Ozymandius

Good morning Panos and welcome to the forum. The A&P Rite of M-M is indeed a legitimate rite and is practised in several parts of the World. In those places it is just as valid as UGLE ad their rituals. It is however not in amity with UGLE or the United States (where the Grand College of Rites claim they are the only body able to demonstrate it) It is also not in amity wth the Ancient and Accepted Rite on the grounds they claim it imitates their degrees (despite the fact it supercedes them) Therefore should you join you will only be able to visit other Lodges of the A&P Rite.

One of my units meets on a Saturday and dines first. The downside is the members falling asleep after dining.

I understand the Trinitarian Christian requirement and this is a requirement of many Orders that I am in already. I also understand that the Swedish Rite does not have many of the Orders we have in the UK, such as Mark but are there any parts of the Swedish Rite that carry over that I am already a member of, such at Rose Croix, KT, RCC, etc

Does anyone know if it is possible for a UGLE Member to move to Sweden and join the Swedish Rite? What would be involved?

There is no one size fits all answer to your question. Firstly it depends on where you are located globally as each Masonic jurisdiction view things differently. Some parts of Freemasonry in the UK use to cover spiritual teachings and alchemy but these are now far and few between. There are other Orders with links to Freemasonry (ie their membership is made up solely of Freemasons) who do look at kabbalah, alchemy, numerology, and Hermeticism in great depths but it requires one to have been admitted and initiated into Freemasonry first. To the best of my knowledge none of these study telekinesis and witchcraft. Likewise no Masonic Order teaches non-Masons either face to face or via distance learning. There are non Masonic Orders that do such as AMORC but these are not connected to Freemasonry.

I was going to buy it until i read this "Players can cut across the middle of the game board to head directly toward their specific destination." Im not having any of that Emulation stuff done when im around.

incidentally, could a Quaker become a Freemason or anyone who else who is forbidden to swear oaths on the Bible.

When a PGM or equivilent in other Orders is Installed this is conducted by a ruler in Grand Lodge or equivilent and not, as in individual units, by their predecessor.(except in certain Orders) In addition the outgoing member is not allowd to attend the Installation, and typically stays away for 12 months. Has it always been like this and if not when did this start?

What I actually meant was, would the 250th Collar jewel be like the 300th in that it was not "presented by UGLE" but was instead purchased privately by the Lodge from TKS.

If it is anything like the 300 Anniversary Masters Collar Jewel, my Lodge purchased it from Toye Kenning so there would not be any record at Grand Lodge.

Its called "Dabbing" and has nothing to do with Freemasonry. There was a picture a few years ago of Prince Harry doing this and the following months were full of "Prince Harry is a Freemason" posts.

I do agree, however I have asked my lodge on many occasions "what do we offer a candidate that no other Lodge can?, what makes this Lodge different?" only to be met with blank stares. The issue with meeting at a centre where so many other Lodges meet is that they are all in competition and no member of an interviewing committee wants to say "Maybe they would be better joining XXXXX Lodge instead". It should all boil down to what is best for the candidate = what is best for the Lodge. For instance I know of a member who relates how he tried for over 5 years to get his father-in-law to propose him to the Lodge, went to every Ladies night and social function and met with the members socially during those 5 years before his father-in-law finally proposed him, and laments the decline in freemasonry and how members keep resigning. Yet as soon as there is the slightest sniff of a potential candidate who is not known to any member, insists that we must approve him for the next meeting or else "we won't have any work to do".

Unfortunately in this day and age I don't believe this would work in all instances although I would love to be proved wrong. It is also influenced by other agencies. For instance, there are over 50 Lodges meeting at one of my masonic centres so there is a serious case of oversaturation. A candidate will always be able to find a Lodge that will snap him up just to have work to do. In another Province where I belong there is only one Centre in the vicinity and one Lodge. It has over 140 members and a waiting list of several years. Added to that chances are that any prospective candidate is known to many members. I have to admit though that my biggest frustration regarding the interviews is when the prospective member is told that the Lodge holds social functions including Ladies nights. My Lodge last held one in 2006 and when one member arranges to hold a garden party over the summer there is just usually the same half dozen members attending. We have actually had members resign over this when they discovered later.

In the case of the Chapter I have spoken to the member proposing him and pointed out why it is not going to happen. I pointed out that there is no way I can process his form knowing what I know. The Proposer was there at that initial Craft interview so is fully aware of the situation but tried to fob it off as "he (the candidate) was confused" Luckily the Chapter has members that are not also in the Lodge and they are aware of this.

Several years ago I was part of group interviewing a candidate who had been sent to us via Province. The first question was regarding a Supreme Being and we were shocked when the interviewee answered with "Absolutely not, as a man of science I am an atheist and do not agree with any religion therefore I cannot believe in any Supreme Being" Not a lot of wriggle room there. He was hurriedly escorted from the room in the company of the PMs who were going to propose and second him and when he returned a few minutes later answered with "Absolutely I believe in a Supreme Being." Needless to say despite my protestations he was accepted for membership, in fact when I raised my objection I had one member angrily say "well you go and find us another candidate before the next meeting then". I spoke at length to both the Proposer and Seconder afterwards inviting them to withdraw the Candidate and on the evening voted with a black ball as I had already stated. As happens far to often that ball was palmed (however our by-laws state 3 to exclude but it still felt like a cover up) That member joined the Lodge, is still a committed atheist and there are now plans afoot to exalt him into RA. I have spoke to him on many occasions and informed him that the RA is all about your personal relationship with God, therefor how, as an atheist can be swear another obligation regarding something he does not believe in. His answer was "none of this is serious, I thought you couldn't be a member as an atheist but here I am".