Masonic Rings by Fox Jewelry

The Knights Templar were officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favored charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in membership and power. Dressed in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, the Knights Templar were among the most skilled fighting units of the crusades^] Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking. The finest Knights Templar rings available can be found at Fox Jewelry. An example of a Knights Templar ring can be found in the online store.

The Knights Templars’ existence was tied closely to the Crusades. When the Holy Land was lost,
support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars’ secret initiation
ceremony created mistrust, and King Phillip IV of France who was deeply in debt
to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order’s
members in France were arrested, tortured into giving erroneous confessions,
and then were burned at the stake.  Under
pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V broke up the Order in 1312. Portugal  was the only European country where the Knight
Templars were not persecuted and arrested. An example of the ring worn by the Knights Templar  is shown in the category Knights Templar Rings.

Recently several Grand Lodges have reintroduced an old tradition, that of accepting a Lewis into the Craft. A Lewis is the son of a Mason who may be admitted in to the Craft upon his 18th birthday. Once he is maded a Master Mason the individual is entitled to wear the Master Mason Ring.

There is ample evidence that the Past Master Degree was worked in America in the last half of the 18th Century. The first reference to what was probably the Past Master Degree is the working of the Excellent Degree in St. Andrew’s Royal Arch Lodge on August of 1769 in Boston. It is an honor to wear the Past Master Ring.

The Past Master Degree in Masonry is an honorary degree. It is more closely associated with sumbolic than capitular Masonry. It is primarily a necessary or rational degree, containing little of the deep sumbolism of the Mark Master and Royal Arch Degrees. The recipients of this degree are caled Virtual Past Masters, while those who receive the degree prior to their installation as Worshipful Master are called Actual Past Masters. Once becoming a Past Master, the recipient is entitled to wear a Past Master Ring.

While there probably are some actual stone-workers who are Masons, Masonry does not teach it’s membership the literal techniques of stonework. Rather, it
takes the actual ‘operative’ work of Medieval Masons and uses it as an allegory
for moral development. Thus, the symbols of Masonry are the common tools that
were used by medieval stonemasons: the gavel, the rule, the compass, the square,
the level, etc. Each of these has a symbolic meaning in Masonry. For example,
Masons are said to meet ‘on the level’, meaning that all Masons are brothers,
regardless of social status, personal wealth, or office within the Lodge or in
the world at large. Similar symbolism exists for other tools.

Born Ehrich Weiss on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary of Jewish background, Harry Houdini emigrated to the United States in 1878 where they lived in Appleton, Wisconsin. In addition to  his skills in magic and escapology, Harry Houdini was a highly accomplished trapeze performer and inventor of the diving suit. Houdini also directed and starred in several silent motion pictures that capitalized on his reputation for illusion and mystery. Brother Houdini was initiated an an Entered Apprentice on July 17, 1923 and passed to the degree of Fellowcraft on July 31, 1923 and raised to the sublime Degree of Master Mason on August 21, 1923 in St. Cecile Lodge No 568 in New York City. His last performance was at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit on October 12, 1926. The next day he was hospitalized at Grace Hospital where he died of peritonitis from a suspected ruptured appendix on Halloween, Oct 31, 1926 at the age of 52. Once you have been raised to the sublime Degree of Master Mason, you are entitled to wear a Master Mason ring such as the ones shown at: Fox Jewelry.

I have just added our new line of sterling silver Masonic rings. They can be found at:http://foxjewelry.net.co/Sterling_Silver_Blue_Lodge_Masonic_Rings/c125/index.html

What do the Fourteenth Degree rings mean? The Scottish Rite Fourteenth degree ring is a flat, plain band of gold, and embossed thereon is a plate in the form of an equilateral triangle and within the triangle is the Hebrew letter yud, the initial letters of Jehovah in Hebrew (yud he vau he). Inside the ring is inscribed the Fourteenth Degree Motto: Virtus Junxit, Mors Non Separabit (Virtue has united and death shall not separate). The rings circle expresses the unbreakable fraternal bond between Masons of all generations. Upon the death of the owner, the ring should go into the hands of his widow, eldest son, the friend who was loved above all others, or another Scottish Rite Mason.   Examles of the 14^th Degree ring can be found at Fox Jewelry. 

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