Order of Freemasons under the Supreme Council of the 33rd and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the Netherlands
The
Scottish Rite of the freemasons appears first to have been organized in the
United States in 1801, with a good deal of spurious history as underpinnings. It
offers higher degrees to a Master Mason (the third and highest of the
traditional degrees, and as far as he can go in his blue lodge). Twenty-nine of
these Higher Degrees (the 4th to the 32nd) are normally taken more-or-less
simultaneously over the course of a few days. (It is possible to work each
degree fully, in stages, but this is not usual.) The ritual for these speeded-up
degrees (called “communicated” degrees) normally consists a short lecture
on the degree, followed by a recitation the appropriate oath. The 33rd degree is
honorary and is conferred upon those who already hold the 32nd degree and have
distinguished themselves in the craft.
There
are both Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of the Scottish Rite in the United
States. Taking the Northern Lodge as an example, the Lodge of Perfection confers
the 4th to 14th degrees; the Council, Princes of Jerusalem, confers the 15th and
16th; the Chapter of Rose Croix confers the 17th and 18th; and the Consistory
confers the remainder.
Unlike the York Rite, which can be worked to the highest degree only by Christians, the Scottish Rite is open to Jews and others.
This rite was founded in the Netherlands in 1912. According
to internal regulations, it appears that until the
late 1980s one worked as of from the 22nd Degree, since that time the order
started working from the 4th Degree. Practically, initiations take place at this
time in the Netherlands in the 4th, 14th, 18th, 22nd, 28th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and
33rd Degree. The other degrees are çommunicated upon the candidates.
In the Netherlands it was a custom for a long time that candidates should be a loyal member of the 'Higher Degrees'. In the last years the procedure for admission is simplified. Everyone who has been a Master Mason in good standing for at least one year can apply for this rite.
The 33 degrees of the scottish rite are similar to the first 33 degrees of the Rite of Memphis Misraïm.
The Degrees of the Order:
First Class - Symbolical Lodges (Blue Degrees; in the Netherlands these degrees are worked in lodges under jurisdiction of the Order of Freemasons under the Grand Orient):
1 Entered Apprentice
2 Fellow Craft
3 Master Mason
4 Secret
Master
5 Perfect
Master
6 Intimate
Secretary
7 Provost
and Judge
8 Intendant
of the Building
9 Chapter
of Elected Knights
10 Illustrious
Elected of Fifteen
11 Twelve
Illustrious Knights
12 Grand
Master Architect
13 Royal
Arch
14 Lodge
of Perfection
Third Class - Council:
15
Knight of the East, or Sword
16
Prince of Jerusalem
Fourth Class - Chapter:
17
Knight of the East and West
18
Prince of the Rose Croix of Herodem
Fifth Class – Areopagus (Philosophical Degrees of Black Masonry)
19
Grand Pontiff
20 Grand
Master of all Symbolic Lodges
21 Patriarch
Noachite or Chevallier Prussian
22
Knight of the Royal Axe, or Hachet
23 Chief
of the Tabernacle
24 Prince
of the Tabernacle
25 Knight
of the Brazen Serpent
26
Lord of Mercy
27 Grand
Commander of the Temple
28
Grand Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept
29 Grand
Master Ecosé, or Knight of St. Andrew
30 Grand
Elect Knight Kadosh
Sixth Class – Consistory (Administrative Degrees, or White Masonry):
31
Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander
32 Sovereign
or Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret
Seventh Class - Supreme Council:
Under the Supreme Council in the Netherlands work 14 consistories:
Rules of the
Dutch Supreme Council
On our CD-Rom Freemasonry
and Fraternal Organizations we have published a number of rituals and other
texts of this form of freemasonry.