{"id":95,"date":"2024-08-31T14:19:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T14:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/?page_id=95"},"modified":"2024-08-31T14:26:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T14:26:50","slug":"the-master","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/?page_id=95","title":{"rendered":"Worshipful Master"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>At the head of each Operative Masons\u2019 Lodge was a Master- mason, responsible for hiring and firing workers, overseeing work and training apprentices. The status and income of such a man would have depended upon the type of work he did. A man skilled enough to build a great castle or cathedral would have been able to command a very high salary and might well have worked internationally as his services were sought by kings, nobles, and clergy. In addition to overseeing the work, the Master would plan the building, using the principles of geometry known to only a select few, and would also design doorways and windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was much more than just a stone cutter and would have \u2018employed and instructed\u2019 his workers in their tasks. Just as today we say the Worshipful Master of a Lodge is placed in the East to employ and instruct the brethren in Freemasonry. A mediaeval Master-mason thus fulfilled the modern roles of architect, project manager, clerk of works, foreman and training officer, and perhaps even a rudimentary health and safety officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Worshipful Master sits on a grand chair on the East side of the Lodge, behind a pedestal on which there is a Gavel, a Holy Book,\u00a0 a Square &amp; Compasses, and a Column of Office.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>His symbol is The Square<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-1 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full has-custom-border\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"139\" height=\"94\" src=\"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-26.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-98\" style=\"border-width:18px;border-radius:28px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The <strong>Square<\/strong> can be found on the collar he wears and on the front of the pedestal he sits behind<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>The Holy Book<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p>The Holy Book we call the <strong>Volume of the Scared Law <\/strong>(VSL), we usually use the Bible, but this could be a Qur\u2019an, Torah or other Holy book which a candidate for initiation recognises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"164\" height=\"107\" src=\"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-27.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"width:106px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>The Square and Compasses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-3 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"175\" height=\"119\" src=\"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-28.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100\" style=\"border-radius:30px;width:106px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Square and Compasses <\/strong>sit on the VSL and are the most common symbol of Freemasonry across the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>The Column of Office<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-4 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p>A candle sits on top of the column that represents his office. This column is an Ionic column and symbolically represents Wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"61\" height=\"140\" src=\"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-29.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-101\" style=\"border-radius:20px;width:47px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>The Gavel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-5 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p>The Gavel is used to call attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full has-custom-border\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"56\" height=\"93\" src=\"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-30.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-102\" style=\"border-width:7px;border-radius:25px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the head of each Operative Masons\u2019 Lodge was a Master- mason, responsible for hiring and firing workers, overseeing work and training apprentices. The status and income of such a man would have depended upon the type of work he did. A man skilled enough to build a great castle or cathedral would have been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":84,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95\/revisions\/105"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rossmasonichall.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}