The Cross

The Autonomous Grand Priory of Scotland's Neck Cross

Sacred Geometry
The points of the Eight Pointed Cross touch the angles of the octagon found within the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Byzantine Architecture of The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Castel-del-Monte in Sicily, and it is to be found within the sacred geometry of Rosslyn Chapel.View an animation of the Geometry of the Eight Pointed Cross

The Medieval Cross
In 1147 Pope Eugenius III ordained the use of the blood-red Cross of the Order. A Bothwell-Gosse in the "Knights Templar" points out that there are few reliable ancient representations, but the Eight Pointed Cross is probably older as the Cross of the Order than the Cross with the square ends, and must have existed before the Templar Cipher. He concludes that it was used before 1250 AD. Herbert Norris in "Medieval Costume and Fashion" notes that the Templar knights wore the red Eight Pointed Cross on the left shoulder of their white mantles, the sergeants wore black mantles and the squires brown mantles.

Templar Cipher
The Geometry of the Cross allowed the Templar's to use it as a basis for a Cipher to encode their messages.

The Knights Templar in Scotland
In 1312 the Papal Bull "Ad Providam" ordered that all assets of the Order were to be given to the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta) and this was carried out except for Spain and Portugal, and Scotland, where the Order combined with the Hospitallers to continue as The Order of St John and the Temple until the reformation. When Sir James Sandilands, Preceptor of the Order, converted to Protestantism, the Order is thought to have ceased.

19th Century Templar Revival in Scotland
The Order was revived by Alexander Deuchar from Edinburgh and was Non Masonic, there was also the other order of the Knights of St. John, both Orders worked together with Deuchar as the Grand Master.
On 7th December 1825, it was decided that the knights should use a white cloak or mantle with a red cross of 8 points on the left breast.
R T Macpherson portrayed a Templar knight at Rosslyn Chapel in c 1838.

The Templar Beatitudes
The Eight Points of the Cross recall the Templar version of the Beatitudes:

1. Spiritual joy

2. To live without malice

3. To weep over thy sins

4. To humble thyself to those who injure thee

5. To love justice

6. To be merciful

7. To be sincere and pure of heart

8. To suffer persecution