The American Rosicrucian Order - ARO  

The Loge de Parfaits  - Established in Louisiana in 1764

Rosy Cross Rose croix rosicrucian Masonic symbolToday, the ARO ⊕ Loge de Parfaits  of 1764 still uses the old version of the Rosicrucian Degrees as outlined in our Rosicrucian Handbook.

It is encouraged that all those seeking light become master masons within a regular lodge.  After becoming a master mason, an applicant can seek more light with the Scottish Rite which has a revised version of the Morin/Franken Degrees that includes 32 regular degrees. 

Within the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite concordant body of Freemasonry, the Eighteenth Degree is specifically concerned with the rose cross and confers the title of "Knight Rose Croix". Of one version of the degree, Albert Pike wrote in 1871,

"The Degree of Rose Cross teaches three things;—the unity, immutability and goodness of God; the immortality of the Soul; and the ultimate defeat and extinction of evil and wrong and sorrow, by a Redeemer or Messiah, yet to come, if he has not already appeared." [4]

He goes on to give an explanation of what he believes to be the symbolism of the Rose Cross in that degree:

"But [the cross's] peculiar meaning in this Degree, is that given to it by the Ancient Egyptians. Thoth or Phtha is represented on the oldest monuments carrying in his hand the Crux Ansata, or Ankh, (a Tau cross, with a ring or circle over it). [...] It was the hieroglyphic for life, and with a triangle prefixed meant life-giving. To us therefore it is the symbol of Life—of that life that emanated from the Deity, and of that Eternal Life for which we all hope; through our faith in God's infinite goodness.
"The ROSE, was anciently sacred to Aurora and the Sun. It is a symbol of Dawn, of the resurrection of Light and the renewal of life, and therefore of the dawn of the first day, and more particularly of the resurrection: and the Cross and Rose together are therefore hieroglyphically to be read, the Dawn of Eternal Life which all Nations have hoped for by the advent of a Redeemer." [4]