This past weekend while watching one of the 29 Degrees in Guthrie Oklahoma I remember deciding that I was now a Scottish Rite Mason.
That’s kind of a strange thing I suppose, because I’ve been a Scottish Rite Mason for the past ten years. Sort of anyway.
I imagine that some sort of explanation is in order, so I’ll tell my story. It isn’t very long, I promise.
I joined my local Valley and received my Scottish Rite Degrees over a weekend long reunion. After joining I was extremely active for about two years if memory serves. I attended every meeting I could, I attended fundraising dinners, and I helped out at other Reunions as part of the backstage crew. Alas though, it never was quite right for me, and eventually I stopped attending. I didn’t attend a Scottish Rite meeting for years.
My non attendance however didn’t mean that I wasn’t proud to be a part of the Rite, for truly I was. I took the opportunity to do the Master Craftsman program and through it learned a great deal. I purchased many superb books from the Supreme Council, and favorite of all, I joined the Scottish Rite Research Society and have devoured everything that the Society has published for years now.
I just didn’t attend.
Recently I decided to change that. I decided to begin attending a smaller Valley once I have completed my term as Grand Master. I think that I’ll be able to make a meaningful contribution there.
I also decided to fulfill a dream of many years and attend the Scottish Rite Spring Reunion in Guthrie.
The Scottish Rite consists of 33 Degrees, but in the normal course of things, conferrs 29 of them. The first Three Degrees, in the United States anyway, are conferred only under authority of our Grand Lodges. So one receives those first three in his local Lodge, and then if he decides to join the Scottish Rite, that journey begins in a Valley with the 4th Degree. The 33rd Degree is an honor reserved for those who perform many years of service within the Rite, or in the outer world.
Here’s the thing though.
Most Valleys don’t actually perform all 29 Degrees. The Valleys I’m familiar with perform just a handful of them, skipping over most, then perform the 32nd, and declare one a full Scottish Rite Mason. The Rite is designed to tell a story, but most members of it have only seen small snippets of that story, with none of those pieces connected to one another.
I don’t remember exactly how many Degrees I received in the Reunion when I joined, but it was just a small handful. Afterwards one is given a book that explains them all, I read it, and I purchased others so that I could learn the entire story as it was meant to be given. But reading about a Degree is much different than actually experiencing it, and far inferior in impact.
That’s why, after all these years, when the chance to travel to Guthrie presented itself I jumped on it. The Guthrie Valley actually performs all 29 Degrees each year at its Spring Reunion. I finally, after all these years, had a chance to see the story unfold as it is intended to be unfolded.
Can one really believe himself to be a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason if he did not actually experience most of the Degrees between the 4th and 32nd? For me, I don’t think that I ever really did. That is one of the main reasons I think for my quickly waning desire to be involved, despite my love of the teachings of the Rite, and its vast educational resources.
Thinking about it in Blue Lodge terms, would one actually consider himself a Master Mason if he didn’t first receive the Fellowcraft Degree? I don’t think so, not really.
So at some point this past week, as I finally experienced all the Degrees of the Rite, as they are meant to be experienced, I decided deep down that I was finally a Scottish Rite Mason in fact, as well as in word.
A huge Thank You to Seattle’s Esoterika Lodge for letting me tag along with them, and for taking such good care of me while I was there. Thanks also to Ill. Joe Manning, SGIG in Oklahoma for his very kind welcome, and MW Robert Davis for the time we were able to spend together.
If you enjoyed this little personal essay, will you consider forwarding it to your Lodge Brothers or sharing it on social media?
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Cover photo credit: Marelbu, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
I joined the SR shortly after I became a MM. They were offering a discount for the degrees, and I took them up on it. Unfortunately, their meetings were on Wednesdays, and at my lodge, Wednesdays were for practicing and mentorship. I attended a few meetings, but as I became more and more active in the line, I had to stop, as I had to dedicate my time to the lodge.
Now that I'm a PM, and actually have moved away and I joining another lodge, I have the ability to start attending again. But like all things, once you stop, it's hard to restart again the longer you've been away.
As far as the degrees, I agree. While the local valley I belong to does a fine job, the entire thing felt very disjointed, especially with a six month gap between the first half of the degrees and the second half. I didn't even realize that it was supposed to be a connected story, honestly. I think you're right, seeing it all in one weekend, and not piecemeal over a span of six months is a much better experience.
I think this story exemplifies what is wrong in our organization at all levels. That shortcuts are made for the purpose of either coddling those with poor attention spans, saving time/money, thinking that quantity of members will make up for quality of experience, or perhaps just laziness.
Regardless of the reasoning behind the shortcuts, ultimately we are left with the problem that a man can't find a quality experience at any local lodge, but must specifically seek out the quality experience. But how is a man to know that the lodge he is about to be initiated into is one with a full, no shortcuts, quality experience. He can't. And a good man might be lost because he is initiated into a shortcut lodge and finds the experience so lacking that he loses any interest in the organization as a whole.
I am currently wondering why I am still a member since my job and family limit my travel range and no lodge in my local area offers a full quality experience.
If masonry allows individual lodges to slide into a sub standard experience, such that a man either has to be lucky enough to be local to a quality lodge, or reach third degree and have enough personal time to travel extensively, we will continue to lose more apprentices and fellow crafts than continue to 3rd degree or concordance bodies.