Modern Mixed Masons
Quite by accident I learned about the Grand Lodge of Modern Mixed Masons (GLMMM). According to their well-looking website they have no less than 53 craft lodges and they work the Royal Arch (10 lodges), Mark Masters degree (11 lodges), Royal Arch Mariners (6 lodges) plus they have five lodges for “additional degrees”, 21 “chivalric” lodges, 20 AASR lodges, 12 “True order of the Rosy Cross” lodges and 7 “Masonic Order of Druids” lodges!
So how can such a massive organisation have remained below my radar for all these years?
The Grand Lodge of Modern Mixed Masons (GLMMM) is one of the newest Masonic Orders working together in harmony within the true tenets of Freemasonry.
The list of Grand Masters goes back to 2011, but I cannot find anywhere if they started as a split off of an existing organisation or where the roots lay. The order is based in the UK, but also has lodges in the Philippines.
So how does such a gigantic order appear from thin air? With some 40 lodges in the UK, they would be as large as the women-only Grand Lodge and way bigger than any of the other mixed gender Grand Lodges in the UK. They have more officers than some orders have members. Would it be a scam?
They are listed as member of Catena and themselves claim to be in amity with Humanitas.
Does anybody have more information about this Grand Lodge? Especially some history would be welcome.
Result of digging so far.
There is a Reddit user called TheFreshBrainCompany. The man behind this account appears to be Andrew T. Austin. The Reddit account made a subreddit for the Grand Lodge about a year ago. It is only filled with links to every page from the Grand Lodge website posted late June 2022. The Reddit account appears to be a real account used for different purposes. There is also a ‘domain‘ for the Valiant lodge which also only contains a few links by the same user.
Looking for Austin I find several websites, mostly psychiatry type websites. The man sells courses, has lectures, etc. The websites also somehow refer to the Valiant lodge. See this one and look for “Freemason”. This website is even more explicit, there is a link to the lodge in the footer. Here it says: “Join Lodge Valiant, under the auspices of The Grand Lodge of Modern Mixed Masons.”
According to the lodge website:
Lodge Valiant is a new lodge that was consecrated on 29th August 2021. We are seeking new members to join our lodge, members both entirely new to Freemasonry and existing masons who wish to join a modernised order for men and women alike.
The Grand Lodge website has it listed as #18, which is a bit weird. The first Grand Master is from 2011, so the other 25 lodges are all of after August 2021? They do all appear to be in the Philippens.
Valiant is the only lodge of which information is available on the Grand Lodge website.
There is a growing suggestion that either this whole Grand Lodge is a one man show or otherwise a ‘one lodge show’ and that the entire Grand Lodge came from Austin’s thumb, or that of an accomplish.
Does that make GLMMM a scam, as in, talk people into giving their money and ripping them off? Not necessarily. Maybe it’s just an elaborate way of Austin to sell his courses or to spread his ideas. On the other hand, perhaps the one lodge actually does do good Masonic work. It is even not impossible that there actually are more lodges, but I can find little indication that there is.
It does raise the question what Catena investigated when the GLMMM applied for membership.
New information is always welcome. Currently, I don’t intend to add the GLMMM to the UK or Philippens pages.