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Masonic Symbols

Symbols of the Freemasons

The following is a collection of Masonic symbols and their meanings, relevant to the practice of Freemasonry. The purpose of this list is to acclimate and educate new and existing Masons and those interested in Masonic study. While a unique system, Freemasonry has borrowed and modified a variety of religious and quasi-religious symbols to help convey aspects of the ritual practice in the lodge. While taken at face value, many of these symbols may seem or feel odd or eccentric, in-and-of themselves. But, when viewed together in the larger collection of symbols, they illustrate a broad allegorical story of morality, fraternal association and life lessons from which the newly made Mason may come to understand the teachings of the organization.

Have a favorite symbol? Missing one? Leave it in the comments below and we’ll add it to the list.

Want More:

  • A collection of Frequently Asked Questions about Freemasonry
  • Common Masonic Abbreviations
  • Masonic Toasts for any event
  • More on the Family of Freemasonry
  • Masonic Presidents of the United States
  • The Symbolic Lodge
  • Masonic History

The Symbols of Freemasonry

  • 47th Problem of Euclid
  • Abbreviations
  • Acacia
  • All-Seeing Eye
  • Anchor and the Ark
  • Anno Depositionis
  • Anno Inventionis
  • Anno Lucis
  • Anno Mundi
  • Anno Ordinis
  • Apron
  • Alchemy
  • Ashlar
  • Beehive
  • Blazing Star
  • Broken Column
  • Brotherly Love
  • Chamber of Reflection
  • Compass
  • Corn, Wine and Oil
  • Covering of a Lodge
  • Ear of Corn
  • Faith
  • Gavel, Common
  • Globes, The
  • Great Architect of the Universe, The
  • Great Work, The
  • Holy of Holies (Sanctum Sanctorum)
  • Holy Saints John
  • Hourglass
  • Incense, Pot of
  • In Hoc Signo Vinces
  • Jacobs Ladder
  • Keystone
  • Landmarks
  • Moon, The
  • Mosaic Pavement
  • Mystic Tie
  • North East Corner
  • Operative Masonry
  • Orders of Architecture
  • Ordo Ab Chao
  • Pillars
  • Point Within the Circle
  • Relief
  • Ruffians
  • Scythe
  • Signs of Distress
  • Solomon’s Temple
  • Speculative Masonry
  • Square
  • Tetragrammaton
  • Three Muses
  • Tracing Board
  • Trowel
  • Truth
  • Twenty-Four Inch Gauge
  • Volume of the Sacred Law
  • Wages
  • Wayfaring Man
  • Whence Came You?
  • Working Tools


The 47th Proposition of Euclid

 

47th Problem of Euclid

In the Year 3650 (300 B.C.E.), Anno Mundi, which was 646 years after the building of King Solomon’s Temple, Euclid, the celebrated geometrician, was born.

Euclid has been always associated with the history of Freemasonry, and in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, the Order is said to have greatly flourished in Egypt, under his auspices. The well-known forty-seventh (47th) problem of his first book, although not discovered by him, but long credited to Pythagoras, has been adopted as a symbol in Masonic instruction.

More on the 47th Problem of Euclid.
More on Geometry in Freemasonry.

Abbreviations

Many and varied, abbreviations in Freemasonry usually represent less a shortening of material and more a means of obscuring their meaning to the uninitiated.

Read more on Masonic Abbreviations.

Acacia

Symbol of the Acacia

The Acacia is a highly symbolic plant with both quasi-religious aspects and more modern day connections to occult and psychoactive aspects used in ritual practice.

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says:

An interesting and important symbol in Freemasonry. Botanically, it is the acacia vera of Tournefort, and the mimosa nilotica of Linnaeus, called babul tree in India. The acacia arabica grew abundantly in the vicinity of Jerusalem, where it is still to be found, and is familiar in its modern use at the tree from which the gum arabic of commerce is derived.

The acacia is called in the Bible Shittim, which is really the plural of Shittah, which last form occurs once only, in Isaiah 41:19, which reads “I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together…” . It was esteemed a sacred wood among the Hebrews, and of it Moses was ordered to make the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the table for the shewbread, and the rest of the sacred furniture (Exodus 25-27).

The sprig of acacia, then, in its most ordinary signification, presents itself to the Master Mason as a symbol of the immortality of the soul, being intended to remind him, by its ever-green and unchanging nature, of that better and spiritual part within us, which, as an emanation from the Great Architect of the Universe, can never die.

More on the Acacia as a Masonic Symbol.

All-Seeing Eye

The All-seeing Masonic Eye of Providence

The all-seeing eye is an emblem found in every well-furnished Masonic lodge around the world. The representation of which is an allegorical symbol of deity – abstract yet omnipresent.

Yet, further explanation is necessary to detail the Eye of Providence. While most many lodges make use of the letter G to stand in as a representation deity, the All Seeing Eye, has that same function, perhaps with a more artistic flare.

Albert Mackey, MD, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences, writes this succinct observation on the meanings behind the eye in his entry for the All-Seeing Eye:

“An important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by the Freemasons from the nations of antiquity. Both the Hebrews and the Egyptians appear to have derived its use from that natural inclination of figurative minds to select an organ as the symbol of the function which it is intended peculiarly to discharge. Thus, the foot was often adopted as the symbol of swiftness, the arm of strength, and the hand of fidelity.”

More on the All-Seeing Eye.

Anchor and the Ark

The Anchor and the Ark

Taken together, the anchor and the ark are symbols representative of a life well-spent. The ark symbolizes the journey over the rough seas of life and the anchor as a symbol of immortality and a safe rest in eternal tranquility.

From the ritual of the third degree:

The anchor and the ark are emblems of a well-grounded hope and a well-spent life. They are emblematic of that divine ark and anchor which safely bears us over this tempestuous sea of troubles, and that anchor which shall safely moor us in a peaceful harbor, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary shall find rest.

Taken from Biblical sources, the anchor as described in Hebrews 6:19, saying:

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

And the ark is emblematic of the divine ark of Noah that bears us over this rough seas of life. From Genesis 7:1, which reads:

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

The Ark of the Covenant

Anno Depositionis (In anno depositi)

Royal and Select Masters or Cryptic Masons (York Rite) use this date as the year from which the Temple of Solomon, roughly 950 B.C.E., was completed. It is called Anno Depositionis (A.D.), which means “In the year of the Deposit” (from the Latin “In the Deposition” translated as In anno depositi). The deposit, one can assume, to be the Ark of the Covenant and the commandment tablets of Moses or perhaps the lost word of Freemasonry.

Time, as anno depositi, is calculated by adding 1000 to the current date.

Anno Inventionis (In anno Inventionis)

Royal Arch Freemasonry

Royal Arch Masons date time from the year the second temple was commended by Zerubbabel. Anno Inventionis (A.I.) ,which translates from Latin as “the Discovery” is taken to translate as “In the year of Discovery,” (In anno Inventionis) and is the terminology used by Royal Arch Chapters.

To calculate Anno Depositionis, add 530 to the current year to derive the A.I. date.

Anno Lucis

Anno Lucis year of light

Blue Lodge Freemasonry’s calendar commences with the imagined creation of the world and uses the term Anno Lucis (A.L.) – “In the year of Light” to represent that date. This date structuring comes from the theological convention that the world began in 4,000 B.C.E with the Great Architect of the Universe and its utterance of “Let there be light,” and light was created.

To derive the Anno Lucis date, add 4000 to the present year.

Anno Mundi

Scottish Rite Freemasonry follow the pattern of craft Freemasonry (see Anno Lucis) instead using the Jewish Chronology which sets the date based upon the biblical accounts of the creation of the world. The formula of Anno Mundi (A.M.) is based on twelfth-century C.E. rabbinic estimates for the year of creation in the Hebrew calendar beginning at sunset of October 6, 3760 B.C.E. This creates a annual calculation of 3,760 + the given year to derive the Anno Mundi date.

Anno Ordinis (In anno Ordinis)

Knights Templar start their calendar with the formation of the order in 1118 AD. Anno Ordinis (A.O.) is the Latin translation of “In the year of the Order” more specifically translating to “In Order” To calculate A.D. one would deduct 1,118 from the calculating year.

Apron

Masonic Apron

Of the many symbolic emblems of Freemasonry, none is more iconic that the lamb skin apron. Alien outside of the lodge, within the tiled lodge it represents the totality of what it means to be a Mason. It’s said to be more noble than the Roman Eagle or the Golden Fleece, the Masonic apron is literally, the badge of a Mason carried with him into the next existence.

Albert Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says:

There is no one of the symbols of Speculative Masonry more important in its teachings, or more interesting in its history, than the lambskin, or white leather apron. Commencing its lessons at an early period in the Mason’s progress, it is impressed upon his memory as the first gift which he receives, the first symbol which is explained to him, and the first tangible evidence which he possesses of his admission into the Fraternity. Whatever may be his future advancement in the “royal art,” into whatsoever deeper arcana his devotion to the mystic Institution or his thirst for knowledge may subsequently lead him, with the lambskin apron-his first investiture-he never parts. Changing, perhaps, its form and its decorations, and conveying, at each step, some new but still beautiful allusion, its substance is still there, and it continues to claim the honored title by which it was first made known to him, on the night of his initiation, as “the badge of a Mason.”

Alchemy

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says of this symbol,

Hermes Trismegistus, Thrice Great Hermes as the allegorical author of the Hermetica

The Neo-Platonicians introduced at an early period of the Christian era an apparently new science, which they called the Sacred Science, which materially influenced the subsequent condition of the arts and sciences. In the fifth century arose, as the name of the science, alchemia, derived from the Arabic definite article al being added to chemia, a Greek word used in Diocletian’s decree against Egyptian works treating of the transmutation of metals; the word seems simply to mean “the Egyptian Art,” or the land of black earth being the Egyptian name for Egypt, and Julius Firmicus Maternus, in a work On the Influence of the Stars upon the Fate of Man, uses the phrase scientia alchemiae. From this time the study of alchemy was openly followed. In the Middle Ages, and up to the end of the seventeenth century, it was an important science, studied by some of the most distinguished philosophers, such as Avicenna, Albertus Magnus, Raymond Lulli, Roger Bacon, Elias Ashmole, and many others.

Alchemy-called also the Hermetic Philosophy, because it is said to have been first taught in Egypt by Hermes Trismegistus.

Freemasonry and alchemy have sought the same results (the lesson of Divine Truth and the doctrine of immortal life), and they have both sought it by the same method of symbolism. It is not, therefore, strange that in the eighteenth century, and perhaps before, we find an incorporation of much of the science of alchemy into that of Freemasonry. Hermetic rites and Hermetic degrees were common, and their relics are still to be found existing in degrees which do not absolutely trace their origin to alchemy, but which show some of its traces in their rituals. The Twenty-eighth Degree of the Scottish Rite, is entirely a Hermetic degree, and claims its parentage in the title of Adept of Masonry, by which it is sometimes known.

Ashlar in Freemasonry

Ashlar

The Ashlars are not just two pieces of stone. They represent what we have been and what we hope to be. It is up to each individual Mason to pass his own judgment on himself and to adjust his jewels accordingly, so that when the time comes and he lays down his tools and makes the final journey to the Grand Lodge Above, he may leave behind a reputation as a wise counselor, a pillar of strength and stability, a Perfect Ashlar on which younger Masons may test the correctness and value of their own contribution to the Masonic order.

More on the Masonic ashlars.

Beehive

The Beehive, an emblem of industry

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says of the Beehive, The bee was among the Egyptians the symbol of an obedient people, because, says Horapollo, “of all insects, the bee alone had a king.” Hence looking at the regulated labor of these insects when congregated in their hive, it is not surprising that a beehive should have been deemed an appropriate emblem of systematized industry. Freemasonry has therefore adopted the beehive as a symbol of industry, a virtue taught in the instructions, which says that a Master Mason” works that he may receive wages, the better to support himself and family, and contribute to the relief of a worthy, distressed brother, his widow and orphans;” and in the Old Charges, which tell us that “all Masons shall work honestly on working days, that they may live creditably on holidays.” There seems, however, to be a more recondite meaning connected with this symbol. The ark has already been shown to have been an emblem common to Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries, as a symbol of regeneration—of the second birth from death to life. Now, in the Mysteries, a hive was the type of the ark. “Hence,” says Faber (Origin of Pagan Idolatry, volume ii, page 133), “both the diluvian priestesses and the regenerated souls were called bees; hence, bees were feigned to be produced from the carcass of a cow, which also symbolized the ark; and hence, as the great father was esteemed an infernal god, honey was much used both in funeral rites and in the Mysteries.” This extract is from the article on the bee in Evans’ Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture.”

More on the Beehive in Freemasonry.

Blazing Star

The Blazing Star, sun, moon and stars

Pike, in Morals and Dogma in the 25th degree, Knight of the Brazen Serpent, says of the symbol,

The Blazing Star in our Lodges, we have already said, represents Sirius, Anubis, or Mercury, Guardian and Guide of Souls. Our Ancient English brethren also considered it an emblem of the Sun. In the old Lectures they said: “The Blazing Star or Glory in the center refers us to that Grand Luminary the Sun, which enlightens the Earth, and by its genial influence dispenses blessings to mankind.”

Pike, in an earlier degree (the Apprentice) says that The Blazing Star in the center is said to be “an emblem of Divine Providence, and commemorative of the star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Savior’s nativity.” He goes on to say, “[t]he Blazing Star or Glory in the center refers us to that grand luminary, the Sun, which enlightens the earth, and by its genial influence dispenses blessings to mankind.” They called it also in the same lectures, an emblem of PRUDENCE. The word Prudentia means, in its original and fullest signification, Foresight; and, accordingly, the Blazing Star has been regarded as an emblem of Omniscience, or the All-seeing Eye, which to the Egyptian Initiates was the emblem of Osiris…”

Gage, in Builders Magazine (1915), says of the symbol that it is the “seed and the source of all life and eternal life.”

The Blazing Star is one of the three ornaments of the masonic lodge.

Broken Column

Time, the weeping virgin and the broken column

In Freemasonry, the broken column is, as Master Freemasons well know, the emblem of the fall of one of the chief supporters of the Craft. The use of the column or pillars as a monument erected over a tomb was a very ancient custom, and was a very significant symbol of the character and spirit of the person interred. It is accredited to Jeremy L. Cross that he first introduced the Broken Column into the ceremonies, but this may not be true.

Looking at Cross’s application of the virgin and broken column, an examination from Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy, Robert Hewitt Brown says of the composition, “The whole emblem may therefore be astronomically explained as follows: The virgin weeping over the broken column denotes her grief at the death of the sun, slain by the wintry signs. Saturn standing behind her and pointing to the summit of the zodiacal arch denotes that Time will heal her sorrows, and, when the year has filled its circuit, her lord the sun will arise from the grave of winter, and, triumphing over all the powers of darkness, come again to her embraces.

More on the broken column.

More on the weeping virgin.

Brotherly Love

By the exercise of Brotherly Love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family, the high and  the low, the rich and the poor, who, as created by one Almighty Parent (God) and inhabitants of the same planet, are to aid, support and protect each other. On this principle Masonry unites men of every country, sect and opinion; and cause true friendship to exist among those who otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.

Chamber of Reflection

The Chamber of Reflection

One of the greatest enigmas of contemporary Freemasonry, the Chamber of Reflection is a little-used aspect in the rituals of a newly made Mason. Yet, the symbolism of the Chamber has roots in Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism and other occult traditions.

In modern Free-Masonry, the chamber of reflections is equivalent to the alchemical siphon, where the Recipient shall experience transmutation by means of the conjugation and regulating of his/her recondite energies. The Profane “descends to the Infernos”, he must die first, in order to “resuscitate” and attain the light of Initiation. There he shall leave the dealings of the exterior world, there will be an interior abstraction, like the original matrix, so that he can emerge from the depths of the earth (the chaotic dense matter) to the subtleness of the spirit.

More on The Anteroom or Chamber of Reflection, and on the Chamber of Reflection in general.

Compass

The Square and Compass

One of the three great lights in Masonry and defined as an implement “to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind, but more especially with a brother Mason.”

Pike, in Morals and Dogma, defines the compass as an emblem that describes circles, and deals with spherical trigonometry, the science of the spheres and heavens. The former, therefore, is an emblem of what concerns the earth and the body; the latter of what concerns the heavens and the soul. Yet the Compass is also used in plane trigonometry, as in erecting perpendiculars; and, therefore, you are reminded that, although in this Degree both points of the Compass are under the Square, and you are now dealing only with the moral and political meaning of the symbols, and not with their philosophical and spiritual meanings, still the divine ever mingles with the human; with the earthly the spiritual intermixes; and there is something spiritual in the commonest duties of life.

Corn, Wine and Oil

Corn, wine and oil

Corn, wine and oil were the wages paid our ancient brethren. They were the “master’s wages” of the days of King Solomon. Masons of this day receive no material wages for their labors; the work done in a lodge is paid for only in coin of the heart. But those wages are no less real. They may sprout as does the grain, strengthen as does the wine, nourish as does the oil. How much we receive, what we do with our wages, depends entirely on our Masonic work. A brother obtains from his lodge and from his Order only what he puts into it. Our ancient brethren were paid for physical labors. Whether their wages were paid for work performed upon the mountains and in the quarries, or whether they received corn, wine and oil because they labored in the fields and vineyards, it was true then, and it is true now, that only “in the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread” To receive the equivalent of corn, wine and oil, a brother must labor. He must till the fields of his own heart or build the temple of his own “House not made with hands.” He must give labor to his neighbor or carry stones for his brother’s temple.

More on Corn, Wine and Oil.

Covering of a Lodge

The Covering of a Lodge is no less than the clouded canopy or star-decked heaven where all good Masons hope at last to arrive by aid of that theological ladder which Jacob, in his vision, saw, reaching from earth to heaven, three principal rounds of which are denominated Faith, Hope and Charity, which admonish us to have faith in God, hope of immortality and charity for all mankind. The greatest of these is Charity; for Faith may be lost in sight, Hope ends in fruition, but Charity extends beyond the grave, through the boundless realms of eternity.

Ear of Corn

Ear of corn, which is a technical expression in Freemasonry, has been sometimes ignorantly displaced by a sheaf of wheat. This was done under the mistaken supposition that corn refers only to Indian maize, which was unknown to the ancients. But corn is a generic word, and includes wheat and every other kind of grain. This is its legitimate English meaning, and hence an ear of corn, which is an old expression, and the right one, would denote a stalk, but not a sheaf of wheat. From Mackley’s Encyclopedia.

Faith

The first rung in the theological ladder, Faith in Freemasonry is defined as “the evidence of things not seen.” No less important than Hope and Charity, Faith is one of the first essential qualities essential to the qualification of a candidate.

Read more on Faith in Freemasonry.

Gavel, Common

The Common Gavel is an instrument used by operative Masons to break off the rough and superfluous parts of stones, the better to fit them for the builder’s use. But, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for more noble and glorious purpose of divesting their hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life; thereby fitting their minds as living stones for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Globes, The

The principal use of Globes in Freemasonry, besides serving as maps to distinguish the outward parts of the earth and the situation of the fixed stars, is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising from the annual revolution of the earth around the sun and its diurnal rotation upon its own axis. They are valuable instruments for improving the mind and giving it the most distinct idea of any problem or proposition, as well as for enabling it to solve the same. Contemplating these bodies, Freemasons are inspired with a due reverence for the Deity and His works and are induced to encourage the studies of astronomy, geography, navigation, and the arts dependent upon them, by which society has been so much benefited.

Great Architect of the Universe, The

The title applied in the technical language of Freemasonry to the Deity.

More on the GAotU.

Great Work, The

What is the Great Work? The easiest way to define what it is is to say that The Great Work is the quest for knowledge that ends in wisdom.

More on The Great Work.

Holy of Holies (Sanctum Sanctorum)

Sanctum Sanctorum

A Latin term that may be literally translated translated as “Holy of Holies.” This term is used to describe the innermost chamber of King Solomon’s Temple.

It was here in this most sacred place that the Ark of the Covenant was placed during the dedication of the temple. Masons are taught in the third degree that when the lodge is opened in the Master Mason degree that it represents the sanctum sanctorum of King Solomon’s Temple.

More on the Lodge as a Sanctum Sanctorum.

Holy Saints John

The Holy Saints John

From the Masonic perspective we are given the balanced dualism of John the Baptist on one side and John the Evangelist on the other. Represented together this way represent the balance of passionate zeal with and learned knowledge of faith forming a space to reflect on to and channel our passion as well as our education/knowledge. Individually strong, together they stand as a harnessed focus of zeal and knowledge.

More on the Holy Saints Johns.

Hourglass

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, defines the hourglass as an emblem connected with the Third Degree, according to the Webb lectures, to remind us by the quick passage of its sands of the transitory nature of human life. As a Masonic symbol it is of comparatively modern date, but the use of the hourglass as an emblem of the passage of time is older than our oldest known rituals. Thus, in a speech before Parliament, in 1627, it is said: “We may dan dandle and play with the hour-glass that is in our power, but the hour will not stay for us; and an opportunity once lost cannot be regained.” We are told in Notes and Queries (First Series, v, page 223) that in the early part of the eighteenth century it was a custom to inter an hour-glass with the dead, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out.

Incense, Pot of

The Pot of Incense is an emblem of a pure heart, which is always an acceptable sacrifice to the Deity; and, as this glows with fervent heat, so should a Masons heart continually glow with gratitude to the great and beneficent Author of our existence, for the manifold blessings and comforts we enjoy.

In Hoc Signo Vinces

On the Grand Standard of a Commandery of Knights Templar these words are inscribed over “a blood-red Passion Cross,” and they constitute in part the motto of the American branch of the Order. Their meaning, “By this sign thou shalt conquer,” is a substantial, but not literal, translation of the original Greek. For the origin of the motto, IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (pronounced “In hoke seeg-noh ween-case” from the Latin) we must go back to a well known legend of the Church, which has, however, found more doubters than believers among the learned. Eusebius, who wrote a life of Constantine says that while the emperor was in Gaul, in the year 312, preparing for war with his rival, Maxentius, about the middle hours of the day, as the sun began to verge toward its setting, he saw in the heavens with his own eyes, the sun surmounted with the trophy of the cross, which was composed of light, and a legend annexed, which said “by this conquer.”

Jacobs Ladder

Jacob’s Ladder

The allegorical tale of the Biblical Jacob and his dream (Genesis 28:10-17) within which, as Pike says, “the mason’s mind is continually directed, and thither he hopes at last to arrive by the aid of the theological ladder which Jacob in his vision saw ascending from earth to Heaven; the three principal rounds of which are denominated Faith, Hope, and Charity; and which admonish us to have Faith in God, Hope in Immortality, and Charity to all mankind.” Accordingly a ladder, sometimes with nine rounds, is seen on the chart, resting at the bottom on the earth, its top in the clouds, the stars shining above it; and this is deemed to represent that mystic ladder, which Jacob saw in his dream, set up on the earth, and the top of it reaching to Heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it. The addition of the three principal rounds to the symbolism is wholly modern and incongruous. See the three muses, below.

York Rite Keystone: Hiram The Widow’s Son Sent To King Solomon

Keystone

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, writes of the keystone, that it is “The stone placed in the center of an arch which preserves the others in their places, and secures firmness and stability to the arch. As it was formerly the custom of Operative Masons to place a peculiar mark on each stone of a building to designate the workman by whom it had been adjusted, so the Keystone was most likely to receive the most prominent mark, that of the Superintendent of the structure. Such is related to have occurred to that Keystone which plays so important a part in the legend of the Royal Arch Degree.

The objection has sometimes been made, that the arch was unknown in the time of Solomon. But this objection has been completely laid at rest by the researches of antiquaries and travelers within a few years past. Wilkinson discovered arches with regular keystones in the doorways of the tombs of Thebes the construction of which he traced to the year 1540 B.C., or 460 years before the building of the Temple of Solomon. And Doctor Clark asserts that the Cyclopean gallery of Tiryns exhibits lancet-shaped arches almost as old as the time of Abraham. In fact, in the Solomonic era, the construction of the arch must have been known to the Dionysian Artificers, of whom, it is a freely received theory, many were present at the building of the Temple.

Landmarks

What are the landmarks is a question often asked, but never determinately answered.

In ancient times, boundary-stones were used as landmarks, before title-deeds were known, the removal of which was strictly forbidden by law. With respect to the landmarks of Masonry, some restrict them to the O. B. signs, tokens, and words. Others include the ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising; and the form, dimensions, and support; the ground, situation, and covering; the ornaments, furniture, and jewels of a Lodge, or their characteristic symbols. Some think that the Order has no landmarks beyond its peculiar secrets. It is quite clear, however, that the order against removing or altering the landmarks was universally observed in all ages of the Craft.

Paul Bessel remarks that “more than a majority of U.S. Grand Lodges have not adopted any specific landmarks. Many are very unclear about what landmarks, if any, they have or follow”

Mackey lists the landmarks as:
  • Modes of recognition
  • Division of symbolic Masonry into three degrees
  • Legend of the 3rd degree
  • Government of the fraternity by a Grand Master
  • Prerogative of the Grand Master to preside over every assembly of the Craft
  • Prerogative of the Grand Master to grant dispensations for conferring the degrees at irregular times
  • Prerogative of the Grand Master to give dispensations for opening and holding Lodges
  • Prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight
  • Necessity for Masons to congregate in Lodges
  • Government of lodges by a Master and 2 Wardens
  • Necessity of tiling lodges
  • Right of every Mason to be represented in all general meetings of the Craft and instruct representatives
  • Right of every Mason to appeal from his Lodge to the Grand Lodge or General Assembly of Masons
  • Right of every Mason to visit and sit in every regular Lodge
  • No unknown visitor can enter a Lodge without first passing an examination
  • No Lodge can interfere in the business of another Lodge or give degrees to brethren of other Lodges
  • Every Freemason is amenable to the laws and regulations of the Masonic jurisdiction in which he resides, even though he may not be a member of any Lodge
  • Candidates for initiation must be men, unmutilated (not a cripple), free born, and of mature age
  • Belief in the existence of God as the Great Architect of the universe
  • Belief in a resurrection to a future life
  • A “Book of the Law” is indispensable in every Lodge
  • Equality of all Masons
  • Secrecy of the institution
  • Foundation of a speculative science upon an operative art, and symbolic use and explanations for the purpose of religious or moral teaching
  • These landmarks can never be changed
Roscoe Pound lists the landmarks as:
  • Belief in God
  • Belief in the persistence of personality — the immortality of the soul
  • A “book of the law” as an indispensable part of the lodge
  • Legend of the third degree
  • Secrecy
  • Symbolism of the operative art
  • A Mason must be a man, free born, and of age
Anderson lists and defines the landmarks in his Constitution from 1723.
  • Concerning GOD and RELIGION
  • Of the CIVIL MAGISTRATES SUPREME and SUBORDINATE
  • Of LODGES
  • Of MASTERS, WARDENS, FELLOWS and APPRENTICES
  • Of the MANAGEMENT of the CRAFT in WORKING
  • Of BEHAVIOUR
    • In the LODGE while CONSTITUTED
    • after the LODGE is over and the BRETHREN not GONE
    • when BRETHREN meet WITHOUT STRANGERS, but not in a LODGE Formed
    • in presence of Strangers NOT MASONS
    • toward a Strange BROTHER

In 1950, the Commission on Information for Recognition of the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America upheld the ancient landmarks as three:

  • Monotheism — An unalterable and continuing belief in God.
  • The Volume of The Sacred Law — an essential part of the furniture of the Lodge.
  • Prohibition of the discussion of Religion and Politics (within the lodge).

Joseph Fort Newton, in The Builders (1914), defined the landmarks as:

  • The fatherhood of God
  • the brotherhood of man
  • the moral law
  • the Golden Rule, and
  • the hope of life everlasting

More on the Landmarks:

  • Landmarks And Liabilities by S. Brent Morris
  • Redefinition of the Ancient Landmarks of the Order, 1939
  • Women and the Ancient Landmarks

Moon, The

In its culmination, [the third degree] is the transition through life and death in order to be reborn anew with an understanding of the spiritual world that has always been around us but now made visible. The moon, here, is key as Yesod leads to our understanding of becoming an emblem of the reflective nature we assume in this transformation. Like the moon, we reflect the light of the Great Architect capturing what is impossible to see without becoming blinded by its radiance. This is, of course, a metaphor but no less appropriate to the change we undergo and the purpose we assume in becoming masters. Like the moon, each of us reflect the glory of the divine sun in phases, exerting our gravitational force over the tides of our interactions.

More on the Moon in Freemasonry.

Mosaic Pavement

The Mosaic pavement is an old symbol of the Order. It is met within the earliest rituals of the last century. It is classed among the ornaments of the Lodge in combination with the indented tessel and the blazing star. Its parti-colored (showing different colors or tints) stones of black and have been readily and appropriately interpreted as symbols of the evil and good of human life.

More on the Mosaic Pavement.

Mystic Tie

That sacred and inviolable bond which unites men of the most discordant opinions into one band of brothers, which gives but one language to men of all nations and one altar to men of all religions, is properly, from the mysterious influence it exerts, denominated the mystic tie; and Freemasons, because they alone are under its influence, or enjoy its benefits, are called “Brethren of the Mystic Tie.”

More on the meaning of the mystic tie.

North East Corner

H.L. Haywood, in his Symbolical Masonry (1923), defines the ssignificanceof the Northeast corner as,

When the candidate, reinvested with that of which he had been divested, is made to stand in the Northeast Corner of the lodge as the youngest Entered Apprentice, both the position in which he stands and the posture of his body have reference to such laws of the “new life” in Masonry as are deserving of careful consideration. It has long been observed, and that for the most obvious reasons, that Northeast is neither North nor East, but a midway situation partaking of both. If we recall that the North is the place of darkness, the symbol of the profane and unregenerated world, and that the East is the place of light, the symbol of all perfection in the Masonic life, you will see that it is fitting that an Apprentice be made to find his station there; for by virtue of being an Apprentice he is as yet neither wholly profane nor wholly initiate, having yet much light to receive in Masonry.

Operative Masonry

By Operative Masonry, Freemasons allude to a proper application of the useful rules of architecture, whence a structure will derive figure, strength and beauty, and from which will result a due proportion and just correspondence in all its parts. It furnishes us with dwellings and convenient shelters from the vicissitudes and inclemencies of the seasons; and, while it displays the effects of human wisdom., as well in the choice as in the arrangement of the several materials of which an edifice is composed, it demonstrates that a fund of science and industry is implanted in man for the best, most salutary and most beneficent purposes.

Orders of Architecture

The idea of divine architecture came directly from Vitruvius’s work as divine proportions were very much a consideration in every design. In his book of Architecture, in Book IV the middle three pillars, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, are described in by their physical traits for use in the temples of their celestial counterparts. From an esoteric stand point, we can start to infer much of how this translates to our work as a Freemason, building that unseen house.

More on the Orders of Architecture.

Masonic Orders of Architecture: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.

Ordo Ab Chao

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:3-4

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, defines this obscure Latin expression as meaning Order out of Chaos. A motto of the Thirty-third Degree, and having the same allusion as lux en tenebris, which see in this work. The invention of this motto is to be attributed to the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite at Charleston, and it is first met with in the Patent of Count de Grasse, dated February 1, 1802. When De Grasse afterward carried the rite over to France and established a Supreme Council there, he changed the motto, and, according to Lenning, Ordo ab hoc, Order out of This, was used by him and his Council in all their documents. If so, it was simply a blunder.

Pillars

Wisdom, Strength and Beauty

The Mason is informed that the Three Supporting Pillars of the Lodge are Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty “because it is necessary that there should be wisdom to contrive, strength to support, and beauty to adorn all great and important undertakings”: he cannot but gather from the lectures and the work, particularly of the First Degree, that the Lodge is the symbol of the World: therefore, when he combines these two conceptions and draws the necessarily resulting conclusion, he arrives at the same understanding of the ultimate symbolic significance of the Three Pillars as did the ancient Hindus–the Three Supporting Pillars of the Lodge are, considered as a group, the symbol of Him Whose Wisdom contrived the World, Whose Strength supports the World, Whose Beauty adorns the World-Deity.

From the first degree lecture, “The Worshipful Master represents the pillar of Wisdom, because he should have wisdom to open his Lodge, set the craft at work, and give them proper instructions. The Senior Warden represents the pillar of Strength, it being his duty to assist the Worshipful Master in opening and closing his Lodge, to pay the craft their wages, if any be due, and see that none go away dissatisfied, harmony being the strength of all institutions, more especially of ours. The Junior Warden represents the pillar of Beauty, it being his duty at all times to observe the sun at high meridian, which is the glory and beauty of the day.”

Point Within the Circle

Point within a circle

The point within a Circle is another symbol of great importance in Freemasonry, and commands peculiar attention in this connection with the ancient symbolism of the universe and the solar orb. Everybody who has read a Masonic Monitor is well acquainted with the usual explanation of this symbol. We are told that the point represents an individual brother, the circle the boundary line of his duty to God and man, and the two perpendicular parallel lines the patron saints of the order—St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

So far, then, we arrive at the true interpretation of the masonic symbolism of the point within the circle. It is the same thing, but under a different form, as the Master and Wardens of a lodge. The Master and Wardens are symbols of the sun, the lodge of the universe, or world, just as the point is the symbol of the same sun, and the surrounding circle of the universe.

But the two perpendicular parallel lines remain to be explained. Every one is familiar with the very recent interpretation, that they represent the two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist. But this modern exposition must be abandoned, if we desire to obtain the true ancient signification.

More on the point within Point Within a Circle.

Relief

To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Masons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the great aim we have in view. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections.

Ruffians

Hiram and the three ruffians.

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says of the ruffians, “Theosophical and occultist writers have argued that the combined endings of the three names of the Ruffians form together the mystical, Brahmin AUM, and from this they argue that Freemasonry conceals mysteries from the Far East, etc. Historians have found that Speculative Freemasonry arose in England and developed out of Operative Freemasonry which was for some four or five centuries spread over Britain and Europe; an argument composed of speculations about so slight a fact as the endings of three names is not sufficient to overthrow the massive accumulation of data collected by those historians.

Equally disastrous to the theory is the fact that at one time or another the Ruffians have had other names, and have differed in number; also, the a, u, m endings became crystallized in the Ritual after the founding of Speculative Freemasonry. In the old catechism called The Whole Institutions of Freemasons Opened, a short document published in Dublin in 1725, occur these curious sentences: “Your first word is Jachin and Boaz is the answer to it, and Grip at the forefinger joint.—Your 2nd word is Magboe and Boe is the answer to it, and Grip at the Wrist. Your 3rd word is Gibboram, Esimbrel is the answer.”

The origin of the Ruffians themselves is undiscovered; perhaps when the Ritual came to be enacted, instead of being largely composed of a set of drawn symbols with verbal explanations, they were introduced and given their names; if so, the endings may be nothing more than a form of verbal symmetry. (The subject of the many instances of verbal symmetry in the Work, along with other forms of symmetry such as 3, 5, 7, etc., awaits research; if the research were conducted according to the canons of literary analysis, in addition to historical analysis, it might yield light on the origin of the form of the Work now in use. Symmetry cannot be either coincidental or accidental, but must imply redaction, or editorship, or authorship. Bro. and Prof. David Eugene Smith has suggested that the three names are suspiciously like certain old variations on the Hebrew word for “jubilee.”)”

Scythe

The Scythe in Freemasonry is an emblem of time which cuts the brittle thread of life and launches us into eternity. Behold what havoc the scythe of time makes among the human race! If by chance we should escape the numerous evils incident to childhood and youth, and with health and vigor arrive to the years of manhood, yet withal, we must soon be cut down by the all-devouring scythe of time, and be gathered into the land where out fathers have gone before us.

Signs of Distress

In a society whose members ought fraternally to love and assist each other, it is to be expected that they should have a sign whereby they could make themselves known immediately to their brethren, in however distressed circumstances they might be placed, and thereby at the same time claim their assistance and protection. This is the sign of distress, in conjunction with a few words. He who falls into the greatest difficulty and danger, and supposes that there is a brother within sight or hearing, let him use this sign, and a true and faithful brother must spring to his assistance.

Solomon’s Temple

King Solomon’s Temple

The presence of King Solomon’s Temple in ancient thought, from the earliest Old Testament writings to the pinnacle of renaissance occult philosophy has preserved it as an iconographic representation of the path to the divine. Solomon’s temple is not a solitary place in history, used as a simple metaphor in which to base an allegorical play. Instead, it is a link in early Christian Cabala and Hermetic thought, which is just as vital today, as it was then, to the tradition of Freemasonry. Still a metaphor but a more profound one whose importance is not often explored or represented in modern Masonic thought. Looking at the ideas of this renaissance philosophy, I believe that philosophy becomes squarely linked to the past, present, and future of Freemasonry and to King Solomon’s Temple.

More on King Solomon’s Temple.

Speculative Masonry

By Speculative Masonry Masons learn to subdue the passions, act upon the Square, keep a tongue of good report, maintain secrecy, and practice charity. It is so far interwoven with religion as to lay masons under obligations to pay that rational homage to the Deity which at once constitutes their duty and their happiness. It leads the contemplative Mason to view with reverence and admiration the glorious works of the Creation and inspires them with the most exalted ideas of the perfections of his Divine Creator.

Square

Square and Compass

The square, in its simplest terms, is the element at the bottom of the iconic Masonic logo.

There is no need to say that the Square we have in mind is not a Cube, which has four equal sides and angles, deemed by the Greeks a figure of perfection. Nor is it the square of the carpenter, one leg of which is longer than the other, with inches marked for measuring. It is a small, plain Square, unmarked and with legs of equal length, a simple try-square used for testing the accuracy of angles, and the precision with which stones are cut. since the try-square was used to prove that angles were right, it naturally became an emblem of accuracy, integrity, rightness. As stones are cut to fit into a building, so our acts and thoughts are built together into a structure of Character, badly or firmly, and must be tested by a moral standard of which the simple try-square is a symbol.

More on the symbol of the square.

Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton as a representation of the ineffable name of God

In its simplest terms, it is the ineffable name of God.

In defining the form of the lodge, Wilmshurst defines the use of the Tetragrammaton as “the Hebrew name of Deity, as known and worshipped in this outer world, was the great unspeakable name of four letters or Tetragrammaton, whilst the cardinal points of space are also four, and every manifested thing is a compound of the four basic metaphysical elements called by the ancients fire, water, air and earth. The four-sidedness of the Lodge, therefore, is also a reminder that the human organism is compounded of those four elements in balanced proportions. “Water” represents the psychic nature; “Air,” the mentality; “Fire,” the will and nervous force; whilst “Earth” is the condensation in which the other three become stabilized and encased.”

Pike sums the idea of the Tetragrammaton as the personification of diety, inclusive of the ten Sephiroth and corresponding to the Tetractys of Pythagoras.

Tetractys of Pythagoras

Regarding the Tetractys, Mackey says, “the Greek word signifies, literally, the number four, and is therefore synonymous with the quaternion; but it has been peculiarly applied to a symbol of the Pythagorean, which is composed of ten dots arranged in a triangular form of four rows.”

Three Muses (Faith, Hope and Charity), the the Three Principal Rounds

Faith, Hope and Charity

At their simplest, the three muses represent Faith in God, Hope in Immortality, and Charity to all mankind.

From an article in The Craftsman (1897), it says, “it is alleged that in the mysteries of Brahma and in the Egyptian mysteries this ladder is also to be found. But this fact seems a little doubtful especially as the Egyptian mysteries little is known. The ladder is, however, to be seen among the hieroglyphics. In the Brahmic mysteries there is, we are told a ladder of seven steps, emblematic of seven worlds. The first and lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Preexistence; the third, Heaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate region; the fifth, the World of Births; the sixth, the Mansions of the Blest; and the seventh, the Sphere of Truth. Some little difference of opinion exists as to the representation of the Brahmic teaching. It has been stated that in Hermetic or higher Masonry, so-called, the seven steps represent Justice, Equality, Kindness, Good Faith, Labor, Patience and intelligence. They are also represented as Justice, Charity, Innocence, Sweetness, Faith, Firmness and Truth, the Greater Work, Responsibility. But this is quite a modern arrangement in all probability. In Freemasonry it has been said that the ladder with its seven rungs or steps represents the four cardinal and three theological virtues which in symbolism seems to answer to the seven grades of Hermetic symbolism. It must be remembered that we have no actual old operative ritual before us, and on the other hand we must not lay too much store by the negative evidence of later rituals – that is, because we do not find until then actual mention of certain words and symbolism therefore conclude they did not exist earlier. On the whole, Jacob’s ladder in Freemasonry seems to point to the connection between Faith and Heaven, man and God, and to represent Faith, Hope and Charity; or, as it is declared, Faith in God, Charity to all men, and Hope in Immortality.

Tracing Board

First Degree Tracing Board

Tracing Boards are a symbolic visual medium depicting various portions, emblems and symbols of Freemasonry and the initiatic process. Often they are used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees. In this process, they are used as visual representations of the various concepts surrounding Freemasonry. Tracing boards also function as meditational reminders of the experience of becoming a Freemason. In early lodge practice, these boards were drawn with impermanent chalk so that they could be wiped away at the completion of a ceremony. Today they come in many formats including painted, printed and digitally.

More on Tracing Boards.

Trowel

The trowel is an instrument made use of by operative masons to spread the cement which unites a building into one common mass; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of spreading the cement of brotherly love and affection; that cement which unites us into one sacred band, or society of friends and brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist, but that noble contention, or rather emulation, of who best can work and best agree.

Truth

Truth is a divine attribute and the foundation of every virtue. To be good and true is the first lesson we are taught in Masonry. On this theme we contemplate, and by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct. Hence, while influenced by this principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown among Masons; sincerity and plain dealing distinguish them; and with heart and tongue we join in promoting each other’s welfare and rejoicing in each other’s prosperity.

The twenty-four-inch gauge

Twenty-Four Inch Gauge

The Apprentice Degree tells us that, [t]he twenty-four-inch gauge is an instrument made use of by operative masons to measure and lay out their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time. It being divided into twenty-four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day which we are taught to divide the twenty-four inch gauge into three parts, whereby we find a portion for the service of God and the relief of a distressed worthy brother, a portion for our usual avocations, and a portion for refreshment and sleep.

In it’s essence, the twenty-four inch gauge is a symbol of time well employed.

Volume of the Sacred Law

Religion and Freemasonry

From The Builder journal of 1920:

“As the Trestle Board is for the Master to lay lines and draw designs on the better to enable the brethren to carry on the intended structure with regularity and propriety so the Volume of the Sacred Law may justly be deemed the spiritual trestle board of the Great Architect of the Universe in which are laid down such divine laws and mortal precepts that were we conversant therewith and adherent thereto they would bring us to an ethereal mansion not built with hands but one eternal in the heavens.”

The Volume of the Sacred Law is considered one of the landmarks of Freemasonry and Mackey defines it as “an indispensable part of the furniture of every Lodge. I say advisedly, a Book of the Law, because it is not absolutely required that everywhere the Old and New Testaments shall be used.”

He goes on to say that, “The “Book of the Law” is that volume which, by the religion of the country, is believed to contain the revealed will of the Grand Architect of the universe. Hence, in all Lodges in Christian countries, the Book of the Law is composed of the Old and New Testaments; in a country where Judaism was the prevailing faith, the Old Testament alone would be sufficient; and in Mohammedan countries, and among Mohammedan Masons the Koran might be substituted. Masonry does not attempt to interfere with the peculiar religious faith of its disciples, except so far as relates to the belief in the existence of God, and what necessarily results from that belief.” The Book of the Law is to the speculative Mason his spiritual Trestle- board; without this he cannot labor; whatever he believes to be the revealed will of the Grand Architect constitutes for him this spiritual Trestleboard, and must ever be before him in his hours of speculative labor, to be the rule and guide of his conduct The Landmark, therefore, requires that a Book of the Law, a religious code of some kind, purporting to be an exemplar of the revealed will of God, shall form in essential part of the furniture of every Lodge.”

In essence, one could interpret the idea of the Book of Law, as an amalgam of all sacred texts (in so far as all faiths are represented) or, as in some iterations of Freemasonry, as a blank book that is emblematic of all faiths including non-traditional acknowledgements of agnostics, hermetic, pagan or atheists.

Wages

The tradition respecting the payment of the workmen’s wages at the building of Solomon’s Temple, may or may not he accurate. Indeed, the probability is, that the tradition has been fabricated in a subsequent age, without the existence of any documents to attest its authenticity.

Wayfaring Man

The wayfaring man from Joppa

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, defines this phrase as:

A term used in the legend of the Third Degree to denote the person met near the port of Joppa by certain persons sent out on a search by King Solomon. The part of the legend which introduces the Wayfaring Man, and his interview with the Fellow Crafts, was probably introduced into the American system by Webb, or found by him in the older ceremonies practiced in the United States. It is not in the old English instructions of the eighteenth century, nor is the circumstance detailed in the present English lecture. A wayfaring man is defined by Phillips as “one accustomed to travel on the road.” The expression is becoming obsolete in ordinary language, but it is preserved in Scripture, “And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?” (Judges 19:17 KJV) and in Freemasonry, both of which still retain many words long since disused elsewhere.

The term wayfaring man can at times be a means to identify another mason in a public setting.

Whence Came You?

Oliver Day Street answers this enigmatic question from February, 1917, issue of The Builder magazine, saying:

Daily this question is asked by Masons without the slightest thought as to its real meaning.

It is fitting that the answer we make to it in the lodge is well nigh unintelligible, for it is about as intelligible as any ever given it or as probably ever will be given it.

Who can answer the question “Whence came you?”

Who has ever answered it? Who will ever answer it?

Equally baffling and profound is that companion question, familiar in some jurisdictions, “Whither art thou bound?”

Equally an enigma is the answer we give it. Simple as these questions appear, they search every nook and cranny and sound every depth of every philosophy, every mythology, every theology, and every religion that has ever been propounded anywhere by anybody at any time to explain human life.

The literal answer to this question can be found in the Master Mason degree, but the philosophical answer to this question rests in the hearts and minds of all who have undergone the degrees of Freemasonry.

Working Tools

Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, defines the working tools this way:

In each of the Degrees of Freemasonry, certain implements of the Operative Art are consecrated to the Speculative Science, and adopted to teach as symbols lessons of morality. With these the Speculative Freemason is taught to erect his spiritual Temple, as his Operative predecessors with the same implements so constructed their material Temples. Thus they are known as Working Tools of the Degree. They vary but very slightly in the various Rites, but the same symbolism is preserved. The principal Working-Tools of the Operative Art that have been adopted as symbols in the Speculative Science, confined, however, to Ancient Craft Masonry, and not used in the higher Degrees, are the Twenty-four-inch Gage, Common Gavel, Square, Level, Plumb, Skirret, Compasses, Pencil, Trowel, Mallet, Pickax, Crow, and Shovel.

The Masonic Apron | Symbols and Symbolism

June 11, 2017 by Greg Stewart

In this episode we look at the definition of what the masonic apron represents. Of the many emblems of Freemasonry, none is more iconic that the lambskin apron.

Alien outside of the lodge, under the tiled lodge it represents the totality of what it means to be a Mason. It’s said to be more noble than the Roman Eagle or the Golden Fleece, the Masonic apron is literally, the badge of a mason carried with him into the next existence.

Albert Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says of the apron:

There is no one of the symbols of Speculative Masonry more important in its teachings, or more interesting in its history, than the lambskin, or white leather apron. Commencing its lessons at an early period in the Mason’s progress, it is impressed upon his memory as the first gift which he receives, the first symbol which is explained to him, and the first tangible evidence which he possesses of his admission. Whatever may be his future advancement in the “royal art,” into whatsoever deeper arcana his devotion to the mystic institution or his thirst for knowledge may subsequently lead him, with the lambskin apron — his first investiture — he never parts. Changing, perhaps, its form and its decorations, and conveying at each step some new but still beautiful allusion, its substance is still there, and it continues to claim the honored title by which it was first made known to him, on the night of his initiation, as “the badge of a Mason.”

Filed Under: Featured, Symbolism, Video Tagged With: apron, Freemasonry, Video

Death in Freemasonry | Symbols and Symbolism

October 30, 2018 by Greg Stewart

In this installment of Symbols and Symbolism we look at Albert Mackey’s entry in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry on the subject of Death. More broad than a mere memento mori, or skull and bones. Rather, Mackey equates the sentiment ones passing as the entrance to eternal existence.

Mackey writes,

The Scandinavians, in their Edda, describing the residence of Death in Hell, where she was east by her father, Loke, say that she there possesses large apartments, strongly built, and fenced with gates of iron. Her hall is Grief; her table, Famine and Hunger, her knife; Delay, her servant; Faintness, her porch; Sickness and Pain, her bed; and her tent, Cursing and Howling. But, the Masonic idea of death, like the Christian’s, is accompanied with no gloom, because it is represented only as a sleep, from whence we awaken into another life.

Among the ancients, sleep and death were fabled as twins. The Greek sophist, Old Gorgias, when dying, said, “Sleep is about to deliver me up to his brother;’’ but the death sleep of the heathen was a sleep from which there was no awaking.

The popular belief was annihilation, and the poets and philosophers fostered the people’s ignorance, by describing death as the total and irremediable extinction of live. Thus Seneca says—and he was too philosophic not to have known better—that “after death there comes nothing,” while Vergil, who doubtless had been initiated into the Mysteries of Eleusis, nevertheless calls death “an iron sleep, an eternal night,” yet the Ancient Mysteries were based upon the dogma of eternal life, and their initiations were intended to represent a resurrection. Freemasonry, deriving its system of symbolic teachings from these ancient religious associations, presents death to its neophytes as the gate or entrance to eternal existence. To teach the doctrine of immortality is the great object of the Third Degree. In its ceremonies we learn that live here is the time of labor, and that, working at the construction of a spiritual temple, we are worshiping the Grand Architect for whom we build that temple. But we learn also that, when that live is ended, it closes only to open upon a newer and higher one, where in a second temple and a purer Lodge, the Freemason will find eternal truth.

Death, therefore, in Masonic philosophy, is the symbol of initiation completed, perfected, and consummated.

Additionally, Mackey’s entry on Death in the Ancient Mysteries reads,

Each of the ancient religious Mysteries, those quasi-Masonic associations of the heathen world, was accompanied by a legend, which was always of a funereal character representing the death, by violence, of the deity to whom it was dedicated, and his subsequent resurrection or restoration to life. Hence, the first part of the ceremonies of initiation was solemn and lugubrious in character, ,while the latter part was cheerful and joyous. These ceremonies and this legend were altogether symbolical, and the great truths of the unity of God and the immortality, of the soul were by them intended to be dramatically explained.

This representation of death, which finds its analogue in the Third Degree of Freemasonry, has been technically called the Death of the Mysteries. It is sometimes more precisely defined, in reference to any special one of the Mysteries, as the Cabiric death or the Bacchic death, as indicating the death represented in the Mysteries of the Cabiri or of Dionysus.

Filed Under: Featured, Symbolism, Video Tagged With: death, Memento Mori

Texas MasoniCon 2018, The Aftermath

October 20, 2018 by Fred Milliken

Good things and fine times need to be savored and contemplated before revealing. And so, I have done exactly that with Texas MasoniCon 2018. This was truly an event to be savored and reviewed and revered. It is unlikely that so many Masonic speakers of such talent can be showcased all in one place in one day. But you have to hand it to Brother Rhit Moore of Fort Worth Lodge No 148, AF & AM and his team, Gabriel Jagush, Mark McCaghren, and Billy Hamilton They did it and did it up proud.

Registration started with coffee and pastries at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning and we finished up at 5:00 PM. There were six Break Out speakers conducting workshops and three keynote speakers.

 

THE BREAKOUT SPEAKERS

A.   Daniel Pearson ~ Archetypes And Their Power In The Masonic Myth

Daniel Pearson

Pearson defined Archetypes and went on to speak about, collective unconsciousness, Jung, Syzgies, and rebirth.

He referenced Joseph Campbell’s work, Mythological Aspects of Masonry – The Hero Of A Thousand Faces and The Masks Of God.

Then it was on to the concepts of Apotheosis, Elements of the Hero and Elements of the Hero In Masonry. That led to a long discussion of the Monomyth in Masonry.

 

B.   David Bindel ~ Creativity In Masonry

David Bindel

Bindel started off his talk with the question “Who Comes Here?” He told us that was a very important question in Masonry.  Who are we? We don’t ask often enough about the symbolism of Masonry, Bindel contends. He went on to say that we need to ask the candidate what it means to him, invoke a personal story. “Who Comes Here’ imparts how important it is. What are our intentions as a new Mason? What do we want to get out of Masonry? Ask these questions of the Brothers going through the degrees.

Bindel asks, what if during the degree the Conductor had not jumped in and answered the question but let the candidate answer it? “What do you most desire?” What if the candidate answered not the Conductor?

“Masonry doesn’t need to be all things to all people, just a meaningful experience,” proclaimed Bindel.

Masons historically were builders, he went on to say. We can look at the building of King Solomon’s Temple, what building a temple means and how it relates to building ourselves. When our spiritual temple is finished God comes to dwell in us. The Temple rebuilt is a symbol of us changing our views, refining our conception of Deity enabling us to build finer temples for Deity to reside in.

“A degree is about giving an experience to a Brother,” Bindel emphasizes.

Before concluding he asked us all to remember three important points as builders:

  1. Build yourself
  2. Build Lodges
  3. Build experiences

C. Larry Fizpatrick ~ The Hiramic Legend

Larry M. FitzPatrick

Fitzpatrick pointed out that while the Hiramic Legend came into practice in 1725 or maybe even sooner in 1711 in the Grand Lodge of Ireland, that it had many ancient origins…similar allegories from much earlier.

  • Ronayne’s Exposure
  • Carlile’s Exposure
  • Prichard’s Exposure
  • Pikes Porch and The Middle Chamber
  • Nerval’s Journey To The Orient
  • Les Compag nos Du Tour de France

The Sources of the Hiramic Legend

  • John Theophilus Desaguliers
  • James Anderson who was first an Operative Mason
  • Isaac Newton – “Chronology of Ancient Kingdom”
  • Ancient Mystery Schools
  • Comacine Masters French Companionage
  • Scottish Operative Lodges
  • Turkish/Arab Legend – Nerval’s Journey to the Orient

The Legends:

  • Egyptians – Osiris, Isis, Horus
  • Babylonian/Sumerian – Tanmuz, Dumuzi, Inania
  • Hindus – Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
  • Persians
  • Greek/Romans

Fitzpatrick explained that the purpose and meaning of the Hiramic Legend is Fidelity, Courage, Endurance and Self -Sacrifice.

However, the hidden meaning is an Allegory for the Path of the Sun. There is a Zodiac Association of the 12 Tribes of Israel and the Hiramic Legend. The path of the sun through the Ecliptic is 6 months above the Equator and 6 months below.

TROPIC OF CANCER – EQUATOR – TROPIC OF CAPRICON

The path of Venus forms a 5-pointed star.

D.   Pete Normand – English Freemasonry Before The Grand Lodge Era

Pete Normand

This was by far the most detailed and long fact sheet talk about Masonry.

Normand explains that he is not talking about Scottish Masonry.

He emphasizes that 1717 is just about the birth of Grand Lodge Freemasonry. Before that time, however, there was much Masonic activity.

Freestone Masons existed Centuries before English Masonry was more formerly organized.They were artisans, sculptures with an understanding of geometry. The Romans imported builders. The Normans imported Masons. Sadly most of the Masons in London either left town or died from the Black Death Plague of 1348-1349.

Then, after the Plague, as Masons began to return to London, a labor dispute arose in 1756 between the more skilled (and better paid) Freemasons and the less skilled Rough Masons. So, the Mayor of London asked the Freemasons and Rough Masons to sit down and come up with a set of statutes to govern their common craft. These Statutes of 1356 were created by a committee composed of 6 Freemasons and 6 Rough Masons, and it is likely that these Regulations soon led to the creation of the London Masons guild, known as the Fellowship of Masons.

The Regius (Halliwell) MS. is undated, but most scholars say that it was composed about 1390, but since it is a poem, it is obvious that it was composed from an earlier version of what we usually call the “Gothic Constitutions,” more accurately called the “Manuscript Constitutions.”The Fellowship of Masons  was granted a Coat of Arms of 1472. The Coat of Arms was found all over England and proves that these Masons considered themselves a National Body.

The Fellowship of Masons was changed to the Company of Freemasons and later the Company of Masons by government edict.

Normand spoke about the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII and the Protestants. Henry VIII and the Reformation tore down the Catholic Gothic Style considered superstition. After the dissolution of the monasteries during the 1530s, the remainder of the 1500s was considered a period of “dark ages” for the Masons, because their primary employers (the monasteries) had been closed, forcing the Freemasons and Rough Masons to find work elsewhere. It was at this time that Freemasons first began admitting Non Operatives into their Lodges.

Next, we come across the The Original Account Book which was the financial records of the Guild beginning in 1619. An entry in 1620 shows that 6 men paid additional fees to become members of the Livery, Officers of the Guild. In 1621 3 of the 6 paid additional fees to become a Mason. Thus Operative Guild members were “Made Masons.” In further entries in the old account book, it becomes evident that they were being admitted into a secretive body within the guild known as “The Accepçon” (or “The Acception”).

Evidence that all this was not just a London thing was that Elias Ashmole was “Made A Free Mason” on October 16, 1646. In March of 1682 records show that Ashmole received a Summons to appear at a Lodge the next day This was about holding a Lodge not going to a Lodge, the distinction being that any group of Masons could form a “Lodge” for the day and in the future another group, some of the same Masons, could form a Lodge which had an existence of one day. Ashmole wrote extensively about Accepted Masons who were also Operative Masons.

In 1686 Dr. Robert Plot wrote the book, “The Natural History of Staffordshire.” He wrote about a manuscript of Lodge meetings and the signs of acceptance.

William Dugdale and John Aubrey described customs of Freemasonry long before the formation of a Grand Lodge.

During the reign of King James II (1685-1688) it appears that The Acception, composed of both operative and non-operative members, fearing that their meetings at Masons Hall might bring down unwanted scrutiny on the guild, the accepted Masons (both operative and non-operative) decided to stop meeting at Masons Hall in Basinghall Street, and moved their meetings to various taverns, inns, pubs and alehouses around London. Apparently, other accepted Masons were already doing the same, but the guild’s meeting hall was no longer a meeting place for The Acception. And so, at that time, The Acception, as a separate entity, disappeared from the historical record, as its members blended in with the other members of the “Society of Freemasons,” as it was often called during the 1600s.

Within a few years, by 1691, there was a group of accepted Freemasons holding a lodge on a regular basis at the Goose & Gridiron Alehouse in St. Paul’s Churchyard. Prior to the Great Fire of 1666, that venue was marked by a sign with the Musicians Guild coat-of-arms, which had a swan & lyre. But, after the Great Fire, when the building was restored, the proprietor put up a carved and painted wooden swan, with a gridiron in place of a lyre. (I guess he couldn’t find a lyre.) But, the swan had a very short neck and looked more like a goose, and Londoners started calling the place “The Goose & Gridiron,” in much the same way that others would call the “White Swan Pub,” the “Mucky Duck.”

Conclusion: Freemasonry was alive and well for at least 100 years before it was more formally organized.

E.   Brad Billings – Astronomy & Masonry

Brad Billings

Billings talked about these astronomical representations in the Lodge and Masonic symbolism

  • The Winding Stairway
  • Opening and Closing we talk about the positioning of the Sun
  • Mosaic Pavement
  • The Masonic Altar – place of Masonic Light
  • Point Within A Circle and its astronomical layout
  • Jacob’s ladder
  • The Lesser Lights

Regarding the Masonic Altar Billings pointed out that in circumambulation the right hand is closet to the Bible, the Light and the left hand represents the Sun. The answers to the four questions the candidate gives affirms that in God I am Light.

He also pointed out that the Ruffians stand counter clockwise. After the slaying they stay in a place of darkness.

F.   John Tolbert – Freemasonry is Free Thought

John Tolbert

Tolbert suggested that Masonry has drifted away from its original concept.

He says to the poor & blind candidate for Masonry, “You are lacking something. We have it for you: LIGHT.” Listen to our prayers – Ecclesiastes 12 and Psalm 133 – you are brought into a Priesthood, dedicating yourself to a spiritual path.

Even the Templars borrowed Psalm 133.

Freemasonry is free thought, a position where truth is based on logic and/or reason, not authority or revelation.

Tolbert talks about the Latitudinarians  Latitudinarians, or latitude men were initially a group of 17th-century English theologians – clerics and academics – from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, who were moderate Anglicans (members of the Church of England, which was Protestant). In particular, they believed that adhering to very specific doctrines, liturgical practices, and church organizational forms, as did the Puritans, was not necessary and could be harmful: “The sense that one had special instructions from God made individuals less amenable to moderation and compromise, or to reason itself.”[1] Thus, the latitudinarians supported a broad-based Protestantism. They were later referred to as Broad Church.

An analogy could be the battles between the Whigs and the Tories.

Tolbert also brings up William Schaw who in his Statutes of 1599 addressed those regulations which govern the structure of Freemasonry. The Art of Memory was directly connected to this ancient Statute.

What followed was a discussion of Stocism, that self control is the key to Enlightenment without which the dignity of Freemasonry is lacking.

These points were made:

  • Direction
  • Control
  • Responsibility
  • Rebels, heretics and non conformists

Freemasonry had many of the latter in its earlier formation:

  • Elias Ashmole – a free thinker and Alchemist
  • John Theophilus Desaguliers – hung around with Isaac Newton for 20 years
  • Isaac Newton – Newtonism, a new way of looking at life.

Therefore, Freemasonry is a product of:

  • Hermetic thought
  • Renaissance thought
  • Free Thinkers

 

THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

The beautiful Hall at the Fort Worth, Texas Temple where the Keynote Speakers made their presentations

Fort Worth Masonic Temple

 

  1. Piers A. Vaughan – The Magician, The Mystic and the Mason – The Unlikely Origin of the Scottish Rectified Rite

Piers A. Vaughan

Vaughan starts off with Baron von Hund who authored the Rite of Strict Observance. On the ruins of this Order rose the Scottish Rectified Rite

The Magician:  Martinez de Pasqually

The Order of Elus Colen

In the highest degree, the Reaux-Croix, the initiate was taught to use Theurgy to contact spiritual realms beyond the physical.

De Pasqually put forth the philosophy underlying the work of the Elus-Cohens in his only book, Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings, which first uses the analogy of the Garden of Eden, and refers to Christ as “The Repairer”. The ultimate aim of the Elus-Cohen was to attain – whilst living – the Beatific Vision through a series of magical invocations and complex theurgic operations.

 

The Mystic:  Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin

Here we see a mystical tradition in which emphasis is placed on meditation and inner spiritual alchemy. Saint-Martin moved away from theurgic ritual towards what he called “The Way of the Heart.”

Vaughan talks about Gnostic Philosophy and The Three Grand Principals here.

 

The Mason: Jean Baptiste Willermoz

He brought together the philosophy of Pasqually and Saint-Martin to create The Rectified Scottish Rite, also known as Order of Knights Beneficent of the Holy City or Knights Benefactor of the Holy City

 

Thus we can see the connection between Martinism and Freemasonry.

 

  1. Michael Poll – The Battle of New Orleans

Michael Poll

Poll was the story teller of Texas MasoniCon.

He recounted that Pete Normand took him to Holland Lodge No 1 in Texas named after John Henry Holland, PGM of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana. So why was Texas’ first Lodge named after a Louisiana Mason?

The Grand Lodge of Louisiana was created at the same time as the War of 1812. The final battle which the Americans won was decisive and actually occurred several weeks after the treaty was signed.

Andrew Jackson was given command of the area. The Americans did not know where the British would land. Jackson was very short on munitions. He had to pick a spot to ambush the British, but the question was how could he make the British fall into the trap? That answer will come at the very end.

Jackson set up his troops on the Rodriguez Canal 5 miles outside the city of New Orleans. Packingham, the British Commander walked right into the ambush. With the Mississippi River on their right and swamp and fog on their left it was like shooting ducks in a pond. The British were decimated. 2000 British were killed that day.

But things didn’t add up. Packingham could have sailed right by the American fortifications and into the City of New Orleans without opposition. Jackson had put all his eggs in one basket, the Rodriguez Canal. So why did the British land there? Someone, a spy, told them that they could land there unopposed and undetected and no one would know they were there until it was too late. They could sneak up on the city and take it.

Jean Lafitte

The spy was the pirate Jean Lafitte. Lafitte secretly met with the British and told them for a fee he would let them know where to land their ships in the New Orleans area that was away from American troops – a safe harbor. He then decided to double cross the British and offered his services to General Jackson along with a generous supply of powder and munitions. The offer came at a price, that Jackson would see that he got pardoned and several other renumerations. Jackson accepted Lafitte’s offer but before Lafitte could meet with the British to set them up for an ambush he was arrested and jailed by the government of Louisiana.

W CC Clayborn, the first Governor of Louisiana, felt New Orleans was lawless and disliked the Lafittes immensely. Governor Clayborn put a bounty on the Lafitte brothers plastering the New Orleans area with posters. In retaliation the Lafitte brothers put a bounty on Governor Clayborn and plastered New Orleans with posters. Alas, the government got to Jean Lafitte before he could get to the Governor. In jail Lafitte let Jackson know there was no deal unless he was released and pardoned. Jackson pleaded with Governor Clayborn to release Lafitte but the Governor stubbornly refused.

The jailer, however, against orders released Lafitte and the deal with Jackson went through. That is how the British got ambushed and lost the battle. The jailer was a young John Henry Holland who ultimately would become the Grand Master of Masons in Louisiana and for whom Holland Lodge No 1 in Texas is named. This is how Freemasonry played a big part in the Battle of New Orleans and the future prospects of General Andrew Jackson.

In 8 years Jackson would become Grand Master of Masons in Tennessee and 6 years later President of the United States.

Now you know the rest of the story!

 

  1. Chuck Dunning – Masonry Is A Contemplative Path Toward Wholeness

Chuck Dunning

Dunning started his presentation by working backwards on the 5 big words in his title.

(5) WHOLENESS

Wholeness is not just having all the parts in one place. It is peace, harmony and unity.. The Temple is also a model for each one of us. It is more than the sum of its parts or our parts.

 

(4) TOWARD

The work is never finished in this world. We are going to make mistakes, to fail. But there are two follies to avoid

  1. Unnecessary self-loathing and self-punishment
  2. Believing we are arriving at a state of perfection

 

(3) PATH

A way, one traveled a travel by others who have gone before us – the ancient landmarks

There is a three-step process in travelling or working on this path:

  1. Awareness – Be aware of all the parts, our materials and tools
  2. Understanding – How do the parts relate to each other.
  3. Action – Act by experimenting with the parts

 

(2) CONTEMPLATIVE

Mindfulness, meditation, prayer, The Art of Memory are all ways we go deeper with awareness, understanding, and action

(One) MASONRY

We don’t need other traditions. It is our own contemplative effort that reveals the depths. We don’t need to bring in outside processes to help. It’s all right here in the Craft, right before us.

Dunning then turned to the Texas Monitor and made these observations

  • In the Initiation there is meditation.
  • Masonry does not expound on the truths of its symbols (hence the need for contemplation).
  • Lodge is open on not in a certain Degree, meaning we should freely contemplate on its symbols rather than be limited in the exact words.
  • A Mason should hear, study, observe and develop these symbols for himself
  • The Charge at the opening of a Lodge – “Wisdom dwells with contemplation.”

Some other observations that Dunning made:

Speculative means contemplative – looking into symbolism

Meditation yields inspiration. Hiram Abiff would retire to prayer before designing on the trestle board.

Develop awareness, deep thinking, understanding

Action through experimentation

The Fellowcraft’s lecture on hearing and the Master’s lesson on the Beehive are examples of how our wholeness has both private/internal and and social/external dimensions.

Again: Awareness, Understanding, Action

The single word that sums it all up is….LOVE!

We find love throughout the ritual of Masonry:

  • Last tool presented to a Mason – The Trowel, to spread brotherly love and affection
  • “Behold how good it is and how pleasant it is for Brothers to dwell in unity”
  • The tenets of our profession – Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth
  • Covering of the Lodge – Jacobs ladder – the highest virtue is charity which is caritas, agape, love
  • The first tool, the 24” gauge = 3 divisions of loving effort
  • Common gavel – to use it is as act of love for ourselves and others

Love is hard work. To manage our emotions, to have a commitment to live this way is hardly easy and pleasant. Love can bring us struggle, regret, disappointment. But the mystery about love is that it has no opposite that can transcend it. We can feel hate but still do loving things.

LOVE IS DIVINE. It is the essence of peace and harmony.

Love is our:

  • Work
  • Wages
  • The Mystic Tie

TEXAS MASONICON 2019 IS ON JULY 26 – 27. Mark your calendars! 

https://www.texasmasonicon.com/

Filed Under: Featured, The Bee Hive Tagged With: Freemasonry, Freemasons, Masonry, Masons, Michael Poll

The Moon in Freemasonry | Symbols and Symbolism

September 7, 2018 by Greg Stewart

Symbolic, even among the symbols of Freemasonry, the moon plays an essential part in the esoteric nature of Freemasonry. Not a primary component of the ritual, the celestial body none-the-less features prominently in the rites and rituals of the lodge harkening back to older and more esoteric traditions.

In this installment of the Symbols and Symbolism of Freemasonry, we look at a reading on the luminous orb that encircles our planet in both a reading of Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and from an excerpt of the book, The Master Mason: The Reason of Being – A Treatise on the Third Degree of Freemasonry on the topic.

Mackey writes on the moon:

The adoption of the moon in the Masonic system as a symbol is analogous to, but could hardly be derived from, the employment of the same symbol in the ancient religions. In Egypt, Osiris was the sun, and Isis the moon; in Syria, Adonis was the sun and Ashtaroth the moon; the Greeks adored her as Diana, and Hecate; in the mysteries of Ceres, while the hierophant or chief priest represented the Creator, and the torch-bearer the sun, the officer nearest the altar represented the moon. In short, moon-worship was as widely disseminated as sun-worship. Masons retain her image in their Rites because the Lodge is a representation of the universe. where, as the sun rules over the day, the moon presides over the night; as the one regulates the year, so does the other the months, and as the former is the king of the starry hosts of heaven, so is the latter their queen; but both deriving their heat, and light, and power from him, who has the third and the greatest light, the master of heaven and earth controls them both.

From The Master Mason

In its culmination, [the third degree] is the transition through life and death in order to be reborn anew with an understanding of the spiritual world that has always been around us but now made visible. The moon, here, is key as Yesod leads to our understanding of becoming an emblem of the reflective nature we assume in this transformation. Like the moon, we reflect the light of the Great Architect capturing what is impossible to see without becoming blinded by its radiance. This is, of course, a metaphor but no less appropriate to the change we undergo and the purpose we assume in becoming masters. Like the moon, each of us reflect the glory of the divine sun in phases, exerting our gravitational force over the tides of our interactions.

Filed Under: Featured, Symbolism Tagged With: Freemasonry, Symbolism

Texas Masonicon

July 31, 2018 by Fred Milliken

What is Texas Masonicon? Here is how they tell it:

In their efforts to seek more light, the brethren of Fort Worth Lodge #148 began a tradition of bringing in guest speakers for Masonic educational talks. Talk after talk, our membership flourished and was enriched. After how much we have enjoyed the benefits of this program, we have decided to share this experience with other brothers who desire to seek more light.

Masonic education is a critical component to every brother’s journey in the Craft. However, it can be extremely hard to come by, even though our fraternity is filled with extraordinary speakers who will gladly share their research. We felt it was our responsibility to share the results of our educational program and create a Masonic educational event that would benefit the Craft on a larger scale. The location? The Fort Worth Masonic Temple.

They’re calling it: Texas MasoniCon

The last two Aprils Ezekiel Bates Lodge in Attleboro, Massachusetts has held a Masonicon. It is generally an all-day event of Masonic speakers from different parts of the country gathered together to make presentations and includes followup workshops and group participation.

PM of Fort Worth Lodge #148, Rhit Moore, will tell you that this is a team effort. But we know he is one of the driving forces behind this Masonic Conference. We have chronicled the accomplishments of Moore here on Freemason Information before: https://freemasoninformation.com/2018/02/the-secret-of-a-successful-lodge/

PM Rhit Moore

Fort Worth, Texas Masonic Temple

Texas MasoniCon is intended to be an annual Masonic educational conference, and will bring together interested Brothers looking for more light in Masonry with knowledgeable authors and dignitaries from around the country.

Their keynote speakers for their inaugural convention will be three distinguished Masonic authors: Bro. Michael Poll is the founder of Cornerstone Publishing, V.E. Piers Vaughan is Past Grand High Priest of New York, and Bro. Chuck Dunning is the founding Superintendent of the Academy of Reflection.

 

Michael Poll

MICHAEL POLL

Michael R. Poll is the owner of Cornerstone Book Publishers. He is a Founding Fellow and Past President of The Masonic Society, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society and Fellow of the Maine Lodge of Research. and a contributor to Heredom, the publication of the Scottish Rite Research Society.

A New York Times Bestselling writer and publisher, he is a prolific writer, editor and publisher of Masonic and esoteric books, having published over 200 titles.

Piers Vaughn

PIERS VAUGHAN

Very Excellent Piers Vaughan is a Past Grand High Priest for New York Grand Chapter. His Masonic membership began in England in 1979, and he joined a number of Orders before joining St. John’s Lodge No. 1 in New York. He has traveled extensively across the USA and in many countries abroad giving lectures on a number of topics, ranging from history to talks on the symbols and esotericism of Masonry. An interest in 18th Century French Masonic Ritual led him to translate a number of important treatises and rituals into English.

V.E. Bro. Vaughan has written the Capitular Development Course, and Renaissance Man & Mason.

 

Chuck Dunning

CHUCK DUNNING

Chuck Dunning has been a Master Mason since 1988, is a member of Blue Lodges and Scottish Rite Valleys in both Texas and Oklahoma, and also belongs to a number of Masonic research societies. In the Scottish Rite, Chuck is a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, Director of Education for the Guthrie Valley in Oklahoma, and a Class Director for the Fort Worth Valley in Texas. In 2012 he became the founding Superintendent of the Academy of Reflection, which is a chartered organization for Scottish Rite Masons wanting to integrate contemplative practice with their Masonic experience.

Bro. Dunning has authored Contemplative Masonry: Basic Applications of Mindfulness, Meditation, and Imagery for the Craft.

Their guest speakers are experts in Masonic leadership and education. They are:

  • Brad Billings – PM, Texas Lodge of Research

  • David Bindel – PM, Jewel P. Lightfoot Lodge

  • Larry Fitzpatrick – Past Grand Orator, GL of TX

  • Pete Normand – PM, Texas Lodge of Research

  • Roberto Sanchez – author The True Masonic Experience

  • John Tolbert – past DDGM

It is events like this one that is educating a new batch of leaders for the Masonic Fraternity of tomorrow. It is also a way of holding first rate Masonic Conferences that seems to be popular and catching on all across the U.S.A. There is a new day dawning on Freemasonry in America. American Masonry is becoming more national and less parochial in its outlook and that is helping it keep up with the 21st Century and the Information Age.

If you haven’t been to a Masonicon try it. You’ll like it!

Filed Under: Featured, The Bee Hive Tagged With: American Freemasonry, Freemasonry, Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Texas AF & AM, Masonry, Masons

Ben Wallace & The Middle Chamber Masonic Education Program Of North Carolina

June 7, 2018 by Fred Milliken

Sophia Lodge

WB Ben Wallace always knew that there were deeper meanings embedded in Masonry, it just took him awhile to find them. And when he did, there was no stopping him from organizing and promoting esoteric, philosophical Masonry across the entire state of North Carolina.

First, he had to found North Carolina’s first Traditional Observance Lodge, Sophia Lodge.

Next through his TO experience, becoming Master at Wilkerson College Lodge No 760, North Carolina’s Research Lodge, and then Chairman of the North Carolina Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Education he developed a 3-hour presentation of the Allegory and Symbolism of the Three Degrees. With permission from the Grand Master, he toured North Carolina giving this presentation for three years.

But Ben Wallace was not done with promoting esoteric and philosophical Masonry. He had a burning desire to take it to the next step. And the next step was to morph his Allegory and Symbolism lecture into a full-blown program sanctioned and offered by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina. Thus, was born North Carolina’s Middle Chamber Masonic Education Program.

This program is given quarterly for a full year.

Part One is an Introduction to Masonic Allegories and Symbols, the original Wallace lecture. It became known as “The Hook” because it was given to interested Brethren free of charge to give them an overview of what was coming. After that, any Brother wishing to take the next step had to sign up with the Grand Secretary and pay the sum of $150. That payment included the “Big Five,” 5 books chosen for the course. They are:

Ben Wallace

  • The Meaning of Masonry by Wilmshurst
  • Freemasonry Its Hidden Meaning by Steinmetz
  • The Way of the Craftsman by MacNulty
  • Contemplative Masonry by Dunning
  • The Rough and Rugged Road by Hornsby

So, the first quarter is The Hook.

The second quarter is the 1st Degree, The Physical Nature of Man, our interactions with the physical world

The third quarter the 2nd Degree, The Psychical Nature of Man – Psychology and “mind stuff.”

The fourth quarter is the 3rd Degree, The Spiritual Nature of Man, the spiritual aspect of the student.

It takes a whole year to graduate but Wallace says even this is too fast.

We don’t want to give away any more of this great program because the rest of the story is in the video. Don’t miss it!!

Ben Wallace

Filed Under: Featured, The Bee Hive Tagged With: Freemasonry, Freemasons, Masonry, Masons

Ouroboros | Symbols and Symbolism

June 2, 2018 by Greg Stewart

In this edition of Symbols and Symbolism, we look at a reading on the Ouroboros, that serpent devouring its tail as a representation of eternity and the passage of time. This symbol, while existing in a mainstream context, is little known outside of most esoteric and occult circles. Its use triggers very specific meanings for those utilizing it as part of their overall allegorical narrative.

You can find more installments here: Symbols & Symbolism and on YouTube.

This symbol appears principally among the Gnostics and is depicted as a dragon, snake or serpent biting its own tail. In the broadest sense, it is symbolic of time and of the continuity of life. It sometimes bears the caption Hen to pan—’The One, the All’, as in the Codex Marcianus, for instance, of the 2nd century A.D. It has also been explained as the union between the chthonian principle as represented by the serpent and the celestial principle as signified by the bird (a synthesis which can also be applied to the dragon). Ruland contends that this proves that it is a variant of the symbol for Mercury—the duplex god. In some versions of the Ouroboros, the body is half light and half dark, alluding in this way to the successive counterbalancing of opposing principles as illustrated in the Chinese Yang-Yin symbol for instance. Evola asserts that it represents the dissolution of the body, or the universal serpent which (to quote the Gnostic saying) ‘passes through all things’. Poison, the viper and the universal solvent are all symbols of the undifferentiated—of the ‘unchanging law’ which moves through all things, linking them by a common bond. Both the dragon and the bull are symbolic antagonists of the solar hero. The ouroboros biting its own tail is symbolic of self-fecundation, or the primitive idea of a self-sufficient Nature—a Nature, that is, which, à la Nietzsche, continually returns, within a cyclic pattern, to its own beginning. There is a Venetian manuscript on alchemy which depicts the Ouroboros with its body half-black (symbolizing earth and night) and half-white (denoting heaven and light).

Filed Under: Featured, Symbolism Tagged With: Gnostics, God, Symbolism

Masonic Authors

Below is an incomplete list of Masonic authors, writers who have written intimately about Freemasonry and a list of their notable works. Authors who have had interviews on Freemason Information are linked accordingly. Missed an author, or a favorite masonic book? Let us know in the comments at the bottom. If you’re a book publisher with a work about Freemasonry, contact us here to let us know.

We encourage you, in your journey into Freemasonry, to explore the many written works about the fraternity to broaden your understanding of the symbols, history and meaning of the Masonic tradition.

Masonic Authors and their Work

Baigent, Michael

  • The Temple and the Lodge. New York: Arcade Publishing, (1989) with Richard Leigh

Barber, Malcolm

  • Trial of the Templars, The (1978)
  • New Knighthood, The (1995)

Barton, David

  • The Question of Freemasonry and the Founding Fathers (2005)

Bauer, Alain

  • Isaac Newton’s Freemasonry: The Alchemy of Science and Mysticism (2007) with Ariel Godwin

Bullock, Steven C.*

  • Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840 (1996)

Bersniak, Daniel

  • Symbols of Freemasonry

Bizzack, John

  • Island Freemasonry (2017)

Blight, Reynold E.

  • Freemasonry at a Glance: Answers to 555 Questions (2011)

Bogdan, Henrik

  • Handbook of Freemasonry (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion) (2014) with Jan A. M. Snoek

Bradley, Don

  • Freemasonry in the Twenty-First Century (1995)

Brunelle, David L.

  • The Renaissance of Freemasonry: The Revival of Speculative Masonry in Modern America (2012)
Freemasonry From the Edge

Bryce, Tim

  • The Freethinking Freemason – Collected Masonic Works (2007)

You can follow the work of Tim Bryce as he explores Freemasonry on the Edge.

Buck, J. D.

  • Symbolism of Mystic Masonry (1896)

Bullock, Steven C.

  • Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840 (1998)

Case, Paul Foster

  • The Masonic Letter G

Case’s profound argument on the origin and meaning behind the Masonic use of the letter G in the East and in the Square and Compass.

Carr, Harry

  • Freemason at Work, The (1976)
  • World of Freemasonry (1984)

Churchward, Albert

  • The Arcana of Freemasonry: A History of Masonic Symbolism (2008)

Churton, Tobias

  • The Golden Builders: Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons (2005)
  • The Magus of Freemasonry: The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole–Scientist, Alchemist, and Founder of the Royal Society (2006)
  • Freemasonry – The Reality (2007)
  • The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians: The World’s Most Mysterious Secret Society (2009)
  • The Mysteries of John the Baptist: His Legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry (2012)

Claudy, Carl H.

Carl Claudy

Raised to a Master Mason in 1908, at Harmony Lodge No. 17 in Washington, DC, Carl H. Claudy  served as the Master and eventually as Grand Master of Masons in 1943. He served as the executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association in 1929 holding the position until his death in 1957 claiming authorship of nearly 350 Short Talk Bulletins.

The MSANA says of the plays:

[The plays] are not merely a means by which a lodge may entertain, but attempt to satisfy a desire to understand the inner content of Freemasonry. They accomplish this purpose by drawing aside the veils of ritual, allegory and symbol that the truth behind may shine through.

More on Carl H. Claudy

Coil, Henry Wilson

  • Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia (1961)
  • Comprehensive View of Freemasonry, A (1973)
  • Freemasonry Through Six Centuries (1966)

Cooper, Robert L.D.

  • Rosslyn Hoax? The (2006)
  • Cracking the Freemasons Code (2007)

Crowe, Frederick J. W.

  • The Concise History Of Freemasonry (2013) with Robert Freke Gould

Dafoe, Stephen

  • Nobly Born (2007)
  • Morgan: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry (2014) with Arturo de Hoyos
  • Compasses and the Cross (2008)
    Unholy Worship? The Myth of the Baphomet, Templar,
  • Freemason Connection (i998)
  • Everything I Needed to know about Freemasonry (2004)
    Sauniere Society Syposium Lecture Notes (1999)

Davis, Robert G.

  • The Mason’s Words: The History and Evolution of the American Masonic Ritual (2013)
Br. Arturo de Hoyos – Grand Archivist and Grand Historian of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, SJ

De Hoyos, Arturo

  • Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry (1992)  
  • Freemasonry in Context: History, Ritual, Controversy (2004); with: Brent Morris, Alain Bernheim and C Lance Brockman
  • Symbolism of the Blue Degrees of Freemasonry: Albert Pike’s Esoterika (2005)
  • Committed to the Flames: The History and Rituals of a Secret Masonic Rite (2007)
  • Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide (2008)
  • Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry?  (Revised 2010)
  • Freemasonry’s Royal Secret – The Francine Manuscript (2014)

Read an interview with Arturo De Hoyos: Esoterica, anti-Masonry and the Scottish Rite with Grand Archivist and Historian Arturo de Hoyos

Denslow, William R.

  • 10,000 Famous Freemasons (1957)

Duncan, Malcolm C.

  • Duncan’s Ritual of Freemasonry (1976)

Dyer, Colin

  • William Preston and His Work  (1987)

Finley, Charles

  • The Character Claims and Practical Workings of Freemasonry (2016)

Fox, William L.

  • Lodge of the Double Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America’s Southern Jurisdiction  (1997)
  • Valley of the Craftsmen, A Pictorial History: Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America’s Southern Jurisdiction, 1801-2001  (2001)

Friedman, Samuel

  • Millennial Apprentices: The Next Revolution In Freemasonry (2015)

Gest, Kevin L.

  • Freemasonry Decoded: Rebuilding the Royal Arch (2014)

Gilbert, R.A.

  • World Freemasonry: An Illustrated History  (1991) written with Hamill
  • Freemasonry: A Celebration of the Craft  (1992)  written with Hamill

Gould, Robert Freke

  • History of Freemasonry, The  (1882)
  • A Concise History of Freemasonry. London: Gale & Polden, Ltd., (1903)

Haffner, Christopher

  • Workman Unashamed  (1989)

Haggard, Forrest D.

  • Clergy and the Craft  (1970)
Manly P Hall

Hall, Manly P.

  • Lost Keys of Freemasonry
  • The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)
  • Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians
  • Masonic Orders of Fraternity
  • Rosicrucian and Masonic Origins
  • Freemasons and Rosicrucians – The Enlightened

Read a biography on Manly Palmer Hall: Manly P. Hall – Freemason and Philosopher

Halleran, Michael A.

  • The Better Angels of Our Nature: Freemasonry in the American Civil War (2010)

Hamer, Douglas                 

  • Early Masonic Catechisms, The  (1953)  written with Jones and Knoop

Hamill, John                 

  • World Freemasonry: An Illustrated History  (1991) written with Gilbert
  • Freemasonry: A Celebration of the Craft  (1992)  written with Gilbert

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica*

  • Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927. (2007)

While not an expose on the secrets of the ancient fraternity, it is a well paced analysis of its most formative period of growth across the globe.

In this podcast, from 2008, we delve into the subject matter with Professor Jessica Harlan-Jacobs who is the author of Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927.

Harrison, David

  • The Transformation of Freemasonry (2010)
  • Genesis of Freemasonry (2014)

Harwood, Jeremy

  • The Freemasons: Unlocking the 1000-Year-Old Mysteries of the Brotherhood: The Masonic Rituals, Codes, Signs and Symbols Explained with Over 200 Photographs and Illustrations (2016)

Hawk, Warrior

  • Prince Hall Freemasonry: The Secret Within (2014)

Heaton, Ronald E.                 

  • Masonic Membership of the Founding Fathers  (1965)

Henderson, Kent

  • Freemasonry Universal: A New Guide to the Masonic World, Volume 1: The Americas (1998) by with Tony Pope
  • Freemasonry Universal: A New Guide to the Masonic World, Volume 2: Africa, Europe, Asia & Oceania (2000) with Tony Pope

Herd, Robert

  • The Initiatic Experience: That Led To Your Initiation Into Freemasonry (2012)

Hinks, Peter P.

  • All Men Free and Brethren: Essays on the History of African American Freemasonry (2013) with Stephen Kantrowitz

Hodapp, Christopher

  • Freemasons For Dummies (2013)
  • Solomon’s Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C. (2006)
  • Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies (2008)
  • The Templar Code For Dummies (2007)
  • Deciphering the Lost Symbol: Freemasons, Myths and the Mysteries of Washington, D.C. (2009)
  • Freemasons For Dummies – 2nd Edition (2012)

You can listen to an interview with the author of Freemasons for Dummies on the Masonic Central Podcast from 2009.

Hogan, Timothy

  • The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual (2007)
  • The 32 Secret Paths of Solomon: A New Examination of The Qabbalah In Freemasonry (2012)
  • Entering the Chain of Union (2012)
  • Novo Clavis Esoterika (2016)
  • The Way of the Templar (2015)

Holst, Sanford

  • Templar Inferno: Knights of Rebellion (2013)
  • Templars: The Rise, Fall & Survival of the Knights Templar (2013)
  • Freemasonry: The Lost Secrets (2013)
  • Origin of the Templars: And Origin of the Vatican’s Power (2017)

Homer, Michael W.

  • Joseph’s Temples: The Dynamic Relationship between Freemasonry and Mormonism (2014)

Jacob, Margaret

  • Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth Century Europe  (1991)
  • The Radical Enlightenment – Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans (2006)
  • The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions (2007)

Jeffers, H. Paul

  • Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World’s Oldest Secret Society (2005)

Jones, Bernard E.

  • Freemason’s Guide and Compendium (1950)

Jones, G.P.

  • Early Masonic Catechisms, The (1953) written with Knoop and Hamer

Karg, Barb

  • 101 Secrets of the Freemasons: The Truth Behind the World’s Most Mysterious Society (2009) with John K Young

Keghel, Alain de

  • American Freemasonry: Its Revolutionary History and Challenging Future (2017)

Read American Freemasonry – the Noble Goal, an interview with author Alain de Keghel.

Kidd, Karen

  • Haunted Chambers: The Lives of Early Women (2009)
  • On Holy Ground: A History of The Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry (2011)

Read more about Karen Kidd and her work.

Listen to a Masonic Central podcast interview with Karen Kidd from 2008.

Kinney, Jay

  • The Inner West (2004)
  • Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions (2006)
  • The Masonic Myth: Unlocking the Truth About the Symbols, the Secret Rites, and the History of Freemasonry (2009)

Knight, G. Norman

  • Pocket History of Freemasonry (1953) with Fred L. Pick

Knoop, Douglas

  • The Medieval Mason: An Economic History of English Stone Building in the later Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (1933) with G. P. Jones
  • The London mason in the seventeenth century (1935) with G. P. Jones
  • A Short History of Freemasonry to 1730 (1940) with G. P. Jones
  • The Early Masonic Catechisms (1943) with Douglas Hamer and Harry Carr (Editors)

Kolko-Rivera, Mark E., PhD

  • Freemasonry: An Introduction (2011)

Kurcab, Michael J.

  • The Working Tools of Leadership: Applying the Teachings of Freemasonry (2015) with Michael Clevenger

Leadbeater, C. W.

  • Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites (1926)

Lester, Ralph P.

  • Look to the East: A Ritual of the First Three Degrees of Freemasonry (2007)

Lomas, Robert

  • The Hiram Key – Pharaohs, Freemasons And The Discovery Of The Secret Scrolls Of Jesus (1998) with Christopher Knight
  • The Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry (1998) with Christopher Knight
  • The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science (2003)
  • Freemasonry And The Birth Of Modern Science (2004)
  • The Book of Hiram: Freemasonry, Venus and the Secret Key to the Life of Jesus with Christopher Knight
  • Turning the Hiram Key: Rituals of Freemasonry Revealed (2005) with Colin Wilson
  • The Secrets of Freemasonry (2006)
  • The Secret Science of Masonic Initiation (2010) with Mark Booth
  • The Secret Power of Masonic Symbols: The Influence of Ancient Symbols on the Pivotal Moments in History (2011)
  • Turning The Templar Key – Part 1: The True Origin of Freemasonry (2012)
  • A Miscellany of Masonic Essays (1995-2012) (The Masonic Essays of Robert Lomas (2012)
  • Freemasonry For Beginners (2017) with Sarah Becan

Lund, Robert V.

  • The Hidden Code in Freemasonry: Finding Light through esoteric interpretation of Masonic Ritual (2016)

Read an interview with Robert Lund on his book The Hidden Code in Freemasonry: Finding Light through esoteric interpretation of Masonic Ritual

Mackenzie, Kenneth

  • Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia (1877)
Albert Gallatin Mackey

Mackey, Albert Gallatin

  • A Lexicon of Freemasonry; Containing a Definition of All Its Communicable Terms, Notices of Its History, Traditions, and Antiquities, and an Account. 2nd ed., (1852)
  • The Principles of Masonic Law, (1856)
  • The Mystic Tie (1867)
  • A Manual of the Lodge: Or, Monitorial Instructions in the Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, Arranged in Accordance with the American System of Lectures, to Which Are Added the Ceremonies of the Order of Past Master, Relating to Installations, Dedications, Consecrations, Laying of Corner Stones, Etc., (1870)
  • Book of the Chapter or Monitorial Instructions in the Degrees of Mark, Past and Most Excellent Master of the Royal Arch, (1870)
  • An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, Vols I and II (New and Revised Edition) , (1873; reprinted in 1878)
  • The Symbolism of Freemasonry, (1882)
  • The History of Freemasonry: Its Legends and Traditions, with William R. Singleton, (1906)
  • Masonry defined : a liberal masonic education ; information every mason should have, compiled from the writings of Dr. Albert G. Mackey and many other eminent authorities. 3rd ed, (1925)
  • An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences : comprising the whole range of arts, sciences and literature as connected with the institution (1927)

Read a short biography on Albert Gallatin Mackey.

MacNulty, W. Kirk

  • Freemasonry: A Journey Through Ritual and Symbol  (1991)
  • Freemasonry: Symbols, Secrets, Significance (2006)

Listen to an interview with W. Kirk MacNulty on Masonic Central from 2008.

Macoy, Robert

  • Dictionary of Freemasonry, A  (ca. 1890)

Millar, Angel

  • Freemasonry: A History (2005)

Morgan, Giles

  • Freemasonry (Illustrated Histories) (2015)
Brent Morris

Morris, S. Brent

  • Complete Idiot’s Guide to Freemasonry, The  (2006)
  • Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry?  (Revised 2010)

Listen to the Masonic Central podcast with guest Brent Morris from 2008.

Muhammad, Elijah

  • The Secrets Of Freemasonry (2008)

Nabarz, Payam

  • The Square and the Circle: The Influences of Freemasonry on Wicca and Paganism (2016)

Nagy, John

  • Building Hiram – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 1 (2009)
  • Building Boaz – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 2 (2009)
  • Building Athens – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 3 (2010)
  • Building Janus – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 4 (2011)
  • Building Perpends – Uncommon Aphorisms for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 5 (2011)
  • Building Rufffish – Uncommon Field Guide for Uncommon Masonic Education – Volume 6 (2013)
  • Building Cement – Unommonly Concrete Masonic Educations – Volume 7 (2013)
  • Building Free Men – Uncommonly Freeing Masonic Education – Volume 8 (2014)
  • The Craft Unmasked – The Uncommon Origin of Freemasonry and its Practice (2014)
  • A Brother Asks Volume 1 – Uncommon Discourses about Hiram 2018
  • The Craft Perfected! Actualizing Our Craft 2019

Listen to an interview with John Nagy on the Masonic Central Podcast:

Naudon, Paul

  • The Secret History of Freemasonry: Its Origins and Connection to the Knights Templar (2005)

Newton, Joseph Fort

  • Builders, The  (1914)

Newman, PD

  • Alchemically Stoned: The Psychedelic Secret of Freemasonry (2017)

Önnerfors, Andreas

  • Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (2018)

Ovason, David

  • Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capitol, The  (2002)

Partner, Peter

  • Knights Templar and Their Myth, The (1990)

Partridge, Christopher

  • The Occult World (2014)

Piatigorsky, Alexander

  • Freemasonry: The Study of a Phenomenon (1997)

Pike, Albert

  • Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry
  • Morals and Dogma of the First Three Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry
  • The Point Within the Circle
  • Reprints of Old Rituals
  • The Magnum Opus
  • Esoterika

Picknett, Lynn and Clive Prince*

  • The Templar Revelation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997

Poll, Michael R.

  • Masonic Enlightenment: The Philosophy, History and Wisdom of Freemasonry  (2006)
  • The Grand Orient Of Louisiana: A Short History And Catechism Of A Lost French Rite Masonic Body (2008)
  • Ancient Manuscripts of the Freemasons: The Transformation from Operative to Speculative Freemasonry (2009)
  • What A Mason Should Know (2015) with Hal Riviere
  • Robert’s Rules of Order: Masonic Edition (2014)
  • Masonic Words and Phrases (2014)
  • Seeking Light: The Esoteric Heart of Freemasonry (2015)
  • Lodge Cooking (2016)
  • Measured Expectations: The Challenges of Today’s Freemasonry (2017)

Pollard, Stewart M.L.

  • Tied to Masonic Apron Strings  (1969)

Pope, Tony

  • Freemasonry Universal: A New Guide to the Masonic World (2000)  with Henderson

Porter, Cliff

  • The Secret Psychology of Freemasonry: Alchemy, Gnosis, and the Science of the Craft (2011) with R. Gregory Starr

Porter, Joy

  • Native American Freemasonry: Associationalism and Performance in America (2011)

Pound, Roscoe, LL.D.

  • Lectures on the Philosophy of Freemasonry

Preston, William

  • Illustrations Of Masonry

Preuss, Arthur

  • A Study in American Freemasonry (2016)

Rees, Julian

  • Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained (2015)

Révauger, Cécile

  • Black Freemasonry: From Prince Hall to the Giants of Jazz (2016)

Ridley, Jasper*

  • The Freemasons: A History of the World’s Most Powerful Secret Society (2001)

Roberts, Allen E.

  • Sword and Trowel  (1964)
  • Key to Freemasonry’s Growth  (1969)
  • The Craft and Its Symbols  (1975)
  • G. Washington: Master Mason  (1976)
  • Frontier Cornerstone  (1980)
  • Freemasonry in American History  (1985)
  • Brother Truman  (1985)
  • The Mystic Tie  (1991)
  • Masonic Lifeline  (1992)
  • Masonic Trivia and Facts  (1994)
  • House Undivided  (1996)
  • House Reunited  (1996)

Robinson, John J.

  • Born In Blood  (1989)
  • Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades  (1992)
  • A Pilgrim’s Path  (1993)

Ronayne, Edmond

  • Ronayne’s Handbook Of Freemasonry: With Appendix (2014)

Schiavello, Michael

  • Know Thyself: Using the Symbols of Freemasonry to Improve Your Life (2016)

Smith, Dwight L.

  • Whither Are We Traveling?  (1962)

Smith, Rick

  • Learning Masonic Ritual: The Simple, Systematic and Successful Way to Master the Work (2013)

Smith, Thomas Webb

  • Webb’s Freemason’s Monitor (1865)

Stavish, Mark

  • Freemasonry: Rituals, Symbols & History of the Secret Society (2007) with Lon Milo DuQuette

Steiner, Dr Rudolf

  • The Temple Legend: Freemasonry and Related Occult Movements from the Contents of the Esoteric School (2014)

Stevens, Selwyn

  • Unmasking Freemasonry – Removing the Hoodwink (2007)

Stevenson, David

  • Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland’s Century, The  (1990)

Stewart, Gregory B.

  • What is Freemasonry? E-Book (2009)
  • Masonic Traveler (2010)
  • The Apprentice: The World and the Universe as One (2014)
  • Fellow of the Craft: By Wisdom a House is Built (2015)
  • The Master Mason: The Reason of Being (2017)

Read more on publisher and author Gregory B. Stewart.

Sullivan IV, Robert

  • Cinema Symbolism (2014)
  • The Royal Arch of Enoch: The Impact of Masonic Ritual, Philosophy, and Symbolism, Second Edition (2016)
  • inema Symbolism: A Guide to Esoteric Imagery in Popular Movies, Second EditionM (2017)
  • Cinema Symbolism 2: More Esoteric Imagery in Popular Movies (2017)

Read an interview with Robert Sullivan IV from 2014.

Tabbert, Mark

  • American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities (2006)

Uzzel, Robert L.

  • Prince Hall Freemasonry in the Lone Star State (2004)

Vaughn, William Preston

  • Anti Masonic Party in the United States 1826-1843, The  (1983)

Waite, Arthur Edward

  • New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, A  (1921)

Walkes, Joseph A.

  • Black Square and Compass  (1981)
  • Prince Hall Masonic Quiz Book, A  (1997)

Ward, John Sebastian Marlowe

  • Freemasonry and The Ancient Gods (1921)
  • An Interpretation Of Our Masonic Symbols (1924)
  • Who Was Hiram Abiff? (1925)
  • An Explanation of The Royal Arch Degree (1925)
  • The Hung Society, or, The Society of Heaven and Earth (1925-1926) with W.G. Stirling) Three volumes
  • Told Through The Ages: A Series Of Masonic Stories (1926)
  • The Moral Teachings of Freemasonry, Incorporating Masonic Proverbs, Poems and Sayings (1926)

Well, Roy A.

  • Rise and Development of Organized Freemasonry, The  (1986)

West, Dr David J.

  • Managing the Future of Freemasonry: The Book of Optimism (2015)

White, Kirk C.

  • Operative Freemasonry: A Manual for Restoring Light and Vitality to the Fraternity (2012)

Wilmshurst, W. L.

  • Meaning of Masonry, The (1922)
  • Masonic Initiation

Wright, Dudley

  • Robert Burns and Freemasonry (2013) by Joseph Fort Newton

Yarker, John

  • Lectures Of The Ancient And Primitive Rite Of Freemasonry
  • The Arcane Schools: A Review of Their Origin and Antiquity; with a General History of Freemasonry, and Its Relation to the Theosophic, Scientific, and Philosophic Mysteries
  • Masonic Charges and Lectures
  • The Secret High Degree Rituals of the Masonic Rite of Memphis

Canopy of Heaven | Symbols and Symbolism

August 19, 2017 by Greg Stewart

A clouded horizon and starry field of shimmering twilight jewels are often the embelishments aloft above the altar of a masonic lodge. As beautiful and mysterious as this stage dressing is, it holds a special significance in the work at hand in the Masonic Lodge. In this episode, we examine the covering of the lodge, better known as the canopy of Heaven.

Albert Mackey, in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, says:

As the lectures tell us that our ancient brethren met on the highest hills and lowest vales, from this it is inferred that, as the meetings were thus in the open air, the only covering must have been the overarching vault of Heaven. Hence, in the symbolism of Masonry the covering of the Lodge is said to be “a clouded canopy or starry decked heaven.” The terrestrial Lodge of labor is thus intimately connected with the celestial Lodge of eternal refreshment.

The symbolism is still further extended to remind us that the whole world is a Mason’s Lodge, and heaven its sheltering cover.

Filed Under: Featured, Symbolism, Video Tagged With: Freemasonry, Heaven, Symbolism

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THE FIRST DEGREE OF FREEMASONRY

The Apprentice

The Apprentice

The Apprentice is a book about becoming a Freemasons. This work explores the secrets and symbolism of becoming a Freemason.

Learn More about The Apprentice

THE SECOND DEGREE OF FREEMASONRY

Fellow of the Craft

Fellow of the Craft

Drawing from the rich collection of masonic lore, Fellow of the Craft continues the masonic path of the Apprentice through the middle chamber in becoming a Freemason.

Learn More about Fellow of the Craft

THE THIRD DEGREE OF FREEMASONRY

The Master Mason

The Master Mason

Completing the journey into the symbolic lodge The Master Mason is a formal exploration of the symbolism and allegory at work in becoming a third degree of Freemason.

Learn More about The Master Mason

Symbols and Symbolism

Carl H. Claudy

Raised to a Master Mason in 1908, at Harmony Lodge No. 17 in Washington, DC, Carl H. Claudy  served as the Master and eventually as Grand Master of Masons … [Read More...] about Carl H. Claudy

Charity in Freemasonry

In this final installment of the Faith Hope and Charity series, we consider the symbolism of charity, or perhaps better called love. It is this attribute that … [Read More...] about Charity in Freemasonry

Hope in Freemasonry

In this installment of the Symbols and Symbolism of Freemasonry, we examine the text of Albert Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry on the symbolism of … [Read More...] about Hope in Freemasonry

Faith in Freemasonry

In this installment of the Symbols and Symbolism of Freemasonry, we consider a reading of Albert Mackey's text on the subject of Faith as it pertains to … [Read More...] about Faith in Freemasonry

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