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For California and most other US jurisdiction what works best is showing up in person. Calling or writing in advance so you are expected is nice but the in person part is the important part. Do not wait for a remote response. Find out when the lodge meets and knock on he door about an hour...

Okay, other than the fact that most want the long form with a much smaller percentage going for the shortest path they can to get to full membership - What else is it y'all want out of lodge? I've seen brothers wanting everything from bowling clubs through mystical discussions. Everyone wants...

That would depend on the church group. There are church groups that have a lot of teetotalers. There are church groups that have a lot of home brewers. I happen to attend the ones that have a lot of home brewers; not by coincidence. In Masonry in the US I can go to a teetotaler event at blue...

I have seen an EA symbol as a lapel pin in another state. An EA wearing an EA symbol or an FC wearing an FC symbol seems appropriate to me. If he can find anything like that. But wearing a symbol of a degree you have not yet received/earned? No please. Since the vast majority of Masonic...

It's not that bad an idea I figure. In the US lodges supply aprons but they are cloth ones and lodges outside the US generally don't supply aprons. If you want to keep your original one pristine for your coffin (the ambiguity of the wording when it is presented suggests that stains gotten in...

One of the reasons the Shrine was founded in the US is our blue lodges had active prohibition programs at the time. Stop doing table lodge with drink as your tiled meeting or having festive board with toasts after/before the tiled meeting and the levity starts to drain out of blue lodge. the...

Re: Membership and participation in Freemasonry to Masonry works like a federated republic. Each lodge elects some of its officers and sends them as representatives to GL - Whether a lodge counts as a republic depends on the details of your exact definition. Each lodge is supposed to have...

I have listened and the ballots I've been to in Texas there has been a clunk for every member balloting. But consider - The secrecy of the ballot is sacrosanct as a landmark. No member my disclose his vote. If all of the type you wish to use are used up, which do you do? You'll know by the...

Eventually your lodge will discover that a percentage of brothers do not progress to MM. My mother lodge built up a stack of around a dozen and started assigning them to new candidates. It was cool because there had been consolidations so these aprons had the names of our legacy lodges. As...

Re: Membership and participation in Freemasonry to It's hard to do the first time. It gets easier over time not the least reason is once the lodge knows the Master is in charge they follow knowingly instead of out of habit. More than just it being our obligation, it makes sense to follow a...

Re: Membership and participation in Freemasonry to It combines a couple of sources. The quantity versus quality issue does get phrased as "More men in Masonry or more Masonry in men?" Also Bro Nagy defines Freemasonry as the organization and process thus favoring quantity, Masonry as the...

Brothers experience Masonry as good. Sometimes they see enough in the degrees and philosophy to study for a lifetime and more. Sometimes they experience the good and want more of it. In the business world this gets called the "make versus buy" decision. How many there are - You'd have to...

Re: Will SJR Scottish Rite members be Clandestine We're waiting on rulings by the various GLs that don't have mutual recognition in place, right? I have come to the point where I do not expect clarifying rules to be issued by any GL until some of their members start forcing the issue by...

Re: Will SJR Scottish Rite members be Clandestine So far I had only heard of Arkansas offering and being turned down. Is there a write up on the GLofFL web site? In both cases Arkansas and Florida I wonder what happened? Was either offer itself were unacceptable or were our PHA brothers...

I don't do that unless I think the man is a brother. It's trivial to tell in a couple of minutes of conversation without using anything private. If I do know him to be a brother I tend to part on the first not greet on anything.

This makes short term trips problematic. It can take longer to arrange a visit that the trip to the UK lasts I've heard. Jurisdictions get to make rules like that if they want. I happen to like the US system where I can show up and ask permission to visit, but that's because my mother...

If I'm at the ballot box and it's out of cubes I'll know on the spot exactly what's up. If the box is out of cubes there are going to be more than enough to determine the outcome. If I intended to drop a cube I'll know there's no need so I'll just stir them around. If you listen carefully you...

The degrees themselves tell a story about the building of King Solomon's Temple. The Temple appears in a couple of books of the Old Testament. As such, on the surface, the degrees will help you better understand that part of the Bible. There's far more to it than the surface, though. What...

Re: Will SJR Scottish Rite members be Clandestine Here's a map showing the remaining problem states. It's not that simple as not all of the recognizing states recognize all and the recognized PHA jurisdictions have been slow to reciprocate. This is only the skin of the onion...

I do think both sets of leadership have gone off the rails. On the Arkansas side I doubt the situation will resolve until all brothers expelled without trial are restored by edict, but those expulsions have already been ratified by GL vote so that has very little chance of happening. On the...