What is the significance of the hourglass and the scythe?

The hourglass and the scythe serve as symbols of mortality and the passage of time within the Third Degree 1. Drawing on modern iconography in which Time is allegorized as an old man carrying an hourglass and a scythe, the scythe is adopted as an emblem of time's destructive quality, cutting the brittle thread of life and reaping its harvest among humanity 1.

According to Skirret, the hourglass represents human life, symbolizing the swift passage of time and the imperceptible yet rapid exhaustion of man's mortal span. Skirret also explains that the scythe represents the power of time to cut the thread of life and bring human labor to a close.

Ritual traditions vary by jurisdiction regarding these symbols. Skirret notes that in American Masonic ritual, the explanation of the hourglass and scythe as Third Degree emblems derives primarily from the system established by Thomas Smith Webb. By contrast, Skirret states that English practice does not regard the scythe as having any authorized typical Masonic meaning, nor is the hourglass treated as an essential or authorized emblem in its ritual.

The focus of the Third Degree centers on integrity, mortality, and the eternal nature of the soul, guiding candidates to face their own mortality while pointing to the immortality of the soul as a foundational principle 2.

According to Walter Leslie Wilmshurst, the emphasis on death in the ceremony is intended symbolically rather than literally 2. Physical death serves as an allegory for a deeper moral and spiritual transformation—a death to one's lower self, lower nature, and lingering worldly attachments 2. The ceremony mirrors the universal theme of the Fall of Man, representing humanity's temporary restriction in the material world and its journey to regain the lost spiritual light and genuine realities of its origin 2. Through the symbolic enactment of Hiram Abiff's fidelity and tragic end, the degree teaches complete self-sacrifice and integrity, demonstrating that temporal suffering and the obscurity of the grave are merely precursors to a spiritual rebirth and eventual reunion with the Supreme Being 2.

Modern Masonic teaching notes that emblems of mortality guide personal reflection on the fleeting nature of life and highlight the necessity of performing one's duties while alive. The degree presents the darkness of death as the forerunner of a more brilliant light, encouraging candidates to contemplate how the soul's immortality should govern their daily decisions and moral conduct.

Masonic Orders beyond the Craft build upon the Third Degree's allegorical depiction of death by extending the candidate's spiritual journey into subsequent stages of renewal and illumination.

In the Royal Arch, the candidate enters a supreme degree after having attained Master Mason rank and undergone the discipline of the earlier degrees 2. While the Craft's Third Degree dramatizes a mystical death and subsequent raising, the Royal Arch exhibits the attainment of a new order of life altogether 2. Rather than focusing on the gross corporeal nature and temporal mentality addressed in the preliminary grades, the Royal Arch engages the higher reaches of human consciousness and spiritual understanding 2.

As the Grand Lodge of India states, the symbolic treatment of mortality in the Third Degree refers to a death-in-life to one's lower self, where a candidate symbolically rejects a corruptible body to be raised in an incorruptible body. In the Royal Arch, this allegorical progression moves past the immediate contemplation of physical mortality to focus on the disciplined imagination and spiritual docility required to attain concealed wisdom 2.