Some of the names of the Offices in a Chapter, for example, ‘Captain of the Guard’, are reminders of the days, long ago, when the Rose Croix degree was worked by the Knights Templar. rank and status to get in the way of what the degree is really about – the rose-pink collar of 18° is not only beautiful, but conveys many of the lessons of the degree. Embroidered with key I must, however, caution masons from rushing into the 18° or claiming to be a Trinitarian Christian if they do not The History of the Rose Croix and its antecedents is complex. Any summary such as here will leave out an enormous

influences from the Renaissance, Kabala, Rosicrucian's, and Enlightenment thought - being conferred in France by the 1760s. Variants of the degree arrived in England in different forms and by themoved on to encompass the life and message of Christ, but one should not think in terms of higher degrees or, worse still, of greater rank or promotion. The VSL used in the ceremony is the Bible. The ritual is metaphor based on the first verse of St. John’s Gospel (at which the Bible is open for most of the time) extolling the principles of Christianity. Almost every line of the ritual is either a direct quotation of, or Masonic allusion to, verses of the New Testament, culminating in Christ’s words to the Disciples in St. John 13:34. The Supreme Council actually suggests that prospective candidates should apply for membership of Chapters near to their homes or to their places of work. Chapters choose their candidates with great care. The ceremony demands real thought and Christian understanding before undertaking it; thus for good reason, membership of the Ancient and Accepted the Rosie Cruces degree was being conferred in Knight Templar Encampments – now called Preceptor. The superbly named Dr Crucifix, a mason with a considerable interest in degrees outside the

Masonry' (hence in the USA and elsewhere these degrees are often referred to as the 'Scottish Rite') in the politically charged Europe of the Eighteenth Century. Of the 33 degrees, only five – One or two of these Intermediate Degrees are demonstrated each year at some places in the country, by the King Edward VII Chapter of Improvement Demonstration Team. Mostly, these degrees continue the stories of the Hiramic legend. Mar: He cannot. He is traveling in search thereof, hoping to obtain it by the practice of Faith, Hope and of their Freemasonry is membership of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. The 18° is the one 'beyond' the Craft that they would be most reluctant to lose. It is very rare to hear any member speak One or two of these degrees are staged annually as demonstrations and very interesting they are. However, the factfirst three degrees of the Rite are considered to be equal to those of Craft masonry and so prior to being 'perfected' in the 18°, the 'Intermediate Degrees' from 4° to 17° are conferred on explanation, while the Red Rose alludes both to the Precious Blood and to the Rose of Sharon, mystically identified with Christ.

symbols - the Rose, the Pelican in its Piety, the Crown of Thorns, the Serpent - it serves the 'perfected mason' as a wonderful aid in the teaching of Rose Croix and is used as such in the

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the start, he is figuratively but a 17° mason, a Knight of the East and West, of symbolic age, coming – as the ritual explains – at a time of dire calamity with but incomplete pre-Christian

candidates by name; the same happening with the 19° - 29° before receiving the overtly templar Kadosh 30°. Candidate is taken from room to room figuratively through his spiritual and Masonic life from Solomonic Masonry, through despair, to a Rose Croix Chapter and the discovery of the Lost Word. Atknowledge. Following perfection, the ensuing "feast of fraternal affection" is a wonderful moment of shared Freemasonry all too often lost in other degrees. That this 18° is special is not in The Intermediate degrees, the 4th to the 17th, are conferred on a candidate by name just before the ceremony of the 18th degree.