Welcome to Keystone Lodge #251
Not just a man.
A Mason
Freemasonry is the world’s oldest, largest, and best-known gentleman’s fraternity. Founded in London, England in 1717, its current worldwide membership totals 3.5 million members, 1.3 million of which are in the United States. As a fraternal organization, Freemasonry unites men of good character of different religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds, who share a belief in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of mankind.
FAQs
-
Freemasonry, or Masonry, consists of a course of moral instruction, illustrated by types, emblems, and allegorical figures. The old English Constitutions state it in this manner, "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."
Webster says an allegory "represents by suggestive resemblance"; and a symbol is a visible sign or representation of an ideal....
Charles C. Hunt (Grand Secretary Emeritus of the GL of Iowa,) proposed the following definition, after an extensive analysis of opinions of other eminent Masonic scholars, "Freemasonry is an organized society of men symbolically applying the principles of operative masonry and architecture to the science and art of character building." This especially distinguishes our Fraternity from all other organizations which teach a system of morality.
-Paraphrased from the Indiana Monitor and Freemason's Guide. In Indiana's jurisdiction, this is considered published materials.
-
If you are a man of lawful age, having a belief in God, and meet jurisdiction requirements, find a Mason and ask. If you are known to that man, and he is comfortable referring you to membership, he will have you complete a petition for membership. If you do not know a Mason, most Grand Lodges have an online referral platform to make contact - or find a local lodge building and just show up on a meeting night.
If you are unknown to the members, expect to spend a number of evenings getting to know the members of the Lodge. This is an opportunity for you to see if you enjoy their company and an opportunity for them to get to know you. If you feel that you do not mesh well with the members of particular Lodge, feel free to go to other locations to see if there is a group you mesh more strongly with.
Once you are ready to join, ask for a petition and pay the initiation fee. Your petition will be read and a committee to evaluate and recommend action will be formed by the presiding officer. This committee should meet with you to answer any of your questions and to ensure that you meet the requirements for membership.
Once these meetings are complete, your petition will be read in Lodge and voted upon. It is one of the traditions of Freemasonry that members must be elected by unanimous vote of members present. Once voted in the affirmative, your initiation will be scheduled.
-
Symbols allow people to communicate quickly, and to transcend language barriers. When you see a green light or a circle with a line through it, you know what it means. Likewise, Masons use metaphors from geometry and the architecture of stonemasonry to inform their continuing pursuit of knowledge, ethics, and leadership skills.
To reflect their heritage, Masons wear aprons while in lodge, at certain public events, and at funerals to demonstrate their pride in the fraternity, and their lineage from stonemasons, who historically carried their tools in leather aprons. The square and compass is the most widely known symbol of Masonry: When you see the symbol on a building, you know that Masons meet there.
-
The lamb-skin or white leather apron is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason. Members are presented with the unadorned apron at their initiation into the Fraternity and are taught to keep their thoughts and actions as pure and spotless as that badge. Throughout a member's masonic journey, they may be presented with other aprons that are emblematic of other offices or recognitions, but none are more significant than that first plain apron.
At the funeral of a member who has "dropped the working tools of life," that first apron may be placed upon the body or otherwise incorporated into a Masonic Funeral Service as a final act of brotherhood/fraternity to the departed brother.