# How Old is Freemasonry?



## My Freemasonry (May 12, 2017)

The modern incarnation of Freemasonry dates to around 1717, but, was that truly the beginning of the “ancient” and honorable fraternity?


The history of modern Freemasonry is fairly understood, going back to roughly the 1700’s. Beyond that point in time, information starts to become less available. Their are some documents and notable figures prior to that point in time, such as the _Regius/Halliwell_ poem, and notables like Elias Ashmole, but no certifiable records exist to demonstrate organized activity as we have today.

One of the virtues of Freemasonry is that its study and practice allow members to explore this topic, and at times travel outside the bounds of connections typically explored in mainstream history. Some Masonic historians have attempted to draw connections to the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucian’s, Jewish Kabbalah traditions, Hermetica, Alchemy, Christian Mysticism, and to much further back to the precursor Essenes at the time of Jesus. These explorations have been considered in both the past and present Masonic scholarship to varying degrees of acceptance, but many points of contention remain.

In present day, Freemasonry has little changed in the preced-ing 200 years since the founding of the United Grand Lodge of England, and is modeled in a system that was likely little changed for the 150 years prior to that. It is believed that the working aspects of Freemasonry, the form and function of the lodge, comes from the stone working guilds of the European Renaissance and middle ages which, over time as that trade profession became less specialized, attracted new members of non practicing “speculative masons.”

From that shift, the present day fraternity moved from an “operative” guild to a “speculative” one in that the function of the lodge turned to the allegorical and symbolic meanings of the stone masons and less about the physical operation. These changes have evolved to shape the look and feel of modern lodge operation today.

What is a Freemason?

From the ebook _What is Freemasonry?_






 








Continue reading...


----------



## Warrior1256 (May 12, 2017)

Cool. Especially intriguing is how far in the past Freemasonry extends.


----------



## LK600 (May 12, 2017)

Interesting read, and great site, thanks.


----------



## Warrior1256 (May 12, 2017)

JamestheJust said:


> Rather than track lodge-type structures perhaps it is worth tracking lodge-type rituals. They may turn out to be much older than stone masons' guilds.
> 
> For example the Egyptians had a lion-like goddess that was responsible for raisings.
> 
> The chapter of giving heart to Osiris: "May the goddess Sekhmet raise me, and lift me up"


Very interesting!


----------



## Ripcord22A (May 12, 2017)

JamestheJust said:


> Rather than track lodge-type structures perhaps it is worth tracking lodge-type rituals.   They may turn out to be much older than stone masons' guilds.
> 
> For example the Egyptians had a lion-like goddess that was responsible for raisings.
> 
> The chapter of giving heart to Osiris:  "May the goddess Sekhmet raise me, and lift me up"


Weve been over this....Freemasonry STOLE those things from older groups.

Sent from my LG-H918 using My Freemasonry mobile app


----------



## Ripcord22A (May 12, 2017)

Kabalists, egyptian mystery schools ect ect....our founders picked and chose and came up Freemasonry

Sent from my LG-H918 using My Freemasonry mobile app


----------



## CLewey44 (May 13, 2017)

The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology and Rituals of an Occult Order
This book is a pretty good read on the history of Rosicrucianism and how it ties into Freemasonry. It goes waaaay back before 1717. As a matter of fact, 3/4 of this book talks about before the year 1800. Of course, there's always speculation as to what is accurate or not when talking about these matters due to how secretive they were back then during the Enlightenment period and beyond.


----------



## Ripcord22A (May 13, 2017)

JamestheJust said:


> So do we have any evidence of Egyptian Mystery Schools active in the 17th century?
> 
> And how did the founders of modern Freemasonry have access to those teachings and rituals?
> 
> ...


Is our speculation on my part? Absolutely.  However my "speculation" is WAAAAYYY more plausible then aliens or the illuminati or "the brotherhood of the grip" or some Egyptian God creating FreeMasonry

Sent from my LG-H918 using My Freemasonry mobile app


----------



## coachn (May 13, 2017)

Ripcord22A said:


> Is our speculation on my part? Absolutely.  However my "speculation" is WAAAAYYY more plausible then aliens or the illuminati or "the brotherhood of the grip" or some Egyptian God creating FreeMasonry
> 
> Sent from my LG-H918 using My Freemasonry mobile app


Freemasonry, at its very core, is Theater.  And its success is wholly due to its haphazard script writers who borrowed greatly and quite liberally from just about every thing they could to capture the imaginations and attention of some of the worlds best known personalities. 

They have succeeded beyond all imagination!


----------



## Warrior1256 (May 13, 2017)

Ripcord22A said:


> However my "speculation" is WAAAAYYY more plausible then aliens or the illuminati or "the brotherhood of the grip" or some Egyptian God creating FreeMasonry





coachn said:


> Freemasonry, at its very core, is Theater. And its success is wholly due to its haphazard script writers who borrowed greatly and quite liberally from just about every thing they could to capture the imaginations and attention of some of the worlds best known personalities.


O.K., makes sense.


----------

