‘Announcing the Council for Freemasonry’

    

This recent media-generated canard in England about Freemasonry being misogynist has resulted in the grand lodges there organizing the Council for Freemasonry in England and Wales to facilitate cooperation among the three groups and to give a unified voice when speaking outside the Masonic world. The council was revealed Saturday. From the publicity:

Council for Freemasonry

in England and Wales:

Underpinning the Continued

Progress of Freemasonry

In an unprecedented and historic move to dispel misconceptions and address challenges, English Freemasonry has announced the creation of the Council for Freemasonry, covering female as well as male members in England and Wales.

This new Council aims to enhance further existing and longstanding collaboration and promote the fundamental principles of Freemasonry, including merit, tolerance, diversity, and inclusion, between the United Grand Lodge of England, the Order of Women Freemasons, and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons.

Even in 2024 Freemasonry continues to face various unfounded criticisms and inaccurate misconceptions, often stemming from deep-rooted prejudices or preconceived falsehoods. Contrary to the erroneous claim that Freemasonry is exclusively male, women’s Freemasonry has been an integral part of Freemasonry in the UK for more than a century. While Freemasonry is practiced in single-sex lodges, this is no different from many other activities, including most sports as well as many other community groups.

The establishment of the Council for Freemasonry will formally establish an overarching forum for collaboration. In addition, the Council will bring together the community service ambitions of all three bodies, coordinate communication and engagement with other organizations, drive the membership growth ambitions, particularly for women Freemasons, and allocate resources and facilities for the general benefit of both male and female Freemasonry.

UGLE

The Council will include the heads of each Grand Lodge, and each Grand Lodge will provide the president for a twelve-month period, chairing Council meetings in strict rotation. The president for the first two years will come from the OWF and HFAF, with UGLE covering the third year.

The formation of the Council for Freemasonry in England and Wales marks a pivotal step towards enhancing cooperation, addressing misconceptions, and promoting the values of Freemasonry. This historic initiative reaffirms Freemasonry’s commitment to integrity, friendship, respect, and service, while keeping community service and charitable giving at the absolute forefront of this historic organization.

     

‘UGLE: Enough of this fake narrative’

    

England’s Masonic grand lodges shall remain single-sex, according to a story today in The Telegraph.

They’ve really got a scoop here, blowing the lid off this elusive mystery kept under wraps by the secret societies. The venerable news outlet cites the speech by the United Grand Lodge of England’s Pro Grand Master during the Quarterly Communication last week.

“There have been two recurring themes from different journalists,” RW Jonathan Spence is quoted saying. “The first is the claim that Freemasonry in this country is a male-only activity and therefore inherently wrong, non-inclusive and misogynistic. The second is, once again, a focus on the alleged lack of transparency relating to Freemasonry and yet another push to require full declaration of our membership almost in all circumstances.”

“Brethren, we have all had enough of this fake narrative and we should state clearly and unambiguously what Freemasonry is,” he added. “We have a proud tradition as a secular, non-religious, non-political, lawful and law-abiding activity in the United Kingdom, as it is elsewhere in the world. Freemasonry is proud of its history of inclusivity and for the last three centuries, we have welcomed members from all walks of life, regardless of religion, ethnicity, sexuality or socioeconomic background.”

“Across the world, most nights, in Freemasons’ lodges, these groups of people come together to enjoy their Freemasonry, united in their commitment to our core values, which this Grand Lodge articulates as integrity, friendship, respect and service,” he also said. “These values are based on long-established Enlightenment values and Freemasonry has fundamental ideals including liberty, tolerance, constitutional government and a meritocratic society.”

The Telegraph’s Steve Bird discovered the secret speech on the furtive fraternity’s website. Click here.

This boring non-story has been churning in the media for several weeks since the Garrick Club voted to admit females to its membership, and a brilliant super-genius in the House of Lords asked What about the Freemasons? Read more about that here. Since then, the UGLE and the two female grand lodges have issued joint statements affirming their rights to keep the same-sex memberships they choose.

Click here to read The Telegraph story.

@MayallOnline

     

‘English Masons, both sexes, correct The New European’

    

The United Grand Lodge of England, joined by both The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honorable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, issued a rebuttal today to juvenile criticisms leveled by a member of the House of Lords published in The New European.

That periodical was launched about eight years ago to give a platform for the minority who were outvoted in the Brexit referendum, because, as you know, the globalists are voiceless. Its motto, shown at the top of the top of the banner atop its homepage reads: “Think without borders.” Yes, really.

The House of Lords member is Patience Wheatcroft, the scribe responsible for “Forget the Garrick, What about the Freemasons?” published Wednesday. (The Garrick Club, founded 1831, is a private society for actors and theater lovers that voted May 7 to admit females.) Excerpted:

Patience Wheatcroft

Gentlemen’s clubs in one guise or another have been a feature of the social scene, particularly in London, for centuries while women have enjoyed their own institutions too. Those who were determined to break down the “men only” barrier in Garrick Street argued that it was a special case because really important matters were being discussed and decided by the really important people who met there and this only served to perpetuate the cruel patriarchy that persists in the UK… And right next door to the place where the Garrick’s historic vote was taken early this month–the Connaught Rooms–is the imposing Freemasons’ Hall. That’s home to the United Grand Lodge of England, an organisation which far pre-dates the Garrick and which remains firmly closed to women... This international movement lists its principles as “Integrity, Friendship, Respect, and Service,” all qualities that might be thought to have appeal to those of every gender and none. Undoubtedly, the movement does charitable works but there are some who suspect that its charity most decidedly begins at home.

“Every gender and none!” That phrase reveals all I need to know about our correspondent.

The Freemasons’ retort says, in part:

Beginning with the numerous claims about Freemasonry’s entry requirements, we are delighted that the author has visited the UGLE website and reflected on the organisation’s core values of Integrity, Friendship, Respect, and Service. While she was there, it is a shame, however, that Baroness Wheatcroft did not manage to locate the section of our website dedicated to Women Freemasons, who have been proudly meeting in this country for over 100 years. Indeed, even more simply, a cursory Google search would have revealed the websites of the two female Grand Lodges that meet in the United Kingdom, as well as their numerous social media channels. The links for all three of our websites can be found in the footer of this statement and we encourage you to peruse them at your leisure.

Read The New European piece here. Read the Masonic response here.

     

‘Discussion on women in Freemasonry’

   

While I’m not acquainted with any of the panelists slated to speak at this discussion, I have no doubt this will be an enlightening and rewarding exploration of the topic. I regret not being able to attend. From the publicity:

Maryland Masonic

Research Society

Discussion Panel

on Women

in Freemasonry

Saturday, October 14

at noon

Kensington Masonic Temple

Panelists:

Anne-Marie Moody, Past President of MMRS and Most Puissant Grand Commander of the International Order of Men and Women, Le Droit Humain, American Federation

Raymonda Verdick, Most Worshipful Grand Commander, Feminine Grand Lodge of Belgium

Leslie Gilliam, Past Grand Matron, Order of the Eastern Star, Maryland

Moderator: Walter Benesch, Past President, MMRS

Book your seats by emailing the MMRS Secretary here no later than October 1. Lunch ($20/person) is an option before the panel discussion.

The Masonic Temple is located at 4315 Howard Avenue in Kensington, Maryland.

  

‘A princess decapitated, a stairway ascended, and a Fellow elevated’

    

Appropriately hanging outside the Colonial Room in Masonic Hall are Franklin, Washington, and Lafayette.

That was one exceptional meeting of The American Lodge of Research we enjoyed last night! Two phenomenal research papers anchored what was a productive and memorable time together.

Attendance was up, probably because of improved communication and outreach both to our members and to those interested but haven’t joined yet—and also, I suspect, because the successes of the past two years of meetings speak for themselves.

Bro. Ziad was the first to present. His paper, with plenty of art and illustrations, is titled “The Masonic Journey of Princess Lamballe.” An engaging work of biography and history that reveals a very young lady’s entrance into the height of Parisian society (becoming a confidant of Marie Antoinette, no less) and how she parlayed her social station into Masonic membership in an Adoptive lodge, Loge la Candeur, where a demand for equality between the sexes was fomenting. La Candeur was an independent-minded force for feminine equality within the Grand Orient of France, to the point of antagonizing the Grand Orient leadership. The princess was present at this lodge’s inaugural meeting on March 21, 1775. Six years later, the women members decided they would rule and govern the lodge themselves, without male members’ direction.

The Death of Princess de Lamballe
by Léon-Maxime Faivre, 1908.

  
In the end, she perished in The Terror, replete with decapitation. I like to think she and her peers’ Masonic labors continue today in the feminine lodges of France and elsewhere—several of which can be found a short distance away on 45th Street.

Next at the lectern was Bro. Daniel (I redact surnames here because I don’t know if the brethren prefer privacy concerning their Masonic membership), who gave us “Superstructure: A Philological and Historical Reimagination of the Middle Chamber and Winding Staircase.” Daniel is a rabbinical student whose insights into the Hebrew language, both modern and ancient, fuel his investigation into exactly what might be meant in the lecture of the Second Degree when it discusses that inner architecture of KST.

I think we all understand no one in Israel was employing the term “Sanctum Sanctorum.” Daniel plumbs the Hebrew, Aramaic, and English (and displays Greek and Latin) uses of the terms middle, chamber, winding, and staircase to extrapolate contexts that ensure we’ll never hear that degree’s lecture in the same way again. It may be possible that the climb to the Middle Chamber is not traversed via material stairs at all but, instead, could be a mental ascendance.

During the Q&A, the Brother Junior Deacon rose to exclaim that this was the finest research presentation he’d heard in many years. He also mentioned how the Greek word thalamus—as in cerebral cortex—means “inner chamber!” I similarly think this paper exemplifies the way scholarship in Freemasonry can add powerful life to the printed words Masons are expected to memorize for recitation. (And don’t ask about my attempt to deliver the few brief lines from the Junior Warden’s station!)

Speaking of printed pages, naturally both of these papers will appear in our upcoming book of transactions; they will bloom on the page because their oral presentations, even with PowerPoint, are an awful lot to absorb. The ALR has inked a deal with Westphalia Press and, when I finally finish editing, we can start pre-press. Hopefully will have the books in June.

There was some business to tackle before closing the meeting, and it is with great pleasure The ALR announces the election of its newest Fellow—that’s No. 50—is Piers Vaughan! Congratulations, Piers! There’s no need to explain why he was chosen.

The American Lodge of Research will meet again in June for more Masonic learning and our election and installation of officers.

     

‘New grand master calls for initiating women’

    

E. Sultan photo

Grand Master Ilan Segev.

The recently installed Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Israel was quoted in that country’s most widely read newspaper saying he believes it is time for the fraternity there to begin admitting women.

MW Bro. Ilan Segev took office July 12. In a story covering his speech to the brethren published in Israel Hayom (Israel Today) on July 28, he is quoted sharing his opinions on modernizing the Craft. “The world has changed since the Grand Lodge of England was founded in 1717. In 2022, we cannot ignore that women make up half of the population, and there is a real need to examine the possibility of making a change. There is no doubt that the principles of Freemasonry speak to every person regardless of religion, race, or gender. I have a number of ideas that I will present to the grand committee of the Grand Lodge, and then we will open it up for discussion in the Order.”

An English translation of the article was posted to the newspaper’s website on August 4. The reporter, Eyal Levi, followed up with an interview and wrote of far more than the eye-grabbing talk of membership transformation. Click here to read it entirely.

“Women are not currently accepted,” the article continues, but, Segev said “it may change. I am working on it. There are lodges in France that have opened up for women already. I am thinking of a certain model, which I won’t go into details about now, but I want women to play a big role in the society. When Freemasonry was first established, women didn’t work, they stayed at home. In 2022, the world is different, and we must progress.”

“What will happen for sure I do not know, but through a process, I believe soon women will also be able to be Freemasons. I said during the ceremony, ‘Freedom, Equality, and Brotherhood. Love, Help, and Truth.’ Any knowledgeable person can except these values. That is why we will have to change the system and adjust the constitution.”

The current Grand Lodge of Israel will reach its seventieth anniversary next year. Click here for Bro. Leon Zeldin’s brief history of Freemasonry there.

     

‘America Lodge 57’

    

I feel like I’m the last one to see it, but there is this well produced 45-minute(!) video on YouTube about the first regular Masonic lodge for women set to labor in the United States. Women Regular Freemasonry and the Great Experiment can be found on the America57 Channel, which is named for America Lodge 57 in Washington, D.C., chartered by the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, which is based in England.

The word “regular,” I bet, is catching your eye. Some are thinking America 57 can’t be the first regular lodge for women because there have been women’s lodges here for years. Others will chafe at the use of the word simply because women are in the lodge. Most of the explanation is in the documentary, and I’ll add some history. America 57 is regular, it is said in the video, because it is regularly constituted by a grand lodge; it admits only women to membership; it requires belief in a supreme being; it displays the Three Great Lights on the altar; it proscribes partisan and sectarian lodge activities; and it has no tiled visitations with male lodges. So, that’s standard operating procedure. The missing historical context—or at least I didn’t catch it—involves a statement published by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1999 that calls the two oldest and largest Masonic orders for women in England regular in their practices. There’s no recognition—that’s a whole other determination—but UGLE said HFAF and the Order of Women Freemasons are regular.

Why women’s Freemasonry at all? America Lodge’s Worshipful Master explains:

“It’s very important for a woman to become a Freemason for a number of reasons,” said Lou P. Elias. “First, in the United States, women are still learning to juggle the different duties they’re expected to fulfill, so building a deeply rooted sense of confidence is very essential. Unfortunately, while the usual self-help trainings and confidence-building workshops are useful to a certain degree, their impact remains at a surface.”

“It is the initiatic path, the pursuit of women’s Freemasonry, that provides the woman with a powerful transformative self of unshakable confidence, impossible to describe in words,” she added. “Secondly, as women increasingly ascend to positions of leadership or in responsibility in business and government in civil society, women’s Freemasonry provides the teachings and the tools to help them build a stronger, wiser, more beautiful and more just society.”

“And thirdly, women in our country need to take the Great Experiment that we call America to the next level. [In] this Great Experiment in human governance, deeply rooted in the teachings of Freemasonry, the revolutionary has been dominated by men, and has reached a plateau, so we need women Freemasons to advance our unique experiment in governance to the next level.”

If W. Bro. Elias’ last name (and these Masons are called brethren) rings familiar, it’s because she is the spouse of MW Bro. Akram Elias, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. He too speaks in the video, defining that Great Experiment, a common topic in his addresses to Masonic audiences. (Maybe you caught his presentation to the Masonic Society in February.)

Well, it’s silly to keep writing about it when you could watch the documentary. There’s revealing footage of ritual, unmistakable messaging in the scenes of Washington, and keep an eye out for the Book of Ruth. Enjoy.

We Three or Three Such As We

     
I wrote this book review for the previous (Spring 2009) issue of Alchemy Journal, the theme of which was “The Alchemical Feminine,” but due to space limitations the editor said he was keeping it on file until the Fall issue, but it didn't make the cut there either. Hmmmmph! So I'll stick it on the Magpie.

We Three or Three Such As We
By Judith Rasoletti and Emile Lancée
LeesMijnBoek, 2008, 217 pp., 32.50EUR
(no ISBN)

The authors of the books we read – any books – presumably are professionals motivated by not only experience and knowledge of their subjects, but also hopefully a love for the same. In this particular book, we have it all.

This book’s subject is one that most Freemasons do not hear discussed with much accuracy or kindness: women in Masonry. Co-authors Judith Rasoletti and Emile Lancée have mixed together a trilogy of biographies with vivid descriptions of Freemasonry’s rituals, symbols and teachings. (And frankly we don’t hear those three subjects discussed regularly in most lodges either!)

The biographical subjects are Aimée Bothwell-Gosse, Marjorie Cecily Debenham, and Charlotte Jones. Not household names, and not found in Masonic reference books, but what makes their stories memorable is one night in 1949 at Lodge Castalia in Yorkshire. Jones, a widowed mother of two, was to be initiated; Debenham served as Worshipful Master; and Bothwell-Gosse, founder of the lodge, was seated with the dignitaries in the East. No one could have known it, but in time, these women and others will have built two “co-ed” Masonic jurisdictions in Great Britain and one international organization.

There are other actors who set this stage earlier. The book tells how Elizabeth St. Leger was initiated in a regular lodge in Ireland in 1712. Annie Besant entered Masonry in the French Co-Masonic circles at the fin de siècle. Maria Deraismes was a suffragette with a reputation for writing, oratory and political organizing who was initiated by a French lodge that suffered suspension by its grand lodge in retribution. These names do appear in popular Masonic references and other books. Before proceeding, it also must be noted that the United Grand Lodge of England acknowledged (not to be confused with recognized) Masonry for women. In a statement published more than a decade ago, UGLE explained how two grand lodges in Britain that admit women are “otherwise regular in their practice,” and while inter-visitation is not possible, discussions do take place between UGLE and the women Masons “on matters of mutual concern.” So we’re not talking about science fiction here. Furthermore, please know that co-author Rasoletti delivered a paper of these three biographies at the Second International Conference on the History of Freemasonry in Scotland last May.

As regards the symbolism of Masonry explained in this book, the authors let their biographical subjects do the talking. The results are splendid. Freemasonry is described glowingly, respectfully, as a cultural institution that advances moral truths and psychological understandings. This is the European model at labor – not a raffle ticket nor bowl of chili to be found. Big ideas are topics in lodges from the beginning of the Masonic journey. The Entered Apprentice does not Pass to Fellowcraft until he/she presents a “Piece of Architecture” to the lodge. In other words, the new Mason authors a paper demonstrating an understanding of a symbol. It repeats after the Fellowcraft Degree, and throughout the Mason’s career after the MM° and beyond. In fact, this very book is dedicated as a Piece of Architecture.

Marjorie Cecily Debenham, who would rise to become Grand Commander of her jurisdiction, the Order of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masonry for Men and Women, says this of Working Tools (in language that perhaps Alchemists can appreciate):

Now the journey continues, which for the Mason is a constant attempt to polish his stone, that Rough Ashlar which needs attention day and night. Masons polish the roughness with their Working Tools, the Chisel and the Mallet, alternating between the active and passive poles of their personality. The hidden aspects of their psyche are revealed with each blow of the mallet, chiseling another fine line that can be incisive or divisive, or smoothing, just as the relationships in their lives out there mirror the progress in here.

Those two sentences are but a tiny clue of how Freemasonry is regarded by Masons in some jurisdictions the mainstream does not recognize. I don’t want to turn a book review into a “their way is better” essay, but the differences between the two systems are very significant. Mainstream Masons attempt to memorize and recite 18th century prose, while the Masons in this book themselves speak in style and content worthy of ritual use.

In keeping with the theme (The Alchemical Feminine) of this issue of Alchemy Journal, I must relate the bold thinking behind Chapter 5, titled ‘Mixed Masonry Worldwide: Blueprint for the Future.’ An essay within, written by Maarten Zweers, says:

We really need the woman’s spiritual as well as concrete input from the feminine point of view to avoid missing the connection with the new time we live in and falling into the pitfall of non-fertile rigid thinking.

This aspect is much more fundamental than men realize. The bigger dramatic works that describe the transfer from the old to the new culture, they all point in the direction of the rescue of the masculine by the feminine. Countless plays by Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio,’ works of Wagner, Von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, everywhere the male gets stuck at the end because of the old cultural habits. The relief comes from the feminine world. The petrifaction of the masculine that loses all creativity and power to act manifests itself to a terrifying degree in our society and the masculine Lodges.

The back of the book provides several very useful appendices, listing timelines that quickly chart the histories of the several feminine and mixed Masonic obediences that comprise the historical aspects of the book.

Honorable Fraternity of Antient Masonry (HFAM), founded in 1904, which became the Order of Women Freemasons in 1958.

Honorable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons (HFAF), founded in 1913

The Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry for Men and Women (AFAM), founded in 1925.

The Order of Ancient Free Masonry for Men and Women (AFMM&W), founded in 1979. Its first Grand Master was Charlotte Jones, formerly of AFAM.

Little information about these organizations is available outside the organizations themselves, and this book could have done the valuable service of shedding more light. For example, the departure of Jones from AFAM that led to the creation of AFMM&W is glossed over as just a typical splintering that “seems to happen so often in Freemasonry.” The reader is told only that Jones and several other members left AFAM over a disagreement concerning “a constitutional matter dealing with secret ballots that was seriously mishandled.” The reader can pardon the authors for protecting privacy, but the reader also has cause to wonder if candor and objectivity are possible when an author is personally involved with the subject.

There are other flaws in this book, but most are stylistic. First is the layout. In short, this book looks like it was designed in Microsoft Word with margins that are too wide. The typeface is a sans serif that implies a levity that this serious work does not deserve. There are plenty of terrific graphics, but captions are absent, and space is wasted by the huge margins surrounding them. The Introduction explains the captions are found in the back of the book to prevent distraction from the illustrations, and yet these illustrations are frustratingly small, again due to the layout, which defeats the purpose of isolating many of them.

On the editorial side, 16 pages are devoted to a facsimile of Bothwell-Gosse’s ‘A Short Sketch of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,’ when instead the text could have been typeset efficiently so that space could be devoted to other purposes. In addition, a poor choice was made to allow many repeated uses of the Masonic punctuation called the triple period. This triangle of dots appears on many official and ceremonial Masonic documents. It is distracting in this book. For example, twice on page 135 the title “Most Illustrious Brother” is presented as an abbreviation that actually mutates the triple period, and it’s not a matter of secrecy because the abbreviations guide in the back of the book decodes it all. A simple style would have benefited the reader, or at least this one.

We Three or Three Such as We is, on the whole, an important book because it tells of people and events in Freemasonry that are little known. The stories of these women and their lodges deserve to be recorded and read and understood, and hopefully one day embraced as a standard part of the endlessly diverse story of Freemasonry.