Masonic Bodies - Rites, Orders, and Degrees - Other Orders and Degrees

Other Orders and Degrees

The following affiliated and/or appendant bodies confer Masonic degrees. Those who petition or are invited to membership must be at least Master Masons, although each body may have additional qualifications for membership:

• Allied Masonic Degrees. In the U.S., councils of the A.M.D. exemplify twelve Masonic degrees. In Canada, councils exemplify nine degrees in addition to the installation ceremony. In England, councils confer only five degrees.
• Ye Antient Order of Noble Corks. A part of the Allied Masonic Degrees. In Scotland, and in some other countries, it is conferred separately, usually on Royal Arch Masons.
• The Knight Masons. Councils of Knight Masons across most of the globe operate under the Grand Council of Knight Masons, based in Ireland. In Scotland the degrees are worked in the combined order (along with the Royal Ark Mariner degree) titled the Lodge and Council, and are controlled by the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland. In the U.S.A., the degrees are, with some exceptions, governed by the Grand Council of Knight Masons of the U.S.A. which broke away from the first Grand Council during the 1950s.
• Royal Order of Scotland. The Grand Lodge of the Royal Order at Edinburgh, Scotland, controls approx. 85 Provincial Grand Lodges around the world, and confers two degrees.
• The Rectified Scottish Rite, known as CBCS from its highest exoteric rank, Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cite Sainte, or Knights Beneficent of the Holy City.
• Societas Rosicruciana. Colleges confer nine degrees, or "grades."
• Order of St. Thomas of Acon. A commemorative chivalric order. Organized in "chapels."