The Royal Arch, the next natural step for a Master Mason
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The Royal Arch is the completion of a Craft Mason’s journey through “Pure and Antient Freemasonry.” It is the final step, it completes the journey from Initiation to Exaltation. The Book of Constitution declares that:
“Pure and Antient Freemasonry consists of three degrees and no more, those of the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason including the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch”
A Craft Mason is eligible to join the Royal Arch when he has served as a Master Mason for four weeks and upwards. In most Masonic Centres there is more than one Craft Lodge and Master Masons are welcome from all Lodges on proof of their Raising.
After the Third Degree there is more for the Master Mason to learn, our journey in Freemasonry is incomplete. Joining the Royal Arch completes the journey. The Royal Arch is a beautiful Degree, dramatic in its Ceremony, full of allegory and hidden meaning. It takes brotherhood on to the next level as Craft Masons become Companions in the Royal Arch and in their journey through life.
Discovering the secrets of the Royal Arch helps find out more about ourselves with the help of a group of like minded people and in doing so moves us to a deeper and stronger relationship with Companions around us.
The essential point about the relationship between the Craft and the Royal Arch is that:
• In the Craft we are taught about our relationships and responsibilities to our fellow men, to our Brothers – a vital first step
• In the Royal Arch we find out more about ourselves with the help of others. We are asked to reflect on our own relationship and understanding of the Supreme Being
