The Triple Tau

 

by ERIC A. PEISLEY (N.S.W., Australia)

       The Triple Tau is one of the most ancient of emblems.  It is translated from the Hebrew and is highly esteemed as “the emblem of all emblems.”  As the Grand Emblem of Royal Arch Masonry, it denotes that the wearer has been the recipient of a sublime but hidden wisdom received only in the Holy Royal Arch Degree.

     Like many other symbols, it is traced to a biblical origin.  It is supposed, in its simplest form, to be the sign and mark referred to by Ezekiel when he commanded the man with the ink-horn to go through the midst of the city of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

    This sign, says Mackey in his Lexicon, was to distinguish them as persons to be saved because of their sorrow for sin, from those who were to be slain as idolaters.  Its form was that of the Hebrew letter tau, which in the ancient Phoenician alphabet, as well as on the coin of the Maccabees, was the shape of a cross.

     In the early days, civil magistrates are said to have placed this mark on the brow of those whose innocence was established.  Military leaders marked those who escaped unhurt from battle, similarly, as evidence they were in perfect life.

    It is a combination of three “T’s,” or the Triple Tau, that is most familiar to Royal Arch Companions.  The sign has been interpreted in many ways to suit the conceit or invention of the Masonic student.  One body inclines to the view it as the initials “T” and “H,” and that these indicate the Temple of Solomon as they are the initials of Templum Heirosolymi.  Others see in it a combination of three T-squares, and argue that it refers to the similar jewels of the three ancient Grand Masters.  Still others believe it is the monogram of Hiram of Tyre.  Another group, seeking for a linguistic interpretation, maintains that it is merely a modification of the Hebrew character shin which is a recognized abbreviation of the Sacred Name among the Jewish people.

    One of the lectures favored by English Freemasons furnished a mathematical interpretation.  The device “by its intersection,” says the lecture, “forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five several combinations and reduced, their amount in right angles will be found equal to five Platonic bodies which represent the four elements and the sphere of the universe.”

     Regardless of the source, the Freemason adopts it as a symbol, and by wearing it acknowledges himself a servant of the True God who established his worship at Jerusalem, and to whose service the glorious Temple of Solomon was erected.

     In Royal Arch Masonry, the Triple Tau is also called “the key.”  It contains eight right angles and is used as a measure or mnemonic, whereby the Platonic solids can be calculated.  Taken alone, it is commensurate with the tetrahedron – the sides of which, being four equilateral triangles, are together equal to two right angles.  It is said this solid was used by the Platonists as a symbol of the element of fire.

    (Reprinted from an article from The Royal Arch Mason, Volume II, Number 7, September 1947, pages 222 – 223.)