A blog entry on MasonicMinute.com made me wonder what Burning Taper readers think about the letter G, often seen inside the square and compasses on Masonic rings, bumper stickers, etc., and in the East inside a blue lodge.In Georgia, the University of Georgia is most everyone’s favorite college football team, though not mine. The letter G, usually rendered in red, white and black, standing for the University of Georgia, adorns auto license tags, bumper stickers and rear window decals, and is a commonly seen symbol in everyday life, especially during the fall football season.
Several years ago I was having dinner with my sister, who didn’t know I was a Mason and who really didn’t know much about Freemasonry. She noticed the Masonic ring I was wearing, which has a G inside the square and compasses. After staring at my ring for a moment, she asked me, incredulously but in all sincerity, "When did you become a Georgia fan?"
What do you think the ORIGINAL meaning of the letter G was, masonically-speaking?
Masons | Masonic Letter G | Masonic Symbols | Freemasonry | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com
Gnosis.
ReplyDeleteall of the above and none of the above. I think it is a Western centric symbol meant to represent God AND geometry,because, you know, god is all about the math.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think it should go back to the all seeing eye.
I agree with MT - the 2nd degree TB over here (UGLE)says it explicitly
ReplyDeleteI believe modern freemasonry meant it to be Geometry,
ReplyDeleteancient masonry meant it to mean generation(the power to procreate, make another human life, and th eprecaustions and lessons in bringing a good soul into this realm)
Tom Coste
I recommend the thought-provoking book The Masonic Letter G by Paul Foster Case. If I recall correctly, he suggests it refers to the Hebrew letter Gimel on the Tree of Life in Kabbalistic symbolism. Not enough space (or time) here to explain the significance of that, but it's worth looking into.
ReplyDeleteThe G, IMO, stands for Geometrician, by which is meant the creator.
ReplyDeleteObviously this is God also, but by restricting the allocation to "Geometrician" rather than mentioning the word "God" the definition of G encompasses all brothers creators.
There are also possibilities to the us of Gamma, the square letter and initial letter of Geometry.
G=Government.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about symbols is that the meanings reside in the people. A red light to us might mean "stop" while it might mean "go" to another person. It's just all how they interpret it and what they get out of it.
ReplyDeleteThink about it, what are words and letters, language in general, they are symbols which we use to communicate an idea to one another.
I think thats a cool aspect about freemasonry. While GL's do have a "official" meaning of what some symbols are to mean, "pure" masonry allows you to interpret and understand them for youreself.
Now the thing to think about is what the G was originally meant to be by the people or organized or institued freemasonry?
Interesting post, I stumbled on it by chance looking up something unrelated.
ReplyDeleteI think the G means anything the viewer wants it to mean. It depends on which eyes you look through. That G is the same G used here in Green Bay, both for our NFL football team and in the city logo. As someone who likes to explore conspiracy theories, I did an overlay of our city logo with the freemanon logo, and it lined up in such a way someone wanting to make a connection definately would.
I don't know if Masons are "good" oe "bad," but definately mysterious to someone on the outside trying to look in. Of course most people fear the unknown. So from my "outsider" viewpoint, the G means whatever you want it to mean. The real meaning, beats the G - 1 out of me.
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