imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
|
Post by imakegarb on Jun 23, 2007 1:50:01 GMT
I'm actually working on an article about this. Ah, but there is the temptation to just spill it all here but . . . it's not done yet. I think it would be too like pulling the meatloaf out of the oven when it's still raw. Not ready for consumption Bro. Philip, one problem we face is that we don't know them all by name. For it's clear many were initiated, passed and raised, especially early on, in great secrecy. It is important, in studying history, to remember that just because it wasn't written down doesn't mean it didn't happen. I've also come to believe that your efforts, and those of brothers like you, are important because the time has come to reveal that silent history Anyway, just to add a few names: Vinnie Ream HoxieLady Frieda HarrisAlice Bailey
|
|
|
Post by whistler on Jun 24, 2007 1:34:06 GMT
Radha Burnier 1923 - While Googling to find a picture of her in her 33rd degree Regalia I also found a lead to a post I made on TFM in 2004 it was thus We have just had the bi annual Conference of New Zealand Co Masonic Federation. It was a wonderful weekend and we had the pleasure of visit from the The Very Illustrious Bro. Radha Burnier 33 Degree MPGC the head of our order. It was the first time I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking to her, and feel the need to share her with other Co-masons who visit this board. She is just the most marvelous person, and perfect example of what Freemasonry is all about. She is a small very serene lady from India who has been a Freemason for many many decades, her knowledge of ritual in detail and meaning seems almost infinite. She talks in depth about the changes masonry should make both to ourselves and the community. She has the warmest heart and twinkle of eye, that makes even the newest E.A. welcome to come up and talk with her. Within all this she has a strong will and can recognise right from wrong. She recognised that certain rule changes that LDH wished would not really be suitable for smaller Federations and was instrumental is setting up the Eastern Federation of which New Zealand and many other smaller federations now belong . It should be noted that "Eastern" Doesn't mean the Orient. If refers to "East". If any Comason gets the chance to meet and hear her, don't miss the chance.
|
|
imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
|
Post by imakegarb on Jun 24, 2007 18:15:13 GMT
Bro. Philip, I've got more names now. These are outside the scope of the paper I'm writing (as I'll be concentrating on 18th and early-to-mid 19th Century women Freemasons). And, really, all I have right now are their names. And they just came to me this morning. Clearly, there's more work to be done. Y'see, I'm reading a book called "The Trail of the Serpent", which was published anonymously (in publisher and author) in the mid 1930s. Much of it reads like standard anti-Mason drivel but, like the best of that kind of drivel, there are what appear to be gains of truth in it. And I am busy, this Sunday morning, trying to winnow out this harvest (little giggles) And my laundry is screaming "Fold me, fold me!" and there's garb in my sewing room to finish but . . . I am so happy this morning. It'll be a while before I put this down. Anyway, this book has a chapter on Co-Masonry. Which, oddly, spends only a few pages on Co-Masonry , and then repeats much of what I think of as "the standard history" (though the book states that well). And there are names here - but little information to go with the names - that I've never heard before. Maybe you have They are: Stella Matutina - Of her, the book (ever mindful this is a book written with an alterior motive, so I'm not sure how accurate it is) says only that she was a key leader of a branch of Co-Masonry called "Ancient Masonry" that worked only the Craft degrees and rejected "Eastern Occultism". It would seem that it was from this order, according to the book, that "The Honorable Order of Ancient Freemasons", a Female Craft order that I know continues to work to this day. Wikipedia does have an entry about her here. It would seem she was very active in Golden Dawn. I did not know that the Honorable Order had its roots in Co-Masonry. I feel a sort of bit happy giddyness, as if I've discovered a new branch on my ancestral tree. This entry in the book leads to another name . . . Bothwell Goss - She, according to the book, apparently also broke with the main branch of Co-Masonry and formed a group called "Ancient and Accepted Masonry", which was for men and women. The book says her group worked all 33 degrees. I can find nothing about her online. Elizabeth Bosswell Ried - The book identifies her as a Grand Master of The Honorable Order of Ancient Freemasons. She is listed on the Honorable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons here. Seton Challen - the book says she was Deputy Grand Master to Ried in The Honorable Order of Ancient Freemasons but says nothing else about her. A bit more information about her is listed at the above link. Piers Dyer - the book says she was Provincial Grand Master to with Ried and Challen in The Honorable Order of Ancient Freemasons but says nothing else about her. A bit more information about her is listed at the above link. Mrs. Messervy, Bank Martin, Crawford Munro, Lata Coventry - names the book lists as among 200 members of the The Honorable Order of Ancient Freemasons but says nothing else about her. I found nothing about them online. Now, getting away from the book, the Honorable Fraternity, at the above link, lists some other names that, I think, should be included in our list: Jenny Lewis: a Paster Master of the Honorable Fraternity. Her picture, in her regalia, may be viewed here. Florence Hicks: a Deputy Grand Maser of the Honorable Fraternity. Her picture is here. Grace Bilantz: Grand Master of the Honorable Fraternity 1969 - 1986. Her picture is here. Evelyne Barclay: Grand Master 1986 - 1994. Her picture is here. Eileen Gray, Grand Master 1994 - 2002 Suzanne Berman: Grand Master 2002 -2006 Sheila Norden: Grand Master 2006 to the present day. Hmmmmm. Looks like an unbroken chain to me. And that means something. In some quarters
|
|
|
Post by parisfred on Jul 4, 2007 13:48:48 GMT
Three French Sisters : - Alexandra David Neel, who was the first European woman to explore the once forbidden (to foreigners) city of Lhasa in Tibet en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_David-N%C3%A9el - Louise Michel , the major personality of the "commune" of Paris (1830-1905) was a French anarchist, school teacher and medical worker. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Michel- Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) "was an American-born entertainer(...) She became a citizen of France in 1937. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in North America, and for being an inspiration to generations of African-American female entertainers." " In 1963, she spoke at the March on Washington at the side of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[10] Wearing her Free French uniform with her Legion of Honor decoration, she was the only woman to speak at the rally. After King's assassination his widow, Coretta Scott King, approached Baker in Holland to ask her is she would take her husband's place as leader of the American Civil Rights Movement. After many days of thinking it over, Baker declined, stating that her children were " ... to young to lose their mother." (she adopted twelve children) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker I believe that Josephine baker will be a beautiful name for a lodge !
|
|
imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
|
Post by imakegarb on Jul 5, 2007 6:21:55 GMT
Josephine Baker was a Freemason? O . . . M . . . G!!! Oh my. When? Where? Which lodge? Very cool!! Thank you, Bro. Fred! ;D
|
|
imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
|
Post by imakegarb on Jul 7, 2007 1:47:52 GMT
Well, I think Christine de Pisan is a given but I'm not so sure we can count Hypatia. I mean, she certainly had Masonic ideals and qualities but I'm not sure that makes her Freemason. If it does, then there'd be many women on this list, indeed.
|
|
|
Post by lauderdale on Jul 14, 2007 17:21:51 GMT
Annie Besant
Annie Wood Besant (Clapham, London October 1 1847 – Adyar, India September 20, 1933) was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator.
Early life
Annie Wood was born in 1847 in London into a middle-class family of Irish origin. She was always proud of being Irish and supported the cause of Irish self-rule throughout her adult life. Her father died when she was five years old, leaving the family almost penniless. Her mother supported the family by running a boarding house for boys at Harrow. However, she was unable to support Annie and persuaded her friend Ellen Marryat to care for her. Marryat made sure that Annie had a good education. She was given a strong sense of duty to society and an equally strong sense of what independent women could achieve. As a young woman, she was also able to travel widely in Europe. There she acquired a taste for Catholic color and ceremony that never left her.
In 1867, at age nineteen she married 26-year-old clergyman Frank Besant, younger brother of Walter Besant. He was an evangelical Anglican clergyman who seemed to share many of her concerns. Soon Frank became vicar of Sibsey in Lincolnshire. Annie moved to Sibsey with her husband, and within a few years they had two children: Digby and Mabel. The marriage was, however, a disaster. The first conflict came over money and Annie's independence. Annie wrote short stories, books for children and articles. As married women did not have the legal right to own property, Frank was able to take all the money she earned. Politics further divided the couple. Annie began to support farm workers who were fighting to unionise and to win better conditions. Frank was a Tory and sided with the landlords and farmers. The tension came to a head when Annie refused to attend communion. She left him and returned to London. They were legally separated and Annie took her daughter with her.
Annie began to question her own faith. She turned to leading churchmen for advice. She even went to see Edward Bouverie Pusey, leader of the Catholic wing of the Church of England. He simply told her she had read too many books. Annie returned to Frank to make one last effort to repair the marriage. It proved useless. She finally left for London. Divorce was unthinkable for Frank, and was not really within the reach of even middle-classpeople. Annie was to remain Mrs Besant for the rest of her life. At first, she was able to keep contact with both children and to have Mabel live with her. She got a small allowance from Frank. Her husband was given sole custody of their two children.
Birkbeck
For a time she undertook part-time study at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution, where her religious and political activities were to cause alarm. At one point the Institution's governors sought to withhold the publication of her exam results.[1]
Reformer and Secularist
She fought for the causes she thought were right, starting with freedom of thought, women's rights, secularism (she was a leading member of the National Secular Society alongside Charles Bradlaugh), birth control, Fabian socialism and workers' rights.
Once free of Frank Besant and exposed to new currents of thought, Annie began to question not only her long-held religious beliefs but also the whole of conventional thinking. She began to write attacks on the churches and the way they controlled people's lives. In particular she attacked the status of the Church of England as a state-sponsored faith.
Soon she was earning a small weekly wage by writing a column for the National Reformer, the newspaper of the National Secular Society. The Society stood for a secular state: an end to the special status of Christianity. The Society allowed her to act as one of its public speakers. Public lectures were very popular entertainment in Victorian times. Annie was a brilliant speaker, and was soon in great demand. Using the railway, she criss-crossed the country, speaking on all of the most important issues of the day, always demanding improvement, reform and freedom.
For many years Annie was a friend of the Society's leader, Charles Bradlaugh. It seems that they were never lovers, but their friendship was very close indeed. Bradlaugh, a former seaman, had long been separated from his wife. Annie lived with Bradlaugh and his daughters, and they worked together on many issues.
Bradlaugh was an atheist and a republican. He was working to get himself elected as MP for Northampton to gain a better platform for his ideas.
Besant and Bradlaugh became household names in 1877 when they published a book by the American birth-control campaigner Charles Knowlton. It claimed that working-class families could never be happy until they were able to decide how many children they wanted. It suggested ways to limit the size of their families. The Knowlton book caused great offence to the Churches, but Annie and Bradlaugh proclaimed in the National Reformer: "We intend to publish nothing we do not think we can morally defend. All that we publish we shall defend."
The pair were arrested and put on trial for publishing the Knowlton book. They were found guilty, but released pending appeal. As well as great opposition, Annie and Bradlaugh also received a great deal of support in the Liberal press. Arguments raged back and forth in the letters and comment columns as well as in the courtroom. For a time, it looked as though they would be sent to prison. The case was thrown out finally only on a technical point: the charges had not been properly drawn up.
The scandal lost Annie her children. Frank was able to persuade the court that she was unfit to look after them, and they were handed over to him permanently.
Bradlaugh's political prospects were not damaged by the Knowlton scandal. He got himself into Parliament at last in 1881. Because of his atheism, he refused to swear the oath of loyalty. Although many Christians were shocked by Bradlaugh, others (like the Liberal leader Gladstone) spoke up for freedom of belief. It took more than six years before the whole issue was sorted out (in Bradlaugh's favor) after a series of by-elections and court appearances.
Meanwhile Besant built close contacts with the Irish Home Rulers and gave them support in her newspaper columns. These were crucial years, in which the Irish nationalists were forming an alliance with Liberals and Radicals. Annie met the leaders of the movement. In particular, she got to know Michael Davitt, who wanted to mobilise the Irish peasantry through a Land War: a direct struggle against the landowners. She spoke and wrote in favour of Davitt and his Land League many times over the coming decades.
However, Bradlaugh's parliamentary work gradually alienated Annie. Women had no part in parliamentary politics. Annie was searching for a real political outlet: politics where her skills as a speaker, writer and organiser could do some real good.
Socialist
For Annie, politics, friendship and love were always closely intertwined. Her decision in favour of Socialism came about through a close relationship with George Bernard Shaw, a struggling young Irish author living in London, and a leading light of the Fabian Society. Annie was impressed by his work and grew very close to him too in the early 1880s. It was Annie who made the first move, by inviting Shaw to live with her. This he refused, but it was Shaw who sponsored Annie to join the Fabian Society. In its early days, the Society was a gathering of people exploring spiritual, rather than political, alternatives to the capitalist system.
Annie now began to write for the Fabians. This new commitment - and her relationship with Shaw - deepened the split between Annie and Bradlaugh, who was an individualist and opposed to Socialism of any sort. While he would defend free speech at any cost, he was very cautious about encouraging working-class militancy.
Unemployment was a central issue of the time, and in 1887 some of the London unemployed started to hold protests in Trafalgar Square. Annie agreed to appear as a speaker at a meeting on 13 November. The police tried to stop the assembly. Fighting broke out, and troops were called. Many were hurt, one man died, and hundreds were arrested. Annie offered herself for arrest, but the police refused to take the bait.
The events created a great sensation, and became known as Bloody Sunday. Annie was widely blamed - or credited - for it. She threw herself into organising legal aid for the jailed workers and support for their families. Bradlaugh finally broke with her because he felt she should have asked his advice before going ahead with the meeting.
Socialists saw the trade unions as the first real signs of working people's ability to organise and fight for themselves. Until now, trade unions had been for skilled workers - men with a craft that might take years to acquire and which gave them at least a little security. The Socialists wanted to bring both unskilled men and women into unions to fight for better pay and conditions.
Her most notable victory in this period was perhaps her involvement in the London matchgirls strike of 1888. Annie was drawn into this first really important battle of the "New Unionism" by Herbert Burrows, a young socialist with whom she was for a time in love. He had made contact with workers at Bryant and May's match factory in Bow, London, who were mainly young women. They were very poorly paid. They were also prey to horrendous industrial illnesses, like the bone-rotting Phossy jaw, which were caused by the chemicals used in match manufacture. Some of the match workers asked for help from Burrows and Annie in setting up a union.
Annie met the women and set up a committee, which led the women into a strike for better pay and conditions. The action won enormous public support. Annie led demonstrations by "match-girls". They were cheered in the streets, and prominent churchmen wrote in their support. In just over a week they forced the firm to improve pay and conditions. Annie then helped them to set up a proper union and a social centre.
At the time, the matchstick industry was an immensely powerful lobby, since electric light was not yet widely available, and matches were essential for lighting candles, oil lamps, gas lights and so on. (Only a few years earlier in 1872, lobbyists from the match industry had persuaded the British government to change its planned tax policy.) Besant's campaign was the first time anyone had successfully challenged the match manufacturers on a major issue, and was seen as a landmark victory of the early years of British Socialism.
Marxist
During 1884, Annie had developed a very close friendship with Edward Aveling, a young socialist teacher, who lived in her house for a time. Aveling was a scholarly figure and it was he who translated the important works of Marx into English for the first time. Annie seems to have fallen in love with Aveling, but it is not clear that he felt the same way. He was certainly a great influence on her thinking, and she was a great support to his work. However, Aveling left Annie to live with Eleanor Marx, daughter of Karl Marx. This led to permanent ill-feeling between Annie and Eleanor and probably pushed Annie towards the rival Fabians at that time. Aveling and Eleanor joined the Marxist SDF but they distrusted its leader, Henry Hyndman. Soon they left the SDF to join the Socialist League, a small Marxist splinter group which formed around the artist William Morris.
It seems that Morris played a large part in converting Annie to Marxism, but it was to the SDF, not his Socialist League, that she turned in 1888. She remained a member for a number of years and became one of its best speakers. Strangely, she was still a member of the Fabian Society. Neither she nor anyone else seemed to think the two movements completely incompatible at the time.
Soon after joining the Marxists, Annie stood for election to the London School Board. Because women were not able to take part in parliamentary politics, it is often thought that they did not have the vote until 1918. In fact, women householders had been brought into the local electorate in 1881, and soon began to make a mark in local politics.
Annie drove about with a red ribbon in her hair, speaking at noisy meetings. "No more hungry children," her manifesto proclaimed. She made clear that her Socialism had a feminist side too: "I ask the electors to vote for me, and the non-electors to work for me because women are wanted on the Board and there are too few women candidates." Astonishingly, Annie came out on top of the poll in Tower Hamlets, with over 15,000 votes. Annie wrote in the National Reformer: "Ten years ago, under a cruel law, Christian bigotry robbed me of my little child. Now the care of the 763,680 children of London is placed partly in my hands." Annie was also closely involved in the struggle for the "Dockers' Tanner". The dockers were poorly paid for hard and dangerous work. They were casual labourers, only taken on for one day at a time. Ben Tillett set up a union for dockers. Annie was crucial in this. She helped Tillett to draw up the union's rules and played an important part in the meetings and agitation which built up the organisation. Tillett led the dockers in a fight for better wages: sixpence (2½p.) an hour. Annie spoke for the dockers at public meetings and on street corners. Like the match-girls, the dockers won a lot of public support for their struggle. Even Cardinal Manning, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England, came out on their side. After a bitter strike, the "dockers' tanner" was won.
Theosophist
a
Besant was a prolific writer and a powerful orator. In 1889, she was asked to write a review for the Pall Mall Gazette [2] on The Secret Doctrine, a book by H.P. Blavatsky. After reading it, she sought an interview with its author, meeting Blavatsky in Paris. In this way she was converted to Theosophy. Annie's intellectual journey had always involved a spiritual dimension, a quest for transformation of the whole person. As her interest in Theosophy deepened, she allowed her membership of the Fabian Society to lapse (1890) and broke her links with the Marxists. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Annie was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy. Her most important public commitment to the faith came in 1893, when she went to present it at the Chicago World Fair.
Soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society she went to India for the first time (in 1893). After a dispute in which William Quan Judge, leader of the American section, was accused of falsifying letters from the Masters, the American section split away. The remainder of the Society was then led by Henry Steel Olcott and Besant and is today based in Chennai, India and is known as the Theosophical Society Adyar. Thereafter she devoted much of her energy not only to the Society, but also to India's freedom and progress. Besant Nagar, a neighborhood (near the Theosophical Society) in Chennai is named in her honor.
President
Up until Besant's presidency, the society had as one of its foci Theravada Buddhism and the island of Ceylon, where Henry Olcott did the majority of his useful work. Under Besant's leadership there was a decisive turn away from this and a refocusing of their activities on "The Aryavarta", as she called central India. Besant actively courted Hindu opinion more than former Theosophical leaders. This was a clear reversal of policy from Blavatsky and Olcott's very public conversion to Buddhism in Ceylon, and their promotion of Buddhist revival activities on the subcontinent (see also: Maha Bodhi Society).
Annie set up a new school for boys at Varanasi: the Central Hindu College. Its aim was to build a new leadership for India. The boys lived like monks. They spent 90 minutes a day in prayer and studied the Hindu scriptures, but they also studied modern science. It took 3 years to raise the money for the CHC. Most of the money came from Indian princes. Thought-form of the music of Charles Gounod, according to Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in Thought-Forms (1901) Enlarge Thought-form of the music of Charles Gounod, according to Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in Thought-Forms (1901)
Krishnamurti
Soon after Besant's inheritance of the presidency, in 1909, Leadbeater discovered Jiddu Krishnamurti on the private beach that was attached to the society's headquarters at Adyar. Krishnamurti had been living there with his father and brother for a few months prior to this. This discovery started years of upheaval in the Theosophical Society in Adyar, as the boy was proposed as the incarnate vessel for the Christ. Jiddu Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya were brought up by Theosophists from that moment on, with a subsequent lawsuit filed by his father.
Eventually, in 1929, Krishnamurti ended up disbanding the Order of the Star of the East, which had been founded to support him and of which he had been made the leader. [1] This destroyed Besant's spirit, as it went against her ideals.
The Home Rule Movement
As well as her religious activities, Annie continued to participate in concrete political struggles. She had joined the Indian National Congress. As the name suggested, this was originally a debating body, which met each year to consider resolutions on political issues. Mostly it demanded more of a say for middle-class Indians in their own government. It had not yet developed into a permanent mass movement with local organisation.
In 1914 war broke out in Europe. Britain needed the support of its empire in the fight against Germany. Annie said: "England's need is India's opportunity," a clear echo of an Irish nationalist slogan. As editor of a newspaper called New India, she attacked the (British) government of India and called for clear and decisive moves towards self-rule. As with Ireland, the government refused to discuss any changes while the war lasted.
In 1916 Annie launched the Home Rule League, once again modeling demands for India on Irish models. For the first time India had a political party to fight for change. Unlike the Congress itself, the League worked all year round. It built a strong structure of local branches, enabling it to mobilise demonstrations, public meetings and agitations. In June 1917 Annie was arrested and interned at a hill station. She flew a red and green flag in the garden to show her defiance. Congress and the Muslim League together threatened to launch protests if she were not set free. Annie's arrest had created a focus for protest, giving those who wanted long-term independence for India a chance to work together for a simple, achievable goal.
The government was forced to give way and to make vague but significant concessions. It was announced that the ultimate aim of British rule was Indian self-government, and moves in that direction were promised. Annie was freed in September to a tremendous welcome from crowds all over India. In December she took over as President of Congress for a year. It was perhaps the greatest honor she received in her lifetime.
After the war, there could be no going back. A new leadership emerged around Mohandas K. Gandhi - one of those who had written to demand Annie's release. He was a lawyer who had returned from leading Asians in a peaceful struggle against racism in South Africa. Nehru, Gandhi's closest collaborator, had been educated by a Theosophist tutor.
The new leadership too was committed to action that was both militant and nonviolent, but there were differences between them and Annie. Despite her past, she was not happy with their socialist leanings. Until the end of her life, however, she continued to campaign for India's independence, not only in India but also on speaking tours of Britain. In her own version of Indian dress, Mrs Besant remained a striking presence on speakers' platforms. She produced a torrent of letters and articles demanding independence.
Later years
She tried to accommodate Krishnamurti's views into her life, but never really succeeded. The two remained friends, however, until the end of her life. Annie Besant died in 1933 and was survived by her daughter, Mabel.
Annie Besant's Descendants
The family history onward from the era in which Annie Besant lived became quite fragmented by the late 1940s. A number of Annie Besant's descendants have been traced in detail from her son Arthur Digby's side. One of Arthur Digby's daughters was Sylvia Besant who married a Lewes in the 1920s. They had a daughter born in 1934, Mary, who was given away from adoption within three weeks of the birth and had the new name of Lavinia Pollock. Lavinia married Frank Castle in 1953 and raised a family of five - James, Richard, David, Fiona and Andrew Castle - the last and youngest sibling being a former British professional tennis player and now television presenter and personality.
|
|
|
Post by lauderdale on Jul 14, 2007 22:49:15 GMT
Yes we have that picture in our HQ.
|
|
imakegarb
Member
One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
Posts: 3,573
|
Post by imakegarb on Jul 19, 2007 18:36:39 GMT
We have that picture in our HQ as well. Along with a number of Bro. Besant's Masonic relics
|
|
|
Post by parisfred on Jul 27, 2007 12:12:34 GMT
|
|
|
Post by leonardo on Aug 26, 2007 17:18:45 GMT
Annie BesantAnnie Wood Besant (Clapham, London October 1 1847 – Adyar, India September 20, 1933) was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator. Early life Annie Wood was born in 1847 in London into a middle-class family of Irish origin. She was always proud of being Irish and supported the cause of Irish self-rule throughout her adult life. I had of course heard of this lady before but wasn't aware of her Irish connections. Steve, your whole post makes for very interesting reading.
|
|
|
Post by devoutfreemason on Aug 28, 2007 21:50:56 GMT
Fantastic thread Brothers! Thanks ;D
|
|
|
Post by leonardo on Aug 29, 2007 7:59:24 GMT
Great work Phillip. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rosa Parks was with OES.
|
|
|
Post by leonardo on Aug 31, 2007 18:14:44 GMT
Great work Philip. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rosa Parks was with OES. Thank you Bro. Leo,Rosa Parks was, " ...a charter member of Alonzo Mitchell Chapter 636 Mizpah Grand Chapter of Order of Eastern Star, Alabama", which is associated with Prince Hall Masonry. I have the impression that such Chapters are both more esoterically inclined and more human rights oriented than the O.E.S. I experienced. Profs. Rich & Reyes have described how such Chapters have even managed to preserve a significant Rite— Recovering a Rite: The Amaranth, Queen of the South, and Eastern StarSome really wonderful pictures, as usual. As the old saying goes, "a picture tells a thousand stories."
|
|
|
Post by sid on Aug 31, 2007 20:24:29 GMT
I was shown this symbol in a dream last night by someone looking for it in Germany. I showed them the building and pointed out that it was no longer in use and had just been completely re-painted in an eggshell colour of white. Thank you Bro. Leo,Rosa Parks was, " ...a charter member of Alonzo Mitchell Chapter 636 Mizpah Grand Chapter of Order of Eastern Star, Alabama", which is associated with Prince Hall Masonry. I have the impression that such Chapters are both more esoterically inclined and more human rights oriented than the O.E.S. I experienced. Profs. Rich & Reyes have described how such Chapters have even managed to preserve a significant Rite— Recovering a Rite: The Amaranth, Queen of the South, and Eastern Star Some really wonderful pictures, as usual. As the old saying goes, "a picture tells a thousand stories."
|
|
|
Post by gaslight on Sept 15, 2007 5:30:38 GMT
|
|
jmd
Member
fourhares.com
Posts: 1,081
|
Post by jmd on Sept 15, 2007 7:26:33 GMT
I'm not sure exactly why Bro ichabod made that specific recommendation, other than here is a wonderful piece of writing on four important women actively involved in an esoteric group open to both men and women - four women who each had, of course, important influences outside of the GD.
Though the style in which it is written is not my preferred style, it remains a monument of scholarship and indispensable to those interested in the development of the GD and its foundation members.
|
|
|
Post by gaslight on Sept 15, 2007 10:35:14 GMT
I've put a copy in my Amazon shopping basket, but before I hit the checkout button, could you say a little more about why you recommend it? Pretty much what Bro. JMD said. Enjoy. Of interest is a couple of the women bemoaning the connections to Freemasonry, regarding it more as an imperialist arm of the British Empire and less as a spiritual institution, (let alone an esoteric one). That sounds a little ominous. You did say, "Enjoy," didn't you?
|
|
|
Post by gaslight on Sept 15, 2007 10:36:28 GMT
Though the style in which it is written is not my preferred style, it remains a monument of scholarship and indispensable to those interested in the development of the GD and its foundation members. Could you expand a little on the style of the book?
|
|
jmd
Member
fourhares.com
Posts: 1,081
|
Post by jmd on Sept 15, 2007 11:32:10 GMT
Bonnie Cehovet's review says more than I could say in a short post - but basically, I personally had to push through with reading it all. Mary Greer, despite her personal religious inclinations, tends to also have a quite psychological reductionism at play in at least this piece of writing. I also found the astrological aspects and seasonal manner of dividing the sections of the book a little strained - but then, it is so much easier to be critical than to write something oneself! And she has not only undertaken her research in a manner befitting the subject, but does credit to this otherwise neglected aspect of history.
|
|