Tag Archives: geometry

Triangle with Candles

Dąbrowski has an unidentified “American Masonic Symbols”, see below. The triangle with 12 candles seems to refer to the twelve apostles and is (possibly among others) part of the Knight Templar degrees.

It can also be seen on a painting that (according to the same author) can be found in the National Museum of Scotland. There the candles are clearer and the skull and crossbones in the middle may point towards certain degrees.

Continue reading →

3D Stars

Dąbrowski has an unidentified “Masonic Symbols”, see below. The image itself says: “Templar Chart” so I suppose these are symbols from Templar degrees.

At the bottom there are three different three dimensional stars, probably some geometrical reference such as the Platonic solids.

A similar star displayed on a 26th degree Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite tracing board (see here) is simply described as “blazing star“.

Continue reading →

Octothorpe

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.

Continue reading →

Master’s Tracing Board

There is another thing called “tracing board“. On ‘that other tracing board’ there is usually a… tracing board. That latter is the board on which the Master Mason draws his sketches and it is thus a third degree symbol. When you look at tracing boards (‘tableaus’) you will see that this ‘master’s board’ does not always have the same symbols on them. In the example above you see a plan of the temple of King Solomon and a 47th problem of Euclid. More often you will see just two symbols #X which can either be a a reference to Masonic cipher or tools to make a drawing (if you know how to use these two symbols). The most interesting examples come from Sweden:

Continue reading →

Point Within Circle

Mostly seen in Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry. This symbol has different meanings. It can sometimes be seen on first degree tracing boards, but he point within the circle is a third degree element in many rituals. With the two lines included, the symbol can refer to the year (circle) and the two solstices (where the circle and the lines touch), hence referring to the two patron saints of Freemasonry, Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist.

Wikimedia Commons