by Midnight Freemason Emeritus
WB. James E. Frey
Equilibrium is the goal of the individuation process and the Individuation process is best represented by the balancing of the Anima and Animus Archetypes. The Animus is representative as one’s active force within themselves, taking the gender role as masculine energy. On the other hand the anima archetype is representative of one’s passive energies, the feminine aspect within all men. This stage of individuation is to balance these active and passive forces, or this masculine and feminine forces like the ying and yang to find balance and inner peace. This is represented by both the greater and lesser lights as revealed in the Apprentice degree.
The square represents the great inverted triangle or the sacred chalice of the feminine. The anima is a projection of ones experiences with their mother, sister, daughter, lover extending from the primal image of the heavenly goddess. In ancient times the great goddesses were symbolic for the lunar power of the moon. Every mother and lover is bound to be placed as a representation of this timeless image in the deepest realms of man’s unconscious. She is the balance to one’s struggles within themselves and compensates all the bitterness and disappointments we experience in the painful process of self-discovery.
The Anima is the feminine aspect men seek within themselves, but project onto others. They develop concepts of an idealized feminine that inevitably leads to ruined relationships because they never quite find in others what they are seeking within themselves. But those who come to this stage of individuation a psychologically whole person will be able to understand what they are lacking within themselves before they project onto others. This self-understanding allows them to determine what they need from another person to find a sense of balance as opposed to having his rejected deficit within them that they refuse to acknowledge.
The Animus is represented by the triangle, or compass, which has close association with the blade or masculine Sun Gods. So as the perfected Worshipful master of his lodge is balanced between the sun and the moon, the great light of understanding as represented by the volume of sacred law is only achieved by balancing the active and passive aspects of the self. This is why the square and the compasses is shown as representing how much light one receives in the craft.
Once these active and passive aspects of the self are balanced we see the final stage of individuation is spawned from this harmony. This final archetype is known as the Sun Child and represents the individualized person at the end of this process. Like Alchemical gold the psyche has been stripped of all emotional irregularities and preconceived notions of the self. The psyche being complete has found harmony and in its own way elevated itself beyond material bounds to the collected unconscious becoming an archetype itself. This is deemed the Sun child because it is an archetype of complete light and representative of harmonization of the body, mind and soul.
Within the Masonic system this is represented by the Worshipful Master of the lodge who sits in the East as the transformed man placed in the harmony of the inner self. It is interesting to note because the Master of the lodge presents you with the ability to balance the inner forces for a constructive purpose, the working tools. The Apprentice is presented with the 24 inch gauge and the common gavel.
The common gavel is given as a symbol of force or active energy and the 24 inch gauge is given as a representation of form of passive energy. The apprentice is given the common gavel to represent his life force, his will, and his potential to bring to the world. This force is how we utilize our skills to achieve our life’s purpose. If we reject our shadow and embrace the mask archetype this force is mismanaged and leads to achieving superficial goals that leads only to a sense of emptiness within the self. Pike writes “Force unregulated or ill-regulated, is not only wasted in the void… it is destruction and ruin… blind force of the people is a force that must be economized, and also managed… it must be regulated by intellect.” (Pike, Morals and Dogma, pg. 3)
~JEF
