Given Annie Besant's activity in pursuing the rights of women, humanitarian causes, the mysteries and occult teachings, her interest in freemasonry and subsequent leadership and activism comes as no surprise. She pursued freemasonry with equal vigor when it was mentioned to her that there was a masonry that 'accepted women as well as men'. She saw freemasonry, in particular co-freemasonry, as an extension of her interest in the rights of women and the greater brotherhood of man and saw co-freemasonry as a 'movement which practiced true brotherhood, in which women and men worked side by side for the perfecting of humanity. She immediately wanted to be admitted to this organization', known now as The International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Besant was a prolific writer and a powerful orator. In 1889, she was asked to write a review for the Pall Mall Gazette 6] on The Secret Doctrine, a book by H.P. Blavatsky. After reading it, she sought an interview with its author,