few members and divided into two large currents

Spanish Freemasonry has not recovered from the brutal repression it suffered during the Francoism. Are barely 4,000 members, also divided into two large currents (Anglo-Saxon and liberal Freemasonry), when in FranceFor example, there are more than 200,000 members.

In an interview with Efe in the ‘temple’ of the ‘Xavier Mina’ Masonic lodge, in Pamplonathe president of this group, Valentín Díaz, has explained that, although among the ‘brothers’ of a lodge unity is one of the fundamental principlesSpanish Freemasons remain divided.

There are two main currents: Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry or Male Freemasonryand liberal Freemasonry, fundamentally linked to the Great East of France and to the Great East of Belgiumto which this Navarrese lodge belongs.

Male Freemasonry does not admit the initiation of women and requires belief in a revealed God and in the immortality of the soul. It is closely linked to the founding principles of Freemasonry, but this movement, as such, “was founded in the 18th century, in 1717, and we are, of course, in 2024. The world has changed, and now “Since the second half of the 19th century there have been female Masons”Diaz pointed out.

Franco’s “obsession”

Freemasonry was brutally persecuted during the Franco regime. Díaz admits that he does not know the reason: “You would have to ask Franco. The truth is that he had an absolute obsession with Freemasonry.” The consequence in any case is that Spanish Freemasonry, as Díaz has recognized, did not come out well from the dictatorship.

“In any case, it must be said that Freemasonry in Spain It has never had a large number of members. Even in the best times of Freemasonry in Spainbetween the end of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, never exceeded 6,000 or 7,000 members,” he noted.

A temple full of symbols

The headquarters of this Navarrese lodge or ‘temple’ hosts meetings or ‘meetings’ of the 16 members that the group currently has. The temple is, thus, a space with an important symbolic charge, which includes, among other elements, the ‘altar of oaths’, in which the square and compasses rest on a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a Bible, but not as a religious symbol, but of “a book that represents the accumulated wisdom over time,” explains Díaz.

Also seen in the temple are the plumb line hanging from the ceiling, several swords, including the ‘flaming’ blade of the president of the lodge, the lantern, the rough stone and the carved stone, the candelabra and three small columns, Located on a checkered design, they represent wisdom, strength and beauty. And flanking the entrance to the temple, as in every lodge, the Jaquin and Boaz columns, a recreation of those that existed in the Temple of Solomon.

Without ritual there is no masonry

Without ritual and without symbology “there is no Freemasonry,” highlighted Díaz, who has acknowledged that what motivated him to enter this group was “the image of the square and the compass; It is an enormously suggestive image. that made me have an internal resonance from a very young age.

Freemasonry, he has commented, is an allegory of the construction trade: “It is inspired by medieval stonemasons; They worked the stone and we also work the stonewith the difference that the stone is each of us. That is, what we do is carve our own self, we build ourselves to seek the best version of ourselves.”

Díaz has highlighted the “magnificent atmosphere” and the fraternal relationship between the ‘brothers’ or members of the lodge. “Here we are united in our pure and naked humanityThat is to say, here there is no journalist, a lawyer, a businessman, a waiter or anyone else, here everyone, absolutely at the moment we are in the lodge, is exactly the same. There are no differences by sex, ideology, or religion,” he stated.

What is talked about in a meeting?

And what is talked about in Masonic meetings or ‘meetings’? Well, about many things, Díaz has assured: “Of course, “There is a lot of talk about symbolic themes, about what each person interprets.” of them, and on other issues, whether current or not. What is never talked about is politics or a specific religion.

This rule is broken at the end of the meeting, at which time the brothers participate in an ‘agape’ and they talk about any topic, even, Díaz joked, about football.