THE ASTROLOGY OF THE MASTER ARCHITECT DEGREE

By Jaime Paul Lamb 32°
See Jaime speak live in Nashville on Jan 22nd here!

In this article, we will discuss the astrological implications of the twelfth degree of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Master Architect. We’ll begin by referencing the work of Pike (Magnum Opus & Morals and Dogma), McClenechan (The Book of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry) and Clausen (Clausen’s Commentaries on Morals and Dogma) pertaining to that degree. I hope to illustrate that, what begins largely as an extension and amplification of material handled in the Fellow Craft degree of the Blue Lodge, widens to include work in the celestial sphere. The presence, in this degree, of Jupiter rising as a morning star and Ursa Major, the Great Bear, among other celestial allusions, prompts us to study their astrological significance as well as their cosmographical application in navigation.

The passages from the ritual and supplementary literature of the Master Architect degree pertinent to our present study are as follows:

As he advanced, also, he passed from that branch of geometry and mathematics which occupies itself with the earth, it’s surface and the things that belong to it, with right lines and angles, and all the figures formed thereby, to the mathematics ofthe heavens and the spheres. We no longer occupy ourselves with geometry and mathematics as sciences, nor expect of our initiate a knowledge of their problems, or even their terms. To use the instruments of the geometrician, and all the figures, plane and spherical, drawn by these instruments, have a symbolic meaning.

McClenechan, The Book of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, “12th Degree: Grand Master Architect: Lecture”, 1884, pp. 133-134

We adapt the Square to plane surfaces and also for geometry or measurement of the earth. The Compass relates to spheres or spherical trigonometry. This also deals with the heavenly bodies.

Clausen, Clausen’s Commentaries on Morals and Dogma, 1974, p. 62 In the North is painted the North Star, and a little below it the stars of the Great Bear. In the East,

behind the columns, is a luminous star, representing Jupiter rising in the East as the morning star. McClenechan, The Book of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, “12th

Degree: Grand Master Architect: Lecture”, 1884, pp. 127-128

The North Star, always fixed and immutable for us, represents the point in the centre of the circle, or the Deity in the centre of the Universe. [...] To it, and the seven that continually revolve around it, mystical meanings are attached, which you will learn hereafter, if you should be permitted to advance, when you are made acquainted with the philosophical doctrines of the Hebrews. The Morning Star, rising in the East, Jupiter, called by the Hebrews Tsadoc or Tsydyk, Just, is an emblem to us of the ever approaching dawn of perfection and Masonic light.

Pike, Morals and Dogma, “XII. Grand Master Architect”, 1871, p. 202

The Seven Stars that circle around [the North Star] are symbols of the seven living, self-subsistent, ever-active, hypostasized Powers or Emanations, which were held by Basilides to have been evolved from one unrevealed God [...] which seven Powers, with the Primal Grand one, out of which they were evolved, constituted in his system the first Ogdoade, or Octave, the Root of all Existence; from which were evolved other gradations of spiritual existence, each lower one the impression and ante-type of the immediate higher one; and in all, 365 in number, represented by the mystical word Abraxas.

Pike, Magnum Opus, “XII. Grand Master Architect”, 1857, p. 170

By isolating some of the more active symbolic components contained in the preceding passages from the ritual and commentary, we are left with the following items, at which we will be taking a more detailed look, sequentially:

The Working Tools
The North Star
The Constellation Ursa Major The Planet Jupiter
Gnostic Cosmology
The Jewel of the Degree

It is evident that, in the Master Architect degree, we are transitioning from the terrestrial Working Tools of the Fellowcraft degree of Blue Lodge – those applied to Euclidean geometry and architecture – to the celestial tools which aid us in the studies and computations of spherical geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy. At length, we are moving from tools that “test” right angles, horizontals and perpendiculars, etc., to tools that “compute” and “measure” space, distance, orientation and direction.

The tools of this degree are: the compasses, which is used to inscribe circles or arcs; the plane scale, which is used by navigators to represent either two unites or a unit and its fraction; the parallel rule, which is used by navigators for directional computation; the ruler, which is used to measure length and draw straight lines; the sector, which is also used in surveying and navigation for various mathematical calculations; and the slide rule, which is also used for analog calculation by the graduated logarithmic scales on an inner, sliding rule.

The current North Star, or pole star, is Polaris, which is a triple star system and the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor, or the “Little Bear”. It is essential to navigation because it is the star in the northern hemisphere toward which the Earth’s axis points when extended into the celestial sphere. This star is periodically reassigned due to the phenomenon of axial precession, which is the slow gyration of the Earth’s axis in reference to the plane of the ecliptic. According to fixed star astrological doctrine, Polaris is of the nature of Saturn and Venus, which could be delineated using standard astrological significations as “sorrows in love”, for example.

The constellation, Ursa Major, or the “Greater She-Bear”, contains the seven circumpolar stars known as the “Big Dipper” asterism. When aligned, Ursa Major’s two main stars, Dubhe and Merak (α Ursae Majoris and β Ursae Majoris), point to Polaris, the aforementioned northern pole star. The “Bull’s Thigh” (a.k.a., the Big Dipper, Golden Thigh, Foreleg of the Ox, Maskheti, etc.) therefore orients the navigator to Polaris, the North Star. This observational technique has been used in navigation since

ancient times. Consequently, there are rich stellar mythologies revolving around the constellation and its asterism.

Pythagoras, in reference to the “Hyperborean Apollo”, was wont to show the worthy his “Golden Thigh”, which he bestowed on those who would utilize this secret of navigation. The Hyperboreans (literally, those “beyond the Northern winds”) were themselves also referred to as “People of the Thigh”, due to their terrestrial latitude approximating the celestial latitude, or declination, of the constellation. In Sumerian and Akkadian lore, Inanna/Ishtar (Venus) sends Gugulanna, the celestial bull, to gore Gilgamesh; his best friend, Enkidu, comes to his rescue, rips off the bull’s thigh (the Big Dipper) and hurls it at Venus. In Roman myth, Jupiter (who we will address individually below) seduced the nymph, Callisto; a union which produced Arcas, the hunter, future king and namesake of Arcadia. Juno, the jealous wife of Jupiter, turned Callisto into a she-bear (Ursa Major and the Big Dipper) who was nearly killed by her son who didn’t recognize her. Moments before the tragic event, Jupiter turned both into constellations, thus averting the matricide.

Jupiter, referred to in Pike as “Tsadoc or Tsydyk” (Phoenician: Sydyk; Hebrew: Tzedek), is the Roman king of the gods as well as the “Great Benefic” of the seven classical planets, visible to the unaided eyes of the ancients. The planet is described as a “Morning Star, rising in the East”, which, according to astrological doctrine, constitutes an accidental dignity known as orientally rising. At this point, we must bear in mind that Ursa Major is about the same celestial longitude as the sign of Leo; so, if Jupiter is rising and shown in the same longitudinal vicinity as Ursa Major, then Jupiter is rising in the sign of Leo. This seems to be a cryptic astrological reference to King Solomon – the King (Jupiter) of the tribe of Judah (ruled by Leo, the “Lion of Judah”).

Of somewhat less importance is Pike’s shoehorning of Gnostic cosmological ideas, which sadly does more to obscure the symbolism than to elucidate it. He makes reference to the Basilidean Gnostic sect (Alexandria, 2nd c. CE) and elements of their cosmology. Pike refers to seven stars which circle around the North Star and clumsily attributes them to the planets (wandering stars) when, clearly, in the context of the degree, they are in reference to the seven stars of the Bull’s Thigh, which actually do appear to circle the pole star. The Ogdoad, or eighth sphere beyond those of the seven classical planets, corresponds to the sphere of the fixed stars and zodiac (qabalistically, this is the sephirah, Chokmah). He then makes reference to the isopsephic value of the word Abraxas, which is 365 – almost certainly in reference to an annual solar circuit – and has little to do with the rest of the symbolism of the degree.

The jewel of this degree is in the shape of a heptagon, which is the smallest regular polygon that cannot be constructed with a straightedge and compasses. At each vertex of the heptagon, there is a 5-pointed star (more properly, an equilateral concave decagon), probably in reference to the seven stars of the aforementioned Bull’s Thigh asterism. There is an equilateral triangle in the center, possibly denoting the triplicities, which are four groups contining three signs at 120° arc segments of the zodiac. That this is an upward, “fire” triangle – in terms of the symbols of the Empedoclean elements used in alchemical shorthand – it may be in reference to the fire triplicity, of which Leo is a member. The appearance of the heptagon, 5-pointed stars and the equilateral triangle seem to reiterate and expand the lessons of the Fellowcraft, which are symbolized by the numbers three, five and seven. In the center of the triangle, we find a letter Aleph (Pike’s Phoenician Aleph, more accurately). Interestingly – and likely the reason for the letters appearance - the word Aleph is derived from the West Semitic word for “ox” – pretty clearly in reference to Gugulanna, the “celestial bull” and the “Bull’s Thigh”, which was used for navigation.

Brief mention should be made of the colors associated with this degree, which are blue, white and gold. Applying the interpretive perspective we’ve been using above, we may propose that the color blue symbolizes the planet Jupiter (through the qabalistic sephirah, Chesed); white, the North Star, Polaris (through the sephirah, Kether); and gold, the sign of Leo, which is ruled by the Sun (Tiphareth).

In summary, the Working Tools of the Master Architect degree conduct our attention from the terrestrial to the celestial sphere – from testing to measuring and calculating; the North Star, as we have shown, is inferred by the constellational symbolism; Ursa Major contains the “Bull’s Thigh” asterism, anciently used in navigation; Jupiter and its placement in Leo on the Ascendant may be in reference to King Solomon; Gnostic Cosmology makes a brief and confusing appearance; and , lastly, the Jewel of the Degree ties in all of these symbolic elements.

Works referenced:
Pike, Magnum Opus, 1857
Pike, Morals and Dogma, 1871
McClenechan, The Book of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1884 Clausen, Clausen’s Commentaries on Morals and Dogma, 1974