Ritual, Secrecy and Civil Society Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 2013 | Page 10

Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
the aims of the Theosophical Society , defined in 1896 , were very different , they could not seriously worry the founders of the “ Droit Humain .” To sum them up :
1 . To form a universal fraternity with no distinction of race , religious belief , sex , class , or color .
2 . To encourage the study of comparative religious , science , and philosophy .
3 . To explore the unexplained laws of nature and the latent powers in mankind . 3
These goals are not entirely the same as those of the “ Droit Humain ,” but are fully compatible with them , hence the possibility of confusion between the two .
The “ Droit Humain ” lodges , supported by many theosophists who were already members of men ’ s Freemasonry lodges in England , expanded rapidly both in England , Scotland , and Ireland , then to other English-speaking countries and colonies , such as the English West Indies , Australia , New Zealand , South Africa , and so on . On the other hand , the presence and influence of members of the Theosophical Society was becoming increasingly dominant in the lodges , where Freemasonry was considered as a way to disseminate theosophical ideas . There were , of course , members who were not theosophists , but they were in the minority and , above all , theosophists held all the administrative positions in the English lodges . Furthermore , the rituals of the first three degrees were altered via the addition of specifically theosophist elements . The rituals of Mark Masonry , the Royal Arch degree , and the 18 th degree were also revised . This created a certain unease in the lodges . The situation worsened in 1922 with a scandal .
Two of the most eminent members of the Theosophical Society and the British branch of the “ Droit Humain ,” Brothers Charles Webster Leadbeater in Australia and James Ingall Wedgwood in England , were publicly accused of homosexuality . Given the morals of the period , this was a scandal that tainted the Theosophical Society as well as the English lodges . 4 Petitions were drawn up and complaints were submitted directly to the Supreme Council in Paris . Annie Besant , for highly complex reasons that were essentially linked to problems within the Theosophical Society , did not pursue any action in these cases . 5
However , the non-theosophist members of the English lodges , and even some of those who were theosophists , clamored for justice . The Supreme Council then sent an eminent member of its British branch to conduct an inquiry independent of its representative , Annie Besant . This person was Miss Aimée Bothwell-Gosse . She was well respected by all for her integrity , her intellectual and moral rigor , and her unfailing honesty . She was indeed an exceptional person . Born in 1866 , she pursued graduate studies in Edinburgh and in London . Due to her fragile health , she was not able to complete this work . She then left for Cape Town in South Africa , where she ran a teacher training school . On her return to England , she became a member of the Theosophical Society in 1893 and was initiated into the Human Duty lodge in London in 1904 . She distinguished herself through the quantity and quality of her work . In 1909 , she created The Co-Mason , the official publication for the English branch of the Droit Humain . In
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 Marcel Bohrer — La Théosophie au XX e siècle — p . 12 – 13 . 4 Remember that in England in 1895 , Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard
labor after the public denunciation of his homosexuality by the lord of Queensbury . 5 Peter Washington — La saga théosophique — p . 113 and following .
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