Egyptian Rite
In some letters from the first Austrian lodge to the Dutch federation (that the lodge fell under at the time), questions are made about “E.R.”, the “Egyptian Rite”. I remembered that this was also a subject in the Dutch Bulletin. So I decided to have a look at the subject.
Apparently around 1930 there was a tiny stir within the co-Masonic community. In the April 1930 issue of the monthly Dutch Bulletin somebody shortly inquired if the editors could say something about the “Egyptischen rytus” [sic] that the person who asked the question heard so much about. This is answered with a whopping reply. 4 Pages in the following issue (5/1930), 9 more pages in 6/1930 and another 8 in in 7/1930 to wrap things up.
James Ingall Wedgwood (1883-1953)
The reply of an anonymous author basically gives a history of Egyptian Freemasonry, the rites of Memphis and Misraim and Memphis-Misraim and the ‘Yarker variety’. All the way in the beginning and the end, Wedgwood is mentioned!
As you know, Le Droit Humain was founded in 1893. The Theosophist Annie Besant was initiated in 1902 by Georges Martin and she travelled to London to found the lodge Human Duty. After that, Besant helped to start a great many lodges all around the world, which all did not use the ritual of Georges Martin, but Besant’s very own “Dharma Workings of Craft Masonry“.
Le Droit Humain exploded, largely due to Besant and other Theosophists, and it was the ‘Theosophical variety’ that spread over the world. Also James Wedgwood played a big role in this affair. I even think he was the one who made the “Dharma Workings” even more Theosophical by adding the (in)famous incense ceremony to the 1913 third edition of “Dharma”.
For some reason, I can’t find when Wedgwood was initiated into co-Masonry. Was he ever? A bit of an odd source (1) mentions:
At the age of 16 Wedgwood was accepted as a ‘young Wolf’ by a local Masonic lodge. Very soon, he climbed to the various degrees and, after meeting John Yarker (1833-1913) and Theodor Reuss (1855-1923), he joined other fraternal and occult movements
This suggests that Wedgwood was first a “Lewis”. In French the word is “Loufton” which -indeed- means “young wolf”, but the source of that quote apparently didn’t know that a “Loufton” is a “Lewis” in English Masonic jargon: the son of a Freemason that was ‘adopted’ by the lodge. It means that Wedgwood’s father was a Freemason and that James later became -most likely- a Freemason in a male-only lodge, possibly at the age of 18 (so around 1901/2), as “Loufton”s usually are allowed to join at 18 while the normal minimum age is 21. Would Wedgwood have crossed over to co-Masonry later in his Masonic career?
The same source says:
He relinquished the office of General Secretary of the TS in England and Wales to become the Grand Secretary of the Order of Universal Co-Freemasonry (Le Droit Humain)
So he made the transfer from a men-only lodge, so a co-Masonic one by way of Theosophy?
Be that as it may, even though he put a lot of work in the co-Masonic order, it seems that this was ‘not enough’ for Wedgwood. His biography at Universal co-Masonry (2) also mentions the “young wolf”, but also:
By 1910, James Ingall Wedgwood had received all the degrees from two Egyptian Rites. From 33º to 94º in the Rite of Memphis, and from 33º to 90º in the Rite of Misraïm (including the 66th, which is alledgedly a Bishop consecration).
So he already had a leaning towards ‘Egyptian Freemasonry’! With this information, it appears that he was a (possibly) ‘regular’ Freemason first, then an ‘Egyptian Freemason’ and then a ‘co-Mason’, perhaps possible some/all at the same time. Plus some other things such as the Liberal Catholic Church, etc. A busy man!
Having received proper authority to do so from Yarker and Reuss, James Ingall Wedgwood, founded in London an independent Martinist Lodge named The Temple of the Rose and the Cross. (2)
Seriously?
J.I. Wedgwood joined the Theosophical Society, and became very active in England, and as a Freemason helped the French Co-masonic Obedience Le Droit Humain to develop in England first, in Australia and other British Colonies. Simultaneously, he promoted Martinism and Egyptian Rites. His work was supported by the leaders of the Theosophical Society (2)
This -we will see- is very true.
Another something that I’m not sure I already knew (3):
Wedgwood initiated Charles Webster Leadbeater to Masonry (Scottish and Egyptian), and to Martinism, some ten years later, in Sydney, Australia.
Elsewhere I have told the story about how Leadbeater and Wedgwood worked together on the co-Masonic rituals and when finished, Wedgwood initiated Leadbeater using that ritual. It is starting to appear that a lot of things circulated around Wedgwood.
The last two alineas of the Dutch Bulletin text are worth quoting:
After Yarker’s death, he died in 1913 at the age of 80, the already loose bond which bound the Egyptian Rite together in the various countries fell almost entirely apart. The Lodges that are still there here and there, but have little to signify, and Yarker’s dream of establishing a Rite that would absorb all other Rites has not been realized.
In Italy, the leadership of the Sovereign Sanctuary had fallen into the hands of Bro. Mac Bean, English Consul at Palermo, one of the members of the Theosophical Society who had been included in the Rite. He granted to the V.I. Br. Wedgwood a charter for the establishment of Lodges of the Egyptian Rite. With this, this Rite has again entered a new phase, as it has been led by the V.I. Br. Wedgwood and apparently forms an inner circle recruited exclusively or almost exclusively from members of our Order. It seems that work is being done in the 33rd degree of the Cerneau Rite, but since a great secrecy is imposed about the intentions and about what happens in the Lodges, we do not want to divulge the details that are known to us in an inappropriate manner. Nor do we wish to pass judgment on that work; this is the competence of the Supreme Council. What we have wished to trace the historical origin of the Order, leaving it to the reader himself to judge whether what is told of the Rite is in accordance with it.
Other Theosophical initiatives
It is a bit odd when you look at it. The usual story is that around 1900 Annie Besant felt that many Theosophists were looking for a more ritualistic approach. She encountered Martin´s mixed gender Freemasonry and the two had a fruitful cooperation. But when you see what other initiatives came out of the Theosophical Society and/or its members, it is clear that not only for Wedgwood, co-Masonry was not enough.
The Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross (OTRC) was an early 20th century theosophical group. It was founded in 1912 by leaders of the Theosophical Society, including Annie Besant, Marie Russak and James Ingall Wedgwood. (3)
Wedgwood again, but not only Wedgwood.
It appears that this was not a Masonic-like group. The quoted Wikipedia article seems to imply that it was more of a study group in which a medium had contact with the Theosophical masters. Leadbeater would have disapproved of this group.
Speaking of Leadbeater, there is a very informative website about him (4). It has a list of “Rituals associated with the (Adyar) Theosophical Society” (5). It lists no less than 23 of such initiatives! “The Temple of the Rosy Cross” is among them, so the author of that text does think it was ‘something ritualistic’. (Elsewhere on the same website it says: “It was a ritualistic group concerned with ceremonial and symbolism, and with an adventist theme.” (6))
The “Liberal Catholic Church” is listed as having started in 1916. This was also one of Wedgwood’s projects. Then, under bullets 21 and 22:
21. The Egyptian Rite – including rituals revised under (i) Sri Ram; (ii) Taimni; (iii) Burnier
22. The rival Egyptian Rite established by Herbrand Williams in 1934 which used rituals revised at the direction of The Master the Count
Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854-1934)
The information about the Egyptian Rite is not very specific. It is mentioned who revised the rituals, but not who founded the rite. But, the website has a lot more information about the Egyptian Rite.
In part to compensate for the de-esotericization of the Theosophical Society resulting from Mrs Besant’s Krishnamurti enthusiasm, Leadbeater developed a new esoteric organization designed to be the most secret, the most exclusive and the most powerful occult group in the world. (6)
“Leadbeater developed”. This article describes how Leadbeater recruited and educated seven young girls from the Dutch Indies who were to become mediums within this rite. Here are also hints at Leadbeater’s inappropriate dealings with under aged. It is also mentioned that the girls quickly had the “highest grade of Masonry”, being the 33rd. This could refer to the “Cernau rite” that the author of the text in the Dutch Bulletin mentions, which also became a rite of 33 degrees, just as the more famous Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
A formal charter for the ER was issued by the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Rite of Memphis at Palermo (Italy) which was, at the time, controlled by a Theosophist, Reginald Gambier Macbean (1859-1942), who had become Grand Master in July, 1921 while serving as the British Consul for Sicily. Macbean, originally a 33rd degree Mason of the French jurisdiction, had become a Co-mason, and had admitted Leadbeater, Wedgwood, George Arundale, Oscar Kollerstrom and Jinarajadasa to the Rite of Memphis. When the Palermo Sanctuary was suppressed by Mussolini, Macbean transferred his rights in it to those five brethren.
This sounds quite like the story of the Dutch Bulletin, with the exception that here it does not say that only Wedgwood gor the “rights” to the rite.
The published ER Ritual was formally issued on Christmas Day, 1931, bearing the imprimatur of Mrs Besant as Grand Master: The Egyptian Rite of the Ancient Mysteries. Temple of the Quest, Issued under the Authority of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Egyptian Rite of the Ancient Mysteries, Adyar, 1932.
And photos of that publication can be found on the same website (7). There is something remarkable here:
The Grand Master is none else than Annie Besant (1847-1933)!
The publication of this ritual comes over a year after the lengthy article in the Dutch Bulletin. This suggests (to me) that in 1930 the Egyptian Rite was new and in development, but already much heard about even though the Leadbeater website claims that the order was very secretive.
The Theosophical Masters
In 2000 a doctoral thesis of Brendan French was published in two volumes of 400+ pages (9). French dedicates about 10 pages of volume I to “The Egyptian Rite of the Ancient Mysteries”. That information has been summarized on the Leadbeater website that I have referred to before. The first alinea about the subject from the book goes:
The Egyptian Rite was designed, just as the failed Coming had been, to draw together the powerful occult forces generated by the Liberal Catholic Church, Co-Masonry, and other Theosophical ceremonialist enterprises; indeed, Leadbeater believed it would ‘gather up’ the various angels! The rituals, variously devised by Bishops Wedgwood, Arundale, and Leadbeater, were ratified by the Master the Count, and were first performed by the Seven Virgins (and others) at the newly-inaugurated CoMasonic Temple on the Adyar compound, following the reestablishment of the ES in late 1929. Despite some later revisions by Arundale and Nilakanta Sri Ram (1889-1974), the Egyptian Rite is still worked in a number of Adyar Society bodies, and constitutes perhaps the most secret of their various ceremonies. In many ways, it constitutes Leadbeater’s most profound Theosophical legacy.
Which about sums it up. The Egyptian Rite was not just a Wedgwood enterprise. Interesting is the remark: “the reestablishment of the ES in late 1929”. I suppose that this is the ‘incarnation’ that the Dutch Bulletin refers to. Does French mean that it was founded by Leadbeater, rekindled by Wedgwood and then by Arundale?
The Rite itself, not unexpectedly, is a highly ceremonial quasi-Masonic theurgy, with parallels to similar enterprises such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Fratres Lucis, the Society of Eight, and the Royal Oriental Order of the Sikha and the Sat B’hai. Where the Egyptian Rite differs from other initiatic bodies, notably the various permutations of Rosicrucianism, is in its ‘fundamentally Theosophical’ structures and metastructures.
As you can also see in the photos of the ritual book on the Leadbeater website, the oath is taken on a copy of At The Feet Of The Master (“a book attributed to Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), authored when he was 14 years old. Written under the name Alcyone, it was first published in 1910. (10))
The first three stages (Fire, Form, and Life) are known collectively as the ‘Temple of the Quest’. Through the medium of ritual the candidate is encouraged to divest his or her emotional and physical bodies of impurities, then to do similarly with the mind, and finally with the intuition and will. (9)
French shortly describes seven degrees. How does that relate to the remark that Leadbeater granted his virgins 33 degrees and the Dutch remark about the Cerneau Rite (of 33 degrees)? Did the second incarnation compress the initial 33 degrees to seven or did Leadbeater use an existing rite in order to make people ready for a completely new system?
French has an interesting description of how Leadbeater first tried to use the power of the masters, then even tried to create such a master “through the person of Krishnamurti”. When that failed: “Leadbeater turned to the Egyptian Rite as the ideal means to control the process of Master-making” in which he made himself the only master that was needed. The final pages (worth reading!) of this section describes how Leadbeater’s Theosophy differed fundamentally from Blavatsky’s.
French has some interesting information about the Egyptian Rite. We now know that it had (has?) seven degrees. Here and there you will find a quote of these degrees, but you don’t learn too much about the ritual itself. Yet, especially because the work is available freely, this is a suggested piece of reading.
The Rival Group
You may have noticed that the Leadbeater website lists two Egyptian Rites. The first is the main subject of this article. It is the Leadbeater/Arundale Egyptian Rite, but there was also another one.
The Leadbeater website has an interesting text about Herbrand Williams (1896-1945) (11). Initially he was a close cooperator of Leadbeater. He appears to have been the one with Masonic knowledge who oversaw Leadbeater’s Masonic books.
In 1934 Williams, as a member of the Egyptian Rite [ER], announced that he had been given instructions about the future of the Esoteric Section [ES] and the ER by the Master The Count. One June 4 he wrote to George Arundale, as Grand Master of the ER, claiming that The Master The Count was concerned about a pledge that had been imposed on pupils in December 1932, and about the then rituals of the ER. The Master (according to Williams) was concerned at the ascetical strictness of the pledge, including the prohibition on alcohol and sex outside marriage. As for the latter, the Master (via Williams) believed that “All healthy young people need sex experience, and they should be free to find it for themselves in their own way.” The Master The Count (according to Williams) was also unhappy at the removal of the Masonic elements of the ER, and did not approve of the revisions to the ritual imposed by Arundale.
So in Leadbeater’s time (December 1932) strict rules about sex and alcohol were installed. Williams disagreed, he got in a heavy fight with Arundale and got expelled. This lead him to found a rival Egyptian Rite in which he (undoubtedly) reinstalled “Masonic elements” and more progressive rules for its members. The text does not say how long this rival rite has existed, but it does say that Williams was not only removed from the Egyptian Rite (of Leadbeater / Arundale), but soon also disappeared from Theosophy proper. It could be that his version was a short-lived one. The story is shortly related to at the website Krotona Archive (12). The author of that website has a three volume, in total 700+ history of the Egyptian Rite, published in 2019 (13).
The relationship with Le Droit Humain
The Dutch article says that the Egyptian Rite plays mostly outside of co-Masonry, but later also that most members were co-Masons and that many co-Masons were interested in the developments of the Egyptian Rite.
After a gap of a few months, the Egyptian Rite is again featured in the Dutch Bulletin of November 1930. Main man Farwerck has a short text about “Membership of other orders”, which is specifically about the Egyptian Rite. Apparently the question has been raised what happens when a member of the Egyptian Rite has a higher degree in that order than in Le Droit Humain. Farwerck describes three options:
- The order is not Masonic;
- She is recognised as regular by our order;
- She is not recognised as regular by our order
In the first case, Le Droit Humain has no objection against a higher degree in the other order (!). When a member of Le Droit Humain is also a member of the Odd Fellows or the Good Templars, that is of no concern to Le Droit Humain.
In the second case, when a member has a higher degree in the other order than in Le Droit Humain (s)he can be affiliated in that degree.
In the third case, a member who wishes to remain a member of the Egyptian Order has to leave Le Droit Humain.
This text ends with the remark that the Dutch federation did not yet have a position on the matter. Apparently, after Farwerck wrote the text, but before the printing of the November issue, the federation did come to a conclusion: members cannot undergo initiations into orders that have a Masonic-like way of working and this includes the Egyptian Rite. A final standpoint (I suppose about the question of dual membership) had yet to be formed.
Conclusion
Obviously, the Egyptian Rite was not as secretive as the Leadbeater website suggests, at least, not among Theosophists and co-Masons. I do think we can conclude that the order under Besant, is the same one as referred to in the Dutch Bulletin. I do wonder, though, how it comes that the obviously well-informed author of the text, decided to mention Wedgwood and not other and more prominent members of both the Theosophical Society and Le Droit Humain Besant and Leadbeater.
All in all it does seem that co-Masonry was not entirely what the Theosophical leaders had in mind for their members. This could be due to the fact that soon after the enormous growth of Le Droit Humain because of the involvement of Annie Besant, strong anti-Theosophical tendencies started to rise. Many rituals have been cleared from Theosophical elements, non-Theosophists were specifically targeted to join. Perhaps the Theosophists found their influence waning and decided to invest their energy elsewhere.
According to the Leadbeater website, just before he passed away, Leadbeater transferred the order to George Arundale (1878-1945) (8) who brought it back to three degrees. The Egyptian Rite supposedly still exists, yet marginally, a bit like Rudolf Steiner’s Misraim Service.
I have been looking for other sources of information. Bulletins of other federation of Le Droit Humain, the international Bulletin, Theosophical periodicals of the time, but so far no luck. Perhaps the Egyptian Rite did manage to stay under the radar, just not in the Netherlands.
The complete ritual book (the Leadbeater website has some pages) is listed in the catalogue of the British Library. It is supposedly 180 page. Would that entail seven degrees. A valuable source of information would be these three volumes of Joseph Ross of the Krotona Archive (the website is copyrighted by Universal co-Masonry by the way):
- Secrets: Hidden Agendas the Theosophical Society and the Egyptian Rite Volume I, Self-Published 225 pages 2019
- Secrets: Hidden Agendas the Theosophical Society and the Egyptian Rite Volume II Self Published 235 pages 2019
- Secrets: Hidden Agendas the Theosophical Society and the Egyptian Rite Volume III Self Published 275 pages 2019
Too bad that he forgot to mention how you can obtain these books.
1) Right Rev Dr James Ingall Wedgwood (1883-1951) – Find a Grave-gedenkplek (accessed 26/2/2025)
2) Masonic Biographies| James Ingall Wedgwood (accessed 26/2/2025)
3) Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross – Wikipedia (accessed 27/2/2025)
4) https://cwleadbeater.wordpress.com/
5) Rituals associated with the (Adyar) Theosophical Society – updated 16.06.17 | C.W. LEADBEATER (accessed 27/2/025)
6) The Egyptian Rite | C.W. LEADBEATER (accessed 27/2/2025)
7) The Egyptian Rite of the Ancient Mysteries – Temple of the Quest | C.W. LEADBEATER (accessed 27/2/2025)
8) The Egyptian Rite Succession | C.W. LEADBEATER (accessed 27/2/2025)
9) The Theosophical Masters: An Investigation into the Conceptual Domains of H.P. Blavatsky and C.W. Leadbeater (University of Sydney 2000). Available online when I write this (28/2/2025)
10) At the Feet of the Master – Wikipedia (accessed 28/2/2025)
11) Herbrand Williams | C.W. LEADBEATER (accessed 28/2/2025)
12) Krotona Archive (accessed 28/2/2025)
13) Krotona Archive (accessed 28/2/2025)