SCOTTISH RITE

Primigenius More Majorem

Early Grand Scottish Rite

Primitive Scottish Rite

The Rite of Memphis Misraim had strong links to the Ancient and Accepted Rite.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was formalized in 33º grades in 1801 in Charlestown, to return to France in 1804. This Rite also proved highly successful across Europe and the Americas. In 1818 the Primitive Scottish Rite, also known as the Namur Rite, was officially constituted, with the Prince de Gavre as its Grand Master - its origins date back to the 1780.

The Primitive Scottish Rite or Early Grand Scottish Rite is a Masonic Rite. According to Robert Ambelain esoterics who "woke up" in 1985, it was the Rite used by the St. John of Scotland Lodge in Marseille which was introduced in France in Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 1688. However, there is no historical evidence of these claims, which remain controversial.

History

Claimed by the Rite

According to Robert Ambelain, the Primitive Scottish Rite was practiced by the many military Loges, Jacobites Scottish regiments and Irish exiled followers of the King of England James II and VII Stuart. Soldiers of these Loges would then spread enough in 1725 to form a "Very Old and Honorable Society of Freemasons in the Kingdom of France". Their rituals are then managed in Marseille in 1751 by Georges de Wallnon (or Waldon) which will be the Lodge Saint Jean d'Écosse de Marseille. They would also greatly inspired the rite of the Rite of Strict Observance and Scottish Rectified Rite. The motto of the Primitive Scottish Rite is "Primigenius More Majorem". It is this lineage that claims the current Primitive Scottish Rite, "awakened" in 1985 at the initiative of Robert Ambelain.

The historical scale of grades

After 1985, some variation probably due to the progress of his research, Robert Ambelain adopt the hierarchy of ranks of Primitive Scottish Rite in his 5th grade, the Scottish Master and /or Knights of Saint Andrew. The hierarchy of the Primitive Scottish Rite comprises the following grades:

1º. Apprentice

2º. Companion

3º. Master (or "Confirmed Companion")

4º. Installed Master (or Master of St. John or Master of Lodge)

5º. Scottish Master and /or Knights of St. Andrew of Chardon

Criticism and Historical Research Status

In 1777, when asked its integration within the Grand Orient de France, which houses of the "perfect equality" of Saint-Germain-en-Laye called for its creation in 1688 in the regiment "Royal Irish" arrived in France following the exile of James II and VII Stuart. Historians believe its true, but it has never been demonstrated and no ritual at the time was never found.

With regard to housing in Scotland Saint Jean de Marseille, like other French rites at the time, the Rite claimed the prestige of having been founded not by an English or continental, but with a patent which would have been made directly by a Scottish aristocrat Jacobite, in this case a certain "Duvalmon," "Valmont" or "Valuon", 17 June 1751. His first Venerable Master is a certain Alexander Routier. However, it was never able to present the original license, but only copies the oldest of which dated from 1784. Moreover, it was subsequently shown that the archives of the Grand Lodge of Edinburgh contained no trace of this supposed patent. Historians today believe that the origin must be regarded as legendary and was particularly put forward from 1784 in order to claim an independent origin of justifying its refusal to submit to the authority of Grand Orient de France.

Grand Lodge of the Primitive Scottish Rite

The French Grand Lodge of the Primitive Scottish Rite was succeeded in 2001 in the Grand Lodge of Primitive Scottish Rite founded in 1990 by Robert Ambelain, Albert and Andre Cools Fages.

It is a mixed Masonic obedience with aims to perpetuate the Primitive Scottish Rite. His lodges are working to the Glory of God Almighty and Sublime Architect of the Worlds.

Grades Practiced Today

Blue Lodges

1º. Apprentice

2º. Companion

3º. Master (formerly Companion Confirmed)

Red Lodges

4º. Installed Master (or Master of St. John or Master of Lodge)

5º. a. Master Scottish Knight of Saint-André

5º. b. Knights of Jerusalem (grade alternative to previous)

Internal Order

6º. Squire Novice of the Temple

7º. Chevalier du Temple

Scottish Philosophic Rite

From 1740 onwards, there existed at Avignon, capital of the department Vaucluse, a school or rather many schools of Hermeticism, working in some cases under Masonic forms on the basis of the Craft degrees, with an intermediate structure of so-called Scots degrees. The head of the movement was apparently Dom. Ant. Jos. de Pernety (1716-1801), a Benedictine Monk, alchemist, and mystic. The roots of the Scots Philosophic Rite go back to Pernety, and his Illuminés of Avignon. Also, the Illuminés point to Martinism and the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la sainte cité at Lyons, which was also connected to the Amis Rèunis / Philalethes / Philadelphes. Among its members were Cagliostro and his friend Baron de Corberon, Mesmer, Marquis de Thomé and the Marquis de Puysegur, self-styled Professor of “Mesmerism”. Early Primitive Rite was that of the Philadelphes, or Primitive Rite of Narbonne. This was associated both with the various esoteric currents in the area, and with the Philalethes. The Philalethes and the Scottish Philosophic Rite had common threads. The Scottish Philosophic Rite drew a lot from the early Scots Lodges in France, as well as the systems founded by / based upon Antoine Joseph Pernety. Ultimately these would lead to The Rite of Memphis.

Later on – 1787 – tbe Polish Starost Gabrianca, founder of the Illuminati of Avignon, added Martinist and Swedenborgian philosophy. Among the many rites which originated here may be mentioned the Elus Coens, Illuminés du Zodiaque, Frères noirs, etc. Of most importance to French Freemasonry was the “Mother Lodge du Comtat-Venaissin,” the date of constitution of which I have been unable to ascertain. About the year 1766 this Mother-Lodge worked the following extra degrees: -- 4°, True Mason; 5°, True Mason on the Right Road; 6°, Knight of the Golden Key; 7°, Knight of Iris; 8°, Knight Argonaut; 9°, Knight of the Golden Fleece. On July 22, 1757, the Archbishop issued a mandate against the whole system; and on February 3, 1775, the Inquisitor P. Mabille, himself a Freemason (so it is said), surprised the Mother-Lodge with an armed following and forced its dissolution.

A Lodge existed in Paris under the name of Saint Lazarus, which had been constituted by the Grand Lodge of France on May 20, 1766, And founded by Lazare Phil. Brunetau. On April 2, 1776, this Lodge constituted itself the “Mother-Lodge of the Scots Philosophic Rite in France,” changing its title to “Social Contract.” On May 5, 1776, it was installed as such by commissioners from the “Scots Mother-Lodge du Comtat-Vennaissin,” which on August 18 amalgamated with the Contrat Social; thus the Mother-Lodge, broken up at Avignon, revived in the bosom of a Paris Lodge, founded by the Grand Lodge of France, and since 1772 owing allegiance to the Grand Orient.

The “Social Contract” apprised the Grand Orient of its new departure, but for years the latter refused to recognise it as a Mother-Lodge, i.e., a Lodge with power to constitute others, and erased it from the roll. The history of the negotiations belongs to that of the Grand Orient, and it will be sufficient to state here, that in 1781 a Concordat was agreed to, which reinstated the Social Contract as a daughter of the G. O. in regard to the three degrees proper of Freemasonry, but which left it sole control over the Scots-Hermetic grades. It was prohibited from warranting Lodges within the jurisdiction of the G. O., but permitted to do so elsewhere, and to affiliate itself to French Lodges already in existence, and to endow them with Chapters, Tribunals, etc., etc. This was practically a victory for the Philosophic Rite. The Scottish Philosophic Rite is practised by the Masons subject to the Lodge Alpina in Switzerland. This latter Grand Lodge, which is among those formally recognized by the Grand Lodges of the British Isles, is of special importance, as it is not unfrequently utilised as a kind of liaison body by the different rites and lodges of the several jurisdictions all over the world in their negotiations with each other.

Cerneau Scottish Rite

Named after Joseph Cerneau (1763–1840/45), “Cerneauism” was a rival and illegitimate form of Scottish Rite Masonry that challenged the S.J. and N.M.J. during most of the 1800s. Cerneau, a Frenchman and resident of Havana, Cuba, was a jeweler and Secretary of a Pennsylvania Lodge, La Temple des Virtus Theogalis. In 1806 he was appointed Inspector of the 25-degree Order of the Royal Secret (Rite of Perfection), with authority to create one new 25° Mason each year in Cuba. His patent is in the archives of the Supreme Council, 33°, S.J. In 1807 he moved to New York City with his family and affiliated with Washington Lodge No. 21 in 1810.

Upon his arrival in 1807, he formed a Sovereign Grand Consistory of the 25° which attracted many prominent members, including DeWitt Clinton. After the Mother Supreme Council in Charleston created the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in 1813, Cerneau’s Consistory put forth a Supreme Council of 33° degrees and claimed territory over the “United States of America, it Territories and Dependencies.” At one point it was limited to members of the Schismatic St. John’s Grand Lodge of New York. Later it contracted to only control New York State, encouraging the formation of independent Supreme Councils in each state, and then re-expanded to again cover the entire country. In 1853 it chartered two Blue Lodges in New York City, which may have sealed its fate as forever illegitimate.

During the period of 1886 through 1888, Cerneauism was in a growth mode and was making inroad in the Kansas City area. (In 1807, Joseph Cerneau established a body under the title, "Sovereign Grand Consistory of the United States of America, its Territories and Dependencies" in New York and claimed the right to organize and charter bodies as the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite."

The "History of the Supreme Council" indicates that Cerneau bodies were formed in Kansas City with some forty members in 1887. Sovereign Grand Commander Pike had long before declared the Cerneau "Sovereign Grand Consistory" clandestine and members of bodies subordinate to that organization were not recognized as Scottish Rite Masons by the Supreme Council. The presence and activity of the Cerneau "Scottish Rite" caused confusion among the Craft.

Despite its many ups and downs, the Cerneau Supreme Council became a strong rival to the N.M.J., and in 1867 merged with the N.M.J. In 1881, dissatisfied former members of the Cerneau Supreme Council renounced their vows of fealty, withdrew from the NMJ, and reactivated the Supreme Council for the United States of America, its Territories and Dependencies. Eventually the conflict between the Supreme Councils (primarily in the N.M.J.) spilled over into Blue Lodges. In the late 1800s Grand Lodges reluctantly stepped in, declared the Cerneauists illegitimate, and threatened expulsion to any Mason who continued membership. The courts ultimately upheld a Grand Lodge’s right to control what Masonic groups it members could belong to, and only then did Cerneauism come to an end.

Joseph Cerneau, like the founders of the S.M.J. Supreme Council, had been a 25° member and Deputy Inspector General of Morin's Rite of the Royal Secret (sometimes known as the Rite of Perfection) and in 1807 organised a "Sovereign Grand Consistory" in New York, which later turned into a "Supreme Council 33°" in imitation of Mitchell and Dalcho's Charleston operation.

The SMJ refused to recognise this body, and in 1813 supported the establishment of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in opposition to Cerneau. Cerneau's original body was eventually (1867) absorbed by the "regular" N.M.J. council; however in the previous year one Harry Seymour, after being kicked out of the Scottish Rite under N.M.J. for involvement in Memphis-Misraim, got himself a Cerneau charter and later went on to charter John Yarker (expelled from A.A.S.R. in 1870 by the Supreme Council for England and Wales, also for involvement in Memphis-Misraim), from whom the "Cerneau" rite passed to Theodor Reuss and Aleister Crowley; thus the very fact which makes work more or less worthless for the study of the "regular" Scottish Rite makes it more useful than the likes of Ordo ab Chao or Pike's Magnum Opus for the study of the Masonic influences on the O.T.O.

In 1917 was founded the Ordo Templi Orientis Lodge "Libertas et Fraternitas" in Zürich (Switzerland), under Reuss and de Laban. Some days before de Laban and Hilfiker had paid Reuss handsomely for their own O.T.O. charters. On these papers the O.T.O. was equaled with the Memphis-Misraim Rite. In 1919 Reuss founded a Supreme Council of the Cerneau Scottish Rite.

THE VIEW TODAY

Today, it is the official opinion of the Southern Jurisdiction that all legitimate Supreme Councils derive their authority directly or indirectly from the Southern Jurisdiction. This precept would eliminate any Cerneau Council from being able to be declared legitimate. The Grand Constitutions of 1786, however, make no mention, whatsoever, of legitimacy being conditional upon the ability of a Council to show that it derives it's authority from the Charleston Council. The recent recognition by the Supreme Council Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Prince Hall Scottish Rite (which can not trace itself back to the S.J.) in those Northern States whose Grand Lodges recognize Prince Hall Masonry illustrates that the position of the Southern Jurisdiction is not universal. Without question a re-evaluation of the Southern Jurisdiction's historical position on recognition will have to take place.

The battle to define American Scottish Rite regularity has been lengthy and often bitter. Cerneau masonry has long been the standard for "irregular" masonry, but why? Both Supreme Councils in the Southern and Northern Jurisdictions merged with Cerneau Councils, clearly this is a declaration that the Cerneau Councils could not have been "that" irregular. In the final analysis, it is clear that there is much still to be understood concerning Cerneau masonry. Possibly, with time and careful study we can discover more concerning this man who had such a powerful effect on American Scottish Rite masonry.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite

The Scottish Rite, known as the Continental Masonry, origins were in European Masonry practiced in the mid 17th century. The constitutions of the Scottish Rite were formulated in 1761, 1762 and 1786. The influence of these Masonic rites went global along the trails of British Imperialism. They are practiced today in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

W. Leadbeater wrote in “Glimpses of Masonic History” the following:

ORIGIN OF THE RITE

THE origin of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of 33°, or rather that of the Rite of Perfection or of Heredom of 25° out of which it was evolved, has been one of the most obscure Masonic problems; practically nothing is known about it by scholars, since no authentic contemporary evidence is preserved in available documents or publica­tions. This silence need cause but little wonder to the student who has followed us so far, for, like many other activities both in politics and religion, the high-grade Masonry of the early eighteenth century was intended to be kept secret, and the secrecy was preserved by committing nothing to writing and leaving no trace on the physical plane. I cannot expect that my statements will be accepted by Masonic scholars who pin their faith to documents alone, but I shall nevertheless give a brief account of what actually took place, supplying corroborative evidence whenever possible from reliable historians, so far as their works are available to me. This book is written in Australia, far away from the chief centres of Masonic life and learning, and I have consequently had to depend largely upon the resources of my own library. If I had access to a larger selection of Masonic volumes I should no doubt be able to find other fragments of valuable testimony.

THE JACOBITE MOVEMENT

There has been a persistent tradition among Continental writers upon Masonry that the Jacobites had much to do with the development of the higher degrees of the eighteenth century; and, as Bro. R. R. Gould points out, colour is lent to this view by the fact that the earliest names mentioned in connection with Freemasonry in France are those of well-known adherents of the Stuarts, although he himself rejects the hypothesis for lack of sufficient evidence.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., III, 78.) We have the direct and personal testimony of Baron von Hund, the founder of the Rite of the Strict Observance, given in 1764, that he himself was received into the Order of the Temple in Paris in 1743 by “an unknown Bro., the Knight of the Red Feather, in the presence of Lord Kilmarnock* (*At that time Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and Master of Lodge Kilwinning on his election to that high office in 1742. Ibid., p. 53.) … and that he was subsequently introduced as a distinguished Brother of the Order to Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender”.* (*Ibid., p. 101.) From papers found after his death it is clear that von Hund regarded the Knight of the Red Feather as Prince Charles himself. The life of von Hund shows him to have been a man of stainless honour who had made great sacrifices for the cause which he had at heart; and although it has been said that in 1777 Prince Charles denied to an emissary of the Strict Observance* (*Ibid., p. 110.) that he had ever been a Freemason, such an official démenti is not unknown even to-day in political circles, and perhaps we need not attach great importance to it.

The Scottish adherents of King James II, who followed him into exile after the landing of the Prince of Orange in 1688, brought to the English Court at S. Germains (which had been placed at the disposal of the King by Louis XIV) those ancient rites of Heredom and Kilwinning, intermingled with the Templar tradition, to which we have already referred. When King James II fled from England he took refuge at the Jesuit Abbey of Clermont, which had attached to it a College of Clermont in Paris, founded by Guillaume du Prat, Bishop of Clermont, in 1550.* (*The Catholic Encyclopaedia (1913), Vol. xiv, p. 88.) There, most unexpectedly, the King found a Masonic centre, working rites which had been handed down in France from a remote past. An intermingling of two traditions thus took place, and it was at this period - many years before the revival in 1717 - that certain of the ceremonies which are to-day included in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite were first put together.

It is probably this fact which gave birth to that other recurring tradi­tion that the Jesuits were connected with the development of high-grade Masonry on the Continent; and it is from this indigenous French tradition, of which another branch had found its way into the Compagnonnage, that the rituals of French Craft Masonry - so different from the English - were derived. A further intermingling with the English tradition transmitted through Anderson no doubt took place after 1717.

King James conceived the idea of trying to use Freemasonry to assist him in his endeavour to regain his throne; but this attempt failed, for, though they sympathized with the King, the Masonic authorities staunchly refused to abandon their traditional neutral policy, or to allow the Order to become a cloak for political intrigue. The Jacobite influence nevertheless left its traces upon this part of Masonry, and in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite the 14° is still called, under some Obediences, Grand Scottish Knight of the Sacred Vault of James VI, though its older name was Grand, Elect, Ancient Perfect Master.* (*A. E. Waite. Secret Tradition in Freemasonry, Vol. I, p. 125.) Baron von Hund spoke the truth when he claimed to have met Prince Charles in Paris in 1743, and he seems to have inherited certain lines of succession which afterwards became the heart of the Rite of the Strict Observance. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which practically destroyed the Jacobite movement, the connection of the Stuarts with Masonry was dropped, and it seems probable that Baron von Hund himself composed the Latin Rituals of the Strict Observance, which played a considerable part in German Masonry in the eighteenth century.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., III, 101.)

THE ORATION OF RAMSAY

After the year 1740 “Scots Degrees” sprang up in all parts of France,* (*Ibid., p. 92.) and their creation and development are largely attributable to the celebrated Oration delivered in 1737 in the Provincial Grand Lodge of England in Paris by the Chevalier Ramsay; although the first published reference to a “Scotch Masons’ Lodge” occurs as early as 1733 in London.* (*R. F. Gould, A.Q.C., XVI, 44.)

Ramsay was born in 1681 or 1682 at Ayr near Kilwinning (though he does not seem ever to have joined that ancient Lodge). He was converted to Catholicism by Archbishop Fenelon, whose Life he wrote and with whom he continued to live till his death in 1715. After that he acted as tutor to the two sons of the rightful King James III in Rome. He was unquestionably a learned man, a deep student both of ancient and modern history, a D.C.L. of Oxford University and, like many other prominent Freemasons of the period, a Fellow of the Royal Society. He never appears to have taken much interest in Masonry, though he wrote to Cardinal Fleury, the Prime Minister of France, in 1737 asking his protection for the Freemasons, and stating that their ideals were very high and most useful to religion, literature and the state. He died in 1743.

But although Ramsay never did much work for Masonry, the Oration which he delivered in 1737 before the Provincial Grand Lodge of England in Paris, of which he was Grand Chancellor and Orator, had a profound influence upon French Masonry. It was a tolerably good Oration, but nothing very extraordinary. None the less it appears to have given just that impetus that was needed to set the French high-grade movement in activity, and ever afterwards the makers of high grades looked to Ramsay as their pattern and ensample.

He proclaimed the ideal of Masonry to be a Universal Brotherhood of cultured men, a Spiritual Empire that would change the world. He refers to the three degrees, and calls them Novices or Apprentices, Fellows or Professed Brothers, Masters or Perfected Brothers - a slightly different set of titles which may refer to a different stream of tradition. These are required to practise respectively the moral virtues, the heroic virtues and the Christian virtues.

According to him, Masonry was founded in remote antiquity and was renewed or restored in the Holy Land at the time of the Crusades. It has affinities with the ancient Mysteries, especially those of Ceres at Eleusis, Isis in Egypt and others. The Crusaders adopted a set of “ancient signs and symbolical words drawn from the well of religion,” which were intended to distinguish Crusader from Saracen, and were concealed under strict pledges of secrecy. The intimate union between the Crusading Masons and the Knights of S. John of Jerusalem is the reason why the Blue degrees are called S. John’s Masonry. The return­ing Crusaders brought Lodges of Masonry to Europe, and from thence they were introduced into Scotland, where “James, Lord Steward of Scotland, was Grand Master of a Lodge established at Kilwinning, in the West of Scotland in 1286, shortly after the death of Alexander III, King of Scotland, and one year before John Baliol mounted the throne”.

Ramsay goes on to explain that by degrees our Lodges and rites were neglected almost everywhere, but nevertheless they were preserved in all their integrity amongst those Scotsmen to whom the kings of France confided during many centuries the safeguarding of their royal persons. He allows that “Great Britain became the seat of our Order, the conservator of our laws and the depository of our secrets”. Many of our rites and usages which were contrary to the prejudice of the reformers were changed, disguised or suppressed. Thus it was that many Brn. forgot the spirit and retained only the shell of the outer form. Masonry however is to be restored to its pristine glory in the future.

The rituals of these Scots Degrees are varied, but one chief idea underlies them all - the discovery in a vault by Scottish Crusaders of the long-lost and ineffable Word, during the search for which they had to work with the sword in one hand, and the trowel in other.* (*Hist. Freem., III, p. 92.) This same symbolism of the sword and the trowel is mentioned in Ramsay’s speech, in which he derives Freemasonry from the patriarchs and the ancient Mysteries through the Scottish crusaders; and they are further mentioned both in the present ritual of the Royal Order of Scotland, in which the candidate takes his O. with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other,* (*A. E. Waite. Secret Tradition in Freemasonry, Vol. I, p. 404.) and in a quotation from that ritual occurring as early as 1736 in print at Newcastle.* (*A. Q. C., XV, 186.) We hear of two Scottish degrees being received by Baron C. Scheffer, the first Grand Master of Sweden, in 1737,* (*Gould. Concise History, p. 300.) and we may perhaps suggest - though in opposition to the theory held by most Masonic writers - that the oration of Ramsay, although it may have helped to popularize Scottish Masonry, was in reality an effect rather than the cause of the introduction of high-grade Masonry on the Continent, which was all the time being quietly directed from behind by the H.O.A.T.F.

The Scots Masters claimed extraordinary privileges in the French Craft Lodges, and these were formally recognized by the Grand Lodge of France in 1755.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., III, p. 95.) They wore distinctive clothing, remained covered in a Masters’ Lodge, claimed the right to confer the Craft degrees with or without a ceremony; and eventually the Scots Lodge actually appointed the W.M. of the corresponding Craft Lodge without consult­ing the Brn. over whom he was to rule. They further usurped the privilege of the Grand Lodge and issued warrants of constitution. One of the most important of these is the Mere-Loge-Ecossaise of Marseilles, said to have been constituted in 1751, which worked a number of degrees not belonging to what afterwards became the Scottish Rite, but later incorporated - at least as far as their titles are concerned - in the Rite of Memphis of 96°. These Scots Lodges or still more, the Royal Order of Scotland from which they arose, form the first public manifestation of the movement for creating high degrees which reached such a fervour of activity in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

THE CHAPTER OF CLERMONT

Our main channel of descent lies behind the Scots Lodges, and first appears indubitably in the outer world in the Chapter of Clermont, commonly thought to have been founded by the Chevalier de Bonneville in 1754,* (*Ibid., p. 94.) but in reality a continuation of that same Order of the Temple into which Baron von Hund was received in 1743, which was derived from the Scottish courtiers exiled at S. Germains and from the College of Clermont. According to Thory (who, however, wrote sixty years after the event) this Chapter was based on the three degrees of Blue Masonry, the Scots or S. Andrew’s Degree, and worked three higher grades - 5, Knight of the Eagle or Select Master; 6, Illustrious Knight or Templar; 7, Sublime Illustrious Knight.

748. In the later form in which it emerges in 1754 both Jacobite and Jesuit connections had been dropped, and the succession, together with certain ceremonial degrees, probably including a form of the Kadosh, had passed into the hands of distinguished French noblemen, courtiers, military officers, and the elite of the professions.* (*Ibid., p. 95.) It was in this Chapter of Clermont and in the Council of the Emperors of the East and West into which it was transformed in 1758, that the colossal work of casting the ancient traditions into a ceremonial rite was to a great extent per­formed; and it is in these two bodies, which were yet one body, that the immediate origin of our Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is to be found.

THE COUNCIL OF EMPERORS

The Council of Emperors was composed largely of men of noble birth and high culture who were also deep students of the secret science, learned in various traditions of the wisdom which had been handed down along so many lines in the past. They had inherited not only the Clermont Rites and the Scottish lines of Kilwinning and of Heredom, but other traditions derived directly from both Templar and Rosicrucian sources, together with the powers of the Egyptian rite to which we have previously referred. They were men of wide knowledge, but also apparently of overweening pride, like so many of the nobles of the ancien regime; and the drawing together of this body of noblemen was one of the attempts made by the emissaries of the White Lodge to prepare them for the great changes which should have been accom­plished, had not their pride been so great, without the horrors of the French Revolution.

A definite commission appears to have been given to them by the H.O.A.T.F., the Master the Comte de S. Germain Himself, to mould all these various traditions, which He had caused them to inherit, into a rite which should express to some extent the power for good of the Egyptian succession in a form suited to a more modern age. These orders they proceeded to carry out as faithfully as possible, and the result of their labours was the Rite of Perfection or of Heredom of twenty-five degrees, all of which are still contained in our modern Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

The Council of Emperors received much inspiration from the H.O.A.T.F., although not necessarily on the physical plane, and it must have been far easier to influence such a body of men than the frequentors of those Georgian taverns which were the first temples of the English Mysteries after the great revival in 1717. But, as with many other attempts to synthesize a number of traditions by a com­mittee of revision, the Council of Emperors was hampered in its work by the necessity of including less important materials which had come into the hands of certain of its members. The result is seen in the inclusion of several almost meaningless intermediate degrees, which still belong to the Scottish Rite, but are seldom or never worked among US.

A certain marriage of traditions took place in the case of the 18°, for the great ritual of the Rosy Cross used for the perfecting of the Rosicrucian and Egyptian Brethren, though shorn already of much of its ancient splendour, was blended with the old Mithraic Eucharist handed down in the Rites of Heredom, to form the source of our modern workings of the Rose-Croix. The Emperors’ Ritual of the 30°, then called the 24°, Grand Commander of the Black and White Eagle, Grand Elect Kadosh, reflected far more efficiently the Egyptian teachings of Black Masonry than those which have to-day reached us through the hands of many editors, who were ignorant of their true meaning. The highest Degree among them was the 25°, now our 32°, called Most Illustrious Prince of Masonry, Grand and Sublime Knight Commander of the Royal Secret; and the Tracing Board of the 32°, often little understood, reflects their original plan of union with the, Hidden Light through the passing of many rites of initiation.

There was no degree of Sovereign Grand Inspector-General, for the 33° as such did not yet exist; but the wonderful powers which now belong to that high rank were conferred upon their Grand Inspectors, chosen from among the Prince Masons of the 25°; and the great white Angels who wear the insignia of the KING were linked with these, even as they are linked with the Brn. of the 33° to-day. The crimson Angels of the Rosy Cross likewise attended their Sovereign Chapters, and many other glorious powers which are ours to-day were theirs also. Thus the Council of Emperors represents the first real attempt ever made to incorporate the full Egyptian inner tradition into a ceremonial form; and as such it is an important landmark in the history of Masonry.

Almost all the splendid teaching given by the great Master the Comte de St. Germain, by Pere Joseph and Cagliostro, and other emissaries of the White Lodge, was swept into oblivion in the colossal tragedy of the French Revolution. The Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees was carried into Great Britain, and handed down among the Templar Encampments long before the advent of the Supreme Councils of the Scottish Rite which derived their authority from Charleston. Most of the Brn. of the old Rite joined the new Obediences as soon as they were formed; but there exists to-day one line of tradition at least, in part derived from those old Templar Encampments, which has never been incorporated in the Supreme Councils of England, Scotland and Ireland. There was also a perpetuation in France, which later amalgamated with the French Supreme Council.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., p. 164.)

STEPHEN MORIN

The scene of our story now shifts to the New World; for it was there that the change from the Rite of Perfection of 25° into the Scottish Rite of 33° took place. In 1761, three years only after its foundation, the Council of the Emperors of the East and West granted a patent to one Stephen Morin “to establish perfect and sublime Masonry in all parts of the world,” constituting him a Grand Inspecter of the Rite of Perfection. The patent authorized him to “form and establish a Lodge in order to admit to and multiply the Royal Order of Masons in all the perfect and sublime degrees,” and gave him power to create other Inspectors. The original of this document has not yet been found, and the world knows of it only from the copy preserved in the Golden Book of the Comte de Grasse-Tilly, founder of the Supreme Council 33° of France. Bro. R. R Gould, however, has a right intuition in the matter, for he “is by no means prepared to deny its authenticity,” and a complete transcription of it is given in his History of Freemasonry.* (*III, p. 125ff.) It is signed by Chaillon de Joinville, Prince de Rohan, Brest-de-la­Chaussee, Comte de Choiseul, and others of the Council of the Emperors. In 1761, Stephen Morin arrived in San Domingo, where he commenced the dissemination of the rite, and appointed many Inspectors both for the West Indies and the United States.* (*Mackey’s Encyclopaedia. Art. Scottish Rite.)

He was unfortunately by no means an ideal Channel for spiritual force, and although he certainly transmitted to his American Brn. the Egyptian succession of powers, he was sometimes not in possession of the fullness of the power himself. At times he rose splendidly to the occasion, and showed signs of distinct advancement; I have watched him during the consecration of a Chapter of the high degrees magnificently overshadowed by the H.O.A.T.F. Himself and the great white Angels. But it cannot be denied that he had many faults, among others a passion for amorous intrigues; and not infrequently the greater part of his spiritual heritage was withdrawn, leaving him the mere seeds of the succession to transmit to others. The reports of his misdoings were so numerous and persistent that at one time the Council of Emperors actually withdrew his patent; but posts were slow in those days, and before the withdrawal reached him the Council had already cancelled it, and fully reinstated him.

Stephen Morin was also unfortunate in his choice of lieutenants, for in many cases these were Jews of not very good repute; and it is through these somewhat soiled hands that we must trace the Rite of Perfection during the next forty years. The rite passed through a period of obscuration, when the degrees were shamelessly sold to any who would buy their titles, and the inner meaning of the ceremonies was almost forgotten. But although the splendid occult knowledge of the Emperors was lost and the rites became shorn of most of their power, the seeds of the succession still passed down - until a higher class of egos was guided into the rite and a new era began. The rite was established at Charleston in 1783 by Isaac da Costa, who was created Deputy-Inspecter of South Carolina by Moses Hayes. It will be seen that a succession is definitely claimed by the authorities of the rite.

FREDERICK THE GREAT

It was during this period of obscuration that the curious myth of Frederick the Great arose among the Jews, probably in order to enhance the commercial value of the degrees; and it was apparently really believed that the King of Prussia was the Supreme Head of the Rite, for in the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of Perfection in Albany (New York), founded in 1767, the Lodge is required, on September 3rd, 1770, to prepare its report for transmission to Berlin. We find also in 1785, one year before the king’s death, a letter addressed to Frederick by a certain Solomon Bush, Deputy Grand Inspector of North America, asking for recognition of a Lodge which he had con­secrated.* (*Note Historique sur le Rite Ecoss . : Anc . : et Acc . : Par le Souv .: Gr .: (Count Goblet d’Alviella) p. 7.) It was afterwards alleged that Frederick the Great, on his death-bed, ratified the Grand Constitutions of 1786 containing the laws that still bind the Scottish Rite, and that he constituted the 33° in per­son, delegating his powers as a Sovereign of Masonry to nine Brn. in each country. The original Grand Constitutions were in French, but in 1834 a Latin version of them alleged to have been signed by Frederick himself was accepted as genuine by the Supreme Council of France; but this is now on all sides admitted to be a forgery.

The truth is that Frederick took no active part in the Rite of Perfec­tion, that he neither ratified the Constitutions nor created the 33°; and indeed to-day the majority even of the Supreme Councils are prepared to waive the claim that they derive their authority from Frederick the Great, whose interest in Masonry (at any rate in later years) was but of the slightest. The grand constitutions nevertheless remain the law of the Rite in all Supreme Councils deriving lawfully from Charleston, and Albert Pike believed them to be genuine. As it is certain that Frederick had nothing to do with the Rite, I fear we must regretfully conclude that both the fourth and the fifth documents in de Grasse-Tilly’s Golden Book - the alleged Constitutions of 1762 and the Grand Constitutions of 1786 - were forgeries. It would seem that they were sent over from Europe, perhaps in response to a demand from the Jewish interest; and the fact that Dr. Dalcho’s father was an officer in the Prussian army who had served with great distinction under Frederick the Great may well have disposed the Doctor the more readily to accept these remarkable documents.

THE CHARLESTON TRANSFORMATION

The second great transformation of the high degrees, though it was on a far smaller scale than the first, took place at Charleston before 1801. We learn from the Circular of Dr. Dalcho that

On the 31st of May, 1801, the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree for the United States of America was opened, with the high honours of Masonry, by Brothers John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho, Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General; and in the course of the present year (1802) the whole number of Grand Inspectors-General was completed, agreeably to the Grand Constitutions.* (*Quoted in Mackey’s Encyclopaedia. Art. Supreme Council.)

Such is a brief account of the formation of that which called itself the Mother Supreme Council of the World, from which, indeed, all other Supreme Councils of the world spring, with the exception of a few survivals of other lines of descent. It is clear from archives in the possession of the Mother Supreme Council that up to the eve of its formation the only degrees worked were the 25° of the Rite of Perfection.

The formation of the new Rite was inspired and directed by the H.O.A.T.F. Himself, and the extra eight degrees which then appeared were but rearrangements of the old twenty-five degrees of the Rite of Perfection. Now that more advanced egos had come into possession of the degrees, a fuller manifestation of the power behind was permitted; and since then the Scottish Rite, though its rituals have been altered in various countries and in various interests, has become the most important and splendid of all Masonic Obediences.

THE SPREAD OF THE SCOTTISH RITE

We may here refer back to the third document in the Golden Book, the patent granted to De Grasse-Tilly by the new Supreme Council 33° in Charleston in 1802, only a few months after its formation, which certifies that he has been tested in all the degrees of the Rite and authorizes him to erect Lodges, Chapters, Councils and Consistories in both hemispheres, creating him Sovereign Grand Commander of a Supreme Council for the Antilles for life. It is signed by Dalcho, De la Hogue and others, who all describe themselves as Kadosh, Prince of the Royal Secret, Sov. Gr. Inspector 33°.

The Scottish Rite was introduced by the Comte de Grasse-Tilly into France (1804); from France it passed into Italy (1805), Spain (1811) and Belgium (1817). In 1824 the Supreme Council for Ireland was formed with jurisdiction over the official degrees of White Masonry only, because of the previous existence of Chapters and Lodges of Rose-Croix and Kadosh belonging to the old Rite of Perfection. The Supreme Council of England and Wales was formed in 1845, and that of Scotland a year later.

In America in 1812 a working jeweller named Joseph Cerneau established in Boston what he called a Sovereign Grand Consistory of the United States. Cerneau possessed the necessary succession, and so was able to pass on the actual powers; but as he had no mandate from the Council of Emperors the Charleston Supreme Council denounced his proceedings as irregular, and themselves appointed a Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction a year later. Supreme Councils deriving from Cerneau still exist, though they are not recognized by bodies holding the Charleston succession. Both lines, however, are valid.

The rite has spread into almost all countries of the world, and does an incalculable amount of good to thousands upon thousands of Brn., even though but few derive from it the full possibilities of spiritual advancement which lie behind it. But to be brought, however unconsciously, into touch with so holy an influence must unquestionably uplift and bless even the least sensitive; and some touch of its hidden glory is conferred upon all.

H. P. Blavatsky wrote in "Isis Unveiled" - Vol. 2 the following:

"That bastard foundling of Freemasonry, the 'Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,' which is unrecognized by the Blue Lodges was the enunciation, primarily, of the brain of the Jesuit Chevalier Ramsay. It was brought by him to England in 1736-38, to aid the cause of the Catholic Stuarts. The rite in its present form of thirty-three degrees was reorganized at the end of the eighteenth century by some half dozen Masonic adventurers at Charleston, South Carolina. Two of these, Pirlet a tailor, and a dancing master named Lacorne, were fitting predecessors for a later resuscitation by a gentleman of the name of Gourgas, employed in the aristocratic occupation of a ship's clerk, on a boat trading between New York and Liverpool. Dr. Crucefix, alias Goss, the inventor of certain patent medicines of an objectionable character, ran the institution in England. The powers under which these worthies acted was a document claimed to have been signed by Frederick the Great at Berlin, on May 1st, 1786, and by which were revised the Masonic Constitution and Status of the High Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. This paper was an impudent forgery and necessitated the issuing of a protocol by the Grand Lodges of the Three Globes of Berlin, which conclusively proved the whole arrangement to be false in every particular. On claims supported by this supposititious document, the Ancient and Accepted Rite have swindled their confiding brothers in the Americas and Europe out of thousands of dollars, to the shame and discredit of humanity."

It is of interest that historians are now beginning to acknowledge that the Grand Constitution for the Scottish Masonry was actually a forged document.

The historical origin of Grades:

The Ancient English Rite

4º. Perfect Master

5º. Elect, First degree

6º. Elect, Second degree

7º. Elect of Fifteen

8º. Illustrious

9º. Perfect Irish Master, Prevost and Judge

10º. True English Master

11º. Royal Arch

12º. Apprentice, Fellowcraft Master Architect

13º. Little Architect

14º. Grand Architect

15º. Ecossais Purifier

16º. Grand Ecossais

17º. True and Perfect Ecossais

18º. Sublime Ecossais

19º. Knight of the Temple

20º. Knight of the East

21º. Commander of the East

22º. Prince of Jerusalem

23º. Grand Master ad Vitam

24º. Prussian Knight

25º. Knight Kadosch

Rite of Perfection

4º. Secret Master

5º. Perfect Master

6º. Intimate Secretary, by curiosity

7º. Provost & Judge & Tracing Board

8º. Intendant of the Buildings & Tracing Board

9º. Master Elect of Nine

10º. Illustrious Elected of 15

11º. Sublime Knights Elected & Tracing Board

12º. Grand Master Architect

13º. Knights of the Royal Arch

14º. Perfection ultimate of Symbolic Masonry

15º. Knights of the East

16º. Princes of Jerusalem

17º. Knights of the East and West

18º. Knights of the White Eagle or Pelican

19º. Scotch Masonry, by the name of Grand Pontiff

20º. Sovereign Prince of Masonry or Master ad vitam

21º. Prussian Knight or Noachite

22º. Knights of the Royal Axe

23º. Knights of the Sun, Princes Adept, Key of Masonry

24º. Knights of Kadoch, The Nec plus Ultra of Masonry

25º. The Royal Secret

Rite Primitif of Namur (1770)

4º. Perfect Master

5º. Irish Master

6º. Elected of nine

7º. Unknown Elected

8º. Elected of fifteen

9º. Illustrious Master

10º. Perfect Elected

11º. Ecossais Apprentice or Little Architect

12º. Ecossais Fellowcraft or Great Architect

13º. Sublime Architect or Scottish Master

14º. Master of Perfect Architecture

15º. Royal Arch

16º. Noachite or Prussian Knight

17º. Knight of the Sword or Knight of the East

18º. Prince of Jerusalem

19º. Worshipful Master ad vitam

20º. Knight of the West

21º. Knight of Palestine

22º. Knight Rose Croix

23º. Sublime Ecossais Master

24º. Knight of the Sun

25º. Grand Ecossais Master of St Andrew

26º. Mason of the Royal Secret

27º. Knight of the Black Eagle

28º. Knight Kadosh

29º. Grand Elected of Verity

30º. Novice of the Interior of the Temple

31º. Knight of the Interior of the Temple

32º. Perfect of the Interior of the Temple

33º. Commander of the Interior of the Temple

The Ancient and Accepted Rite (1804)

4º. Secret Master

5º. Perfect Master

6º. Intimate Secretary

7º. Provost and Judge

8º. Intendant of the Building

9º. Elected Master of Nine

10º. Illustrious Elect of Fifteen

11º. Sublime Knight Elect

12º. Grand Master Architect

13º. Royal Arch

14º. Perfection, or Grand Ecossais of the Sacred Vault of James VI

15º. Knight of the East

16º. Prince of Jerusalem

17º. Knight of the East and the West

18º. Sovereign Prince Rose - Croix

19º. Grand Pontiff, or Sublime Ecossais

20º. Grand Master of Symbolic Lodges, or Master ad Vitam

21º. The Noachite, or Prussian Knight

22º. Royal Axe, or Prince of Lebanon

23º. Chief of the Tabernacle

24º. Prince of the Tabernacle

25º. Knight of the Brazen Serpent

26º. Prince of Mercy

27º. Sovereign Commander of the Temple

28º. Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept

29º. Grand Master Ecossais of Saint Andrew, of Scotland

30º. The Philosophic Kadosch, or Grand Elect Knight of the White and Black Eagle

31º. Grand Inquisitor Commander

32º. Valiant & Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

33º. Grand Inspector General

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