What is Adoptive Masonry?
Adoptive Masonry is a term used to describe Masonic societies where women were accepted as members.
Such organizations first appeared in France in the early
eighteenth century, and they quickly expanded to other nations.
The Mopses were among the first to "adopt" women.
In 1742, the Felicitaries were formed.
Bauchaine, Master of a Parisian lodge, founded the Fendeurs,
or Woodcutters, in 1763.
It was modeled after the Carbonari, and its success prompted
the opening of other lodges, including the Fidelity and the Hatchet.
The Grand Orient Lodge of France devised a three-degree
system known as the Rite of Adoption in 1774, and the duchess of Bourbon was
chosen Grand Mistress of France.
The process was widely embraced by Freemasonry, and
additional degrees were added from time to time, bringing the total number of
degrees to about twelve.
The Ladies' Hospitallers of Mount Tabor introduced Latin and
Greek mysteries to the ritual.
The most powerful women in France became members of the French adoption lodges.
In 1819, 1821, 1838, and 1853, the Rite of Mizraim
established lodges for both sexes, while the Rite of Memphis did so in 1839.
The Rite of the Eastern Star was created in five points by
America.
Admission was often limited to Masons' female relatives in
these systems.
Scotland sought but failed to establish the Order of the
Eastern Star and Adoptive Masonry.