Question:
Should the letter G be 'readable' from the East or West?
Answer:
I hold that in those Lodges where the G is displayed it should be one of the most prominent items viewed on entering the Lodge, and it should therefore be readable from the West.
The oldest references to its position all suggest that it was 'in the centre'. In the early 1700s it was usually on the floor in the middle of a Tracing Board, either drawn in chalk or laid out in templates. In such cases it would certainly have been laid on the floor so as to be readable from the West.
It is perhaps necessary to add that there is no uniformity of practice in relation to the use of the G, or the 'Blazing Star' (with or without the G at its centre), which has the same significance. Many Temples do not have it at all. In the English Provinces it usually hangs from the ceiling in the centre of the Lodge, arranged so as to be read from the West. In many U.S.A. jurisdictions and quite often in England, it is displayed in the East, over the Master's Chair. That is perhaps the surest guide as to how it should be placed, because, in that position, it can only be read from the West.
Nevertheless, there are some European jurisdictions in which the G appears high up on the western wall of the Lodge.
[from Freemasons at Work, Harry Carr]
- Norm Leeper, PM
