I can't really provide much insight, but I was once contracted by a local Masonic lodge to install new windows. I had unsupervised access to pretty much any room that had a window in it, and I was even permitted to look around in the windowless chamber where they performed many of their rituals. They were actually pretty excited to show me around. I can't imagine that they would allow a perfect stranger into their secret lair if they really had anything to hide. But, ya know, take what I say with a pinch of salt as it's just one anecdote about one lodge in Nowhere, Ohio.
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2024
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Yeah, I know at least one Mason I don't think there's anything interesting going on there. I can definitely see why people think there is.
The Masons are secretive. Many very high level historic figures have been Masons. It's a good old boys club to get in you need to be sponsored by another Mason. You don't hear a lot about their accomplishments. And you would expect that a social group that contained many of the important men in history wouldn't just be sitting around doing nothing in secret.
To my personal knowledge of them, just a bunch of businessmen who jerk each other off basically.
If one freemason owns a business, and another finds out they do and they also have a business - there will be some sort of service from one company or the other so they can make each other money. Basically, they just support members and will give them preferential treatment over someone they don't know.
Because conspiracy theorists are idiots who can't or won't face the facts of reality.
While true, this doesn't explain why specifically the freemasons are targeted.
In 1738 the Pope forbid all Catholics from joining a Masonic lodge (open to men of any religion, and secretive, no doubt to avoid Inquisition), and called them 'depraved and perverted' (unlike the Church, of course). No doubt the faithful kept the rumor-mills turning.
Because conspiracists are lazy. They can't even get past the flat earth stuff.
Read up on their founding and history, they brought it upon themselves. They wanted to be the mysterious Boogeyman from their inception because the founders thought it would be cool and fun.
Honestly, he's not wrong, it does look cool and fun. I wish there were non-religious secret sects.
How do you know there isn't if they're secret?
Fair enough, I'm only just finding out about the odd fellows.
Isn't that what the Order of Odd Fellows is?
I love secret societies because they always remind me of LARPers. I used to go to this comic shop that held a Vampire:The Masquerade LARP thing, and they would all act secretive and sneaky, and come in the backdoor and things.
For only checks again $44.99 USD you can become a doktor in the Church of the Subgenius.
Be the chage you want to see ✨✨
(I'll join your quirky mysterious lodge)
There's always the Possum Lodge.
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
(When all else fails, play dead)
Honestly, same.
Secret Order of the Lemmings? Can we have a sh.it.head rite?
In high school we started a secret order, made a logo and symbols that we printed into stickers and would hide around the school in weird hidden places, even published a fake newspaper that we left around referencing it's mythology and origins.
About 4 years after we all graduated I heard that apparently someone replaced the national anthem tape with one repeating the order's phrases and terms.
My god I hope that train keeps running away.
Nice.
My version is not as good, but may amuse you as thanks for sharing your story.
I once started a joke secret society in an MMO, only to be forgotten within a day, and then (gleefully) be reinducted a couple days later by a total stranger as a new member.
The induction nonsense had changed enough within that couple of days that I think I made a pretty convincing new recruit.
Though I think I caused some confusion when I changed outfits - I forgot that I had not yet "been told" the secret dress code. Oops. I think everyone then realized something was up, but chalked it up to secret society intrigues.
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Ehh, Freemasons are probably not religious in the sense you think they are. They all believe in god but are not necessarily of the same religious background.
I had a buddy who was in it. The background checks they do are comparable to getting a security clearance, and he said you'd get tossed out if you weren't religious.
From what I understand, intensity will vary from chapter to chapter. A belief in God is a requirement, but there can be some wiggle room on exactly what that means.
Looked into it because it sounded cool, attending some sort of group thing would probably be a good idea for me, and I find ritual fascinating. Shit gets expensive, though.
Edit: Who am I kidding, it's mostly because I want my wallet contents to sound like Grandpa Simpson's
Background check?! BACKGROUND CHECK?!
My dad was a Freemason, and I went through the first initiation and was working on the second but decided I didn’t want to continue despite enjoying my teen years in DeMolay. There was no fucking background check. lol! Hell, to join you just need to ask a Freemason - they don’t really ask you.
You have a Freemason who can vouch for your character as kind of a “sponsor” so maybe THAT is the background check but you don’t fill out any forms or anything that get submitted to the government.
Also, they use God in their words but you don’t have to believe in God. I dunno, maybe Nevada lodges have different rules? I doubt it.
It's definitely in their rules for membership. I imagine the strictness of their enforcement varies from chapter to chapter.
I passed the background checks and I am just a turtle on a skateboard.
The background check is no more than when applying to a job, they just check to see if you have a criminal record. They make a home visit to explain themselves to your family and to make sure your personal life doesn't look like à mess, ie your not living like a piece of shit.
There are guilds who aren't religious at all. Next rumour, please.
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I think that any adult secret society is either going to be lame and boring, or it quickly escalates into a cult, gang, cartel, racket, or terrorist organization, depending on the group's intentions.
You're just making it sound cooler
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A secret fraternal order with invite-only membership?… perfect scapegoat by the real perpetrators of evils.
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Because they control the British crown
and keep the metric system down.
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They're a literal secret society. The secrecy leads to all sorts of wild rumors, which just get amplified, altered, and exaggerated over time until you've got Reptilian Illuminati trying to conquer the world through subliminal messages being broadcast through tooth fillings via fluoride in the water.
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