I sure hope we can come up with something better than. what we currently have. Several times in the recent past, we've had visitors come to Lodge and I was asked to validate their standing. There is no one standard, no ID card such as that which we have here in Washington. And I've found that interviewing visitors to recite ritual or catechism does not necessarily disqualify them. However, this last method exposes another vulnerability in our Craft and that is ritual accuracy varies from one state to another and the requirements are all over the map. The way we do it here in Washington, going through the Lodge Secretary to the Grand Lodge Secretary to the target jurisdiction Grand Secretary to another Lodge Secretary is cumbersome and inefficient.
We will never be able to rely upon 'dues cards' as a means of assuring that a Man is a Mason, for the simple reason that many Jurisdictions around the world don't have any such thing.
Nor of course can we always assume that a Brother will have contacted his Grand Secretary with his travel plans in advance. I've never actually done that. I just show up.
And of course, as you mention, the ritual is different from place to place, including the words and signs of the Degrees.
What we can do is:
Make sure that he is from a Grand Lodge we recognize. (This information is on Grandview, provided by the Amity app, and in the printed List of Lodges books, now published by the Amity people.)
Look at anything he might have. His Jurisdiction might not use something like our dues cards, but he may well have a certificate from his Degrees or similar.
Ask him for the words and signs. They might be different from ours, or in a different order than ours, there might be some extras, or less than what we have. But, if he is a Mason, he will know what you are asking for. The fact that they are a bit different than ours doesn't matter, what matters is that he knows what they are in his Jurisdiction and knows how to give them.
Talk to him about Freemasonry. The first Lodge I ever visited in a foreign country, that is all they did to test me. By talking to me about Freemasonry, they were able to determine to their satisfaction that I was indeed a Mason. They let me in, then they quickly had me fill in as Junior Deacon.
Give him the test oath.
If we do these things I think we can be satisfied that a man is a Mason. Or not, as the case may be.
We had a brother from South Africa show up out of the blue one evening. He had a letter of good standing from his GL and his regalia (apron and cuffs). Now, a letter of good standing can be faked as anyone with a computer can make one, and how would we know any different? And the regalia can be bought online. But he just gave off the right "vibes" I guess you could say, we pretty much felt it was legit. He's a member of the lodge now. Great guy, although his job keeps him out of lodge.
The golden billion project that I wanted to achieve since childhood, I just can't achieve it. Looks like the power I have that I was going to use for the golden billion
I sure hope we can come up with something better than. what we currently have. Several times in the recent past, we've had visitors come to Lodge and I was asked to validate their standing. There is no one standard, no ID card such as that which we have here in Washington. And I've found that interviewing visitors to recite ritual or catechism does not necessarily disqualify them. However, this last method exposes another vulnerability in our Craft and that is ritual accuracy varies from one state to another and the requirements are all over the map. The way we do it here in Washington, going through the Lodge Secretary to the Grand Lodge Secretary to the target jurisdiction Grand Secretary to another Lodge Secretary is cumbersome and inefficient.
We will never be able to rely upon 'dues cards' as a means of assuring that a Man is a Mason, for the simple reason that many Jurisdictions around the world don't have any such thing.
Nor of course can we always assume that a Brother will have contacted his Grand Secretary with his travel plans in advance. I've never actually done that. I just show up.
And of course, as you mention, the ritual is different from place to place, including the words and signs of the Degrees.
What we can do is:
Make sure that he is from a Grand Lodge we recognize. (This information is on Grandview, provided by the Amity app, and in the printed List of Lodges books, now published by the Amity people.)
Look at anything he might have. His Jurisdiction might not use something like our dues cards, but he may well have a certificate from his Degrees or similar.
Ask him for the words and signs. They might be different from ours, or in a different order than ours, there might be some extras, or less than what we have. But, if he is a Mason, he will know what you are asking for. The fact that they are a bit different than ours doesn't matter, what matters is that he knows what they are in his Jurisdiction and knows how to give them.
Talk to him about Freemasonry. The first Lodge I ever visited in a foreign country, that is all they did to test me. By talking to me about Freemasonry, they were able to determine to their satisfaction that I was indeed a Mason. They let me in, then they quickly had me fill in as Junior Deacon.
Give him the test oath.
If we do these things I think we can be satisfied that a man is a Mason. Or not, as the case may be.
We had a brother from South Africa show up out of the blue one evening. He had a letter of good standing from his GL and his regalia (apron and cuffs). Now, a letter of good standing can be faked as anyone with a computer can make one, and how would we know any different? And the regalia can be bought online. But he just gave off the right "vibes" I guess you could say, we pretty much felt it was legit. He's a member of the lodge now. Great guy, although his job keeps him out of lodge.
I understand what you are saying about vibes, and agree. Knowledge gained by talking with a fellow Mason is indeed important.
This was enlightening. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! I'm glad that it didn't bore you to death! I was a bit worried that no one would be interested.
I want to join the Illuminati
In order to join the Illuminati you would need to purchase the DeLorean Time Machine, because the Illuminati has not existed since the year 1785.
I imagined in a moment that the dream I wanted to achieve is now not going to come true
The golden billion project that I wanted to achieve since childhood, I just can't achieve it. Looks like the power I have that I was going to use for the golden billion
Because I will not use it, but the problem is increasing day by day