How do I become a Mason?

If you want to become a Mason, you need to find a lodge.  Call them up or knock on the door and it shall be opened unto you.  Once some of the guys in the lodge get to know you, they may offer you a petition.

So here’s some of the pre-requisites to becoming a Freemason. A Mason cannot be an atheist.  You must believe in a Supreme being, however you choose to define that is for you and you alone to decide. If you are a convicted felon or advocate for the overthrow of the government or a conspiracy theorist, don’t bother.

We make good men better. We can’t fix a bad man or a completely broken man. We do charitable things but we aren’t a charity.  We are first and foremost a fraternity of men intent on self-improvement.

If you’re offered a petition, it’s an honor. Fill it out and be honest about everything you put on it. There is always a modest petition fee and that supports a background check. We’re not only looking for perfection. It’s best to let us know from the beginning what we’ll likely find when we do a background check anyway.

By this time the person who gave you the petition should feel that they know you well enough and can vouch for your character.  That’s typically the person who is listed as your top line signer.  Sometimes, but not always, this person is the person who becomes your mentor.

Once you have filled out your petition the Master will read it during a lodge meeting and assign a committee of 3 brothers to meet you.  They might meet you individually or together.  It might be at a coffee shop, over dinner or at your home.  We want to know if you’ll be a good match.  Are you the type of person who gel well with the lodge brethren?  Afterwards the 3 will meet and make their recommendations at the next meeting where you will be voted on.  If you are accepted, it is because you earned a unanimous vote from the lodge brethren.

Then comes the 3 degrees — Entered Apprentice, then Fellowcraft, then Master Mason.  Each of these 3 ritual degrees require you to make a solemn and binding oath to uphold moral principles, each one building upon the preceding degree.  After each degree you have to commit some information to memory.  Once that’s done, you’ll receive the next degree until you receive your Master Mason degree.  At that point you are a 3rd degree Master Mason which is the highest you can ever achieve.  This makes all Master Masons “on the level”.

There are appendant bodies that have more degrees but you’ll already have so much information swimming around in your head, it will take months, if not years before you may want to join the appendant bodies.  Just remember, even if someone has more numbers after their name or they have some fancy title, they are still only a 3rd degree, or Master, Mason.

For many men, this is a pinnacle in their lives.  How do we identify ourselves as men?  Many masons define their lives by what happened before they were initiated and what happened after they were initiated.