Rose and Cross

Written by Gary Osborn in 2002.

Copyright © Gary Osborn 2002. All Rights Reserved.

‘ . . . Open the gateway within thee, and sure thou, too, shalt live. Man, ye think that ye liveth, but know it is life within death. For as sure as ye are bound to your body, for you no life exists. Only the Soul is space-free, has life that is really a life. All else is only a bondage, a fetter from which to be free.’

  The Emerald Tablets   Thoth Hermes – otherwise known as Taautus

The walls of the King’s Chamber inside the Great Pyramid, are constructed from red granite.

  Writer on Shamanism, Mark Dunn, adds that the ancient Egyptian word Rustu (also associated with the colour red), which includes Ru – another expression of the word Rostau – means the “Gate of Entry” – i.e., entry into the void, which allows one access into Amenti – the underlying matrix of physical reality.

  This accords with my own view – i.e., that the Duat or ‘Underworld’ (underlying the physical earth) is really the earth’s energy matrix which some new-age writers are now referring to as the “Morphogenetic Grid” – after biologist Rupert Sheldrake’s ‘morphogenetic field’ theory.

  Rostau is also the ancient Egyptian name for the Giza necropolis near Cairo and on which the Great Pyramid stands. This would mean that Giza – or more likely the Great Pyramid, is indeed the “gateway” into the void.

  Author of Gods of Eden, Andrew Collins, believes that the Edfu Building Texts, are telling us that the Giza plateau is where the Shemsu Hor  (“The Followers of Horus”) – the ‘Shining Ones’ – made their home, after their own land had submerged after a great flood.

  We are now going to follow some interesting connections associated with the name Rostau to see where it takes us.

Tau

The word ROSTAU is interesting as it is made up of ‘Ros’ – which is linked to the word ‘Rose’ - and also ‘Tau’ – being the Tau or T-Cross. (See image below) The Tau or T-Cross is an exhaustive study in itself.

The Tau comes from the symbol of the ancient Egyptian Ankh – the Crux Ansata – but without its oval Ru or Rose.

  The Ankh symbol represents quite simply ‘eternal life’ and was often found in the names of Pharaoh’s such as Tut-ANKH-amun. Often held by a god or a Pharaoh, giving him life, or held by a Pharaoh giving his people life – this basically set aside the “immortals” from the mortals.

Anyone wearing or carrying the Ankh was seen to have gained immortality. This is why it was also worn as an amulet in-order to sustain life. It is the loop of the Ankh, which is held by the immortals to the nostrils – as in the Biblical god breathing life into the nostrils of Adam. It outlived Egyptian domination and was widely used by the Christians as their first cross. But in this symbol lies a clue to the secret of the multifaceted serpent and the Kundalini experience in particular.

  In shape, the Ankh is very similar to the Egyptian musical rattle instrument – the Sistrum (SistRUm) – also known as the Sesheshet. It was an early version of the tambourine and was used for dancing; being part of the fertility rites. Isis is sometimes depicted holding the Sistrum.

Below is an illustration of the Cretan Maze – possibly from Knossos. Although it is from Crete it shows the Egyptian Tau cross of the Ankh where the maze ‘begins’ and ‘ends.’ Again, the cross symbolises the tree-like spinal cord and the maze symbolises both the earth and the folds and convolutions of the human brain. As we can see, each level which one passes so as to get to the centre, displays one of the seven ascending colours of the electromagnetic spectrum and therefore the ascending chakras of the spine. The white point in the centre (being the eighth octave point and therefore associated with the 8-figured infinity symbol) is where the loop (the RU) of the Ankh is, and this is the point where all the 7 colours within the spectrum of light become fused as ‘white light.’ This loop – the RU – corresponds with the thalamus at the centre of the brain – the ancient “egg” and the real ‘third eye’ which is connected with the bindu centre above the head – being the centre of the seventh chakra.

The Tau then is really a shamanic pagan symbol and once stood for the Babylonian god Tammuz – another god associated with Osiris – as was the Persian Mithras – all ‘resurrection gods’ like Osiris and Jesus. The concept of ‘resurrection’ is again shamanic in origin and associated with the shaman who cheats death by utilising the ‘near-death experience’ for his own ends – also associated with the spine-related Kundalini – to gather information, wisdom and illumination from the other side of the “gateway” and from the wise serpent.

As mentioned earlier, the mark of the Tau was made on the foreheads of those initiated into the Mithraic mysteries just as Christian initiates were marked on the forehead at their baptism. This symbol became the mark or sign, which would set the believer aside for saving. Again, in Ezekiel this is the mark that god will know, the mark on the forehead. As Deane points out the Ezekiel passage (9:4) should read, “set a Tau upon their foreheads.” or “mark with the letter Tau the foreheads.” The early Christians baptised with the term “crucis thaumate notare.” They baptised with the symbol of the snake. And St. Paul himself in Galatians 6: 17 states “let no-one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” It’s possible that this is the original mark of Cain, who was of the serpent tribe. The idea of this sign or mark is widespread once discovered. In Job 31:35 we read in our modern Bibles “I sign now my defence – let the Almighty answer me,” which should properly read, “Behold, here is my Tau, let the Almighty answer me.” He then goes on and says, “Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.” 

  This remarkable idea of wearing the Tau cross on the shoulder as a sign would later become part and parcel of the Crusader Templars markings – the very same Templars who are instigated in the worship of serpents. Also the Merovingians (said by some to be descended from Jesus) were supposedly born with a red cross between their shoulder blades which would be a reference to the spinal column and therefore the serpent-related Kundalini experience. We are reminded here of the Djed column which was painted on the bottom of coffins right where the backbone of the deceased would lay.

  We have here then a connection between the Kundalini experience and the “afterlife” – synchronous with the Duat or ‘Underworld’ – in that the Kundalini was connected to the shamanic ‘near-death experience’ – also associated with the ‘light’ and therefore illumination.

It’s interesting that the Tau also makes a connection with the Chinese Tao – the Source-Centre of creation – and also through the 'Tao-Tau' of the Philippines – which is basically the term given to the secondary “astral body” or ‘out of body’ vehicle. As we know, the Tao is found in the union or fusion of yin and yang – the Chinese, male and female, positive and negative opposites.

  The Tau cross is also strangely used by those practicing sacred geometry as a “marker” for buried treasure, whether physical or spiritual.

  All ancient religions identified the Sun as a god and so the Tau symbol is often associated with the solar disk – which was associated with both Atum-Ra and Horus, who was another Christ-like figure.

  Activation and awareness of this centre (as symbolised by the dot in the circle) via the Kundalini experience, is what confers immortality – in that the person recognises the fact that he is really an immortal being. This is why the Tau was also associated with salvation – in regard to those who had this experience.

  The Tau also incorporates the four elements of the universe – i.e., earth, air, fire and water – as symbolised by the cross. The ‘fifth element’ – i.e., æther, prana, C’hi, or how our physicists would know it - zero-point energy – was symbolised by the Rose or Ru which is also depicted as a sun/serpent – i.e., a snake in a circle eating its own tail. This is also the symbol of ‘eternity’, in that the point of eternity or infinity – being the alpha-omega-beginning and end point – is in every cycle – though in general we don’t consciously experience it, nor are we always aware of it. Again, this alpha-omega point in the cycle is the “gateway” out of the cycles of reality – which one becomes conscious of via the meditative ‘trance state’ and during the Kundalini awakening experience.

  Also this circle is symbolic of the sun, Atum-Ra and immortality – again with emphasis on the ‘infinity point’ which is also shown as the dot in the centre of the circle as in the sun symbol. Together, the T and the O or RU is the perfect symbolical mixture of the four elements and the ‘fifth element.’ And as we have already seen elsewhere, these two symbols are also used in the binary code process – being the I associated with the phallic male and the O associated with the female – which when fused together become the quantum.

This symbol has other connotations to it - today it is the symbol of mathematical Phi.

  The connection that the Tau has with the serpent, and therefore the Kundalini experience, is further indicated by Thoth – the ancient Egyptian god of wisdom and magic – who was said to have symbolised the four elements with a simple cross which originated from the oldest Phoenician alphabet as the “curling serpent.” Indeed the famous Jewish philosopher and theologian, Philo of Alexandria, adds that the Phoenician alphabet, “. . . are those formed by means of serpents . . . and adored them as the supreme gods, the rulers of the universe” – thus bringing to mind Thoth, who again is related to the worship of serpents and himself created the alphabet.

  Bunsen in the 19th century thought that “the forms and movements of serpents were employed in the invention of the oldest letters, which represent gods.” This symbol was altered slightly and became the Egyptian Taut, the same as the Greek Tau, from where we get the phrase “Tau Cross.”

  The symbol of the crescent moon was added above the RU, Rose or circle, of the Ankh, turning it into the sign for Mercury – also associated with Hermes and Thoth and the Caduceus associated with the Hindu Kundalini-Chakra system – so as to reveal the Caduceus/serpent origin. No wonder that this, the most perfect and simple of symbolical devices, became the symbol of the early Christians; and no wonder that, even though there were no cross beam crucifixions, Christ was never the less symbolically crucified on a symbol of eternal life, a symbol of the serpent – his crucifixion being a metaphor for the Kundalini experience and his return to the “kingdom” through the “gateway” (the bindu, alpha-omega centre) – as we will see.

  Amongst the modern Freemasons the Tau has many meanings. It is especially important in Royal Arch Masonry where it becomes the ‘Companions Jewel’ with a serpent as a circle above the cross bar – forming the Ankh, with the Hebrew word for serpent engraved on the upright, and also including the Triple Tau – a symbol for hidden treasure and significantly made up of eight right-angles.

  Some say that the Triple Tau – which looks like a combined ‘T’ and ‘H’ – stands for Templus Hierosolyma or the Temple of Jerusalem, or that it signifies hidden treasure or means Clavis ad Thesaurum, “A key to treasure” or Theca ubi res pretiosa, “A place where the precious thing is concealed.”

 The Tau was marked on the foreheads of the righteous in Ezekiel (9:4-6.) The cross signified that they should be saved. This mark on the forehead is a direct reference to the ‘third eye’ – the Hindu ajna chakra – related to the thalamus at the centre of the brain.

  The ‘third eye’ is activated via a kind of fusion taking place between the pineal and pituitary glands, which were believed to represent the male and female opposites. As we will see, the Thalamus at the centre of the brain was metaphorically symbolised by the “egg,” as fertilised by its fusion with the two serpent energies (metaphor for sperm) of the Kundalini experience - hence the oval RU which symbolised not only the Thalamus (egg) but also the vaginal portal.

  It is said that at the moment of enlightenment – as activated by the ‘third eye’ opening – the two “serpents” – the ida (female) and pingala (male) nerve channels – fuse together at the central sushumna nerve channel in the spinal cord by striking the female-related pituitary and the male-related pineal – hence the metaphor of the cross symbolising the spinal column and this experience in particular as activated by the ‘third eye.’ And if we are in any doubt that the Tau symbolised the human spinal column as well as the earth’s axis, then look at the version of the Ankh on the left . . . it contains the Djed column of Osiris and also the upright Was Sceptre of Set – meaning 'death' or 'power'. This version of the Ankh means resurrection and one’s own command (power) over the cycle and forces of life and death – as attributed to Osiris who was murdered by Set. The Djed is the axis mundi.

  We can see then that like the Egyptian Ankh, the Tau was also the sign of life, mostly because it represented the psychic “gateway” through which the “life force” descends to us, and throughout our body us, via the spinal column and central nervous system.

  The life-force energy comes to us through this “gateway” which the Hindus say is the seventh vortex chakra above the head – again above the spinal column – being the axis mundi as referenced by the T cross. This is why the ancient Egyptian Ankh is related to 'eternal life' as well as the Tau, which has been a symbol of eternal life in many cultures. In the Middle Ages the Tau cross was used in amulets to protect the wearer against disease.

If the maze or labyrinth also represents the earth then this white area also corresponds with the centre of the earth and the centre of the universe, the cosmos, reality and all creation. It conveys the idea that we are the creators of reality itself – whether the ancient Egyptians or the Cretans understood this or not. This composite picture of the Cretan Maze and the Ankh symbol of Egypt, reveals that the information behind both stems from a common source and it the people of this source civilisation that actually understood this – i.e., that the creation of reality comes from a point within us – therefore we are all "gods" who don’t realise this about ourselves.

  The connection the labyrinth or maze has with Crete and Knossos is interesting, in view of the mythical Minotaur – a half man, half bull who resided at the centre of the Labyrinth and guarded it. Osiris too, was associated with the bull and we shall come back to this later.

  In light of the above and to emphasise the connection between the ‘world tree’ and RU (the ‘godhead’) it’s interesting to note that in Sanskrit, the word for tree is daru – i.e., daRU, and that the polestar – considered the abode of the gods and the godhead itself – is dhruva or dhRUva.