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By way of addition to what we have already said about the 'cornerstone' we think it will not be without interest to give some further details about a particular point, which has to do with our references to the Arabic word rukn, angle, and its different meanings. In this connection our main purpose is to draw attention to a very remarkable concordance to be found in early Christian symbolism, a concordance on which light is thrown (as always) by the comparisons that can be made with certain data from other traditions. We propose to speak of the gammadion, or rather, we should say, of the gammadia, for this symbol has two forms that are distinctly different though the same meaning is generally given to each. It owes its name to the elements which it is made up of in both its variants and which, being in fact try-squares, are shaped like the Greek letter gamma.^[1]

The first form of this symbol (figure 16), sometimes also called the 'cross of Figure 16

the Word', ^[2] consists of four try-squares, the right-angled summits of which are turned towards the centre. The cross is formed by the try-squares themselves, or more precisely by the empty space between their parallel sides which as it were represents four ways, starting from the centre or ending there, according to the direction they are traversed in. Now this same figure, considered as the representation of a crossroads, is the primitive form of the Chinese character hing, which designates the five elements: we see here the four regions of space which correspond to the cardinal points, and which are in fact called 'try-squares' (fang), ^[3] around the central area to which the fifth element is related. These elements, despite a partial similarity of name, cannot be identified in any way with those of the Hindu tradition and of Western antiquity, so that, to avoid all confusion, it would doubtless be better, as some have suggested, to translate hing by 'natural agents', inasmuch as they are forces acting within the corporeal world and not constitutive elements of the bodies themselves. It is none the less true, as is clear from their spatial correspondence, that the five hing may be regarded as the arkān of this world, just as are, from another point of view, the elements in the ordinary sense, though with a difference as to the meaning of the central element. For while ether, not being on the same basic level as the other elements, corresponds to the true 'cornerstone', that of the summit (rukn al-arkān), the 'earth' of the Far Eastern tradition must be placed in direct correspondence with the 'foundation stone' of the centre, of which we have previously spoken.^[5]

The representation of the five arkān appears still more clearly in the other form of the gammadion (figure 17) where four try-squares, forming the angles Figure 17

(arkan in the literal sense of the word) of a square, surround a cross drawn in its centre. The summits of the try-squares are then turned outwards instead of towards the centre as in the previous case. ^[6] Here we can consider the entire figure as corresponding to the horizontal projection of an edifice onto its foundation plane: the four try-squares then correspond to the foundation stones of the four angles (which in fact must be cut 'on the square'), and the cross to the 'cornerstone' of the summit which, though not being on the same level, is projected onto the centre of the foundation according to the direction of the vertical axis; and the symbolic assimilation of Christ to the 'cornerstone' justifies this correspondence still more explicitly.

In fact, from the standpoint of Christian symbolism both the gammadia are considered as representing Christ, he himself being the cross in the middle of the four Evangelists, who are represented by the try-squares. The whole is thus the equivalent of the well known figuration of Christ himself in the midst of the four animals of the vision of Ezekiel and of the Apocalypse, ^[7] these animals being the most usual symbols of the Evangelists, ^[8] whose assimilation to the foundation stones of the four angles is moreover in no way out of keeping with the fact that St Peter, on the other hand, is expressly designated as the 'foundation stone' of the Church. We have simply to see in this the expression of two different points of view, one referring to doctrine and the other to the constitution of the Church; and it is certainly incontestable, as regards Christian doctrine, that the Gospels are very truly its foundations.

In the Islamic tradition, a similarly arranged figure is also to be found, comprising the name of the Prophet at the centre and those of the first four Khulafa, at the corners. Here again, the Prophet, appearing as rukn al-arkān, must be considered, like Jesus Christ in the preceding figure, as situated at a level other than that of the base, and consequently he also corresponds to the 'cornerstone' of the summit. Moreover, it must be noted that, of the two points of view that we have just indicated as regards Christianity, this representation directly recalls the one which looks on St Peter as the

Footnotes

[17]It would be so only when, before being put in place, this same stone were to be considered in its state of 'rejection'.

[18]See 'The Symbolism of the Dome' [41 above] and also _The Great Triad_, ch. 14.

[19]This connection with the _luz_ is clearly suggested, moreover, by the parallels we have pointed out above with Bethel and with the 'third eye' (see on this subject _The Lord of the World_, ch. 7).

[1]See _Symbolism of the Cross_, ch. 10. As we noted then, it is these _gammadia_ which are the true 'gammadian crosses', and it is only today that this designation has been applied to the swastika, a mistake which can only cause an unfortunate confusion between two entirely different symbols which in no way have the same meaning.

[2]The reason for this (according to the general meaning of the symbol) is that it is held to represent the Word expressing itself by the Four Gospels. It is to be noted that, in this interpretation, these must be considered as corresponding to four points of view (symbolically related to the 'quarters' of space), the reunion of which is necessary for the integral expression of the Word, just as the four try-squares form the cross by joining at their summits.

[3]The try-square, in the Far Eastern tradition, is essentially the instrument used to 'measure the Earth'; cf., _The Great Triad_, ch.15 and 16. It is easy to see the relationship between this gammadion and the square divided into nine parts (ibid. ch. 16) which can be obtained simply by filling in the outline of a square round the outside of the gammadion and joining the summits of the try-squares so as to enframe the central section.

[4]These are: water to the North, fire to the South, wood to the East, metal to the West, and earth at the Centre. It will be seen that there are three designations in common with the elements of other traditions but that earth none the less does not have here the same spatial correspondence.

[5]It should be noted, in this connection, that the mound raised at the centre of a country truly corresponds to the altar or hearth placed at the central point of an edifice.

[6]The summits of the four try-squares and the centre of the cross, being the four angles and the centre of the square, correspond to the 'five points' by which the exact site of an edifice was traditionally determined.

[7]These four symbolic animals, moreover, correspond to the four _Mahārājas_ who, in the Hindu and Tibetan traditions, are the regents of the cardinal points and of the 'quarters' of space.

[8]In a very similar way, the ancient Egyptian tradition represented Horus in the midst of his four sons. Moreover, in the first years of Christianity, in Egypt, Horus was frequently taken as a symbol of Christ.

47 § Al-Arkān

Footnotes