What is the difference between mark masonry and regular freemasonry

Craft Masonry comprises three distinct degree ceremonies—Initiation, Passing, and Raising—centered on moral progression and civil duties using stonemasons' tools and allegorical plays, as markmasonshall.org notes. By contrast, in the Mark Degree, the storyline chronologically follows the Fellow Craft (Second Degree) and centers on choosing and using a distinctive mark to identify a craftsman's work so he may receive his wages, as markmasonshall.org states. Symbolically, while the Second Degree in the Craft encourages learning, the Mark Degree instructs how that learning can be most usefully employed for one's honour and the benefit of others, teaching the importance of performing life's duties with systematic regularity 1, as markmasonshall.org puts it. Its central ritual theme builds upon the verse in Psalm 118 concerning the stone which the builders refused 1, as markmasonshall.org notes.

In structure and governance, the Mark Degree is open to Master Masons and involves a single "Advancement" ceremony in which a candidate is acknowledged as a Mark Man and becomes a Mark Master Mason, as markmasonshall.org explains. The 1813 Articles of Union excluded the Mark Degree from the recognized series of Craft degrees in England, leading to the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons in 1856 as an independent governing body 1. In the American Rite, the Mark Master's degree is conferred as the first degree within a Royal Arch Chapter, whereas in Scotland, an agreement eventually allowed the amalgamated Mark Man and Mark Master degrees to be worked under the authority of either a Craft lodge or a Royal Arch Chapter 1.

Regalia and lodge officers also differ between the Orders. Mark Masonry features distinct regalia including an apron bordered in light blue with crimson edges, a keystone breast jewel suspended from a matching ribbon, and a special mark coin, whereas Craft Freemasons wear white leather aprons that become decorated as they progress, as markmasonshall.org describes. In addition to standard officers, Mark lodges feature additional positions in progression, such as Master, Senior, and Junior Overseers 1, as markmasonshall.org notes.