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

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Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
Although this key is in the preface to the ritual, the signs make it extremely
difficult to read the ceremonies, if one has not memorized the officers they
denote.
Masonry of Adoption also provided special alphabets for the female Masons.
Below, the "Alphabet of the Mistress Mason," the third degree of Pike's Masonry
of Adoption in America (1866), is illustrated. The alphabet of the Mistress
Mason resembles the square cipher, consisting of right angles, lines, and dots,
but looking even simpler and more reduced 513 :
A peculiar sort of Masonic sign language is the one which employs material
objects, the constellation of which gives a mystic word. Thus, on old Royal Arch
carpets a strange diagram is found that illustrates words with the help of the
outline of pillars. This hieroglyphic receives a curious Masonic explanation.
Allegedly, it is reminiscent of "the seven pair [sic] of pillars which supported
King Solomon's private avenue, the seven steps in advancing, and the seven
513
Illustration taken from Pike, The Masonry of Adoption, new reprint by Kessinger Publishing
Comp., p. 4.