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The Degree Rituals
including that of the 9°, with degree rituals from the Consistory having Old Testament themes.
At that juncture, the committee abandoned efforts to salvage the Hiramic legend theme and in 1985 proposed a new ritual for the 10°, based on the apostasy of Solomon. It consisted of a short ceremonial section, prologue, and a dramatic allegory of three scenes. The theme was consistent with the traditional lesson of the degree, “The violator of his obligations shall not go unpunished.” The primary author of what became the new 10° Tentative Ritual of 1986 was Ill. Robert L. Miller Sr., 33°, Active Member for Indiana and chairman of the committee.
The new tentative ritual was confirmed as the 10° Ritual of 1992 and remained in effect until revised fourteen years later. The ritual of 2006 abbreviated the degree title to “Master Elect,” deleted the ceremonial section in accordance with the current Supreme Council policy, and made a modest number of mainly stylistic changes in the prologue and the allegory. The ritual of the 10° is one of the few current Scottish Rite degree rituals to have a lesson that is posed in negative rather than positive terms.