{"id":43,"date":"2004-12-02T12:58:10","date_gmt":"2004-12-02T20:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theeduca.mywhc.ca\/?p=43"},"modified":"2004-12-02T12:58:10","modified_gmt":"2004-12-02T20:58:10","slug":"cable-tow-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/cable-tow-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"Cable Tow etc."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cable Tow<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

How many of us have given serious consideration to the significance of the Cable Tow used in Freemasonry? It has both physical and spiritual symbolism. Its origin and definition are uncertain and the word probably comes from either a Hebrew or German word meaning \u201c a Pledge of the Body\u201d. This definition becomes more significant as one obligation follows another.<\/p>\n

An intriguing definition of the Cable Tow, is given by Carl Claudy in his book, \u201cAn Introduction to Freemasonry\u201d and I quote<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is symbolic of the life cord by which the embryo receives life from the mother. It is the symbolic cord by which the Masonic infant is attached to his Mother Lodge. As soon as the infant is born, the physical cord is severed, but never the knife was ground which cut the spiritual cord which ties a man to his mother\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To a sailor the cable tow has a measurement of length, which has 600 Feet. This length has no relationship to Freemasonry. In our ritual we hear the phrase \u201ca cable\u2019s length from shore\u201d such allusions are symbolic of the binding covenant into which the mason has entered. In the early 1700\u2019s every brother was expected to attend his lodge if within the length of his cable tow. This distance was set at three miles, which was all he was expected to walk.<\/p>\n

In Masonry the physical restraint of the cable tow indicates that the Candidate is in submission to the Master of the Lodge. In early Roman times citizens appeared before their monarchs with a rope around their neck to indicate their loyalty to him. The cable tow is removed from the candidate as soon as he assumes the spiritual bond of his obligation. However, never the means has been made, by which, to cut the obligation, which binds a man spiritually to his Mother Lodge, and to the Craft. Expulsion does not relieve the Mason from his obligation; if the Brother is unaffiliated it does not dissolve the tie; demitting and joining another Lodge cannot make the new Lodge his Mother Lodge.<\/p>\n

So what then is the length of a Cable Tow? Who can define the length of a spiritual tie?<\/p>\n

Physically, it translates into \u201c if within reasonable possibility\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each Brother must decide for himself the length of his Cable Tow.<\/p>\n

Adapted from a paper, written by W.Bro.Barry.D.Thom. Lodge Mackay #1129 S.C. Bay Roberts. Nfld. Nov 2004.<\/p>\n

On a less serious note, I have some things\u201d That Make You Go HMMM\u201d\u00a0 to share with you<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. When I was young we used to go \u201cSkinny Dipping\u201d now I just go \u201cChunky Dunkin\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Why is it that people say they \u201cSlept like a Baby\u201d when babies wake up every two hours.<\/li>\n
  3. If a deaf person goes to court, is it still called a \u201cHearing\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Stress is when you wake up screaming and then you realize \u201cYou haven\u2019t fallen asleep\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. Why is it that our children can\u2019t read a Bible in school, but they can in Prison.<\/li>\n
  6. Finally.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u201cCTRL ALT DELETE\u201d<\/span> and start all over again.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201c The Immovable Jewels are the Tracing Board, the Rough and Perfect Ashlars. The Tracing Board is for the Master to lay lines and draw designs on; the Rough Ashlar for the Entered Apprentice to work, mark and indent on; the Perfect Ashlar for the experienced Craftsman to try, and adjust his jewels on. They are called Immovable Jewels, because they lie open and immovable in the Lodge for Brethren to moralize on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[85,86,71],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-educator","tag-jewels","tag-laylines","tag-tracing-board"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"MasterMason","author_link":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/author\/mastermason\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"The Educator<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u201c The Immovable Jewels are the Tracing Board, the Rough and Perfect Ashlars. The Tracing Board is for the Master to lay lines and draw designs on; the Rough Ashlar for the Entered Apprentice to work, mark and indent on; the Perfect Ashlar for the experienced Craftsman to try, and adjust his jewels on. They…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}