is a teaching order - an educational institution - and utilizes the working tools and allegories in its degrees to teach its lessons and virtues to its members.

6.  Freemasonry obligates its members to observe principles of brotherly love, equality, mutual aid, secrecy and confidence. It is these elements of the Masonic obligations that bind the members of the fraternity to one another, Members are obligated to assist one another, to pray for one another, to keep one another's secrets and those of the fraternity, to support one another in times of distress, and to whisper good counsel to one another and warn each other of approaching danger. In short, we are not just taught and encouraged to be good friends to one another, rather we take solemn vows to do so and are therefore obligated to do so. These obligations are what make us Freemasons, and separate us from non-Masons,

7. Freemasonry has secret modes of recognition that permit members to recognize one another as Freemasons. The modes of recognition are one of the more ubiquitous practices of Freemasonry Indeed, it is as if Freemasons invented the "secret handshake!' However, there is little evidence to support the notion that the operatives used grips and words of recognition. Coil states that they are probably of late development. Nevertheless, since the early eighteenth century, they have been a defining characteristic of Freemasonry and Masonic rites and degrees.

8. Freemasons meet in lodges, governed somewhat autocratically by a Master, assisted by Wardens. In higher degrees, these lodges are called chapters, councils, consistories, conclaves, etc., but operate in the same fashion. The term "lodge" is inherited from the operative Freemasons, who met in lodges where they also ate and slept. Coil points out that the lodge business, although conducted according to rules, by-laws, and grand lodge regulations, is nevertheless governed by a Master who has far more parliamentary power in conducting the business of the lodge than the presiding officer of a non-Masonic body Parliamentary law in a Masonic lodge is not governed by Roberts Rules of Order, but by a much older set of customs and practices.

9. Freemasonry requires a thorough examination into the mental, moral and physical qualifications of a petitioner Freemasonry is not for every man. It does not take bad men and make them good. Rather, it takes only good men and makes them better. It therefore requires a belief in Deity. An atheist cannot be bound by any oath or obligation. Further, there have always been mental and educational standards that a petitioner must meet. An illiterate man cannot be made a Freemason any more than a cat can be taught to sing. There would be no use attempting to teach our social and moral lessons to a man that does not have the capacity to learn them or understand them.

10. Freemasonry admits men into the fraternity in secret ceremonies based in part on old legends of' the Craft. Every Apprentice, when he is entered into the fraternity, is required to take an obligation that he will not divulge the secrets of Freemasonry. The secrets of Freemasonry have always included the ritualistic work, and the private business of the lodge.

Increasingly, over the last 20 years or so, many misguided individuals within the fraternity
have considered it chic or sophisticated to disregard their obligations, and to announce that
"Freemasonry has no secrets:' thereby pretending that this frees them from their obligations.
Others have, in a twist of illogic, found that, since the modes of recognition and rituals of
Freemasonry have already been exposed, either in eighteenth-century exposures, or in boot-
legged rituals appearing on the internet, the secrets are therefore no longer "secret," thereby
convincing themselves that they are excused from their Masonic obligations. All have acted
dishonorably in doing so. Freemasons do not reveal the secrets of Freemasonry because they
Promised they would not.

This then is Coils ten-part definition of Freemasonry:

Freemasonry is an oath-bound fraternal order of men; deriving from the medieval fraternity of
operative Freemasons; adhering to many of their Ancient Charges, laws, customs, and legends
loyal to the civil government under which it exists; inculcating moral and social virtues by
symbolic application of the stonemasons' working tools and by allegories, lectures, and charges;
obligating its members to observe principles of brotherly love, equality, mutual aid, secrecy and
confidence; which has secret modes of recognition that permit members to recognize one another
as Freemasons; and whose members meet in lodges, governed somewhat autocratically by a
Master, assisted by Wardens; where petitioners, after enquiry into their mental, moral and
physical qualifications, are admitted into the fraternity in secret ceremonies based in part on old
legends of the Craft.

(About the Author)

Pierre G. 'Pete' Normand Jr., 33, is a Past Master of Sol Rose Lodge No. 1300 and St. Albans Lodge No.
1455 in College Station, Texas, and is a Past Master and Fellow of Texas Lodge of Research. He is the
Director of Work of the Houston Scottish Rite, and has served on the Board of the Scottish Rite Research
Society since its formation.