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Secret Societies

Joe said:
A Friend of mine had a grand-father who was a member of the 'Masons' (Freemasons?! i can't remeber) Anyway, at her house she has one of his canes. Its big and black with a gold top and when you un-screw the top a sword is revealed:eek:
Its pretty cool, and secretive ;)
I was wondering if any one knew if the Masons were still around?
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Yes, their members are known as judges, police chiefs, and prince Philip.;)
 
on the level

My grandfather, Boke (Thomas Bokenham), is a life-long Baconian and has spent much of his life with Elizabethan texts. Baconians are much interested in the role of secret societies. They are easy to ridicule but also have many interesting points to make.

Anyone interested could start with this link. The style of this US site does not always do the subject good justice but it is, nevertheless, at least a good starting point.

http://www.sirbacon.org/

No flames please for mentioning the Baconians.

http://www.sirbacon.org/links/bio__on_bokie.htm
 
Don't you have to be recommended by another Mason?

I reckon it's just an excuse for the blokes to get together and have a booze up and strippers without the wives knowing.

But why do you want to join a secret society, Justin?

I was thinking of forming my own religion (I quite fancied inventing a few gods and goddesses, rituals, etc).

Carole

,llllhttted (sorry, cat walked over the keyboard!:miaow: )
 
Jim Davidson: No need to worry; God told him to do it.

aerialsnake said:
Not to mention Jim Davidson by the looks of things...
http://www.freemasonrytoday.co.uk

Now we are all doomed...
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Evidently Jim Davidson is (or at least was) the chairman of the Westminster City Council lodge.
And there's more:

From The Times 28/4/2000

Amid much anguished wringing of aprons, the Freemasons accepted the blue
comedian Jim Davidson as Worshipful Master of one of Britain’s top lodges yesterday...Some furious Masons say that his vulgar humour and four broken marriages set a bad example. But the comic, who says Masonry saved his life by rescuing him from drink, hopes to do a degree in the institution and may rise higher in its ranks....Over a glass of port he spoke seriously about the movement, which he says can save drinkers, fraudsters and troublemakers. "masonry is very good for me because I need rules to live by," he said. "I need to believe in a God and not break the law, or try not to".


:eek!!!!:
 
Don't get me started on the Masons! It's amazing, cos I take it as common knowledge that these oddballs who devote there lives to worshipping the Great Architect and wear aprons are the ruling bodies here, in Germany, the US and Spain. That they have connections with the Bilderberg group, the trilateral commsion, the Skull and Bones group at Harvard Uni, the Illuminati and various other esoteric orders is seen as fantastical by most, but I'm afraid I take it all fairly literally. The thing s I've never read anything convincing me they don't exist. If it's all a great con, it's a good one, as all the time I find more info about them, there practises, beliefs and history (which goes back as far as the building of the temple of solomon if you believe some authors).
 
There is an excellent old book called "The secret societies of all ages" by Heckethorpe which gives an encyclopaedic description of all the types of secret societies. Some are political, subversive some religious some criminal. The names are fantastical also, The Cammoro, The Molly Maguires, The Knights of the White Camelia, The Know-nothings. A most interesting area of study.
 
The Molly Maguires should be familiar to the readers of Dr. Watson, as they played a central part in "The Valley of Fear".

(Dr. Watson wrote under the pseudonym of Arthur Conan Doyle, for the benefit of the illiterati out there.)
 
all ritual is odd

Postulating, a proto-secret-society - IE a model of a secret society, exactly like a secret society. Would it be based on an existing society / sect ? I've often wondered whether look-a-like groups get formed (perhaps by people who haven't been invited into the original - like kids' gangs). I guess the real question for masons is - why are they secret? What purpose does the secrecy serve? I can imagine that in certain cases the secrecy may itself be the core of the ritual.

For example - the 'Grand Order of The Buffaloes' and the 'Orange Orders' both seem to have mason-like elements. Kind of like - how the 'Woodcraft Folk' are a bit like the scouts. I had a friend whose useless hippy (crypto-fascist) parents forced him to go to WoodFolk - he deeply hated the experience.

I visited a notaire (lawyer) in Narbonne last week. Noticed that he was wearing a Rotary pin. Yet another international brotherhood. Apparently a benign charity fundraising and golfing sect - and yet who really knows their true purpose?

In 10 seconds you will be transported into the world of the RAOB!
 
rotarians?

The Rotarians aren't exactly a secret society and their plans for world domination aren't exactly plans for world domination.

However, I suspect them of being a karma laundering facility for businessmen with guilty consciences. Where else would you find professionals who spend their days making money in as harsh and cut throat a manner as possible then going on to raise money and do good works?

Of course, many people who end up in the Rotary want to be there to do the Good Works and generally be useful to their fellow man.

But there are those few embittered souls who couldn't get into the Masons...

Freemasonry is a fascinating subject that covers a heck of a lot of ground. Do I need mention Scots Right Masonry and it's links to the Knights Templar? If anyone needs a starting point into the history and mystery of The Masons, check out "The Brotherhood". I think the author was Steven Knight (but I could well be wrong) and I'm pretty sure that the book has yet to be supressed.

On the surface, Freemasonry is part charitable organisation and part drinking club. The level of decorum at Masonic gatherings is such that there are unlikely to be strippers...

...of course, they don't let outsiders in on the most fun nights, so I'm just guessing.
Of course, Freemasonry is just the overflow for those embittered souls who couldn't get into...

...the Illuminati.

Ewige Blumenkraft!
 
morgens am sonnensystem!

just reading the illuminati again, after about 12 years... It's just bonkers, that's all I can really say. I do love the way they mix fantasy and reality tho, using real people and mysteries, and making up convincing sects/organisations. I had a brief look on the net, and there's nothing about the Illuminati which isn't somehow connected to RAW / RS.

The brotherhood is by S Knight, and still available. I imagine you could find it in any good alternative bookshop (although they seem a bit thin on the ground). The copy I've got was bought from the Inner Bookshop in Oxford, although I'm sure there are good ones in London, if you know where to look (good idea for a thread...). I also recommend A Waite (sp?) much harder to find but worth the effort for the really interested.

It was interesting to read some of the buffalo stuff, I also found the freemasonry today news page eyebrow raising:
The Freemasons of Leicestershire and Rutland have raised £1.87 Million for charity with their 2001 Festival
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the funds would provide financial assistance to both Masonic and non-Masonic charities.
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so what precisely are these 'charities' and why do loads of rich business men need a 'masonic charity'?

found an interesting mention in the liverpool FM pages:
the Britannia Adelphi Hotel, the Liverpool Racquet Club, Staff House at the University of Liverpool and the Greenbank Synagogue in Sefton Park.
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the last one's an interesting place to meet ;)
 
Not exactly secret are the Oddfellows
I remember being told once by a Member that you couldn't be an Oddfellow an a mason tho' how true that is I don't know.
 
While holidaying recently at a friends place,he introduced me to his new girlfriend.She works as a psych nurse out in the field visiting patients in their homes to make sure they are coping with life.She told us stories of some of her patients who claim to have escaped from secret satanic cults.Some of the horrors these people say have happened to them would make the hardest persons stomach churn.
She also said that she had these patients in the several different areas around Australia that she had worked.
The reason no one had ever discovered these cults was because they had some very powerful people in charge(politicians,judges,etc).
In NSW we also had a politician come out in state parliment and make similar claims.She of course was discredited and ended up resigning from parliment.
I know fortean times covered this type of thing a few issues ago,but after speaking to this friend it really makes me wonder just what is going on in some of the smaller country towns just outside our major capitals.
 
so what precisely are these 'charities' and why do loads of rich business men need a 'masonic charity'?
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Masonic charities do work connected with families of masons. For example, they maintain a "widows and orphans" type fuind, so if a member dies and leaves a family, those people will be looked after. Masonic charities also provide scholarships and the like; I understand they also do work abroad although I'm not clear on what that might be.

Basically, semi-mystical kerfuffle aside, The Masons are a society of people dedicated to looking after each other. If you are a mason, you can expect to help and be helped by other Masons in the community and - probably - worldwide.
 
intaglio said:
Not exactly secret are the Oddfellows
I remember being told once by a Member that you couldn't be an Oddfellow an a mason tho' how true that is I don't know.
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Having just posted on another thread about a Falmouth pub, I may as well add that the town also has a pub called the Oddfellows Arms (and that's their inn sign). Ieven have some foties of it somewhere.
 
Webslinger - what makes you think that they're just a cosy family into loving and sharing. I'm not so convinced. From what I've read and been told (not neccessarily by the most trustworthy people mind you) There are three levels which masons are generally aware of - novice, journeyman and master. However unbeknownst to most masons there are several levels above the ordinary master (perhaps grand master being one) up to 33. At each stage initiates are made to perform additional rites, and are then brought into the higher circles, which have there own codes, meetings and secrets.

So whilst it may appear that the masons do nothing sinister there is a gulf of knowledge between what happens at everyday meetings, fundraisers and the like, and what happens further up the pyramid.

Any group doing charitable work should have clearly stated purposes and should declare what these funds are for. I suspect that the Masons syphon off the money they make for charoty (under a charitable front that pays no tax) and reinvests them in other things. Surely individual masons life insurance should be signinficant to keep the family after the husbands death (although I said that about the NY relief money).

I dounno I just don't like them I guess, probably some genetic hatred of the upper classes ;)
 
class discussion

I think that you'd be wrong to assume that membership of the masons is an upper-class pursuit. Many would probably consider it a somewhat petit-bourgeois interest.

Certainly in Britain and europe, membership of a small-town lodge is often seen as a form of social climbing. Should also be remembered that masons tend to be members of the skilled / professional (ie working) classes.

In my little town (on the Isle of Man), the local masons seem to be puffed-up Captain Mainwaring type characters (silly little men). I sometimes see them coming out of their hall on lodge night. I'm certain that nobody posh would have anything to do with them.
 
rynner said:
Having just posted on another thread about a Falmouth pub, I may as well add that the town also has a pub called the Oddfellows Arms (and that's their inn sign). Ieven have some foties of it somewhere.
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Just to add, there's also an Oddfellows Arms in Chester. Does anybody know of others?
 
interesting point SS, I suppose it is mostly middle-class types who join... However, the question is: who creates the ideologies, rites and rituals, and who decides who is suitable for masonic pursuits? It seems to have been set up to mimic the old Guilds of London - yet it's hardly trade union to have the Queen's consort as it's titular head, and as I mentioned in a previous post, there are many levels above the 3rd degree (master). So on the one hand we have historical landed gentry/upper class interests and on the other the new bourgoisie. It would be interesting to know some more statistics and also opinions on how these two seemingly diverse groups function within the organisation. My 2p - the ruling class fool the new middle class that they are part of a 'brotherhood of man' type affair with equal status to the nobility. Thus most masons never rise above the 3rd degree. Unbeknownst to them other masonic orders exists parrallel to them and it is these orders (made up of hereditary members) that decisions are really made. The masons is really a front to fool the middle class that they're running the country (much like the Blair Government!)
 
aerialsnake said:
Just to add, there's also an Oddfellows Arms in Chester. Does anybody know of others?
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There's one near just up the road from where my mum lives, in Thornaby. During the war it used to be frequented by the RAF lads from the bomber station just over the road.

Carole
 
<antiUSrant>SandB as made famous by the movie Bones last year. Yes I know about it and the Sacrifice of Care (or whatever it's called) out in the woods. All pretty ludicrous but obviously a copy of European secret socs. The problem with the US is that they desperately want to be European, but can't stand the Europeans themselves. Thus anything they do in an attempt to copy Milanese style, French food, british music, etc comes across as badly-hewn pastiche, and their attempts at SSs is no different. A pale immitation of the Etonian etc school socs (including the stupid beta kappa phi house names) American universities are extended summer camps where rich kids go while their parents get fat and divorced. With their new-found education (i.e. knowing who's daddy works for who) they then thunder off into the world thinking that they're intelligent. Like most people who trundle through the sham of american high-schools and unis they know bupkiss, what they do know is wrong, and all they're good for is being corporate puppets. Long live the USA and all that sink in her.</antiUSrant>
 
Funny how the US got to be the most technologicaly advanced nation on Earth if they are so dumb.:rolleyes:
 
Oddfellows Arms

A Quick search on the Manchester phone area produces pubs in -
Eccles, Northwich, Ashton-under-Lyne, Swinton, Stockport, Winsford and Bury this will exclued those that are private numbers in the name of the landlord/manager
 
I thought the Japanese were the most technologically advanced... Anyway, I appologise to any american readers of that diatribe, I just had an anti-US red mist thing. I know you're not all bad :) Anyway, depends how you define technology, and who's creating it i.e. if most of the people who design chips are Indian (and a lot are) is India the most advanced country? America may be one of the richest nations, doesn't mean that their ability to buy into tech makes them the originator...
 
Originally posted by Xanatic
The Freemasons are of course still around, you just have to spot them.

They're not difficult to spot, if you're in London go to Freemasons hall - it's a big building near Holborn and has an impressive chapel type thing in the middle. It also has a museum (open weekdays to everybody.) I'm not a mason but it's good for a laugh looking at their robes and stuff! Also there are a few shops around the hall which sell the accessories, it's a bit like Soho with a lot of business men looking furtive and going into the shops and coming out with bags etc. (not)
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Oddfellows pubs

quote:
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Originally posted by aerialsnake


Just to add, there's also an Oddfellows Arms in Chester. Does anybody know of others?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used to go to a large pub in Edinburgh called "Oddfellows" on Forest Road. It was our favourite underage haunt. It was and indeed still is in an old oddfellows meeting hall (replete with carved ceiling, inscriptions etc). It has had several name changes in the past ten years: It's now an Aussie theme pub Called "down under" or "Oz bar" (or something equally witty)
 
carole said:
Don't you have to be recommended by another Mason?

I reckon it's just an excuse for the blokes to get together and have a booze up and strippers without the wives knowing.
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Nope, they don't "Recruit" members so to speak, you have to go to them and ask to join.


Here's an interesting Article which explains some things.........
 
Secret Societies...we're all in one...

Just noting the Secret Societies thread below, I remember a random thought I had once whilst drunk and watching a particuarly iffy streetlight. I thought ti looked quite dodgy, and people that I could nto see suddenly passed under it and came into view, before disappearing again into the darkness. I wondered if my two less-than-sober companions could also see these characters seen and then unseen, and then had a more horrifying thought...

What if everyone in the world is a member of a secret society except me?

What if every single person on the planet- my friends and family, teachers, fellow students, shopowners, policemen and doctors, politicians and popes-- what if everyone except me is in some vast secret society, and I'm the only one who doens't know it?

What if they all watch me, knowing that I am the one Outsider, all of them both sneering at my ignorance and greedily gleeful at their ruse? What if they all know that everyone is a member, and that what to me are common day-to-day normalcies of gesture and communication are actually secret communications between members? The man in the queue before me in the coffee shop who asked for extra brown sugar...that an old man tips his hat as he lets a woman pass by...a schoolchild sticks out his tongue at me as he races past...what if all of these are signs of the spread and power of this secret society, which includes everyone except me?

Paranoia only could reveal it to me.

But how could I investigate, or prove it? Anyone I ask would be a member. Any help I seek would be from a member. Any friend or mentor I approach would be a member.

All of them, watching me. Against me.

How do I escape?

How do I join?

Ian
 
Have you tried the dried frog pills yet?, you'll feel much better if you do.;)
 
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