Rose Croix

The Rose Croix (Rose Cross) degree is the 18th degree of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, considered the capstone of the Chapter of Rose Croix (15th–18th degrees). Thematically centered on themes of loss, death, and resurrection, the degree draws heavily on Rosicrucian symbolism and Christian Paschal imagery. The candidate experiences the darkness of Nigredo (the black room representing spiritual desolation) before emerging into the light of the Rose Cross — the mystical union of the rose (love, secrecy, the feminine) and the cross (sacrifice, the vertical axis).

See Also

• Freemasonry — the fraternal order containing the Rose Croix degree
• Scottish Rite — the Masonic rite system containing the 18th degree
• Rosicrucianism — the esoteric movement whose symbolism the degree inherits
• Nigredo — the alchemical darkness dramatized in the degree
• Alchemical_Transformation — the death-and-resurrection arc of the degree
• Esoteric_Initiation — the Rose Croix as a graded initiatory rite