A very warm welcome to the web site of the Ancient and Accepted Rite for New Zealand, well known to many New Zealand Masons as the Rose Croix.

The Ancient and Accepted Rite is an all-encompassing Order within Freemasonry, offering a succession of degrees over and above the first three, enabling a Master Mason to achieve the ultimate distinction of becoming a 33 degree Mason.

Each of the degrees contains clues for the “earnest seeker after truth” to follow, for his own pleasure, knowledge and enlightenment. They offer guidance to each of us in the development of our own character and in our interaction with the community around us and also provide further interpretation of the Craft degrees.

As with all freemasonry, it is not a religion or a church but, unlike other branches, it is, in New Zealand, specifically oriented on the philosophy and values of Christianity – that we should seek our own relationship with the Great Architect of the Universe and love our neighbour as ourselves: as our ritual says: “Let us observe this new covenant, to love one another.”

Please explore the "Introduction Section" for a fuller explanation of the Order.