Greetings Brethren,
On being brought to light the newly initiated Entered Apprentice’s attention is directed to the three great lights of Masonry. However, they are impossible to view without the assistance of the representatives of the three lesser lights to illuminate them. We learn through ritual that the three lesser lights are always to be lit when the lodge is at labor, and to be extinguished when the lodge is closed and the altar is has been tended. No where in masonic education, ritual or protocol does it tell us why there are three lesser lights. Why are they placed in a triangle form before the altar? These questions piqued my curiosity and I had to research this topic.
“While many religions of many ages and peoples have conceived of Divinity as a trinity, the figure three as a symbol of God is far older than any trinitarian doctrine. It comes from the triangle, which is the first possible figure made up of straight lines which is without either beginning or ending. One line, or two lines have ends. They start and finish. The triangle, like the square or the five or more-sided figure, has no loose ends.” There is no hiding that Freemasonry holds the number ”3” with the utmost and highest regards which is evident by the countless examples of it in our ritual. The 3 degrees, 3 steps to the middle chamber, 3 great lights, 3 Grand Masters, 3 great pillars of masonry, 3 primary orders of architecture, 3 distinct knocks on the door of the lodge, 3 principal officers of the lodge, 3 stages of life (youth, manhood and age) and 3 principal supports of masonry. Even the great philosopher Pythagoras postulated the importance of the number 3. .Most revere this number to be the first perfect number.
Brother Albert Mackey stated that sun worship played a prominent part in the early religions of the ancients. It was introduced into our mysteries not as a material idolatry, but as a means of expressing an idea of restoration to life from death, drawn from the daily reappearance in the east of the solar orb after its nightly disappearance in the west. So, it is by no far stretch of the imagination the ancients felt the sun needed a partner and thus when the sun sleeps the moon was attentive and present to govern the night. Since the sun was represented by man and the moon by woman then of course they needed a child which was Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. However, over the ages the Worshipful Master has been substituted for Mercury. Thus, we now have the sun, the moon, and the Worshipful Master of the Lodge.
As the Worshipful Master is charged with imparting intellectual light to his lodge. He is like the sun who emits light from within, to dispense energy and create life within the lodge. The moon is unable to create light and thus reflects that which was received by the sun to the brethren. By this symbolism the master may also use the sun and moon as his general counsel. Thus, the brethren shall never fail if keeping their hearts and minds within these two boundaries.
Fraternally,
WM Rudy Hatala