From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe trestle-board is the builder's surface or pattern for designs.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe body-as-temple account speaks of rebuilding according to a plan.
- In this editionThe printed variants Trestle-board, Trestleboard, and Tressel-board are retained where they occur; the entry files them under the familiar explanatory form.
- A place to readM.72: … “the temple after the plan drawn upon the Tressel-board, by which it shall be like that” …
Meaning
The trestle-board is the builder's surface or pattern for designs. Spiritually, it is the guidance according to which a person works.
Use in the book
The body-as-temple account speaks of rebuilding according to a plan. The Book of the Law is then called the speculative Mason's spiritual trestle-board. The sacred book's role is to guide labor and conduct, rather than simply to furnish an object in a room.
Places to read
- Mystic Masonry · Block 72… “the temple after the plan drawn upon the Tressel-board, by which it shall be like that spiritual temple, not made with hands, plainly refers to initiation from which result perfect proportion” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 25… “Law is to the speculative Mason his spiritual Trestle-board; without this he cannot labour; whatever he believes to be the revealed will of the Grand Architect constitutes for him his Spiritual” …
In this edition
The printed variants Trestle-board, Trestleboard, and Tressel-board are retained where they occur; the entry files them under the familiar explanatory form.
Reading the argument
The image joins design with action. Possessing a pattern is different from carrying out the work, just as possessing a Word differs from understanding it. The analogy does not require all workers to adopt identical sectarian interpretations.
Trestle-board
“Trestle-board” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: S.25.
Trestleboard
“Trestleboard” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: S.25.
Tressel-board
“Tressel-board” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: M.72.