The Consistory of the Masters of the Royal Secret comprises the thirty first and thirty second degrees. The word Consistory derives from the latin consistorium, which means both 'tribunal' and 'imperial council.' The aptness of this word will become readily apparent. As with the other degrees of freemasonry, the consistorial degrees present some of their lessons by borrowing the symbols of other cultures and times. In the thirty first degree, the mythology of the ancient Egyptians is vididly portrayed, as a tribunal, or court of the dead, is represented. Within its drama. Based upon the Egyptian book of the dead, a soul seeks to find favor in the eyes of his judges and receive his eternal reward. The thirty second degree recapitulates the lessons of the Scottish Rite prior to introducing the candidate to the royal secret and the holy doctrine. The reality of God's intimacy with mankind if reinforced as a fact and truth, and not merely an idealistic notion. The Master of the Royal Secret learns that by self sacrifice and the application of philosophical truth, he may become part of freemasonry's ideal of a holy empire, an empire of intellect, reason, philosophy, and wise morality.