Freemasonary

[*crikey*mate*]

What do you know about it?

I was told that one Mason could identify another Mason by shaking hands with them.

Apparently they have some special secret handshake.

[cherry*135]

What secrets did they blab?

The freemasons have released a lot of information themselves about their society in recent years as a response to public curiosity.

Historically there has always been secret societies, this is one that has survived to the present day, so far.

[freakiness]

What a lovely story wicks.

My father in law was a mason & he was one of the best men I ever knew.

I suppose there's always some on here who will find something negative to say about anything, some on here who will allude to politics & religion.

So who is it you accuse of speaking in the negative and alluding to politics and religion?

Ever heard of discussion?

[lakeland27]

freemasonry is guilty of putting the less -suited into jobs over the deserving. the origins of ''not what you know, but who you know'' are in masons favouring each other.

there was a lodge in adelaide at st peters with a lean- to shed at the back you could climb on and watch proceedings through the high window. didn't see any goat-riding, but they spent an awful lot of time in semi -darkness under these violet lights.

i have a bit of masonic regalia and quite a few badges . the most interesting bauble shows the crucifixion.. the blood is dripping into a small hole at the top of a shaft leading to a cave underneath, where a chap sits holding up a cup or chalice (a grail perhaps) that he uses for collecting the blood that drips down.

[debra9275]

My Dad is a FreeMason, my perception of them is that they are business people who 'help each other out" in business and I think they do some charity work such as donating. As a child I used to wonder about the little black case, the medals, the sash, the apron etc.

He is one of the fairest, most honest people I know and has very high values, but to this day has remained secretive as to what it's about and what they actually do on lodge nights.

my son watched a program on the FreeMasons and discovered what the 'secret handshake" was, he couldn't wait to greet Dad with it. The look on my Dad's face was priceless  😄

[**meep**]

When I was younger, it used to be somewhere to go to get away from their wives once a week, much like the army reserve.

😐

[the_great_she_elephant]

i have a bit of masonic regalia and quite a few badges . the most interesting bauble shows the crucifixion.. the blood is dripping into a small hole at the top of a shaft leading to a cave underneath, where a chap sits holding up a cup or chalice (a grail perhaps) that he uses for collecting the blood that drips down.

I found this really intriguing, LL because one of the old traditional ballads(the Childe  Ballads)  refers to this very concept and is certainly connected to the grail legend. There is speculation that in fact the rituals implied in the ballad are much older than Christianity.

The link below contains several variants of the ballad, but googling would probably bring up many others.

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/lloyd/songs/downinyonforest.html

[azureline**]

I suppose there are rituals in all groups that have slowly been left out, yet some remain, perhaps it is the "secrecy" that helps them keep/ get membership?

[lakeland27]

i have a bit of masonic regalia and quite a few badges . the most interesting bauble shows the crucifixion.. the blood is dripping into a small hole at the top of a shaft leading to a cave underneath, where a chap sits holding up a cup or chalice (a grail perhaps) that he uses for collecting the blood that drips down.

I found this really intriguing, LL because one of the old traditional ballads(the Childe  Ballads)  refers to this very concept and is certainly connected to the grail legend. There is speculation that in fact the rituals implied in the ballad are much older than Christianity.

The link below contains several variants of the ballad, but googling would probably bring up many others.

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/lloyd/songs/downinyonforest.html

that is interesting. the badge (well medallion) is not alone in having that portrayal, i've seen some prints depicting the same scene.

[*crikey*mate*]

Lakeland, you wouldn't have a picture of it you could post here, would you? It does sound very intriguing.

[lakeland27]

i can't atm crikey, a new smarphone and voila' my 15 yr old used up all of the bandwidth. i will take a picture though, and put it up later in the week.