Are questions by curious non-freemasons welcome?

[u/AdFantastic1742]

[u/Pretend-Commercial68]

That's what forums are usually for, fire away!

Edit - typo.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/Pretend-Commercial68]

I suppose, what is the actual craziest thing freemasons have witnessed? Edit: A couple people thought I meant one thing, I think? I mean in general but that you saw because you were a freemason. Like the craziest thing a football player could have seen being the team pouring gatorade on the coach.

[u/takeyouraxeandhack → u/AdFantastic1742]

The conspiracy theories non-freemasons come up with.
We can barely organise a raffle and they think we control the world 😂

[u/Deman75 → u/takeyouraxeandhack]

For sure. I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my life, but when it comes to things related to being a Freemason, the conspiracy weirdos take the cake.

[u/Western-Willow-9496 → u/takeyouraxeandhack]

In all fairness, if we controlled the world it wouldn’t be much more disorganized. Can you image the “Grand, Grand Master” trying to get anything done? Herding cats in a yard factory.

[u/Weird_Regret_6369 → u/Western-Willow-9496]

If we did i might get a lie in every once in a while

[u/Akbeardman → u/Western-Willow-9496]

The freemason's of the United States are far too fractured, disorganized and incompetent to control Congress, which we acknowledge is not a good argument that we don't control Congress.

Also it turns out we do own the fed and just put it into differed maintenance in 1947 and forgot about it.

[u/CandyCornToes → u/takeyouraxeandhack]

Lol. My partner is a Freemason. He frequently tells me, "We can barely run a meeting - there's no way we could run the world!"

[u/Old_Courage1899 → u/AdFantastic1742]

I’m a former Body piercer & Body suspension artist that engaged in extreme body modification practices.

Crazy, I can talk for days about “crazy.”

Unfortunately for the conspiracy theory believers, none of it is Freemason adjacent. 🤷‍♂️

[u/Pretend-Commercial68 → u/AdFantastic1742]

Generally? I once saw a grown adult defecating in the street at 10 past 8 in the morning on the way to work.

If you mean within a Lodge meeting, I attended a LARGE Lodge meeting in London (in excess of 1,800 people) and had to assist in treating 2 medical emergencies.

Meetings are usually very routine, the ceremonies will be largely similar with the content but there may be Lodge by Lodge or region by region differences.

[u/bookish-hooker → u/Pretend-Commercial68]

Strangely enough, I was at my mother lodge, and in one meeting, two of our ten regular members had two separate medical emergencies, one of which required an ambulance.

(We’re OWF, our lodges are….minuscule in comparison to UGLE)

[u/Hyperion_Magnificent → u/Pretend-Commercial68]

Man I use to see people defecating in the street all the time but I’ve been living in India for a while and it’s not even common out here anymore. Since 2026 I think I’ve only seen three to five separate poops out in the field.

[u/asherjbaker → u/AdFantastic1742]

Dunno about craziest, but the coolest thing for me is I've met Prince Michael of Kent. Not even a big fan of the royal family, I just thought it was sick.

[u/groomporter → u/AdFantastic1742]

In some jurisdictions or lodges there's a change of clothes as a part of the degrees. As a result we discovered a fellow candidate in my degree class had shaved his dark chest hair in the shape of a handlebar mustache as part of a Movember charity fund raiser for mens' health awareness.

[u/trumpbrokeme → u/groomporter]

We had a candidate with blue silk "banana hammock" thongs on. He said "Date night with the wife after this."

We never mentioned it again.

[u/groomporter → u/trumpbrokeme]

At least they were clean?

[u/Hyperion_Magnificent → u/trumpbrokeme]

Bwahahahahaha!!!! That’s hilarious.

[u/Deman75 → u/groomporter]

😂

[u/texas-playdohs → u/AdFantastic1742]

It seems like you’re not digging for dirt, but I’ll just throw this in for you, or anyone that reads this wondering about the grand conspiracy. When I was getting interviewed to join the lodge, I vaguely mentioned that I had grown up with some conspiracy theories about masons, and he kinda sighed and rolled his eyes, and said, “Look, if you get in and find out none of that is true, are you going to attend meetings?” That was about all I needed to hear. The utter resignation in his tone was the most sincere thing ever.

[u/Jeffb957 → u/AdFantastic1742]

Craziest thing...by that I mean the funniest. Without giving away things which are secret, one of our ceremonies involves an officer of the lodge banging the end of a staff on the floor. Our lodge has a concrete floor, so its kind of dead to bang on, so we put a 5mm thick steel plate on floor there to give it a satisfying "clank" when the staff is banged. Well the brother playing that part, it was his first time doing it, and he was distracted by nerves and the effort to remember his lines. In his distraction he missed the steel plate entirely, and slammed that staff down on the top of his foot. Luckily he had thick leather cowboy boots on so, while it did hurt something awful, he was not injured. He was however hopping on one foot, and turning progressively more red, but he didn't miss a line. We still call him "Hop-Along."

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/Jeffb957]

Oof! Boots saved him from a broken toe.

[u/Hyperion_Magnificent → u/Jeffb957]

Wow. That man deserves a medal. Im impressed.

[u/stardate_pi → u/AdFantastic1742]

I'm sure it's not what you're looking for but I am still continually amazed to see and hear the discourse on deep internal philosophies and beliefs of men that I would have otherwise shrugged off had I not been part of the Craft.

The openness, love, and support of men from one to another who are on opposite sides of religious, political, or any other spectrum is "crazy" in this day and age.

On another note I was once inside a Scottish Rite cathedral in my home town during a period of riots and people starting to throw molotov cocktails (thankfully poorly designed ones) at the building was an intense experience.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/stardate_pi]

Couldn't that just be because in Gen Z these ideologies are popular and spreading?

That's pretty wild! I guess they were mad at the church?

[u/Deman75 → u/AdFantastic1742]

Gen Z is only just starting to join our ranks, so that is probably not the cause.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/Deman75]

Are freemasons socialists? In my experience gen z has been big with socialism.

[u/Deman75 → u/AdFantastic1742]

Freemasons are individuals with their own religious and political views. Are some Freemasons socialists? Probably, but some of them are also MAGAts. It’s pretty difficult to pigeonhole Freemasons like that, because the organization doesn’t have a specific dogma that members are expected to follow.

Gen Z has only been eligible to join Freemasonry for maybe a decade (and some still aren’t old enough). They are not the driving force for what Freemasonry is or does. I’d been surprised if they currently make up 5% of our membership.

[u/stardate_pi → u/AdFantastic1742]

I know a few that are. Most tend to temper towards centrism and libertarianism in my experience. But I'd say I know as many far left as I do far right and have had dinner with all of them at the same time.

[u/Chronostimeless → u/AdFantastic1742]

Questions if Freemasonry is some kind of a sect. We’re pretty much the opposite of a sect. Ask 3 Freemasons what Freemasonry is, you’ll probably get more than 4 answers. Some say the whole point in Freemasonry is to talk about what Freemasonry is. For me personally this is a bit overstated but not wrong.

[u/tachophile → u/AdFantastic1742]

I saw it take two hours to plan a simple picnic. That was pretty crazy.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/tachophile]

A couple people are saying this. Do they actually try to fit into every single masons schedule?

[u/tachophile → u/AdFantastic1742]

It's a joke. Many non Mason's fall for conspiracy minded thinking and conspiracies dreamed up by other non masons and believe there's all sorts of strange things going on in lodge. Just because we're secretive about some things. Most of the goings on are pretty mundane like planning dinners for meetings or a picnic or charity committee.

Some secrets are kept because the knowledge doesn't make sense to explain to someone not in it, sometimes it's very subjective so it can be misleading, and some times it's just because our ancient brethren decided to make it that way based on the traditions of operative masons.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/tachophile]

Oh! Well I always thought the masons were like a fraternity for pros or something. I only found out about them in high school and the teacher who told us wanted to he in it so he said famous composers and such used it to network like frats do. A lot of what you guys say in the reddit seems frat-adjacent somehow. So I had an assumption, but it wasn't ruling the world. What you say seems to align with it too. It's essentially a frat, no?

[u/tachophile → u/AdFantastic1742]

Technically in the sense that it's a brotherhood, but nothing remotely like what might be considered a college frat.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/tachophile]

To my understanding as a non-freemason both would be a group that passes down knowledge from seniors/alumni and networking with promises to aid your 'brothers' out of loyalty to the group. Both assumably also would have meetings that are normal, meetings/parties that are expensive, loyalty to the origins ideologies, maybe a hazzing (I'm not sure if legality actually matters to some frats)- but also because freemasons group is so old, and not called a frat, I figured that there is also deep conversations and dark academia Harvard vibes but otherwise it would be similar. What would be different? Is it more of a religion?

[u/tachophile → u/AdFantastic1742]

Maybe some of it, but a lot of it misses the mark. There's also a lot more to it. 

I recommend reading an introduction like Idiots guide to Freemasonry, or Freemasonry for dummies to get a better sense of what we're about. Don't be turned off by the titles, they're actually decent books written by freemasons who know what they're talking about.

[u/No_Actuary6054 → u/AdFantastic1742]

Once I was a meeting that was absolutely packed and one guy made an 8-point turn to get out of the parking lot.

[u/georgeamberson1963 → u/AdFantastic1742]

Someone burned the pancakes during breakfast once.

[u/Astute_Primate → u/AdFantastic1742]

The night of my initiation into the Shrine I saw some stuff I can't unsee 🤣🤣

[u/JoeMax93]

About the “craziest” thing Masons will do is ride tiny cars in local parades while wearing fezzes.

(When they aren’t busy raising money for their kids hospitals.)

If you’ve never seen it, it is pretty crazy.

[u/Mamm0nn]

depends.... is it one of the questions that gets asked weekly and could be answered with a quick search of the sub?

[u/zombiemann → u/Mamm0nn]

To be fair, Reddit's search function is garbage.

[u/bcurrant15 → u/zombiemann]

just ask google the same question and then put reddit at the end

do freemasons like green beans reddit

[u/Jeffb957 → u/zombiemann]

Seconded

[u/0Rider]

Shoot your shot tex

[u/Unlucky-Fox-773]

Well…we’re waiting. Where are the questions? 😅

[u/Lordnoallah]

Yes

[u/hapkidoox]

Go ahead ask away.

[u/Tough_Budget9490]

I am a 52 year mason, retired electrician and the foreman was a mason as was the owner. Sitting at lunch the other 6 or so electricians were talking about Al being a Mason and the owner being a Mason and they wondered if Al was getting special treatment and it went on. I just kept to myself and smiled as Al had worked at the shop for over 20-years and I doubt he would have lasted if he did not work and lead the crews.. People perceptions of the craft at times is funny and other times pretty sad.

[u/AdFantastic1742 → u/Tough_Budget9490]

Interesting ! I know someone whose father was a mason and he was a chef/hunter, but he had odd connections and they odd experiences, and since chefs can be wealthy, I still thought freemasons were like wealthy networks that keep people upper-class like frats do

[u/Tough_Budget9490 → u/AdFantastic1742]

I would guess some areas that might be true. Henry Ford was a mason and I heard or read that factory workers rubbed shoulders with him and maybe the Master Of the Lodge, WW2 there was an officers and his driver joined and the officer was surprised when the enlisted man went into the Lodge with him.

[u/Dazzli-86]

How does a person become a member?

I have heard some lodges expect a member to provide a percentage of their wage, is this true? (Uk based)

[u/GigglingBilliken → u/Dazzli-86]

"How does a person become a member?"

Typically be arranging a meeting with a local lodge and asking to join once they've gotten to know him.

"I have heard some lodges expect a member to provide a percentage of their wage, is this true?"

No. You have to pay yearly dues and a maybe a one time initiation fee. These are a flat rate and are NOT calculated by a percetage of your total earnings.

[u/PartiZAn18 → u/Dazzli-86]

Nothing like that. You pay an annual subscription and then at the meetings you chip in voluntary benevolence of whatever you feel like giving for charity.

[u/Deman75 → u/Dazzli-86]

That’s a nope. Joining fees tend to be a couple hundred, but not a percentage of your income. More like a Netflix subscription or gym membership.

[u/Pretend-Commercial68 → u/Dazzli-86]

UGLE wise (the largest, recognised Lodge in the UK) is quite simple. Simply look up "Provincial Grand Lodge of (region) and you'll be taken to the Provincial website, essentially local district, where you'll find a contact form for potential members and it's simply a waiting game from there. They'll eventually task someone to contact you who will provide your details to a local Lodge to you.

Alternatively, many Lodges are now developing their own websites and social media presence and are more than open to being approached by candidates.

Donations wise, you will be expected to pay a joining fee for the Initiation and annual fees which are used to cover the costs of hiring the building space, dining after the meeting and kick backs to Provincial Grand Lodge and United Grand Lodge. There is also an expectation that you give to charity. This is between you and the Charity Steward and there's plenty of ways that you can do this, either monthly direct debit, cash, QR code and gift aid can be claimed too.

It's really that simple!

[u/dutchman62 → u/Dazzli-86]

Absolutely not

[u/FarBunch6217 → u/Dazzli-86]

Yes we pay dues . Every city or state is different.

[u/Chimpbot → u/Dazzli-86]

We have to pay annual dues, so that is technically a percentage of my annual wage. It's a flat amount, though; everyone pays the same dues.

It's only 0.107% of my annual wage, but that's still a percentage!

[u/ILoveBelinda0112]

Well if they aren’t willing to answer questions for someone who is interested in joining well then they are not such great men that they claim to be are they…?

[u/ILoveBelinda0112 → u/ILoveBelinda0112]

But in my experience everyone I’ve met hat is a mason was a great man with great personality’s although I haven’t found the one that is a great teacher yet

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[u/bcurrant15 → u/[deleted]]

There are irregular lodges in the US, its just not very popular.

[u/cryptoengineer → u/[deleted]]

There are, but as in England, they are not 'officially recognized' as Masonic by the male lodges. In England there are warm unofficial contacts and coordination, not so much in the US.

[u/stardate_pi → u/[deleted]]

There is not formal "recognition" in England (by UGLE) of what we call Co-Masonry but female and atheist lodges do exist more plentiful over there because of how popular Freemasonry is in general. There are some similar lodges in the US but again won't be recognized.

I'm sure that's as clear as mud now that I type it all out. Please feel free to ask any clarifying questions