Scottish Rite & Masculinity

Ryan Tickle, 32°

The Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry traces its formal beginnings in the United States back to 1801 in Charleston, South Carolina. Today, the “largest and most widely-practiced Masonic Rite in the world,” with its Northern and Southern jurisdictions, tallies an estimated 550,000 members.[1] Frequently referred to as the “College of Freemasonry” because of its endless avenues for continuing education on the Craft, the Scottish Rite is also well-known today for its reunions, where candidates sit rapt before stages decorated with ornate sets and painted backdrops, featuring costumed actors who deliver their rehearsed lines under bright theater lights. Taking place over multiple days, the reunion is a sight to behold. In fact, brothers commonly use the simile “like drinking water from a fire hose” to describe this influx of imagery and information. This was not always the case, however. Before relocating their ritual “from the lodge room floor to the elevated stage,” the Scottish Rite employed solemn ceremonial formats.[2] This new combination of elements from “American Victorian theater and nineteenth-century spectacle catapulted the Scottish Rite to the forefront of the American fraternal movement.”[3] However, the theatrics of these reunions met with some initial resistance from a vocal minority of Scottish Rite Masons, and the brief contentiousness of the degree spectacle offers a fascinating lens through which we can view one of this era’s larger societal issues: competing versions of manhood.

Consumption–especially the frivolous consumption of commercialized products–was considered feminine by Americans as they approached the 1900s. As the twentieth century wore on, scholars reinforced this simplistic and dichotomized view of consumer society: men produced and women shopped.[4] Even early feminist scholars supported the idea, using it as evidence of women’s domestic subjugation, a condition they could overcome only by earning money for labor and being self-sufficient. Only recently has women’s unpaid work in the home received scholarly attention for its contributions to the family. Just as women’s domestic work long went unnoticed, so, too, did men’s consumption. Victoria de Grazia contends that this era’s burgeoning consumer culture ushered in the version of capitalist American society we are all now so familiar with. At the crux of this cultural development was the “transformation of goods from being relatively static symbols” into items that, through their purchase, use, or viewing, became “constitutive of class, social status, and personal identity.”[5] Steeped in tradition though they were, Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite were not immune to the changing world outside their temple doors. The controversial move from the lodge to the theater is a prime example. The Scottish Rite was responding to–and leveraging to its advantage–a “distinct nineteenth-century popular aesthetic based upon visual stimuli and its prominence throughout popular entertainment.”[6] And it was for its own good. Masonic scholar Robert G. Davis, 33° GC, argues that “the underlying success of Freemasonry rested in the ability of its leaders and members to reshape the institution around the needs of a changing society.”[7] Like most changes, however, it did not happen without a little unrest.

At the tail-end of the nineteenth century, when social status was increasingly linked to consumer choice, Scottish Rite Masons reimagined their degree ceremonies.[8] Incorporating scenery, backdrops, lighting, and costumes signaled the prioritization of appearance, or as some Masons criticized, an “incitement to consumption,” like a department store window enticing onlookers with its flashy display.[9] Masons approached this transition cautiously as it directly challenged their definition of manliness as one “residing in self-mastery, hard work and control over impulse.”[10] It also redefined and resituated the initiatic experience, transforming it from an intimate, individualized, and mostly verbal one into a series of extravagant theatrical performances for crowds of Masons.[11] Moreover, it no longer took months or years to receive the Scottish Rite degrees. In his 1907 contribution to New Age Magazine, (published today as the Scottish Rite Journal) William Knox drew parallels between the new format and the increasingly showy and fast-paced America:

Since other things are pronounced superior when machine made, is it not to be expected that the superior Mason may be the machine-made product? And is he not the finished product of the stuffing machine, who has had, to use the expression ofttimes used in reference thereto, “the degrees of Masonry squirted into him with a gun?” Yet is not the excuse “commercialism?” Is not the matter of selling degrees one of the greatest money-making businesses of the day? Therefore, why not sell the degrees, and that, too as rapidly as possible?[12]

Knox’s criticism echoes others’ from the New Age. Francis H. E. O’Donnell, 32° KCCH, cautioned that ceding traditional Masonic instruction to “dramatic presentation of the rites” would signal the decline of the Craft.[13] A balance was necessary. “The pretty performance which pleases the eye and the ear must not be allowed to supplant the inculcation of the greater philosophies which expand the immortal part of the nature of Man.”[14] It would seem that O’Donnell sensed where things were headed in terms of the Scottish Rite degree presentation. He reminded his brethren readers to “sacrifice the drama every time, if necessary, to the philosophy.”[15] The pageantry troubled him. To appeal to the visual senses was considered feminine. Traditionalists like Knox and O’Donnell feared the gradual replacement of Masonry’s system of moral instruction and testing with something that appeared–and appealed–more like a women’s leisure activity.

Masculinity was at risk. At a time when men wore dark suits–and pretty much only dark suits–in public, the Scottish Rite prominently displayed male actors in “dazzling colors and voluminous robes…in a strikingly lit, lavishly staged and opulently costumed drama.”[16] Additionally, these ritual enactors occupied what traditionalists considered a “feminized position” as the object of the “male spectatorial gaze.”[17] And, as has been noted, much of the criticism leveled against the theatrics of the Scottish Rite focused on what one Mason called their “frivolous innovation” and “foolish vanities.”[18] Another Scottish Rite Mason, known only as “Codex,” criticized: “There is a coldness about this [candidates as passive onlookers rather than protagonists] that strikes me as most un- Masonic.”[19] Mary Ann Clawson contends that these criticisms “implied a gendered dichotomy between learning and pleasure,” in other words, men should be more concerned with traditional forms of education and learning. Why? Because traditionalist Masons aligned themselves philosophically with Enlightenment thinkers, notably the distinctions they drew between “objects that captured the passive viewer through sensual delight” and objects like Masonic philosophy and ritual symbolism that “demanded domination by the mind and intellect.”[20] For them, learning required discipline and cognitive stimulation. In some ways, Scottish Rite Freemasonry came to be viewed by traditionalists as a “purveyor of pleasure, rather than a medium for masculine ethical regeneration.”[21] After all, the object of Freemasonry was not to please or entertain, but to inculcate knowledge, and traditionalists saw these new degree ceremonies as a hindrance to that process.

Other Masons argued the exact opposite. Epes W. Sargent, acclaimed theater critic and Scottish Rite Mason, pointed out that the “advantage of the drama is that it more closely holds the mind” with its visual attractiveness, “thus centering attention.”[22] Visual learners no doubt benefitted from the degrees’ new qualities. Sargent further contended that historically accurate costumes and sets, combined with quality acting from knowledgeable cast members, created a “professional product” whereby the Scottish Rite could “drive home lessons that are never forgotten.”[23] Led by a commanding director, these re-enacted rites could deliver powerful and illuminating moral instruction. In other words, the reunion was not a spectacle for individual gratification but rather an effort to promote a collective identity based around that familiar system of morality. This consumption had a higher purpose. Men leaving home, “a space whose visual elements murmured ‘femininity,’” arrived at a Scottish Rite temple where the “design and decor reinforced” its designation as a male-only ritual space.[24] Masons who supported the theatrical production of the degrees saw this as representative of manhood in a different way, one that embraced consumption because it meant that brothers could receive high-quality degrees in a more efficient albeit elaborate manner.[25]

The Supreme Council noticed the contention. Grand Commander Thomas Hubbell Caswell assembled a ritual committee in 1895 to “evaluate the overall success of the current ritual.”[26] While it mostly paid attention to its written aspects, the “Supreme Council grew increasingly divided on the issue of staged degree work, even though the financial returns from these endeavors were astronomical.”[27] In their 1899 report, the committee eventually satisfied both sides. Everything “deemed essential to the degrees” was to be printed in black ink while everything which could be left out of a monitor would be printed in red.[28] Traditionalists applauded the decision as a chance to rein in the number of theatrical interpretations while progressive Masons saw the potential for expanding on an outline, so to speak, as a victory.[29]

Trepidation about the reunions faded quickly, however, as the Scottish Rite’s popularity grew from about 40,000 members in 1900 to nearly 590,000 in 1927.[30] A scholar who supported Theatre of the Fraternity, a traveling museum exhibition in the 1990s, suggests that this meteoric rise in popularity “coincides precisely with the emergence of the staged ritual as the Scottish Rite’s most distinctive feature.”[31] Davis agrees: “Men were swept away by the visual images of the plays, costumes, scene drops, and characters.”[32] Masons rushed to the Scottish Rite to consume “the drama, music, and character performances of their brothers in a rich world of fantasy and pageantry.”[33] And this world consisted entirely of men. So, contrary to long-held, popular belief, men at the turn of the twentieth century, “were indeed a very large and important consuming constituency.”[34] The added benefit in this case, was that a fraternal organization enjoyed the financial rewards right alongside the businesses it supported through its purchases.

As a variant of the men’s club, the emergent Scottish Rite, with its dining halls, smoking lounges, libraries and stages, was a site of luxurious consumption. But, like the men’s club, Scottish Rite consumption was simultaneously privatized and collectivized, shielded from the public – especially female gaze – and experienced, most significantly, through the medium of membership.[35]

Clawson argues convincingly that within this alternative view of manhood, “the power and appeal of Masonry [now] resided in the splendor of its consumption practices.”[36] She supports her argument by pointing to the exotic dinner and wine menus at Masonic events from Montana to Arkansas, contending that this “elaborate banqueting in a male-only setting” combined with the construction and furnishing of opulent temples helped to redefine what it meant to be a man and a Mason at the turn of the twentieth century.[37] Davis adds, “by exchanging work clothes with elaborate and colorful gowns and aprons, [Masons] became connected to each other…as actors on a stage of moral improvement together.”[38]

Men were not buying elaborate costumes and backdrops to gain public praise; they did so as a sign of solidarity with their brothers and for symbolic purposes. Ultimately, the Masonic message remained intact though the Scottish Rite’s conveyance mechanism underwent a drastic change. Though it took some time for this idea to win over the traditionalists, it eventually succeeded by maintaining enough Masonic continuity to quell any full-fledged backlash. And, as S. Brent Morris, 33° GC, noted, new candidates who experienced the degrees wasted no time in signing up for a role in the next reunion, “and the cycle continued.”[39]

Sources: The Six Major Themes of the Scottish Rite

Leaders of the Pack

New Age Magazine, Volume 7, 1907
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1. “What is the Scottish Rite?” The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, accessed March 27, 2024, https://scottishrite.org/about/questions/. Membership estimation from “The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry,” The Scottish Rite Scholarship Foundation of Washington, accessed February 14, 2023,
2. Wendy Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic Shifts upon the Scottish Rite State: Designing for Masonic Theatre, 1859-1929, (PhD diss., University of Minnesota, 2009), iv
3. Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” iv. Timing also played an important part: “Integral changes to Scottish Rite degree work transpired during an opportune moment in the history of American Theatre. The theater manufacturing industry transitioned from a local network of producers to a national network of distributors as the Scottish Rite bodies incorporated elevated stages into their lodge rooms and theater scenery into their degree work. Emerging in the 1860’s, scenic studios began to mass produce scenery at off-site locations, thus replacing the individual work of itinerant artists in theater spaces.” In Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” 8
4. Mary Ann Clawson, “Masculinity, Consumption and the Transformation of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the Turn-of-the-Century United States,” Gender & History 19, no. 1 (April 2007): 102
5. Victoria de Grazia and Ellen Furlough, eds., The Sex of Things: Gender and Consumption in Historical Perspective, (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1996), 4
6. Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” 11
7. Robert G. Davis, Understanding Manhood In America: Freemasonry’s Enduring Path to the Mature Masculine, (Lancaster, VA: Anchor Communications LLC), 2005, p. 27
8. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 103. William Moore even calls this a “radical transformation.” In William D. Moore, Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes, (Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2006), 67
9. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 103
10. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 103
11. Moore, Masonic Temples, 67
12. William Knox, “What Excuse?” New Age Magazine 7 (1907): 252
13. Francis H.E. O’Donnell, “Philosophy and the Drama in Freemasonry,” New Age Magazine 4 (1906): 477
14. O’Donnell, “Philosophy and the Drama,” 477
15. O’Donnell, “Philosophy and the Drama,” 478
16. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 111
17. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 111
18. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 111
19. Moore, Masonic Temples, 88
20. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 111
21. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 114
22. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 109, 113
23. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 110
24. Mark C. Carnes, “Scottish Rite and the Visual Semiotics of Gender,” in Lance Brockman, Theatre of the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space, 1896-1929, (Oxford: Univ. of Mississippi Press, 1996), 84
25. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 115. In some ways, this was also an adoption of the Taylorism: “a method of industrial management designed to increase efficiency and productivity. For this purpose, workflows and work processes are examined and optimized precisely and systematically in order to reduce costs and increase quality.” In “Taylorism,” Munich Business School, accessed March 24, 2024,
26. Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” 169
27. Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” 171
28. Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” 171
29. Waszut-Barrett, “Scenic,” 171
30. Clawson, Mary Ann, “Spectatorship and Masculinity in the Scottish Rite,” in Brockman, Theatre of the Fraternity, 56
31. Jeanne Halgren Kilde, “The Spectacle of Freemasonry,” in Brockman, Theatre of the Fraternity, 377. “Theatre of the Fraternity” traveled from the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Kent State University Museum, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, formerly Museum of Our National Heritage, (Lexington, MA), California State University, Long Beach, and the Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND) from 1996 to 1998
32. Davis, Understanding Manhood, 30
33. Davis, Understanding Manhood, 30. S. Brent Morris acknowledges the role of staged productions but also points out that “The Scottish Rite is largely found in urban areas, and their dramatic increase in membership coincides with the rural to urban migration of the American population.” In S. Brent Morris, “Voting with their Feet,” accessed February 21, 2024,
34. Mark A. Swiencicki, “Consuming Brotherhood: Men’s Culture, Style and Recreation as Consumer Culture, 1880-1930,” Journal of Social History 31 (4): 773
35. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 117
36. Clawson, “Masculinity,” 115
37. For example, the Masonic Temple in Chicago, designed by the prestigious Burnham and Root commercial architectural firm, was the tallest building in the world upon its completion in 1892. In “Masonic Temple,” World’s Tallest Towers, accessed February 10, 2024,
38. Davis, Understanding Manhood, 29
39. “When did the Scottish Rite start conferring degrees with costumes and in theatrical settings?”