Consider the Rose…

Symbolism of the Rose

Consider the rose as symbolization of a world  "beyond the physical".  The wild rose has five petals, closely joined together. It also has five sepals the green leafy “petals” that protect the developing flower until it blossoms.  As a completed and perfect flower the rose contains both male and female reproductive organs inside the flower alongside its colorful petals.

From the time the human first began to formulate symbols as representations of nobler thoughts and ideals, the rose has captured the imagination. Its beautiful flowers has for generations been an emblem of grace, simplicity, beauty and happiness.  The bold red color of the red rose evokes intense emotions, sensuality, and a strong physical attraction.  The white rose, however, carries a different connotation.

Historically, the white rose has been associated with balance, purity and innocence. White is the color we perceive when all wavelengths of visible light reach our eyes in roughly equal intensity, indicating a balance of all colors in the visible spectrum. For example Red and Green and Blue light wavelengths at full intensity creates white. This is why your technology screens shows white with RGB (255, 255, 255). Our eyes have three types of cells that are sensitive to red, green, and blue. When they’re all stimulated equally at high intensity, the brain interprets it as white. White is  not a single wavelength like red or blue — it’s a balanced mixture of all wavelengths.

The color white also indicates purity. White is the absence of color absorption — it reflects nearly all light that hits it. Because it does not absorb the colors of the world around it, it reflects back into the world all colors equally. White has no shades of color like black and grays. It’s often considered the “brightest” color because it reflects the most light. White is the visual result of total light reflection or complete spectral balance.

Thus a white rose symbolically denotes "Light" and is symbolic of one who has been guided to the light.  As we have seen, the wild rose had five petals for its reproductive organs and five sepals for protecting those buds as they form.  This is a wonderful example of the balance of strength and beauty, or masculine and feminine.  We have also seen that the five sepals as they open widely form a star described by a pentagon. So the interpretations of the pentagon are also interpretations of the rose. 

Symbolism of Five

Pentagon

A pentagon, or five-sided figure, symbolizes a range of ideas. It represents harmony, balance, and proportion as it is closely tied to the golden ratio.  Pythagoreans saw it as embodying mathematical perfection and the structure of the cosmos. 

The number five represents the human and its anatomy, a head and four extremity limbs.  It also represents the five senses. It represents the classical number of elements. The number five also represents a middle ground between the square (representing the material world) and the circle (representing spiritual infinity).

Pythagoras, an ancient Greek philosopher was the founder of the Pythagorean religious-philosophical movement, linked the number five to earth, air, fire, water, and ether/spirit. The related pentagram (five-pointed star formed by diagonals of a pentagon) is a key symbol of this movement. Pythagoreans used the pentagram as a sign of recognition and healing. It often symbolized strength, excellence, and the union of opposites. 

In the Secret Tradition of Israel, the five petals of the wild rose alluded to the five ways of salvation or the five gates of grace. Very briefly these are the Sefirot (fundamental emanations or attributes of Divinity into the world) found at the top of the Tree of life. One source describes this Tree of Life as "you can think of the Sefirot as a cosmic step-down transformer; they safely filter down boundless divine light so it can be experienced in the finite physical world."

Tree of Life

The top three positions of the Jewish "Tree of Life" diagram are named Kether, Chochmah, and Binah. Kether or Crown is the topmost position in the diagram.  It represents pure divine will, the infinite source of creation, and the absolute oneness of The Divine. It is the single point from which all other Sefirot emerge. It is beyond intellect, form, or duality. It symbolizes the crown as ultimate authority, transcendence, and the initial spark of divine intention before any thought or structure. In short: Kether is the highest, unknowable divine essence — the “head” or origin of everything.

Chochmah, the second position, represents Wisdom.  It is the flash of raw, intuitive wisdom or insight that is often the "seed" of thoughts and actions.

Binah, the third position, represents the analytical reasoning that gives shape and structure to Chochmah‘s intuitive ideas. Binah is the source from which five protective or channeling forces, like the rose’s sepals, emerge. These are the five lower emotional/functional Sefirot that “issue from” or are “born of” Binah as their mother. The five are usually:

1. Chesed (Kindness/Loving-kindness) — Expansive love, generosity, and right-side mercy.
   
   
2. Gevurah (Severity/Strength/Judgment) — Restraint, discipline, boundaries, and left-side power.
   
   
3. Tiferet (Beauty/Harmony/Compassion) — Balance, integration, and the central harmonizing force.
   
   
4. Netzach (Victory/Eternity/Endurance) — Persistence, ambition, and overcoming obstacles.
   
   
5. Hod (Splendor/Glory/Thanksgiving) — Humility, gratitude, and intellectual/emotional acknowledgment. 

These five form the core emotional attributes. Binah “births” them by structuring Chochmah‘s insight into actionable divine qualities that sustain creation.

Harpocrates

In ancient times the white rose was dedicated to Harpocrates, the Greek God of Silence, and hence was especially sacred to secrecy and silence. Harpocrates is the Hellenistic (Greek) adaptation of the Egyptian god Horus the Child. He is traditionally depicted as a young boy with his finger pressed to his lips, signifying silence, discretion, and confidentiality. 

According to ancient Greek and Roman legends The Cupid (Eros, god of love) gave a rose to Harpocrates as a bribe or gift to ensure Harpocrates would not reveal the amorous indiscretions or secrets of Venus/Aphrodite (his mother) or the other gods. This act transformed the rose into the emblem of Harpocrates, the god of silence. From this story arose the Latin phrase “sub rosa” (“under the rose”), which means in secret, confidentially, or not to be repeated; i.e., Harpocrates’ key attribute for keeping sacred or personal matters silent and concealed.

And as the white rose also denoted purity and excellence, It reminds us of the excellence of one who brings Light to others, who shows the way wherein others may achieve great things and yet who remains hidden beneath the veil of secrecy and silence.

Mystically, the white rose alludes to the soul and character of the human. As the living Rose unfolds and reveals its hidden beauty and perfection, so should the human strive to develop his qualities and grow spiritually towards that perfection which is mystically represented.

Passing the Gates of the Night

Mystically, many traditions seek to pass the Fifth Gate of Night.  This refers to concepts in ancient Egyptian funerary texts, particularly the Book of Gates, an ancient Egyptian text that describes the sun god Ra’s nocturnal journey through the underworld. The night is divided into 12 gates(hours), each a portal guarded by deities and serpents, which Ra’s solar boat must pass through for rebirth at dawn. The Fifth Gate often features scenes of judgment or transition, sometimes linked to the hall of Osiris. Symbolically, it represents a stage of purification, confrontation with divine order and preparation for deeper renewal in the night journey. 

Night often symbolizes the hidden, feminine, or receptive aspects of divinity — particularly Shekhinah (the Divine Presence), which is associated with night, exile, and the need for mercy/salvation. The five gates act as protective channels of grace during times of darkness or spiritual concealment. In modern or esoteric traditions, the fifth gate may appear as a metaphor for a specific threshold in initiation, alchemy, or personal transformation (crossing into deeper mystery or endurance).

Additional labors are required before possessing that symbol which is the key unlocking the fifth and final Gate. Some presume that external ceremonies may entitle one to passage through the final gate. But it cannot be so, nor can any mortal being open wide the Gate for your passage out of the Kingdom of Night. This kingdom is a spiritual realm AND worldly (material) system in which Godly order (light) conflicts with opposing chaos (darkness).  This worldly kingdom is characterized by temptation to disregard the expending of energy to maintain order, thus allowing chaos and randomness to reign.

Opening the Final Gate

No one can open the final gate but you. Others may only point out the path to be traveled and teach how the key to unlock the gate may be fashioned. 

In part these “key components” are: 

- Be true to your engagements. 

- Follow the five guides leading toward the Light, and 

- Cultivate the five indispensable qualities of loving kindness, discipline and discernment, balance and integration, persistence, and humility and gratitude. 

Then shall the rose hidden within you grow, unfold and at last blossom into full bloom, becoming an enlightened soul with a character that comes closer to the triad of Kether, Chochmah, and Binah – divinity – than it does to the mundane world in which we physically live.

When you have reached the blooming of this rose, with your last mortal breath shall open wide the Fifth Gate of Night and your illuminated spirit shall pass through into the Golden Dawn, the Infinite Light – the ultimate, unmanifested source of all existence, i.e., unconditional divine light and energy – and regain at last its Eternal Home.

Consider the rose… within you.