Interview | Freemason Information

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.

We hit all the Masonic highlights:

Anti-Masonry
Jack Chick Comics
What brought Tom into Freemasonry
His expectations about joining
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.

I hope you enjoy it.

And, pardon the ringing phone.

More from Tom Accuosti: The Secret Lesson of Hiram and the Ruffians

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:

Communications in Masonic Systems
A Nationwide Masonic Congress
Recognizing Prince Hall Freemasonry
Asking who Governs Freemasonry
Visiting other lodges
Marketing/Soliciting for membership
A state/national masonic press office
and much more

Tim is the author of The Freethinking Freemason – Collected Masonic Works of Tim Bryce from Cornerstone publishing. And in the call, Tim mentions the book Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 by Jessica Harland-Jacobs.

Tag Archives: Interview

Tom Accuosti

Masonic Central: Brother Tim Bryce