Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor - Rose Croix

Looking again into the Ark, the High Priest takes out four pieces of paper, which he
examines closely, consults with the
p. 248
King and Scribe, and then puts together, so as to show a key to the ineffable characters of
this Degree:
KEY TO THE INEFFABLE CHARACTERS.
The key to the ineffable characters, or Royal Arch Cipher, alluded to above, consists of
right angles, in various situations, with the addition of a dot. By transposition, it forms
twenty-six distinct characters, corresponding with the twenty-six letters of the English
alphabet. There are two methods of combining these characters for secret
correspondence: One method is to call the first sign, , a; the second, , b; the
third, , c; and so on, reading from left to right, thus:
The second way to read the alphabet is as follows:
The upper left angle without a dot is a; the same with a dot is b, &c.