COLOGNE OR STRASBOURG?

THE question raised in the October 1926 issue of _Voile d'Isis_ should be divided into two parts, one historical and the other symbolic, and the divergence noted there concerns primarily only the first of these points of view. Moreover, the contradiction is perhaps only apparent, for if the Strasbourg cathedral is really the official center of a certain guild rite, would not the Cologne cathedral likewise be the center of another rite? And for this reason would there not be two distinct Masonic charters, one dating back to Strasbourg and the other to Cologne, which could well have given rise to confusion? This would need verifying and we would also need to know whether these two charters bear the same or different dates. The question is interesting above all from the historical point of view, and although for us the latter is not the most important, neither is it without value, for it is connected in a certain way with the symbolic point of view itself. Indeed, there is nothing arbitrary in the place chosen as a center by organizations such as those in question.

Be that as it may, we fully agree with Albert Bernet when he says that there must be a 'sensitive point' in all cathedrals built according to the true rules of the art, and also when he states that 'they should be dealt with from the symbolic point of view above all.' On this subject there is a curious parallel to point out: Wronski asserted that in every body there is a point which, if once touched, the body thereby at once completely disintegrates, is volatilized as it were, all its molecules being disassociated; and he claimed to have found the means to calculate the position of this cohesive center. Is not this, especially if taken symbolically—as we think one must do—exactly the same thing as the 'sensitive point' of cathedrals?

In its most general form, what is in question here could be called the 'vital knot' that exists in all matter as the point of juncture of its constitutive elements. A cathedral built in accordance with the rules forms a true organic whole, which is why it too has a 'vital knot'. The point here is the same as that expressed in antiquity by the famous symbol of the 'Gordian knot', although modern Masons would no doubt be quite surprised if told that in this respect their sword can play the same role ritually as that of Alexander...

In addition, we can note that the effective solution to the problem in question is related to the 'power of the keys' (_potestas ligandi et solvendi_)^[1] understood in its Hermetic significance, or, what amounts to the same thing, that it corresponds to the second phase of the _coagula, solve_ of the alchemists. As we observed in the article in _Regnabit_ to which Paul Redonnel refers, it must not be forgotten that Janus, Roman god of initiation into the Mysteries, was at the same time patron of the _Collegia fabrorum_, the guilds of workers that persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and, through the Compagnonnage, right up to modern times; but in our day there are doubtless very few who still understand something of the profound symbolism of the 'Lodge of Saint John'.