Greetings Companions and Friends,

Royal Master

This is the first of the Council degrees. It is conferred in a place known as the council chamber, which represents the private apartment of King Solomon’s Temple, where he and his two associates met for consultation and deliberation during the construction of the Temple, and the drama portrayed in it sheds additional light on both the Master Mason and Royal Arch degrees. It and the following degree are essential to a clear understanding of the events of one section of the Royal Arch.

Select Master

In the Select Master’s degree which is the second of the Council, the place of meeting represents a “Secret Vault” or crypt beneath the Temple. The historical object of the degree is to commemorate the deposits of an important secretor treasure which, after the preliminary preparations, is said to have been made by our three Grand Masters.

Super Excellent Master

This degree was not originally a part of the Cryptic system, and is not in all jurisdictions as yet. It has one of the best written rituals in Masonry. It deals with incidents in the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar when Zedekiah, the last King of Judah, was conquered and carried captive to Babylon. It enlarges upon the section of the Royal Arch having to do with the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonian King, and teaches in most dramatic fashion the lesson of fidelity.