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What is Freemasonry? The world's largest secret society dates back to the 14th century and has been tied to innumerable conspiracy theories in the intervening years.

Today, there are more than three million Freemasons around the world, roughly a third of whom are based in North America—a number that is difficult to pin down because Masonic lodges enjoy a wide latitude of autonomy, and some lodges don’t recognize other branches. Called the “largest worldwide secret society” by the Encyclopedia Britannica, that very secrecy makes it tricky to say much about Freemasonry with any real authority, given that so many of the specifics of the organization are kept close to the vest.Because of this, conspiracy theorists have long considered Freemasonry an “infamous Pandora’s box of intrigue,” as the Institute for Masonic Studies put it as part of their Fourth International Conference in partnership with UCLA’s history department. The conspiracy theories associated with Freemasonry are innumerable and far too profuse to be listed exhaustively here. However, most are based on a handful of common misconceptions about the organization, including that Freemasonry is its own religion that practices occult rituals and that a centralized, worldwide governing body oversees all Masonic lodges. Related: The Enduring Mysteries of Easter IslandSo what is Freemasonry? Furthermore, what do its members believe, where did the organization begin, and is there any truth to the many conspiracy theories surrounding it? That’s what we’re here to explore…While the exact origins of Freemasonry are, indeed, “lost in unrecorded history,” the organization is somewhat fixated upon its own past, and looks to a series of documents called the Old Charges to try to flesh out the history of the organization and lend validity to its rituals and traditions. Among these, the oldest is the Halliwell Manuscript, also known as the Regius Poem. It was written in Middle English around 1425, though it makes reference to much earlier events.The oldest known lodge bearing similarities to modern Freemasonry dates back to 1598. The first Grand Lodge, a regional gathering of smaller lodges, was founded in London in 1717. From England, Freemasonry expanded with the advance of the British Empire, and “remains most popular in the British Isles and other countries originally within the empire,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.The earliest known lodges in North America were located in Pennsylvania, where John Moore wrote of attending lodge meetings as early as 1715, two years before the first Grand Lodge was formed in London. Indeed, several of the Founding Fathers of the United States were Freemasons, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Monroe. This has lent fuel to one of the more intractable American conspiracy theories regarding Freemasonry, which asserts that the Founding Fathers wove Masonic symbols and rites into everything from national seals to city streets to the dollar bill.The beliefs and rites of Freemasonry are shrouded in a certain amount of secrecy. Add to this the fact that Grand Lodges are beholden to no overarching council or governing body—despite rumors to the contrary—and you can see why it’s difficult to ascertain exactly what Masons believe.Related: 11 Eeriest Unsolved Mysteries of World War IIGenerally speaking, almost all Masonic lodges confer three traditional degrees upon members, who are initiated into more and more of the lodge's secrets as they rise through the ranks. Some lodges offer additional degrees, with perhaps the best known being the Scottish Rite, which has 33 degrees. Members are first initiated into the lodge as Apprentices before being passed to the degree of Fellowcraft and finally raised to the degree of Master Mason.Because each lodge is answerable only to the Grand Lodge that governs it—and Grand Lodges are answerable to no higher authority—variations between lodges and Grand Lodges are considerable, to the extent that whole branches of Freemasonry have evolved over time, with one of the most distinctive being what’s known as Continental Freemasonry. Unlike its more traditional counterpart, Continental Freemasonry does not require its members to profess a belief in a supreme being and openly admits atheists.Related: The Mystery of the Vanishing Amber RoomGrand Lodges are said to be “in amity” with one another when the two lodges both recognize the other’s legitimacy, and in those cases, Masons from each lodge are permitted to intermingle at Masonic events. The qualifications for recognition vary from lodge to lodge, as does most everything else about Freemasonry, but some of the most common criteria were handed down by the Grand Lodge of England in 1929. These criteria include belief in a supreme being and display of scripture during Masonic functions—although ironically, there is to be no discussion of religion, or politics for that matter. Additional criteria include only conferring membership to men, and observing certain other customs. What these customs actually entail are left to our imagination.The danger faced by any secret society is that, when...

The History of Freemasonry, a Fraternal Organization Fraught with Conspiracy Theories