Freemasonary

[Jeremy]

Has anybody here had any dealings with this strange phenomenon?

Walking past the huge Freemasons' Hall recently, I was asked exactly what the Freemasons do, and what they stand for, etc. I started trying to explain, but realised that I really don't have a clue.

Is there any basis in the stories of sinister/occult happenings? Any truth to the various conspiracy theories? Or are they just a bunch of sad old men performing pointless rituals and ceremonies?

And will this thread mysteriously disappear after a few minutes?

[huncamunca]

Its nothing special, just a more secretive version of the round table, with more drinking and charidee directed more towards the various masonic schools etc

[huncamunca]

they look after their own - widows/ orphans and suchlike get sorted out and assistance with eeducashion and employment opportunities/ openings. And no, they didnt kill jesus.

[Loz]

My father and father-in-law were both Masons. They both have singularly failed to take over the world via a secret cabal.

This has left me very disappointed, as I had hoped I may have been up for inheriting the earth.

[Huguenot]

Many years ago I used to 'wait on' at the Freemasons Hall in Worcester.

They weren't particularly old, they mostly tended to be their forties. They bought poor red wine for excessive prices to impress each other.

In the sense of occult meaning 'hidden things' then they were into the occult. Smug, pretentious, bumptious, arriviste small businessmen keeping childish bargains of omerta not because the secrets were worth keeping, but because it made them feel important.

In the sense of the occult raising the devil, well their rituals were a bit bizarre, but objectively no more obscure than carrying around wooden carvings of a bloke nailed to a couple of planks and eating and drinking of his body once a week.

None of the came across as intelligent enough to get involved in anything really kooky.

They certainly did do each other favours, but not because they were compelled to, more that it also made them feel special.

As with all corruption, they rather needed to keep that secret too...

[mockney piers]

"This has left me very disappointed, as I had hoped I may have been up for inheriting the earth."

I think that may have been the Greek. Or was it the cheesemakers?

[Jeremy]

I imagined it mainly as a sort of "club", with no real purpose other than to make its members feel important. And throw in some bizarre rituals to create a sense of mystery and intrigue. Daft but relatively harmless.

It seems that the most vocal opposition comes from the church, which instinctively leads me to believe that they can't really be all that bad.

[mockney piers]

I seem to recall a coming of age film i watched in my childhood where the protagonist discovers that her dad and fellow freemasons just use it as a mechanism to go shagging prostitutes without their wives finding out.

My opinion hasn't really changed in the intervening 30 years.

[huncamunca]

If you can cast your mind back into the far,far mists of time - Alf Roberts - greasy haired local businessman, shop owner & Coronation street big swinging dick would be a typical Freemason of his era.

[Loz]

mockney piers Wrote:

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> "This has left me very disappointed, as I had

> hoped I may have been up for inheriting the

> earth."

>

> I think that may have been the Greek. Or was it

> the cheesemakers?

I work in IT, so had also hoped to qualify as a geek.

[HonaloochieB]

huncamunca Wrote:

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> If you can cast your mind back into the far,far

> mists of time - Alf Roberts - greasy haired local

> businessman, shop owner & Coronation street big

> swinging dick would be a typical Freemason of his

> era.

Surely the Weatherfield Square Dealers of which Fred Elliot was Grand Master was an homage and salute to freemasonry?

"Are you on the squuur"? That's what he used to say.

[HonaloochieB]

I've just remembered what happened to Calvi, so I'm taking no further part in this thread.

Can't be too careful I reeckon.

[steveo]

Father was a Worshipful Grand Master. Oo-er. He used to come home leggo once a month with a Castella stuck in his chops. It did mean granny could have a five star hysterectomy at the Masonic hospital in Hammersmith though

[Ridgley]

And here?s me thinking, they where brick workers rumour has it that Jack the Ripper was a Freemason due to the ritual killings he did also rap star Jay-zplease see link:-S

http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/jay-zs-run-this-town-and-the-occult-connexions/

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

This thread reminds me of one of my favourite books/films: The Man Who Would be King by Kipling. A truly ripping yarn.

I used to work in Great Queen Street and it was a favourite pasttime of some of the creatives to flash their tits out of the window when the Freemasons were gathering down in the street. Sums up creatives really.

I think the anti-Church thing has something to do with burning the Name of JAWH (sic) which apparently takes place at a certain level of Freemasonry. Edited to add, also think there's some dodgy association with Solomon/Temple.

[giggirl]

The big Freemasons' Hall in Great Queen Street opens its doors to the public occasionally and it's worth making the effort. Regardless of how barmy the blokes inside are, this in no way detracts from the spectacle of the bricks and mortar. It is very imposing; inside and outside. The outside is always being filmed for something or other - I work round the corner and the filming keeps me amused. The shops in Great Queen Street cater for the masons and they sell some weired gear. Men in aprons doesn't do it for me but whatever floats your boat.

FYI, mockney, obviously "Cheesemakers" isn't meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturer of dairy products. Any fool knows that.

[Annette Curtain]

[taper]

Freemasons were persecuted by the Nazis and around 100,000 were killed in the holocaust.

[mockney piers]

wow, the unlikeliest of godwins!!

In all fairness so were socialist, communists, liberals, in fact anyone of a political persuasion that put them at odds with the Nazis.

In this case they were also a direct competitor for favour doing corrupt old boys network, not to mention, having long cultivated an air of mystery and power beyond what they had, something of a target for the paranoid conspiracies that the nazis loved to indulge themselves in.

The phrase hoist by ones own petard springs somewhat unkindly to mind.

[Jeremy]

giggirl, I just found out they run tours of the hall every day, including the "Grand Temple" and ceremonial areas.

[giggirl]

Ooooo, who knew. Worth doing. Do it. Amazing building.

[mockney piers]

In Springfield (state unspecified) they are called 'Stonecutters', they have a song and everything

[Ted Max]

The outside is always being filmed for something or other

It stands in for MI5 HQ in Spooks.

I wish I didn't know this.

The pubs of Long Acre are full of men in dark suits, with necks wider than their heads, drinking Guinness at three in the afternoon. It's either the Masons or the HonaloochieB Appreciation Society, or perhaps the intersection of both.

[giggirl]

Ted Max Wrote:

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It's either the Masons or the HonaloochieB Appreciation Society, or perhaps the intersection of both.

Well can you find out for sure Ted? I need to know this because I'm round the corner from Great Queen Street and if there's a Hoochie society close by then I can hook up with them. It will save me having to travel. You understand?

[HonaloochieB]

Ted Max Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The outside is always being filmed for something

> or other

>

> It stands in for MI5 HQ in Spooks.

>

> I wish I didn't know this.

>

> The pubs of Long Acre are full of men in dark

> suits, with necks wider than their heads, drinking

> Guinness at three in the afternoon. It's either

> the Masons or the HonaloochieB Appreciation

> Society, or perhaps the intersection of both.

If their aprons are big black leather jobs then that's exactly what they are.

The lads once invited me join my own appreciation society as a Knight of The Brazen Serpent, but I took umbrage as it is only level 25 so I Groucho Marxed them and they left in a huff.

Actually it was closer to a minute and a huff if memory serves.

I've since regretted my somewhat charmless dismissal of the se well-meaning fellows, but could never track them down.

I'll pop along one day and buy them all a snootful.