Ceremony

Whilst the order is open to members of all faith groups, the 18th Degree or Ceremony of Perfection is based on the life and teachings of Jesus, which Christians will recognise as the basis for their faith, and which reflects virtues shared by major word religions and are relevant to all regardless of their particular faith.

Just as the Royal Arch uses symbolism and history from the Old Testament to teach universal moral truths, so the Rose Croix Degree draws on various books of the New Testament.

In the ceremony, the Candidate is taken through several rooms which figuratively represent his spiritual and Masonic life from Craft Masonry, through despair, to a Rose Croix Chapter and the discovery of the Lost Word.

At the start of the ceremony, he is taken from a Master Mason (3rd degree) to a 17th degree Mason, in abbreviated form. The ceremony of the 18th degree seeks the Perfection of the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. It is an immensely thought provoking, impressive and beautiful ceremony which instils an even greater warmth for the Brotherly love, on which the whole Masonic movement is founded.

At the end of the ceremony, he is created a Knight of the Pelican and Eagle and is invested as a Prince of the Order of the Rose Croix of Heredom.

The regalia for the 18th Degree is both simple and spectacular comprising a jewel appended to a red collar embroidered with the symbols and emblems of the Degree in gold braid. 

Following perfection and before the chapter is closed, all take part in a “feast of fraternal affection”, which is a wonderful moment of shared Freemasonry all too often lost in other degrees. 

The Rose Croix Degree, like Freemasonry as a whole, is not a religion.  It does, however, serve to point the way to a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe. It is this which makes Rose Croix Degree so important