While regular Freemasonry has a long, and well-deserved reputation as a He-Man Women-Haters Club, there have actually been women initiated into the Craft (and not as a member of an irregular co-mason lodge). Our OES-sister, The Mason’s Lady, is exploring some of these interesting happenstances on her blog.
Before the lodge meeting had begun, Arthur’s daughter, Elizabeth, was reading in the library. Eventually, she dozed off; while she slept, the lodge meeting begun in the room next door. Elizabeth was awoken by voices at one point, and, realizing it was not just her father having friends over for drinks, decided that she wanted to know more about what was going on in the next room. So, she did what any curious young woman would do- she put her ear up to the wall, hoping to hear more. When that failed (bricks are not easy to hear through), she realized that the bricks in the wall were loose, and decided to remove one of them in hopes of spying on the men next door.
She was silent, captivated by the degree work going on for some time, supposedly observing the majority of the ceremony. It was only after the candidate received his obligation that she realized the weight of what she had just witnessed, not only for the candidate, but also for himself.
I encourage you to check out Michala’s complete post and her other great writing at The Mason’s Lady. She’s had a long history of playing with the boys, and I find her to be one of the best masonic writers blogging today.
Braden 168 