Symbolic Degrees

The first three degrees of Freemasonry, namely, those of the Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason, are known, by way of distinction, as the "symbolic degrees." This term is never applied to the degrees of Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master, and the Royal Arch, which, as being conferred in a body called a Chapter, are generally designated as "capitular degrees"; nor to those of Royal and Select Master, which conferred in a Council, are, by an excellent modern usage, styled, "cryptic degrees," from the crypt or vault which plays so important a part in their ritual.

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_{This page is adapted from the Glossary at Phoenixmasonry — Used with permission.}