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

Chapter 3 - Overview of Rites 83
As has been shown, according to the IFL there existed no connection
between the lodges of adoption and Freemasonry. The rituals and pretensions are
completely different. Chapter 8.2 on androgynous lodges will show that in spite
of some similarities to Craft Masonry, the women are fed on Biblical and moral
tenets, and that from the original "Craft" and the symbolism of stonemasonry not
very much is left:
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 [...]; 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.' 227
That many male Masons did not take the female degrees serious is vividly
expressed in TRMC, where the content of androgynous rituals is described as
trivial: "the modern character of such a rite, and its puerility, cannot but raise a
smile on the cheek of every real brother of the Fraternity." 228 This English
cyclopedia states that a banquet and a ball usually terminated the meetings of
androgynous orders, and thus criticizes female lodges, while also mocking at
modern male Masonry in England: "The preliminary ceremonies are but the
formal prelude to these latter all-important objects, much as in modern English
Masonry the ceremonies are the excuse for the eating and drinking, which is the
real business [...]." 229 The French brethren were more tolerant towards their
female fellow Masons. Too fast and too rigorous was the French development
for many brethren of other nationalities. The French radicalism in favor of
women also has its counterpart, for example the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
which distances itself as far as possible from any connection with mixed orders:
The attitude 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
227 CME, p. 11.
228 TRMC, p. 22.
229 Quoted in TRMC, p. 22.