The Traveling Gavel was originally designed and built in 2002 by R.W. Ron Underwood, DDGM, to encourage visitation between Lodges of Masonic District 9A. During the MWSA meeting in October, 2007 – the decision was made to extend the Traveling Gavel to all District 9 Lodges.

The gavel was designed with the following in mind:

• It is made of Oak, to represent the Masonic Oak of Texas.
• The head of the gavel is six sided representing the six Lodges in District 9A or 9B.
• Each end of the gavel has 3 rings
  • One end alludes to the 3 stages of life; infancy, manhood, death
  • One end refers to the three degrees in Masonry; Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, Master Mason
• There are three rings on the handle that represent the three principle officers of the Lodge;
  • Junior Warden, Senior Warden, Worshipful Master
• The end of the handle alludes to the 7 Liberal Arts and Sciences.
  • The 5th ring is more pronounced than the others, referring to Geometry, which is principally essential to Masonry.
• There is a small gap where the handle fits to the head. This is to indicate that there is still work to be done to complete the work.

The rules for taking possession of the gavel are as follows:

• A minimum of 5 members of a visiting Lodge must attend a STATED meeting of the Lodge possessing the gavel.
• If a Brother is a plural member of both the possessing Lodge and the visiting Lodge, he will be considered as a member of the possessing Lodge, not a visitor.
• If a Brother is a plural member of more than one visiting Lodge, he will be considered a visitor from both Lodges.
• If more than one visiting Lodge has a minimum of 5 visiting members, the Lodge with the most visiting members will gain the gavel.
• If two or more visiting Lodges have an equal number of visiting members, the following sequence will be used to break the tie.
• The Lodge with the most officers (Elected and Appointed), present.
• The Lodge with the longest time since possessing the gavel.
• The Lodge who has travelled the farthest distance to visit.
• The losing Lodge cannot repossess the gavel for a minimum of 30 days.
• The gaining Lodge’s Secretary will, within 3 working days, notify all other Lodge Secretarys within the District that the gavel has moved to the gaining Lodge. Notification can be by mail, phone, email, or any other means whereby notification can be verified.