Find your Symbol of Freemasonry
The Baylot collection of degrees has a degree “Prince of Jerusalem” which speaks of a “sword and an avenging hand”. The Dutch translators of this collection (Van Eijk, Van Seggelen, Sinninghe Damsté, 2019) publish a tracing board unknown to me with their text (below). The cross in the middle appears to be referred to in the text.
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A hand holding a small vessel or pot is the emblem of the 23rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in some systems.
General image
45th degree (“Sublime Sage of the Mysteries”) tracing board of (one of the variations of) Memphis Misraim.
Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraim in Freemasonry Aprons and Tracing Boards – Murat Ozgen Ayfer (2019)
Detail of a sixth degree (Chevaliere de la Lune) Adoption tracing board.
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Detail of a fifth degree Adoption tracing board (“Ecossaise”).
Unfortunately this degree has no description of the tracing board.
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When Sanabal Hierusalem distrest,
With sharp assaultes, in Nehemias tyme,
To warre, and worke, the Jews them selves addrest
And did repaire theire walls, with stone, and lime:
One hand the swode, against the foe did shake,
The other hand, the trowel, up did take.
The image and text are from Choices of Emblemes (1586) of Geffrey Whitney (1548?-1601?). Belton and Dachez make quite something of this “Sanabal theme”. In his famous oration, Chevalier Ramsay referred to knights who rebuilt King Solomon’s Temple with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. That theme would later appear in early French ‘high degrees’, most notably the “Chevalier d’Orient”, or “Knight of the East” that is still part of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The text also seems to be used in the Royal Arch.
Choices of Emblemes (1586) of Geffrey Whitney (1548?-1601?)
Emblem of the 10th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in a Dutch AASR book. The heads are those of the three murderers of Hiram.
In 2012 antiquarian Hondtong published the collection of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite as they were presented to Prince Frederik in 1817.
A symbol of the International Order of Odd Fellows, not Freemasonry, but a similar organisation.
common Odd Fellows symbol
Emblem of the Strikte Observanz.
emblem of the Strikte Observanz ca. 1742
A sinister image from a French “tableau”. The description refers to two degrees from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
There is a similar image in Kloss “Second Grade Elû”. The old ‘elect’ degrees have become the degrees of the AASR that are known as ‘vengeance’ degrees. One skull on a spike is most likely the remains of the first murderer of Hiram.
Top: 18th century painting from Mons, Belgium. They are reprinted online and in print on several places. Facsimiles of the entire collection appear in Dix-Sept Tableaux Symboliques du XVIIIe Siecle (1992) by Maurice-Aurélien Arnould (1914-2001)
Bottom: image in the collection (1844) of Georg Kloss (1787-1854) (Collection de 84 tableaux, Kl.MS:XXV.1)
Similar to the hand with a dagger, you also frequently find a hand with a sword. This particular one is from the French book Mutus Liber Latomorum and has the peculiarity that it appears to be sticking the king’s head in the nose.
Mutus Liber Latomorum (1765)
In the fascinating, French publication, supposedly originally from 1765, called Mutus Liber Latomorum we find about 30 beautiful colour plates with often uncommon Masonic symbols. There is a suggestion that they refer to historical (proto Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite?) degrees. The image above is early in the book, so it refers to a low/early degree?
More about the book here.
Mutus Liber Latomorum (1765)
Every degree has a grip (and a step and a word). These ‘secret handshakes’ captivate outsiders. On old (and sometimes more recent) Masonic charts you can sometimes see two holding hands. When they are just two hands shaking, it is somewhat likely to be a reference to the Odd Fellows, but with some added detail, such hands can refer to a certain degree.
The Book Of The Ancient And Accepted Scottish Rite (1884) Charles McClenachan (detail)
In the Kloss / von Löwen collection there is a tracing board for the degree of “Philosophe Sublime, ou Cheval. de l’Occident”. A common feature of this degree is a right hand holding seven stars.
In the Baylot collection the stars are referred to as “seven characteristics which should lead the Freemason, being. Friendship. Unity. Obedience, Taciturnity. Loyalty. Temperance and Produnce.”
Compare this, also a “Chevalier d’Occident” (‘Knight of the West’) tracing board. In the degree indeed a man holding seven stars is mentioned.
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These two triple triangles are based on a 2nd degree tracing board in Millar. They suggest that the mouth, ear and heart are to be connected to the Square, Level and Plumb, which would make the heart an emblem of the Junior or Second Warden.
My own redesign after a 2002 tracing board in Millar (p. 104)
These two triple triangles are based on a 2002 tracing board in Millar. I wonder if the upper has something to do with the lower. In that case the mouth, ear and heart are to be connected to Square (Worshipful Master), Plumb (Junior Warden) and Level (Senior Warden).
My own redesign after a 2002 tracing board in Millar (p. 104)
Emblem of the Senior Warden in Knight Templar Freemasonry.
There are also variations to the sword.
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Dąbrowski has an unidentified “American Masonic Symbols”, see below. There are quite a few symbols on it that are unfamiliar to me, such as this one. I don’t know in what rite or degree this symbol is of significance.
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Dąbrowski has an unidentified “American Masonic Symbols”, see below. There are quite a few symbols on it that are unfamiliar to me, such as this one. It could be a reference to the Holy Heart of Jesus and there is even a possibility for it being a reference to Faith, Hope and Charity, but I don’t know in what rite or degree this symbol is of significance.
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I’m not sure what this is. It seems something between a part of a body armor and a heart.
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