|47th proposition of Euclid
||Derived its name from the fact that it was
the 47th problem in Euclid's geometry. Sometimes called
problem or theorem, which are also correct. The 47th Proposition,
or problem, is to prove that in a right angled triangle,
the sum of the squares of the two sides is equal to the
square of the hypotenuse. Masonically, it is an emblem
of the arts and sciences and reminds us that next to sinfulness,
the most dangerous enemy of life is ignorance.
|- A -
||Ancient Egyptian Order Nobles Mystic Shrine (Prince
||enlightened. He was the brother and assistant of Moses,
and the first high priest under Mosaic dispensation; hence,
he was the founder of the "Aaronic" priesthood.
||The staff carried by Aaron, brother of and assistant
to Moses, as a token of his office which miraculously
blossomed as evidence of his Divine choice as High Priest.
It was afterwards preserved in the Ark of the Covenant.
|Abhorrence of Evil
||Required of all true Masons.
||his father. An honorary title given to Hiram, the Tyrian
builder. The word is used often in original Hebrew scriptures,
but it does not appear in English versions.
||father of a multitude. Abraham, earlier known as Abram,
the son of Terah of Ur, and whose name was changed to
Abraham by God, was the founder of the Hebrew race. He
was noted for his faith, for piety, and for his loyalty
||The timber of the Shittim tree, widely used in making
the sacred furniture of the Temple. In speculative Masonry,
the term is used as a symbol of the immortality of the
||The Latin accipere, receive, was from ad, meaning "to,"
and capere, meaning "take," therefore to take, to receive.
The passive apprenticeship and initiation, but after the
participle of this was acceptus. In Operative Masonry
members were admitted through course of time, and when
the Craft had begun to decay, gentlemen who had no intention
of doing builders' work but were interested in the Craft
for social, or perhaps for antiquarian reasons, were accepted"
into membership; to distinguish these gentlemen Masons
from the Operatives in the membership they were called
the "Accepted." After 1717, when the whole Craft was revolutionized
into a Fraternity, all members became non-Operatives,
hence our use of the word in such phrases as "Free and
||agreement; concurrence. To make to conform or agree;
bring into harmony. Required of all Masons in order to
attain true Brotherhood.
||An active member is one who maintains his membership
in a Masonic Lodge by the payment of his regular dues
and who takes part in the work and responsibilities of
the Craft. One who fails to do these things may remain
a Mason in heart, but deprives himself of the benefits
||earthborn: ruddy. This is the name given to the first
man in Biblical creation, and the name denotes that he
was derived from the ground.
||The Worshipful Master is the sole judge with reference
to the adjournment of a Lodge.
||One of the most exacting duties in the ethics of Freemasonry
is that a Mason shall not publicize the faults of a Brother
Mason, but shall whisper good counsel in his ear. An admonition
must be given with the language of brotherly affection,
the magic tongue of love, and with the persuasive attitude
of "mercy unrestrained."
||The lord. While this proper name is not found in our
English Bible, it occurs in several passages of the original
Greek and Hebrew texts, and is the special title of the
pre-incarnate Son of God.
||A fundamental tenet of Freemasonry is that God is supreme,
pre-eminent, and exalted above all creation, and the He
alone is to be worshipped. Throughout all of the Degrees
and in all of the ritual of Masonry God is worshipped
in adorations which are expressed in both silent and oral
||Going from one degree to the next after showing proficiency
in the preceding degree.
||In case the ballot on a petition for the degrees or
for affiliation is adverse, the Master may, if he so desires,
spread the ballot again to make certain no error occurred.
In so doing, he should state his reason for the second
spreading. The ballot shall not be spread a third time.
||Freemasonry believes that adversity should be accepted
as a test of character and met with courage and prayer.
Also, a Mason should go to the aid of a Brother Mason
||Filius is Latin for son, filia for daughter; the prefix
"af" is a form of the Latin ad, meaning to add to. To
be affiliated means therefore to be adopted into a family
as a son or daughter, a meaning that beautifully covers
a Mason's relation to his Lodge once he has affiliated
||Affirmations are a promise but only oaths are admissible
||This is the age when a man may apply to join a Masonic
Lodge. In many jurisdictions, it is the age of twenty-one
(21); in others, such as the Grand Lodge of Missouri,
it is eighteen (18).
||In conformity with.
|Aid of Deity
||A fundamental principle of Freemasonry as illustrated
in David's intercession for Solomon for the task of building
||The Latin for weapons, or arms, was arma. Our "art"
and "article" came from the same root, art meaning something
originally made by the use of the arms, hands and fingers.
The English "alarm" goes back directly to the Italian
alle arme, and ultimately to the Latin ad arma so that
"alarm" means "to arms, signifying that something has
happened of possible danger. A knock at the Lodge door
is so named because it calls for alertness, lest the wrong
man be permitted to enter.
|All Seeing Eye
||A perpetual and permanent symbol in the Lodge and work
of Freemasonry, signifying the omnipresence and omniscience
of God. An emblem reminding us that we are constantly
in God's presence.
||A Mason owes allegiance first to the Lodge in which
membership is held; and, second, to the Grand Lodge under
which the Lodge is chartered. Should there be a conflict
between the regulations of the Lodge and the supreme body
(Grand Lodge), then allegiance to the supreme body is
||An allegory is a story told through symbols, or an idea
||Analogy or comparison; a story told to illustrate a
principle. It comes from the Greek meaning "to say something
different." The Greeks called a place of public assembly
agora; from this they built the word agoreuein, meaning
speak, in the sense of ad-dressing a public. When to this
is added alias, meaning another, the compound gives us
our "allegory," which is the speaking about one thing
in the terms of something else. In Masonry we have the
allegory of Solomon's Temple, of a journey, of the legend
of a martyr builder, etc., in each case the acting and
describing of one thing being intended to refer to some
other thing. For example, the building of Solomon's Temple
is described, not for the purpose of telling how that
structure was erected, but to suggest boxy men may work
together in brotherliness at a common task.
||gratuitously relieving the poor. Solemnly charged upon
all Masons on the basis of Divine Commandments.
|ALPHA and OMEGA
||First and last Greek letters of the alphabet. The beginning
and the end of all things; the first and the last, often
mentioned in the Scriptures and in several of the Masonic
||place of sacrifice or worship. Alt, in Latin, referred
to height, preserved in our "altitude;" this root appeared
in altare, literally meaning a "high place." In primitive
religion it was a common practice to make sacrifices,
or conduct worship, on the top of a hill, or high platform,
so that "altar" came to be applied to any stone, post,
platform, or other elevation used for such purposes. In.
the Lodge the altar is the most holy place. The altar
holds the central place in the Lodge room of Freemasons.
Lying on the altar is the Holy bible, the principal Light
of Masons, which is open during the work of the Lodge.
Here, Masons voluntarily kneel and assume the oaths and
obligations of the several Degrees.
||From the Hebrew meaning "verily, truly, certainly."
One person confirms the words of another. Masonically,
answered by "So mote it be."
||In those Degrees of Masonry where the ceremonies and
instructions relate to life and death, man's journey over
the sea of life is symbolized by Noah's Ark, and the hope
of immortality and a safe landing in the haven of eternal
security is symbolized by the anchor.
||Old, time honored.
||vexation; ire; rage. The tenets of Freemasonry teach
its members to avoid and to subdue every element of ire
and wrath, or enraged emotions and malicious emotions
|Anno Benefacio (A.B.)
||Latin for "In the Year of the Blessing." Used by the
Order of High Priesthood for dating their documents. (1930
added to the current date.)
|Anno Depositionis (A.Dep.)
||Latin for "In the Year of the Deposit. "The Cryptic
Masonic date designation. (Add 1000 to the current date.)
|Anno Domini (A.D.)
||Latin for "Year of our Lord."
|Anno Inventionis (A.I.)
||Latin meaning "In the Year of Discovery." The Royal
Arch date designation. (Add 530 to the current date.)
|Anno Lucis (A.L.)
||Latin meaning "In the Year of Light," the date used
by Ancient Craft Masonry. (Add 4000 to the current date.)
|Anno Mundi (A.M.)
||Latin meaning "In the Year of the World." The date used
by the Scottish Rite. (Add 3760 to the current year until
September; if after September, add 3761.
|Anno Ordinnis (A.O.)
||Latin meaning "In the Year of the Order." The date used
by the Knights Templar. Subtract 1118 from the current
||To apply oil to, or pour oil on, particularly holy oil
as a sign of elevation to kingship or consecration to
priesthood. Hence, "anointed," one accepted by the Lord,
as "The Lord's anointed." . Comes from the custom of the
Egyptians and Jews.
||painful uneasiness. Freemasonry discourages every form
of undue concern about material things, and stresses simple
trust in God and his providences.
||In Latin apprehendre meant to lay hold of a thing in
the sense of learning to understand it, the origin of
our "apprehend." This became contracted into apprendre
and was applied to a young man beginning to learn a trade.
The latter term came into circulation among European languages
and, through the Operative Masons, gave us our "apprentice,"
that is, one who is beginning to learn Masonry. An "Entered
Apprentice" is one whose name has been entered in the
books of the Lodge.
||The badge of a Mason. Originally among priesthoods as
a badge of office and a means of ornamentation. The Masonic
apron should be white lambskin, fourteen inches wide and
twelve inches deep. It should be presented to the candidate
at his initiation and not at some subsequent time. No
substitute should be used. From the French word napron
meaning "an apron of cloth." From earliest times in Persia,
Egypt, India, the Jewish Essenes, the white apron was
a badge of honor and candidates were invested with it,
or a sash, or a robe. Its reference is to purity of heart,
to innocence of conduct. In early English, napron was
used of a cloth, a tablecloth, whence our napery, nap-kin;
it apparently was derived from the Latin map pa, the source
of "map." "Apron is a misdivided form of "a napron," and
meant a cloth, more particularly a cloth tied on in front
to protect the clothes. The Operative Masons wore a leather
apron out of necessity; when the craft became speculative
this garment, so long identified with building work was
retained as the badge of Masons; also as a symbol of purity,
a meaning attached to it, probably, in comparatively recent
times, though of this one cannot be certain.
||George Washington was presented with an apron at Mount
Vernon by the Marquis Lafayette. Many of the emblems of
Freemasonry had been wrought in the needlework upon white
satin by Madam Lafayette for the making of this apron,
and it was conveyed from Paris to George Washington's
home Lodge by Lafayette himself as a special honor.
|Arch, Holy Royal
||Job compares Heaven to an arch supported by pillars.
This is, of course, allegorical, even as is the name "Holy
Royal Arch" degree in Masonry. The pillars which support
the arch are emblematical of Wisdom and Strength; the
former denoting the wisdom of the Supreme Architect, and
the latter the stability of the universe.
||One who designs buildings.
||The art or science of building. The five orders of architecture
recognized in Freemasonry are Doric, Ionic, Corinthian,
Tuscan and Composite. The Doric order represents the West;
the Corinthian Column represents the South. The Gothic,
or pointed style of architecture, was intimately connected
with the Middle Ages, over which Freemasonry maintained
||A place for the safe keeping of records ; the records
|Ark of the Covenant
||The Ark of the Covenant was a chest originally constructed
according to specific instructions given to Moses by God,
and was the only article placed in the Holy of Holies
in the Temple. Within the Ark were placed the two tables
or tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were
engraved, Aaron's baton which had budded as a token of
his divine appointment to the office of High Priest, and
a pot of manna.
||a craftsman or skilled workmen. A skilled worker, craftsman.
A person adept at designing and constructing, an inventor.
Tubal-cain was the first notable artificer mentioned in
history. The best available of these master craftsmen
were employed in the building of the Temple.
||Branches of learning, as in the lecture of the F.C.
degree. In E.A. degree: skills.
|Arts and Sciences
||Freemasonry recognizes the seven principal arts and
sciences as: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry,
Music and Astronomy.
|Arts, Parts and Points
||These terms are used in the mysteries of Masonry. Arts
represents the knowledge or things made known; Parts,
the degrees into which Masonry is divided; and Points,
the rules and usages of Masonry.
||fortunate; happy. Asher was the eighth some on Jacob
and the founder of the tribe of the same name. In the
tribal blessings promised to him, his tribe was to enjoy
richness and royal dainties. Hence, entrusting the Masonic
initiates with the mysteries of the Order is symbolized
by the tribe of Asher.
||A block of stone from which a column, capital, or other
finished product is carved or hewn; A stone as taken from
the quarry; an unpolished stone. The Latin assis was a
board or plank; in the diminutive form, assula, it meant
a small board, like a shingle, or a chip. In this con-nection
it is interesting to note that our "axle" and' "axis"
were derived from it. In early English this became asheler
and was used to denote a stone in the rough as it came
from the quarries. The Operative Masons called such a
stone a "rough ashlar," and when it had been shaped and
finished for its place in the wall they called it a "perfect
ashlar." An Apprentice is a rough ashlar, because unfinished,
whereas a Master Mason is a perfect ashlar, because he
has been shaped for his place in the organization of the
|Ask, Seek, Knock
||The applicant for membership in Freemasonry Asks for
acceptance, Seeks for Light, and Knocks for initiation.
||denial of the existence of a Supreme Deity. No atheist
can become a Mason. Every candidate must confess faith
in God before crossing the threshold of the Lodge. This
confession is an essential element in all the work of
a Masonic Lodge.
||One who does not believe in God. The Greek for God was
theos; when the j prefix a was placed before it, we get
the origin j of "atheism," signifying a denial of the
god, or gods. The word should be distinguished from "agnosticism,"
which means neither to affirm nor to deny but to remain
in doubt; and from "infidel," which means that one does
not believe some doctrine. Christians call Mohammedans
"infidels" because they do not believe the Bible; Mohammendans
call Christians "infidels" because they do not believe
the Koran. Inasmuch as Masonry requires of a petitioner
that he believe in God the atheist is automatically excluded
from the Fraternity.
|Audi, Vide, Tace
||These Latin words form the motto often found on Masonic
medals and documents. They mean: Hear, See, Be Silent.
|- B -
||senseless talker. Freemasonry recognizes the unprofitableness
of vague and senseless talk, and forbids babbling in and
out of Lodge.
||slandering an absent party. Every form of slander, especially
the speaking of evil of an absent Brother, is expressly
forbidden by the principles and laws of Freemasonry.
|Badge of a Mason
||See Apron (above).
||Balloting on the acceptance or rejection of a candidate
is secret; small round white and black balls are used
in voting. White balls elect; black balls reject. In casting
the ballot, all members are required to base their ballot
on personal knowledge, information of the committee on
investigation, and reputed character of the candidate.
Under no circumstances are members to allow themselves
to be influenced by personal likes and dislikes of the
candidate or by a spirit of prejudice or revenge. Every
member is required to vote conscientiously for the good
of the Order and in Brotherly consideration of the applicant.
The candidate is rejected if one or more black balls are
cast against him.
||compulsory exile of one who is unworthy. The practice
of Freemasonry in banishing from its membership unworthy
persons is fully sustained by Biblical authority and practice.
||The removal of one or both shoes has been for many hundreds
of years a token of reverence and a symbol of yielding
one's self to the control and sovereignty of another.
||Operative Masonry has as its chief objective beauty
and symmetry in architecture in building of King Solomon's
Temple; speculative Masonry emphasizes the beauty of character
and the virtues of true manhood.
||Among the ancients, the beehive was a symbol of an obedient
people and an emblem of systematized industry. Hence,
Freemasonry has adopted the beehive as a symbol on industry
-- a virtue stressed in ritual and by lectures. What one
may not be able to accomplish alone may be easily performed
when all work together at one task.
||A Lodge must never be closed without a solemn invocation
of Divine Blessing.
||disposition to do good; charitableness. Strictly speaking,
Freemasonry is not to be classified as a benevolent institution;
but the disposition and practice of benevolence of the
widest and most generous scope are strongly stressed by
||sacred Book of Christendom. The Great Light of Freemasonry.
Masons accept this Book and believe in it as the Law of
God, as the Great Light of Freemasonry. It is an open
Book on the altar during all work of the Lodge, and certain
appropriate passages are used for the different Degrees.
||intolerance toward those of different creeds or religious
affiliations. Masonry has always been bitterly opposed
to religious intolerance of every kind. As an institution,
it has bee the harbinger of religious and civil freedom,
liberty of conscience, and separation of church and state.
||Symbol of light; of Divine direction in the journey
through life; symbolizes a true Freemason who, by perfecting
himself in the way of truth (knowledge), becomes like
a blazing star. In English lodges, symbolizes sun which
enlightens the earth, dispensing its blessings to all
mankind and giving light and life to all things.
||Blue is the color of Freemasonry. As the color of the
vault of Heaven, which embraces and covers the entire
earth, it is to a Mason the symbol of universal friendship
and benevolence. Expect for white, blue is the only color
ever used for decoration in a Master Mason's Lodge. The
name "Blue Lodge" designates the Symbolic Lodge in which
the first three degrees are conferred.
||A term which has grown into use over the years meaning
the three degrees of the lodge, or Symbolic Masonry. In
the early years, Master Masons wore blue lined aprons.
Blue is symbolic of perfection, benevolence, truth, universal
||strength. Comes from the Hebrew meaning "in strength."
The name of the left-hand pillar that stood on the porch
of King Solomon's Temple, and adopted into speculative
Masonry because of its symbolic meaning. It was broken
to pieces by the Babylonians and carried to the city of
|Book of Constitutions
||An emblem of law signifying that our moral and spiritual
character is grounded in law and order and that no man
can live a satisfying life who lives lawlessly.
|Book of Constitutions guarded by the Tyler's Sword
||An admonishment to the Mason that he should be guarded
in his words and actions; obedience to the law.
|Book Of The Law
||The sacred book which reveals the will of God. To Christians,
the Bible; to the Brahman, the Vedas, etc.
||A boundary, as between properties; limit
||hard metal formerly made primarily of copper, but later
of certain alloys. This metal was used extensively in
the building of the Temple.
||The term is used in speaking of Masons, and in this
connection is preferable to "brothers."
||Columns or pillars were used among the early Hebrews
to signify nobles or princes; it is from such that we
get the expression "pillar of the church." Masonically,
the broken column refers to the fall of one of the chief
supporters of the Craft; an untimely death.
||This word is one of the oldest, as it is one of the
most beautiful, in any language. No-body knows where or
when it originated, but it is certain that it existed
in the Sanskrit, in a form strikingly similar to that
used by us. In Greek it was phrater, in the Latin frater,
whence our "fraternal" and "fraternalism." It has always
meant men from the same parents, or men knit by very close
blood ties. When associated with "initiation, which las
the general meaning of "being born into," one can see
how appropriate is its k use in Freemasonry. All of us
have, through initiation in our "mother" Lodges, been
born into a Masonry and therefore we are "brothers," and
that which holds us together in one great family is the
"Mystic Tie," the Masonic analogue of the blood tie among
||Freemasonry recognizes the Divine requirement that godly
men love their neighbors and that this love should be
for all mankind. Emphasis is lain upon the privilege and
duty of special love for members of the Fraternity. There
are certain bonds and obligations in Freemasonry which
are fulfilled only in the spirit of true brotherhood.
|Building of the Temple
||Speculative Masonry was evolved from the organization
of the workmen in the construction of Solomon's Temple
and the union of operative masons who labored on that
notable and Holy Building. Much of the ritual is traced
directly back to the building of the Temple.
||From time immemorial, Freemasons have given special
attention to the interment of their dead, and the proper
burial of a Brother Mason is regarded as a sacred and
binding duty. Solemn, beautiful and profoundly meaningful
burial rites and ceremonies are provided for deceased
Brothers where such are requested by the Brother himself
or by members of his family.
||meddling persons. The principles and tenets of Freemasonry
forbid every form of whispering, talebearing, gossiping
|- C -
||A cable tow is a rope or line for drawing or leading.
A compound word of Masonic coinage combining cable (a
rope) and tow (a rope for pulling). Symbolically, it represents
the covenant by which all Masons are bound; the tie by
which the candidate is bound to his brethren; the length
of a Mason's cable tow is the scope of his ability to
go to the relief of a brother in need. In early years
the distance was three miles; in present time it is usually
considered about forty miles.
||sterile. As an expression of appreciation for the assistance
given him in the building of the Temple by Hiram, King
of Tyre, Solomon presented to him a district in northern
Galilee containing twenty small towns. The area was barren
and quite poor. Hiram gave to the district the name "Cabal,"
||Masons date their official documents in a manner peculiar
to themselves. The various dates for the different bodies
are based on important points in history.
||Among Romans it was the custom for a man seeking office
to wear a shining white robe. Since the name for such
a color was candidus (whence our "candid"), the office
seeker came to be called candidate. In our ceremonies
the custom is reversed: the candidate is clothed after
his election instead of before.
||A tent-like covering. "Canopy of heaven", the sky.
||Of basic importance. In Masonry we have "cardinal points"
and "cardinal virtues." The Greeks had kradan, meaning,
"swing on," and the Romans had cardo, meaning "hinge."
The roots mean that on which a thing swings, or hinges,
on which a thing depends or hangs, therefore anything
that is of fundamental or pivotal, importance. A member
of the Sacred College of the Roman Church is a Cardinal
because of the importance of his office, which ranks next
in dignity to that of the Pope. The cardinal points of
the compass are those from which are determined all other
points, north, east, south, west; the cardinal virtues
are those which are fundamental to all other virtues.
||East: Wisdom; West: Strength; South: Beauty; North:
||Cardinal comes from the Latin cardo meaning "chief or
fundamental." These are the pre-eminent or principal virtues
of which all others hinge. As set forth in the Entered
Apprentice Degree, they are Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence
||Freemasonry recognizes the fact that man has certain
fleshly appetites which are natural to humanity, and admits
their satisfaction in a temperate measure through legitimate
channels (marriage). Yet, Freemasonry teaches moderation,
self-control, temperateness, regularity, and lawfulness
in all carnal desires and relations.
||Instructions of Freemasonry.
||Members of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, a non-Masonic
organization composed of Freemasons.
|Cedars of Lebanon
||Among the finest and most perfect cedars ever known
in history of the world were those of Lebanon. Through
his alliance with Hiram, King of Tyre, Solomon secured
cedars from these mountains for use in construction of
||Symbolic covering of the lodge; heavenly.
||Brotherly love binds Freemasons of all countries, races
and creeds in one common brotherhood.
||The Latin caerimonia referred to a set of formal acts
having a sacred, or revered, character. A ceremony differs
from a merely formal act in that it has a religious significance;
a formality becomes a ceremony only when it is made sacred.
A "ceremony" may be individual, or may involve only two
per-sons; a rite" (see below under "ritual") is more public,
and necessarily involves many. An "observance" is public,
as when the whole nation "observes" Memorial Day. A "Master
of Ceremonies" is one who directs and regulates forms,
rites and ceremonies.
|Chalk, Charcoal and Clay
||Freedom, fervency, and zeal.
||In the erection of King Solomon's Temple, a series of
chambers were built on three sides of the Temple (north,
south and west). This building against the wall of the
Temple were three stories high (30 feet). These small
chambers were used for Temple offices and for storage.
||The ornamental tops or capitals of pillars.
||Among the most beautiful and forceful features of the
work of Masonry are the solemn and exacting charges given
to the candidate as he advances from one Degree to another.
||acts of inward love. The three great cardinal virtues
are Faith, Hope and Love. Charity as an act of genuine,
heart-felt love is so closely related that it is sometimes
employed in the place of Love, and is regarded as one
of the three great cardinal virtues. Charity in its various
implications and forms of action hold a high place in
the life of every Freemason. The Greeks had a word, charisma,
meaning a gift, and a number of words from the same root,
variously suggesting rejoicing, gladness. The Latins had
a similar word, carus, and meaning dear, possibly connected
with am or, signifying love. From these roots came "grace,"
meaning a free, unbought gift, as in the theological phrase,
"the grace of God," and "charity." Strictly speaking,
charity is an act done freely, and spontaneously out of
friendship, not as a civic duty and grudgingly, as is
sometimes the case in public charity. The Masonic use
of the word is much nearer this original sense, for a
Mason extends relief to a needy brother not as a duty
but out of friendship.
||A document setting forth a set of granted rights and
privileges given by the Grand Lodge to the constituent
Lodge at the tinic of Constitution. The Master is its
custodian, and must see to its security at all times.
The charter must be in the Lodge room during all communications
of the Lodge, preferably in the Master's charge, but it
may be on the Secretary's desk, or in the archives of
the Lodge. It should not be framed to hang on the wall.
The request of a visitor to inspect the charter in advance
be granted or refused. Should the charter be lost or destroyed,
the Grand Master or Grand Secretary should be notified
at once. Pending the issuing of a duplicate charter, a
permission, or dispensation to continue work should be
obtained from the Grand Master. In Latin charta was a
paper, a card, a map; in Medieval Latin this became an
official paper, as in the case of "Magna Charta." Our
"chart" and "card" are derived from the same root. A Masonic
charter is the written paper, or instrument, empowering
a group of brethren to act as a Lodge.
||purity in sexual relations. Freemasonry stands uncompromisingly
for the purity of womanhood and for the protection of
a woman's chastity. Sacred obligations with respect to
certain phases of chastity have been assumed by every
Mason, and he is bound in honor and under severe penalties
to keep untainted these obligations.
||To correct by discipline.
||The Mosaic Pavement.
||Faith, Hope, and Charity.
||A figure which has neither beginning nor end and symbolizes
eternity; the universe.
||To draw a circular line by the compasses; symbolic of
the boundary line of Masonic conduct. Literally encircled
||The movement is in imitation of the apparent course
of the sun, and so is in the form of an ellipse. After
the obligation the Senior Deacon with the candidate should
make all turns square. In Masonic terminology this is
the technical name of that ceremony in which the candidate
walks around the Lodge. The word 4 is derived from the
Latin prefix cireum, meaning "around," and ainbulare,
meaning "walk," whence our ambulate, ambulatory, etc.;
a circumambulation is therefore a walking around. In ancient
religions and mysteries the worshippers walked around
an altar; imitating the movements of the sun; this became
known as circumambulation, and is the origin of our own
||Perhaps no institution or organization has contributed
more to good citizenship than Freemasonry. Democratic
principles, good government, freedom of conscience and
civic liberty have always been championed by Masons. Many
of the world's great patriots and statesmen of all nations
have been members of the Fraternity. Loyalty to one's
government, faithfulness in all the duties of citizenship,
and active support of public institutions are demanded
throughout all the rituals of Freemasonry.
||Concealed, usually for some secret or illicit purpose.
In Freemasonry, illegal, not authorized. In Anglo Saxon
"helan" meant something hidden, or secret, a meaning preserved
in "conceal;" "hell," the hidden place, is from the same
word. Helan descended' from the Latin celare, hide; and
on this was built the Latin clandestinus, secret, hidden,
furtive. In English clandestine, thus derived, came to
mean a bad secret, one that must be indulged in furtively.
A secret may be innocent; it is merely something done
without the knowledge of others, and nothing is more common;
but a clandestine act is one done in such a way as to
elude observation. Clandestine Masonry is a bad kind of
irregular and unlawful secret society falsely claiming
to be Masonic. In the Constitutions a Clandestine Mason
is defined as, "One claiming to be a Free and Accepted
Mason not having received the degrees in a Lodge recognized
as regular by the Grand Lodge of the State of New York."
||The use of this term in Masonic work is based on the
fact that a special clay found only in the Jordan Valley
was used in casting the two great pillars, called Boaz
and Jachin, which stood before the Great Porch of Solomon's
Temple. This same clay was also used for casting ornaments
and vessels used in the Temple.
||Opening made by a crack or crevice; a hollow between
|Clods of the Valley
||This term is used in Masonic ritual in its Biblical
meaning and signifies the sweetness of rest for the dead
of the Lord.
||With white gloves and apron, and the jewel of his Masonic
rank. Today the gloves are usually dispensed with.
||It has always been the custom among all peoples for
designated officers, leaders, and people of rank to wear
special regalia or a particular type of clothing which
indicates a person's official position. Based on this
custom and upon Biblical examples, and for reasons of
dignity and beauty, Masons follow this practice. In early
English cloth was used of garment, dress, and shows up
in our clad, cloth, clothe, clothing. Clothing is the
set of garments, or coverings, by which the body is protected
from the weather and concealed from view. In Masonic usage
the meaning is much narrower and more technical; a Mason
is clothed when he wears the apron, white gloves, and
the emblem of his rank. The apron and gloves are also
employed as symbols, though gloves have pretty much fallen
into disuse in American Masonry.
||From the Latin culmen meaning "a pillar to support or
adorn a building." In Masonry the symbolic Significance
pertains to the supports of a lodge; Three columns are
employed; the columns of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.
The Greeks called the top or summit of anything kolophon;
in Latin culmen had a similar meaning; from these origins
come our culmination ;" excelsior, colophon, colonnade,
colonel, and climax appears to he closely related to it.
A "column" is a cylindrical, or slightly tapering, support;
a "pillar" is a rectangular support. Either may stand
free or be incorporated into the building fabric. The
officers of a Lodge are figured as columns because they
are the supports of the official fabric of the Lodge.
The Great Pillars are symbolical representations of the
two pillars, which stood on the Porch of King Solomon's
||Represent Jachin and Boaz. While the lodge is at work
the columns are erect and horizontal, respectively; while
on refreshment, such positions are reversed.
||A Masonic Lodge meeting is called a "communication"
because it dates back to the earliest meaning of the word
-- the having of things in common, the fellowship of men
engaged in a common purpose, governed by a common principle,
and participation in common interests and activities.
There is some dispute as to the origin of this word but
usually it is held to have come from communis, a Latin
term for general, or universal, whence our common, common
wealth, communion, communism, communal and many similar
words. To communicate is to share something with others
so that all may partake of it; a communication is an act,
transaction, or deliberation shared in by all present.
From this it will be seen how appropriate is our use of
the word to designate those official Lodge meetings in
which all members have a part or a voice.
||A mathematical instrument for dividing and drawing circles;
an instrument indicating the magnetic meridian.
||The compasses are emblems of virtue, the true and holy
measure of a Mason's life and conduct. One of the Working
Tools. Freemasons have adopted the plural spelling to
distinguish it from the magnetic compass. This is the
plural of compass, from the Latin corn, meaning "together,"
and passus, meaning a pass, step, way, or route. Contrivance,
cunning, encompass, pass, pace derive from the same roots.
A circle was once described as a compass because all the
steps in making it were ''together," that is, of the same
distance from the center; and the word, natural transition,
became applied to the familiar two-legged' instrument
for drawing a circle. Some Masons use the word in the
singular, as in "square and compass," hut the plural form
"square and compasses" would appear to he preferable,
especially since it immediately distinguishes the working
tool from the mariner's compass, with which it might be
otherwise confused by the uninformed.
||Sacer was the Latin for something set aside as holy.
By prefixing con, meaning "together," consecrare resulted,
the general significance of which was that by adding to
some holy object a formal ceremony the object was declared
to be holy to the public, and must therefore be treated
as such. The ceremony of consecrating a Lodge room is
a way of giving notice to the public that it has been
dedicated, or set aside, for Masonic purposes only.
||Statuere meant that a thing was set, or placed, or established;
when con was added (see immediately above) constituere
meant than an official ceremony had set, or fixed, or
placed a thing. From the same source come statue, statute,
institute, restitute, etc. A Lodge is "constituted" when
it is formally and officially set up, and given its own
permanent place in the Fraternity.
||Strife or struggle.
|Contention Among Brethren
||Whenever and wherever men are grouped together for any
purpose or a brotherhood is formed, differences of opinion
will arise, conflicting interests will present themselves
and the spirit of true brotherhood can be threatened.
Among Freemasons, every effort must be put forth to prevent
such circumstances from producing contention. Masons can
agree to disagree.
|Corn, Wine and Oil
||Three elements of consecration. In ancient times these
were regarded as the basic commodities for the support
of life and constituted the wealth of the people. Today
in the U.S. we think of corn as maize, but the original
meaning is an edible grain or cereal. The Hebrew word
for corn means "to be increased or to multiply."
||This is usually the stone that lies at the corner of
two wall of building in which certain historic documents
are placed and on which historic inscriptions are engraved.
In Masonic buildings, it is always placed at the northeast
corner, and this position is preferred in buildings for
which Masons perform the cornerstone-laying ceremony.
Beautiful and meaningful symbolisms are associated with
the laying of cornerstones as a dedication to the one
living Great Architect of the Universe.
||The ornamented slab placed above the capital of a pillar,
and extending beyond it.
||The horn of plenty; a symbol of abundance.
|Covenant of Masons
||A covenant is a contract or agreement between two or
more parties on certain terms. In becoming a Mason, a
man enters into a covenant with the Fraternity, agreeing
to fulfill certain promises and perform certain duties.
On the other hand, the Fraternity and its members bind
themselves to certain ties of friendship, brotherliness,
protection support and benefits. The breaking of a covenant
is subject to stated penalties.
||This is strictly a Masonic term; it means an intruder,
profane, pretender, or one who accidentally enters where
he is not wanted. This is not to be confused with the
word eavesdropper or one who deliberately tries to overhear
and see what is not meant for his eyes and ears. He is
a person who may seek the secrets and benefits of Freemasonry
unlawfully. The origin is unknown, but it may be early
Scotch. It was used of a man who practiced Masonry, usually
of the roughest character as in the building of walls,
who had not been regularly trained and initiated, corresponding
in some sense to "scab" as used by labor unions. If a
man has learned the work by some illegal method he is
a cowan. An "eavesdropper" is one who spies on a Lodge,
and may be such without having learned anything about
it before. A "clandestine" is one who has gone through
initiation ceremonies but not in a regular Lodge.
||In Anglo-Saxon, craft meant cunning, skill, power, dexterity,
etc. The word became applied to trades and occupations
calling for trained skill on the part of those practicing
it. The distinction between such trades and those not
requiring trained workmen, so rigidly maintained, was
one of the hallmarks of the Middle Ages. Freemasonry is
called a Craft, partly for historical reasons, partly
because, unlike so many fraternities, it requires a training
(given in the form of initiation ceremonies) of those
seeking its membership.
||The term "craft" applies to persons collectively engaged
in a trade or mechanical operation. It is used of operative
Masons and the vast number of men employed in the building
of the Temple are referred to as Craftsmen. In speculative
Masonry, the entire Fraternity is spoken of as the Craft,
whereas individual members are Craftsmen.
||Freemasonry recognizes Jehovah as God and as the Great
Architect of the Universe, the creator of all things,
both material and spiritual. And it accepts the account
of Creation given in the Book of Genesis and confirmed
by other Scriptures. To a Mason, earth and the heavens
declare the Glory of God.
||The sacred cubit is 36 inches; the profane cubit is
|- D -
||District Deputy Grand Master, an assistant who acts
for the Grand Master in a particular district.
||The platform, or raised floor, in the East of the lodge
where the Master sits. In the lodge, the steps to this
should be three. The Senior Warden's place should be raised
two steps and that of the junior Warden, one step.
||Symbolizes that state of ignorance before light (knowledge)
|Darkness to Light
||Physical darkness is symbolic of ignorance and of spiritual
blindness. Applicants for the enlightenment of Freemasonry
are, of course, in total ignorance of the rituals and
symbolisms of the Order. They are, hence, required to
enter the Lodge in complete darkness. They are in search
of Light, and this is given to them as they advance through
the several Degrees of Masonry.
||David was the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem who
was chosen and anointed to become the successor of Saul
as King of Israel while only a lad and shepherd of his
father's flocks. He served King Saul as a musician, later
as a military leader of some genius, bravery, and great
heroism. However, he was bitterly persecuted by the King
because of his jealousies. At the age of thirty, David
was anointed King at Hebron and later established his
throne at Jerusalem. He reigned forty years and was permitted
by God to make extensive preparations for the building
of the Temple which was later erected by his son and successor,
Solomon. He was forbidden by to build the Temple because
he was a warrior while his son, Solomon, would be a man
||From the beginning, the period of twenty-four hours
embracing one season of light and one of darkness has
been regarded as a day. Among the ancients, the day began
at sunset and ended at sunset the next day instead of
running from midnight to midnight.
||Comes from the Greek diakonos meaning "messenger or
waiting-man." Despite the fact that the bloom has been
rubbed off by our slangy use of it, this is one of the
most beautiful words in our language. In Greek, diakonos
was a servant, a messenger, a waiting man. In the early
Christian Church a deacon served at the Lord's Supper
and administered alms to the poor; and the word still
most frequently refers to such a church officer. It appears
that the two Lodge offices of Senior and Junior Deacon
were patterned on the church offices.
||In every Masonic Lodge there are two officers called
Senior and Junior Deacons. Their duties comprehend general
surveillance over the Lodge, the introduction of visitors,
and to serve as proxy for the Worshipful Master in certain
||The Masonic idea of death is accompanied with no gloom,
because it is represented on as physical sleep for an
unknown period of time, from which there will be an awakening
of the body and a resurrection of a spiritual body capable
and fitted for eternal life. From beginning to end, the
rituals of Freemasonry teach and symbolize the doctrine
of man's immortality and repudiate every iota of the doctrine
of annihilation at death. In Masonic philosophy, death
is the symbol of initiation completed, in which the resurrection
of the body will be its final consummation.
||The Ten Commandments.
|Dedicated to the memory of the Holy Saints John
||Dedication is a less sacred ceremony than consecration.
Hence, lodges are consecrated to God, but dedicated to
patrons of the Fraternity.
||The Latin dedicatus was a participial form of dedicare,
the latter having the meaning of declare, devote, proclaim
- the root from which "diction" comes. To dedicate a building
means by public ceremony to declare it built for some
certain purpose. Dedication and consecration are closely
allied in meaning, but the latter is more religious in
||The Latin gradus from which are derived grade, gradual,
graduation, etc., meant a step, or set of steps, particularly
of a stair; when united with the prefix, da, meaning "down,"
it became degradus, and referred to steps, degrees, progress
by marked stages. From this came our "degree," which is
a step, or grade, in the progress of a candidate toward
the consummation of his membership. Our habit of picturing
the degrees as proceeding from lower to higher, like climbing
a stair, is thus very close to the ancient and original
meaning of the word.
|Demit or Dimit
||A release; a resignation of membership; a paper certifying
a withdrawal from a lodge (or Masonic body) when in good
standing. Both spellings are used, although DIMIT is peculiar
to Freemasonry only. In the U.S. some jurisdictions use
the former spelling, but the majority use the latter,
||A group of words such as compute, repute, depute sprang
from the Latin putare, which meant (among other things)
to estimate, to think, to count among. From this came
deputatus, to select, to appoint. The idea was that from
a number of persons one was told off for a special duty,
hence our word "deputy." A deputation is an instrument
appointing some man or group of men to act for others
officially. Our Deputy Grand Master is thus set apart
to act in the place of the Grand Master on need, and a
District Deputy Grand Master is so called because he is
appointed or told off by the Grand Master to act as his
personal representative in a District.
|Desires Shall Fail
||This quotation is used in its figurative significance,
referring to the fact that in the infirmities of old age
men are no longer concerned about the carnal and secular
things of the earth.
||Lacking means, as without money or food.
|Destruction of the Temple
||The Temple built by Solomon underwent many defamations
and was several times stripped of its golden adornments
and treasures, sometimes by foreign attacks and sometimes
by Judean kings for payments of tribute. These were judgments
sent upon the nation for apostasies. The final destruction
of the Temple was the burden of many prophecies and took
place as predicted by God under the onslaughts of the
armies of Nebuchadnezzar (586 B.C.).
|Dew of Hermon
||The dews of Mount Hermon, and of Palestine in general,
were sources of irrigation, fertilization and refreshment
for vegetation and agricultural growth. The phrase is
employed as a symbolic expression of the bedewing influences
of Divine Grace.
||Book of laws of a Grand Lodge in the U.S.; sometimes
called The Code.
||'While this is not as familiar to Masons as the preceding
words, it should come into more popular use because it
is the technical name to describe an important element
in the ceremony of initiation. Calceare was the Latin
for shoe, calceatus meant shod. When united with the prefix
dis, meaning apart, or asunder, our discalceate was originated,
the obvious meaning of which is the removal of one's shoes,
as suggested in the familiar Bible passage, "Put off thy
shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground." The ceremonial removal of the shoes is
properly called the "rite of discalceation."
||Permission to do that which would be forbidden otherwise.
Pendere was the Latin word for a weight, the root from
which came many English words, notably pendent, expend,
spend, dispense, etc. With the prefix dis, explained in
the preceding paragraph, dispendere meant to weigh out,
to pay off, to expend. From this came dispensatus, meaning
to manage, to regulate, to distribute. In our usage a
dispensation is a written instrument by which authority
is made over to a group of brethren to form a Lodge.
||Physical or mental anguish. A brother in distress does
not necessarily mean that he is without funds.
|Distressed Worthy Brother
||To go to the aid of a distressed worthy Brother is not
only the aid of every Mason, but is solemnly enjoined
by Holy Writ. Masons believe and practice the Bible's
edict of "we are our Brother's keeper." A brother in distress
does not necessarily mean that he is without funds.
|Doors Shall Be Shut
||The expression, "The doors shall be shut in the street
when the sound of the grinding is low" refers to the decrepitude
of old age.
||An old man in his dotage is one whose fruit has ripened
and rotted, who has suffered the loss of judgment and
memory, and is in that state of intellectual decrepitude
which makes him incapable of comprehending the lessons
of Freemasonry; in other words, an advanced age when the
mind is no longer able to comprehend clearly. This is
not a very beautiful word but it is interesting. It first
came into existence among the early English, Dutch, German,
and Scandinavian peoples, generally in the form dotten,
dutten, meaning to nod with drowsiness, to nap. Since
it was old people who most frequently sat nodding in their
chairs it became associated with old age. "An old man
in his dotage" is one who nods or prattles like a sleepy
child, and whose faculties have begun to decay through
old age. Old age is never a bar to Masonic membership
unless it has reached this stage.
|Due East and West
||Moses built the Tabernacle due east and west, and this
practice was carried on by the church builders. The Freemason
travels from the West to the East (light) in search of
a Master from whom he may gain instruction, or light,
||A Masonic body is opened or closed in "due form" when
performed fully according to a prescribed ritual. Distinguished
from "ample form."
||A mode of recognition peculiar to Freemasons.
||In Latin debere meant to owe something; it is preserved
in our familiar, too familiar, "debt," in debit, indebted,
debenture, duty, dues, etc. Related is the French devoir,
often employed in English, meaning a piece of work one
is under obligation to do. The same idea appears in "duty,"
which means that which is due, or that which is owed,
in the moral sense. Dues represent one's fixed and regular
indebtedness to his Lodge which he placed himself under
obligation to pay when he signed the by-laws.
|Duly and Truly Prepared
||That the candidate is truly prepared in his heart and
mind to receive further enlightenment; also, properly
|Dust to Dust (or Dust To Earth)
||Man's body was made from the earth and must return to
dust in one form or another. The use of this phrase points
to the mortality and frailty of the physical being and
to the need of recognizing the immortality of the spirit
|- E -
|Ear, The Attentive or Listening
||The Hebrew word means not only to hear, but to understand
and to obey.
||From the Sun worshipers down through the ages, the East
has always been considered the most honored place because
the sun rises in the East and is the region from which
||One who attempts to listen surreptitiously; literally,
one standing under the eaves and thus gets only the "droppings."
Early European peoples used a word in various forms -
evese, obasa, opa, etc., -which meant the rim, or edge,
of something, like the edge of a field; it came in time
to be applied wholly to the gutter which runs along the
edge of a roof. (Our "over" comes from this root.) "Dropper"
had an origin among the same languages, and meant that
which drips, or dribbles, like water dropping from a thawing
icicle. Eavesdrop, therefore, was the water which dripped
from the eaves. If a man set himself to listen through
a window or keyhole to what was going on in a house he
had to stand so close that the eavesdropping would fall
upon him, for which reason all prying persons, seeking
by secret means what they have no business to know, came
to be called eavesdroppers.
||The imaginary line followed on the earth's surface by
the direct ray of the sun during the year. It niakes an
angle of 23' 27' with the equator. Jerusalem is located
in approximately 31' 30' north attitude, that is, approximately
7' 3' north of the ecliptic.
||The root of this word is the Latin dicere, speak; united
with the prefix e, meaning out, to come forth, it produced
edicere, meaniiig to proclaim, to speak out with authority.
It came in time to be applied to the legal pronouncements
of a sovereign or ruler speaking in his own name and out
of his own authority. When a Grand Master issues a certain
official proclamation in his own name and out of the authority
vested in his office it is an edict.
||A representation of an idea by a visible object; a symbolical
figure or design. This beautiful and significant word,
so familiar to Masons, has historical affiliations with
the original idea embodied in "mosaic work," on whch something
is said below. Emblem is derived from the Greek prefix
en, meaning in, united with ballein, meaning cast, put.
The word became applied to raised decorations on pottery,
to inlay work, tessellated and mosaic work; and since
such designs were nearly always formal and symbolical
in character, emblem came to mean an idea expressed by
a picture or design. As Bacon put it, an emblem represents
an intellectual conception in a sensible image. It belongs
to that family of words of which type, symbol, figure,
allegory, and metaphor are familiar members.
|Emblem of Innocence
||Throughout the Holy Scriptures, the lamb is used as
an emblem of innocence, and the white leather lambskin
apron is regarded as an emblem of purity after which Masons
ever strive for in life.
||Having a border.
||The desire to equal or surpass; ambitious rivalry.
||In Operative Masonry the apprenticeship lasted seven
years; if then found acceptable, the apprentice's name
was entered on the books of the lodge and he was given
a recognized place in the craft organization.
||The use of equivocal language, e.g., words capable of
two interpretations, cryptic, evasive, ambiguous.
||This is the opposite of exoteric. The root of it is
the Greek eso, within. It means that which is secret,
in the inner circle. Exoteric is that which is outside.
In Masonry the "esoteric work" is that part of the Ritual
which it is illegal to publish, while the exoteric is
that part which is published in the Monitor.
||The immortality of the soul is a fundamental dogma of
Freemasonry. Hence, the faith and belief in eternal life
beyond the grave. The doctrine of a future resurrection
of the body is also a tenet of Freemasonry.
||The first mathematician to Systematize the science of
||In Masonry, the evergreen is used as a symbol of the
immortality of the soul.
||The examination of a brother to determine his geniuses
should not aim at displaying the committee's knowledge.
It is a test of the visitor. He need not be able to answer
questions from the Posting Lecture. He should know the
signs, grips, and words.
||Forcible ejection from membership for such reasons as
un-Masonic conduct, crimes, etc. It is the most severe
of Masonic penalties and deprives the person of all rights
and privileges formerly enjoyed from his lodge and the
Fraternity as a whole.
|- F -
||The evidence of things not seen; confidence; trust.
||Symbolically, the initiate is instructed that the lessons
he has received are to be treasured in his heart and remembered,
and not to be forgotten; that which is told in confidence
will be so held.
||The faithful servant is one who is diligent in his stewardship,
dutiful to his master and loyal in the face of temptation
|Fatherhood of Good
||Masonry believes that man is the offspring of God by
creation, that God made mankind all of one blood and that
God is, by virtue of His creation of man and of His goodness
to man, man's Father.
|Fears Shall Be In The Way
||This phrase describes the failing of courage of old
age, the nervous and excited state of mind natural to
||In Anglo Saxon lagu (from which we have "law") meant
that which was permanently ordered, fixed, set; fe meant
property; fela suggested properties set together, in other
words, a partnership. From this we have "fellow," a companion,
mate, partner, an equal, a peer. A man became a "fellow"
in a Medieval guild or corporation when admitted a member
on the same terms as all others, sharing equally in the
duties, rights, and privileges. In Operative Masonry,
in order to be a fellow a man had to be a Master Mason,
in the sense of having passed through his apprenticeship,
so that Masters were fellows and fellows were Masters.
Prior to about 1740 "Fellow of the Craft" and "Master
Mason" referred to the same grade or degree, but at about
that year a new division in ranking was made, and "Fellow
Craft" was the name given to the Second Degree in the
new system, Master Mason to the Third.
||A craftsman no longer an apprentice who has been admitted
as full member, but who has not yet reached the status
of a master. The fellowcraft age represents the stage
|Fiat Lux Et Lux Fit
||Latin motto meaning "Let there be light, and there was
|First landmarks of Freemasonry
||Modes of recognition with no variation.
|Flight to Joppa
||The story of Jonah's flight to Joppa in his effort to
escape a Divinely-entrusted responsibility and service
for God is strikingly used in Masonic ritual.
||This expression, which is employed of the travels of
Master Masons of the operative class following the completion
of the Temple in search of labor and for wages, is correctly
understood by few who hear it. In its symbolic meaning,
it does not refer to the activities of those who have
completed the Master Degree. Hence, Heaven is the "foreign
country" into which Master Masons travel, where the True
Word, not given in this life, is to be received, and where
the Master Mason is to receive his wages.
||We speak of the "form of the Lodge," "due form," etc.
The word is derived from the Latin forma, which meant
the shape, or figure, or frame of anything; also it was
used of a bench, or seat, whence the old custom of calling
school benches "forms." It is the root of formal, formation,
informal, and scores of other English words equally familiar.
The "form of the Lodge" is its symbolical shape; a ceremony
is in "due form" if it have the officially required character
or framework of words and actions.
|Form of a Lodge
||An oblong square or parallelogram, twice as long as
wide. At the time of the Temple, the only known world
was the Mediterranean Sea and the countries to the north,
south and east, forming an oblong. Thus, the Freemason's
lodge was the world itself.
||The importance and essential value of this virtue of
true manhood for Masons is enforced by the use of the
story of unfaltering courage and faith of the three Hebrew
children in the fiery furnace and by Daniel's bravery
in the lion's den. The key to the meaning of this magnificent
word lies in its derivation from the Latin fords, meaning
strong, powerful, used in the Middle Ages of a stronghold,
or fort. Force, enforce, fortify, fortification, forceful,
are from the same root. A man of fortitude has a character
built strong like a fort, which can be neither taken by
bribe nor over-thrown by assault, however strong may be
the enemy, or however great may be the suffering or deprivation
within. One is reminded of Luther's great hymn, "A mighty
fortress is our God."
||The deeply laid and solid foundation of the Temple strikingly
symbolizes the necessity for a good foundation in the
building of character and in life's vocations.
||A brotherhood, in which blood-bonds are replaced by
a common devotion to a principle, code, or creed. This
the most prized, perhaps, of all words in Masonry, harks
back to the Latin frater, which is so closely allied to
"brother," as already noted in the paragraph on that word.
It gives us fra, frater, fraternize, and many other terms
of the same import. A fraternity is a society in which
the members strive to live in a brotherly concord patterned
on the family relations of blood brothers, where they
are worthy of the tie. To be fraternal means to treat
another man as if he were a brother in the most literal
||The origin of the use of the term "free" in speculative
Masonry is in the fact that the operative Masons who worked
on King Solomon's Temple were exempted from imposts, duties
and taxes as were their descendants. They were, therefore,
declared to be "free."
||A free soul; one having attained mastery of himself
by self discipline. It is a misconception that this refers
to one not born into slavery.
||The early builders in Operative Masonry times were free
men, not serfs or bondsmen and were free to move from
one place to another as their work demanded. Thus, they
came to be called "Freemasons."
|Furnishings of a Lodge
||Holy Bible, Square and Compasses, Charter or Dispensation.
|- G -
||G: The letter -G- is the Saxon representative of the
Hebrew Yod and the Greek Tau; The initial letter of the
name of the Eternal in those languages. It has a double
meaning, representing, first, the Supreme Deity as the
Great Architect of the Universe and the one true and living
God of all Masons; and, secondly, the pre-eminence of
the science of geometry in the rituals of Freemasonry.
In this twofold symbolism, the letter "G" represents to
the Mason unity of Heaven with the earth, of the Divine
Being with the human, of the temporal with the eternal,
and of the finite with the infinite. The letter "G" is
one of the most sacred symbols in Freemasonry. The Lodge
cannot open, and no work can be performed unless this
sacred letter is conspicuously seen in its regularly assigned
place of honor in the Lodge hall.
||Grand Architect of the Universe.
||Gage (also spelled "gauge") has an uncertain ancestry.
Early French and English peoples had gauger, gagen, etc.,
which referred to the measuring of wine casks; some believe
our "gallon" and "gill" to have been thus derived. Its
meaning became enlarged to include any kind of measuring,
literally or figuratively. The instrument used to do the
measuring came to be called "the gage." Among Operative
Masons it was used to measure a stone for cutting to the
required "twenty-four-inch gage" is such a measuring rod
or stick marked off into twenty-four inches.
|Gates of the Temple
||The Temple of Solomon had only one entrance or portal,
but the walls of the enclosure had a gate at each points
of the compass. Freemasonry makes special symbolic use
of three of these gates, the one on the east, the one
on the west, and the one on the south. These gates are
symbols of the progress of the sum, rising in the east,
reaching its zenith in the south, and setting in the west.
They also symbolize birth, life, and death as well as
youth, manhood and old age.
||Derives its name from its shape-that of the gable or
gavel end of a house. It is a tool used by a stonemason
and resembles a hammer having a pointed end for cutting.
The Working Tool gavel differs from the upright gavel,
or "Hiram." (See Hiram.)
||It is unfortunate that for most men schoolroom drudgery
has robbed this beautiful word of its poetry. The Greek
geo (in compounds) was earth, land; metron was measure.
The original geometer was a landmeasurer, a surveyor,
but his methods became broadened and applied to many other
kinds of problems, so that at last his craft became a
portion of the art of mathematics. Geometry, that branch
of mathematics which deals with figures in space, is associated
in every Mason's mind with the immortal Euclid, who figures
50 prominently in all the ancient Masonic manuscripts.
It achieved its great place in Freemasonry because of
its constant and prime importance in the builders' art.
Symbolically speaking geometry (to it the Letter G originally
referred), consists of all those fixed principles and
laws of morality and of thought to which a right char-acter
and a true mind adjust themselves.
|Glory and Beauty of the Day
||Daylight has many beauties, many advantages, and many
blessings; but its supreme glory is in marvelous utterances
of the goodness and glory of God.
||The Hebrew words for Beauty, Strength, and Wisdom (the
supports of Freemasonry) are Gomer, Oz, and Dabar. The
initials of these words compose the English name of the
|Golden Bowl Be Broken
||This sublime and unique rule of conduct in man's relation
to and treatment of his fellow man spoken by the Saviour
has been adopted by Freemasons, and it is used with its
full significance in all the ramifications of human actions.
||The Greeks had graphein, to write, or draw (from this
we have graphic, engrave, etc.) ; gramma was that which
was written or drawn. Grammar now refers only to the skeletonal
framework of language, its parts of speech and their combinations,
hut formerly it included all forms of learning based'
on language, such as rhetoric and what is now taught in
the schools as English; by the time our Monitor was written,
however, grammar and rhetoric had become differentiated,
nevertheless the Monitorial portion of the Second Degree
makes it plain that a Fellow Craftis expected to be a
literate man, knowing something of the arts of language
in both speaking and writing. In interpreting the Second
Degree this wide meaning of "grammar must be kept in mind.
||Grandis in the Latin meant great, large, awesome, especially
in the sense of imposing; it was afterwards applied to
the aged, the ripe in experience, an application easy
enough to understand when one recalls the reverence paid
by the Romans to seniority, long experi-ence, etc. this
latter meaning appears in our grandfather, grandmother,
grandsire, etc. In English the word developed in two directions,
one toward that which is great, large, awe-in-spiring,
as in "grandeur," the other toward dignity, exalted power.
Our own use of the term in "Grand" Lodge, "Grand" East,
"Grand" Master, harks back to the latter of the two usages.
The head of the Craft is called "Grand"' Master because
he is its most exalted official.
||The place where the Grand Lodge holds its communications
and from which place the edicts are issued.
|Grasshopper Shall Be A Burden
||This expression is a figure of the weakness accompanying
|Great and Sacred Name
||Any name that is used as a title of Deity is held sacred
by Freemasons, and all names of our God are to be uttered
with profound reverence and never thoughtlessly or blasphemously.
||The Holy Bible, Square and Compasses. The Bible represents
the will of God, the Square is the physical life of man
and the Compasses represents the moral and spiritual life.
||This was the name give to the vestibule at the entrance
into the Temple of Solomon.
|Great White Throne
||This term refers to the pure and glorious throne of
God. Before it, every knee must bow and every tongue confess
that Christ is God to the Glory of the Father.
||Grip, grope, grab, grasp, gripe came the same roots.
The Anglo Saxon gripe meant to clutch, to lay hold of,
to seize, to grasp strongly. A grip means to clasp another's
hand firmly; it differs from a mere hand. clasp, which
may be a meaningless formality. in that it is done earnestly,
and for a purpose—for what purpose in our fraternal system
every Mason knows. A grip should be giver. as if one meant
it; half of its meaning lies in the way it is done.
||Every brother following his raising should be taught
to start with the grip of an Entered Apprentice Mason
and go through the grips, passes, and words to the Grand
|Ground Floor of the Lodge
||Mount Moriah, the site on which Solomon's Temple was
erected, is symbolically referred to as the "ground floor
of the Lodge."
|Guild (Gild) Masons
||Guttural. From the Latin guttur meaning "the throat."
||From the Latin "guttur", the throat.
|- H -
||Hiram, King of Tyre.
||This was the title given to the overseers and princes
appointed by Solomon to supervise the workmen in the preparation
of the material and in the building of the Temple.
||Obligated in a degree which the Mason has not had conferred
on him. To "heal" is to "make valid."
||A distinctive tenet of Freemasonry is that there is
a Heaven of bliss beyond the grave. The symbolic meaning
of the "foreign country" in which the Master Mason seeks
wages is Heaven, the higher state of man's existence after
death and following the Resurrection.
||Pronounced "hail" and means to keep guarded, or secret.
Sometimes spelled "hale."
||Half of the earth's surface, as the western hemisphere,
the northern hemisphere.
||Literally the symbols in the priestly writings of the
Egyptians. Generally, a symbol or sign the meaning of
which is known only to the initiated.
||The Latin nonus referred to the ninth hour of the day,
that is, nine hours after sunrise. In the Medieval church
it referred to the middle hour between midday and sunset,
that is, about three o'clock P.M. In the course ot time
it came to refer to any part of the middle of the day,
and finally to twelve o'clock. The origin of our "High
Twelve" is uncertain, but it is probable that it goes
back to a time before "noon" was generally used for twelve
o'clock; the "high" doubtless refers to the sun, which
at that time was at its highest point in the sky.
|Hills and Valleys
||In ancient times, and even today, high elevations suggest
the worship of God. The hilltop or mountaintop is a symbol
of "Holiness unto the Lord."
||An upright gavel made in the form of a maul and used
by a presiding officer.
||According to history, verifiable, capable of documentary
proof. We also speak of traditional and legendary history,
meaning popular belief, not upheld by fact.
||Throughout Masonic ritual, the absolute and superlative
Holiness of God is recognized, and every representation
of the Deity in symbols, attitudes and words must be in
the most reverent manner.
|Holy of Holies
||The ancient Tabernacle erected by Moses at Mount Sinai
was divided into two compartments or rooms. At the west
end was the Most Holy Place constructed of a perfect cube
fifteen feet in all dimensions. It was separated from
the other room, the Holy Place, by curtains. The only
article of furniture in the Holy of Holies was the Ark
of the Covenant which contained the Book of Law, the stone
tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments,
a pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded. The Most Holy
Place was entered only by a high priest once each year
on the Great Day of Atonement. Like the Tabernacle, King
Solomon's Temple was divided into two compartments. The
Most Holy Place was a perfect cube forty feet in all its
dimensions. All the walls were overlaid with fine gold
as was the floor. Again, the only article of furniture
was the Ark of the Covenant.
||One of the two compartments of the Tabernacle of Moses
was the Holy Place or Sanctuary at the east end of the
Tabernacle. The furniture of the Holy Place consisted
of the great Candlestick, the table for shewbread and
the altar of incense with its censer and snuffers. In
King Solomon's Temple, the Holy Place, sometimes referred
to as the Greater House, followed the pattern of the Tabernacle,
but was much larger. Instead of one candlestick, there
were ten: five on the right side and five on the left,
all made of pure gold. The Altar of Incense occupied the
west end of the Sanctuary and was also made of pure gold,
as was it censer.
||Respect, as applied to men; worship, as applied to deity.
||A blindfold which is a symbol of secrecy; mystical darkness.
"Hood" goes back to old German and Anglo Saxon, in which
it referred to head covering, as in hat, hood, helmet,
etc.; "wink," in the same languages, meant to close the
eyes, "wench," "wince," etc., being similarly derived.
A hoodwink was therefore a headdress designed to cover
the eyes. The popular use of the word is believed to go
back to the old sport of falconry, once so popular, in
which the falcon had a hood over its eyes until ready
to strike at its prey.
||An emblem of the passage of time. Emblem of life.
|House Not Made With Hands
||This expression comprehends the eternal dwelling place
of God and the resurrected and glorified body of the redeemed
in the life beyond.
||There is here the recognition of the truth that all
the natural faculties and endowments of man are the products
of the creative energy of God and are loving gifts from
|- I -
|I Am That I Am
||This is the English translation of the most distinctive
and significant title of Jehovah God given to Moses at
the burning bush. In its original Hebrew form, it was
regarded with such sacredness by the Israelites that it
was never spoken above a whisper. It signifies the "self-existent,
independent, unsearchable One."
||Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudworum, meaning "Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews."
|ILL. or Illustrious
||A title used in addressing members of the 33rd.
||Giving or showing an example.
||A drawing, picture, or example.
||Showing by example or picture.
||Much of the ritual in Freemasonry assumes the doctrine
of man's immortality, and in many specific instances,
professions of this fundamental tenet are uttered.
||Without distinction between.
|Indwelling of God
||That God deigns to dwell among his people and with the
hearts of the pure and the good is a fundamental truth
||It is generally agreed among the Believers that the
correct pronunciation of the most sacred name of God has
been lost, and to this traditional fact Masons assent.
In it believed, however, that the mysteries of this Ineffable
Name is held by the Messiah until the Day of Resurrection.
||The Latin initium means beginning, as in our initial";
initiatus, the participle from the verb initiare, referred
to any act incident to the beginning or introduction of
a thing. The word came widely into use in mysteries and
sacred rites, whence it has come into our 4Masonic nomenclature.
Back of it, as used by us, is the picture of birth, so
that the Masonic initiation means that a candidate has
been born into the Masonic life, making the same kind
of beginning therein that a babe makes when born into
||Just as the mysteries of God's truth are available to
those who earnestly knock, so admittance to the lessons
of Freemasonry are opened by the proper knock at the Inner
Door of the Lodge.
||From time immemorial, the lamb has been regarded as
an emblem of innocence. Since Masons are required to strive
after perfect innocence, especially in the Masonic conduct,
the apron worn by them must be made of pure white lambskin.
||Stallum was the Late Latin for place, or seat, or proper
position, which meaning is preserved in our English "stall."
To "install" therefore means that one has been placed
in his seat or station—the "in" meaning here the same
as in English. A Masonic installation is a ceremony by
which an elected officer is officially placed in the seat
to which his brethren have elected him.
||Capable of being read or understood
||The grave is the natural resting place for the bodies
of the dead, but it is not the final abode of these bodies.
We honor our dead in interment, but we await their Resurrection.
||Kept sacred or unbroken.
||In order that perfect quiet and reverence might prevail
in the building of the Temple, no iron tool of any kind
|- J -
||He doth establish. Comes from two Hebrew words meaning
"God will establish." Jachin is a combination of two words,
Jah, the poetical name of Jehovah, and iachin, meaning
establishment. The full significance of the name is, therefore,
"With God's help to establish," the symbolical meaning
given to in the work of Freemasonry. The two great pillars
of Solomon's Temple supporting the Great Porch, known
as Solomon's Porch, were called Boaz and Jachin, Jachin
being the right hand pillar .
||The story of Jacob's dream or vision is which he saw
a stairway leading from earth to Heaven and angels descending
and ascending on it holds an important place in Masonic
ritual. It is employed as a symbol of the progressive
course from earth to Heaven, and of the transition from
death to life.
||The poetical name of Jehovah.
|Jesus and the Temple
||The parents of Jesus carried him to the Temple when
he was only forty days old for purification ceremonies.
At the age of twelve, he attended the Passover in Jerusalem
and visited the Temple. After beginning his public ministry,
he honored the Temple on a number of occasions, cleansed
it twice, taught the people, performed miracles within
its sacred precincts, and otherwise recognized it as the
House of God, even though it was being greatly profaned
|Jewels, Movable and Immovable
||The Movable jewels are the Rough and Perfect Ashlars
and the Trestle Board and are so called because they are
not confined to any particular part of the lodge whereas
the Immovable jewels: the Square, Level, and Plumb, have
definite locations. They are called "jewels" not because
of their materials, but because of their meaning. The
word "jewel" comes from the Greek meaning "bright or shining."
||praised. Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and the founder
of the tribe bearing his name, is also the representative
of a key point in ancient Masonry. Judah distinguished
himself on a number of occasions and was given Messianic
distinction in the tribal blessings of his father and
by Moses. The royal house of Israel was of the tribe of
Judah, even as was Jesus the Messiah. The tribe of Judah
was the first to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised
Land. For this reason, and because of its distinction
as the tribe of David, Solomon and the Messiah, Judah
represents or symbolizes the entrance of the candidate
into the Light and liberty of Freemasonry.
|- K -
|Keepers of the House Shall Tremble
||This expression is a figure of the failings of the body
in old age or as weakened by the approach of death. The
usual interpretation is that the arms and legs are the
||The Sacred Volume of Mohammedan Law.
|- L -
||The Latin labor meant toil, work, the put-ting forth
of effort; it appears to be akin to robur, or strength,
preserved in our "robust." While labor and work are used
interchange-ably, the latter is a more generic word, and
admits of a much wider range of uses. Work may be either
hard or easy but labor is always hard; work is used of
all sorts of effort; labor refers generally to muscular
effort, followed by fatigue. When labor is kept up unremittingly
it is toil; and when toil is uninteresting, uninspiring,
and poorly paid it is drudgery. When working, one's ambition
is to succeed with it; when laboring, one looks forward
to resting from it; hence, it is from labor that we seek
refreshment, not from work.
||In all ages the Lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence.
The candidate is therefore given a white lambskin apron.
||In ancient times, it was customary to mark the boundaries
of lands by the means of stone pillars or heaps of stones.
The removal of such landmarks was a grievous crime and
an evidence of fraudulent intent by the offender. In speculative
Masonry there are also ancient and universal customs of
the Order which gradually grew into operation as rules
of action, and the same rigid rule with reference to ancient
landmarks applies to these. In the early Anglo Saxon,
German, or Scandinavian languages the noun "land" meant
the same as in modern English, although as a verb it meant
"come to land," a meaning reflected in our custom of saying
a man lands from a ship, etc. "Mark" is found in almost
all European languages, and derives from the Latin margo,
edge, boundary, whence our margin, mark, and cognate terms.
A "landmark" is some mark, line or object to indicate
a boundary. The landmarks of Masonry are those principles
by which the Craft is bounded, that is, marked off from
all other societies and associations and with-out which
it would lose its identity.
||Ancient and universal customs of the Order which gradually
grew into operation as rules of action.
||A man of discretion.
||that one has tested by trial and examination, or knows
that such has been done by another.
|Lay or Inlay
||The manner or position in which something is situated
(lay). To set (a piece of wood, metal, etc.) into a surface
to form a design that is usually level with the surface
||A Lodge working under proper authority and Charter from
a Grand Lodge.
||The Greeks had legein, speak; the Latins legere, read;
from these we have legend, lecture, etc. In the early
Christian church the legend was the Scripture selection
read in a church service; later the term became ap-plied
to stories about the lives of the saints, especially to
their wonders and miracles. The famous "Golden Legend,"
a collection of such stories, was one of the most popular
books of the Middle Ages. Legend', as now used, is a story
without historical foundations but told in the form of
history, hence our "Legend of the Third Degree," a narrative
in dramatic form that Masons have long understood to be
||According to popular belief or report, but without proof.
A legend usually carries with it the idea of the miraculous.
||Capable of being read.
||In Latin libra was a balance, the root of our libration,
equilibrium; libella was the diminutive form of the same
word, and from it has come our level, an instrument by
which a balance is proved, or by which may be detected
the horizontal plane. It is closely as-sociated in use
with the plumb, by which a line perpendicular to the horizontal
is proved. The level is that on which there are no in-equalities,
hence in Masonry it is correctly used' as a symbol of
equality. "We meet upon the level" because Masonic rights,
duties, and privileges are the same for all members with-out
|Level of Equality
||The level in Masonry is a symbol of the fraternal equality
of mankind as the offspring of God, all races and nations
having been made of one blood. The fundamental principle
that all men are created equal, with certain inalienable
rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is
basic in Freemasonry.
|Liberal Arts and Sciences
||Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music,
||Liber was the Latin for "free," as in our liberty, liberal,
etc. When the Romans gave a slave his freedom he was called
libertus, so that in Roman history a libertine was a freed-man.
In theology a libertine came to mean one who holds loose
views, a freethinker; in morality, a licenticus person,
one who flouts moral laws. Whether the early Masons used
"libertine" to mean a "freethinker" or a licentious man,
is a point that has never been decided'; in practice,
they probably used it in both senses.
||Throughout the ritual and work of Freemasonry, Light
is the symbol of knowledge, and just as God spoke into
existence physical light, so He is the original source
of all true knowledge. The Great Light of Masonry is His
inspired work. Masons are pledged to strive after more
and more Light as life goes on and should seek above all
things Light Eternal. A candidate is "brought to light."
"Let there be light" is the motto of the Craft. It is
one of the key words of Masonry. It is very ancient, harking
back to the Sanskrit ruc, meaning shine. The Greeks had
luk, preserved in many English words, especially such
as have leuco in their make-up, as in "leucocyte," a white
blood corpuscle. The Latins had luc or lux in various
forms, whence our light, lucid, luminous, illumine, lunar,
lightning, etc. The word means bright, clear, shining,
and is associated in its use with the sun, moon, fire,
etc. By an inevitable asso-ciation the word came into
metaphorical use to mean the coming of truth and knowledge
into the mind. 'When a candidate ceases to be ignorant
of Masonry, when through initiation the truths of Masonry
have found entrance into his mind, he is said to be "enlightened"
in the Masonic sense.
|Light of Life
||The source of enlightenment and knowledge for life's
darkness, perplexities and doubts, as well as for life's
responsibilities and duties, is the Holy Bible -- the
Great Light of Masonry.
||The lily has always been an emblem of peace. For this
reason, lily work occupied a place of conspicuousness
and distinction in the ornamentations of the Temple and
|Lion of the Tribe of Judah
||In the tribal benediction pronounced upon Judah, the
"lion's whelp" is used emblematically of strength. Hence,
the ensign on the banner of Judah was a lion. The phrase
in the Masonic ritual, "The lion of the tribe of Judah,"
is Messianic and refers to Christ, the anointed of God
and royal head of God's Kingdom.
||Two or more Freemasons, "in regular assembly and properly
opened and prepared for work or business," constitutes
the Lodge. This word comes from the Old French, English
and Medieval Latin, and meant gen-erally a hut, a cottage,
a gallery, a covered way, etc.; our "lobby" had the same
beginning. How the Operative Masons came to employ the
term, and just what they meant by it, has never been determined;
they had a symbolic Lodge, their building was a Lodge,
the group of members was a Lodge, an as-sembly of Masons
was a Lodge, and often times the whole body of Masons
was called a Lodge. In our own usage the word has three
technical meanings; the place where Masons meet, the assembly
of the brethren duly congregated for labor, and a piece
|Lodge of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem and Lodge
of St. John
||Masonic tradition has it that the primitive, or mother,
Lodge was held at Jerusalem and dedicated to St. John
the Baptist, and then to St. John the Evangelist, and
finally to both. This Lodge was therefore called "The
Lodge of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem." From this
Lodge all other Lodges are supposed, figuratively, to
||The lost word was the ineffable name of God, but the
term is used symbolically of Divine Truth. That for which
the Mason search is to discover the divine in himself
and in the world that he might achieve mental satisfaction
and ultimate happiness.
||The hour of midnight; darkness is a symbol of death
as well as of ignorance.
|Lux E Tenebris
||Latin meaning "Light out of darkness."
|- M -
|Making A Mason "At Sight"
||By a Grand Master's prerogative, some constitutional
requirement is set aside-usually the ballot, and a man
is made a Master Mason without waiting or instruction
||Relating to the hand, from the Latin "manus", a hand.
||This is a word from the Middle Ages, with an uncertain
origin. The old Gothic maitan meant to hew, or cut, and
it is supposed the word carried that general meaning through
Medieval Latin, English, German, and in the Scandinavian
languages. If at first it was used only of a stone-cutter,
it came later to mean a builder. Why the Operatives were
called "Freemasons" is still an unsolved puzzle; the most
likely view is that they were a society of builders free
to move from one place to another in contrast to the gild
Masons who were confined in their labors to one community.
In our Fraternity a Mason is a builder of manhood and
||The age of an Entered Apprentice is said to be three
years (the symbol of peace or perfect harmony); that of
a Fellowcraft, five years (the symbol of active life);
and that of a Master Mason, seven years (the symbol of
||The Latin root mag had the general meaning of great—as
in "magnitude"; it was the source of the Latin magister,
head, chief, principal, the word of which "magistrate"
was made. During the Middle Ages it fell into use as a
conventional title applied to persons in superior rank,
preserved in our own familiar "mister," always written
"Mr", a colloquial form of "master." Also it came to be
used' of a man who had overcome the difficulties in learning
an art, thereby proving himself to be greater than his
task, as when it is said of an artist who has overcome
all the obstacles and difficulties of painting, "He is
a master." A Master Mason is so called because be has
proved himself capable of mastering the work; also because
he belongs to a Degree so named.
||In the material realm, a master builder is one who is
qualified in intellect and training to do constructive
building of symmetrical and perfect order -- an architect,
skilled worker and capable artisan. Hiram Abif (Abith),
the widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, was such a master
builder. With the very best materials furnished him by
King Solomon, he carried to completion an edifice of magnificence
and superlative beauty and glory. In speculative Masonry,
a master builder is one who is qualified in heart and
mind, by skill in moral and spiritual science, and by
Holy consecration to erect temples of immortal characters.
|Master of the Lodge
||This title signifies "teacher," not Lord. The Master
of the Lodge should be well informed in the mysteries,
symbols, allegories and principles of Freemasonry. Masonry
is a science of morals, clothed in symbols and any Brother
who becomes a teacher of this science must fully understand
the allegories in which it is enveloped, the symbolisms
with which it is illustrated, the myths and legends of
Masonry, and their mystical applications to everyday life.
What the sun is by day to the world, the Master is to
||Motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material
gain; greedy, venal.
||The position of the sun at noon.
||In ancient Israel, the use of metal tools in the actual
construction of sacred altars and edifices was forbidden;
hence, the preparation of all materials for the building
of Solomon's Temple was done in the forests and quarries.
||These were exchange bankers who set up tables in the
precincts of the Temple where they provided Jewish coins
for Temple offerings in exchange for foreign moneys, charging
fees for their services. Jesus drove them from the Temple,
declaring that they had made the "House of Prayer a den
||The Latin monere meant to warn; it was the root of our
admonish, admonition, etc.; a monitor was the man who
did the warning. The term became widely used in early
school systems of the senior pupils in a class whose duty
it was to instruct his juniors; from this it passed to
include the book, the blackboard and other instruments
used by him in his teachings. Our use of it carries this
last mean-ing; the Masonic Monitor is a book for teaching
a candidate the exoteric work.
||A hill in Jerusalem on which the Temple of Solomon was
||This word has nothing to do with Moses. Its root was
the Greek mousa, a muse, sug-gesting something artistic.
The same root appears in our "museum," literally a place
where artistic work is exhibited. Through the Latin it
came into modern languages and during the Middle Ages
became narrowed down to mean a pattern formed by small
pieces of inlay, a form of decorative work much in vogue
during the time of the Opera-tive Masons. Our "mosaic
pavement is so called because it consists of an inlay
pattern, small black and white squares alternating to
suggest day and night.
||Tessellated pavement or checkered floor. An inlay floor
composed of black and white squares.
|Mouth to Ear
||The method whereby the esoteric work of Freemasonry
is passed on from one Mason to another, or from one Mason
to the candidate who is qualified to receive such information.
||This word is used in Masonry in two senses entirely
different; indeed, though spelled and pronounced the same,
they are really two words. "Mystery" in the sense of strange,
unknown, weird, secret, hails from the Greek, .in which
muein meant to close the e
||In the Greek, muster was one who had been initiated.
Originally, so Jane Harrison believes, the root word
referred to pollution; but inasmuch as the Greek mysteries
had for their aim the removal of moral pollution, the
word became generally associated with the mysteries themselves,
and at last was used to signify a man who had gone through
them. Mystic in our own use of it, as in "Mystic Tie,"
refers not to the mysterious in Freemasonry, or to any
mysticism in it, but to the fact of our being a secret
society, practicing initiaton.
||This phrase refers to the bond of fraternal love, to
the solemn vows of eternal Masonry, irrespective of differences
in race, nationality and conflicting interests. By this
mystic tie, men of the most discordant opinions are united
in one band, meet at one altar, even when fighting in
opposing armies or affiliated with different religions.
It is, indeed, an indefinable spiritual tie, spiritual
tie not easily broken; fellowship among Masons and those
under its influence are rightly spoken of as "Brethren
of the Mystic Tie."
|- N -
|Names of the Temple
||The Temple built by Solomon, which occupies such importance
throughout the symbolisms and legends of Freemasonry,
is given a number of names in the Bible: The Palace of
Jehovah, The House of Sanctuary, and The House of Ages.
||my wrestling. Naphtali was the fifth son of Jacob and
the founder of the tribe bearing his name. In the tribal
blessing given him by his father, and confirmed by Moses,
wise counsel and prosperity were to be the chief characteristics
of the tribe. Naphtali represents the investiture of the
lambskin apron bestowed in the West and South.
|Neither Naked Nor Clothed
||Neither unclothed, or defenseless, nor clothed and self-sufficient.
||With the change in character and fortune, it is often
appropriate that one be given a new name.
||Members of the Mystic Shrine.
||In Masonic symbolism the North Side of the Lodge represents
God's exalted throne.
||As one progresses through the rites and symbolisms of
Freemasonry, receiving more and more Light, he reaches
the Northeast Corner with all the outward appearances
of a perfect and upright Mason, a true and tried representative
of the cornerstone of a great moral and spiritual edifice.
|- O -
||A solemn affirmation, in the name of God, that what
one testifies is true.
||A promise or pledge of obedience. From time immemorial,
men have entered into covenants of brotherhood and friendship
under solemn oaths of fidelity and loyalty, and whenever
the circumstances and purposes warranted it, secrecy has
been pledged. This practice among Masons has man precedents
and is based on the truths and principles set forth of
the Great Light of Masonry. The Mason takes an obligation,
not an oath, that he will not depart from the promises
he makes. The obligation in such covenants is given in
the name of God, and perjury in such obligations is subject
to severe penalties. All vows voluntarily taken in Masonry
must be faithfully performed and are never subject to
revocation. Obligate and oblige are sister words, deriving
from the same Latin root, ob, a prefix meaning before,
or about; and ligare, meaning bind, as in our ligament.
An obligation is a tie, or pledge, or bond' by which a
man is tied to his fellows, or gives his word to perform
certain duties. Accordingly we have obliging, referring
to one who is willing to bind himself to do something
for you, obligatory, etc. The obligation is the tie, or
bond, itself; in Masonry a formal and voluntary pledge
on the candidate's part by virtue of which he is accepted
as a responsible member of the family of Masons.
||This has long been a puzzle word in Masonic nomenclature.
How, it is asked, can a square be oblong, when a square
is equal on all its sides? The answer is that in this
connection "square" is used in the sense of rectangle;
the angles are squared, not the sides. Oblong is derived
from ob, near, or before, and longus, long; that is, it
means something approximately long, so that the main axis
is much longer than the others, as a slender leaf, a shaft,
etc. An "oblong square is a rectangle of which two opposite
sides are much longer than the other two. The Lodge symbolically
is an oblong square in this sense.
||A right angle with one side longer than the other.
|Opening of the Lodge
||It is absolutely necessary that the Lodge be opened
in due and ancient form. Without these ceremonies, the
assembly is not a Masonic Lodge. This is true because
the Master must be reminded of the dignity and character
of himself and of his position. And the other officers
must be impressed with the respect and veneration due
from their sundry stations. But more important, the Fraternity
in Lodge assembly and in work must maintain a reverential
awe for Deity, and must look to the Great Light of Freemasonry,
the Holy Bible, for guidance and instruction. Thus, in
the opening of the Lodge, the Great Architect of the Universe
must be worshipped, and His blessings upon the work about
to be performed must be supplicated. At the same time,
prayer is offered for peace and harmony in the closing
of the Lodge.
||We distinguish Operative Masons, builders of the Middle
Ages, founders of Masonry, from Spectulative Masons, present
members of the Fraternity, using the builders' tools as
emblems and symbols. The Latin for toil, or work, was
opus, still used' in that form in English to signify a
musical or literary achievement. Opus was the root of
operari, to work, whence we have our operate, operative,
operation, opera, operator, and many others. The Operative
Mason was one who toiled at building in the plain, literal
sense of the word. "Speculative" will be explained farther
||The seat of the Master in the East; the Oriental Chair
of King Solomon.
||Ornare was the Latin verb meaning to adorn, to equip,
of which the noun was ama-men turn, trappings, embellishment,
furniture, etc., from which was derived our "adorn-ment"
and "ornament." In church usage "ornaments" was the name
given to all the equipment used in the services of divine
worship. We speak of the mosaic pavement, the indent-ed
tessel, and blazing star as "ornaments of the Lodge;"
whether the term was used by Lodges originally because
they were considered to be adornments, or because they
were part of the Lodge equipment it is impos-sible to
say, though the latter alternative ap-pears to be the
|Ornaments of a Lodge
||The Mosaic Pavement, Indented Tessel, and Blazing Star.
||Name of Jebusite from whom David purchased a threshing
floor in Jerusalem in which King Solomon's temple was
built. This was previously the site of the alter.
|- P -
|Passing the Chair
||The ceremony of installation of the presiding officer.
||The Latin passus meant pace, step, track, passage; it
contains the picture of a path, road, aisle, or door through
which one can make his way, hence our "pass," derived
from it. From it also we have our word "pace." A password
is any agreed word or counter-sign that permits one to
pass through an en-trance or passage otherwise closed.
||A term applied in Masonry to an officer who has held
an office for the term for which he was elected, and has
then retired, as Past Master, Past Senior Grand Warden.
|Peace on Earth
||The principles and tenets of Freemasonry and the teachings
of the symbols and legends of the Fraternity are conducive
to "peace on earth and good will to men." Due recognition
is given to the Truth that only as the Prince of Peace
reigns in the hearts and lives of men can the world ever
have real peace.
||The splendor and beauty and glory of Solomon's Temple
and of its appointments were but symbols and prophecies
of the superior Temple, that house not made with hands,
eternal in the Heavens, with its gates of pearl.
||Belonging to the breast; from the Latin "pectus", the
||Belonging to the feet, from the Latin "pedes", the feet.
||The columns before the Master and Wardens of a lodge.
||It is significant that our "penal" derives from the
Latin for pain, paena, the root of our penance, penalty,
penitence, penitentiary. punish, primitive, pine, and
a circle of similar English words. It has the meaning
of pain inflicted for the purpose of correction, discipline,
or protecting society, never the inflic-tion of pain for
its own sake. Our own penalties are symbolical in form,
their language being derived from early English forms
of punishment for heresy and treason.
||Every Mason is expected to perfect or "polish" himself
in building his character in order that he may become
acceptable in the sight of God and be fit to take his
rightful place in the finished work of Masonry.
||One which contains the constitutional number of members.
|Perfect Points of Entrance
||Symbolic action called for on entrance into a lodge.
||A right angle with the sides equal.
||Having willfully told a lie while under lawful oath
or affirmation; having broken an oath.
||The title of the ruler of ancient Egypt.
||Friends of truth.
||The Latin pila was a pile,—such as a pile under a house—a
pier, a pillar, or a mole,— the last named a massive stonework
enclosing a harbor. In ancient times pillars were used
for all manner of religious and symbolical purposes, as
when Jacob erected a pillar at a grave, or Solomon set
up two great pillars— the prototype of ours—on the Porch
before his Temple. (See in connection with this the notes
on "column" given above.)
|Pillars of Brass
||Important and significant features of the architecture
of King Solomon's Temple were two giant bronze shafts
which stood in striking relief in front of the entrance
to the Great Porch at the east entrance of the Temple,
one on the left and one on the right. Each was seventy
feet high and twenty-four feet in circumference. They
were highly ornamented by a network of brass overhung
with wreaths of bronze pomegranates, each row containing
one hundred. Each of these giant pillars had a chapiter
at the top, ten feet in length, making the total height
of each pillar eighty feet. On the top of these chapiters
were great bowls for oil, called pommels, over which were
hung festoon-like wreaths of pomegranates, interspersed
at various points with lily work. These two great shafts
were given the names Boaz and Jachin.
|Pillars of Wisdom
||The seven great pillars of wisdom are regarded by Masons
to be of superlative worth in the building of a moral
and spiritual edifice.
|Pitcher Be Broken at the Fountain
||The heart is the fountain of human life, and the great
vein which carries the blood to the right ventricle is
symbolically called the pitcher. When this is broken as
a result of the decrepitude of old age or by human disease,
death soon follows.
||Pertaining to the planets.
||An instrument for erecting perpendiculars. Plumbum was
the Latin for lead, and was used also of a scourge with
a blob of lead tied to it, of a line with a lead ball
at its end for testing perpendicularity, etc., the source
of our plumb, plumber, plunge, plump, plumbago, plummet,
etc. A plumb-line is accordIngly a line, or cord, with
a piece of lead at the bottom to pull it taut, used to
test vertical walls with the line of gravity, hence, by
a simple expansion of reference, an emblem of uprightness.
Up means up, right means straight; an upright man is one
who stands straight up and down, doesn't bend or wabble,
has no crooks in him, like a good solid wall that won't
cave in under pressure.
||This tool of operative Masonry used to form and regulate
a perfect perpendicular in erecting walls is employed
in speculative Masonry as a symbol of justice and uprightness
in our deals with our fellowmen. Divine truth is the plumbline
in the erection of a moral and spiritual edifice. The
Working Tool of a Past Master; the perfect emblem of uprightness.
||Almost from the moment that a candidate for Freemasonry
crosses the threshold of the Lodge, the duty of rendering
aid and sustenance to those who lack in this world's necessities
is urged upon him.
||The Great Porch of the Temple of Solomon was magnificent
and expansive, and its value to the appointments and uses
of the Temple was invaluable. Hence, this porch is given
a distinctive recognition in the ritual and teachings
|Pot of Incense
||Signifies that, of all forms of worship, it is more
acceptable to God to be pure and blameless in our inner
lives than anything else.
||A ruler, sovereign, or monarch.
||Petitions to Deity in behalf on one's own needs, intercessions
for others, communion with God, and prayer in all its
elements of praise and worship are fundamentals in the
tenets of Freemasonry. From the time a candidate crosses
the threshold of the Lodge to the topmost Degree in Masonry,
the privilege and duty of prayer are urged upon him, and
every step is taken in a Holy atmosphere of Divine worship.
||In all the work of Freemasonry, emphasis is placed upon
the importance of adequate preparation of moral, ethical
and spiritual vocations. Preparation of the heart is the
first essential in Masonry, and certain outward preparations
symbolic of, and manifesting, inward preparedness are
||The word comes from the Latin pro meaning "before" and
Janum meaning "a temple." Hence, in Masonry it means those
who have not been in the Temple, that is, not initiated
into the Fraternity of Craft , a non Mason. This has a
technical meaning in Masonry, nevertheless it adheres
closely to the original significance of the word. Fanum
was the Latin for temple; pro meant "before," in the sense
of "outside of." It is the picture of man standing on
the outside, not permitted to enter. It has tlfis same
sense in Masonry; the "profane" are those men and women
who stand outside of Masonry. The word here, of course,
has nothing to do with profanity in the sense of sacrilegious
||Means not only proficient in the ritualistic work, but
before the world in daily living.
||Growing out of the cardinal virtues which are emphasized
throughout the Degrees of Masonry is the practice of prudence
by which we are instructed to regulate our conduct by
the dictates of reason and in obedience to the cardinal
virtues of faith, hope and love.
|- Q -
||Qualify comes from the same word as quality. The root
of it is the Latin qua, preserved in our "what." The quality
of a thing was its whatness, the stuff of which it was
made, its nature. The fy in "qualify" is from facere,
to make, so that "qualify" means that a thing is made
of the required stuff; and qualification means the act
by which a thing is made of the required nature, or is
declared to have it. The candidate for the Degrees of
Masonry must possess certain characteristics in his nature;
must be a man of lawful age, etc., and these are his qualifications.
||The Latin quadratum was a square; originally, quadrate
and quarry meant the same. The word became applied' to
the pit from which rock is hewn because the principal
task of workmen therein was to cut, or square, the stones;
hence, literally a quarry is a place where stone-squaring
is done. In Masonry "quarry" sometimes refers to the rock
pits from which Solomon's workmen hewed out the stones
for his Temple; at other times it refers to the various
arenas of Masonic activities, as when it is said of an
active Lodge member that "he is a faithful laborer in
|- R -
||In the Anglo Saxon arisan was used of any motion up
or down, but in English it became used only of an upward
motion, as in arise, rising, raise, rear, etc. Raise means
to hoist, or carry, or lift, a body upward in space. There
is no need to explain to a Mason why it is said of a candidate
who has completed the Third Degree that he has been "raised,"
or why the climactic ceremony in that Degree is described
as "raising." One is "initiated" an Entered Apprentice,
"passed" a Fellowcraft, "raised" a Master Mason.
||Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason refers
to the final symbolic ritual of the Third Degree celebrating
our faith in the Final Resurrection of our bodies, to
the Divinely Revealed Truth that these vile bodies shall
be fashioned into the likeness of the risen and perfected
and glorified body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
||Rest period symbolized by noon. Friscus, or frescus,
in the Latin had the meaning of new, fresh, recent; the
re meant again; so that refresh means to renew, to make
over, to undo the ravages of use and time, in Shakespeare's
phrase, "to knit up the raveled sleeve of care." To "pass
from labor to refreshment" is to find rest and recreation
so as to undo the wearing effects of toil, as when a laborer
knocks off at noon to eat his lunch and have a rest.
||The Latin rex, king, sovereign, ruler, was a root from
which many words have sprung, regal, royal, etc.; the
Latins themselves had regula, or rule, and regere, to
rule or govern. From this source has come our "regular."
It means a rule established on legitimate authority. In
Masonry "regular" is applied to those rules which have
been established by Grand Lodges and Grand Masters. A
"regular Lodge" is one that conforms to Grand Lodge requirements;
a "regular Mason" is the member of such a Lodge who conforms
to its laws and by-laws.
||One working under a charter or warrant from a legal
||One of the Masonic penalties which can be and is enforced
||From the beginning, Freemasonry has been built on two
cardinal beliefs: A belief in God, and a belief in a Resurrection
to a future life. This later belief assumes faith in the
immortality of man in his soul or spirit life, and recognizes
the need of Redemption or Salvation from sin through Divine
Grace. Throughout the rituals and symbolisms of Freemasonry,
and in all of its mythical teachings and legends, belief
in these truths is exemplified and demanded.
|Reverence for God
||The very nature of God, His attributes and qualities,
His creation, preservation and sovereignty over man, His
redemptive grace and love, even His name, demands of man
a reverent attitude at all times. God, Himself, and His
name which stands for his personality, supremacy, majesty
and glory are always revered in the Lodge of Masons, and
the same attitude toward God should characterize the personal
life of every true Mason. Anything and everything that
represents God to the mind of man should be held sacred.
||This, one of the noblest words in the English language,
is also one of the oldest, being found in the very ancient
Sanskrit in the form raj meaning rule. It appeared in
Latin as rectus, meaning direct, straight, a rule,— rule
being used in the sense of our ruler, a device for drawing
a line which is the shortest distance between two points.
Such words as regent, rail, direct, rector, rectify, rule,
came from this Latin term. Right means "straight," as
in a "right line," a "right angle," etc.; through a familiar
metaphorical application it has come to stand for conduct
in conform-ity with moral law. Our "rights" are those
privileges which strict law allows to us. A "horizontal"
is a right line on the level; a perpendicular" is a right
line up and down, or at right angles to the horizontal.
"Right" and "regular," discussed just above, origi-nally
were close together in meaning.
||Comes from the Latin ritualis meaning "ceremonial forms."
A ritual is a system of rites. "Rite," like "right," is
very old; it has been traced to the if Sanskrit riti,
meaning usage, which in turn was derived from ri, meaning
flow, suggesting the regular current of river. In Latin
this became ritus meaning in general a custom, more particularly
a religious custom, or usage. In taking over this word
the church applied it to the acts in solemn religious
services which had to be performed according to strict
rules. In Masonry the ritual is the prescribed set of
ceremonies used for the purpose of initiation. It should
be noted that a set of ceremonies does not become a ritual
until it has been prescribed by some official authority.
||The unenlightened member; man in his natural state before
|Rubbish of the Temple
||Hindrances in the erection of the Temple of Solomon
caused by the scattered rubbish is a figure of worldly
and material things of life which prevent proper moral,
ethical and spiritual growth or the building of that spiritual
structure of character and usefulness which is the supreme
end of Freemasonry. These are to be removed with diligence
|- S -
||Freemasonry recognizes man's constitutional requirement
for one day's rest from the ordinary secular toils of
life, and accepts as part of its fundamental teachings
of the Divine establishment of the Sabbath Day. By legendary
instructions, through symbolisms, and by precept, the
privilege and duty of Sabbath observations are inculcated.
The Sabbath Day is honored as an allotted period for rest
and Divine Worship.
||Holy places dedicated to the services and worship of
God are a necessity for man. They are to be revered even
as the name of God and utilized by man for his spiritual
culture and for communion with the Most High. Moses erected
a Sanctuary under the directions of God, and Holy places
for worship have been perpetuated ever since. In the Bible,
this name is ascribed to the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle
and in the Temple.
||The Latin phrase referring to the Holy of Holies or
innermost chamber of King Solomon's Temple where the Ark
of the Covenant was kept.
||It is not only required that the Bible on the altar
in the Lodge be spread open as a necessary preparation
for opening the Lodge and during its work, but that it
be opened at certain passages during the several Degrees.
For the First Degree, the assigned passage is Psalms 133;
for the Second, Amos, chapter 7; in some jurisdictions,
1 Corinthians, chapter 13, and for the Third, Ecclesiastes,
||This, like our words "sign" and "insignia," is derived
from the Latin sigillum, diminu-tive of signum, meaning
a mark, or sign. It is some kind of device affixed to
a document in place of a signature or in close connection
with a signature for the purpose of showing that the document
is regular or official. A document bearing the seal of
a Lodge shows that it is officially issued by the Lodge,
and not by some irresponsible person or persons. The word
is also used of the tool by means of which the device
is stamped into wax, or whatever similar material may
be used for the purpose.
||From Se, apart, and cernere, separate, the Latins had
secretum, suggesting something separated from other things,
apart from com-mon kndwledge, hidden, covered, isolated,
hence "secrecy." There is a fundamental difference between
"secret" and "hidden," far whereas the latter may mean
that nobody knows where a thing is, nothing can be secret
e without at least one person knowing it. The secrets
of Freemasonry are known to all Masons, therefore are
not hidden; they are secrets only in the sense that they
are not known to profanes. A similar word is "occult,"
which means a thing naturally secret, one, as it were,
that secretes itself, so that few can know about it. See
also the paragraphs on "clandestine" and "mystery" in
the preceding pages. There is also another less familiar
word in Masonry meaning hidden, covered up, concealed,
secret; it is pronounced "hail" but is spelled "hele."
||The present use of this word has departed widely from
its original meaning. The Latin secretus meant secret,
private; secretarium was a conclave, a caucus, a council
behind closed doors, consequently a secretarius was some
very confidential officer, and was used of a secretary
in our sense, of a notary, a scribe, etc. Since the handling
of correspon-dence and the keeping of records is usually
a confidential service the man who does it has come to
be called a secretary. The secretary of a Lodge cares
for all its correspondence and its records.
||Masonry's only secrets are in its methods of recognition
and of symbolic instructions. Its principles and aims
have never been secret.
||The duty of supporting one's self and his family by
individual initiative and personal labor is a universal
tenet of Freemasonry.
||An ear of corn; a test word; a watchword; slogan. A
word used by followers of Jephthah to test certain of
the Ephraimites who sought to escape across the Jordan
after having refused to fight in the armies of Israel
was Shibboleth. Because of their Ephraimite dialect, they
pronounced it Sibboleth.
||This comes from the Latin signum, a word which appears
in a dozen or more English words, as signature, signet,
signify, consign, countersign, resign, etc. Where a seal
is used principally on documents and for the purpose of
showing them to be official, sign is used much more variously
and widely; it is some kind of gesture, device, mark,
or design which indicates something, or points to something,
and which often has a meaning known only to the initiated.
Masonic signs are gestures that convey a meaning which
only Masons understand, and which most frequently are
used for purposes of recognition.
||Modes of recognition often serving as a reminder of
some event or pledge.
||Or ever the silver cord be loosed is a figurative expression
in the beautiful passage descriptive of the delibitations
of old age or approaching death. It is thought to refer
to the weakening of the spinal cord which results in the
loosening of the nervous system.
||peaceable. Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba,
and David's successor on the throne of Israel. Though
not the oldest of David's sons, he was chosen by his father
to be his successor and was crowned king prior to David's
death, when only about twenty-one years of age. He was
solemnly charged by his father to build the Temple for
which large funds had already been gathered. Solomon prayed
especially for wisdom which was given to him by God above
the measure of any other man in history. The league made
with Hiram, King of Tyre, by his father was perpetuated,
and by his assistance the Temple was carried to completion
within seven and one-half years, beginning the fourth
year of his reign.
||The point in the ecliptic at which the sun is farthest
from the equator (north in summer, south in winter).
|Sons of Light
||During the building of King Solomon's Temple the Masons
were so called.
||The Latin specere meant to see, to look about; specula
was a watchtower, so called because from it one could
look about over a wide territory. It came to be used metaphorically
of the mental habit of noting all the aspects of a subject;
also, as applied to theo-retical knowledge as opposed
to practical skill. "Speculative Masonry" was knowledge
of the science, or theory, of building; "Operative Masonry,"
trained skill in putting that knowledge into practice.
'When Operative Masonry was dropped out of the Craft in
the eighteenth century, only the speculative ele-ments
remained and these became the basis of our present Fraternity.
It is for this reason that we continue to describe it
as Speculative Masonry. The word has nothing to do with
philosophical speculation, or with theorizing merely for
its own sake.
||Freemasonry in its modern acceptance; the application
of the implements of Operative masonry to a system of
||Freemasonry draws many sublime lessons and deduces many
worth truths from the symbolisms of the building of King
Solomon's Temple, as well as from operative Masonry and
architecture respecting the more important superstructure
of moral, ethical and spiritual components knows as the
Spiritual Temple. The building of this Temple is in vain
without Divine aid. It fact, it must be build of God as
the Chief Architect, and all the material that goes into
it must pass His inspection and approval.
|Sprig of Acacia
||Symbolizes the immortality of the soul.
||As noted in the paragraph on "quarry" the Latin quad
ratum was a square. Quatuor meant "four;" from it we have
square, four, quad, quadrangle, squadron, etc. In geometry
I a square is a four-sided straight-lined figure having
all its sides equal and all its angles right angles; and
since early carpenters and Masons had to use an instrument
for proving the angles to be right, they fell into the
habit of calling that instrument a square. In Ma-sonry
the square is used in at least three distinct senses;
as a sharp instrument, as a working tool, and as a symbol,
the last named when used with the compasses on the Holy
Bible. As a symbol it refers to the earth, for so long
a time supposed to be square in shape; as a working tool,
it refers to all those forces by means of which one prepares
himself to fit into his own proper place in the Brotherhood,
like a Perfect Ashlar in a wall.
|St. John the Baptist
||Masons honor St. John the Baptist as the forerunner
of the Messiah and Saviour. The names of the Holy St.
John the Baptist and the Holy St. John the Evangelist
are reverently associate in significant rituals of the
|St. John the Evangelist
||As a disciple of St. John the Baptist, John, a son of
Zebedee and brother of James, was among the earliest to
follow Jesus and to enter into full Christian discipleship.
He was numbered among the Apostles and was designated
as the "disciple whom Jesus loved." He was author of five
of our New Testament books: the Gospel bearing his name;
three Epistles; and the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In
Masonic history and in rituals, St. John the Evangelist
is highly honored and his memory beautifully commemorated.
|Stand To and Abide By
||This is a unique pledge of every mason and means that
he convenants himself to stand by and obey every regulation
of the Order, that he will be governed at all times by
its laws and rules, and that the landmarks of the Fraternity
will be followed faithfully in every detail.
|Stations and Places
||Officers are elected to stations and appointed to places.
||This came into general use through the church, in which
it was adopted as the name for an important official and
also for an important theological doctrine; the doctrine
of stewardship. The word itself had a peculiar origin.
In Anglo Saxon stigo was a sty or place in which domestic
animals were kept; I weard (see "warden" on following
page) was a guard, or keeper; therefore the steward was
the keeper of the cattle pens. Its meaning became enlarged
to include the duties of general over-seer, one who is
in charge of a household or estate for another; and still
more generally, one who provides for the needs for food,
money, and supplies. In the history of Ma-sonry the office
of steward has performed a variety of functions; the caring
of funds, distribution of charity, preparing for banquets
and similar services.
||Sublimis, in Latin, referred to something high, lofty,
exalted, like a city set on top of a hill, or an eagle's
nest atop some lonely crag. It refers to that which is
eminent, of superlative degree, moral grandeur, spiritual
exaltation. Inasmuch as the Third Degree is at the top
of the system of Ancient Craft Masonry, it is known as
"The Sublime Degree.
||A notification from the Master to appear. For its neglect,
because it comes directly under the province of his obligation,
a member may be disciplined and/or punished.
||Like the word monitor, explained some pages back, summons
is derived from the Latin term of which the verb was monere,
meaning to warn, or to remind, as in "admonish ;" the
"sum" is the combining form of sub, under, or privy to,
in the secret of, as in the old phrase "sub rosa." A summons
is an official call sent out by persons in authority to
some person acknowledging that authority to appear at
some place, or to perform some duty; in other words a
person who is "on the inside," who is a member, is admonished
by his superiors, and must obey under penalty. The duty
involved and the penalty attached distinguishes a summons
from a mere invita-tion. A Lodge, Grand Lodge, or some
official issues a summons; a fellow Mason not in official
position makes a sign; a Mason is under obligation to
respond to either, if it be due, official, or regular.
||Temporary privation of power or rights, such as suspension
for nonpayment of dues. One of the Masonic penalties.
|Sword pointing to the Naked Heart
||Signifies that justice is one of the most rigorous laws
and if we are unjust in our hearts, the center of our
being, the inevitable result of injustice will find us
||Signifies or represents some truth, idea or fact, but
is not itself the thing it represents. It is interesting
to compare this word with "emblem" with which it is so
often confused. The Greek symbolon was a mark, or sign,
or token, or tally; it is derived from sun, together,
and ballein, put, or throw, from which we have ball, ballistics,
|Symbol of Glory
||The Blazing Star in the old lectures. The star in the
center represented Deity, hence, the "Symbol of Glory."
|- T -
||This was a moveable structure build under the directions
of Moses at Mount Sinai according to the pattern given
to him by God in a special revelation. In its truest sense,
the Tabernacle was a representation of the presence of
God in the midst of Israel, and the central place for
worship. This is the model Solomon used to build his Temple.
|Table of Shewbread
||This article of furniture in the Tabernacle was a table
made of acacia wood and of the ordinary make-up with legs.
It was furnished with dishes, bowls, spoons and covers,
all made of pure gold. Upon this table was placed twelve
cakes of bread made of fine flour, in two rows of six
cakes, called shewbread (also referred to shewbread).
These cakes or loaves were removed every Sabbath and fresh
bread supplied in their place. Only the priests were allowed
to eat this removed bread. In King Solomon's Temple, instead
of just one table, ten were used. They were patterned
after the table of the Tabernacle, except they were made
of pure gold and were much larger.
||King Solomon's Temple holds a place of universal and
pre-eminent interest due, in great measure, to Freemasonry
which has kept alive through the centuries many fascinating
legends and romances, innumerable symbols and rituals,
a goodly number of rites and ceremonies associated with
the building of the Temple and with its history. Refer
to the section in this web site entitled, King Solomon's
Temple for additional information concerning the Temple.
The Greeks had temenos, a sacred enclosure, a plot of
ground marked off to be a holy place; the Latins had templum,
a consecreated place. A temple is a building set apart
because it is holy, dedicated to religious uses. It has
its place in Masonry largely because of the prominence
of Solomon's Temple in the Ritual. It is interesting to
note that in Masonic nomenclature the ideal life, here
and hereafter, is described metaphorically as a temple,
one of a thousand examples of the extent to which Freemasonry
is saturated with religious language and emotions.
||The legend of the Temple builder which forms a significant
feature of the Third Degree in Freemasonry and the basis
of profound lectures has been an essential part of Masonic
ritual and Degree work throughout the history of the Order.
Its authenticity cannot be questioned nor can its importance
in the rites of Freemasonry be overestimated.
|Temple of the Body
||The symbolism of Solomon's Temple in the science of
speculative Masonry, and the several rites of the Order
based upon operative Masonry in the construction of the
Temple, are intended to convey and inculcate great moral,
ethical and spiritual truths. Among these truths is the
teaching that man's body is to be made a fit Temple for
the indwelling of God, and than many of the symbolisms
in the building of King Solomon's Temple find their realities
in human life and experience.
||Masons recognize and honor the Decalogue incorporated
in the laws of Moses as being of Divine origin and accept
them as the moral code by which all human relations with
God and with mankind should be regulated.
|Tenets of Freemasonry
||Dogmas; principles, beliefs, doctrines; teachings of
Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. A Tenet is something
obviously true; that which is universally accepted without
||Belonging to the earth.
||Checkered floor of black and white, symbolic of the
triumphs and the despairs throughout life.
||In ancient Israel and other societies, the putting off
of the shoes was a testimony of reverence for God or for
an earthly superior, and as a token of confirmation in
making contracts with fellowmen. The practice in certain
rituals of Masonry may be traced back to this ancient
||A Greek word signifying "four letters.' It is a name
given by the Talmudists when referring to God or Jehovah.
|The two great pillars of Solomon's Temple called Boaz
||Jachin is a combination of two words, Jah, a name of
Jehovah, and iachin, meaning establishment. The full significance
of the name is, therefore, "With God's help to establish,"
||The upper, middle and lower chambers of King Solomon's
Temple were rooms adjoining the main building fitted for
quiet communication with God, as places for the preparation
of priests and for storage of Temple vessels and instruments.
Emblematical of youth, manhood, and age.
|| Emblematical of youth, manhood, and age.
||In operative Masonry, the workman known as the Tiler
placed over the finished edifice a roof of tiles, and
thus provided protection for the building. The symbolism
of his work is invested in the office of Tiler (spelled
Tyler in some jurisdictions) in speculative Masonry. His
duty is to provide protection for the Lodge when it is
organized and ready for business, closing the doors, keeping
away eavesdroppers and intruders, and guarding the sacred
precincts from intrusions of any kind. Also spelled "tyler."
In the Latin tegere (from which came "thatch") meant cover,
roof; tegulae were the tiles, pieces, slabs, used for
roof-coverings. A tiler, therefore, is one who makes,
or fastens on, tiles. Since in Operative Masonry the tiler
was the workman who closed the building in, and hid its
interior from outside view, the guardian of the entrance
to the Lodge was figuratively called by this name. It
was once supposed that "tiler" came from the French tailleur,
a cutter, a hewer (from whence we have "tailor"), and
it was accordingly spelled "tyler;" that, however, is
incorrect, "tiler" being the correct spelling.
|To that undiscovered country from whose bourne no travelers
||Comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act III, Scene 1).
||This is from the Greek deigma.. meaning example, or
proof—the origin of the word "teach," and in its orginal
sense had much the same meaning as sign and symbol, for
it was an ob5ect used as the sign of something else. It
is generally used, however, in the sense of a pledge or
of an object that proves something. In our usage a token
is something that exhibits, or shows, or proves that we
are Masons—the grip of recognition, for example.
||A sign used for recognition to prove that a man is a
||Or emblematic chart. Emblems used to illustrate the
||According to a belief handed down from generation to
generation, but not supported by any sure or exact evidence.
A tradition need have nothing of the miraculous in it.
||The passing over from one stage to another.
|Traveling from West to East
||In Operative Masonry workmen traveled from one job to
another and the word "traveling" came to signify a form
of work. Hence, a Mason works his way toward the East
(place of light) by improving himself as he progresses
||The carpet or board upon which the Master inscribes
the designs for guidance of the Craft. In the present
day it refers to the meeting notice sent to the membership.
||Are held in Masonic courts of law in which testimony
is heard and the accused either found innocent or guilty.
|Troubles of Life
||Freemasonry recognizes the fact that man in his sin-fallen
state is the natural heir to sufferings, frailties, weaknesses,
trial and troubles; and that release and renewal of strength
may be found only in God and the use of the means of Divine
Grace and Providence.
||The Working Toot of the Master Mason. Symbolically,
to spread the cement of Brotherly Love to fit the capstone
to complete the building.
|Trust in God
||In this life, mans knows not what an hour or a day may
bring forth. Paths upon which he must travel are unknown,
and many unseen and unexpected dangers await him. Even
when among friends, there is a constant need for Divine
wisdom, sustenance, strength, aid and guidance. Hence,
as the candidate crosses the threshold of the Lodge, and
throughout all the ceremonies and rites of Freemasonry,
he is required to "put his trust in God."
||Artificer in brass and iron. The first Master Craftsman,
son of Lamech and Zillah. (See Genesis IV:22) a descendant
of Adam through the Cainite line. Tubal-cain is regarded
in Masonry as the father of skilled workmanship in artistic
productions for building purposes.
||City of Sidonian Empire which is only 120 miles by sea
from Jerusalem. King Hiram or Tyre provided materials
for the building of the Temple.
|- U -
||The mystic tie of true fraternalism is love. But, even
where brotherly love prevails, differences of opinion,
conflicting ideas, unenlightenment on the part of some,
prejudices and varied interests in life endanger the spirit
of genuine fellowship and unity. Hence, Masons are constantly
taught to avoid "confusion among the workmen," discord,
strife, jealousies and vain discussions on non-essentials;
and to cultivate zealously and fervently the spirit of
true unity in the Lodge and in the Fraternity.
||Conduct of a Mason which violates the laws of the Craft
and his obligation thereto.
||The use of mortar not composed of the correct ingredients
or in which these ingredients are improperly mixed in
operative Masonry is certain to result in a weak and defective
building, in a building that will soon disintegrate and
tumble down. In speculative Masonry, such untempered mortar
is symbolic of dishonest and fraudulent mistures in the
building of character or in the construction of the institution
of Freemasonry. It represents hypocrisy, the representation
of evil as good, the employment of bad materials in moral,
ethical and spiritual architecture.
|- V -
||Volume of the Sacred Law.
|Veil of the Temple
||This was the curtain or partition which separated the
Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It served as a constant
reminder to worshippers than only the High Priest, and
he only once a year after having made proper atonement
for his own sins and for the sins of the people, was allowed
to enter the Holy of Holies. As a result of the atonement
of Christ in his death on the cross, this veil was rent
and destroyed, and through Him as High Priest an open
door into the Heavenly Sanctuary has been prepared for
all true worshippers.
||Uttering a thing in parabolic form (i.e., parable) with
its meaning hidden. Many of the sublimest truths of Freemasonry
are thus spoken, and even those who have been given the
mysteries of speculative science must delve into the caverns
of Masonic mystery to gather these hidden gems of truth.
||To visit a lodge outside of your "regular" lodge. Visitation
is a privilege and not a right.
||The laws of ancient Israel with respect to the treatment
of strangers or visitors have full recognition and force
among Freemasons. In fact, no Mason is allowed to regard
as a stranger or visitor any Brother Mason, even though
he has no acquaintance with him, and even if he may be
of some other religion, country or nationality.
||This harks back to the Latin vocare, to call, to summon,
and is the origin of voice, vouchsafe, vocation (in the
sense of a "calling"), vocal, etc. To vouch is to raise
one s voice in testimony, to bear witness, to affirm,
to call to witness. If we vouch for a brother we raise
the voice to testify that we know him to be a regular
||A brother cannot vouch for the Masonic standing of a
brother unless he has sat with him in a Masonic Lodge.
Knowledge of his standing or membership in a body requiring
Masonic membership as a prerequisite is not grounds for
||The "vows of a Mason" are the inward and spiritual covenants
of the mystic ties of the Fraternity which have their
outward expression in the formal obligations assumed in
the several Degrees of the Order. The vows are the covenants
of heart and conscience which serve as the main force
of heart and character in faithfully observing the obligations
verbally expressed before the altar.
|- W -
||Masons who built King Solomon's Temple were paid wages,
but there is no Biblical reference as to the daily wage
paid. The true and enlightened Mason finds his rewards
in the gratifying and beneficial results of his studies,
and in the fruitful products of his Masonic deeds.
|Wages, A Master's
||Symbolizing the fruits of a man's labors in Masonic
work. It is certain that the operative Masons who labored
in the construction of King Solomon's Temple were paid
wages, but there is no Biblical reference as to the daily
wage paid. Speculative Masons perform certain labors which
are moral and spiritual, and their wages or rewards are
spiritual. The true and enlightened Mason finds his rewards
in the gratifying and beneficial results of his studies,
and in the fruitful products of his Masonic deeds.
||"Ward" is of Medieval origin, having been used in early
English, French, German, etc., always in the sense of
to guard something, a meaning preserved in warden, guard,
guardian, wary, ware, ward, etc. A warden is guardian
of the west gate of the Temple, the Junior Warden of the
||At the beginning of the opening ceremonies both columns
are down, The Senior Warden's column is elevated down
when the WM declares the Lodge open. It is lowered when
the Master declares the Lodge called from labor to refreshment,
or when, ill the closing ceremonies. The Junior Warden's
column is elevated up, when the Lodge is at refreshment.
It raised at the moment when the Master declares the Lodge
at refreshment, and is lowered when he calls the Lodge
to labor. The Senior Warden's column is lowered and raised
at the same times.
||This also derives from the same source, and carries
the general meaning of "to de-fend," "to guard." Warrant
is sometimes used as a pledge of security; in Masonry
it is a document officially issued to authorize the formation
of a Lodge, and consequently acts as the pledge, or security,
for the future activity of it.
||A traveler or transient, one with no settled home, is
often referred to as a wayfaring man.
||White is symbolic of purity in its various uses in Masonry.
||The white stone is a token of fraternal friendship and
helpfulness as well as enduring alliance.
|Widows and Orphans
||Masons are solemnly pledged to make special provision
for widows and orphans in need, especially among families
of the Fraternity.
||Masons are sometimes referred to as "sons of the widow"
as this was the title applied to Hiram, chief architect
of Solomon's Temple.
||The Temple of Solomon was equipped with an impressive
winding stairway consisting of fifteen steps leading from
the porch to the second floor. Elaborate and extensive
symbolisms are attached to these winding stairs in the
work of Freemasonry. Is one which tries a man's soul.
He must approach it with faith believing that there is
a top, that by a long and arduous climb he will reach
a Middle Chamber. A place of light.
|Wisdom of Solomon
||King Solomon represents the highest degree of wisdom.
The East, the source of light, symbolizes the wisdom needed
for success in life. The East is represented by the pillar
that supports the Lodge and by the Worshipful Master.
||The WORD symbolizes Divine Truth. The search for the
Word in any sense means ultimately the search for Truth.
Masonry is, in its essence, the search for Truth. The
written word of God hold a pre-eminent place in all Degrees
of Masonry and in all of its teachings.
||The idea behind this noble old word is one that has
powerfully appealed to all European peoples and is found
in nearly every Euro-pean language. The Greek ergon meant
work, organ on. was the instrument by which work was done;
from this source we have energy, organ, erg, and it appears
in combination in such words as metallurgy. To work means
to put forth effort in order to accomplish something;
play is also a putting forth of effort, but in that case
the effort is its own end, and is done for its own sake.
Work has an end beyond itself. The official ritual of
the Lodge is called the Standard Work; it came to be so
called by analogy, the ritual of Speculative Masonry corresponding
to the daily labor of the Operative Masons.
|Working Tool of a Past Master
||The plumb line.
||Title of honor and respect as used in Worshipful Master,
from the Anglo Saxon worth was something honorable, deserving
of respect, a meaning that shows up in worth, the value
of anything, also in worship, which is deference paid
to some object or person of great importance. Worshipful
describes something full of the qualities calling for
such deference. It was used in Medieval times of one's
parents, officers of the state, prelates, etc., signifying
that such persons were of high station or entitled to
deferential respect. It is so used in our term, "Worshipful
Master." The term has no religious or sacred implication.
|Worthy and Well Qualified
||That by his character and moral living, the candidate
is worthy to be a member.
|- X -
|- Y -
||While the civil calendar reckons from the Year of our
Lord and is designated A.D., the Masonic calendar dates
from the year when God said, "Let there be Light," and
is designated A. L.
||The tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
||The degrees of the lodge, Chapter, Council, and Commandery.
|- Z -
||Intensity of purpose and of earnestness.
||The Persian Volume of the Sacred Law.
||The point in heavens directly over head of the spectator;
||The mountain or hill in Palestine on which Jerusalem