Many years ago, I started to caddy at a golf course. As a greenhorn, I worked there for several days, but then one of the veteran caddies told me I couldn’t keep working unless I was initiated. When I asked “Why,” I was told it was a secret. When I asked what initiation was like. I was told, “It’s a secret, I can’t tell you.” When I asked how long initiation had been going on, no one knew; "Years, many years!"
Initiation consisted of stripping naked in the woods, and having my clothing thrown up over tree limbs or into jagged blackberry bushes. After reading The Masonic Myth, my initiation rite into the secret caddy group with its secret or forgotten history reminded me of the Masons with their alleged secret symbols, secret rites, and secret or at least alleged history.
Masonic symbols have fascinated masons and non-masons for centuries. One reason fo
r secrecy is this: a symbol “might” have a basic general meaning or it can have whatever meaning a Mason gives it.
Originally, Masonic symbols stood for the tools stone masons carried during medieval times. These men wore waist aprons where they kept their plumbs, squares, and levels, used to create the magnificent cathedrals and monuments, many of which still stand.
These same tools came to have a deeper meaning: a plumb with its cord symbolized that the stone mason should walk proud and upright before the eyes of his fellowman and the all-seeing eye of God. The 90 degree angle of the L-shaped square meant that a man would “square his actions” by demonstrating solid virtue and morality before God and man. The level symbolized that all men are equal in nature, balanced — side by side, so to speak.
These symbols can be seen on the apron worn by Masons today during ritualistic events in their temples. One of the pictures shown here is George Washington, adorned with his apron, giving an address in a Masonic lodge. Masonic symbols are far too many to count. Yet, one can look at almost any one symbol and give it a meaning where truth, honor, justice, and a proper way of life are concerned.
On one side of a U.S. dollar bill, one can see a pyramid above thirteen stacked layers, probably of stone. Atop it sits a piercing all-seeing eye of God. The bill also reads Novus Ordo Seclorum: A New Order for the Ages. Is this to be interpreted that our founding fathers thought the newly formed United States to be a “New Order?” Or could it simply mean that Freemasonry should be the “New Order” for the ages? In reality, both of these meanings blend together to make good sense.
Article comments
1 - Chip Etier
Thanks for your objective review!
My father was a 32nd degree mason although I never joined. Sometimes I've regretted that. Looking forward to reading this book, your review inspired me.
2 - Regis Schilken
From reviewer Rege!
Not long ago, I gave a talk to a Masonic group. The heavy architecture of their windowless building fascinated me and so did the symbols. All seemed mysterious and very secretive until I read The Masonic Myth.