All the males in my family on my fathers side have been active

>>19421212
>I will most likely also be asked to join sometime.
Nope. They'd get kicked out if they tried, and you'd be permab&.

>>19421235
My dad and one uncle has revealed quite a bit about the lodge to me, mostly when drunk. Apparently my family has a special seat in the local lodge because of some bullshit in our town that went donwn in the late 1800s. They both agreed that I would probably be asked to join sometime, and tried to explain why without revealing too much secret shit. I still have no idea why they think I'll be asked to join desu, but they're pretty convinced.

>>19421212
Don't drink blood out of a skull while making a pact with the unseen one.

>>19421269
Fuck you, I do what I want

>>19421304
>what do
>Fuck you, I do what I want
Alright.

>>19421309
What do, not what don't

>>19421262
Because it's a club for wealthy business owners. Thats literally all it is. It's just a place where they all get together and scheme up different ways to make money and from time to time they do charity work to seem legit.

>>19421338
Doesn't really make too much sense. My family has only owned one (at least one successful) business, but that was from the 30s to 80s.

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>>19421313

>>19421262
>Apparently my family has a special seat in the local lodge
Well that sounds unconstitutional, but okay.
>I still have no idea why they think I'll be asked to join
Nor I. Since it's a landmark that you have to be the one to ask, otherwise it's a blackball and a tribunal.

>>19421466
Both my dad and previously mentioned uncle were asked to join. It's a norwegian lodge, if that helps.

What's the appeal? I know a handful of Masons and they're all just sad lonely men, many of which mean well, but are just terrible people empowering terrible things.

>>19421367
Makes perfect sense. Your family has money.

>>19421515
Not really. Norway (and all Scandinavian Rite) is incredibly strict. Like, to join the Craft there, you really have to prove yourself.

>>19421556
>>19421560
What the fuck, then what is the deal with my family?? Like we don't even have that much money. I've overheard stories about my family having been pretty powerful locally "back in the day", but nothing I've actually seen much proof of. Should I investigate?

>>19421585
>What the fuck, then what is the deal with my family??
Either they, or you have misunderstood what was said.
"Family power" doesn't matter in the Craft. Certainly not in Scandinavian Rite.

>>19421597
Do you have any idea why a family would have reserved "seats" in a lodge? Because this shit just got interesting

>>19421607
Nope. That's not really a thing. It's not like an opera where you could even have reserved seats.

>>19421637
I want to start by saying I am NOT a conspiracy theorist, I have Masons in my family, going back generations, would probably be one if I wasn't more interested in OTO, etc. Now that I've got that out of the way, a lot of Masons on this board act like such a thing as a corrupt Mason or a corrupt Lodge couldn't exist without being expelled in no time. I understand they have strict rules and are oftentimes incredibly anal about their regulations, but people are people, and greed and lust for power are incredibly intoxicating to a significant cross-section of people. Every secret society has Black Lodges spring up from time to time.

>>19421637
Yeah, that's why I put seats in quotation marks. I know very little about freemasonry other than what I've overheard from family members. I know there are other families like mine in the lodge, one ancient family of jewelers for example.

>>19421658
The hell is a black lodge? Like if you're hinting towards my family buying themselves in, I must repeat that we don't have that kind of money

>>19421658
Oh of course. But they're pretty darn rare. Conversely, conspiracy theorists think that every lodge is P2, and that lodges are capable of more than what they really are.

>>19421660
Yea, no worries. I'm thinking they meant it like a general saying. Like how you might say your family has a reserved seat at your church. They don't really do that, but it just means your family are stalwart members of the congregation.

>>19421212
You ain't gonna get into daddy's club by telling everyone his secrets.

>>19423001
He's not getting into daddy's club at all. That would have started along time ago

>>19421668
A black lodge is a lodge of a "secret" or esoteric organization that has gone rogue or is in poor standing. Often utilizing power of any kind for selfish materialistic reasons. Sometimes still members of the main body, sometimes not. And I wasn't hinting anything about your family, I was saying even organizations with strict rules end up with chartered bodies that don't follow or enforce them.

>>19421212
> Apparently my family has a special seat in the local lodge because of some bullshit in our town that went donwn in the late 1800s
OP is quite obviously a LARPing faggot

>>19421212
You won't get asked. You have to ask us.

>>19421262
Sounds like horseshit that a drunk would say.

>>19421338
>>19421367
>>19421556
>>19421585
You don't have to have a whole lot of money to be a Mason, ya geniuses. My lodge is mostly middleclass with plenty of blue collar guys, too. Lots of truck drivers, construction workers, etc.

>>19421607
They wouldn't have a reserved seat, unless you're referring to like a physical chair that maybe one of them "bought" in a charity auction.

>>19421658
There's definitely corruption that happens in Craft, but it's few and far inbetween, and most often it''s literally the lodge treasurer embezzling money and getting arrested. It's a society of good men, for good men - it's not surprising that corruption isn't common.

>>19421668
A "black lodge" is something that poster made up.

>>19423627
Agreed.

>>19424040
>and most often it''s literally the lodge treasurer embezzling money and getting arrested.
Or worse, sadly. http://www.unionrecorder.com/news/man-kills-himself-downtown/article_0c17b1f0-70c7-11e7-a8a1-43299150cec1.html

>>19421212
You wont be asked because they'll be kicked out for conduct unbefitting a mason.

>>19421338
Im not a business owner nor am i wealthy yet I'm a mason

>>19423333
Checked

>>19423627
Then I would be the most boring LARPer to ever exist. Seriously, what's there to lie about? If I'm not totally mistaken, the "shit" that went down was something along the lines of helping the town establish itself as an important fishing town at the time being, which made the town grow significantly. There's no like big reveals or dark secrets or anything.

>>19423250
Just repeating what I've heard.

>>19424040
My dad told me he was asked, got a pretty letter and everything. I have no idea what the norm is, but I suppose the local lodge operates differently than the standard or something? Maybe it's just a rare phenomenon? Like I haven't heard of any other people being asked to join other than the family members I've discussed this with.

>>19424173
It literally doesn't happen in any regular lodge because it would completely defeat the purpose of the initiation ritual.

So either you're full of shit, your dad is full of shit or the lodge is full of shit.

>>19424173
>but I suppose the local lodge operates differently than the standard or something?
Yea, could be a scam one. Those aren't unheard of. But it's entirely illegal in a legit lodge, and if they did it, they'd be struck off the books.
Remember, even the Duke of Kent had to ask to join.

>>19424040
Yeah, Masons are basically larpers now with random lodges everywhere.

>>19421235

Untrue. If we think someone would be a good member, we can ask you to join.

Sauce: former Master of the Lodge here. Also 32nd Degree, am not anticipating receiving a 33rd any time soon.

Everything from 4th up through 32nd is pretty much automatic when you join the Scottish Rite. 33rd is legit difficult to obtain - each Valley gets to pick one or a few members per year to send, so you have to bust your ass in service to Masonry to work your way up the list in a timely fashion.

>>19424275
Nice LARP m8.

>>19424275
>If we think someone would be a good member, we can ask you to join.
Nope. It would be a violation of landmarks in every regular jurisdiction. You can broach the subject, but you can't ask to join, or otherwise invite.
t. Also PM (and JGO), and soon to be secretary.

>>19421466
>. Since it's a landmark that you have to be the one to ask,
this only recently happened because they needed more recruits and more people were dying than they were initiating, masonry was a family passed tradition before it was implemented.

>>19424159
Heard about that. Absolutely heart-breaking. Fuck-ups happen, but one shouldn't kill themselves over that.

>>19424173
Perhaps he got the letter as a notification of an accepted petition? IDK. Either way, he still had to ask and petition. That's just how it is.

>>19424212
Not really. I would say we're pretty far from LARPers - most of the people don't take the ritual seriously at all, and it seems like a great deal of time and wisdom is wasted. I'd love to agree with the idea that we seem like LARPers, but we don't even try hard enough to merit that title.

>>19424275
... What's your Grand Jurisdiction? The furthest I can go in mine is a "neutrally worded recommendation that the man would be a suitable candidate for Masonry." I highly doubt you'd be able to actually ask someone to join, no?

Anybody ITT got anything relevant on the Oddfellows or the Rebekah lodges?

>>19424340
Do you also feel RAC has the best titles? Always makes me think of Bill and Ted

>>19424393
Super Excellent brahhh! *air guitar solo*

My great grandpa was a Freemason but all he ever owned was a little laundry mat like 50 years ago in a really small town.

>>19424410
>2017
>not being MEC

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>>19424339
Even in Ohio, where they skirt the absolute fringes of it with billboards a first line signing packages you're still not allowed to do that, though.

>>19424340
>Fuck-ups happen, but one shouldn't kill themselves over that.
Totally. Like, worse thing which could have happened was that he'd have to pay it back, and do <5yrs in gaol.

>>19424426
Pic related.

>>19424366
There's one near my Masonic temple. Never checked it out, but maybe someday. Apparently they're worse off for membership than we are.

>>19424393
Council is pretty great with Super Excellent Master. My girlfriend thinks it's the dorkiest shit and I'm inclined to agree - even though I love it all!

>>19424660
> Totally. Like, worse thing which could have happened was that he'd have to pay it back, and do <5yrs in gaol.
That's kind of what makes me wonder what the hell else was going on behind the scenes. The only non-complicated answer that I've got is that he didn't want to enter his sixties as an inmate, but even then, that's not a huge game-changer. Also, that gif, combined with the thought of the MEM degreework, gave me a laugh.

>>19424193
Well, he told me this while drunk. So that is entirely possible.

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>>19421212
Its just a men's club that they keep secret for the fuck of it. I go to the local lodge and run around, beautiful building. My grandfather is 33rd degree and then some but i can assure you there are no world ending secrets. Most of them just talk about drinking. 3bh tho i dont know what happens within the meetings, but its probs just about how to sustain the orginisation itself. Just a bunch of old, white dudes who want some sense of comraderie. I mean, you go to any city and have automatic friends. Maybe they used to have political sway a century or two ago but its really just a men's club now. I'll never join cuz i just wouldnt really get along with members ideologically or religiously. They're just grandpas who want friends.

>>19427362
Can't speak for elsewhere but there's a big push young (20s-30s) masons in NSW. One lodge holds a monthly young masons drinks night.