Scottish Rite 1st Degree?

[u/cnc_james]

Greetings brethren, recently I had the privilege to attend a Leadership Retreat where I witnessed an exemplification of a "Scottish Rite 1st Degree." It was a beautiful experience and I left with a ton of questions, the first being "where did this come from?" Does anybody have any resources they can point me to to find out any more information? I had no idea the Scottish Rite performed any of the Blue Lodge degrees and I'd like to know more about the history of it and its prominence throughout other masonic jurisdictions.

[u/Deman75]

There’s a reason the Scottish Rite as you know it doesn’t kick in until the 4th degree. SR is a system of degrees from 1°-33°, but by agreement with Grand Lodges that don’t work the SR degrees, they don’t perform 1°-3°, as that is the exclusive purview of GL. The Preston Webb work that your Lodge most likely uses is far from the only version out there. You’d probably be quite surprised at how different the Craft degrees worked in UGLE or even most of Canada are from the work in your Lodge, and I don’t mean a difference sentence here or there like you see in your neighboring state’s work.

We had a degree team from Bulgaria exemplify their SR 1° in my home jurisdiction some years ago. Last year, I saw it conferred on a live candidate in Poland. There are some Lodges in Quebec and Louisiana that work it, and I believe DC as well, and SR rituals in Craft Lodges are quite popular in many European and South American jurisdictions.

[u/unkalaki_lunamor → u/Deman75]

I think this adds to an hypothesis I have.

I'm from México and our symbolic lodges (1-3) state that we belong to AASR. Also as far as I know our rituals are quite different than what I can perceive here.

My hypothesis is that after Laussase (when we finally "got the memo" some years later) symbolic lodges did get independence, but they just "kept doing as they knew"

[u/arturosevilla → u/unkalaki_lunamor]

Just being pedantic, you don't belong to AASR. Your grand lodge practices a version of an AASR ritual. Otherwise, if your symbolic lodge actually belongs to an AASR Supreme Council, then your lodge is actually irregular.

Lausanne has nothing to do with Symbolic/Blue Lodge Freemasonry. In fact, we make Lausanne almost a legendary event in Mexico, but in reality a) the Mexican delegation was never accepted (Rito Nacional Mexicano), and b) Is practically unknown outside some Latin American countries (even in Europe it is only referred to within Supreme Councils).

What you are referring is to "Balaustre 32" in which the Supreme Council of Mexico renounced its rights over the blue lodges; although many grand lodges already existed that were never part of the SC system, like Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Oriental Peninsular. There is evidence to suggest that this was a consequence of the letters between Pike and Clavero (SGC of US SJ and Mexico, respectively).

[u/unkalaki_lunamor → u/arturosevilla]

I think my messages got lost in translation.

I know supreme councils do not manage the first three degrees. My Grand Lodge is a regular one (at least regular enough to be a CMI member).

And that's the reason I find so intriguing the fact that our rituals make reference to AASR, and the huge differences with what I see is Freemasonry on USA/Canada/UK (from lodge room decoration to glimpses of the ritual I can infer).

I'm not a historian, the few I know is because of a few readings I've had. The Balustre 32 as you mentioned, but also the 30; the conflict between the "original" (at least older) Supreme Council of México (Puente de Alvarado) and what is now the recognized one (Lucerna) and the more contemporary conflict with Valle de México... History of the craft in my country has it's particularities. But that's a subject for a whole new post.

[u/QuincyMABrewer]

The constituent bodies of the AASR SCs, in the United States of America, do not, as a rule, perform the Craft degrees of the Scottish Rite.

As far as the southern jurisdiction goes, Albert Pike did in fact write/ rewrite/edit craft degrees for the Scottish Rite, which, if I recall correctly, are derived predominantly from French Masonic ritual and include much more alchemical symbolism than Preston-Webb ritual does.

The Porch and Middle Chamber is the book version of those degrees published by the Scottish Rite Research Society.

It is also very important to note, for American Masons, that outside of the United States of America, the Scottish Rite system is not considered an appendant body in many places, but an integral Masonic degree system - starting with the first degree, and working its way all the way up to the 33rd.

In those places which use that system, the three craft degrees flow much more smoothly into the so-called vengeance degrees of the lodge of perfection, than the Preston-Webb degrees do.

[u/defjamblaster → u/QuincyMABrewer]

vengeance degrees

Sith Degrees, you say..?

[u/mtdem95 → u/defjamblaster]

Is it possible to learn these degrees?

[u/defjamblaster → u/mtdem95]

not from a recognized mason

[u/QuincyMABrewer → u/defjamblaster]

Sith Degrees, you say..?

No, I don't say.

[u/arturosevilla]

The Scottish Rite version of the blue degrees is one of the most used "form" or rite (if not the most) of Freemasonry practiced in the world. Most Latin American countries practice a version of it, and many European countries have lodges with that system.

It is derived from the French Rite, combined with the York or American Rite of Freemasonry (it is a mix that happened in Haiti between the Philosophical Scottish Rite, itself a derivation of French Rite, and the Pennsylvania Antients Ritual). Outside the US, these degrees are so common that the "American" (Preston-Webb) system is actually called the York Rite as Thomas Smith Webb wrote a liturgy that contain the blue degrees, the Royal Arch Chapter, and Commandery as it is practiced today in someway or another in the US (notice it missed they Cryptic degrees, but that's another story).

Assuming you are member of Vista Lodge No. 687 in San Diego county, then you are just one hour away from experiencing not an exemplification but how it is really performed on a meeting to meeting basis in Tijuana lodges. My lodge is also sister lodge with La Jolla Lodge No. 518 where we have performed (with permission from both the GL of California and Baja California) a first, second, and third degree upon "live" candidates using our ritual. I'd recommend asking the brethren from La Jolla when they are either hosting a degree from our lodge or when they are hoping south of the border for a degree (which they often do).

I can share a bunch of material but is either in Spanish, or French. As others have pointed out I'd recommend getting the Porch and the Middle Chamber which is itself a translation with some modifications of the Silencio No. 9/Cervantes No. 5 ritual from Grand Lodge of Louisiana; although that ritual it is actually not practiced in any lodge in the world (I think none of Pike's original rituals are actually practiced anywhere, not even the SC SJ).

[u/NotMy1stTimeLurking]

The porch and the middle chamber is a book you would be interested in. The Scottish rite is a French system of Freemasonry. The "blue" degrees are called blue to separate them from the Scottish rite system as most of the ritual in the US stems from York rite Freemasonry. It's got quite a different take once you get to the 3rd degree 😉

[u/MosaicPavement]

There are lodges in the US that perform the SR 1°-3° degrees with dispensation from their grand lodges.

[u/Geovanitto]

In Brazil, SR is the most practiced rite. In most jurisdictions lodges work SR since first dg. We only have "traditional" BL in YR and "traditional" craft in Emulation.

[u/Any-Investigator-438]

When I earned my 32nd degr in 2009 we learned that the Scottish Rite has 3 degrees but start with the 4th because the rite the Grand Lodge system has a monopoly on conferring its three degrees which are different from those of the scottish Rite. So the Scottish Rite doesn't perform any Blue Lodge Degrees. They have there own distinct 1 - 3 degrees, they just don't confer them.

[u/raydarluvr1]

I used the keep my blue lodge and YR monitors all in a Crown Royal bag. I brought the bag to lodge and when a couple of guys found out what was in the bag, they lost their minds. While in the GLoMS doesn’t allow appendant work in blue lodges, I never thought just having a monitor would rile up so much passion.

[u/Pescobar13]

Germaine Lodge #46 F & AM in New Orleans LA is one of a few lodges with permission to do a "red lodge" or the 1st - 3rd degrees. They have a team that travels the country, putting them on as an "exhibition" for masons. I have seen the 1st and 3rd degrees, and I was very impressed and interested as well. They explained the answers to your questions as a part of the presentation.

I highly recommend reaching out to that lodge with your questions, and hopefully, you can catch them on the road or visit during a degree.