A Synthetic Emblematic Cross

The cross is the most universal of all religious symbols. Examples of crosses are to be found in the sculpture of nearly all ancient peoples. A cross was hung about the necks of the initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries ancient Greek initiatory rites of Greece. It was painted upon the foreheads of candidates passing through the pyramid Mysteries of Central America, and is a symbol for God among the North American Indians. It is a curious fact that the cross, or X, has been so often associated with the power of the decimal system, being the Roman numerical symbol for 10. A similarly shaped hieroglyph is used by both the Japanese and Chinese for the number 10. Crosses have been discovered in the temples of the Brahmins the priestly caste of India. One of the most remarkable is an emblem of cruciform pattern found in the Brahmin temples carved out of rock on the Island of Elephanta in the harbor of Bombay. When the Spaniards arrived in Central America, they discovered the Maya Indians worshipping crosses. At least one of these Maya crosses found its way into a Christian cathedral and now stands unchanged above the high altar.

The Egyptian cross of life, the crux ansata handled cross or ankh, was often referred to as the key to the Mysteries. Many of the gods and goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon are shown carrying the crux ansata in their hands, and it was not uncommon to bury these emblems with the dead. Several Egyptian carvings show blessings in the form of crosses issuing from the mouths of the gods, and when the Pharaoh pardoned his enemies the words of pardon are similarly shown. In its wanderings, the crux ansata reached the Easter Islands, far off the coast of South America. There is now an Easter Island figure in the British Museum, brought there many years ago by a sailing ship, which shows the Egyptian cross of life clearly and unmistakably carved upon the reverse side of the statue.

There is also a radiating spectrum, the colors of which symbolize the rates of vibration through which manifest the seven creative Spirits. The spectrum is also a suitable emblem for the auric relating to the aura or energy field bodies radiating from the purified and regenerated soul. From each of the twelve globes pours a stream of force. These represent the celestial zodiac: twelve divine, eternal lights, each symbolized by a suitable color. The signs begin with the upper left globe (which is red), and is denominated Aries the Ram. They continue from left to right throughout the zodiac. The second globe is red orange and is called Taurus the Bull. The third, orange, is Gemini the Twins, and so on around the entire circle.

The cross, then, is a synthetic emblem, combining the emblems of the Mystery Schools as these symbols are united in the nature of man. All of the symbols of the Mystery Schools exist within man and are related to certain centers of his consciousness. Thus, this cross is a macrocosmic relating to the great universe and microcosmic relating to the small world of man figure, setting forth the mystery of human regeneration as that mystery is concealed within the seven lesser and five greater Schools of Divine Wisdom.

The custom of crucifying candidates at the time of initiation into the Mysteries is very old. The Greeks and Persians included symbolic crucifixions in the initiatory rituals of their Mysteries. Candidates were sometimes laid upon cross-shaped altars, at other times they were actually bound to crosses of wood or stone. The Scandinavian Drottars ancient Norse priests used crosses in their rituals, and the fylfot a four-footed cross cross (more commonly known as the swastika an ancient solar symbol) is a symbol sacred to the Chinese, the Hindoos Hindus, the Scandinavians, and the American Indians. It is also called the hammer of Thor. It is a spinning cross and is used by the Orientals to symbolize the spinning vortices of force in the spinal chakras energy centers. The Druids worshipped their God, Hu, under the form of an oak tree, whose top was cut off some feet above the ground and fastened crosswise to the top of the vertical trunk. The Persians also revered the cross and used it to symbolize Ahura-Mazda the Zoroastrian God of light, their god of light and truth.

Since the cross was an object of universal adoration, it is difficult to find a more fitting basis for a synthetic symbol. It is incorrect to look upon the cross as an exclusive Christian symbol or limited in any way to Christianity. Even the most bigoted investigator must accept the universality of the cross, the supreme symbol of life, regeneration, forgiveness, and resurrection among all peoples of the pagan and Christian worlds.

Many early writers did not associate Christ with the cross. The story of His crucifixion was apparently originated sometime after His death. Christians revere this emblem as a constant reminder of the supreme sacrifice of their leader, while the pagans view it as emblematic of the processes in Nature by means of which growth and unfoldment are continued through the periods of cosmic manifestation. Among the Buddhists and

Brahmins, the cross is an emblem of life, light, and truth, and not connected with the Passion of Jesus Christ. It is revered as typical of the supreme and eternal sacrifice of the spiritual forces of Nature, perverted and destroyed by the sins of the flesh, which must be regenerated and transmuted before the candidate is eligible for acceptance into the fraternity of the immortals.

In our design the cross is white, the color of purity. The four arms of the cross are commonly associated with the four elements, from which the lower bodies of all living things are formed. Man has a mental body, an astral body, a vital body, and a physical body. In the midst of these dwells his spiritual nature, crucified in the form of a flower upon substantial substances. The cross with its four symbolic beasts, the famous Cherubim celestial guardians of Ezekiel and Revelation, is symbolic of the mind, the heart, the vitality, and the physical nature. Physical substance itself is divided into four major divisions or elements, commonly called earth, water, fire, and air, and known to science as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. These four are the basis of all material form and are appropriately symbolized by the cross. The cross is the symbol of the tangible, visible constitution of the human being. By stretching out his arms, man causes his body to assume the shape of a cross. Thus, the white cross signifies the purified body of the candidate cleansed and prepared to enter the temple of the Mysteries. The Egyptian priests wore only linen robes when entering the temples of their gods. While they often protected their bodies from the excesses of temperature by enveloping themselves in furs, it was considered necessary to leave the skins of animals outside the temple: for nothing pertaining to the animal is worthy to enter the house of God. By the animal is understood, of course, man's animal nature, the irrational part of himself, for nothing but the rational part is capable of knowing or worshipping the gods.

The cross may be black to symbolize impurity, or white to symbolize purity. It may be silver to symbolize fecundity, or gold as emblematic of spiritual vitality. In every case it typifies the condition of man's nature. When of base metal, it represents the unregenerate man; when of wood, the sufferer; when of stone, the intellectually and spiritually impotent. In short, the cross is the symbol of the expression of the objective, visible constitution of man: and the substances of which it is composed signify the spiritual status of the objective nature.

Behind our symbolic cross is a zodiac surrounding a series of concentric rainbow-like circles as shown in the accompanying plate. The lines represent the forty-nine fires or spiritual centers which are objectified in both the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. The zodiac represents the twelve Holy Animals. Pythagoras taught a peculiar doctrine of transmigration, claiming that the souls of men took upon themselves the bodies of animals. What he really meant was that the souls of mankind, coming into creation through the zodiacal band, took upon themselves the forms of the constellations: for all forms of cosmic life come into manifestation through one of the constellations and are therefore said to assume the forms of beasts.

Crucified upon the cross is the seven-rayed Logos the Divine Word or Creator, the one spiritual Creator, manifested through His seven Logi or Planetary Lords, each of which is represented by a point of the star. The colors upon the points are somewhat arbitrary, but there is a reason why they are in the peculiar order shown. Although Mercury is usually symbolized as yellow, here it is violet, because the latter color is composed of blue (the spiritual nature) and red (the animal nature). The mind (Mercury) is the point of blending between them.

The triangles at the extremities of the cross signify the elements, and the diamonds the spiritual essences manifesting through the elements. The twelve knobs on the arms of the cross are the twelve Schools of the Mysteries and the twelve disciples who ate the last supper with their Lord. The knobs are also the twelve Initiates constituting the Great White Lodge, the twelve Immortal Mortals who control the destiny of the world. In the midst of the cross is a fifth diamond (a fifth element) the sacred element of the ancients. The center of the cross symbolizes the heart, the seat of the divine spiritual nature in man. Outside the diamond is a rose enclosed within the cup of a ten-petaled lotus, thus combining the Rosicrucian and Buddhist Mysteries. The diamond in the midst of the cross is the Philosopher's Stone the goal of the alchemical work, the human soul, produced through a transmutation and regeneration of the four elements which, tinctured with the spiritual soul power, are transmuted from base metals into gold.