In “The Alexandrian Rose Ankh” the co-founder of the Alexandrian Tradition, Maxine Sanders, writes:

“Mr. George Alexander was an artist who specialised in the different. He wanted to be a maker of magical weapons, swords, athames and anything made of metal. George wanted to create a symbol of our craft that would be recognisable to those Initiated, and to seekers with a curious nature. To begin, we had to find what the Craft meant to us. Life was the first word, Magic the second and Mystery the third, all we had to do was create the symbol for all three.”

It is a difficult task to create an all-encompassing symbol for a religious group; how does one calculate the adoption of the Cross, the Om, the Star and Crescent, or the Pentagram, and replicate their impact on the spirit of the believer? If one tries too hard to invoke emotion the symbol can become contrived, if one succeeds in invoking emotion they also risk the symbol becoming outdated, nostalgic, eventually irrelevant. Maxine continues:

“The Ankh is the symbol of life, the rose and the lily, the magician. Only the tips of the lily’s leaves, slightly visible, the mystery. Of course, there are a myriad of symbolisms within the Alexandrian Rose Ankh. The five petals of the rose, the elements, etc.”

So the Rose Ankh was created. When those first witches hung the newly crafted silver ankhs with cherry-red enamel rose petals around their necks, the connection that remains with us manifested. Thus was born a powerful occult symbol which could be utilized privately by witches of the Alexandrian Tradition, and also worn proudly to be seen by curious outsiders who may inquire about the strange looped cross with a flower in the center.

Roses and Lilies have long been associated with the Magician. The five-petaled rose equates to the pentagram, the six-petaled lily represents the hexagram; occult concepts hidden in natural plants. In the Tarot The Magician is surrounded by lilies and roses as he points his wand toward the heavens. The rose has long been a symbol for secrecy, such is told in an ancient Greek tale when Eros gives a rose to Harpocrates as a sign to keep the indiscretions of the Gods secret. Later Roman banquet rooms had roses painted on the ceilings to remind guests to keep things said under the influence of wine secret (a perfect witchcraft analogy). Christian confessionals have been carved with five-petaled roses to indicate confession’s private nature. In the Rose Ankh the leaves of the lily are hidden behind the rose, indicating the aspect of Mystery. The two symbols of Magic, the rose and the lily, are divided into seen and unseen—as is the magic that Alexandrians practice. The ankh, being the ancient Egyptian symbol of life, is carried in depictions of nearly every deity in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. These symbols are profound and potent.