The Romance of the Rose

The Romance of the Rose was an epic French poem that developed over a number of years from the 13th Century. It was once widely read and studied, but is not so popular today. It would have appeared around the time some of the earliest alchemical texts from which Jimmy Page's symbol originated, first started to circulate.

I have a copy of the book pictured opposite: published by the University Press of New England, 1983, ISBN 0-87451-267-0.

On one level it seems to be a poem about a man (the lover) courting and eventually engaging in sexual intercourse with the lady (enjoyment of the rose). Yet the text is also full of Tarot symbology, and the rose symbology was widely used in other occult societies including the Rosicrucians (Red Cross). From here we are quickly led to the quest for the Holy Grail (San Graal - holy red blood of Christ).

I'm not going to go into detail here, and you can bypass the Romance of the Rose if you are in a hurry for serious study of these topics. Dive straight into the Tarot and Laurence Gardner's publications. I mention the Romance of the Rose because it is a great poem, and is unjustifiably overlooked today.