The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 7 - Rituals 463
7.2 Fixed Role Conception of the Charity-
Receiving and Charity-Giving Women:
Androgynous and Co-Masonry
The oldest laws of speculative Freemasons, Anderson's Constitutions from
1723, contain on the pages 49-56 six speculative "Charges." These, under the
name of The Charges of a Free-Mason, state that women cannot become
Freemasons: "The Persons admitted Members of a Lodge must be good and true
Men, free-born, and of mature and discreet Age, no Bondmen, no Women, no
immoral or scandalous Men, but of good Report." 1408 Then, how did it happen
that there exist orders for women now, or orders that initiate both men and
women? As the three following sections on five androgynous Masonic - or,
more correctly, "quasi-Masonic" - orders will show, there were obviously two
reasons for giving the women their own kind of "Masonry." One reason is very
laudable. The female relatives of Master Masons were entitled to Masonic aid in
case they should become widowed or destitute, but they had no means to prove
their Masonic ties. Therefore, they received their own organizations, in which
also Master Masons participated, and were given secret signs of recognition that
the Masons knew. This guaranteed that Masonic benefit was extended to women
who in fact were entitled to receive it.
The second reason is not quite so honorable. Already in the beginning of
Freemasonry, the wives of Masons and women in general were not satisfied with
the men coming home late, wearing curious symbols, meeting at secret places
with mysterious persons, and performing strange rituals without being allowed to
talk about it. Since the Masons wanted to evade the attacks by women, whose aid
they needed badly for beneficial causes, they appeased them with the generous
present of "Freemasonry for women." Thus, in the late 19 th century the male
Instructor who opened the lectures of the androgynous Order of the Eastern Star
addressed the audience as follows: "Ladies: - We met and welcome you here for
a double purpose. First, that we may inform you as to your true relationship to
the Masonic Fraternity, and thus remove any prejudices that you may have
entertained against us; and Second [sic], to confer upon you the beautiful,
instructive and useful Degrees of the Order of the Eastern Star." 1409 One gets the
impression that all female degrees are "beautiful, instructive, and useful." The
women seem to be fed on giving and receiving charity. Can these androgynous
rituals be compared in any way with true Masonic rituals? What about the
original background of operative stonemasonry? Why is there a growth in
Biblical symbols and teachings? The following five sections will analyze the
new content and symbolism of Masonry as practiced by women. The first order,
Masonry of Adoption founded by Albert Pike, is long extinct. The others are still
1408 Cited in Shepherd, "The Landmarks of Freemasonry," printed in Little Masonic Library, vol. I, p.
15. Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., Inc. (publ.). Italics added.
1409 Macoy, Manual of the Order of the Eastern Star, 1869, p. 13.