- “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” (Song of Songs 2:1, KJV)
- “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” (Song of Songs 2:2)
— In Hebrew, “ḥăḇatṣeleṯ ha-šārōn” is often translated as “rose” (though possibly referring to a crocus or lily). The verse became a mystical title for the Divine Beloved, later applied by Christian mystics to Mary and to Christ Himself.
— The “rose of Sharon” came to signify the hidden beauty of divine wisdom and love blossoming in the soul.
— The juxtaposition of delicate beauty amidst protective thorns becomes a core image for sacred wisdom hidden and guarded in a fallen world.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 39:13-14 — “Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of the field. Give ye a sweet savour as frankincense, and flourish as a lily.”
— Wisdom here is likened to the rose—fragrant, flourishing, drawing from living waters.
“Rosa Mystica: A mystical Order of the Holy Grail whose symbol is the rose.” - Glossary of Terms from “Anna, Grandmother of Jesus”
Rosa Mystica (Mystical Rose) is a Marian title from the Litany of Loreto (approved 1587), where Mary is praised as the hidden rose—beauty, purity, and the mystery that blooms from the Root of Jesse.
In Christian symbolism she is also Sedes Sapientiae (Seat of Wisdom): the “throne” on which incarnate Wisdom rests—an explicit bridge between Mary and Sophia.
- Rosa Mystica — From at least the 12th century, Mary was called “Mystical Rose” in litanies, meaning the soul in which divine grace blooms. This title reinforced the rose as an emblem of divine mysteries enfolded in beauty.
- Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century):
- Dante, Paradiso (early 14th century):
In his Marian sermons, Bernard sees Mary as the rose that grows without thorns—symbolizing immaculate beauty that conveys divine grace without harm.
In the final cantos, the heavenly host appears as the candida rosa, the white mystical rose in which each petal is a saint—the entire redeemed humanity blossoming around the divine center.
- Rumi and Hafez often use the rose as a symbol for divine beauty, with the thorns representing the trials that guard the Beloved.
- Roman de la Rose (13th century French allegory):
“The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.” (Rumi)
A vast dream vision where the rose is the ultimate object of the quest—representing both courtly love and divine wisdom. The garden walls, gates, and guardians mirror the initiatory path to the inner mystery.
- Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1609):
- Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens (1617):
- Valentine Weigel (16th c.):
In his engravings, the rose appears as the flowering of the Philosophers’ Stone—the culmination of the magnum opus.
The rose is paired with the sun, gold, and the perfected quintessence—both a literal botanical and a symbolic “flowering” of matter and spirit.
“The red rose is the love of God shed abroad in the heart; the white rose is the illumination of the understanding.”
- Beauty + Secrecy — precious wisdom, not to be scattered (sub rosa).
- Love + Sacrifice — fragrance that arises from being “crushed” (suffering as a path to love).
- Union + Perfection — the rose as the soul in full bloom, the completed work of the alchemist.
- Feminine Wisdom — Sophia, Mary, Shekhinah, the Grail Maiden—guardians of divine mystery.
Harpocrates & the Rose (Greco-Roman)
In Hellenistic iconography, Eros gives Harpocrates a rose in exchange for his silence about the secrets of the gods. This is the earliest known “sub rosa” moment — the rose becomes the pledge of secrecy.
Anacreon (6th c. BCE, Greek lyric poet)
“When the rose blooms, it tells of the secret spring.”
— In Greek thought, the rose often hides the season’s mysteries, revealing them only to those who can read its sign.
Hebrew Bible & Apocrypha
Song of Songs 2:1–2 (KJV)
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
— The rose here is a mystical self-description of the Beloved, later taken by Christian mystics as the voice of Christ or Mary. Beauty among thorns = hidden wisdom in a fallen world.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 39:13–14
Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of the field.
Give ye a sweet savour as frankincense, and flourish as a lily.
— Wisdom likened to the rose’s fragrance: sweetness born of rootedness in living water.
Patristic & Medieval Christian Mysticism
Bernard of Clairvaux (12th c.)
“Mary is the rose that grows without thorns, bringing forth the flower that is Christ.”
— The rose as vessel of the Logos — beauty without harm, perfection without corruption.
Rosa Mystica (Litany of Loreto, 12th–16th c.)
- Title given to Mary: Mystical Rose = soul in which divine grace blooms, symbol of hidden perfection.
Dante, Paradiso (c. 1320)
“Behold the white rose, in which the Word Divine
made flesh became a blossom everlasting.”
— The candida rosa as the heavenly host; each petal a saint, the whole rose the communion of the redeemed.
Courtly & Esoteric Literature
Roman de la Rose (13th c.)
- The rose is the goal of the quest, guarded in a walled garden — an allegory of both earthly love and divine gnosis. The path to it is initiatory, with moral and symbolic trials.
Sufi Mystics (Rumi, Hafez)
“The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.” (Rumi)
— Divine beauty is inseparable from the trials that guard it.
Renaissance Hermetic & Alchemical
Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1609)
- Engravings depict the rose as the flowering of the Philosophers’ Stone — the completion of the Great Work.
Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens (1617)
“As the sun is to gold, so the rose is to the quintessence.”
— The rose is the alchemical “flowering” of perfected matter and spirit.
Valentine Weigel (16th c.)
“The red rose is the love of God shed abroad in the heart;
the white rose is the illumination of the understanding.”
— Here red and white roses correspond to alchemical rubedo and albedo stages, unified in the completed opus.
the rose at the centre of a Universe unfurled.
The cross of the sacrifice and suffering The rose’s thorns tell of the pain is an essential part of life and goes along with the cross of sacrifice….
the masculine and the feminine and their divine union
“By the eleventh century, the symbol of the rose was strongly equated with the Virgin Mary. At around this time, her ‘rosary’ was introduced with prayers being symbolised by roses. Medieval religious art often depicted Mary with a rose or in a garden of roses. For examples of this see Stephan Lochner’s 1440 painting ‘Madonna of the Rose Bush’ (above) and the 1470 painting by Alessandro Botticelli, ’Madonna of the Rosegarden.’ Medieval hymns and poems about the rose and Mary were also popular and it has been suggested that the connection between Mary’s Mariolatry and the symbol of the rose could go back even further and be a Greek influence. Certainly, the Greeks equated Goddesses of love with the flower and it was connected with Isis, Aphrodite and Venus. This is probably why Paracelsus, in the fifteenth century, attributed the rose to the planet Venus. The rose was also an emblem for Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom, and the Shekinah. Arthur Edward Waite on the symbolism of the rose and cross wrote; ‘Thus the Rose is a symbol of Mary because of her motherhood, but in relation to her it belongs to divine things, even as she herself stands on the threshold of Deity, being Spouse of the Divine Spirit and bearer of the Divine word made flesh. So also is the Rose of Shekinah, a Divine Rose, as she whom it typifies is Divine Mother of souls.’ Consider also Dante’s rosa mystica which appears in his vision of paradise as recounted in his early fourteenth century book, The Divine Comedy. His mystical rose is a catalyst for his creativity which draws him towards true divinity. Similarly, it is the attainment of a mystical rose that is the goal of Lucius in Apuleius's 2nd century curiosity, The Golden Ass. Throughout this book, the rose is clearly equated with Venus, Isis, love and the divine feminine. At the end of this tale, Lucius entreats the Goddess to appear. This she does with the following words: ‘I command thee not to prophane or despise the sacrifice in any wise, for the great Priest shall carry this day following in procession by my exhortation, a Garland of Roses, next the timbrell of his right hand: follow thou my procession amongst the people, and when thou commest to the Priest make as though thou wouldest kisse his hand, but snatch at the Roses, whereby I will put away the skin and shape of an Asse, which kind of beast I have long time abhorred and despised…’”