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

Chapter 3 - Overview of Rites 79
called the Northern and the Southern Jurisdictions. The Northern Jurisdiction
includes the States north of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Ohio River,
while all the western States belong to the Southern Jurisdiction. The Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite consists of 33 degrees, the three first of which are the
three Craft degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason), worked
in a Craft lodge. Then follow five stages of advancement, 1. The Lodge of
Perfection (4 th - 14 th degree), 2. The Princes of Jerusalem (15 th - 16 th degree), 3.
Chapters Rose Croix (17 th and 18 th degree), 4. The Consistory (19 th - 32 nd
degree), and 5. The Supreme Council (33 rd degree). 208
According to Henderson and Pope, in the U.S., progress up to the 32 nd degree
is readily and rapidly achievable, and about one Mason in five holds the 32 nd
degree. This is partly due to the requirement to be either a 32 nd degree Scottish
Rite Mason, or a Knights Templar in the York Rite in order to join the Shriners,
a very popular non-Masonic fun club considered the "apex of Freemasonry" in
America: "A commonly heard statement made in American Freemasonry is that
a brother is a '32 nd degree Mason and a Shriner.' " 209 The 33 rd degree which is
awarded to distinguished 32 nd degree Masons is considered an honor and is
limited to 33 members of the Supreme Council. 210
There are Masons who despise the whole eccentric line of high degrees, and
conceive them as standing outside the "legitimate and Cosmopolitan" three
degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, and their
completion in the Royal Arch Degree. In their opinion, they can only be
considered as extraneous matter and are not connected with the original plan of
Freemasonry. As Moore puts it, "[m]any of them bear evidence of being 'picked
up' here and there from vestiges of a former long-forgotten system and purer
faith." 211
The entire Bible teems with evidence [...] of the existence of esoteric
schools of knowledge, and the very prophecies themselves [...] read like
the teachings of a secret religious guild, where knowledge was
preserved that was hidden from the general populace, but which oozed
out in mystic language and allegory, when the fervor of enthusiasm
loosed the tongues of those gigantic poets of the olden time. [...] [T]he
greater number of these modern rites and degrees have been arranged to
suit the views and preconceived ideas of clever, visionary ritualists, and
are but the mere conceit of their concocters, nearly equally meaningless
and historically untrue. In this age of Christian enlightenment, what
have we to do with the dogmas of the Platonic school, or with any vain
endeavor to reconcile revealed truths of Scripture, and to offer vague
and unsatisfactory statements? 212
208
This is valid for the American Scottish Rite under the Northern Jurisdiction. The system under the
Southern Jurisdiction is similar, according to Henderson and Pope, p. 71.
209
Henderson and Pope, vol. I, p. 71.
210
Cf. ibid,.
211
Quoted from Moore in Stillson (ed.), p. 758.
212
Quoted from Moore in Stillson (ed.), p. 758.