The Grande Loge Mixte Universelle and the Grande Loge Mixte de France

Mixed Freemasonry (or Co-Freemasonry) first appeared in 1893 with the creation of the "Droit Humain", a French Masonic obedience that soon became international. Since then, other mixed Masonic obediences have emerged, often in the wake of "Droit Humain". These include the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle and the Grande Loge Mixte de France, both of which were founded in France in the 20th century. What are the origins of the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle and the Grande Loge Mixte de France and what are their differences and peculiarities ? Let's find out more about the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle and the Grande Loge Mixte de France.

The main problem of the "Droit Humain"

As soon as it took on an international dimension, the "Droit Humain" adopted a pyramidal shape, following the contours of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in its 33 degrees. Unlike most other Masonic obediences, the "Droit Humain" is structured as a single order under the Supreme Mixed Universal Council, based in Paris. This means that the Blue Lodges of the Order are de facto subject to the Higher Degrees. Although the Order's National Federations and Jurisdictions have a degree of autonomy and correspond in some ways to the Grand Lodges, the system as a whole remains subject to the entire hierarchy of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

This was the situation of the Supreme Council of France from its foundation in 1804 until 1894, when it granted autonomy to its Blue Lodges and enabled them to form the present Grande Loge de France. What is particularly surprising about the history of the "Droit Humain" is that one of its founders, Georges Martin, had been one of those who had contested the supremacy of the higher degrees over the Blue Lodges within the Supreme Council of France, and had even been one of the instigators of a split that led to the creation of the short-lived Grande Loge Symbolique Écossaise in 1880. Surprisingly, he chose for the "Droit Humain" the structure he had explicitly opposed within the French Supreme Council.

The same dispute soon arose within the "Droit Humain", where several Blue Lodges of the French Federation seceded to form the first Grande Loge Mixte Universelle in 1913. But the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 did little to encourage the development of this Masonic obedience, which did not survive.

Creation of the second Grande Loge Mixte Universelle 

The question of the autonomy of the Blue Lodges and the internal democracy necessary for the functioning of Freemasonry, which had been suspended for many years, would reappear in the 1970s. In 1973, the Lodges "Lucie Delong", "Marie Bonnevial" and "Le Devoir", with around one hundred members, seceded from the French Federation of the "Droit Humain" to create a new obedience, which initially took the name of Grande Loge Mixte Universelle "Droit Humain-Tradition". In 1975, this new Grand Lodge received a patent from the Grand Orient de France to practise the French Rite. Most of the Lodges of the Grand Lodge Mixte Universelle work in the French Rite, but a number have chosen to work in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and in 1980, the Supreme Mixed Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite was created to allow Brothers and Sisters who so wished to continue their Masonic studies beyond the third degree. However, the Supreme Mixed Council has no authority over the Grand Lodge Mixte Universelle.

Logo GLMU

The main founder of the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle was Éliane Brault (1895-1982), a journalist, feminist, politician and resistance fighter with an interesting Masonic background. She was initiated in 1927 in a Lodge of Adoption within what became, after 1945, the Union Maçonnique Féminine de France, then the Grande Loge Féminine de France. In 1945, she was one of the sisters who revived women's Freemasonry and joined the "New Jerusalem" Lodge. In 1948, Éliane Brault opted for mixed Freemasonry and joined the 'Marie Bonnevial' Lodge of the French Federation of 'Droit Humain', where she was re-initiated in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

Éliane Brault was one of those who challenged the hegemony of the Higher Degrees within 'Droit Humain', and also felt that too much symbolism tended to distract from social issues. Closer to the spirit of the Grand Orient de France, the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle is a liberal and progressive obedience, particularly sensitive to issues of liberty, equality, democracy, secularism and social progress. Its motto is Liberté - Égalité - Fraternité, but it also likes to add Universalité - Mixité - Laïcité. It currently has about 1,500 members.

Creation of the Grande Loge Mixte de France 

Without abandoning the progressive spirit that animates the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle, some of its members felt that this approach was not incompatible with a more symbolic and spiritual vision of Freemasonry. Several lodges therefore split off in 1982 to form the Grande Loge Mixte de France, which also received its patent from the Grand Orient de France. It now has some 5,000 members.



Logo GLMF

While the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle had a centralised structure similar to that of the Grand Orient de France, the Grande Loge Mixte de France opted for a more decentralised and federalist model : each lodge is an association within the meaning of the law of 1901, and the Grande Loge is simply the federation of all these associations.

More interested in symbolic and initiatory work than the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle, the Grande Loge Mixte de France brings together lodges practicing most of the rites used in France. While the administrative Rite of Obedience is the French Rite, it includes Lodges of the various variants of the French Rite, the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, the Rectified Scottish Rite, the Memphis-Misraim Rite, the Emulation Working, the Royal Standard of Scotland and the Rite of the Source and Light.

While the spirit and form of the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle remain faithful to the French Masonic ideal as it was defined at the end of the 19th century, the approach of the Grande Loge Mixte de France, with its greater emphasis on symbolism and spirituality, is undoubtedly more in tune with the "re-enchantment of the world" identified by sociologists in the 1970s. It seems to offer a harmonious blend of spiritualism and social engagement.