WAS BLAVATSKY A FREEMASON?

 

Blavatsky was not a Freemason in the traditional sense since she was not initiated by a Masonic lodge, but instead she received honorary recognitions from various Masonic organizations in homage to her great erudition which she showed in her work "Isis Unveiled" (1877).

On November 24 of this year, Blavatsky was named an honorary member of the Ancient and Primitive Law of Freemasonry by John Yarker, who named her 'Crowned Princess 12° of the Rite of Memphis and Mizraim' , and she received the 33rd degree, which is the highest degree.

John Yarker was a prominent English Freemason. He was initiated as a Freemason of the United Grand Lodge of England at the age of 21 in Integrity Lodge, No. 189, Manchester, on October 25, 1854, becoming a Master Mason in early 1855. Seven years later, in 1862, he resigned from this organization.

In 1872, Yarker established the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Freemasonry for England and Ireland under the authority of a Patent issued by the American Grand Master of this  organization, Harry Seymour.

In addition to establishing the Ancient and Primitive Rite, Yarker would later become Deputy International Grand Master (1900) and International Grand Master (1902) of the Memphis-Misraim Rite.

Regarding these Masonic honors that Blavatsky received, her sister Vera Zhelikhovsky commented as follows:

 

« The diplomas were sent to her by the Masonic Lodges of England and Benares (Saat-Baï Society), which recognized Blavatsky's right to the higher degrees of their fraternities.

 

The first diploma was accompanied by a rose-cross with rubies, and the second diploma was accompanied by an ancient and highly valuable copy of the Bhagavad Gita (which is a sacred text from India). »

(HPB: a biographical sketch)

Although some individuals claim that Blavatsky was formally initiated in Freemasonry, there is no evidence of this and most records indicate that her membership in Freemasonry was through honorary titles.

And it is very surprising that the Freemasons gave such status to Blavatsky because at that time (except in very exceptional cases) women were not yet admitted into Freemasonry.

In 1882, the Scottish Symbolic Lodge made an attempt by modifying its rules and initiating fifteen women, but this caused such an uproar in the Masonic world that it led to the revocation of all permissions to admit women into Freemasonry and the temporary closure of this French lodge.

It wasn't until a decade later, in 1892, that  women were finally formally initiated into Freemasonry.

But Blavatsky fifteen years earlier had not only been reverentially admitted into Freemasonry, but she had also been invited by several lodges, and we are not talking about small and marginal lodges, but important, respected and well established lodges.

And although Blavatsky had the great privilege of being a Freemason before other women, she was not an active Freemason.