Symbols of the Christ
by Maia & Simeon Nartoomid
The Dove
The dove was used in pre-Yeshua (Jesus) times by the Holy Orders and sects which knew of His coming. The dove became a code symbol when they spoke of the Christ incarnate in the midst of the uninitiated. Later the dove also came to represent the Holy Spirit, or feminine aspect of God (Heb. Shekhinah). The Dove symbolizes Spirit, Grace, Compassion, and Unconditional Love.
The Lamb
The lamb has been used to represent the Christ incarnate in it’s gentlest expression. It represents the virtues of humility, innocence, trust, and meekness. The phrase “the meek shall inherit the earth” (Ps. 37:11) indicates that the virtues of the lamb shall be required to gain eternal life in the greater Kingdom. The lamb is also the most highly evolved expression of the ram, the symbol of the Zodiacal sign of Aries which was just completing its influential reign over the evolution of the human race when Yeshua was born; symbolically, the ram gives birth to the lamb as its final gift to humanity. Lastly, lamb were often given as sacrificial offerings to Jehovah. Yeshua was seen as offering Himself as a sacrifice for all humanity.
The Lion
The lion has been used to symbolize the Christ, as in the “Lion of Judah” (Rev. 5:5). This symbolizes the strength and spiritual power wielded by the Christic Force over dominions of lesser light. In this case the gentle being known as Yeshua held the lion power within Himself as a testament to the true spiritual power that is inherent in the force of Love. Also, the lion symbolizes solar consciousness. Yeshua received his solar initiation at Heliopolis in Egypt, assuming then the mantle of “Solar Lord”.
The lion, true to it’s solar symbolism, represents the Zodiacal sign of Leo, a fire sign and the home of the spiritual hierarchy called the “Lords of Flame”.
The Unicorn
The unicorn esoterically represents the Christ in nature, or the Elemental Kingdom. It’s spiraling graceful horn sounds forth the Holy Tone (the World) into all of creation to seed the Christic vibration into the earth; or humans, so lucky as to have an encounter with one of the sacred creatures. The unicorn is the least understood and known of the Christic symbols, primarily because of it’s “fairytale” reputation. One can view them as a symbolic product of human imagination, or as an etheric creature of grace and beauty. Either way, the spiritual magic that the essence of their thought-form invokes is real enough to those who take the time to contemplate the symbol of the unicorn.
The Rose
The rose is esoterically considered to be the flower with the highest spiritual vibration; the scent of a newly blossomed rose is enough to validate that assertion. Yeshua was also known as the “Rose of Sharon” in esoteric circles. “I am like the rose of Sharon and the lily of the Valley” (Song of Solomon 2:1). The Christ within the soul is being referred to in this biblical phrase. The rose represents the masculine-positive current; the lily the feminine-negative current. Thus, the rose can be esoterically interpreted to represent the masculine Christic aspect which infuses or pollinates the other “roses” of God’s garden.
Also, the chakras of the human body have been esoterically referred to as “roses” when they have reached a Christed level of functioning. Thus, the initiate who follows the higher path of the Christ consciousness will in time manifest these “roses” of illumination within their aura, to culminate in the entire being manifesting as a “flower body”.
Esoterically the red rose was used to represent the early movement of the Christing of the soul when it was taking place in the lower consciousness centers, the pink rose when the process had reached the level of the heart, and the white rose when the process was completing in the upper consciousness centers of the head.
The Lily
The lily as stated above, esoterically represents the feminine-negative current aspect of the Christ. It is shaped like a cup, it’s petals usually upturned to the sun, awaiting the divine infusion. This symbology is aptly suited to correlate with the Grail cup or Chalice as well. The Fleur de lis is a well-known sacred symbol based upon the form of the lily. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that: “There is a legend that the lily, emblematic of purity, was sent from heaven to the Frankish King Clovis ©. 466-511) at his Baptism...but perhaps the figure was derived from that of a dove descending, symbolic of the Holy Spirit.”
The Cross
One of the most misunderstood symbols of the Christic dispensation is the cross. The cross symbolizes the union of the horizontal (matter and space-time) plane and the vertical (divine / transcendent) plane of reality. The intersection point can be seen to be represented in the energy center of the human heart chakra. Many esotericists place a rose at this point on the cross. To be “crucified” upon the cross of space-time means to pass through levels of spiritual initiation that “crucify” the lesser aspects of one’s nature which keep them from attaining to higher levels of realization. This only becomes painful when those aspects fo the self not aligned to this movement resist it. Suffering is not necessary if one opens to, and asks for, Grace.
The Chalice or Grail Cup
The chalice or Grail cup represents the receptacle which receives the divine Christic infusion. We see this represented in many different ways in mystical Christian symbology, but always the underlying theme is the same. An individual soul is feminine relative to the Christic force (which in other relativity can be seen as feminine as well), and thus opens to receive the divine infusion, effectively become the Grail Cup. That soul in turn becomes male relative to the earth, and then transfers the Christic infusion into the Elemental Kingdom of the earth and the planetary consciousness. The Grail also represents the sacred blood. This is the pure Christic genetic factor which all humans have access to as their divine birthright.