From The Square To The Compasses: The Mason's Journey

The attentive Masonic student will hear a line uttered in the 4th degree, or Secret Master, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite that conveys deeply symbolic and intellectual significance. In the opening of the Lodge, where the Master and Senior Warden go back and forth with question and answer, the Master first tests the Senior Warden to be sure he is truly a Secret Master. The Senior Warden answers that question with a reference to his progression "from the square to the compasses", but what does this really mean?

Encoded in this single line is one of the greatest lessons a Mason has to learn.

Firstly we know that the square and compasses are the primary symbols of our fraternity, which at their most basic understanding signify moral conduct and fraternal harmony. To investigate deeper let us reflect on a few striking elements of Masonic ritual that may give us the clues to the true meaning behind these ancient symbols.

Ponder the fact that as a Mason proceeds through his first three degrees the compasses, previously overshadowed by another symbol, begin to unveil themselves to the candidate. To further impress ourselves with the presence of this progression "from the square to the compasses" let us contemplate how we were first received into the Lodge and what changed in that moment as we progressed through our degrees.

Secondly, to the differences between the square and the compasses themselves. The square is an instrument limited to measurements of 90° and straight lines, while the compasses are in fact capable of authoring a seemingly-infinite number of curvatures and circles of various sizes. In essence the complexity of the compasses surpass that of the square.

We should look to the traditions of old to discover what they have to say about these two symbols. Think about the familiar phrases "four corners of the earth" and "celestial spheres", contemplate for a moment how these relate to our present train of thought. In Chinese Cosmology one finds the phrase "Heaven is round, Earth is square" as a mantra to the nature of reality and the duality between these two worlds.

In Ancient Greece we find that Plato refers to Earth as a cube in Timaeus. So too was the Greek Aristotle one of the first to propose that the cosmos consisted of spherical bodies. If we wander South from Greece into the minds of the Egyptians we find they believed that Earth was a flat expanse with 4 corners. Over this expanse we find the god Nut outstretched in a curved form.

After examining only a few of these ancient cultures we find that the Earth is associated with straight lines and square forms, while the heavens are associated with curved forms and circular bodies. With this understanding what does it mean for one to pass "from the square to the compasses"? In a later degree we hear exclaimed that this means one has passed from the mathematical calculations of 2-dimensional space to the 3-dimensional movements of the cosmos. Surely, as in everything Masonic, there is a deeper meaning beyond these claims of material science waiting to be discovered.

Perhaps encoded in this simple phrase is the ultimate instruction to Man about his life. That he cannot continue to look down at dirt and expect to find a life worth living, only when he raises his awareness to that of the higher worlds does he find the great guidance that has illuminated all of mankind's great or important undertakings since the dawn of time...

By: Warren Steury 32° - Valley of Nashville