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Welcome to Bite at a Time Books Behind the Story, where we answer the questions you have about your favorite classic authors.

What inspired your favorite author to write their novels?

What was going on in the world at the time?

Follow along with us as we tell you what was happening in the world while your favorite authors wrote your favorite classics.

My name is Brie Carlyle and I love to read and wanted to share my passion with listeners like you.

All of the links for our show are in the Show Notes.

Today we'll be talking about Freemasonry, which is something that Alexandro Dumas was a part of.

Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organizations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that from the end of the 13th century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients.

Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups.

Regular Freemasonry insists that a volume of scripture be opened in a working Lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics be banned.

Continental Freemasonry consists of the jurisdictions that have removed some or all of these restrictions.

The basic local organizational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge.

These private lodges are usually supervised at the regional level, usually contemporarous with the state, province, or national border by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient.

There is no international worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry.

Each Grand Lodge is independent and they do not necessarily recognize each other as being legitimate.

The degrees of Freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Entered, Apprentice, Journeymen or Fellow, now called Fellow, Craft, and Master Mason.

The candidate of these three degrees is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry and entrusted with grips, signs and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated.

The degrees are part allegorical morality play and part lecture.

Three degrees are offered by Craft or Blue Lodge Freemasonry, and members of any of these degrees are known as Freemasons or Masons.

There are additional degrees which vary with locality and jurisdiction and are usually administered by their own bodies, separate from those who administer the craft degrees.

The Masonic Lodge is the basic organizational unit of Freemasonry.

The Lodge meets regularly and conducts the usual formal business of any small organization, approves minutes, elect new members, appoint officers and take their reports, consider correspondence, bills and annual accounts, organize social and charitable events, etc.

In addition to such business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, which is usually on some aspect of Masonic history or ritual.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge may hold a formal dinner or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song.

The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies.

Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of entered apprentice.

At some later time in separate ceremonies, they will be passed to the degree of fellow craft and then raised to the degree of Master Mason.

In each of these ceremonies the candidate must first take the new obligations of the degree and is then entrusted with secret knowledge, including passwords, signs and grips, secret handshakes confined to this new rank.

Another ceremony is the annual installation of the Master of the Lodge and his appointed or elected officers.

In some jurisdictions, an installed Master, elected obligated and invested to preside over a Lodge is valued as a separate rank with its own secrets and distinctive title and attributes.

After each full year in the chair, the Master invests his elected successor and becomes a past Master with privileges in the Lodge and Grand Lodge.

In other jurisdictions the grade is not recognized and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge.

Most lodges have some sort of social functions, allowing members, their partners and non Masonic guests to meet openly.

Often coupled with these events is the discharge of every Masons and Lodge's collective obligation to contribute to charity.

This occurs at many levels, including in annual dues, subscriptions, fundraising events.

Lodges and Grand Lodges Masons and their charities contribute for the relief of need in many fields, such as education, health and old age.

Private lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, with the sole right to elect their own candidates for initiation as Masons or admission as joining Masons, and sometimes with exclusive rights over residents local to their premises.

There are nonlocal lodges where Masons meet for wider or narrower purposes, such or in association with some hobby, sport, Masonic research, business, profession, Regiment or College.

The rank of Master Mason also entitles a Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees administered separately from the basic craft or Blue Lodge degrees described here, but generally having a similar structure and meetings.

There is much diversity and little consistency in Freemasonry because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent and sets its own rules and procedures.

While Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their constituent member lodges, which are ultimately private clubs, the wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc.

Varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Almost all officers of a Lodge are elected or appointed annually.

Every Masonic Lodge has a Master, two Wardens, a Treasurer, and a Secretary.

There is also always a Tyler, or outer guard outside the door of a working Lodge who may be paid to secure its Privacy.

Other offices vary between jurisdictions.

Each Masonic Lodge exists and operates according to ancient principles known as the landmarks of Freemasonry, which elude any universally accepted definition.

Candidates for Freemasonry will usually have met the most active members of the Lodge they are joining before being elected for initiation.

The process varies among Grand Lodges, but in modern times interested people often look up a local Lodge through the Internet and will typically be introduced to a Lodge social function or open evening.

The onus is upon candidates to ask to join.

While they may be encouraged to ask, they may not be invited.

Once the initial inquiry is made, a formal application may be proposed and seconded or announced in open Lodge, and more or less formal interview usually follows.

If the candidate wishes to proceed, references are taken up during a period of notice so that members may inquire into the candidate's suitability and discuss it.

Finally, the Lodge takes an officially secret ballot on each application before a candidate is either initiated or rejected.

The exact number of adverse ballots blackballs required to reject a candidate varies between Masonic jurisdictions.

As an example, the United Grand Lodge of England only requires a single black ball, while the Grand Lodge of New York requires three.

A minimum requirement of every body of Freemasons is that each candidate must be free and of good repute.

The question of freedom, a standard feudal requirement of medieval guilds, is nowadays one of independence.

The object is that every Mason should be a proper and responsible person.

Thus, each Grand Lodge has a standard minimum age, varying greatly and often subject to Dispension in particular cases.

For example, in England the standard minimum age to join is 21, but University lodges are given dispensions to initiate undergraduates below that age.

Additionally, most Grand Lodges require a candidate to declare a belief in the Supreme Being, although every candidate must interpret this condition in his own way.

As all religious discussion is commonly prohibited, in a few cases the candidate may be required to be of a specific religion, the form of Freemasonry most common in Scandinavia, known as the Swedish Right, for example, accepts only Christians.

At the other end of the spectrum, Liberal or Continental Freemasonry, exemplified by the Grand Orient de France, does not require a declaration of belief in any deity and accepts atheists, the cause of the distinction from the rest of Freemasonry.

During the ceremony of initiation, the candidate is required to undertake an obligation, swearing on the religious volume sacred to his personal faith, to do good as a Mason.

In the course of three degrees, Masons will promise to keep the secrets of their degree from lower degrees and outsiders as far as practicality and the law permit, and to support a fellow Mason in distress.

There is formal instruction as to the duties of a Freemason, but on the whole Freemasons are left to explore the craft in the manner they find most satisfying.

Some will simply enjoy the dramatics or the management and administration of the Lodge.

Others will explore the history, ritual and symbolism of the craft.

Others will focus their involvement on the Lodge's social side, perhaps in association with other lodges, while still others will concentrate on the Lodge's charitable functions.

Grand Lodges and Grand Orience are independent and sovereign bodies that govern Masonry.

In a given country, state or geographical area termed a jurisdiction.

There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide.

Freemasonry connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition.

Freemasonry, as it exists in various forms all over the world, has a membership estimated at around 6 million.

Worldwide, the fraternity is administratively organized into independent grand lodges or sometimes Grand Orients, each of which governs its own Masonic jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate or constituent lodges.

The largest single jurisdiction in terms of membership is the United Grand Lodge of England, with local organization into provincial grand lodges possessing a combined membership estimated at around a quarter million.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland and Grand Lodge of Ireland, taken together, have approximately 1500 members.

In the United States there are 51 grand lodges, one in each state and the District of Columbia, which together have a total membership of just under 2 million.

Relationships between grand lodges are determined by the concept of recognition.

Each Grand Lodge maintains a list of other grand lodges that it recognizes.

When two grand lodges recognize and are in Masonic communication with each other, they are said to be in Amity, and the brethren of each may visit each other's lodges and interact masonically.

When two grand lodges are not an Amity, intervisitation is not allowed.

There are many reasons one Grand Lodge will withhold or withdraw recognition from another, but the two most common are exclusive jurisdiction and regularity.

Exclusive jurisdiction is a concept whereby normally only one Grand Lodge will be recognized in any geographical area.

If two grand lodges claim jurisdiction over the same area, the other grand lodges will have to choose between them and they may not all decide to recognize the same one.

In 1849, for example, the Grand Lodge of New York split into two rival factions, each claiming to be the legitimate Grand Lodge.

Other grand lodges had to choose between them until the schism was healed.

Exclusive jurisdiction can be waived when the two overlapping grand lodges are themselves in Amity and agree to share the jurisdiction.

For example, since the Grand Lodge of Connecticut is an Amity with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut, the principle of exclusive jurisdiction does not apply, and other grand lodges may recognize both.

Likewise, the five distinct kinds of lodges in Germany have not been United under one Grand Lodge in order to obtain international recognition.

Regularity is a concept based on adherence to Masonic landmarks, the basic membership requirements, tenants, and rituals of the craft.

Each Grand Lodge sets its own definition of what these landmarks are and thus what is regular and what is irregular, and the definitions do not necessarily agree between grand lodges.

Essentially, every Grand Lodge will hold that its landmarks, its requirements, tenets and rituals are regular and judge other grand lodges based on those.

If the differences are significant, one Grand Lodge may declare the other irregular and withdraw or withhold recognition.

The most commonly shared rules for recognition based on regularity are those given by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1929.

The Grand Lodge should be established by an existing regular Grand Lodge or by at least three regular lodges.

A belief in the Supreme Being and Scripture is a condition of membership.

Initiatives should take their vows on that Scripture.

Only men can be admitted and no relationship exists with mixed lodges.

The Grand Lodge has complete control over the first three degrees and is not subject to another body.

All lodges shall display a volume of Scripture with the square and compasses while in session.

There's no discussion of politics or religion, ancient landmarks, customs and usages observed.

Blue Lodges, known as craft lodges in the United Kingdom, offer only the three traditional degrees.

In most jurisdictions, the rank of passed or installed master is also conferred in blue or craft lodges.

Master Masons are able to extend their Masonic experience by taking further degrees in appendant or other bodies, whether or not approved by their own Grand Lodge.

The ancient and accepted Scottish right is a system of 33 degrees, including the three Blue Lodge degrees administered by a local or National Supreme Council.

This system is popular in North America, South America, and in continental Europe.

In America, the York right, with a similar range, administers three orders of Masonry, namely the Royal Arch, Cryptic Masonry, and Knights Templar.

In Britain, separate bodies administer each order.

Freemasons are encouraged to join the Holy Royal Arch, which is linked to Mark Masonry in Scotland and Ireland, but completely separate in England.

In England, the Royal Arch is closely associated with the craft, automatically having many grand officers in common, including HRH the Duke of Kent, as both Grandmaster of the Craft and first Grand Principal of the Royal Arch.

The English Knights Templar and Cryptic Masonry share the Mark Grand Lodge offices and staff at Mark Mason's Hall.

The ancient and accepted right, similar to the Scottish rite, requires a member to proclaim the Trinitarian Christian faith and is administered from Duke Street in London.

In the Nordic countries, the Swedish rite is dominant.

A variation of it is also used in parts of Germany.

Freemasonry describes itself as a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.

The symbolism is mainly, but not exclusively, drawn from the tools of stonemasons, the square and compasses, the level and plum roll, the trowel, the rough and smooth ashlers, among others.

Moral lessons are attributed to each of these tools, although the assignment is by no means consistent.

The meaning of the symbolism is taught and explored through ritual and in lectures and articles by individual Masons who offer their personal insights and opinions.

According to the scholar of Western estotericism, Jan A.

M.

Snoek.

The best way to characterize Freemasonry is in terms of what it is not, rather than what it is.

All Freemasons begin their journey in the craft by being progressively initiated, passed, and raised into the three degrees.

Of Craft or Blue Lodge Masonry.

During these three rituals, the candidate is progressively taught the Masonic symbols and entrusted with grips or tokens, signs and words to signify to other Masons which degrees he has taken.

The dramatic allegorical ceremonies include explanatory lectures and revolve around the construction of the Temple of Solomon and the artistry and death of the chief architect.

The degrees are those of entered apprentice, fellow craft and master Mason.

While many different versions of these rituals exist with various Lodge layouts and versions of the Haramic legend, each version is recognizable to any Freemason from any jurisdiction.

In some jurisdictions, the main themes of each degree are illustrated by tracing boards.

These painted depictions of Masonic themes are exhibited in the Lodge according to which degree is being worked and are explained to the candidate to illustrate the legend and symbolism of each degree.

The idea of Masonic Brotherhood probably descends from a 16th century legal definition of a brother as one who has taken an oath of mutual support to another.

Accordingly, Mason swear at each degree to keep the contents of that degree secret and to support and protect their brethren unless they have broken the law.

In most lodges the oath or obligation is taken on a volume of sacred law, whichever book of divine revelation is appropriate to the religious beliefs of the individual brother, usually the Bible.

In the AngloAmerican tradition in progressive Continental Freemasonry books other than scripture are permissible a cause of rupture between grand lodges.

Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought the origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the Old Charges, dating from the Regis poem in about 1425 to the beginning of the 18th century, alluding to the membership of a Lodge of operative Masons.

They relate it to a mythologized history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of Fidelity are to be taken on joining.

The 15th century also sees the first evidence of a ceremonial regalia.

There is no clear mechanism by which these local trade organizations became today's Masonic lodges.

The earliest rituals and passwords known from operative lodges around the turn of the 17th to 18th centuries show continuity with the rituals developed in the later 18th century by accepted or speculative Masons, as those members who did not practice the physical craft gradually came to be known.

The Minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chapel no one in Scotland show a continuity from an operative Lodge in 1598 to a modern speculative Lodge.

It is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge in the world.

Alternatively, Thomas de Quincy, in his work titled Rajuchins and Freemasonry, put forward the theory that suggested that Freemasonry may have been an outgrowth of Rossoitanism.

The theory had also been postulated in 18 three by German Professor J.

G.

Bull.

The first Grand Lodge the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the Grand Lodge of England was founded on St.

John's Day, June 24, 1717 when four existing London lodges met for a joint dinner.

Over the next decade, most of the existing lodges in England joined the new regulatory body which itself entered a period of selfpublicity and expansion.

New lodges were created and the fraternity began to grow.

Between 1730 and 1750, the Grand Lodge endorsed several significant changes that some lodges could not endorse arrival Grand Lodge was formed on July 17, 1751 which called itself the antiendt Grand Lodge of England to signify that these lodges were maintaining older traditions and rejected changes that modern lodges had adopted.

Historians still use these terms, ancients and moderns to differentiate the two bodies.

These two grand lodges vied for supremacy until the moderns promised to return to the ancient ritual.

They United on December 27, 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England.

The Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodge of Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736, respectively, although neither persuaded all of the existing lodges in their countries to join for many years.

Thank you for joining Byte At A Time Books Behind the Story Today While we answered some of the questions you have about one of your favorite classic authors, all of the links for our show are in the show notes.

Our show is part of the Bite Edit Time Books Productions network.