Thomas Troward (1847-1916) authored many
books that are considered classics in the
area of New Thought, Mind Sciences, and
even mystic Christianity. Influences on his
writings include the teachings of Christ,
Islam, Hindu Teachings, Buddhism and
more.
Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883–November 8,
1970) was an American author who was one of
the earliest producers of the modern genre
of personal-success literature. His most
famous work, Think and Grow Rich, is one of
the best-selling books of all
time.
Charles F. Haanel (1866-1949) was a noted
American author and a businessman. He is
best known for his book The Master Key
System that covers everything from how to
get wealthy to how to get
healthy
Prentice Mulford (1834-1891) Author, new
thought visionary, and adventurer. Born in
Sag Harbor, Long Island, Prentice Mulford
(1834-1891) sailed to San Francisco on a
clipper in 1856 and remained for sixteen
years. He left for a long tour of Europe in
1872 and then settled in New York City
where he became known as a comic lecturer
and author of poems and essays and a
columnist for the New York Daily Graphic (a
serial), 1875-1881. He may have founded the
popular philosophy known as "New
Thought."
James Allen (November 28, 1864 - 1912) was
a writer of inspirational books and poetry.
Allen's most famous book, As a Man
Thinketh, was published in 1902. It is now
considered a classic self-help book. Its
underlying premise is that noble thoughts
make a noble person, lowly thoughts make a
miserable person. In short: you are what
you think.
Wallace D. Wattles (1860-1911) was an
American author and a pioneer success
writer. His most famous work is a book
called The Science of Getting Rich in which
he explains how to get rich. He himself
"tested" this out on himself, as he lived
most of his life in poverty, but in his
later years he became rich. Other books by
Wallace include Health Through New Thought
and Fasting, The Science of Being Great,
The Science of Being
Well.
Christian D. Larson was a highly
influential New Thought author, teacher,
and leader. His many books including
Metaphysics or An Ideal Made Real codified
many theories on mind, attitude, ideals and
results on a spiritual and physical level.
At one time,he was honorary president of
the International New Thought Alliance,
where he had contact with such stalwarts as
W.W. Atkinson, Horatio Dresser, Charles
Brodie Patterson, and Annie Rix Militz. His
books may have greatly influenced the
evolution of Ernest Holmes and his
thinking.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 -April
27, 1882) was an American author, poet, and
philosopher. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born
in Boston to the Rev. William Emerson, a
Unitarian minister in a famous line of
ministers. He gradually drifted from the
doctrines of his peers, then formulated and
first expressed the philosophy of
Transcendentalism in his essay Nature
(1837).
Emanuel Swedenborg (born Emanuel Swedberg;
January 29,[1] 1688 – March 29, 1772) was a
Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian
mystic, and theologian. Swedenborg had a
prolific career as an inventor and
scientist. At the age of fifty six he
entered into a spiritual phase, in which he
experienced dreams and visions. This
culminated in a spiritual awakening, where
he felt he was appointed by the Lord to
write a heavenly doctrine based on a
reformed Christianity.
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The term
Rosicrucian (symbol: the Rose Cross)
describes a secret society of mystics,
allegedly formed in late mediaeval Germany,
holding a doctrine "built on esoteric
truths of the ancient past", which,
"concealed from the average man, provide
insight into nature, the physical universe
and the spiritual realm. " [1]
Between
1607 and 1616, two anonymous manifestos
were published, first in Germany and later
throughout Europe.[2] These were Fama
Fraternitatis RC (The Fame of the
Brotherhood of RC) and Confessio
Fraternitatis (The Confession of the
Brotherhood of RC). The influence of these
documents, presenting a "most laudable
Order" of mystic-philosopher-doctors and
promoting a "Universal Reformation of
Mankind", gave rise to an enthusiasm called
by its historian Dame Frances Yates the
"Rosicrucian Enlightenment".[3]
In later
centuries many esoteric societies have
claimed to derive their doctrines, in whole
or in part, from the original Rosicrucians.
Several modern societies, which date the
beginning of the Order to earlier
centuries, have been formed for the study
of Rosicrucianism and allied
subjects.
Contents
[show]
1
Origins
2
Reception
3 The
Rosicrucian Enlightenment
4 Rose-Cross
Degrees in Freemasonry
5 Modern
groups
6
Chronological list of groups formed for the
study of Rosicrucianism and allied
subjects
7 See
also
8
Notes
9 References
and further reading
9.1 Old
editions
9.2
Publications
9.3
Essays
9.4 Fictional
literature
9.5 Conspiracy
literature
10 External
links
Origins
The Fama
Fraternitatis presented the legend of a
German doctor and mystic philosopher
referred to as "Frater C.R.C." (later
identified in a third manifesto as
Christian Rosenkreuz, or "Roses-cross").
The year 1378 is presented as being the
birth year of "our Christian Father," and
it is stated that he lived 106 years.
Having studied in the Middle East under
various masters, he had failed to interest
the powerful people of his time in the
knowledge he had acquired and so instead
had gathered a small circle of
friends/disciples who founded the Order of
RC (this can be similarly deduced to have
occurred in 1407).
During
Rosenkreuz's lifetime, the Order was said
to consist of no more than eight members,
each a doctor and a sworn bachelor who
undertook to heal the sick without 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 and
scientific, philosophical and religious
freedom had now grown so that the public
might benefit from their knowledge, so that
they were now seeking good
men.[4]
Reception
The manifestos
were and are not taken literally by many
but rather regarded either as a hoax or as
allegorical statements. The manifestos
directly state: "We speak unto you by
parables, but would willingly bring you to
the right, simple, easy, and ingenuous
exposition, understanding, declaration, and
knowledge of all secrets". Others believe
Rosenkreuz to be a pseudonym for a more
famous historical figure, usually Francis
Bacon.
It is
evident that 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 the royal wedding in the
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
opens with Dee's philosophical key, the
Monas Heiroglyphica symbol. The writer also
claimed the brotherhood possessed a book
that resembled the works of
Paracelsus.
Martin
Luther's seal.Some say the writers were
moral and religious reformers and utilized
the techniques of chemistry (alchemy) and
the sciences generally as media through
which to publicize their opinions and
beliefs. The authors of the Rosicrucian
works generally favoured the Reformation
and distanced themselves from the Roman
Church and Islam. The symbol of Martin
Luther is a cross inside an open
rose.
In his
autobiography, Johann Valentin Andreae
(1586–1654) claimed the anonymously
published Chymische Hochzeit (Chymical
Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz) as one of
his works, although he subsequently
described it as a Ludibrium. However, in
his later works, alchemy is the object of
ridicule and is placed with music, art,
theatre and astrology in the category of
less serious sciences. His role in the
origin of the Rosicrucian legend is
controversial.[5]
The
Rosicrucian Enlightenment
The
publication of the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae
Crucis (1614)The manifestos caused immense
excitement throughout Europe: they declared
the existence of a secret brotherhood of
alchemists and sages who were preparing to
transform the arts, sciences, religion, and
political and intellectual landscape of
Europe while wars of politics and religion
ravaged the continent. The works were
re-issued several times and followed by
numerous pamphlets, favourable and
otherwise. Between 1614 and 1620, about 400
manuscripts and books were published which
discussed the Rosicrucian
documents.
The peak of
the so-called "Rosicrucianism furor" was
reached when two mysterious posters
appeared in the walls of Paris in 1622
within a few days of each other. The first
one started with the saying "We, the
Deputies of the Higher College of the
Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and
invisibly, in this city (...)" and the
second one ended with the words "The
thoughts attached to the real desire of the
seeker will lead us to him and him to
us".[6]
The legend
inspired a variety of works, among them 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 Naudй, Thomas Vaughan,
and others.[7] In Elias Ashmole's Theatrum
Chimicum britannicum (1650) he defends the
Rosicrucians. Some later works with an
impact on 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 ennobled with the title Pfalzgraf
(Count Palatine) by Rudolph II, Emperor and
King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. He
also 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. exist 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 nor any of the other
Rosicrucianists. Their writings point
toward a symbolic and spiritual alchemy,
rather than an operative one. In both
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
writes that the Rosicrucians left for the
East due to the instability in Europe
caused by the start of the Thirty Years'
War, an idea afterwards echoed in 1710 by
Samuel Ritcher, founder of the secret
society of the Golden and Rosy Cross. More
recently Renй Guйnon, a researcher of the
occult, presented this same idea in some of
his works.[8] However, another eminent
author on the Rosicrucians, Arthur Edward
Waite, presents arguments that contradict
this idea.[9] It was in this fertile field
of discourse that many "Rosicrucian"
societies arose. They were based on the
occult tradition and inspired by the
mystery of this "College of
Invisibles".
Frater C.R.C.
- Christian Rose Cross (symbolical
representation)The literary works of the
16th and 17th centuries are full of
enigmatic passages containing references to
the Rose Cross, as in these lines (somewhat
modernised):
“ For what
we do presage is riot in grosse,
For we are
brethren of the Rosie Crosse;
We have the
Mason Word and second sight,
Things for to
come we can foretell aright.
”
—Henry
Adamson, The Muses' Threnodie (Perth,
1638).
The idea of
such an order, exemplified by the network
of astronomers, professors, mathematicians,
and natural philosophers in 16th century
Europe and promoted by men such as Johannes
Kepler, Georg Joachim Rheticus, John Dee
and Tycho Brahe, gave rise to the Invisible
College, a precursor to the Royal Society
formed during the 17th century. It was
constituted by group of scientists who
began to hold regular meetings in an
attempt 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...";[10] and John Wallis, who
described those meetings in 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
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 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..."[11]
Rose-Cross
Degrees in Freemasonry
18° Knight of
the Rose Croix jewel (from the Masonic
Scottish Rite)According to Jean-Pierre
Bayard,[12] two Rosicrucian-inspired
Masonic rites emerged towards the end of
18th century, the Rectified Scottish Rite,
widespread in Central Europe where there
was a strong presence of 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 which a
record of their initiation exists were Sir
Robert Moray and Elias Ashmole. Robert
Vanloo states that earlier 17th century
Rosicrucianism had 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 Brьderschaft aus dem Orden des
Gьlden-und Rosen-Creutzes in Breslau under
the pseudonym Sincerus Renatus[13] 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 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”.
Then the original Order disappeared and was
supposed to have been resurrected by Oliver
Cromwell as “Freemasonry”. 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 Wцllner and General
Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder, the
Masonic lodge (later: Grand Lodge) Zu den
drei Weltkugeln 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 Lцwen in Berlin
strongly requested Ferdinand, Duke of
Brunswick-Lьneburg and all other Freemasons
to submit to the Golden and Rosy Cross,
without success.
After 1782,
this highly secretive society added
Egyptian, Greek and Druidic mysteries to
its alchemy system.[14] A comparative study
of what is known about the Gold and
Rosenkreuzer, appears to reveal, on one
hand, that it has influenced the creation
of some modern Initiatic 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 the writings of the Masonic historian
E.J. Marconis de Negre,[15] 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[16] and also
promulgated by the 18th century secret
society called the "Golden and Rosy Cross",
the Rosicrucian Order was created in 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.[17]
According
to Maurice Magre (1877–1941) in his book
Magicians, Seers, and Mystics, Rosenkreutz
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, then five years old. He
was carried away secretly by a monk, an
Albigensian adept from Languedoc and placed
in 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 the
Order of Christ, home of the Knights
Templar, later renamed Order of Christ.
Three bocetes were, and still are, on the
abуboda (vault) of the initiation room. The
rose can clearly be seen at the center of
the cross.[18][19] 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 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.[20].
In 1909 a
Masonic Rito Filosofico Italiano was
founded in Florence. Within its hierarchy
an "Italic Rose+Croix" degree - largely
based on the esoteric legacy of Italian
Renaissance - was soon to be developed as
the fifth. This Rito Filosofico Italiano is
now led by Michele Moramarco, who has
extensively dealt with Rosicrucian subjects
in his Nuova Enciclopedia Massonica
(1989-1995).
