Journey · Step 5 of 10
Degrees Explained
Apprentice, Fellow, Master — and the rites beyond.
Progress in the Craft is marked by three degrees, each a staged drama with its own lessons and tools:
- Entered Apprentice — admission to light: the new Mason learns the first principles, secrecy, charity and the rough ashlar he is to work.
- Fellow Craft — the journeyman’s degree: education, the liberal arts and sciences, the winding stair toward understanding.
- Master Mason — the Craft’s summit: a meditation on fidelity and mortality, through the legend of the master builder of the Temple.
Beyond these, a Master Mason may join appendant rites — the Royal Arch, Scottish Rite, York Rite, and many national systems — which extend the story in further ceremonies. They differ in dress and drama; the Craft degrees remain the foundation everywhere.
On this platform you can do what few books allow: read the same degree across traditions — English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish — side by side.
Deeper dive: the Ritual Archive (start with the Craft degrees), and the Encyclopedia for every rite’s profile.