ADOPTION RITE

“The Initiation of a Woman is Lunar, while the Man's Initiation is Solar.”

Rite of Adoption

At the building of King Solomon's Temple, one of the workmen had his lunch brought to him each day by his daughter. She would sit and watch him, and eventually she asked if she could try her hand at cutting stone. At first he thought she was foolish, for this was man's work, but she persisted, and he could not resist her. He showed her how to shape the stone, and it soon became apparent that she had a natural talent. While she was not as strong as the young men, she had a surer touch than most.

There was not much that escaped the eye of Hiram Abif, as he oversaw the work. He saw how the girl helped her father, and how she improved day by day. Finally, Hiram Abif bade her father to bring her to a meeting of the workmen on the ground floor of King Solomon's Temple. She feared that he would chastise her, but to everyone's surprise, he insisted that she be initiated as an Entered Apprentice. No one dared to dispute the will of Hiram Abif, and it was done as he said. After the meeting, Adoniram came up to Hiram Abif and said, "How could you do this? From time immemorial only men have been initiated as Masons. It is against all our ancient landmarks." Hiram Abif smiled, and said, "It wasn't my idea. God made her a Mason. I just agreed to help her improve herself in Masonry."

Women were admitted into the fraternity long before Freemasonry was officially recognized. The forming of the United Grand Lodge of England (U.G.L.E.) put a stop to this, declaring in 1717 that women were not to be admitted into the Craft. There were still many women Masons after that point, but no more were admitted. Although the Antient Charges forbid the admission or initiation of women into the Order of Free and Accepted Masons, there are known instances where as the result of accident or sometimes design the rule has been broken and women have been duly initiated. The "Ancient Landmarks" that the U.G.L.E. assembled, the basic tenets of the fraternity, effectively put a stop to further admission. Organizations like Co-Masonry, the Feminine Grand Lodges, and “Le Droit Humane” descended from regular Masonic Lodges, but have over time taken a different evolutionary path.

In The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis and Misraim (A.P.R.M.M.) constitutes Lodges in three branches:

Masculine,
Feminine
Mixed.

A.P.R.M.M. maintains women's separate Lodges (with corresponding Rituals). They were inspired from the Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro and raised in Republic of Venice on 1801. Count Cagliostro was the mysterious initiate whose work is attested by the Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry. Cagliostro after creating his Egyptian Rite, declared that since women had been admitted into the Ancient Mysteries there was no reason why they should be excluded from the initiatic Orders. Count Cagliostro was initiated in England and always remained a regular Free Mason in an orthodox male-only Lodges. The Egyptian Rite of Adoption was a body for Master Masons and their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters, like the Eastern Star and Albert Pike's the Rite of Adoption in the US. It was not meant to be a replacement for regular Free Masonry, but an addendum to it. Each woman who participates in these Rituals is working on her character's refining and enhancement, whereby ameliorates the conditions of the whole human fraternity.

The A.P.R.M.M. does not adopt mixed Initiation. From a ritual perspective, many Freemasons believe that the energy present in Lodge, or any ritual, is more potent when not of a "mixed polarity". Throughout history, ritual has separated men and women, helping them each to focus on their distinctive traits, each practicing their own initiations. The Feminine nature necessitates different functions than the male nature. The Initiation of a Woman is Lunar type, while the Man's Initiation is Solar type. Therefore, in Female Lodges, a man only assists, delivering the Light in the Feminine Lodge. This Man has to bear Rite's degree 4º to 7º at least.John Yarker states that Madame H. P. Blavatsky's masonic certificate in the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry was issued in the year 1877: “Both the Rites of Memphis and Mizraim, as well as the Grand Orient of France, possessed a Branch of Adoptive Masonry. We accordingly sent H. P. Blavatsky, on the 24/11/77, a Certificate of the highest rank, that of a Crowned Princess.”

The Lodge is a balance of feminine and masculine energies in terms of planetary assignments, physiological correspondences of the Officers, etc. A portion of the physical Lodge is assigned to the feminine energy, another to the masculine. The Work is intended to teach to discern these energies within ourselves, and to learn by the use of certain processes (analogized as tools) to integrate and balance these energies to become effective human beings. The Feminine Egyptian Rite of Adoption had been in "sleep" for over a century, till its revival in 1971, by Gastone Ventura 33º 90º 97º - Sovereign General Grand Hierophant of the A.P.R.M.M.