Freemasonry is a post-collegiate mostly-all male fraternity dedicated to the social development of the member to form a broader sense of the self and their community.
This episode was recorded on August 10th, 2008. In it, Greg and Dean host an open forum for a round table discussion on all things Freemasonry. Our usual cadre of hosts will be on as well as our special callers but in this episode, we invite the Masonic community to participate by calling in and asking the hosts of the show questions about the fraternity and letting us know what they think about Freemasonry. Tim Bryce joins us on the show to talk about summer lodge closing, degrees from around the world, lodges doing specialized labors and the “hidden nooks in lodges” where the relics of the temple are stored.
Join Greg and Dean in this episode, originally recorded on July 6th, 2008, as we interview Tom Accuosti author of the Masonic blog the Masonic Tao. Tom takes us back to a Golden Age when blogging about Freemasonry was new, or at least new-ish.
This was a fun conversation and a nice glimpse of Freemasonry from “back in the day.” Tom was always good for a laugh, a jab at the orthodoxy and his fresh insight of Connecticut Freemasonry.
You can hear our newness in the podcast. It’s refreshing.
An early adopter of the Freemasons online world, today Tom spends most of his online masonic time as the moderator for the r/freemasonry subreddit.
When and where the deeper meaning go masonry gets discussed
And lots more.
We even get into the shrinking ranks of the fraternity and the loss of history at the local lodge level.
More importantly, in the conversation we dig deep into the early days of Freemasonry on the web, many of the message boards we haunted—many of which have long since gone under. Re-listening to the conversation reminded me just how different Freemasonry was in the pre-social world. It makes me think how online masonry is done today “isn’t how we used to do it.”
Tim Bryce and Fred Milliken join in on the conversation, too. Tom has a great wit—I was surprised how many times I caught myself laughing during the conversation. I’m glad I was able to restore and clean this episode up to republish it.
In this episode, Dean and Greg spent some time with John Ratcliff, a Freemason under the Grand Lodge of Missouri. Recorded June 22, 2008, this episode covered several topics relevant to Freemasons including his own personal story into Freemasonry, blogging, books on Freemasonry, esoteric Freemasonry vs. ritual magic, symbolism, the Boy Scouts, and traveling to visit other lodges.
This episode is unique as it features an impromptu candid conversation with a brother about regular life—something lost in the social landscape today.
It was a pretty dense conversation.
Some notable points in the show touched on:
Esotericism vs. non-esotericism
Why people believe in the “fantastic”
John’s philosophy behind the fraternity
And what it means for a man to be a “Good Mason.”
John even challenged Greg to define his ideas of the esoteric aspects of Freemasonry.
In this episode, recorded on June 15, 2008, Greg and Dean are joined by a long-time contributor to Freemason Information, Tim Bryce.
Tim has been a shining light in Freemasonry publishing several Masonic magazines and websites with the goal of spreading the light of Freemasonry. Listening to this episode from more than 10 years ago, it’s interesting to hear it in schema and framework of the current era. One thing that shines through is the passion all involved have for the fraternity.
In this episode we chat about Tim’s masonic journey, balancing work and life, and the bodies of Freemasonry. In particular we talk about the requirement of Blue Lodge membership for entrance into the Shrine.
We also define what “true masonry” means—a squishy term that seems to have a vague definition which Tim clearly articulates an answer to.
Tim’s work in Freemasonry was a huge influence in the formation of this site and efforts to be a candle in the dark on what it means to BE a Freemason.
Together we talk through a number of subjects, including:
The podcast that started it all. Masonic Central’s first episode featuring a conversation with Fred Milliken. For those who are fans of the show, you can see how things began. In this episode, we dig into defining “Modern Freemasonry.” This show was originally recorded on June 1, 2008. Fred has a deep history with Freemasonry serving as the director of Phoenix Masonry for several years.
In this episode our conversation covers a lot of territory looking at membership in Freemasonry, the masonic journey through the bodies of masonry and the Prince Hall Masonry experience. Fred brings the unique experience of having membership in both lineages. This conversation was unique for the time given the divide between grand lodge masonry and Prince Hall.
In the episode, we touch on:
The differences and similarities between the two branches
