This operation was undertaken at a time when the Freemasons were at the peak of their influence. This was an operation that left the community shaking and reeling. This operation is about the first female Freemason in history and how she joined the ranks and unmasked of one of the most powerful, exclusively male secret societies in the western world.
For the sake of this article, let us assume our protagonist’s name is Jean. At the time of these events, she was a young, bold-minded but soft-voiced elementary school teacher. No one would have even fathom that a revolutionary lay beneath those kind eyes and sweet as honey smile. But there was one, and that feminist spirit of hers took over when she decided pose as a man named Brody Birdwhistle (don’t look at me like that, she’s the one who came up with it) and join the corporation.
Jean had known of the corporation since she was a small girl as her uncle was part of it and always flaunted it to her father (who was less than interested) every time he came over and they sat in the lounge for a drink after dinner. Consequently, she knew of the secret path of clues that existed in every major city that had been recently put out and had to be followed by each recruit so that they were able to join. So, when she moved to Memphis, Tennessee she started looking for these clues. The process was tedious and frustrating, but she was determined to reach the summit. After six months of when she finally discovered the meeting place and times of the corporation (unfortunately this information cannot be disclosed).
When the next meeting date came around, Jean was prepared. She had acquired all the things required to disguise herself as a respectable gentleman of that age, including a rice filled sock (what can I say, Jean was all about a convincing get up). When she thought she was convincingly dressed, she headed to the meeting. Upon arrival, she witnessed something that was beyond her wildest imagination.
Jean was rather shell-shocked. She thought she was walking into a propaganda meeting filled with entitled men trying to suppress the power and rights of the so called “lesser sex”, but what she did not forsee was the involvement of so many stones in the process. Upon observation, Jean concluded that she had come to an “Introduction to Stonework” class (I mean it was written on the board at the head of the room). Discreetly taking a seat in the back, her mind started reeling. Who were these men? Why did they want to learn stonework? She had always assumed that the word mason in Freemasons had been used ironically so that they could embed their values in stone, but she never thought it would take on a literal interpretation?!
Determined to find out more about this now, frankly absurd corporation, she continued to come to all the meetings she could. Eventually she started networking with people and unearthed more and more information. You see, the corporation was actually a shell for the true purpose, to learn the art of masonry. To these men, this art was sacred and was to be preserved. To make sure that this goal was achieved, the corporation had developed a detailed hierarchical structure that ensured the integrity of this operation. There were three categories of men in the corporation. The very tip of the pyramid was occupied by a man referred to as The Director. He ensured the proper functioning of all the lower strata and that the integrity of the corporation was maintained. Below him were the legends. These men had been part of the corporation for a very long time and were entrusted with the running of chapters in different cities and had been incharge of laying out the secret path. Then there were the legacies. These were men who were majorly related to the legends and were learning masonry. Finally there were the norms. The norms constituted a majority of the members and were a population of men of all ages and varied positions in society that wanted to learn masonry but were too embarrassed to admit it. So they came to the corporation, where their identity was never compromised and they learned a skill that made them satisfied (basically pounding rocks into weird shapes).
Even after discovering all of this, Jean continued to attend and pose as Brody Birdwhistle for over a year. That is until she made the biggest mistake of her life. Jean came to be close to a certain gentleman. He was a legacy and Jean should have kept her distance. But, she let her guard down. She began to trust him. (Wtf bro, that is the first rule of undercover work, are you fucking kidding me!?) This was okay until one day she decided to tell him about her secret. She knew that there was a chance that something could go wrong, so she mailed her diary to the feminist society before the meeting so that all her research could be used for the cause one day.
Jean’s diary is the only reason we were able to complete the story of the operation. When we acquired the diary and upon through examination, we were able to see that she had family in Canada. After establishing contact with Jean’s relatives, we discover she has a daughter. In an attempt to understand what happened to Jean, we approached her daughter. This is what she told us:
Jean arrived at that meeting with optimism in her heart and took the gentleman aside. She recounts to him all of the events that led her to undertaking this operation in the hope that he would accept her, but what he really did was listen to her entire story, walk away seemingly calm and tell the Legend i.e. his father. She could see that he was trying to keep his composure but it was slipping. Jean could see that he didn’t want to tell anyone.But he did and Jean had never felt more betrayed, but she had more pressing issues at hand. The Legend was enraged upon receiving knowledge of Jean’s identity, and scared of this incident reaching The Director, he announced that Jean was to be hanged the next day for her crimes tomorrow at the crack of dawn (I think that was a bit extreme). She was thrown into a dungeon under the meeting establishment where she tried to come to terms with her fate. But an hour before dawn, she saw the gentleman walk towards the cell. He opened it and told her to leave and to never come back (bro, filmy much?) And so Jean left. She fled to Canada, where she lived out the rest of her days in a quiet corner of the world, hidden from the rest of the world, always terrified that the Freemasons would find her.
But they never did. After Jean died, her notebook was used to bring down the Freemasons by threatening to expose them for who they really are, until and unless they redesigned their organization to raise good men. This is the Freemasonry you can read about today, but no one will tell you that it was only because of Jean that the Freemasons are what they are today and that she was the reason for the advent of the most widely believed conspiracy theory – men are wimps.
