Our Shield

The coat of arms of the United Europe Grand Regular Lodge reflects our convictions and ideals as aspirants to the royal Art, always in search of the Truth and striving to imbue the divine order into the worldly life. Our motto (1), written on the frontispiece, represents the very essence of the masonic Doctrine and that of our faith; according to the Tradition, the individual Self (2) is nothing but a particle of the greater Light (3). Therefore, since man is guided by the divine spark of light in his soul, we will not seek evidence of the existence of God. The Wisdom, Love, and Strength overflowing the human heart reflect all his good intentions, words, and deeds. The symbols and the rituals teach us that the particle of Divinity living inside man is the expression of the uncreated, omniscient, omnipotent, and everlasting Light.

This coat of arms that represents us is divided into two separate fields by our traditional masonic Ruler bearing the 24 marks. The field above the Ruler represents the Spirit, while the other field symbolizes Matter (4). The spirit is in the Square, while the Matter (the Tower) is in the Circle, suggested by the roundness of the escutcheon. In order to highlight the sacrality of the symbols, the ratio between the superior and the inferior fields equals the Golden Number. Also, by inverting the positions, i.e. the Spirit in the Square and the Matter in the Circle, a subtle suggestion to the quadrature of the circle is achieved, a fundamental esoteric concept regarding the interconnection between Spirit and Matter.

Our coat of arms is painted in the strong colours of the rainbow, which are, fortuitously or not, similar to the colours of our beloved tricolour flag. The Red is the Fire/Spirit, the active element (dry, hot, vertical, subtle), and the vermilion hue – that of the royal mantle – suggests the Royal Art, the internal work conducted in the Workshops. Yellow is the Air, the median, interface element, borrowing from the Fire’s verticality and the horizontal aspect of the Water – the Middle Path of balance and harmony. The bright hue – the colour of Gold and the Sun – symbolizes the innermost divinity of the human being and, to the same degree, that of humanity in general. Finally, Blue is the Water/Matter, the passive element (humid, cold, horizontal, gross).
Even if we have mentioned only three out of the four fundamental elements that make up reality, and in order to avoid any misunderstanding, we need to invoke Emedocles’ codified doctrine, which says that the Tetrasomia (5) is indestructible. For us, as initiates, the element Earth is as important as the other three, Earth being connected to them through its very nature and manifestation. If the trial of the Earth is missing, symbolized by the test the candidate passes through in the Reflection Room, then there can be no regular initiation.

The Sun, dominating the upper side of the coat of arms, symbolizes the Grand Architect of the Universe (6). Its central position signifies the preeminence of the Spirit (7) over the material universe. We do not wish to suggest that the Sun itself is the artisan of Creation, because, as we all know, this heavenly body was created, together with the Moon, by the Architect of all worlds, so as “to give light upon the Earth” and, at the same time, life to human beings. The eternal Principle (8), immutable and infinite, the total of all possibilities, the cause of all causes, is indeed at the core of the metaphysical doctrine. We strongly believe that the metaphysical doctrine (9), the essence of the Tradition, is the sum of averred knowledge, principles and revealed faith, purely spiritual and super-human. Renunciation, even in part, to this afore-mentioned gnosis invalidates the sacred aura of masonic activities.

The letter Yod, situated at the very center of the Principle and, concomitantly, in the upper circle of the Compass, also has a similar significance to that attributed to the Sun. In order to affirm our regularity, the letter Yod is essential, as Aïn Sof (the Divinity) is manifest through the embodiment in the human being, symbolically revealed by the Sephirotic tree; not coincidentally, the sacred Tetragrammaton begins with the ineffable letter Yod.

The three Great Lights of the Francmasonerie – the Square, the Compass, and the Sacred Book of Law are illustrated in an original and apparently unusual manner, compared to the more widely known representations. However, the position of the Compass above the Square is profoundly traditional, as it is apparent in the symbols used by numerous masonic guilds in the Middle Ages. Moreover, the Square and the Compass placed above it form together with the Ruler a right-angled triangle, suggesting once again the Great Triad, also symbolised by the colours on our coat of arms, as shown before. It would have sufficed to have the Tables of the Law on the Altar of Oaths instead of the Sacred Book of Law, which we keep open during our works. Given its sacred and universal nature, the Decalogue of Moses is enough to evoke man’s transcendence, the divine inspiration of his being, as well as his absolute freedom of conscience of the creature created in God’s image. However, out of respect for our brother who originates from a different spiritual tradition, the Sacred Book of Law is just a generic name.

The ruler divining the escutcheon has special connotations regarding the regularity which we solemnly declare to imbue, in its spirit and in its letter, in all our actions and decisions. Thus, the coat of arms proclaims our solemn oath to obey the conditions of regularity that transpire from the initiatic Tradition. It is noteworthy that the elaboration of the rule demands a special competence. In their whole, these precepts (11), which we solemnly state to obey, make up the rules we live by. The strict adherence to these traditional rules is the foundation of our rightful masonic creed. In the spirit (12), the rule must be identical to the divine order and with the Grand Architect of the Universe; therefore, the proclamation of a rule is the essential prerogative of the master. Only a true master can make use of the initiating power of reason and only him can wield the clear mental capability to extract from the Principle the valid rules, applicable to reality. Tradition itself has been perpetuated through the rules established in this manner.
In this vision, the rule expresses the sum of general, ever-valid requirements, representing the objective demands that make up a coherent and unitary set of rules, meant to bring about, consolidate, and guarantee the edification of the ideal Temple of the humanity. From jurisprudence, we know that the law must be applied in its letter and in its spirit. The spirit of the law is the very Principle meant to determine the structure of the whole conceptual and procedural edifice, and, in general, the entire actional capacity governed by the reglementation. These requirements must necessarily be reflected in all the actions governed by the norm.

The tower from the base of the escutcheon represents the ideal Temple of humanity and our determination to share the light gathered throughout the whole process of spiritual elevation and the assumption of descendent realisation as a sacred and noble mission. Of all the symbols employed to express the masonic doctrine, the most important, treasured and by far the most relevant is the ideal Temple of humanity. The spiritualisation of the Temple is actually the first and the most important teaching of the Francmasonerie, the link that bonds together the operational and speculative divisions of the Order, bestowing upon them the initiatic and sacred character we are so fond of.

On the other hand, the Tower is a consecrated symbol of the Citadel. Symbolically, the edification of the Temple signifies the re-establishment of the communion with the Divine. Related to the Kingdom of God (the heavenly Jerusalem at the Zenith), the earthly sanctuary that we are building at the Nadir justifies the whole range of symbols and allegories through which the epiphany of our mission, the Opus Magnum, is revealed. Therefore, the mission of each and everyone of us is twofold: the edification of the inner Temple (13) and, from the social point of view, the building of the ideal temple of humanity.

Thus
I have spoken.

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1. In Latin, The inner light guides us! According to masonic symbolism, the expression Lux inens signifies the Centre of the Circle, the Room in the Middle, the Inner Forum, and the place between the Square and the Compass where the mason master is placed at the moment of his consecration.
2. The inner light, the Spirit embodied into man, the Son; the individual Self is a divine projection whose existential meaning cannot be but he reintegration into the Absolute through identification with the Supreme Self.
3. The Supreme and Absolute Self – the Father; I and the Father are one, says Jesus revealing his divine origin.
4. The earthly Jerusalem – sefira Malkut (at the base of the Sephirotic Tree) represents the kingdom of the Kabbala, symmetrically connected with the heavenly Jerusalem symbolised by the Sefira Kether (the Crown)
5. The quadruple unity of the fundamental elements originating from the hermetic Ether
6. The supreme principle, God, the Divine matrix, etc
7. The subtle element, the upper Triad of the the Sephirotic Tree.
8. Principium means the cause of causes, the element from which all the elements cascade down, the factor generating effects, inherent motor of actions and consequences
9. The sacred science, the primal philosophy, revealed through the study of suprasensible realities.
10. In Francmasonic terms, it means the rule drawn from the Supreme Principle, through the mediation of the human mental paradigm.
11. Cannons, commandments, decrees, norms, regulations, landmarks – generally, rules
12. During the five initiatic trips journey undertaken by the journeyman, the ruler is moved from one hand to the other, suggesting its ambivalence
13. The human body is the temple of the spirit.