The Book Of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry (1884)

Well here it is finally – after nearly a year of interruptions I have finally got the damn thing up on the web for all of you out there to see.
Officially this book is NOT for perusal by anyone under 32nd Degree so it’s unlikely any Freemasons in this forum will be allowed to read it – but hey, knock yourself out.
This book was compiled by Brother Charles T McClenechan and submitted to The Northern Supreme Council in 1867 where it was approved as being an accurate synopsis of the Scottish Rite after the reformation by Grand Commander Albert Pike of the Southern Jurisdiction with the help of just about every other Grand Master and Lodge in the world.
It was first published in 1884 and is still published on demand today although it's circulation is highly restricted outside of the various Supreme Councils.

www.freemasonry101.org.uk...

The book does not contain the full monitors of each ritual but contains all the relevent parts that should be consistant across all jurisdictions.
Anyone who has full individual monitors or other material is invited to post them to me so I can place them along with other bonafide factual material on the new site.

I recommend downloading the high resolution scans and having the book printed out although I spent considerable effort to create a browser version on the website.

Hope you all find it as useful as I did for understanding the rituals and hierarchical structure of Freemasonry.

The original work is well over 100 years old so there is no possibility of copyright infringement here.

Originally posted by MrNECROS

Officially this book is NOT for perusal by anyone under 32nd Degree so it’s unlikely any Freemasons in this forum will be allowed to read it

Talking crap again.
You made this claim before and you were told by many Freemasons that there is no literature that they are banned from reading. There is no restriction on information.
As for this book? It's hardly an original subject in this forum. Freemasons themselves have referred to it and suggested it as reading material.

Honestly Necros. Don't lie and try to present yourself as MrOriginal when you're only repeating a tired old argument in which you already got your ass kicked.

Leveller
I was told by many and so forth the same nonsense that is currently pouring out of your mouth - but none of them had ever heard of this book really.
We even had Masonic Lite start saying really retarded stuff like McClenechan was English and the book was about the Cerneau Rite and other laughable nonsense...maybe you want to go back and read the original thread now that I've been able to get the whole book into a public forum.
By all means resurrect the original thread where "I got my ass kicked"...you're a bit like some punch-drunk fighter stepping back into the ring thinking he won his last fight.
In the end the only thing that became clear was that NO ONE other than myself has a copy of this book in this forum...and now you can all have a copy of it.
Enjoy!



Here is the original "discussion" thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 13-3-2005 by MrNECROS]

Originally posted by MrNECROS
Well here it is finally – after nearly a year of interruptions I have finally got the damn thing up on the web for all of you out there to see.

Necros, Thanks for putting the book up in electronic format. I have 3 original copies in my library, but they're getting fragile. It's nice to have a "reading" copy...although I never read it because it's way out of date. The Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in Massachusetts

www.supremecouncil.org...

which is the group this book was originally published for and NO OTHER SUPREME COUNCIL, just revised the majority of their rituals (as they for some reason do periodically) and even re-arranged some of them. The 5th Degree has been completely replaced....and doesn't even RESEMBLE the old 5th Degree. The same lessons are taught, but no in the same way. Several others are like this, including the "Four Chaplains Degree" which recalls the heroism of the 4 chaplains who gave up their life-preservers so that others could live.

Officially this book is NOT for perusal by anyone under 32nd Degree so it’s unlikely any Freemasons in this forum will be allowed to read it – but hey, knock yourself out.

I guess I won't have to knock myself out too hard then, since I'm a 32nd Degree Knight Commander of the Court of Honor (K.C.C.H.)
This link will show you what that is and will demonstrate the differences in even some of the degree titles from your out-dated (but historically important) book

www.geocities.com...

Note that your book calls the 32nd Degree, Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The Southern Jurisdiction calls it the Master of the Royal Secret. The body of the rituals is quite different as well

This book was compiled by Brother Charles T McClenechan and submitted to The Northern Supreme Council in 1867 where it was approved as being an accurate synopsis of the Scottish Rite after the reformation by Grand Commander Albert Pike of the Southern Jurisdiction with the help of just about every other Grand Master and Lodge in the world.

Let's clarify that. Yes, Pike and others HELPED, but it was approved as being accurate for the NORTHERN MASONIC JURISDICTION. ...and NO OTHER. Today (2005) it's NOT accurate for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.

It was first published in 1884 and is still published on demand today although it's circulation is highly restricted outside of the various Supreme Councils.

That's simply NOT TRUE. The Supreme Council has NO authority over the book. It's an out-dated piece of Masonic history. Supreme Councils other than the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction likely never even heard of it unless they happen to have a dusty old copy in their library....and I was sincere when I expressed appreciation that it's now available on the web. I intend to mail that link to several friends (a couple who aren't Freemasons but are interested).

The book does not contain the full monitors of each ritual but contains all the relevent parts that should be consistant across all jurisdictions.

Again, not quite. Parts are similar, but even in the N.M.J. much of it is completely different today. And actually a Masonic "Monitor" is exactly what you've posted so "The Book" DOES contain "full monitors" "Monitors" contain the exoteric (non-secret) portions of the degrees. Rituals contain the full degrees, including the "monitorial" portions. ANYONE, Mason or non-Mason, heck even ANTI-Masons like yourself can purchase a "Monitor" Log onto the Southern Jurisdictions web-site and (if youhave a credit card) you can purchase the SJ's Monitors. They're called "The Liturgy of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite" I wouldn't suggest that they be put on the internet, though...they ARE copyrighted. Better hurry, though...there's a limited supply and they won't be reprinted. However there's a publishing company in Montana makes an unauthorized photo-copy reprint of it that you can buy on-line. The quality is terrible, but the text is there.

Anyone who has full individual monitors or other material is invited to post them to me so I can place them along with other bonafide factual material on the new site.

As stated above, you have the Monitors. It's the Rituals you don't have. I do, for several jurisdictions of the Scottish Rite, but I'd NEVER give them to you. They actually mean something to me.

Hope you all find it as useful as I did for understanding the rituals and hierarchical structure of Freemasonry.

As I said before, it's historically interesting. Note though that the "hierarchial structure" you mention is for the Scottish Rite Northern Jurisdiction ONLY. Has nothing to do with 3rd Degree Master Masons or the various Grand Lodges in the U.S. and elsewhere. Even the degree structure of the NMJ is different. They're Rite consists of 4 "bodies"

4th-14th Degree Lodge of Perfection
15th & 16th Degree Council of Princes of Jerusalem
17th & 18th Degree Chapter of Rose Croix
19th - 32nd Degree Consistory

The southern Jurisdiction (and most other Supreme Councils) consists of

4th-14th Degree Lodge of Perfection
15th-18th Degree Chapter Rose Croix
19th-30th Degree Council of Kadosh
31st & 32nd Degree Consistory

So when reading "The Book" understand that it's only applicable to one small jurisdiction in the Northeastern part of the U.S.A. and NO OTHER SCOTTISH RITE (particularly NOT that one that Akilles is certain is located 13 blocks from the White House for some silly reason) ...and really "The Book" ISN'T applicable to the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction any more because they have revised the rituals so many times....

The original work is well over 100 years old so there is no possibility of copyright infringement here.

Not sure how true that is. I *believe* Kessinger reprinted that book a few years ago and may have taken a copyright on it. Better check...I'd sure hate for you to get into trouble.

[edit on 13-3-2005 by senrak]

Originally posted by MrNECROS
In the end the only thing that became clear was that NO ONE other than myself has a copy of this book in this forum...and now you can all have a copy of it.

No Necros. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I told you MONTHS ago. I have 3 copies. Two are identical...one is a different edition. The first two are the 1867 edition (printed in 1882) and the 3rd is the "Revised Book of the Ancient & Accepted Rite" copyright 1904 by MRS. Chas. T. McClenachan. (Charles himself being deceased by that time) Must be a REAL secret though if someone let a WOMAN copyright the book, huh? Note that the Supreme Council NEVER held copyright to it.

They're beautiful books, with purple (somewhat faded) boards, gold embossing on the cover and gilt pages. So SOMEONE on this forum has a copy. What's the point? I also have tons of real Masonic rituals from just about every Masonic body that exists...as well as rituals of NUMEROUS fraternal societies, many of which we've discussed here.

As I said in the previous post, I'm GLAD you made McClenachan's book available. It's an interesting bit of history. Interested Masons who don't have it will enjoy reading parts of it, I'm sure. Non-Masons may get some insight into the organization, particularly the Scottish Rite branch of Freemasony...and heck, it even adds fuel to the fire with anti-Masons like yourself and akilles, so I'm CERTAIN some fascinating, intelligent posts will follow because of it.

[edit on 13-3-2005 by senrak]

The single source for the Pastor's condemnation was a 1914 printing of Charles T. McClenachan's THE BOOK OF THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE (first edition 1867). This work was one person's interpretation of the Scottish Rite rituals in existence even before they were revised exhaustively by Albert Pike. Mason Art deHoyos has written a detailed analysis of Pastor Janssen's ten top errors and this has been published by the Masonic Service Association in their June, 1998 Short Talk Bulletin.

www.masonicinfo.com...

Related to

www.kena.org...

A Pennsylvania pastor urged members of his church to dissociate themselves from Freemasonry and announced that Masons would be ineligible for membership in his church. Using a 19th-century Masonic monitor as a source, the pastor has condemned the fraternity based on a lack of understanding and an unwillingness to hear the truth.

As usual the anti masonic hoards trawl through books and snippits of literature over the last 250 years and publish anything that can be used as delfamatory material. Of course if they had hard facts they could save themselves the trouble.

Necros,

All criticism about your lack of understanding of the AASR system and Freemasonry in general aside, I down-loaded "The Book" from the link you posted. Those scans are REALLY nice. I've been slowly scanning ALL my Masonic and fraternal books over the last few years and that's one I've never gotten around to doing. Many thanks. I really like things like that.



[edit on 13-3-2005 by senrak]

Originally posted by MrNECROS
Officially this book is NOT for perusal by anyone under 32nd Degree so it’s unlikely any Freemasons in this forum will be allowed to read it – but hey, knock yourself out.

Hey, look at me! I'm not a 32nd degree mason! I'm not even a Scottish Rite mason! And I'm going to read this! Oh no, I better not! "They" might blow up my toilet and feed laxatives to my dog! Sigh, MrNECROS did you REALLY think we wouldn't be allowed to read this? SERIOUSLY? YOU are like the punch-drunk boxer who jumps in the ring to toot his own horn about a victory he didn't win.



[edit on 13-3-2005 by sebatwerk]

As stated by yourself MrNecros, there is already a thread on this. Please add your info to that thread.

Closed.