APPRENTICESHIP IN THE OLD CHARGES

From 1390 until 1723, the Craft was governed by the old charges. It
was essentially operative, even if those of other callings were
admitted from as early as 1641. These old charges probably formed
the basis of an initiation ceremony as well as being the equivalent
of our Book of Constitutions. Though over 100 versions are known to
exist, all except the first (which is a poem) have a similar form,
differences being due to frequent copying and the isolation of
copiers.

These old charges did not specifically exclude the initiation of a
woman, but it is continually implied. 2 The Landsdowne Manuscript of
1560 says that the apprentice must be," of limbs whole, as a man
ought to be " and that he must be "no bondsman". Many of the clauses
of these old charges would be inapplicable to women. Indeed, they do
specifically mention women in another context which bears a clear
relation to the obligation of the 30, For example, the Mason Charter
of 1670 of the Lodge of Aberdeen, now No. 1 ter, contains the
typical phrase, "Yat Yee shall not tak your fellowes wyf in villanie
ore desyre ungodlye his daughter, or his servant to put them to
dishonourshipe." 3 Thus it has always been emphasised that being a
mason places a Brother in a special relationship of trust to the
opposite sex.

An antient charge, called the Constitution of the Freemasons, of
1693, states that in the initiation ceremony, "The one of the
elders, taking the Booke, and that he or shee that is to bee made a
Mason shall lay their hands thereon, and the charge shall be given."
4 Though this has been taken to permit initiation of women, good
authority supports the view that "shee" is a miscopy of "they".
There is no evidence of actual initiations of women prior to the
eighteenth century which would give support to the opposite view.

ANDERSON'S CONSTITUTIONS

In 1723 the first Book of Constitutions of Premier Grand Lodge was
issued. We of the English Constitution tend to take this for granted
as one of many, subject to change and amendment following the
decisions of Grand Lodge. Though defective in many ways, it is
treated with much greater respect by other constitutions, as for
example Dr Albert G. Mackey, 5 whose book, quoting Anderson's
Constitutions at length, is the accepted basis of masonic
jurisprudence in the 49 U.S. jurisdictions. This is because it was
the first book of constitutions issued by a Grand Lodge, before any
other Grand Lodge existed, and is therefore the basis for all
others.

Dr James Anderson compiled the so called" antient charges ", stating
that these were based on old charges to which he had access, but the
document bears little relation to its predecessors. Anderson's
charges state categorically, "The Perfons admitted Members of a
Lodge muft be good and true Men, free-born, and of mature and
difcreet Age, no Bondmen, no Women, no immoral or fcandalous Men,
but of good Report." 6 Even the most con-firmed misogynist must
admit this listing of women between bondmen and immoral men is
hardly appropriate.

This statement has nevertheless formed the basis of sex
discrimination in regular Freemasonry ever since, and is repeated
word for word in the current Books of Constitutions of United Grand
Lodge of England and the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

INITIATIONS IN MALE LODGES

There have nevertheless been several cases of initiation of women in
Lodges with varying regularity.

If we lay aside the mythology of the Queen of Sheba, we are
confronted with the first known possible female initiate in the
person of Louise de Carwell, Duchess of Portsmouth and mistress of
Charles II, by whom she conceived the Duke of Richmond, the 8th
English Grand Master. She was probably an agent of Louis XIV, and
held as such in high esteem, as she was later given a very handsome
pension "in memory of the very important services she rendered to
France at the time when she was the all powerful mistress of Charles
II". There is a legend which dies hard that, with the removal of the
Stuart Court and its Irish Guard to France during the Commonwealth,
Lodges were erected in France. One of these met in the Duchess of
Portsmouth's town mansion in Paris following her return, and in 1735
moved with her to her Chateau at. This Lodge was listed as No. 133
when warranted by Premier Grand Lodge in 1724. However, there is no
other evidence of her initiation and the hospitality to the Lodge
probably merely indicates a favourable opinion of the institution,
inherited by her son. 7

The most famous initiation of a woman took place in about 1710.
Viscount Doneraile was carrying out some repairs to Doneraile Court,
County Cork, and the wall between the room in which the Viscount was
accustomed to hold a Lodge meeting and the library had a hole in it.
His daughter, the Hon. Elizabeth St Leger was asleep in the library,
and woke to hear and witness the meeting in progress. Trying to
escape, she was caught by the Tyler and her shrieks at being caught
summoned the Lodge. At the entreaty of her brother, they decided to
initiate her immediately. Without attending meetings, she maintained
a close connection with the Craft throughout her long life. Her
story has been told in several conflicting ways, but the evidence
seems strongly in favour of a genuine initiation of a young girl
without any malicious intention of discovering the masonic secrets.
8

There are several stories of this type. It is reported that in
Dorset in about 1779 a woman hid herself in a clock case in a room
used for Lodge meetings in a house "facing Up-Lyme turnpike", was
discovered and "was in consequence made a Mason ".9

The Palladian Lodge, No. 120, at Hereford claims that in 1770, a Mrs
Havard was proposed into honorary membership and initiated. The
minute book of this date is however missing. 10

Melrose Lodge, No. 1bis, S.C., preserves a tradition that Isabella
Scoon, or Tib Skin, "a true daughter of Eve, somehow obtained more
light upon the hidden mysteries than was deemed at all expedient,
and after due consideration of the case, it was resolved that she
must be regularly initiated into Freemasonry" which was done, after
which she was distinguished by her works of charity. Again, Lodge
minutes are silent. 11

Captain Gambier, a non-mason, states that at Chatham he met a waiter
who told him, "how once a woman had hidden herself in a cupboard
which he showed us in the room, to overhear what went on at a
Masonic meeting, but that, being discovered by her dog scenting her
out, she had been hauled out and there and then made a Mason with
all due Masonic rites". It would seem from the context that this
refers to the Royal Kent Lodge of Antiquity, now No. 20.12  The
Lodge history is silent on this incident.

Catherine Sweet was initiated in about 1840 in Lee Lodge, No. 253,
Taylorsville, North Carolina, after a year of concealment during its
regular meetings, after which she was discovered and was found to be
fully able to answer the very extensive American catechisms of the
three degrees. Fortunately five uncles were Lodge members, and she
was initiated. She never visited a Lodge again, but maintained her
interest in the Craft till her death. 13

Major Charles Lilley, a Confederate officer of Gainsville, Georgia,
had his wife initiated as her plantation lay on the route of
Sherman's march to the sea, and, "As the houses were to be burned;
she was alone, and the fate of the women was uncertain; to give her
protection her husband asked that she should receive the first
degree of the order of Freemasons." 14

The French Republican General de Xaintrailles had a wife who fought
as a man with honour, and presented herself at a Lodge of Adoption
as a cavalry major. It was decided in view of her valour to initiate
her into the genuine Craft. "They at once proceeded to Mme de
Xaintrailles to acquaint her with the decision of the Lodge. Her
reply was in the affirmative. 'I am a man for my country,' she said,
'I will be a man for my Brethren.' The reception took place with
proper modesty; and from that time Mme de Xaintrailles often
assisted in the work of the Lodges." This happened in the Lodge "Les
Freres Artistes" in 1802.15

Another case arising out of the argument that where a woman is
proven to be the equal of a man there is no barrier to initiation is
that of Countess Hadik Barkoczy. She was her father's sole heiress
and by Hungarian law was regarded as a son. In 1875 she was
initiated, as being legally a man, in a Lodge under the Grand Orient
of Hungary. The officers who took part in this initiation were
punished, varying from expulsion to three months' suspen- sion. The
Countess was asked to return her invalid certificate, and the Lodges
of the Grand Orient of Hungary ordered not to admit her under
penalty of erasure, and all regular Grand Lodges were requested to
do the same.

This completes my list of ten actual or possible initiations. There
is probably a tendency to embroider a discovery of Masonic secrets
with an initiation, particularly in the four English and Scottish
eighteenth-century cases that have been quoted.

Maria Desraimes has been omitted from the list because it is
intended to cover her initiation more fully later. This section
would, however, not be complete without mention of Charles-Genevieve
Louise Auguste Andre Timothee Deon de Beaumont, known as the
Chevalier d'Eon. He was a transvestite secret agent of Louis XV,
initiated in Lodge L'Immortalite, No. 376 (Modern) London, in 1768,
and he became Junior Warden three years later. The question of his
sex became a matter of doubt and wagers of up to o120,000 were
involved. Until 1845 bets were legally enforceable in England, and
on the evidence of two doubtful witnesses he was legally established
to be a woman in 1777. He retired from active Masonic life and spent
the rest of his life in virtual retreat. On his death, the
certificate signed by the celebrated surgeon, Thomas Copeland,
established his sex as male. 16 In the interim his dubious sex made
him one more weapon in the armoury with which the Antients attacked
the Moderns.

EXPOSURES BY AND FOR WOMEN

From the early part of the eighteenth century, women attempted or
caused attempts to be made to obtain the secrets of Masonry. Indeed
Anderson in the pseudo-historical section of his constitutions wrote
that" the learned and magnanimous Queen Elizabeth, who encouraged
other arts, discouraged this; because, being a Woman, she could not
be made a Mason".

 If Queen Elizabeth was content to remain outside, the Empress Maria
Theresa was not. In about 1751 she visited a Lodge with a
maid-of-honour clad in male attire to satisfy herself none of her
own sex attended meetings. 17

Although none of the exposures published in England in the earlier
eighteenth century were reported to be the result of feminine wiles,
they did result in two rejoinders which draw on imaginary feminine
parallels to justify the Craft: these are called The Sisterhood of
Free Sempstresses and A Letter from the Grand Mistress, both
published in 1724.18

However, when the French started publishing exposures, sex quickly
became an issue. In "Le Secret des Francs-Macons", 1742, by the Abbe
Perau, he states "The Ladies, who desire above all to be wherever
men are, have been highly offended to find themselves constantly
debarred from the Society of Free-Masons... when they knew with what
moderation they behaved at their banquets," they were, "persuaded,
that without their presence, the men could only be enjoying criminal
pleasures." 19 As an Abbe' he should have known better than this.

The exposure, Catechisme des Francs-Macons of 1744, starts
"Enchanting sex, which I adore and which I wish I were able to
please as much as you are able to charm me, allow me to dedicate
this little work to you, to avenge the insult which the Free-Masons
have offered" 20

Published the same year, La Franc-Maconne deals with the attempts of
a wife to use all her wiles to obtain her husband's Masonic secret,
leading in the end to her bribing the concierge of the meeting place
to let her into a concealed closet. 21

Although many women gained the secrets in similar ways, some refused
to divulge them. Mrs Beaton of Norwich who died at 85 in 1802 was
known as the Free-mason ". A newspaper report offered as proof of
her peculiarity as a woman that her secret died with her.

Others in England were less reticent. An advertisement in the
Newcastle Chronicle in 1770 stated, "This is to acquaint the public
that on Monday the first inst., being the lodge... meeting night...
of the 22nd Regiment held at the Crown Inn, Newgate, Mrs Bell, the
landlady... broke open a door,... got into an adjacent room, made
two holes through the wall, and by that stratagem discovered the
secrets of Masonry, ... so that any lady that is desirous,... by
applying to that well learned women... may be instructed in the
secrets of Freemasonry." This advertisement was probably inserted by
a member of the Lodge to embarrass a gossip. 23

There is apparently a magnetic attraction between barmaids and the
Craft as evidenced by the landlady of the Rutland Hotel, Wanganui,
New Zealand, in 1864. Her brother was a member of the Lodge,
Tongariros, No. 705, and on discovery he simply and sensibly
conducted her by the ear from her peep hole, back to her proper
place behind the bar. 24

Two barmaids were found at the top of the Royal Albert Hall when
King Edward, as Prince of Wales, was to be installed as Grand
Master. They were found by efficient Grand Stewards an hour before
the ceremony. A Devonshire landlady lost custom by her
inquisitiveness, causing a Lodge to change its meeting place in
1870.

Heavy punishment has been inflicted for feminine curiosity. A
29-year-old woman in Cette, France, was sentenced to 13 months'
imprisonment for having entered the Temple and endeavoured to get
herself initiated. 25

Occasionally their attitude has taken a more vindictive turn.
Elizabeth Durham, author of The Sarajevo Crime, set out to prove
that the assassination of the Austrian Archduke was a Masonic plot.
She used as authority a document purporting to be the proceedings of
a Grand Lodge. It was eventually discovered, when the actual
evidence submitted at the trial was published, that these
proceedings were the forgery of a Jesuit Father. Even anti- Masonic
fellow-Jesuits were outraged at this gross falsification of truth.
26

On the other hand, women have written with intelligence and sympathy
for Masonic ideals. A very recent example is Frances Yates whose
Rosicrucian Enlightenment has an excellent chapter on the
relationship of rosicrucianism to Freemasonry, though it perhaps
lacks the benefit of the experience she is unable to gain.

However, these examples serve merely to prove the curiosity the
Craft has excited in some women, and are not further relevant to the
topic of this paper.

ADOPTIVE MASONRY IN FRANCE

There were numerous societies in France in the early to
mid-eighteenth century which admitted men and women equally, and
which had secret ceremonies. One for example, called the Ordre des
Felicitaires, had in its ritual an Isle of Happiness to which the
ladies were figuratively navigated by their partners, and had four
degrees called cabin-boy, captain, commodore and vice-admiral. The
presiding officer was the admiral. 27 Such ceremonial was trivial,
but its popularity formed the basis, by 1749, of what was probably
the first adoptive Lodge, "La Fidelite". A letter to the Master of
this Lodge from a Parisian Brother, probably of the 1750s, reporting
on the proceedings of the Grand Orient of France, stated," It was
again decided in the last general assembly that it is permitted to
hold 'lodges of Adoption', but only by the Master of a regular lodge
and in the presence of regular masons.' 28 The Grand Orient of
France was then of course recognised by England. in 1774, Lodges of
Adoption were officially protected and controlled by the Grand
Orient. 29

It is important for the present-day regular Mason to realise that
Adoptive Masonry was and is quite distinct from Masonry. its
ceremonies have little or no Masonic symbolism. Its members are not
given the secrets of Masonry. It may be regarded as a non-Masonic
society of men and women, all the male members qualified as Master
Masons, adopted by a Lodge. It had four degrees, known as Female
apprentice, Craftswoman, Mistress, Perfect Masoness, and later,
added to these was the fifth, Sovereign Illustrious Scottish Dame.
Throughout the ceremonies runs a vein of French gallantry. An
official definition of the time concludes, "after we have inculcated
the duties of virtue, we deliver ourselves up... to the pleases of
society... which among us are always founded on reason, honour and
innocence".

Like all things of taste, gentility and humanity, Adoptive Masonry
suffered under the reign of terror, and the beautiful head of
Princess Lamballe, Grand Mistress, withered and decayed on the top
of a spear. 30 A revival took place with the return of authoritative
government, and the Empress Josephine presided at a meeting in
Strasbourg in 1805.31

Adoptive Masonry spread throughout Europe, both with the French
aristocracy before the Revolution, and with the French army of
Napoleon.

Although there is no evidence that Brother Mozart was a member of a
Lodge of Adoption, a strong case has recently been made out that his
opera, "The Magic Flute ", long recognised as incomprehensible
except to a Mason, is in fact an extended plea for Adoptive Masonry.
The ultimate acceptance of the hero and heroine, while others of
both sexes of lesser mettle fail, makes any other detailed and
consistent interpretation difficult. 32 Such a subject is a more
than adequate basis for another paper.

Adoptive Masonry was restarted in France in 1907 by the irregular
Grande Loge de France, in a Lodge called La Nouvelle Jerusalem. In
1938 these Lodges of Adoption were given autonomy, and thus ceased
to be a genuine rite of adoption. They were already not a genuine
adoptive rite as, instead of the old rite of five degrees, they
worked a copy of the male A. & A.S.R. After the war they regrouped
as the body now known as the Grande Loge Feminine de France. 33 It
has 2,000 sisters in 60 Lodges.

ADOPTIVE MASONRY IN AMERICA

The earliest claim for the translation of Adoptive masonry to the
American continent is that it was introduced into the French
colonies in 1775.[~~ ]An 18-page pamphlet was published in 1793
called, "The Thesaurus of the Ancient and Honourable Society of the
Eastern Star as collected and arranged by the committee and adopted
by the Supreme Council in Convocation Assembled". Brother Albert
Pike, despite his chauvinistic blindness on some questions, could
state of the fair sex, "there is no reason why there should not be
also a masonry for them... by means of which, acting in concert
through the tie of association and mutual obligation, they may
co-operate in the great labours of masonry by assisting in and in
some respects directing their charities and toiling in the cause of
human progress." 35

The title of the pamphlet mentioned above leads us naturally to a
consideration of the Order of the Eastern Star, the best known of
the American rites of adoptive masonry. Without doubt the credit for
the creation of this order in substantially its present form is the
work of Rob Morris, probably in 1850. How much he depended upon
previous versions of the order of the same name, and how much on
other rites of adoption, is difficult to assess in the light of the
conflicting statements of Brother Morris himself. In 1884 he wrote
an account of his compilation of the ritual from scratch when
bedridden 34 years previously. However, in 1857 he said he had
selected" some androgynous degree extensively known, antient in
date, ample in scope... worthy it is believed of the best intellect
of either sex". The first Grand Secretary of the Order stated that
Rob Morris had received the degree in Mississippi in 1849. From this
jigsaw we can piece together a picture of Rob Morris using a
combination of old adoptive rites and his own poetic imagination to
produce an order which, after a few false starts and
reorganisations, has carried all before it.

One hundred years after its creation, the Order of the Eastern Star
has a membership equal to 45 per cent of the master masons of all
recognised constitutions. A General Grand Chapter, organised in
Indianapolis in 1876, controls all but three of the Grand Chapters
which exist in U.S.A. and Canada. The three independent Grand
Chapters are in Scotland, New York and New Jersey. The latter two
will admit Master Masons, but those under General Grand Chapter only
members of the O.E.S. The Scottish Grand Chapter controls all in
England and the Commonwealth except Canada, and has about 200,000
members. 36

The order, like early French adoptive masonry, has five degrees.
These are based upon the lives of:

1. Jephthah's daughter, showing the sanctity of a vow;

2. Ruth, devotion to religious principles;

3. Esther, fidelity to kindred and friends;

4. Martha, faith in the hour of trial;

5.      Electa (the "elect lady", a friend of St John), patience and
        submission under wrong. 37

Although called degrees, they would be more appropriately referred
to as five points, as the lady candidate progresses from one to
another in quick succession. 38 The ' initiation" of a master mason
is simple: the candidate states he is willing to assume the
obligations and responsibilities of the Order, and its teachings are
summarised in a charge. 39 There is no attempt to prove the
candidate a master mason.

The Order practices an additional degree, Queen of the South, with a
legend based on an audience between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
in the presence of Bathsheba and the princesses of the Royal
household. 40 There is also an installation ceremony called the
Administrative Degree, the legend of which is based on the
relationship of Deborah and Barak. 41

In addition to the Eastern Star, American adoptive masonry boasts
nine orders, rites or degrees. These include the Social Order of the
Beauceant, restricted to wives and widows of Knights Templar, the
'White Shrine of Jerusalem, formed as an Eastern Star higher degree,
and the Daughters of the Nile, for Shriners' ladies. Some, like the
Order of the Golden Chain, have a limited objective: in this case
the support of a holiday camp for underprivileged children. The
largest of these nine orders has a membership of only 7 per cent of
the Eastern Star. 42 These orders are not adoptive in the old French
sense: the Chapters are not adopted by Lodges or Grand Lodges.
However, Master Masons are constitutionally necessary as officers,
and the reciprocal duties of the Order and the Craft are emphasised
in terms of charitable activities.

American adoptive masonry can be seen as an attempt to involve the
whole family in a type of masonic life, scarcely related to the
evolution of an operative craft into the speculative masonry of the
early eighteenth century. This is not sufficient ground to condemn
it: adoptive masonry never has claimed to be "pure and antient
masonry consisting of three degrees", and its very success indicates
that it satisfies a deeply felt human need.

MARIA DESRAIMES AND LE DROIT HUMAIN

Marie Adelaide Desraimes was born in 1828, the second of two
daughters of a successful upper middle-class French family. She and
her elder sister Anna inherited enough to assure them of
independence. As the heirs of a family fortune they were educated by
tutor well beyond what was expected to be given to a mere girl, and
they studied music, philosophy, painting, literature, Greek, Latin,
the holy scriptures and oriental languages. Maria was a precocious
orator, and at 12 would give long speeches to imaginary audiences in
their garden.

After the death of their relatives, the sisters' social life centred
round their "salon", for which Maria composed several short dramas
of mediocre quality. She also contributed articles to magazines,
with titles such as "A Letter to Rich Women", full of good
intentions. 43

The initiation of the atheist Proudhon in 1847 was the first nail in
the coffin of the French Grand Orient, which led in 1877 to the
erasure of the phrase "Great Architect of the Universe" from its
constitutions and rituals. A secondary issue was that of the
initiation of women, first raised in 1865, headed by Brother Leon
Richter, Master of the Lodge Mars et les Arts. Maria was asked if
she would participate in the untyled masonic conferences of the
Grand Orient, run with a charitable objective. She accepted, and
thus had her first experience of public oratory. She herself wrote,
"I had hardly been speaking for five minutes before I had acquired
the sympathy of the audience. It became expansive, warm,
enthusiastic... I had understood by experience how much greater is
the influence of the spoken word over that of the written word." 45

In common with the Grand Orient itself, her speeches became
progressively more radical and anti-clerical, with the notable
exception of the attitude of Grand Orient as a whole to women's
rights. Typical of her developing anti-religious attitude are these
words spoken at the Congress of Free Thought in 1881 "I repudiate
Mary as a sign of renunciation, submission and nullity. My
preferences go to Eve because she symbolises the desire to elevate,
to instruct and to understand.... Moral and civic education and
instruction at school should have an exclusively lay and scientific
character. They should be separated from all metaphysical or
religious ideas. Moral instruction should be given in the manner of
scientific experiments, by observation and analysis of moral acts
taken from present day life, from zoology and from history....
Believing that liberty of conscience and right to impartial and
scientific instruction should be respected and guaranteed for each
child by his family as well as his school, this congress expresses
the wish that families should cease to impose religious practices
and instruction on children, so as to impair their liberty of
conscience and endanger their intelligence, health and morality." 46

Maria was clearly by now in complete harmony with the decreasingly
regular masonic views of the Grand Orient of France. Nevertheless,
the step of admission of women into their ranks was probed and
probed again. It resulted in male chauvinist comments like, "The
external control of business is the exclusive concern of men. The
internal administration of the household is incumbent upon women,"
or, " with men in general the brain is more developed than with
women; with the latter, it is the heart which is more developed ".47

Eventually one Lodge decided it must take matters in its own hands.
A Lodge of the Symbolic Grand Lodge of France (which was really a
Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, not recognised by England but
in fraternal relations with the Grand Orient) called Les Libres
Penseurs du Pecq, took advantage of a clause in the constitution
referring to "the Freemason in his Free Lodge". It voluntarily
resigned as a Lodge in good standing to alter its bye-laws, in a
manner unacceptable to the Symbolic Grand Lodge, to permit
initiation of women.

Maria Desraimes was initiated in this Lodge on 14th January 1882.
Several prominent members of the Symbolic Grand Lodge and Grand
Orient were present as guests, and spoke at the festive board, but
specifically did so as individuals, not as representatives. Maria
spoke as follows, "Freemasonry is an association clothed with a
universal and secular character, its origins lost in time
immemorial; there is no equivalent on earth except the catholic
society. Freemasonry, enemy of superstitions and error, is the
natural adversary of the church. Nevertheless, by a strange
contradiction, Freemasonry follows the errors of the church on the
subject of woman, and this sterilises its own efforts and its deeds
to a great extent "48

To a regular mason these words sound more like a meeting of a left
wing political party than those of a Lodge.

This was the end of Maria as a mason for eleven years. By June 1882,
the brothers of the Libres Penseurs du Pecq had submitted to the
Symbolic Grand Lodge, and the Lodge was readmitted without Maria or
the Master who initiated her. 49

In 1893, 17 women, including Maria as the only masonic initiate,
formed the Grande Loge Symbolique Ecossaise Mixte de France," le
Droit Humain," adopting the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite under
the Grand Constitutions of 1786 and the Convention of Lausanne of
1875. Once established, it admitted men on an equal basis. By 1899,
the international order had been founded, with Grand Lodges in many
countries and the international head-quarters in Paris. In France it
now claims 4,500 members, about a tenth of the members of male
masonry, both regular and irregular. 50 Recognition of le Droit
Humain is of course impossible. A list of reasons immediately
springs to mind.

1.      Maria Desraimes was initiated in a Lodge which had separated
        itself from a Grand Lodge;

2. The Grand Lodge was itself irregular;

3.      She probably received only the E.A. degree, though she may
        have been passed and raised as she possessed some M.M.
        regalia.

4.      Her attitude to religion and politics were and are
        incompatible with regular masonry;

5.      She was certainly never Master of a Lodge, yet by herself
        she initiated the 16 other founders of le Droit Humain;

6.      Le Droit Humain works the[ 40 to 330  ] of the A. & A.S.R.
        without any pretence of authority, as Maria Desraimes
        certainly never received these degrees in a male Lodge.

7.      Its adhesion to the Grand Constitutions and Convention of
        Lausanne in retrospect is meaningless.

Le Droit Humain in England was, from 1902, also known as Universal
Co-Freemasonry. It has recently been stated that in England, "The
history of' Co-Masonry ... . began with Yarker and continued under
Theosophical Society auspices," and that, "Yarker met H. P.
Blatavsky when she was briefly in England at the end of 1878 when he
appears to have given her what purported to be a masonic
initiation." This view has been disputed, and it is more likely that
Madam Blatavsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, was
initiated into the [ 330 ] of a form of adoptive masonry. 51 There
was however a relationship between Theosophy and Co-Masonry in
England in the person of Mrs Annie Besant, Madam Blatavsky's
successor as president of the Theosophical Society. Not
surprisingly, in view of the complete difference of outlook between
republican, anti-religious, Droit Humain masonry and the
Theosophists, there was a split in 1908.52 In 1934 there was a
further split on geographical lines of demarcation, but its total
world-wide membership today is represented by 700 Lodges. 53

Le Droit Humain remains the only form of masonry which treats men
and  women as equals. Its distinctive character from Adoptive
masonry must be clearly and fully appreciated.

ORDERS OF FEMALE MASONRY

A photograph of some rather elderly English ladies in pseudo Grand
Lodge regalia exists in several recent exposures and articles, with
no related text. 54 They go under the title of The Order of Women
Freemasons, the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Masonry. One" Grand
Lodge " controls Craft, Mark, Royal Arch, Conclaves, Templar
degrees, Rose Croix and Royal Order of Scotland. 55 It is presumed
they are a copy of regular Masonry obtained from exposures.

SOCIO-BIOLOGICAL CAUSES

So far this paper, by attempting as thorough a survey as possible,
has indicated three things. Firstly, a genuine interest by the fair
sex in the masonic activities of their spouses. Secondly, the
success that has attended attempts to incorporate women m what may
be called the adoptive masonic family. And thirdly, the small
support given to attempts to provide women with a pseudo-masonry of
their own.

It is possible to examine the reasons for this in broader terms than
the purely masonic. This attitude to participation in masonic
activities permeates every aspect of human existence. Woman's
participation in politics has shown that, despite the freedom to do
so, few actually participate in Government. The actual participation
of women in parliament is for example 3-6 per cent in the French
Assembly, 4 per cent in Norway, 3 per cent in the U.K. Parliament, 2
per cent in the U.S. Congress. 56 Government tends to be a closed
male club, and those women that are admitted are either assigned
female things to look after like education and social services, or
else, when they assume supreme office, they have taken over the aura
of leadership from a male relative. Examples are Mrs Bandaranaike,
Mrs Ghandi, Mrs Roosevelt, Jennie Lee, Madam Sun Yat Sen, Lady
Astor. 57

This is seen as the result of an evolutionary process. In the study
of baboons which live in groups of about 40 in South Africa, a
fairly complex social system exists. At the centre is a small group
of males, not necessarily the strongest or fastest, who make all
decisions. These are surrounded by the females. Relatively free and
unattached males make up an outer defence. Relations between male
and male are established by ritualistic homosexual acts called
"presenting" which have no meaning other than the acceptance of a
hierarchical relationship. 58

It is contended by the supporters of this theory that the rapid
evolution of the brain to the size and ability now evidenced in the
readers of this paper was due to just such a situation. The group
relationships of the dominant male club to peripheral junior caused
development of complex mental processes, whereby rejection of an
inferior status meant loss of group security, and whilst its
acceptance meant swallowing the urge to rule and obtain desirable
mates. The inferiority complexes and frustrations of such a
situation, where previous evolutionary motivations of food and mate
procurement were subjugated to the overall good of the group, caused
massive brain development. Our series of neuroses and frustrations
are the fruit of our evolution, and equally so is the need for
leadership to develop through male groups with close personal
relationships. 59

'Whilst it may not be flattering to draw an apparent comparison
between Freemasons and inner core baboons, this is not really the
comparison. The comparison is rather that of male freemasonry,
together with both its related adoptive masonry as practised in the
English-speaking world, and also non-masons both male and female.
These taken as a whole bear a direct relationship to this
evolutionary picture.

This theory, put forward in general terms by a non-mason, Lionel
Tiger, can be summarised in its application to masonry by this
quotation, which in fact applies to anything from a German student
duelling society to a Rotary club. "Individuals possess self respect
or self depreciation in terms of their group relationship and status
within the group. One of the functions of initiation ceremonies is,
in these terms, the insurance of ' fit' or consonance between the
males already in a group and the newcomers to it.... To affirm to
its members and to outsiders that its recruits are worthy of
membership, a process of initiation is contrived which involves
stringent ordeals to test the courage and endurance of initiates....
The initiation ceremony, then, is part of a male-male ' courtship
'pattern tied to a tendency for males to seek status among other
males, to form groups with them, and to value highly the corporate
'presentation-of-self' to the community at large.... Initiation is a
courtship in the same sense that privileged men are more likely to
marry equally desirable women. The superior male groups can attract
the best candidates, can insist on the most vigorous entrance
ordeals, and can provide the greatest satisfaction and rewards for
the membership." 60

In contrast to this, " female initiation rarely involves an
organised group", except that, "it is the family that is the point
of reference, rather than the adult members of one or the other sex

In other words, a non-masonic sociologist's conclusions result in a
structure seemingly identical to the actual structure of masonry
taken in its widest sense.

THE ATTITUDE OF REGULAR MASONRY TO WOMEN

In the early speculative days, an initiate was presented with two
pairs of gloves, one for himself and, to quote from an irregular
print of 1772, "The other pair is for the use of the ladies; you
will present them to her who holds first place in your heart." 62
The famous Brother Dunckerley referred to his wife as sister
Dunckerley. Both these old customs are still practised on the
continent of Europe. In German Lodges today, the toast to the
Schwestern is obligatory, 63 and this refers to wives and
sweethearts. Above all, however, masonry has always held, as one of
its highest vocations, provision for the widows and orphans of its
former members.

Each reader will be able to add his own items. The participation of
wives is given occasionally grudgingly, but more often happily and
willingly to an astonishing extent.

Nevertheless, the United Grand Lodge of England retains its antient
charges. More so, in 1929 the United Grand Lodge stated as a basic
principle for recognition of other Grand Lodges, "that the
membership... shall be composed exclusively of men ",64 Under the
heading of Women and Freemasonry, in recommendations adopted by
United Grand Lodge in 1921, we read," No Freemason is entitled to
attend any non-Masonic meeting at which masonry by direct
implication is introduced..."65 The Grand Lodge of Ireland uses the
same antient charges, 66 but does not refer to women in its Laws,
the Resolutions of Grand Lodge, or Decisions of the Board of General
Purposes. The Grand Lodge of Scotland refers to women in no
connection other than as recipients of charity in its official
publications. Its Year Book lists masonic bodies to which its
members may belong, and this contains no reference to adoptive
masonry. 67

One Grand Lodge has specifically prohibited adoptive membership. The
"Eastern Star Edict" of Pennsylvania in 1921 directed all masons to
withdraw within six months from Eastern Star, Amaranth, 'White
Shrine and other organisations comprising both sexes with a masonic
qualification, and ordered that it would be unlawful for any
Pennsylvania mason to join subsequently. Chapters of the Eastern
Star often meet in masonic temples as tenants, but with no males
present. There is no intention of repealing the edict. 68

In Scotland, some years ago the Grand Lodge requested the O.E.S. to
remove from its constitutions and ceremonies all reference to
masonry on pain of its being declared an unacceptable body. This it
is believed was done, 69 and this is thus the general position of
the O.E.S. in the British Isles and Commonwealth.

Is it then right and proper for the members of the three
constitutions of the British Isles to participate in any
organisation which, containing women as members, attempts to
systematise the willing support and help to the Craft which our
ladies are happy to give? This is surely in essence what adoptive
masonry is about.

In support of an affirmative answer, it can be argued that:

1.      All three Grand Lodges recognise others, in North America in
        particular, where adoptive masonry is practised.

2.      All three recognised the Grand Orient of France for 81 years
        after it started to protect adoptive Lodges.

Women also participate in their own ways in regular masonry. These
may be listed as:

(a)     Participation in the organisation of Ladies Nights, as well
        as gracing them with their presence;

(b)     Financial support, stewardship in, and presence at festivals
        of the English masonic charities;

(c)     Attendance at dinners (with no masonic toasts) given
        following Lodge meetings;

(d) Preparation of the festive board itself;

(e)     Clerical work in Grand Lodge organisation, and in many
        masonic hall trusteeships;

(f)     Making Lodge banners, altar covers, and so on, and even
        setting up the museum in Zetland Hall, Hong Kong.

3.      All three permit their members to belong to organisations,
outside their own differing definitions of pure and antient masonry,
"at which masonry by direct implication is introduced" such as the
Mark in England, the Royal Arch in Scotland, and the Knights Templar
in all three.

4.      Even where there is a list of acceptable bodies, as in the
case of Scotland, membership outside this list, for example of the
Soc. Ros. in Scotia, is permitted. 70 Despite its masonic
qualification, the Soc. Ros. is not strictly a masonic organisation,
and is not so regarded as such by the Grand Lodges of England and
Scotland.

5.      All three permit ladies' nights, with menus labelled with
the name of the Lodge, which cannot be regarded as other than
introduction of masonry by direct implication.

The result of this argument would seem to be that in Scotland the
O.E.S. is tolerated because it is not regarded as a masonic order.
This, despite recognition of the Order by overseas Grand Chapters
which do regard themselves as masonic.

The Grand Lodge of Ireland publishes its Irish Freemasons Calendar
and Directory listing all bodies "on the Registry of Ireland". This
does not include the O.E.S., and, although there is no statement to
the effect, it can be presumed to be prohibited. Indeed, one
suspects the Grand Lodge of Ireland regards the question as fully
covered by the antient charges and in need of no further
clarification.

The English mason must take the publication of the ruling of United
Grand Lodge under the heading of Women and Freemasonry as a
prohibition of O.E.S. membership, despite the fact that it does not
afterwards refer to women. The ruling as worded can be rationalised
to permit membership, but the intention of its publication is
clearly the reverse.

The irregularity of le Droit Humain, pretending to be genuine
masonry, obscures one basic issue: would it be possible for a
regular Grand Lodge to permit initiation of women? Would the
essential character of masonry be prejudiced to an extent that an
antient landmark would be crossed?

It would be contrary to natural law to let a man have the last word,
and I will conclude by quoting from a woman: "I cannot understand
how any true woman would wish to intrude into an order held to be
exclusively for men... I hold that a woman can only gain her full
share of influence in the world from a knowledge gained by using and
fulfilling her opportunities as a woman, and in her own sphere...
Why should a woman be disturbed that men have an organisation which
is exclusively for men? As I understand Masonry it seems to
inculcate all the virtues, honour, rectitude, chastity, etc.... and
speaking generally, from my experience the majority of them, to a
degree at least, try to exemplify these virtues in their lives.
There may be some who fall far short... but that cannot be laid at
the door of Masonry, but of human frailty.... Many a woman has known
the uplifting and refining power, tending towards self restraint and
nobility and virtue, which Masonry has exercised in the life of
brother, husband or son; and without in any way encroaching on
Masonry or seeking to pry into its secrets, every true woman ...
can, if she will, help brother, husband, son or friend, to be true
to these principles and be a true Mason." 71

Presented at The Paul Chater Lodge of Installed Masters, No. 5391
E.C.. Hong Kong.

Bibliography:

1 David Murray Lyon: The History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, London,
1900, p.91.

2 Albert G. Mackey (revised Robert L Clegg): Encyclopaedia of
Freemasonry, New York, 1966, p.1112.

3 A. L. Miller: Notes on the Early History and Records of the Lodge,
Aberdeen, Aberdeen, 1919, p.73.

4 Mackey: op. cit., p.1113.

3 Albert G. Mackey (revised Robert I. Clegg and L. B. Blakemore):
Jurisprudence of Freemasonry, Richmond, Virginia, 1968, pp. 30-48.

6 Die Alten Pflichten van 1723, Hamburg, 1972, p.10 of facsimile of
the 1723 Book of Constitutions.

7 Eliane Brault, La Franc-Maconnerie et I'emancipation des femmes,
Paris, 1967, pp. 23- 25.

8. The 8th G.M. was more probably her grandson as he was the 2nd
Duke of Richmond.

S Gordon P. Fills: Women and Freemasonry, A.Q.C. 33, p.62. Mackey:
Encyclopaedia, p.1113.

9 Hills. op. cit., p.65.

10 Ibid, p.66.

11 Ibid., p.61.

12 Hills, op. cit., p.67, quoting 1. w. Gambier: Links in my Life on
Sea and Land, pp. 138- 9.

13 Ibid., p.69, quoting the Bristol Times and Monitor, 1907. Also
Mackey, op. cit., p.1113, quoting J. P. Babbington's biography of
his mother.

14 Hills, op. cit., p.71, quoting Mrs T. P. O'Connor:
Herself-Ireland, London, 1917.

15 Hills, op. cit., p.73, quoting Clavel: Histoire Pittoresque de Ia
Franche Maconnerie.

16 Mackey, op. cit., p.273. Alec Mellor: Dictionnaire De La
Franc-Maconnerie et des Francs-Macons, Paris 1971.

17 Hills, op. cit., p.64.

18 Knoop, Jones and Hammer: Early Masonic Catechisms, Manchester,
1963, p. 226.

19 Harry Carr: The Early French Exposures, London, 1971, p.41.

20 Ibid.. p.15.

21 Ibid., p.113.

22 Hills, op. cit., p.66.

23 Ibid., p.60.

24 Hills, op. cit., p.69.

25 Ibid., p.69, quoting St John's Gazette, 17th December 1903.

26 Mackey, op. cit., p.1361.

27 Ibid., p. 27.

28 Brault, op. cit., p.28.

29 Mackey, op. cit., p.29.

30 Euloge Boissonnade: Philippe Egalite, Grand Maitre (article in
Historia Hors Serie 30). Paris, 1973, p.80.

31 Mackey, op. cit., p.30.

32 Jacques Chailley: The Magic Flute, Masonic Opera, London, 1972,

33 Sylvia Sztruzman: Les Soeurs. p.190, and Jean Vitiano: Les
obediences francaises. p.151 (articles in Historia).

34 Mackey, op. cit., p.304, quoting Brother Rob Morris.

35 Mackey. op. cit., p.303.

36 Harold V. B. Voorhis: Masonic Organisations and Allied Orders and
Degrees, New York, 1952, pp. 98-100.

37 Mackey, op. cit., p.303, quoting Rob Morris' own description of
the degrees, of 1884.

38 Robert Macoy: Adoptive Rite Ritual, Richmond, Virginia, 1952, pp.
95-120.

39 Ibid., pp. 131-7.

40 Ibid., pp. 145-65.

41 Ibid., pp. 17O-82.

42 Voorhis, op. cit., pp. 101-22 and 145.

43 Brault. op. cit., pp. 60-4.

44 Mellor. op cit., p.33.

45 Brault, op. cit., pp. 70-2.

46 Ibid., p. 132.

47 Ibid., p.114.

48 Brault, op. cit., p.149.

49 Ibid., p. 158-9.

50 Vitiano, op. cit., p.151.

51 Ellic Howe: Fringe Masonry in England 187O-85, A.Q.C. 85, p.272,
288.

52 Mackey, op. cit., p.229. C. Nelson Stewart: article on Theosophy
in Man", Myth and Magic, London. 1970, p.2914.

53 Ulrich von Merhart: Weltfriemaurerei, Hamburg, 1969, pp. 139-40.

54 Sztruzman, op. Cit., p. 190.

55 George Draffen of Newington: personal correspondence.

56 Lionel Tiger: Men to Groups, New York, 1970, p.84.

55 Ibid., p.94.

58 Ibid., p. 32ff.

59 Lionel Tiger, op. cit., p. 54ff.

60 Ibid., pp.184-5

61 Ibid., p.190, quoting F. W. Young: Initiation Ceremonies, pp.
18-41.

62 Bernard E. Jones: Freemasons' Guide and Compendium,, London 1956.
p. 463.

63 Von Merhart, op. cit., p.136.

64 Masonic Year Book, London, 1972, p.788.

65 Ibid., p.801.

66 Laws and Constitutions, Dublin. 1968, p. 109.

67 Year Book, Edinburgh, 1973, p.48.

68 William. E. Yeager: Characteristics Peculiar to Pennsylvania
Freemasonry, Washington D.C., 1971.

69 George Draffen of Newington: personal correspondence.

70 Harold V. B. Voorhis: Masonic Rosicrucian Societies: The
Rosicrucian Fama, New York, 1971, p.71, gives the 1970 Scottish
membership as 342.

71 Mackey, op. cit.. p.230, quoting Katherine Tingey.