THE BUILDER, SEPTEMBER 1918
THE THREE LESSER LIGHTS

BY BRO. WILLIAM H. TAYLOR, P.G.M., PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

IN all ages and among all peoples there have ever been two
fundamental beliefs which have permeated-the body politic. The
first is, that nature itself is subject to a constant struggle
between two contending forces which continually strive for the
supremacy. As day and night, light and darkness, good and evil. The
other belief was that the soul is immortal. On these two beliefs
were founded the ceremony of initiation depicted by the Mysteries
of the various nations.

Masonry as the logical descendent of these Ancient Mysteries
likewise seeks to impress upon its initiate of 'today, in' the
strongest manner possible, its continued belief in these two great
fundamental principles, which have come down to us from our
forefathers of long ago. Therefore do we bring the initiate in
Masonry from darkness to light and illustrate to him the Hiramic
legend in the third degree.

In all the Ancient Mysteries this struggle between light and
darkness was typified by two deities, who in each case were a male
and a female representing respectively the Sun and the Moon.

In the Indian Mysteries these two deities were called Mahadeva and
Bhavani; in the Persian, Mithras and Asis; in the Egyptian, Osiris
and Isis. This same characteristic is also peculiar to the
Phoenician, Phrygian, Grecian, Britain and Scandinavian systems of
theology.

In the Egyptian Mysteries Anubis shares in the honors which were
paid to Osiris and Isis. He was the friend and counselor of Osiris
and when Isis started out in her search for the body of Osiris she
was accompanied and aided by Anubis, who took the shape of a dog
and thus becomes sirius, The Dogstar, the brightest star in the
heavens. Anubis is of peculiar interest to us, as Masons in that he
was renowned among other characteristics as the inventor of
astronomy and surveying and as the deity who first taught the
worship of gods and the building of temples.

In the Eleusian Mysteries, the temple in which the ceremonies were
held was lighted by a hole or a window in the roof and the three
great lights of nature, the Sun, the Moon and Mercury (the latter
being the same as Anubis) played an exceedingly important part and
were mystically represented by three images.

It has ever been a custom on the rise of a new sect or institution
for it to lay hold of that which was good in its predecessors and
make it an integral part of itself, either on the one hand because
it believed by so doing it would the more securely fasten its hold
on its converts or on the other, because it desired to thus
perpetuate its intimate connection with that which it had
succeeded. From a study of the growth of the early Christian Church
we know that to make the new religion more understandable to their
new converts, the priests held their meetings in the same temples
where the sacrifices had been made to the "pagan" divinities. They
appropriated the statues of the "heathen" gods and sometimes by
placing on them a new head and at other times even dispensing with
this formality they transformed them into "Saints" of the Church.

Among their new converts, especially, the priests continually found
a tendency to revert to the worship of the gods. Particularly was
this true in the case of Isis and her infant son Horus. After
combating unsuccessfully with this tendency for several years the
priests finally assimilated both the statue and the attributes
which were associated with it. Thus Isis and her son Horus became
the virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus whence comes the prominent
place given to their worship in the Roman Catholic Church of today.

As the church has thus unintentionally and unconsciously
immortalized the mysteries no less has Masonry deliberately
perpetuated the customs of our ancient brethren. The three great
lights of nature, as we have said, which in the Ancient Mysteries
were represented by images dedicated respectively to the Sun, the
Moon and Mercury, have become the three lesser lights of a Masonic
lodge, but how, when or where the substitution of the "Master of
the Lodge" for "Mercury" crept in, it is impossible to trace. There
seems to be about as much justification for it as there was for the
addition by Jeremy Cross of the "Marble Monument" and its
explanation as given in the lecture of the third degree.
While the three lesser lights are to be found in all regular
Masonic lodges there seems to be no fixed rule as to where they
should be placed in the lodge.

In some jurisdictions a light is placed at the station of the
Master, one at that of the Senior Warden and one at that of the
Junior Warden.

There may be some justification for this arrangement but it would
not be possible to adapt it to the "work" as it is now given in
this and many other jurisdictions.

In some lodges they are represented by a metal stand about three
feet high with three arms branching out at the top. At the
extremity of each arm is a light and these lights are in the form
of an equilateral triangle. This metal stand is usually placed at
the right of the altar as one faces the East. In other lodges the
three lesser lights are grouped about the altar in the form of a
right angle triangle; the base of the triangle parallel to the
West, with the hypothenuse running from the South to the East to
join up with the perpendicular in the East.

The metal stand with its branching arms in the form of an
equilateral triangle is emphatically incorrect. It is a product of
an inventive age and a concession to cheapness and facility in
installation which should never be tolerated save when a more
expensive arrangement is inadvisable.

The other grouping is the one used in this and many other
jurisdictions. It is sanctioned by Albert Pike than whom there is
no greater authority. He uses this arrangement in his liturgy for
the first as well as in the thirty-second degree.

This arrangement is justified too in that it is the natural
position in which to place the triangle, could we but consider it
as separate and apart from the necessity of avoiding the placing of
a light in the North; in that the base, which here represents
"Ignorance" is surpassed in potentiality by "Learning," represented
by the perpendicular which is longer than the base as four is to
three. This perpendicular runs from East to West which constantly
reminds us of the belief of our ancient brethren that all learning
has its origin in and proceeds from the East.

This grouping, however, might be considered objectionable in that
it places a light in the North directly opposite the one in the
South. This is contrary both to the practices of the Ancient
Mysteries as well as to teachings of modern Masonry. In the Ancient
Mysteries the initiate in his circumambulations followed the course
which our forefathers ascribed to the-sun in his daily travels.
When the initiate reaches the East, it is here the Sun rises, at
the South the Sun is at meridian height, while it is in the West
that the Sun sets. From here until he reaches the East again the
initiate is supposed to be traveling at night, or as we say in a
place of darkness. For this reason modern Masonry has no light in
the North and not for the stupid reason as given in our lecture in
the first degree.

The correct placing as depicted in all the ancient prints we have
been able to find, fixes the lights about the altar in the form of
a right-angled triangle but with the right angle at the South; the
base runs from the East to the South, the hypothenuse runs from the
East to the West with the perpendicular connecting the South with
the West.

Both methods represent the right angled triangle as we have it in
the 47th Problem of Euclid. Its sides in the proportion of 3, 4 and
5 of which proportion 3 is the base, 4 the perpendicular, and 5 the
hypothenuse. Its perpendicular represents the male, its base, the
female, while the hypothenuse represents their progeny or the
product of the two. Thus to the ancients did this right-angled
triangle represent "Humanity."

The light in the East is dedicated to the Master of the lodge, the
one in the West to the sun and the one in the South to the moon. As
the Master sits in the East the light dedicated to the Sun is on
his right hand; the one to the Moon is on his left. Hence you will
understand why the jewels of the Senior and Junior Deacons who
likewise sit on his right and left bear respectively
representations of the Sun and of the Moon.

Therefore, in pointing out the lesser lights to the initiate, the
Master should be careful to call his attention first to the light
in the West as representing the Sun, next to the one in the South
as representing the Moon and finally to the one in the East as
representing the Master of the Lodge. When the three principal
officers of the lodge group themselves about the altar each should
be careful to take his stand directly in front of his respective
station. They will thus form an equilateral triangle ever
considered by our ancient brethren as an emblem of "Deity."

With the Master, Senior and Junior Wardens thus grouped about the
altar we have formed a living equilateral triangle symbol of Deity;
with the three lesser lights about the altar forming the
right-angled triangle of Euclid, symbol of Humanity. We, therefore,
have at the conferring of each and every degree in Masonry a
striking symbolism of the two great fundamental teachings of our
order:--"The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man."
