From: Paul Hume
Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.satanism,alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Crowley Cross?
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 12:05:58 -0500
Perry -
This thread has wandered over so many lists (news and mail) and I've
seen the bits in such disconnected form, I am not sure if this already
got answered for you, but...
> OK. Let me see if I have this straight.
>
> Crowley (OTO) performs magick with "his" Thoth deck, which contains a
> 12-pointed cross by Frieda Harris. The symbol is later embellished by
> Golden Dawn and (possibly) used as a template by Hubbard for the
> Scientology cross.
>
> Do I have the historical timeline correct? Is it OTO, Crowley, Thoth,
> Golden Dawn?
>
Nope...Golden Dawn (est. 1887 or so, when Crowley was 12) comes first.
The GD devised the Rose Cross as a paticular symbol of their Second, or
Inner, Order, the degrees of adeptship. That's the symbol Harris and
Crowley (or possibly just the publisher?) chose for the reverse of the
Thoth cards.
The Rose Cross being:
- the cross bottony (ie. calvary cross with triple lobes at the ends of
the arms). Each arm painted in different colors, representing the four
Aristotelian elements, and the lower arm, being the longer one on a
calvary cross, also having a section painted to represent the planetary
influences.
-charged with a multicolored rose (22 petals, each bearing a letter of
the Hebrew alphabet, each petal painted in the color attributed to that
letter as a Path on the Tree of Life, with the letter painted in the
complementary color)
- radiating from the rose are the 12 rays or "glories," bearing a
graphical representation of the "keyword" of the Adeptus Minor grade:
INRI, as it is related to the word LVX ("light" in Latin) and the Name
IAO. This relationship is from a crucial part of the initiation ritual
of the Adeptus Minor grade, and encapsulates some crucial formulae of
the GD in general: sort of an "e=mc**2" core formula for their magical
system.
ANYhoo...so GD develops the Rose Cross symbol. Crowley is initiated into
GD in his early 20's, falls out with the London membership but retains
the favor of the head of the Order, MacGregor Mathers, at least for a
time. The GD schisms, Crowley goes off to Egypt on an extended honeymoon
and he and his wife, Rose, write or (as we'd say today) channel The Book
of the Law (this in 1904). Splits with Mathers shortly after this.
OTO (meanwhile) is founded 1900 or so by Karl Kellner, and doesn't
involve Crowley until the 1910's. In the 1920's, AC succeeds Theodor
Reuss as head of the Order (which promptly schisms, since some lodges
did not accept Aleister's decision to "retool" the OTO as a vehicle for
the Law of Thelema, the philosophy he derived from the Book of the Law).
Rose Cross is not part of OTO symbology (at least not so far, says the
IVth degree member of OTO). Crowley used a form of the Jerusalem Cross,
with 10 crosslets (for a total of 11 crosses) rather than 12 (for a
total of 13) as part of his signature as head of the Order. Since I've
also seen this used by elder brothers and sisters of mine in the Order
as constituted today, and not just our present head, I suspect, given
the context, that it actually denotes a IXth degree initiate. This is
the symbol denounced as the "Crowley Cross" by R.S. Clymer in his
anti-AMORC broadside, where he makes play on a putative link between
AMORC and OTO.
The Thoth deck was designed in the last years of Crowley's life, so the
timeline actually runs...
Golden Dawn - Crowley - Thoth deck (OTO out of picture except as
sponsors of Weiser publishing first commercial run of deck in 1970's).
Hmmm...I hope I didn't just give you a lecture on how to build a watch
when all you asked for was the time (g).
Paul
Back to the Main Page