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Innerguard posted:On the recommendation of jrgnsn_tjf in the post above, I've started to listen to the 'Whence Came You?' podcast. I highly recommend it to other brethren. So far, it seems quite simply and refreshing. 90-something episodes to go! I forgot to add: 'The Life Masonic' to that list. It's good too, but a lot of it is lost on me owing to the fact it is Scottish Rite 
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Jun 23, 2013 13:41
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jrgnsn_tjf posted:I forgot to add: 'The Life Masonic' to that list. It would be nice to see some people on these podcasts (looking at 'The Midnight Freemasons' in particular) who were more 'average' brethren - folks who concentrated on the 'blues' more. I wonder what these podcasts opinions would be on doing sections with masons from other countries to discuss the differences (and similarities) of their particular constitution.
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Jun 23, 2013 14:11
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Innerguard posted:It would be nice to see some people on these podcasts (looking at 'The Midnight Freemasons' in particular) who were more 'average' brethren - folks who concentrated on the 'blues' more. I wonder what these podcasts opinions would be on doing sections with masons from other countries to discuss the differences (and similarities) of their particular constitution. Then I direct you to the UGLQ Freemason Podcast. As mentioned it's hosted by a computer programmer and the deputy GL secretary. It appeals to me because it talks about things like toasts, literature, and internet sites of interest, as well as interviews with 'everyday' masons and the roles of lodge officers to name a few. It doesn't pretend to be scholarly nor elitist which makes it very easy to listen to. Plus Queenslanders are chilled out cats at the best of times so it always sounds like just a couple of brothers chatting casually.\ Also, what are the three dots? I've never seen them down here... Is it just 'one of those things?'
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Jun 23, 2013 15:09
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Solvent posted:As of last communication, just a few months ago, the Grand Lodge of Florida will recognize neither African American Master Masons, nor Prince Hall lodges. I can believe an individual lodge doing something like this, but not a Grand Lodge. And I would think that the Past Master in question should be able to complain to California's Grand Lodge and get it all straightened out. A Florida lodge not extending visition rights to a regular Mason in good standing with a Lodge they recognize is the kind of thing that should and would be worked out between Grand Lodges and I would imagine would end up with the Florida GL telling the subordinate lodge that they have to let him in. Edit: And here is the official summary of changes from the last communication which mentions nothing of the sort? http://www.glflamason.org/documents/Monthly%20Mail/06-Jun/2013/4%20Summary%20of%20Legislation%202013.pdf Sub Rosa fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 23, 2013 19:00
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jrgnsn_tjf posted:Also, what are the three dots? I've never seen them down here... Is it just 'one of those things?' It's a silly Masonic way of abbreviating things. It's a way for a brother to see an abbreviation and say, "oh, hey, that must stand for something Masonic instead of some regular abbreviation." e.g.: Grand Lodge of N.C., U.S.A. but A∴A∴S∴R∴, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. I think it's used a lot more on the Scottish Rite side of things than Blue Lodge or York Rite, but you'll see it all over.
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Jun 23, 2013 20:54
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Just got back from a dinner the lodge I petitioned put on. I was told that a committee will be coming to speak to be sometimes between now and september. looking forward to posting when I'll be initiated.
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Jun 24, 2013 04:53
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Colton posted:Just got back from a dinner the lodge I petitioned put on. I was told that a committee will be coming to speak to be sometimes between now and september. looking forward to posting when I'll be initiated. Excellent! I assume you enjoyed the dinner - anything interesting happen?
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Jun 24, 2013 12:04
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well, the dinner was ok.. it was ham and potatoes au gratin from a box. It was a dinner in honor of our ladies so my wife and son were invited too. my 11 month old constantly ran around the lodge making noise. Some of the brothers and their wives took turns holding him and saying how cute he was. Other than that, nothing really different, except that from looking at who was there it seems the lodge is mostly old men and pretty small... but everyone there is getting used to seeing me.
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Jun 25, 2013 22:18
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Colton posted:well, the dinner was ok.. it was ham and potatoes au gratin from a box. It was a dinner in honor of our ladies so my wife and son were invited too. my 11 month old constantly ran around the lodge making noise. Some of the brothers and their wives took turns holding him and saying how cute he was. Other than that, nothing really different, except that from looking at who was there it seems the lodge is mostly old men and pretty small... but everyone there is getting used to seeing me. Excellent - what was the vibe like? I assume it must be alright given that you mentioned you were looking forward to hearing from the committee of enquiry, but it doesn't hurt to know! If you don't mind me asking, did your wife have any feedback, opinion, etc?
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Jun 25, 2013 22:45
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the vibe was a bit more relaxed than the first time I met the lodge. to be honest it was more like visiting family for me since the majority of my family when I was growing up were elderly, just like this lodge. SO there's that. my wife didn't seem to mind so much because there was a younger lodge member there with his family and she had another wife with a small baby to talk to. I think the only negative thing my wife had to say was about the cooking, but she's a cook for a living so food from a box tends to get under her skin. Hell, we even came home with three pounds of potato salad and she hates the stuff.
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Jun 25, 2013 22:50
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Sub Rosa posted:They never to my knowledge recognized Prince Hall in Florida, but not recognizing a regular MM for being black is, well, I can't believe that, do you have a source for this? Yeah. No source. It was a complaint he made privately to his friend who is another PM. I challenge any black, or mixed race Mason to try attending meetings in the State of Florida. I'm a lodge Secretary, and I heard about this during a request for an address change. I asked around the lodge and got the whole smorgasbord of opinions, most of which pointed square at "Southern Jurisdiction, what do you want?" "How is writing a letter to the Grand Lodge of Florida going to anything other than create disharmony?" Truthfully, they're right. If I was a black man, who was turned away from a couple of the local lodges (for being black) in the districts I moved to for my job, I don't think I'd want to go back to them, no matter who forced them to do what. As for Masonic racism in general, I would say that it is in opposition to our doctrines of tolerance. My lodge seems kind of passe about it. I asked one of the wardens, who is of mixed race, how he felt about it. He said when he was in coaching, it was mentioned to him that the decision to desegregate lodges was a relatively recent one. I feel fortunate that my lodge has a lot of younger members, people in their thirties or so, who are active members, though I am currently the youngest officer in the lodge. The attitude seems to be progressive, but, we live so far away from reformation state culture here in California, that it's hard to square the actions of these southern lodges, without the perspective of the level. At the same time, I feel bad in saying to someone, anyone, "that's just the way it is". On another note, Colton, the Jr. Warden at your new lodge needs your help chopping potatoes! I hate potatoes out of the box. When a team of brothers royally screws up a dinner they worked together to make from scratch, it still tastes so much better than any catered meal I've had at an over budgeted Stated Meeting dinner. Solvent fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Jun 27, 2013 |
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Jun 27, 2013 02:02
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Solvent posted:
agreed. as we were walking home I told my wife that if I get initiated, I'm volunteering for cooking duty. I can do pancakes and spaghetti, I should be ok
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Jun 27, 2013 02:19
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Solvent posted:"How is writing a letter to the Grand Lodge of Florida going to anything other than create disharmony?"
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Jun 27, 2013 06:51
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Now even infiltrating HONY:
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Jun 28, 2013 14:09
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Keetron posted:Now even infiltrating HONY: Not quite following, sorry. I can see the GL of Mass, but don't get anything else.
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Jun 28, 2013 14:27
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Not sure if this has been asked before, but: Why do you keep the bitcoin system down, is there something about unregulated currency that the freemasons have a problem with? And, how do you do it?
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Jun 28, 2013 18:41
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Amyclas posted:Not sure if this has been asked before, but: The same way the CIA uses SA and GoonSwarm to trade secret information.
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Jun 28, 2013 18:51
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Amyclas posted:Not sure if this has been asked before, but: Well you see, through our strategic sleeper agents in big banking and in the government, as well as our unilateral control over the NSA, we've been slowly subverting the blockchain, using the Reptilian-designed quantum computers to break SHA-256 in order to allow us to both control all Bitcoin accounts but also access any encrypted communication worldwide. All computers actually have a fancy chip on them that lets us use them for our distributed supercomputing necessary to keep the Yerk pools running. That's part of why Avalon Miners were able to ship so rapidly, they complied with this directive, whereas BFL has had significant . . . issues as a result of their disobedience. As for why, well, why not? You don't become a super powerful secret society by not controlling the currency! It's a combination reference to a song on an episode of the Simpsons that parodies Freemasonry, and the fact that around 2011 when Bitcoin was just starting to hit peak comedy, a lot of them legitimately believed that anyone who spoke ill of Bitcoins on or around their little Bitcoin forums was a Freemason/CIA/Illuminati sleeper agent. This was accompanied with all the normal conspiracy theory stuff about how Masons control the banks and all the world governments and we know Bitcoin is a disruptive technology that could end all of our plans or something. The icing on top was that Bro. Wafflehound ran at the time the only legitimate Bitcoin business, where he would sell gemstones for bitcoins. He eventually got out of it because it was getting all too ridiculous and tedious, but not before he outed himself as a Mason to the terror of all. So we don't really do anything about Bitcoin, but crazy people on the Internet think we do, so I figured I'd embrace that. Fun Fact: At one point, Bitcoiners found this very thread's predecessor and used it as evidence that all the Bitcoin naysayers here on SA are taking their orders from Freemasons, posting screencaps and so on.
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Jun 28, 2013 18:56
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Solvent posted:I'm a lodge Secretary, and I heard about this during a request for an address change. I asked around the lodge and got the whole smorgasbord of opinions, most of which pointed square at "Southern Jurisdiction, what do you want?" "How is writing a letter to the Grand Lodge of Florida going to anything other than create disharmony?" I don't want to drag this out - but I'm also a Lodge Secretary and if one of the members of my lodge wrote to or phoned me to say that he'd been refused admission to a meeting of a constituent lodge of a Grand Lodge that our Grand Lodge is in recognition with, I would raise hell with our state's Grand Secretary. And, if he gave me a weaselly response about disharmony, I'd keep bothering him about it, bring it up vocally at the annual Grand Lodge meeting and be happy to be censured about, in order to get it read into the record. Leaving aside the issue of racism for a moment, this is a case of one Grand Lodge violating its agreements with another regarding the right of visitation that all Master Mason's have. This is not a light or trifling issue from the point of view of a Grand Lodge, as it threatens their sovereignty. That one Grand Lodge is able to flout with impunity their agreements to allow visitation is a far greater threat to Harmony than the members of a Lodge receiving a reprimand and being forced to change their ways. The point being that one Grand Lodge can't really afford to allow another to treat it so disrespectfully as to bar its members from visitation without cause. Although it might be unasked for advice, I would tell the brother to complain, in writing, to his Lodge Secretary that his credentials had been refused by a Constituent Lodge of a Grand Lodge in recognition with his own and to request that this be forwarded to the Grand Secretary, asking for an explanation. This needs to be done in writing and read into the minutes of his mother lodge. Really, I can't stress enough that this should be done formally, through channels and in writing. Attitudes aren't going be changed unless they're challenged and a formal letter from one Grand Secretary to another asking about the recognition issue can't be ignored. Unfortunately, if the Brother doesn't make a formal complaint, this process can't start on the Lodge and Grand Lodge level. tldr; Sometimes aiding in someone's reformation in the gentlest possible manner still involves a ten ton hammer. Racism is bullshit and refusal of Brother in good standings credentials is bullshit, but nothing will happen without a formal complaint and the involvement of his own Lodge and Grand Lodge. This sort of thing needs to be brought out into the light, not allowed to fester in the shadows.
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Jun 28, 2013 19:35
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Paramemetic posted:Well you see, through our strategic sleeper agents in big banking and in the government, as well as our unilateral control over the NSA, we've been slowly subverting the blockchain, using the Reptilian-designed quantum computers to break SHA-256 in order to allow us to both control all Bitcoin accounts but also access any encrypted communication worldwide. All computers actually have a fancy chip on them that lets us use them for our distributed supercomputing necessary to keep the Yerk pools running. That's part of why Avalon Miners were able to ship so rapidly, they complied with this directive, whereas BFL has had significant . . . issues as a result of their disobedience. Putting it from another angle, do the Freemasons have anything to do with the banking conspiracies? You know, "give me the power to issue a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws" and all that. More specifically, did the Masons have anything to do with the Central Banking Act of 1907, the post-WW2 Breton Woods system, and the Nixon shock, events that led up to everyone's currency becoming free floating fiat rubbish, controlled by a bunch of central banks. What are the Masons' view on the current state of global finance anyway?
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Jun 29, 2013 04:30
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Amyclas posted:Putting it from another angle, do the Freemasons have anything to do with the banking conspiracies? You know, "give me the power to issue a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws" and all that. I mean there are Masons who work in banks, but if that's your standard then I guess I'm part of Masons involved in mental health and emergency medicine conspiracies, Wafflehound is involved in geology conspiracies, and so on. Talking about "the Masons," an global organization of loosely affiliate grand lodges which act and operate independently but have mutual recognition, as having anything to do with any particular event as a whole, is a bit silly. I have no idea what the Central Banking Act of 1907 is for example. It's pretty likely there was at least one Brother involved in the drafting of it, but that's mainly because at one point in American history something like 1 in 5 men were Masons. "The Masons" as a whole probably have no view on the current state of global finance. There are likely as many disparate views of global finance as there are Masons, and there are millions of Masons. The conspiracy theory staple of us operating in lockstep to rule the world is truly pretty absurd.
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Jun 29, 2013 04:46
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Paramemetic posted:The icing on top was that Bro. Wafflehound ran at the time the only legitimate Bitcoin business, where he would sell gemstones for bitcoins. He eventually got out of it because it was getting all too ridiculous and tedious, but not before he outed himself as a Mason to the terror of all. Don't sell me so short. I not only outed myself, but sent messages from the then-locked down masonry thread through other people with accounts basically talking about how we had decided to reveal our organization now that Bitcoin was too weak to defend itself, etc. and then got several other Masons from the thread to pile it on as deep as possible. It was glorious, the whole incident actually lead to the YOSPOS gang tag as well. Pretty much my proudest moment on SA 
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Jun 29, 2013 07:02
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Don't sell me so short. I not only outed myself, but sent messages from the then-locked down masonry thread through other people with accounts basically talking about how we had decided to reveal our organization now that Bitcoin was too weak to defend itself, etc. and then got several other Masons from the thread to pile it on as deep as possible. I only heard about it after the fact but it was a glorious tale and ever since WAFFLEHOUND has had my respect and admiration. 
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Jun 29, 2013 07:09
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The best part of it all was a total accident, how right when they figured out I was a Freemason SA went into its semi-regular lockdown where you needed a membership to get in and they were convinced it was because they discovered where we were posting. Tons of them paid for SA accounts and started copy/pasting our posts as proof of a grand illuminati conspiracy. Here's the main thread, for anyone interested.
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Jun 29, 2013 07:16
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Innerguard posted:Not quite following, sorry. I can see the GL of Mass, but don't get anything else. Sorry about that, it was a reference to Humans of New York, a photoblog that did a side trip to Boston: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/48318073178/im-better-with-questions-than-answers And of course I meant that Masons are everywhere, once again infiltrating popular media.
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Jun 29, 2013 11:00
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Glorified Scrivener posted:I don't want to drag this out - but I'm also a Lodge Secretary and if one of the members of my lodge wrote to or phoned me to say that he'd been refused admission to a meeting of a constituent lodge of a Grand Lodge that our Grand Lodge is in recognition with, I would raise hell with our state's Grand Secretary. And, if he gave me a weaselly response about disharmony, I'd keep bothering him about it, bring it up vocally at the annual Grand Lodge meeting and be happy to be censured about, in order to get it read into the record. Heh, you sound like a Secretary my brother. I'm relatively young and not as well respected as some, and the whole equality of MMs seems to be of issue here. The Worshipful Brother in question did not complain to me. He complained to another PM. It is my understanding that he is not interested in attending lodge in the state of Florida at all now, because of this, and I can't blame him.. I completely understand this, and though I do have an urge to complain to the Grand lodge of California AND Florida, I cannot do so without him wanting me to. Really, what if he did manage to attend lodge there? What if he wanted to affiliate? Then what? No matter who complains to what, the lodge just simply needs to not vote him in. I'd have fun visiting lodges in the south, but I'm lily white, and don't need to be around a bunch of rednecks who WON'T view two brothers as equal. Isn't there something in the third degree about not keeping bad company? Lovable Luciferian posted:I only heard about it after the fact but it was a glorious tale and ever since WAFFLEHOUND has had my respect and admiration. I second that!
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Jun 30, 2013 05:12
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Solvent posted:I completely understand this, and though I do have an urge to complain to the Grand lodge of California AND Florida, I cannot do so without him wanting me to. If you do complain only complain to your Grand Lodge. Doing otherwise puts your Grand Master in an awkward position.
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Jun 30, 2013 05:19
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Lovable Luciferian posted:If you do complain only complain to your Grand Lodge. Doing otherwise puts your Grand Master in an awkward position. If the PM in question wanted me to, I'm sure the whole lodge would get behind him in that complaint. It's just sad that he doesn't, and as I said, I understand why. Thus my challenge to any black Mason who visits the state of Florida. As I sat here and thought about it, trolling your brother out of a bad habit seems pretty Masonic to me. It's done all the time in lodges, but is this the same thing? To put a lodge, or lodges in a position that they don't want to be in? Not to defend any kind of racist behavior, but if any lodge doesn't want to accept a brother for any reason, who am I to stop them? So long as it's not a lodge I'm affiliated with, why should I/we attempt to make an issue out of it? Though it IS a weasely answer, to hide behind "disruption of harmony", and one I hear far too often whenever there is a logical difference of opinion in my lodge. It seems that to disrupt the harmony of a bunch of rednecks, that might otherwise find some light in Freemasonry on their own, if it's not shone in their eyes, so to speak, may leave them to develop on their own. I can say, though I am not an ideal Mason, I am a better man for having joined, and would not have felt the need to make myself so, if I was simply told to by an authority, or forced by political pressure to do so. tl;dr: Prime Directive Solvent fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Jun 30, 2013 |
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Jun 30, 2013 05:46
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If that's the case then just let it go.
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Jun 30, 2013 06:09
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Solvent posted:Not to defend any kind of racist behavior, but if any lodge doesn't want to accept a brother for any reason, who am I to stop them? So long as it's not a lodge I'm affiliated with, why should I/we attempt to make an issue out of it?
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Jun 30, 2013 08:58
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Solvent posted:To put a lodge, or lodges in a position that they don't want to be in? Yeah I'm totally okay with Lodges feeling uncomfrotable with open racism in their lodge. gently caress them. Of course I've been banned for an entire Master's tenure because of something like this. Here's a tip: If the master breaks the rules, gets called on it, and then asks another brother to ask you to appologize to him, the correct response is totally to ask said second brother "Would you kindly tell the Master to go gently caress himself."
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Jun 30, 2013 21:51
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So, if I was interested in joining Masonry, how much would Moore's From Hell spoil for me? I've avoided reading any details of rituals etc but I'd like to read it, only masonry is supposed to be a big part of it.
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Jul 1, 2013 08:45
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Yeah I'm totally okay with Lodges feeling uncomfrotable with open racism in their lodge. gently caress them. Man, I'm so loving glad you put your name on my petition.
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Jul 1, 2013 08:52
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Loomer posted:So, if I was interested in joining Masonry, how much would Moore's From Hell spoil for me? I've avoided reading any details of rituals etc but I'd like to read it, only masonry is supposed to be a big part of it. I read it around the time I was applying to become a mason and before I was told to try not to spoil/ruin the rituals for yourself. If you read it for what it is, a work of fiction, and realize that everything there is made up but based on the true story of Jack the Ripper killed whores in 18th century London, you should be fine. Of course, I am only telling you that because Allan Moore left out the goat almost entirely as do most writers. Shame is what makes them do it tho, as the only way to know about the goat is to have gone through the motions yourself...
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Jul 1, 2013 15:33
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Keetron posted:Of course, I am only telling you that because Allan Moore left out the goat almost entirely as do most writers. Shame is what makes them do it tho, as the only way to know about the goat is to have gone through the motions yourself... You risk a visit from the rope-and-beach-towel crew. Don't even hint at our great shared and shameful secret. Remember We aren't a secret society, but a society with secrets. For good reason.
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Jul 1, 2013 16:22
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So, just heard about Shrine of Arkansas. Anybody care to voice their thoughts on this?
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Jul 1, 2013 22:09
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It'll be interesting to see how the other state Shrines react.
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Jul 1, 2013 22:27
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I have no idea what you're talking about, but Googling comes up with some rather old articles. It looks the Shrine and Arkansas have been at odds on-and-off for some time.
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Jul 1, 2013 23:39
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Colonial Air Force posted:I have no idea what you're talking about, but Googling comes up with some rather old articles. It looks the Shrine and Arkansas have been at odds on-and-off for some time. Yes, and the latest blow in that is that since GL of AK has upheld the previous GM's statement that being a member of Shrine in Arkansas means being a member of a clandestine lodge (and therefore expulsion *without trial*), the Shrine has decided to remove their requirement that Shrine members be Master Masons. Pretty much Mommy and Daddy are through with each other and are now battling over who gets to keep the kids.
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Jul 1, 2013 23:46
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I'm not a Shriner, but I'm not sure I'm bothered by that at all. They used to require members to have "completed" Scottish or York Rite, and then they got rid of that. I don't really see any reason for them to be Masons (not that I see a reason for them NOT to be Masons), other than a huge chunk of the $2m a day US Mason spend on charity is at their hospitals, so it makes our numbers look nice.
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Jul 1, 2013 23:49
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