In the Secret of the Companionships

The Companionships of France and Europe – these brotherhoods of itinerant workers in wood, stone, or metal trades – have always cultivated an initiatory heritage. Like other initiatory societies, they have their own rites and symbols, passed down through generations, which arouse the curiosity of outsiders. Although discreet rather than truly secret, and without any political aim other than the love of well-done work and the transmission of a worker’s morality, the Companions share a rich and highly codified culture. Their esoteric tradition is alive and grounded in the material, a legacy of what is now known as the Companions of the Devoir. Exploration.

Legendary Origins and Patron Figures

From the 16th century in France, these workers’ brotherhoods (formerly called Devoirs) claimed prestigious and mythical origins to strengthen their identity. Each companion rite is thus placed under the patronage of a legendary ancestor: King Solomon (builder of the Temple of Jerusalem, assisted by the architect Hiram), Master Jacques (a wise builder from Gaul in legend), or Father Soubise (a companion monk with more mysterious origins). The companions still call themselves Children of Solomon, Children of Master Jacques, or Children of Father Soubise, depending on the symbolic lineage they claim. In reality, these founding stories only took shape quite late (in the 18th–19th centuries), but they give the companionships a sense of a glorious past going back to the construction of Solomon’s Temple. The episodes of the life and death of these mythical ancestors serve as models: they are evoked as patron figures guiding the young companion in the values of his Devoir. Tradition holds that every companion of the Devoir must make at least once in his life a pilgrimage to the hermitage of Sainte-Baume in Provence – the supposed tomb of Master Jacques – in memory of this martyred founder. Likewise, Mary Magdalene (reputed to have retired to Sainte-Baume) is honored as the patron saint of the companions, symbolizing the spiritual role assigned to women in this brotherhood. These constant invocations and references to companion ancestors anchor the community in an unbroken initiatory chain, distinct in spirit from that of Masonic lodges, and closer to a craft esotericism enlivened by legend and traditional Christian sacredness.

Despite these symbolic links with the Bible or the Crusades (Master Jacques has sometimes been equated with the last grand master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, or Soubise linked to Cistercian monks who taught geometric art to builders), the companionships remain deeply attached to the material and the craft rather than to faith. The Companion sees himself as the heir of a working-class culture that expresses, through the monuments he raises, humanity’s effort to rise “from the visible to the invisible.” The companionship – described as the “knighthood of the craft” – maintains a unity between the artisan’s gesture and the quest for spiritual meaning. That is why its founding legends, even if late, remain rooted in the concrete of construction: the Temple, the Cathedral, the worksite lodge (the Cayenne) are both material realities and spiritual ideals for the companions. Here we find the ideal of a “Ars Magna” of the builder, a Royal Art of Construction where mastery of stone, wood, or iron borders on the sacred.

Symbols, Builder’s Knowledge, and the Art of the Line

The companion tradition also includes a whole aspect of secret know-how and magical-religious practices linked to the worksite. Builders of old, trained in the methods of the ancients since the Middle Ages, surrounded their craft with symbolic precautions intended to protect the work and the men. Thus, many old buildings bear inscriptions or engraved marks considered apotropaic (that is, protective against evil). Often confused (deliberately?) with purely utilitarian artisan marks, these figures – crosses, pentagrams, wheels, or interlacing patterns – were actually meant to ward off malevolent influences and place the construction under good auspices. It is not uncommon to see on the beams of a roof frame or the lintel of a door compass-drawn rosettes (six-petal wheels called daisy wheels), series of joined V’s or interwoven M’s (Marian monograms invoking the Virgin), endless knots, or small crosses carved in stone – all symbols our ancestors believed effective to ward off evil spirits by magically sealing the place. These ritual “marking” practices continue a very old tradition: since ancient Rome and the Middle Ages, foundation nails and first stone deposits accompanied constructions to symbolically bind them to the ground and call divine protection on the building. The Companions of the Tour de France, great builders of cathedrals and homes, perpetuated in their own way this magical heritage of the builder by hiding blessing formulas, cabalistic signs, or emblems within or on the surface of the work. Many cut stones of Gothic cathedrals bear lapidary signs – letters, numbers, or geometric drawings – left by the stonemasons. Officially, these marks served to identify each worker’s work or to guide assembly. But their recurring form and resemblance to esoteric symbols suggest they could also have a talismanic function in the eyes of medieval workers. The spirit of the worksite was thus complete: a favorable spell was “sealed” in the masonry just as a cornerstone is sealed.

Source

Beyond these protections inscribed in the material, the companions possessed above all a jealously guarded treasure of knowledge: the Art of the Line. This is the geometric science applied to stone cutting, carpentry, and forging, which allows designing the parts and volumes of a construction with almost miraculous precision. Have you ever wondered, when visiting an old monument, how this building could have withstood the centuries, or even how it could have been built without our current technologies? This art of the line – including the skillful use of the line, circle, and harmonic proportions – was once taught in the greatest secrecy to deserving apprentices. Since the 16th century, it was transmitted through two channels: on one hand, the written treatises of master architects (starting with Philibert Delorme’s First Volume of Architecture in 1567), and on the other, the oral teaching given during evening classes that companions attended as they traveled the Tour de France. Through this means, advanced knowledge in descriptive geometry (stereotomy, vault and roof framing drawings) was preserved away from the eyes of outsiders. Carpenter and stonemason companions held this Art of the Line in very high esteem, considering it the heart of their knowledge transmission. Mastering the science of the line was, in a way, to unlock the secrets of Form hidden in nature – knowledge granting power over raw matter, almost akin to magic for those who did not possess it. Indeed, the art of sacred geometry taught by the companions closely links construction and the sacred. Drawing a perfect figure on the plan, raising a vault according to the golden ratio, or orienting a church according to the stars, all involved both technique and ritual. Medieval companions, it is said, received from builder monks the secret of mystical proportions and symbolic plans, inherited from ancient temples and Greco-Roman esotericism. It is no surprise that later some esoteric authors saw in them the bearers of an ancient Hermetic Tradition: thus Fulcanelli, at the beginning of the 20th century, interpreted the sculptures of Gothic cathedrals as a true alchemical book written by the medieval builder companions. Without necessarily endorsing all these occult readings, one notes that universal symbols abound in companion iconography: the Square and Compass crossed (major emblems recalling the union of material and spiritual), the Level and the Balance (referring to equality and justice), or motifs borrowed from Antiquity and the Bible such as the Labyrinth or the Tower of Babel, which still proudly adorn their panels and alliance ribbons. All these symbols, transmitted internally to the companions, form a secret language understood only by them, inspiring imagination and study far more than mere words could.

Initiatory Rituals and Hermetic Heritage

As an initiatory society, the companionship recruits and elevates its members through rites of passage rich in symbolism. From the status of young aspirant to that of received companion, the candidate undergoes several trials and ceremonies mixing moral teachings, sacred staging, and sometimes elements of Hermeticism and spiritual alchemy. The traditional process generally includes three initiatory stages: the adoption of the apprentice (marking his entry into the companion family), the reception of the companion within his trade, then at the end of his career the recognition of the “finished” companion (now symbolic). Each of these stages is accompanied by codified rituals and sacramental words, sometimes to the point of being considered by the Church as a parody of its own sacraments (thus the Sorbonne condemned in 1655 the companion practices judged too close to religious ceremonies).

Labyrinth and Tower of Babel. Source

During the apprentice adoption ceremony (then called aspirant), the candidate swears an oath on a sacred text and receives the colors of the society – a ribbon or sash in the colors of his trade, stamped with its symbolic marks. Among these symbols are notably two key images of his spiritual journey: the Labyrinth and the Tower of Babel. The labyrinth, borrowed from ancient myths (Daedalus in Crete) and present on the floors of cathedrals like Chartres, evokes the long inner journey toward the light, the arduous progression of the candidate through initiatory trials. The labyrinth path, which the old companions could symbolically make on their knees while praying, represents the humility and perseverance required to reach perfection – a form of allegorical pilgrimage to the celestial Jerusalem. Conversely, the Tower of Babel recalls the builder’s pride: it represents early successes one might be too proud of, and warns against vanity, since the biblical tower collapsed unfinished. For the young companion, becoming aware of the Babel within him means accepting that he still has much progress to make and that only humility will allow him one day to raise a completed work. Thus, from the first rite, the postulant is invited to “open his eyes to the reality of evil” within and around him, and to understand that true brotherhood does not unite perfect beings but men of good will helping each other to free themselves from the ruins of ignorance and selfishness. We see that the teaching given is both moral and allegorical, in the tradition of medieval Christian mysticism and Western esotericism.

Rite of the guilbrette, oath of alliance. Source

The reception of the companion is the culmination of the initiation. It usually takes place during a closed-door nighttime ceremony around a set table symbolizing the altar (the four legs representing the four evangelists, the bread and wine evoking the body of Christ, according to some descriptions). The recipient, after performing symbolic “journeys,” swears a solemn oath on a sacred Volume (Bible) and again receives his colors, this time marked with new initiatory symbols specific to his new rank. In the Rite of the Devoir (the Children of Master Jacques), the emblems traditionally given to the received companion are the Pyramid, the Temple, the Tomb, and the Cathedral. The Pyramid, the first symbol, represents the perfection of living growth, which from base to summit is accomplished in a synthesis – the evocation is clearly alchemical, recalling the progressive ascent of matter toward spirit, and containing “the secret of its construction” (an allusion to the inner Great Work). The Temple, the second symbol, obviously refers to Solomon’s Temple: it is the lodge (Cayenne) where companions meet, but it is also the image of the inner sanctuary each must build within himself by following the rule (the Square) and wisdom (the Compass). The Tomb, the third symbol, invites the companion to meditate on death: “one must know how to die,” say the old rites, meaning to die to one’s ignorance and pride to be reborn regenerated. The companion is thus encouraged to create in his lifetime a quality work – his own tomb – as if shaping by his work the tombstone that will attest to his worth. This idea connects to the hermetic themes of initiatory death and alchemical putrefaction that precede the initiate’s rebirth. Finally, the Cathedral, the fourth symbol, represents the achievement: it is the expression of the fruitfulness of work and sacrifice, the perfection of the completed work. It especially symbolizes the union of Heaven and Earth, hand and thought. In it resolves the duality between spiritual and material – a core idea of Hermeticism, where the alchemical Work aims to marry opposing principles (sulfur and mercury, spirit and body) to obtain the philosopher’s stone. With the Cathedral, the companion attains the very notion of Masterpiece: not only the technically perfect achievement, the fruit of love for the craft, but also the reflection of his soul and moral accomplishment. The Masterpiece, which he will have to execute sooner or later, will be both proof of his artisan mastery and the tangible expression of the transformed initiate – the equivalent of the companion’s philosopher’s stone, so to speak.

The Companions of the Devoir, Heirs and Renovators

The organization known today as the Companions of the Devoir is the direct heir of the old Devoirs that structured, since the Middle Ages, the brotherhoods of itinerant workers. These Devoirs were three in number: the Children of Master Jacques, the Children of Father Soubise, and the Children of Solomon. Each had its founding legends, reception rites, and emblems, but all shared the same ideal: to make the craft a path of elevation and brotherhood.

In the 19th century, the companionships went through a difficult period. Rivalries between Devoirs, administrative bans, and upheavals linked to the Industrial Revolution greatly weakened the movement. It was then that a decisive figure emerged: Agricol Perdiguier (1805-1875), a carpenter from Gard, himself a received companion under the name “Avignonnais la Vertu.” In his Book of Companionship published in 1839, he denounced the bloody rivalries still opposing some trades and called for reconciliation among the different branches. His work had a lasting influence on the movement and paved the way for gradual unification.

At the turn of the 20th century, companions from different Devoirs grouped together to found a common structure that preserved the spirit of tradition but adapted it to a modern world. From this desire was born the Workers’ Association of the Companions of the Devoir of the Tour de France (AOCDTF), officially established in 1941, which took up and united the legacies of Master Jacques, Soubise, and Solomon. The Association then presented itself as the common home of the Companions, bringing under one roof trades that once claimed different Devoirs.

This link with the ancient heritage is evident on several levels. The Companions of the Devoir continue the Tour de France, an initiatory journey where the apprentice becomes a companion by traveling from city to city, housed and guided by his elders. They also maintain the memory of patron figures and founding stories that structured the old rites, even if the ceremonies have evolved to fit the times. Finally, they preserve the ideal of the masterpiece, that manual achievement that testifies to mastery of a craft and symbolizes the completion of a journey.

Through all these rites of passage, one perceives a true esoteric quest specific to traditional companionship. Although expressed with Christian or operative symbols (tools, monuments), this quest joins the universal initiatory path: purification of the candidate, transmission of knowledge, symbolic death and rebirth, conquest of the Light. The companionship can thus be seen as a school of mysteries adapted to the world of manual labor. It reconciles Homo faber and Homo sapiens, technical know-how and spiritual being, where modernity tends to separate them. The Companions have forged a unique artisanal esotericism, making work itself an almost sacred mission. The Companions of the Devoir perpetuate this ritual heritage. They remain, according to the beautiful phrase of one of their own, “the heirs of a working-class culture that blends with the spiritual heritage of great civilizations,” constantly seeking to elevate inert matter into a living masterpiece and to transmit, through the line and compass, the flame of a Tradition always awake.