The Order of the Eastern Star is a fraternal order of the Masonic family open to women and to Master Masons, who meet together in local bodies called Chapters. Created in 1850 by the American Freemason and poet Rob Morris, it draws its lessons from five heroines of the Bible and takes its name from the star that guided the Wise Men to Bethlehem. It is often described as the largest fraternal organisation in the world to which both men and women may belong, and it is known above all for its charitable work.
The Order has three independent governing bodies: the United Grand Chapter of Australia, formed in 1985, which oversees Chapters in every Australian state and the ACT; the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland; and the General Grand Chapter in the United States.
Origins and history
Rob Morris (1818–1888) was a lawyer and teacher who was made a Mason in Oxford Lodge, Mississippi, in 1846. He later served as Grand Master of Kentucky (1858–59) and wrote the much-loved Masonic poem “The Level and the Square”, which earned him the informal title of Freemasonry’s poet laureate. Like many Masons of his day, he wanted the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of Masons to have a place in the Masonic family where men and women could take part together. He thought the “adoptive” degrees then given to women in America were poorly conceived, and he set out to write something better.
Morris’s own account, reprinted in Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, tells how the Order took shape. In early February 1850, while living in Jackson, Mississippi, he was laid up for two weeks with rheumatism and used the time to write. He settled on the name first: the Eastern Star. Then he chose five points, to match the five-pointed star of Masonic symbolism, and for each point a woman whose story illustrated a virtue. Four came from the Bible: Jephthah’s daughter (whom he named Adah, since Scripture gives no name), Ruth, Esther and Martha. The fifth, Electa, is the “elect lady” to whom the Second Epistle of John is addressed. When the work was finished he conferred it in his own parlour on a neighbouring Mason and his wife. His wife Charlotte helped him develop the idea over many years.
Morris was a gifted writer and tireless traveller but, by Mackey’s account, a less able organiser. He set up a “Supreme Constellation” in New York in 1855 and published the Rosary of the Eastern Star, the Order’s first ceremonial book, in 1865. In 1866 he began working with Robert Macoy, a New York Masonic publisher, and when Morris left for the Holy Land in 1868 he passed his authority over the Order to Macoy. Macoy organised the system of Chapters and turned the Rosary into a ritual that, with modest changes, is still used around the world. Morris carried the Order to Scotland on a visit to Edinburgh in 1868, and the first Scottish charter, for Victoria Chapter No. 1, is dated 30 September 1874. In the United States the General Grand Chapter was formed at Indianapolis on 6 November 1876, and its committees settled the ritual in much its present form. Prince Hall Freemasonry developed its own Eastern Star, beginning with Queen Esther Chapter No. 1 in Washington, D.C., on 1 December 1874.
The Order in Australia
The Eastern Star reached Australia through Stewart and Sarah Hall, members of the Scottish Order who had helped found some of the first Chapters in Scotland and had moved to Queensland for their health. Sarah Chapter No. 31 was instituted at the Valley Masonic Hall in Wickham Street, Brisbane, on 13 July 1912, under the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland, with Sister Hall as its first Worthy Matron and Brother Hall as its first Worthy Patron. In New South Wales, Southern Cross Chapter No. 33 in Sydney and Hartford Chapter No. 34 in Lithgow were both instituted on 13 March 1913. The Order then spread state by state: Victoria in 1925, South Australia and Western Australia in 1929 and Tasmania in 1960.
The Grand Chapter of New South Wales was instituted at Sydney Town Hall on 28 April 1951 before 2,370 members. By the mid-1980s some 265 Chapters had been formed across the country, and members decided to seek independence from Scotland. The United Grand Chapter of Australia came into being on 8 June 1985 with supreme authority over the Order throughout Australia.
The symbolism of the Order
The star of the Order’s name is the Star of Bethlehem. At the centre of every Chapter room stands an altar, and when the Chapter is in session an open Bible rests on it, opened at the second chapter of Matthew, the story of the Wise Men who “have seen his star in the east”. Around the altar lies a five-pointed star whose white point faces downward, towards the manger. The Order is non-denominational and non-sectarian, but every member must believe in a Supreme Being, and its lessons come from the Old and New Testaments.
Each point of the star has a heroine, a colour and an emblem:
- Adah (blue; sword and veil): Jephthah’s daughter from the Book of Judges, who honoured her father’s vow
- Ruth (yellow; sheaf of grain): the widow who left her homeland out of devotion to her mother-in-law and her faith
- Esther (white; crown and sceptre): the queen who risked her life for her people
- Martha (green; broken column): the sister of Lazarus, whose faith held firm in grief
- Electa (red; cup): the “elect lady” of the early Church, who showed love and hospitality in the face of persecution
In Morris’s original scheme, published in 1865, the five illustrated respect for the binding force of a vow, devotion to religious principles, fidelity to kindred and friends, unwavering faith in the hour of trial, and patience and submission under wrong. Today’s Australian Order presents them as loyalty and commitment, devotion to family and friends, duty and responsibility, faith and hope, and love, charity and hospitality. Another long-standing summary links them to the roles of daughter, widow, wife, sister and mother, and to the virtues of fidelity, constancy, loyalty, faith and love. Whichever form is used, the lessons are meant to leave a deep and lasting impression on all who hear them.
The suggestion that the downward-pointing star is “satanic” is examined, and answered, in our fact check Claim #28.
Purpose and vision
The Order sets out its vision as encouraging members to work for the good of the community, to give generously to charity, to offer friendship and practical support to others in daily life, and to promote the ideals of the Order. The Australian Order names its core values as trust, respect, commitment, kindness, charity and support. For members it offers the chance to make new friends and to enjoy the particular fellowship of a fraternal order. Its virtues are meant to make them better family members and friends, and more useful to their communities.
Membership
The Order was first created for the female relatives of Freemasons, but in Australia it is now open to any woman of at least 18 who is of good character and believes in a Supreme Being, and to men who are Master Masons. Each applicant needs a proposer and a seconder, and the local Chapter will help a newcomer who does not yet know any members. Under the General Grand Chapter, women qualify through a Masonic relationship, through past membership of Rainbow or Job’s Daughters, or by sponsorship.
A Chapter is led by a Worthy Matron, supported by a Worthy Patron, who is a Master Mason. Beside them serve the Associate Matron and Associate Patron, Secretary, Treasurer, Conductress and Associate Conductress, Chaplain, Marshal, Organist, a Warder and Sentinel, and five sisters who represent the star points. Chapters meet once a month. The meeting opens and closes in ceremonial form, deals with ordinary business, and at the right time of year may include a service for Christmas, Easter or Anzac Day. Social functions and fundraising fill the rest of the calendar. Members get most from the Order if they enjoy belonging to a historic organisation and want to help others.
What members wear
• For women: a long white outfit with white or silver shoes and white accessories. Loose ankle-length slacks with a thigh-length tunic are acceptable, as is a modest white dress with sleeves ending no more than 20 cm above the ankle.
• For men: a black dinner suit (a kilt is also worn) with a white long-sleeved shirt. Regalia is supplied.
Fees: a one-off joining fee of about $35, and annual dues of $30 to $100 depending on the Chapter.
Note: a fez is worn in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is not standard regalia elsewhere.
Charitable support
Charity is at the heart of the Order. Alongside the aims for which it was founded, its members support local, state, national and international appeals, and many Chapters choose a cause for each Worthy Matron’s year. Fundraising takes many forms: luncheons and afternoon teas, trivia and bingo, stalls and raffles, harvest festivals and craftwork. By the Order’s earlier figures, more than $5 million went to national causes between 1997 and 2010. Between July 2019 and December 2021 Australian Chapters and governing bodies gave $2,616,998, including $500,000 for hospital equipment at St George and Sutherland, $220,000 for Australian War Widows, $210,000 for guide and assistance dogs, and further sums for medical research, special schools, homeless people, fire services and flying-doctor and air-ambulance services.
Members, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, also support aged care. The Grand Chapter of NSW & ACT owns The Laurels at Clemton Park in Sydney, and members also help in government and community aged-care homes. In the United States the General Grand Chapter’s foundation has funded research into Alzheimer’s disease, juvenile diabetes and juvenile asthma, and offers bursaries to students of theology and religious music.
Learn more or join
For more information, or if you would like to join, please visit:
– https://oesaustralia.org.au/ (United Grand Chapter of Australia, with a chapter directory and online registration)
– https://easternstar.org/ (General Grand Chapter)
– https://oescal.org/
– https://www.kansasgrandchapteroes.com/
– https://grandlodge.ph/general-grand-chapter-order-eastern-star
– https://mnoes.com/
Sources:
Albert G. Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, revised edition, entries “Eastern Star, Order of the” (including Rob Morris’s 1884 account), “Morris, Rob” and “Macoy, Robert”
United Grand Chapter of Australia, “Our Origins”, “OES in Australia”, “OES Globally”, “Our Principles”, “Charity Work” and “Membership FAQ”: oesaustralia.org.au
Wikipedia, “Order of the Eastern Star”
Credit (original 2022 page): Freemason NSW & ACT, “Other Orders” (issuu)