Modern Second-Degree Masonic Tracing Board. 2007
Digital illustration
Gregory B. Stewart
From its original context, this digital illustration represents the process of becoming a Fellow of the Craft in Freemasonry.
As it was included in the book, Fellow of the Craft, part of the text that accompanies the work reads:
In this image, you will notice several key aspects of the degree. We must interpret the image and the degree overall so as to contemplate it more as a sum total equation and see it as a reflection on our own personal journey of the Great Work.
Between the pillars of Boaz and Jachin on the left and right, bordered by the waters of primordial chaos and the canopy of heaven, we begin our inward journey of perfection. This journey is an eternal one and concluded only in reaching and understanding the divine through a faith practice or in the perfection of our being through the contemplative tradition we ascribe.
As this is only the second step in the journey, it is one its recipients should spend many years perfecting and renewing so as to reach a level of enlightenment and joy which comes at the end of a life well spent.
Also see The Lighthouse.