Second that. I'm a Scottish Right 32 and worked as the secretary (what you could call the Mason HQ) for my area. I was extremely interested in the esoteric side…if you want to research occultism or ancient religions, check out www.sacred-texts.com . But I second Australian Mason here…I actually walked away from Masonry because I expected more than what he mentioned above (I went there looking for answers).

I'm an idiot…Scottish *Rite 32

And this book…hate to burst your bubble but they actually write new ones almost every year. It's amazingly banal when you realize that much like in the military, a new leader wants to make little changes every time just so they can say they "put their touch on it." Seriously, when a new person gets into a leadership position they will change part of the "ritual" by a step in this direction or a tiny little change and all of the ritual books, like this one, will have to be changed & updated. All this book is, is a guide for officers of the Lodge on how to set it up and give lectures.

Anything in italics here is meant as directions for the officer on how to do the ritual. Most non-Italics are meant to be spoken in lecture format, and has to be memorized by the authors to recite w/o this book. One thing I will say about Masonry, it taught me a lot about how to work on memorizing things.