Reprints of Rituals of Old Degrees

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Originally printed by Albert Pike in 1879 this enlarged edition includes a variety of important early rituals. In 1789 the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania chartered a lodge in Port-au-Prince which introduced Ancient York Masonry to Saint-Domingue. Although no French language copy of Pennsylvania's Craft ritual is known to exist there are surviving manuscripts of their </span><span style=color: rgba(34 30 31 1)>high degrees the so-called Ancient Ma­sonic Rite of York. These are the ritu­als which Thomas Smith Webb received and modified (post-1796) and which formed the basis the York Rite practiced throughout the United States today.</span><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Translated from Huet de Lachelle's manuscript (dated 1795) it includes early forms of the </span><span style=color: rgba(34 30 31 1)>4° Past Master the 5° Mark Mason and the 7° Royal Arch Mason. Also included are the </span><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Mark Master Mason (1804) which Pike believed was the earliest known copy as well as the rituals of the English Knights Templar (1851) the </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Grand Maitre Ecossais</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> or Scottish Elder Master and an Old Ceremony of Royal Arch Exaltation. Added to the work are important catechisms and rituals which shed light on the collection while the introduction provides a context.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(55 62 62 1)>Arturo de Hoyos is Grand Archivist and Grand Historian of the Supreme Council 33° S.J. and an executive officer at the Scottish Rite's headquarters the House of the Temple in Washington D.C. The author editor and translator of more than 25 books and many articles he's considered America's foremost scholar on the history rituals and symbolism of Scottish Rite Freemasonry and most other Masonic orders rites and systems. He has travelled and lectured extensively on Freemasonry and been featured on numerous television and radio programs including NBC Dateline's Secrets of the Lost Symbol CNN's The Situation Room ABC Nightly News Washington D.C.'s FOX 5 News WAMU Radio's Metro Connection The History Channel The Voice of America and more.</span></p><p></p>