Speak the Language
Masonic Glossary
Plain-English meanings for the words you will hear around a Masonic lodge
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A Guide to Masonic Terms
Freemasonry has a vocabulary all its own. Some of it is centuries old, some of it comes straight from the stonemasons who built medieval Europe, and a few words have even slipped into everyday English. If you have heard a Mason mention a stated meeting, a Tyler, or being raised and wondered what he meant, you are in the right place.
Everything on this page is public knowledge. The private parts of the Craft stay where they belong, inside the lodge. Jump to any section below.
How a Lodge Works
The Lodge and Its Life
Blue Lodge
The local lodge that confers the first three degrees. Every Mason starts here. It is also called a Craft or Symbolic Lodge.
Charter
The document from a Grand Lodge that authorizes a lodge to meet and do its work.
Stated Meeting
The regular business meeting, held on a fixed date. Gray Lodge holds its stated meeting on the first Wednesday of each month.
Called Meeting
A special meeting called by the Worshipful Master, usually to confer a degree.
Petition
The written application a man submits when he asks to join a lodge.
Ballot
The secret vote a lodge takes on every petition.
Tiled
A meeting is tiled when the Tyler guards the door, so that only Masons are present.
In Good Standing
A Mason whose dues are paid and who is not under any discipline.
Dues Card
The card issued each year showing that a Mason’s membership is current.
Mother Lodge
The lodge where a Mason was raised to the degree of Master Mason.
Table Lodge
A formal dinner with toasts, held by the lodge for fellowship.
Grand Lodge
The governing body with authority over the lodges in its jurisdiction. Gray Lodge is chartered under the Grand Lodge of Texas.
Grand Master
The elected head of a Grand Lodge. In Texas, the Grand Master serves a one-year term.
District Deputy Grand Master
The Grand Master’s representative to a district of lodges.
From Petition to Master Mason
A Mason's Journey
Candidate
A man who has been elected by the lodge and is receiving the degrees.
Entered Apprentice
The first degree of Masonry. A man who receives it is said to be initiated.
Fellow Craft
The second degree. A man who receives it is said to be passed.
Master Mason
The third degree, which makes a man a full member of the fraternity. A man who receives it is said to be raised.
Brother
How Masons address and refer to one another.
Lodge Instructor
The brother who helps new Masons learn their work and advance through the degrees.
Operative Mason
A working stonemason. The medieval builders’ lodges are where the Craft began.
Speculative Mason
Freemasonry as practiced today, using the stonemason’s tools and trade as lessons in character.
Did you know?
A Master Mason in good standing may visit lodges across the country and around the world, wherever his Grand Lodge recognizes the lodge he is visiting. It is one of the great privileges of membership.
Who Does What
The Officers of a Lodge
Meet the men who fill these chairs today on our Gray Lodge Officers page, and the men who led before them on Past Masters of Gray Lodge.
Worshipful Master
The presiding officer of a lodge, elected for a one-year term. “Worshipful” is an old English title of respect, like “Your Worship” for a mayor. It has nothing to do with worship.
Sitting in the East
Serving as Worshipful Master, whose chair is in the East of the lodge room.
Senior Warden
The officer second in line to the Worshipful Master.
Junior Warden
The officer third in line to the Worshipful Master.
Treasurer
Receives and pays out the lodge’s money.
Secretary
Keeps the lodge’s records, minutes, and correspondence.
Senior and Junior Deacons
The lodge’s messengers, who also guide candidates.
Stewards
Assist the Deacons and see to the lodge’s refreshments.
Chaplain
Leads the lodge in prayer.
Marshal
Organizes processions and ceremonies.
Tyler
Guards the door from outside the lodge room, sword in hand.
Past Master
A brother who has completed a term as Worshipful Master.
Installation
The ceremony that seats a lodge’s new officers each year. Some installations are open to family and friends.
Heard It Before?
Everyday Phrases With Masonic Roots
A few Masonic expressions escaped the lodge long ago and settled into ordinary English.
On the Level
Honest and fair. Masons meet on the level, as equals, whatever their rank in the outside world.
On the Square
Straightforward and honest in dealing with others.
Blackballed
Rejected. The word comes from the black cube or ball cast against a petition in a lodge ballot.
The Third Degree
Tough, relentless questioning. Many say it comes from the Master Mason degree, but historians disagree about where the phrase really started.
Look Closely
Symbols You Will See
Walk past a Masonic building or a Mason’s ring and you will likely spot one of these.
Square and Compasses
The best-known emblem of Freemasonry, recognized around the world.
The Letter G
Often seen inside the square and compasses. It is commonly said to stand for God and for Geometry.
Apron
The white apron every Mason wears in lodge, the traditional badge of the fraternity.
Trowel
A mason’s tool for spreading mortar, and a fitting symbol for the bonds that hold brothers together.
Rough and Perfect Ashlar
A rough, unfinished stone beside a smooth, finished one: a picture of a man’s work to improve himself.
All-Seeing Eye
A symbol of God’s watchful care. The same image appears on the back of the dollar bill, though that design was not a Masonic one.
Point Within a Circle
An ancient symbol, a dot inside a circle, that appears on Gray Lodge’s own Gray Honor medal.
Beehive
A symbol of industry, and of many hands working together.
Our Heritage
History and Heritage
Regius Poem
Written in England around 1390, it is the oldest known Masonic document.
Antients and Moderns
Two rival Grand Lodges in 1700s England, which united in 1813. The red on Gray Lodge’s Gray Honor medal honors the Antient line.
A.F. & A.M.
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the form used in Gray Lodge’s own name.
Lewis
The son of a Mason. It is also the name of a stonemason’s device for lifting heavy stones.
Holland Lodge No. 1
The oldest lodge in Texas, formed in 1835 and chartered by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana.
Anson Jones
The first Grand Master of Texas, and later the fourth and final President of the Republic of Texas.
Did you know?
Gray Lodge No. 329 has been meeting in Houston since 1870, making it the second-oldest lodge in the city.
Recognizing Service
Honors and Awards
Golden Trowel Award
An award a lodge presents, with the approval of the Grand Lodge of Texas, to honor a brother’s service.
Gray Honor
Gray Lodge’s own honor for the brother who went above and beyond: our Mason of the Year.
Vanguard Award
Earned by a lodge as a whole, by meeting a set of requirements over the Masonic year.
50-Year Award
The Grand Lodge’s recognition of a brother’s fifty years of membership.
The Wider Masonic Family
Appendant Bodies
Appendant Bodies
Organizations open to Masons, and in some cases their families, beyond the Blue Lodge.
Scottish Rite
Confers the 4th through 32nd degrees, with the 33rd degree given as an honor.
York Rite
A series of bodies that includes the Royal Arch, Cryptic Masons, and Knights Templar.
Shriners
Best known for Shriners Children’s hospitals. Membership is open only to Master Masons.
Order of the Eastern Star
Open to Master Masons and their female relatives. Our friends at Bluebell Chapter No. 856 are one example.
DeMolay
An organization for young men ages 12 to 21.
Rainbow Girls and Job’s Daughters
Organizations for young women.
Want to Know More About Freemasonry?
Now that you know the words, find out what the fraternity is about and how a man becomes a Mason.