It sounds like a mature fraternity. I do not understand what the purpose of FreeMasons are. Would you mind giving a little more info.

Hello Br:. Simon

A little background because my uses and customs in Freemasonry are different:
My mother lodge is an Emulation Lodge in Latin America; that is, we follow an older version of the British Emulation ritual (There are some differences with the ritual that is now used by U.G.L.E. which has been modernized). We call it called Ancient York Ritual. Not to be confused the the "York Rite" in the U.S.

As a matter of fact in my Grand Lodge, we have Ancient York Ritual and Ancient and Accepted Scottish Ritual (also not to be confused with the U.S. "Scottish Rite" in the craft degrees (also one Lodge in Schoeder Ritual which works in German), depending on which lodge you join. Each lodge is free to choose which ritual it wants to work in when they are founded. Yorkish lodges are commonly referred to as Blue Lodges, and Scottish as Red Lodges because of the color of the lodge walls and the color of the aprons.

I was lucky enough to be initiated in an York Ritual lodge, for the only reason that the Third Degree in that ritual (known as The Sublime Degree of M:.M:.) is considered to be the most beautiful ceremony in all of the degrees and rituals which exist in Freemasonry.

It is also very trippy for reasons I cannot describe. I had taken LSD a couple of times by then, some years before. The way the the lodge and the brethren transform during the ceremony. The Yorkish ceremony is not theatrical, like U.S. ceremonies or the Scottish Ritual (too theatrical for my taste), in the sense that nobody is playing parts in the ceremony. You are no one but yourself.
Finally, the transformation from Fellowcraft to Master Mason is extremely intense. You are confronted by the horizon of knowledge.

After a few years, I decided to take the Mark Master, Excellent Master, and Royal Arch degrees. They were very disappointing, almost an afterthought compared to what I had gone through earlier. Unlike the U.S., we actually go through the degrees individually and everyone experiences the initiation.

Curiosity and depression brought me to FM. 27 years ago. It is the same curiosity and depression that brought me to explore psychedelics, and eventually use them to successfully treat my condition.

There is something that psychedelics and Freemasonry have in common: FM is a system which allows a person who might not believe in a revealed religion, to have a transcendental experience. Psychedelics do the same.

Finally for your enjoyment, here's a picture of me in Royal Arch regalia.

Looking forward to seeing you around.

Fraternally,
JKW

Dear Br:. Simon,

Sorry, since you mentioned making "good men better"., I wrongly assumed you were in the U.S.
It's a very common phrase there. In my country it's not really much used.
My apologies, I probably sounded patronizing.

However, I am always interested in how the rest of the FM world is working. I look forward to PMs or emails in the future where we can chat more freely about FM and Psychedelics.

UGLE based ritual means we have most probably gone through the same experience.

Frat:.

JKW

Hey there Brother JKW!

Yes we also have that saying here in the land down under, and no, you didn't sound condescending at all.

Yes I am sure your Lodge's ritual and mine are almost the same - apart from our tracing board which I have described.

It appears I won't be here long. I have just had my account suspended for a week. So I think it is fair to say I won't be getting full membership. Are you able to PM me? Or otherwise you can get my contact details through fraternal channels. My Lodge secretary will be happy to pass along my name and email once he is satisfied that you are our brother.

It seems that any discussion of Freemasonry here is viewed as recruiting, so I will remove my posts discussing that.

You can talk about it, but you need to be careful about presentation and sending a wrong message. please understand.. please don't take these things the wrong way PsillyPsimmon

I hope you talk to someone who can help you restructure things - it was probably framing and messaging that might have got you into a little trouble and the mods have to be very clear about any site rules and depends too on how our messages are read... I've sent messages to people that i thought were perfect because it was a really good way to put it for myself; however only to observe that I might be seeing it differently and maybe from a side that to others sounded bad to them - the mods might just be very strict and clear because its a part of their job and it probably stresses a lot of people i mean moding is very delicate like management you won't always be the good guy ya know? plus they didn't lock your post that's how i know you and anyone else is free to chime in and talk about things.

Make sure to remember and remind yourself that things might be a misunderstanding. Try to avoid being defensive if you want to be co-operative. you're only human bro, peace and take care okay..

I don't know them personally but I think that for you and the mods this whole misunderstanding did indeed upset more than just yourself because the emotional turmoil got off track, so did the logic and communication - please open your heart, please try to make the most positive out of the worst-case scenario's I think you are intelligent, I think you are welcome here, and I think that you still have the ability to stick around and stay but in the meantime lets try to just redirect our misunderstanding PsillyPsimmon

And think about seeing things go off track like that from their perspective PsillyPsimmon; their job is order and control and administration and they may have to take those three variables and prioritize it over personal feelings - they might say something they have to but don't like to

Like idk but say for instance I can just tell that a certain mod seemed affected. I can just tell ya know.. and I can tell that this exchange really has implications for you, the mods, how we're viewed if we're reputable.. Its a tightrope PsillyPsimmon but too the world welcomes you back.

You are always welcome here

Welcome to the Nexus!

I have not read the introductory post as unfortunately it seems the OP deleted it?

I am not very well informed on Masonry but at some point in my life I loved reading about secret societies and ways in which deep spiritual knowledge has been passed throughout the ages in ways to help prevent misconstruction and misunderstandings. I wonder how cult-ish it can get, and how much it depends on the specific lodge and so on.

I've had a few interesting synchronicities related to this subject, I suppose something for another post.

One question, I know you're not supposed to share much info about masonry, but I wonder, is there any general opinion within the lodges about psychedelics?

There is a sort of religion in Brazil called UDV, that uses ayahuasca, and they have a structure that reminds me of the Masonry, where you are first an initiate, and then you go up in the ranks and different types of knowledge are imparted to you as you reach each level.

As for the suspension thing, it seems you were suspended for "sourcing", though I'm not sure in what post, maybe in another thread no clue. Usually this means you talked about buying/selling/receiving/shipping drugs. Anyways that doesn't interfere in your promotion, you just need a certain amount of full members to vote for you and you're in. It's not just mods that promote you, it's everybody. It may happen certain good well-intended new members are unnoticed, simply because there is a large volume of posts and information here and sometimes your own posts get lost in the middle of this. Or maybe the person's style doesn't resonate with others here. Either way I'd suggest simply keeping a positive attitude, not taking it personally if some or other post or thread of yours had no or few responses, but just keep posting quality posts and sooner or later you should get promoted

There is nothing wrong with talking about masonry, but please don't use the Nexus to share personally identifying info and meeting up with others, for obvious liability reasons considering this forum is about scheduled drugs. That is also part of the reason why new members can't pm each other, because some newcommers would not be respecting this rule. Once you are promoted you can pm other members but full members still should not pm others to meet up. I hope you understand this. If you haven't yet, be sure to be familiarized with our Attitude page where the rules are listed.

In any case, be well!

Dear PsillyPsimon,

For what it's worth, welcome to the nexus. I am new here too. Hope to see you around

Hey there Almondmilk Man and thank you for your kind words. Basically all I said was to hit me up for more information if you are curious and that we are keen to see suitable men join our fraternity. Freemasons don't recruit, and one must petition a Lodge to become a member.

To endlessness - yes I deleted the OP as I didn't want to be a thorn in anyone's side. In answer to your question, Freemasonry is about as opposite to a cult as can be. Cults are abusive organisations. We are charitable. Cults have a pyramid shaped social structure. Ours is flat. All brothers are equal and in fact, equality is one of our highest values. All cults have an enemy. We don't, although saying that, The RCC considers us to be their enemy, and I assure you that this feeling is not mutual. We and the church share a great deal of history since we built all those magnificent Gothic cathedrals.

There isn't a 'general feeling' in the Lodges about anything really, including psychedelics. We are a very broad representation of the middle class, and our members range from hating them to loving them. Since quite a few Masons are also cops, we need to be very careful in broaching this topic with another brother.

Freemasonry stems from the ancient mystery religions whose practices are heavily steeped in the use of psychedelics, which is why I introduced this topic. I am thinking primarily of The Eleusinian Mystery religion, and also those from ancient Egypt. Since Freemasonry is the most well known sand wide spread 'secret' society, there are many copy cats and spin offs.

Yes our ritual is somewhat secret, but our highest secret is our modes of recognition. That is the means we identify ourselves as Masons to other Masons. This ensures that only true Masons can attend Lodge meetings proper. Members of the public are able to attend out festive boards, which is where we wine, dine, and make much merriment.

I did make a new thread saying that I had been ripped off with some fake MHRB. Indeed I considered carefully how I worded that, and my whole point was to warn other members about unscrupulous people. I did see a recent post in which the member was discussing harvesting Longifolia bark, and since that thread went unmolested, I figured that my thread would be OK. So I still don't know what to make of my suspension. It might just have been a rash decision made by a mod who was having a bad hair day, or maybe it was a heavy handed and inconsistent enforcement of the rules. As I have heard nothing from the mod I am left to speculate.

For now I think it may be best that I do not add any new threads. This thread is my second introduction. I do have some questions, but I lack access to the appropriate threads in which to ask them.

Thank you too for your kind words bfp. I hope to see more of your posts too!

Thanks for explaining more about Freemasonry PsillyPsimon. Funny you have "atlantis" as your location, because one of my funny synchronicities many many years ago was related to this. To sum it up, I was reading Gurdjieff's book 'Beelzebub's tales to his grandson', and I was reading this chapter where he was talking about Atlantis, and how they were people who were really evolved, how unfortunately most was lost in the catastrophe that ended it, and how traces of this knowledge was spread and reached even our modern times through certain secret societies.

Anyways at the time I was working in this office, and in the reception I sat down for a bit to talk to the receptionist, and just picked up one of those random typical 'waiting room magazines'. I opened at a random page and, guess what, it was artistic image of the fall of Atlantis. That already surprised me a lot, since it had no connection at all with the magazine content. Then that same day when I went home and I watched an episode of The Simpsons where Homer joins some secret society.. And after that episode finished I switched channel and the first channel I switched to was some documentary about secret societies.. That was quite the day for synchronicities

Regarding the suspension and all, PsillyPsimon, I think you might have missed it but the issue there is because we do not talk about stores selling MHRB or any type of dried herb material, at all... Talkign about growing your own or harvesting wild (sustainably) is fine, though. This is explained a bit here. So it wasn't any inconsistency in terms of applications of rules, it was exactly what the rules are here.

That being said, indeed mods are just humans that may make mistakes, or it may be one or another mod is more or less flexible or they may or may not contact the person to explain what happened, depending whether they think the person should already have read up on the rules or that its obvious, or maybe they are just busy and think of explaining later but forget to do that... who knows, many possibilities. Don't assume the worst, give us the benefit of the doubt, after all as you can see this forum has a pretty good attitude in general and we were able to create a nice community that has a lot of quality posts over many years.

If anybody feels they've been wronged or they just want an explanation, they can always contact me or other mods and ask

Be well!

Hey there endlessness. There is more connecting Freemasonry with psychedelics. I am guessing you are familiar with the ancient fertility cults? Take another look at the square and compass. Notice that the compass is phalic. It represents the father. Did you notice that the square resembles the womb? It symbolises the mother. The two pillars at the entrance to King Solomon's Temple and every Freemasonic temple also represent the two kundalini serpents. There is plenty more yoga buried in our ritual, and also in the new and old testaments. Now you know a couple of secrets that very few 33rd degree Masons would know. Only true scholars discover this stuff.

I have always held a fascination for Atlantis. No doubt I have lived past lives there. The episode of the Simpsons to which you refer is The Antient Stone Cutters Guild, and it is a direct piss take of our fraternity. Matt Greoning, the creator of The Simpsons is a brother Mason.

Now as for synchronicities, have you ever noticed having any in the hours before smoking DMT? I have noted this many times and many others have reported the same to me.

As for that post in question, it wasn't my intent to try and flout the rules. I carefully worded so as to hopefully make that clear. I just wanted to help other members. I honestly thought this would have been obvious.

For now I am unable to PM anyone, so I will need to try and get your attention here in the forums.

Thanks for sharing a bit more of the symbolism involved.

Regarding atlantis, funny enough before I ever knew anything about spirituality and these subjects, one of my favorite pc games I've ever played was "Indiana Jones and the Faith of Atlantis"... Ever played that one? I actually wanted to be an archeologist as a kid due to Indiana Jones, I loved the idea of finding hidden secrets from the past.

Im not sure if I noticed synchronicities before smoking DMT more so than other times, but who knows.. Interesting you did.. BTW did you ever read a book called Cosmic Trigger, by Robert Anton Wilson? It's a highly interesting book I read many years ago when I was starting to dive deep into the world of psychedelics and spirituality. He has a very cool way of using humor.. Like when discussing synchronicities, he says "The Cosmic Coincidence Control Center pays more attention to those that pay more attention to it".

Btw regarding the PM, new members can PM mods, just not other users...

I'm not much into games besides chess and backgammon, and I am more of a Mac and Unix guy. I too have some interest in archeology, and in fact, my very first DMT hits came from a friend who is an archeologist.

No I haven't read Cosmic Trigger, but I'll add it to my reading list, which is already extensive. It does sound like Robert Anton Wilson has a good sense of alliteration.

So where can I find a list of mods? Do I just need to look through the forum posts until I find one?

Welcome Simon. I read one of your post on masonry and I found it interesting. Sorry your post were removed but hopefully you stick around and we can maybe discuss it more in chat sometime 😊

Hi there Achilles and thank you for your kind words. I removed the earlier posts myself as I was told they might be considered "recruiting".

I am happy to talk about Freemasonry and answer your questions, but I am concerned that the mods will frown upon it. Obviously there is some stuff I cannot tell you, but we are not as secretive as many would think.