Masonic Letter G - Arcane Advisors

The Masonic 

Letter G 

Paul Foster Case 

Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., Inc. 

Richmond, Virginia

Copyright, 1981 

BUILDERS OF THE ADYTUM, LTD. 

Los Angeles, California 

ISBN-0-88053-066-9 

L.C. Catalog Card No. 81-84636 

Printed in the United States of America

Introduction 

Paul Foster Case (1884-1954), 

author of this treatise, is known to 

students of occultism as the outstanding 

authority of Tarot, 

Qabalah, Alchemy and related 

subjects of the Western Occult 

Tradition. His other publications, 

including The True and Invisible 

Rosicrucian Order; Tarot, Key to 

the Wisdom of the Age;. The Great 

Seal of the United States; The 

Magical Language; The Book of 

Tokens, bear witness to his deep 

insight and wonderfully readable 

approach to these subjects. 

The present work makes it 

clear that his knowledge included a

vi 

INTRODUCTION 

thorough understanding of the 

Masonic tradition. In it he 

develops the unmistakable link that 

exists between the Masonic degrees 

and rituals and the Qabalistic 

tradition. He shows that Masonry 

cannot be fully appreciated or 

understood without knowledge of 

the Qabalistic Tree of Life and its 

insight into the true nature of man 

and of the Cosmos. One of the 

outstanding concepts he develops 

is the relationship between the 

geometry upon which the building 

and architectural symbolism of 

Masonry are based and the Gematria 

of the Qabalists, which is a 

system of number correspondences 

to words and phrases that reveals

INTRODUCTION 

vii 

the inner meanings behind the 

numbers, measurements and geometrical 

proportions prominent in 

both the Old and New Testaments. 

The contributions of Paul Case 

to students of the spiritual goes 

beyond the works mentioned 

above. He founded BUILDERS OF 

THE ADYTUM, a non-profit 

religious organization which disseminates 

a spiritual training system 

based on his works in graded 

lesson form through the mail. It is 

a system that allows sincere aspirants 

of the present day to receive 

training that in past ages was 

available only to the few who could 

enter a Mystery school and com-

viii 

INTRODUCTION 

pletely withdraw, at least temporarily, 

from society and the concerns 

of the outer world. 

Paul Case was charged with the 

responsibility, by a Master of the 

Inner School, of preserving, extending 

and updating the Ancient 

Wisdom that has existed since the 

beginning of the World. His outstanding 

contribution is that he has 

left us a clear, graded system for 

spiritual development that enables 

us to fully retain our relationships 

and responsibilities in the 

modern world while gradually but 

surely unfolding insight into the 

higher ones.

THE MASONIC 

LETTER G 

An Interpretation 

It is difficult to determine 

when the letter G was introduced 

into Speculative Masonry as a 

symbol. Mackey's Encyclopedia of 

Freemasonry says this letter is not 

derived from the operative masons 

of the Middle Ages, and formed no 

part of the architectural decorations 

of old cathedrals. Whether it entered 

the symbolism under the influence 

of those Rosicrucians and Qabalists 

who joined the order during the last 

half of the 17th century, or

2 THE MASONIC LETTER G 

whether it was introduced at some 

time subsequent to 1717, when the 

first Grand Lodge was established 

at the Apple-tree Tavern in London, 

seems impossible to decide. 

The Masonic meaning of the letter 

G never has been esoteric. The 

whole world has been told that the 

symbol owes its prominence to the 

fact that "G" is the initial of 

geometry. This makes it a symbolic 

summary of the entire Masonic 

system. The heart of Freemasonry 

is an esoteric doctrine founded on 

the science of geometry, and expressed 

by means of geometrical 

figures and theorems. In the old 

Masonic constitutions it is specifically 

stated that Masonry and 

geometry are one and the same.

THE MASONIC LETTER G 3 

Neither is it any secret that the 

letter G is a symbol for the Deity. It 

so happens that God is the English 

name of the Grand Architect of the 

Universe. It does not follow that the 

fact that G is the first letter of "God" 

is the only connection between the 

symbol and the Deity. 

Several modern writers on Freemasonry 

seem to think so, and have 

even gone so far as to say they feel 

Masonic symbolism has been hurt 

rather than helped by the adoption 

of the letter G . 

"It is to be regretted," writes 

Mackey, "that the letter G, as a 

symbol, was ever admitted into the 

Masonic system. The use of it, as 

an initial, would necessarily


confine it to the English language 

and to modern times. It wants, 

therefore, as a symbol, the 

necessary characteristics of both 

universality and antiquity . 9, 

"It is a singular coincidence," 

according to McClenachan, "that 

the letters composing the English 

name of Deity should be the initials 

of the Hebrew words wisdom, 

strength, and beauty; the three great 

pillars, or metaphorical supports of 

Masonry. They seem to present 

almost the only reason that can 

reconcile a Mason to the use of the 

letter 'G' in its conspicuous 

suspension in the East of the Lodge 

in place of the Delta. The incident 

seems to be more than accident."


Brother McClenachan goes on 

to say that the Hebrew word for 

beauty is Gomer, >Pa , from which 

he derives the initial G; that in 

the same language, strength is 

Oz, ty , whence the English 

0; and that D is the initial of 

Dabar, 3 , meaning wisdom. 

Hence, he argues, G.O.D. may be 

understood Masonically as meaning 

wisdom, strength and beauty. 

This would be interesting, if 

true. The first objection, however , 

is that in Masonry the supports of 

the lodge are always named in the 

following order: wisdom, strength, 

beauty. If Brother McClenachan~s 

supposed Hebrew originals of these 

words be taken in the same


invariable Masonic order, the 

English equivalents of their initials 

spell, not God, but dog! Were 

Freemasonry guilty of such a piece 

of symbolism it would deserve the 

anathemas pronounced upon it by 

certain prelates. 

As a matter of fact, the 

Hebrew noun Dabar, 337 , does not 

mean wisdom. Its true signification 

is word, speech, order, command, 

matter, affair, event. Neither does 

Gomer, 3 ~ 2 , mean beauty. It is 

the Hebrew for to end, to cease to 

be, or, in a secondary sense, to 

accomplish. Moreover, while it is 

certainly true that Oz, tY , is one 

of the Hebrew words signifying 

strength, it is not the word which,


in the ancient Hebrew Qabalah that 

has left so marked an impress on 

Masonic terminology, is always 

employed in combination with 

wisdom and beauty. That word is 

geburah, ill732 , not Oz, ty . 

Thus the three pillars of Brother 

McClenachan's argument turn out to 

be pillars of sand. He is left with 

nothing but his objection to the letter 

G, for which he would substitute the 

delta. Here he is at variance with 

Mackey, who thinks the letter in the 

East should be a Hebrew yod. 

Neither delta nor yod are a whit 

more universal than G, and they 

are only a little more ancient. 

English letters are really Roman,


and Roman letters are simply 

modfied Greek, and both Greek 

and Hebrew are adaptations of a 

Semitic orginial alphabet, probably 

Phoenician. 

Furthermore, the primary 

symbolism of the letter G relates to 

geometry, of which word it is the 

initial, while its Greek counterpart, 

gamma, is the initial of the 

Greek name for the same science . 

Neither Hebrew yod nor Greek 

delta has any direct connection with 

this science, so that to substitute 

either of them for the Masonic G 

would be to deprive the Craft of an 

important symbolic reference to 

the very basis of its esoteric system 

of instruction.


Again, G is the English equivalent 

of the Hebrew letter 3 , 

gimel and in Rabbinical Hebrew, 

gimel is the initial of a word which 

is a Hebrew adaptation of the 

Greek noun geometria. Thus the 

letter G is actually the initial of 

geometry in the three languages 

most important to Freemasonry. 

For the Hebrew of the Old Testament, 

the Greek of Euclid, 

Pythagoras and the New Testament, 

and the English in which all 

regular Masonic rituals were cast 

at the time of the revival of 1717, 

and from which all regular Masonic 

instruction in the tongues of 

other nations has been translated, 

are certainly the languages


through which the mysteries of the 

Craft have been transmitted from 

time immemorial. 

When we come to the letter G 

as a symbol of Deity, there is a surface 

plausibility to the contention 

that the Hebrew yod would be 

preferable. For it is true that yod is 

the first letter of the Tetragrammaton 

rl7 , rendered Jehovah 

in the English Bible. The argument 

in favor of yod would be more 

convincing if all Masonic rituals 

agreed that G is placed in the East 

because it is the initial of the word 

God. Some modern American lectures 

do say just this; but an older , 

and we think better, explanation of 

the symbol is simply that it denotes


the Deity. Just how it does so is not 

explained, but we hope to make this 

clear . 

Certainly Hebrew yod, the initial 

of illl'l- , is neither more nor less 

exclusive than G. The Greek delta 

proposed by Brother McClenachan 

might stand for the Greek dios, the 

Latin deus, or even for the English 

deity, but would have no reference 

to God in Hebrew. 

G, however, is the initial of God. 

Its Greek equivalent is the initial of 

Gaia, the earth mother, eldest born 

of Chaos, whose name is the root 

of the noun geometria, geometry. 

Gimel, the Hebrew correspondence 

to G, is the initial 7 3 , gadol, 

majesty, and of 3 3 , gebur,

THE MASONIC LETTER G 

strong, words used to designate the 

Deity throughout the Hebrew sacred 

writings. Were nothing else to 

be said for it, it seems to us these 

facts would make the letter G a 

sufficiently universal, as well as 

sufficiently ancient, symbol of the 

Grand Architect. 

As the equivalent of the Greek 

gamma, moreover, G is not only the 

initial of Gaia, the earth mother , 

and of geometria, the science by 

which her powers are measured, 

but it has yet another Masonic allusion. 

The shape of the letter gamma 

is I' , obviously neither more 

nor less than a mason's square. 

From the Hebrew equivalent of 

G, however, we shall discover the


most important meanings of this ancient 

symbol. When we have 

considered the esoteric significance 

of gimel we shall find, not only that 

it is the initial of a Rabbinical term 

borrowed directly from the Greek 

noun geometria, and not only that 

it is the initial of two Hebrew words 

frequently applied to God, but also 

that the letter gimel itself is regarded 

by the wise men of Israel as being 

the alphabetical sign of the sacred 

wisdom which is founded on 

the science of geometry. We shall 

find, moreover, that gimel is directly 

connected with the triangular 

delta favored by Brother Mc- 

Clenachan, and that it is also 

related, in an occult manner, to


the letter yod preferred by Brother 

Mackey. 

In order to make this clear, we 

must remind our readers that, 

throughout its rituals and lectures, 

Freemasonry bears the marks of 

having been developed in its present 

form by persons having some 

acquaintance with the Hebrew 

system of occult philosophy known 

as the Qabalah. Thus Mackey tells 

us that the names of the three 

pillars which support the lodge 

(wisdom, strength and beauty), 

and the Masonic attribution of the 

third of these pillars to the Junior 

Warden and to Hiram Abif, are 

probably derived from the 

Qabalah.


These pillars, and their names, 

are taken directly from a Qabalistic 

diagram known as the Tree of 

Life. The diagram consists of ten 

circles, connected by twenty-two 

lines. The circles represent ten 

aspects or phases of the Divine 

Emanation. They are numbered 

from 1 to 10, and are called 

Sephiroth, or Numerations. The 

twenty-two lines which link these 

ten circles to one another are said 

to represent the letters of the 

Hebrew alphabet, and the forces 

corresponding to those letters. The 

whole Tree, with its ten numbers 

and twenty-two letters, represents 

the thirty-two paths of wisdom. 

Qabalists regard it as being of such


importance that they declare it to be 

the Key to All things. 

Qabalists say this Tree contains 

three pillars. That on the observer's 

right, consisting of the Sephiroth 

numbered 2,4 and 7, is named 

the pillar of mercy, after the 

fourth Sephirah, ldn , chesed, 

mercy. The pillar on the left side of 

the Tree is called the pillar of 

strength, after the fifth Sephirah, 

r'lllZIa , geburah, the Hebrew 

noun most often used for strength. 

This pillar consists of the three 

Sephiroth numbered 3, 5 and 8. 

The third pillar is midway between 

the other two, and is composed of 

the Sephiroth number 1, 6, 9 and 

10. Qabalists call it the


pillar of mildness, because it is said 

to be the balancing influence between 

the other two. 

These three Qabablistic pillars 

are obviously the supports of the 

Masonic lodge. But Masonry 

names the pillar on the right after 

the Sephirah numbered 2, and 

named anan , chokrnah, wisdom. 

For the pillar on the left it retains 

the Qabalistic name, strength. To 

the Qabalistic middle pillar, which 

is also the middle pillar in the 

lodge, it applies the name beauty, 

taken from the title of the Sephirah 

numbered 6, I73KDn , tiphareth, 

beauty. All this will be better 

understood after the reader has inspected 

the accompanying diagram 

of the Tree of Life.


From the Qabalah, Freemasonry 

has also borrowed the method 

of using letters to represent 

numbers, and numbers to represent 

words. Mackey says this 

device was frequently employed by 

the inventors of the higher degrees, 

such as those now included 

in the Scottish Rite. He might 

have added that it is one of the 

most important clues to the real 

secrets of the first three degrees, 

constituting the Blue Lodge, 

everywhere conceded to be the 

foundation of the whole Masonic 

structure. Nothing can be much 

farther from the truth than the 

supposition that the so-called 

"higher degrees" confer any essen-


tial secret that is withheld from 

Blue Lodge Masons. All the mysteries 

of Freemasonry are synthesized 

in the three primary 

degrees. The "higher degrees" are 

no more than the elaboration and 

exemplification of what is communicated 

to the Entered Apprentice, 

the Fellow Craft, and the 

Master Mason. And the numberletter 

system of the Qabalah is the 

key that unlocks this essential 

mystery. 

The same device provides us 

also with the only clue to the real 

meaning of many obscure passages 

in the Bible. It solves the enigmas 

of the Old Testament, and elucidates 

the dark sayings of the New.

THE MASONIC LETTER G 2 1 

For it was utilized by the writers of 

both sections of that library of 

wisdom which lies open on 

Masonic altars. 

This device came into use 

among the Hebrews and the 

Greeks because, when the Bible 

was composed, neither nation 

knew anything of the Arabic 

numerals. They employed the letters 

of their alphabets to represent 

numbers. The first nine letters of 

the Hebrew alphabet are the digits 

from 1 to 9; the next nine, the tens 

from 10 to 90; and the last four letters 

stand for the hundreds from 

100 to 400. To five special forms, 

known as kaph final, mem final, nun 

final, peh final, and tzaddi final,


which are always used when any of 

these letters comes at the end of a 

Hebrew word, they assigned the 

hundreds from 500 to 900. Thousands 

were indicated by writing a 

letter larger than the others. The 

Greeks used a similar device, but 

as their alphabet contains only 

twenty-four letters, the highest 

number represented by a single 

character was 800, corresponding to 

Omega. The modern Greek alphabet 

also has no character for the 

number 6, but the Greeks indicated 

it by an ancient character known as 

the digamma, or double gamma, 

which had the value of 6 because 

gamma itself is 3, so that a double 

gamma would be twice 3, or 6.


When men used the letters of 

the alphabet for arithmetical computations, 

it must often have happened 

that some numbers formed actual 

words, such as 2s , Ab, which is 

the number 3 in Hebrew, and also 

means "father. " Once this had been 

noticed, it would be perfectly 

natural to adopt special spellings of 

some words, if for no other reason 

than as an aid to memory, just as 

we remember the number of days 

in a month by means of a bit of 

doggerel. From this to the adoption 

of a cryptic mode of writing , 

in which the real signification of a 

word or phrase might be discovered 

from the numeral value, was 

but a short step.


Fantastic as it may appear to 

the modern mind, there is abundant 

evidence that just this is what occurred 

in the composition of many 

passages in both the Hebrew of the 

Old Testament and the Greek of 

the New. Thus we find that many 

names of Deity in the Old Testament, 

including the Ineffable 

Name nlj't- , Jehovah, are 

multiples of the number 13. In the 

New Testament, and in the Christian 

Gnostic writings, the number 37 

occurs repeatedly as a multiple of 

the names and epithets of Jesus 

Christ. 

The most familiar example of 

the use of the number-letter system 

is in Revelation 13, where we read:


t 

"And he causes all, the little and the 

great, the rich and the poor, and the 

freemen and the bondmen, that they 

should give themselves a mark on 

their right hand, or on their forehead; 

so that no one may be able to 

buy or sell unless he has the mark 

1 - the name of the beast, or the 

I 

1 number of his name. Here is wisdom. 

Let him who has understanding 

compute the number of the 

beast; 

for it is a man's number; 

and his number is 666." (Emphatic 

Diaglott translation.) 

In this passage the number 666 

is written with three characters, 

the letter X , chi, for 600, the letter 

E, xi, for 60, and the digamma, r , 

for 6. In the opinion of the best

26 THE MASONIC LETTER G 1 

Biblical scholars, says the Encyclopaedia 

Britannica, the primary 

signification of this number, 

whatever else it may mean, has to I 

do with the Roman emperor, 

Nero, whose name was written in 

the Rabbinical Hebrew of that , 

period as Neron Kaiser, 

3bP '1733 , which adds to 666. 1 

Note that the New Testament 

writer introduces the number with 

the words, "Here is wisdom," and 

then says, "Let him who has 

understanding compute the number 

." Evidently he intended what 

he wrote to be comprehended by a 

special class of readers, to whom 

such computations were familiar . 

The Rabbinical name for this 

method of writing, and for the in-


terpretation of one word or phrase 

of the Hebrew scriptures by 

another which has the same 

numeral value, is H57bD3 , 

gematria. This is the very Hebrew 

noun alluded to in our statement that 

the letter G is the initial of a Hebrew 

word derived from the Greek noun 

geometria, geometry. 

Is it assuming too much to 

suppose that the Hebrew Rabbis, 

when they chose their own name for 

this cryptic method of writing and 

of interpreting Scripture, had some 

definite reason for borrowing the 

Greek word for geometry, and 

writing it with Hebrew letters? Is it 

not reasonable to conclude that in 

selecting this particular term, they


intended to hint that many of the 

more important secrets of Holy 

Writ have to do with the number , 

measure, proportion, weight, and 

other space relationships? 

In that Bible of the Qabalists, 

the Zohar, there is a long passage 

explaining the meaning of Genesis 

6:8,9, where we read: "Noah found 

favour in the eyes of God. Perfect 

was he in his generations." We are 

not here concerned with the details 

of the Qabalistic commentary of this 

passage. What is to the purpose 

of our present inquiry is that 

the Zohar makes one of those who 

heard the comment say to the 

teacher: "Your exposition is certainly 

the right one, as can also be


deduced from the measurements of 

the ark. " (Italics ours. ) 

This is as much as to say that 

the various numbers and measures 

mentioned in the Old Testament are 

clues to an inner meaning. The 

Qabalistic method of finding that 

meaning is to turn the numbers into 

words and phrases. This is the 

Qabalistic "geometry ," or gematria, 

which affords us clues to the inner 

meaning of many details of Freemasonry. 

Gematria enabled the writers 

of both sections of the Bible to conceal 

geometrical formulas and measurements 

by means of words and 

phrases, or to indicate words 

by what appear to be merely


measurements. Both devices were 

employed. The one last mentioned 

is the clue to the real significance of 

Noah's ark, to what was really 

symbolized by the tabernacle of 

Moses and the temple of Solomon 

and their furniture and appurtenances, 

to the real meaning of 

the Holy Oblation and temple 

described by the prophet Ezekiel, 

and to many other matters. 

As an example of this consider 

the Holy of Holies, where the 

ark of the covenant was kept. The 

descriptions indicate that it was a 

cubical room. In the tabernacle it 

measured ten cubits in length, 

breadth and height. In Solomon's 

temple it measured twenty cubits in 

every direction.

I THE MASONIC LETTER G 3 1 

i 

Thus the ancient Hebrew 

structure which assumes so much 

importance in Masonic tradition, 

where it is said to have been the 

1 meeting-place of the mythical 

1 Masters' Lodge composed of King 

! Solomon, Hiram King of Tyre, and 

I Hiram Abif, was in the form of a 

I cube. 

I 

For the Hebrews, the sanctum 

sanctorum was the actual dwellingplace 

of the Divine Presence or 

Shekinah, which rested on the 

mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. 

As the ark was placed in the 

Holy of Holies, the position of the 

mercy seat coincided with the interior 

center of that cubical room. 

Thus the place of the Divine

3 2 THE MASONIC LETTER G 

Presence was at the center, or in ' i 

the midst. This reminds us of a 

passage in the Sepher Yetzirah, 

which says that the place of God is 

the interior center from which 

radiate the six boundless lines 

establishing space, and sealed with 

the six permutations of the divine 

name Yeho, ID5 . 

A cube is a solid, bounded by 

six equal faces and twelve equal 

lines. The lines form right angles, 

horizontals and perpendiculars, and 

they meet at eight external points. 

Thus the numbers required to 

define a cube are 6, 8 and 12, whose 

sum is 26, the numeral value of the 

Ineffable Name , i?7 35 . 

As the shrine of Jehovah, the 

Holy of Holies was the essential


part of the tabernacle and of 

Solomon's temple. On this account 

the Bible says invariably that the 

temple was erected to the name of 

Jehovah, that is, in accordance with 

the number of that name, which is 

the sum of the values of two 

Hebrew words indicating the essential 

quality of the nature of Deity. 

One of these words is ThN , 

achad, "One," designating the 

fundamental notion of Deity 

emphasized throughout the Old 

Testament. The unity of God is 

the great contribution of Judaism 

to the religious philosophy of 

mankind, and to this day the 

Children of Israel use, ThN , 

achad, as a divine name.


The second Hebrew word 

adding up to 13 is iililH , ahebah, 

"Love." We may well suppose it to 

have been in the mind of the 

Masonic patron, St. John, who was 

also the traditional author of the 

Revelation, from which we took our 

reference to the number of the beast. 

The Gospel of St. John bears internal 

evidence that it was written by a 

person familiar with the Hellenic 

Logos doctrine, developed by 

PhiloJudaeus. This was a doctrine 

of the Pythagoreans and Platonists, 

and it has its roots in their mathematical 

philosophy. Thus it is 

not unreasonable to suppose that 

St. John was acquainted with 

this number philosophy, and

I THE MASONIC LETTER G 

I 

35 

I 

had it in mind when he wrote."God 

is love." For since "love" and "one" 

are words of the same value, 13, to 

say "God is love" is Qabalistically 

equivalent to the fundamental doctrine 

of Judaism, lhtc 313' , 

1 Jehovah achad, "God is one." 

As an example of Masonic use 

of gematria, we may take the refer- 

1 ence, in the Entered Apprentice de- 

I gree, to the substances chalk, char- 

1 coal and clay. Mackey's Encyclopedia, 

and the official monitors, give 

an extended explanation of these 

three substances as meaning freedom, 

fervency and zeal. The Hebrew 

names for these substances 

are 133~3 DnD 3'2 gheer , 

pecham, ve-teet. The total value of


the words is 375 , the numeration I 1 

of im>U , Shelomoh, the Hebrew 

spelling of Solomon . 

Taken by itself, this may seem 

to be no more than an interesting 

coincidence. When we remember 

that Solomon is the Masonic type 

of wisdom, it becomes more impressive. 

For it is as much as to say 

that these three symbols of the 

qualifications of an Entered Apprentice 

are, as it were, the raw 

materials which make a Solomon, 

the fundamentals whose proper 

combination results in true 

wisdom. 

This example of the use of 

gematria in Masonry, and its consequences 

as an aid to the inter-

. 

t THE MASONIC LETTER G 37 

pretation of symbolism, is but one 

of many that might be cited from the 

1 work of the Blue Lodge. We have 

I given it to show that gematria is by 

1 

\ no means the silly juggling with num- 

! bers and letters which some hostile 

1 critics assert it to be. 

It must be admitted that gematria 

can be, and has been, misused 

by fanatics and tricksters. Many 

modern Jews regard the Qabalah 

with aversion, and consider it to be 

a mass of superstition and imposture. 

On the other hand, this 

number-letter system was used in 

interpreting the Old Testament by 

Rabbis who were neither Qabalists 

nor occultists. The books of the 

early Christian writers also contain


a number of examples of the same 

sort of Biblical interpretation. And 

we have already said that there is evidence 

that the text of both Testaments 

contain passages deliberately 

composed so as to conceal numbers 

by words, or suggest words by numbers. 

It is also a matter of record 

that persons influential in the development 

of Masonry in its present 

form were familiar with gematria. 

Glance through the pages of any 

good reference work on Free-masonry, 

and it becomes evident that 

in the eighteenth century, when most 

of the "higher degrees" were composed 

and worked, the persons 

who were most interested in


( Speculative Masonry and its significance 

were men who believed that 

in the Hebrew Qabalah were to be 

found clues to the deeper meaning 

, of the traditions and symbolism of 

' the Craft. 

Another reason for believing 

that Masonic "geometry" may be 

I 

: supposed to include the number- 

, letter system of writing and Scriptural 

interpretation is afforded by the 

fact that in [ early Speculative ] Freemasonry 

the Bible is called the 

trestleboard. Thus Mackey writes: 

"In the Masonic ritual, the 

Speculative Mason is reminded 

that, as the Operative artist erects 

his temporal building in accordance 

with the rules and designs


laid down on the trestleboard by the 

master workman, so should he erect 

that spiritual building, of which the 

material is a type, in obedience to 

the rules and designs , the precepts 

and commands, laid down by the 

Grand Architect of the U niverse in 

those great books of nature and revelation 

which constitute the spiritual 

trestleboard of every Freemason." 

'The same writer says, in 

speaking of the Operative Mason's 

trestleboard: "The trestle is a framework 

for a table-in Scotch trest; the 

trestleboard is a board placed for 

convenience of drawing on that 

frame. It contains nothing but a 

few diagrams, usually geometrical 

figures."

I 


In short, the trestleboard 

shows the plans of an architect. 

Such plans are based on the principles 

of geometry. To be able to 

read the plans and interpret them 

correctly, one must understand the 

science that governs their formation. 

Hence, by the plain implications of 

Masonic doctrine, the "geometry" 

of Speculative Masonry is to be understood 

as being a key to the cor- 

I rect understanding of the words of 

the Bible. This is precisely what 

Qabalists mean by gematria, which 

we shall use in order to make clear 

the esoteric significance of the Hebrew 

letter gimel, corresponding to 

English G . 

Hebrew letters are distinuished 

from those of other alphabets by


having names, most of which represent 

familiar natural objects. 

When a Jewish boy learns his 

alphabet, he does not commit to 

memory a meaningless series of 

conventional sounds. He learns a 

list of actual things. When he says 

aleph, beth, gimel, daleth, he is 

reciting the Hebrew words for ox, 

house, camel, door. 

As Hebrew words, these letternames 

have values of their own, 

distinct from the numbers repre- 

I 

sented by the single characters. , 

Thus the name )?33 , gimel, has the 

value 73, the sum of the numbers 

of its three characters. The 

number represented by the single 

letter 3 , to which this name is 

given, is simply 3.


The name gimel means "camel." 

Hebrew lexicons tell us it is due to 

a fancied resemblance between the 

character 3 and a crude picture of 

the head and neck of a camel. 

If one asks himself, "What is the 

fundamental idea brought to mind 

by the picture of a camel?," he will 

not be long in concluding that 

camels, to ancient Hebrews, 

represented just what automobiles 

suggest to the modern mind, 

namely, travel, journeying to 

places far off, and the like. Thus 

the camel is a symbol of that mark 

of the Master Mason, the ability to 

"travel in foreign countries." 

The whole work of the Craft, in 

fact, may be summed up in this


one word "travel," of which the 

camel is a symbol. Masons speak 

of themselves as traveling East, in 

search of light. Their quest is thus I 

indicated as being a search for 

origins and causes. For the West is 

the place of sunset, the close of the 

day. Thus it represents the end of 

a cycle of work or manifestation. 

And the end of such a cycle is the 

product of that cycle, the thing or 

form produced by the day's work. 

Hence West is the direction symbolizing 

the things and forms pro- ' 

duced by the Grand Architect's 

work in the universe. To travel 

from West to East is therefore to 

pass from these forms and appearances 

to their hidden causes,


and from those causes back to the 

First Cause, the master principle 

whose symbolic location is in the 

East. 

Precisely the same thought is expressed 

in what Masonic lectures 

tell us concerning geometry . They 

say that by this science we are 

enabled to trace Nature through 

her various windings to her most 

concealed recesses. Note that this 

calls up two images: (1) of movement 

in an inward direction, 

toward an interior center; (2) of 

winding movement, which, if it be 

considered as taking one from the 

surface to the center, must necessarily 

be spiral. It may not be 

without some significance that the

46 THE MASONIC LETTER G , 

English letter G is actually a curve 

taken from a spiral, for it is our experience 

that when one is considering 

the meaning of a symbol devised 

by really wise men, every 

detail of it has significance. Certainly 

the Masonic lectures make 

just this claim, for they say: "There 

is not an observance in Freemasonry 

which has not a deep significance; 

seek diligently and you 

will find the illustrations of its symbolic 

teachings almost infinite." 

But to return to our letter gimel. 

Its name is from the verb gawmal, 

spelled with the same three characters, 

but with different vowel 

points. This verb means: (1) to 

bring to an end or limit, hence to

I THE MASONIC LETTER G 47 

ipen; (2) to give according to 

desert, to reward, to recompense, 

I 

to benefit. Who can fail to see the 

direct application of these ideas to 

Freemasonry? The work of the 

Craft is designed to bring man 

1 from his rude state of ignorance to 

1 

the highest possible limits of 

human attainment. It is a spiritual 

I building-process by means of 

which a man may incorporate into 

his character qualities which 

distinguish a ripened, perfected 

human being. 

When this ripening process is 

actually carried out, one is really 

raised to the sublime degree of 

Master Mason. Then one is fully 

competent, not only to travel in


"foreign countries," but also tc 

receive Master's wages. The ceremonies 

of the three degrees are 

simply dramatic outlines of the 

stages in this life-process, and what 

they dramatize must be lived before 

1 

one really becomes a Master 1 

Mason. And mark well the fact , 

that the just reward according to 

desert, the Master's wage received 

by one who has completed his journey 

from West to East, is designated 

by a Hebrew word spelled 

by the same characters as those 

composing the Hebrew name of 

the letter G . 

The numeral value of 3 , the 

character bearing this name, is 3. 

This is the most significant of all 

I

I THE MASONlC LET'ER G 49 

he numbers venerated by Freemasons. 

Mackey says: 

"In all the Rites, whatever be the 

I 

1 number of superimposed grades, 

1 there lie at the basis the three symbolic 

degrees. There are in all the 

degrees three principal officers, 

three supports, three greater and 

three lesser lights, three movable 

I and three immovable jewels, three 

principal tenets, three working- 

, tools of a Fellow Craft, three principal 

orders of architecture, three 

chief human senses, three Ancient 

Grand Masters. In fact, everywhere 

in the system the number 

three is presented as a prominent 

symbol. So much is this the case 

that all the other mystical numbers


depend upon it, for each is a multi. 

ple of three, its square, its cube, or 

derived from them . . . But in . 

nothing is the Masonic signification 

of the ternary made more in- ' 

teresting than in its connection 

with the sacred delta, the symbol 

of Deity . 

9 9 

This sacred delta is the equilateral 

triangle, composed of three 

equal lines and three equal angles. 

As the same writer says, "There is 

no symbol more important in its 

signification, more various in its 

application, or more generally 

diffused throughout the whole 

system of Freemasonry than the 

triangle. It is, moreover, not only 

a symbol of Deity, but also of

' THE MASONIC ,ERG 5 1 

primary importance in geometry. 

The first proposition of Euclid, 

who is venerated as one of the 

1 founders of Masonry, concerns the 

construction of an equilateral 

triangle by means of the intersection 

of two circles of equal 

radius ... 9, 

The space enclosed by this inter- 

I section is called a vesica piscis, and 

the erudite author of The Canon 

shows that the vesica piscis was the 

basis of some of the most important 

geometrical secrets of the ancient 

operative masons. The underlying 

proportions of all the 

wonderful cathedral architecture 

of the Middle Ages were derived 

principally from the vesica piscis 

and the equilateral triangle.


{ 

Furthermore, in the construction 

of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, 

as may be seen from careful ex- 

amination of its proportions, the 1 

same first proposition of Euclid is 1 

employed. Thus the master diagram 

of the Qabalah, the "Key to i 

All Things," has the same 

geometrical foundation as the 

delta, most prominent of all 

Masonic symbols. That delta is 

what is denoted by the mystical , 

number 3, and by the Hebrew 

character 3 , corresponding to G . 

The three characters composing 

the letter-name gimel are 3 , gimel 

(3),)3 , mem (40), and 2 , lamed 

(30), so that the total value of the 

word is 73. This is also the 

I


numeration of ,.man , chokmah, 

wisdom, the title of the second 

Sephirah on the Tree of Life . 

Likewise it is the number of the 

verb gawmal, which refers to the 

wages of a Master Mason. 

That is, for a Qabalist, wisdom 

itself is the recompense or benefit 

which constitutes the wages of a 

Master, since there is identity between 

the words gawmal and 

chokmah. Thus we find our ancient 

Grand Master, Solomon, saying. 

"Happy is the man that findeth 

wisdom, and the man that getteth 

understanding. For the merchandise 

of it is better than silver, and 

the gain thereof than fine gold." 

Among Qabalists, King Solomon 

is reputed to have been the


greatest master of the secret 

wisdom, next to Moses. In Masonry 

he represents the power of conception, 

the power of forming 

abstract or universal ideas, the 

ability to grasp fundamental principles. 

This power is the root of all 

true mastery, in whatever field, 

and is precisely what is meant by 

the Hebrew noun chokmah. 

With chokmah Qabalists associate 

astronomy, the seventh and highest 

of the liberal arts. For they say 

that chokmah is nn3n , masloth, a 

term meaning literally "the highways 

of the stars," though it is 

often rendered "the sphere of the 

zodiac." Astronomy is the pinnacle 

of the Masonic pyramid of instruc-

THE MASONIC LETTER CJ 55 

tion. Nor should we forget that the 

astronomy of the ancient mystery 

schools from which Freemasonry 

claims descent was inseparable 

from astrology . 

Thus wisdom, in the true Masonic 

sense, is associated with that 

deep knowledge of cosmic relationships 

which combines exact measurement 

of the movements of the 

heavenly bodies with knowledge of 

the significance to man, of the 

influences corresponding to the 

changing panorama of the heavens. 

This knowledge is the ripened 

fruit of ages of human experience. 

After having been for some decades 

in almost total eclipse, it is 

beginning once more to shed its


light on human problems. Astrology 

today holds the interest of 

numbers of first-class minds. 

This is as it should be. In both 

its branches, the wisdom of the 

stars is the only adequate foundation 

for building the personal temple 

of God, or for erecting an enduring 

social structure. 

Chokmah, therefore, is entitled 

35 , ab, the father, by Qabalists. 

For they regard this highest wisdom, 

of which astronomy is the 

most valuable expression, as having 

within itself the impregnating 

force of those sublime abstract 

generalizations which bear fruit in 

all the inventions marking the progress 

of mankind.


The first letter of '38 , ab, is 

aleph, the bull. It is a symbol of fertility, 

and of the vital power of impregnation 

inherent in wisdom. 

The second letter is beth, the house, 

a symbol of the consequences of 

the activity of the vital power 

denoted by aleph. Beth also means 

family andposterity, as when we say 

"the house of York," and likewise 

signifies all a house implies by its 

connection with architecture and 

geometry. Thus the two letters of 

'38 , ab, stand for life ( N ) and art 

( 3 ) , in the strictly Masonic sense. 

Again, 38 takes us back to the 

letter G, for N is 1 and -J is 2. 

Thus '38 is the number 3, symbolized 

in the Hebrew alphabet by 

the character 3 , equivalent to G .


Nor is this all. No man ever becomes 

a Mason without having expressd 

his trust in God. Thus the 

entire curriculum of Masonic instruction 

may be said to be a development 

of this initial attitude of 

trust. Trust is the seed of wisdom, 

and the seed is actually one with 

the fruit, since both are parts of 

one continuous process of development. 

Thus we find that the Hebrew 

verb DDh , chasah, meaning 

"to put trust in," comprises letters 

whose values are 8, 60 and 5, so 

that it adds to 73, the number of 

chokmah, wisdom, and of gimel, or 

G. 

Masonic readers will have noticed 

that the digits of 73, 7 and 3,


are prominent throughout the 

degrees of the Craft. Mention has 

been made of the many repetitions 

of 3. The number 7 is almost as 

widely diffused over the whole 

Masonic system. In the Blue 

Lodge its principal significance is 

in relation to seven steps representing 

the seven liberal, or 

liberating, arts and sciences. 

These seven steps are the final 

stages of a gradual ascent beginning 

with three other steps 

denoting wisdom, strength and 

beauty, so that the first step of the 

symbolic Masonic staircase is 

wisdom. The staircase, moreover , 

is a winding, or spiral, ascent, 

leading to the middle chamber ,


where the workmen receive their , 

wages. 

If we add together the digits 3 

and 7, following a common Qabalistic 

practice, the sum is 10. This 

number is not of great importance 

in Masonry, which derives most of 

its mystical numbers from 3. Masonic 

tradition, however, claims 

Pythagoras as "our ancient brother 

," and in the Pythagorean system 

the number 10 was venerated as a 

symbol of the perfection and consummation 

of all things. Thus the 

number 10 may be taken as a symbol 

of the harmony which is the 

strength and support of all wellregulated 

institutions 

Here it is interesting to note that 

by Greek gematria, the noun


~ P C L O V ~ ~ , harmony, is the 

number 272. This is also the 

number of the Hebrew noun 37Y , 

ereb, meaning evening, or the close 

of the day. The same noun sometimes 

designates the direction 

west. Hence the occult meaning of 

"harmony ," by gematria, is directly 

connected with the station of the 

Senior Warden, who is the Masonic 

representative of harmony. 

In the Qabalah the number 10 

has the same prominence as in the 

system of Pythagoras. In The 

Garden of Pomegranates, Rabbi 

Moses Cordovero says: "The 

number ten is an all-embracing 

number. Outside of it there exists 

no other, for what is beyond ten


returns again to units." The Tree 

of Life, also, represents the ten 

aspects of the one reality. Hence 

the Sepher Yetzirah says: "Ten 

Sephiroth out of nothing, ten and 

not nine, ten and not eleven; 

understand with wisdom and apprehend 

with care. ..and restore 

the Creator to His throne." 

Does this mean there are only 

ten possible aspects of the Deity ? 

No, for that would be to limit God. 

What it does mean is that no matter 

how many different words man 

may adopt to express his notions of 

the one reality, his mind is so constituted 

that it can formulate 

neither more nor less than ten 

distinct ideas of that reality. The


, limit is in the human mind, not in 

the Divine Being. Just as we have 

ten fingers and ten toes, so are we 

limited mentally to ten basic ideas 

which express all that is intelligible 

concerning the nature and powers 

of the Grand Architect. Those ten 

ideas are represented by the ten 

Sephiroth. 

Philo Judaeus, though not a 

Qabalist, was familiar with many 

tenets of Phythagorean philosophy. 

Concerning the decade, or 

number 10, he writes: 

"Anyone may reasonably admire 

the decade for the following 

reason, that it contains within 

itself a nature which is at the same 

time devoid of intervals and


capable of containing them. Now 

that nature which has no connection 

with intervals is beheld in a 

point alone; but that which is 

capable of containing intervals is 

beheld under three appearances, a 

line, a superficies, and a solid. For 

that which is bounded by two 

points is a line; and that which has 

two dimensions or intervals is a 

superficies, the line being extended 

by the addition of breadth; and 

that which has three intervals is a 

solid, length and breadth having 

taken to themselves the addition of 

depth. And with these three nature 

is content; for she has not engendered 

more intervals or dimensions 

than these three. And the ar-


chetypal numbers which are the 

models of these three are, of the 

point the unit, of the line the 

number two, of the superficies the 

number three, and of the solid the 

number four, the combination of 

which, that is to say of one, and 

two, and three, and four, completes 

the decade. " 

Here Philo tells us that 10 is the 

arithmetical summary of all that is 

to be found anywhere in nature. 

Moreover, he makes his demonstration 

by means of geometry, using 

terms that should be familiar to 

every Mason . 

Thus the number 10, as representing 

what Qabalists call the 

essence of the number 73, which is


the number of anx, chokmah, 

wisdom, of jlbh, chasah, to trust, 

and of the letter-name 3D3 , gimel, 

symbolizes the essential nature of 

the whole Masonic undertaking. It 

is, moreover, the number of the 

Hebrew letter, yod so that we 

might say the letter-name gimel is 

but a veil for the yod which brother 

Mackey preferred instead of the 

letter G. 

Yod, moreover, is the initial letter 

of nl n\, Jehovah. (But notice 

here that in the English language 

the first syllable of Jehovah is pronounced 

exactly as we sound the 

letter G in reciting the alphabet. ) 

As the first letter of the Ineffable 

Name, yod is assigned in the


Qabalah to chokmah, probably 

because chokmah is known also as 

ab, the father, a masculine 

Sephirah. For it is well understood 

by Qabalists that though the name 

of the letter yod means hand, the letter 

is really an emblem of that 

divine power of creation in its own 

image belonging to Deity. Thus 

yod represents what the Greeks 

called the phallus, the male organ 

of generation. 

To some modern minds this 

may seem to be indelicate, but 

even a slight acquaintance with the 

symbols of the ancient mysteries 

from which Freemasonry is proud 

to claim descent will suffice to 

show that the hierophants of those


days had no false modesty. It was 

patent to them that all nature 

declares the value and sacredness 

of that power which man degrades 

when he permits himself to become 

the slave of his senses. Hence 

Mackey says: 

"The phallus, therefore, as the 

symbol of the male generative 

principle, was very universally 

venerated among the ancients, and 

that too as a religious rite, without 

the slightest reference to any impure 

or lascivious application." 

Nor is the practical instruction 

of the Masonic lodge by any means 

free from reference to the same ancient 

idea of the importance of the 

generative power. The apron


which is the distinguishing badge 

of a Mason is worn so as to conceal 

this part of the body, and it is a 

symbol of innocence and purity. The 

compass is used symbolically to 

circumscribe our desires and keep 

our passions within due bounds. 

Furthermore, the obligation of a 

Master Mason leaves no room for 

doubt as to just what is meant by 

this circumscription of the emotions. 

Here it might be pointed out 

that no such obligation is imposed 

on Entered Apprentices, or upon 

Fellow Crafts. It seems obvious 

that when the purport of Freemasonry 

was better understood 

than it seems to be now, this


obligation was not administered 

until the advancing brother had 

had time to digest and apply the 

lessons of the earlier degrees. To 

be fully self-controlled is a mark of 

mastery, and mastery is the fruit of 

training . 

If we consider what is said to the 

Entered Apprentice when he is 

taught how to wear his apron, and 

look up the Biblical references to 

"untempered mortar," we come 

upon the Hebrew noun ?E)n , 

taphel, derived from a root meaning 

"to be viscous, slimy ." Hence 

this word is used in Job 6,6 to 

mean "something unsavory ," in 

Lamentations 2,14 for "foolish 

things," and five times in the


prophecy of Ezekiel, as in Mason- 

ry, for "untempered mortar . 

7 9 

The hidden significance is 

established by the fact that the 

number of ?3n , taphel, is 510, 

which is also the number of 

9 3 n , taneen, translated "serpent" 

in the story of Moses casting down 

his rod (Exodus 7,9), and "dragon" 

in other portions of the Old Testament. 

All over the world the serpent 

and the dragon are phallic 

symbols representing that subconscious 

urge which modern 

psychology denominates libido. 

Yet the same serpent symbol is 

used also to designate wisdom, 

i.e. , chokmah, the very aspect of 

the One Reality which is represented

y the eastern support of the lodge, 

and by the Master. This same 

wisdom is designated by the letter 

yod and the number 10. 

For the libido which causes so 

much difficulty and sorrow when it 

is in the state of "untempered mortar" 

is actually the driving force of 

will which is brought under control 

in the long journey from West to 

East which ends at the seat of the 

Master. Thus we find the Zohar 

specifically stating that yod is 

assigned to the path named "The 

Intelligence of Will." 

That this will force of yod is 

something connected with generation 

is made clear by The Book of 

Concealed Mystery, which says


(Sec.33) that yod is masculine, and 

refers to the path of foundation. 

This path is the ninth Sephirah on 

the Tree of Life. Its name is yesod, 

meaning foundation or basis, and 

to it are referred the reproductive 

organs of the Grand Man. Again , 

in Section 42 of the same work, the 

letter yod is called "the symbol of 

the member of the covenant," and 

the member of the covenant is the 

phallus. 

The ostrich-like false modesty 

which does not permit some persons 

to perceive what is going on in 

their own organisms did not afflict 

our ancient brethren. They knew 

perfectly well that the work of 

perfecting the rude natural man


has a great deal to do with the 

mastery of the strongest urge in 

every normal human being. Hence 

they excluded from participation 

in their mysteries, as does the 

Masonic lodge today, those who 

were imperfect in organism, or 

notoriously lacking in selfdiscipline. 

He who seeks to attain the 

heights of practical wisdom must 

needs be a man in possession of his 

full powers, and no small part of 

his work consists in learning how 

to raise what modern psychology 

calls libido from the death and 

dissolution of its gross physical expression 

to the heights of that 

wisdom which brings him who at-


tains it into direct consciousness of 

immortality. 

In all the mystery schools of antiquity 

a secret was communicated 

which assured the initiates of immortality. 

Not by mere word of 

mouth. Not by dramatic representations 

only. They fall short in 

their estimation of the nature of 

those mysteries who suppose that 

explanation of symbols, and 

solemn spectacles, where all they 

had to offer. The rites of Eleusis 

and Samothrace, like those of the 

temple schools of Egypt, were but 

the preparation for an experience, 

and he whose conscious mind retained 

the memory of that experience 

knew himself to be immortal.


The processes whereby a man 

may so perfect and ripen his own 

consciousness, may so purify and 

change his body, that he may have 

the same direct awareness of his 

immortal part that was attained by 

our ancient brethren, are the real 

secrets of Freemasonry. They are 

indicated with sufficient detail and 

clearness in the rites and symbols 

of the Craft Lodge degrees. 

Not for nothing is the highest of 

these called the sublime degree of 

Master Mason. Not for nothing is 

the legend of this degree concerned 

with a dissolution and a raising. 

For the old forms through which 

the serpent force expresses itself 

must be killed out before they may


be raised to a new life. Nor is it 

without significance that he who 

dies and is raised is known as a 

"man of Tyre," or a man of the rock, 

since "rock" is the meaning of the 

place name, Tyre. 

The secret force which is tempered 

and brought under control is 

a force triple in aspect. Its nature is 

thus beautifully symbolized by the 

officers of the lodge, for this force 

is actually, derived by us directly 

from the sun. Threefold in its 

fundamental nature, this force is 

raised through seven steps or 

stages of what the old alchemists 

called sublimation. This very word 

has been adopted by analytical 

psychology to describe processes


whereby the destructive manifestations 

of the libido may be lifted up 

and transformed into beneficent 

expressions. 

Actually the old mystery schools 

were far in advance of the practical 

and theoretical knowledge of 

modern psychology. Long experience 

had perfected their 

techniques, and he who has any 

firsthand knowledge of their procedure 

knows beyond any peradventure 

that it is the real secret of 

Freemasonry. 

Even this is hinted at by the letter 

G, for in Hebrew and Greek, as 

we have shown, the letters corresponding 

to G have each the 

value of 3. But in English, G is the


seventh letter. Thus it represents 

both the triple force and the seven 

stages of its sublimation. Hence it 

corresponds also to the digits of 73, 

signifying chokmah, wisdom , 

developed from the seed of chasah, 

trust, and constituting gawmal, the 

recompense which is the Master's 

wage of those who travel East on 

the camel (gimel) of earnest 

endeavor, As the only English letter 

which can represent both 3 and 7, 

it combines in itself the two significant 

numbers whose sum is 10, the 

value of Hebrew yod. Thus it seems 

to us to be a perfect Masonic symbol. 

What think you, brethren? Shall 

we take down the letter G ? Shall


we be among those who deplore its 

presence in the lodge as being an 

ignorant anachronism? Or shall 

we arouse ourselves, and determine 

to exemplify in ourselves the 

power and wisdom for which it is 

so appropriate a symbol? 

The purpose of this brief essay 

has been to defend an honorable 

symbol against the aspersions cast 

upon it by honest but mistaken 

critics. 

We believe in Freemasonry. We 

believe it has a great work to perform, 

especially in the United 

States. But that work can never be 

done by persons who do not live 

their Masonry, and none may live 

it who does not really know it. 

Where do you stand ?

Masonic Letter G - Arcane Advisors

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