The Immovable Jewels of the lodge - Square, Plumb and Level

The Immovable Jewels

U N Z I P P E D

The Masonic square - jewel of the Worshipful Master

The Masonic level - jewel of the Senior Warden

The three 'Immovable Jewels' of the lodge are the Square, the Level and the Plumb. These adorn the the principal officers of the lodge: the Worshipful Master, the Senior Warden and the Junior Warden, respectively (1). They are interpreted to symbolise truthfulness, equality and rectitude of life.

The words in English have a close correspondance, by means of gematria, with similar words in the ancient languages. Plumb, valued at 312, is equated with Βολις - a plumb weight. Level, valued at 750, is equated with Ο Ζυγος - the balance, or 'beam' of a balance (2). Square is valued at 446 and so shares a value with H'AMTh - the Truth.

Together, the three immovable jewels seem to portend the great esoteric architect, Thrice Greatest Hermes. Their combined value is 446 + 312 + 750 = 1508: this is the exact value of Ο Τρισμεγιστος - The Thrice Greatest, and just one more than his Latin name Mercurius Trismegistus (1507).

The three immovable jewels are also assigned as the 'working tools' of the second, or Fellowcraft, degree of the craft. The connection is simple to fathom, when armed with the key of gematria, for Fellowcraft Freemason has an identical value to that of its three tools: 1508.

Return to The Jewels of Freemasonry

Notes
1) By gematria the titles of the three main officers, Worshipful Master, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, sum as 1729 + 1304 + 2009 = 5042. This supplies the radius of a circle whose circumference is the perimeter of the archetypal Temple - 31680.
2) 750 is also the value of the very appropriate, near-anagram in English - Even.