Sashes have been used for a very long time in relation to the Mysteries – a purple sash or scarf was given to the Samothracian Initiates for example. In the G.D., two Sashes were used, one black, the other white. The association with the Pillars is an obvious one.
The S.T. utilised different coloured Sashes, blue (actually indigo) and red. Note that blue and red mixed makes purple, the colour of the Samothracian sash. The blue and red has further associations with the elements of Water and Fire, also attributed to the Pillars. These colours are also utilised on the Pillars in the higher Grades of the Order, for the 6=5 and 7=4.
Further layers of meaning are revealed, however, when one considers that the actual Whare Ra Sash for the Outer O. is indigo – the colour of the Hebrew letter Tau, and the Path of Saturn, leading from Malkuth to Yesod, through the Astral Plane. We also know that Saturn is associated with Binah, the Mother, and the Black Pillar.
The Sash for the Outer depends from the left shoulder to the right hip, further referring to the Black Pillar, the past, and the first step on the path of return. Taking this into account, it can be seen, in one light, that adding the various paths and symbols to the Sash as one progresses through the O., that we are retracing the path of evolution to date, the path of Nature:
Neophyte – beginning of all
Zelator and Earth – creation of matter
Theoricus and Air (instincts) – evolution of the first life forms (bacteria and simple plants)
Practicus and Water (emotions) – evolution of the first animal forms
Philosophus and Fire (intellect) – evolution of mankind, as the crown of the animal kingdom.
This is summed up in the Tarot card for the 32nd Path of Tau, the Universe, showing the Four Kerubim, and Isis (Nature), veiled, as if wearing a Sash depending from the left shoulder, and holding the binary wands of Water and Fire, blue and red, black and white.
Why then the red Sash? Food for thought perhaps…
So far I have indicated some hints, or avenues of enquiry, for further consideration, from a mystical perspective. What then is the practical purpose of the Sash?
It is a talisman, connecting the personal work of the Candidate, with the greater Work of the Temple. It is conferred by the Hierophant, in full ceremony, after due Purification and Consecration. Wearing the Sash when doing personal ritual and meditation, symbolically and magically links the Candidate to the Order. This has a very practical effect, especially for those only able to attend Temple meetings sporadically. These people then perceive of the Sash as a type of spiritual battery, that is charged every time that it is worn in Temple, and then gradually discharged through the application of personal work.
The photo is of the Sashes that once belonged to John Reid, an Adeptus Minor in the S.T. The second image is that of the Universe card, from the Tarot deck issued to members of the appropriate Grade at Where Ra.
Kasmillos
Edit: Note that the crosses on the Blue Sash should all be Cavalry Crosses – Reid’s 3=8 cross looks more like an equilateral cross. I have several doubts about Reid‘s 5=6 Sash. At no time did Frank Salt mention the red 5=6 Sash, but often mentioned the 5=6 yellow cummerbun (which Dr Fuller found evidence was used in the original G.D.).
