Category Archives: Rectified Scottish Rite

Double Cross

Emblem of the Preceptor of the Knight Templar degree and of the same office in the Rectified Scottish Rite.

This [Patriarchal] Cross when in purple enamel, and edged with gold, is the insignia of all officers of the Grand Encampment below the Grand Master.

Shibboleth Templar Monitor by George Cooper Connor (1894).

A similar two barred cross also appears in 27th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

Outside Freemasonry there are several varieties to this cross with names such as the patriarchal cross, the Jagiellonian cross and the cross of Lorraine.

Broken Column

The image shows a broken column with the text “Adhuc Stat!” (“It stands still”) on a First Degree “Orient Board” of the French Rectified Scottish Rite. The same image was used in the Strict Observance.

In a 1764 Strikte Observanz catechism it says:

Q. What symbol do the apprentices have?
A. A pillar broken from above, but standing firm on its base, with the inscription: Adhuc stat.

Another text of the same year has a bit more information:

On this carpet we find the symbol of the apprentice: a pillar broken off from above with the inscription: Adhuc Stat, which is meant to indicate that even if the nobility and greatness of the order, just as the pillar, has been shattered and brought down by the destruction under Philippo Pulchro, the foundation has nevertheless remained, because it is still propagated in secret.

That exact text can still be found in the first degree of the French Rectified Scottish Rite.

The broken column/pillar sometimes refers to the destroyed Temple of King Solomon. In some lodges lectures are given from behind a broken column. The broken column has a general grave symbolism of an ended life. Sometimes a weeping lady (virgin) stands next to the pillar (often with a man behind her representing time). The latter image is sometimes a reference to the passing of Hiram.

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Cubic Stone

(Cubic) stones come in many shapes and forms within Freemasonry. This specific stone (an oblong stone with a square laying on it) can be seen on the Second Degree “Orient Board” of the French Rectified Scottish Rite. The text “dirigit obliqua” translates to: “directs obliquely”. The same image was used in the Strict Observance.

Ship

Third Degree “Orient board” of the French Rectified Scottish Rite saying: “in silentio spefortitudo mea”, “in the silence of my hope”. The same image was used in the Strict Observance.