Symbolic Placement of Sealing Rooms

Laie Hawaii Temple Sealing Room Located Directly Over the Creation Room

Temples built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints come in various floorplans. Some floor plans are laid out for efficiency. Others are laid out symbolically. I'd like to talk about how locations of sealing rooms can be symbolic.

Sealing rooms are used to perform sealings of husbands and wives in eternal marriage and to seal children to parents.

Many temples have sealing rooms off of the celestial room. In the earliest ones you would actually have to cross through the celestial room to get to the sealing rooms which required the wedding guests to dress in white. This is symbolic of sealing being a higher ordinance than the endowment and of sealing being a requirement to enter the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. For example, the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple has one sealing room attached to the celestial room at the same level as the room. They sometimes let couples wait in this sealing room while waiting for their sealing.

In many temples the sealing rooms off the celestial room are several steps above the celestial room. This occurs in the St George Utah Temple, Salt Lake Temple, Mesa Arizona Temple, etc. In the Salt Lake Temple one of the sealing rooms has a whole staircase up to one of the rooms.

In the Portland Oregon Temple there is a staircase that goes up to a mezzanine level in the celestial room. There is a door in this area that leads to sealing rooms. This is very symbolic of sealings being a requirement for entering the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.

Other temples have different symbolic placement of the sealing rooms. In the Laie Hawaii Temple and Cardston Alberta Temple the endowment uses progressive rooms. You start in the creation room, move to the garden room, then the world room, then the terrestrial room and finally enter the celestial room. The creation, garden, world, and terrestrial rooms are each on a different side of the celestial room with each a little higher. The sealing rooms are then off of the celestial room. Because of the room layout and because the creation room is the lowest endowment room, the sealing rooms fit directly above the creation room which becomes very symbolic of the sealing as the ordinance that creates eternal families and it is also symbolic of the fact that God created man and woman and did not want them to remain alone so he instituted marriage to join men and women. It also symbolizes that marriage is required by God before men and women are authorized to use their biological powers to create children.

The Manti Utah Temple (until it is gutted and murals are removed and rooms rearranged in the upcoming remodel) (Great news, they are no longer gutting the Manti Temple, and Ephraim, Utah also gets a temple!) and the Salt Lake Temple (before the murals were recently removed and rooms rearranged in the current remodel) both had sealing rooms off the celestial room that were actually above the garden rooms. This could be seen as symbolic of the marriage of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and that we like Adam and Eve need to work together as couples in righteousness.

The very high capacity temples such as the Ogden Utah, Provo Utah, and Jordan River Utah Temples usually don't have symbolic placement of sealing rooms. In these temples the sealing rooms are on the floor below the endowment rooms and celestial room. There are some exceptions. In the Washington D.C. Temple the sealing rooms are on a the floor above the endowment rooms and celestial room. The celestial room ceiling extends through the sealing room floor with the celestial room ceiling at the same level as the sealing room sealings. This emphasizes that sealings allow us to enter the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. This is also how the 1980s remodeled Logan Utah Temple, the Oakland California Temple, Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, and many others have their sealing rooms located.

Even the small temples that President Hinckley had built have symbolic placement of sealing rooms. In these temples the sealing room(s) are generally located next to the celestial room and are the highest rooms. I've noticed that as you walk back to the dressing rooms from the celestial room or sealing rooms the hallway is slightly inclined as a ramp because these rooms are slightly elevated. It is only a step or two higher, but it is meant to convey a higher ordinance.

I feel that great sacred temple architecture uses everything including placement of rooms to reinforce the teachings of the temple and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am glad sealing rooms have been symbolically placed in many temples to heighten the teachings about eternal marriage and families and our covenants. Please feel free to comment if you have any other insights.

The Salt Lake Temple Sealing Room Angel Moroni Stained Glass

 

Salt Lake Temple Sealing Room

One of the original sealing rooms in the Salt Lake Temple has a stained window of the Joseph Smith getting the golden plates that he would translate into The Book of Mormon as the Angel Moroni talks with him. This is a beautiful stained glass, but it has always seemed odd for this particular stained glass window to be in a sealing room as it would appear to have nothing to do with marriage or family. As I read the first volume of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints new official history, Saints, I realized that this stained glass window actually has some significant meaning related to sealings.

When Joseph Smith went to get the plates from the hill he tried to pull the plates out but was unable to. The angel appeared and told Joseph that this was because he had not kept the commandments. He then instructed Joseph and then Joseph asked when he could have the plates. Moroni replied "The twenty-second day of September next, if you bring the right person with you." Then Joseph asked "Who is the right person?" and Moroni replies "Your oldest brother". This is significant for sealing rooms because Alvin was Joseph's oldest brother and he dies before the next September and Joseph cannot get the plates at that time. Joseph's family doesn't understand what happened to Alvin's soul since he died before the church was restored, but years later Joseph Smith has a vision where he sees Alvin in the Celestial Kingdom and is told that anyone who died without being able to join the church who would have accepted the gospel if given the chance were saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God. Later revelations would show that proxy ordinances such as baptisms for the dead and sealings for the dead (of husband and wife and of children to parents) is a part of the process that allows those who died to be able to enter God's kingdom. So this stained glass can remind us of Alvin and those who we are doing proxy sealings for. It can also remind us of the good influence that a family member such as a son or a brother can have in that apparently Alvin would have had a good enough influence on Joseph that he would have gotten the plates earlier had Alvin survived.

After Alvin's death, Joseph continued to be instructed by Moroni. Eventually the angel told Joseph Smith to bring someone with him the next year when he went to get the plates. Joseph asked, "Who is the right person?" and Moroni said "You will know". Joseph used a seer stone and asked the Lord who the right person was and he was shown that it was Emma Hale who he had been dating and wanted to marry. In the following year Joseph Smith married Emma and she came with him when he successfully obtained the plates and would help him stay on track for the rest of his life. I think this example is a wonderfully fitting reason for the sealing room to show Joseph obtaining the plates. He needed a wife who would help him be better so he could achieve his potential and only with her good influence was he able to become worthy to obtain the plates. It also reminds us that women have been and are immensely important in the work of God and can be a great influence for good. It reminds us that husbands and wives should work together in righteousness.

I hope sealers in this sealing room in the Salt Lake Temple tell some of these stories to patrons who are using this sealing room so they understand some of the deeper meanings of the room. Like Joseph Smith, we need to have strong families to strengthen us - siblings, spouse, etc. We should take our sealings seriously and strive to help our families grow in righteousness.

If you have any comments or insights about this stained glass window, please comment.

Quatrefoils in Latter-day Saint Temples

Quatrefoils in the St George Utah Temple

Today I'd like to write about quatrefoils in Latter-day Saint Temples. A quatrefoil is a symbol made from 4 semicircles which forms a clover shape. The first use of these symbols in a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in the St George Utah Temple, pictured above. These alternate with stars along the top of the wall in various rooms. The columns are also shaped as quatrefoils if you were to cut one open and look down on it. The symbol is usually associated with Christianity where it has adorned many cathedrals such as Notre Dame in Paris, but it exists in other cultures as well.

Barbed quatrefoils in San Antonio Temple (left)
 and Concepcion Chile Temple (right)

Sometimes the semicircles are attached to a square which makes a barbed quatrefoil which is sort of like a heraldic rose with thorns.  As far as I can tell, the first Latter-day Saint temple featuring barbed quatrefoils is the San Antonio Texas Temple where it is used as a ceiling molding, pictured above. 

Quatrefoils can be symbolic. I don't think any temple architects have intended the following symbolism, but I find the following traditional symbolism interesting.

1. In Christianity, the four leaves of the quatrefoil have been associated with the writers of the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In a temple setting I suppose the symbol could be interpreted as a reminder of the gospel. Since quatrefoils are often used as windows, it can also symbolize the light that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings into your life.

2. According to Wikipedia "In ancient Mesoamerica, the quatrefoil is frequently used in Olmec and Mayan monuments depicting the opening of the cosmic central axis at the crossroads of the four cardinal directions, representing the passageway between the celestial and the underworld" This seems fitting for a temple that acts as a tie between this world, the celestial kingdom, and the dead (underworld). Both the living and the dead are connected with heaven through the temple. 

3. The barbed quatrefoil can be seen as a rose with thorns, a symbol of opposition, blessings amidst trials, beauty, love, the crown of thorns Jesus wore, etc.

4. A barbed quatrefoil is also a square with 4 semi circles attached. A simple quatrefoil is made with a semi circle on each side of a square causing the square to disappear. Either way, these are essentially fancy versions of circles and squares combined which I have written about previously. The circle is a traditional symbol of heaven while the square is a symbol of the earth. So the quatrefoil can be read to mean heaven and earth are combined, or heaven encompassing the earthly, or of union. Each interpretation is an appropriate temple symbol.

5. The four sides of a normal quatrefoil or the four barbs of a barbed quatrefoil can be interpreted as the four quarters of the earth (I read online that it is sometimes used this way in Native American symbolism), so the symbols can be read as a symbol of the gathering of Israel from the four quarters of the Earth.

6. Wikipedia mentioned that there are some uses of the quatrefoil in ancient Mesoamerica associated with water (rain, etc.) This symbol could be taken as a symbol of blessings raining down, baptism, washing, etc. I find this interpretation the most far fetched, but it can work in a temple setting.

While I don't think the temple architects have planned these quatrefoil symbols in temples with the above symbolic interpretations in mind, I do think these can inspire us when we see them in the temple. We can read the symbol as a reminder that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, temples act as a crossroads providing a connection for us with heaven and a connection for the dead to receive the ordinances for them to connect with heaven. The temples aid in the gathering on both sides of the veil. While participating in the temple, heaven an earth are connected and we can be changed from natural, earthly people into righteous, heavenly people. The temple also teaches us about opposition and union and it unlocks blessings that can shower down from heaven. Whether the symbol is intended to represent these teachings, It is great if it does.

Barbed quatrefoil symbols in the Tijuana Mexico Temple and site

The Tijuana Mexico Temple makes abundant use of the barbed quatrefoil symbol as shown above. It is found in windows, ceiling ornaments, site fountains, landscaping, tower grille work, carpets, ancillary building parapets, etc. I think it is beautifully done and architecturally ties the temple together. If these can remind us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the work for the living and the dead connecting us to heaven, and other temple themes, then that is wonderful.

Temple renderings showing quatrefoils. Left to right: Puebla Mexico Temple,
San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple, Salta Argentina Temple, and McAllen Texas Temple.

I've noticed that several new temple renderings feature quatrefoils and barbed quatrefoils in their renderings (see above). I think this is part of the effort to make temples look like fine religious architecture in an area. In these cases, it is a Spanish mission style that fits Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, and Texas where these temples are planned. I don't think the symbols were chosen with the symbolism I've discussed in mind, but I think it strengthens the temple themes in the architecture, so I love that the symbols are being used. Plus I love how the symbol looks even if it isn't meant to symbolize anything.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this symbol in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Quatrefoils in the Provo City Center Temple (left two) and Taylorsville Utah Temple (right two)

Since I wrote this post someone commented that the Provo City Center Temple has quatrefoils. I went and looked and sure enough, they are on the gables at the ridge of the roof and in the ceiling rooms (second picture). I looked and also found that the Taylorsville Utah Temple rendering shows multiple quatrefoils on the exterior rendering as shown in the two pictures on the right.