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BACK NEXT Summer 2008 Issue 45 Letter from the Editor Grand Lodge News News and Views On The Level International News Beyond the Craft Perambulating the Lodge Masonic Dining and Celebration Interview: The Grand Chancellor The Orator Walking the Way of Saint James Abd el-Kader: Algerian Nationalist and Freemason Province of Cambridgeshire Library & Museum Brother Lightfoote's Journal Review: Committed to the Flames Review: The Mythology of Secret Societies Review: The Dawn of Astrology Letters to the Editor Internet Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter RMBI Masonic Samaritan Fund Grand Charity RMTGB Canon Richard Tydeman: Looking unto the Rock Copyright 1997-2008 FREEMASONRY TODAY Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Ladies & Co-Masonry Library & Museum of Freemasonry One of the two new exhibitions being organised by the Library and Museum this summer is called Women and Freemasonry: The Centenary, which runs from 4 June to 19 December. It is the first wideranging exhibition on this subject at Freemasons’ Hall. In June 2008 the Order of Women Freemasons celebrated its centenary. It is one of two Grand Lodges in England whose membership is restricted to women. The occasion was too good an opportunity to miss to explore the issue of women and Freemasonry. Library and Museum staff are frequently asked by the public why women are not allowed to be members and I, personally, have often faced the remark that “I didn’t know ... Ladies in the Lodge Freemasonry has always been considered the preserve of men who since earliest times, have enjoyed the pleasures of brotherhood. Men are of course clubbable creatures, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, society dictated that women should take no part in the wide array of men’s pursuits, chief among them Freemasonry. A variety of assaults have been mounted from time to time by women on male bastions, but ... The Order of Women Freemasons A grey January afternoon in Notting Hill, lately the setting for the Hollywood blockbuster of the same name. In it boy meets girl and they fall in love against the vivid backdrop of Notting Hill bohemia. When boy and girl are Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, then Notting Hill is bound to acquire the status of ‘cool’ in the collective psyche of Londoners.. Notting Hill however proves to be even more than already meets the eye, never mind its newly acquired fame ... Le Droit Humain The United Grand Lodge of England has always maintained that its membership is open to men of good standing and sound judgement. International Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit-Humain, having its British headquarters in Surbiton, near London, admits both men and women. From the point of view of the United Grand Lodge of England, International Co-Freemasonry is not a regular masonic organisation. Firstly, because it admits both men and women, and, secondly, since it adopts the system of Freemasonry prevalent in the country in which each Federation exists. In France ... The Women's Lodge The mere mention of the word ‘Freemasonry’ among friends provokes startled reactions, ranging from the incredulous to the downright worried, ‘Oh! You don’t want to get involved with them!’ Too late, for I consider myself already involved. Prompted by a desire to learn more about this venerable organisation, I set out to do my own research. From the masons I had already met, I encountered only support and encouragement. I was not ...   Ladies & Co-Masonry © FreemasonryToday 1997-2008