I thought it is interesting how many people are on Masonic groups to begin with. they teach leadership and team work just like the same groups we are in. but there is one correction Job's Daughters is for girls 11-20 not 13-20, i am a Past Honored Queen and Majority member in Job's Daughters and i love how things are similar to APO.

Non Active 32nd Degree Mason.

My Heart is with LXA!:)

Tom your a mason? How cool :D Knew i liked ya!:D

I just got back from grand assembly in Fresno and I must say... I MISS BEING A RAINBOW GIRL !!! I miss being active Phi Sig too... =( I HATE HATE HATE being "old" Majority ??!! Alumni ??!! Grrrrr... :( :( :( :( I'm having SUCH a bad case of Peter Pan syndrome lately....

Don't you hate that feeling. I go to Grand Bethel and wear my grand look like for being a Grand bethel girl and i sigh and moan with my other old timer friends ....we call our selves the old and has beens because i haveen a past honored queen, a majority member, a grand bethel girl and e ven bethel guardian ( mother advisor equivlent)

It is funny i was reading the other post and she said job's was like APO. I was Alpha Phi Omega too and i dont see it LOL...now i see it more in my foundation with jobs and Alpha Phi but not APO

I, myself, am not apart of the Masonic organization, but my parents are. (OES, Mason)

In our early years a direct Masonic tie was a requirement to join Acacia, but that hasn't been the case in many years. We are a general college social fraternity and, BTW, one of the founding members of the NIC.

Acacia will celebrate its Centennial on May 12, 2004 and we've launched a new website at http://www.acacia.org Check it out!

Barry's right. While Acacia is the fraternity with the greatest Masonic influence, there is no official requirement for membership and Acacia is not an appended body.

Just the same, there are many Acacians that are Masons and vice versa. I'm not involved with freemasonry, by there are several men in my chapter that are. We are also involved in service projects with the local lodges.

Members of the Craft
 

A plethora of fraternities were founded by Master Masons and
a good bit of most of our rituals were taken from the Masons.
It is really difficult to find objections to Masonic precepts, and
now that the Prince Hall Masons (older than the AF & AM ones
in the USA) have been welcomed...
There's lots to be said...and only the snake-handling Baptists
and a few out-of-it Mormons and Catholics seem still threatened.
Naw, take a look at Masonry as you go out into the world, you
will find it will enhance the societal love.
Fraternally to all, Erik P Conard, Master Mason, Life Member,
Scottish Rite (32º), Shriner and T K E

Both of my grandfathers are Masons (well one is deceaded...) and both of my aunts and mom were in Rainbow. I always wanted to be in Rainbow... But there wasn't a group close enough to my house.

I plan on one day trying to get into Eastern Star (one of my chapter sisters is in OES) but haven't gotten around to it yet. :(

And this has nothing to do with this... But my church meets at a Masonic Temple... The same one my grandpa went through his degrees at.

omigod! i went to a convention in anahiem... it was sooo much fun... we went to disneyland and everything... aww good times...

My dad was a proud Mason until he was killed in 1991...

I was a Rainbow girl. I served as Worthy Advisor twice, was a Grand Representative ( which in Florida is considered a Grand Office, but not one of the assembly offices), and am a member of Eastern Star, but not active b/c my chapter is in my hometown. My mom and her sisters were Job's Daughters and my grandparents were OES--grand dad was a Mason and a member of High Twelve. The coolest experiences in my life were when grandparents came to my Rainbow initiation. Even cooler...my grandmother walked with me through my OES initiation. I will always hold that special to me!

hmmmm
 

Secrets, Secrets, Secrets....are that for a reason. Wonder why is the question....? :eek:

just thought i'd join in (know the thread is from way back when)
Rainbow Grand Offices:
Grand Page to Grand Love
Grand Page to the State Dad
Grand Representative to Mississippi and Montana
Grand Representative to Texas and California
Grand Nature
Grand Hope
Grand Drill Leader
have been worthy advisor 3 times (so far)
I am also a member of Eastern Star serving as Adah this year
Every male member of my family is a mason and every female member of my family was in rainbow and eastern star.
My mom served as Grand Editor for Rainbow and my dad was the west district governor for Demolay.

I was forced into Rainbow Girls, because I think everyone but my brother in my family was in some aspect of the Masons. I must have been in a nasty group, though, and when I heard some of the more senior members ripping a new member into shreds, I had my excuse to quit. Don't ask me to reveal any secrets, because I don't remember a one!

My roomie did all the chairs in Rainbow; I highly doubt that she went any further.

Just so you know honeychile rainbow has no secrets we have "traditions" now and there is no such thing as senior members and new members we are all equal if you dont mind saying so what state did you join in; because in my state this type of behavior would never be tolerated

From her phrasing it sounded like she said "more senior" members as in they'd been around longer compared to newer members. Not as if they were titles or levels of membership.

Did you attend a California Grand assembly when you were rep ?

Drolefille is right; I was talking about girls who had been in the chapter longer than I. I can honestly say that I was probably stuck in a bad chapter, one that tolerated nasty behavior (when I was initiated, one girl was tripped!), and just had a miserable experience. The good news is that I've since heard that it merged with another chapter, and is much kinder.

Interestingly, when I first joined the DAR, it was a very competitive chapter, to say the least. I've since changed chapters and am actually excited to go to meetings! This is a lesson that I've learned in life - it may not be you, it may not be the chapter, but if the mix makes either feel uncomfortable, by all means, try another chapter!

ETA: Is the White Shrine still around? Two of my aunts did the chairs, including the equivalent of Worthy Matron.

Yes, White Shrine of Jerusalem is still around. I'm a member, but there are only 2 or 3 Shrines in Texas.

Honeychile, I see your point now. Sorry if I sounded rude didn't mean to in the least, its just that so many people have this negative imagine about rainbow that I can't stand it when people make comments like that. What is DAR? BTW.

Glitter, I did not get the opportunity to g to CA rainbow but my counterpart did attend my Grand Assembly. I was able to attend Mississippi's Grand Assembly though and I am planning on attending Mississippi's and Arkansas' Grand this summer.

Daughters of the American Revolution.

Wow, let's see: I was a DeMolay ( Past Master Councilor and State Senior Councilor) and I am now a 1st Degree Mason.

On my father's side of the family: His parents were Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star; both my Dad's sisters are Eastern Star and my Dad is a 1st Degree Mason also.

Actually, due to decreasing numbers, they lowered the age to 10 for Job's Daughters, so it's 10-20.

I was VERY involved growing up. I really attribute it to "forming" me into the woman I am today. I am a Past Honored Queen, Majority Member, Honorary member of another Bethel, Past Grand Bethel Member, Past Supreme Representative to Montana, I served on the Guardian Council for my Bethel, and am currently serving on the Guardian Council for a Bethel in my area.

I am hoping the Bethel stays open long enough for my daughters to join, my oldest is 6.

I admit, it was the capes and crowns that originally suckerd me in...lol

At least two other college fraternities had substantial ties with Masons:

Square and Compass
and
Sigma Mu Sigma

A brief history of Sigma Mu Sigma can be seen at:

http://gwired.gwu.edu/sac/greek/history/SigmaMuSigma/

and that ^ history mentions Square and Compass more or less in passing.

Square and Compass and Sigma Mu Sigma have not survived as college social fraternities.

Wasn't there also a college social fraternity for members of DeMolay? (It either became extinct or merged into another fraternity, and I don't recall its name.)

Edited to answer my own question:
The fraternity for DeMolays was Delta Sigma Lambda, founded in 1921. The Depression was not kind to it, either, and in 1937 the chapters at Purdue and Montana, with their alumni, were absorbed into Theta Chi. Earlier the Nebraska chapter had joined Phi Gamma Delta, later the Rensselaer chapter joined Lambda Chi Alpha. A couple of other chapters became locals.

Are you all seeing a dramatic drop in the youth organizations? I was shocked, upon moving back to FL, that many of the Rainbow Assemblies were now inactive. I wasn't able to determine from the state website how many are actually active, and would love to find out since I would like for DD to go through one of those experiences.

We always loved watching the girls from California, and I am surprised to see the changes! What other changes have they made as well?

Still a member of OES with my hometown chapter...probably should think about finding a chapter here now.

I too was a Rainbow girl and I joined at 12 or 13 for all the wrong reasons. I just wanted to find out the secrets. I expected to find out the President was a communist or something earth shattering, which I did not. The initiate has to be receptive intellectually and emotionally for that bond to occur. Years later, I had a much better experience in a greek orginization. I was so in awe of our members. I can't imagine anything being more meaningful or a young woman feeling more proud. We had a semester long new member period as well.

The Masons and other related groups have always seem interesting to me. I am not related to any Masons, so I will never join Eastern Star, but still very interesting.

Wow! How did you find all this stuff out? Do you know where I could look for more information?

Most of it was from an old Baird's Manual. Baird's Manuals from the 1920s and early 30's tend to have writeups on some of these organizations that may not have lasted past the Depression or WW2.

Some of it was from just a perfunctory Google search. (As one of our major experts on GC says, "Google is your friend.")

I'm just reading through this thread and remembering that both my mom and my aunt went to a Rainbow camp in (I assume) North Carolina. I don't know if they were actually in the organization though! My grandmother was in Eastern Star so I think that was the connection.

I wonder if that camp still exists. My mom loved it!

According to the NC Rainbow website, there's no assembly near me today, so I don't know if there was formerly and it shut down or my mom and aunt just somehow went to the camp anyway.

There used to be about 5-6 DeMolay chapters here in my city but now there is but just one. I think the same is true for Rainbow Chapters.

I know that my house began as DeMolay, became Local Delta Mu in 1929, and Kappa of Delta Sigma Lambda in 1931. Then in 1937 we became Epsilon-Eta of Lambda Chi Alpha

Whenever an old thread is bumped, it needs to be checked out for interestingness.:) This thread passes the interestingness test and I was actually thinking of the Illuminati stories myself.

To be on topic, after the First World War, TKE absorbed a small National who was supposed to have Masonic links. I have seen Masonic sources who still say that TKE is one of the Masonic sponsored fraternities because of this.