Free Mansonry

Freemasonry as an organisation is incredibly complex. This is an excellent simple figure showing the general interconnectivity. Here is a mystery... In freemasonry, the highest degree is in fact the 3rd. How can it be that the other degrees are seemingly higher, but are not?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Secret_Monitor
Order of the Secret Monitor
The Order of the Secret Monitor (OSM) is an appendant order of Freemasonry.

http://www.thescarletcord.org.uk/History/History.pdf
e Cable Tow is explained as follows:


"I drew them with the cords of a man, with bonds of love."

Hosea, xi 4.
The Cable Tow is thus a symbol of the cord of bond of Love, which should unite the whole fraternity. Its length or the length of your Cable Tow is the sacrifice you are willing to make on behalf of your brethren. It is in your heart, not to be measured by miles. It is not gauged by distances, but by deed. It should correspond to the immensity of the monitorial lodge, and to do so should span the earth, touching wherever there is sorrow or distress.

”. All Members of the Court of Assistants wore a Garter of nobility and a handsome Jewel, with a collarette of ribbon varying with their rank"
did you think it said " Court of Assassins" ?  even just for an second?

In Masonry we have many symbols for the few grand principles upon which it is founded - Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. As we get away from the letter and discern the spirit, which lies behind, we have unfolded to us a new and intensely interesting science, and as we mould our lives upon our new understanding of Masonry, we become better Masons, and as a consequence better men.

Source: Wm. W. Vickers - The Canadian Craftsman, June 189
http://www.masonicdictionary.com/cabletow.html#The

just woke up and realised one thing...when I listen to Rrgina Spectors song Samson....it is a powerful stroy about love between people, simple grounding of two characters described from Delilahs perspective. Its such a simple yet powerful song about detail and love and how normal actions can take on huge proportions irrationally. She wasnt evil, she was just in love. She just cut his hair to make him look good. All they did wrong was share a simple breakfast maybe a piece of toast. Now Samson is stuffed, he cant play his role, and as Spector tells us, history forgot and the the Bible never mentions them together, not even once. That would fit perfectly as a degree in an order that might focus on love. Seriously, that sort of story is the kind of thing you find in the degree works. The things people did before telly lol!
What I,thought was a light in the bottom corner of your picture I now see as and hourglass. That's a third degree reference to growing old and dying. They chime 12 times while your lying in the grave, and read about "the grinders failing" (teeth) I think from Eccesiaties.

many of the orders in the picture I posted of structure do t go anywhere. Usually they have three degrees internally. They tend to focus on something edifying, for example I think the mariner degrees associate with stories constructed around noah and I think have moral storyline concerning brotherly love and friendship.

The pillars are Boaz and Jachin. As  the third degree test questions you answer (ow man I forgot the test questions when I talked to gritz!!! That part is so important. Age and memory gets in the way lol) that they mean "strength" and "to establish" and when conjoined "stability". You then say "for God said in strength I will establish this my church to stand strong forever"... Which I don't actually think is a direct biblical reference, and I might have not got it exactly right. I have the original test question cards they gave me  in my case.

Ykur picture for some reason bought up memories of acacia... And the beautiful symbolism that masons do during masonic funerals where they all put sprigs of acacia in a grave. It is the highest mark of respect a Mason can do for another. Amusingly acacia has many variates that are high in DMT, and I have always wondered if its a reference to some ancient drug ritual

One of the things about the different orders is the focus is on a different thing. In the first three (blue) , emphasis is on building, and associated symbolism. In red Lodge (Royal arch), emphasis is on companionship. Others emphasise friendship. What is common is they use biblical allegories and quite fictitious stories (kind of like Regina Spector sings "Samson" about their relationship, but not a bit in the scriptures. The symbolism takes on different interpretations as a result. In blue Lodge a cable tow is just that, a tow. It's intention is two fold in the entered apprentice degree. Firstly it acts like the dagger to the breast, to stop you going forward. Secondly it is symbolic of you being a building block being bought into the work site

somebodies idea of creative art? It does ring any bells with me. I went through all the books I have just then, I have Mackeys Lexicon of Freemasonry, but it's not got ant plates. I don't know much about the Scottish Rite unfortunately as I did not do any of that. If you give me a little more information concerning the plate I can try to help, I have a large library of books on the subject. However, I can't stand that pick Pike as he was a bit of an idiot in my opinion, so not much point asking questions about his work if it is related. Sorry can't be more help!