Intergalactic Setting Maul

What makes this Intergalactic you may ask? What is the meaning of the hidden Heptagon? Why Holly wood? Where does the Black Stone fit into this? Read on and you may find out.

I had the pleasure of creating a Setting Maul for the incoming Master of Round Rock Lodge in Round Rock Texas. This process was different however in that previously I took my own liberties with the design and styling of the Maul. Peter had a general idea what he wanted which he dutifully sketched out in a post-it note. A short conversation later, I had a vision of how to bring it to a reality.

It became necessary that I, of course, take it a step further. I included a fairly wordy proclamation which details out the some of my interpretations of the major points of interest on the Maul with a couple of additions to his design. It is included below for you to read.

There are some far more historical and esoteric meanings behind the concepts and implementations of the design elements which I hope you will think about and research.

Lessons learned? Don’t try to put a fancy finish on Olive wood. You will go broke trying. Sand it, finish with Carnauba Wax, a nice buffing and you will be good to go! Olive wood holds an incredible amount of moisture. Give it a long time to dry out or it will check. This piece lost over 20 grams of water over a 2 week period. Wow!

Proclamation of Elucidation

Enjoy an indefatigable explication of the glorious mysteries embedded and imbued within, and surrounding, the illustrious and remarkable setting maul presented by Bro. Thomas D. McGuire to the newly installed Worshipful Master, Peter Alexander Artes, on July 7th 2014 of Round Rock Masonic Lodge No.227, Est. 1859.

For your consideration, the intrinsic genesis of this endeavor was inspired by the merger of polarities. It is an acute specimen of the maximal and unimportant, yet when wholly observed is neither, lest the latter. Its singular purpose is to demonstrate, by example, the manner in which its design reflects philosophical, physical adornments and lessons found within the entirety of Craft and Guild Masonry.

What follows is a summarization of the adornments and their significance. When discussing that which currently holds focus, it should be considered in a manner matching that which would be most commonly used in an operative orientation. That is to say, with the bell held closest to the celestial lodge above.

The maul was liberated from a single piece of Bethlehem ‘Olea europaea,’ commonly called Olive wood. A biblical hardwood used from antiquity to setup and adjust the movable. The international common standard for weights and measures confirms an unabbreviated weight of 731 grams, with a variation of ± 7 grams based on the relative humidity of any micro-climate in which the maul rests. In its proportion you will find the divine and golden ratio of 1.618 so universally put into use since time immemorial.

The pommel is adorned with a carven representation of the very prolific ‘Myosotis arvensis.’ Commonly called the Forget-Me-Not, and should remind that though you may be gone, you are not forgotten.

Adjoining it are three treads leading to a peacefully pastoral and sublimely tranquil grip, void of all adornments. Continuing the journey further, we come upon five treads. Passing through the guard we find a treasure trove of seven dexterously carven ‘Punica granatum,’ commonly called Pomegranate, it’s leaves, and an intangibly plentiful bounty of network and fruitful adornment not unlike those adorning the gardens of paradise.

The head like expansion of the maul, commonly called the bell, is smooth with an increasing circumference. It contains an imperceptibly accurate laser engraved chronology of all regular and recognized moments throughout the genealogical archive concerning the progenitors of the Artes paternal lineage. It sets forth the memory of the acts following the calamitous matter which befell our beloved Grand Master, H.A..

An inlaid golden blonde halo of ‘Ilex aquifolium,’ commonly called European Holly, circumscribes the limits of the bell. An alloy of copper and zinc serve as an in-frangible unyielding brass capstone which can only been seen on the skyward facing horizontal plane of the bell.

Contained there-under, within the head of the maul, is a singular example of the unknown. Located near the center-most equidistant point of the head, in a void of darkness, bourn from the undiscovered boundlessness of time, rests a 2.2 gram iron meteorite. And there is not heard the sound of it.

Thus, when taken as a whole, as we travel this course and passage, the entire corporeal narrative contains all that is above and below.

From the celestial to the terrestrial.