Commentary on Dat Rosa Mel Apibus by John Eberly

DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS

24" x 36," acrylic on canvas, 2000
(DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS "The Rose Gives The Bees Honey" after the original motto found in the
engraving (possibly) by Johann Thedore deBry (d. 1598).
This image of the Rosa Mundi, or Rota Mundi, is the solar wheel of Apollo, the Lord of movement, of
the ever passing/present moment. It is the Solar Citadel, the abode of the Heart, the symbolic center of
the Supreme Center which is everywhere centered at once. It is a door through which this invisible place
may be accessed by one with a pure heart and an unblemished soul. If one gains access to the center of
the rose, it speaks the "lost word" of Masonic lore, the Master Word which throws open the lodge doors
of every sacred society.
In DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS the Solar Rose represents the labyrinth, the path and pilgrimage of a
particular lifetime. The journey into the center can be thorny, but the destination is sweet, like honey to
the bee. The pitfalls of the journey are symbolized by the transformative spider and her webs. In the
engraving upon which this painting was based, the spider is absent: Love has conquered Death. The
term arachnid comes from Arachne, the Greek maiden who was transformed into a spider after losing a
weaving contest to the goddess Athena. The spiders spiral webs show us the dangers on the road to
Love, trick snares set to bind and trap, and ultimately victimize the inattentive wayfarer. On the surface,
one may reasonably confuse the labyrinth of the rose for that of the web. This requires an inward
looking, intuitive approach like that of the bee seeking to pollinate the receptive flower. If the bee
successfully reaps the rewards of this lovemaking, the honey will enrich and nourish the entire
community of the hive. However, as the symbolism found in DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS shows, while
this path may work for bees...
A devout man in deep contemplation, with his head reclined on the bosom of meditation, was immersed
in the ocean of vision. When he recovered from that state, one of his companions, by way of pleasantry,
said, "What miraculous present have you brought us from this garden which you have been visiting?"
He answered, "It was my intention, that, when I reached the rose-bush, I would fill my lap with flowers,
for presents for my friends, but when I came to the spot, the odor so overpowered my senses, that my
skirt dropped out of my hands." -Saadi (The Gulistan or Rose Garden trans. by Francis Gladwin for
Willard Small, Boston, 1884.)
The following description of the original engraving upon which the DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS
painting is based is given in Joscelyn Godwins definitive work on Robert Fludd.
The Rose and the Cross: "The Rose gives the bees honey" (DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS). tThis
explicitly Rosicrucian symbol was first used at the head of Joachim Friziuss Summum Bonum, then
adopted for (Robert) Fludds Clavis. A rose with seven petals each alludes, in all probability, to secret
doctrines of septenary emanation such as were later to be publicized in the theosophical works of H.P.
Blavatsky. The Rose surmounts the thorny cross, the whole resembling the sign of Venus in which the
solar circle triumphs over the cross of matter. We may interpret the motto as saying that "spiritual
knowledge gives solace to souls," of whom bees are a venerable symbol. The spiders webs (also with
sevenfold divisions) strung on a grape arbor in the background, and the wingless insect on the rose (a
spider?) may represent negative, lunar forces, as oppossed to the positive, solar one of the bees, both of
which are reconciled by the philosophic rose.
-Joscelyn Godwin, in Robert Fludd - Hermetic Philosopher of Two Worlds. Shambala, Boulder, 1979:
10 [w/illustration.]
It is curious that Dr. Godwin fails to see the wings on the bee that has arrived at his destination, the rose!
This winged bee is clearly represented in every reproduction of the rose engraving that your

author/painter has seen...All of the other speculative symbolic observations hold, especially the
observation that the image is one of the alchemical symbols of Venus, the goddess of Love.
The seven circles of seven petals each symbolize the number of squares (7 squared = 49) of the magic
circle of Venus, of the "intelligence" (as opposed to the Spirits) of the goddess. Seven in the Hebrew
alphabet/number system represents Dagh, the Fish, symbol of Christ. Seven is also the number of the
Babylonian God of good Fortune. Seven is of course the number of the Liberal Arts and also of the
Deadly Sins.
Without doubt, this rose engraving has over time become the consummate emblem of the order of the
Rosy Cross, or the Rosicrucians, an essentially "invisible"order. Many individuals and groups have
made claims to be the "true" rosicrucians, however, since the original manifestos appeared in the early
16th century the jury has been out concerning who they might actually be. These documents were
designed to give the appearance of a Christian utopian group based on the model of the organization of
Freemasonry working clandestinely within society to effect world-wide change. These changes were
meant for the overall good of humankind, while at the same time being anarchistic in their view of a one
world economy and government.
Probably the work of one man, most likely Lutheran minister Johannes Valentine Andrae, the
documents have had the effect of change upon the imagination, and metanoia upon the hearts of those
receptive readers in every succeeding age. Whether this has also caused an effect upon world
governments is open to speculation, however, the Rosicrucian utopian vision has not (yet ?) taken
concrete hold upon mankind.
"The Rosicrucian Order is a state of mind. One becomes a Rosicrucian: one does not join the
Rosicrucians..." -Paul Foster Case
Through the symbology of the DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS, the intersection of the spiritual and the
physical worlds, access to the utopian state of mind afforded by the Rosy Cross manifestoes is gained.
On the other hand, since the Rose-Cross has been mentioned in connection with the seal of Luther (See
Regnabit, Dec. 1925), we say that this hermetic emblem was at first specifically Christian, whatever
false and more or less "naturalistic" interpretations have been given it, from the eighteenth century
onwards; and is it not remarkable that in this figure, the rose occupies the centre of the cross, the very
place of the Sacred Heart? Apart from those representations where the five wounds of the Crucified are
represented as so many roses, the central rose, when it stands alone, can very well be identified with the
Heart itself, the vase which contains the blood, which is the centre of life and also the centre of the
entire being. -Rene Guenon (Fundamental Symbols, p 22.)
The red rose is the consummate Christian symbol of martyrdom. St. Ambrose, one of the four great
Doctors of the Catholic church, tells us that before it became a flower of the earth, the rose grew in
heaven without thorns. Following the Fall of Adam, which brought everything spiritual into the material
realm, the rose took on thorns to remind humankind of its sins, while its beauty and fragrance remained
to remind one of the Paradise lost. Thus, the Virgin Mary is known as the "rose without thorns" as she
was exempt from original sin. Roses in connection with Christian saints generally represent their
(re)ascent into heaven.
The bee represents hard work, diligence, harmony, and order. The honey, the essence of the activity of
the hive, is a symbol of Christ and the virginity of Mary. The honey has also become in Christian
symbolism a sign of religious eloquence, assigned to saints like St. Ambrose and St. Bernard of
Clairvaux. St. Ambrose compared the beehive to the church as a symbol of the pious and unified
community, and the Christian to the ardently working bee, who never sleeps, always vigilant and
constantly acquiring virtue, adding "honey" to the whole community. On this point, the mystical
philosopher Maurice Maeterlinck referred to the "spirit of the hive," echoed by Rudolf Steiner,
anthroposophical "Rosicrucian" who said that "..it is the entire beehive that is wise." Indeed, Steiner felt
that the bee and its community in which sexual love has been transmuted into love in the heart have
evolved beyond that of the human one,
Since this love life is held back in all the bees except a single queen, the sexual life of the beehive is
transformed into all of this activity that the bees develop among themselves...This is a very wise form of
life. -Rudolf Steiner, Bees, (Hudson: Anthroposophic Press, 1998).

The Spider represents the miserly Devil, who sets traps and bleeds the victim of human frailty,
symbolized by the cobweb.
The cross, and especially the center, at the crossing point, the bindu; is the intersection where the
spiritual meets the material plain, as in the Rose of Sharon. Sharon and of Sharon or Lassharon in
Hebrew defined as "plain," "honest," "tranquil," and "harmonious." Where spirit enters the center the
rose appears.
The rose in DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS is not, as has been described above, restricted to Christian
symbolism. Christianity after all is a religion that developed by virtue of its syncretistic assimilation of
several older traditions. This symbolism transcends the particular to become universal in its application
and essence. It is true, however, in keeping with the Christian description, that if the viewer of this
image accesses the spirit if the rose, the thorns will no doubt disappear.
DAT ROSA MEL APIBUS
Painting Research Bibliography
Allen, Paul M. A Christian Rosenkreutz Anthology. Rudolf Steiner Publications, Blauvet, 1968. (Note:
this edition contains the original English translation of The Chymical Wedding by Ezechiel Foxcroft
(1690); Robert Fludds The Rosicrucian Brotherhood (1629); The Fama and the Confessio translated
by Thomas Vaughn (1652) and many other original Rosicrucian documents and commentaries.)
Case, Paul Foster. The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order. Wieser, York Beach, 1985.
Codex Rosae Crucis D.O.M.A. A Rare and Curious Manuscript of Rosicrucian Interest. The
Philosophical Research Society, Inc., Los Angeles, 1938.
Eberly, John. The "Arabic" Parts of the Original Rosicrucian Documents. Caduceus - The Hermetic
Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2, Seattle, Summer, 1996, pp. 16-32.
Eberly, John. Rosicrucian Essays. Anamnesis Press, 1996.
Jennings, Hargrave. The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries. Chatto, London, 1879.
Langstroth, L.L. and Dadant, Charles. Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee. Chas. Dadant &
Son, Hamilton, 1904.
Maeterlinck, Maurice. The Life of the Bee. Dodd, Mead, and Company, Cornwall, 1901.
McIntosh, Christopher. The Rosicrucians-The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order.
Weiser, York Beach, 1997.
Randolph, Paschal Beverley. Ravalette - The Rosicrucians Story. Philosophical Publishing Company,
Quakertown, 1939.
Waite, A. E. The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. Rider, London, 1924.
White, Ralph (ed.) The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited. Lindisfarne, Hudson, 1999.
Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1972.