Detail from the frontispiece for the Moderns Book of Constitutions of 1784.
Acknowledgement: The Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London

THE GREAT AND LESSER LIGHTS

John Acaster arrives at the fascination of lights

Source: Freemasonry Today, (official publication of the United Grand Lodge of England) issue 41, Summer 2007

The three great, though emblematical, lights of masonry are revealed immediately after an initiate has been ‘restored to the blessing of material light’. Blinking, and for the first time conscious of his curious situation, the newcomer has a moment to glimpse the objects before him as each is briefly explained. A moment later, now standing, he is turned round. He sees for the first time the room in which he is situated, and the Brethren all observing him, for they are interested to see his reactions. And then he has pointed out to him, by a sweep of the Master’s arm, the three lesser lights in masonry, oddly said to represent the Sun, Moon and Master of the Lodge.

There is then, or thereafter, no further explanation. He has arrived in the masonic universe and is left, if and when he is so inclined, to explore it for himself. No wonder that new Brethren feel the need for masonic education. No wonder there is a groundswell for lodges of instruction and research to come to the rescue, to change their habits of a lifetime grinding out their own brand of instruction, and to impart instead ‘genuine knowledge’, directed towards helpful and immediate understanding of their environment, to all masonic journeymen.

There is no better place to start than with the lights of masonry. After all, Freemasonry prides itself on affording light of a special sort to its Brethren. What is the nature of this light? How do we know when we have it? Can others see it? What evidence is there for its existence? If we start in the dark, how do we hope to find it? These are questions to ponder, for the ritual answers are Delphic.

Unfortunately repetition and familiarity dull the sharpness of our senses. Ideally we ought to enter each moment with the freshness of a threeyear old, or do I mean the heightened sensations of one who has returned from a near-death experience? Surprise and delight ought to be bubbling near the surface. Freemasonry can offer, despite all appearances, the stimulus to renew this.

THE THREE GREAT LIGHTS

Let us approach the three great lights. They are a stroke of genius. They are little short of revolutionary. They declare. We are their children. To remind ourselves, they consist of the Volume of the Sacred Law, the Square, and the Compasses. The Sacred Writings are to govern our faith; the Square to regulate our actions; and the Compasses to keep us in due bounds with all mankind, particularly our Brethren in Freemasonry.

You will recall that the first action after the opening of the Lodge is an assembling of the three great lights in front of the Master. Separately they each have their significances; together they gather a collective meaning and authority. At the very conclusion of the Lodge meeting these fissile elements are dispersed, closed and put away, and Brethren return to the material world, their masonic secrets locked away in a certain safe repository.

The fact is that in the natural world, both by biblical authority and by our unvarnished senses, there are only two great lights. In previous centuries, when the ritual was created, every educated person would have known this; indeed, every uneducated person would have known this. Before the introduction of gas and electric light the rising of the sun in a very real way meant the start of the day. It meant natural warmth, and growth. And when that great light eventually sank down towards the brink of the horizon, only the well-off could light their private domestic candles. The poor, unless enjoying the warmth and light of a tavern fire, would settle down to sleep. The moon, as it silently waxed great and waned small, truly governed the night. Its effluxions ruled men’s possibilities for travel and for harvesting. It was the mysterious power which drew up, and then released, the mighty sea. And, by the mere motion of its rhythms, who knows what else?

These are the works of the fourth day in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis:

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
This is a clear statement. God created the natural lights by which we see. Of these there are two great ones, one of which is lesser. Later biblical traditions produce other lights including, symbolically, one of special importance, the ‘Light of the World’. Freemasonry, however, is so bold as to claim not one, not two, but three great lights. That statement is meant to startle us. It is no commonplace to be muttered. It is a highpoint, indeed the first highpoint, of our masonic experience.

SUN, MOON AND MASTER

Now consider the context in which this formula is stated. The initiate is quickly drawn to discover the three lesser lights in masonry. Situated in the east, south and west, they are said to represent the Sun, the Moon, and the Master of the Lodge. In other words, God’s two great lights of creation are relegated to a distinctly lesser status than the three great lights of masonry! You will now appreciate why the elevation of masonry’s three great lights can be viewed as revolutionary.

It is for each of us to consider and judge whether this extraordinary, unorthodox, conception is justified. For it is a bold claim, is it not? It is indeed a brilliant construct. Out of an original twelve lights in masonry – and if you know what these were, write to the Editor of Freemasonry Today – some ritual craftsman has cut and polished them to three. They can be comprehended as a whole and sparkle the more powerfully.
The first light is the Volume of the Sacred Law. There are many wise words about this in the ritual. Whatever else the Sacred Volume might be, it is the guide to our personal faith, and an inspiration to many. It speaks to the individual and his conscience in the context of eternity. The concept of the masonic Sacred Volume comprehends the whole of religious scripture, and is inclusive across the world. That light floods and, at its profoundest, binds the best.

The second great light, the Square, is the peculiar inspiration for spiritual Freemasonry (‘All our signs is taken from the square, according to every subject in handling’). The Square is rich in connotations. It is an earthly object of truth.

The third great light, the Compasses, also connect universal symbols across a wide range. We may think that they inextricably indicate action, creativity, beauty, balance, harmony, wisdom and justice. Compasses are said to belong to the Grand Master, and we can accept that, if our Grand Master is God. Overall, what a grand concordance!
What spiritual power can flow by, and from, this happy conjunction of great masonic lights! May our works, Brother to Brother and within society as a whole, ever reflect our ideals and our three-in-one claim.
But what of our lesser lights, those confusingly indicated by the broad sweep of the Master’s arm, those that most people find difficult to understand? How can the Sun, the Moon, and the Master, be linked together? Is it the Junior Warden who represents the Sun, who rules the day, and the Senior Warden who represents the Moon, who rules the night?
What curious nonsense is being offered here? To understand what has become an unfortunate compression of words and ideas we need to go back to source, the ritual of the Antients. Jachin and Boaz, of 1762, says:

Mas. What were the next Things that were shewn to you?
Ans. Three Candles, which I was told were the three lesser Lights in Masonry.
Mas. What do they represent?
Ans. The Sun, Moon and Master- Mason.
Mas. Why so, Brother?
Ans. There is the Sun to rule the Day, the Moon to rule the Night and the Master-Mason his Lodge, or at least ought so to do.

We now can surely appreciate that the three candles represent the realm of the lesser, tangible, lights. Each Warden, by his light, is expected to have control over the masonic activities of members, at work by day, or at leisure by night. The duty of the Master is, in some manner, to act as understudy for the Great Architect, to oversee both, which great ambition can, in fact, be seen as the ultimate aspiration of every Freemason.