Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest fraternal organizations. Its earliest documented form appeared in medieval Scotland and England (late 1300s) when stonemasons who built the great cathedrals and castles organized into local "lodges" to regulate their craft, share knowledge, and care for one another.

By the 1600s these trade guilds began accepting "accepted masons" — educated gentlemen who were not working masons but who were drawn to the symbolic and moral teachings the stonemasons used. From this mix of operative craft and philosophical inquiry, the modern speculative fraternity emerged.

The first Grand Lodge was founded in London in 1717, and from there the fraternity spread across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Modern Freemasonry — known as the Craft — is a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. It is not a religion, though it requires its members to profess a belief in a Supreme Being. It is not a secret society, though it has private modes of recognition and traditional forms of initiation.

Members meet in Lodges — typically in a dedicated room called a Temple — to work through ritual dramas centered on the building of King Solomon's Temple. These ceremonies convey ethical lessons using the tools of the stonecutter: the square, the level, the plumb, and the trowel, among others.

Freemasonry teaches its lessons through three progressive degrees, each conferred with its own ceremony:

Higher degrees (such as those in the York Rite, Scottish Rite, and various continental systems) build on these three. They are appendant bodies — separate organizations a Master Mason may choose to join.

Masonry speaks in symbols. Every working tool of the stonemason is given a moral meaning — the working tools of a Mason are for the mind, not the hand.

Other recurring symbols include the all-seeing eye, the broken column, the letter G (geometry, or God), the rough and perfect ashlars (unworked and worked stone), and the acacia sprig — each carrying a lesson on mortality, labor, and faith.

The fraternity asks of its members not a creed but a commitment to moral self-improvement. Each Mason is expected to interpret the symbols for himself — there is no single official doctrine.

Because of its use of secrecy, ritual, and emblematic language, Freemasonry has been the subject of persistent myth. A few clarifications:

The Lodge is the basic unit of Masonry. There are tens of thousands around the world; each is chartered by, and answerable to, a Grand Lodge.

Lodges typically meet once or twice a month in a Temple room. Each meeting has three parts: ceremony (openings, degree work, or installations), business (minutes, finances, petitions), and refreshment — the agape, or fellowship meal, that follows work.

The Master of the Lodge presides for one year. Officers — Senior and Junior Wardens, Treasurer, Secretary, Deacon, Stewards, Tiler, and others — are elected annually. Each carries symbolic responsibility: the Warden's pillar, the Deacon's message, the Tiler's guard at the door.

The traditional charge of a Mason centers on a few simple ideas, often stated as "the Four Cardinal Virtues."

Beyond these, Masonry has historically emphasized tolerance (especially religious), charity (especially discreet), truthfulness, and respect for the law of the land in which one resides.

1376 · Earliest known written record of a Masonic lodge, the Regius Poem, in England.

1598 · William Schaw's Statutes regulate Scottish stonemason lodges by name.

1717 · Four London lodges form the Premier Grand Lodge of England — the first Grand Lodge in the world.

1723 · James Anderson's Constitutions published, defining the principles of the Craft for modern speculative Masonry.

1730s · Masonry reaches the American colonies; colonial lodges meet in taverns and private homes.

1877 · The United Grand Lodge of England formed by merger of the two rival Grand Lodges (the "Ancients" and the "Moderns").

20th c. · Major expansion into Asia, Africa, and Latin America. English-speaking masonry reaches ~2 million members; worldwide membership (including Continental, Liberal, and appendant bodies) estimates exceed 6 million.

In the regular Masonic tradition, becoming a Mason is by petition. One must:

· Be a man of legal age (varies by jurisdiction, often 18 or 21)
· Profess a belief in a Supreme Being
· Be of good character and reputation
· Be able to support himself and his dependents
· Petition a Lodge of his choosing, where members will investigate and vote

There is no formal "signing up" — entry is by interview, investigation, and unanimous ballot. Each Lodge may decline any petitioner for reasons it considers sufficient.

Throughout the world, parallel regular women's Masonry exists (such as the Order of Women Freemasons, est. 1908, and Honourable Fraternity of Antient Freemasons), and co-Masonry admits both men and women. These are distinct from the masculine-only Grand Lodges recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England.