THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

SUPREME COUNCIL -- OFFICIAL AND EXECUTIVE (33rd)
The Chivalric degrees bring to an end the instruction of Masonry, and
rehearse the virtues, vows, and tenets of the Order. These form the
Templar degrees of the A.A.S.R..
"The accomplishment of these degrees brings us to the completion of the
Third Temple; and the Royal Secret is solved, as to whether we have
made this world a Temple fit for the abiding-place of the Grand Arch-
itect of the universe."
30. KNIGHT KADOSH, or GRAND ELECT KNIGHT
This "practical trial degree of the Knight Templar," also denoted as a
Knight and Soldier of the Cross, contains some of the historical drama of
the Templars. Incidents on the road to the Holy Land, as well as the
execution of Jacques de Molay, are presented. Knights Kadosh ("holy,"
"consecrated," or "separated") are true defenders of the Temple: out-
wardly armed with steel, but inwardly armed with Faith in God and Love
of his fellow-man.
The Lodge, styled a Chapter, is decorated with black and red columns.
There are five chambers. The first, the Judges' Hall, is sombre and lit
by a singular suspended triangular lamp. Five masked judges, robed in
black and girded with swords, receive the candidate. Second, the Cave,
or Chamber of Reflection, is "strewed with emblems of mortality," and is
connected to the first by a descending flight of stairs. This chamber
represents the tomb of Jacques de Molay, and contains a simple altar,
cup of wine, and a gong. The remaining chambers are the Forum, the Senate
Chamber, and the Road to the Holy Land. Overall, in the East is a Throne
surmounted by a double-headed eagle, crowned, with a Teutonic cross and
a point-down triangle containing a blazing Hebrew ADNI, and the words
"Nec proditor, Nec proditor, Innocens feret." Behind the throne are two
banners: one white with a green Teutonic cross, and the words "Deus Vult;"
and the other with a red cross and a double-headed eagle, and the words
"Aut vincere, Aut mori." The Master is styled the Grand Commander, and
is flanked by the Grand Chancellor and the Grand Architect.
Battery: [6-1]. Aside of the Templar legend, much of the instruction of
this degree is codified in the symbol of the "Mysterious Ladder," which
has two supports and seven steps, and is kept veiled until the candidate
is obligated. The supports are called O.E. ("Oheb Eloah," love of God)
and O.K. ("Oheb Karobo," love of our Neighbor), and the seven steps contain
the names of the sciences: astronomy, music, geometry, arithmetic, logic,
rhetoric, and grammar (from the bottom up), as well as seven sets of
[illegible] Hebrew words. There is no apron, but the jewel is a gold
Teutonic cross, enamelled in red, with the letters J.'.B.'.M.'. on the
obverse, and a skull transpierced by a poinard on the reverse.
31. GRAND INSPECTOR INQUISITOR COMMANDER
"The practical test of the neophyte in the degree of Knight Kadosh, is