Roses and Lillies in the Smith-Waite Tarot

These flowers show up multiple times in the Smith-Waite-Rider deck. You perhaps will have noticed them on the Magician card. They also appear on the robes of the tonsured monks at the bottom of the Hierophant card. This is mostly likely a symbol from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They initiated Waite and he was focused on his Christian understanding of their symbols.

In the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn whenever the order ritually honours the deity of Malkuth (or physical reality), known as Adonai, they say “Yours is the Kingdom, the power and the Glory. The rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley”. This line reminds me of the Second Song of Solomon which begins with “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys”. In my unChristian opinion, this is Solomon’s poem of gay love for a man. But Christians tell me it is love for God. Read the first few lines, you tell me.

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.
Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.

Song of Solomon 2:1-4

However, Waite commissioned this card of Pamela “Pixie” Coleman-Smith and to the best of my knowledge, he wasn’t open to such ideas. To understand his intention with this card, we need to think about what he thinks of this symbol and what it meant in the 1890s Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Christian perspective, which surrounded these early occultists, would have suggested that Solomon sought love of the divine, over physical love and these flowers are symbolic of him prioritizing the divine over earthly pleasures.

In the Song of Solomon, the lily is described among thorns and therefore symbolic of dangers and perils. This could be earthly pleasures. The Rose alternatively is described as an apple tree which provides shade and fruit. Considering it is an apple tree among other trees it could be a subtle reference to the Garden of Eden and that original intended state of unfallen man living with the divine. This is a common theme in Golden Dawn magic. Often the initiate is presented with various versions of the Tree of Life symbolising pre-fallen man, fallen man and rectified man on the Tree of Life. Further, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn uses Enochian magic and it would seem one interpretation of the Great Enochian table is that it represents the restored Jerusalem to the Edenic state with 4 rivers running out of it again (the great cross in the middle of the table) and the appropriate number of gates of each side matching the end of each of the ends of the crosses.

Also, the colours white, black and red which repeatedly showed up in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ritual often symbolise states of Alchemy: Black, the Negredo, where something is rotted into its component parts, white, calcification/Albedo through which these are purified through heat and red, the Rubedo, symbolising the reception of the divine and the creation of the philosophers stone. The Red Roses then symbolise those who have received the final stage of alchemy and the white those who still must humbly wait on the divine.

Also, the Zohar adds to our discussion and covers very similar themes. I note however the Zohar references red and white lilies and does not mention roses, however, a note in Mathers’ translation of Kabbala Denudada, suggests that the translation should be Lily instead of Rose. This leads me to believe that it is common for these flowers to get mistranslated when going from Hebrew to English.

“As a lily amongst the thorns.” This word lily, what doth it mean and symbolize? It symbolizes the congregation of Israel and as lilies are either red or white in color, so the members of this congregation are divided into two classes. They are distinguished by their rigorous justice and uprightness or by their gentleness, kindness and compassion.

They are encircled with thirteen degrees of mercy, as the lily has thirteen leaves surrounding it on all sides. Furthermore, between the first and second uses of the name Elohim in Genesis, are thirteen words corresponding to these thirteen leaves of the lily and the degrees of mercy surrounding the congregation of Israel.

The divine name Elohim is mentioned again, and why? In order to show the symbolic meaning of the five strong leaves which surround the lily. The occult meaning has reference to the five ways of salvation, corresponding to five gates of mercy. Respecting this mystery of five, it is written: “I will take the cup of salvation,” which is the cup of blessing, and which must stand upon five fingers, similar to the lily supported and sustained by its five strong leaves. For this reason the lily symbolizes the cup of blessing, as there are five words between the second and the third Elohim mentioned in the Book of Genesis. One of these words is Aur, meaning light. This light was treated and became enclosed as an embyro in the covenant, and, entering into the lily as a principle of life, made it fruitful, and this is what is called in Genesis “fruit tree, yielding fruit whose seed is in itself” and as this life principle, entering into the Covenant caused itself to become forty-two kinds of matter so has it produced the Shemhamphorash, the great and ineffable divine name of God, composed of forty-two 3-letter names, which operated in the creation of the world.

The Zohar – The Lily – Rabbi Simeon

Again the distinguishing between the red and white. This time we are treating them like the columns of the Tree of Life the pillar of severity or justice and the pillar of mercy or freedom. The opening of the flowers is like a cup that offers a blessing. It also is like a womb or vagina that can grow the seed of the divine into the fruit that is the divine name of God.

Conclusion

So there is a range of possible meanings associated with these flowers. They are not the only flowers in the cards, since there are white roses on the Fool and Death cards. To Waite who commissioned the cards, the flowers are one of many symbols he has taken from the ritual initiations of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

There are many potential meanings drawn from Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Waite sources. These include the difficult thorn and the easy shade and fruit providing tree, the wrath and the mercy of the divine, the completed great work and the abandoned effort. The lily is the cup that provides us with grace and the womb that grows the power of the Shemhemphorash in our world.