When researching Freemasons For Dummies, I came across the urban legend that there are no 33rd degree rings in pawn shops because 33rd degree Masons dabble in witchcraft and are immolated in the practice of Magick™. Apparently, so this one goes, the ring goes *poof!* along with the body.

There are no howlers quite as hilarious as anti-Masonic howlers.

The truth is that the ring given to the 33rd degree Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at least in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, is either to be buried on the finger of the Brother when his end comes, or returned to the Supreme Council by his family so that it may be passed to another generation of Freemasons.

As to the symbolism, it features a triangle or delta (with the number "33"), in plain gold with no other color, and three distinct rings, which might be interpreted as 3+3. Inside, it is inscribed with the Latin phrase "Deus Meumque Jus", meaning "God and My Right" (or perhaps more clearly, 'God and my moral rightness'). 


The French translation of the phrase - "Dieu et mon droit" -  is actually the royal motto of the monarch of the United Kingdom, and it appears on a scroll under the shield of the coat of arms of the U.K. (interestingly, only when used on the coat of arms outside of Scotland , for a whole stack of diplomatic reasons). You'll find it all over England, and even on passports issued there. The legendary source is said to have originally been a battle cry of England's King Richard I during the Battle of Gisors in 1198, and his defeat of France's Philip II. Richard adopted it as his motto, and it refers to the longstanding notion of the 'divine right of kings.'  Subsequently, Henry V during the early 1400s officially made it the royal motto, and plastering it on the coat of arms in French was partially to rub in his right to the throne of France at the time (although, Norman French was actually the language of the English court and the nobility after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, anyway)

So, the motto is the Latin version of a French phrase that originated in England and used in a Masonic degree system named after Scotland that descended from French sources by way of Haiti with the help of a Dutch trader through Jamaica and eventually almost completely redefined in the United States. 

Got that?

As to the three rings, my own interpretation from here on is 'Think twice before speaking once.' But that's just me.

There are approximately 11,000 33° Scottish Rite Masons in the United States, roughly split 50/50 between the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and the Southern Jurisdiction. And for those who have asked, the 33° ritual in the two jurisdictions is VERY different. Even the names of the degree itself are different in the two Supreme Councils: in the NMJ it is called Inspector General, while in the SJ it is called Sovereign Grand Inspector General. However, outside of the U.S., a 33° Scottish Rite-styled Mason is extremely rare to encounter. It is common throughout Europe for members of the organizations to be 'perfected' only to the 18° and rise no farther. (And just to be even more confusing, the Rectified Scottish Rite is not the same thing as the Scottish Rite, AT ALL.) 

The number 33 was not just selected at random by the originators of the Scottish Rite. It has long been considered sacred within Christianity for several reasons. It is the multiple use of three, signifying the Holy Trinity. Christ was 33 years old when he ascended into heaven, and the gospels list thirty-three miracles performed by Christ. (Dan Brown is incorrect when he states, appropriately on page 333 of The Lost Symbol, that God is mentioned thirty-three times in the Book of Genesis. God is actually mentioned thirty-two times, in the first chapter of Genesis of the King James Bible.)

Thirty-three also appears in the Old Testament and other Jewish writings. Jacob had thirty-three children; Mosaic Law required that a woman purify herself for thirty-three days after her male child was circumcised; the holy day of Lag B’Omer occurs thirty-three days after the start of Passover; and the Seal of Solomon, or Star of David, made up of two intersecting triangles, is considered a graphic representation of 3+3. It also plays a prominent role in Kabbalah. And it is perhaps appropriate that Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call 
to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."


The religions of Islam, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Hinduism all associate sacred meanings with the number thirty-three. There are even thirty-three bones in the human vertebrae. Therefore, it appears in the Scottish Rite as a symbol of the fraternity’s universality as well as the perfection that every man should aspire to achieve in his soul.

Another curious aspect of the numbers thirty-two and thirty-three in regards to the Scottish Rite is that both Charleston, South Carolina, the birthplace of the Rite in 1801, and Jerusalem, location of Solomon’s Temple, lie between the 32° and 33° latitude. For many years it was common for Scottish Rite officers to include the latitude of their location when writing letters, articles or papers.



The double-headed eagle is the principal symbol of the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite. It is not, as is mistakenly referred to in Brown’s text concerning the tattoo on Mal’akh’s chest, using his nipples as the bird’s eyes, a “double-headed phoenix.” The legendary phoenix, rising from the ashes, as described in Greek (and earlier) mythology, is not what depicted here at all.

In the United States we are fortunate that lurid allegations concerning Freemasonry and law enforcement are rare. In other countries, especially across Great Britain, press accounts are more common that attempt to link Freemasons with wrongdoing, and expecially if there is the slightest hint of any Masonic connection to the police or the judiciary. The British press is overly fond of making certain that a criminal's Masonic membership, if it exists, gets plastered in the opening paragraph of any story. And former Home Secretary Jack Straw's notorious witch hunt against Masons in law enforcement in the U.K. made headlines for years, even though it found zero evidence of any improper influence of Freemasonry on police or other justice officials.



Curiously, there does appear to be a visual connection between police and Freemasonry in the U.S. It's right out in plain sight, and has been for over a century. It is the official seal of the Fraternal Order of Police. At first glance, it's not obvious, but on closer inspection, the All Seeing Eye and a fraternal handshake can be seen in the bottom points of a five-pointed star.



Symbols are curious things, and any seal that is an amalgamation of symbols borrows liberally from other sources. The FOP explains theirs on their website:

The five-cornered star tends to remind us of the allegiance we owe to our Flag and is a symbol of the authority with which we are entrusted. It is an honor the people we serve bestow upon us. They place their confidence and trust in us; serve them proudly.



Midway between the points and center of the star is a blue field representative of the thin blue line protecting those we serve. The points are of gold, which indicates the position under which we are now serving. The background is white, the unstained color representing the purity with which we should serve. We shall not let anything corrupt be injected into our order. Therefore, our colors are blue, gold and white.



The open eye is the eye of vigilance ever looking for danger and protecting all those under its care while they sleep or while awake. The clasped hands denote friendship. The hand of friendship is always extended to those in need of our comfort.



The circle surrounding the star midway indicates our never ending efforts to promote the welfare and advancement of this order. Within the half circle over the centerpiece is our motto, "Jus, Fidus, Libertatum" which translated means "Law Is a Safeguard of Freedom."

Certainly the five-pointed star was an early Masonic symbol (seen more in Europe these days than in mainstream U.S. jurisdictions), as a symbol of the five points of man (head, hands and feet), as well as the five points of fellowship. It survives today in the U.S., albeit inverted, as the symbol of the Order of the Eastern Star. The All Seeing Eye is by no means a purely Masonic symbol, and appears in Renaissance art as a Christian symbol for God (along with the far older Egyptian "Eye of Horus"). And the fraternal handshake appears in Masonic, Odd Fellows, and many, many other fraternal groups' artwork throughout the 18th century.



In addition, the seal in the center of the star is the coat of arms of the city of Pittsburgh, where the FOP was originally founded. The supposedly Latin motto is somewhat tortured grammatically, and any first year Latin student would have had their knuckles busted by Sister Mary Discipline over it. The design came from one of the founders, Delbert Nagle, the FOP's first Grand president in 1917, and was drawn by H. J. Garvy.



Nagle believed the motto meant "Fairness. Justice. Equality." After 50 years, a committee was formed to get to the bottom of the grammar problem, and several Catholic priests were consulted (including Monsignor John J. Doyle, historian for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis). The committee came up with the slightly corrected version of "Law Is a Safeguard of Freedom," even though that's something of a stretch as well.



The FOP was at first formed in secrecy in Pittsburgh because police in that city were not allowed to unionize. The FOP was technically not organized as a union, but a fraternity. Once the city's mayor approved of the group, it came out into the open. Like so many other fraternal groups that arose during the Golden Age of Fraternalism, it adopted customs originated in Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, terms like grand lodge, passwords and handshakes.



Nagle also developed a "secret" ritual for initiates in 1916, based on the symbolism and "mysteries" of the FOP emblem. It's entirely likely that the specific All Seeing Eye and handshake images on the original seal were simply made from printer's block elements from existing fraternal artwork, which would account for their close similarity to Masonic artwork from the 1800s.



For all you'd ever care to know about the formation and history of the FOP, see Fraternal Order of Police 1915—1976: A History by Justin E. Walsh, Ph.D. Turner Publishing Company, 2004.

The 16th video presentation from the Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry is now available. This week's program is "Veiled in Allegory & Illustrated in Symbols" by Chris McClintock, PM. .

From Brother McClintock's website:

Chris McClintock is an author specialising in ancient symbolism. He became an Irish Freemason in 1991, joining Lodge No 754 Coleraine. He became Master of the lodge in 2005. Intrigued by the curious symbolism and gestures used within the workings of the lodge he set about investigating those rituals to try to discover their underlying meanings.

In 2001 he joined Lodge 200 the Irish Lodge of Research to further his studies and to seek assistance to ground his work within a framework that was ritualistically and historically accurate. His eight year quest has culminated in the book The Craft and the Cross.

He has also been a stained glass artist for 20 years carrying out many commissions to design and build windows in civic buildings, churches and private dwellings. He was interviewed for a TV documentary by RTE in Dublin and by BBC Radio Ulster following his commission for a commemorative window for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

The Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry 2011 Lecture Series is a free presentation of Masonic education endorsed by the Grand Lodge of Indiana F&AM, beginning January 1, 2011 and running through December 31, 2011. So far this year, programs on WEOFM have been viewed more than 250,000 times.

With Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol being set in Washington DC and involving the Freemasons, undoubtedly we're in for more of the same, tired accusations about Masonic symbols in the streets of the capitol being Satanic or otherwise occult talismans of eeeeevil.
Here it is from overhead.



A Pyramid. A Star of David (or Sign of Solomon, or Zionist flag, depending on your favorite creepy, paranoid kink). And naturally, a Masonic square and compasses in the center. For what purpose, that remains unclear in the FSP material.




While we're looking around Europe, here is the alleged "Masonic" compasses in Brussels:


The Piazza Del Popolo in Rome:


And since we're talking about Vauban, the Place Vauban, in Paris.


But if the all-powerful Masons put them there, where are the "squares" to go with the compasses? (Well, the Paris streets line up, but Rome and Brussels don't. Cue the conspiracy theramin: the left side of the "square" at the bottom leg of the compasses is Boulevard Garibaldi, named after the famed Italian revolutionary and Freemason).