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The Cable Tow
as compiled by: W.Bro. Iain Donald

The first is by the G. L. of Minnesota's Education Officer Bro. Ed Halpaus published 2006. The second is by Bro. Don Rothery of the G. L. of Saskachewan it was published in 1986. The third collection was compiled from many sources by Bro. Jim Campbell, Ymir Lodge #31 AF&AM GL BC & Yukon.

All these articles are about a simple piece of rope, it's outwardly symbolic meaning changes from ritual to ritual, but the more you come to understand the deeper symbolism of the Cable Tow the more all the other explanations and the next statement by Bro. Ed Halpaus make sense.

Fraternally

Iain
JWRBAdmin

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“A Cable Tow is the strongest cord in the world – it will stretch indefinitely!” With “Brotherly Love,”
Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer G. L. Minnesota

Symbols may be divided into two classes; natural and artificial. A natural symbol is one in which the nature of a thing conveys an idea and is independent of any other language. Artificial refers to a symbol which has had arbitrary meanings assigned to it, usually by mutual agreement.[i]

Examples of the artificial and natural symbols might be illustrated by the alphabet and the words formed by the letters as being in the artificial category. Examples of natural symbols would be the Oak as a symbol of strength, the Lion for courage, White for purity, Blue for fidelity and the Sun for knowledge. The word Cable Tow has both elements, and in Masonry it has many meanings when it comes to symbolism.

Every Freemason learned about the word Cable Tow when he came to his Lodge on the date that his First Degree was conducted: The word, many times, is explained as coming from archaic language, which means a rope; to tow or draw along, or as Brother Pike said, it came from the German word ‘knabel-to’ meaning an Anchor Rope. Possibly you were like me, when you came to Lodge for your first Degree; I was so eager to learn the lessons Freemasonry had to pass on to the men who became Masons, I tried my best to listen and learn and to make mental notes of things I didn’t understand, so I could ask my sponsor.

Since that very first and short period in the Preparation Room, the things I have experienced in Freemasonry have far exceeded any wild dreams I could have had when I first entered the Lodge Room. But the fact is I didn’t have any dreams about Freemasonry then; except to get through the degree, and to learn the lessons of Freemasonry. Fortunately I had a sponsor and a coach who also was a real mentor; one who set me on the path to learn about Freemasonry.

I was once in a Lodge where they couldn’t locate the Cable Tow in the Preparation Room, and someone suggested to just use a rope, and with that suggestion one of the Brethren was almost ready to head for his pick-up to get a piece of rope. However, as luck would have it a diligent member who wouldn’t accept that the cable tow was lost found it, so the candidate was properly attired.

It was important that the proper item was found because a Cable Tow is not just any rope; it is special in that it is composed of three strands. In Ecclesiastes 4:12 the last sentence says: “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Part of the symbolism and lesson from Ecclesiastes 4:12 is that “We are not here on earth to serve ourselves, however, but to serve God and others.”[ii]

The symbolism of the cable tow in Freemasonry is interesting to say the least. When we look at and for the symbolism of the Cable Tow we will notice that it must be a three stranded rope, and that it must be fastened in three different places as a Mason progresses in his degrees. The Symbolism about why it is fastened in three locations is explained the lecture of each of the degrees, but not why it must be of three strands.

One part of the symbolism is said to be a means of controlling the movement of a candidate, but it is also symbolic of a covenant by which a Mason is tied to other Masons and to the fraternity.

We may also say in Freemasonry that the three strands of the Cable Tow are symbolic of:
1. The chains of vice, which bind us to our lower natures.
2. The forces of Law, which keep us from yielding to our selfish passions.
3. Our Masonic Obligation, which we voluntarily enter into in our degrees.[iii]

Finally, for now, as the Cable Tow is loosed at the initiation into each degree of the Blue Lodge, the Cable Tow is symbolic of the invisible cord that binds the spirit to the body until it is loosed by death, or by initiation into the next and higher plane of life.[iv]

“We are symbols and inhabit symbols.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, sed magis amica veratas = [Latin] = Plato is a friend, Socrates is a friend, but truth is more a friend.

From the Great Light of Masonry: “Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.” Isaiah 8:18 NI

[i] Masonic Concordance of the Holy Bible
[ii] Tyndale’s Life Application Study Bible NIV
[iii] Masonic Concordance of the Holy Bible
[iv] The Lost key - Tucker

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CABLE-TOW - WHAT IT MEANS TO ME

By Bro. Don Rothery;
Published in THE TRACING BOARD;
GRS; July/Aug. 1986.
Consider the Scriptures and the Prophet Isaiah passages of his prognostications are allotted for the seasons of Advent, Easter and Whit-Sunday - that day of Pentecost; these passages were all thought out hundreds of years before they happened with the birth and life of Jesus. Thus the cable-tow of the prophet Isaiah included the capability for foresight or prophecy. Jesus was quite a story teller. He immortalized the "Good Samaritan" who was just a modest traveler, but one who showed compassion and undertook to help a man who was in distress. Those other travelers had not really thought out the situation. Our Lord was not a racist, nor did He attach himself to any particular stratum of society. he did uphold the traveler who spontaneously showed Relief and Brotherly Love. That shows us how His cable-tow ran.

There is a lot of other stories in the Volume of the Sacred Law. Think about the Prodigal Son. There are still lots of them running around today. No doubt we write some of them off as being spoiled rotten, others are being underprivileged. But what about that older son who was raised under the very same influences and background, but who remained the solid, steady worker. Of course we realize the heartache and despondence of the father who had such a paternal affection for both his sons. Our Lord also recognized this and remarked about it. But remember that this father forgave his errant son and celebrated with Thanksgiving and feasting. Each of these has shown different 'cable-tow' qualities. Is this really an insight into how this abstract noun, 'cable-tow' actually runs?

These three very different attitudes, lifestyles and approaches lead to varying ends. It is true that very different attributes can be accorded to each person in the parable. But is there not some basis for considering my thesis that cable-tows are different? If we accept this, we find that it is easier to fit ourselves into useful, pleasant and productive lives according to our own cable-tow. We will find it easier to pass through life in peace and harmony with our associates, and in our Craft.

I have not come across any other author or speaker who has dealt with this topic, and so I wonder if I am way off track. Are there inaccuracies? I realize how hard it is to come to grips with an abstract term, especially as most speakers or authors attempt to precisely define an abstract term. Please talk and think about my thesis and let me know. It bothers me that no other scholars or writers that I have found have treated this subject as I have done. Why is this?

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Following were compiled by:
Bro. Jim Campbell
Ymir Lodge #31 AF&AM GL BC & Yukon.

Excerpt from "Born In Blood - The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry"
by John J. Robinson, M. Evans and Company, N.Y. (pp 227)

Cable-tow:

The term cable-tow seemed to hold no French connection, since it is made up of two good English words, but there was the annoying fact that in its English meanings it makes no sense as applied to Masonic ritual. In English, a cable is a heavy rope or hawser at least ten inches in diameter. As a unit of British measure, a cable is a distance of 100 fathoms or 600 feet. But turning to medieval French, we found a completely different meaning. The French word cable (pronounced KAH-bluh) came directly into that language from the Latin word capulum. The meaning in both Latin and French is "halter" precisely the use in Masonic ritual as the candidate is led through the ceremonies by means of a rope wrapped around part of his body as a halter, and which lengthens to a lead line, together comprising the Masonic "cable-tow". What apparently happened is that the term was used for the massive ropes required to tie down, or "halter' a ship, and the original animal meaning was eventually lost to the nautical.

THE CABLE-TOW
by Bro. John Alexander

. I have been taught that, if you want to examine any subject in detail, it's always best to start with a definition. In the case of the Cable-tow, that's a bit difficult. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a number of 'special combinations' with the word "cable," for example: "cable-rope;" "cable-stock;" "cable-range;" and several others, but it doesn't mention "cable-tow." In fact, the term is not known outside of Freemasonry. So, what, actually, is a Cable-tow?

The Ashley Encyclopedia of Knots describes a cable as "three plain or hawser laid ropes, laid up together left-handed." When you look at a piece of rope, the individual strands spiral to the right. This kind of rope is called a "hawser" and a cable is three of them twisted so that they spiral to the left. A rope like this is rarely less than 10 inches in circumference and, usually, is more. It's most often used for moving heavy objects, for example, a ship. From such uses, it became a "towing rope" which became shortened, colloquially, to a "tow." Moving the massive blocks used in the construction of ancient buildings and monuments would have called for ropes as big as a tow and there can be no doubt that our ancient operative brethren were familiar with them. However, the rope which we know as a Cable-tow is not nearly as heavy.

Further, the earliest allusion to a rope as a piece of equipment used in the preparation of a Masonic candidate is in a document dated to about 1710 - well within the "speculative" era. Even then, it was not described as a "Cable-tow" for another fifty years, or so.

All this suggests to me that the expression was introduced to Freemasonry's vocabulary by the Speculative Masons as they gradually but steadily clothed the Speculative Science with the symbols and terminology of the stone-cutters. This is not to say that the Speculatives invented the idea. On the contrary, the halter, in the preparation of initiatives, and as a token of submission, has a history that goes back almost as far as records have been kept.

ANCIENT USE IN THE PREPARATION OF INITIATIVES A vase found in Chama, in Mexico, shows a group of candidates going through a ceremony not unlike a Masonic degree. One candidate is being taught a sign. The others all have halters with a running noose around their necks.

On the other side of the ancient world, the Druids, the Greeks and the Brahmins all put a halter round an initiate's neck in their religious ceremonies.

In the Brahminical ceremonies, it was the emblem of Yama, the god of death. He used it to snare men's souls and drag them out of their bodies. Shiva, the second aspect of the Hindu trinity, carries it to symbolize his power to destroy human life.

Thirty centuries ago, the votaries of Zoroaster believed that everyone has a noose around his neck. At death, it fell from the righteous but dragged the wicked down to Hell. Part of the preparation in the Ancient Mysteries of Egypt was placing of a chain or rope around the candidate's neck. This was said to signify his belief in God's service. That he was also blindfolded made of the halter a symbol that he was being led from darkness (the "darkness" of ignorance) to light (the "light" of knowledge of the One True and Living God).

A TOKEN OF SUBMISSION Bro. Bernard Shillman points out that it was customary among the ancient Semitic races for captives, bondmen and other menials to wear a halter as a token of submission to their masters. In 1 Kings chap. 20, verses 31-32, we read that after Ben-hadad, King of Syria was defeated by the army of Ahab, King of Israel, his servants came, dressed in sack-cloth and with "ropes on their heads" to plead with Ahab for their master's life. Ahab spared Ben-hadad because of their voluntary action and their pleas for mercy. This symbol of submission is so powerful that it lasted for more than 2000 years - right up to medieval times. The burgheses - the city council - of Calais, dressed in their shirts, with halters about their necks, presented the keys of their conquered city to Edward III, who, influenced by the pleading of his queen, Philippa, spared their lives. On May 1st, 1517 ("Evil May Day") there was a riot in London. The ringleaders were arrested and tried, in Parliament, before King Henry VIII and his chief justice, Cardinal Wolsey. They appeared in their shirts with ropes about their necks and "set up such a piteous cry for mercy that the King pronounced them pardoned." A diarist in the middle of the seventeenth century, records that the city magistrates of Ghent (in modern Belgium) paraded annually to the statue of the Emperor Charles V, in the market-place, with ropes about their necks as a token of submission and penance for an old rebellion.

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THE CABLE-TOW IN FREEMASONRY

The halter's first appearance in Freemasonry is in a document known as the DUMFRIES No. 4 MANUSCRIPT which dates to about 1710, Scotland. The reference is in two questions in the catechism:
Q: Hou were you brought in
A: Shamefully with a rope about my neck
Q: Why a rope about your neck
A: To hang me if I should Betray my trust

We may note, in passing, that the penalty for improper disclosure at the dawn of the Grand Lodge era was quite different from ours. But, in terms of our subject of interest, if the Fraternity could assume the right to hang a man for improper disclosure, if it were able to take a member's life, it could only do so - then, as now - if the member gave that right! And so, the Cable-tow still retained its symbolism as a token of submission. As far as I am aware, the Cable-tow is part of the preparation of every Freemason in the world and in every ritual it carries a connotation of submission, of humility, of servitude.

In the first degree of the Ancient York Rite, it is the means of removing from the lodge, an initiate who, by refusing to conform to our customs and ceremonies, has rendered himself "untouchable." (c.f. the "menial" of the ancient Semites).

In the Canadian Rite, however, it speaks of restraint (? captivity) and even threatens life. This theme of restraint and danger is echoed in the rituals of the British Lodges, for example: 1. The ritual of Lodge St. Andrew No. 524 (Grand Lodge of Scotland) "B h d y'u stds a bro. o' this hldg the en' of a ct wh'ch i' arnd y'r nk 3 x (Note that for later) i 'n a rnng nse. H'd y'u attempted t'o retre fro'th ll w'o't th' prmssn o' th' Rt Wrshpfl Mstr, th' bro. wld hvl std frm t'o h's task an' y'u wld hv' met yr dth b'y strgltn."

2. Ritual of Lodge Motherwell Caledonian No 1228 (Grand Lodge of Scotland)
"Thr i' .... a r'pe y'r rnd nck...whc' w's a' an' mmnt rdy 2 t'k yr lf'."

3. The Emulation Ritual (English Constitution). This wording is virtually identical with the Canadian Rite.

SYMBOLISM OF THE CABLE-TOW

The rituals of the modern lodges all show a practical use for the halter: to lead an "untouchable" failure out of the Lodge or to restrain an impetuous candidate - to kill him, even, if he resists. Even in the early ritual document cited earlier, it was the practical means of carrying out the penalty of the obligation. However, none of these uses resembles the purpose of the item of builders' equipment which gave its name to Freemasonry's halter. And this very disparity should lead us to suspect that Freemasonry's Cable-tow has a symbolic, rather than a practical, meaning - that and our own knowledge that the Gentle Craft excels, as no other organization, in loading the most ordinary objects with esoteric meaning. I asked you earlier to note a point - the number of times the Cable-tow was wrapped around a certain part of the body.

In the Fellowcraft and Master Mason's examinations of the Ancient York Rite, the answers to the Cable-tow questions are definitely symbolic. The Cable-tow and the number of times it is wrapped are said to indicate the increase in responsibility and commitment with Masonic progress.

In the British Lodges, the progression is reversed beginning with the greatest number of turns and decreasing with each degree. The rationale for this is that with Masonic progress, the Mystic Tie becomes stronger and so, the need for physical restraint becomes less.

While we're in the higher degrees, it's here that the young mason learns that the Cable-tow is more than a rope. At the same time it's also a measurement!

A measurement???
Yes, exactly. ".....to answer and obey etc. ..... if within the length of my Cable-tow.
What on earth is the length of a Cable-tow? This concept is a modern survival of one of the oldest Operative regulations which obliged the stonecutters to attend the annual "Assemblies" except when sick or "in peril of death." No Cable-tow was mentioned then, of course, but from this requirement grew the expectation that every brother would attend his lodge if he was within three miles of the meeting place. Presumably this was as far as he could be expected to walk, but the several copies of the Old Charges in existence differ wildly on this distance and variations between three and fifty miles are not uncommon!

Nowadays it is accepted that this obligation is simply a promise to attend if within one's ability and no specific distance is involved. But - here is a meaning within a meaning - the length of my Cable-tow can be regarded as a symbol of the binding covenant I have made. And part of this covenant is a pledge to assist others. In this respect, the length of my Cable-tow depends on my ability - and willingness - to fulfill my obligations and I must decide that length for myself.

Measurement of service can never be subject to any externally imposed limitation for who else can decide the length of my spiritual ties? How long is my Cable-tow? It's as long as I want it to be! All this notwithstanding, the Cable-tow makes its greatest impact on the mind of an initiate - in the first degree, which we can regard as the degree of Masonic birth. And the idea of birth is appropriate to my last symbol, the most beautiful one I found in this study.

In his "Introduction to Freemasonry." Carl H. Claudy likens the Cable-tow to "the life cord by which the embryo receives life from the mother." In the first degree the Cable-tow is removed as soon as the obligation is assumed (Masonic birth) just as the physical cord is cut as soon as the baby is born. But just as the knife was never made which can sever the spiritual bond between a man and his mother, neither is there any known power which can sever the spiritual bond between a brother and the Gentle Craft. When the umbilical cord is cut, it is replaced by the love and care of mother and family. In the same way, the Cable-tow is replaced by the Mystic Tie of Brotherly Love, the Mystic Tie which keeps Masonry a house undivided, that Mystic Tie which bonds the Craftsmen together. No power on earth can break that world-encircling bond of Brotherhood.

4. BIBLIOGRAPHY THE ASHLEY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF KNOTS, Ashley, Clifford W., Doubleday & Co.
5. THE CRAFT AND ITS SYMBOLS, Roberts, Allan E., Macoy Masonic Publishing & Supply Co.
6. 3-5-7 MINUTE TALKS ON FREEMASONRY, Bede, Elbert, Macoy
7. MASONIC PROBLEMS AND QUERIES, Inman, H.F., A. Lewis
8. THE E.A.s HANDBOOK, Ward, J.S.M., A. Lewis
9. THE FREEMASON AT WORK, Carr, Harry, A. Lewis
10. THE FREEMASON'S GUIDE AND COMPENDIUM, Jones, Bernard E., Harrap
11. SYMBOLIC FREEMASONRY - WHAT IS IT, WHENCE ITS ORIGIN AND WHAT OF ITS PURPOSE?, Hawes, F.G.,

British Masonic Miscellany, Vol. 3.

First penned this explanation about eight years ago in response to an article of Harry Carr's, in which he stated that the word cabletow was unique to speculative Masonry and had no meaning outside it, nautical or otherwise. I had found this to be quite incorrect, since the word appears in both Middle and Old English. The derivation is from the word "taw" or "tau," which originally meant a tuft of cotton or wool. When you wind or twist a tuft, you get twine (taw-wind). When several strands of twisted taw are twisted together, you call that cabling. The resulting rope is then, "cabled taw" or "cabled tow."

This was the common English word for rope in the Middle Ages, and its inclusion in our ritual is an indication of the age of these forms, if not the age of the organization itself. The common nautical explanation about the length of a 19th c. ship's towing cable has been shown to be completely spurious, especially since the term long predates the use of specialized cables for towing on ships.

We have period art work depicting workmen at building sites carrying their loops of cabled tow over their shoulders and using them to lift tools and construction materials, sometimes using them with a pulley, inclined plane, or other mechanical advantage device, such as the Lewis. Thus, it is reasonable that the length of a cable-tow indeed carried a connotation of what could be expected of the workman carrying it, which is exactly the symbolic meaning given in our ritual. I sent a draft of this explanation with some of the other materials I've posted.

The Cable Tow

The Cable Tow is explained as follows:

"I drew them with the cords of a man, with bonds of love." Hosea, xi 4.

The Cable Tow is thus a symbol of the cord of bond of Love, which should unite the whole fraternity. Its length or the length of your Cable Tow is the sacrifice you are willing to make on behalf of your brethren. It is in your heart, not to be measured by miles. It is not gauged by distances, but by deed. It doesn't pertain to any religion. It should correspond to the immensity of the monitorial lodge, and to do so should span the universe, touching wherever there is sorrow or distress.