ALBERT PIKE, AS AN ODD FELLOW AND FREEMASON

By Louie Blake Saile Sarmiento

Author; Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology; Juris Doctor

Brother Albert Pike (December 29, 1809 – April 2, 1891) was a prominent American lawyer, philanthropist, soldier, poet, philosopher and writer. He is one of the many notable and controversial men in fraternal history who held high-ranking positions in both Odd Fellowship and Anglo-American or Regular Freemasonry.

Brother Albert Pike was a Past Grand Master in Odd Fellowship and a Past Sovereign Grand Commander in Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

He is more popularly and controversially known as a Freemason who single-handedly revised the Rituals of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (A.A.S.R.) from 1855 to 1884 and for publishing the book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871. He is asserted within the A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction as the person most responsible for the growth and success of the Scottish Rite from an obscure Masonic Rite in the mid-19^th century into one of the most popular international appendant bodies of Freemasonry that A.A.S.R. became today.

Brother Albert Pike is one of the only Confederate military officers or figures honored with a statue in Washington, D.C.

Craft Guilds: Operative to Speculative

The origin of English fraternal orders can be more clearly traced from the demise of craft guilds. The historical connections are manifest in the rituals, terminology and functions shared by both the guilds and fraternal orders. In England, organizations and clubs with benefit systems took the form of the guilds or livery companies and reach back to the middle Ages.

A craft guild is a benevolent association of mutual-help that usually consisted of craftsmen belonging to the same trade or living in the same neighborhood. They were sworn brotherhoods that had binding oaths to support one another in times of adversity and back one another in trade ventures alongside with their religious and ceremonial role. Meetings involved proper decorum and wearing of regalia such as chains of office, special robes and so on. They charged entrance fees and indulged in feasting and merry-making. Usually, the structure and degrees are the following: Apprentice, Fellow or Journeyman, and then Master.

The Master Baker and his Apprentice in the Guild of Bakers.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the Statute of Apprentices was passed which took the responsibility for apprenticeship away from the guilds. The nature and scope of work was also changing, thus, the role of the guilds eventually went into decline. This removed an important form of social and financial support among ordinary workers.  Some guilds or livery companies continued to survive but some adapted to the changing times by evolving into fraternal lodges and social clubs with a combination of social, moral and charitable or mutual-benefit functions. By the 18^th Century, there seems to be a number of such fraternal orders with guild-like names that were formed in England, Scotland and its environs – Free Masons, Free Gardeners, Odd Fellows, Foresters, Mechanics, Cabinet-Makers, etc.

Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship

Freemasonry allegedly began as a craft guild or trade fraternity in England. The oldest document connected with Freemasonry is believed to be the Regius Manuscript, dated around 1390. When the guild system began to decline, four of its lodges in London purportedly evolved to become a gentleman’s fraternity when the Premier Grand Lodge of the Antient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons was formed in 1717. However, many schisms within the organization ensued until modern Freemasonry was eventually formed when two rival Grand Lodges – Antients and Moderns - formed the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) in 1813. The Masonic ritual was also revised and stabilized between 1815 and 1816.  It took a little longer to settle the differences in North America.

Similarly, Odd Fellowship presumably began as a craft guild or journeyman association in England. While major trades like the Masons, Gardeners or Farmers were large enough to form their own separate guilds, smaller trades did not have enough numbers. As a result, people from smaller trades or those who exercised unusual, miscellaneous or odd trades joined forces to form their own trade association. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 to 1400, mentioned a company composed of journeymen belonging from different trades: “Well nine and twenty in a company of various sorts of people, by chance fallen in fellowship, and they were all pilgrims, who intended to ride toward Canterbury.” Early Odd Fellows Lodges began to spread in England sometime in 1730 when various independent friendly societies or lodges united to form regional organizations or so-called "Unity." The first attempt to unite these regional organizations into one national organization began when the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (G.U.O.O.F.) was formed in 1798 based in London. Due to misunderstanding, however, lodges in Manchester area declared "independence" from the G.U.O.O.F. and formed the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Odd Fellows (M.U.I.O.O.F.) in 1810. M.U.I.O.O.F. eventually elected their own Grand Lodge officers in 1814, and further revised and stabilized the Odd Fellows ritual in the beginning of 1817. Manchester Unity I.O.O.F. chartered the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in North America.

Both Odd Fellowship and Freemasonry were transported to North America by English immigrants between the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The first Masonic Lodge instituted in Arkansas was in 1835 and the Masonic Grand Lodge of Arkansas was established in 1838. The first Odd Fellows Lodge was established in Arkansas in 1839 and the Odd Fellows Grand Lodge of Arkansas was established in 1849.

As an Odd Fellow

Brother Albert Pike's first exposure in a fraternal organization began when he joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) in the early 1840’s. His leadership and oratory skills quickly made him the Noble Grand of his Odd Fellows Lodge in Little Rock, Arkansas, by 1848. After receiving the rank of a Past Grand, he was initiated into the degrees of the Odd Fellows Encampment and eventually became a Past Chief Patriarch.

He was elected and installed as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas of the I.O.O.F. from 1852-1853. Upon becoming a Past Grand Master, he served as one of Grand Representatives to the Grand Lodge of the United States (renamed as The Sovereign Grand Lodge) – the international governing body of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. But he was not able to fruitfully fulfill his responsibilities because he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. He only returned to Arkansas in 1857.

Brother Rev. Aaron Burt Grosh (1803 –1884), a Universalist minister, one of the eight founders of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, and the author of the Odd Fellows Improved Manual outshined Albert Pike’s popularity within the ranks of Odd Fellowship.

While Brother Albert was popular among Odd Fellows in Southern States, his service as a Brigadier General of the Confederate States of America, his personal opinions about slavery, and the accusations that his Native American troops scalped Union Army soldiers during the American Civil War made him unpopular to Odd Fellows in other jurisdictions. His arcane and metaphysical ideas also clashed with several high-ranking officers of the I.O.O.F. Grand Lodge of the United States who were prominent ministers and preachers at that time, such as Reverend T.G. Beharrell (author of the Brotherhood: Being a Representation of the Principles of Odd Fellowship), Reverend I.D. Williamson (author of The Odd Fellows’ Pocket Companion) and Reverend A.B. Grosh (author of the Odd Fellows Improved Manual). As a result, Albert Pike never won an elective office within the Grand Lodge of the United States of the I.O.O.F. He remained a member of the I.O.O.F. until his death but his influence within Odd Fellowship was solely confined within the State of Arkansas.

As a Freemason

Brother Albert Pike joined Freemasonry in 1850 and also became a Past Master of his Masonic Lodge in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was subsequently initiated into the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Degrees and became a 32^nd Degree Freemason by 1853. During this time, the Scottish Rite degrees were still in an undeveloped form that only included a brief history and the legend of each degree, as well as other brief details, and usually lacked a workable ritual for their conferral.

Being a known writer during this period, brother Albert Pike was appointed as a member of a Committee to prepare and compile the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite rituals for the 4^th to 32^nd Degrees, together with Albert G. Mackey, John H. Honour, William S. Rockwell, and Claude P. Samory. It was Albert Pike who did all the work of the Committee but his early revisions were not adopted.

His arcane and metaphysical ideas were put to use when he was elected as the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for the A.A.S.R. of the Southern Jurisdiction in 1859. He wrote lectures about all these degrees in his book, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, published in 1871. He eventually finished revising the A.A.S.R. degrees in 1884. It is believed that his revision resulted to the growth and success of the Scottish Rite from an obscure Masonic Rite in the mid-19^th  century into one of the most popular international appendant bodies of Freemasonry that it became today.

The Morals and Dogma is a book of esoteric philosophy written by brother Albert Pike and first published by the Supreme Council, 33^rd Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States in 1871.

Brother Albert Pike is regarded as a master genius of Freemasonry among many Freemasons. He believed that all the symbols of Freemasonry have hidden meanings that can only be discovered by an initiate through study and reflection. However, many of Pike’s Masonic writings also earned him a reputation as an Occultist especially from his religious critics and from anti-masonic authors. He is a philosopher whose ideas sometimes contradict each other, but there really is no evidence that he is an occultist.

The Morals and Dogma of Scottish Rite Freemasonry and the Odd Fellows Encampment

           

Although the Morals and Dogma of Scottish Rite Freemasonry is very popular and is probably considered an authority by many Freemasons, many Masonic scholars do admit that it is not a manifesto of Freemasonry nor is it a public declaration of Masonic principles. Rather, it is Albert Pike’s attempt to provide his interpretation of Freemasonry based on religious and philosophical ideas of the past. Thus, all the ideas espoused in his book and articles is not Freemasonry itself but a combination of his reflections and analysis based on his esoteric studies and life experiences.

            It can be observed that there is indeed some evidence of cross-fertilization of ideas between the appendant bodies of Freemasonry and the higher branches of Odd Fellowship. Some of the thoughts and ideas in his book and articles he wrote do have similarities with the principles shared among Odd Fellows. For example, “Faith, Hope and Charity” is the motto of the Odd Fellows Encampment and the principles of “Faith, Hope and Charity” were also mentioned many times in the Morals and Dogma of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

The official emblem of the  Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (A.A.S.R.)

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, as it is known today, came into being when the Mother Supreme Council was formed in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1801. This Council adopted several ancient rites from England and its environs that were somehow still basic and crude in form and substance. These rites were introduced in the North Masonic Jurisdiction in 1813. All these rites were revised and polished from time to time until it was further enriched with Albert Pike’s revision. The Supreme Council, 33°, was officially formed in 1867.

Scottish Rite Degrees	Year Revised
1-3°	1872
4-14°	1861, 1870, 1883
15-16°	1861, 1870, 1882
17-18°	1861, 1870
19-30°	1867, 1879, 1883
31-32°	1867, 1879, 1883
33°	1857, 1867, 1868, 1880 (manuscripts only)

            The Odd Fellows Encampment is a higher branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) which confers three additional degrees: Patriarchal Degree, Golden Rule Degree and Royal Purple Degree. The degree work in this branch is a result of evolution from additional degrees that were once conferred only to Past Grand’s of an Odd Fellows Lodge. These degrees originated from both England and the United States and fragmentary records would indicate that these belonged to earlier Odd Fellow groups. The Patriarchal Degree has similarities with the Initiation Degree of the Revised Rituals of the Order of Patriotic Odd Fellows dated March 12, 1797. A ritual of the Loyal Ancient Order of Odd Fellows, which existed many years prior to the I.O.O.F., opened its lodge meetings in the Golden Rule Degree, has the Purple Degree and its tent emblem appeared as early as 1805.

The official Odd Fellows emblem of the Encampment first appeared in the rituals of the Loyal Ancient Order of Odd Fellows in 1805.

At first, these degrees were conferred and adopted by the Grand Lodge of Maryland of the I.O.O.F. at different times as honorary degrees "in recognition for services rendered to the Order." The Golden Rule Degree was first conferred to five Past Grands in the United States by one Past Grand Larkham from England on February 22, 1821. This was followed by the introduction of the Royal Purple Degree and the Patriarchal Degree in the United States in 1825. On July 6, 1827, these three additional degrees were eventually conferred in a separate branch called Jerusalem Encampment No.2. The Encampment degrees are based on the teachings of Hospitality, Toleration, and Fortitude. The motto is: Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Note: Odd Fellowship is not a Masonic organization nor an appendant body of Freemasonry. It is a completely separate and independent worldwide fraternal organization whose operative origins can be traced back to the craft guilds and journeymen associations in England. Its first speculative Lodges can be traced back to at least year 1730.

NEW BOOK IN PROGRESS

TITLE: Sarmiento, Louie Blake S. The Encyclopedia of Philippine Fraternities and Sororities (Still in progress).

PUBLISHED BOOKS WRITTEN BY THE AUTHOR:

TITLE: Sarmiento, Louie Blake S. Odd Fellows: Rediscovering More Than 200 Years of History, Traditions, and Community Service (KDP Amazon, 2019).

TITLE: Sarmiento, Louie Blake S. Odd Fellows Manual: Modern Guide to the Origin, History, Rituals, Symbols and Organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (KDP Amazon, 2020).

TITLE: Sarmiento, Louie Blake S. Ancient Rites of Odd Fellowship: Revisiting the Revised Ritual of the Order of Patriotic Odd Fellows, 1797 (KDP Amazon, 2020).

TITLE: Sarmiento, Louie Blake S. Odd Fellows Encampment: Brief History and Introduction to the Degrees, Symbols, Teachings and Organization of Patriarchal Odd Fellowship (KDP Amazon, 2020).

About the Author

Louie Blake Saile Sarmiento finished his Associate in Health Science Education in 2007; Bachelor of Science in Psychology with Certificate in Human Resource Management and Certificate in Women’s Studies in 2010; Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology in 2013; and Juris Doctor (law) degree in 2020.

 

He is instrumental in re-establishing Odd Fellowship in the Philippines. He is a Past Grand and Past District Deputy Sovereign Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is credited for connecting thousands of members from various countries when he created and managed the first social media groups and pages of the “Independent Order of Odd Fellows” and "Odd Fellows International" from 2009-2019. He is also credited for writing and creating most of the modern literature and infographics about Odd Fellowship on the internet at a time when the organization had almost zero presence online, including the first YouTube videos and the wikipedia entries about the Odd Fellows. Because of his contributions, he was appointed as Public Relations Coordinator and member of both the Communications Committee and the Revitalization Committee of the Sovereign Grand Lodge from 2012-2015. He spent more than six years visiting hundreds of Lodges and several Grand Lodges across the United States and Canada to read hundreds of journals, records and books; observe Grand Lodge sessions and meetings; and conduct interviews to be able to write books about the Odd Fellows.

 

He is an advocate for the preservation of historical fraternal organizations, service clubs and civic associations. He is a member of all branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), including the Rebekah Lodge, Encampment and Patriarchs Militant. He is also affiliated with the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (GUOOF); Ancient Mystic Order of Samaritans (AMOS); Noble Order of Muscovites (Muscovites); International Order of DeMolay (IOD); International Order of Free Gardeners (IOFG); Universal Druid Order (UDO); Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH); Knights of Rizal (KOR); The Fraternal Order of Eagles - Philippine Eagles (TFOE-PE); and Tau Gamma Phi or Triskelion Grand Fraternity (TGP). As a hobby, he writes articles and collects books and artifacts related to fraternal organizations, service clubs and other civic associations.

BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE ON AMAZON, CLICK LINKS BELOW:

1. Odd Fellows Rediscovering More than 200 Years of History, Traditions and Community Service (Odd Fellows history and its relationship with world history)

Full color: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733851208

Black and White: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733851224

E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q8DKFJZ

 

2. Odd Fellows Manual: Modern Guide to the Origin, History, Rituals, Symbols and Organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (brief history, organizational structure, and generally-accepted internal rules and principles)

Full color: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733851259

Black and white: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733851283

 

3. Ancient Rites of Odd Fellowship: Revisiting the Revised Rituals of the Order of Patriotic Odd Fellows, 1797

Black and white: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733851232

E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KHDG17S

 

4. Odd Fellows Encampment: A Brief History and Introduction to Patriarchal Odd Fellowship

Full color: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733851275

E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LZQQDWM

 

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