveyed messages of morality and religion that Masonry seeks to teach its members. Franklin held this system in such high esteem that he promoted sharing the “Masonic Peace” with the public (Demott, 23). Grand Master Edward Myers Preston of California explained this religious communion among Masons as “inculcating a more reverant devotion than mere compulsory obedience to law, that inspires a faith in God which cannot be impugned by heresy, and proclaims a recognition of the birthright of man, which is the foundation of religious and political liberty.”

VI Suggested Position in Comparative Scales

a. Traditional authority(1)---(10)Testimony of Experience: 1

While traditions are significant within the Freemasons society, the system itself is based on the ability of its members to keep the mysteries of the brotherhood secret. The experiences of each individual are meant to be kept secret between that person and God, because only that person can understand the true meaning of his personal exploration of the psyche.

b. Centralization of authority(1)---(10)Decentralization: 7

Freemasonry encourages each member to have a personal relationship with his Deity of the religion of his choice. Each member must also independently study some religious texts and is left to interpret symbols through his own understanding. This system is not affiliated with any one religion, and even in the rituals performed, the individual must gain his own insight through his own personal experience with those rituals.

c. Invisible Realities(1)---(10)Material Realities: 9

The Masons use material realities: buildings (temples), their tools, the tracing boards, specific titles, to explain the functions of the society. These earthly materials represent a larger-than-earth reality that involves the functions of the Divine Creator. The purpose of the Masonry is to heighten the individual Mason’s awareness and psychology of the Divine Being.

d. Spiritual or Moral Objectives(1)---(10)Pragmatic Aims: 6

A significant objective of the Freemasons is the enhancement of spiritual and moral enlightenment and activity. The Masons require each member to participate in charitable works. Each individual must strive, through ritual, reading, and relating to others, to become as close to God as he can while doing His work on earth.

e. Power reserved for Divine Being(1)---(10)Power in Individuals: 10

In the final degree of Masonry, the candidate experiences “death” in the sense that he renounces his former idea of himself to allow God to enter and take over his consciousness. Once the Deity has entered, He becomes the guiding agency within the individual.

Bibliography

I. Primary Sources

Dexter, Samuel. The Rise of American Civilization.

--Dexter approaches the Freemasonry from an Anti-Masonic viewpoint due to his misunderstanding of the necessary secrecy of the system.

Franklin, Benjamin. “Sacrifice is not the Essence of Virtue.”

--A personal essay written confirming Franklin’s belief in the Divine Creator, enhancing his role within the Masonic Tradition.

Preston, Edward. California Journals of Proceedings, 1894

--Preston approaches Freemasonry from the viewpoint opposite from Dexter’s idea. According to Preston, Freemasonry enhances religious beliefs, and does not demean them in any way.

II. Secondary Sources

Davis, Walter W. Eastern and Western History, Thought, and Culture.

Maryland: University Press of America, Inc. 1993

Davis provides in depth details of the history of the Freemasonry in regards to events occurring before and after the creation of this system, as for example the development and tenets of the Rosicrucian Society.

Demott, Bobby J. Freemasonry in American Culture and Society. New York: University Press of America, Inc. 1986

This book was helpful in answering general, non-technical questions about the Masonry. The overall goals and philosophy of Freemasonry were explained in detail. This book also answered more questions about the types of people, as well as a few individuals, that belong to this society. He also includes comments from individual members based on their experiences as Freemasons (Albert Pike and Benjamin Franklin).

Dumenil, Lynn. Freemasonry and American Culture 1880-1930. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1984

Dumenil provides a very direct and concise history of Freemasonry that refers to and explains the importance of religion within the fraternal organization.

MacNulty, Kirk W. Freemasonry: A Journey through Ritual and Symbol. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991

MacNulty writes mostly about the structure of the Freemasonry, and its origin in relation to the mystical aspects of the system. He also explains in great detail the functions of each member, as well as what they mean to the whole system in a spiritual sense. Instead of focusing on the significance of why the Freemasonry exists, he explains the activities of the system.

Ridley, Jasper. The Freemasons: A History of the World’s Most Powerful Secret Society. New York: Arcade Publishing. 2001.

Ridley offered a lot of information concerning the history of the Freemasonry as well as the opposition its members faced as a result of the secrecy involved in the system.