Received Chapter and Council Degrees and Commandery Orders

[Brother Rogers]

Greetings, Brothers, Companions, and Sir Knights. I had the good fortune to receive the Chapter and Council degrees and Commandery Orders at a York Rite festival in San Antonio, TX over the past weekend. Both the Most Excellent High Priest and the Most Illustrious Grand Master of the state-level Chapter and Council were in attendance, and the Most Illustrious participated in several degrees and orders.

If I could describe it in one word, it was AWESOME. I wish I had joined the York Rite years ago.

We had a relatively small class (about six brothers) so everyone was able to participate as an exemplar if he so desired. I was one of the exemplars for the Royal Arch degree and I was also the exemplar for the Royal Master degree. I must say that I didn't really understand half of what was going on in the Order of the Temple, but that has only strengthened my resolve to learn the work and contribute to a high quality conferral at our Commandery's inspection this fall.

My absolute favourite degree was Most Excellent Master. It's name may sound a little silly, but it was beautiful and moving. I've always loved Masonry and Masonic degrees, but I must honestly say that I felt that I was in the presence of the Divine during the Most Excellent Master degree. A close second favourite would have to be the Royal Arch itself - the road was truly rough and rugged but the degree was most enlightening.

What are some of your favorite degrees/orders and why?

 

[Glen Cook]

The CBCS

Royal Arch Ceremony (Samaritan version of Midlands Working)

Royal Ark Mariner

 

[Bloke]

That sounds great.. but I always get confused by "High Priest" (here First Principal i believe)

MEM - did you do that in Chapter (Holy Royal Arch) ? Was it the first bit ?? I've read a few versions, but here was hare Excellent Master Mason (today) but the EMM evolved from earlier things and one of the was titled MEM.. but never been able to find a local ritual for it.. and I come across a lot, but need one pre-1889 and I keep coming up with is "Passing of the Veils", I rarely annotate a book, but did with my history of the Royal Arch to make sense of what was happening in the 1800's before our Supreme Chapter (peak body) was established.. I really should ask around a lot more about it..

Or maybe MEM was tied to being installed as High Priest ?

And I also wonder if "Royal Master Degree" is akin to ours in the body we call "Royal and Select Masters"... It has a Select Master, then Royal Master then Most Excellent Master the Super Excellent Master (in NSW they swap the Royal and do the Select second). I have only ever attended 1 Installation and can't remember if the bosses got something extra but I know there is 1 beyond.

I don't really have a "favourite" degree, but my fav degree system is The Craft. Probably because I understand it the most, but also because it is the foundation and welcoming of all Freemasons.

 

[Brother Rogers]

If I recall correctly, our class was told that the Most Excellent Master degree was developed in the U.S. It is one of our Chapter degrees, just before the Holy Royal Arch. I'm not sure what exactly qualifies as secret in Most Excellent Master, but I'm pretty sure I can say that it deals with the completion of King Solomon's temple. (The Chapter degrees in Texas are Mark Master, Past Master (Virtual), Most Excellent Master, and Holy Royal Arch.)

We have two primary degrees in the Cryptic Council in the U.S., Royal Master and Select Master. They were both interesting degrees, and can be quite dramatic with the right degree team. Thus the Council's true name (at least in Texas) is "Council of Royal and Select Masters".

There is a third Council degree, Super Excellent Master, but it is not required and is only conferred once a year or so. I hope I get to receive it at some point.

A member of the degree team at my York Rite festival did confess that some of these degree names sound like they were invented by a six-year-old. (They always reminded me of the Japanese concept of chuunibyou - literally "eighth-grader disease".) But fancy-sounding names aside, they have excellent content.