November 6, 2017

Common Questions

Q Why do Masons wear dinner suits to ‘Regular’ meetings?
A dinner suit would be the paramount form of dress that any man could wear. To wear anything else would be to ‘dress down’. So if all Brethren wore a tux
or dark suit, they would all look the same and seem outwardly equal

Q Why do Masons wear white gloves (as part of their dress during ceremonies)?
Not to keep warm and not as some suggest to show an outward sign of purity of heart and mind. More likely it is to hide rich ornaments on one’s hands so that the ‘rich’
do not ‘stand out’ and everyone is equal.

Q Is there any time Masons remove their gloves during ceremonies?
Watch at any Installation, the Master-elect and newly appointed officers of the Lodge take off their gloves when they have to take oaths on their own Bibles.
Their hands and not their gloves are in contact with their VSL. In Courts of Law the same applies,…gloves off during the taking of oaths.

Q Why do Freemasons wear aprons?
Operative or ‘actual’ Stonemasons used to wear fleecy sheep skins around their girths – to protect them from flying shards of rock when they chisselled away at masonry.
The ‘speculative’ or putative (‘make-believe’ as in ‘putative spouse’) Masons, adopted their tools, administration and even symbols of their clothing.
Operative Masons were people to admire and ‘look up to’. They were the top technologists and artisans of their day and they worked in stone! which was permanent, and the
newly wealthy wanted their wealth to be permanent …as in buildings and homes.

Q What is meant by ‘firings’ at the Festive Board?
‘Firings are a form of celebration (you have seen the Arabs firing into the air… what happens when the bullets come down???) They are also used as a means of respect, Our Queen gets a 21 gun salute (“7 times 3 Brethren”) The Grand Master gets 15 (5 times three) and everyone else gets 9 (‘Three by three brethren’)

Q What is the significance of going ‘point left right’ during a ‘firing’ at the Festive Board?
Those in the Royal Arch Chapter say that they know, but they can’t tell you. It definitely isn’t “Opposite, the the left of you and to the right of you”.
Research reveals that you are making a reminder of forming a ‘Masonic triangle’ such as is formed when wands are crossed over a candidate’s head during a ceremony –
forming a religious or ‘temple space’.

Q Why aren’t women admitted to Freemasonry?
Are you kidding! Men and women together in a supposed ‘secret’ organization; dire threats if any secrets are revealed; a guard at the closed door barring entry
Imagine the gossip! It would destroy us!Many women would only allow their husbands to go along to Lodge BECAUSE there weren’t any women present!
Read Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to see the ‘hi-jinks’ that Sophie’s grandfather got up to in his ‘very secret’ organization. The Public would be only too gullible
to believe that we would be doing the same!
Remember that women have the chance to join their own Freemasonry organization – ‘The Order of the Eastern Star’. Suggest that to some and they ‘turn their noses up’.
They would much rather know what the men were doing and cry ‘foul’ because of an all male organization. Hence the reason at the entry into Freemasonry, you are asked
“Do you feel…..on your … left ……

Q Why should women be the best advocates for their husbands to join Freemasonry?
Suppose the wife died first. Would she be happy thinking that ‘hubby’ could be going to the golf club, church, bars, or dances…all of which have women present. If she let him join the Freemasons,
he could be going out every night of the week to an all male Lodge, of high principled men, where there would be others in similar circumstances to give assistance.
This would protect the home and property that both worked so hard for all of their lives. Basic and pragmatic!

Q Have any women ever been admitted into Craft Freemasonry?
A

Q What does the sentence ‘The man with whom I have wrought with today was Boaz’ mean?
This question was asked of a 50 year old veteran. He believed all that time that Ruth (in the Bible) had sex with Boaz!
Yes he did know what ‘wrought iron’ was. Iron that had been worked on . He was surprised to know that the sentence
which we hear every meeting meant “The man with whom I have WORKED with….”

Q What is a mysoginist ?
A person who hates women, and Freemasons have been called this for not letting women into their organization.

Q Why is there such empasis on King Solomon’s Temple in Freemasonry?
A

Q What is the difference between an ‘operative ‘ and a ‘speculative Freemason’?
A

Q Why did the gentry show such an interest in working with ‘Operative’ Freemasons?
A

Q What is the old meaning of a ‘Lodge’?
A

Q What is meant by a ‘blue’ Lodge?
A