You must know that no mortal craftsman can practice their craft without utilities or implements. They need to have at least one. Between utilities and implements, there is this difference: The former include the hand and fingers, the foot, the head, the eye and all members of the human body, while "implement" refers to externalities like the carpenter's axe, the smith's hammer, the tailor's needle, the writer's pen, the shoemaker's awl, the barber's razor, and all such things used in the technical trades.
You must also know that the implements and materials of all craftsmen vary according to their trade, and that their actions differ accordingly. Each performs their own characteristic movements and types of action. The carpenter is an example of this: With an axe he planes things in a downward motion; with a saw he saws them in a back-and-forth motion; and with an auger he drills them in an elliptical right-to-left motion while the auger goes round and round. In this way, the motions performed in the practice of any craft reduce to seven: one that is circular, and six that are linear. This was divinely ordained, for the heavenly bodies have also seven types of movement, as discussed in our Epistle on Heaven and Earth: one that is circular, as originally intended, and six that are accidental; and the movements of sublunar entities follow this pattern. The former are causes, and the latter are effects bearing the traces of those causes. This is how the sages say that secondary matters tell of primary ones, in quite the way that games played by children tell of the trades practiced by their fathers, mothers, and teachers.
Brother, you must also know that in order to practice a trade, every mortal craftsman needs at least one moving member, such as the hand, the foot, the back, the shoulder, or the knee. Generally speaking, a "member" is a part of the body with which the soul can perform one action or several actions in counterpoise to some other part of the body. The members of the body are utilities of the soul, and serve the soul as tools, as we have discussed in our other Epistles.
From the Epistle on the Crafts by the Brethren of Purity
