The temple was the first lodge.
Its courts, its officers, its grades of instruction, and its guarded door are the pattern every later Craft inherited.
The Order
An Order Older Than the Word “Lodge”.
Mission
Why the Order Exists
We reclaim the initiatic science of the Nile Valley — the studies of the temple schools of Kemet (ancient Egypt), where the sacred and the sciences were taught as one body of knowledge.
We form Brothers and Sisters in Ma'at, so that truth, justice, and balance are not opinions held but habits practiced, tested weekly against the 42 Declarations.
We build — in the world and in the self. The Craft is not a collection of symbols to admire; it is a discipline that produces workers, teachers, and finished works.
Doctrine
What the Order Teaches
The temple was the first lodge. Everything the Craft later called its own was first taught on the Nile.
Ipet-Isut is the Mother Temple.
At Waset (Thebes), the Temple of Amen Ra at Ipet-Isut (Karnak) is the greatest of the temple complexes and the Order's mother house in doctrine.
The Grand Lodge of Luxor.
The Order holds the tradition of the Grand Lodge of Luxor as the assembly of the Mystery System in the south of Kemet.
The 25th Dynasty restoration.
Under the Kushite kings, the priesthood and worship of Amen were restored — the light kept and returned by African hands.
Carried through Prince Hall.
In 1784 African Lodge No. 459 placed the Craft again in African hands in the Americas.
Restored by Dr. Ben.
Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan's scholarship returned the teaching to its source and gave this Order its foundation.
The Order teaches that the word sealed on every prayer — Amen — carries the name of the Hidden One of Kemet.
The Long Memory
A Timeline of the Light
c. 3800 BCE
Ta-Seti / Nubia — the earliest kingship of the Nile Valley.
c. 3100 BCE
Unification of the Two Lands.
c. 2650 BCE
Imhotep raises the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
Middle & New Kingdom
The Temple of Amen at Karnak is built and enlarged over centuries.
c. 750 BCE
The Kushite 25th Dynasty restores the priesthood and worship of Amen.
c. 600–350 BCE
Greek students study in the temples of Kemet.
332 BCE
The Ptolemies take Kemet; the temple schools continue under foreign rule.
391 CE — c. 537 CE
The temples are closed by imperial decree; Philae is the last to fall.
1717
The guilds of London form a Grand Lodge; the Craft takes its modern shape.
1784
African Lodge No. 459 is chartered — Prince Hall returns the Craft to African hands.
20th century
Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan teaches the Nile Valley as the source, and leads study tours to Kemet.
2026
The Craft of Amen Ra opens the Outer Court.
The Temple
Officers of the Temple
| Office | Charge |
|---|---|
| Grand Master | Head of the Order. |
| Hierophant of the East | Presides over a Temple. |
| Warden of the West | Keeps the work of the West and receives petitioners. |
| Warden of the South | Keeps the work of the South and the instruction of the degrees. |
| Scribe of Tehuti | Secretary — the record and the correspondence. |
| Keeper of the Treasury | Custody of the Order's means. |
| Priest / Priestess of Ma'at | Chaplain — the Declarations and the devotional life. |
| Bearers of the Was | Deacons — carriers of word and order within the Temple. |
| Guardian of the Pylon | The outer door. |
A Study Circle
The Widow Sons of Ra
Heru (Horus), son of the widow Auset (Isis), is the archetype of the initiate: the child of a slain father who is raised in hiding, contends for what was taken, and is restored.
The Widow Sons of Ra is the Order's study circle in that pattern, addressed by Grand Master Dr. Jabade Powell in Detroit.
Image slotStudy circle photograph
The Standard
The Seven Principles of Ma'at
Truth
What is said matches what is.
Justice
Each is given what is due, without partiality.
Harmony
Parts are joined so that they strengthen one another.
Balance
Nothing is carried to excess, in the self or in the world.
Order
The pattern of creation is upheld against chaos.
Reciprocity
What is received is returned; the circle is kept whole.
Propriety
The right thing, done at the right time, in the right measure.