Ordo ab chao: order out of chaos and the Scottish Rite
5 events0 sourcesc. 1778 to 1871updated 23 Jul 2026, 01:01
The Scottish Rite slogan that means order out of chaos: how the 33rd-degree system emerged from a crowded field of rival high-degree rites, how the phrase became attached to the Charleston Supreme Council and Pike-era ritual...
The Scottish Rite slogan that means order out of chaos: how the 33rd-degree system emerged from a crowded field of rival high-degree rites, how the phrase became attached to the Charleston Supreme Council and Pike-era ritual, and how later conspiracy writers turned it into a claim about hidden control.
The 18th century produced many competing systems of higher degrees, including the chivalric Rite of Strict Observance and its reform as the Rectified Scottish Rite in 1778. This ferment of rites fed material into the later Scottish Rite and York Rite.
The first Supreme Council of the thirty-third degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established at Charleston in 1801. It became the mother council from which most other Scottish Rite bodies derive their authority.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite organizes a sequence of degrees from the fourth through the thirty-third that build on the three Craft degrees. The system drew on earlier French high-degree rites and was consolidated into thirty-three grades around 1801.
Albert Pike, a leader of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction, rewrote and expanded the rite's degree rituals into their modern elaborate form. His revisions drew heavily on comparative mythology and world religions.
Albert Pike reorganized the Scottish Rite in the American South and published Morals and Dogma in 1871, a lengthy commentary on its degrees. His writings shaped the rite for generations.
Change log
11 changes
Linked to "State, law, and coercion" as part of in this story
Linked to "Hermes Trismegistus and the Hermetic tradition" as parallel in this story
Linked from "Religion and ideology" as parallel in this story
Linked to "Secret societies and influential orders" as parallel in this story
Linked to "Freemasonry in Britain, America, and the colonies" as part of in this story
Linked from "The pillars of modern power" as part of in this story
Added "Albert Pike publishes Morals and Dogma"
Added "Albert Pike revises the Scottish Rite rituals"
Added "The thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite"
Added "Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite founded"
Added "The Rectified Scottish Rite and the high-degree ferment"
Crosses paths with
Freemasonry: the craft and its historyshares 5 event(s): The Rectified Scottish Rite and the high-degree ferment, Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite founded, The thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite
Religion and ideologyshares 5 event(s): The Rectified Scottish Rite and the high-degree ferment, Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite founded, The thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite