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I have no idea what you're talking about!

I don't like the three-cube rule, because if you had two brothers drop cubes for valid reasons but the petitioner approved anyway, you could lose two brothers from the lodge to gain one new one.

Grand Lodges usually exercise control over membership in any organization if membership in that organization requires Masonic membership.

The deal with SRICF is that the colleges have a specifically limited number of members, so if they have no openings, they give no invitations.

We have a couple of ballot boxes in our lodge (over the years we've gotten the "stuff" from Lodges that we absorbed when they went defunct.) One has white balls and black cubes, but the other has white and black balls. They feel exactly the same.

In Minnesota, it is considered un-Masonic conduct to reveal how you voted. The Master will also call for a re-vote if there is only one black ball, in order to make certain that it wasn't dropped by accident. A second ballot containing a black ball, or multiple black balls on a first ballot...

Of course it will depend on the size of your Valley and your class. If you're in a large class, getting to be the exemplar candidate for a degree might only happen once or twice. If it's a weekend reunion, and they're only conferring the "obligatory" degrees, you might not get to do it at all.

So then it's not a secret ballot. In fact, if the Master can decide whether it's valid or not, it's not even really a ballot, since it must be approved by someone else. What if you know something about the petitioner that you cannot reveal without bringing considerable embarrassment to a...

To be honest, while I do know who in my Blue Lodge is in Scottish Rite with me, I have only a vague idea who is in York Rite. I know that quite a few are, but I don't know who they all are. It doesn't matter at all in Blue Lodge.

I'm not a fan of the idea that a Mason can be compelled to "defend" his property or have it taken from him. Taking someone's property by force or threat of force is a crime in pretty much every state, and not something Masons should be doing. However, I'm not a Prince Hall Mason, so it's just...

I don't know about your jurisdiction, but the way I was taught, it should not be used for something as trivial as being broken down.

If you read Born In Blood, you really need to read Bob Cooper's "The Rosslyn Hoax" as something of a counterpoint.

Allow me to pick a nit. It's NMJ and SJ. Just Southern Jurisdiction.

I've read brief descriptions of the NMJ degrees, but don't claim to be real familiar with them. Once I was talking with an NMJ brother, and I commented "the NMJ has pretty much taken Pike out of the Scottish Rite." His response was "we've taken the Scottish Rite out of the Scottish Rite."

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is not about a "mainstream" AF&AM lodge member trying to visit and being mistaken for PHA. I would be willing to bet that his AF&AM is an irregular Grand Lodge, and the brethren in the Lodge he tried to visit figured that out and showed him...

I've had lunch in their building and have been in the Lodge room, but not while they were meeting, unfortunately.

I'm surprised this went so long without being addressed. While your point is essentially true, there are a number of Lodges, about ten I think, in New Orleans that were originally chartered as Scottish Rite Craft Lodges, and still operate as such with the permission of the Grand Lodge of...

Same in Minnesota.

That's a matter of opinion, not supported by history. Hand-painted and embroidered custom aprons were the norm in American lodges prior to the industrial revolution. Currently, in no other part of the world is it customary to wear the worn-out plain cloth aprons from the pile by the tyler's...

In most American Lodges, the square, level and plumb are considered immovable jewels because they always stay in the same location (east, west, south) and the rough ashlar, perfect ashlar, and trestle board are considered moveable jewels because they can be placed anywhere. In England, it's the...