The meaning of the burning rose in demonology?

As many may already know, pathworking imagery is meant to evoke the archetypes of the individual entity inside one’s own consciousness, such that the entity comes closer to oneself. Furthermore, the correspondences set up in magick are meant to be aides that allow us to “index” the nature of an entity and think about their energies more clearly, so that we may plan around their application or use.

I haven’t been able to pin down the meaning of “burned roses”, which seems to come up commonly in demon pathworkings. It shows up in a wide array of sources which to me appear somewhat independent, including DoM where it’s part of the opening ritual (my theory is that it’s actually a call to Lucifer) and A Walk Through Darkness where it shows up for Paimon, and LHD where it comes up for many other entities.

To me it suggests the nature of The Fall, a kind of nobility in loss of grace or in rebellion and betrayal, or the conquering of innocence. It could also reflect the nature of demon magick as a sacrifice/offering of passions and desires for transmutation or change.

I’m interested if anyone has information on these symbols. They appear to show up commonly in secret societies as well.

1 Like

Beauty being refined by fire, the nature of the infernal being gracious, purification by fire, the beauty of torment, lots of potential meanings. What color rose? The commonality could be burning passion.