I7 § A Hieroglyph of the Pole
To come back to some of the considerations relating to the figure of the 'pointed cubic stone' which has just been mentioned, let us begin by saying that in ancient documents this figure is completed-rather unexpectedlyby the addition of an axe that seems to be poised in equilibrium on the very summit of the pyramid. This feature has often intrigued specialists in Masonic symbolism, the greater number of whom have been unable to offer any satisfactory explanation whatsoever. It has been suggested, however, that in this context the axe might really be nothing other than a hieroglyph
of the Hebrew letter caph; and in fact it is there that the real solution is to be found. But the comparisons that can be made in this respect are of much more significance if one considers the corresponding Arabic letter qäf.
The most general sense attached to the letter in question, either in Hebrew or in Arabic, is that of strength or power (in Arabic, quwwah) which may be either of the physical or spiritual order as the case may be; and it is to this meaning, very directly, that the symbolism of a weapon such as the axe corresponds. In the present instance it is obviously a spiritual power that is symbolised, for the axe is placed in direct relationship, not with the cube, but with the pyramid; and this brings to mind what we have already explained elsewhere about the equivalence of the axe and the vajra (lightning) which is likewise above all a sign of the spiritual power. Furthermore the axe is placed not just at any point but at the pyramid's summit which is often considered as representing the summit of a spiritual or initiatic hierarchy. This position, therefore, seems to indicate the highest spiritual power active in the world, that is, what all traditions designate as the Pole; and in the same connection let us not forget the axial significance of symbolic arms in general and of the axe in particular, which is manifestly in perfect accord with such an interpretation.
What is especially to be noted is that the very name of the letter qäf is also, in the Arabic tradition, the name of the sacred or polar Mountain.[1] Its image, the pyramid, thus bears, in this letter or in the axe that stands for it, its own designation as the sacred Mountain, as if to leave no doubt as to the meaning which it is traditionally given. Moreover, if the symbol of the mountain or of the pyramid is referred to the World Axis, its summit, where this letter is placed, becomes identified more precisely with the Pole itself. Now qäf is the numeric equivalent of maqām, (holy place or station),[2] an equivalence that defines this point as the 'Place', par excellence, that is, the single point that remains fixed and invariable in all the revolutions of the world.
The letter qäf is moreover the first letter of the Arabic name of the Pole, Quṭb, and as such it can stand for the whole word, as initials are often made to do;[3] but there are still other concordances which are no less striking. Thus the seat (the Arabic word is markaz, which strictly means
'centre') of the supreme Pole (called al-Qutb al-Ghawth, in order to distinguish him from the seven Aqṭāb or secondary and subordinate Poles)[4] is described symbolically as situated between heaven and earth, at a point that is exactly over the Kábah which, precisely, has the form of a cube and which is itself one of the representations of the 'Centre of the World'. We can thus consider the pyramid, which is invisible because it is of a purely spiritual nature, as rising above this cube which for its part is visible because it relates to the world of the elements, marked by the quaternary number; and at the same time, this cube, on which rests the base of the pyramid or of the hierarchy that it figures with the Qutb at its summit, is also by its form a symbol of perfect stability.
The supreme Qutb is attended by the two Imāms of the right and of the left, and the ternary thus formed is represented in the pyramid by the triangularity of each of its faces. On the other hand, the unity and the binary which constitute this ternary correspond to the letters alif and bā, according to the respective numerical values of these letters. The letter alif has the form of a vertical axis; its upper point and the two ends of the horizontal letter bā form (according to a schema of which one could find equivalents in various symbols pertaining to other traditions) the three angles of the initiatic triangle, which in fact must be considered as one of the 'signatures' of the Pole.
In connection with this last point, let it be added that the letter alif is considered as being especially 'polar' (quṭbāniyyah); its name and the word Qutb are numerically equivalent: alif = 1+30+80=111 ; Qutb = 100+9+2=111. This number 111 represents unity expressed in the three worlds, which is a perfectly apt way of describing the very function of the Pole.