A Beautiful System

Symbols & Working Tools

Every Masonic teaching is encoded in the everyday tools of the medieval stonemason. We use them today not to cut stone, but to shape character.

Why Symbols?

To See, Not Merely Be Told

Freemasonry is "a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." It teaches by showing — by setting before a man the working tools of an honest trade and asking him what he sees in them.

The square that proves a corner true. The level that ranks no stone above another. The plumb that hangs straight under any sky. To the operative mason these were the instruments of a craft. To the speculative Mason they are the instruments of a life.

What follows is not the whole catalogue of Masonic symbolism — that is the work of a lifetime — but it is enough to begin with. Each symbol is a door. Walk through it slowly.

A 19th-century engraving of a Masonic tracing board displaying the principal symbols of the Craft — A 19th-century engraving of a Masonic tracing board — the traditional teaching diagram of the Lodge

The Most Recognized Emblem

Square & Compasses in Stone

Carved over the door of every Masonic Temple, worked into the stone of cornerstones and lintels, set in mosaic on lodge floors — the Square and Compasses are the universal sign of the Craft, recognized in every country where Masons meet.

The Square teaches morality — to act on the square is to act with rectitude. The Compasses teach the Mason to circumscribe his desires within due bounds. The letter G, suspended in the center, signifies both Geometry, the noblest of sciences, and God, the Great Architect of the Universe.

Square and Compasses carved in stone — Square and Compasses, carved in stone

The Catalog

Thirteen Principal Symbols

From the Square and Compasses to the Sprig of Acacia — the emblems and lessons that anchor every Masonic Lodge.

The universal emblem of the Craft

The Square & Compasses

United on the altar with the open Volume of the Sacred Law, the Square and Compasses are the most recognized emblem of Freemasonry. The Square teaches morality — to act on the square is to act honestly and uprightly. The Compasses teach the Mason to circumscribe his desires and keep his passions within due bounds toward all mankind. The letter G, suspended in the center, signifies both Geometry — the first and noblest of sciences — and God, the Great Architect of the Universe.

We meet upon the Level

The Level

The Level is the jewel of the Senior Warden and a working tool of the Fellow Craft. Its lesson is one of equality. We are taught that we are traveling upon the level of time to that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns — and that, distinctions of rank and wealth notwithstanding, all men are equal in the sight of God and at the moment of death.

Walk uprightly

The Plumb

The Plumb is the jewel of the Junior Warden. It admonishes the Mason to walk uprightly in his several stations before God and man, neither turning to the right nor to the left from the paths of virtue, but holding the scale of justice with equal poise.

Spread the cement of brotherly love

The Trowel

The Trowel is the working tool of the Master Mason. Operative masons used it to spread cement that united a building into one common mass; speculatively, it is the tool by which we spread the cement of brotherly love and affection — that cement which unites Masons into one sacred band of friends and brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist.

Divest the heart of vice

The Common Gavel

The working tool of the Entered Apprentice. Used by operative masons to break off the rough corners of stone; speculatively, used to divest our hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life. In the East, the gavel is also the symbol of the Worshipful Master's authority.

An emblem of Divine providence

The All-Seeing Eye

The All-Seeing Eye is the symbol of that Divine providence whom the sun, moon, and stars obey, and under whose watchful care even comets perform their stupendous revolutions. It pervades the inmost recesses of the human heart and reminds the Mason that his every thought and deed is observed by the Supreme Being.

Industry and brotherhood

The Beehive

The beehive is an emblem of industry. It recommends the practice of that virtue to all created beings — from the highest seraph in heaven to the lowest reptile of the dust — but especially to Masons, who, like the bees of the hive, ought never to be content to live upon the labors of others, but to labor honestly for the welfare of the whole.

The immortality of the soul

The Sprig of Acacia

An evergreen sprig said to have been planted at the head of the grave of Hiram Abiff to mark its location. As an evergreen tree, the acacia is the Masonic symbol of the immortality of the soul — that imperishable part of man which survives the grave and bears the nearest affinity to the Supreme Intelligence.

Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty

The Three Pillars

The Lodge is supported by three great pillars: Wisdom (Ionic) in the East, represented by the Worshipful Master, to contrive; Strength (Doric) in the West, represented by the Senior Warden, to support; and Beauty (Corinthian) in the South, represented by the Junior Warden, to adorn. As King Solomon was for wisdom, Hiram, King of Tyre, for strength, and Hiram Abiff for beauty — the masters of the great work.

The badge of a Mason

The Lambskin Apron

More ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honorable than the Star and Garter or any other order that could be conferred. The lambskin apron, white as a symbol of innocence and purity of life, is the badge of a Mason. Every Mason is presented with one at his initiation and is exhorted never to disgrace it.

The rule and guide of faith

The Volume of the Sacred Law

Open upon the altar at every meeting, the Volume of the Sacred Law is one of the Three Great Lights of Masonry, together with the Square and Compasses. It is the rule and guide of faith and practice — for, while Masons of every faith are welcomed at the altar, no Lodge may be opened without the Sacred Volume in its midst.

The center of the lodge

The Blazing Star

Set in the center of the mosaic pavement of King Solomon's Temple, the Blazing Star is a symbol of Divine providence and a reminder that, wherever a Mason may go upon the earth, the same star of guidance shines for him. With the letter G in its center, it unites the symbol of Deity with the radiant emblem of His omnipresence.

We part upon the Square

The Brotherly Grip

The handshake — the grip — is one of the oldest forms of Masonic recognition and is made memorable in each of the three degrees. More than a sign, it is the visible token of an invisible bond — the pledge of fidelity and good faith from one Brother to another, given on the level and renewed upon the square.

The Three Great Lights

What Stands Upon the Altar

No Masonic Lodge can be opened in the absence of the Three Great Lights: the Volume of the Sacred Law, the Square, and the Compasses. They are placed upon the altar at every meeting and are the visible foundation of all Masonic work.

The Volume of the Sacred Law is the rule and guide of faith and practice. Most often the Holy Bible, it is properly the sacred text of the predominant faith of the candidate — for Masons of every faith are welcomed at our altar. To dispense with the Sacred Volume is to dispense with the Lodge itself.

The Square, as we have already learned, teaches morality — to act on the square is to act with rectitude. The Compasses teach us to circumscribe our desires within due bounds. United on the altar, with both points of the Compasses set in particular relation to the Square according to the degree being worked, the three Lights together signify that a Mason rests his life upon faith, regulates it by virtue, and bounds it by self-control.

"Brethren, behold the Three Great Lights of Masonry, by the due attention to which we are taught the duties we owe to God, our neighbor, and ourselves."

Three Lesser Lights

Sun, Moon, and Master

Surrounding the Three Great Lights are three lesser ones, "situate east, west, and south" of the altar. They represent the sun, the moon, and the Worshipful Master of the Lodge: as the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night, so the Master, with equal regularity, governs the Lodge. From these symbols the Mason takes the lesson of order, of constancy, and of the proper authority that flows from being elected by his Brethren.

An Allegory at the Center

Hiram Abiff & the Sublime Degree

The third and sublime degree of Master Mason rests upon a great allegory: that of Hiram Abiff, the Master Builder of King Solomon's Temple, who is said to have been struck down by three ruffians for refusing to betray the secrets of his trust.

The legend is not history, and was never meant to be. Through it, the Mason is taught the certainty of immortality and the value of fidelity unto death — the willingness to lose a life rather than break a word.

Hiram is the Master who builds, the man who keeps faith, the figure of the better self that every man hopes to become. He stands at the center of the Master Mason degree as the still point around which the great wheel of Masonic teaching turns.

Hiram Abiff — Master Builder of Solomon's Temple — Hiram Abiff, Master Builder of the Temple of Solomon

Masonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. — Webb's Freemason's Monitor, 1797