Sovereign Grand Council

News from the Chapter

What the Chapter does in the open, it records in the open. Announcements of the Council touching the Chapter — its acts, its honours, and its sessions — are published here.

Announcement of the Council

The Sovereign Grand Council announces its Letter of Recognition and Fraternal Declaration, issued this day: Leonard Le'Doux Jr., 33°, is recognized by this Council as the lawfully Installed and true Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite – Cerneau's Rite of 1804, for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America. No other individual or claimant is recognized by this Council in that dignity.

The instrument itself, published by act of the Council — the letter of recognition:

Announcement of the Council

The Sovereign Grand Council announces the conferral, honoris causa, of the summit of this Order — the Chevalier d'Hérédom de Kilwinning, Knight of Hérédom, the thirty-third and last grade of our system — upon our beloved Brother, the Honourable Gigi Morello, in recognition of his fraternal and esoteric experience. From this day he is an Honorary Member of this Sovereign Grand Council.

The dignity was conferred upon the man himself, upon the personal level, and is recorded here by act of the Council.

The instrument itself, published by act of the Council — the letter of conferral:

The Ladder of Degrees

The degrees of the Rite d'Hérédom ou de Perfection, from the fourth degree — this house works no Craft Masonry.

The Degrees of the Rite

The Chapter of Hérédom — the remaining degrees

The Chapter of Hérédom

Above the twenty-five — the remaining degrees of Hérédom.

The Chapter rests on a document, not a legend: the Rose-Croix cahier written by Joseph Cerneau in 1808, the foundation on which the Hérédom degrees stand. Upon that foundation the Chapter confers its five degrees, in order — the twenty-ninth through the thirty-third of the ladder:

The thirty-third is the last degree of Hérédom — the summit of the ladder.

Above the Chapter stands its summit: Jacques VI — the Grand Écossais de la Voûte Sacrée de Jacques VI, received under Brother Hacquet at Paris on the twelfth of April, 1805. There is no Chevalier de Saint-André in this house, and no twenty-ninth degree to fill: what the later system numbered and named for the saint, the Hérédom line carried under the name of the King.

The Sovereign Grand Council

Nine govern the Order. The Lion is their collar.

The Collars of the Jurisdiction

The collar is drawn from the rituals themselves — from the camp standard of the Royal Secret as Baylot's Foix copyist and Francken's hand both record it — and the blue and gold of the degree are the colors of the whole house.

Fraternal Accords

The Ancient Primitive Order of Hérédom™, by its Sovereign Grand Council, holds fraternal accords with the orders named below.

An accord is exactly that, and nothing more: a fraternal understanding between sovereign orders, each complete in itself. It is not a merger, not a membership, not obedience, and not supervision, in either direction. We do not make Masons, and no accord makes us Masons, nor makes any other body part of this Order. They govern themselves; we govern ourselves. Each does its own work, under its own authority, and answers for itself alone.

The Council enters and ends accords by its own act, and publishes no instruments. This list is the whole of the Order’s fraternal relations: if a body is not named here, no accord exists.

Correspondence

Inquiries are made in writing. There is no other door.

Candidates are Master Masons in good and regular standing, received at the fourth degree — this house confers no Craft degrees, and receives no profane candidates. Inquiries are made in writing, and in writing only. The fees of the house are communicated to the petitioner whose inquiry is accepted.