Temple Church, London

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

Hargrave Jennings in his Rosicrucians, their Rites and Mysteries, says: The Temple 66 " 66 Tetragram 66 Church, London, presents many mythic figures, which have a Rosicrucian expression. In the spandrels of the arches of the long church, besides the "Beauséant" which is repeated in many places, there are the armorial figures following; Argent, on a cross gules, the Agnus Dei, or Paschal Lamb, or, " Gules the Agnus Dei, displaying over the right shoulder the standard of the Temple: or, a banner, triple cloven, bearing a cross gules ; Azure, a cross prolonged potent issuant out of the crescent moon argent, horns, upwards, on either side of the cross, a star or." This latter figure signifies the Virgin Mary, and displays the cross as rising like the pole, or mast of a ship (argha) out of the midst of the crescent moon or navis biprora, curved at both ends azure, semée of estoiles or." The staff of the Grand Master of the Templars displayed a curved cross of four splays, or blades, red upon white. The eight-pointed red Buddhist cross was also one of the Templar ensigns. The Temple arches abound with brandished estoiles, or stars, with wavy or crooked flames. The altar at the east end of the Temple Church has a cross flourie, with lower limb prolonged, or, on a field of estoiles, wavy; to the right is the Decalogue, surmounted by the initials, A.O. (Alpha and Omega), on the left are the monograms of the Saviour, I. C., X. C.; beneath, is the Lord's Prayer. The whole altar displays feminine colours and emblems, the Temple Church being dedicated to the Virgin Maria. The winged horse, or Pegasus, argent, in a field gules, is the badge of the Templars. The tombs of the Templars, disposed around the circular church in London, are of that early Norman shape called dos d'ane; their tops are triangular; the ridge-moulding passes through the temples and out of the mouth of a mask at the upper end, and issues out of the horned skull, apparently of some purposely trodden creature. The head at the top is shown in the honour-point' of the cover of the tomb. There is an amount of unsuspected meaning in every curve of these Templar tombs. "