Adoptive and Androgynous Rites and Orders
Adoptive and Androgynous Rites and Orders. Androgynous means composed of male and female. Adopted or adoptive, in Masonry, means established, approved, recognized, or tacitly sponsored by some competent Masonic body. There are, and always have been, societies composed of men and woman and sometimes children, having no connection and claiming none with Freemasonry, such as churches, guilds, literary societies, political clubs, sports and recreational organizations, fraternal orders, etc. Therefore, we do not here consider mere androgynous societies as such, but only those which have, or assert, some Masonic relation, or have been adopted by or accepted or closely resemble the latter. This covers a broad field for the number of such orders has been great. They comprise everything from an officially adopted order such as the French Rite of Adoption to the most recent group composed of Freemasons and their female relatives, and may extend to Co-Masonry.
The attitudes of Grand Lodges may vary from full recognition and control, such as that of the Grand Orient of France over its Rite of Adoption to that of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania which will have nothing to do with androgynous bodies, even to the extent of not allowing the use of Masonic halls by them. It even prohibits its members from belonging to them. Between these two extremes there is a great variety of treatment, so that a given Grand Lodge may, itself, have difficulty in defining how far it has recognized the Masonic standing of androgynous bodies. It must be observed, however, that the issue is not based primarily on sex, for virtually the same questions arise and the same treatment is meted out with respect to purely male orders of the so-called higher degrees, such as the Royal Arch Masons, the Royal and Select Masters, the Knights Templar, and the Scottish Rite.
Conditions with respect to mixed orders of Masons and their female relatives are likewise lacking in uniformity. Sentiment has undergone a great change over the past century. But, by the middle of the 20th century, we find Grand Masters speaking of the Eastern Star in the same tones that would be used with respect to Chapter or Commandery and, furthermore, urging their lodges to sponsor and encourage such girls’ orders as Job’s Daughters and the Order of Rainbow for Girls.
There is, of course, no proof for the statement that the admission of women into Masonic lodges would destroy Freemasonry though such action would certainly change it. In other groups which had different origins, such as churches, women were included without deleterious consequences.
It seems not to be realized by some writers that wives, widows, mothers, and daughters of Master Masons are officially and positively recognized by the regulations and obligations of Masonry as having direct claims to Masonic relief, and evidently in no less degree than the Mason, himself. There is a direct claim on the funds of the lodge by a woman without investiture of the esoteric ceremonies or modes of recognition. Having gone that far, how could any Grand Lodge composed of Master Masons deny to their own wives, widows, mothers, and daughters some recognition of the orders which the latter might form under the constant inspection and partial administration of Master Masons? If these women were entitled to Masonic benefits how were they to assert them in time of need when out of their home communities? How could the daughter of a Master Mason make herself known in an emergency?
Of course, for how could a Grand Lodge accord less consideration to each new mixed order than it had given to preceding ones? That would react against certain Master Masons whose female relatives had formed the new group and, thus, foment discord in the Fraternity. This danger is not such a menace as might appear, for an examination of the memberships of such orders hereinafter set forth will disclose that there is some economic limit which, when exceeded, results in rapid mortality or dormancy of the surplus. The time when all adoptive rites could be pushed aside has long since passed and, indeed, Freemasonry has become a family affair in most places. The largest Grand Lodge in the United States, New York, formerly published a family magazine for Masonic households, but this was recently superseded by the Empire State Mason.
The subject will be discussed under three main heads: I. Adoptive and Androgynous Rites and Orders (a) in Europe; (b) in Britain; (c) in America. II. Women who have been, in one way or another and for one reason or another, initiated in regular lodges and had to be obligated to keep the secrets; (b) where the initiation was a deliberate violation of Masonic law for the purpose of making Masonry androgynous. III. Co-Masonry, so-called, which is claimed by its devotees to be pure female Masonry desiring and claiming no connection with or aid from any Master Mason or Masonic authority.
I--(a) Adoptive and Androgynous Rites and Orders in Europe
Mixed bodies began to be formed in France and Germany shortly after the Hauts Grades were invented about 1738-40. At first, they may have had slight or perhaps no connection with Freemasonry but, by 1760, orders of this kind were associated with French lodges and arose among the nobility and upper classes. They apparently traveled to Holland as early as 1774 and to Germany later. In 1775, Loge St. Antoine, at Paris, organized an appendant mixed lodge headed by the Duc de Chartres, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France, and by his wife, the Duchesse de Bourbon. Two years later, another was opened under the name La Candeur, also headed by nobility. In 1774, the Grand Orient asserted control of such bodies, thereby recognizing their Masonic character and more or less sponsoring them and, in fact, required that every such order should be in charge of some regular lodge of Freemasons whose Master or Deputy Master should preside, assisted by a female President; it forbade the admission of any males except regular Freemasons. The term, Adopted, describes the relation between the mixed lodge and its foster parent, the Grand Orient.
Following is a list of the principal European androgynous orders, though it is seldom possible to say whether or not, or to what extent, they were adopted by Masonic bodies. Indeed, the Masonic bodies were often irregular: (Arrangement is approximately chronological.)
COMPANIONS OF PENELOPE OR PALLADIUM OF LADIES. One of the earliest of the androgynous societies in France, established at Paris, in 1737-40. It claimed a very great antiquity, in fact, it pretended to date as far back as Pythagoras. The degrees were: 1. Adelph; 2. Companion of Ulysses (male), Companion of Penelope (female). Its creation was attributed to Archbishop Fenelon of Cambrai.
KNIGHTS AND LADIES ROWER. Founded at Rouen, France, in 1738. Like some of the later androgynous degrees, it related to boats or ships. It was short lived.
KNIGHTS OF THE CORK. Androgynous society founded in Italy in 1738. Little is known of it, except that it is said to have been formed to take the place of Masonic lodges which were forbidden by the Pope.
DAMES OF MOUNT TABOR. This society originated at Paris about 1742 and must have been exceedingly long-lived, for in 1818, it was under sponsorship of the Grand Orient of France. Its purpose was to grant relief with Masonic connections. It included the degrees of Masoness Novice, Mythological Novice, and the Order of Felicity. There may be some confusion as to the last name, for some authorities give that as a rite by itself.
ORDER OF FELICITY or FELICITARES or HAPPY PEOPLE. Notwithstanding the fact that this order is listed as a degree of Dames of Mount Tabor, it is also listed by some authorities as a separate rite and part of the French Rite of Adoption. It was founded at Paris in 1742-43 by Chambonnett, an officer in the Marine and was among the first of the mixed bodies to become attached to French Masonry. The terminology of the ritual was nautical, the four degrees being: 1. Cabin Boy; 2. Master; 3. Commodore; 4. Vice Admiral. The order split up in 1745 and was reorganized into Knights and Ladies of the Anchor, which was also short lived.
ORDER OF FENDEURS AND FENDEUSES. This name means Foresters and Forestresses, the order being sometimes called Forest Masons. It was founded in 1743 by the Chevalier Beauchaine, Master of a Paris lodge, and it is also a part of the French Rite of Adoption. Its lodge rooms represented forests, and it is thought by some that the order may have been a revival or a branch of the Carbonari or Charcoal Burners. A male candidate was called a briquet and a female, a briquette. It was not completely Masonic in membership, though it contained many Freemasons and attracted distinguished persons into its fold.
KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF THE ANCHOR. This was a reorganization of the Order of Felicity about 1745. Both are extinct.
KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF HOPE. An androgynous degree instituted in France by Louis XV in 1750. It appeared in Germany about 1757.
KNIGHTS AND LADIES (Nymphs) OF THE ROSE. An androgynous degree formed at Paris, in 1780, by M. de Chaumont, secretary to the Duc de Chartres. Its meeting places were called Temples of Love and its meetings were presided over by a Hierophant who initiated the men, and a High Priestess who initiated the women. The male members received the title of ”Knight,” the women being sometimes referred to as ”Ladies” and sometimes as ”Nymphs.” The Temples were decorated with flowers and various devices and scenes of gallantry. The Conductor for the men was called ”Sentiment” and the Conductress for the women, ”Discretion.” The Knights wore a crown of myrtle and the Ladies, or Nymphs, a crown of roses. The chief officers wore a rose colored scarf. One taper was the only light during initiation, except in closing, when numerous wax candles were used. The candidate, male or female, was divested of w*apons, jewelry, money, and was h*odwinked, loaded with ch*ins and conducted to the door of the Temple of Love. In response to a question, he or she was seeking happiness, and the age was given by a male as the age of love. The ”chains of love” were then removed and the candidate was sworn to keep the secrets of the order. After being subjected to trials in the mysterious grove in the neighborhood of the Temple of Love, incense was offered to Venus and Cupid, the hoodwink was removed and the signs and secrets communicated.
ORDER OF THE ROSE. A degree, or order, created by an adventurer named Van Grossing, or Grossinger, in Berlin, in 1778. Since other writers give the year as 1784 and the name as Order of the Roses in France, there may have been one order, or two. Whether one or two, the career was brief. It contained two degrees, Female Friend and Female Confidant. The connection of the order, or orders, with Freemasonry is doubtful.
EGYPTIAN RITE or CAGLIOSTRO’S RITE. The name, ”Egyptian,” has been over-used in Freemasonry, mostly by charlatans or adventurers, so that some confusion is likely to result among the various orders, so-called, none of which was actually Masonic. The Egyptian Rite of the notorious Count Cagliostro, spawned about 1775, has been mentioned over and over by Masonic writers but the actual information displayed about the rite is pitifully meagre. About all we know of it is that it was androgynous and contained the degrees of Apprentice Masoness, Fellow Craft Masoness, and Egyptian Masoness. It is not to be confused with the Rite of Mizraim or the Rite of Memphis.
ORDER OF PERSEVERANCE. This order was founded at Paris, in 1771, and claimed to be of ancient origin in the Kingdom of Poland, its object being service to humanity. Its Masonic connection was slight.
DAMES OF THE ORDER OF SAINT JOHN. An androgynous degree formed about 1820. It evidently attracted very little attention.
SUBLIME ELECT LADY. Both Fustier and Pyron list this as a degree of the French Rite of Adoption. It may have been the same as Dame Ecossaise or Scottish Lady. Denslow gives this as the 5th, 6th, or 7th degree of the French Rite of Adoption and the name indicates that it may be the same as Sublime Elect Lady. The chamber of initiation is described as having yellow hangings with four lights, one at each corner. The Tableau represents (a) the Star in the East, (b) a square figuring the March by four red cyphers, (c) four candlesticks, (d) Mount Ararat, (e) the Ark of Noah, and (f) Noah and his family setting out from the Ark, conducted by a Star, to the abode of felicity. The apron is white, doubled and bordered with yellow and, upon the lapel in a square, is a silver star. The sash is yellow and the jewel is a silver star suspended from the neck.
KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF THE DOVE. An androgynous order instituted at Versailles, France, in 1784. Denslow and others say this was the 8th degree of the French Rite of Adoption, and evidently referred to a modern order. Denslow describes the chamber and furniture as follows: The hangings are red and green. There are seven lights of which three are in the East, two in the South, and two in the West. The throne is reached by five steps, above which is a transparency of a dove. Upon the altar, which is covered with green, are three flambeaux containing wax candles. There are also a mallet, an olive branch and a Bible. Near the altar is a cup containing a dove with a written scroll attached to its neck. The Tableau represents the Ark of Noah on Mount Ararat and a dove with an olive branch flying toward the Ark. At the foot of the mountain and the edge of the water where the verdure commences amphibious animals are seen sporting around. The insigne of ”Father Noah” is a red and green ribbon worn on the baldric, from, which are suspended a trowel and the jewel. The apron is white, doubled and bordered with green taffeta; upon the lapel is a dove with an olive branch in its beak. In the middle of the apron is a mountain emerging from green water. The jewel is a silver dove with an olive branch in its beak. The Illustrious Grand Master represents ”Father Noah.” The Senior Warden ranks as ”Dear Eldest Son” and the brethren and sisters are called ”children.” Everyone is ”thee” and ”thou” to the others.
ROSE CROIX OF THE DAMES; or LADIES ROSE CROIX; or LADIES OF BENEFICENCE. This is probably the 9th degree of the French Rite of Adoption, to which it was presumably added about 1817. Denslow, translating from a French ritual describes the regalia and titles as follows: The Sister Officers wear a scarf from left to right made of black ribbon embroidered with red and have a rosette of poppy red. The scarf of a Sister is violet, from which is suspended the mallet, emblem of command. The apron is of violet taffeta bordered with ribbon of the same color; in the middle of it is a pocket fixed with two green rosettes. The jewel is a cross of gold with rays of light at the four angles; it is suspended from a green ribbon. The Garter is of violet ribbon, bordered with gold, on which are embroidered the letters F H C (Faith, Hope, Charity). It is worn on the left arm. The President is called ”Brother Commander”; the Wardens, ”Generals”; and the members, ”Chevaliers” and ”Chevalieres.” The battery is 9-9.
PRINCESS OF THE CROWN; or CROWNED PRINCESS; or SOVEREIGN MISTRESS. This androgynous degree was operative in Saxony, in 1770, and was urged upon the Grand Orient of France as an addition to the French Rite of Adoption, though that body was attempting to hold the Adoptive Rite to four degrees. Denslow rates it as the 12th degree of the Rite of Adoption, though others say it was the 10th. Its ritual was based on the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, and Ragon states that the degree was honorary only.
FRENCH RITE OF ADOPTION, or ADOPTIVE RITE. A review of the foregoing androgynous orders in France shows that the idea of female participation in something resembling Masonic lodges and partly composed of Freemasons arose about the same time as the production of Hauts Grades began, 1738-40. Their popularity cannot be questioned and they grew along with the ever increasing numbers of Hauts Grades. The Grand lodge and the Grand Orient made efforts to stem the tide or even to limit the mixed grades to four and the Masonic system to seven, but without much success. What is called the Adoptive Rite in France is difficult to treat satisfactorily because those who have written on the subject have seldom had first hand information and because the term ”adoption,” has been loosely used to cover, not only bodies that were actually adopted, but all androgynous bodies, indiscriminately.
By the 1770’s, there had been instituted in France no fewer than ten androgynous orders which, to some extent, spread into surrounding European countries, but nowhere attained the same standing that they did in France, and made no impression at all in the British Isles. At first they appear to have had no direct Masonic connection and there is even doubt that they made any special or exclusive appeal to Freemasons or were limited to them and their female relatives. The first evidence we have of the relation of a mixed body to a Masonic lodge occurred at Paris, in 1760, when Count Bernouville caused a lodge to ”adopt,” or sponsor, or assume, responsibility for a mixed society. Such a sponsored or adopted body of mixed sexes existed at Mineguen, Holland, in 1774.
It is commonly said that the Rite of Adoption was established in June, 1774. The Grand Orient did, after some remonstrance, issue an edict in which it assumed protection and control of mixed lodges on condition that no male members would be accepted unless they were regular Freemasons and that each such lodge should be under the supervision of some French lodge of Freemasons, the Master or Deputy of which should preside over the mixed body with the assistance of a female President or Mistress.
In May, 1775, Loge St. Antoine, at Paris, adopted an androgynous body which elected and installed the Duchesse de Bourbon as Grand Mistress, the Duc de Chartres being her consort. On March 11, 1775, the Marquis de Saisseval formed Loge La Candeur (Frankness) as an androgynous body which was attended by many noble ladies.
Originally, the degrees were 1. Apprentie (Female Apprentice); 2. Compagnonne (Craftswoman); 3. Maitresse (Mistress Mason); 4. Parfaite Macone (Perfect Masoness). In 1817, an attempt was made to add five degrees and again we are at a loss for someone to add particulars. These extra degrees were probably of the Sublime Scottish Lady or Elect type, but no reliable information is available as to the extent or success of the movement. There must have been much irregularity, for scarcely any two commentators include the same degrees, or number of degrees, or even the sequence of individual degrees. We are told that the Rite finally reached ten degrees.
The ceremonies of the adoptive lodges generally resembled those of a Masonic lodge, but the details were different, although gloves and aprons were presented to the candidate during the lecture and the symbolism of the Tower of Babel and the Theological Ladder were employed. The offices were about evenly divided between men and women and each wore a blue shoulder ribbon supporting a trowel and each was duly clad in white gloves and apron. The ceremonies were symbolic and moral and dealt with circumstances entirely apart from those found in Freemasonry. Saint Victor’s Handbook of Female Masons states: ”The first Degree contains only, as it ought, moral ideas of Freemasonry; the Second Degree is the initiation into the first mysteries, commencing with the sin of Adam and concluding with the Ark of Noah as the first favor which God granted to men; the Third and Fourth Degrees are merely a series of types and figures drawn from the Holy Scriptures, by which we explain to the candidate the virtues which she ought to practice.” Adoptive Masonry was welcomed by Chemin Dupontes in his Masonic Encyclopedia, but was belittled or disapproved by most French, German, English, and American writers.
ADONHIRAMITE ADOPTIVE RITE. In the ritual of 1787 of the Adonhiramite Rite, there was no mention of a female grade but a ritual two years later contained a list: 1. Apprentie; 2. Compagnonne; 3. Maitresse; 4. Parfaite Maitresse. But, since this is exactly the same as the Adoptive Rite of the Grand Orient, it probably does not merit separate enumeration.
(b) Britain
Adoptive or androgynous orders seem to have found no opening for them in the British Isles.
(c) United States
Only among the African-American fraternal bodies are there adoptive orders in the United States in the sense that any lodge or Grand Lodge has expressly approved, adopted, stood sponsor for, or regulated them, though various mixed orders and also girls’ orders and one boys’ order are generally accorded the privilege of using Masonic temples and halls. Moreover, frequently some of such orders contribute to Masonic homes and other Masonic charitable enterprises. The subject in this country is, therefore, limited to androgynous societies which are as follows:
EASTERN STAR, ORDER OF. The largest and most successful of the androgynous orders anywhere in the world was first suggested partly by the French Rite of Adoption and partly by several 19th century orders in the United States. Among these were several orders which, at this late day, are difficult to separate, such as Mason’s Daughter, Mason’s Wife, Mason’s Wife and Daughter, Holy Virgin, forming one group, and Heroine of Jericho, Good Samaritan, True kindred, and the Martha Washington degrees, forming the other. The degrees of the Eastern Star were conceived and arranged in 1850 by Rob Morris of Kentucky, who communicated them extensively, evidently without charge and as entertainment for Freemasons and their female relatives. Considerable symbolic references were made to ”Stars” and ”Constellations,” the latter being state organizations. The ritual was not printed until 1855 and, until that year, there seems to have been no attempt to organize anything in the nature of a local lodge or chapter. In 1855, Morris revised the ritual and printed it under the name, The Mosaic Book, and purported to create a Supreme Constellation of the American Adoptive Rite, of which he was ”Most Enlightened Grand Luminary.”
As was true of much of Morris’ work, this was overdone and so elaborate as to be impossible of exemplification without a prohibitive amount of expense, talent and preparation. In 1860, Morris simplified the ritual and published his Manual of the Eastern Star Degrees. This manual was the basis of a change in the system from Constellations to Families. More than 100 ”Family” charters were issued from 1860 to 1867, when the system was discontinued. The Rosary of the Eastern Star, published in 1865, was Rob Morris’ last book on his beloved rite. In the same year, 1865, Robert Macoy of New York, using The Rosary of the Eastern Star, by Morris, as a basis, and with Morris’ aid, published a Manual of the Order of the Eastern Star . . . adapted to the System of Adoptive Masonry. Shortly after, Morris left on a trip to the Holy Land and turned over the whole system and his Eastern Star activities to Macoy.
The year 1868 marks the beginning of the second period in the evolution of the Eastern Star degrees into the Order as it exists today. This was the beginning of the Chapter system as we know it today. Macoy recast the ritual and organized a Supreme Grand Chapter in December, 1868, and published Adoptive Rite Ritual: A Book of Instruction in the Organization, Government and Ceremonies of CHAPTERS of the Order of the Eastern Star. The Macoy ritual is the basis from which all other Eastern Star rituals have been drawn although an examination of rituals of the Eastern Star in use today will disclose root matter readily traced to the ”Tatem Ritual.” John H. Tatem, of Michigan, published The Monitor of the Eastern Star
