Placement of Aries (and the Zodiac signs) at the Masonic Temple

[RoelantHollander]

Dear Brethren,

I am writing an essay about Freemasonry. Naturally the symbols that 'decorate' the Masonic Temple will be part of it. I am intrigued bij the mapping of the Zodiac signs on the Temple walls or ceiling. When I was looking into (reading a couple of essays, a few references in several books) it, I was surprised I could not find as much about it as one could about other symbols. At first I presumed how they were mapped in the Temple would be 'standard'. When I started browsing the web for Temple photos, not every Temple had the same mapping. So far I came across 7 different mappings.

Pretty much all Temples (so far except one) use the same traditional sequence: Aries (The Ram) Taurus (The Bull) Gemini (The Twins) Cancer (The Crab) Leo (The Lion) Virgo (The Maiden) Libra (The Scales) Scorpio (The Scorpion) Sagittarius (The Archer) Capricorn (The Goat) Aquarius (The Water-bearer) and Pisces (The Fish). Traditionally this order is placed counter-clockwise, but I noticed in some Temples the direction is opposite, clockwise.

The Zodiac's starting point (Tropical Zodiac) is generally set to 0 degrees at Aries. The following placements of Aries I have come across:

• East (counter-clockwise)​
• South-East (counter-clockwise movement)
• South-East (clockwise movement)
• South-Southwest (clockwise)
• North-West (clockwise movement)​
• West-Northwest (clockwise movement)​
• North-East (counter-clockwise movement)​

In many esoteric traditions Aries represent Spring and the Spring Equinox, and is Spring associated with the wind direction East. Some of the listed mappings would thus seem more logical than others. Still, the decorating of the Masonic Temple is never 'random'.

Dear Brethren, I hope you can tell me what kind of 'mappings' you have come across ... Does anyone of you have any idea why these differences?

Thank you.

F&S, Roelant Hollander

Lodge 303, 'De Gulden Regel' (The Golden Rule), The Netherlands.

 

[Bloke]

For me, those signs are not about astrology, they are about astronomy -one of the first sciences where mathematics really got developed. So I usually don't think of them as the Zodiac, I think of them as Constellations,. On the odd occasion I do think of them as the Zodiac, I think what is being communicated allegorically.. (and without being ignorant of how the Solstice and Equinox appear in Freemasonry)

 

[omar basyouni]

أنا برج الحمل

 

[RoelantHollander]

For me, those signs are not about astrology, they are about astronomy -one of the first sciences where mathematics really got developed. So I usually don't think of them as the Zodiac, I think of them as Constellations,. On the odd occasion I do think of them as the Zodiac, I think what is being communicated allegorically.. (and without being ignorant of how the Solstice and Equinox appear in Freemasonry)

Well, in astronomy the zodiac signs do not play a real role; the constellations do. The (tropical) Zodiac (of 12 signs, instead of the 13 constellations along the ecliptic) and the division in 12 equal sections (equal spacing) of the ecliptic were created in Babylonia for astrological purposes, each section named after the constellation closest by. The interesting thing is that the sidereal size of the constellation Scorpio is relatively small, much smaller than Ophiuchus, which was excluded from the astrological system.

Simply said: the system with 12 zodiac signs (related to 12 equal sections) is considered exclusively astrology, versus 13 constellations of uneven size = Astronomy (though in sidereal astrology they are used too).

The fact that we only use 12 zodiac signs in the Temple instead of 13 constellations makes you wonder. I do know that some temples have the constellations painted on their ceilings instead of the zodiac signs, but that is more the exception than the rule.

Astronomy and astrology were, in the time of the Babylonians (who are said to have invented the system of the ecliptic divided in 12 equal sections), still one 'science.' It would stay that way for centuries; even in the time the Seven Liberal Arts were created, astrology and astronomy were still one. In the Hellenistic period (approximately 3rd–1st century BC), great thinkers gradually began to distinguish scientific methodology from philosophical and divinatory interpretations of nature. Ironically, the word "astrologia" (literally “law (or) order of the stars”) was still used in ancient Greek times for what we now call astronomy. It was not until the 17th and 18th centuries, during the scientific revolution, that the two were definitively separated.

Since Freemasonry as we know it was created in the 18th century, we may assume astronomy is the field of interest for Freemasons. Astrology was labeled superstition and occultism and no longer considered a 'science'; hence, as such, it was not part of the Seven Liberal Arts, though at their creation astronomy and astrology were still one. If the temple were to be decorated properly according to astronomy, it should not be the signs, and there should be 13 constellations decorating the Temple. Naturally, the number 12 has esoteric meaning and might be seen as a reference to the 12 months of the year, 12 tribes of Judah, etc. Still, we are 'mixing' up two systems that are considered incompatible from the scientific viewpoint.

There are some really fascinating essays written by Brethren about the zodiac and Freemasonry, for example, on the meaning of the zodiac in relationship with the allegory of the 3rd degree ritual work.