Masonic Rings by Fox Jewelry

I am about 2/3rds of the way through this book.  This book is a stunning follow up to the global phenomenon “The Da Vinci Code. In his latest work Dan Brown once again demonstrates why he is one of the world’s most popular thriller writer. An example of the 33rd degree ring that Dan Brown writes about can be viewed at Fox

Jewelry.

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“On the 4th of July, 1848, under a clear sky in the presence of the President of the United States and virtually every notable of the government including former first lady Dolley Madison, the cornerstone was set with masonic ceremonies by the Grand Lodge of Masons of the District of Columbia. One of the principle addresses of the occasion was given by Benjamin B. French, Grand Master, who wore the masonic apron that Washington wore at the laying of the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. In his address French referred to the masonic master’s chair used by Washington as Worshipful Master of Washington-Alexandria Lodge, and the gavel used by the first President to set the cornerstone of the Capitol, in the custody of Potomac Lodge #5 of Georgetown, D.C.

Within the Degrees of Masonry there are found references to the plumb and plumb-line as instruments of particular significance to the Mason. One of the earliest and simplest instruments used in construction, the plumb and its line were an essential tool of the stone mason. As the level was to insure evenness of a surface, the plumb was to insure perpendicularity and right angles to that surface.

A simple plumb is an instrument of amazing accuracy. From homes to cathedrals, this simple tool has pointed the way upward and indicated the straightness needed to obtain perfection. And so it is that this tool was taken from the operative mason to the speculative mason as a symbol of the best off conduct, unequivocal uprightness, and constant integrity required to build a spiritual temple reflective of the best of one’s efforts.

So, it is that when you hold a plumb and plumb-line in your hand, you hold a working tool of Masonry.
The plumb line shown on the Masonic Ring above is an example of a Master Mason Ring found at Fox Jewelry.

Within Freemasonry, the color blue is a symbol of universal friendship and benevolence, as it is the color of the vault of heaven. Blue is the only color other than white which should be used in a Master’s Lodge for decorations. Within the Blue Lodge are conferred the Craft Degrees.  These Masonic rituals represent three degrees which are taken in sequence.  First, the Entered Apprentice Degree, second, the Fellow Craft Degree and finally, the Master Mason Degree. Examples of a Blue Lodge Ring or Masonic Ring can be found at Fox Jewelry.

Initiated: September 30, 1949, Malta Lodge No. 465, Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with his half-brothers Thomas Gardner Ford (1918-1995), Richard Addison Ford (1924-) and James Francis Ford (1927- ). The Fellowcraft and Master Mason Degrees were Conferred by Columbia Lodge No. 3, Washington, D.C., on April 20 and May 18, 1951, as a courtesy to Malta Lodge. Brother Ford was made a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33°, and Honorary Member, Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Northern Jurisdiction at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, on September 26, 1962, for which he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class. Brother and President Ford was unanimously elected an Active Member of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay and its Honorary Grand Master, at its Annual Session held at Orlando, Florida, April 6-9, 1975; Brother Ford held this post until January 1977, at which time he became a Past Honorary Grand Master, receiving his Collar and Jewel on October 24, 1978 in Topeka, Kansas, from the Hon. Thomas C. Raum, Jr., Grand Master, Order of DeMolay.Ford’s reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during his 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his law degree. An example of a Masonic Ring is found at Fox Jewelry.

I was raised with the teachings of the Freemasons.  This was teaching of Love for God, hard work, respect for your-self and others.I believe if everyone lived by these teaching the world would be a better place to live..  I thank God for this organiztion. 

The ring pictured above is a Masonic ring. More examples of this type of ring can be found at Fox Jewelry

Within two decades of the victory of the First Crusade (1095-1099) a group of knights led by Hugues (Hugh) de Payens offered themselves to the Patriarch of Jerusalem to serve as a military force.This group – often said to be nine in number – had the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims who were en route to the Holy Land to visit the shrines sacred to their faith.

Somewhere between the years of AD 1118 – 1120, King Baldwin II granted the group quarters in a wing of the Royal Palace on the Temple Mount (the Al Aqsa Mosque).

It has been generally accepted that, for the first nine years of their existence, the Templars – as they came to be known – consisted of nine members.

In the mid 1700s the Freemasons began to incorporate symbols and traditions of the medieval Knights Templar. The original medieval Order of Knights Templar was established after the First Crusade, and existed from approximately 1118 to 1312. There is no known historical evidence to link the medieval Knights Templar and Masonic Templarism, nor do the Masonic Knights Templar organizations claim any such direct link to the original medieval Templar organization.

The full title of this order is The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta.

The Knights Templar is an additional order and is not a higher degree within freemasonry. Knights Templars meet in Preceptories or commanderies.
Membership in the Order is open to Master Masons of Christian faith (in some jurisdictions, the order is also open to those of other faiths who are willing to swear to defend the Christian faith) and who have been exalted into the Holy Royal Arch Chapter.[citation needed] As in all Masonic organizations, membership requires that the candidate be of sound moral character, have an exemplary reputation, and believe in a Supreme Being. The Knights Templar have the additional requirement that the candidate be a professing Christian.

An example of a Knights Templar Ring can be found at Fox Jewelry.

Despite what many people claim, Freemasonry is not in any way a secret society. Freemasonry’s so-called secrets are solely used as a ceremonial way of demonstrating that one is a Freemason when in Lodge meetings. The real point of a Freemason promising not to reveal them is basically a dramatic way of promising to keep one’s promises in general. Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest fraternal societies. The lessons Freemasonry teaches in its ceremonies are to do with moral values (governing relations between people) and its acknowledgement, without in any way crossing the boundaries of religion that everything depends on the providence of God. Freemasons feel that these lessons apply just as much today as they did when it took its modern form at the turn of the 17th century. The Masonic Ring worn by the Mason is a symbol of his pledge to the fraternity.

“Masonry has always taught that work was honorable; only idleness was contemptible. Masonry teaches the concept that all work is honorable. The inventor or writer who labors with this mind is neither more nor less respectable than the day-laborer who works with hand and back. It has been said that a society which honors its philosophers while sneering at is plumbers will soon discover that neither its pipe nor its ideas will hold water. Work should not be regarded as a curse but a blessing. To be able to work, to create something, whether it is a poem, a piston, or a pot roast is a priceless privilege in which God alows us to participate in His creative nature.”

Taken from the Valley of Sioux City Newsletter, Winter 2008

The 22nd Degree Prince of Libanus is a degree in the Scottish Rite. Being a member of the Scottish Rite allows a member to wear a Scottish Rite Ring as shown on Fox Jewelry’s website.