Читать книгу Unlocking the Masonic Code: The Secrets of the Solomon Key - Ian Gittins - Страница 8

The idea of exclusivity and covertness that surrounds the Masons is now largely a myth. Any male over twenty-one and with no criminal record who approaches a lodge is likely to be admitted. Existing members vote on whether the applicant should be allowed to join, but only in exceptional circumstances nowadays are people refused. With membership numbers falling, Masonic lodges are in desperate need of fresh blood.

Once the applicant is accepted, he educates himself in Freemasonry’s history and philosophy and is tested on his learning via a series of ritualistic degree ceremonies. These bizarre roleplaying exercises—wherein the initiate is blindfolded, led by a rope and has his trouser-legs and shirt-sleeves rolled up—is the limit of most people’s casual knowledge of the Masons, and leads to the common perception of the fraternity as being slightly less relevant to the modern world than the Flat Earth Society.

The initiate also learns a series of signs (passwords) and grips (handshakes) by which he can secretly make himself known to fellow Masons when they meet in public. These arcane relics of medieval days are the only facet of Freemasonry that the movement still tries to keep secret. Nevertheless, anti-Masonic militants have for years splashed this information over various anti-cult websites, and we shall also divulge this hallowed information at the appropriate point in this book (see Chapter 3: Inside The Lodge: Masonic Rituals and Symbols).

The three degrees that a Freemason travels through on his path to spiritual enlightenment are:

• Entered Apprentice—the man is initiated into the lodge and swears allegiance to the Craft;

• Fellow Craft—having proven himself willing and able, the member is given extra knowledge and responsibilities;

• Master Mason—once he has reached this ‘supreme and exalted rank’, the Mason becomes a leading light of the lodge.