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

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Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
can be established 503 . Furthermore, the letters A, I, and O are the only ones in the
English language which may form a complete word, so that any single character
set off from the rest must be one of these.
The code cipher is the most modern form of cryptogram, e.g. the Morse
code, and constitutes an economical and efficient method of transmitting
confidential information. Since Freemasons had elaborate secrets to preserve,
they naturally came to use cipher writing and codes. The first well known
Masonic cipher was used by the Ancient Grand Lodge of England in the holy
Royal Arch Degree, and after the Union of 1813 and the segregation of the Royal
Arch, went with it and remained there exclusively. 504 It presumably came from
France, just like the High Degrees themselves, and
[t]he cipher is so simple as to be childish, but Laurence Dermott, Grand
Secretary of the Ancients made much to-do over it and often boasted
that two Ancient Masons could converse secretly in the presence of
Modern Masons, by simply employing two squares and a gavel each, a
sort of semaphore system which could also be used as well on paper.
This cipher was used by some English and Scotch Masons who were
besieged at Cawnpore, India during an uprising in July 1857. Virtually
the whole party was massacred leaving no word of the events, except
the Masonic cipher message scrawled on the plastered walls of the
barracks. 505
The following early cipher, "Secret Communication" by a translator, stems
from 1745 and was appended to the book Die Offenbarte Freymäurerey und das
Entdeckte Geheimniss der Mopse in the Leipzig edition of Mumme. It appears to
be possibly the earliest document known to date concerning the Royal Arch
symbolism. The key to this cryptic alphabet has been found by Frhr. von
Pölnitz. 506
503 Cf. ibid.
504 Cf. CME, p. 131.
505 CME, p. 131.
506 Cf. Lindner, p. 196 ff.