what does the triple tau symbolise in the royal arch and do writers agree on it

The triple tau is the principal emblem and badge of the Royal Arch, but Masonic scholars and traditional lectures offer distinct readings of its symbolism rather than a single unified meaning 2.

Traditional lectures preserved from early English ritual explain the symbol through geometry and classical cosmology. The intersecting lines of the conjoined tau crosses form angles whose sum equals the five Platonic bodies, symbolizing the four elements and the sphere of the universe 2.

Albert Mackey draws his interpretation from the Biblical book of Ezekiel, where the tau served as a mark placed upon the righteous to distinguish them from idolaters 2. In Mackey's view, the triple tau acts as a mark of distinction, setting apart those who know and worship the true name of the Deity from those ignorant of the mystery, while carrying the broader symbolical sense of preservation and salvation from death 2.

Other writers emphasize trinitarian and mystical readings. Robert Lomas treats the conjoined shape as representing the threefold nature of a single God, uniting the attributes of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer 1. Walter Leslie Wilmshurst presents the emblem as combining the form of a level with the Hebrew shape of the cross, seeing in its three conjoined crosses a representation of the three crosses of Calvary 3.

The traditional lecture reading linking the triple tau to geometry and the Platonic bodies originates from early English Royal Arch ritual lectures 2. Albert Mackey attributes this explanation—that the intersecting lines of the emblem form angles equaling the five Platonic solids representing the four elements and the universe—directly to "Old English Royal Arch lectures" 2.

Beyond identifying these early English ritual lectures as the source of the reading, the library sources do not record the specific historical origin, author, or precise date of when this geometrical interpretation was first composed or introduced into the degree 2.

Albert Mackey explicitly offered his own interpretation of the triple tau's symbolism, distinguishing his view from that found in the traditional Old English Royal Arch lectures 2. While those early ritual lectures explained the emblem geometrically through angles corresponding to the five Platonic bodies, Mackey drew his reading from the biblical Book of Ezekiel 2.

In Ezekiel, a tau cross served as a mark placed upon the righteous to distinguish those saved on account of their sorrow for sin from those slain as idolaters 2. Applying this scriptural allusion, Mackey posited that the triple tau serves as a mark designating and separating those who know and worship the true name of God from those who remain ignorant of that august mystery 2.