Often when talking about freemasons, they mean the Grand Lodge of Finland, which does not accept women as members. However, there are also other Freemasons. The organization Le Droit Humain has included women from the beginning.
Helsinki The 19th-century apartment building on Uudenmaankatu has an iron gate decorated with suns, with a buzzer next to it. It says KYVJ Le Droit Humain. The acronym comes from the words International Joint Freemason Organization.
Here’s a beauty Heidi Nyström arrives every month at the meetings of his Homo Ludens lodge. They explore the great mysteries of life with the help of experiential rituals.
The rituals take place in the temple room, the ceiling of which is decorated with the Star of David. A Bible is waiting on the table under the star.
The floor is patterned with a black and white grid.
Le Droit Humanin’s Finnish organization has operated in the same premises for decades. The organization came to Finland in the 1920s.
Nyström joined Le Droit Humain as a freemason in 2000.
He had longed for a permanent discussion community with like-minded people. He had read the Bible, looked for answers from different places.
“I was such a seeker. I had a lot of internal questions: what is all this, what does it all mean? I looked at the starry sky and wondered why I am here as an ant looking at the stars.”
Nyström had also visited spiritual growth events held in Helsinki. He went to the Min ollen fair and the Spirit and knowledge fair. They introduced numerous esoteric trends.
Heidi Nyström has been a freemason since 2000. According to her, it teaches to understand life. Nyström worked as a teacher at the Finnish Association of Cosmetologists’ college. He is also a lymphatic, zone and aroma therapist.
Esoteria refers to secret knowledge and organizations and movements that strive for it. The term is based on an ancient Greek word esotericismwhich means insider.
Something in the Freemasons stopped.
“When I applied, I didn’t understand what I was getting into,” says Nyström.
“Now I don’t have to ask anymore. But life still offers new perspectives on different things.”
Grandmaster’s meeting gavel.
Chisel, hammer and semi-finished stone.
Freemasons progress gradually. The first three degrees are apprentice, professional and master mason. They are so-called professional masonry, where apprentices and professionals receive enhanced instruction in masonry.
According to Nyström, it is already possible to find all the answers in these three degrees, and there is no need to progress through trade union masonry.
However, through the initiation rituals, one can further advance to the Knights of the Rosy Cross, the Kadosh Knights and the Consistory. The highest is degree 33. Heidi Nyström has reached degree 31.
Each lodge meets once a month, except in summer. There are also seminars and training. The operation mainly runs on membership fees, so you have to commit to them as well.
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Founded in France in the late 19th century during the golden age of esoteric organizations.
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It started when the writer and women’s advocate Marie Deraismes had become a freemason despite the opposition of men. He was the co-founder of the joint Masonic lodge, which also accepted women as members. It evolved into Le Droit Humain.
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Arrived in Finland in 1920. The Finnish regional master of the organization was Kyllikki Ignatius (1877–1951) from Helsinki, who worked in several esoteric movements.
When when we talk about freemasons, we often refer to the Finnish Grand Lodge of Free and Rightful Masons. It does not accept women as members and does not recognize organizations that do.
Organizations that accept women do not comply with the basic rules of modern freemasonry formulated in England in 1723, says the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Finland Henrik Nylander.
According to him, the rule contains some absolute points, such as the fact that women cannot be accepted as members and that masons must confess that they believe in a higher power.
Henrik Nylander started as Grand Master of the Finnish Free and Right Masons Grand Lodge in May.
According to Nylander, however, the Grand Lodge in itself has a positive attitude towards joint freemasonry and the women’s organization.
“We encourage them to the extent that it is good to have opportunities for women to join the Masonic organization, when we cannot accept women into our organization.”
Le Droit Humain has approximately 180 members in Finland and Estonia, of whom, according to Heidi Nyström, approximately half are women. Estonia’s two lodges belong to the Finnish organization.
The Grand Lodge of Finland, which accepts only men, is much larger. It says on its website that it has around 7,400 members in Finland.
Utajärvi resident Kaisa Mirano became interested in Freemasonry years ago. He already belonged to two esoteric orders: the Rosicrucian Order Amorc and the Odd Fellow Order.
Amorc is a ritual association. According to its website, the purpose of the rituals is to help the individual achieve a connection with the eternal self.
Odd Fellow says that it focuses on human development by emphasizing tolerance and love of neighbor. The organization does, among other things, charity work.
“I always thought that I couldn’t be a Freemason because I’m a woman,” says Mirano.
Kaisa Mirano is an entrepreneur, social psychologist and psychotherapist. He discovered Freemasonry less than ten years ago. He is fascinated by the rituals, symbolism and strong sense of community in Masonry.
In connection with another esoteric society, Mirano met two masonic gentlemen who told that there are also masonic organizations in Finland that accept women as members.
That’s how Mirano found Le Droit Humain and joined its Stella Polaris lodge in Oulu.
Last In recent years, freemasons up to the men’s Grand Lodge have opened up and allowed, for example, the media to photograph their premises.
You can find ritual books online and look at online stores that sell masonic equipment. Among them are aprons decorated with symbols and white gloves.
The harp and the right angle are symbols of Freemasons.
However, there are still two things that Masons do not talk about. One must not tell anyone about another person’s Freemasonry, and one must not talk about rituals to people who have not experienced them.
According to Kaisa Mirano, rituals are not talked about because it would spoil the experience.
“If I make you a Christmas present, I have found out what you would like. I put it in a package and at the foot of the Christmas tree. If I told you in advance exactly what the gift is like, it would no longer be a surprise when you open it. It wouldn’t feel like anything anymore.”
Rituals are rites of passage, a kind of initiation into a new position in Freemasonry. Mirano’s first ritual felt like coming home to her.
A censer on the Grand Master’s table.
Originally Le Droit Humain was called the International Co-Masonic Organization. Some years ago the name was changed to International Masonic Organization for Men and Women.
“Perhaps we will return to the word joint freemasonry when the gender issue has acquired new dimensions,” says Heidi Nyström. He believes that the world is going in a direction where the division of people by gender is no longer so important.
Nyström is not bothered that the men’s Grand Lodge does not recognize other freemasons or accept women as members.
“They have chosen to follow the path of spiritual growth by only dealing with men. It is their choice.”
If wants to join Le Droit Humain, you must first fill out the contact form. For that, you have to describe, among other things, your own past in the way of spiritual growth.
Then the organization contacts the applicant if it considers him to have the potential to become a Freemason. Two freemasons interview the applicant, after which a board of examiners decides whether he will be accepted as a member.
The board assesses, among other things, that the applicant definitely understands what he is applying for. In addition, it is assessed how well the applicant is ready to commit.
“You can only come here to the sewing club, when this is not a sewing club,” says Heidi Nyström.
The source in the section about Kyllikki Ignatius is from what was published in the blog of Tiina Tiilikainen’s Uude etsijät research project, a student of cultural history at the University of Turku. text “Women in the fields of theosophy: Kyllikki Ignatius, an unknown woman of modern esotericism in Finland”.
Pillars are an important part of Masonic symbolism.
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