The Lesser Lights are said to represent the sun, the moon and the Master of the Lodge. The sun is a symbol of the masculine, the active, the aggressive; the moon, of the feminine, the receptive, the passive. These two symbols continue the pattern of duality in Freemasonry During the course of initiation, the new Mason is taught the North is a place of darkness. This is explained in the ritual by describing the orientation of King Solomon's Temple and stating the location prevented the rays of the sun at meridian height from entering a north window. This explanation is based upon natural phenomena. However, it is known that diffused light will enter a northerly oriented window. It is curious to note that no other reference is made to the North being a place of darkness in Craft Masonry. It is interesting to see negativity with the north as those in the northern hemisphere seen the polar star by which early navigation was dependent upon. However, there are several mythological accounts on the north being a place of darkness. Even Biblical accounts state the following of the north. Job 37: 9 reads, "Out of the south cometh the whirlwind; and cold, out of the north." Among the people of England there existed a desire not to be buried on the north side of a church indicating an aversion to the north. The Graham Manuscript, published in 1726, provides some additional insight. It contains the following questions and answers:

Q: How stood your lodge at your entering A: East west and south Q: Why not north also A: In regard we dwell at the north part of the world we burie no dead at the north side of our churches so we carry a Vacancey at the north side of our Lodges

There is another, and perhaps more practical, reason for the north to be considered a place of darkness. Early religious buildings were built in an east-west fashion with the east being the predominant direction. This orientation was desired as the east was considered the source of light and power, related to the sun rising in the east. In creating their work area, the medieval guilds would erect a lodge building erected along side the church under construction. This building was invariably placed on the southern side of the construction to avoid the inclemency of the cold northern winds. As a result, the lodge acquired an east to west orientation and the openings were in the east, south, and west. This exposed the hut or lodge and the workmen to as much east, south, and west light as possible, providing the necessary light to work by for as long as possible. The light was blocked from the north by the adjacent building. As Masonry moved from the operative to the speculative, it was natural that the north would continue to symbolically represent the darkness of the working structures.