What is Freemasonry?
Ancient rituals, colorful aprons, hidden handshakes and obscure passwords. For many outsiders, Freemasonry is an enigma wrapped in one secret after another. But for its estimated six million members worldwide, Freemasonry is a serious engagement.
Conspiracy theorists be damned, say the Masons. Contrary to popular notion, members of the world’s oldest fraternal organization do not control world governments and the global banking system. Labeled as a ‘secret’ society, Freemasonry is far from such. Its iconic square and compass emblem, as recognizable as McDonald’s arches, adorns their buildings, merchandise and most highway welcoming signs.
It’s easy to answer the question of what Freemasonry is not. Answering what Freemasonry is and what Freemasons do is more difficult. ‘The Craft’ means something different to each member. Ask ten Freemasons what they do and you’re likely to receive ten different answers, including the go-to spiel:
Freemasonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.
An Esoteric Tradition
The creation of Freemasonry has no specific date. It is an ancient esoteric tradition of self-knowledge and personal improvement that has stood the test of time. In its current form, Freemasonry dates from the formation of the first Grand Lodge of England in a tavern in 1717, and before then to the Medieval stonemason guilds. Trace the origin of Masonic symbolism back further and it stretches all the way to the Roman Schools of Mysteries, the teachings of the Cathars, the Kabbalah, the Osirian Mysteries of Ancient Egypt the Sumerians, Phoenicians and the Socratic Mysteries of Ancient Greece.
The oldest existing written record of Freemasonry, known as the Regius Manuscript, dates around 1390. However, the contents of that document shows that Freemasonry was in existence for a long time before its composition. During the Middle Ages all Freemasons were operative builders of the great European cathedrals and other such structures of the time in the Gothic style of architecture.
From Operative to Speculative
Operative Freemasons designed the buildings, dressed the stone from the quarries and laid the stones in the walls. They set up arches, pillars, columns and buttresses. Laid floors and built roofs. They carved out decorations, made and fitted stained glass windows, and produced sculptures. Their work called for a high degree of skill and genius, and required a great degree of knowledge in mechanics and geometry. They were the great artists of the Middle Ages.
Freemasons organized themselves into lodges. They met in temporary buildings attached to the uncompleted structure. The lodge was governed by a Master assisted by Wardens. A Secretary kept minutes and a Treasurer dispensed funds for the relief of injured, sick or distressed Master Masons, their widows and orphans. Such lodges were the forerunners to the modern Masonic lodge system.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries social conditions underwent a revolution and brought about a decline in operative Freemasonry. To increase their numbers, Freemasons began to accept non-Operative members. Gentlemen with no intention of becoming builders joined Masonic lodges for social purposes and out of curiosity for the Craft’s ancient customs.
On June 24, 1717, at least four of the old lodges of London and Westminster met in London and organized a Grand Lodge. Speculative Masonry (i.e., Masonry in a moral and symbolic sense, as opposed to Operative Masonry ) was born and, thus, the modern three degree system of instruction was implemented.
Modern Builders of the Mind, Body and Soul
Medieval stonemasons refined rough stones hewed from quarries to construct incredible buildings. Modern Masons refine their mind and spirt in a personal transformation from symbolic rough ashlar (roughhewn stone) to perfect ashlar (perfectly shaped building block).
Lessons are imparted in three separate stages, or Degrees:
- 1st Degree — Entered Apprentice
- 2nd Degree — Fellowcraft
- 3rd Degree — Master Mason
Each degree represents an advancement in moral and spiritual education, and a progression of self-knowledge. The third degree teaches physical death and spiritual rebirth through the story of Hiram Abiff, the master builder of King Solomon’s Temple and central figure of Masonic education.
Erected in 970 BCE, King Solomon’s Temple was considered the greatest structure ever built and an earthly symbol of man’s creation through God’s guidance. Freemasonry uses the Temple as a symbol of man who, with God’s guidance, should strive to create a superstructure of himself, perfect in all parts: mind, body and soul.
Is it a Religion?
Freemasonry as an organization recognizes the existence of supreme being, and new members are required to profess such a belief. Beyond that, Freemasonry has no religious requirements or dogma, nor does it teach specific religious beliefs:
- Freemasonry is not a religion nor a substitute for religion. It requires of its members a belief in a supreme being as part of the obligation of every responsible adult, but advocates no sectarian faith or practice
- Atheists cannot be Freemasons
- Masonic ceremonies include prayers, both traditional and extempore, to reaffirm each individual’s dependence on their supreme being and to seek divine guidance
- Freemasonry is open to men of various faiths but religion may not be discussed at Masonic meetings
Freemasonry lacks the basic elements of religion:
- It has no dogma or theology, no wish or means to enforce religious orthodoxy
- It offers no sacraments
- It does not claim to lead to salvation by works, secret knowledge or by any other means
- The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with modes of recognition, not with the means of salvation
Keeping Hush
Freemasonry is not a secret society but is a society of secrets. There are Masonic secrets, but despite popular belief, these secrets do not entail the location of the Holy Grail, the design of the Egyptian pyramids or the propagation of a New World Order. Freemasons don’t know who killed JFK, are not aware of the entrance to hollow earth and are not taking orders from alien overlords.
The Secrets of Freemasonry
They are, at their most basic, the signs of recognition, both physical and verbal, which Masons across the world use to prove and recognize one another.
Masonic ritual states that the peculiar handshake of a Mason is ‘a certain friendly or brotherly grip whereby one Mason may know another in the dark as in the light.’
It’s pretty simple, really. By shaking each other’s hand in a variety of ways, a Freemason identifies another Freemason — a man he has a common connection to — and the level of learning he has attained.
Masonic modes of recognition — the handshakes and passwords — are readily found on the internet. But don’t get too excited in thinking that a simple Google search will enable you to crack the shell of this timeless organization. To know the signs of recognition — the physical secrets — is not to know Freemasonry, just as reading an article on how to perform an emergency repair of a leaking abdominal aortic aneurysm does not qualify you as a brain surgeon.
What’s the Purpose of it All?
Freemasonry is an experience of the heart, mind and soul and no man can make claim to know the heart, mind and soul of another. While the purpose and meaning of Freemasonry may be difficult to define due to personal nature of the Craft, a simple answer is found in the pages of Masonic ritual.
The purpose of Freemasonry is established during the opening of a Lodge, in an exchange between the two principal officers known as the Worshipful Master and the Senior Warden.
The principal officers of a Masonic lodge are: Worshipful Master (in charge), Senior Warden (second in charge), Junior Warden (third in charge). Other officers include: Secretary, Treasurer, Senior Deacon, Junior Deacon, Chaplain, Tyler, Marshall.
Worshipful Master: What came you here to do? Senior Warden: To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry.
Here is a clear answer to what Freemasonry is and what Freemasons do. Freemasons learn to subdue their passions and improve themselves.
Note use of the word ‘subdue’ rather than the word ‘suppress’. The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word ‘subdue’ as: to achieve a victory over. The definition of ‘suppress’ is: to hold back the normal growth of and to put a stop to. Freemasonry teaches that true mastership is obtained in keeping one’s passions in check, not in stamping them out altogether.
From Pythagorus to Shaq
The information contained within Masonic teaching has been around for centuries, some of it dating back more than 2,000 years and employed by such great minds as Pythagoras, Lao Tzu, Plato and Aristotle.
In more recent times, figures like George Washington, Buzz Aldrin, Sugar Ray Robinson, Theodore Roosevelt, Yitzak Rabin, Winston Churchill, Jesse Jackson, and Billy Graham were all influenced by Masonic symbols. Walt Disney, Captain James Cook, Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Wolfgang Mozart, Pat ‘Mr Miyagi’ Morita and Shaquille O’Neal all took part in Masonic learning. They were presented with symbols such as a pencil, a square, a circle, a beehive, a level, a chisel, skull and crossbones, and a sword, and taught to probe deep into the lessons conveyed by each.
Something Deeply Personal
At its heart, Freemasonry is a deeply personal pursuit and means something different to each of its practitioners. It is a commitment by an individual to pursue a time-honored system of instruction for the betterment of the mind, body and soul.
Freemasonry is a science, a philosophy, an art and a universal knowledge that provides an understanding of how the individual fits into the universe and how the universe fits into him.
Through this knowledge, a Freemason comes to know themselves and their function in existence, and improve upon that existence for a better station in life.
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Black Knight 13,000-Year-Old Satellite Mystery Decoded?
Space debris or a 13,000-year-old satellite? A mysterious object, dubbed the Black Knight, orbits the Earth, puzzling scientists of the past and present. Some, like inventor and scientist Nicola Tesla, claim to have received radio signals from the orbiting figure. Astronaut Gordon Cooper was adamant that, in 1963, he saw it from his own spacecraft. The documented history of the existence of the Black Knight continues to mystify scientists.
Nicola Tesla and the Black Knight
Although Nicola Tesla’s inventions changed the way people live today, back in 1899 his peers viewed him as eccentric and somewhat of a mad scientist. When he built a laboratory and a 210-foot tower in Colorado Springs in order to experiment with electricity and record electromagnetic disturbances, his colleagues did not take him seriously. When he reported that he had received signals from extraterrestrials, the newspapers of the day mocked him.
Despite the ridicule of his peers, Tesla was excited about the signals he received, and came to fervently believe that he “had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another. A purpose was behind these electrical signals.” Researchers now believe the signals Tesla received likely came from the Black Knight.
Modern History of the Black Knight
Although there were some reports in the 1930s of astronomers around the world receiving strange radio signals, in 1954, the St. Louis Dispatch ran an article titled, “Artificial Satellites Are Circling Earth, Writer on ‘Saucers’ says.” The referenced writer was Donald E. Keyhoe who wrote about unidentified satellites orbiting the Earth. He claimed the government knew about them and was trying to discover their source.
Keyhoe later wrote a book, “Aliens in Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects,” where he documented his knowledge of UFOs including what he knew about the Black Knight. Gaia’s Deep Space series discusses some of his work.
Scientists and astronomers reported seeing the satellite as it orbited the Earth. In 1953, a professor at the University of New Mexico saw a “blip of unknown origin.” In 1957, Dr. Luis Corralos, with the Communications Ministry in Venezuela, was taking pictures of the Russian satellite, Sputnik II, as it passed over Caracas. The Black Knight showed up in his photographs. This was the first known actual picture of the object.
In 1960, an American satellite showed the object following Sputnik 1, which was still orbiting the Earth. The UFO was in a polar orbit. At that time, neither the U.S. nor the Russians were capable of putting a satellite in that type of orbit. The object also appeared to be much larger and heavier than anything either country could launch.
In the 1960s, TIME magazine, as well as other news publications, reported on the Black Knight and referred to it as possibly having an extraterrestrial origin. Some North American Ham operators had detected signals coming from the object. Some even reported receiving coded messages. On September 3, 1960, the Black Knight showed up on radar for the first time. People on the ground viewing it with the naked eye could see it for about two weeks. The government reportedly established a committee to investigate the object, but no report was ever made public.
In 1963, Astronaut Gordon Cooper was orbiting the Earth when he said he saw a “glowing green light” ahead of his space capsule. At the same time, a tracking station in Australia, over which the spacecraft was orbiting at the time, reported seeing the object on radar. The evening news reported on Cooper’s sighting, and for the first time, the object was referred to as the Black Knight Satellite. The name stuck, but Cooper’s report did not.
NASA soon debunked Cooper’s UFO sighting, claiming there had been a malfunction in the space capsule which caused gases to emit what appeared glowing light. The result, said NASA, was that Cooper had a hallucination and did not see a UFO. Cooper later confirmed that he had definitely seen a UFO on his 1963 space orbit and that NASA had prohibited him from discussing it. Until his death in 2004, Cooper claimed that he did not have a hallucination in the spacecraft, but saw a UFO. He was very vocal during his lifetime about his belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life and his frustration that the U.S. government continued to cover up evidence of alien contacts.
In 1998, astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor, on their way to the International Space Station (ISS), took photographs of the object. NASA again disagreed with the astronauts and claimed what they saw and photographed was not a UFO, but instead, just space debris, most likely a thermal blanket.
Black Knight Communications with Human Beings
Influential people and highly respected authors, movie producers, and directors and members of secret societies have claimed to receive communications from alien beings including signals from the Black Knight. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek television series and movies, is almost a household name. In 1973 to 1974 he was reportedly associated with a secret society called “The Council of Nine.” The Nine, in brief, were a group of prominent people who believed that the channeled messages received by their leaders were actually messages sent by extraterrestrials. Roddenberry allegedly based his Star Trek episodes on what he learned from the Nine, including the giveaway title he chose for a post Star Trek series called, “Deep Space Nine.” Many believed the source of the channeled messages was the Black Knight.
Author Philip K. Dick claimed to have communications with alien beings. The way he described his first encounter with the being in February 1974 is consistent with some of the captured coded messages from the Black Knight. Dick’s VALIS trilogy was, according to those who knew him or researched him, really a fictionalized autobiography and not science fiction. It pulled from his communications with an alien entity, which were likely from the Black Knight.
Is the Black Knight still with us?
Two separate people in different parts of the country who were each photographing the Blue Moon on July 31, 2015, captured what they believe is the Black Knight. The object was once again passing by the ISS. Is the Black Knight an ancient alien vessel? Could it be a satellite from somewhere in deep space that is trying to communicate with humans on earth? Or, is simply a piece of space debris left behind by spacecraft made by Earthlings? You decide.
Want more like this article?
Don’t miss Deep Space on Gaia for more on the long and hidden history of Earth’s secret space program.
