THE BUILDER FEBRUARY 1919

THE TRIANGLE
BY RRO. HAROLD A. KINGSBURY, MASSACHUSETTS

WHILE the Triangle is seldom directly called to the Mason's
attention there are but few of the symbols used in Masonry which
are so frequently placed before the Craftsman for him to recognize
and to contemplate if he but will. The presentations of this symbol
are, however, generally unemphasized and more or less veiled
because that is the way of Masonry with respect to its first-rate
symbols, i.e., the Cube, Point within the Circle, Square, Apron,
etc., as distinguished from its second-rate symbols, the Beehive,
Ark and Anchor, etc. And these repeated and partially concealed
presentations are made with the design that the Mason will have
aroused in him a Spirit of Inquiry and, so, will turn his attention
to the symbol and, by his Masonic Craftsmanship, bring himself to
a knowledge of its history and to an understanding of its symbolic
significance.

The Triangle appears in Masonry in two forms, the Right Triangle,
i.e., that Triangle which has one of its angles a right angle,
ninety degrees, or the one-fourth part of a Circle, and the
Equilateral Triangle, i.e., that Triangle which has all its sides
equal, each to the other, and, of course, has each of its angles
equal to sixty degrees. Although these two Triangles have,
symbolically and historically, certain features in common, for
example, both were used as symbols by the Egyptians and both
present the significant number Three, yet their symbolic
suggestions are in many respects so different that they may, not
improperly, be considered as distinct symbols.

THE RIGHT TRIANGLE

Of all the references to this Symbol this is obviously not the
place to speak, but any Mason can profitably occupy himself in
discovering them. A few examples of the exoteric presentations and
references to it are: the Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid; the
Square of the Square and Compass, which Square, when a third, and
completing side is supplied, presents the Right Triangle; the
stations of the Three Principal Officers of the Lodge, together
with the Altar, which define two Right Triangles; and the Altar
together with the Three Lesser Lights, which, when those Lights are
placed, as in some jurisdictions, at the stations of the Three
Principal Officers, rather than, as in other jurisdictions, about
the Altar, mark out two Right Triangles. Various other examples
could be cited, as there are many, but to do so would but defeat
one of the principles of Masonry the Mason must learn of Masonry by
his own effort.

The Right Triangle is to the Mason, as it was to the ancient
Egyptians, the symbol of Universal Nature. The Egyptians, long
prior to Pythagoras, the statement in the Monitor notwithsanding,
knew of this symbol and of those peculiar properties set forth in
the statement of the Forty-Seventh Problem, "In any right triangle
the square (A in the figure) of the side (hypotenuse) opposite the
right angle is equal to the sum of the square (B and C) of the
sides (legs) making the right angle." And the Egyptians, making use
of these properties for purposes of symbolism, considered one leg
as symbolizing Osiris, the Male, considered the other leg as
symbolizing Isis, the Female, and considered the hypotenuse as
symbolizing Horus, the Son and product of Isis and Osiris. Thus,
plainly, the Right Triangle presents to the Mason, for his most
earnest and devout consideration, God's Great Handiwork Universal
Nature.

Moreover, this symbol, in calling attention to Osiris and Isis,
points out to the Mason the probable Raurea of an important Legend
and teaches him that that Legend is but another and, so far as the
specific character of its incidents are concerned, relatively "up
to date" version of a world-old legend told and retold to us, as to
the ancient Egyptians, by the rising, sinking, and rerising Sun and
by the Procession of the Seasons.

Again, the Right Triangle, in calling attention to the Forty-
Seventh Problem and, more particularly, to the graphical
representation of that Problem (as in the figure), brings up for
contemplation one of the oldest and most widespread symbols in the
world  the Swastika (heavy lines in the figure). Here, then, is
presented to the Mason a symbol in the study of whose history he
can profitably spend many hours, learning of its occurrence in
Egypt, Persia, China, Japan, India, Europe and America; of the
Burial Mound at Baharahat, India, dating from the third century
B.C. and having its surrounding wall in the form of an immense
swastika over one hundred feet in diameter; of the swastika's proud
position as "that ancient Aryan symbol which was probably the first
to be made with a definite intention and a consecutive meaning"
(Enc. Brit. 4 641a), etc., etc.

THE EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE

This symbol, while perhaps more emphatically presented to the Royal
Arch Mason than to the Master Mason is, nevertheless, a possession
of the Master Mason and one that, however unobtrusive the
references to it may be, is by no means absent from the Master's
Lodge. Exoterically the Equilateral Triangle is presented by the
Compass of the Square and Compass as, when that symbol is opened to
the extent of sixty degrees (as it should be) and a third, and
connecting, side, connecting the ends of the legs, is supplied, we
have presented the Equilateral Triangle. Again, when the Three
Lesser Lights are placed about the Altar they define the
Equilateral Triangle.

From time immemorial the Equilateral Triangle has been preeminently
the symbol for Deity. For the Triangle is the primary figure from
which all others are built up and the Equilateral Triangle, being
wholly symmetrical, is the one perfect Triangle and thus clearly
becomes the symbol for that Perfect Being in which all things find
their beginning This Symbol is so completely appropriated to the
purpose of a symbol for Deity and Perfection that to here treat of
its various other, and decidedly minor, symbolic significances
would but obscure its pre-eminent symbolic meaning.

In conclusion, then, the Triangle, in the two forms here discussed,
teaches the Mason that far more lies in Masonic symbolism and in
Masonic instruction than appears upon the surface; causes him to
contemplate Universal Nature; points out the probable source of an
important symbolic Legend; draws his attention to what is probably,
the world's oldest symbol, and fixes his attention upon Deity and
Perfection. Is not the study of Masonic symbolism worth the while?

