York
Rite Masonry
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Rosslyn Chapel Part II
By Companion Todd Jovonovich
Dear Companions, Brothers, Friends and Guest,
Welcome back to the second installation on Rosslyn Chapel. Now, before we
dig into the question I asked last time about how many Brothers could read
or write in the 1400’s to the 1800’s I would like to talk a little about why
this is an important question when dealing with the chapel, lore, and it’s
history.
Masonic degrees have a way of pulling in such words to describe them as: symbolic, allegoric, metaphors, and illusions, just to name a few. For those of us in the Craft we hear these words all the time and see the symbolism day in and day out. We understand the variety of meanings attached to certain things, and the large amount of information conveyed by the symbol. With this said, we now need to apply this same idea onto the chapel and the architecture within.
As an architect and designer, it is my job to turn abstract elements into concrete. Please forgive the old architect’s joke, by the way. But it is our duty to manipulate your senses, force you feel, move, and respond on a conscious and subconscious level to a space. Our job is to make you experience and feel the space around you, near you, or within some natural or created environment. What an architect does is essentially the same thing as a Masonic Degree – to speak to you on a variety of symbolic levels even if you are not aware of it.
In order to be successful at this, sometimes little reminders need to be left or created to make sure important information is not missed or forgotten. Sometimes a specific part of a story or idea is conveyed which will unlock and jog your memory or emotions. For example when you think of St. Peter what symbol comes to mind? Usually this Saint is depicted or shown with keys and reminds you of the pearly gates of heaven. Saints and Biblical stories are always good examples of this idea. Just by using a few symbols one can generate whole stories or morals. This same principle can be used for the items representing the old Greek and Roman gods. Without some little clue in the form of a symbol it would be pretty hard to figure out what is going on and what message or story is trying to be relayed or communicated. Even think upon our current scientific notation, chemistry charts, math symbols, document revisions notes, computer jargon, graffiti, business logos, etc… We are constantly being bombarded with symbols that make up stories or relay info. Little has changed from the time the chapel was built. The only changes are what was popular and commonplace back then.
An excellent working example of this at the chapel deals with the image below. This carving can be found on the East end exterior. Take a long look at this carving and see if you can figure out what popular story is being relayed with this image.
(Image property of T. Jovonovich 2005)
This can be hard one to crack if you have not read an old poetic tail about the trials and ticks of a quite popular fox of the 12th century. The carving is of a fox at a pulpit preaching to a flock of geese. A rather odd carving for a religious structure, don’t you think? A fox dressed up as a preacher or priest relaying the word of God to geese? Seems rather heretical does it not? Well by today’s standards it raises some flags and does not fit into the fabric of the chapel, but at the time of the chapels construction this story was very popular and scenes from this poem show up in various churches and cathedrals throughout Europe. Have you figured out who this fox could be yet?
This is a symbolic representation of Reynard the fox. If you are not familiar with the story, I would highly suggest reading it. I have the English translation from David Nutt from 1897 and it is a great literary work. And to make a long, exciting, and crafty tale short, Reynard was seen as a symbol of the devil or trickster, and some of the many morals of the story is always be wary of tricks the devil would play to ensnare you. This carving in my own opinion was created to remind people that one must be wary about the tricks the devil will play to catch you. There are many ways to view the lessons in the story, but this is my take, and if you read the story this carving will speak more to you and bring back all the tricks and cunning language Reynard uses to get into and out of trouble. If you are interested Kenneth Varty wrote an excellent piece on Reynard called “Reynard, Renart, Reinaert, and Other Foxes in Medieval England: The Iconographic Evidence”
We could also put a Masonic spin on this carving. I have talked with some Brothers about this carving and an old degree known as the French Lewis degree (Louveteau). According to Robert Macoy in his work “Illustrated History and Cyclopedia of Freemasonry” from 1882 he describes this degree as follows on page 229:
“The word louveteau signifies in French a young wolf. The application of the term to the son of a Mason is derived from a peculiarity in some of the initiations into the ancient mysteries. In the mysteries of Isis, which were practiced in Egypt, the candidate was made to wear the mask of a wolf’s head. Hence, a wolf and candidate in these mysteries were often used as synonymous terms. Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, says, in reference to this custom, that the ancients perceived a relationship between the sun, the great symbol in these mysteries, and a wolf, which the candidate represented at his initiation. For he remarks, as the flocks of sheep and cattle fly and disperse at the sight of the wolf, so the flocks of stars disappear at the approach of the sun’s light. …in the Greek language lukos signifies both the sun and a wolf.”
One could argue that the figure has the head of a wolf, and the flocks of geese represent the various flocks mentioned above. We could also add to this argument the fact that this carving is found on the East exterior right down the centerline of the chapel. This might represent the unity of the wolf and sun since the carving faces the rising sun.
So I leave the interpretation to you. Symbols speak differently to different people. Which of these interpretations do you see? Which makes more sense?
This next image puzzled me for a long time and it took me a long time to make certain connections. Again, take a long look at this carving and take in what it says to you at 1st glance. I have to apologize for the “fuzzy” image, but sometimes my photography skills are lacking…
(Image property of T. Jovonovich 2005)
This is a carving of what appears to be a compass with 7 circles or spheres around it. Some attribute this as a strictly Masonic carving, and some have no idea what it is or could be. What do you see? What does this say to you?
At 1st I just took this as compass used as some sort of ornamentation, until I read Nigel Pennick’s work “Sacred Geometry: Symbolism and Purpose in Religious Structures”. In his work on 77 there’s a drawing of a lambda with numbers lining the sides. The right side viewed as female the left side viewed as male. This symbol is associated with Plato and Pythagoras’s Tectractys.
One can view the carving as follows and I do hope you search this idea out on your own, but here is my take after reading about Plato’s Lambda and viewing the 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite many times. Both of these ideas build and work off of each other, but I will leave further analysis and research on this to you. But the sphere’s or circles can be broken down like so:
(Image property of T. Jovonovich 2005)
If you do your own research you will understand the numbers and meanings associated with them…but again, this is a carving that is open to interpretation and you might find or discover something different.
This last image usually gets the Freemason tag applied to it and maybe there is justification for this. Lets take a look shall we and talk about some of the finer points.
(Image property of T. Jovonovich 2005)
Lets start with the angel on the right holding its leg. Put yourself in that position and just hold it. Image you are trying to carve this and to get it right you need a living model to get the position right, the proportions right and make sure its accurate.
What if I was to say “Kneeling on my naked left knee, my right forming a square.”? Or how about “Salute with the penal sign only”? What if the carving was a teaching guide? After all it’s a mirror image of something we have all gone through, done, and seen many times. I know I’ve made a few Brothers do this.
Here’s a straight on shot to give you another angle.
(Image property of T. Jovonovich 2005)
Let us go back to the earlier image and look at the angel on the left with his hands on his knees. Again, put yourself in that position. Right hand on top of your knee, left hand slightly below. Now, keep your hands in that relative position and take them off your knees and put them together, keeping the right over the left. If you did it right it should elude to how you held a certain something.
Now to make it just a bit more interesting and really make you wonder about all this – what if I told you that these two angels were looking directly at what is called the Apprentice Pillar?
Again, let us keep in mind that some, if not all the images just shown date from the 1400’s and only select few could read or write at this time. Would it have been that important to know how to read or write when so much information about life, religion, science, and operative or speculative masonry could be communicated further by symbols after learning information via mouth to ear?
I know we have not answered in written form the previous question, but sometimes symbols say enough and additional words are pointless.
Enjoy and have fun learning about my friend Reynard, Plato’s Lambda, and pantomiming positions of carvings. Sometimes we need to read what a symbol says.
Until next time….