That part of the third degree ceremony concerning the traditional history and the trusty fellowcrafts who were sent to search for HA explains the circumstances as to how they discovered him very indecently intered and the action they adopted thereafter to distinguish the spot by sticking a sprig of acacia at the head of the grave. Any reasonable minded person would seriously query the sensibility of such a futile guesture where sprigs of acacia were probably blown around in the desert winds willy nilly. I think that we have another little mystery here and I am fairly convinced that our version of the story is due to the misinterpertation of the word acacia.In my opinion the correct word would have been "ASCIA" In ancient Egypt a masons trowel was called an "ascia" In Hiramns day the society of articifers to which he beloneg had it's own lodges, symbols and passwords. One evident symbol was the ascia, an emblem used by the Pythagoreans and Essenes. It is also found in the catacombs of Rome, where portrayals of masonic initiation were painted in the tombs of the persecuted Innocenti. The shape of the trowel is representitive of the joined square and compasse. What more fitting way to mark a designated spot for the master builder?
