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The Rose Cross Lamen is a key symbol of the Golden Dawn’s Second Order. It is based on the Rosicrucian symbolism of the Red Rose and the Cross of Gold. This lamen 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 the Holy Spirit and the planets.
The twenty-two 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 the Sephiroth and the Paths. The extreme center of the rose is white, the reflected spiritual brightness of Kether, 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 the lamen, below the rose, is placed the hexagram, with the planets.
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 ends (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 of Kether in its center; and the letters and symbols on them refer to the analysis of the Key Word — I.N.R.I.
— Excerpt from the Cicero’s book Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple
On the copyrighted image:
I’m sure many people have seen this beautiful graphic before. It is a featured piece of art on several different web sites. Unfortunately, these same web sites, which often cite copyright protection for all of their work on the Internet, rarely mention that they have picked up this particular piece of artwork from another web site, whose work is also protected under copyright laws. We seek to remedy this oversight by stating that this graphic is the original creative work of the Hermetic Fellowship web site. You can visit the page where this graphic is posted by clicking here.
