Welcome

A gauge is just another word for ruler. The 24 inch ones are the kind that now days are usually made out of metal, often used for drafting plans in stone masonry. Freemasons learn that each number represents an hour in their day, which they are taught to divide into three separate, but equal parts: “eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy Brother, eight for our usual vocations and eight for refreshment and sleep.” 

The common gavel has a part of it that comes to a point, used in stone masonry for cutting the edges off of bricks and stones. In speculative Masonry, the candidate is taught that the gavel is used by Freemasons “for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of the vices and superfluities of life.”

 The plumb, sometimes called a plumb line reminds us to live a life that is upright, honest and just. “As an Insecure building must eventually fall, so he whose life is not supported by an upright course of conduct can no long. er sustain, a worthy reputation and must soon sink beneath the estimation of every good and virtuous man.”.

Operative masons and others use a level to test the horizontals of an object, to make sure that it is smooth, and level. the level is a reminder that time has no preference for anyone,  “And for each and all, time will lead us to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns”.

Stone masons use compasses to draw circles. It can also be used to draft, measure distance, and even navigate. The  lesson of the compass lies within its two moveable legs. As the compass can only open so wide, so are there boundaries of everything. “The Compasses, in defining limits and proportions, teach us the limits ofgood and evil as laid down by the Great Architect.” Using proportion and balance in your work and life, can bring about stability and beauty in both. 

Chances are, you’ve seen a square as well; In operative masonry, it is used to make clean  corners and work, and to help make sure that everything is well, square.  Freemasons are taught that the tool is to help “square your actions” or to “act upon the square”; that is, to make your virtues and morals shape your actions . This is one of the symbols most widely associated with Freemasonry, and with its simple shape, and simple but powerful lesson, it is easy to see why.