Freemasonry

Freemasonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow (now called Fellowcraft), and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft (or Blue Lodge) Freemasonry. Members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are usually administered by different bodies than the craft degrees.

The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the regional level (usually coterminous with either a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, world-wide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate.

Absolutes and Imperialism: Exclusion and Isolation?

Knowledge

Not long ago, and on behalf of the United Grand Lodge of England, a speech was made that stated that the basic principles of Freemasonry were refined over 150 years and codified in 1929 and 1938. This codification, it is claimed, defines regularity; the speech advises that regularity is an “absolute” and that these basic principles are above and beyond change and reinterpretation. The same statement proscribes masons in masonry from being explicitly involved in matters such as the social progress of the new Europe and it stipulates that “Freemasonry has no role outside of Freemasonry”.


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