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Candidates for Freemasonry will usually have met the most active members of the Lodge they are joining before being elected for initiation. The process varies among Grand Lodges, but in modern times interested people often look up a local Lodge through the Internet and will typically be introduced to a Lodge social function or open evening.
Freemasonry in the United States is the history of Freemasonry as it was introduced from Britain and continues as a major secret society to the present day. It is a fraternal order that brings men together (and women through its auxiliaries) to gain friendship and opportunity for advancement and community progress.
Open to master masons and their female relatives, members were once compelled to join the Order of the Eastern Star first, but the two organisations became separate in 1921. [ 13 ] Ladies' Oriental Shrine of North America Founded in 1903 in Wheeling, West Virginia, the order has over 16,000 members in 76 Courts across North America.
Masonic Lodge No. 123 in Kimbolton, New Zealand Former house of the Masonic lodge in Szprotawa, Poland. The membership requirements, progression through degrees, and affiliation rules in Freemasonry are designed to ensure the integrity, harmony, and continuity of the fraternity while allowing for personal growth and brotherhood among its members.
The Philippine Independent Church, officially the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), do not prohibit Freemasonry and allows its clergy and members to join Masonic organizations. Its earliest members and supporters, who are widely recognized national heroes of the country, were notable Freemasons.
The basic unit of Freemasonry is the Masonic Lodge, [3] which alone can "make" (initiate) a Freemason. Such lodges are controlled by a Grand Lodge with national or regional authority for all lodges within its territory. A masonic lodge confers the three masonic degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft (or Fellow Craft), and Master Mason. [4] [5]
The group says it has 180,000 male members, with two parallel female lodges in England having another 5,000 members, and estimates global Freemasonry membership at around six million.
The history of Freemasonry encompasses the origins, evolution and defining events of the fraternal organisation known as Freemasonry.It covers three phases. Firstly, the emergence of organised lodges of operative masons during the Middle Ages, then the admission of lay members as "accepted" (a term reflecting the ceremonial "acception" process that made non-stone masons members of an operative ...