The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols 129
the hidden mysteries to us." 354 The square pavement denotes the world and
teaches us to walk through life with all its checkered experiences of sunshine and
shadow.
The tools with which Hiram Abiff was slain, the plumb rule, the level, and
the setting-maul, are depicted on the Master's carpet to "remind us that even the
qualities of uprightness of conduct, humanity of disposition, and energy of
purpose may deaden and kill the spiritual principle within us," 355 when they are
applied for merely selfish or ambitious purposes, and not on a higher plane. The
coffin, skull, and crossed bones as emblems of mortality allude to the untimely
death of Grand Master Hiram Abiff and teach the Mason to keep in mind the
close of his earthly existence.
According to CME, the Master's carpet represents among its ideas the three
stages of human life, i.e. youth, manhood, and old age, which were also referred
to as the "Three Steps on the Master's Carpet." 356
The following illustration shows a modern Masonic carpet depicting the
symbols of the First Degree, as photographed on a Masonic exhibition in the
Kultur- und Stadthistorisches Museum Duisburg (March 2001). It is visible
where the Entered Apprentice makes his entrance to the lodge, standing on the
mosaic pavement before the rough ashlar, the perfect ashlar, and the rough ashlar
with tools applied to it. Simons' Standard Masonic Monitor gives the following
explanation:
carpet of Entered Apprentice; photographed at Masonic exhibition in
the Kultur- und Stadthistorisches Museum Duisburg (March 2001)
354 Ibid, p. 96.
355 Cf. ibid, p. 95/96.
356 Cf. CME, p. 123.