The Scottish Rite is one of the largest and best-known branches of Freemasonry. It offers a Master Mason a further series of degrees, numbered from the 4th to the 32nd, together with honours such as the Knight Commander of the Court of Honour (KCCH) and the 33rd degree. Its degrees are staged as dramas, often with costumes and scenery, and its regalia is quite different from that of the York Rite, as the illustrated degree pages from page 4 onwards show.
The degrees and regalia on these pages follow the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States (AASR-SJ), the oldest Supreme Council of the Rite. Where the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction (NMJ) uses a different name or story for a degree, the degree page says so.
Who can join
In the United States, and in most English-speaking countries, the Scottish Rite is open only to Master Masons. A candidate must first receive the three degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason in a Craft (or “Blue”) lodge under his Grand Lodge. The Scottish Rite does not claim to rank above those degrees: there is no higher degree than Master Mason, and the Rite’s numbered degrees are best understood as further instruction rather than promotion. They build on the ethical teachings of the Blue Lodge and explore them through philosophy, history and religion.
Practice elsewhere varies. In England and Wales, where the Rite is usually called the Ancient and Accepted Rite or “Rose Croix”, a candidate must have been a Master Mason for at least six months, and the degrees above the 18th are conferred by the Supreme Council itself on a limited number of members. In much of continental Europe and Latin America the Scottish Rite works all thirty-three degrees, including its own versions of the first three.
How the degrees are received
American Scottish Rite degrees are usually conferred at gatherings called reunions, held by local units known as Valleys. Rather than performing every ceremony on each candidate individually, a cast presents the degree as a play before the whole class, with one candidate often taking part on behalf of the others. Members commonly watch the same degree several times over the years and find something new in it each time.
The two American jurisdictions organise this differently. In the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction a Master Mason becomes a Scottish Rite Mason once he has witnessed the 4th degree, and becomes a 32° Mason after witnessing the 4th, any three further degrees and the 32nd; the remaining degrees can be seen later, in person or online. In the Southern Jurisdiction the degrees are presented by four bodies: the Lodge of Perfection, the Chapter of Rose Croix, the Council of Kadosh and the Consistory. In both, the 33rd degree cannot be applied for; it is conferred by the Supreme Council in recognition of outstanding service.
The Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction publishes its own description of the Rite’s history and purpose here: https://scottishrite.org/about/history/
Introductory videos
Before reading further, these four short films are worth a few minutes. Two are welcome messages from the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions; the others are introductions to the Rite produced for prospective members. The Southern Jurisdiction’s welcome is introduced by the actor Ernest Borgnine, and the NMJ film answers the question “What is Scottish Rite?”.
What comes next
The following pages trace the origins of the Scottish Rite, introduce A Bridge to Light, the book on which the degree pages are based, and then work through the degrees one by one, beginning with the Lodge of Perfection and the 4° Secret Master.
Sources:
– Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, “Our Degrees”: https://scottishritenmj.org/degrees
– Wikipedia, “Scottish Rite” (sections on degree structure and on the Rite in the United Kingdom and United States)
– Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light: The Revised Standard Pike Ritual, 4th edition, edited by Arturo de Hoyos (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., 2010), “Introduction to the Revised Edition”
– Video titles as published on YouTube