Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA)

The Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA (commonly known as the Mother Supreme Council of the World) was the first Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. It claims that all other Supreme Councils and Subordinate Bodies of the Scottish Rite are derived from it.[1] Its official full name is "The Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commander of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America."[2] It is also commonly known as The Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction, or by some other varying degree of complete titulage. It is the governing body of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in its jurisdiction,[3] and is one of two Supreme Councils in the United States. It oversees the Scottish Rite in 35 states[4] (the other states fall within the Northern Jurisdiction, which is an independent body).

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"House of the Temple"; "Home of The Supreme Council, 33°, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, Washington D.C., U.S.

The Scottish Rite is one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry that a Master Mason may join for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. To join the Supreme Council, one must attain the 32° of the Scottish Rite, and then be conferred the honorary 33°.

In the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 33 members, and is presided over by a Grand Commander. Other members of the Supreme Council are called "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General" (S.G.I.G.), and each is the head of the Rite in his respective Orient (or state). Other heads of the various Orients who are not members of the Supreme Council are called "Deputies of the Supreme Council."

The first philosophical document of the Mother Supreme Council of the World was "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry," written by Confederate General Albert Pike (Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction; head of the Mother Supreme Council of the World) in 1872. A copy of Morals & Dogma was given to every new member in the Southern Jurisdiction until 1974, when it was deemed "too advanced to be helpful to the new Scottish Rite member." The book given to new initiates then became Grand Commander Henry C. Clausen's Clausen's Commentaries On Morals and Dogma (1976), then Rex Hutchens' A Bridge to Light (1988). Following the adoption of the "Revised Standard Pike Ritual," Hutchens' book was revised in 2010 by Scottish Rite Grand Archivist and Grand Historian Arturo de Hoyos, and is still available. However de Hoyos' Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide (2007, rev. 2010), is now distributed, as is also Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma: Annotated Edition (2011), also by Grand Archivist and Grand Historian de Hoyos.