What is square

The square is the premier working tool of the stone worker and one of the oldest symbols in Freemasonry, representing morality, truth, and honorable dealing 12. As an instrument of operative masonry used to prove whether stones are cut at a ninety-degree right angle to fit a structure, it serves symbolically as the try square of conscience by which a Mason is to prove and regulate his actions 1.

In the lodge, the square forms part of the Furniture alongside the Holy Bible and Compasses, appearing on the altar and as the immovable jewel of the Worshipful Master 12. Immovably stationed in the Symbolic East, it signifies that all Masonic instruction emanating from the Master must be true and square 1. The emblem also manifests in several distinct contexts within Craft Masonry, including the shape of the lodge room as an oblong square, the practice of turning corners on the square during circumambulation, and the phrase "part upon the square," which directs brethren leaving the lodge to maintain upright conduct 12.

From the earliest recorded catechisms of the eighteenth century, the square was listed alongside Divine Providence as an indispensable governing principle of a lodge 2. Its identification as a moral symbol extends into antiquity, appearing with identical significance in ancient Chinese texts such as the Great Learning centuries before the Christian era 12. Furthermore, the properties of the square form a central component of the Forty-Seventh Proposition of Euclid, a foundational geometric emblem within the Craft 23.