Light to Light - The Scottish Rite Today
 By C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°
 Past Sovereign Grand Commander

What is the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and why should a man who is already a Master Mason become a member?
 

These are legitimate questions in today's hectic world. Keeping ahead of the game is hard enough these days. It seems best to use what short time there is left after work for our friends and family.
 

Who needs another civic or fraternal organization? There is little enough energy to go around as it is!
 

These could be the thoughts anyone, even a Freemason, hearing about the Scottish Rite for the first time.
 

Yet, the Scottish Rite is well worth the time a Freemason spends in it. Participation in the Scottish Rite not only will benefit his family and community, but also will expand his intellectual and moral horizons, providing a richer, fuller life.
 

So what, then, is the Scottish Rite and how can it work for you, your family, community and nation?
 

First, let us get some misconceptions out of the way. The Rite is "Scottish" in only a distant historical sense. Scholars disagree on the exact origin of the term. Some argue that Scotland was viewed in 18th century France as a far away, almost mythical place. Thus, those wishing to add an exotic aura to Freemasonry adopted "Ecossais" (Scottish) to describe their new Degrees.

Others point out that many Freemasons in Scotland fled their homeland during the political upheavals of the 17th and 18th centuries. Some settled in southern France where the Degrees of the Rite were being evolved as a means of advancing Symbolic Lodge Freemasonry. To Freemasonry's Light, as acquired by every Master Mason, the new Degrees, numbering from the Fourth to the Twenty-fifth, added more Light in the sense that they fostered new insights into Freemasonry's essential principles.

They are not truly higher or Advanced Degrees in any sense other than their numbering. Rather, they reach into Symbolic Lodge teachings to clarify and inspire. These Degrees, as part of what was called the Rite of Perfection, were formalized under the Secret Constitutions of 1761 and the Constitutions of 1762. Then, they were conveyed by merchant Brethren from Bordeaux, France through the West Indies to cities on the American mainland, including Charleston, South Carolina in 1783.
 

When the Grand Constitutions of 1786 provided for the extension of the Rite to the Thirty-third Degree, governed In each country under a Supreme Council, the opportunity was seized by a group of 11 Brethren in Charleston, South Carolina. Led by Brothers John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho, they formed the "Supreme Council of the 33° of the United States' on May 31, 1801. In a Manifesto dated December 4, 1802, these Founding Fathers confirmed the opening in Charleston of the first Supreme Council, 33°. Throughout the world, all other regular and recognized Supreme Councils of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry are branches of this original root.
 

The Manifesto referred to several of the Degrees as Ecossais, but the name first appeared as the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite" in the 1832 French publication of the Grand Constitutions of 1786. With the start of the administration of Grand Commander Albert Pike in 1859, the name "Scottish Rite" came into general use in the Mother Jurisdiction and elsewhere.
 

Born and educated In Massachusetts, Pike served briefly in the Confederate Army as a Brigadier General, and then devoted the rest of his life to the expansion of the Scottish Rite. Rewritten and reorganized by Pike, Scottish Rite Ritual became the avenue of intellectual and moral refinement for hundreds of thousands of Brethren. Similarly, his lead leadership strengthened the administration of the Rite and allowed it to prosper.
 

Today, the central headquarters of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, is located in the magnificent House of the Temple in Washington. D.C., only a few blocks from the White House. Here, an efficient staff, headed by the Sovereign Grand Commander, administers the 42 Orients and 221 Valleys existing across the Southern Jurisdiction. A northern tier of 15 states was officially ceded in 1813 becoming the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, and it is now governed by the Supreme Council, 33°, NMJ.
 

Benefiting from a combination of both central and local leadership, the Scottish Rite, SJ, USA, today numbers over 585,000 Brethren. In addition, we maintain a monthly publication, The Scottish Rite Journal, which reaches every Brother and acts as both the voice and forum of the Rite.
 

The Scottish Bite offers unique opportunities for broad Masonic and social activities for its members. The annual Maundy Thursday Ceremony and Feast of Tishri let Scottish Rite Masons gather at a meal, participate in the solemn traditions of the Rite, and share of themselves. Family picnics and special receptions are just a few of the social activities offered by most Valleys, and a Scottish Rite Ladies Night is usually the high point of any Masonic social calendar.
 

Because of the size and organizational complexity of the Scottish Rite, there are dozens of opportunities for service seldom found elsewhere in the Craft. Our Degrees present Scottish Rite teachings as impressive dramas, requiring all levels of theatrical support: lighting, properties, costumes, makeup and so on. Our charitable activities need helping hands, and our educational programs need men of vision. Whether you have only two days a year or two days a week, your Scottish Rite Valley has important, meaningful work for you.

The contemporary presence of the Scottish Rite, unlike many other institutions today, reaches far back into the past and draws its strength from origins well before the Rite's seedtime in the 18th century. Like Symbolic Lodge Freemasonry, the Scottish Rite through its Degrees, brings to modern man the insights of ancient times. The voices of Biblical and pre-Biblical sages echo throughout Rite ceremonies, and both New and Old Testament insights elevate our teachings. The new law of love mandated by the Christian Master of Nazareth is as central to our philosophy as the laws of Moses, the wisdom of King Solomon and the teachings of Plato, Pythagoras and Socrates.

These fine words live in the real world because of practical acts. Scottish Rite Masons are active on local, state, national and international levels. Among other activities, we:

• Fund scholarships for students and teachers.
• Provide programs for young people and services for the aged.
• Assist young people to overcome language and learning disorders.
• Help crippled children to walk via such advanced medical centers as the Scottish Rite Hospitals in Atlanta and Dallas.
• Support and create patriotic programs to remind Americans of our great national heritage and the importance of maintaining it.
• Advocate absolute separation of Church and State as a mainstay of freedom.
• Advance the public school system as a guarantee of intellectual liberty for today and tomorrow.
• Support environmental causes to sustain Planet Earth for future generations.
• Champion the family as the cornerstone and solid building block of our nation.
• Combat substance abuse through educational programs aimed at youth and anti-drug campaigns directed to the general public.
 

There is not a facet of community life where Scottish Rite Masons have not had an impact for good. Local Scottish Rite members are doers and achievers. And the result of their individual effort is multiplied many times over because they can enlist the willing help of their Brethren in any worthy effort.
 

Outstanding among these is the Scottish Rite Childhood Language and Learning Disorders Program. Shackled by neurological conditions, these children are led out of their loneliness and despair by our trained therapists. In many cases, these young people would otherwise go unaided.

America's children - can there be a better more worthy cause? Yet, this is only the foremost philanthropy of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction. Other efforts, as diverse as the Brothers who man them, contribute daily to the benefit of every family in every community of this great nation.