The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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Chapter 7 - Rituals
deny that the Adoptive degrees still bear more than slight resemblance to Pike's
work with the Scottish Rite; while the veil ceremony is familiar to all York Rite
Masons." ("Publisher's Introduction," p. 1). Thus, Pike can lawfully exclaim:
"[...] you can feel that you are not mocked with an unreality, when what is
conferred upon you is called Masonry." (I., "Lecture," p. 43). The American Rite
of Adoption contains more Masonic and less Biblical allusions and symbols than
the androgynous rites of the Eastern Star and the Amaranth. Since Coil's
Masonic Encyclopedia states that the Eastern Star was partly suggested by the
French Rite of Adoption, 1413 we have given the American Masonry of Adoption
by Pike precedence over the analysis of the Eastern Star and the Amaranth, its
original third degree; annotating in footnotes whenever we have found such
alleged similarities. There were comparatively few.
In Pike's Masonry of Adoption, the lodge called "Hall" is regarded as
composed of four quarters, which are called "Realm": the Masonic East is Asia,
the West, Europe, the North, America, and the South, Africa (I, p. 7). This is not
arbitrarily chosen, but on the background that in the Orient, "the light of
civilization and science first arose. This is symbolized by the image of the Sun
[...]" (I., p. 55).
The Venerable Master (A) and the Admirable Mistress (a) have their seat in
the center of the East (Asia), she on his right. On their "northern" side is placed
1413 Cf. CME, p. 11.