The Pavement

[paul]

What are the origins of the Masonic use of a pavement?

[LorrB]

Good question.... I am going to follow up on it when I get more time. Will get back to you with what I can discover.

Anyone else out there got some of 'the good stuff' on this question. Would love to hear (..see) it.

[stepnwolf]

Most writers trace the existence of the Tesselated Pavement at least to the Temples of Egypt. Then, as now, it symbolized the visistudes of our life on earth, the sequence of day and night, and many other circumstances where polar opposites exist in the same place at the same time.
However, I have seen checkered floors in kitchens, hallways and the like where such symbolism is unlikely. It is one of the simplest decorations to execute and that may be the reason such pavements are found in antiquity as well: simplicity. Could it be that our minds are so constructed that we automatically read into the pavement loftier ideas of polarity in the cosmos and all that it suggests?

The tessellated border, we are told, represents the firmament that surrounds us and reminds us of its creator. The tassels at the corners call to mind Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance and Justice, illustrated in some of our tracing boards.

American Lodges usually place the Altar in the Center of the pavement, together with the three lesser lights. In other jurisdictions a Blazing Star is found there to represent light and the guidance we receive from that inner light. It also symbolizes the sun the source of light.

[paul]

>Most writers trace the existence of the Tesselated Pavement at least to the Temples of Egypt.

So the Tesselated Pavement was not inherited from operative Masons?

The DC of a local lodge tells me that on occasion the tiles of the pavement appears to change shape and colour during the ritual. Perhaps there is some energy process that occurs.

>In other jurisdictions a Blazing Star is found there to represent light

When I was an EA I was told that the BS should be in the ceiling until the 3rd degree. If so that would symbolise the genuine MM having access to the summit of the mysterious ladder.

[LorrB]

Locally ... I think of the BS as the Light of (expanded) Consciousness at the top of the skull ... Often depicted with crowns, halos, feathered headdresses et al.

[paul]

The expressions Blazing Star and Flaming Star are simple translations of the Greek word: Seirios and that comes to us via Latin as Sirius.

"The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Σείριος Seirios ("glowing" or "scorcher"). " en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius

Sirius is one of the brightest stars in the sky.


As for the light above the skull that might be better identified as the Point within the Circle - Keter in the Tree of Life.

[LorrB]

www.world-mysteries.com/sar_sage1.htm

[LorrB]

who would have thought.

[stepnwolf]

In fields as far apart of anthropology and evolutionary biology there seems to be a counter-intuitive theory of spontaneous evolution, which asserts that the same culture trait, tessellated pavements, etc., can spontaneously appear in any part of the world, without a causal connection.

For instance in Deuteronomy 25:5-6 a man is required to marry the widow of his childless deceased brother which is the levirate marriage in Jewish law. The same practice may be found in Oceania without any causal connection.

While a checkered pavement may be found in both a masonic L. and in an Egyptian temple we cannot assume that one has anything to do with the other. If the pavement is any kind of archetype, both cultures drew from the save source and not from each other. Our relation to archetypes may prove even more interesting.

[paul]

>While a checkered pavement may be found in both a masonic L. and in an Egyptian temple we cannot assume that one has anything to do with the other.

The pavement may operate by resonance with Earth energies. In which case we could test to see if various pavements have the same effects on entities and energies.

When I see a mosaic pavement in a shopping centre or office building I usually try it.

The HRA pavement on this TB is particularly interesting being partially circular and partially diagonal rather than square. That seems to me to be a case of the new owners of Masonry at that time being unwilling to discard all of the past.

[paul]

And this is supposed to be in Bath



but I am struggling to make sense of it. It feels unwell.

[paul]

Here is another sort of pavement used to manage vertical rather than horizontal flows. The pavement gives a sense of rising up in the centre - as if under pressure of energy below.

This might give context to the circular pavement in the HRA TB.

[stepnwolf]

How embarrassing: I can't find the post for which the following is a response.

When I first saw the graphic, I thought it was a maze but on second thought had to call it a labyrinth. A maze has many lines in its construction; the labyrinth usually has only one circuitous line or path. By tradition one of the earliest labyrinths was built in Knossos on Crete in classical Greece. Its purpose was to hold the Minotaur, who was half man and half bull (Aquarius and Taurus) which would correspond to two of the creatures in Key XXI, the World, of the Tarot.

The labyrinths were used from the classical period in Europe to modern times. They have been found in widely separated areas like India and native American New World cultures, where cross-cultural contacts are doubtful. The idea that this may be an example of cultures drawing from the same archetypal material in the collective unconscious seems appealing.

In an Anglican retreat house in Florida where we retired for prayer and renewal on long weekends, a labyrinth was available to the participants. I saw at the national headquarters of the TS in the US a carefully constructed labyrinth for use of the staff and convention attenders.

This is embarrassing: I lost the post to which I wanted to respond and the search routine was singularly uncooperative this morning

When I first saw the graphic, I thought it was a maze but on second thought had to call it a labyrinth. A maze has many lines in its construction; the labyrinth usually has only one circuitous line or path. By tradition one of the earliest labyrinths was built in Knossos on Crete in classical Greece. Its purpose was to hold the Minotaur, who was half man and half bull (Aquarius and Taurus) which would correspond to two of the creatures in Key XXI, the World, of the Tarot.

The labyrinths were used from the classical period in Europe to modern times. They have been found in widely separated areas like India and native American New World cultures, where cross-cultural contacts are doubtful. The idea that this may be an example of cultures drawing from the same archetypal material in the collective unconscious seems appealing.

In an Anglican retreat house in Florida where we retired for prayer and renewal on long weekends, a labyrinth was available to the participants. I saw at the national headquarters of the TS in the US a carefully constructed labyrinth for use of the staff and convention attenders.

Example of one of the earliest labyrinths

A labyrinth in use today at Chartres

[paul]

I moved the post for you.

In the post before yours is also a photo of Chartres with lights.

A large entity once rose out from under the labyrinth and up into the deva above the cathedral - hence my proposition that circular pavement is used to control vertical flows.

[paul]

The tessellated border, we are told, represents the firmament that surrounds us

And here is that tessellated border as observed for Mars from Earth. Just put the pavement in the centre.

[stepnwolf]

Can anyone remember the toy that helped kids draw similar paths? Plastic wheels within plastic wheels of different sizes traced complex paths on a sheet of paper. I now wonder if some of these patterns could be considered tessellated borders for other heavenly bodies.

[stepnwolf]

Apr 26, 2013 21:24:17 GMT 9.5 foxfires said:

Spirograph Was the name of one toy

Thank you, foxfires! If you want to play with the toy to see the variety of paths you can create, go to www.mathplayground.com/Spiromath.html

[paul]

>I have always looked at the tile arrangement and went to the emotion of being a living chess piece of life!

Quite so. Masons are told that the lodge and hence the pavement extends from East to West and North to South and from the surface/centre of the Earth to the Heavens - but few pay attention and even fewer can use the information.