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York Rite Reading?

QPZIL

Premium Member
Hi brother companions,

I finished my York Rite degrees on Saturday, and am now a brother sir knight among you. The Order of the Temple was profoundly beautiful, and probably my favorite thing I've seen in Masonry thus far.

Now that I've been bombarded with 9 new degrees ("Super Excellent Master" is only done once a year in our jurisdiction, so I didn't get to see that), what would you all recommend as far as York Rite reading goes?

So far I'm most interested in the Chapter degrees, as they formed a really nice bookend or epilogue to the Blue Lodge degrees. There doesn't seem to be as much written about the 4th through 7th degrees though. I'm especially interested in old books that I can get off eBay - you know, leather-bound things that'll look nice in my library :)

I guess if I wanted thick philosophical books, I should have joined Scottish Rite :001_tt2:
 

chrmc

Registered User
Congrats. Mackey wrote both a "Book of the Chapter" and a "Manual of the Council" which could be a start. I haven't read them though, so can't vouch for how good they are.
Otherwise several of the older texts include the Royal Arch in many of their normal blue lodge texts so that is an option. Pretty sure that Wilmhurst talks about it in one of his books.

If you're just looking for a monitor I'd recommend Sargant's The Royal Arch Companion. Think you can find that in PDF versions online.
 

Pscyclepath

Premium Member
John Robinson's book, "Born in Blood," as well as his history of the Knights Templar were illuminating forme, at least. As for the actual lessons in the degrees, I had a long, quiet read with my ritual book, the Royal Arch Companion, and my Bible, and got a lot out of that. There's a lesson behind every phrase, from the blue lodge all the way up to the top.
 

chrmc

Registered User
John Robinson's book, "Born in Blood," as well as his history of the Knights Templar were illuminating forme, at least. As for the actual lessons in the degrees, I had a long, quiet read with my ritual book, the Royal Arch Companion, and my Bible, and got a lot out of that. There's a lesson behind every phrase, from the blue lodge all the way up to the top.

Only thing to note about Born in Blood is that though it is a good read, it's so wildly inaccurate that it's close to almost being fiction. So I wouldn't necessarily suggest it if you are looking for more light from the York rite degrees.
 

BroBill

Site Benefactor
Site Benefactor
Hi brother companions,

So far I'm most interested in the Chapter degrees, as they formed a really nice bookend or epilogue to the Blue Lodge degrees. There doesn't seem to be as much written about the 4th through 7th degrees though. I'm especially interested in old books that I can get off eBay - you know, leather-bound things that'll look nice in my library :)


If you're looking for history and evolution books, here are a few of my favorites:

The Royal Arch Journey - Rev'd Neville Barker Cryer
What Do You Know About the Royal Arch? - Rev'd Neville Barker Cryer
The History and Symbolism of Royal Arch Masonry - Edward R. Graham
Tell Me More About the Mark Degree - Rev'd Neville Barker Cryer
Royal Arch Matters - Roy A. Wells

I've posted reviews of those books under the Education forum and they are all available through Amazon.com. If your Chapter and Council are active in degrees and especially if they confer the degrees individually, I highly recommend you join the degree teams and participate before you start reading and continue while you do your reading. The histories and writings will be better-placed in context for you if you're familiar with some of the ritual and floorwork.

Enjoy your reading!

BroBill
 

BroBill

Site Benefactor
Site Benefactor
There is also a study program in the York Rite called Companion Adept of the Temple.

If tradition holds and Excellent Companion Harrison is elected Most Excellent Grand High Priest here in Texas, you can expect to hear much more about the Companion Adept of the Temple program. This is one of his high priority programs and has been involved in its development. Several of us in the Texian York Rite College #60 are going throught the program so that we can talk to our Chapters/Councils/Commanderies about it. Interesting so far...
 
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