What a Masonic Ring Means: Symbolism, and How It Is Worn

A Masonic ring signifies membership in the fraternity and the wearer’s commitment to its principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth. The square and compasses set into most rings is the same emblem found throughout the lodge: the square stands for honest dealing, the compasses for keeping one’s desires within due bounds, and the letter G at the center, where it appears, for both geometry and God. The fuller meaning of that emblem is set out in our guide to the square and compasses, one of the family of Masonic symbols a member learns degree by degree.

The ring is not given to a man during any of the degrees. Many Masons receive one from a father or grandfather on being raised to the degree of Master Mason, which gives it a personal weight alongside its fraternal meaning. Worn day to day, it serves the same purpose as the emblem on the lodge wall: a plain reminder, carried out into ordinary life, of the standard a Mason has bound himself to keep.

There is no official rule for how a Masonic ring is worn. Grand lodges have made no regulation on the matter, and the choice is left to personal preference and local custom. The long-running question is whether the points of the compasses should face toward the wearer or outward, and Masons hold to both practices with equal conviction.

Worn with the points toward the wearer, the ring is a reminder to the Mason himself of the obligations he has taken, turned inward like the lessons it represents. Worn with the points outward, it follows the custom by which a Past Master, having served as Master of his lodge, turns the emblem to face the world as a reminder to others of their duties. The outward setting also preserves an older, practical habit: a signet ring pressed into warm wax to seal a document left the emblem reading correctly only when the points faced out. Both readings are honored, and many a Brother simply wears his ring the way that feels right to him.

The same freedom extends to which finger bears the ring. It is most commonly worn on the ring finger of the right hand, though some wear it on another finger or hand, and no jurisdiction fixes the practice.

By custom, a Master Mason who has been raised through the three degrees of the Craft is entitled to wear the square and compasses. The ring is a quiet credential, read at a glance by other Masons, and the same custom holds across mainstream and Prince Hall lodges alike.

A son or relative may inherit a Mason’s ring, and many are treasured as heirlooms, but the same tradition holds that he should not wear it as a Mason unless he has earned that standing himself. No law forbids a non-Mason from wearing a Masonic ring, but wearing one to present oneself as a member is considered a misrepresentation and is discouraged. A man drawn to the emblem is better served by seeking it honestly, which our guide to how to become a Freemason describes.

Beyond the familiar Blue Lodge ring, the appendant bodies of Freemasonry each carry their own design, so that a ring often tells other Masons not only that a man belongs but how far he has traveled in the Craft.

The Blue Lodge ring bears the square and compasses and stands for the first three degrees, the foundation every Mason shares. The Past Master ring marks a Brother who has served as Master of his lodge; in its usual American form it shows a pair of compasses opened upon a quadrant, with a blazing sun at the center. The Scottish Rite ring carries the double-headed eagle of the 4th through 33rd degrees, worn in its standard form with the wings pointing downward; the 32nd degree bears the motto rendered in English as My hope is in God, and the 14th-degree ring is a plain band set with a triangle enclosing the Hebrew letter Yod. The York Rite ring draws on that rite’s three orders, most often joining the triple tau of the Royal Arch with the cross and crown of the Knights Templar. The Shrine ring shows the scimitar and crescent. Stones often carry meaning of their own, with blue commonly chosen for the Blue Lodge and red for Royal Arch Masonry and the Shrine. Which symbols a Brother sets into his ring, and how he wears it, remain his own to decide.