So the WM said...

edwmax

Active Member
He who is conscience bound, need not be bound by cords. ... I was released from my physical cable tow by order of the WM, also. ... This is my contention the Apron strings/cords have another symbolism.
 
G

Gary

Guest
Well then, it would appear that we are not seeing the connections you are trying to make. Please enlighten us with your findings.
 

BukeyeJackson

ViMH Advisory Board
Gary I understand we have had our CT removed but we're stil bound by them. My Ob states so I do believe but my kids hid my rit book. SO....

BG I feel that's kinda the thought but I wanted to bounce it around here
 

edwmax

Active Member
OK .... A tassel is the knotted frayed end of a 'rope' or cord. ... The tassel is seen in the early tracing boards at the 4 corners as a decoration. The tracing board was place & viewed on the floor of the Lodge; and represented a Lodge room in plan view. In plan view, one can only see the ends (tassels) of the Rope. ... This old tracing boards thus indicated the Lodges of our operative Brothers had 'Ropes' hanging in the 4 corners of the Lodge. These Ropes resented 4 Virtues. In some more modern Lodges, these have become wider 'tessellated' ribbons or banners with various symbols. .... I have been informed many of the Canadian Emulation Lodges still have these in their Lodges. ... But, in almost all Lodges of US GLs, these are non-existent; and the symbolism has been forgotten.

ref: seeTassel: http://www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/mosaic-pavement.html

Now moving on:

The Rope or Cord has only two uses in the Masonic Ritual. ... The other question (hint) I asked was: What is the most important working tool of a Mason? I say this tool is ordained by God (for lack of a better description at the moment).
 
G

Gary

Guest
Gary I understand we have had our CT removed but we're stil bound by them. My Ob states so I do believe but my kids hid my rit book. SO....

BG I feel that's kinda the thought but I wanted to bounce it around here

I'm not in agreement there Brother. You were released from the CT because you then were bound by something more than the physical. I'll not go any further than that.
 

edwmax

Active Member
Gary I understand we have had our CT removed but we're stil bound by them. My Ob states so I do believe but my kids hid my rit book. SO....

BG I feel that's kinda the thought but I wanted to bounce it around here
We are no longer bound by the 'cable tow'; but 'conscience' bound as stated in the Ritual. ... One could say the 'conscience' is a symbolic cable tow.
 
G

Gary

Guest
I'm not in agreement there Brother. You were released from the CT because you then were bound by something more than the physical. I'll not go any further than that.
We are no longer bound by the 'cable tow'; but 'conscience' bound as stated in the Ritual. ... One could say the 'conscience' is a symbolic cable tow.
That's pretty much what I was eluding to. My point being it wasn't physical CT. This discussion was about tassels.
 

CoachN

Builder Builder
... Property tied, the Apron Cords will hang down the front left side of the Apron.
What about for left-handed Masons? ;)
It's funny how more learned Brothers share. Bro. Coach told me that he could give me a fish, but it's better to let me do my own fishing. He just showed me where to cast my fishing line. He's done that several times with great results actually.

I'm going to pull out my VSL tonight and see if I can't make the connections you speak of.
And you have pulled in some woppers as a result!
I have no references, but myself. ... I have no intention of playing "I know something you don't" game. If you want to know, what I know, then you will have to do some 'fishing' (Coach's term). The hints i give above are the proofs to what I will finally tell.
Yep!
This link's information is in harmony with the research that I've uncovered. Kudos!
 
G

Gary

Guest
Now moving on:

The Rope or Cord has only two uses in the Masonic Ritual. ... The other question (hint) I asked was: What is the most important working tool of a Mason? I say this tool is ordained by God (for lack of a better description at the moment).
I can tell you MY most important working tool is my brain! It's been ordained by G-d. ;)
 

edwmax

Active Member
I known CoachN has the sheepskin to prove his; but I don't know of anywhere in the HB it states G-d used Gary's brain as a tool .....
 
Did you say Gary is a ........????j/k

I for the life of me cant grasp onto what you are trying to convey...... maybe it is above my pay grade..... I will just have to see how this unfurls.......
 

edwmax

Active Member
Did you say Gary is a ........????j/k

I for the life of me cant grasp onto what you are trying to convey...... maybe it is above my pay grade..... I will just have to see how this unfurls.......
You haven't done the work; therefore "you have no leg to stand on.."

I forget where that quote comes from ... maybe the guilty party will speak up. ... :p
 
G

Gary

Guest
You haven't done the work; therefore "you have no leg to stand on.."

I forget where that quote comes from ... maybe the guilty party will speak up. ... :p
I know the guilty party, and he was making reference to the compasses.
 

CoachN

Builder Builder
The Compasses represent the most important Work a Mason can ever do.

Ironically, that might very well classify the Compasses as the most important of the WTs.

But it's what this WT represents that is most important and not the WT itself.
 
You haven't done the work; therefore "you have no leg to stand on.."

I forget where that quote comes from ... maybe the guilty party will speak up. ... :p
..........:(...........maybe the work is being made up as we go along....


I think I may need a cigar....................................
 

edwmax

Active Member
FC Degree
Amos 7
7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall [made] by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: ....
The two uses of the Rope or Cord in our Ritual, is as a cable tow or as a Plumb Line. Plumb Line is the answer. There is a third use but rarely given outside of the Emulation Ritual. Amos7: 7-8 shows this was used by G-d; and the verses from Numbers & Deuteronomy indicates the Tassel and the Cord of the Tzitzit are to remind one to keep the Commandments of the Lord. ... The Tassel is symbolic end of a Rope or the Plumb Line.

The WM asks the SW "How do Masons meet?" .... SW replies "On the L---l"; JW "how act?" ... JW replies"By the Plumb"

Where in the Lodge is the Plumb Line? The Ritual states the Plumb Line is present in the Lodge. Some Emulation Lodge may still have the Plumb Line in the 4 corners of the Lodge; but this is not true in most all Lodges of US GLs. ... Now we come full circle, ALL Masons wears his own personal Plumb Line hanging on the Left Hand side of his Apron. The Apron Stings or the Apron Tassels! Tzitzit if you are Jewish.

The final dot: .... The Opening and Closing of the Lodge: "Meet on the Level"; "act by the Plumb" and "part upon the square" ... is the description of the Meeting of a Lodge by Masons properly clothed (aprons).

Now another thought, CoachN mentioned the compass drawing the circle. The Plumb Line is able to do another function, that is to mark the point from which the Mason draws his "Due Bounds" about himself.

The end of my un-common Catechism.
 

Winter

I've been here before
I think you may be reading a little too much into the symbolism here, Brother. A tassel is not a plumb line and doesn't function the same way. The myriad number of strings at the end alone makes it impractical for this purpose.

Also, the tzitzit worn by observant Jews does not serve the same function as the plumb line held by G-d in the Book of Amos. The plumb line in Amos 7:8 was a symbol meant to represent the Judgment of Hashem. The Hebrew says, "I will pardon them no more." Not the mistranslation of "I will pass by them no more." While it could be arguable that everything in Judaism is meant to remind us of the mitzvot, this is a bit of the stretch. It wouldn't apply to most Masons anyway since non-Jews are not bound by the Mitzvot. Only the Noachide.

I see a plumb line in every American Lodge I have been in, over the JW station. Since he is responsible for supervising the craft and their conduct (uprightness). I do not see how the end of the string used to tie on the apron (the actual important symbol) fulfills the same purpose as the plumb rule. And these tassels most definitely do not fulfill the same purpose as tzitzit.

Maybe if you explain it better, Brother, but right now I'm not seeing it. And I have done the work so I have a leg to stand on! :)
 
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