My Freemasonry | Freemason Information and Discussion Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Question about rituals in Scotland

Roy_

Registered User
I'm trying to trace the origins (inspiration) of the ritual that my (irregular) lodge works with. No one less than Jan Snoek has done so before and he says that the oldest version of the ritual is based on "a Scottish ritual". Unfortunately he doesn't specify.
I have a 2010 print of the rituals of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and a 1986 Emulation. There are significant differences between these two and the oldest version of 'my ritual' is much more similar to Emulation than to that of the GLoS.

So my questions are:
- Were the rituals of the GLoS ever closer to Emulation?;
- If not, are there (regular or irregular) (Grand) lodges in Scotland that use(d) a ritual closer to Emulation?
 

Roy_

Registered User
I just noticed that on another place he is more specific:
The ritual for the lodges working in the English language was not created by translating the—atheistic—ritual of George Martin. Instead, probably the Theosophist Annie Besant herself, possibly with the help of some members of the lodge ‘Dharma’ in Adyar, adapted an—explicitly theistic—ritual from the Grand Lodge of Scotland for use by the mixed lodges of LDH.​

(Women’s Agency and Rituals in Mixed and Female Masonic Orders edited by Alexandra Heidl and Jan Snoek, Brill 2008 page 12).

As I said, that ritual "probably the Theosophist Annie Besant herself" is much much closer to Emulation than to my version of the ritual of the GLoS. Besant wrote her ritual around 1902, so if Snoek is correct, around that time the GLoS rituals should have been a lot more like Emulation than today. That doesn't really sound likely to me.
 

jermy Bell

Registered User
I dont believe you will get any answers here if you and your lodge is irregular. Or our words, clandestine.
 

Roy_

Registered User
I could have 'forgotten' to mention that. Besides, I don't need specifics of the rituals (I have the ritual book anyway, bought them at the Grand Lodge of Scotland), just the history and the text of that other ritual (Emulation) I have too, so I can't be told any detail that I don't already have of these rituals. I AM curious about the possible development of the GLoS ritual though.
 
Last edited:
Top