Any Mason can join the Scottish Rite after the reach Master Mason or 3rd degree. They are also eligible for the York Rite, but nobody is ever concerned with them because they do not have a numeric rank system, but call themselves Knights Templar instead.

To join the Scottish Rite, you need be a master mason, get sponsored in the Lodge by one of your buddies, pay the fee, and attend the meetings.

Ironically, the degrees are usually obtained many at once at a conference weekend. 32nd is the highest a regular Mason can get to, 33d degree is somewhat of an honorary title for some of the members who really put in a lot of effort into the Lodge (lotsa charity money, starting masonic education courses, organizing dinners) Kinda like a "lifer" recognition.

If he is a 32nd degree Mason, which isn't really that big of a deal, any Mason can do it by sparing a few extra days a month and by keeping your dues current.

Im telling you guys tho, while everyone is concerned with SR, the YR guys go under the radar and their degrees contain waaaaaay more esoteric info than the SR. YR is also more Christian based, and belief in Jesus is required, as opposed to SR, which is more open-spiritual based.

See if he has a SR signet ring. Most SR guys are pretty proud of it. Like I said tho, any MM can get to 32nd degree, despite what you hear.


BTW: All of this info is available online, Duncan's Rituals are published all over the place which lists the "secret degrees" verbatim, as that is what most modern Masons use to study for degree work anyway. Even the grips, tokens, signs, and passwords are published! Just look it up people, that's how I found out. Like everything else, it is blown waaay out of proportion.

Sometimes I think the Masons like it to be more evil and scarier than it really is to maintain a certain mystique.