What are the three Lesser Lights in Freemasonry?

The three Lesser Lights are symbolically identified as the Sun, the Moon, and the Master of the Lodge 124. Physically represented in the lodge by three illuminated candles arranged in a triangular formation 14, their practical purpose is to light the brethren to, at, and from labor 1, guiding the candidate to perceive the Great Lights 4.

The traditional explanation connects the triad directly to governance and order: as the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night, so the Worshipful Master is charged to rule and govern the lodge with equal regularity 24. The lights are placed in the East, South, and West, corresponding to the officers of the lodge 12. The North contains no light, symbolizing the region of obscurity where the sun darts no rays from below the horizon 1.

Masonic writers elaborate on both the historical antecedents and the internal meaning of these lights. Carl H. Claudy notes that the triadic pattern mirrors ancient mystery rites, such as those of Eleusis, which placed three lights around the holy place to represent the Sun, the Moon, and Mercury 4. Walter Leslie Wilmshurst takes an allegorical approach, holding that the lesser lights represent the faculties of human reason and spiritual understanding within the individual Mason, by whose assistance he is enabled to discern the spiritual structure of his own personality as holy ground 3.