Freemasonry is a worldwide initiatory fraternity, which is broken into groups known as lodges. Although Freemasonry is publicly acknowledged, with its lodges and meeting places openly identified, its proceedings are supposedly secret. An oath is taken by initiates, who promise to keep the secrets of Freemasonry.
Freemasonry began in medieval times as an association, or trade union, of craftsmen; of workers in stone. The symbols used in today’s rites and rituals are based on items connected with the art of building. The teaching of Freemasonry is done primarily through symbolism. There is only space here to show a small, but representative, fraction of the total number of symbols used.
In the late seventeenth century there was a period known as the Age of Accepted Masonry, when nonworkers were allowed to join the established guilds and their lodges. Prior to that time there had been a tradition of apprenticeship for a would-be mason, though many workers who had not apprenticed would also vie for available jobs. Those who had been apprenticed would recognize one another through certain words and handshakes, so that they could distinguish between themselves and the cowans, who might not have been properly schooled. Gradually, however, these cowans, and even nonworkers and gentlemen, got into the lodges and some even started new lodges. By the eighteenth century, there were more nonmasons than true masons in the membership, and Freemasonry had become symbolic, or speculative, as it is today. In Robert Plot’s The Natural History of Staffordshire, published in 1646, he says that the custom of “admitting Men into the Society of Freemasons” was “spread more or less all over the Nation.” He found “persons of the most eminent quality, that did not disdain to be of this Fellowship.”
Although Masons were obliged to honor God and the Church, Freemasonry came to be condemned by Pope Clement XII in 1738. Since then the Roman Catholic Church has repeatedly excommunicated any of its members who became Masons, holding that by its beliefs and observances, Freemasonry is a deistic or Pagan religion and that the Masonic oath and the secrecy are unlawful. Yet today the Bible is always present on the Masonic altar, and a belief in god is called for. God is, in fact, regarded as the Grand Architect of the world.
Despite his earlier hostility to Freemasonry, Benjamin Franklin was elected Grand Master of Masons in Pennsylvania in 1734, with the beginnings of Freemasonry in America. By the second half of the twentieth century there were fifty independent Grand Lodges in the United States—one in each state—with a total membership of approximately four million men. In Britain there had been three degrees of advancement within Freemasonry: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. By the end of the eighteenth century this number had increased, though those three remain the basis of the Masonic system. With different Rites—Scottish, York, Cryptic, Capitular, Templar, etc.—there can be found as many as thirty-three degrees, though the thirty-third one is honorary.
Masonic rituals are held in the Lodge Room, which is furnished especially for the ritual. The officers include the Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Deacons, Senior and Junior Wardens, Treasurer, and Secretary. Outside the main room, the Tyler guards the entrance door.
Square and Compasses
The best-known symbol of Freemasonry is the Square and Compasses. The Square is a symbol of morality and was originally drawn as a true carpenter’s square, with one leg longer than the other. American Masons have got into the habit of drawing it not only with equal-length legs, but with inches marked on it, making it a measuring square rather than a trying square (i.e., a 90º measure for testing, or “trying,” the accuracy of the edges of bricks and stones). The Compasses are a symbol of virtue. The Square and Compasses have come to be the symbol or badge of Freemasonry. They are often depicted with a letter G in the middle. This G is said to stand for “God” or for “Geometry,” since God is seen as the Grand Architect.
Lodge; Lodges (used in correspondence)
Trinity (a symbol of deity)
Fylfoot
The Fylfoot, or Jaina Cross, is one of the symbols of the degrees in the Scottish Rite system. Its position, and the color of the ink used, indicates the rank of the person whose signature it follows.
Signature Marks
Here are some examples of Signature Marks, known as Characteristics, which were written as prefixes to signatures of Brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Shown are those for the Sovereign Grand Master, Sovereign Grand Inspector General, and Brother, or Sublime Prince, of the Royal Secret. Each is written in red ink.
Level and Plumb
The 24” gauge represents the hours of the day and night; the plumb rule, a narrow board with a plum line and plumb bob hanging from it, indicates the true path from which the Mason must not deviate; the gavel symbolizes the power of consciousness; and the chisel represents the advantages of education. The Square, the Level, and the Plumb are called the Immovable Jewels of the Lodge, meaning that they have set positions in particular parts of the Lodge: the Square to the east, the Level to the west, and the Plumb to the south.
Trowel
The trowel is the working tool of the Master’s Degree. It symbolizes the spreading of kindness and affection, to unite the Masonic fraternity.
Gavel
All-Seeing Eye
The All-Seeing Eye is the symbol of the Supreme Omnipresent Deity.
Ladder
The ladder symbolizes progressive advancement. In advanced Freemasonry, there are seven rungs to the ladder, representing Justice, Equity, Kindness, Good Faith, Labor, Patience, and Intelligence. For the First Degree there are only three steps: Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Skull and Cross Bones
The Skull and Cross Bones symbolize mortality and death. In Masonic Templarism, the skull alone is a symbol of mortality. The Skull and Crossbones are used in the Chamber of Reflection, in the French and Scottish Rites, as a trigger to the mind for contemplation of serious subjects.
Coffin
The coffin is part of the symbolism of the Third Degree; this is part of the palingenesis, the symbolical death and rebirth motif.
Winding Stairs
The symbol of the Winding Stairs was adopted by the Freemasons of the eighteenth century and introduced into the Fellow Craft’s Degree in the American Rite. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the Winding Stairs are known as cochleus, a spiral staircase. The number of steps have varied: five, seven, fifteen, thirty-eight, etc. The Candidate for the degree climbs the stairs, pausing at intervals to receive further knowledge.
Broken Column
Part of the Third-Degree symbolism is known as the Monument and shows the scene of a weeping virgin holding a sprig of acacia in one hand and an urn in the other, with a broken column before her. On the column rests a copy of the Book of Constitutions (the rules and regulations for the government of the fraternity of Freemasons). Behind her, Time tries to disentangle her hair. Each component of the scene is part of the complex symbolism of Freemasonry.
Ark, or Substitute Ark
The Ark, or Substitute Ark, is used in the ceremonies of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, and in a Council of Select Masters according to the American system. It is based on the Ark of the Covenant.
Apron
According to the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Kindred Sciences, written by Albert G. Mackey and revised and enlarged by Robert I. Clegg, “There is no one of the symbols of Speculative Freemasonry more important in its teachings, or more interesting in its history, than the lambskin, or white leather apron.” It is the first gift received by a neophyte. Initially varying in form, according to the whim of the owner, in 1813 the Union of Grand Lodges established a standard for color, material, and size. Other than blue edging and, for some degrees, three rosettes, the apron should be plain. This was in sharp contrast to earlier ones, which were frequently smothered in painted or embroidered symbols.