Tag Archives: nature

Child

There is a fascinating book called Mutus Liber Latomorum, subtitled Le Livre Muet des Franc-Maçons. I suppose the French ‘the silent book of the Free-Masons’ is supposed to be a translation of the Latin title. The book appears to have been originally published (without a title?) in 1765 and should not be confused with the famous alchemical book Mutus Liber from 1677. It was republished in 1993 by J.C. Bailly and some say that it was him who came up with the tile. The republication supposedly contains: “two symbolic and historical studies: one by Philippe Morbach and the other by Didier Kahn, as well as the illustrations presented here”. These studies are not available on the website or a PDF of the book that I found. The original is in possession of the Grand Orient de France.

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Hebrew

There is a lot of crudely written Hebrew in Freemasonry. Not only words are garbled, but the copies from copies, often from handwritten copies, by people who don’t know Hebrew, makes that on many places you see letters that hardly resemble Hebrew. What also doesn’t help is that there are variations in ritual texts. The image above is from the “ineffable” degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Some Hebrew are recognisable, others less so. From some texts that use this image, you can know what Hebrew letters are meant. The same emblem in another AASR system has Latin characters that do not correspond to the Hebrew above.

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Butterfly

Butterfly from a tracing board of what Feddersen calls the order of the Trusted Brethern of Andreas. He has examples from Denmark (SD/18) and Germany (SO/14). They are from around 1860.

German “Andreaslogen” are Swedish-type “Scottish” (high degree) lodges.

Freimaurer Wiki says of the butterfly: “Symbol of resurrection (the caterpillar transforms into a colourful, almost weightless butterfly), symbol of the soul.” The butterfly is not as rare as initially seems. It even appears in some 24th degree Scottish Rite rituals. It is also: “a symbol of the success of the endeavour to free oneself from sensual fetters, under God’s power and assistance, as well as by way of transformation”. (1901 instructions regarding the “Andreas Logen” of the Großen Landesloge der Freimaurer von Deutschland.)

Also interesting (Die St. Andreasgrade F. Possart 1877/8):

The grasshopper here represents the place of the rough stone, after working it into a cube we, like the butterfly, strip off our shell and turn towards the light in the east.

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Grasshopper

Feddersen calls this (below) a tracing board of the order of the Trusted Brethren of Andreas. It was supposedly in use around 1860, but no longer nowadays.

I have been going through my German rituals, but grasshopper (“Heuschrecke” or “Heupferd”) appears in several rituals, not just ‘high degrees’. One ritual says (translated from German):

the symbols of God-likeness, still need clarification and still require the exercise of the doctrinal concepts contained in them. The locust, however, shows in connection with this that we cannot come to God by our own strength and reason.

Also:

The butterfly and the grasshopper each have their own special meaning, but both testify to the diversity, splendour and richness of the creatures, both in terms of form, movement and strength.

And interestingly (Die St. Andreasgrade F. Possart 1877/8):

The grasshopper here represents the place of the rough stone, after working it into a cube we, like the butterfly, strip off our shell and turn towards the light in the east.

German “Andreaslogen” are Swedish-type “Scottish” (high degree) lodges.

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Cloud

Apparently the German Masonic reformer Schröder designed this minimalist tracing board around 1815. I don’t know the significance of the cloud. The image can be found in Feddersen (D/71).

Obviously it became part of the Schroeder ‘type of Freemasonry’, as clouds are still part of the Brazilian “Rito Schröder” emblem below left.

Interestingly, clouds can also be seen on this tracing board of the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer (one of three tracing boards used in the 1st degree).

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Alchemy

Clearly alchemical symbols are not common in Freemasonry. An exception is the ‘room of contemplation’, also ‘room of preparation’ or ‘dark room’. This is a fairly common practice for European initiations. After French usage the room is often adorned with alchemical symbolism and symbols of mortality. Bread, salt, the symbol of sulphur, the anagram VITRIOL, etc.

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Lion

On what Feddersen (F20) describes as a “plan of the lodge in the Scottish degree” (from France) we see a dove or sparrowhawk in the East, a pelican in the North, a lion in the middle, an ape in the South and a fox in the west. He also says that the fox should be accompanied by a drum, the monkey with a yoke, the lion with crossed swords and the pelican with scales. That does not quite explain if the lion/crossed swords refers to a function or an element in the ritual.

The tracing board is displayed in Les Franc Maçons Écrasés (‘the crushed Freemasons’) of Abbé Larudan. It was published in 1747, 1774 and 1778. I have a 1778 edition which includes the image above. It accompanies the fourth and last degree in this book, called “Des Architectes ou Écossois”, ‘architects or Scots’ (“ou” usually means that there are two names for the degree, “or”).

Also see this Scots Master tracing board where the lion is replaced by Hiram, but the other animals are the same.

It seems that the image was already used in the Strikte Observanz as the degree of “Scots Master” describes these very animals. The lion is a reference to “fearlessness” and “calm steadfastness”, but also “dominance” is mentioned.

A 1764 Strikte Observanz ritual refers to the lion with “heart”:

Q. How many allegories are presented to a Scottish Master?
A. Four. A lion, a fox, a monkey, a sparrowhawk.
Q. Do you explain?
A. A Scotchman must add to the qualities of a master, the heart of a lion, the cunning of a fox, the wit of a monkey, and the skilfulness of a sparrowhawk in execution.

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Monkey

On what Feddersen (F/20) describes as a “plan of the lodge in the Scottish degree” (from France) we see a dove / sparrowhawk in the East, a pelican in the North, a lion in the middle, an ape in the South and a fox in the west. He also says that the fox should be accompanied by a drum, the monkey with a yoke, the lion with crossed swords and the pelican with scales. That does not quite explain if the lion/crossed swords refers to a function or an element in the ritual.

Also see this Scots Master tracing board which has the same animals, except the lion.

A 1764 Strikte Observanz ritual refers to the monkey with “wit”:

Q. How many allegories are presented to a Scottish Master?
A. Four. A lion, a fox, a monkey, a sparrowhawk.
Q. Do you explain?
A. A Scotchman must add to the qualities of a master, the heart of a lion, the cunning of a fox, the wit of a monkey, and the skilfulness of a sparrowhawk in execution.

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Fox

On what Feddersen describes as a “plan of the lodge in the Scottish degree” (from France) we see a sparrowhawk in the East, a pelican in the North, a lion in the middle, an ape in the South and a fox in the west. He also says that the fox should be accompanied by a drum, the monkey with a yoke, the lion with crossed swords and the pelican with scales. That does not quite explain if the lion/crossed swords refers to a function or an element in the ritual.

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Snake in Tree

In lodges of Adoption the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall are prominent, so the snake in a tree is most likely the serpent that tempted Eve.

A less common Adoption apron, probably also from the 18th or early 19th century.

Sprout?

Dąbrowski has an unidentified “American Masonic Symbols”, see below. The chart is titled: “Masonic Chart of the Scottish Rite”, so I suppose the symbols refer to degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. There are quite a few symbols on it that are unfamiliar to me, such as this one. I don’t even know what it is supposed to be. A sprout?

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Coiled Snake

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.

It could be that the coiled snake is another version of the coiled rope. Here we have a suggestion that the snake and the rope are interchangeable.

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Cock

Dąbrowski has an unidentified “American Masonic Symbols”, see below top left. It appears to (sometimes) be an emblem of an officer in Templar degrees (see below top right).

In the 1862 The Freemason’s Manual of Jeremiah How, there is a more modern Templar tracing board which has a cock on the bottom left of the triangle (see below, bottom left).

The cock is also a somewhat common element of (European) rooms for preparing the candidate (bottom right).

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Three Pots and a Snake

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 combination is of significance.

In the early ‘high degree’ “Maître en Israel” (‘Master from Israel’) there are: “three vases serving for purifications”, but there is no snake there. The same description can be found in the “Maitre Anglais” (‘English Master’) degree in the Bonseigneur collection.

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Man on Horse

This man on a horse remembers the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688 to 1690. Not really a Masonic symbol, but it does appear on American symbol charts. It may come from an English custom, as I know another chart with “William Prince of Orange”.


Dąbrowski P. 180. Year and designer unknown

Rainbow

A rainbow, either or not between clouds appears in some degrees, most notably the Ark Mariner, where the colours are part of the regalia.

Together with the rainbow there can be the Laws of Moses. In the symbolism of Noah, also outside Freemasonry, there is often a combination of a rainbow and an ark. There the rainbow represents the covenant between Noah and God.

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