Torence
2010-07-31 16:47:27 UTC
Sometime around 1730, societies initiating women into the mysteries
of Freemasonry were organized in France. Personally, I would like to
learn more about who introduced them. Until I looked into them, I
assumed that they were the product of the Revolutionaries; but that
sort of man did not come about in France for another half century.
Women Masons seem instead to have been developed with the expansion of
the Craft, the same way that different types of men, Continental,
American, Hindu, etc. were being admitted.
The forms to admit women seem to have coalesced around 1760 and in
1774 the Grand Orient of France formalized the investiture with The
Rite of Masonic Adoption which included ordinary governing
regulations such as the fact that the service could only be performed
by a regular Masonic Lodge under the authority of its warrant and
its Master or in his absence his Deputy. The men were required to be
assisted by a female President or Mistress.
The forms used for the organization were surprisingly nautical.
The Orient was called a Roadstead, the Lodge a Squadron and the
Sisters made a pilgrimage to an island called Felicity. The men
represented the sails that propelled the vessel.
In 1747, the Chevalier Beauchaine who had established his Lodge in a
Caberet charged six francs to provide the six degrees of
Freemasonry. I have been unable to determine if these were the usual
three plus the Royal Arch. However, I assume so as the Royal Arch
Degrees were being incorporated into the work of the Provincial Craft
Lodges at about this time, (Dublin, etc.) and it would make sense for
him to do so in Paris as well. Aside from performing the Female
Degrees he also instituted the society of Woodcutters. These
spurious Masons were the original environmentalists and arborists. His
Lodges were called Wood-yards, and the Officers were Father
Master, Cousin of the Service-Tree, Keeper of the Bread, Cousin of
the York-Elm, Guard of Hospitality, Cousin of the Maple, Guard
of the Chair, Cousin of the Ash, and Guard of Honor. The Brethren
and Sisters called each other Cousin and each candidate was a
Brick.
Despite the puerile appearance of the degrees to us twenty-first
century Masons, these degrees were enormously popular and the degrees
brought all classes and sexes of Royal French Society together. The
Revolution curtailed the progress of multi-sex degrees until 1805 when
Empress Josephine presided over a Lodge at Strasburg. By 1866 the
degrees of the Adoptive Rites were reorganized and the Grand Orient
permanently in placed to administer them.
How much of the old French degree system survives in todays Grand
Orients, I cannot say. Perhaps Janet could help us out with an
explanation. How far could twenty-first Masonry grow if we gave up
some of our old prejudices is something that only He Who Does All
Things Well could determine.
Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 Crete, Illinois
PM Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 Lansing, Illinois
of Freemasonry were organized in France. Personally, I would like to
learn more about who introduced them. Until I looked into them, I
assumed that they were the product of the Revolutionaries; but that
sort of man did not come about in France for another half century.
Women Masons seem instead to have been developed with the expansion of
the Craft, the same way that different types of men, Continental,
American, Hindu, etc. were being admitted.
The forms to admit women seem to have coalesced around 1760 and in
1774 the Grand Orient of France formalized the investiture with The
Rite of Masonic Adoption which included ordinary governing
regulations such as the fact that the service could only be performed
by a regular Masonic Lodge under the authority of its warrant and
its Master or in his absence his Deputy. The men were required to be
assisted by a female President or Mistress.
The forms used for the organization were surprisingly nautical.
The Orient was called a Roadstead, the Lodge a Squadron and the
Sisters made a pilgrimage to an island called Felicity. The men
represented the sails that propelled the vessel.
In 1747, the Chevalier Beauchaine who had established his Lodge in a
Caberet charged six francs to provide the six degrees of
Freemasonry. I have been unable to determine if these were the usual
three plus the Royal Arch. However, I assume so as the Royal Arch
Degrees were being incorporated into the work of the Provincial Craft
Lodges at about this time, (Dublin, etc.) and it would make sense for
him to do so in Paris as well. Aside from performing the Female
Degrees he also instituted the society of Woodcutters. These
spurious Masons were the original environmentalists and arborists. His
Lodges were called Wood-yards, and the Officers were Father
Master, Cousin of the Service-Tree, Keeper of the Bread, Cousin of
the York-Elm, Guard of Hospitality, Cousin of the Maple, Guard
of the Chair, Cousin of the Ash, and Guard of Honor. The Brethren
and Sisters called each other Cousin and each candidate was a
Brick.
Despite the puerile appearance of the degrees to us twenty-first
century Masons, these degrees were enormously popular and the degrees
brought all classes and sexes of Royal French Society together. The
Revolution curtailed the progress of multi-sex degrees until 1805 when
Empress Josephine presided over a Lodge at Strasburg. By 1866 the
degrees of the Adoptive Rites were reorganized and the Grand Orient
permanently in placed to administer them.
How much of the old French degree system survives in todays Grand
Orients, I cannot say. Perhaps Janet could help us out with an
explanation. How far could twenty-first Masonry grow if we gave up
some of our old prejudices is something that only He Who Does All
Things Well could determine.
Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 Crete, Illinois
PM Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 Lansing, Illinois