OUR COLLEGE SEAL
By Right Worthy Fratre. J. Ray. SHUTE, IX0
REPODUCED herewith is a seal which the writer designed for the use of the college and which is, I believe, the first college
seal ever to be employed in the United States of America.
The double circle surrounding the seal may be said to represent eternity; without beginning or end, usually symbolized
as a serpent holding its tail in its mouth. The abbreviations within the circle are those of the Latin for North Carolina
College, Rosicrucian Society in the United States.
The central cross is alternately the hermetic cross, representing the union of the physical and spiritual, and the apocalyptic
version of the Heavenly Jerusalem, descending foursquare from Above; it also represents, with its four equal arms, the fourfold
duty of a Freemason: to God, country, neighbor and self.
The alchemical monument, composed of square, circle, triangle and crescent, symbolize earth, water, fire and air -- the
prime elements of the Great Work.
In the left and right arms of the cross are represented two pillars; Boaz and Jachin, light and darkness,
life and death, etc. The form of the columns likewise suggests the psychic egg contained in the cosmic womb, symbolizing the
evolution of body and soul.
The letters located in the arms of the cross are the letters of the mysterious tetrad — Tarot, Rota, Taro, Tora —
referred to as the Tarot Wheel and having varied symbolic applications.
The rose within the triangle at the apex of each arm of the cross immediately symbolizes the Rose of Sharon crushed against
the Tree of Golgotha and reminds us of the dew of the rose which changes the cross of black into the Rosy Cross so dear to
our society.
Between the arms of the cross we behold the four living creatures of Ezekiel, usually understood to typify, respectively,
St. Matthew, the Man; St. John, the Eagle; St. Mark, the Lion; and St. Luke, the Ox. However, in the Kabbalah, tinder the
Sephiroth, the angelic order of holy living creatures are represented by the Bull, Lion, Eagle, and Man, likewise corresponding
to Taurus, Leo, Scopio and Aquarius.
In the left upper quarter of the seal appears the sun, typifying the warmth of life, while in the upper right quarter the
moon may be said to represent the chill of death. Again the sun and moon may symbolize, in Egyptian solar mythology, Osiris
and his sister-wife Isis. Masonic interpretation informs us that as the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night,
so should the Worshipful Master endeavor to rule and govern the lodge with equal regularity. The seven stars within the
cradle of the moon represent the seven spirits kneeling before the Throne, likewise they symbolize the seven liberal arts
and sciences kneeling before the Divine Author in humility.
In the lower left quarter the sacred Tetragrammaton reminds us of the primum mobile of creation and the Quest of
Freemasonry. In the lower right quarter the Alpha and Omega remind us, of the Logos of St. John, the Word Immaculate,
the first and last — beginning and end — of that which was, is, or will be.
