In 1872 Albert Pike published his book Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The Constitutions and Regulations of 1762. Statutes and Regulations of Perfection and Other Degrees. Vera Instituta Secreta et Fundamenta Ordinis of 1786. The Secret Constitutions of the 33d Degree, with the Statutes of 1859, 1866, 1868, 1870 and 1872 of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction. This book is still available under the title 'Grand Constitutions.' In this work Pike tells how he discovered, in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana in 1860, 'in a little, old badly-written MS. book, of poor paper, a ritual of the 33d Degree, followed by what purported to be the Secret Constitutions of that degree.' Pike printed the full text of the Secret Constitutions but only printed a partial translation of the 33d degree ritual. We have obtained a copy of the missing text from pages inserted into Charles T. McClenachan's copy of Pike's book. A note inside the McClenachan book indicates they were obtained directly from Pike, and were copied from his "Register." We have reset the entire text and inserted the missing sections into their proper places, thus providing for the first time the complete text of this early 33d Degree ritual. We have also deciphered the coded secret words, signs and tokens, making this the only complete edition available.
In 1872 Albert Pike published his book Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The Constitutions and Regulations of 1762. Statutes and Regulations of Perfection and Other Degrees. Vera Instituta Secreta et Fundamenta Ordinis of 1786. The Secret Constitutions of the 33d Degree, with the Statutes of 1859, 1866, 1868, 1870 and 1872 of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction. This book is still available under the title 'Grand Constitutions.' In this work Pike tells how he discovered, in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana in 1860, 'in a little, old badly-written MS. book, of poor paper, a ritual of the 33d Degree, followed by what purported to be the Secret Constitutions of that degree.' Pike printed the full text of the Secret Constitutions but only printed a partial translation of the 33d degree ritual. We have obtained a copy of the missing text from pages inserted into Charles T. McClenachan's copy of Pike's book. A note inside the McClenachan book indicates they were obtained directly from Pike, and were copied from his "Register." We have reset the entire text and inserted the missing sections into their proper places, thus providing for the first time the complete text of this early 33d Degree ritual. We have also deciphered the coded secret words, signs and tokens, making this the only complete edition available.