G. The use of the letter G in the Fellow Craft’s degree is an anachronism.  It is really a corruption of, or perhaps rather a substitution for, the Hebrew letter (yod), which is the initial of the ineffable name.  As such, it is a symbol of the life-giving and life-sustaining power of God.

G.A.O.T.U.  A masonic abbreviation used as a symbol of the name of God, and signifying the Grand Architect of the Universe.  It was adopted by the Freemasons in accordance with a similar practice among all the nations of antiquity of noting the Divine Name by a symbol.

GAVEL.  What is called in Masonry a common gavel is a stone-cutter’s hammer; it is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and is a symbol of the purification of the heart.

GLOVES.  On the continent of Europe they are given to candidates at the same time that they are invested with the apron; the same custom formerly prevailed in England; but although the investiture of the gloves is abandoned as a ceremony both there and in America, they are worn as a part of masonic clothing.

They are a symbol of purification of life.

In the middle ages gloves were worn by operative masons.

GOD, UNITY OF.  See Unity of God.

GOD, NAME OF.  See Name.

GOLGOTHA.  In Hebrew and Syriac it means a skull; a name of Mount Calvary, and so called, probably, because it was the place of public execution.  The Latin Calvaria, whence Mount Calvary, means also a skull.

GRAVE.  In the Master’s degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the pastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.

The symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the grave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.

GRIPS AND SIGNS.  They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of recognition.

H

HAND.  The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure actions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.

HARE.  Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of eyes that are open, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris.  The Hebrew word for hare is arnabet, and this is compounded of two words that signify to behold the light.  The connection of ideas is apparent.

HELLENISM.  The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who immediately succeeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country.  It was, in consequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined than the old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted.  Its myths were more philosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it succeeded.

HERMAE.  Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by which the Greeks at first represented all their deities.  They came in the progress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god Hermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who presided over landmarks.