As we well know,
Ancient Freemasonry consists of the three Craft Degrees of Entered Apprentice,
Fellow Craft and Master Mason. In England, almost exclusively, due to an
historical accident (please see my article in The
Journal of the Masonic Society Autumn 2008 p.15), the United Grand Lodge of
England, formed in 1813, resolved that the Royal Arch also comprised part of
Ancient Freemasonry. Beyond these essential and basic degrees of Freemasonry,
there are some sixteen additional Degrees and Orders or Rites in England, which
require the three Craft degrees as a prerequisite. These further degrees,
frequently wrongly referred to as High or
Higher degrees are best known as
Orders Beyond the Craft and are tolerated by the United Grand Lodge England and
enjoyed by many Brethren of all ranks.
Of all the many
Orders Beyond the Craft, one remains quite outstanding, both from the point of
view of the ritual as well as its composition. This is the August
Order of Light.
The
August Order of Light - Otherwise called the Mysteries of Perfection of Sikha
(Apex) and of the Ekata (Unity) was launched with
a document comprising its rules, regulations and ritual working on 11 November
1881. It is signed: Portman M V, Grand
Heirophant Presiding in the West of the August Order of Light and Prince of
Kether. Vidal Portman does not appear to have been of the Jewish faith,
although the evidence lies only in the fact that he had been active in solely
Christian Orders in the late 1800s. The origins of the Order, however, have been
attributed indirectly to a Jewish source. In the Library of the United Grand
Lodge of England are several files with vast correspondence between John Yarker
(1833-1913), the Masonic author and propagator of degrees and his considerable
entourage of followers of fringe freemasonry. Two of the letters in the
correspondence, both by Yarker to his colleague George Irwin (1828-1893), are
the source for much of the published views on the origins of the August
Order of Light. The letters are lengthy in content, written in John
Yarker’s own inimitable style, on paper headed Antient
& Primitive Rite of Masonry. (This was Yarker’s best known ‘baby’
originally formed in 1758, Yarker was granted a patent from the USA in 1872).
The first of the letters is dated 10 July 1890, and a relevant section states:
...I
am surprised that Westcott looks with any favour upon the ritual I have sent
him. It was drawn by some Cabalistic Jew
in London , and I know that M V Portman has no great opinion of it. With his
permission I amalgamated it with Sat Bhai Perfection (Which you have)....
The second is
dated a few months later, 16 October 1890 where Yarker writes:
....I
am duly in receipt of yours with Portman’s Ritual returned. I regret I cannot
tell you much about it; it was compiled for Portman by a Jew who had studied the Cabala & Theosophy in London...
William Westcott
(1848-1925) referred to by Yarker in the first letter was also a member of the
occult group of Masons involved in many aspects of fringe masonry. It is the
references to the Cabalistic Jew in London
in the first letter and to a Jew who had
studied the Cabala & Theosophy in London in the second, that have been
associated with Portman’s name. This association has led to the speculation
that here lies a reference to the source material from which the ritual of the August
Order originated. The suggestion that the Cabalistic
Jew referred to by Yarker was Rabbi Samuel Jacob Hayyim de Falk (c1710-1782)
is untenable because of the time gap.
There has been a
close relation between the established Order of Sat
B’Hai and that of the August Order as
evidenced in the first regulations of the latter Order dated 11 November 1881
headed Honorary Members which states:
.....On
the account of the connection of this Order of Perfection with the seven Grades
of ‘Sat Bhai’ these Sat Bhais may be admitted at the experimental meetings
but they are not to witness our signs or words.
There are two
implications of consequence in this statement. Firstly that Portman accepted the
Sat B’Hai as the more senior order and secondly that his own
ritual of the August Order relied on
the Sat B’Hai as a source. The
similarity of ritual between these, the only two oriental Orders in fringe
masonry, is obvious and becomes apparent when they are compared to each other.
Without getting immersed in comparative ritual, the influence of the Sat
B’Hai on the August Order is quite apparent. It would not appear, however, that
the August Order of Light was brought
to England by Portman from India and it certainly had nothing to do with the
ritual referred to by John Yarker and which is drawn by some Cabalistic Jews in London. The evidence points to
Portman merely adopting the principles and ‘shape’ of the already existing Sat
B’Hai ritual, flavouring it with Hindu and other oriental mysticism.
A comparison of
the rituals shows that Portman’s ritual for The
August Order of Light, dated 11 November 1881, is divided into three Sections with a total of 9 degrees. The Order is to be
governed by a Supreme Grand Chapter of
Hierophants and the Grand Council of
Initiates. The Government of the Society of Sat B’Hai, on the other hand, is to be vested in two Presidents
and seven administrative Officers. The ritual of the Sat
B’Hai set out in a transcript, the original of which is dated May 1879 and
signed Self & Ketu, consists of
three Series also with a total
of 9 degrees. Here the similarity between the two ends. Section I of the August
Order ritual is names DIKSHITA or Initiate. It is governed the Grand
Master of the Sacred Crown: the three degrees (in the West) consist of the Novice,
the 2nd degree is the Aspirants,
under the guidance of a teacher and the 3rd, the Viator
who become affiliated members under the supervision of senior occult
members. In the Sat B’Hai, the 1st
Series is semi-Masonic called the Divisional
Ghonsala or Khoh. The 1st degree is the Mute, who is admitted dumb; the 2nd the Auditor,
who has passed to speech and the 3rd is the Scribe,
who is advanced and is allowed his natural senses.
Clearly the
similarities remain one of composition only, however. There is nothing that
shows an amalgamation or any physical connection between the two Orders or their
respective rituals. Incidentally and as a curiosity only, it should be noted
that Portman in 1881 would have included women in the Order. His regulation
headed ‘PARVATI’ states:
....Female
members of the side degree of ‘Parvati’ rank with and after initiates, but
they have not the signs. They meet by themselves under the Presidency of the
Abebess of Patti and can be inspected by the Members of the ‘Order of Light’
in their offices...Also the President of any Hall has the power to send for them
to assist in the magical experiments.
What Portman had
in mind when he formulated the regulation that the Female members can
be inspected by the Members of the ‘Order of Light must be left to the
imagination. There are no records of any such inspections!
There is nothing
in the vast correspondence and other writings of Yarker, other than the mention
of Portman when referring to the
Cabalistic Jew in the above quoted letters that suggest that Yarker was
talking of the August Order of Light in his communications with his colleagues. The
letters quoted merely state that an outsider, of whom Yarker only remembers his
being a Cabalistic Jew in London,
composed a ritual for Portman which Portman did not like and forwarded to Yarker
for possible incorporation into the Sat
B’Hai Perfection ritual. There is nowhere a hint that this may have been
connected with the August Order of Light.
My view is that Portman was here involved in ritual work totally unconnected to
the August Order. John Yarker, in his Arcane
Schools of 1909, makes the following further statement on pages 492/3:
....The
writer arranged with Bro Portman to amalgamate it (the August Order of Light)
with the Sat B’Hai Rite of Perfection, but it seems to be continued
separately at Bradford, Yorkshire as the Oriental Order of Light...
....the
writer has a letter from Bro Portman in which he says: “The Sat B’Hai
rituals are without exception the finest and best suited to an Occult Order
of anything I have ever read.
There are several
implications in this quote. Firstly, the statement by Portman that The Sat B’Hai rituals are without exception the finest.... would
support my view. That is that Portman could have been referring to other
attempts at the creation of new ritual - nothing to do with the August
Order - such as the unacceptable ritual material composed by the
Cabalistic Jew. Secondly Yarker’s words but
it seems to be continued separately implies that in spite of the
‘arrangements’ made with Portman, Yarker did not carry out the revision of
the ritual.
It has been
suggested that John Yarker, having now obtained and amalgamated the August
Order with the Sat B’Hai, he
passed the Order over to brothers T M Pattinson and B E J Edwards at the turn of
the Century. But this is not a viable theory. John Yarker makes it clear, in the
quoted statement above, that the August
Order was already being worked successfully in Bradford as the Oriental
Order of Light. Secondly and far more importantly, housed at the Masonic
Hall in Blackwell, Halifax, lies the original warrant for the renewed August
Order stating:
I,
Maurice Vidal Portman
Founder
of the Order of Light
Authorise
T H Pattinson and
J
B Edwards to admit members
to
the Order and to hold meetings
thereof
and I confirm their past
actions
in so doing
The document has
an elaborate oval vignette along the right hand side. It is undated and signed M V Portman. The
fact that the document authorises and confirms past actions implies the Order
was already being worked before its formal launch in 1902. One must consider
Yarker’s words and he (Portman) leaves
all arrangements in the writer’s (Yarker’s) hands. Whilst I can
appreciate the possible interpretation of these words as referring specifically
to the August Order of Light, I feel
equally confident that the reference was to the two Oriental Societies in
general, including the Sat B’Hai.
Portman, by 1890, was generally disappointed with all aspects of freemasonry and
eager to return to India. His letter to Yarker constituted a ‘bail-out’,
rather than a ‘hand-over’ of an active and successful organised institution
to a successor. This is further supported by Yarker’s comments in his letter
to Irwin dated 16 Oct 1890 referred to above, in which Yarker says of Portman:
....I
have not heard from him for a long time, he was disappointed in Masonry & we
seem to have nothing else to correspond about.
By
this time Bros. Edward and Pattinson in Bradford had been in direct contact with
Portman who, at some time, handed them a signed warrant legitimising the
reconstitution of the Order. It is my view that when Yarker found that the Order
was already functional in Bradford, he took no further practical interest in it.
He may have intended to incorporate and amalgamate the rituals of the Sat
B’Hai with that of the Order of
Light but never got round to it. There is no interpolation of the Sat
B’Hai ritual in the August Order instituted
by John Yarker or anyone else, in spite of the statements made by Yarker
himself. John Yarker, had he any interest, could have joined the August
Order, as Westcott and many others did when the Order was launched in its
present form in 1902.
It
is gratifying today to participate in an Order well respected which successfully
extricated itself from the confusion and neglect at the end of the last Century
and has now survived into a state of popularity and prosperity.
Bibliography:
Bateson,
Dr Vaughan Masonic Secrets and Antient
Mysteries Bradford 1923
Hamill,
John M John Yarker: Masonic Charlatan? AQC
109 1996
Howe,
Ellic Fringe Masonry in England AQC 85
1972
Jackson,
Keith B Beyond the Craft London 1980
Stewart,
Trevor In Correspondence with the Author
on H Falk May 2000
Yarker,
John The Arcane School Belfast 1909
