The image on 2024 Master’s medal will be a representation of the Winding Stairs, along with the two Pillars that stood at the porch of King Soloman’s Temple represented at the bottom of the stairs and the Sun representing Masonic light and enlightenment at the top of the stairs. The Masonic Winding Stairs is a central symbol in Freemasonry’s second degree of Fellow Craft Mason’s Degree. It refers to the allegorical ascent or growth of the candidate from youth into adulthood and where his intellectual education begins. Completing the Fellow Craft Mason’s Degree and becoming an expert craftsman, or a Master Mason, requires ascending the Winding Stairs. To reach the stairs, a candidate must first pass through the Porch and between the pillars of Boaz (Strength) and Jachin (Establishment). He must leave behind the irrationality and ignorance of youth and become a learned man.
As such, the Winding Stairs is a symbol of discipline and instruction, representing how a man must begin his Masonic labor of self-improvement and search for truth. The first three stairs of the Winding Stairs usually have the jewels of the three main lodge officers – the Level, the Plumb and the Square. The next five steps represent the five senses of Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling and Tasting. These five steps also have a pillar on each step representing the five branches of Architecture – the Tuscan, the Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian, and the Composite. And the final seven steps represent the seven liberal arts – Grammer, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy.
The sun at the top of the Winding Stairs represents the Masonic light, enlightenment and truth.
At the bottom of the image will be the lettering “Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya”. This is an English transliteration of a Sanskrit phrase, and it literally means “Lead me from darkness to light” and this again is symbolic of the overall theme of seeking the light of knowledge and truth in Freemasonry.
The ribbon will be Orange in color representing the Sun.
