The rough ASHLAR is a stone in its ‘rude and natural state’. It is “the PEOPLE, as a mass, rude and unorganised. The perfect ASHLAR is a stone made ready by the hands of workmen. It is a cubical stone, symbol of perfection, is the STATE, the rulers deriving their powers from the con-sent of the governed, the constitution and laws speaking the will of the people.”

The three visible faces of the cube (‘produced by force, acting by rule, hammered in accordance with lines measured by the Gauge’) represent the three departments: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.

In addition to the three faces, nine external lines can be seen drawn between seven points. There are three more hidden lines, which make 12.

“As the number 12 includes the sacred numbers 3, 5, 7, and 3 times 3, or 9, and is produced by adding the sacred number 3 to 9, while its own two figures, 1, 2, the unit or monad, and duad, added together make the sacred number 3; it was called the perfect number; and the cube became the symbol of perfection.”

Italics from Pike, Albert.