"Pealtnägija" went to investigate further the often misunderstood organization.

Paul Himma is a former deputy director of Eesti Raadio and the director of the Estonia Theater, but also one of the more experienced public Freemasons in Estonia.

At 71, he has passed through almost all the ranks of the brotherhood over his more than 30 years of membership.

While now in retirement, he showed "Pealtnägija" around the lodge in his role as its guide.

A lot of masonic symbology, including the most well-known square and compass, as well as hammers and other construction implements, and of course the famous aprons, derive from the organization's origins as a professional guild for the highly skilled craft of stone-masonry.

Over time, members were admitted from other professions, meaning the focus gradually shifted from practical skilled construction know-how to building of a more spiritual nature, researchers Meelis Piller and Toomas Abiline, who both spoke to "Pealtnägija," found.

Piller said: "Freemasonry is deeply interesting because there is no very clear definition of what it actually is, [there is] no scientific definition by which it can be categorized."

"You do have symbolism and certain tools, which derive from the ancient construction craft and terminology, but the meaning that a person gives to them is up to the individual," Piller went on.

After the resurgence of Freemasonry in Great Britain in the early 18th century, the craft arrived in Estonia fairly early on, too: In the 1770s, when the Isis lodge was established in Tallinn.

As elsewhere in the world, while the organization attracted men of all walks of life, attention has been drawn to more prominent historical figures who have been masons.

In Estonia, these include diplomat Otto Gustav Stackelberg (1736-1800), who was involved in reopening Tartu University, Karl-Johann Morgenstern (1770-1852), the first director of the university's library and composer Carl Friedrich Karell (1791-1857).

Otto Wilhelm Masing (1763-1832), most famous for introducing the unique "Õ" character to the Estonian alphabet and who published an Estonian-language newspaper and wrote a language primer, was also a member.

It is important to understand that Freemasonry is not a uniform monolith.
Over time, it fragmented into branches, for example, Continental Freemasonry and Conservative (Anglo-American) Freemasonry.

Atheists and women are accepted as members of the more liberal branch.
In the interwar republic, several prominent figures, including Prime Minister Jaan Tõnisson (1868-1941), as well as ordinary people, were attracted to Freemasonry.

The fraternity was engaged in intellectual development, but on the other hand, despite the public conception of it being a clandestine organization, largely in part as a result of the fact that it does not actively proselytize.

The organization has also famously been suppressed in some parts of the world, including during the Soviet era.

In 1884, Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical condemning Freemasonry, and the church still holds a broadly negative view of the organization and bars its members from becoming masons.

In Estonia, no scandals of any import have been reported involving the organization.

With the end of the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Estonians who desired to become masons were free to do so once again.

The greatest contribution to Freemasonry's re-establishment in Estonia after the collapse of the Soviet Union is credited to the then-president of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Arno Köörna, who became a member of a lodge while working in Finland.

Köörna founded the Phoenix Lodge in Estonia, which was affiliated with Finland, in 1992, while in 1999, he established the independent Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Estonia.

While the first meetings took place at the premises of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and in rented spaces, since 2012, the brotherhood has owned a floor in a business building on Tatari tänav in Tallinn.

This was established by church property administration Kiriku Varahaldus, one of whose leaders was a Freemason at the time.

According to the bylaws of masonry, prospective members must be at least 21 years old, have a clean criminal record, and have a stated belief in a higher power – which need not relate to any specific organized religion, be it Christianity, Islam, or anything else.

Nonetheless, the organization has long attracted the attention of conspiracy theorists and theories. Some of the more lurid of these charge the masons with setting up or presiding over a "new world order," or even of worshipping Satan.
The organization maintains it is a brotherhood focused on self-improvement and united by esoteric yet innocuous ritual.

This ritual itself will have levels of involvement and perfection in relation to an individual mason and depending on how long they have been a member and what degree they have reached.

Himma said: "Different rituals focus on particular aspects of this moral teaching."
"One might be talking more about brotherly love, another might be about something else. The ritual includes a text portion, regalia, and all other accessories, movement, or, so to speak, choreography, plus also music," he went on.

The Eesti Vabamüürlaste Selts, the Freemasonry society of Estonia, considers itself, as it were, the direct successor of the original Freemasonry, but it turns out surprisingly that they are not the only ones in this niche.

There are several associations in Estonia that bear the name of the Lodge or call themselves Freemasons.

For example, the Kalevipoeg Lodge, the Tallinn HPB Lodge, and the Isis Lodge, which are associated with the Theosophical Society, an esoteric religious movement which emerged in the 19th century.

At the pinnacle is the Grand Orient of Estonia (Eesti Suurorient – the Grand Orient de France was one of the earliest founded masonic fraternities in continental Europe) which Piller is a member of.

Piller noted that the broader organization is a broad church indeed.

"This world is actually very colorful and fragmented. Many of these organizations may not always even recognize each other as Freemasons," he said.

A common thread that runs through all these groups is one of engaging in spiritual self-development, "Pealtnägija" found.

The umbrella Eesti Vabamüürlaste Selts currently has just under 800 members, dispersed across 25 lodges nationwide, in Tartu, Viljandi, Pärnu, Haapsalu, and Rakvere, as well as in Tallinn.

Himma noted that a Freemason swears allegiance to the Estonian state and pledges not to use membership towards personal aggrandizement.
Politics is not discussed in the lodge, he added, despite any potential influence on leaders and high officials.

The divorce dispute referenced at the start of the report saw the wife penning an open letter to the organization, claiming it had influenced the judicial system. The husband is allegedly a member.

On this, Himma said: "We do not advise anyone, we do not deal with anybody's personal matters, be they a member of the society or not. And that is how things are. That is a sad tale."

At the same time, a question arises: Do high-ranking officials or judges have to declare that they belong to the brotherhood?

Harju County Court chair Astrid Asi said she was unaware of any Freemasons under her purview, adding that in any case, in her opinion, there is no need to know, just as a judge or other court employee would not have to declare membership of a student fraternity or of a choir.

"If it does not interfere with their work, does not cause ethical conflicts, then I have no need to know about it," Asi said.

Conversely, anyone's impartiality can be challenged sometimes, even if, in a small country like Estonia, they simply know someone for any reason.
"There is no need to be a member of a guild in order to make decisions in someone's favor, or against them, simply because you know them," Asi noted.

As in any democracy, remedies for recusal, meaning the withdrawal of a judge, prosecutor, or juror from a case on the grounds that they are unqualified to perform legal duties due to a possible conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

"And this is also the place where a judge must have their moral compass ingrained, to know where the ethical boundaries lie, what they can and cannot do. Plus we also have an institution for recusal, so if anyone else notices that something like this is happening, they have the right to request that a judge be removed from the case," Asi went on.

Though it may have come as a surprise to some viewers, masonic organizations also have to regularly submit reports to the business register, even including the minutes of annual meetings, where the representatives of dozens of lodges are listed very openly.

These include a diverse array of people including business and public figures, doctors, agriculturalists, musicians, lawyers, military personnel, and writers.

Additionally, a company working in real estate plus several non-profit organizations are registered at the lodge's address, "Pealtnägija" said.
Masonry and related organizations such as the Shriners are well-known, particularly in the U.S., for charitable giving; the NGOs in Estonia include charity funds and those engaged in other pursuits such as motorcycle riding.

Information on the leadership of these NGOs is made wholly public.

Membership is not skewed to any particular political party or end of the political spectrum, the show reported: Members of several parties including the Reform Party and EKRE are listed.

The brethren have clearly become more open too in recent years, "Pealtnägija" said.

Some years ago, the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Freemasonry in Estonia was marked with a conference, an exhibition, and even a commemorative postage stamp.

Regular tours for members of the public are held at the lodge, in whose foyer there is even a souvenir and memorabilia giftshop.

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