Scottish: Despite its name, the country of origin of the Rite is not Scotland, but France. The name Scottish probably comes from the name of the first degree beyond the Mastery - the Scottish Master appeared around 1740 - or from the strong presence of Stuartist emigrants in the creation of French Masonry (its first Grand Masters or the Knight of Ramsay, for example).

Ancient: this term refers to one of the two great families of Masonic Rites as opposed to the other family, known as Modern (the French or Rectified Scottish Rites, in particular).

Accepted: after the splendid period of the great constructions of the Middle Ages, the Masonic Lodges, until then reserved to the only professionals of the Craft, were opened to external personalities (like our modern associations constitute committees of sponsorship). Over the years, these "accepted" Masons replaced the Masons of the Craft, favouring the passage from operative Masonry to so-called "speculative" Masonry.

No. There is no dogmatic system in Freemasonry.

Although it is necessary for each member to profess a belief in God, it is not important how he expresses this very personal belief.

It is true that on the Altar in the middle of a Lodge is the Volume of the Sacred Law, and in the Scottish Rite this Volume is the Bible. This is because most of the myths and legendary stories on which the degrees of the Rite are based are taken from the Old or New Testament. But each candidate takes his oath, on the Book which he considers to be the Volume of the Sacred Law (the Koran, for example).

No, neither a political party nor a pressure group.

Like all organisations of regular Freemasonry, the Supreme Council not only refrains from taking any societal or political position, but strictly forbids any discussion on these subjects in its Workshops.

The Scottish Freemason has a duty to be a law-abiding citizen of his country, and if he becomes involved in the life of the City, it is strictly on a personal basis.

If legally the Supreme Council is an association governed by the law of 1901 (which means in particular that each member can freely leave it by simple resignation), it defines itself essentially as an Order.

As a great Freemason, Jean Baylot, wrote: One joins an association. One enters an Order. In an association, or a trade union - for if the legislations are specialised, the legal framework is comparable - one signs a bulletin of adhesion to aims and regulations, the whole not having the character of a total personal commitment. One becomes a member of an Order after taking an oath. The distinction is not in the pomp and circumstance but in the profound, solemn and irrevocable nature of this commitment.

The Rite can legitimately be called an Order according to two of the definitions that Littré gives of this term: a company whose members vow to respect certain rules, but, through the Chivalric Tradition to which it refers, it is also symbolically a company of chivalry instituted by some sovereign in the form of a brotherhood.

Regularity is an essential dimension in Freemasonry, because the universality of which it claims to be a part presupposes that the same principles and the same rules are respected by all, even if their application may vary according to different situations, traditions or cultures.

The question is not whether a Masonic body proclaims itself to be regular (it is if it respects the rules it has set for itself), but whether the other Masonic structures or organisations consider that it respects the same rules as they do.

These principles, values and rules are those set by tradition and date back to the time of the creation of modern Freemasonry (in 1717 in London) and the Rite (in Charleston in 1801); they are therefore carried by the Masonic Bodies which are their descendants: the United Grand Lodge of England for Symbolic Masonry and the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States for the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

These main rules are as follows:

    - Respect for the fundamental principles of Symbolic Masonry, including the necessary belief in God, the Supreme Being referred to as the Great Architect of the Universe;

    - Respect for the Grand Constitutions of Berlin of 1786 and the Constitutions of Bordeaux of 1762 as the only fundamental laws of the Order;

    - Respect for the scalar organisation of the Rite and its traditional teaching;

    - Necessity of accepting as members of the Jurisdiction only Master Masons who are members of a regularly recognised symbolic Obedience (in France, the Grande Loge Nationale Française or a foreign Obedience which it recognises);

    - Absence of relationship and intervisit with any Masonic Body not recognised as regular.

The National Supreme Council of France strictly adheres to these rules and is in friendship with the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States and mforty regular Supreme Councils.

As one of the articles of the Grand Constitutions of Berlin specifies that there can only be one Supreme Council per country, with the exception of the United States of America, the National Supreme Council of France is thus the only regular Supreme Council recognised in our country.

As in a Masonic Lodge of the first three degrees, the work in a Jurisdictional Workshop is divided between the practice of ritual ceremonies and the presentation of lectures (called pieces of architecture) on subjects related to rituals, symbolism, history and philosophy, according to a multi-year work plan drawn up by the Workshop President and validated by the Supreme Council.

The particularity of a Scottish Lodge is the intervention of each member on the subject treated, either during the Meeting or during the agape (dinner). It is a collective reflection aiming to help each one progress in a warm and fraternal atmosphere which excludes any value judgement or egotistical affirmation.

Any Master Mason (regardless of the Rite he practices) may join the Jurisdiction provided he is a member in good standing of a regularly recognised Masonic Obedience (in France, the Grande Loge Nationale Française or, for a foreign Brother, a Grand Lodge recognised by it).

Like all Freemasons, he must naturally have a clean criminal record.

He must send a letter of application to the Most Powerful Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council.

If he is already a member of a Supreme Council, he must enclose a copy of the diploma of his highest rank, as well as a copy of his letter of resignation from that Supreme Council (no one can be a member of two Supreme Councils).