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Most candidates apply through a lodge member known to them. If they do not know anyone who is a member, they can always contact the secretary of the local lodge. Their details are usually on the website of the lodge. The ‘address book’ on this website contains the contact details of the various lodges.

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Freemasonry does not have a probationary period. However, many lodges offer serious interested persons the opportunity for further orientation in addition to information meetings. After initiation as an apprentice Freemason, one is a full member of the lodge

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Of course this is possible, just like any other association.

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These vary per lodge from €250 per year. There is also the cost of buying an appropriate dark costume for the Open Lodges. Also, at the end of each meeting, members are presented with a begging bowl for charitable purposes. Finally, there is also a charge for participating in the brotherly meal held after a ritual meeting and an entrance fee varying per lodge.

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Most lodges meet once a week in the evening on a fixed weekday. There are also lodges that meet twice or once a month.

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No, there isn't. But there is little point in becoming a member and then not coming. However, family and work always come first.

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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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Membership is open to any free man in good standing. The latter means that his reputation will not give rise to controversy. There is no restriction based on religion, race, origin, social position or nationality. However, one must have reached the age of 18.

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This is a tradition. When Freemasonry came into existence, there were only associations and clubs for men. Women can join the female Order and there is also the possibility of joining mixed Freemasonry.

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On 1 January 2024, the number of members of the Order was about 5,500. At the time, there were 150 Lodges in the territory of the Netherlands

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The designation Order aims to express that it strives to: form a fraternity with its own code of honour. It makes high demands on a member, such as distinguishing oneself by example and behaviour, more than is usually usual in a society.

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First and foremost, the word fraternity indicates that Freemasons feel connected to each other in the experience of ritual and symbol. Moreover, they support each other wherever possible and appropriate.

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After Freemasonry had developed in Scotland, England and Ireland from around 1600 onwards, four London-based lodges decided in 1717 to work together and form what is known as a Grand Lodge.

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The first lodge was founded in The Hague in 1734. In the years that followed, lodges were founded in numerous places. The founding year of Dutch Freemasonry is 1756. A dozen lodges established in our country decided to establish the ‘Groote Loge der Zeeven Vereenigde Nederlanden’, based in The Hague.

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Freemasonry is practised in the vast majority of countries. Freemasonry is not allowed in most communist and Islamic countries, but it is allowed in Cuba, Morocco and Turkey.

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Yes

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Freemasonry offers seeking people in a familiar environment a method of meaning-making that, with the help of rituals and symbols, leads to self-development, brotherhood and therefore a better society.

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A Freemason works in the light of a high principle, symbolically referred to as Supreme Master Builder of the Universe. Determining what constitutes a high principle is left to each Mason himself.

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Traditionally, pledges were made on the Bible. This tradition has remained.

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There is no relationship between the Order of Freemasons and denominations. Any Freemason is free to be a member of any denomination.

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A religion prescribes WHAT a person should think. Freemasonry encourages THAT a person thinks independently.

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No

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No

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This is encouraged, but left to the initiative of a Lodge and its members.

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In practice, Masons talk to their partner about their experience of a ritual. There is no objection to that either.

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No, that is not the intention, unless for scientific study.

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Freemasonry is meaning-making in groups, using symbols and rituals. Definition of a ritual: A ritual is the performance of a virtually unchanging series of formal acts and utterances that are not fully interpreted by the performers. The ritual serves a purpose. It is extremely important to realise that a ritual is a way of indicating how things should be, this in a conscious tension with how things actually are. And it does so in such a way that ritualised perfection is remembered in the everyday, uncontrollable world.

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For Freemasons, symbolism provides a common language that they understand wherever in the world they meet. That language creates unity between men of completely different backgrounds, views and character.

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There are three rites of initiation One is taken on as an Apprentice, then usually a year later promoted to Companion and then elevated to Master.