The Antichrist
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It's an initiatic fraternity that teaches morals through a set of symbolism, its degrees (different stages of the initaitory process) are stories surrounding the building of Solomon's Temple. There are three degrees with different symbols in the main central part of Masonry, the Blue Lodge, or the craft. Outside of that there are many appendant bodies with different systems and different requirements relaying different things. The history is quite complex and may be traced several different ways depending on which scholar you ask. At the end of the day, it's a fraternity that focuses on truth, brotherly love, and charity. Only requirements to join are (in most jurisdictions) to be a man (though there is both women's and mixed masonry these days), to be over the age of 18, to have no severe criminal background (though this is generally done by a case-by-case basis) and to believe in a higher power or supreme being (and in some jurisdictions the immortality of the soul).
In relation to the Golden Dawn, the founders were Masons and it is theorized in Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn that it was formed as a way to practice what was researched in the Masonic Societas Rosicruciona in Anglia in a practical manner.
In relation to Thelema, Crowley was supposedly briefly a member of an irregular (not recognized by most grand lodges) Masonic lodge, and the OTO, now a system of teaching Thelema, was originally a "higher degree' form of Masonry founded by Carl Kellner to teach the occult in German speaking countries, and at the time it required that candidates be Masons. This, of course, is no longer true and had vastly changed by the time Crowley joined. As far as I am aware there are not many records of what was taught by the original OTO when it was an Academia Masonica. The OTO has been discredited as being Masonic since 1905, when Theodor Reuss took power.
In relation to the Golden Dawn, the founders were Masons and it is theorized in Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn that it was formed as a way to practice what was researched in the Masonic Societas Rosicruciona in Anglia in a practical manner.
In relation to Thelema, Crowley was supposedly briefly a member of an irregular (not recognized by most grand lodges) Masonic lodge, and the OTO, now a system of teaching Thelema, was originally a "higher degree' form of Masonry founded by Carl Kellner to teach the occult in German speaking countries, and at the time it required that candidates be Masons. This, of course, is no longer true and had vastly changed by the time Crowley joined. As far as I am aware there are not many records of what was taught by the original OTO when it was an Academia Masonica. The OTO has been discredited as being Masonic since 1905, when Theodor Reuss took power.
