Find your Symbol of Freemasonry
Robert Burns (1759-1796) was a Scottish poet and a ‘legendary’ Freemason. He was initiated at the age of 23 in 1781. A story in itself.
Nowadays, when somebody in Scotland gets the Mark degree, he often gets a pin with the symbol above. It is said to be “Burn’s Mark”. The mark that Burns got when he supposedly got his Mark degree.
The equilateral triangle, sometimes named “delta” after the Greek capital D is a somewhat widely used symbol within Freemasonry. MacKenzie (Royal Masonic Cyclopedia, 1877) says of it:
The Delta is the Emblem of the Chapter in Royal Arch Masonry; Overseer’s mark of approval in Mark Master’s Degree; Emblem of the Trinity.
general image
The “wicket” or “wicket gate” is a distinctive element of the Mark Master degree, connected to the Senior Warden. This is through which the Mark Master receives his wages.
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Order of the Secret Monitor and the letters D J (a Mark degree) breast jewel.
general officer jewel
Order of the Scarlet Cord 1st degree jewel, part of the Mark system
one of many examples found online.
Emblem of the Deacon in Mark lodges. Also see caduceus.
general officer jewel
Emblem of the Junior Warden in Mark lodges.
general officer jewel
Dąbrowski has an unidentified “Masonic Symbols”, see below. The image itself says: “Templar Chart” so I suppose these are symbols from Templar degrees.
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Dąbrowski has an unidentified “Masonic Symbols”, see below. I don’t know in which degree this image is featured and if there are other systems or degrees with this symbol, but I did encounter it on Mark Master tracing boards, sometimes with nine dots. Perhaps it is just a (Mason’s) mark?
The # (hashtag) can often be found together with a X on Master Mason drawing boards. Thus combined (#X) it can either refer to the pigpen cipher or a way to construct cubic stones.
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The Arch can be frequently found in Freemasonry in different forms and contexts. With a keystone you can find it in the Royal Arch, the Royal Arch degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, York and other rites and in the Mark degree. Without a capstone it appears in other degrees.
Several meanings can be given to the arch. A connection, a door, sometimes the significance lays in a detail (such as the capstone).
Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor (1866) by Malcolm C. Duncan
One of the emblems of the Junior Warden in de Mark degree. It is also the emblem of the Warder in the Royal Ark Mariner degree (crossed axes for the Guardian there too) and (seen above) emblem of the Guard in Knight Templar Freemasonry. In the Swedish Rite of St. Andrew it is a symbol of the 6th degree (see below).
Also in the (historical) “Scottish Master” degree, the axe was one of the items on tracing boards.
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Three Rosettes can sometimes be seen on “craft” Master Mason aprons, usually of English (type) working lodges. Sometimes Fellowcraft aprons have two rosettes, but there are also Fellowcraft aprons with three rosettes, such as in the French “Lodge of St. John” of the Swedish Rite.
The rosettes can also have different colours for different degrees and can differ in number.
Here we have a fourth degree (“Apprentis of Saint Andrews”) of the Swedish Rite.
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In some lodges the Master of Ceremonies has a Caduceus as a staff where is sometimes refers to Hermes.
It is also the emblem of the Deacon in Mark lodges.
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Tools for both the Entered Apprentice and the Mark Master.
Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor (1866) by Malcolm C. Duncan
Even though this is a typical Mark Master symbol, Duncan also lists it as a symbol of the Royal Arch. The abbreviation reads “Hiram Tyrian Widow’s Son, Sent to King Solomon”.
general Mark degree symbolism