Scottish Rite

I am not currently a member of the Scottish Rite, there are multiple reasons for the decision to wait.  Last week though the local Scottish Rite valley had there Regular Meeting and it was open to potential candidates for the fall reunion.  I went and had a good time, it was any other Masonic Meeting, the minutia of an uninterested craft. 

However, the educational portion of the meeting occurred.  It was nothing more than a small presentation on what Scottish Rite Masonry is and it was given for the benefit of the potential candidates that were present at the meeting.  The Educational was given by a good friend and brother and at one point he mentioned a quote from the movie "The Hobbit"

Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found.  I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay.  Small acts of kindness and love."

From this idea it was built that this is what Masonry teaches, it teaches that every small act that we perform is  working at keeping the darkness at bay.  He then went into the idea that the degrees of chivalry in the Scottish Rite are different from those in the York Rite by the fact that the obligations are relevant to today.  They are not old and antiquated, memories of a lost connection to medieval knights, but it is a living, breathing knighthood.

I am looking forward to joining the Scottish Rite during the fall reunion.

The Beginning

Freemasonry happens to be one of my passions, even though I feel like sometimes I have a love/hate relationship with the fraternity.  I am a Past Master of Canyon Lodge #13 in Midvale, Utah.  I was Initiated, Passed, and Raised in Canyon Lodge throughout the year-6007 A.L., I was soon after appointed to sit as Junior Steward and moved up through the chairs to sit in the Oriental Chair for the Masonic year 6012 A.L. I am a member of Utah Chapter #1 RAC, Utah Council #1 CCM, and Utah Commandery #1 KT.  

I joined Masonry for multiple reasons, one of them was the idea that Masonry maintained much of the ideals that descend from our romantic views of medieval knighthood.  I loved the Oration of The Chevalier Andrew Ramsay that really is the seminal moment for the High Grades of Masonry.  I don't love it for what it purports of our heritage but what it would become for the Masonic Movement throughout the 1700's.  

I am starting this blog for two reasons, for an outlet to write about my Masonic experiences and the thoughts I have about the current Masonic experience, but also to codify an idea of how Masonry descends from and is the living embodiment of the medieval Orders of Chivalry.  This began with an article that I wrote for the Journal of the Masonic Society entitled Knights of the Square and Compasses.  From that simple piece comes a work that I am hoping to publish that will delineate how Masonry has carried on the traditions of our philosophical forebears and endeavors to make us modern knights of Chivalry.  

Stay for a while and visit back often!

Picture Credit:

If anyone can steer me in the right direction of where this image comes from so that I can credit the artist, it would be greatly appreciated.