“I saw the darndest thing on web the other night, Brother, and I thought you’d get a big kick out of it!” It was the voice of a Past Master, an Internet immigrant of recent vintage, who was spending the first months of his retirement trying to stay out from under foot of his devoted wife. He was hanging around the lodge building a lot these days when he wasn’t web surfing in the office he’d created in his basement. “Well, maybe you’ve seen it already actually. It was some kind of ‘esoteric freemason’ group that provided you with the ceremonies so you could initiate yourself. Imagine: wave a magic want over your head or something and call yourself a Mason! I wonder how many people they sucker into THAT one….”
The Old Webmaster turned from his work and shook his head slowly, ruefully. “I have seen that website – or another just like it. I’m always surprised that people are gullible enough to think that by reading something they’re somehow going to feel filled with some kind of enlightenment. I certainly wouldn’t diminish the power of a well-crafted book to change one’s ideas or thinking but reading a some paragraphs from an inkjet printer and then thinking that you’ve somehow become a member of an initiatic society or you’ve now received the secrets of Freemasonry…. It’s a stretch for me as well.”
“Is there anything we can do about this sort of thing? It is, after all, a scam. We both know it. It seems a shame that somebody will spend their hard-earned cash to join a group like that. This one I saw said you could initiate your wife and your kids too. Make an infant child a Freemason apparently, according to them. It’s crazy!”
The Old Webmaster nodded yet again. “In the case of the one I saw, it’d be hard to prove much of anything wrong from a legal perspective, I think. It’s not unlike websites selling stars or property on Mars. One person, hiding behind a post office box, told the buyer what they’d get – a ceremony of some kind and the right to set up their own so-called ‘lodges’ – so even if the money is traveling by US Mail, there’s likely no postal fraud statute involved since they will get what was promised. Of course, if they ever wanted to visit a regular/recognized Masonic lodge, they’d be turned away quite promptly but that might not convince them that they weren’t in the right and the people at the lodge were just a bunch of jerks. It’s sad….” The Old Webmaster began staring off into space thinking about the ramifications.
“You know, after seeing this stuff on the web, I think our lodge – and every other lodge in our jurisdiction – should be made aware of such things. Sooner or later one of these people is going to show up on our doorstep. We need to have someone who’s knowledgeable and compassionate break the news to them that they’ve just wasted their money – and that they aren’t really a part of what they think they’ve joined.” Both men could envision the embarrassment a person might feel in such a situation.
The Old Webmaster smiled: “I’m going to be at a meeting with the Deputy Grand Master next week. OK if I tell him of your suggestion and offer you to be the trainer?” The answer was known before the question was posed.
“If you think it makes sense, then I’d sure be willing to do it – and I don’t mind travelling around to talk to the fellas at their own lodge if they wanted me to. Besides, it would give Louise a little more time without me!” The Past Master smiled broadly. This was Freemasonry: feeling wanted and having value!
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