Original English transcription · full text

THIS wondrous Rose is perhaps more comprehensive than any other occult symbol, and to fully understand it would be to know the meaning of the Universe. Its radiant petals spread through space, enclosing our solar system as with a belt of stars, for these are the constellations of the Zodiac, the thrones or habitations of those celestial hierarchies which created and still maintain all things whereof we have any knowledge, with many more still beyond our ken. They were designed by the archetypal Creator, when the One manifested Himself as the many, and set in the heavens to bind the Universe as with a diamond chain. From them all worlds draw life and inspiration. They who are set in space as a king upon his throne, are also in the hearts of men as a king in warfare, swaying their natures to good or evil, success or failure. In Nature, the veiled Isis, they are aiding evolution, combating ignorance and strengthening weakness. Their vibrations decide the temperament and so the fate of every child when it draws its first breath on this earth, and it may be so in other worlds likewise. As they revolve through the months of the solar year they bring seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, like a king traversing his dominions, with power and authority over all things. Yet, unlike mortal monarchs, they cannot err or be deceived.

Let us think a little upon this vast subject. On the northern side of the Temple stood the table on which twelve loaves of Shewbread were laid as emblems of the Bread of Life. On each loaf stood a small pile of incense which was burnt on the central cubical Altar, representing the quintessence extracted from Nature, or the gold of the alchemist, the loaves themselves being eaten by the priests. These twelve loaves corresponded to the twelve single letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and again to each of these was allocated a sign of the Zodiac, thus:

These are the twelve outer petals of the mystic Rose of the World. Their vibrations pervade space, and their harmonies are the music of the spheres; their discords, or misapplied forces, the ruin of continents or nations.

Ignorance is the most fatal of all curses. The foolish man gazes upon the veil of Isis and sees only its deep, enveloping folds, all terror and obscurity. He fears darkness, he is the plaything of terrific forces which must ultimately destroy his physical body. The wise man realises that Nature is the living garment of God. He lifts the veil of Isis and beholds the resplendent reflection of the Creator of the Universe, terrible only when imperfectly comprehended, glowing more and more in loveliness and sweetness as it is better understood. According to the measure of his knowledge he can control and use the whirling forces, benefiting himself and his fellows. The Nature spirits acknowledge their masters. As each century passes human knowledge grows, and with it, though more slowly, comes wisdom. Already we can harness the lightning and use the powers of heat and water in a fashion which would have appeared as witchcraft to our ancestors; to those who come after we shall appear ignorant as our mediaeval forebears do to us. Now we begin to listen to the vibrations of music or voices thousands of miles away, to see in the kinema the events of the past, to fix the living pictures made by the sun. Beast, bird and flower are truly called scattered fragments of the Divine Body, manifested in matter; the sea and the winds are our brothers, a part of God like ourselves.

Psychology is now an accepted science. Telepathy, clairvoyance and other kindred subjects are established facts. Psycho-analysis, hypnotism, suggestion are recognised methods of medical treatment. Everywhere the bounds of the material approach, or come into actual contact with, the psychic or astral plane. He that hath eyes to see, let him see; he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 letters and is considered to be of divine origin; there are 12 single letters (s.l.), seven double (d.l.), and 3 mother letters (m.l.), in alphabetical order as follows:

The second circle of the Rose consists of seven petals, allocated to the planets and the seven double letters, thus, in their alphabetical order.

In this attribution the Earth is not counted as a planet, while Uranus and Neptune are realised by astrologers as being the higher octaves of Mercury and Venus, representing higher occultism and spiritual love. We on the earth are just beginning to sense these vibrations, and consequently have become aware of the two first planets of this higher octave.

Passing through the seven petals within the outer circle of twelve, the Zodiacal vibrations are divided into pairs of opposites, the working system familiar to all occult students on which all conditions on the earth are founded. Nothing exists without its opposite. These manifest as negative and positive, male and female, day and night, summer and winter, joy and sorrow, and so on throughout all creation. This was the original plan of the celestial hierarchies at the beginning of the world, and we have their assurance that this order shall not cease until the coming of the Cosmic Night, when all shall be dissolved and become infinite and holy; when the inbreathing of the Creator shall withdraw within Himself all that proceeded from Him. These pairs of opposites are typified by the mystic black and white pillars of occultism, between which the neophyte passes at initiation, the gateway which opens to those who seek the hidden knowledge. The ebb and flow of both psychic and physical tides are also caused by pairs of opposites. It should be realised that there is no hard dividing line between opposites, but only gradation. Even good and evil merge imperceptibly into one another. The black and white pillars melt into each other; the pillar of fire by night is the pillar of cloud by day. Consider the opposites of sea and sky at the horizon’s edge, also how colour and sound commingle.

The seven-branched golden candlestick which stood on the southern side of the Temple, opposite to the table of shewbread, represented the second circle of the Rose, with the planets and the double letters. With the entrance at the west, through the green door of Venus, the evening star, the Holy of Holies on the east, and the Cubical altar of incense at the centre point, was formed thus the Cross of sacrifice upon which all creation is bound. But upon the Cross blooms the radiant Rose of the World. The number seven is a peculiarly sacred one, ruling the days of the week, the seven periods of Creation, the gates of the soul in man, and the seven prismatic colours of the rainbow with the seven notes of the musical scale; for colour and sound are interchangeable. Red, symbol of irresistible force, belongs to Mars, orange to the Sun, light of the world, clear lemon yellow to intellectual Mercury, green, the tint of growth and progress through love, to Venus, blue to the Moon, mistress of the waters, royal purple to the kingly Jupiter, deep indigo to Saturn, signifying restriction, melancholy and sober restraint. With each of the double letters two sounds are associated, a hard and a soft, symbolically contrasting the pairs of opposites.

The smallest or innermost circle of petals consists of the three mother letters, Aleph א, Mem מ, Shin ש, corresponding to the elements. Shin is the fire, Mem the water, Aleph the air vibrating between them; earth being not truly an element, but a compound of the other three. Indeed, all the elements are interchangeable, coming originally from the One. A study of their symbols will illustrate this. The lion, who represents fire, is an earthly beast; the eagle at first seems a curious symbol for water, but means the higher moisture of the firmament, the Eagle of the clouds; man stands for air, restless and subtle, ever searching and seeking to penetrate hidden things.

The cubical altar, standing at the centre point of the Temple, was black, representing the corruptible earth, and upon it stood a small golden altar, representing the quintessence, or the gold of the hidden knowledge which can be extracted from Nature. Thus is the pure separated from the impure, the refined gold of the spirit drawn from the black dragon of the perishable body. Upon the altar were fire, water and incense, corresponding to the three mother letters. Shin has a sibilant sound, Mem is silent, Aleph is like the tongue of a balance, in equilibrium between these contraries, reconciling and mediating therein. In the circle of the year they bring forth the hot, cold and temperate seasons. This double cubical altar in the centre of the Temple was therefore an emblem of visible Nature concealing within itself the mysteries of all dimensions, but revealing surface only to external sense. It was a double cube because the things which are below are a reflection of the things that are above. The world of men and women, born to sorrow, is a reflection of the world where dwell beings created for joy. Indeed, happiness is the rightful heritage of all things, and pain is the result of ignorance. As knowledge and wisdom increase, so will gladness become the natural state of all creation. The last enemy to be destroyed is Death.

In the heart of the Rose is the place of holiness. This is the centre of life, the dwelling-place of the One who is the source of all things, who manifests throughout the Universe. He is incomprehensible to us, only to be expressed by silence.

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English transcription from the September 1930 issue. Historical spellings, astrological correspondences and Hebrew characters have been retained.

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