How to Become a Freemason in North Carolina

Step 1: Find a Lodge in North Carolina

Freemasonry does not recruit, so the first move is yours. Start with the Grand Lodge of North Carolina: its Lodge locator lists the Lodges in the state with where and when they meet. It also publishes its own guidance for men interested in joining, which outranks anything on this page.

Pick a Lodge or two near you and email the Secretary to say you would like to learn more. Many Lodges hold dinners or open houses where you can meet the members first. Visit more than one if you can: Lodges differ a great deal in age, size and feel, and you will be sitting in that room for years.

Step 2: Ask for a petition

The Grand Lodge of North Carolina sets the minimum age for North Carolina; we have not found it stated where we can cite it, so ask the Secretary. Beyond age, the usual pattern in US Grand Lodges is that a candidate is a man, believes in a Supreme Being, is of good character, and comes of his own free will. The exact wording, the number of signatures needed and the fee are set in North Carolina, not by a general guide.

The petition asks for your background and usually needs two members to sign it. If you do not know two Masons yet, visit a few times; that is what the visits are for.

Step 3: Investigation and ballot

The Lodge sends a small committee to meet you, often at home, to make sure you know what you are joining and that your family is on board with the time it takes. The Lodge then votes by secret ballot. How that ballot works, and what happens if it fails, is governed by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina's own rules.

Step 4: The three degrees

Once elected you receive the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason, usually with something to learn between each. What counts as proficiency, and how long the whole thing takes, varies by jurisdiction; ask your mentor what North Carolina requires. The Master Mason degree is full membership and the highest degree in Freemasonry.

The full walk-through is in How to Join a Masonic Lodge.

Prince Hall Freemasonry in North Carolina

North Carolina also has a Prince Hall Grand Lodge, the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina and Jurisdiction, Inc.. Prince Hall Freemasonry descends from African Lodge No. 459, chartered from England in 1784, and is a full and historic branch of the Craft with its own Lodges in most US states.

Whether the two Grand Lodges formally recognise each other, and so whether their members may visit one another's Lodges, is decided by the Grand Lodges themselves and has changed state by state over the past few decades. Either Grand Lodge can tell you where it stands today. Petition the one whose Lodge you want to belong to.

After you are raised

Once you are a Master Mason you may join the appendant bodies if you want to. The York Rite meets in Chapters, Councils and Commanderies across North Carolina. For the Scottish Rite, North Carolina is in the Southern Jurisdiction, so its Valleys confer the SJ versions of the degrees; material written for the other jurisdiction will not match. None of these bodies outranks the Lodge: 32° is not senior to 3°.

What to buy, and what not to

Nothing, before you petition. The Lodge provides an apron for the degrees, and many issue a plain white one to keep. Do not buy a Masonic ring before you are raised. It is the classic new-candidate mistake.