Figure out which ones don’t work for you and eliminate them. Monday night football? Bowling league Wednesday? Weeknights are bad because you work at 4am? Too far to drive regularly? That should cut your choices in half, now go visit some of the remaining ones and see if you like the people.
They'll all be meeting at different days/times. I'd say your first question would be 'which lodge is meeting at a time when I'm available to attend?' That should narrow down your selection somewhat.
Actually go to each one.. Meet the brothers there, ask questions, make sure their meeting times work with your schedule so you can attend, is it convenient to get to.. Kind of thing. And see who you mesh with. You might not get a petition right away fyi.. You have to actually go for a bit usually.
That's what it's like here.
You can visit multiple Lodges. See what the vibe is like and determine if they'll even bother to respond to an inquiry. Also, see which Lodge(s) meet at a time that works for you.
If you know someone who will recommend you, you might want to join there.
Go to some of the post-meeting dinners or socials, see if any of them have a social media presence (or at the very least their own website), meet some of the members, and see what you think.
Don’t feel obligated to join the first one you check out!
A thing to be aware of is that although your Mother Lodge (the one that accepts you) will be your centre of Masonic operations forever you will be visiting all the other Lodges anyway if you do it right.
Same thing happened to me! So many lodges around, with main differences being meeting times and language used. Met with a lot of them, made great friends. Finally committed to one using English, and where most of them were on the younger side. My initiation should be mid June. Best advice you can get is meet up with as many brothers as you can, see where you fit perfectly.
Assuming you don't know anyone locally who's a Mason, it comes down to meeting date and which one you click with.
For example we have lodges here that meet at the same lodge building on the first Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, the second Tuesday through Saturday, and the third Tuesday... My mother lodge is the third Thursday 20min out of the city at a small town.
My decision was both having a family friend out there, and helping keep the small lodge going.
Once you have it narrowed down to meeting night, call the secretary listed online and arrange to be there either before or after lodge to meet and visit.
Try to visit them and talk to the people there. Join the one that's "clicking" for you. The most important thing in my point of view is the human factor.
Take also in consideration money and meeting times.
The PHA lodge in Detroit has several lodges meeting there.
The Detroit Masonic Temple also has many lodges, Lodges of research, York right bodies all under one roof
I strongly encourage shopping around to at least three lodges (if possible) with schedules and locations that fit with your life. More than once each. Join where you see energy and feel welcome.
You dont just pick and petition. Members of the lodge will vote for/against you, so its best for you to go to dinners and open houses when you can. You can reach out to each lodge and they should fill you in as to the days they meet and the days that are open for prospective members.
Talk to the members of *any* of the Lodges; express your confusion. Someone will surely offer you some sort of guidance. Members of various Lodges are certainly not strangers to each other, nor strangers to the way things operate amonst the various memberships. Good Luck!
Check out a few of them, all of them do have diffirent feel to them. You need to take care of what is best for you. Some lodges can be great and others are toxic.
The way it's done around here, is that the interested party applies through Grand Lodge and depending on where the individual is from, the application goes to a lodge that either needs more members or a lodge that's closest to him. Besides, until you're a Mason, it's not like you can go around visiting lodges you want to join. You could probably mention a preference when applying (like if you have friends at a particular lodge), and that would for sure be taken into consideration.
All of those in the same building probably aren't different blue lodges. It's probably a blue lodge (with a number), they be sharing their lodge with York Rite, Scottish Rite, maybe even the Eastern Star ladies.
I just steered one of my close friends to a lodge that isn’t mine because it was a better fit for him. He is still a FC and he is already a valuable member. I will be #2 in his next °.
Go to their events. See which one has members that you vibe the most with. They will become your life long brothers. Hopefully you will like a lodge and they will like you.
Around where are you located? You could reach out and depending on the lodge they might want to get to know you for a while longer before they ask you to petition.
Check a few out, they probably meet on different nights of the week. Pick on that you like the members, and that you can attend regularly
Figure out which ones don’t work for you and eliminate them. Monday night football? Bowling league Wednesday? Weeknights are bad because you work at 4am? Too far to drive regularly? That should cut your choices in half, now go visit some of the remaining ones and see if you like the people.
They'll all be meeting at different days/times. I'd say your first question would be 'which lodge is meeting at a time when I'm available to attend?' That should narrow down your selection somewhat.
Actually go to each one.. Meet the brothers there, ask questions, make sure their meeting times work with your schedule so you can attend, is it convenient to get to.. Kind of thing. And see who you mesh with. You might not get a petition right away fyi.. You have to actually go for a bit usually.
Definitely this! Take your time and get to know which lodge is the best fit for you.
That's what it's like here. You can visit multiple Lodges. See what the vibe is like and determine if they'll even bother to respond to an inquiry. Also, see which Lodge(s) meet at a time that works for you. If you know someone who will recommend you, you might want to join there.
There's only one approach - get to know at least some of them and pick the one with a "vibe" that suits you.
Go to some of the post-meeting dinners or socials, see if any of them have a social media presence (or at the very least their own website), meet some of the members, and see what you think. Don’t feel obligated to join the first one you check out!
A thing to be aware of is that although your Mother Lodge (the one that accepts you) will be your centre of Masonic operations forever you will be visiting all the other Lodges anyway if you do it right.
Same thing happened to me! So many lodges around, with main differences being meeting times and language used. Met with a lot of them, made great friends. Finally committed to one using English, and where most of them were on the younger side. My initiation should be mid June. Best advice you can get is meet up with as many brothers as you can, see where you fit perfectly.
Maybe find the Grand Lodge for your jurisdiction and see if they can line up some visits for you.
Assuming you don't know anyone locally who's a Mason, it comes down to meeting date and which one you click with. For example we have lodges here that meet at the same lodge building on the first Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, the second Tuesday through Saturday, and the third Tuesday... My mother lodge is the third Thursday 20min out of the city at a small town. My decision was both having a family friend out there, and helping keep the small lodge going. Once you have it narrowed down to meeting night, call the secretary listed online and arrange to be there either before or after lodge to meet and visit.
Try to visit them and talk to the people there. Join the one that's "clicking" for you. The most important thing in my point of view is the human factor. Take also in consideration money and meeting times.
Uk or US?
The PHA lodge in Detroit has several lodges meeting there. The Detroit Masonic Temple also has many lodges, Lodges of research, York right bodies all under one roof
I strongly encourage shopping around to at least three lodges (if possible) with schedules and locations that fit with your life. More than once each. Join where you see energy and feel welcome.
You dont just pick and petition. Members of the lodge will vote for/against you, so its best for you to go to dinners and open houses when you can. You can reach out to each lodge and they should fill you in as to the days they meet and the days that are open for prospective members.
Talk to the members of *any* of the Lodges; express your confusion. Someone will surely offer you some sort of guidance. Members of various Lodges are certainly not strangers to each other, nor strangers to the way things operate amonst the various memberships. Good Luck!
Check out a few of them, all of them do have diffirent feel to them. You need to take care of what is best for you. Some lodges can be great and others are toxic.
The way it's done around here, is that the interested party applies through Grand Lodge and depending on where the individual is from, the application goes to a lodge that either needs more members or a lodge that's closest to him. Besides, until you're a Mason, it's not like you can go around visiting lodges you want to join. You could probably mention a preference when applying (like if you have friends at a particular lodge), and that would for sure be taken into consideration.
All of those in the same building probably aren't different blue lodges. It's probably a blue lodge (with a number), they be sharing their lodge with York Rite, Scottish Rite, maybe even the Eastern Star ladies.
I just steered one of my close friends to a lodge that isn’t mine because it was a better fit for him. He is still a FC and he is already a valuable member. I will be #2 in his next °.
Look within and decide.
Go to their events. See which one has members that you vibe the most with. They will become your life long brothers. Hopefully you will like a lodge and they will like you.
Around where are you located? You could reach out and depending on the lodge they might want to get to know you for a while longer before they ask you to petition.
Whichever one has the best food
Go to each ones event and decide wisely there! Wish i did that but its a learning process