Governance

The Order is governed according to the Charter of Harrowmere, which established a Grand Council of nine, elected by the Knights and Dames of the Order, and a small number of officers whom the Council appoints from among its own members. Authority in the Order is understood as stewardship. No officer owns the Order; each holds an office in trust for a term and returns it.

The Grand Council

The Grand Council consists of nine Knights and Dames elected for terms of three years, three being elected at each Annual Convocation. The Council has charge of the Charter and the Articles, the chartering and dissolution of Commanderies and Oratories, the approval of curricula, the custody of the Order's property, and the discipline of its members. It meets in full four times a year and sits as a court of appeal when required.

The Council appoints from its own number the officers named below. An officer may serve not more than two consecutive terms in the same office, saving only the office of Grand Master, which the Charter limits to a single term of not more than nine years.

The Officers

Office	Charge	Present Holder
Grand Master	Presides over the Grand Council and the Annual Convocation; is the visible head of the Order and the guardian of its unity.	Dame Rosalind Achterberg
Grand Chancellor	Keeps the seal and the rolls; conducts the correspondence of the Order; receives petitions for membership.	Sir Tobias Fenwick-Hale
Grand Prior	Has charge of the spiritual and contemplative life of the Order, the Vigil and the rule of daily practice.	Dame Imogen Carrow
Warden of Studies	Has charge of the curriculum of the degrees, the examination of candidates and the training of instructors.	Sir Anselm Dyer
Keeper of the Library	Has charge of the Library at Harrowmere, the archives and the publications of the Order.	Dame Beatrix Olander
Treasurer	Has charge of the funds of the Order and renders account to the Convocation each year.	Sir Marcus Thelwall
Councillors	Three members of the Council without portfolio, who serve as visitors to the Commanderies.	Dame Sunniva Hark, Sir Peregrine Ashdown, Dame Lucasta Rowe

Commanderies and Oratories

The local bodies of the Order are of two kinds. A Commandery is a full working body, chartered by the Grand Council, with not fewer than nine members of the Third Degree, which is empowered to confer the three degrees of the Outer Court. A Commandery is led by a Commander, elected by its Knights and Dames for a term of three years, assisted by a Prior, a Preceptor and a Chancellor.

An Oratory is a smaller body, of not fewer than three members, which meets for study and contemplative practice under the supervision of a sponsoring Commandery. An Oratory may receive Postulants and prepare Pages, but initiations are conferred at the sponsoring Commandery. An Oratory that grows to the required number and demonstrates stability over not less than three years may petition the Grand Council for a charter as a Commandery.

Members who live at a distance from any body of the Order may be admitted to the Correspondence Circle, which is administered directly by the Warden of Studies.

The Inner Court

Beyond the three degrees of the Outer Court lies the Inner Court, to which Knights and Dames of proven dedication may be invited after not less than seven years in the Third Degree. The Inner Court has no governing authority; it is a body of practice, not of power. Its members, the Companions of the Cup, undertake the deeper contemplative and theurgic work of the Order and serve as its examiners and instructors.

Discipline

A member who breaks the Articles may be admonished by the Commander, suspended by the Commandery, or expelled by the Grand Council, in each case after being heard. The Order has rarely had recourse to the last. It is the experience of the Order that those who cannot keep the Rule generally leave of their own accord, and the Order does not pursue them.