The Proportional Compass as a Symbol of Divine Order

The image depicts a drafting compass opened to an angle, with its needle point tracing a circular line. Each part of the instrument is labeled with Latin text identifying it as a component of cosmic order, such as the 'Center' (Centrum), the 'Fixed Foot' (Pes seu crus fixum), and the 'Foot tracing the world' (Pes circulum seu delineans). The hinge of the compass is marked with 'A', and text flows around the instrument to identify the tension and connection of the legs as 'the bond of love and justice'.

This illustration is from Robert Fludd's 'Utriusque Cosmi Maioris scilicet et Minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica Historia' (1617–1619). It exemplifies the Rosicrucian and Hermetic belief that mathematical instruments and geometry are the keys to understanding the divine architecture of the Macrocosm.