Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & LibraryObjects
1900-1910
Maker not marked
USA
Wood, paint, metal
closed: 75"h x 72"w x 9"d; open: 67"h x 72"w x 36"d
Museum Purchase
94.029
Masonic Mystic Ladder; black painted folding ladder with silver steps on each side; each step and side rails inscribed with painted white lettering in English and Hebrew alluding to the seven liberal arts and sciences of the ancients: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy; side rails inscribed "OHEB KEROBO/ OHEB ELOAH"; steps inscribed in Hebrew of the seven arts "BINAH THEBUNAH/ SABBAL/ AMAL SAGGHI/ E MUNAH/ MATHOC/ SHOR LABAN/ TSEDAKEH"; metal chain on either side.
Scottish Rite Freemasons once used this ladder in their ritual degree work of the 30th Degree, or Knight of Kadosh. Words on one side’s rungs called out the seven liberal arts and sciences. The other rungs, marked with transliterations of Hebrew, reminded viewers of virtues such as understanding, faith, purity and charity. Writing on the sides represents love of God and love of your neighbor. Together, these messages and the upward-pointing shape of the ladder reminded the candidate of how he could learn and grow as a Mason. For further information, read blog post, May 3, 2016 http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2016/05/the-mysterious-ladder.html