Bessler’s Knowledge of Freemasonry

The comments in this blog sometimes throw up some surprises and occasionally send me on a different path leading to new information.  One such comment which I admit I was tempted to ignore, but then it pointed out something I had missed.  I don’t think it will help find the solution, but it might!

This picture appeared in the comments on my blog I think it was on the May 8th.  I’m sorry I  can’t find the poster, I just copied the image but I’m sure  you know who you are. So this is what I saw:-

It’s an ingenious interpretation, but only if you are looking for the number 7.  I don’t think any of them look like 7s at all and I think I’ve found a better interpretation.

Given his demonstration of Euclid’s instructions on making a pentagram in his Weissenstein and Merseburg wheels, and his description of the golden ratio and the 345 triangle in MT 137, I suggest that Bessler was familiar with many of the tenets of Freemasonry, and we know many of them. 

Notice the three right angled triangles coloured blue, they make me think of Pythagorean triangle 3.4.5.  The number 5  placed adjacent to the middle triangle seems like a hint that these are 345 triangles.  The well-known formula for the Pythagorean triple (often called a triple right triangle) is a set of three whole numbers that perfectly fit the Pythagorean theorem, \(a^2 + b^2 = c^2\), where \(c\) is the hypotenuse. The most famous example (3, 4, 5) is clearly intended in Bessler’s picture.

Apologies for reminding us, but  the square on the hypotoneuse equals the sum of the two squares on the other two sides. There are three right angled triangles.  Three of them together is known as the Pythagoras triple triangles.  This meant that triple right angles were composed of whole numbers or integers - no fractions or decimal points so that you can calculate any size  using whole numbers.  But there are a limited number triple triangles having whole number integers, 16 of them in the first 100 numbers..

In Freemasonry, the 3-4-5 triangle—often called the Pythagorean Triangle—is used in the 47th Problem of Euclid to symbolise the creation of a perfect right angle. Operative stonemasons in Egypt, historically used a 12-knot rope stretched to this ratio to ensure their foundational corners were completely square.  Bessler dropped hints about the importance of Euclid’s 47 the problem by providing a total of 141 MT drawings plus 141 Bible references in his Declaration in Apologia Poetica.  The only factors of 141 are 3 and 47.

The drawing above is well-known symbol used extensively in Freemasonry.  Count the black and white squares bordering the right angled triangle, they number three, four and five.

Three triangles are also included in the Weissenstein and Merseburg wheels in DT.  But why was it indicated in some of Bessler’s pictures?  We know that Bessler was well-taught by a famous teacher, Christian Weise, and studied a broad range of subjects, including maths in which he excelled. Perhaps his inclusion of the Pythagoras Theorem was merely to substantiate his claim to be a mathematician, regardless of the lack of documentary evidence.

Or could it be part of yet another clue to be solved indicating how his wheel worked.

Just demonstrate my point here is rough attempt to draw in the Pythagoras triangles in the Weissenstein wheel.

Several right angles are apparent, but I still can’t see any advantage in seeing them, but perhaps some else can make sense of this?

JC