Promoting the Fraternity across the World
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.
On Tuesday 7th June, Brethren from East Lancashire made an early start catching the 8.35 am Virgin Train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. Stops were made at Stockport, Macclesfield and Stoke where we collected additional Brethren to make a total of 65 in our party. By 9.30 am, we were all enjoying refreshments with drinks served by the Grand Stewards David Biggs and Gerry Young, assisted by Tracy our Stewardess from Virgin.
Last night the Arizona Father/Son Degree team debuted at Oriental Lodge No. 20 and conferred the first degree of masonry on a father/son pair of candidates.
Generosity of donors had made an enormous difference in helping residents to rebuild their lives.Colin Stroud, chair of the York Disaster Fund, said 250 grants totalling £440,000 had been given out so far to 175 households, so there were still funds available to which people could apply. Yorkshire Freemasons have, to date, contributed £25,000 to the appeal.
Charity Lodge No. 144 of Free and Accepted Masons launched its third century of charity and fellowship with a banquet held at the First Presbyterian Church of Lewisburg on May 7.
Herstmonceux Integrative Health Centre has received a very generous donation of £1000 from the Herstmonceux Freemasons. They are currently raising funds for a new ECG machine and this donation goes a very long way to reaching their goal.
Freemasons of Busselton and Margaret River have extended an invitation to people in the South West to an open day at the Busselton Masonic Centre
The 2016 conference of The Masonic Society will take place this year October 7-9, at Morgan Hill Masonic Lodge in Morgan Hill, California (just twenty minutes from the San Jose International Airport). The theme of the conference will be “FREEMASONRY ON THE FRONTIER,”
Generous donation from Freemasons to North West Air AmbulanceThe North West Air Ambulance charity is delighted to have received an extremely generous donation from a number of Freemason provinces in the North West.
“So mote it be” is a ritual phrase used by Freemasons, in Rosicrucianism. It means “so may it be”, “so it is required” or “so must it be”, and may be said at the end of a prayer in a similar way to “amen”
Walter Millard Fleming was an American surgeon and one of the founders of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Fleming was born on June 13th, 1838 in Portland, Maine. He would graduate from a medical school in Albany, New York in 1862 before practicing medicine.