What Is Freemasonry?

Freemasonry is a fraternal organization with roots tracing back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries in Europe, evolving from medieval stonemasons’ guilds. The first Grand Lodge was established in London in 1717, predating the infamous “Illuminati” by over 5 decades. This marked the beginning of “speculative” Freemasonry, which focused on moral philosophy, charity, and brotherhood rather than literal stonework.

 

Members progress through degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, Master Mason in the core “Blue Lodge”), learning symbolic lessons drawn from tools like the square, compass, and trowel. Rituals involve allegorical dramas, such as the Legend of Hiram Abiff (the architect of Solomon’s Temple), emphasizing fidelity, integrity, and the inevitability of death. Freemasonry has attracted influential figures: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Mozart, Winston Churchill, and many others. It’s decentralized, with thousands of independent Grand Lodges worldwide, and emphasizes charity, self-improvement, and religious tolerance, requiring belief in a Supreme Being but not specifying which one (Spoiler alert: It’s the Devil).

Freemasonry is deeply esoteric at its core, built around layers of hidden knowledge, symbolic rituals, and initiatory degrees that progressively reveal “mysteries” to those deemed worthy. From the moment a candidate is blindfolded, partially disrobed, and led into the lodge with a cable tow around his neck, the experience is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, allegory, and theatrical mysticism- drawing heavily from ancient mystery schools, Kabbalah, Hermeticism, alchemy, and medieval guild traditions. The central legend of Hiram Abiff, with its themes of violent death, symbolic burial, and resurrection through secret grips and words, mirrors death-and-rebirth motifs found in Osirian, Dionysian, and other pagan mystery cults. Higher degrees in appendant bodies like the Scottish Rite or York Rite introduce even more arcane symbolism: the double-headed eagle, the 33rd degree’s supposed mastery of occult forces, references to Solomon’s Temple as a repository of ancient wisdom, and philosophical explorations that border on Gnostic or theurgic ideas.

 

Its true nature is inherently Satanic, or Luciferian because of its syncretic blending of pagan, occult, and anti-clerical elements, its use of oaths sworn on penalty of gruesome symbolic mutilation, and the way it elevates man’s reason and secret knowledge above Christian doctrine. The presence of inverted pentagrams in some older lodge art, the veneration of figures like Baphomet in fringe Masonic offshoots, and 19th–20th-century exposures claiming high-degree Masons worship Lucifer as the bringer of light (equating the “light” of Freemasonry with Luciferian enlightenment) fuel the charge that the Craft is, by its secretive and initiatory structure, a vehicle for satanic inversion- replacing submission to God with self-deification and hidden elite control. The order’s refusal to fully disclose its rituals only deepens the perception of something profoundly occult and potentially malevolent lurking beneath the charitable facade.