[Help] The rose in magic and mysticism?

[pixel_fortune]

I'm heading towards doing a very informal sort of literature review of the place of the rose in magic (sometimes framed as 'the lotus of the West'), and crowdsourcing anything anyone knows of. Both as materia and as a symbol.
But I'm looking for traditional references, rather than just suggestions you might have for how a person could use them. Really though, it's brainstorming rules, no wrong answers, just looking for as many threads to pull on as I can find

A few directions I have:

• Rosicrucians obviously, rose as symbolising Jesus' wounds, flowering rose as spiritual completion
• Mary as the 'Rosa Mundi'
• the Rose of Sharon
• rose-as-vagina, cf Crowley's "mystic rose and holy rood"
• symbol of Ishtar
• symbol of Aphrodite
• the five-petalled flower created by the planet Venus in the sky
• white and red rose in alchemy
• Rose oil is a common ingredient in the PGM
• Rosalia, the Roman festival honouring the dead with roses
• not the same plant, but the Rose of Jericho / resurrection plant
• There is a contemporary new age tradition called the Sisterhood of the Rose / the Rose Lineage, but it's pretty cooked, claims there is an unbroken-lineage female mystery school going back to Atlantis, of which Isis, Ishtar and Mary Magdalene were priestesses :/
• "She of the Thorn-Blooded Rose" - Raven Grimassi's UPG rose goddess
  (Don't love these last two examples, but like I say, looking for threads to pull on

I don't know much about the Solomonic grimoires, so even a passing mention of roses there would be of value to me, I feel sure it must come up as materia in more places than the PGM

I'm very much in the "gather everything" stage, the first opening out of the double-diamond in design thinking, if that means anything to anyone.

 

[Bluesoft]

Roses in a Wicca practice are related to: Sanation, Purification, Love, Reconcilation, Restoration, Good luck, Resolution of problems, Psyquique habilities.

I wish to have more knowledge to share you more info but for now, this is what i know.

 

[pixel_fortune]

Thank you!

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

Funnily enough, as part of my ritual from Christopher's book, he uses "the Rose of Sharon" as part of the vibration during "Invoking the Four Powers of Earth" ritual. I was pondering the meaning of that the past few days.

 

[pixel_fortune]

he uses "the Rose of Sharon" as part of the vibration during "Invoking the Four Powers of Earth" ritual

I found the wording from Christopher's Powers of Earth ritual really, really beautiful, one of my favourites

I was sad that the ones from the other elements don't live up to that one, and don't speak to the spirit of their respective elements as well as that one does to earth

That's not a shortcoming or anything - writing one thing that good is a triumph - but I was just sad I couldn't get a matching set for all the elements

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

One thing I noted from the book is that the directions can be used as is and probably should be, but I switched a few directions around to be:
S: "Thou art the Hordes of Brilliance, a mighty presence in the light of gems"
W: "Thou art the Toil and Texture of the Fields, the patient embrace of the garment of life"
N: "Thou art the Rumbling of the Midnight Depths, the hurtling granules of action"
E: "Thou art the Foothold and the Foundation, the anchor of the soul and the matrix of the Rose"
(Circumambulate forming the ring around the earth invoking pentagrams drawn with green and the black bull kerub in the center of each)
E: "ADONAI HA ARETZ. ADONAI MELEKH. Thou art the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever, the Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley. Amen."

With this arrangement it makes sense - N is midnight's solar adoration, E the direction of air where Luna is the Foundation of the ToL, S the direction of Fire and therefore the gems created through fire, and leave the garment of life in the West.

Aside from that, it is solid. I will try it gain as written, it just seemed to be ... awkward in circumambulation clockwise.

The Rose of Sharon has midaevil connotations to Christian Monestaries, perhaps a rose was laid at the feet of Christ, annointed with spikenard and rose oil, or Rose a representation of and the blood of Christ? Ive never looked into it, but now Im curious.

Post automatically merged: Feb 13, 2024

Reading them aloud facing East outside, Invoking the Four Powers of Earth, and Invoking the Four Powers of Air caused a slight state of altered consciousness and heard someone clearly say "What are you looking to do?"; it was liekly neighbors talking amongst themselves but the timing of it was incredible.

Post automatically merged: Feb 13, 2024

It also caused a lizard to be comfortable with dramatically staring at me each time he sees me. Perhaps I should try reading all four and see what occurs.

Post automatically merged: Feb 13, 2024

The Rose Cross rose also is used as a hebrew based sigil generator.

 

[stalkinghyena]

Maybe this will be of interest as a classical reference. In the Metamorphoses (aka The Golden Ass) of Lucius Apuleius of Maudara, that old "magos", the rose figures importantly as both plot device and divine symbol. If you are not familiar with it, in first person Lucius describes how his curiosity about magic leads him to becoming accidentally transformed into a donkey by his girlfriend. The only thing that can restore him to humanity is if he eats a rose. Every chance he gets is thwarted as he is caught in a journey filled with torment and abuse until he finally collapses under exhaustion and pledges his whole life the Goddess Isis (who then appears to him as every Goddess in One - Magna Mater). The story is a mix of magic, comedy, tragedy, horror and crime, the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but also a chronicle of spiritual initiation into a mystery cult. As far as I know this is first work of what might be called "occult fiction" - though I doubt Apulieus would have thought of it that way. It is certainly an allegory of spiritual transformation.
Wikipedia has a summary:

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The first plate of Mutus Liber caught my eye with its curious positioning of the roses:

One facing outwards, and one inwards.

I flipped through a couple of Solomonic texts looking for specifics about any uses of the rose, but that's a deep search. Maybe something interesting will come up.
Picatrix definitely has to have something, but there are so many spells in there - though I think most uses would be to mix with animal brains or other plants to produce "pills" for fumigations.
Agrippa makes some references in his framework, fumigations and such. My Tyson has a number of pages listed in the index, but my hourglass is draining.

 

[Xingtian]

I second the recommendation of The Golden Ass- it’s a rip-roaring good read and also a great compendium of Greco-Roman esoteric lore. Apuleius himself was put on trial for sorcery and his defense employs a neat trick of denying the charge while also arguing that magic is the true philosophy.

 

[Taudefindi]

The story is a mix of magic, comedy, tragedy, horror and crime, the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but also a chronicle of spiritual initiation into a mystery cult.

Off topic, but thank you for giving me inspiration for a play.

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

The GD Zelator grade is corresponding to the White Rose for some reason as well.

 

[pixel_fortune]

In the Metamorphoses (aka The Golden Ass) of Lucius Apuleius of Maudara, that old "magos", the rose figures importantly as both plot device and divine symbol.

This is gold(en), thank you!

Agrippa makes some references in his framework, fumigations and such. My Tyson has a number of pages listed in the index, but my hourglass is draining.

No that's fine, I can do the legwork! Looking through Agrippa and Picatrix is a lot more manageable than "all grimoires"

The GD Zelator grade is corresponding to the White Rose for some reason as well.

My guessssss would be it's to represent the white / albedo / purification stage of the alchemical process, which is the first stage, cause Zelator is the first grade of GD, yeah?

The white rose can also represent the feminine and lunar current (with the red rose being masculine and solar) but Zelator's at Malkuth not Yesod AFAIK so that meaning doesn't seem like a good fit

 

[Taudefindi]

represent the white / albedo / purification stage of the alchemical process, which is the first stage

I'm just learning about alchemy so I may be "talking out of my ass", but isn't alchemy's first stage nigredo?The blackening that occurs to signify death?

 

[pixel_fortune]

I'm just learning about alchemy so I may be "talking out of my ass", but isn't alchemy's first stage nigredo?The blackening that occurs to signify death?

No you're totally right, my bad!

Albedo is second

(It's possible Zelator is still related to white rose as albedo/purification, but I'm a lot of confident now. In light of albedo being the second stage, it seems more likely the Zelator symbolism is related to general virginalness than to the alchemical white rose.)

 

[Xenophon]

I'm just learning about alchemy so I may be "talking out of my ass", but isn't alchemy's first stage nigredo?The blackening that occurs to signify death?

Nigredo is more a return to the primal state. A purposive chaos, if you will. Death is involved here, but not as "the end." (Led off to face a Bolshevik firing squad, the Baron von Ungern-Sternberg--- well-versed in the occult remarked--- "I am simply leaving one room for another.") As one old text puts it, "...as nigredo sets in, rejoice!"

Sorry---I can't resist. This thread ad your post conjures the image: a white rose growing out the ass.

 

[pixel_fortune]

This thread ad your post conjures the image: a white rose growing out the ass.

As the Buddhists say, "no mud, no lotus"

 

[Xenophon]

As the Buddhists say, "no mud, no lotus"

That might not be a bad heraldic symbol on one's shield. "Non lutum, non rosa," as the family motto. For the Haus von Krapp, of course. (I smell a relevancy warning coming. Orestes was harried and hounded by the Erinyes; me by the moderators of all forums.)

 

[Romolo]

“For the Dark Ages roses were walled up in monastery gardens away from the profane. The monks who tended them strung their rose hip prayer beads and offered up praise to Mary. The word rosary itself comes from ' rosarium ' which means the rose garden itself. In worshipping the 'Queen of Heaven' and adoring the rose, the monks were reenacting the worship of lnanna. The secret garden was the Babalonian Eden blooming afresh in the heart of the Christian Empire.” (from the chapter “Blood Red Roses” in The Red Goddess by Peter Grey)

This chapter describes many more esoteric aspects of the rose. Another interesting trail that he mentions briefly is the “fairytale heritage” of the rose needle to put someone in a sleeping trance (or to extract a blood sacrifice).

 

[pixel_fortune]

In reading about the rosary, I was surprised to learn that the word "bead/bede" originally meant "prayer". The word we use for little round thing on a string comes from the fact that they were used to count prayers.

(Beads are super-old so they must have had another name, but so far I haven't found what the English word was for them pre-14th century)

 

[Romolo]

Off topic but yes, “bidden” in Dutch (my mother tongue) means “to pray”. Een gebed = a prayer.
The beads themselves are not called “beads” in Dutch but “kralen”, which, interestingly, stems from “coral”.

 

[Xenophon]

In reading about the rosary, I was surprised to learn that the word "bead/bede" originally meant "prayer". The word we use for little round thing on a string comes from the fact that they were used to count prayers.

(Beads are super-old so they must have had another name, but so far I haven't found what the English word was for them pre-14th century)

Off the top of my head, I seem to recall that "bead" comes from the Gothic "bida"---to request. And THAT comes from the proto-Indo European "gwhedh"---to ask for. OK, OK, damnit. That's not off the top of my head. I just googled etymonline dot com. I'm plagiarizing even as I type. But the info is apparently true. Remember the slightly archaic English "bid" meaning ask, the German "Gebet" for a prayer.