Find your Symbol of Freemasonry
A block of stone with a varying degree of ‘roughness’ in which you can see a cubic stone. It is the symbol of imperfectness, the Entered Apprentice and can usually be found near the Junior or Second Warden.
The “ashlar” need not to be cubical in every system. You also see oblong stones sometimes.
Wikipedia Commons
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) 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.
original design from the Strikte Observanz (1742-1782), nowadays a common design in the French Rectified Scottish Rite. I found this modern image on nos-colonnes.com
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
Checkered floor (often black and white), also known as “tesselated pavement”. The pattern can be either horizontal or diagonal, either or not reaching the edges of the room or only covering a small part in the middle. The floor appears in many degrees, “craft” or otherwise.
general image found online.