WHAT IS THE SCOTTISH LODGE? - HISTORY - 2025

The Scottish Lodge is a Masonic organization that has been in existence for centuries. They are based on certain precepts that everyone in the lodge must firmly believe and support. Where it was most developed was in Mexico.

In the Scottish Lodge they believed that education should be exclusive to the upper social classes and the clergy. They included the clergy in education since they believed that they were the most apt to moralize people, and for that reason they must be educated.

The Scots had the support of the army to carry out their teachings, since they considered that an army was the fundamental basis for a successful government.

In one of the places where it had the most impact was in Mexico. The Scottish Lodge of Mexico was made up of aristocrats of conservative ideology, who supported the same idealisms as the Scots.

History of the Scottish Lodge

The first data that is had of the Great Scottish Lodge dates from 1599, with the registry of the meetings that did in the Chapel of Mary's.

A connection can be made between groups of stone masons and new freemasonry organizations. All these records belong to the library of the Grand Lodge.

The Scottish Lodge has a unique character. For example, they do not have a Grand Master, but a Grand Master Mason. The lodges that are included in the Scottish constitution are sovereign of their own lodge with control of their affairs. Many lodges are entitled to their traditions, procedures, rules, and various rituals.

Having established the principle of independence of the ancient Lodges, it was impossible to deny the same privileges to the more modern lodges created after 1736.

Of course they have rituals that maintain the essential points, but each lodge can, for example, choose the colors that represent it.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland has 32 Provincial Lodges within Scotland, and 26 other Grand Lodges throughout the world.

Main beliefs and precepts of the Scottish Lodge

There are characteristic features of the Lodge that affect all its subdivisions regardless of where the Lodge is located.

As we indicated before, each of the Lodges adhering to the constitution of the Scottish Lodge have the right to establish their own customs and rules, but all have to include the main ones of the Grand Lodge, which are the following.

They must believe in the existence of the Great Architect of the Universe. This means that they believe in the existence of a higher entity that is in charge of carrying out the world organization.

They consider that the presence of the Bible, the Square and the Compass is obligatory in all the rites and works that they carry out in their Masonic Temples. The lodges are under their care the direction of the 4 symbolic degrees.

All lodges have the responsibility to initiate people who want to participate in their lodge and evolve. Political and religious debates are prohibited within the lodge during the performance of their work.

All Lodges are bound to abide by the Code of Reunited and Rectified Masonic Lodges of 1778. This agreement was approved in the Wilhelmsbad Convent in 1782.

Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite

The Scottish Rite by which most of the lodges of the world are governed, corresponds to the oldest forms of Freemasonry, and these rites have been continued over time. Not having been codified until 1890, many of the Lodges had followed their own rituals.

This rite preserves the oldest parts of the Masonic rites that resemble those performed in medieval times. Christian tradition and symbolism are combined.

The Scottish Rite kept Christian symbolism in its traditions. This was due to the precepts that united the Scottish Freemasons were common culture and traditions.

One of the main differences that distinguished them from the English Masons, was that the Scots followed the Catholic precepts, while the English used the Presbyterian precepts.

The current and rectified version of the Scottish rite dates from 1969, and is by which most of the Lodges of the world are governed.

Scottish Lodge in Mexico

Where the formation of the Scottish Lodge had the most impact was in Mexico. It was the first of the Masonic Lodges that appeared in Mexico and its origins date back to 1813.

This Lodge was created with political precepts, and brought together all the people of Creole nationality who were seeking independence from Spain.

In 1823, the organization of the Scottish Lodge of Mexico proposed to establish a Centralist Republic where it divided the territory into departments without political autonomy. They wanted to divide public power into three parts; the executive, legislative and judicial powers.

They were looking for a capitalist economic model through a protectionist state. This benefited the merchants, landowners, and industries of Mexican society. All these actions were giving rise to the Conservative Party of Mexico.

The Scottish Rite Masons defended the Spanish who resided in Mexico, despite the fact that they sought the independence of the peninsula. But on the other hand, the Freemasons of the York Lodge attacked them.

Those belonging to the Scottish lodge had a more hierarchical organization and supported the first emperor of Mexico, Agustín de Iturbide. The Scottish lodge wanted to attract European culture to Mexico, as demonstrated in the writings of the 19th century.

From the year 1820, formal lodges began to be created in Mexico. It was a form of opposition to the emperor and the freemasons who dominated the congress.

After these dates, the confrontation between the two parts of the nation, the liberals and the conservatives, would begin.

References

1. GOULD, Robert Freke, et al. Gould's History of Freemasonry throughout the World. Scribner's sons, 1936.
2. LOADER, Catharine Mary. Cairngorm Adventure at Glenmore Lodge, Scottish Center of Outdoor Training. Written and Illustrated by CM Loader. William Brown, 1952.
3. CALLANDER, J. Graham. Notice of a jet necklace found in a cist in a Bronze Age cemetery, discovered on Burgie Lodge Farm, Morayshire, with notes on Scottish prehistoric jet ornaments. Proceedings of the Antiquaries of Scotland, 1916, vol. 50, p. 201-40.
4. FOX, William L. Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction. University of Arkansas Press, 1997.
5. COHEN, Abner. The politics of ritual secrecy. Man, 1971, vol. 6, no 3, p. 427-448.
6. JEFFERY, Charlie, et al. Taking England Seriously: The New English Politics. Edinburgh: ESRC Scottish Center on Constitutional Change, 2014.
7. MOORE, William D. From Lodge Room to Theater: Meeting Spaces of the Scottish Rite. Theater of the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1896–1929, p. 31-51.