Freemasons for Dummies‰ 2ND EDITION
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Freemasons FOR DUMmIES‰ 2ND EDITION by Christopher Hodapp Freemasons For Dummies®, 2nd Edition Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permis- sion of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748- 6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. 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For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Control Number: 2012954768 ISBN 978-1-118-41208-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-41210-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41215-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41216-9 (ebk) Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Author Christopher Hodapp is the editor of the Journal of the Masonic Society. He has been a Freemason since 1998 and is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge #643 and Lodge Vitruvian #767, Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana. He is an honorary member of African Lodge #459, Prince Hall Affiliation, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Royal Arch Masons, Cryptic Masons, the Allied Masonic Degrees, and the Knights Templar. He is a 33° Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Indianapolis Valley, and he is a member of the Royal Order of Scotland. He has served on the Masonic Education and Technology Committees of the Grand Lodge of Indiana and is a member of the boards of Indiana Freemasons’ Hall and the Grand Lodge of Indiana Library and Museum. Chris is a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society. He is a member of the Southern California Research Lodge, the Scottish Rite Research Society, the Philalethes Society, the Phylaxis Society, the Grand College of Rites of the United States of America, and the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle. In 2006, Chris was presented with the Duane E. Anderson Excellence in Masonic Education Award from the Grand Lodge of Minnesota for Freemasons For Dummies. His second book, Solomon’s Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C. (Ulysses Press), was published in December 2006. He has also co-written The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies with Alice Von Kannon. He has written numerous articles about Freemasonry for both the Masonic and mainstream press and has appeared in numerous television documentaries about Masonry. He has spent 25 years as a commercial filmmaker and editor and has written scripts for corporate and nonprofit clients. He and his wife Alice have spent more than 30 years positively besotted with each other, and they live with their very French poodle, Wiley, in Indianapolis. Dedication To Alice, to the memory of her father, and to a little group of Texas Freemasons who unknowingly started me on my journey. Author’s Acknowledgments This is one of those books that I wondered why no one had written over the years, and then I wound up being the guy writing it. I owe profuse and heart- felt thanks to Richard J. Elman, Grand Master of Masons in Indiana during 2004 and 2005, for many reasons too complex to bore you with here, but especially for saying, “I know someone who could write this.” I owe an equal debt of gratitude that can never be repaid to Roger S. VanGorden, Grand Master of Masons in Indiana during 2002 and 2003. From my first Internet contact with an Indiana Freemason to his boundless assistance with this book — and everything in between — Roger remains my greatest Masonic mentor, and I am ever grateful for his trust and his friendship. Thanks to Dr. S. Brent Morris of the Scottish Rite Southern Masonic Jurisdiction and editor of the Scottish Rite Journal and Richard Curtis of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and former editor of the Northern Light Magazine for their assistance in negotiating the shoals and eddies of the Scottish Rite. And special thanks to the late Nelson King, past president of the Philalethes Society and editor of The Philalethes Magazine, and to Bud Householder, also of the Philalethes Society, who served as technical editors of this book. Thanks for the assistance of Brothers Jeff Naylor, Eric Schmitz, Tom Fellows, Timothy Bonney, Jim Dillman, Bill Hosler, Billy Koon, Ed King and Stephen Dafoe; for Worshipful Brother Don Seeley whose example always reminds me to get it right; and for Worshipful Brothers Jerry Cowley and Wilson Lorick, who introduced me to Prince Hall Masonry. And an extraordinary note of thanks goes to my great friend of three decades, Nathan Brindle, who never fails to whisper good counsel in my ear, and was my Brother long before we joined a lodge together. Thanks to Tracy Boggier at Wiley Publishing, for putting a lot of trust in an unproven author and for teaching me everything I know about raising a puppy, and to my editors Elizabeth Kuball, Vicki Adang, and Caitlin Copple for calmly guiding me through the wilderness. My deepest gratitude goes to Carolyn Steele, for taking care of business when I couldn’t. And finally, to my wife Alice, for her support and her boundless energy, and for more than 30 years of better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health. She remains my biggest cheerleader, my greatest research assistant, my dearest friend, the love of my life, and the best writer I personally know. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Vertical Websites Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker Senior Project Editor: Victoria M. Adang Layout and Graphics: Jennifer Creasey (Previous Edition: Elizabeth Kuball) Proofreader: Bonnie Mikkelson Senior Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC Copy Editor: Caitlin Copple Assistant Editor: David Lutton Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen Technical Editor: Bud Householder Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker Editorial Assistants: Rachelle Amick, Alexa Koschier Cover Photo: © Christopher Hodapp Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher David Palmer, Associate Publisher Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Introduction ................................................................ 1 Part I: What Is Freemasonry? ....................................... 9 Chapter 1: Lodges, Aprons, and Funny Handshakes: Freemasonry 101 ...................11 Chapter 2: From Cathedrals to Lodge Rooms: A History of the Freemasons ..........21 Chapter 3: The Philosophy of Freemasonry .................................................................55 Chapter 4: Politics, Religion, and Freemasons: They Don’t Mix ................................63 Part II: The Inner Workings of Freemasonry ................