Vade Mecum of the Orders of Wisdom: Claude Darche

Eventually after many seasons Sister Claude Darche released a book concerning the Higher Orders of Wisdom of the Modern Rite which deserves to be on the shelf of any Mason who wishes to understand this important branch of Freemasonry. This book, Vade-mecum des ordres de sagesse du rite français, by Claude Darche, which was published a few years ago, does not disclose anything new or previously unreported about the Modern or French Rite, but it offers a solid, well researched, and succinct account of the nature of the Higher Orders of the Modern Rite. It also does so in a compact format, (7.5 x 0.3 x 4.9 inches) with some lovely photography to give a sense of the rich visual and material culture associate with this rite.  It also puts into book form the introductions to the rituals, in those moments where the harness used where indicated, decorations, words, and then summarizes the five Wisdom degrees of the French Rite.

The nicest facet of this book is that in 110 pages of a small format, we have a sound summary of the essence of the Orders of Wisdom, and in Chapter 1 the Honorable Sister Darche  stresses a fact which needs to be emphasized, that the French Rite is not the heritage of the Grand Orient of France, but is practiced by many other allegiances, both new and those with old roots.

She also notes that within the rite are two trends of adogmatic and liberal Freemasonry, and that the GODF represent one extreme, which emphasizes the socializing trend, and the other which may be characterized as embracing a more philosophical-symbolic spirit, are those who sought the consensus of other Brothers, outside and inside the lodges of the GODG and sought the ritual essence that is still practiced even today in The Hague.

There are some areas where one might have wished to see greater detail, such as the history of the Modern Rite in Brazil and the recovery of the degree of Knight Kadosh already discussed at some length elsewhere by Brother Ludovic Marcos.

One aspect of this book is especially interesting and I think symbolically fitting is its reduction to the essential focal points of the subject, because in that it so perfectly models the inspiration in the writing of the Modern Rite's rituals, where the formal excess so common in some other rites has been eliminated. All in all, this represents a small but very handy little book. It provides a clear impression of what the Higher Orders of Wisdom are.

Vade-mecum des ordres de sagesse du rite français

http://www.ritofrances.net

A New Book on the French Rite!

Una mirada sobre los usos de los "Modernos" y los rituales del Rito Francés.

Edited by Victor Guerra García.

Published by Masonica.es

2014

This new addition is a  continuation inspired by an earlier title,  Rito Francés. Historia, Reflexiones y Desarrollo (The French Rite: History, Reflections and Development). In this first text the historical context and reflective stages of the French Rite and developments were discussed and analyzed from the distinct personal perspectives of various Masonic authors including Charles Porset,  J-Ch. Nerh, Roger Dachez, JG Plumet, Ludovic Marcos, Daniel Ligou, JP. Lefevre, Joaquim Villalta and Victor Guerra García who, in addition to including articles, coordinated the subject with the intention that a Spanish-speaking readership had access to a plethora of interesting items that seemed important to be made known as the Masonic literature on such ritual is virtually nonexistent. 

Una mirada sobre los usos de los "Modernos" y los rituales del Rito Francés (The Modern Rite:  A look from the XXI century) takes a more personal approach, that differs from the examination of the French Rite, understood as the result of ritual practices of the GODF to direct the gaze a step further back, from the perspective of the history behind the rite established as the Modern Rite, and as such, several themes are raised throughout the book, trying to situate the reader in the historical setting of these developments, analyzing in turn the unique nature of a ritual practices that had its development in seventeenth-century Insular Europe but which evolved in eighteenth-century France. 

Victor Guerra García

The second part of the book is set in a more contemporary context, addressing the conceptual differences between the Modern and the French Rite and providing materials for the background of related aspects essential to understanding how the Congress of the French Rite of Lisbon and the Modern Rite in Barcelona, and the birth of the Universal Masonic Union of the Modern Rite (UMURM) or establishment in Spain of the General Grand Chapter of Spain (GODF-GLSE) came to pass. 

The book closes with an impressive piece by Jean van Win that describes the false basis of support of certain ritual developments within the Orders of Wisdom in France, and finally a final reflection on what the Modern Rite's future may look like in the twenty-first century. 

The text also contains several reflections by way of introduction and epilogue from various current Masonic scholars including Joan Francesc Pont, Sovereign Commander of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Spain; Eoghan Ballard, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Modern Rite of North America and the Caribbean; and José María Bonachi Batalla, the Supreme Council of the Modern Rite of Brazil and President of the UMURM. 

The book may be purchased in either hard copy or electronic format from Masonica.es:

Rito Moderno Una mirada desde el siglo XXI