I am currently 15. I have had interest in the craft for several years now. This is because I have a profound interest in esoteric knowledge.
Ah the exuberance of youth. Keep it up but also consider that rabbis who teach the Kaballah often require their students to be at least 40. In mysticism there are advantages to both youth and maturity and they are very different advantages.
Because of this I have many books on the subject, including, the Kybalion, thought forms, the secret teachings of all ages, Atlantis and lemuria, the enteral tablet, the corpus hermetica among others written by Aleister Crowley, of whom I don't have much of an opinion on. Right now my favorite authors are of course Hermes Trismegistus, Manly P hall, and Elliphas Levi.
I am starting to get into ceremonial magic, at least as much as a 15 year old can get at least. I mostly do things with the Lesser Banishing ritual of the pentagram, which was constructed by the Golden Dawn.
Take your time but it is likely you will find more of interest in the OTO than in Masonry. At one level the OTO and Golden Dawn are splinter groups who left Masonry because they had interest in topics completely ignored by the vast majority of Masons.
1.) Does freemasonry study hermetic sciences?
Having hermetic features in our degrees and studying the topic are two very different issues. The features are there for the looking. Any sort of formal study of the topic is limited to books you have already mentioned plus the type of person who tended to go with the OTO when the group split. Are you aware that most studies of the topic are completely individual using written material generations old and teachers of the topic are so few and far between they need to be sought by quest? As such the material is consistent with our rituals but you're largely on your own in your studies within Masonry or almost anywhere else. Within the OTO or similar groups I don't know how prevalent teachers are. Here I use "OTO" as a shorthand for an entire class of organizations interested in the topic - You likely know their names better than we do. Thelma, Golden Dawn, you name it.
2.) Does freemasonry study magic (or magick if you prefer) in any way?
Again having magickal features in our degrees and studying magick are not the same thing.
You may be familiar with the distinction between thaumaturgy (working change in the outside world by way of intent) and theurgy (working change in the world inside our own heads by way of intent).
The best thaumaturgy has always been an evolution of what works (trial and error) to what works consistently (art and artisanry through skill) to what is understood (craft) to what is used (technology) to what is known to be possible (science). Masonry teaches us to be students of classical education to work to the strength of this discovery process. Working the weak end of this spectrum in the form of ceremonial magick, not so much and that's why the OTO folks went their own way a century ago.
The best theurgy has always been an evolution of what works (meditation, trance work, etc) to what works consistently (the transformation of personal excellence through practicing our tenants) to what is understood (psychology) to what is used (Neuro-Linguistic Processing). Masonry absolutely teaches a very effective form of theurgy at many levels in our activities. The way we phrase what we do you'd never know that without looking at our activities from that viewpoint, though. But notice that modern systems like NLP actually do this work in very effective manners and they don't have any mystical content at all. That's exactly the same evolution that turned weaving from a magical activity through the spectrum of mystery to mundane technology millennia ago but with NLP it's happening in the last several decades.
In both cases the evolution towards effectiveness has come with an evolution towards the mundane. There is no coincidence in this and it is why few Masons are interested int he mystical as such. We use the mystical every day in our mundane lives because the greatest hits of mysticism long ago converted to the mundane.
You will note that other responses here to your question were "No". It takes understanding what is meant by theurgy to reach any answer other than "no" and not one in a thousand Masons over the age of 40 have ever had any interest in the topic. Many more in the younger generation are interested in such topics but you will still find them few and far between. Unless the expertise is to be found in the OTO
3.) what's the difference between the Scottish rite and the New York rite?
Both require all of their members to be Master Masons. Not related to your other questions at this level.
4.) Are most masons interested in the esoteric side of Masonry, or more the morals it teaches you?
The word "esoteric" isn't even used by Masons to refer to the mystical. Above I mentioned rough estimates of how many Masons you need to meet before meeting any interested in the mystical. The way we use the word distills that down to its essence.
5.) How are secrets handed down? By book? Mentor? Through initiations and rituals?
Depends on what secrets you mean. The type you're asking about, not at all because the material is in very old books. We have secrets that can be shouted from the rooftops without compromising them through secrets that are only handed down in person, but none of them are the type you appear to be asking around. At least not directly. If you intend to seek the indirect connections, you basically need to be in that over-40 age class I referred to above for learning Kabbalah and for exactly the same patience oriented reasons. Seek direct correlation and you're setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.
6.) How long does it take to become a master mason as soon as you get accepted into the lodge?
One day to 3 or more years, with the value of results directly correlated with the effort and time put into it. The reason the 1 day methods work at all is achieving official status as a Master Mason is the *start* of the journey not the *destination* of the journey.
7.) What does freemasonry mean to you?
This is a Zen koan really.
Am I doing the right thing by studying and reading as much as I can on the Ancient philosophies and Kabbalah and the like? Or should I wait?
It's a noble endeavor but it's a road that takes a lifetime and much perspective is needed. You need to be able to express why both weaving cloth and working NLP are the mundane results of mystical study to be able to see the mystical value in Masonry. Isaac Newton bridged the gap between the alchemical mystics and the mundane physical scientists. Freemasonry came out into the public world during the changes that happened while Newton was alive. That's not a coincidence. There's a process of converting the mystical to the mundane and that process is viewed by complete by many, as ongoing by a few. Masonry draws from the heart of that process and sure enough we are viewed as mundane by many of our members, mystical by a few.
These are not the driods you seek. You can move along. Return to us, Paduan, once you can explain why mundane NLP is a deeply mystical form of theurgy. Because you will be disappointed and frustrated without that perspective walking among your adopted brothers who almost all state it is completely mundane. But who are the "us" I refer to? probably the OTO-like groups.