freemasonry

[Taiji Bum]

keep in mind that the Masons, BOTA, OTO and AMORC charge dues, so they aren't cheap.

The Masonic Lodge I am joining (hopefully) has a $200 fee to apply and then $70 a year dues. Thats pretty cheap in my book. I dont know what the Scottish Rite or York Rite charge for dues but thats where a lot of the esoteric stuff is I hear.

[mantis]

some masons might say $200 is a lot, actually, most would. i found this forum and it seems to be a pretty good source of information

 

http://staffs.proboards37.com/index.cgi

 

despite all the controversy surrounding them they seem to be pretty open when it comes to questions and discussing some of freemasonries aspects (with respect to their vows of course).

[Seth Ananda]

There is a yahoo group called Rosicrucianism where you can ask members of many diferent orders what they think. AMORC does not tend to have a good rep as progressively climbing fees (I think) and politics and Many say only having Diluted teachings. Mind you They are the largest group around and Have a prety nice Main temple. There are a number of groups that dont charge, or just to cover printing costs.

I have lots of friends from the OTO and was in an offshoot of it for several years (Neema's HML). They take there Magick very seriously and have some powerful practices. If anything OTO or BOTA are going to give you a very strong foundation in the Western Traditions.

 

And it will be Eternally Funny how many uninitiated people 'Know' what the high levels are really up to, and then in the same sentence will say that Many of the Initiated members, even at the high levels are just ignorant of the truly dark intentions of the order. Doesn't this strike anyone as odd?

To me it smacks of 'Needing to be right' and to 'Really Know whats really going on' which indicates a deep fear of the universe. The anxiety driven Need to Know (with the limited mind) lets one clamp down on reality and shout "This is how it is! I Know what is going on and thus my sense of self is Secure!"

Hang on till grim death buddies!

 

Tao bums is a group of cultivators, lazy BBQrs (nothing wrong with that) and inbetweeners.

Many of us are probably highly ethical, some less so and a few are possibly quite the opposite.

Some times the dodgy people may surprise themselves and do something nice and sometimes the highly evolved people may fuck up and do some thing rotten. This doesn't make Taobums Evil does it?

 

Seth

[de_paradise]

Name one "powerful" cultivation method of these people.

[Vajrasattva]

magJ-VHlKok

[Yoda]

Tao bums is a group of cultivators, lazy BBQrs (nothing wrong with that) and inbetweeners.

Many of us are probably highly ethical, some less so and a few are possibly quite the opposite.

Some times the dodgy people may surprise themselves and do something nice and sometimes the highly evolved people may fuck up and do some thing rotten. This doesn't make Taobums Evil does it?

 

Sean has vertical pupils but he said he's one of the nice space lizards, so we should be fine.

[mantis]

william cooper's a real intelligent dude but i don't think secret societies are inherently evil. whenever someone does something in "secret" there will be controversy about it.

[BuddyT]

Surely David Icke will be mentioned soon...

[Spectrum]

Name one "powerful" cultivation method of these people.

 

Has anyone here had the opportunity to practice in a Lodge?

 

I think you would be surprized at the harmonics... it sounds so simple... like standing in the entrance of an ocean cave and experiencing the sound of the sea through the accoustic lense of a giant seashell...

 

doesn't matter if you practice, you'll still notice a difference, but if you DO practice... re me fa so la la la la ... connect the dots.

 

I don't know all the stories or initiation rituals they used for the tracing boards, but the physical convergences and harmonics speak for themselves. There are internal alignments and external alignments, but the most intrigue are the tunnels and inner/outer alignment convergence spots.

 

Don't go just by what is written, discover things for yourself. There are many mysteries yet to be unfolded at this time concerning the corner stones of the land we live.

[Seth Ananda]

De Paradise, I could name a handful of powerful cultivation practices which even a tiny amount of research would show are pretty much the same as the various Taoist techniques but since you demanded it in (correct me if I'm wrong) in such an argumentative, my way is the only way, manner I choose to decline.

 

Vajrasattva. He talks well but notice the audio's he uses.. "They choose Infiltration over invasion... Gurillas at night over marching army's in the day..." Oh my god they sound really Evil, especially compared to those other guys.

Some secrets are Important and there will always be those who don't like the fact that they can't just demand to know what someone else knows. Even Tantra which we both love taught that Pashu's (people of a herd like mentality) are not qualified to learn Tantra.

So many of the people terrified of what the Masons... are really up to, and pissed off because they have Secrets not shared with them, could simply go and join if they really wanted to know. I think the real key is that they do not want to really know, and are happy just Believing that they know, so they can sit around patting them selves on the back saying " I KNOW whats really going on with these groups and everything else in the world.

I'm not at all anti conspiracy theory and think that some like 911 have enough evidence to be conspiracy 'Fact'

But if you talk to many conspiracy nut jobs you notice that they have the Whole World neatly explained and 'They' Know the truth... Having everything Explained so that You KNOW whats going on is a security blanket.

One look at them will tell you -

"Mmm, if You are someone who knows what is going on, why is your life such a mess?" - Alchoholism, drugs, messy relationships, health problems and with most conspiracy people I have met, an addiction to angry outbursts at anyone who disagrees with their theory's.

For me the indicator that someone 'KNOWS' is shining eyes, a deep sense of peace and confidence and most of all, a sense of total comfort with the unknown and with uncertainty.

 

Seth.

[Jedi777]

[alexandrov]

I could not view the video, could someone please post another link, or explain what it was about?

 

 

thanks

[Wayfarer64]

Take it for what it's worth, but I had a taijiquan student who who was also learning hung gar from a guy who was supposedly taught his martial art to be an "enforcer" for the Chinese FreeMasons of Victoria British Columbia. He was an old guy. But supposedly he had broken his allegiance and left the group.

 

That is the only time I have ever heard of the "Chinese Free Masons"---but it makes for a good story.

 

 

The Chinese Free Masons of NYC are based on Mott Street. They are the American wing of Hung-Gar ShaoLin -amongst other representations.

 

The (Scottish/English based) are another world wide organization...The Free Masons in NYC are based up on (as I remember it) 34th Street on the West side- I was invited to join about 25 years ago and did not- tho the building was truly amazing as architecture, and I had great conversations with the members and even witnessed a very elaborate rite or two as a guest...

 

When I studied Hung Gar with Bill Chung I was -as one of his "inner desciples" -a Chinese Free Mason- but actually was just part of Hung Gar school...I took an oath of alligiance that meant I became part of that system...

 

There seem to be many permutations of these organizations -some more serious than others.-

[Lightbringer]

Couple totally random things to add:

 

I'm from Victoria BC, my buddy works on the same block as the Chinese Free Masons (they're in China town, but they have a couple buildings around there) and I used to live a couple blocks away so I know the area. Downtown gets pretty sketchy at night, especially around there since there's a homeless shelter and a safe-injection site both a block away. Plus China town is about 150 years old, so it's all brick buildings with dark back alleys. I can imagine a bunch of old, rich, civilized fellows meeting up at night after work might be in need of an enforcer or two.

 

Also, not only presidents were Freemasons. So were Lenin and Trotsky.