Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
The London-based Grand Lodge of Installed Masters 12 was a deliberative and advisory institution for the degrees in question . The Most Powerful Sovereign Grande Commander and the Most Powerful Lieutenant Grand Commander of the Supreme Council held the offices of First and Second Grand Master Mason . The office of the Third Grand Master Mason was held by the third highest-ranking member of the Order , which was either the Most Powerful Grand Commander of Honor , if there was one , or the Second Lieutenant Grand Commander . The structure of this Grand Lodge of Installed Masters , as well as the opening and closing rituals , were those of the 6 th Degree , in other words , the Past Master in Stretton ’ s system .
The second consequence was the adoption of certain special ceremonies . The Order , still in compliance with Stretton ’ s system , called an Annual Assembly in London on the summer solstice , opened to all degrees . The usual ceremony practiced at this Assembly was the Commemoration of the Foundation , the Construction and the Dedication of the Holy Temple . This ceremony was based on the system ’ s two Annual Dramas . The same ceremony was held simultaneously in Plymouth , Edinburgh in Scotland , and Sydney in Australia .
The Order also practiced the Grand Installation of the First Grand Master Mason and the Most Powerful Sovereign Grand Commander . This ceremony , when it was necessary , was held during the Annual Assembly and included much of the specific sections concerning the 6 th and 7 th degrees from Stretton ’ s system .
Finally the Commemoration of all the Deceased Brethren was a special ceremony held every year in London on the first Saturday of November ( as close as possible to All Saint ’ s Day ), under the auspices of the Order ’ s oldest lodge . It was open to all Master Masons . It was also held in Edinburgh for the Scottish Brethren , and in Sydney for the Australian Brethren . It included a tribute to the memory of the “ Most Powerful Grand Commander , Founder of the Order , the Most Enlightened and lamented Brother Aimée Bothwell-Gosse , 33 rd degree of the A . A . S . R . and 7 th degree of the Mt . Bardon Lodge no . 110 and the Worshipful Society of Operative Masons , York Division .” This ceremony has certain similarities with the annual ceremony in Stretton ’ s system commemorating the death of Hiram ( Death Drama ), although it was not identical .
These few elements , adopted into the Order ’ s ritual practice in keeping with Miss Bothwell-Gosse ’ s wishes , along with the special ceremonies discussed above , ensured that the main characteristics and a small part of the esoteric content of Stretton ’ s system have been preserved . Indeed , she felt they were very important .
As for the Scottish degrees , the Order of the A . F . A . M ., in keeping with English practices but also by choice , did not practice the 4 th to the 17 th degrees , the Sovereign Chapters of the Rose Croix of Heredom , 18 th , considered to be the basis of the rite . But , since the 4 th degree of Secret Master was practiced in Europe , its specific secrets were conferred in a Lodge of Perfection under the authority of a Chapter of the Rose Croix .
In order to be admitted to the 18 th degree , a mason must of course have been a Mark Master and a Royal Arch mason , but it was no longer necessary to have run a Craft Lodge for at least one year . The qualifications required to be admitted into the 30 th degree of the Knight Kadosh are much harder : the Brother must have presided each of the preceding lodges , in other words , have been esoterically admitted as a Worshipful Craft Master , a Worshipful Mark Master , a Zorobabel of a Royal Arch Chapter , and Most Wise
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 As well as the Loge Régionale des Maîtres Installés in Sydney , where there were
A . F . A . M . lodges in Australia .
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