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69-538: As one of the three foundational Rosicrucian Manifestos, the book also inspired several Rosicrucian organizations such as Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross (1750s–1790s) and Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (1865–present). It is an allegoric romance (story) divided into Seven Days, or Seven Journeys, like Genesis , and recounts how Christian Rosenkreuz was invited to go to a wonderful castle full of miracles, in order to assist

138-468: A ludibrium which surprisingly some esteem and explicate with subtle investigations, is plainly futile and betrays the vanity of the curious" ( Nuptiae Chymicae, cum monstrorum foecundo foetu, ludibriu, quod mireris a nonullis aestimatum et subtili indagine explicatum, plane futile et quod inanitatem curiosorum prodat ). He called Rosicrucianism a " ludibrium " (a lampoon or parody) during his lifetime, in writings advocating social and religious reform through

207-533: A Table, and having (as my Custom was) in my humble Prayer sufficiently conversed with my Creator, and considered many great Mysteries (whereof the Father of Lights his Majesty had shewn me not a few) and being now ready to prepare in my Heart, together with my dear Paschal Lamb, a small unleavened, undefiled Cake; The Nine Lords are nine books of the New Testament: I Peter, II Peter, James, Jude, I John, II John, III John,

276-526: A bizarre treatise entitled "Societas Jesus et Rosae Crucis Vera" (The True Society of Jesus and the Rosy Cross), containing 40 emblematic figures accompanied by biblical quotations. The literary works of the 16th and 17th centuries were full of enigmatic passages containing references to the Rose Cross , as in the following (somewhat modernized): For what we do presage is not in grosse, For we are brethren of

345-525: A certain day and hour, under a certain penalty, and a weekly contribution for the charge of experiments, with certain rules agreed amongst us, to treat and discourse of such affairs..." According to Jean Pierre Bayard , two Rosicrucian-inspired Masonic rites emerged toward the end of 18th century, the Rectified Scottish Rite , widespread in Central Europe where there was a strong presence of

414-634: A considerable influence on Anglo-Saxon Masonry. Hans Schick sees in the works of Comenius (1592–1670) the ideal of the newly born English Masonry before the foundation of the Grand Lodge in 1717. Comenius was in England during 1641. The Gold und Rosenkreuzer (Golden and Rosy Cross) was founded by the alchemist Samuel Richter who in 1710 published Die warhhaffte und vollkommene Bereitung des Philosophischen Steins der Brüderschaft aus dem Orden des Gülden-und Rosen-Creutzes ( The True and Complete Preparation of

483-563: A double cross over an open rose; this is one of the examples used to prove the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" existed far earlier than 1614. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various groups styled themselves Rosicrucian. The diverse groups who link themselves to a "Rosicrucian Tradition" can be divided into three categories: Esoteric Christian Rosicrucian groups, which profess Christ; Masonic Rosicrucian groups such as SRIA , Societas Rosicruciana ; and initiatory groups such as

552-516: A hoax, whether the "Order of the Rosy Cross" existed as described in the manifestos, or whether the whole thing was a metaphor disguising a movement that really existed, but in a different form. The promise of a spiritual transformation at a time of great turmoil, the manifestos influenced many figures to seek esoteric knowledge. Seventeenth-century occult philosophers such as Michael Maier , Robert Fludd , and Thomas Vaughan interested themselves in

621-619: A monastery under the influence of the Albigenses, where he was educated and met the four Brothers later to be associated with him in the founding of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. Magre's account supposedly derives from oral tradition. Around 1530, more than eighty years before the publication of the first manifesto, the association of cross and rose already existed in Portugal in the Convent of

690-447: A new phase in religion, which includes awareness of the inner worlds and the subtle bodies , and to provide safe guidance in the gradual awakening of man's latent spiritual faculties during the next six centuries toward the coming Age of Aquarius . Several Russians of a mystical mind took advantage of the Edict of Toleration of religion in 1905 to form or resurrect what they considered

759-527: A number of Western esoteric traditions. Unable to spread the knowledge he had acquired to prominent European scientists and philosophers, he instead gathered a small circle of friends/disciples and founded the Rosicrucian Order (this can be deduced to have occurred around 1407). During the lifetime of C.R.C., the order was said to comprise no more than eight members, each a doctor and "all bachelors of vowed virginity." Each member undertook an oath to heal

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828-685: A second signed shortly afterwards in Strasburg. The Gutenberg Bible began printing in Mainz, Germany in 1455, and the first Bible in German , the Mentel Bible, was printed in Strasburg in 1466. The story follows the Passover and the seven days of unleavened bread exactly. The slaughtering and roasting of the paschal lamb begins in the evening (near Easter), as does The Chymical Wedding . The Chymical Wedding begins in

897-424: A sectarian Christian organization of his design. Some scholars of esotericism suggest that Andreae disowned Rosicrucianism to shield his clerical career from the wrath of the religious and political institutions of the day. "[I]t is clear from his " Turris Babel ", " Mythologia Christiana ", and other works, that he considered the manifestos a reprehensible hoax." This augmented controversies as to whether they were

966-535: A slice of it . It shouldn't go unnoticed that, after reading this tablet, Rosenkreutz cuts the bread. Symbol XXIV of the symbols of Pythagoras indicates "Never break the bread". Bread is broken in the gospels of Mark, Luke, and Matthew; however bread is never broken in John's gospel. Bread is also broken in the letters of Paul and the Book of Acts; however bread is never broken in the general letters of Peter, James, Jude and John. As

1035-468: A symbolic and spiritual alchemy, rather than an operative one. In a combination of direct and veiled styles, these writings conveyed the nine stages of the involutive-evolutive transmutation of the threefold body of the human being, the threefold soul and the threefold spirit , among other esoteric knowledge related to the "Path of Initiation". In his 1618 pamphlet, Pia et Utilissima Admonitio de Fratribus Rosae Crucis , Henrichus Neuhusius wrote that

1104-606: A third anonymous volume was published, the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz . In his posthumously published autobiography, Johann Valentine Andreae acknowledged its origin in a romantic fantasy that he wrote before he was 16 years old (1602), among other likewise forgotten juvenilia, and which he elaborated in response to the Fame and Confession , and said of it that "the Chymical Wedding, with its fertile brood of monsters,

1173-453: A thousand. By the fourth no man shall reach the place, because it is a consuming way, practicable only for incorruptible bodies. Choose now which one you will of the three, and persevere constantly therein, for know whichever you will enter, that is the one destined for you by immutable Fate, nor can you go back in it save at great peril to life. The first path leads to rocky places and this is reminiscent of Peter, "the rock" as he's portrayed in

1242-483: Is short but dangerous, and one which will lead you into rocky places, through which it will scarcely be possible to pass. The second is longer, and takes you circuitously; it is plain and easy, if by the help of the Magnet you turn neither to left nor right. The third is that truly royal way which through various pleasures and pageants of our King, affords you a joyful journey; but this so far has scarcely been allotted to one in

1311-634: The Golden Dawn and the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC). Esoteric Christian Rosicrucian schools provide esoteric knowledge related to the inner teachings of Christianity. The Rosicrucian Fellowship , 1909 at Mount Ecclesia (groundbreaking for first building: 1911). Teachings present the 'mysteries', in the form of esoteric knowledge , of which Christ spoke in Matthew 13:11 and Luke 8:10. The Fellowship seeks to prepare

1380-699: The Philosopher's Stone by the Brotherhood from the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross ) in Breslau under the pseudonym Sincerus Renatus in Prague in the early 18th century as a hierarchical secret society composed of internal circles, recognition signs and alchemy treatises. Under the leadership of Hermann Fictuld the group reformed itself extensively in 1767 and again in 1777 because of political pressure. Its members claimed that

1449-733: The Rose Cross or Rosy Cross. There have been several Rosicrucian (or Rosicrucian-inspired) organizations since the initial movement was founded, including the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross (1750s–1790s), the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (1865–present), and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (1887–1903). Between 1610 and 1615, two anonymous manifestos appeared in early modern Germany and soon after were published throughout Europe . The Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (The Fame of

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1518-419: The physical universe , and the spiritual realm", which they say had been kept secret for decades until the intellectual climate was ready to receive it. The manifestos elaborate these matters extensively but cryptically in terms of Qabalah , Hermeticism , alchemy , and Christian mysticism , subjects whose methods, symbolism, and allusions were ardently studied by many intellectuals of the period. In 1617

1587-639: The "Golden and Rosy Cross", and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite , first practiced in France, in which the 18th degree is called Knight of the Rose Croix . The change from "operative" to "speculative" Masonry occurred between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 18th century. Two of the earliest speculative Masons for whom a record of initiation exists were Sir Robert Moray and Elias Ashmole . Robert Vanloo states that earlier 17th century Rosicrucianism had

1656-434: The 19th century, presented arguments contradicting this idea. It was in this fertile field of discourse that many Rosicrucian societies arose. They were based on the occult, inspired by the mystery of this "College of Invisibles". Some modern scholars, for example Adam McLean and Giordano Berti, assume that among the first followers of the Rose Cross there was also the German theologian Daniel Cramer , who in 1617 published

1725-446: The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross) was circulated in manuscript among German occultists since about 1610, and published at Cassel in 1614. Johannes Valentinus Andreae has been considered the possible author of the work. A literal reading narrates the travels and education of "Father Brother C.R.C." and his founding of a secret brotherhood of similarly prepared men. Names, numbers, and other details have Qabalistic allusions, in which

1794-451: The Chymical Wedding of the king and the queen, that is, the husband and the bride . This manifesto has been a source of inspiration for poets, alchemists (the word "chymical" is an old form of "chemical" and refers to alchemy—for which the 'Sacred Marriage' was the goal) and dreamers, through the force of its initiation ritual with processions of tests, purifications, death, resurrection, and ascension and also by its symbolism found since

1863-561: The Golden and Rosy Cross, without success. After 1782, this highly secretive society added Egyptian, Greek, and Druidic mysteries to its alchemy system. A comparative study of what is known about the Gold and Rosenkreuzer appears to reveal, on the one hand, that it has influenced the creation of some modern initiatory groups and, on the other hand, that the Nazis (see The Occult Roots of Nazism ) may have been inspired by this German group. According to

1932-516: The Gospel of John and the Revelation. Rosenkreutz believed that the Gospel of John is the only gospel that is historically plausible, and that it is the unleavened bread and its relationship to the Passover that truly divides John's gospel from the synoptic Gospels . The Nine Lords were bound together with the rest that were at the table (27 total) and Rosenkreutz cried. There remained nine of us, and among

2001-754: The Masonic lodge (later: Grand Lodge ) Zu den drei Weltkugeln ( The Three Globes ) was infiltrated and came under the influence of the Golden and Rosy Cross. Many Freemasons became Rosicrucianists and Rosicrucianism was established in many lodges. In 1782 at the Convent of Wilhelmsbad the Alte schottische Loge Friedrich zum goldenen Löwen ( Old Scottish Lodge Friedrich at the Golden Lion ) in Berlin strongly requested Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and all other Freemasons to submit to

2070-512: The Order of Christ , home of the Knights Templar , later renamed Order of Christ . Three bocetes were, and still are, on the abóboda (vault) of the initiation room. The rose can clearly be seen at the center of the cross. At the same time, a minor writing by Paracelsus called Prognosticatio Eximii Doctoris Paracelsi (1530), containing 32 prophecies with allegorical pictures surrounded by enigmatic texts, makes reference to an image of

2139-441: The Order of the Rose Cross is expounded in a major Christian literary work that molded the subsequent spiritual beliefs of western civilization: The Divine Comedy (ca. 1308–1321) by Dante Alighieri . Other Christian-oriented Rosicrucian bodies include: Freemasonic Rosicrucian bodies providing preparation either through direct study and/or through the practice of a symbolic initiatory journey. Initiatory groups which follow

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2208-686: The Qabalistic basis and interpretation of the Fame and Confession . Between 1614 and 1617, three anonymous manifestos were published, first in Germany and soon after throughout Europe: the Fama Fraternitatis RC ( The Fame of the Brotherhood of RC , 1614), the Confessio Fraternitatis ( The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC , 1615), and the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosicross anno 1459 (1617). The Fama Fraternitatis presents

2277-746: The Rosicrucian documents. The peak of the "Rosicrucianism furore" was reached when two mysterious posters appeared on the walls of Paris in 1622 within a few days of each other. The first said "We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city (...)", and the second ended with the words "The thoughts attached to the real desire of the seeker will lead us to him and him to us." The legendary first manifesto, Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (1614), inspired

2346-612: The Rosicrucian worldview. In his work " Silentium Post Clamores " (1617), Michael Maier described Rosicrucianism as having arisen from a "primordial tradition", saying "Our origins are Egyptian, Brahminic , derived from the mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace , the Magi of Persia, the Pythagoreans , and the Arabs". In later centuries, many esoteric societies claimed to derive from the original Rosicrucians. The most influential of these societies

2415-594: The Rosicrucians departed for the east due to European instability caused by the start of the Thirty Years' War . In 1710, Sigmund Richter , founder of the secret society of the Golden and Rosy Cross , also suggested the Rosicrucians had migrated eastward. In the first half of the 20th century, René Guénon , a researcher of the occult , presented this same idea in some of his works. Arthur Edward Waite , an eminent author of

2484-541: The Rosicrucians. Some later works impacting Rosicrucianism were the Opus magocabalisticum et theosophicum by George von Welling (1719) – of alchemical and paracelsian inspiration – and the Aureum Vellus oder Goldenes Vliess by Hermann Fictuld in 1749. Michael Maier was appointed Pfalzgraf ( Count Palatine ) by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Hungary and King of Bohemia . He also

2553-566: The Rosie Crosse; We have the Mason Word and second sight, Things for to come we can foretell aright. The idea of such an order, exemplified by the network of astronomers, professors, mathematicians, and natural philosophers in 16th-century Europe promoted by such men as Johannes Kepler , Georg Joachim Rheticus , John Dee and Tycho Brahe , gave rise to the Invisible College . This was

2622-631: The ancient forms of esoteric Orders. These were the new Rosicrucians. Their inspired mentors compiled volumes of mystic philosophy which they combined with their personal notions of what the ancient Orders were, and so formed groups. The three principal neo-Rosicrucian Orders of early Soviet Russia were Emesh Redivivus, the Orionist-Manicheans, and the Lux Astralis. Due to suppression by the Soviets they had disbanded by 1933. According to Masonic writers,

2691-430: The anonymously published Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was one of his works, and he subsequently described it as a ludibrium . In his later works, he makes alchemy an object of ridicule and places it along with music, art, theater, and astrology in the category of less serious sciences. According to some sources, his role in the origin of the Rosicrucian legend is controversial. But according to others, it

2760-513: The beginning with the invitation to Rosenkreutz to assist this Royal Wedding. The invitation to the royal wedding includes the symbol invented and described by John Dee in his 1564 book, Monas Hieroglyphica . There is some resemblance between this alchemical romance and passages in the Bible such as: The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz first appeared in Strasbourg in the year 1616. It

2829-489: The cognoscenti of that era were well-versed. The Confessio Fraternitatis (The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC), published in Frankfurt in 1615, responded to confusions and criticisms and elaborated the matter further. Many were attracted to the promise of a "universal reformation of mankind" through a science "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature,

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2898-518: The cross for Jesus in Mark, Luke and Matthew's gospels. Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross The Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross ( Orden des Gold- und Rosenkreutz , also the Fraternity of the Golden and Rosy Cross ), was a German Rosicrucian organization founded in the 1750s by Freemason and alchemist Hermann Fictuld . Candidates were expected to be Master Masons in good standing. Alchemy

2967-411: The death of King William II . The order is subdivided into: Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism ( / ˌ r oʊ z ɪ ˈ k r uː ʃ ə ˌ n ɪ z əm , ˌ r ɒ z ɪ -/ ) is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new esoteric order . Rosicrucianism is symbolized by

3036-504: The evening with Rosenkreutz sitting at a table with both the paschal lamb and the unleavened bread. This would seem to indicate that he was Jewish. However, the words "Father of Lights" are curiously in the first paragraph. This phrase, "Father of Lights", appears only once in the King James Bible and it is in the book of James (Jas 1:17). Below is the opening paragraph of The Chymical Wedding : On an Evening before Easter-Day, I sate at

3105-570: The following terms: "About the year 1645, while I lived in London (at a time when, by our civil wars, academical studies were much interrupted in both our Universities), ... I had the opportunity of being acquainted with divers worthy persons, inquisitive of natural philosophy, and other parts of human learning; and particularly of what hath been called the New Philosophy or Experimental Philosophy. We did by agreements, divers of us, meet weekly in London on

3174-609: The idea for the order was born with the publication of Sigmund Richter 's (using the name Sincerus Renatus) The perfect and true preparation of the Philosophers Stone according to the secret of the Brotherhoods of the Golden and Rosy Cross . By the 1770s, the order had centers in Berlin , Hamburg , Frankfurt am Main, Regensburg, Munich , Vienna , Prague , Poland , Hungary , and Russia . The order slowly began to decline after

3243-419: The imminent danger, and I myself could not refrain from tears. For although we were not forbidden to speak, yet anguish and affliction allowed none of us to utter one word. For the cords were so wonderfully made that none could cut them, much less get them off his feet. Yet this comforted me, that still the future gain of many a one who had now taken himself to rest, would prove very little to his satisfaction. In

3312-425: The individual through harmonious development of mind and heart in a spirit of unselfish service to mankind and an all-embracing altruism . According to it the Rosicrucian Order was founded in 1313 and is composed of twelve exalted Beings gathered around a thirteenth, Christian Rosenkreuz . These great adepts have already advanced far beyond the cycle of rebirth . Their mission is to prepare the 'whole wide world' for

3381-609: The leaders of the Rosicrucian Order had invented Freemasonry and only they knew the secret meaning of Masonic symbols. The Rosicrucian Order had been founded by Egyptian " Ormusse " or " Licht-Weise " who had emigrated to Scotland with the name "Builders from the East". In 1785 and 1788 the Golden and Rosy Cross group published the Geheime Figuren or "The Secret Symbols of the 16th and 17th century Rosicrucians". Led by Johann Christoph von Wöllner and General Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder,

3450-503: The legend of a German doctor and mystic philosopher referred to as "Father Brother C.R.C." (later identified in a third manifesto as Christian Rosenkreuz , or "Rose-cross"). The year 1378 is presented as being the birth year of "our Christian Father," and it is stated that he lived 106 years. It is said that he studied in the Middle East under various masters – a story implying a possible link to Islamic mysticism or Sufism , which influenced

3519-632: The precursor to the Royal Society founded in 1660. It was constituted by a group of scientists who began to hold regular meetings to share and develop knowledge acquired by experimental investigation . Among these were Robert Boyle , who wrote: "the cornerstones of the Invisible (or as they term themselves the Philosophical) College, do now and then honour me with their company..."; John Wilkins and John Wallis , who described those meetings in

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3588-474: The rest he who discoursed with me at the table too. But although our small tapers did not leave us, yet soon after an hour's time one of the aforementioned pages came in, and, bringing a great bundle of cords with him, first demanded of us whether we had concluded to stay there; when we had affirmed this with sighs, he bound each of us in a particular place, and so went away with our small tapers, and left us poor wretches in darkness. Then some first began to perceive

3657-545: The right, simple, easy, and ingenuous exposition, understanding, declaration, and knowledge of all secrets." The first Rosicrucian manifesto was influenced by the work of the respected hermetic philosopher Heinrich Khunrath , of Hamburg , author of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1609), who was in turn influenced by John Dee , author of the Monas Hieroglyphica (1564). The invitation to

3726-474: The royal way or royal law (Jas 2:8). In the second letter of Peter we find the only reference to one in a thousand (II Pet 3:8). The fourth path is the letters of Paul. This is where one finds the teaching of the dead raised incorruptible (I Cor 15:52), and the only place that the word "consuming" appears in the New Testament (Heb 12:29). The story then continues, Whereupon I presently drew out my bread and cut

3795-620: The royal wedding in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz opens with Dee's philosophical key, the Monas Hieroglyphica symbol. The writer also claimed the brotherhood possessed a book that resembled the works of Paracelsus . Adam Haslmayr a friend of Karl Widemann wrote him a letter about Rosicrucian people who revealed the Theophrastiam 24 December 1611. In his autobiography, Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654) claimed that

3864-457: The second chapter Rosenkreutz sits down to rest under three tall cedars. There is a tablet fastened to one of them which tells of four paths. An important point is that it's the Bridegroom (Bible) that is offering these paths. It reads as follows: By us the Bridegroom offers you a choice between four ways, all of which, if you do not sink down in the way, can bring you to his royal court. The first

3933-594: The sick without accepting payment, to maintain a secret fellowship, and to find a replacement for himself before he died. Three such generations had supposedly passed between c. 1500 and c. 1600: a time when scientific, philosophical, and religious freedom had grown so that the public might benefit from the Rosicrucians' knowledge, so that they were now seeking good men. The manifestos were, and continue to be, not taken literally by many but rather regarded either as hoaxes or as allegorical statements. They state: "We speak unto you by parables, but would willingly bring you to

4002-409: The story proceeds it's evident that CRC took the second path with the following words, yet I still proceeded with my compass, and would not budge one step from the Meridian Line . Meaning that Rosenkreutz didn't turn to the left or right. It's also noteworthy that CRC says, "I patiently took up my cross, got up onto my feet". Only in John's gospel did Jesus bear the cross. It was Simon of Cyrene who bore

4071-407: The story takes place over 150 years earlier. The events of this story span seven days and are divided into seven chapters, each chapter relating a different day. The story begins on an evening near Easter . In the final chapter—the seventh day—Rosenkreutz is knighted; the year is 1459. It was on Easter-day 1459 that the Constitutions of the Freemasons of Strasburg was first signed in Regensburg, with

4140-422: The synoptic gospels. The second path in the text is the path taught in John's gospel, as Rosenkreutz is told not to turn to the left or right on this path and John's is the only account not to mention two men crucified to the right and to the left of Jesus while on the cross as thieves (John 20:18). The third path would be the general letters of Peter, James, Jude, and John. In the letter of James we find reference to

4209-428: The works of Michael Maier (1568–1622) of Germany; Robert Fludd (1574–1637) and Elias Ashmole (1617–1692) of England; Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens , Gotthardus Arthusius , Julius Sperber , Henricus Madathanus , Gabriel Naudé , Thomas Vaughan and others. Rosicrucianism was associated with Protestantism ( Lutheranism in particular). In Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chimicum britannicum (1650) he defends

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4278-400: The writings of the Masonic historian E.J. Marconis de Negre, who together with his father Gabriel M. Marconis is held to be the founder of the " Rite of Memphis-Misraim " of Freemasonry, based on earlier conjectures (1784) by a Rosicrucian scholar Baron de Westerode and also promulgated by the 18th century secret society called the " Golden and Rosy Cross ", the Rosicrucian Order was created in

4347-481: The year 46 when an Alexandrian Gnostic sage named Ormus and his six followers were converted by one of Jesus' disciples, Mark . Their symbol was said to be a red cross surmounted by a rose, thus the designation of Rosy Cross . From this conversion, Rosicrucianism was supposedly born, by purifying Egyptian mysteries with the new higher teachings of early Christianity. According to Maurice Magre (1877–1941) in his book Magicians, Seers, and Mystics , Rosenkreutz

4416-536: Was generally accepted. In the early 17th century, the manifestos caused excitement throughout Europe by declaring the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages who were preparing to transform the arts and sciences, and religious, political, and intellectual landscapes of Europe. Wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent. The works were re-issued several times, followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable or otherwise. Between 1614 and 1620, about 400 manuscripts and books were published which discussed

4485-451: Was one of the most prominent defenders of the Rosicrucians, clearly transmitting details about the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" in his writings. Maier made the firm statement that the Brothers of R.C. existed to advance inspired arts and sciences, including alchemy . Researchers of Maier's writings point out that he never claimed to have produced gold, nor did Heinrich Khunrath or any of the other "Rosicrucianists". Their writings point toward

4554-444: Was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , which derived from Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and counted many prominent figures among its members. The largest is the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC , a multinational organization based in Rosicrucian Park , San Jose, California, US. Paul Foster Case , founder of the Builders of the Adytum as a successor to the Golden Dawn, published The true and invisible Rosicrucian Order , elaborating

4623-422: Was the last descendant of the Germelshausen, a German family from the 13th century. Their castle stood in the Thuringian Forest on the border of Hesse , and they embraced Albigensian doctrines. The whole family was put to death by Landgrave Conrad of Thuringia , except for the youngest son, who was then five years old. He was carried away secretly by a monk, an Albigensian adept from Languedoc , and placed in

4692-411: Was to be a central study for members. Much of the hierarchical structure for this order was used in Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA) and from there, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . The fraternity was founded in the 1750s, but it is not certain when it came into existence. Many documents and books mention it from the eighteenth century. For instance, Frater U∴D∴ believes that in 1710,

4761-424: Was written in German and entitled Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459 . No author was named in the book, other than Christian Rosenkreutz, but Johannes Valentinus Andreae (1586–1654) claimed to be the author, in his autobiography. The first English version appeared in 1690, by Ezechiel Foxcroft , followed by translations into many languages throughout time. Although the book first appeared in 1616,

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