Dear Roger and Friends,
Due to its close relationship with the ancients' view of religion, I would like to include within this thread an article on a very important arcane symbol that I posted about a year and a half ago on Jill's A Journey to the Mountain of Love forum. I hope it will help to elaborate a little bit more on what religion really meant to all auroral societies. In particular, how it helped the ancient people to inter-relate with an all-sacred cosmos of which the temple was the image and the temple's innermost chamber a symbolic representation of its center - and ultimately of our own center.
The triple druid precinct
Among the multitude of esoteric symbols that enrich the cultural heritage of our planet, there is a very old and very mysterious sign formed by three concentric squares connected by four lines at right angles. It was drawn on a druidical stone found about 1800 at Loir-et-Cher, France, where the annual reunion of the Druids was supposed to be held; and curiously enough, it was identical to a sign found on a Romano-Gallic oculist’s seal at a nearby locality and, as would be discovered later on, very similar to a number of other symbols at also nearby places. Here is a schematic representation of it.
The symbol of the triple square is a schematic representation of the
so-called “triple druid precinct”
These similarities led the experts to think that it could represent a triple sacred enclosure of some sort, very like the one formed by the megaliths of Stonehenge, where the outermost area was accessed by the lower adepts, the intermediate one by the common priests and the innermost precinct, equivalent to the sanctum of later times, could only be accessed by a high priest (who represented the Deity) and his assistant.
Stonehenge in Salisbury, England, stands as the most representative
example of Celtic sacred architecture (photo Jean-Pierre Mohen
in “Earth Mysteries”)
However, the symbol of the triple square is not only characteristic of the druidical design. It can be seen in the cloister of San-Paolo in Rome, which dates from the thirteen century, as well as in many other cloisters of Gothic cathedrals and monasteries. It appears also in the Acropolis at Athens, on the paving of the Parthenon and of the Erechtheion, in Sufi shrines both in India and Pakistan, in Buddhist mandalas, in the Templar fortresses, and even in medieval representations of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
A beautiful Buddhist mandala featuring a typical design of
triple square at its centre
According to the Greek philosopher Plato, who was quoting a high priest of Sais, in Old Egypt, the palace of Poseidon in Atlantis was built at the center of three concentric rings communicated by channels, which configured an image very similar to the one we are talking about – yet circular instead of squared.
A recreation of the fabulous island–continent as yet another
example of a triple enclosure
Also circular in shape was Tenochtitlan in the old Mexico, built on small islands within one of the shallow lakes which, at the time of the discovery by the Spaniard conquerors, covered the greatest part of the valley of Mexico. The Aztecs expanded and consolidated the terrains and linked them to the outer side by means of three wide lanes and channels which brought pure water to the city.
Layout of Tenochtitlan, the sacred capital of the Aztecs
in ancient Mexico (from “La Gran Tenochtitlan” at:
http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/historia/html/conquista/tenochtitlan.html)
With regard to the intrinsic meaning of this configuration, however, whether it is square or circular, we cannot but think of the three degrees of the Druidical hierarchy or, what is the same, the three initiation degrees of all esoteric teaching. These degrees parallel so many other states of being and correspond exactly to those of the universal existence, since by virtue of the constitutive analogy between macrocosm and microcosm, the initiatic process reproduces strictly the cosmogonical process.
Examples of the triple druid enclosure are very common in Gothic
church cloisters in Europe (taken from a Masonic drawing)
Generally speaking, there are other multiple correlations as well. In addition to the one with the three worlds in ALL traditional doctrines (higher, intermediate and lower), I can mention the three Hindu modes of material nature (Satva, Rajas, Tamas) and, paralleling them, the three individual types (Virtuous, Passionate, Ignorant) that can determine his or her destination in the after-life. Here too, by virtue of the strict analogical correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm, what is true of a world is also true of man.
If we depart now from the symbolism of three, there immediately come to mind the seven concentric rings that encircle Mount Meru, the Sacred Mountain of Hinduism and Buddhism which actually symbolizes the Pole or world axis.
Bhutanese thanka of Mt. Meru and the Buddhist Universe,
19th century, Trongsa Dzong, Trongsa,
Bhutan (Wikipedia)
This variation from three to seven enclosures is in no way arbitrary. The crux of all symbolism lies in the multiplicity of meanings it can convey, and the depth and usefulness of a particular symbol as a support in the teaching of the doctrine is directly associated to that multiplicity; in this sense, the particular variations it may present cannot but enrich such diversity and efficacy. For example, each of the above mentioned three worlds of the traditional doctrines are usually subdivided into three additional worlds, which makes them add to a total of seven (if the intermediate world remains as one) or nine (if it does not). What matters in this specific case is conveying the idea of a supreme center from which the doctrine radiates to the outer world or worlds, and the multiple analogies and correspondences of which such symbolic representation is susceptible can only be enhanced by such magnification.
With these explanations, the meaning of the lines becomes all the more clear: they are certainly channels which communicate the traditional doctrine hierarchically, from top to bottom – i.e. from the supreme degree, which is that of its depository, down to the other levels. Now if the identity of top and center does not look very clear, one may imagine a cone from whose top the teaching radiates down to the circular perimeter at its base. The supreme centre thus corresponds to the source of the teaching, the one Dante used to talk about, and which we can now parallel to Mount Meru, with the rings below and projecting outside corresponding to the world beyond and its myriads of creatures, and the cruciform pattern of four lines (which on the side of a cone actually would become indefinite) representing the four rivers of Paradise.
With this said, there is still a difference, however, between the circular and square forms of the triple enclosure: while the circular form is connected with the symbolism of the earthly Paradise and therefore with the beginning of the present Manvantara or human cycle, the square form is rather associated with that of the Heavenly Jerusalem, which places it at its end. In effect, there is always a correlation between the beginning and the end of any cycle, and at the end of it, when final equilibrium is achieved, the circle is replaced by the square, which indicates the realization of that which the Hermetism symbolically refers to as squaring of the circle. In the first case, the supreme center is the source of the teaching and indeed of everything, i.e. God Himself; in the second, that center is not the source itself but the depository of the doctrine, a sort of priestly king who, as an envoy or delegate of the Highest Power, gives it to man and to the world at large.
Artist’s depiction of Solomon’s temple which, according to Jewish
eschatology, is to be built in the End Days at the New Jerusalem
(by Christian van Aadrichem. Photo Wikipedia)
In concluding these few notes, I would like to refer now to a frequent variation of the symbol of the triple square. In it, the connecting lines are drawn diagonally in relation to the two outermost squares, and the space between them is divided into twelve equal right angled triangles.
A variation of the “Triple druid precinct” in yet another
representation of the triple square symbol
If the drawing is somewhat elongated, then the lines thus distributed make it become one of the the figures that have traditionally been used by astrologers as a template for their Zodiac charts. However, what clearly gives the picture its deepest meaning is the fact that in this way it becomes the layout of the Heavenly Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation (3:12 and 21:2, 10-27), with its three gates on each of its four sides, where there is no Sun and Moon because the glory of God illumines it, nor is there any temple in it because God Himself is its temple.
NOTE: In my next post I intend to elaborate yet a bit more on this all important subject by presenting a few examples of buildings in the American continent where the sacred character of the universe is still more emphasized.
Thank you,
Luis Miguel Goitizolo