THE BUILDER APRIL 1917
NOTES ON THE ORIGIN OF CO-MASONRY

BY BRO. ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE, ENGLAND


IT is said that in or about 1879, several Chapters under the
obedience of the Supreme Council of France, Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, revolted from that authority and re-incorporated
themselves as La Grande Loge Symbolique de France. The rebellion,
as usual, was fomented by the Grand Orient.

It is impossible from the confused evidence to decide what Degrees
were conferred by the new body, but they were probably the Craft
Grades only and not the High Grades of the Scottish Rite. The
central body appears to have governed Lodges and not Chapters.

One of the separated Lodges, the nature of whose dissatisfaction is
shown by its title of Les Libres Penseurs, held its meetings at
Pecq, a village in the department of Seine et Oise.

This Lodge on November 25, 1881, proposed that Mlle Maria
Desraimes, a writer on humanitarian subjects and the rights of
women, should be admitted to Freemasonry.

The proposers were the W. M. Hubron and six other Master Masons.
The initiation took place on January 14, 1882, in the presence of
Brethren drawn from all parts. From her subsequent history, the
candidate must have been also passed and raised, but there are no
particulars in the sources to which I have had access.

The Lodge was suspended, but whether by the authority which it had
helped to create, by the Supreme Council, or by the Grand Orient,
does not appear.

On March 14, April 1 and April 4, 1893, Mlle Desraimes, acting
under the influence of a certain Docteur Georges Martin, was
concerned in the initiation, passing and raising of 17 candidates.
The information does not say whether they were women only or
members of both sexes, but the former probably.

Some kind of Temple was founded about the same period, place not
indicated; a Constitution was framed; and an androgynous Masonic
body thus came into existence, under the title of Grande Loge
Symbolique Ecossaise, being identical with that of the Schismatic
body already mentioned.

Its one Lodge at the moment was called Le Droit Humain and that
which it communicated was termed Universal Joint Freemasonry.

In 1900 the Lodge in question adopted the 30 Degrees superposed on
the Craft Grades by the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

This was brought about by the intervention of French Masons said to
be in possession of the 33rd Degree.

In 1903 there were centres at Benares, Paris and London.

At the same period Joint Freemasonry in the British dominion is
stated to have used a Craft Ritual appertaining to the Grand Lodge
of Scotland.

The movement seems to have spread from France to India and thence
to England.

The title in the British dominions was altered from Joint
Freemasonry to Co-Masonry about 1905.

The first English Lodge was called Human Duty and is, I infer,
number 6 on the Roll.

In 1908 there was a feud in London, which has resulted in the
foundation of an independent branch, the reason being that the
original body, under Annie Besant and her vice-regents, constituted
an automatic and irresponsible headship, in opposition to Masonic
principles.

The English Ritual used by Universal Co-Masonry has been printed
and had reached a second edition in 1908. It is called The Dharma
Working of Craft Masonry, Dharma being the title of the Lodge at
Benares.

The Ceremony of the Installation of the Worshipful Master and the
Investiture of Officers has also been printed.

In the Ritual of the Three Degrees the variations from our own form
are at once numerous and slight, but there are also certain new
things introduced.

Some of them may be tabulated as follows:

(a) The W. M. is called throughout the Right Worshipful Master,
following the Scottish fashion.

(b) The rubrics are much fuller.

(c) The Entered Apprentice is taken three times round the Lodge and
is brought back on each occasion to the centre.

(d) The second circumambulation is opposite to the first, or
against the sun; the third is the same as the first, or with the
sun.

(e) In the Second Degree, after the usual circumambulations, the
Candidate is placed in the centre and passes through five stages or
experiences, corresponding (1) to work on the rough stone; (2) the
arts; (3) Sciences; (4) the Humanities, and (5) apparently rest
after work, with the idea of work to follow.

(f) In the Third Degree the Obligation is shortened and certain
significant covenants are not found, presumably because women take
it. The wording also differs.

(g) The wording differs throughout in many places and some of the
prayers are changed.

THINGS NOT MADE

Thou art what we are; Thou art what we do; Thou art what we say.
Thou art all things, and there is nothing which Thou art not. Thou
art that which is made and all that is not made.

--Egyptian Scriptures.

