The Triple Druid Precinct^[1]

René Guénon

In Atlantis (July-August 1928), M. Paul Le Cour drew attention to a strange symbol drawn on a druidical stone, discovered about 1800 at Suèvres (Loir-et-Cher). This had previously been studied by M.E.C. Florance, president of the Society of Natural History and Anthropology, of Loir-et-Cher, who thought that the place where the stone was found could have been the site of the annual reunion of the Druids, situated, according to Caesar, in the confines of the country of the Carnutes.[2] His attention was attracted by the fact that the same sign was found on a Romano-GaIIic ocu list's seal, discovered about 1870 at Villefranche-sur-Cher (loir-et-Cher); and he propounded the theory that what it represented could be a sacred triple enclosure. This symbol is, in fact, formed by three concentric squares connected by four lines at right angles. (Fig. I.)

Figure 1.

Just when the article appeared in Atlantis, M. Florance was told of the same symbol engraved on the huge foundation stone of a buttress at the church of Sainte-Gemme (Loir-et-Cher); this stone seemed to have an origin older than the church and which might even also go back to the Druids. Apart from this, it seems certain that, like many other Celtic symbols, and notably that of the wheel, this figure remained in use up to the Middle Ages, since M. Charbonneau-Lassay has placed it amongst the "graffiti" of the keep of Chinon,[3] jointly with another no less ancient, formed of eight radials surrounded by a square (Fig. 2) which is to be found on the sacred stone of Kermaria, studied by M.J. Loth,[4] and to which allusion has already been made elsewhere.[5] M. Le Cour states that the symbol of the triple square is found also in Rome, in the cloister of San-Paolo, dating from the thirteenth century, and that it was known also in antiquity by others than the Celts, since he himself had found it several times at the Acropolis at Athens, on the paving of the Parthenon and of the Erechtheum.

Figure 2.

The interpretation of the symbol under discussion, as making up a triple enclosure, seems to us correct. In this context M. Le Cour established a connection with what Plato said, when he spoke of the metropolis of Atlantis, describing the palace of Poseidon as built at the centre of three concentric rings linked by canals, thus making a figure analogous to the one in question, but circular instead of square.

Now, what can be the significance of these three circles? It appears at once to be concerned with the three degrees of initiation, so that its entirety wou1d, as it were, be the image of the druidical hierarchy; and the fact that the same figure is found elsewhere than among the Celts indicates that there were, in other traditional forms, hierarchies built on the same model, which is perfectly normal. Moreover, division of initiation into three grades is the most frequent and, we might say, fundamental arrangement; in fact, by comparison, all others merely represent subdivisions or more or less complicated developments. What gave us this idea was that we formerly knew of documents which, in certain masonic systems of the high grades, clearly described these grades as successive circles drawn round a central point;[6] certainly these documents are far less ancient than the monuments referred to, but one can nevertheless find in them an echo of much more ancient traditions, and, at all events, they furnish us, in the circumstances, with a point of departure for interesting comparisons.

It should be noted that the interpretation which we put forward is thus in no way incompatible with certain others, such as that envisaged by M. Le Cour, referring to the three enclosures to the three circles of existence established in Celtic tradition; these three circles, which are found in another form in Christianity, are, moreover, the same thing as the "three worlds" of Hindu tradition. In this tradition, moreover, the celestial circles are sometimes depicted as so many concentric enclosures surrounding the Meru, that is to say, the sacred Mountain symbolizing the "Pole" or the "Axis of the World," and here again is a most remarkable concordance. Far from being mutually exclusive, the two interpretations harmonise perfectly, and it can even be said that, in a certain sense, they coincide, for, if it is a matter of genuine initiation, its degrees correspond to so many states of being, and these are the states which, in all traditions, are depicted as so many different worlds, for it must be clearly understood that the "locality" has only a purely symbolical character. We have already explained, in connection with Dante, that the heavens are actually "spiritual hierarchies," that is to say, degrees of initiation;[7] and it goes without saying that, at the same time, they are related to the degrees of universal existence, for, as we have said,[8] by virtue of the constitutive analogy of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, the initiatic process exactly reproduces the cosmological process. We add that, in a general way, the characteristic of every truly initiatic interpretation is never to be exclusive, but, on the contrary, to include synthetically in itself all other possible interpretations; moreover, this is why symbolism, with its manifold and superimposed meanings, is the normal means of expression of all true initiatic teaching. [German Swami's note: "See p. 147-148"]

From this explanation, the meaning of the four lines arranged in the form of a cross and connecting the three enclosures, becomes perfectly clear: they are channels by which the teaching of the traditional doctrine is communicated from on high downwards, starting from the supreme level which is its depository, and is distributed hierarchically to other levels. The central part of the figure thus corresponds to the "fountain of learning" spoken of by Dante and the "Fidele d'Amore,"[9] and the cruciform arrangement of the four channels rising from it shows these to be identical with the four rivers of Pardes.

In this connection it should be noted that there is an important shade of difference between the circular and square forms of the figure of the three enclosures: they are connected, respectively, with the symbolisms of the earthly Paradise and of the heavenly Jerusalem, in accordance with what we have explained in Le Roi du Monde (ch. XI) and in L'Esoterisme de Dante (ch. VIII). Indeed, there is always an analogy and correspondence between the beginning and end of any cycle, but at the end the circle is replaced by the square, and this indicates the realization of that which the Hermeticists symbolically designated as "squaring the circle":[10] the sphere, which represents the development of possibilities through the expansion of the primordial and central point, changes into a cube when this development is accomplished and final equilibrium is achieved for the cycle under consideration.[11]

In order more especially to apply these considerations to the question occupying us at the moment, we must point out that the circular form represents the point of departure of a tradition, which is certainly the case where Atlantis is concerned,[12] and the square form its terminal point, corresponding to the constitution of a secondary traditional form. In the first case, the centre of the figure will thus be the source of the doctrine, while in the second it will be more correctly the reservoir, spiritual authority having here, above all, a function of conservation; but, naturally, the symbolism of the "fountain of learning" applies to both cases.[13]

Figure 3.

From the viewpoint of numerical symbolism, it should also be pointed out that the combination of the three squares forms the duodenary. Arranged differently (Fig. 3), these three squares, to which four lines in the form of a cross are again added, constitute the figure in accordance with which the ancient astrologers inscribed the Zodiac;[14] moreover, this figure was regarded as that of the heavenly Jerusalem, with its twelve gates, three on each side, and here there is an obvious connection with the meaning just indicated of the square. Undoubtedly there are many other comparisons possible, but we think that these few notes, even if incomplete, help to throw some light on the mysterious subject of the triple Druidic enclosure.[15]

End Notes