33rd Degree Masons

Originally posted by Zhenyghi
Okay, another question.

Can anybody in effect become a 33rd Degree Mason, or is it reserved for the super-rich captains of industry?

My 32nd Degree uncle once loaned me some Masonic publication, and it had bios or other articles about select 33rd Degree Masons. All were well-known person, but oddly enough I can only recall one -- the late Dave Thomas of Wendy's. That's what got me to wonder if the 33rd was reserved for a certain "class" of men.

Zhenyghi,

It MUST be for ANY member of the Scottish Rite as I am NOT a super-rich "captain of industry"

The 33rd Degree is given as an honor...a "recognition" for serving Masonry, the Scottish Rite in general OR the community as a whole. Guys like Dave Thomas (may he rest in peace) DID such things. Dave Thomas was a tremendous contributor to the Shriners charities...not to mention the adoption agency he developed.

ANY Scottish Rite Mason can become a 33rd Degree member. Among S.R. Masons it's quite an honor. . . and there are some who deserve it AND receive it...there are some who deserve it and do NOT receive it and there are some who do NOT deserve it (I feel like I'm one of those, by the way) who DO receive it.

Originally posted by Zhenyghi
Okay, another question.

Can anybody in effect become a 33rd Degree Mason, or is it reserved for the super-rich captains of industry?

Just to briefly chime in, I completely agree with the above brethren who responded. One hears a lot about the famous people who are 33rd degree Masons, but most holders of the 33rd degree are just average guys. Some have been wealthy, but most are not.

In the Southern Jurisdiction, U.S., members are presented the material of the degree, but some never actually contemplate it's meaning. To be a true Master of the Royal Secret requires years of study and consideration. I've been a member of the SR for about five years, and have done a lot of reading, and each time I delve into it's lessons, I learn something new or I may ammend my previous understanding of what was presented to me. It's sort of an alchemical process, in that knowledge unfolds its layers in different ways to different people. There is really, as far as I've seen, no real definitive explanations for the degrees or their meaning, other than speculative descriptions as to the various possible meanings behind them. Masonry only asks that men conform to the moral standards prescribed in its lessons, and interpretation is left to the individual. As for membership to the KCCH or 33rd, men who are interested in the lessons of Masonry tend to be active in their organizations, so to be honored with such degrees or honors is the result of hard work-as was explained previously.

Nothing bad about worshipping geometry or Baphomet.
Albert Pike, supreme commander of all U.S. Masonic lodges, inventor of the phrase "new world order."
So there exists an evil idealism within Freemasonry that is like a 'secret society within a secret society."
So it definitely isn't correct to say Freemasonry is evil.
It's the elites within in that are the 'one-worlders'.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Albert Pike did not invent the phrase "New World Order" - in fact the phrase is fairly new. He never said it.

Please name for us some of the "elites" in freemasonry. I hear about them all the time but never actually hear anyone name them.

reply to post by Appak
Sir: I think many of the weirdness surrounding Masonry stems form their use of hermetic symbols and whatnot. Obviously, you guys are aren't practicing alchemical magic - just using the theatrics of those practices.
In the end, though, aren't you guys just patriachal, business-and-community minded Wiccans? I've learned a ton from the Freemason sites and the amount of (public) arcane knowledge that was displayed was pretty impressive. Some of you guys know an awful lot about ancient pagan practices for people who eschew those belief systems.

Thanks for your time.

reply to post by plainPlaidplain


I do not think Appak is going to repsond to your post, he passed away last year.

Originally posted by plainPlaidplain

In the end, though, aren't you guys just patriachal, business-and-community minded Wiccans?

No.

Some of you guys know an awful lot about ancient pagan practices for people who eschew those belief systems.

Who has eschewed them?

Anybody else miss Appak and LLM?

I do.

reply to post by Masonic Light

Thanks for your response.
I'm trying to see the difference between Pythagoreans, Kabballist/Hermeticists, Gnostics and Pagans.

A few things don't make sense to me:

1. The fundamentalists in this country consider all of it to be heathenism.
2. The lefty new-agers are obsessed with ancient pyramids, crytals, the tarot, numerology, etc.
3. The Freemasons don't speak out against the increasingly narrow fundamentalism in this country, despite the fact that their own group was persecuted as heretics at different times.
4. Freemasonry appears to use the symbols of Egypt, Babylon, Hermeticism. I read references to the Emerald Tablet on a Freemasonry site. The only other places I see references to Hermes Trisemegistus are on New Age websites.
5. The prevailing political culture of Freemasonry seems to be center-right and churchgoing. Yes, I know that you don't espouse a specific religion, but there's an awful lot of Baptists, Methodists, Episcopaleans and the like in your ranks.


If you could clear any of this up I'd appreciate it.

reply to post by plainPlaidplain


Hi there. Just to give my reply some sort of reference, I am talking from a British Masonic perspective here. The political system as a whole in the US confuses the hell out of me so cant reply to the "Center-Right bit".

As for the religion part you can guarente that it changes from state to state over there. Like i the south the majority will be Christians (sorry for not getting the correct denomination right here), however in the northern states it will be more mixed between religions. Also in the UK this is the same. if you go to a Lodge in London you are more likely to meet people from nearly every religion you can think of. However if you go to the north is it mainly Christians.

Also your third point, why does freemasonry need to defend its self by speaking out against some fo the rubbish that people spout? If that happened it would do way more harm than good. People would start to think that those allegations are real as they are being defended. Its basically a loose loose situation. Masonry is criticised for not defending itself and then criticised when it does stating some conspiracy etc

Also going back to the original topic of this thread for a minute. In the UK we have next to no 33rd degree masons. We have the standard 3 degrees and things you can do after that but it is very different.

Originally posted by plainPlaidplain


A few things don't make sense to me:

1. The fundamentalists in this country consider all of it to be heathenism.
2. The lefty new-agers are obsessed with ancient pyramids, crytals, the tarot, numerology, etc.

I sort of agree, but that's a hefty generalization and paints a whole lot of people with a very broad brush.

3. The Freemasons don't speak out against the increasingly narrow fundamentalism in this country, despite the fact that their own group was persecuted as heretics at different times.

I disagree because I've spoken out against such things numerous times, and I know other Masons who have as well.

4. Freemasonry appears to use the symbols of Egypt, Babylon, Hermeticism. I read references to the Emerald Tablet on a Freemasonry site. The only other places I see references to Hermes Trisemegistus are on New Age websites.

Freemasonry has inherited symbols from lots of preceding cultures and systems, including the Egyptian, babylonian, and Hermetic abovementioned. The term "New Age" is sort of subjective, so it would really depend on the context of the websites you're talking about.

5. The prevailing political culture of Freemasonry seems to be center-right and churchgoing.

Why would you say that?

While there are Masons that hold center-right political positions, I know of no evidence that they outnumber those of left and center-left. Further, the membership boom that Masonry is currently experiencing is mostly due to the fact that younger educated people are now joining, who tend to be left of center politically.

As for churchgoing, that is probably true among older Masons, probably less true among younger ones. I personally am a member of a Unitarian Universalist church. So while I'm technically "churchgoing", most other churches still wouldn't approve!



[edit on 2-7-2010 by Masonic Light]