What are the additional degrees available in Freemasonry?

Beyond the three symbolic degrees, additional degrees extend the basic system, present chivalric or Christian allegories, or offer avenues of mutual support 2. The Mark degree and the Royal Arch serve as primary steps after the Third Degree 2. Attached to the Mark is the Royal Ark Mariner degree, which treats the legend of the Flood 2. The Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees governs several distinct ceremonies, including St Lawrence the Martyr, the Grand Tylers of King Solomon, and the Knights of Constantinople 2. In the Cryptic Rite, candidates who hold the Mark and Royal Arch degrees receive four sequential degrees: Most Excellent Master, Royal Master, Select Master, and Super-Excellent Master 2.

The Order of the Secret Monitor consists of two degrees, with seven degrees of the Scarlet Cord attached under its Grand Council 2. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, governed by its Supreme Council, degrees extend up to the Thirty-third Degree; its Eighteenth Degree, the Rose Croix, is among the most widely known of the advanced grades 12. Chivalric degrees controlled by a Grand Priory include Knight Templar, Mediterranean Pass, and St John of Malta 2. Other sovereign bodies govern the Red Cross of Constantine, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the Royal Order of Scotland—which confers the degrees of Knight of Harodim and Knight of the Rosy Cross—and the Rosicrucian Society, which comprises nine grades 12.

Historically, various side degrees were conferred informally or as honorariums 21. In Royal Arch Masonry, the degree of High Priesthood is conferred upon elected High Priests, while symbolic lodges historically used the Past Master degree as an honorarium 1. In nineteenth-century American practice, numerous side and androgynous degrees existed for Masons and their female relatives, such as Mason's Wife and Daughter, Ark and Dove, Knight and Heroine of Jericho, and Good Samaritan 1.