number symbology 33

The number thirty-three designates the final degree of the system: that of Sovereign Grand Inspector-General 1. Under the Constitutions of 1786, all preceding degrees from the first through the thirty-second are subordinated to this thirty-third and last grade, which serves as the governing authority tasked with administering the Order, preserving its doctrines, and correcting errors across the subordinate bodies 1.

Brethren holding the thirty-third degree constitute a Supreme Council, a administrative body originally established to exercise sovereign Masonic power within its territorial jurisdiction 1. Under the early governing Constitutions, each Supreme Council was designed to consist of nine Inspectors-General 1.

The first Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree was organized in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 31, 1801, by John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho 1. Recognized as the Mother Council of the World, this body provided the authority from which subsequent Supreme Councils in Europe, the West Indies, and the Americas directly or indirectly derived their patents 1.