Although perhaps innocent enough appearing, and by no means the most worrisome icon on the temple, the handclasp is featured on the east central tower below the aforementioned all-seeing eye window. To one familiar with the endowment ceremony, the meaning of this carving is obvious. It is doubtless a representation of one of the first two tokens of the Aaronic priesthood. The Masonic grips and the grisly penalties associated with them makes this carving subtly sinister—perhaps even more so to those who lived in Utah during the so-called Reformation, when Blood Atonement was practiced by Brigham Young's Danites or Avenging Angels.
First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood
Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood
