Strathearn Cryptic Council No.34Origins of Cryptic Masonry
Some Basic Information about Cryptic Masonry
What is "Cryptic Masonry" and the "Cryptic Rite"?
The Cryptic Rite is "one of the smallest but one of the most important and certainly one of the most curious of all the rites," according to Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. "Crypt" comes from a Greek word meaning "hide, conceal, or secret," and thus has come to mean a vault, cave, or other place of underground concealment. The Cryptic degrees are centered on stories involving a vault or crypt where certain treasures were hidden beneath King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem for very specific purposes. They were first called "Cryptic" by Rob Morris, a very influential Mason in the 1800's.
Which degrees are included in the Cryptic Rite?
Cryptic Masonry now consists of the two degrees that concern the crypt or vault under King Solomon's Temple, the Royal Master degree and the Select Master degree. These originally had no relation to each other, and were only combined into a Rite until after they had each existed for many years.
In some states the Super Excellent Master degree is also included in the Cryptic Rite, but some say it should not be because it does not deal with the "crypt" story and it is not really a degree but a ceremony. However, it is described as a beautiful ceremony, and it is not clear why some call it a ceremony rather than a degree.
In what order should the Cryptic degrees be conferred?
Masons have disagreed for many years whether the Royal or the Select degree should be conferred first, and whether they should both be conferred before or after the Royal Arch degree. Both should precede the Royal Arch degree, which is based on the rebuilding of the Temple after it had been destroyed, yet in most States only those who have first gone through the Royal Arch degree can obtain the Royal and Select Masters degrees.
Governance of Cryptic Masonry
Cryptic Freemasonry in Scotland is Governed by the Supreme Grand Royal Arch of Scotland.
What are the origins of the Cryptic degrees?
As with much of Freemasonry, no one knows for sure but there are several theories. There is a "Baltimore theory," and a "Berlin theory," but the most likely one is the "Scottish Rite theory," and the most interesting is the "Stuart theory."
The Scottish Rite theory is that the Cryptic degrees were invented in France together with the other degrees that were included in the Rite of Perfection, which later were collected into what is today the Scottish Rite, and that the Cryptic degrees were brought to America just like the Scottish Rite degrees by Stephen Morin from France in 1761. When the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S. was organized in 1802 in Charleston, the degrees which are now in the Scottish Rite were organized, while some "detached" degrees, including the Royal and Select degrees, which had previously been given were now dropped. Some of those who had received these degrees then conferred them on their own and established Councils in the process.
The Stuart theory is interesting and needs some explanation. The Stuart family ruled England starting in 1603, with a break from 1649 to 1660 after Charles I was executed by Parliament under Oliver Cromwell. The last Stuart to reign, James II, was forced to abdicate in 1688. After the Hanoverian family came to the English throne in 1714 with George I, the Stuarts invaded England in 1715 and 1745, by way of Scotland, which supported them, but both attempts failed. The Stuarts and their supporters lived in exile in France, which recognized their claim, and they continued to try to regain their throne for many years with the support of some in England. The Stuart exiles living in France in the early 1700's, sometimes called "Jacobites" from the Latin form of the name for James, were involved in Freemasonry. Some Masonic lodges in France and Italy were made up completely of Jacobites, and the grandson of James II, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" was definitely an active Mason. In 1745, the same year he attempted to invade England, he became the Grand Master of the Masonic Knights Templar, and also formed a Chapter of Rose Croix. The Jacobite Masons considered the death of Hiram Abiff to represent the execution by the English Parliament of Charles I, the father of James II, and the raising of Hiram Abiff to represent the coming restoration to the English throne of the Stuart Kings. The "Royal Master" was the Stuart claimant to the throne, who was called by some the "Pretender" to the throne (at first James II, then his son James III, and then the grandson, Charles), and the secret vault was the place where the Jacobites plotted their return to power. The "Select Masters" were the closest companions of the "Pretender.". The ritual of the Select Master's degree can easily be seen to be that of a secret political movement, if one believes this theory.
Cryptic Masonry in Britain
The Council of Excellent, Royal, Select and Super-Excellent Masters was established in 1873 by four Councils which had been chartered two years earlier by the Grand Council of New York. The Grand Council of Illinois chartered Councils in Scotland in 1878, and the Scottish Grand Council was formed in 1880. In England, Cryptic Masonry consists of the Most Excellent Master (a shorter form than the one in U.S. Royal Arch Masonry), Royal Master, Select Master, and Super Excellent Master.
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