Shorts and a plain T-shirt. Loafers and a baseball cap. A white mustache and a smile.
And a gold ring, ribbed and adorned with a black triangle bearing the number “33.”
This isn’t the kind of ring you can buy — not even the kind of ring you can ask for. But to a trained eye, it’s the only tell that separates the 71-year-old Robert Hutchinson from a crowd.
Hutchinson, along with being an LSU alumnus, is a Freemason of the highest degree — 33 — and his inconspicuous gold ring is only a shard of what he has to show for his lifelong commitment to this enigmatic fraternity. Hutchinson’s family is full of proud Masons, including history senior Spencer May, his grandson.
Freemasonry is a centuries-old fraternity, and the generally accepted number of members worldwide is 6 million, according to lodge websites around the world. Though it is thought to have originated around the 17th century, its origins remain obscure.
But today Freemasonry is like any other fraternity: It has unique induction rituals, standard values of empowerment and integrity, frequent meetings for its members regarding the ongoings of the order — to which outsiders are not welcome — and group-specific symbols and handshakes. Any man can be a member if he wishes, so long as he believes in a higher power.
Contrary to the order’s murky reputation, Hutchinson is happy to talk about life as a Mason and everything the fraternity has done for him. He still remembers the day he asked to join back in the 1960s.
“I asked my father-in-law, ‘What do I gotta do to get in this?’” Hutchinson said. The response he received was simple: “You just took the first step.”
Masons do not solicit membership, he said. If you want in, you have to initiate of your own accord.
And Hutchinson would take countless steps farther along the Masonic hierarchy, eventually holding the position of Worshipful Master in 1970 — a highly respected position only held for a year at a time, essentially amounting to the president of the lodge.
“It begins in the person’s heart,” Hutchinson explained, pointing out that unlike the most popular conceptions of the Freemasons, the concept of personal volition is a keystone in Masonic virtue.
And it’s this sense of empowerment and individuality that led May in his grandfather’s footsteps, making him a 32nd-degree Mason at the age of 21.
“The thing about Masons is being your own man,” he said. “It’s up to you.”
May also remembers the day he began his induction into Masonry at the earliest age of eligibility, 18.
“I came home from swim practice and saw my grandfather with two older men. They said, ‘Hey, we’re here to investigate you,’” May recounted.
It was from there he began to pursue the first three of 33 degrees, known as Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason. These initial degrees, he said, take the longest to acquire.
Generally speaking, degrees are levels of knowledge and commitment to the fraternity, with each one requiring new information from the recipient and a new accompanying ceremony. Each degree will represent a different core virtue of the Masons. Degrees can take anywhere from weeks to years to accomplish, depending on the dedication of the Mason pursuing them.
“You have to pass into a degree — I wouldn’t call it a ritual, but it’s one of those things we’re not supposed to talk about,” he explained, adding a laugh. “It’s a lot like a ceremony, there’s no sacrifices or anything.”
And when he did pass into a degree, May was the youngest Freemason in the United States.
“It’s a lot more of an older group,” he chuckled. “The age group from 30 to 55 is really bleak.”
According to May and Hutchinson, the degree ceremonies are most comparable to historical reenactments, with each story highlighting and demonstrating core Freemason values, such as integrity or equality.
“You learn a lesson through each one about life — being a better man, getting the most out of life,” May said. “For the first one, you learn a certain quality or trait. It’s a lot of work because you have to study, learn and recite stuff.”
Aside from age, the stipulations to become a Freemason are straightforward. You must be male, May said, and you must believe in a higher power — and the fraternity is not exclusive to only
Christians. From there, one must petition for his membership and have two current Masons endorse him. Then, his membership will be decided by anonymous vote during one of the local, bi-monthly lodge meetings.
Many of these traditions, like the reenactments and ceremonies, hearken back to the creation of the Masons, which is still regarded as the oldest fraternal order in the world. Although the first official lodge was built in England in 1717, references to a fraternal order of masons date back to as early as the 14th century, according to Hutchinson.
“A lot of our degree work hinges on Solomon, biblical days,” he said. “And we like to think that’s when we started, but we know that isn’t true.”
Along with being the largest and oldest fraternity in the world, Freemasonry is also said to be one of the largest charity organizations in the world, a point of pride for Hutchinson.
Among Freemasonry’s appendant bodies — much like separate branches of the central organization — Hutchinson mentioned the crippled children’s hospitals funded by the Shriners, the York Rite’s eye clinics and the Scottish Rite’s work helping those with speech and hearing impairments.
“After [hurricanes] Katrina and Gustav, Masons across the country sent money to their lodges in Louisiana,” he continued.
But only mentioning bodies like the Scottish Rite or the Shriners will raise evermore questions about the Masons’ arcane structures and jargon, the explanations of which could take days — or a lifetime. In short, after achieving third-degree status, a Mason may begin to take part in these independently operated groups, known as appendant bodies, from the York Rite to the Eastern Star and eventually to the Shriners.
As seen by the numerous orders, degrees and appendant bodies listed above, the Masons are certainly not without their curiosities and quirks. Particular symbols and icons include the plumb, an instrument used to test perpendiculars in masonry; the square and compass, separated by the letter “G,” which can be seen on cars around Baton Rouge; and the gavel.
Votes are taken with small black cubes and white spheres, general meetings are closed to the public and their contents cannot be discussed with nonmembers.
With such a developed and private culture, it cannot be said the reputation of skepticism and distrust is surprising — however unmerited. The Masons have had to face detractors for generations, particularly during the time of President Andrew Jackson in early America, said history professor Paul Hoffman.
“It was a widespread view that secret societies were not democratic — as in, in a democratic republic, you shouldn’t have those things,” said Hoffman, describing an “anti-masonic agitation” that arose during Jackson’s campaign.
While the Freemasons may have held the brunt of this agitation, the movement was geared toward any so-called secret societies, such as the Royal Society of Good Fellows or other workingmen’s groups.
“The critique of Masonry is primarily from political groups on the right, and, particularly in Europe, it’s from the Catholic Church,” Hoffman said. “Masons tended to be freethinkers, more likely to be critical of existing political and religious hierarchy.”
Hoffman agreed Masons likely received an unfair amount of the brunt, but the rituals and secrets will inherently cause people who are not members to grow skeptical.
“The symbols we use in the fraternity date back to the men who built the castles of England,” Hutchinson said. “We don’t hide it. We’ve had different grips and words we use to identify each other, and that dates back to the Middle Ages.”
But Hutchinson doesn’t believe the Freemasons’ exclusivity is an exception among other fraternities or business organizations.
“Too much is made of the fraternity being a secret organization. It’s hogwash,” he said. “We are an organization with secrets, not a secret organization.”
Though he struggled at times to weigh his words, May also found the public perception of the Masons to be quite detached from reality.
“Whenever someone knows I’m in it, if it does come up, they always ask me about it,” he said. “I say, ‘Um, I can’t really talk about it.’ I tell them what I can. You know, we’re just a bunch of guys who meet up and talk about stuff. They ask me if I’m in a weird religion or anything, if I’m in a cult or worship the devil. I’m just a normal person.”
Though he stressed he couldn’t talk specifics, May said in each meeting they discuss business, people joining the lodge, degrees and anything else that happens to come up. Topics are not limited to the Masons.
“We try to supply our members with any information we think might help them,” said Hutchinson, as he explained the range of different talks or speeches they host at the lodge meetings.
But there are some exceptions, such as religion.
“We are not a religious organization — we can’t even talk about religion in the lodge,” Hutchinson said. “When I want to deal with the Almighty, I deal with it personally or with my pastor. I don’t deal with it in the lodge.”
This circles back to the Masonic ideal of “being your own man,” as May put it. Both May and Hutchinson stressed the importance of freedom within the fraternity. There are no strictly laid-out rules of conduct or morality, per sé, but May specified the calling of every Mason toward self-improvement — albeit while struggling for the safest phrasing.
“We do not infringe on a person’s personal rights, liberties,” Hutchinson said. “We demand high moral standards, but I look for that in anybody.”
