Yesterday, Jeremy and I took a walk down at the Ballard Locks. Technically, the name of the place is actually the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, but it’s in the neighborhood of Ballard. (Keep your eye on that name - ‘Hiram’ - as we move forward from here)

The locks are run by the US Army Corps of Engineers and allow vessels to pass from the freshwater of Lake Washington to the Salt Water of the Puget Sound. Hiram Martin Chittenden was a major in the Corps of Engineers and worked as the District Engineer in charge of the locks from 1906 to 1908. He was responsible for the concrete design of the locks, rather than the original wooden design - which he believed would have eventually failed, draining Lake Washington. Chittenden was also well known for pioneering work in road construction and surveying at Yellowstone National Park.

One of the other noteworthy features at the Ballard Locks is something called a fish ladder. From what I understand, fish ladders typically were built around locks and dams to allow migratory fish to continue their ancient spawning routes. Here’s a very short informational video about fish ladders, and a 360° view from inside the fish ladder viewing room at the Ballard Locks. Jeremy said that in spawning season (in the Fall), you can go down into that room and watch the salmon swimming frantically upstream back towards the gravel beds where they were born.

The whole place was pretty interesting to begin with, but it got thrown into a whole new light when Jeremy spotted this symbol spray-painted on a sign (at the top of the Magnolia side of the Locks):

And there were two others on a nearby sign:

If you’re unfamiliar with it, the symbol painted in black is the Masonic square and compass symbol:

One of the most common symbols of Freemasonry is the symbol of the crossed compass and set-square. The compass and square are architect’s tools, and symbolize God as the architect of the universe, among other things.

As measuring instruments, the tools represent judgement and discernment. The two symbols together form a hexagram, the union of earth with the heavens, matter and mind, etc. The compass, which is used to draw circles, represents the realm of the spiritual- eternity. The angle measures the square, the symbol of earth and the realm of the material. Together, they represent the convergence of matter and spirit, and the convergence of earthly and spiritual responsibilities.

From what I’ve read, the “G” in the center may be understood as standing for “God” or “Geometry,” among other interpretations. The “X” over this symbol would then (I guess) imply some kind of anti-Masonic sentiment.

So what is this graffiti doing here? Is it just some kind of obscure artistic prank, or is there some kind of masonic/anti-masonic gang war centered around the Ballard Locks? As unlikely as that seems, the locks are very symbolically loaded. Or at least, that’s what we began to realize after we’d uncovered that esoteric bit of graffiti.

First off, the name of the locks and their founder, Hiram Chittenden. Hiram Abiff (or Abif) is the legendary founding figure of Freemasonry. Without going into too much of the lore, Hiram was hired by King Solomon to build his temple, but was murdered and his body hidden. Hiram’s story figures heavily in Masonic lore and ritual.

Another interesting correspondence with the name Hiram, is that Chittenden as well was a great and cunning builder - an engineer, an architect of sorts. I’ve not seen any documentation suggesting Chittenden was actually a Freemason, but certainly his work made use of the physical square and compass, as well as the faculties of judgement and discernment. And the locks are a place where the free flowing waters of wild nature (the unconscious) are regulated and controlled for the good of the social order.

Likewise, the entire place is covered in triangular geometric shapes. There is a drawbridge which retracts upwards, forming the slopes of a pyramid over the canal. And the locks themselves form two “V” shapes, which open to join the fresh and salt waters to the two bodies of water. (Incidentally, on the way home, I also spotted a tiny sign reading “Ballard Masonic Center” which may be a better source for information on Masonic history in the area)

And then there is the fish ladder, a structure rich in symbolism. While the locks artificially regulate the flow of nature, the fish ladder is an attempt to allow nature to continue functioning regardless. If the fish ladder didn’t exist, the salmon wouldn’t be able to reach their ancestral spawning grounds and a major source of sustenance would wither and die, disastrously affecting the entire region and the ecosystem.

If we’re reading esoteric symbolism already, we may as well point out that Christ was symbolized by a fish in early Christian iconography. And we might say that the salmon swimming upstream to spawn correlates somehow with Christ’s return to fullness and renewal of Heaven. Likewise, the ladder is a significant symbol in Old Testament mythology:

Jacob’s ladder is probably the most famous ladder in symbolism. Its story is found in the Old Testament (Gen 28:10-17). Jacob, fleeing from the wrath of his brother, lay down to sleep with a stone for a pillow. During the night he dreamed that he saw a ladder or stairway reaching up into the heavens upon which were angels ascending and descending. At the head of the ladder was God the Father confirming the Patriachal blessing upon him and promising to protect him on his journey. Jacob called the place Bethel (house of God). Since many people have surmised that angels travel this ladder daily as they go about the Lord’s business, it has become a symbol of the comings and goings between heaven and earth of people, angels, and messages or prayers

Also check out this page which interprets Jacob’s ladder as a pre-figurement of Christ (and don’t miss this cool graphic here). In traditional Christian symbolism, the ladder also represents Christ’s deposition, or when his body was taken down from the Cross. Here is a famous Rembrandt depiction of that event.

Not surprisingly, the symbolism of the ladder also factors into Freemasonry, and other major world religions and esoteric traditions:

This mystical ladder, which in Masonry is referred to the theological ladder, which Jacob in his vision saw, reaching from earth to heaven,” was widely dispersed among the religions of antiquity, where it was always supposed to consist of seven rounds or steps.

For instance, in the Mysteries of Mithras, in Persia, where there were seven stages or degrees of initiation, there was erected in the temples, or rather caves, - for it was in them that the initiation was conducted, - a high ladder, of seven steps or gates, each of which was dedicated to one of the planets, which was typified by one of the metals, the topmost step representing the sun, so that, beginning at the bottom, we have Saturn represented by lead, Venus by tin, Jupiter by brass, Mercury by iron, Mars by a mixed metal, the Moon by silver, and the Sun by gold, the whole being a symbol of the sidereal progress of the solar orb through the universe.

In the Mysteries of Brahma we find the same reference to the ladder of seven steps; but here the names were different, although there was the same allusion to the symbol of the universe. The seven steps were emblematical of the seven worlds which constituted the Indian universe. The lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Reexistence; the third, Heaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate region between the lower and upper worlds; the fifth, the World of Births, in which souls are again born; the sixth, the Mansion of the Blessed; and the seventh, or topmost round, the Sphere of Truth, the abode of Brahma, he himself being but a symbol of the sun, and hence we arrive once more at the masonic symbolism of the universe and the solar orb.

So what are we to make of all these strange interpretations and symbolic links? Is there really some kind of secret struggle between Masonic and anti-Masonic forces over something so seemingly mundane as a canal and locks? Or is it that the cosmic dramas described by symbols are at play in any and everything in the world around us? And what should we take away from such things in our own lives? Should we give in and let wild symbolism wash over us, or should we construct a carefully engineered system to allow only certain elements to pass through to a revivifying source somewhere upstream?