The Lauderdale Ritual, one of the little known rituals of Droit Humain

Have you ever heard of the Lauderdale Ritual which is use within the Droit Humain co-masonry ? For the majority of French-speaking Freemasons, Le Droit Humain works exclusively within the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, from the 1st to the 33rd degree. This is partly true, as the International Order of Droit Humain is organised around this rite and is governed by a Supreme Universal Mixed Council of 33rd degree. In reality, however, different rituals are used in the various associations of Droit Humain. This is particularly true of the Lauderdale Working, which is widely used in the English-speaking and Nordic Droit Humain Federations. What is the Lauderdale Working Rite ? Where does it come from and who are its authors ? We'll find out in this article.

The various rituals of Droit Humain 

Although it appears to be a highly centralised international order, with a single Supreme Council for the whole world, Droit Humain has a wide variety of rituals within its national Federations. This is particularly the case in the English-speaking and Nordic Federations, where different Craft rituals and systems of higher degrees are practised in order to respect the sensibilities and Masonic traditions of these countries, which are sometimes very different from the French Masonic tradition.

For Craft Lodges, the Lauderdale Ritual is probably one of the most widely practised. However, there are several others, such as the Dharma Ritual, the Verulam Ritual and the Georges Martin Ritual, which are specific to Droit Humain. Some national Federations also use ritual practised in regular obediences, such as the Emulation Working, the Royal Standard of Scotland and the Irish Ritual.

The higher degrees are not left out, as certain Federations of Droit Humain practise the Royal Arch, the Masonry of the Mark, the Royal Ark Mariner, the Cryptic Degrees (Royal & Select Master), the Knights Templar and the Royal Order of Scotland.

Why such diversity ? Simply because Droit Humain was born at the end of the 19th century in the most progressive fringes of French Freemasonry, and its founders were freethinkers, militant feminists, fervent republicans (sometimes even anarcho-syndicalists) and anti-clericalists. The rituals they originally adopted inevitably bore the marks of this and differed greatly from Anglo-Saxon Masonic practice : no Bible on the altar, no invocation of the Great Architect of the Universe, etc.

It was therefore foreseeable that Droit Humain would take a different direction in England and the English-speaking world. It would remain feminist, progressive and a-dogmatic, but in its own way. The form that freethought and secularism have taken in France has no equivalent in English-speaking and Nordic countries, where it is perfectly possible to be socially progressive while talking about God and not abhorring the presence of a Bible in the lodge ! 

The origins of the Lauderdale Ritual

One personality of Droit Humain in particular embodies the possible coexistence of a strong socio-political commitment and a somewhat mystical spirituality : Annie Besant (1847-1933), who was the main propagator of Human Rights in the British Empire and, more generally, in the English-speaking world. This feminist activist, who campaigned for the independence of Ireland and India, was also a member of Mrs Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, which she presided over from 1907 to 1933. It is to her that we owe at least two of the special rituals used in certain Droit Humain Federations. 

She collaborated on these rituals with Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854-1934), also a member of Droit Humain and the Theosophical Society, and co-founder of the Liberal Catholic Church. The first ritual they devised in 1904 is called the Dharma Ritual, after the lodge in Benares where it was first used. This highly spiritualistic ritual combined elements of the Standard Rite of Scotland and the AASR ritual used by the French Droit Humain, with Indian and Theosophical overtones.

Charles W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant

It was from this Dharma ritual that the Lauderdale Ritual evolved around 1913, this time closer to English Masonic practice, and in particular the ritual known as the Bristol Ritual. The ceremonies of the Lauderdale Ritual are highly developed and include the use of incense.

The Verulam Ritual, first published in 1925, is the third ritual with a strong theosophical connotation to be used in the Droit Humain. This time it was not the work of Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater, but is attributed to a close friend of the latter, James Ingall Wedgwood (1883-1951), co-founder with him of the Liberal Catholic Church and also a member of the Theosophical Society and Droit Humain. This ritual is more sober in its ritual procedures than the Lauderdale.

Little-known rituals in the French-speaking world 

These rituals, each of which has several variants, are virtually unknown in France. Only one lodge of the French Federation of Droit Humain (Lodge Le Comte de St-Germain, at the Orient of Paris) uses the Lauderdale ritual. 

On the other hand, several lodges of the Swiss Federation of Droit Humain and of the Mixed Grand Lodge of Switzerland, which is a split of it, use, under the name of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, rituals of a very British form, with a theosophical flavour, formerly transmitted to them by the Dutch Federation of Human Right. This was clearly the Dutch version of one of the rituals of Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater, probably from Lauderdale Ritual.