TheRose Cross (also calledRose Croix andRosy Cross) is a symbol largely associated with the legendaryChristian Rosenkreuz, aChristian Kabbalist andalchemist said to have been the founder of theRosicrucian Order.[1][2] The Rose Cross is across with arose at its centre, which is usually red, golden, or white.[a] It symbolizes the teachings of aWestern esoteric tradition withChristian tenets.[4][5][6]
As a key Rosicrucian symbol, the Rosy Cross was also used by theOrder of the Golden and Rosy Cross (1750s–1790s), and is still used by theSocietas Rosicruciana in Anglia (1865–present).
TheRosicrucian manifestos were written during theProtestant Reformation in Germany, and have an underlying theme of reform. In 1520, Martin Luther had a seal made with a five-petaled white rose encapsulating a heart, with a simple cross in the centre.Johannes Valentinus Andreae, a likely candidate for the authorship of the third Rosicrucian manifesto, theChymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, came from a family whose crest featured an X-shaped cross with roses in the four corners.
Many allegorical and esoteric explanations for the Rose Cross have arisen over the centuries. Some groups, such as theAncient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, purport that the rosy cross predatesChristianity, where "the cross represents the human body and the rose represents the individual's unfolding consciousness.[7]
It has also been suggested that the rose represents silence while the cross signifies "salvation, to which the Society of the Rose-Cross devoted itself by teaching mankind the love of God and the beauty of brotherhood, with all that they implied."[8]Others saw the Rosy Cross as a symbol of the human process of reproduction elevated to the spiritual:
It is further a symbol of thephilosopher's stone, the ultimate product ofalchemy.[10]
TheRosicrucian manifestos tell an allegorical story of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, founded in the early 14th century, or between the 13th and 14th centuries,[13]as aninvisible college of mystic sages, by a sage having the symbolic name ofChristian Rosenkreuz in order
Paracelsus, who was called the "Luther of Medicine",[15]describes these mystics sages as
Some modern Rosicrucian groups[17] suggest that the Rosicrucian Order has been active since the beginning of theRenaissance period, not only as anhermetic Order, but also through forerunners – geniuses of the western world, sometimes known to also beFreemasons – in the literary,[18][19] cultural, ethical, political, religious and scientific fields.
In the late 18th century,von Eckartshausen, a GermanChristian mystic, described the true Adepts of the Rose Cross in the following terms:
Later, in the early 20th century,Max Heindel, a RosicrucianInitiate, believed that the roots of the Brothers of the Rose Cross, immersed in theWestern mystery tradition, are almost impossible to trace as
TheOrden des Gold- und Rosenkreutz, also known as the Fraternity of the Golden and Rosy Cross, was founded in the 1750s and is believed to be the first Rosicrucian order which existed outside of allegory. Their ten-grade system went on to influence Masonic and Hermetic initiatory groups, such as theSRIA.
Connections between Freemasonry and Rose Cross exist from times preceding the formation of the originalGrand Lodge (landmarks of Andersen, in 1717). The Rosy Cross is also a symbol found in someMasonic Christian bodies[c]and employed by individuals and groups formed during the last centuries for the study of Rosicrucianism and allied subjects,[d]but derived from the adoption of a red rose.
The MasonicSocietas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded in England in 1865 and uses the same grade system as the Gold und Rosenkreutz. The English group has since inspired other Masonic and initiatorySocietas Rosicruciana organizations internationally.
Within theScottish Rite ofFreemasonry, the Eighteenth Degree is specifically concerned with the rose cross and confers the title of "Knight Rose Croix". Of one version of the degree,Albert Pike wrote in 1871,
Thomas De Quincey suggested that Freemasonry was possibly an outgrowth ofRosicrucianism.[23]
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded by three members of the SRIA, and made use of the rosy cross as well, includingThe Ritual of the Rose Cross, designed for spiritual protection and as preparation for meditation. Based on theRosicrucian symbolism of the red rose and the cross of gold, it is also a key symbol of the Golden Dawn's second order.[citation needed]
According toIsrael Regardie, the Golden Dawn's rosy cross contains attributes for theclassical elements,classical planets,zodiac,Hebrew alphabet,alchemical principles, thehexagram andpentagram, thesefirot of theTree of Life, and the formula of INRI.[24] On the back side of the rosy cross is inscribed the motto of the Zelator Adeptus minor at the bottom, "The master Jesus Christ, God and Man" between four Maltese crosses, and in the center, written in Latin, "Blessed be the Lord our God who hath given us the Symbol Signum."[This quote needs a citation]
Regardie says of the rosy cross inThe Golden Dawn:
Thislamen is a complete synthesis of the masculine, positive, or rainbow scale of color attributions, which is also called the "Scale of the King". The four arms of the cross belong to the four elements and are colored accordingly. The white portion belongs to theHoly Spirit and theplanets.[citation needed]
The petals of the rose refer to the twenty-two paths on the Tree of Life and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the cross in Tiphareth, the receptacle and the center of the forces of thesephiroth and the paths. The extreme center of the rose is white, the reflected spiritual brightness ofkether, bearing upon it the red rose of five petals and the golden cross of six squares: Four green rays issue from around the angles of the cross. Upon the white portion of thelamen, below the rose, is placed the hexagram, with the planets.[citation needed]
Around the pentagrams, which are placed one upon each elemental colored arm, are drawn the symbols of the spirit and the four elements. Upon each of the floriated (the arms) of the cross are arranged the three alchemical principles of sulfur, salt, and mercury. The white rays issuing from behind the rose at the inner angles between the arms of the cross are the rays of the divine light issuing and coruscating from the reflected light ofkether in its center; and the letters and symbols on them refer to the analysis of the key word:I.N.R.I.[citation needed]
The symbol of the rosy cross played a substantial role within the system ofThelema as developed byAleister Crowley. In a cosmological context, the rose isNuit, the infinitely expanded goddess of the night sky, and the cross isHadit, the ultimately contracted atomic point. For Crowley, it was the job of the adept to identify with the appropriate symbol so to experience the mystical conjunction of opposites, which leads to attainment. In this sense, the rose cross is a grand symbol of theGreat Work:
TheTau and the circle together make one form of the Rosy Cross, the uniting of subject and object which is the Great Work, and which is symbolized sometimes as this cross and circle, sometimes as theLingam-Yoni, sometimes as theAnkh or Crux Ansata, sometimes by the Spire and Nave of a church or temple, and sometimes as a marriage feast, mystic marriage, spiritual marriage, "chymical nuptials," and in a hundred other ways. Whatever the form chosen, it is the symbol of the Great Work.[26]
Crowley also believed that this process is reflected in the sexual act:
So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which issamādhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the god which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and hisHoly Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and the Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness transcending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as below, so above.[27]
The rosy cross is further symbolic of the grade of Adeptus Minor in theA∴A∴, theQabalistic sphere ofTiphareth on theTree of Life, themagical formulaINRI, and the concepts of Light (LVX) and Life.[28]
The rose cross also has a place in the system of Ordo Templi Orientis. It is associated with the Fifth Degree, the title of which is "Sovereign Prince Rose-Croix, and Knight of the Pelican and Eagle." Of it, Crowley writes in "An Intimation with Reference to the Constitution of the Order":
The members of the Fifth Degree are responsible for all that concerns the Social welfare of the Order. This grade is symbolically that of beauty and harmony; it is the natural stopping-place of the majority of men and women; for to proceed farther, as will appear, involves renunciation of the sternest kind. Here then is all joy, peace, well-being on all planes; the Sovereign Prince Rose Croix is attached equally to the higher and the lower, and forms a natural link between them. Yet let him look to it that his eyes are set on high![29]
The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross is a Christianmystical organization in England established in 1915 byA.E. Waite. It developed after the end ofIndependent and Rectified Rite of the Golden Dawn. Waite made its rites to reflect his interest in the history of theRosicrucian Order,Freemasonry, and Christian mystical teachings through the ages. Most of its members were also Freemasons ortheosophists. One of its most noted members was the novelistCh. Williams who was a member from 1917 to at least 1928 and possibly later.[30]There were plans to establish a branch in the United States, but they appear never to have been fulfilled. The order is still extant in England today.[31]Waite (1924) represents the brotherhood as a Christian order that dates from theMiddle Ages.[32]
One modern form of theRosie Cross is found in aRosicrucian Christian symbol that places a crown of red roses ennobling a white rose at the centre of the cross; radiating behind is the golden five-pointed star, an allusion also to 'the Five Points of Fellowship'.[e]It is the symbol ofthe fraternity that has prepared a great lodge (Mount Ecclesia) for thebrethren to be gathered.[f]
TheAncient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC) is the largest Rosicrucian group today, extending worldwide through twenty-three grand lodges or jurisdictions.[33]The AMORC uses two main versions of the symbol: One is a gold Latin cross with a rose at its center. The other is a downward pointing triangle with a Greek (equilateral) cross inscribed within the triangle and a top oval reminiscent of an EgyptianAnkh. In both cases the symbolism suggests that
In addition, the gold Latin cross version is interpreted as a person with arms outstretched in worship, and the rose at its center as the unfolding of the human soul over many lifetimes of work.[34]
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