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Post by ferrousmaiden on Jun 14, 2020 12:27:40 GMT
I'm probably asking a stupid question here, but are there any really esoteric orders within masonry, I've not actually ventured beyond craft, one of my reasons for becoming a Mason was to try and understand the esoteric side of it.
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Post by offramp on Jun 14, 2020 18:29:06 GMT
The most notable is the venerable SRIA: the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia.
Wikipedia says,To join this Order one has to be a Christian Master Mason - that is it. Many other Orders require one to be a member of Royal Arch or a Past Master.
Be aware that you may have to deliver disquisitions every now and then, so it helps to be literate.
The other esoteric order I can think of is the CBCS. That is very hard to get into.
I am not a member of either.
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Post by ferrousmaiden on Jun 15, 2020 15:50:45 GMT
I tried to join the SRIA a few years ago, but got no reply from the e-mail address they had provided, although I think the place I applied to had become defunct as I could not find anything else relating to them. A fellow mason I know was once in the chair at a Rose Croix chapter, I enquired once and he sent me the application to join, but at the time other commitments got in the way. I still have the form sitting amongst my papers, I might have to give that some thought. One of the things I have found in craft is the constant promotion of the Royal Arch, over the years I've been asked more times if I wish to join a royal Arch chapter than I can count.
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Post by offramp on Jun 15, 2020 20:00:42 GMT
I tried to join the SRIA a few years ago, but got no reply from the e-mail address they had provided, although I think the place I applied to had become defunct as I could not find anything else relating to them. A fellow mason I know was once in the chair at a Rose Croix chapter, I enquired once and he sent me the application to join, but at the time other commitments got in the way. I still have the form sitting amongst my papers, I might have to give that some thought. One of the things I have found in craft is the constant promotion of the Royal Arch, over the years I've been asked more times if I wish to join a royal Arch chapter than I can count. I joined the Royal Arch and left it a year later. I still wear the medal (occasionally) and that stops people pestering me about it.That, I believe, would be the Ancient & Accepted Rite of 33 Degrees. It shares the "Rosy Cross" name of the SRIA but it is not an especially esoteric order.
If I were you I'd try the SRIA again. Send another email / try another address / go to a nearby Masonic Hall and ask.
Don't accidentally end up in an order you are unhappy with.
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Post by offramp on Jun 16, 2020 6:45:20 GMT
Here is another, more nebulous, piece of advice. One evening at my Masonic Hall I was looking through my province's yearbook, which had just arrived. In the back of that book there were short introductions to appendent Masonic orders that meet throughout the Province.
A passing brother saw that I was looking at these pages and said, "You know, there are a lot more orders around than are mentioned in that book. A lot more!"
So there may be weirder and more esoteric side orders skeezing below the surface of mainstream Masonry, but you or I will never encounter them without personal contact with Freemasons in a Masonic milieu.
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Post by ferrousmaiden on Jun 16, 2020 12:41:29 GMT
So there may be weirder and more esoteric side orders skeezing below the surface of mainstream Masonry, but you or I will never encounter them without personal contact with Freemasons in a Masonic milieu. I have always wondered about that, I was reading about the hermetic order of martinists that is linked to UK masonry, open to any master mason, providing they are a member of the SRIA first. In all the time in the lodge I have never heard mention of them.
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Post by peter2 on Jun 16, 2020 21:01:51 GMT
I have met very few Freemasons that are active in practical esoterics. Most speculate without experiment. This is partly because the group that had the practical techniques largely withdrew their sponsorship of mainstream Freemasonry after 1717.
Thus Masonic science has largely been lost to lodge brethren.
I have sent a link of a possible start.
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Post by ferrousmaiden on Jun 16, 2020 21:32:09 GMT
I have met very few Freemasons that are active in practical esoterics. Most speculate without experiment. This is partly because the group that had the practical techniques largely withdrew their sponsorship of mainstream Freemasonry after 1717. Thus Masonic science has largely been lost to lodge brethren. I have sent a link of a possible start. Without the practical esoterics, I suppose you are just touching the surface, but not what's underneath.
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Post by peter2 on Jun 17, 2020 4:11:58 GMT
>Without the practical esoterics, I suppose you are just touching the surface, but not what's underneath.
Worse, the speculation has no constraints except imagination and theology.
When the internet became popular there were many busy Masonic forums but over the decades the brethren, having repeated their speculations frequently with little result, progressively grew silent.
I recall years ago watching a Grand Lodge ritual team visiting our lodge. As the team robed themselves I could see that they all had past lives connections in monasteries. So here they were back with their friends doing ritual, singing and eating together. Freemasonry was just a convenient place to meet.
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Post by ferrousmaiden on Jun 17, 2020 10:48:24 GMT
>Without the practical esoterics, I suppose you are just touching the surface, but not what's underneath. Worse, the speculation has no constraints except imagination and theology. When the internet became popular there were many busy Masonic forums but over the decades the brethren, having repeated their speculations frequently with little result, progressively grew silent. I recall years ago watching a Grand Lodge ritual team visiting our lodge. As the team robed themselves I could see that they all had past lives connections in monasteries. So here they were back with their friends doing ritual, singing and eating together. Freemasonry was just a convenient place to meet. I guess for some people joining is just for social reasons and not much more. It just becomes a case of turning up, doing a ritual, having a meal and a few drinks, and then that's it for another month.
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Post by offramp on Jun 17, 2020 11:01:33 GMT
I have heard criticism like this for a long time, that there are so-called Knife-&-Fork Freemasons whose only interest is the dining side. Personally I have never met anyone like that.
I mean, why not simply go out to a nearby restaurant with some friends for dinner whenever you want, instead of being required to dress up in odd clothes, memorize ritual, and be given food that is overpriced and may not be what you want? And why do so many people attend Lodges of Instruction? There is no Festive Board for that, just learning.
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Post by ferrousmaiden on Jun 17, 2020 11:23:03 GMT
[/font] [/quote] You raise a good point there , and the food is often overpriced and not always great, tempted to take my own sometimes
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Post by boreades on Sept 10, 2020 23:18:58 GMT
I have heard criticism like this for a long time, that there are so-called Knife-&-Fork Freemasons whose only interest is the dining side. Personally I have never met anyone like that.
I mean, why not simply go out to a nearby restaurant with some friends for dinner whenever you want, instead of being required to dress up in odd clothes, memorize ritual, and be given food that is overpriced and may not be what you want? And why do so many people attend Lodges of Instruction? There is no Festive Board for that, just learning.
You must move in more exotic masonic circles than me in my little provincial lodge. Which shows a great devotion to the Festive Board, with many toasts and empty bottles afterwards. It did have Lodges of Instruction, but these have slid into Lodges of Rehearsal, and the instruction part is a rare and short interruption. With little sign of any interest in the hidden mysteries of nature and science. All of which dampened my enthusiasm, but I'm giving it anothing chance. :-)
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Post by peter2 on Sept 11, 2020 1:55:09 GMT
Freudian slip?
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Post by boreades on Sept 11, 2020 12:36:19 GMT
Gosh, yes! It must show my state of mind. Or two minds. I've been dithering over whether to stay loyal to my mother lodge. Even though I've been through the ranks as far as Senior Warden, I've not found it fulfilling, and have no heartfelt desire to become WM. Or whether it's better to cast caution to the wind and seek another lodge to call home. One more interested in the esoteric and gnostic traditions - and real personal research into the hidden mysteries of nature and science. Is there somewhere suitable I can put a "wanted" advertisment?
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Post by peter2 on Sept 11, 2020 21:02:46 GMT
>as far as Senior Warden, I've not found it fulfilling
I dropped out of 30th at the same point. Dead ritual - not attracting any energy and not attracting any candidates.
Since candidates is all that Masonry does these days (no Masonic Science) it is easy to lose interest. The covid farce has just accelerated the process.
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Lux/Nūr
Member
Muslim Occultist, Mason, Artist, Philosopher, Writer, Skeptic
Posts: 9
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Post by Lux/Nūr on Sept 15, 2020 8:41:49 GMT
Scottish Rite (after the main operative degrees) and Memphis-Misraim are both very esoteric.
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Post by peter2 on Sept 15, 2020 9:18:47 GMT
For lack of candidates I was perfected (18th degree) on 5 occasions. The 4th one worked - not that it made me perfect.
Our ritual involves perambulating around a 7 fold circle. On the 4th occasion, the circle opened up into a vortex. Later the secretary said I was surrounded by light.
Arguably that one experience is not a great result for almost 20 years on sovereign chapters
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Post by boreades on Mar 14, 2021 17:41:57 GMT
Anyone been to Bristol? WHO WE ARE The Society was formed in 1917 with the objects of increasing the interest of brethren in Masonry by means of lectures, papers and discussions on its history, antiquities, ritualism and symbolism, and to provide a centre and bond of union for masonic students in the Province of Bristol. It has become a forum in which brethren from the Province of Bristol can meet with brethren from their neighbouring Provinces. Membership is open to any Master Mason. WHAT WE DO The Society meets five times a year; masonic regalia is not worn at these meetings. Meetings usually take the form of a paper, delivered by an invited speaker or a member of the Society, followed by a discussion. Occasionally an old ritual is demonstrated by a visiting Demonstration Team. www.bristol-masonic-society.org.uk/
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Post by boreades on Mar 14, 2021 18:11:56 GMT
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