mtnmermaid
Does anyone know what it's supposed to symbolize? To me the whole card looks like a giant unfolding flower but the rose in the center especially jumps out.
The esoteric meaning of the cross is quite similar to the original; the cross symbolizes the material plane, and the cycle of death and rebirth. The rose represents the unfolding nature of spiritual growth. When the equal armed cross is employed, it has a secret significance: the word lux, or light, can be found hidden in its arms.
In the Golden Dawn, the rose also functioned as a device for creating sigils, with twenty two petals representing the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The rose has 49 petals, that's 7x7, indicating the influence of Netzach on the Solar rose of Tiphareth. I think Crowley used that particular rose because it ties in with the astrological attribution and transient nature of the Moon in Taurus.wizzle said:Duquette says this rose of 49 petals symbolizes the Sun and is a reference back to Tipareth.
This Sun is idolized as the Rose and Cross; the Rose has forty-nine petals, the interplay of the Seven with the Seven.