The three-degree structure is the foundation of so-called "blue" or symbolic Freemasonry, the kind practised in ordinary lodges. Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason represent a gradual path in which each step adds new symbols and new responsibilities. The third degree, with its legend of death and rebirth, is regarded by many as the dramatic heart of the whole system.
From craft grades to symbolic degrees
In the builders' guilds the distinction between apprentice and fellow was a professional reality: the apprentice learned the trade, the fellow practised it fully. The master was originally the one who directed a building site or had his own workshop, not a distinct initiatory degree.
In the early decades of the eighteenth century speculative Freemasonry essentially knew two degrees. The master's degree became established in the 1720s and 1730s. The first printed description of its legend appears in Samuel Prichard's Masonry Dissected, published in London in 1730 as an unauthorised exposure of the rituals.
Hiram in the Bible
The character at the centre of the legend has a biblical basis. The first book of Kings records that King Solomon brought from Tyre a craftsman named Hiram, son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, skilled in bronze work. It was he who cast the two pillars set at the entrance of the Temple and many sacred furnishings. The second book of Chronicles also describes him as expert in gold, silver, stone, wood and textiles.
The Bible says nothing about his death. Everything concerning his murder belongs to Masonic legend.
The legend of the third degree
In its most widespread form the story runs as follows:
- Hiram, called Hiram Abiff, directs the work on the Temple and keeps the master's secret word.
- Three fellows, impatient to obtain the secrets of the higher degree, wait for him at the three gates of the Temple.
- Each asks him for the word; Hiram refuses to reveal it.
- The three strike him with working tools, and at the third blow Hiram dies.
- The body is hidden and buried provisionally; a sprig of acacia marks the spot.
- Solomon has the master searched for; the body is found and raised.
- The original word is considered lost, and a substitute word is adopted.
In the rite the candidate does not simply watch the story: he lives it in the first person, identifying with Hiram. It is this dramatic participation that makes the third degree an experience of symbolic death and rebirth.
The meaning of the lost word
The motif of the lost word is one of the most fruitful in Masonic tradition. It suggests that the highest knowledge is not a guaranteed possession but something to be sought, and something that can be lost. Many later degrees, starting with the Royal Arch, present themselves as the recovery of this word. The initiatory path thus appears as an endless quest.
The tools of each degree
Each degree is associated with working tools, interpreted in a moral sense. The assignments vary between rites and countries; this is a very common form in the English rite:
| Degree | Tools | Symbolic reading |
|---|---|---|
| Apprentice | Twenty-four-inch gauge, common gavel, chisel | Use of time, force of will, discernment |
| Fellow Craft | Square, level, plumb rule | Rectitude, equality, integrity |
| Master | Skirret, pencil, compasses | Straight line of conduct, awareness of one's actions, measuring desires |
The gauge divided into twenty-four parts, for example, is read as an image of the day, to be shared between work, rest and service to others.
Symbolic age
In many ritual traditions each degree corresponds to a symbolic "age": three years for the apprentice, five for the fellow, seven or more for the master. These numbers have no real-life meaning, but recall the number symbolism Freemasonry shares with other traditions, from the triangle to the five-pointed star.
Passing between degrees
Moving from one degree to the next requires, in most obediences, a period of membership and a proof of learning: the candidate must know the questions and answers of the degree and show that he has understood its symbols. This link between time, study and progression is one of the most characteristic features of Western initiatory societies.
An open structure
The three degrees are the common foundation, but not the whole of Masonic life. From the eighteenth century onwards numerous further degrees developed on top of them, gathered into different rites. All of them, however, presuppose the master's degree and its legend as their basis.
In short
- The apprentice and fellow degrees derive from the craft; the master's degree became established in the 1720s.
- The legend of the third degree was first printed in Masonry Dissected in 1730.
- Hiram is a biblical craftsman, but the story of his death is properly Masonic.
- The lost word expresses the idea of a knowledge to be sought continually.
- Each degree has working tools interpreted as moral virtues.
