How does one progress through the degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite?

Progression through the system follows a sequence of thirty-three degrees divided into distinct bodies or sections, though a candidate begins as a Master Mason in a Symbolic Lodge before advancing through the higher grades 1. While the Scottish Rite includes the first three degrees—Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason—its Supreme Councils generally refrain from conferring them in jurisdictions where established Grand Lodges govern Craft Masonry 1.

After the Symbolic degrees, advancement proceeds into the Lodge of Perfection, which confers the fourth through the fourteenth degrees 1. These are termed the Ineffable Degrees, concluding with the degree of Grand Elect, Perfect and Sublime Mason, historically considered the ultimate degree of ancient Freemasonry regarding the First Temple 1.

From there, a Mason advances to the Chapter of Rose Croix, governing the fifteenth through eighteenth degrees and culminating in the Rose Croix degree 1. Next is the Council of Kadosh, which oversees the nineteenth through thirtieth degrees, ending with Knight Kadosh 1. The Consistory then confers the thirty-first and thirty-second degrees, designating the candidate a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret 1. Finally, the thirty-third degree, Sovereign Grand Inspector-General, represents the summit of the Rite and is governed by the Supreme Council itself 1.

Administrative arrangements and exact degree groupings vary somewhat between jurisdictions; for example, in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, the Consistory grades begin at the nineteenth degree rather than the thirty-first 1.