  S.G.I.G. for Oklahoma, Chairman, Ceremonial and Ritual Forms Committee Photo: Illustrious Paul T. Million, Jr., 33°, S.G.I.G. for Oklahoma The Winter 1999 issue of the Plumbline, a quarterly publication sent to the members of the Scottish Rite Research Society, is, as always, very interesting. In this issue, Bro. Gary T. Scott, 32°, K.C.C.H., Valley of the District of Columbia, expressed a concern about the ongoing revision of the Pike Rituals. Essentially, he fears the Revised Standard Pike Ritual might end up being more gloss than substance, more consumer packaging than content. I understand his concern, and I realize other Scottish Rite Masons might share Bro. Scott's fears. As Chairman of the Ritual and Ceremonial Forms Committee, I head the Supreme Council committee responsible for the revision. Let me allay any fears that the Ritual will be diluted or diminished. The Revised Standard Pike Ritual is being written by Dr. Rex R. Hutchens, 33°, Grand Cross. Scottish Rite Masons will recognize him as the author of, among other works, A Bridge to Light; Pillars of Wisdom, The Writings of Albert Pike; The Bible in Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma; and A Glossary of Morals and Dogma. He is being assisted by Brother Art deHoyos, 32°, K.C.C.H., whose work has appeared in Heredom (the annual transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society), the Scottish Rite Journal, and other prestigious Masonic publications. He has an international reputation as an expert on Masonic rituals and will soon assume the position of Grand Archivist and Historian of the Supreme Council. Dr. William L. Fox, 33°, recently resigned this post to become Special Assistant to the President and Director of Foundation Relations of Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland. Among the other members of a large Resource Team assisting Ill. Rex Hutchens and Bro. Art deHoyos is Ill. Sean D. Graystone, 33°, who has an in-depth knowledge of many philosophical traditions and is presently preparing a typescript of Pike's manuscript on the kabala for the Supreme Council. Also, Ill. James T. Tresner II, 33°, Grand Cross, author of Albert Pike, The Man Beyond the Monument and many articles in the Journal, is bringing his thorough knowledge of Masonic Ritual and theatre to the Resource Team working on the Revised Standard Pike Ritual. These men are fiercely protective of Pike's Rituals. I have sat in meetings with them, the table piled with reference books and copies of many of Pike's writings, as they fought through sections of the Degrees word by word. The primary reason completion of the Revised Standard Pike Ritual is taking so long is the determination by these outstanding Brethren to preserve Pike and his work, while attempting to create a Ritual which can be more easily understood. It will never actually be easy, of course. It takes study to comprehend the Degrees of the Rite, and that will still be true. The goal is to make the Degrees clearer to the candidate, not simpler. So, no Scottish Rite Freemason need fear that the Degrees will turn into just little stories of no consequence or significance. Pike's Degrees deal with life and death and the great mysteries of the universe. They still do. |