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          THE RITES AND LODGES OF FEMININE 
          FREEMASONRY AND CO-MASONRY
          by
          Michael L. Segall MPS
          
          
          As you well know, dear Brethren, and to the great distress of
          men, women were soon attracted to Freemasonry.  I'm not
          sure of the sources of this early infatuation, for which we can
          imagine multiple reasons.  Already in the time of King Louis
          XIV   and Moli
re did not miss the occasion to turn it into a
          play   learned women got together in their salons to debate,
          like men and most often with men, the fashionable
          intellectual topics of their time.  
          When dawning Speculative Freemasonry, at the beginning of
          the 18th century, began bringing Brethren together in
          Lodges, neither Rome nor women could stand men speaking
          behind closed doors of things about which they wouldn't
          know everything.  Rome, as far as it was concerned,
          excommunicated.  Women, distinctly cleverer, exerted
          enough pressure for feminine Masonry and co-Masonry to
          be born.  
          Let's define what we are talking about.  Throughout the
          history of Freemasonry women's Lodges or Grand Lodges
          admitted men at least as visitors.  Not doing so would have
          evidently gone against the very purpose I just mentioned. 
          For this reason, it is not easy to distinguish between
          women's Masonry and co-Masonry.  
          Would a Lodge of the Feminine Grand Lodge of France,
          admitting sometimes more Brethren visitors than the Sisters
          present, be less co-Masonic than a Lodge created to be co-Masonic?  And that one of the Lodges of the Grand Orient
          which admit women?  I think that the difference among the
          various levels of "mixedness", if there is a difference, lies in
          the area of the membership of the Officers' Line and in the
          area of initiations.  Let us define three major types:
          Type A co-Masonry would be a Lodge or a Grand Lodge
          having, indifferently, male or female Officers or Grand
          Officers and that would initiate applicants of both sexes.  
          Type B co-Masonry would admit visitors of both sexes to its
          stated meetings, but would have Officers and Grand Officers
          of one sex only, and would not initiate candidates of the
          opposite sex.  
          Type C co-Masonry would have Officers and Grand Officers
          of both sexes, admit visitors of both sexes, but would initiate
          applicants of one sex only.  
          Quite vague and uncertain distinctions, after all, further
          complicated by the mix of masculine and feminine rites and
          rituals and by the fact that women sometimes work
          masculine rites and men, feminine ones (when visiting the
          OES, for instance).  What really matters is that in all cases
          we find men and women working together in the same
          Lodge, definitive criterion of co-Masonry.  The conclusion is
          evident and must be drawn.  In the present state of Masonic
          rites and rituals, there are only two kinds of Lodges or Grand
          Lodges: men's and co-Masonic.  
          This having been said, let us have a look at this
          Freemasonry that calls itself and considers itself feminine, in
          its three historic avatars.  It must be realized that it appears
          very early, 17th century in its primitive form, and takes as
          early as the 18th century, after having spawned a multitude
          of short-lived splinter Lodges and rites,  the form of the
          Adoption rite, ancestor of the OES.  This rite will be nearly
          wholly replaced in Europe, in the 20th century, by a
          feminized version of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
          and in the Anglo-Saxon Masonic world by the Order of the
          Eastern Star.  A single women's Lodge in France, Cosmos
          #76 of the Feminine Grand Lodge, still works the Rite of
          Adoption.  It's a great pity since Adoption is, of the two main
          feminine rites, the only really ancient one and the only one
          that is not a late and pallid copy of a masculine rite.  
          The rite of Adoption is of pure traditional origin and few other
          rites have its initiatic and symbolic richness, often borrowed
          from the Operatives, and maybe also from a certain
          knighthood.  This rite is also more ancient than most current
          masculine rites because, according to rituals and documents
          in the archives of the GL of France, the rite of Adoption was
          born in France in 1744.  Its development was slow, and it
          always had fewer members than male Masonry.  Only three
          Lodges were created until 1777, all three in Paris.  Become
          very active as the 18th century was drawing to its end, and
          until the beginning of the 20th century, the rite of Adoption
          has long played in France and continental Europe the same
          role as the OES in the USA.  It is now disappearing over
          here but still very strong in the USA, in its OES form.  The
          OES borrows about half of its rite and rituals from the rite of
          Adoption, a quarter from Emulation and another quarter from
          its inventor, Bro. Rob Morris.  
          Within our classification as defined earlier, the rite of
          Adoption is of course a co-Masonic rite of the type we have
          called "type C".  Let's see why.  Originally, Lodges of
          Adoption were created by regular male Lodges of the local
          Grand Lodge, and their lady Officers were seconded by male
          Masons, members of the male founding Lodge.  At the time,
          the only female members were the wives, widows, sisters,
          mothers and daughters of Freemasons, but very rapidly
          other women were admitted who had no particular kinship
          with male Mason members.  Adoption Masonry numbered,
          at the end of the 19th  century, about 150 Lodges and 5,000
          members.  After WW1 the rite of Adoption, while declining,
          emancipated itself from male supervision.  Brethren only
          kept coming as visitors.  This presently nearly vanished rite
          existed in at least three forms: the four-degree Primitive Rite
          (Apprentice, Companion, Mistress and Perfect Mistress) the
          French Rite with five degrees (adding to the former degrees
          that of Elect Sublime Scottish Lady (cossaise) or Sovereign
          Illustrious Scottish Lady) and the "Ten Degree" rite, seldom
          worked and copying in part the SR degrees.  The second of
          these rites is the only one still worked and, as I said, by a
          single Lodge.  
          The most prevalent of the three Adoption rites was the
          French Rite in five degrees, currently nearly extinct, and I will
          describe its First Degree Lodge in slightly more detail.  The
          Lodge, lighted by five Luminaries, represented the Terrestrial
          Globe and, just as our Lodges possess four Cardinal Points,
          the Lodge of Adoption was divided in four regions called
          "Climates".  The East was the Climate of Asia; the West, the
          climate of Europe; the North, the Climate of America and the
          South, the Climate of Africa.  In the East, in the Climate of
          Asia and under a red canopy, sat the Grand Mistress,
          flanked by the Worshipful Master.  In front of her was an
          Altar bearing a Bible and a Gavel.  To her left sat the Sister
          Orator seconded by the Brother Preparator, to her left the
          Sister and Brother Secretaries.  In the West, in the Climate
          of Europe sat, to the northern side (left when entering the
          Lodge) the Sister Inspector seconded by the Brother First
          Supervisor (or Warden) and to the southern side (right when
          entering the Lodge) the Sister Trustee, seconded by the
          Brother Second Supervisor (or Warden).  The other offices
          were that of the Almoner, the Treasurer, the Expert, the
          Master of Ceremonies and the Inner Guard and were
          occupied by both a Brother and a Sister. All but the Expert,
          the Master of Ceremonies and the Inner Guard sat behind
          small, pentagon-shaped tables.
          Along the sides of the Lodge were, on each side, four
          statues or paintings.  They represented, allegorically,
          Wisdom, Strength, Justice, Truth, Prudence, Temperance,
          Charity and Honor.  Curiously, Beauty is not represented. 
          Along the two sides of the Lodge were two rows of chairs.
          Sisters sat in the front rows, North and South, Brethren on
          the rear rows.  On the floor, in the center of the Lodge, was
          placed a painting allegorically representing the four Climates,
          subdivisions of the Terrestrial Globe.  The Lodges were
          usually called Ladders.   
          A few words now about the origins of women's Masonry.  As
          everyone knows, whenever we have to study the history of
          Masonry before the 18th century, written documents are
          cruelly lacking.  Hardly more than a score were found.  The
          situation is worse concerning women's Lodges, because
          there is NO contemporary document left and we must
          advance very carefully.  There are nevertheless some
          documents and particularly coincidences allowing us to
          reasonably assume a lineage which, if maybe not initiation or
          Operative, is at least corporative.  
          We have evidence of female or mixed corporations during
          the Middle Ages and later.  We know that the daughter of
          Erwin von Steinbach, the architect of Strasbourg cathedral,
          was said to belong to the Stonecutters Guild.  We know,
          from Operative documents, that at least insofar as the
          Carpenters' Guilds are concerned, widows could take over
          the work of their deceased husbands without having to
          transmit it to another Companion.  Curiously, the third
          degree of Adoption has a carpentry symbolism and tradition
          rather then a stonecutters' tradition, as we have.  We also
          know about lace-makers' and candle-makers' guilds,
          mentioned by Wirth.  Women could also be members of the
          suede tanners' guild, together with men.  
          Documents belonging to the archives of the S.C. of France
          mention some interesting and heretofore unpublished
          examples, particularly on the corporations of the town of
          Rouen, listed in the "History of Ancient Corporations of Arts
          and Trades and Ancient Religious Confraternities of the
          Capital of Normandy", published in 1860 by abbot Quin-Lacroix.  
          Still extant are the statutes of the corporation of candle-makers, dated 1360; those of the thread-makers, dated
          1394; that of the linen makers and merchants, dated 1700
          and those of the embroiderers, dated 1709. In 1616 a female
          Knighthood was created by Ann of Austria, Queen of France,
          under the name "Order of the Celestial Necklace of the Holy
          Rosary".  Although it only lasted about 50 years, it had some
          influence on the women's organizations soon to be born.  A
          Mixed Egyptian Order is created in 1634, probably Masonic,
          but about which we know very little.  In 1637 appears the
          Society of the Palladium or of the Companions of Penelope,
          a kind of women's Freemasonry created to exalt virtue and
          wisdom.  Rituals of this Society still exist, including rituals of
          initiation to the degrees of EA and FC.  
          Some have asserted that post-1717 women's Masonry was
          fabricated by men just to "amuse the ladies".  It is
          nevertheless certain that it was not possible for recent
          speculative Masons who remained anonymous (why?), to
          have entirely fabricated, in a few years of the 1730's, such a
          rich and complex symbolism just to "amuse the ladies".  In
          my personal opinion, there has been a determined will to
          suppress, discredit or at least put women's Masonry under
          male control throughout its long history.  
          Having dealt quite a bit with the Lodges of Adoption, their
          birth, their ancestry and their rite, I will not detail the Eastern
          Star, familiar to most USA Masons if quite unknown
          elsewhere, but go directly to the Grand Lodges of the
          Human Right, Droit Humain or DH in French. 
          The history of the DH is quite interesting.  A first "Mixed
          Scottish Symbolic Grand Lodge of the Human Right" was
          created on April 4 1893 by Maria Deraismes, age 64, Anne
          Feresse, 72, Georges Martin, 48, and his wife, Marie Martin,
          45. Georges Martin was a long time mason already. Maria
          Deraismes was made a Mason in a men's Lodge some
          years before, under circumstances I will detail a little later. 
          In 1899, the DH became the "International Mixed Masonic
          Order of the Human Right".  Like many 19th century male
          Grand Lodges and like some contemporary (and recognized)
          Scandinavian and German Grand Lodges, the DH is
          governed by a Supreme Council 33rd of their particular
          brand of the A&ASR.  
          Its Constitution, revised in 1920 after many stormy episodes,
          gave it its main and most interesting characteristic, besides
          that of receiving both Brethren and Sisters in its Lodges. 
          The DH is the first and still the only such body to be
          constituted on an international scale rather than on a state or
          national base.  Controlled by an international Supreme
          Council headed by a Sovereign Grand Commander,
          alternatively a man or a woman, located in France, it is
          governed in each country by an autonomous, elected
          National Council headed by a Grand Commander.  National
          federations and jurisdictions of the DH exist, to the best of
          my knowledge in France, of course, as well as in Germany,
          Austria, Switzerland, the Latin American countries, Greece,
          Indonesia, Lebanon, the USA, Australia, Belgium, England,
          Finland, Italy, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain
          and the Scandinavian countries.  Still plagued by occasional
          schisms giving birth to additional, small co-Masonic groups,
          the DH is nevertheless doing well and has continuously
          increased its membership since WW2.  
          The story of Maria Deraismes is quite interesting.  In 1867
          and in the particular atmosphere of the times, twelve Lodges
          seceded from the Central Grand Lodge, an avatar of the
          Grand Lodge of France, mainly on the matter of admitting
          women, and formed the Scottish Symbolic Grand Lodge,
          with Georges Martin as its Grand Orator.  Curiously,
          because of internal conflicts on how best to integrate
          women, none was initiated for the following 15 years.  As the
          story goes, a woman who was to become a well-known
          feminist and suffragette, Maria Deraismes, spied a number
          of Masonic degree ceremonies from a window set into the
          second story of the Temple of a Lodge called "The Free
          Thinkers of Le Pecq".  The Lodge jumped on the occasion
          and, saying that a non-Mason having witnessed Masonic
          ceremonies had to be initiated immediately so that he or she
          could take the obligations and preserve the secrets, initiated
          her on the 14 January 1882.  But for ten years she remained
          the only one.  Then in April 1893 Martin, his wife, Maria
          Deraismes and Anne Feresse took things in hand and
          created the DH.  The rest is history.  
          The most important women's Grand Lodge in France is the
          Feminine Grand Lodge, originally made up of the old Lodges
          of Adoption dependent of the male Grand Lodge of France. 
          Beginning with 1901, the GL of France created a number of
          Lodges of Adoption in view of allowing women to participate
          to the intellectual and spiritual life of Masonry.  These
          Lodges had nothing in common with the Adoption Lodges of
          the preceding two centuries.  Corresponding each to a male
          Lodge of the Grand Lodge of France, bearing the same
          name, they worked under the supervision of the Federal
          Council of the Grand Lodge of France.  The work in Lodge
          was the same, only the rite, a modernized form of Adoption,
          was different.  The Sisters could not visit male Lodges at
          work.
          At its Convention of 1935 and in view of the evolution of the
          feminine condition, the Grand Lodge of France decided to
          give these Lodges their complete independence and to help
          them create their own Grand Lodge.  In 1936, a first
          Convention of the Lodges of Adoption creates the core of the
          future GL and the initial structures.  But WW2 soon starts,
          and nothing else happens until September 1945, when the
          Grand Lodge of France abrogates the parts of its
          Constitution of 1906 which governed the Lodges of
          Adoption.  In October 1946, the newly created Feminine
          Masonic Union of France holds its first Convention, elects its
          first Federal Council, Grand Officers and Grand Mistress.  In
          1952, it changes its name to Feminine Grand Lodge of
          France and in 1959 it abandons the rite of Adoption for the
          A&ASR.  Since, the Feminine GL has acquired a Scottish
          Rite from the English Feminine Supreme Council, has
          created its own Supreme Council, and works all the 33
          degrees of the A&ASR.  Currently, the Feminine Grand
          Lodge of France numbers about 8,000 members in some
          200 Lodges. 
          Like French male Masonry, French women's and co-Masonry is preoccupied by quality rather than quantity.  The
          selection is tough and many candidates are rejected.  The
          average Lodge has around 40 members, attendance is
          usually in the 70 to 80% and at each of the 20 to 24
          meetings per year a FC or MM of the Lodge is expected to
          present an original lecture, thereafter discussed by the
          members of the Lodge.  Like for practically all European
          Masonry, meetings are in the 1st degree except for passings
          or raisings.  
          I hope this article has helped my non-continental Brethren to
          understand the history and workings of women's Masonry,
          about the existence of which many had never heard, and of
          co-Masonry which, long considered by some Brethren as
          some minor, clandestine and devilish contraption, might
          become far closer and more familiar with the increasing
          pressure, in the USA but also in other countries, for the
          admittance of women into erstwhile regular male Masonry. 
          The time might come when we will have to consider whether
          women's Masonry and co-Masonry don't possess their own
          brand of regularity, different from ours but equivalent to it.  
            
          