1

Numbers in Freemasonry function as symbols representing specific ideas or sacred concepts rather than possessors of magical or occult virtues 2. Within this symbolic framework, the number one—often represented as a single point or monad—signifies unity and the Active Principle or Creator 12.

In the English lectures revised by Dr. Samuel Hemming following the 1813 Union, this concept is illustrated through the Pythagorean tetractys 2. The single initial point of the figure represents unity, or the monad, corresponding to the fundamental point in geometry 2. It serves as the primary principle from which all further combinations of form and number are generated 2. Carl H. Claudy similarly observes that the point was adopted to visually convey the central concept of divine unity 1.