Freemason’s Secrets:: The True Descendants of the Knights Templar

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To answer this question thoroughly would fill volumes of books in a massive library. I simply cannot give a full and proper answer to that question without years of writing. But what I will attempt to do, is to give you a good overview of what Freemasons are, where we came from and our connection to the Knights Templar. Freemasons, as we stand today, came out of the dark and into the light. We were not seen and then suddenly, there we were. It is generally understood that Freemasonry was a secret society before the year 1717. 1717 was the year that Masonry officially came into the light of day. The Grand Lodge of England was formed in that year, on St. John the Baptist's Day.

It was formed from four Lodges. These Lodges were: The Apple-Tree Tavern, The Crown Ale-House [near Drury Lane], the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard and the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Westminster. This was also the year that it all changed. The drawing below is the first Grand Lodge of England held at the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard. Today's Grand Lodge of England is much grander than it first might appear, but it is extremely important that you keep in mind the time frame that we are speaking of.

Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Westminster.

Before the Freemasons came out into the light of day, they were shrouded in secrecy. Even more so than it is today. A satisfactory explanation has yet to be given as to why Freemasonry needed to be a secret society before that infamous date in 1717.

Why?

Why is it Freemasonry was a complete and total secret society before then?

What was the need to keep the Order such a secret?

What could they possibly have had to hide?

You can watch any documentary on TV about the Freemasons, or ask your local Freemason: Where does Freemasonry come from? And you will get the same answer over and over again. The answer undoubtedly always is:

Freemasonry comes from the medieval stonemason’s guilds.'

Thirteenth Century Medieval Stonemasons

The Freemasons grew from the medieval stone guilds. Easy enough, right? That's the answer you will be given, and it's the same answer you will get every single solitary time.

Before I go much further, please understand that I don't mean to be sarcastic in any way, shape or form to my brethren of the Craft that might believe that very thing. That we arose from the stonemason guilds. The problem is that this answer raises more questions than it answers.

This is why we first need to look at a very simple question:

Why would any group of medieval stonemasons need so much secrecy?

Masonic lore tells us that the need for secrecy, stems from the need to keep our secret signs and passwords to ourselves. This is so that no one could present themselves as a Master Mason, or a Fellowcraft or even as an Entered Apprentice, that wasn’t one. Sounds logical enough on the surface, but let’s step back and examine this a bit more deeply.

Before we go any further, I need to explain [to those of you that might not be familiar with Freemasonry terminology] what a Master Mason, a Fellowcraft and an Entered Apprentice actually are.

The basic Lodge of Freemasonry consists of three degrees. Freemasons refer to the Lodge that these three main degrees belong to, as the Blue Lodge. The Blue Lodge is where Master Masons attend their monthly meetings and carry out any business that needs attention. From the Blue Lodge, there are two different branches of Masonry that Master Masons can choose to pursue if he so wishes.

The first branch of Freemasonry [and the most well-known] is the Scottish Rite. The second branch is known as the York Rite. The Scottish Rite consists of 28 degrees. Since the new Mason has taken the first three degrees in the Blue Lodge, the Scottish Rite starts with the 4th degree and continues upward to the 32nd degree. An honorary degree is given for

exceptional performance in Masonry, which is the 33rd degree.

The York Rite starts out in the same way as the Scottish Rite - with a fourth degree. It is also broken up into chapters. The first chapter is called the Royal Arch and it consists of four degrees, with the degree of the Royal Arch being the fourth. The next chapter is the Council of Select Masters which is also known as the Cryptic Masons. Then comes the

Chivalric Orders which are the Order of the Red Cross, the Knights of Malta and the Order of the Temple otherwise known as the Knights Templar. These no longer go by degrees but are Orders to be conferred on, such as being knighted. The Knights Templar are no longer classified by degrees, but by Orders, which are conferred on the candidate. There are three of these Orders, the last being the Order of the Temple.So again, you have the Blue Lodge, that is just for the Master Mason. Then you have two different branches of Masonry that you can advance in: The York Rite or the Scottish Rite. We'll go into more detail on these two branches later, but for now, we'll stick with the first three and primary degrees, which are the Entered Apprentice, the Fellowcraft and the Master Mason degrees.

A new candidate must first complete a petition or an application. This petition is a requirement for Freemasonry. Freemasonry is not like the Lions Club, or the Eagles, or the Moose, nor is it like any other social club that you might be aware of. There is nothing wrong with those clubs, nor am I against them. It's just that they are usually associated with drinking, barbecuing, playing horseshoes, putting on haunted houses, gambling and so on.

These things are usually not done at Masonic Lodges. On occasion, a Lodge might hold events to help raise money for the Lodge, it's members or for charities, but for all intents and purposes, it is not the status quo for Masons. Freemasons do give to certain charities, which they are most certainly known for, but it's not the primary focus of the Lodge. The Mason is constantly encouraged to learn, grow and strive for enlightenment.

All petitions must be voted on. The vote must be unanimous amongst all Lodge members. If just one member votes no, then the candidate is denied entry into Freemasonry. In today's politically correct society, this might seem a little severe, but it has been that way since its inception and Freemasonry's motto is: 'We don't make bad men good, we make good men better!'

When I joined, I filled out the petition and conducted my interview. I even had a member of the investigation committee call my employer to see what kind of an employee I was. At the time of my petition, I wasn't aware that I had family members that were already Masons. Having a friend or family member that will 'vouch' for you will make this process much faster and smoother during the initial investigation. If only I had known!

Now that I have laid down the superficial groundwork of Freemasonry, you should begin to see that this isn't just your average social club. No, it's not. It's the oldest, the first and the Grandfather to all the others! And as we progress, you will begin to see with more and more clarity, that it is much, much more than your local social club.

One main component that sets Freemasonry apart from the others, is its degrees. I have yet to meet a Freemason that would say taking any one of the degrees wasn't an extremely profound experience. It's an experience like no other. You can't possibly begin to really comprehend what the degrees are like until you have been through them yourself. Why? Because there isn't anything else like them. There isn't anything like any of these degrees, anywhere. Period.

So, what is Freemasonry? Freemasonry is history. My history, your history. It's the history of our world. It is the history of civilization as we know it today and it will continue to be written today, tomorrow and perhaps until the end of time.

The Masonic degrees are old and they feel old. They come from a time long, long ago. Today's mindset has a hard time understanding this concept completely. We are so caught up with what reality television show is on. What sports player just got in trouble again or what pop star is in the news. We work all week long, just so we can run out on the weekend to party. Then we go right back to work on Monday to do it all over again. This is where the thoughts and interest of the average person are at today.

Masonry is old. Very old. Some even say that it's ancient. When a new Mason begins the Craft, they may see the degrees they are taking as superficial or just something to do to advance in the Craft. They often don't understand the true meaning behind what they are doing. Many people view Masonry as superstitious, hoaxy or corny and roll their eyes. Or, they will ignore the topic all together and leave the conversation.

Many people are uncomfortable with Masonry in general and just can't relate to it. We tend to only understand and see right here and now. We only see, what's in plain sight. How many people today can remember using a rotary telephone? If your phone was in the kitchen, you might be lucky enough to walk over to the opposite end of the room if the cord was long enough. It's a shame that we have become so distracted. How would the kids today manage with that? What about television? Can you remember when there were only three to five channels at most? Remember when we didn't have remote controls? How did we ever manage to survive? People have