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

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Chapter 5 - Technical Terminology
In the lectures of the early part of the eighteenth century the Immovable
Jewels of the Lodge are said to be 'the Tarsel Board, Rough Ashlar, and
Broached Thurnel'; and in describing their uses it is taught that 'the
Rough Ashlar is for the Fellow Crafts to try their jewels on, and the
Broached Thurnel for the Entered Apprentices to learn to work upon.' 752
Mackey takes a look at an old tracing board of the First Degree of the times
when the Broached Thurnel was in use, and discovers on it three symbols, which
are the Tarsel (i.e. Trestle Board), the Rough Ashlar, and a third symbol depicted
in the margin, namely a cubical stone with a pyramidal apex. This is the
Broached Thurnel, which in precisely this form is still found on French tracing
boards, being called "pierre cubique." This "cubical stone" has been replaced on
English and American carpets and in the rituals by the Perfect Ashlar. 753 Here,
we see that as far as the universality of Freemasonry is concerned, there were
different conceptions of the Immovable Jewels in France and England / America.
The French Masonic dictionary supports this theory by stating that the Broached
Thurnel or "pierre cubique à pointe" is a
752 EOF, p. 120.
753 Cf. ibid, p. 120.
754 DFM, p. 186.
[v]ariante archaique de la Pierre cubique, d'origine française. En elle, la
Pierre brute, travaillée, se transforme en oeuvre d'art. Certains ont ajouté
une hachette, destinée à fendre la pierre en frappant juste sa pointe.
On a donné de ce symbole plusieurs explications. La meilleure [...]
est que, pour symboliser l'homme parfait, une pierre sphérique eût été
concevable, mais pareille pierre eût été impropre à réaliser une
construction. La Pierre cubique simple lui est donc préférable.
Toutefois, la hachette suggère l'idée suivante: pour extraire le contenu
ésotérique de la pierre, il faut la fendre. 754
pierre cubique