ALLIED MASONIC DEGREES The Allied Masonic Degrees are an invitational organization, and requires membership in the Royal Arch as well as the Symbolic Lodge. Membership is limited to 27 members in a subordinate Council. The presiding officer of a subordinate Council is the Venerable Sovereign Master. The governing body is the Grand Council and is presided over by the Most Venerable Sovereign Grand Master. Decorations are the Knight Grand Cross (KGC) and Knight of the Red Branch of Eri (KRBE). Meetings are referred to as Convocations. The Allied Masonic Degrees are detached degrees some of which, many years ago, were conferred under Craft warrants and formed part of the then loosely governed Freemasonry of the period. Many of these detached degrees became dormant in some places, although in others they were conferred as side degrees. In time, the better of these degrees were grouped together in an organized body under the title of Allied Masonic Degrees. The degrees comprising the system in our Jurisdiction in the U.S.A. are the Royal Ark Mariner, Secret Monitor, Knight of Constantinople, Saint Lawrence the Martyr, Architect, Superintendent, Grand Tilers of Solomon, Master of Tyre, Excellent Master, Installed Sovereign Master, Installed Commander Noah, Red Branch of Eri and Ye Ancient Order of Corks. They are conferred in the United States in Councils chartered by the Grand Council. Each Council is limited to twenty seven members, with two exceptions. One of these Councils is known as the Council of the Nine Muses and is limited to nine members. The other is Grand Masters Council, which has what is known as a roving charter. The purpose of the latter Council is to provide a place of membership in the Allied Masonic Degrees for brethren residing in localities where Councils have not been organized. Membership in every Council of Allied Masonic Degrees is by invitation, and is predicated on membership in the Royal Arch Chapter. In addition to perpetuating these degrees, there is still another and equally important purpose. It is to bring together, in small groups, Freemasons who are interested in the advancement of all Masonry, preparing themselves to better serve the Craft through the medium of study and research. By limiting the membership in a Council and securing membership only by invitation, the result is a congenial group able to enjoy full fellowship when meeting together. Wherever there is an active Council of Allied Masonic Degrees, it exerts an influence for the betterment of Freemasonry in all the Masonic Bodies. There is no intention on the part of the Allied Masonic Degrees to detract from any organized and established body of Masonry. On the contrary, you will find our members active, beyond the average, in all local Masonic bodies. The real purpose is to stimulate interest in Masonry in general and bring together in small groups those who are interested in the study of Masonic subjects. Thus they are better enabled to serve the Craft. The Allied Masonic Degrees are detached degrees which, many years ago, were conferred under Craft Warrants and formed a part of the loosely governed Freemasonry which afterward eliminated all save the three Craft degrees and the Royal Arch. All old references to the Royal Arch were invariably to the “Excellent Super Excellent Royal Arch Masons,” which comprised three grades. The Super Excellent has long since been discontinued, save in the veil–working of Irish Royal Arch Chapters, while the Excellent Master is a predicant to the Royal Arch in Scotch Chapters and is worked in English Councils of Royal and Select Masters. The other degrees, likewise, were worked in Craft Lodges in both America and the British Isles. When Freemasonry discontinued the working of outside degrees, these degrees became practically dormant, although they were perpetuated and finally formed their own supreme heads, in many instances. They were finally together under a governing head and hence the title of “Allied Masonic Degrees;” they have been allied together for mutual benefit and perpetuation. The working of these degrees in the United States is encouraged, but not required; the blanket obligation of the Council binding the newly invited brother sufficiently. Where it is possible, the Grand Council recommends that some of the degrees be worked each year in order that the members may be fully informed as to the working. The working of the degrees in Europe is central to the Councils, with the newly invited brother being bound to the Council in the Grade of St. Lawrence the Martyr. The purposes of the Allied Masonic Degrees are beneficial to all aspects of Masonry, whether they be Symbolic, York, or Scottish Rite. Though we control a number of Degrees by incontestable authority, we are not primarily a degree–working organization. Our chief interest is a return to the conviviality and good fellowship, an indispensable part of Masonic gatherings in former times, lost in the pressure of degree work now found highly prevalent. This good fellowship is to be followed by research papers or talks on various Masonic subjects. With this aim―an effort to throw more light from the Sanctuary upon us all―we can but foresee even greater growth ahead for Grand Council as these principles become more widely known. Every man should study, interpret, and develop the symbols of Masonry to best suit his own experiences, for Masonry is a vast and almost limitless subject, with numerous facets to explore. It is more than a parrot–like recitation of the ritual―far more than that. Not to underestimate the value of good ritualistic work, for it is by this means that we welcome our devotees. But the ritual is only the vehicle by which we bring them to the open door of the wonders which lie in store for the sincere student of our art. Beyond its portals lie exciting treasures untold, limited only by the individual’s own capacity to discover them. Just as each man’s conception of his God may vary as much as the individual man himself; just as one man may be completely satisfied with a concept of a God in human form who sits on a golden throne high in the heavens, dealing out fire and brimstone to those who displease him, while others may believe Him to be to be kind and merciful, One who pervades all things, sustaining His children with an ever– present help in time of trouble, a God who is universal, eternal Divine Love, which changes not, and causes no evil, disease, or death. Who am I to say that my concept of God is right and the others are wrong. Even so, each man’s concept of Masonry and its allegorical lessons must be essentially personal and individualistic. Be it remembered that on August 5, 1933, this Grand Council took as its date of formation January 14, 1892, since this date was the beginning of the Allied Masonic Degrees in America with the formation of the Sovereign College of Allied Masonic and Christian Degrees at Richmond, Virginia, that on April 16, 1932, the subsequent establishment of a Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees of the United States of America occurred in Salisbury, North Carolina, and that the union of the two bodies was drawn up and entered into July 18, 1933, and was ratified by the North Carolina Grand Council August 5, 1933 and was ratified by the Sovereign College at Norway, Maine August 24, 1933, and became effective as of September 7, 1933. Membership in an Allied Council is limited by law to twenty–seven, and then only by invitation. It is predicated upon Royal Arch Masonry. There are five Councils of the Allied Masonic Degrees in Oklahoma: Father Murrow Council No. TEN, McMillon Council No. 15, Paul T. Million, Jr. Council No. 455, James C. Taylor Council No. 520, and Aequitas Council No. 546. For more information about the Allied Masonic Degrees, visit their website: http://www.allied-masonicdegrees.org/.