How do quasi-Masonic organizations differ from regular Masonic lodges?

Regular Masonic lodges operate under defined principles of regularity: establishment by an existing recognized Grand Lodge or three regular lodges, mandatory belief in a Supreme Being and His revealed will, obligations taken directly upon the Volume of the Sacred Law, and sovereign jurisdiction over the Craft degrees, as the United Grand Lodge of England outlines.

Quasi-Masonic or imitative organizations often base their degree structures or rituals on Freemasonry—such as the eighteenth-century Order of African Architects, which derived its early framework from the Craft degrees yet lacked the standing to be considered a Masonic body by modern standards 1. Regular Grand Lodges maintain no official relations or recognition with such bodies, classifying them as irregular or incompatible, according to the United Grand Lodge of England.

Disciplinary boundaries strictly separate regular Craft Masonry from quasi-Masonic bodies. Members of regular jurisdictions are prohibited from joining, visiting, or attending the meetings of quasi-Masonic or imitative organizations without special dispensation, as the United Grand Lodge of England states. Furthermore, persons who have been connected with a quasi-Masonic organization may not be initiated into a regular lodge without special permission from the Grand Master or Provincial or District Grand Master, according to the United Grand Lodge of England.