THEOSOPHY AND FREEMASONRY
Parallel to her religious, or rather pseudo-religious, work which we have just discussed, Mrs Besant completed another of a quite different character, a Masonic enterprise. We have already seen that from the beginning there were many Masons in and around the Theosophical Society; moreover, the ideal of 'universal brotherhood', whose realization this Society presents as the first of its goals, is something it holds in common with Masonry. Nevertheless, this was only a matter of individual relationships, involving no Masonic organization, and there never were any between the Theosophical Society and so-called 'regular' Masonry, perhaps because the latter found Theosophy too compromising or perhaps for other reasons; we will not try to resolve this question here. It is probable that certain Masons who are at the same time and doubtless before all else Theosophists, go too far and too easily take their own wishes for reality when they write things like:
Freemasonry and Theosophy, whatever one may say of the latter, are of one mind, complement one another, and are united on their initiatic sides which are absolutely identical. From this point of view they are one and the same thing, as old as the world. [1]
If the point of view is exclusively doctrinal, this can only be an expression of the Theosophist claim that they possess the doctrine which is the source of all the others, a claim which they apply here to Masonry as they do elsewhere with regard to the religions, but which has no foundation because Theosophy-it can never be too often repeated-is essentially a modern invention. [2] On the other hand, from the historical point of view it is too easy and much too simple to speak of Masonry in general as a sort of indivisible entity; these things are rather more complicated in reality, and there, as with Rosicrucianism (we have already said this in regard to the latter), one has to know how to make necessary distinctions and to say which Masonry one means, whatever one's opinions on the presence or absence of relations between the different Masonries. This is why we were careful to specify that what we just said concerned only 'regular' Masonry; for matters are quite otherwise if one considers 'irregular' Masonry, which the public is much less familiar with and which includes very different organizations, some of which are closely linked to occultism; generally these groups are not very numerous, but they claim to be quite superior to ordinary Masonry, while this, for its part, treats them with the deepest contempt and even regards them as vulgar counterfeits.
One of the most curious figures of this 'irregular' Masonry was the Englishman John Yarker, who died in 1913. Author of numerous works on Masonic history and symbolism, he held opinions quite peculiar to himself on these subjects, and maintained, among other bizarre opinions, that 'the initiated Mason is priest of all religions.' Creator or renovator of several rites, he was at the same time linked to a multitude of occultist associations with more or less justified initiatic claims. He was, in particular, an honorary member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, whose leaders were also members of his own organizations even while they were linked to that 'regular'
Masonry which he had himself long since abandoned. Yarker had been the friend of Mazzini and Garibaldi and, in their entourage, had known Mme Blavatsky; thus, she made him an honorary member of the Theosophical Society as soon as she founded it. In exchange, after the publication of Isis Unveiled, Yarker conferred on Blavatsky the grade of 'Crown Princess', the highest of the grades of 'adoption' (that is to say, feminine grades) of the Rite of Memphis and Misraïm, of which he called himself 'Great Hierophant. [3] These reciprocal courtesies are the custom among the leaders of such groups. One might find that the title of 'Crown Princess' agreed rather poorly with the legendary poor appearance of Mme Blavatsky, to such a point as to seem almost an irony; but we have known of other persons on whom the same title was conferred and who did not have even the most elementary education. Yarker claimed to hold his office of 'Great Hierophant' from Garibaldi; but the legitimacy of this succession was always challenged in Italy where there existed another organization of the Rite of Memphis and Misraïm which asserted its independence from his. In later years Yarker's principal auxiliary was a certain Theodore Reuss, of whom we spoke in connection with the 'Order of the Eastern Templars' of which he was made head. [4] This Reuss, who now calls himself Reuss-Willsson, is a German living in London, where, if he does not still have them, he had official responsibilities at the 'Theosophical Publishing Company', and who cannot return to his own country, we are told, without risk of arrest by the authorities for certain indelicacies previously committed. But this has not prevented him from founding-without leaving England-the 'Grand Orient of the German Empire' which counts among its dignitaries Franz Hartmann. To return to Yarker, we must further note that this same personage formed a Swedenborgian Rite which, though claiming to be 'primitive and original' (just as, for
its part, the Rite of Memphis called itself 'ancient and primitive') was entirely his own invention and had no link with the Masonic rites which, in the eighteenth century, were more or less wholly inspired by the ideas of Swedenborg, and among which were the rite of the 'Theosophical Illuminati', established at London in 1767 by Benedict Chastanier, and that of the 'Illuminati of Avignon', founded by the Benedictine Dom A.-J. Pernéty. It is quite certain, moreover, that Swedenborg himself never established any Masonic rite, any more than he did a church, although there now exists a Swedenborgian Church, called 'of the New Jerusalem', which is quite clearly a Protestant sect. As for Yarker's Swedenborgian Rite, we have a list of its dignitaries dated 1897; or according to the chronology peculiar to this rite, 7770 A.O.S. (Ab Origine Symbolismi). The name of Colonel Olcott is there as representative of the Supreme Council to the Grand Lodge and Temple of Bombay. Let us add that in 1900 Papus tried to establish a Grand Swedenborgian Lodge in France connected to the same rite, an effort that had little success. Papus had named Yarker a member of the Supreme Council of the Martinist Order, [5] and in reciprocation, Yarker had made a place for him in the Supreme Council of the Swedenborgian Rite, with the title 'Grand Marshall'.
From the Masonic point of view, the preceding is all we need note regarding Mme Blavatsky and Col. Olcott, although it is worth recalling that prior to the creation of the Theosophical Society, Olcott belonged to 'regular' American Masonry. But what satisfied the founders of the Theosophical Society did not suffice Mrs Besant, and this for two reasons: first, her excessively propagandist temperament led her to prefer to address a more widespread organization, and she very much intended to play an active and not a merely honorific role; and then, her ardent feminism agreed badly with the grades of 'adoption' which were a kind of annex in which the women were kept apart from serious work, and she needed a Masonry that admitted women as well as men on a footing of complete equality. This is something contrary to generally recognized
Masonic principles, but nevertheless such an organization existed; this was the mixed Masonry founded in France in 1891 by Maria Deraismes and Dr Georges Martin, and known as 'Human Right'. [6] Maria Deraismes, who was in her time one of the directors of the feminist movement, had been initiated in 1882, contrary to the constitutions, by The Free-Thinkers Lodge of Pecq, which came under the Grand Symbolic Lodge of Scotland. This initiation was declared null and the Lodge where it took place was 'put to sleep' for the deed. But several years later, Martin, formerly a municipal councillor of Paris and senator from the Seine, who as a politician, had made himself known especially for his insistence in calling for voting rights for women and had seen all his efforts to have them admitted into 'regular' Masonry fail, joined with Maria Deraismes to establish a new Masonry, which naturally was not recognized by any of the obediences already existing in France or abroad. Maria Deraismes died in 1894; after her it was Mrs Georges Martin who was placed at the head of mixed Masonry which then was only 'symbolic', that is to say it practiced only three degrees. Subsequently the higher grades were introduced, following the Scottish system of thirty-three degrees; and in 1899 the 'Supreme Universal Mixed Council' was founded, which from that time has been the directing power. This Supreme Council had a reputation for autocratic ways which, in France, provoked a schism in 1913; some of the lodges formed a new and independent obedience called the 'Grand Mixed Lodge of France', recognizing only three symbolic grades as was the case at the beginning. Nevertheless, mixed Masonry spread little by little to different countries, particularly to England, Holland, Switzerland, and the United States. Its first English lodge was consecrated in London on September 26, 1902 under the title Human Duty, while the French lodges all bear the uniform name of 'Human Right', followed simply by a number.
It was into this mixed Masonry that Mrs Besant entered, and as in the Theosophical Society she rapidly reached the highest grades
and the highest functions: honorary Grand Master of the London lodge, she established another lodge at Adyar with the name Rising Sun; then she became vice-president of the Supreme Mixed Universal Council and 'national delegate' of this same Supreme Council for Great Britain and its dependencies. In this latter capacity she organized the English branch under the name of 'Co-Masonry' and succeeded in greatly expanding it and giving it a certain autonomy. The concessions she won from the Supreme Council to form this organization in the way she intended is perhaps the most obvious proof of the considerable influence she was able to acquire in this milieu. She gave to her branch statutes which, under the pretext of adaptation to the Anglo-Saxon mentality, were apparently different from those which were and still are in use in the French branch; thus she reestablished all of the old ritual forms which English and American Masonry had always possessed, particularly the use of the Bible in the lodges, and also the formula, 'To the glory of the Great Architect of the Universe', which the Grand Orient of France had suppressed on 1877 and which mixed French Masonry had replaced by 'To the glory of Humanity'. In 1913, British Co-Masonry had at its head a Grand Council whose Grand Mistress naturally was S. Annie Besant assisted by S. Ursula M Bright, with whom she normally resided while visiting England, and whose Grand Secretary was F. James I. Wedgwood, today a bishop of the Old Catholic Church; her representative for India was S. Francesca Arundale, aunt of the former principal of the 'Central Hindu College', who is himself an eminent member of Co-Masonry. The influence of Theosophy is also very evident in the American branch of mixed Masonry; it was S. Annie Besant who inaugurated the Chicago Lodge [7] on September 21, 1909; an avowed Theosophist, S. Alida Leeuw, is vice-president of the American Federation (whose president is F. Louis Goaziou, of French origin). In the French branch, on the contrary, Theosophists and occultists have until recently been only a small minority, even though among the founders of the first 'Human Right' Lodge there was at least one Theosophist, Maria
Martin, sister of Francesca Arundale; later she became Grand Secretary General of the Supreme Mixed Universal Council, and when she died, she was replaced in this office by another Theosophist, Mme Amélie Gédage. The latter has today succeeded to the Presidency of the Supreme Council, where she replaces Mrs Georges Martin who died in 1914. One must believe, therefore, that even in France the Theosophists have henceforth assured themselves of a preponderance. The leaders of Theosophy, moreover, seem to anticipate that the English branch will be called upon to supplant the French branch from which it arose and one day to become the central organization of 'Universal Co-Masonry'; but even if this center should officially remain in France, it is nonetheless henceforth subject to their direct influence-another example of the monopolizing that we saw at work in the Old Catholic Church.
In its beginnings, mixed Masonry had nothing occultist or even spiritualist about it; here are the ideas of Dr Georges Martin as to its spirit and goal (we scrupulously respect style):
The International Order of Mixed Masonry is the first Masonic mixed philosophical power, progressive, and philanthropic, organized and constituted in the world, which places itself above all the preoccupations of philosophical or religious ideas which those who ask to become members may profess.... The Order intends to occupy itself principally with the vital interests of the human being on the earth; it intends especially to study in its Temples the means of realizing Peace among all peoples and social Justice, which will permit all humans to enjoy, during their life, the greatest possible sum of moral felicity as well as material well-being. [8]
And we read elsewhere: 'Not claiming any divine revelation and loudly affirming that it is only an emanation of human reason, this fraternal institution is not dogmatic; it is rationalist.' [9] In spite of everything, and even independently of any Theosophical inter-vention, mixed Masonry has in the nature of things been led gradually
to undertake ongoing relations with most of the other 'irregular' Masonic organizations, even with those with the most pronounced occultist character. Thus, for example, in a list of Past Grand Masters of the Spanish National Rite, established by F.: Villarino del Villar and closely connected with the organizations of F.: John Yarker (who in his last years became one of the con-tributors to the English review The Co-Mason), we see the heads of mixed Masonry, including Mrs Besant, figure side by side with the heads of the principal occultist schools, whose quarrels as we have noted do not exclude certain alliances of this kind. [10] What is curious is to see the insistence, even the avidity, with which all these groups claim to possess the most pure Masonic doctrine; and Co-Masonry, which is 'irregular' in the highest degree, boasts of restoring the primordial tradition, as is seen in this phrase which ends its declaration of principles:
Universal Co-Masonry reestablishes the immemorial custom of admitting on an equal footing men and women to the Mysteries from which Freemasonry is derived, founded on Brotherhood, the Truth and the practice of all the moral and social virtues. [11]
Moreover, it is a common habit of all schisms and all heresies of whatever kind to present themselves as a return to original purity. Does not even Protestantism wish to pass itself off as a manifestation of the pure evangelical spirit, such as this was in the time of primitive Christianity?
The restoration of the Mysteries, to which the phrase we cited alluded, is as we have seen one of the reasons for 'esoteric Christianity', so that it and Co-Masonry appears, at least in this respect, as the two complementary faces of a single enterprise. Let it also be remembered that Masonry generally claims to constitute a link
between all peoples and all forms of worship (this is what Scottish Masonry in particular understands by the 'Holy Empire'), and one will then understand the full meaning of these words uttered a long time ago by Mrs Besant:
What we have to do now is to embark on a period of construction during which the Theosophical Society will endeavor to make itself the center of the Religion of the world, the Religion of which Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and all the other sects are integral parts.... In fact, we consider, and not without a solid basis for our belief, that we alone represent the eclectic and really catholic Universal Church, recognizing as brothers and as faithful all those who, under each form of worship, seek truth and justice. [12]
These claims might then have seemed very extravagant, and indeed they are, but one is less tempted to smile when today one thinks of the furious perseverance with which for a quarter of a century she who uttered them has worked to make them a reality.