Who is eligible to join? PROVINCE All Master Masons; the only requirement is to have been a OF Master Mason, ‘for four weeks and upwards’. SOUTH WALES Your Craft Lodge will have a Holy Royal Arch Representative who wears this special pin. Ask him for further information or any Brother www.solomon.ugle.org.uk who has a Chapter Jewel. What is Royal Arch More information on the Holy Royal Arch can be found on Masonry and why Solomon, an online learning resource for . Solomon complements the Members Pathway and individual should you join? mentoring programs and encourage a personalised approach Put simply, it is a continuation of Craft Royal Arch Representative Pin Badge to development. It has been developed for the interest and enjoyment of all members, enabling them to benefit from a Freemasonry and is regarded as the next step for deeper understanding of our ritual and traditions. The aim is to a Mason to take after being Raised to the Third foster curiosity, develop understanding and to continue to evolve. Degree; before, if they wish, branching out into the many other branches of Freemasonry available. It Create an account and then enroll on the Royal Arch module is not another degree. It is the completion of your within the Seek & Learn section. journey into Pure Accepted Freemasonry. For this You can then explore a whole set of ‘Nuggets’, papers and reason, it is seen as the essential next step. demonstrations which will explain why some of the things in the You will recall that when you were Raised, you were Ceremony happened. informed that as a result of a particular event, certain A word of caution: Material on Solomon is separated into modules secrets were lost and certain substituted secrets for each degree and the Royal Arch. We ask you not to explore adopted, ‘until time or circumstances should restore prematurely beyond the degrees that they have had already the genuine’. Companion Excellent Companion Provincial conferred so as not to spoil the revelations of their personal The Ceremony of Exaltation or admission is based journey; to do so would be a shame. upon the rebuilding of King Solomon’s Temple after its destruction by King Nebuchadnezzar of Persia in about Put simply, you should join because… Further information and assistance can be obtained by contacting the Provincial Membership team. 586 BCE. It teaches us how true secrets of a Mason are 1. It completes your journey through Pure Ancient Freemasonry to be found within ourselves. In Royal Arch we have e-mail: [email protected] 2. It invites you to explore the spiritual nature of man Chapters instead of lodges. All Chapters are attached to a Craft lodge and will have the same number. 3. It has a beautiful Ceremony full of allegory and hidden meaning Not all Lodges have Chapters. The Provincial Grand Scribe E. 4. It takes friendship and brotherhood to an even higher level. Provincial Grand Chapter of South Wales 5 Guildford Street, Cardiff, CF10 2HL Telephone: 02920 433 688 e-mail: [email protected] We are Companions in Royal Arch, as well as being Brothers. Chapters are ruled over conjointly by Three Principals, as is the The Royal Arch Ceremony were once worked in Craft Lodges in middle The Board [of General Purposes] believes that it is a matter of Supreme Grand Chapter. of the eighteenth century. common ground that the teachings of the Royal Arch enrich those of the Craft and vice versa. Properly considered, therefore, each The Supreme Grand Chapter has over 100,000 members in The Grand Master in the Craft is also the First Grand Principal in the is inextricably interwoven with the other, with the result that no around 3,000 Chapters, grouped within the Metropolitan area, Royal Arch and some other senior Masons also hold equivalent ranks Brother’s masonic experience can be considered truly complete or a Province or District. Each area is ruled over by a Grand in the Royal Arch. Indeed, our own RW is also unless he has been exalted into the Order of the Holy Royal Arch. Superintendent. In South Wales Province… The Third Grand Principal and a Ruler in The Royal Arch. (Freemasonry Today, p. 7, Summer 2009).

The Exaltation Ceremony is in two parts; a rather dramatic presentation of the principles of the Order followed by three lectures in which the history, symbolism and principles of the Royal Arch are further explained. The allegory of the Exaltation Ceremony is based on the Old Testament telling of the return to Jerusalem from the Babylonish captivity to rebuild the city and temple. In clearing the ground of the original temple for the foundations of the second temple, the candidate makes several discoveries which emphasise the centrality of God to man’s life and existence. The Royal Arch thereby completes the practical lessons of the Craft Excellent Companion D. Gerald Rowbottom Excellent Companion Gareth Jones, OBE by a contemplation of man’s spiritual nature, not replacing but Most Excellent Grand Superintendent Most Excellent Third Grand Principal reinforcing and supporting what he has learned from his religion. In December 2003, the Quarterly Communication of UGLE pronounced He is assisted by The Deputy Grand Superintendent as well as the Both the Supreme Grand Chapter and the United of the status of the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch to be, ‘an 2nd & 3rd Provincial Grand Principals. England are both governed from Freemasons’ Hall, London. extension to, but neither a superior nor a subordinate part of, the degrees which precede it’. The strength and closeness of the link between Craft and Royal The regulations for both are contained in the Book of Constitutions Arch Masonry is further demonstrated by the fact that most of given to every Craft Mason on his initiation. Suspension or expulsion Put simply, if we consider the 1st, 2nd & 3rd Degrees the sides of a the Senior Provincial administrative roles are headed by the same from the Craft means automatic suspension or expulsion from the square, then Royal Arch completes that square and makes it perfect. person. We have one Learning & Development team and our Royal Arch. During the Exaltation Ceremony, the Companion is invested with annual investiture now takes place on the same day and location. The certificates from UGLE and Supreme Grand Chapter are similar the apron, jewel and sash of a Royal Arch Mason. The jewel of a We share the same Provincial Office and our Provincial websites in design. They both show the same mosaic pavement of a Craft ‘Companion’ is worn on a white ribbon, but as he progresses to the are linked to each other. Lodge and have similar embossed seals. However in Royal Arch, Third Principal’s chair, the ribbon changes to dark red. If appointed https://www.southwalesmason.com/royal-arch/ the floor actually directs the companion to look below the pedestal to a Provincial or Grand rank, it becomes a tri-coloured ribbon (dark https://www.southwalesmason.com in a subterranean floor. The Chapter certificate bears the initials blue, crimson and light blue), with the addition of a collarette and representing In The Name of The Grand Architect of the Universe. the appropriate jewel attached.