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This post is about how changes in society at the beginning of the 20th century did away with the "Golden Age of Fraternalism" and hundreds of different fraternal orders. It is an important part of the history of Freemasonry at a time when it was co-evolving with many other bodies. Read more

It’s surprising how many Freemasons I know have stories in their background of major conflicts with their fathers. There are masons who grew up adopted wondering why their biological father gave them up, those whose fathers were physically or emotionally abusive, those who had problems with...

The site may have numerous and obvious flaws, but it's also the world's most adopted social network for anyone age 30 and up. It serves a crucial purpose for communication in the US craft. Other international jurisdictions tend to use other tools, but time and time again I find that if there's...

My lodge recently received a letter with updated guidance from our Grand Master. The situation our Grand Master finds himself in as a leader is one that frankly makes me grateful I’m not in Masonic leadership. There seem so few good decisions to be made, and so many constraints. My GM’s...

I recently subscribed and I'm waiting on my first copy. I've subscribed to several other magazines and journals like Phylaxis and in general I've enjoyed them. Really the sheer number of these things makes me wish I had a masonic library nearby, and I hope that more publications will go...

Fair enough. How then, in such an environment, do so many brothers develop such firm, fixed, and confident views about who is regular and who isn't, what is "real masonry" and what isn't?

I'm aware, and that's a little mind-blowing...and mine doesn't either. This is mind-blowing because lacking any firm list of things that unambiguously makes a GL masonic, it makes the entire idea of freemasonry look more and more fuzzy the more you look at it. I.e., play the game: "Make one...

I mean, no, not particularly. I chose that as an example of "if there's anything that's constant across all the practices of freemasonry, it'd be that" but I also know there are exceptions and caveats to that, multiple obediences, etc. There is a mind-boggling amount of diversity out there all...

Many don't! But that's not the point. It's just one perspective of the calendar year, no specific Masonic year. One of the themes of the entire thing is that there's almost nothing you can say (outside the landmarks of Freemasonry) which apply to most/all lodges.

I attempted to summarize everything I saw in 2020 within Freemasonry. Just one Mason's perspective. Link to the Post Personally, I think that in times of societal crisis, big dislocations (like COVID-19) rarely fundamentally change the course of society. What they tend more to do is...

It's interesting to me that there is so little public acknowledgement & discussion of the craft that when one article gets posted, it gets popped on by every social site out there. This when we're talking about an international organization with millions of members. Setting apart the arguments...

A discussion on how to promote agreement in lodge, and how lodges can disagree skillfully and still retain harmony.

How the original masons proved their cleverness with security, and how modern computing follows cues from medieval stone masons.

This may not be the last update, as a number of European countries are worsening (again). Here are the details.

It was never a bad time to talk to people in your network about it if they show interest. And to generally have conversation with good people in your life about what they want out of life. No change today. If you have the right relationship with someone, I see no harm in suggesting that they...

Masons are supposed to act as moral people in the world, but there's no guidebook on how to do that other than very broad general principles. It is implicitly delegated to each brother to choose how to do that. Unsurprisingly they come to radically different conclusions on the same topics...

No, actually that data is partially a demonstration of the problem. Everybody uses that data because it's practically the only data that exists on a national basis. And it's several years out of date (MSANA hasn't published it the last few years). Also "they" (who provided the data) is the...

This isn't correct -- the group itself is basically just seeking to get better insights into what is happening within the craft. Citing the declining membership numbers isn't related to an opinion about what the number should be. It's about observing I think that we don't really understand why...

They're getting started. As with all things, Freemasonry is a volunteer thing. It's useful to organize something so that people with data can show up and begin the process.

A group of brothers has organized an effort to collect data about Masonry and make it generally available, to help lodges & Grand Lodges better the craft. Continue reading...