A Mason's Work

By Brian Mattocks

In this show we discuss the practical applications of masonic symbolism and how the working tools can be used to better yourself, your family, your lodge, and your community. We help good freemasons ... more

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about A Mason's Work:

How many episodes does A Mason's Work have?

The podcast currently has 88 episodes available.

A Mason's Work episodes:

May 28, 2025Why So Many Guards? The Lodge as Mental Fortress
Why are there so many guards in the lodge? This episode reinterprets the symbolic role of Masonic sentinels as cognitive and emotional gatekeepers. In an age where information is overwhelming and often unreliable, the structure of the lodge becomes a mental architecture—helping you filter distraction, examine intentions, and protect the sanctity of your inner work.
🔑 Key Takeaways
Masonic guards symbolize cognitive boundaries for filtering external noise.
Lodge structure models an order for processing reflection and truth.
Protecting your internal world is sacred labor in a chaotic age.
💬 Featured Quotes
“Why are there so many guards? Why are there so many dudes with swords at my lodge?” — [00:00:12]
“The guards help you maintain the integrity and order of your mental and emotional landscape.” — [00:01:10]
“The outer door? All distractions. The inner door? Good intentions. The examining room and preparing room? Each is a filter.” — [00:01:34]
“You need to do the first-order door closing. All data not relevant to the current reflection must be shut out.” — [00:02:00]

🔗 Explore Related Episodes
One of the Twelve – An Invitation to the Real Work of the Craft
Explores the internal transformation symbolized in the Hiramic journey.
Senior Master of Ceremonies: Guarding the Mind’s Door
This episode delves into the symbolic role of the Senior Master of Ceremonies, drawing parallels between Masonic roles and mental processes.
Crafting Success with Masonic Tools
Here, the discussion centers on how Masonic tools serve not just symbolic purposes but also practical applications for planning, cognitive transformation, and action. It explores how these tools can be utilized for personal development and mental discipline.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
9min
May 26, 2025Freemasonry Without Permission: A Path Beyond the Lodge
Not every lodge is the right soil for growth. In this episode, we explore how to stay on the Masonic path even when your environment doesn’t support it. Whether your local lodge is misaligned or missing the mark, the Work remains—and it’s yours to claim, wherever you are.

🔑 Key Takeaways
You don’t need permission to do Masonic work—only intent and integrity.
If your local lodge fails to nourish you, find or build your symbolic tribe.
Frustration with others often reflects unaddressed areas in ourselves.
💬 Featured Quotes
“So in a recent episode I was talking about being one of the 12 and one of the challenges with that perspective is not everyone in your lodge… understands that responsibility.” — [00:00:00]
“What you need to do first and foremost is find your tribe—wherever that is.” — [00:00:50]
“Your local lodge, even the parts of it that you may not like, can be used as agents for self-development.” — [00:01:40]
“Volunteer to the group: ‘I’m working on becoming less judgmental,’ or ‘I want to lose weight.’ This lets people support your process.” — [00:02:15]

🔗 Explore Related Episodes
The Trowel and the Limits of Patience
A reflection on care, discernment, and how compassion can go too far.
One of the Twelve – An Invitation to the Real Work of the Craft
Explores the internal transformation symbolized in the Hiramic journey.
The Tuxedo and the Trowel: Wearing the Symbol, Living the Labor
Examines the symbolic significance of Masonic dress and the embodiment of labor.
Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
7min
May 23, 2025Put On Your Apron: Becoming the Mason You Were Raised to Be
In this episode, we revisit the Hiramic Legend—not for its historical allegory, but as a mirror for our modern emotional lives. What does it mean to stand in the moment of overwhelm and choose accountability? Freemasonry doesn’t promise control over life’s chaos—it teaches us how to respond when we’ve lost it.

🔑 Key Takeaways
The Hiramic Legend models how to face moments beyond our control with honor.
Emotional discipline is a Masonic virtue, not just a personal struggle.
The apron symbolizes readiness—not to know everything, but to choose rightly.
💬 Featured Quotes
“There will perpetually be situations beyond your control—and you have choices.” — [00:01:30]
“You get about a second, maybe a second and a half, to be overwhelmed by your emotions.” — [00:01:42]
“We are not allowed to tend toward dark, violent, awful things. We have to process them as men.” — [00:02:14]
“What does that teach us about the Masonic tools and lexicon?” — [00:01:23]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
The Trowel and the Limits of Patience
A reflection on care, discernment, and how compassion can go too far.
One of the Twelve – An Invitation to the Real Work of the Craft
Explores the internal transformation symbolized in the Hiramic journey.
The Tuxedo and the Trowel: Wearing the Symbol, Living the Labor
Examines the symbolic significance of Masonic dress and the embodiment of labor.
Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
8min
May 21, 2025One of the Twelve: An Invitation to the Real Work of the Craft
In this cornerstone episode, we explore the Hiramic legend as a metaphor for self-awareness and moral choice—focusing on the twelve Fellowcrafts who step back from destruction and choose integrity over ego.
The episode introduces a teleological framework to help Masons examine their own behavior: not just what we do, but why we do it—and what unconscious value that behavior might be delivering. This is an invitation to become one of the Twelve—to stop conspiring against your own growth.

🔑 Key Takeaways
Avoidance is not weakness—it’s often a signpost to unresolved value conflict.
To become one of the Twelve is to choose alignment over sabotage—again and again.
The real work of the Craft begins when we stop lying to ourselves.
The Courage to be Disliked
💬 Featured Quotes
“This episode is about being one of the Twelve in the Hiramic legend.” — [00:00:28]
“Twelve of them recant and step away from that plan. And so you are one of the twelve… Everything you do is from the perspective of that choice.” — [00:00:46]
“Whatever the behavior that you are doing that is not furthering your work is delivering a value to you… that facilitates you in not delivering that work.” — [00:03:22]
“A teleological approach… helps you understand your behavior through the value it’s delivering, even if that value is escape or avoidance.”
— [00:01:33]
“Why am I doing this, and how do I stop?” — [00:06:04]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 79 – Why Technique Fails: What Freemasonry and Musashi Agree On
Unpacks the gap between ritual performance and transformational practice—where real value work begins.
🎧 Ep. 82 – The Trowel and the Limits of Patience
Explores the tension between compassion and accountability—especially in the context of growth and discomfort.
🎧 Ep. 69 – The Grammar of the Lodge: Structure, Symbol, and the Spoken Word
Symbolically reframes communication as a structural mechanic for inner and outer alignment.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
8min
May 19, 2025The Tuxedo and the Trowel: Wearing the Symbol, Living the Labor
In this episode, we reflect on the ritual and symbolic role of Masonic dress—especially the tuxedo—not as a marker of status, but as a signal of readiness, humility, and inner alignment.
The conversation invites us to examine why we wear what we wear, how discomfort can support presence, and how the most meaningful moments often come not from polished appearances, but from shared effort, learning, and care.
🔑 Key Takeaways
Masonic dress is not about impressing—it’s about intention and alignment.
Discomfort in attire can become a tool of mental focus and symbolic presence.
The Trowel reminds us: care isn’t always visible, but it’s always shared.
💬 Featured Quotes
“Back as you are… as you're reinvested with all of your clothing… I think it's important to kind of look at this in a lot of ways…” — [00:01:00]
“It helps me put my right frame of mind on so I can go to lodge… Now that said, the tux itself may not be the most comfortable…” — [00:01:41]
“There are going to be folks that work off of a hand-me-down suit from the Goodwill—and that’s okay too.” — [00:03:13]
“The quality of my tux, or your tux, relative to somebody else's… there's a price range for all of those things.” — [00:02:10]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 82 – The Trowel and the Limits of Patience
A meditation on care, discomfort, and holding space for members at different levels of development.
🎧 Ep. 41 – Charity Starts Where?
Focuses on inward-directed charity and how symbolic tools guide compassionate behavior.
🎧 Ep. 45 – Journaling Your Way to Clarity and Insight
Explores how personal reflection deepens the inner work behind outward ritual.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
7min
May 16, 2025The Unspoken Symbol: Beneath the Degrees, Behind the Work
This episode explores a symbol never named directly in the degrees, yet present everywhere in the Masonic experience: curiosity. It’s the force beneath every inquiry, every tool, every ritual. And while it may never be etched in stone or inscribed on a tracing board, it animates the Craft from within.

We reflect on how curiosity fuels the pursuit of symbolic knowledge, transforms discomfort into growth, and keeps Masons aligned with their deepest purpose—even when the work is hard to explain.
🔑 Key Takeaways
Some of Freemasonry’s most powerful symbols are never named—they are felt.
Curiosity is the engine of symbolic work—it drives exploration, insight, and transformation.
Becoming an agent of change starts with a willingness to uncover what lies beneath the surface.
💬 Featured Quotes
“It’s swimming under the water of the entire craft… that concept that is implied by Freemasonry is curiosity.” — [00:00:35]
“Covers off of things and finding out how they work… that kind of approach to the Craft is implicit.” — [00:00:57]
“The tools are designed to help you become an agent of change in the world—and curiosity is a fundamental component of that.” — [00:04:40]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 60 – Thinking in Symbols
Explores how symbolic insight emerges not from answers, but from asking better questions.
🎧 Ep. 73 – Geometry as truth between things
Discusses curiosity as a tool for exploring structure, space, and relationship.
🎧 Ep. 69 – The Grammar of the Lodge: Structure, Symbol, and the Spoken Word
Examines how linguistic structure reflects the search for meaning and intentional communication.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
7min
May 14, 2025The Trowel and the Limits of Patience
In this episode, we reflect on what it means to apply the Trowel—the Masonic tool of compassion and connection—when our patience is tested by behavior we don’t yet understand.

The conversation centers on how to hold space for members at different stages of development, and what happens when immaturity, frustration, or emotional volatility surfaces in the lodge. The Trowel is not about indulgence or appeasement. It’s about disciplined care—meeting others where they are, while still safeguarding the space.

🔑 Key Takeaways
We all grow differently in different ways and you can't see the stone another brother is working.
Masonic growth means tolerating discomfort while staying anchored in principle.
The Trowel reminds us: care is a practice, not a posture.
💬 Featured Quotes
“Our brethren deserve compassion in those conversations. The application of the Trowel is our responsibility.” — [00:03:01]
“That compassion was once given you, hopefully in your life… The application of the tools of Freemasonry are in context.” — [00:04:10]
“For our younger brethren—and that’s really who this world is for when you think about it—a lot of them have different experiences.” — [00:01:56]
“What qualifies as toxic masculinity… a lot of folks don’t really understand what it means.” — [00:01:04]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 55 – The Trowel and the Practice of Care
A focused reflection on applying care within and beyond the lodge using Masonic working tools.
🎧 Ep. 79 – Why Technique Fails: What Freemasonry and Musashi Agree On
Explores why rote approaches or symbolic performance aren’t enough—especially when emotional intelligence is required.
🎧 Ep. 41 – Charity Starts Where?
Investigates how real charity begins with emotional self-awareness and grounded presence.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
8min
May 12, 2025The Silence Around the Center: Freemasonry and the Question of God
In this episode, we explore the symbolic and cultural hesitation around discussing God inside the Masonic lodge. While Freemasonry references the Grand Architect of the Universe, the tradition stops short of dictating belief or engaging in formal theology.
This conversation wrestles with that boundary—asking what it means to operate within a moral structure that depends on spiritual gravity, yet refuses to name it. Is that silence a strength, a limitation, or an invitation?

🔑 Key Takeaways
Freemasonry offers moral tools, but no theology—they must be applied within your own belief system.
The Grand Architect is a reference point, not a doctrine.
The symbolic center is left intentionally undefined—demanding self-honesty.
💬 Featured Quotes
“All of the tools of the craft that we have are designed to be applied in the context of a belief structure that Freemasonry does not teach.” — [00:01:02]
“Freemasonry isn’t a spiritual practice. It’s more of a moral framework. A religion is a path to get to your spiritual awakening.” — [00:02:13]
“There is no disconnection for a Mason who is working with the Grand Architect of the Universe between what we do and how we’re informed by that belief.” — [00:03:06]
“Even the meditative reflections of the lodge itself aren’t particularly about connecting with the divine. They’re about understanding the plan by which you work.” — [00:01:39]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 80 – The Pavement and the Void
Explores the symbolic duality of the pavement and how it relates to spiritual presence, stillness, and non-attachment.
🎧 Ep. 60 – Thinking in Symbols
Considers the symbolic mechanisms Masons use to explore meaning, structure, and belief without dogma.
🎧 Ep. 41 – Charity Starts Where?
Frames inner work and personal alignment as the real root of Masonic moral behavior.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
8min
May 09, 2025The Pavement and the Void
In this episode, we conclude our series on The Book of Five Rings with the final chapter: The Book of Emptiness. Paired symbolically with the Pavement—the Masonic emblem of duality—the Void reminds us that mastery is not accumulation, but release.
Where the Earth Book grounds us and the Fire Book activates us, the Void calls us to stillness. To operate within the Void is to move without attachment, think without fixation, and hold symbol and self in equal clarity.
🔑 Key Takeaways
Emptiness is not absence—it’s freedom from fixation.
The Pavement reminds us that duality exists only until we transcend it.
Masonic mastery requires letting go of symbolic clinging, not adding more.
💬 Featured Quotes
“And in Masonic parlance, probably the most appropriate symbol for us to reflect on when it comes to the Book of Emptiness… is actually the pavement, believe it or not.” — [00:00:41]
“But that non-dual perspective… is central to the Book of Emptiness, where you don’t lean too far in one direction or the other.” — [00:01:52]
“You don’t leave your mind vaguely at awareness… It’s not peripheral, it’s not focused. All of those things kind of fall at the same time.” — [00:02:07]
“You’ll study it for the rest of your life perhaps—but a sitting or two should get you through.” — [00:04:07]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 76 – The Square and the Sword: Lessons from The Book of Five Rings
Begins the symbolic alignment between Musashi’s text and Masonic tools—grounded, structured, and action-oriented.
🎧 Ep. 77 – Flow and Form: The Water Scroll and the Fellow Craft
Explores how adaptability and real-time awareness shape personal growth and symbolic mastery.
🎧 Ep. 79 – Why Technique Fails: What Freemasonry and Musashi Agree On
Critiques performative mastery and reinforces clarity, presence, and directness.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
7min
May 07, 2025Why Technique Fails: What Freemasonry and Musashi Agree On
In this episode, we continue our symbolic reflection on The Book of Five Rings by exploring the Wind Scroll—Musashi’s fierce critique of illusion, distraction, and reliance on superficial technique.

This conversation draws parallels between martial philosophy and the Masonic journey, revealing that both traditions demand clarity of purpose, internal discipline, and rejection of showmanship. The work is not in the flourish—it’s in the sustained attention to transformation.

🔑 Key Takeaways
Musashi warns that technique can become a distraction from true mastery.
Freemasonry also rejects illusion—favoring direct experience and inner alignment.
The path requires clarity, not cleverness.
💬 Featured Quotes
“Including Musashi’s own school regarding the long sword… if you're focusing on the techniques, you're focusing on the wrong thing.” — [00:00:59]
“Of the shortcomings and challenges of the other schools… people with longer swords, people with different kinds of techniques…” — [00:00:29]
“As you're evaluating kind of your cognitive processes… it's really easy to pick the easy-to-grab-onto concepts… as if that's going to be the keystone.” — [00:04:35]
“The work is the work. It’s always been the same. The right behavior is going to get you the right outcomes.” — [00:04:55]
🔗 Explore Related Episodes
🎧 Ep. 76 – The Square and the Sword: Lessons from The Book of Five Rings
Introduces the symbolic alignment between Musashi’s elemental texts and Masonic working tools.
🎧 Ep. 73 – Geometry as truth between things
Focuses on structure and relationship as deeper truths—not surface patterns.
🎧 Ep. 69 – The Grammar of the Lodge: Structure, Symbol, and the Spoken Word
Explores the symbolic function of structure and intention in all communication.

Creators & Guests
Brian Mattocks - Host
Click here to view the episode transcript.
...more
8min

FAQs about A Mason's Work:

How many episodes does A Mason's Work have?

The podcast currently has 88 episodes available.

More shows like A Mason's Work

Whence Came You? - Freemasonry discussed and Masonic research for today's Freemason by Robert Johnson

Whence Came You? - Freemasonry discussed and Masonic research for today's Freemason

317 Listeners

The Masonic Roundtable - Freemasonry Today for Today's Freemasons by Jon Ruark, Jason Richards, Nick Johnson, Juan Sepulveda & Robert Johnson

The Masonic Roundtable - Freemasonry Today for Today's Freemasons

204 Listeners

Masonic Lite Podcast by Masonic Lite Podcast

Masonic Lite Podcast

46 Listeners

Short Talk Bulletin by Short Talk Bulletin

Short Talk Bulletin

83 Listeners

Scottish Rite Journal Podcast by The Tyler's Place Podcast

Scottish Rite Journal Podcast

33 Listeners

Meet, Act and Part by Darin Lahners

Meet, Act and Part

18 Listeners

The Traveling Man Masonic Podcast by Jim Hall

The Traveling Man Masonic Podcast

33 Listeners

Craftsmen Online Podcast by Craftsmen Online

Craftsmen Online Podcast

35 Listeners

Freemasonry in 7 Minutes or Less by EARNSHAW Christopher PhD 33°

Freemasonry in 7 Minutes or Less

14 Listeners

Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries by Reed Endersbe and John Schwietz

Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries

9 Listeners

Further Light Podcast by C Luedke

Further Light Podcast

13 Listeners

Craftcast: The Freemasons Podcast by United Grand Lodge of England

Craftcast: The Freemasons Podcast

22 Listeners

On The Level Podcast by Christopher Burns

On The Level Podcast

25 Listeners

The Third Degree Masonic Podcast by Brothers Samuel , Gabriel, and Ryan

The Third Degree Masonic Podcast

7 Listeners

Studio 357 Masonic Podcast by Heath and Joe Evans

Studio 357 Masonic Podcast

0 Listeners