Can Early Freemasonry Be Understood Through a 21st Century Lens?? Why Secrecy Was Needed??

What do we know about Freemasonry?
There are about six million Freemasons around the world, about 200,000 of them in England and Wales. That means there’s been a drop in membership of about 150,000 in England and Wales in the last 20 years.
There are about 30,000 active masons in Scotland and about 25,000 in Ireland, 70% of them in Northern Ireland.
The basic unit of organisation is the lodge, of which there are about 6,300 in England and Wales. Some have exotic names. There’s the Chapter of Sincerity in Norwich, for example, and the Swan of Avon in Warwickshire.
Lodges are organised in towns and cities, at universities or around schools, recruited from trades or professions, or are based upon military units. They have also been organised around other interests, such as football or rugby fans. The Mike Hailwood lodge recruits motor racing fans. The Lux In Tenebris lodge – light in darkness – was established toward the end of the first world war for blind masons.
There are a number of lodges for women, governed by their own grand lodges, but those governed by UGLE are entirely male affairs. Despite efforts to recruit younger men, particularly undergraduates, masons are also predominantly middle-aged or elderly. Only 2% in England and Wales are under 30, but more than 10% are over 80.
Candidates were traditionally recruited by word of mouth, but in the digital age men can apply online. Some of the rumours about the ancient initiation ceremony are true. The candidate must roll up one trouser leg to show that he is healthy and unshackled, a free man. He must expose his left breast to show that he is not a woman. A rope noose known as a cable tow is placed around his neck. This represents either an umbilical cord or ties to fellow masons. It is open to interpretation.
He is then led blindfolded into the lodge meeting room, where he is introduced to the secret signs of recognition – a word, a handshake, a symbol – and expected to deliver oaths of loyalty and secrecy. T..