Ranks within the Order Help?

Hey everyone,

So excuse my ignorance around this matter as I have only been on here a few days. I have read up on the ranking system and understand it. This question is more about the forum side of things. Let me explain.
So most of the people I have encountered have the "Bishop" "Councillor" "Knight" "Apprentice" forum badges/tags. I have even seen a "Senior Knight" forum badge/tag. However I have not seen any "Master" or "Grand Master" badges/tags.
Is there a reason for this? Or is there something I do not know?
Enlightenment around this would be appreciated. Just a wee annoyance of mine niggling away at the back of my mind. Or maybe its an OCD thing.
I don't know.. But yeah, any help would be appreciated!

All the best and may the force be with you always!
~ Ste'ar Gaelach

Hello, SGaelach,

We do have a Master rank, just very few 'Masters'. So, it is not so very unusual that you haven't run across any yet. Three of our Councillors are ranked 'Master', but since the Councillor bar is worn in the place of the rank bar, you would only see Councillor. For instance, I am a Senior Knight, but on my rank bar you only see Councillor.

Licensed Minister, Deacon, Priest and Bishop are Clerical ranks ; they show the grade of service in the TotJO Clergy.

We do not really have the rank of GrandMaster any more. It was pretty much just an honorary rank ...

Does that help ?

Also.. ranks here are only really relevant on this site.. and rank is not necessarily an indication of one's 'masterliness'.. there are people here I think of very highly, irrespective of which rank they hold.

Thank you for the explanation.

To reply to you Edan, for me it is more of an OCD thing that was bugging me. I value that opinion you hold and I hold it myself also. It was just the lack of knowledge that was bugging me. Having just looking into the Temple Structure as part of the Initiate Programme, the bugging persistence feeling kicked in and I felt the need for an explanation.
I hope you can see where I am coming from with this Edan?
Anyhoo, thank you both for the response! It did help

May the force be with you!
~ Ste'ar

The last time I looked into the FAQ on the rank structure, it explained that Sr. Knights were Knights that had done advanced training, and Masters were Knights who had trained three or more Apprentices to completion, I believe. This was my understanding of it up to that point.

Because of the requisite work involved, I actually believe Sr. Knights to be rarer than Masters. Grandmaster was an honorary title given a while back, but I don't think there's anything in place to govern its use at the moment.

steamboat28 wrote: The last time I looked into the FAQ on the rank structure, it explained that Sr. Knights were Knights that had done advanced training, and Masters were Knights who had trained three or more Apprentices to completion, I believe. This was my understanding of it up to that point.

Close:

A Senior Knight is a knight who has completed up to B. Div in the Degree Scheme (the advanced training you mentioned).

However, a Master is a Senior Knight who has trained three or more apprentices (it doesn't say to completion, but trained implies they completed it).

That's really all I have to say that isn't echoing what has already been said.

Basically, we only have 2 active Masters who are not on the Council, and neither post very often, so that's why you haven't seen the rank bar around.

It's a common misconception that 'Councillor' is a rank in itself - it's not - and a Councillor can hold any rank although is almost always a Knight, Senior Knight or Master. Our current Council is made up of 2 Knights, 2 Senior Knights, 2 Masters and 2 GrandMasters (very neat, although it's purely co-incidence!).

You can find a complete list of members holding these ranks on the Teachers page.

All these replies have helped to extend my understanding that little bit more. Thank you all!


May the force be with you!

To let everyone know who is who, some members put additional information in their signatures, the footnote at the end of all their forum posts - hope this helps and MTFBWY - A