Royal & Select Masters
Royal & Select Masters is the English Cryptic system: a compact group of degrees that places episodes around the preservation, loss and recovery of the Temple narrative. It requires Craft, Mark and Royal Arch membership.
Why it is called Cryptic
Cryptic refers to the vault or concealed setting of important parts of the degree system, not to the organisation being unacknowledged. Its public purpose is best understood as narrative: it places episodes around material already encountered in Craft, Mark and Royal Arch. [1]
The modern English Grand Council is a nineteenth-century body. Older Solomonic settings are part of the ceremonial narrative, not dates for the present institution. [1] [2]
A three-foundation entry route
The published English qualification combines Master Mason, Mark Master Mason and Royal Arch Companion. Requiring all three makes this a later comparative route rather than an early alternative to Mark or Royal Arch. [1]
The Grand Council is listed as a distinct order within the group administered from Mark Masons' Hall. A Council should still confirm current proposal, good-standing evidence and which degrees are scheduled; holding the prerequisites does not guarantee local availability. [1] [3]
What Council membership adds
Councils work several related degrees rather than repeating one admission ceremony. That variety can appeal to members who enjoy connecting narrative details, but it also means a new member may wait for particular work to appear on the programme. [1]
Ask for the actual annual sequence, rehearsal expectations, installation date and travel. A small number of meetings can still require sustained attendance if the member wants to see and support the complete system. [1]
Who may value it
Royal & Select Masters suits someone already invested in Craft, Mark and Royal Arch who enjoys synthesis more than a wholly new historical setting. Allied Masonic Degrees offers greater variety between unrelated ceremonies; Royal & Select Masters offers a tighter connected narrative.
The best reason to join is curiosity about those connections and willingness to support a Council, not simply the fact that three prerequisites have been accumulated.
It connects narrative gaps across existing memberships; it is not a superior Royal Arch rank and is not the same constitutional system as American Cryptic Masonry.