Key symbols: stained-glass window in Gothic Cathedral

The colours of the stained-glass window

As the Temple, the Gothic cathedral was constructed on the basis of sacred geometry. It is divided in three spaces in relation with the macrocosm (or cosmic world) as well as the microcosm (or individual world) :

• The nave representing Earth (macrocosm) and the human body (microcosm);
• The transept describing the Atmosphere (macrocosm) and human soul (microcosm);
• The choir and the apse symbolizing Heaven (macrocosm) and Spirit (microcosm).

The round form of the apse and the rectangular one of the nave are respectively representative of Heaven and Earth. The Gothic cathedral is an image of the Cosmos reflecting the harmony between the human creation and divine One.

When the faithful enters the cathedral, he is facing east and new light. Wanting to be in harmony with the divine Creation, he will go through the structure following the diurnal or annual cycle of the sun:

• He will start with the obscure, dark world associated with north and the cool colour blue;
• He will carry on with the new light, the world of sunrise linked to east and the half cool, half warm colour green;
• He will continue with the world of the full light, the noon sun in liaison with south and the most warm colour yellow;
• He will finish with the crepuscular world, the sunset attached to west and red colour.

The faithful does not finish where he started. He ends a cycle before undertaking another one or dies to the current being's state before reemerging into a new one. Doing that, he goes through the colours of the rainbow spectrum from the “bottom” to the “top”, sign of his progression. These colours blend in with a unique colour, white, symbol of the unified state that the faithful tries to attain. Rejoining the unified state means to reach the Centre, God.

Henceforth, it is not astonishing that these five colours (blue, green, yellow, red and white) constitute the basis of the palette of the glass-masters who mostly developed subtle nuances. Thus, it is customary within the 12^th century to use very luminous glasses (notably a pale blue, the famous “blue of Chartres”) that will make room for darker chromatic nuances in the following century.

The tree of Jesse

The tree of Jesse constituted a very prized theme of the glass-masters of the 12^th and 13^th centuries. The subject is based at once on a prophecy of Isaiah (11, 1: “a branch will come out from the trunk of Jesse, a surgeon will sprout from its roots”) and ancestry of Jesus at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesse was the father of David, first King of Juda, one of the two kingdoms of Palestine formed after the death of King Salomon. The Bible commentators saw there the image of a family line according to a genealogical tree, which from Jesse to Joseph, spouse of Mary, led to Jesus.

The stained-glass windows represent most often a sleeping Jesse seeing himself dreaming. From his body emanates a tree, the branches and stems of which are animated by a light bottom movement coming from below. The tree contains in its central part the symbolic portraits of the line of Kings and in the lateral parts the prophets and patriarchs. Right at the top stands Christ in all his majesty.

Through its roots planted in earth and its branches erected towards the sky, the tree is the link par excellence between the worlds down below and beyond. It symbolizes the vertical Axis that unifies Earth and Heaven, temporal power and spiritual authority. To the genealogical tree associated to Jesse's descent corresponds the Tree of (eternal) Life, the ascending path linking the different being's states from the most temporal to the most spiritual. These states are spread over seven or eight levels:

1. At the inferior level, the horizontal posture of Jesse suggests the terrestrial plan topped by the vertical;
2. At the intermediary levels, the different Kings represent the centres associated to different being's states. They characterize the being who has overcome antagonisms related to a given state and found the unity within it;
3. At the superior level, Christ not only symbolizes the being centred in the different intermediary states, but centred at the top of the Axis symbolizing the World Centre. He is high up in the Heavens

While going back up the different levels and successively identifying himself to the centre of each of them; the being follows the return path that will bring him back to the primeval state he comes from, to the totally integrated state where duality in all its forms gives way to Unity.

The Zodiac

Christ, God Saviour, is associated with Fish for, in Greek language, Ichthus is the anagram of Iesous (Jesus) Christos (Messiah) Theou (of God) Uios (Son) Soter (Saviour). As the figure of Fish, Christ is also the Regulator of the seasonal cycles. This is the reason why, the cathedral of Chartres presents in the south part of its ambulatory a stained-glass window putting into conformity the signs of Zodiac and the annual activities.

Situated at the bottom of the stained-glass window of the Zodiac, the Pisces sign naturally refers to the ordinary fish considered under its spiritual aspects of “life principle” and “fertility”. Now, within number of traditions, Water constitutes the primeval element and the drawing of the Pisces sign let us approach a meaning beyond the ordinary one.

Linked by a cord indicating their deep association, both fish are doubly reversed in comparison with two axes:

• A horizontal axis assimilated to the water surface that separates the worlds beyond and below, the “Upper Waters” and the “Lower Waters”. Therefore, all what is above the water surface is reflected in reverse under the water surface. Superior becomes inferior, over becomes under etc.
• A vertical axis putting into correspondence the right and left worlds, the zodiac and seasons or annual activities. In other words, what belongs to the cosmic order is literally reflected into human activities.

Pisces establish in fact a double association between:

• The worlds beyond and below, i.e. the spiritual and the temporal
• The zodiac and the seasonal activities, i.e. the Cosmos and the beings.

The stained-glass window of the Zodiac as a whole advocates the harmony of the being with the cosmic and beyond worlds.

Below the Pisces sign and corresponding winter activity, the Aquarius sign is attached to the representation of the Roman god Janus with three faces.

The two lateral faces are turned towards the cycles of the seasonal activities and zodiac signs while the central one (normally invisible) is facing the spectator. This third face invites us to overcome the dualism of the lateral views, to follow the axial way and raise one's eyes towards Christ. Sitting on the throne above the human activities and the cosmos, He symbolizes the world beyond, the One depicted by the junction point of both edges of the stained-glass window in form of lancet arches.

This ascending path is linked to the Capricorn sign situated nearer Christ. Represented by a half-goat, half-fish being, it is associated with winter solstice. This creature half-marine, half-mountainous, symbolizes at once the dive into the depths and the elevation towards the heights. Now, winter solstice corresponds to the end of the descending phase of the sun towards the south celestial pole and the beginning of its ascending phase towards the north celestial pole (for more details on this point, see the description of the celestial sphere). In other words, winter solstice symbolizes the end of the descent towards darkness, synonymous with ignorance, and the beginning of the ascent towards Light, the divine Knowledge.

The counterpart of the Capricorn sign is the Cancer one. Represented by a crab, a half-marine, half-terrestrial creature, it is associated with summer solstice that marks the end of the ascending phase of the sun towards the north celestial pole and the beginning of the descending phase towards the south celestial pole. It corresponds to a descent from light towards darkness.

Winter and summer solstices, Capricorn and Cancer signs, represent the two extreme points attained by the sun in its annual apparent move. They are respectively associated with two gates of the Christian tradition, Janua Coeli and Janua Inferni, one opening into light, the other into darkness. The last one is the reversed reflection made in the image of both fish of the sign Pisces.

The rose window

The rose was so much revered by its beauty, its form and its perfume that it became the most widely known flower symbol. From a very general point of view, the rose is to the West what the lotus is to the East; they both refer to the symbolism of the wheel. The rose of the Gothic cathedrals and the compass rose illustrate this parallel of the flower symbol with the wheel.

The wheel is composed of a centre linked to a circumference by spikes. The relatively motionless centre symbolizes the immutable Principle at the source of all things and the circumference its manifestation. As the wheel spikes can be run through in both directions, they describe the movement of the Principle towards its manifestation and conversely. Their number can vary according to the point of view adopted.

The centre is characterized by the number One. This number would not be considered as the first odd number. It qualifies in fact the Principle common to all numbers, previous to any distinction, in particular between even and odd numbers:

• The first even number 2 portrays the Unity polarization, notably between Heaven and Earth. The rose made up of 2, 4, 8, 16 even 32 spikes characterizes the duality of cosmic world;
• The first odd number 3 depicts the ternary keeping into contact the unity (1) and its polar manifestation (2). The rose composed of 3, 6, 12 and 24 spikes associates the Principle and its cosmic manifestation.

These two types of roses can notably be found in the transept aisles as cathedrals of Notre Dame of Paris and León in the northeast of Spain.

• The rose with 8, 16 and even 32 spikes is generally oriented towards north for the dualism is proper to the obscure, dark world, premises of light;
• The rose with 6, 12 and 24 spikes is traditionally turned towards south for it corresponds to a descent from the centre or sun towards its manifestation or its diurnal or annual cycle.

It is notable that both types of rose can be dedicated to Christ and the New Testament as well as to Virgin Mary and the Old Testament. The elevation towards Virgin Mary, intercessor and lavish with deeds, is one of the dominant features of the worship of the Gothic period ¹. Mary symbolizes the fertilizing Earth, the receptacle of divine influence, the flower chalice, the rose, the blooming of which depicts the realization of all being's possibilities. The cathedral of León offers a beautiful example of flower ornamentation of French inspiration in the roses in the north aisle devoted to Christ and in the south aisle reserved to Virgin Mary.

Northern transept rose of Cathedral León (Spain)

Southern transept rose of Cathedral León (Spain)

In the rose of the north aisle, Christ sits in the middle of a circle with 16 lobes. The centre symbolizes the Principle at the source of the duality manifestation represented by pairs of opposite lobes. The figure of Christ is surrounded by a first circle composed of 16 decorative lancets describing the radiance of the centre, its manifestation in its whole multiplicity. A second circle is made up of 16 spherical forms containing crowned beings playing the music of the celestial spheres, symbol of the harmony within the Cosmos. The crown depicts the sovereignty, the prophet's radiance, at once spiritual and temporal, as testified by the lily flower drawn in the lowest sphere. Around, the vegetable forms constituted of stems divided in two other spiral stems, which wonderfully symbolize the development of duality.

In the rose of the south aisle, Virgin Mary in majesty stands in a circle with the child Jesus on her knees. She is surrounded by a first circle of 12 thurifiers or angels playing various trumpets to announce a great cosmic advent. A second circle of 24 lancets is composed of vegetable decorations. Each of them shows two stems parting and crossing each other from a common trunk. The 24 vegetable forms around depict the subdivision of a central stem into two lateral ones. All this expresses nothing but the polarization (2) of the Principle (1).

Bibliography

René Guénon:

“Symbols of Sacred Science”, Sophia Perennis Publisher 2004;

Notably, chapters 9 on symbolic flowers and 22 on some aspects of the fish symbolism.

^{1 back} In the 12^th century, all cathedrals of France were dedicated to Our Lady. This is also the century where the lady begins to be exalted by her knight at the court of the countries of Loire and Poitou. France discovers, in that time, courteous love on the one hand and love of Mary on the other hand.