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The
Geometry of the Visible Lodge
Herbert P. Bangs
Masonic rites
and rituals customarily take place in a space or room designed for
their performance, here called a "Visible Lodge." * They
are intended to exert "magical" effects upon the participants.
These effects can be supported and amplified through the application
of the ancient science of Sacred Geometry, long venerated by Masonry,
to the architectural design of a lodge room, or Visible Lodge. The
method by which Sacred Geometry may be applied will be illustrated
through the development of the symbols and geometry that might be
involved in the design of a typical Masonic Blue Lodge.
Ritual and
the Visible Lodge
The rituals
are the basis of contemporary Masonry and it is these that distinguish
it from all other fraternal orders and from "the rest of community."
Masons believe that the performance of the rituals has an important
effect on the character of those who take part in them. In the context
of a materialistic age, such a belief is readily dismissed as illogical,
yet there are those among us who cling to it with devotion and are
willing to dedicate long hours to perfecting and performing the
rituals in the conviction that something of great value is expressed
and communicated to the participants.
According to
one definition in Webster, "Magic … is the general term
for any of the supposed arts of producing marvelous effects by supernatural
or occult power." The rituals are therefore "magical"
in both their intent and their effect; magical in the same sense
that the rituals of Christian churches, such as Baptism and the
Lord's Supper are in essence also "magical." Unlike the
effects achieved by the conventional trickster magician on the stage,
whereby the laws of material causality seem to be suspended, the
magic worked by the rituals of the Church and the Lodge is intended
to effect a spiritual or psychological change in the individual
participant.
Much of the
occult and symbolic significance of the rituals has been lost to
modern Masons and the esoteric meaning of what is said and done
in the initiation ceremonies is neither consciously understood nor
formally explained. The rituals thus address an understanding which
is both immediate and direct, but which remains unverbalized and
therefore below the level of conscious awareness.
Similarly,
the room or space in which the rituals take place, when designed
to represent our understanding of the cosmos and to incorporate
truths represented by geometric harmonies of space, form and number,
will be able to affect the unconscious awareness of individual Masons.
The proof of this may be found in the powerful emotional and psychic
effects generated by the great monuments of the past, which were
designed and constructed by our Masonic predecessors to exemplify
those same harmonies, once considered Divine. The Cathedral of the
Assumption of the Virgin, at Chartres, for example, widely recognized
as the greatest achievement of the medieval Masons, is today the
most visited place in France. It is even said that no one can approach
the building with an open heart without having his life changed.
The "magical" effect must result from a direct appreciation
by the sub-conscious mind of the divine or moral truth incorporated
in the fabric of this beautiful building. In like manner, if on
a smaller scale, the design of the Visible Lodge should exemplify
the same principles, and may lead the individual Mason to a heightened
awareness of the beauty and truth of the Masonic rituals.
Geometry
and Masonry
"Geometry,
the first and noblest of sciences, is the basis upon which the superstructure
of Masonry is erected." reads the lecture to successful candidates
for the Second Degree. * In the Charge to that degree we further
learn that "Geometry and Masonry, originally synonymous terms,
being of a divine or moral nature is enriched with the most useful
knowledge." * The importance of geometry to Masons and the
sacred nature of the science is thus emphasized at an early point
in the rituals that lead to acceptance in the Brotherhood.
Surely, knowledge
of geometry was essential to those Masonic forebearers who were
responsible for the design and erection of the great monuments of
our medieval past. Not only did these Masons depend on geometry
to afford the basis for the structural calculations that they used
to establish the stability of buildings, but they relied on what
we now call Sacred Geometry to bring both the architectural design
and the orientation of a building into harmony with the cosmic design
of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Sacred Geometry,
unlike the mundane or practical geometry now taught in our schools,
is not based on deductive logic, but on profound meditations upon
geometric space and form, the application of number to various geometric
constructions, and the geometric relations between the earth, moon,
planets and stars. These meditations are intuitively rather than
logically directed. They are guided by the conviction that the universe,
or Cosmos, in both its physical and spiritual aspects, is organized
mathematically and may, in part, be understood through the study
of geometry and number.
Such studies
require an understanding of the metaphysical significance of the
forms and their associated numbers. In Sacred Geometry every number
and every form has a meaning beyond that generally ascribed to it
for purposes of calculation or spatial definition. For example,
the odd numbers are always considered male and the even numbers
female. The traditional number of Deity is one, and the associated
circle is the symbol of the Divine Undifferentiated Unity. Four
is associated with the Square, and is the symbol of the earth, while
five, and the Pentagon, is a symbol of man. Seven is the virgin
number, since it is neither the product of, nor can be multiplied
by any of the other numbers of the decade to produce a number within
the first ten. In medieval numerical and geometric philosophy, seven
became the number of the Virgin Mary, and there are seven radiating
chapels in the apse of Chartres Cathedral. The meanings associated
with numbers and forms, are similarly identified across many cultures
and times. In Jungian psychology they partake of the nature of archetypes,
and represent something of the structure of the human mind.
It was perhaps
the understanding of Sacred Geometry that distinguished the Master
Masons of earlier time "from the rest of community." Certainly
the esoteric and probably secret knowledge required of Master Masons
would itself create a bond between those who shared it, but there
may have been formal ceremonies of admission into the "Brotherhood,"
reflected down through the centuries into the Masonic rituals of
today. We may never know the scope of knowledge possessed by our
Masonic forebearers or whether there was a formal organization,
such as that of modern Masonry, through which the traditional learning
was handed on. However, examination of the structures that our brother
Masons designed and built reveals something of their methods and
of their underlying philosophy as well.
*
* *
This excerpt is from Heredom, the
transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society
Volume VI, Year 1997
©1997-2002, Scottish Rite Research Society
All Rights Reserved
Scottish Rite Research Society
1733 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009-3103
202-232-3579 voice, 202-383-1847 fax
srrs@srmason-sj.org, www.srmason-sj.org
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