“In Rosicrucian mysticism, the Christ Spirit is said to have established a direct link with the earth through the blood which poured from the wounds in the hands, feet, and side of Jesus. Being the ancient symbol of the secret doctrine, the cross represents to the initiated that divine institution which, releasing the heavenly man from his animal part, launches the spiritual nature into the sphere of Reality. Therefore the cross may be said to be the emblem of philosophic death, and the Mysteries cannot achieve their end until they have caused each of their neophytes to pass victoriously through the cycle of suffering, death, and resurrection. The entire procedure is concealed in the symbolism of the grape. As one author has perceived, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is analogous to the crushing of the grapes in the wine press. He who comprehends the mystery of the sacramental cup possesses the key to human regeneration. Man, crucified, passes through death upon the symbol of life and attains to life upon the symbol of death. The break between the Self and the not-self is thus complete and the spirit, emerging from its chrysalis, leaves the empty shell behind as the token of its attainment. The agony of the Savior, consequently, is not the agony of death but the agony of birth. Only to him who has found his life by losing it is the mystery comprehensible.” - An encyclopedic outline of masonic, hermetic, cabbalistic and rosicrucian symbolical philosophy, 1928 by Manly Palmer Hall
