Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

30 ADOPTIVE
ADORATION
duties." Hence, no females but those holding
the above recited relations to Freemasons were
eligible for admission . The male members
were called " Protectors " ; the female, " Stellar
" ; the reunions of these members were
styled " Constellations " ; and the Rite was
presided over and governed by a " Supreme
Constellation." There is some ingenuity and
even beauty in many of the ceremonies, although
it is by no means equal in this respect
to the French Adoptive system . Much dissatisfaction
was, however, expressed by the
leading Masons of the country at the time of
its attempted organization ; and therefore,
notwithstanding very strenuous efforts were
made by its founder and his friends to establish
it in some of the Western States, it was
slow in winning popularity . It has, however,
within a few years past, gained much growth
under the name of " The Eastern Star."
Bro . Albert Pike has also recently printed, for
the use of Scottish Rite Masons, The Masonry
of Adoption . It is in seven degrees, and is a
translation from the French system, but
greatly enlarged, and is far superior to the
original .
The last phase of this female Masonry to
which our attention is directed is the system
of androgynous degrees which are practised
to some extent in the United States . This
term " androgynous " is derived from two
Greek words, Zdjp (21vipos), a man, and yvvi1,
a woman, and it is equivalent to the English
compound, masculo feminine . It is applied
to those " side degrees " which are conferred
on both males and females . The essential regulation
prevailing in these degrees, is that
they can be conferred only do Master Masons
(and in some instances only on Royal Arch
Masons) and on their female relatives, the
peculiar relationship differing in the different
degrees .
Thus there is a degree generally called the
" Mason's Wife," which can be conferred only
on Master Masons, their wives, unmarried
daughters and sisters, and their widowed
mothers . Another degree, called the "Heroine
of Jericho," is conferred only on the wives and
daughters of Royal Arch Masons ; and the
third, the only one that has much pretension
of ceremony or ritual, is the " Good Samaritan,"
whose privileges are confined to Royal
Arch Masons and their wives .
In some parts of the United States these
degrees are very popular, while in other places
they are never practised, and are strongly
condemned as modern innovations . The fact
is, that by their friends as well as their enemies
these so-called degrees have been greatly
misrepresented. When females are told that
in receiving these degrees they are admitted
into the Masonic Order, and are obtaining
Masonic information, under the name of
" Ladies' Masonry," they are simply deceived .
When a woman is informed that, by passing
through the brief and unimpressive ceremony
of any one of these degrees, she has become a
Mason, the deception is still more gross and
inexcusable . But it is true that every woman
who is related by ties of consanguinity to a
Master Mason is at all times and under all
circumstances peculiarly entitled to Masonic
protection and assistance . Now, if the recipient
of an androgynous degree is candidly
instructed that, by the use of these degrees,
the female relatives of Masons are put in possession
of the means of making their claims
known by what may be called a sort of oral
testimony, which, unlike a written certificate,
can be neither lost nor destroyed ; but that, by
her initiation as a " Mason's Wife " or as a
" Heroine of Jericho," she is brought no nearer
to the inner portal of Masonry than she was
before-if she is honestly told all this, then
there can hardly be any harm, and there may
be some good in these forms if prudently bestowed
. But all attempts to make Masonry
of them, and especially that anomalous thing
called " Female Masonry," are reprehensible,
and are well calculated to produce opposition
among the well-informed and cautious members
of the Fraternity .
Adoptive Masonry, Egyptian . A system
invented by Cagliostro . (See Cagliostro .)
Adoration . The act of paying divine worship.
The Latin word adorare is derived from
ad, " to," and os, oris, " the mouth," and we
thus etymologically learn that the primitive
and most general method of adoration was by
the application of the fingers to the mouth .
Hence we read in Job (xxxi . 26) : " If I beheld
the sun when it shined, or the moon walking
in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly
enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this
also were an iniquity to be punished by the
judges ; for I should have denied the God that
is above ." Here the mouth kissing the hand is
an equipollent expression to adoration, as if
he had said, " If I have adored the sun or the
moon." This mode of adoration is said to have
originated among the Persians, who, as worshipers
of the sun, always turned their faces
to the east and kissed their hands to that luminary.
The gesture was first used as a token of
respect to their monarchs, and was easily
transferred to objects of worship. Other additional
forms of adoration were used in various
countries, but in almost all of them this
reference to kissing was in some degree preserved
. It is yet a practice of quite common
usage for Orientals to kiss what they deem
sacred or that which they wish to adore example,
Wailing Place of the Jews at Jerusalem .
The marble toes of the statue of St . Peter in
the Cathedral of St . Peter's at Rome have been
worn away by the kissings of Catholics and
have been replaced by bronze . Among the ancient
Romans the act of adoration was thus
performed : The worshiper, having his head
covered, applied his right hand to his lips,
thumb erect, and the forefinger resting on-it,
and then, bowing his head, he turned round
from right to left . And hence Apuleius
(Apolog.) uses the expression " to apply the
hand to the lips," manum labris admovere, to
express the act of adoration. The Grecian
mode of adoration differed from the Roman in
having the head uncovered, which practise