I'm going to update my posts about Masonic symbolism on the LUE map. I think the evidence will show that the LUE map is a Masonic Tracing Board or a blueprint for one.
This picture shows how the LUE map looks when facing a mirror, with east at the top.
The mirror image was suggested in this article, in the section titled, The Lodge of Emulation. I believe the two crescents, in the upper right quadrant, call for a mirror image. I also think the mirror image is the IAYAYAM ( I AM YOU AND YOU ARE ME) key that Karl von Mueller mentions in his caption under his picture of the LUE map.
Here's the link that The Lodge of Emulation article is in.
MASONIC TRACING BOARDS by W.Bro. Yasha BERESINER PM Quatuor Coronati Lodge N°2076 EC, PS Review of Freemasonry
www.freemasons-freemasonry.com
When the board is viewed with the top toward the east, the staircase starts in the north and the two Great Pillars, at the main entrance to the Temple, are in the south.
This shows the normal LUE map with east on top.
As you can see, the stairs are in the north, but in the Masonic representation of the Temple, there is no entrance to the north. The image has to be reversed so that the stairs will be in the south.
Here's the mirror image, again.
The two Great Pillars, Boaz and Jachin, are now in the upper left quadrant and close to the east entrance.
From this point on, refer to the mirror image of the LUE map.
I'm going to post some links followed by excerpts from those links. As you read the excerpts, remember that east is at the top, west is at the bottom, north is to the left and south is to the right.
Symbolical Masonry, by H.L. Haywood, [1923], full text etext at sacred-texts.com
sacred-texts.com
"Symbolism of the Cardinal Points, North, South, East and West. Mackey uses as an illustration of this the fact that the sun in its summer journey never passes north of 23° 28´, and that a wall built anywhere above that will have its northern side entirely in shadow even when the sun stands at his meridian. As this fact became known to early peoples it led them to look upon the North as the place of darkness.
By token of the same symbolic reasoning the South stands for all that is opposed to the North; in that direction the sun reaches his meridian to pour out light, warmth, and beauty. Accordingly, church builders of old time were wont to depict on the South wall of their churches the triumphs of Christianity, and the millennial reign of Christ. In the lodge the Corinthian column, type of beauty, is placed in the South at the station of the Junior Warden.
As the West is the place of the sun's setting and of the closing of the day it stands for rest, for darkness, and for death.
If there is one symbol that recurs again and again in our Blue Lodge Ritual, like a musical refrain, it is the East; of this I almost despair to speak, save in crudest outline, so rich and so many-sided is the truth enshrined in it. As the centre of gravity is to the earth, and all things thereon, so is the East to a Masonic Lodge; the Master sits there, the representative of a complete humanity; the Blazing Star shines there, the mystic "G" at the centre of the rays; it is the bourne, the goal, the ultimate destination, towards which the whole Craft moves. How it came to have this significance for early societies, as well as for our own may be made clear as we turn our attention to Orientation."
As you can see, on the LUE map, the Sun is in the south.
To the east is the blazing star, represented by the circle within a circle. In earlier posts, I have written that this position on the LUE map is the yellow star Capella, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. I determined this because of its location on the curved line that can be found on a constellation map. There is something to consider, at this location on the curved line. The Sun would be a better fit for the blazing star, because this location on the curve is either at the summer solstice, June 22, or the winter solstice, December 22. But, because of the portrayal of the Sun, in the lower right quadrant of the LUE map, I wasn't sure if the artist would represent the Sun twice on the Tracing Board.
Here's the next link.
Masonic Magazine on Freemasonry and Research into Freemasonry. Find educational material for lodge lectures and daily advancement in Masonic knowledge after initiation.
www.freemasons-freemasonry.com
"Verse 6: (Here we find a description of the side chambers): "The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits, and the third was seven cubits broad; for around the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house." The important thing we have to learn from this verse is that the side chambers were three storeys high, of which there is further proof.
Verse 8: "The entrance to the lowest storey was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle storey, and from the middle into the third." The Authorised Version translates "middle chamber" instead of "Lowest storey", "right side" instead of "south side", "winding stairs" instead of "stairs", and "middle chamber" instead of "middle storey". If the next floor above the ground floor was the middle storey, then those side chambers were definitely three storeys high.
"The height of these pillars was seventeen cubits and a half each." Our word "cubit" is derived from the Latin word cubitas, meaning "elbow", because the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger is the length of a cubit, which on the average man is about 45 centimetres. That makes the pillars about 7.9 metres high.
The kings of Israel were crowned in front of the South Pillar and the priests were anointed in front of the North Pillar.
Both gimmel and gamma have the same sound as the English letter G. Records show that in the early days after the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, when working the Second Degree, it was the custom to place a gallows square over the Blazing Star of Glory in the Centre, but somewhere since the gallows square has evidently been replaced by its English equivalent."
A lot of this will be found in the upper half of the LUE map.
Verse 6 mentions three levels and the small triangle in the upper left quadrant shows three levels. The base of that small rectangle represents a cubit and the triangle is located between the two Great Pillars, Boaz and Jachim. We know that those are the two pillars because each pillar is 17.5 cubits high and there are seventeen small triangle measurements on the line that separates the columns.
In the upper right quadrant, the blazing star is represented by the circle within a circle. In the last excerpt, the author mentions that it was the custom to put a gallows square over the blazing star. On the LUE map you can see the horizontal and vertical lines that represent the gallows square, just above the blazing star.
Here's the next link and the mirror image of the LUE map.
"T.B. stands for Tracing Board.
Inside the T.B., that represents the Lodge, we find — among the other symbols — one of the T.B. itself. This is a sort of recursive image very popular among surrealist artists, such as Escher or Magritte. The hand that is drawing itself is one example. [10]
This also makes reference to the images produced by two parallel mirrors, and all the symbols of infinity, such as the Ouroboros, the snake biting its own tail.
The Pavement represents the physical world, the central part of the Board, including the columns and most of the symbols, represents the psychological world, the Heavens on top of the Board represent the spiritual world and the Glory, represents Divinity.
8
The ceiling of the lodge is adorned with stars, generally seven. This is also a favorite number of numerologists, its symbolism is almost as varied as that of the triad."
The pavement can be seen in the lower left quadrant of the LUE map.
The stars could be represented by the two constellation map curves.
"
Jacob's Ladder
Reaching the starry sky is the ladder known as Jacob's Ladder. Let me recount briefly the origin of the story of Jacob's dream. On his way to Paddam Aram, to his uncle Laban, Jacob is tired and spends the night on the road. He takes a stone as his pillow. While dreaming, he sees a stairway reaching the heaven and angels walking up and down. G-d speaks to Jacob, promises to give him and his descendants the land around him, and to make his descendants numerous like the dust of the earth. When he wakes up, Jacob is seized with fear. This is a holy place, he thinks, and the door to heaven. He erects the stone he had used as a pillow and makes an altar of it, and then names the place Bethel, that is, the House of G-d. This episode of the Bible has fired the imagination of numerous artists, who have depicted Jacob's dream is a variety of ways.
In our Board, the stairway is symbolized by a ladder, resting on the altar, which as we now know, in fact represents the stone. The Hebrew word in the Biblical story,
Soolam (
soolahm), can be interpreted both as stairway and as ladder, and artists have used both meanings in their works
The ladder, or scale, as a symbol, is extremely old, always indicating the connection between the earth and the heavens, the ascent of man striving for perfection. It is symbolically connected with the mountain. Temples were often built on top of a mountain, and in some cultures the temple itself represents a mountain. Some artists have painted Jacob's ladder as a flight of steps on the slope of a mountain."
The LUE map shows a flight of steps on a slanted line that could represent a mountain slope.
"The Ornaments or Furniture
The lodge also has three ornaments: the Indented or Tessellated Border, the Blazing Star, and the Mosaic or Checkered Pavement. Prichard, in his Masonry Dissected (1730), calls them the Furniture of the Lodge. This must not be understood as a reference to chairs and tables, but rather to implements or parts.
The Indented Border is linked to the knotted rope encircling the room, close to the ceiling. It symbolizes the great chain of Fraternity embracing the earth. [20] This First Degree T.B. is one of John Browne's designs, dated 1802. We can see the shape of the rope is leading to the idea of rows of triangles in alternating red and blue color, which in many Tracing Boards replace the rope.
The Checkered Pavement, made of alternating white and black squares, reminds us of all antinomies, the dualities of both the physical and the spiritual world: light and darkness, good and evil, past and future, matter and spirit.
The Blazing Star is hanging in the geometrical center of the Lodge and from there it irradiates its influence"
"
The Point within a Circle
On the Altar is inscribed a circle with a point in its center.
This, according to Masonic rituals, represents the bounded space where a Mason cannot go astray. North and south of this circle are two parallel lines, representing the two great Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist, who themselves are connected to the two solstices: that in the summer (June 24) with the Baptist, that in winter (December 27) with the Evangelist.
The center is also a fundamental idea in alchemy. "According to Michael Maier, the center contains the indivisible point which is simple, indestructible, and eternal. Its physical counterpart is gold, which is therefore a symbol of eternity."
In the upper left quadrant of the LUE map, to the left of the two Great Pillars, are three triangles, one with a point within a circle. The three larger triangles must represent the alter.
"The Second Degree
The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a
'lulim' led up to the middle level and from there to the third."
The staircase is traditionally represented with flights of three, five and seven steps, referring to the symbolic ages of the Mason as he ascends from the First to the Third Degree."
You can see there are five steps on the LUE map.
I think the evidence is clear that the LUE map is a Masonic Tracing Board or a blueprint for one.
www.babynology.com
