Rosicrucians

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rosicrucian , formerly Rosencreutzer , is the name of various spiritual communities. They are named after the legendary / literary character Christian Rosencreutz .

Rosicrucianism first appeared in public in the 17th century as a reform movement in Tübingen within German Protestantism with two anonymous socio-critical, political programs ( Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis ) and a novel-like allegory, the Chymic Wedding . The manifestos appeared at a time when the scientific and technical control of nature led to an alienation between science and Christian culture. The main concern and goal of the three scriptures was to counteract this development by cultivating the earth by continuously reforming science, ethics and religion. In the Fama Fraternitatis ( Fama for short ) the Rosicrucians are also not referred to as a brotherhood that is obliged to maintain secrecy. Their self-image is based on the impartial dissemination and utilization of knowledge and as yet unknown, undiscovered knowledge from other cultures. Organized groups of Rosicrucians did not yet exist at that time.

It was not until more than 140 years after the publication of the manifestos that the first Rosicrucian organization in the field of Freemasonry was founded around 1760 with the Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians . With its form of mystical irrationalism and illuminism, this order formed an antipole to the rational and modernist forces of the Enlightenment . The order briefly gained power and influence in Prussia under King Friedrich Wilhelm II. With the religious edict of 1788, criticism of the three main denominations of Prussia was punishable.

After the end of the Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians in 1787, the Rosicrucian myth lived on from 1865 in the Masonic Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SR i. A.). Furthermore, the myth found its way into the environment of theosophical and hermetic groups from 1875, which are also referred to as "New Rosicrucians".

Definition

There are various mystery schools and initiation communities that use the name Rosicrucian or Rosicrucian in reference to their members or the organization name. In addition, the supporters of such communities like to posthumously declare famous names of intellectual history to be Rosicrucians.

The term "Rosicrucian" can therefore denote:

  • the (literary-fictional) brotherhood described in the Fama or Confessio Fraternitatis ;
  • as a foreign name: followers or representatives of the pansophic - hermetic ideas formulated there , such as B. Michael Maier and Robert Fludd - even if they were declared never members of such an organization;
  • as a self-designation: the members of an organization which refers to the tradition of the brotherhood described in the Fama or who claim a continuous historical continuity to this;
  • Higher initiates and spiritual beings, who are supposed to be involved in the spiritual guidance of humanity, as proclaimed, for example, by the theosophically influenced "modern" Rosicrucians of the present, whose teachings have also incorporated purely spiritualist ideas since the 19th century.
Starting points from the history of ideas

The classic secret teachings of magic , astrology , alchemy , Kabbalah and theosophy are among the starting points for the history of ideas of the Rosicrucians of the 17th century .

The Rosicrucians of the 18th and 19th centuries belonged to the group of Illuminists . They resorted to older philosophical or to Eastern-pre-Christian, Jewish and Christian- Gnostic speculations, referred to Neoplatonism with its Orphic , Pythagorean and Platonic didactic pieces and borrowed set pieces from medieval mysticism for their systems of thought.

Many of today's occult- philosophical, magical, mystical-spiritually oriented or even purely spiritual western societies are influenced by the Rosicrucian .

The Rosicrucian manifestos and their effects

Many modern Rosicrucian groups place the roots of their society in antiquity or in early mythical times, but there is no evidence for this. Rather, the beginnings of Rosicrucianism lie in the 17th century in Württemberg .

The Tübingen Circle and the manifestos of the Rosicrucian Movement

Johann Valentin Andreae

The origins of Rosicrucianism are three basic writings of the 17th century, which because of their fundamental character are also called “ manifestos ” of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, and the turmoil over a supposedly secret brotherhood that arose from them. The manifestos consist of two political program documents: the Fama Fraternitatis and the accompanying defense document with an ambivalent call for contacts, the Confessio Fraternitatis . The third Rosicrucian basic script, the Chymische Hochzeit , appeared as an independent poetry of the late Renaissance with autobiographical and alchemy-critical echoes. However, the three Rosicrucian original writings are not historical documents. The themed brotherhood of the Rosicrucians from the 14th century was invented by the authors of the Fama , a group of Tübingen scholars around Tobias Hess and Christoph Besold . The person of Christian Rosencreutz is a literary figure who was invented by the Protestant theologian Johann Valentin Andreae . Within the Tübingen district, the idea of ​​a “general reformation ” was developed around the world, which, 100 years after the Reformation by Luther, sought to renew the stalled Reformation idea.

Fama Fraternitatis (1614)

First page of the original edition of the Fama Fraternitatis , 1614

In 1614 the Fama Fraternitatis was first printed by Wilhelm Wessel in Kassel without any indication of the author. The Fama is a political program that calls for the institutionalization of modern science. Knowledge transfer appears to be a particular concern of Fama. To this end, the quarreling European scholars are contrasted with the “wise men of the Orient” working together.

The Fama Fraternitatis is not an independent text, but in an anthology with further tracts embedded in an anonymous text with the title: General and General Reformation of the whole wide world. The treatise is an excerpt from the work Announcements from Parnassus ( De 'ragguagli di Parnasso ) by the Italian satirist Traiano Boccalini, originally published in Venice in 1612 . The second part of the 147-page booklet, the Fama Fraternitatis , is the centerpiece and is dedicated to Father Rosenkreutz's report and the history of the origins of his secret order, which is lost in legend . The Fama begins with a description of the current situation and the need for reform. In the context of theological categories is first referenced, as at the beginning of the 17th century began to separate from the previously speculative science the exact empirical sciences: from medieval alchemy was slowly chemistry, and out of astrology that went Astronomy forth. This emergence of new doctrines of nature led to a process of spiritual, religious and political transformation in all areas of the then Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , which the followers of the old doctrines of nature disliked. Following is a brief outline of the life story of the legendary father Rosenkreutz be collected in Arabia and Africa knowledge of the mysteries of the Orient in the West tries to pass to set up in Europe to improve the living conditions of a Republic of Letters. Five years after his return to Germany, Father Rosenkreutz is once again devoting himself to the project of a Reformation and connecting with three monastery brothers. They found the "Brotherhood of Rosenkreutz" named after the founder, set up the House of Sancti Spiritus and took in four more comrades. The brothers are spread all over the world, but meet once a year at Father Rosenkreutz's residence, who no longer travels and is always accompanied by two brothers. Each brother had to provide a successor before his death. At some point these disciples no longer know exactly when the founder of the order Rosenkreutz died, and 120 years after his death they happened to find his burial place in an old vault. Thereupon they reject the “cursed gold making”, profess to support the Church Reformation and call on those who are genuinely interested to join them.

Adam Haslmayr was in possession of a manuscript from the Fama Fraternitatis as early as 1610 , to which he referred in a letter published in print in 1612.

Confessio Fraternitatis (1615)

The Confessio appeared in print for the first time in 1615 (also by Wilhelm Wessel in Kassel). The full title was “Confessio Fraternitatis. Or acquaintance of the praiseworthy brotherhood of the highly honored Rosen Creutzes written to the learned Europe. ”The concern of the Confessio , which was announced in two places in the Fama of 1614, is to defend the Fama and individual problem areas from it, which are dealt with in loose succession will be explained further. It is aimed more at an educated audience, which is also evident from the original use of the Latin language. The Confessio goes on the attack and condemns the current philosophy as "very sick and inadequate", whereas the philosophy of the brotherhood is extolled.

The Fama call to the European spirit to contact the authors is repeated. On the one hand, the Confessio is strongly influenced by the Protestant spirit: the Pope is attacked and Bible reading is propagated as an essential gateway to Rosicrucian society. The dates of birth and death of the alleged founder, 1378–1484, are also mentioned for the first time in the Confessio . On the other hand, the writing can also be interpreted as satire: It indulges three quarters of the length in allusions to the secret knowledge of society, and then towards the end in front of "most of the books of the false alchemists who consider it a joke and an amusement when they […] deceive people with strange and strange characters and dark, hidden speeches and warn the simple-minded out of their money ”. Finally it says:

"Avoid and flee such books that you are clever and turn to us, who are not looking for your money, but willingly offer you our great treasures."

Chymic wedding (1616)

The Glyph of Monas John Dees on the front page of the Chymic Wedding

In 1616 a third book was published by Lazarus Zetzner in Strasbourg , written by Andreae and counted among the Rosicrucian basic scriptures: The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz. Anno 1459. The work with 150 printed pages is related to Fama and Confessio only through the common main person Christian Rosencreutz . If Fama and Confessio were written as manifestos of a current movement in the “we” style, it seems as if the Chymische Hochzeit was written as an autobiographical work by Rosenkreuz himself in the first person singular. The chemical wedding takes the form of a sensual, sometimes obscure, alchemical fairy tale . In it, the person of Christian Rosencreutz is no longer portrayed as the probing researcher of Fama , who ekes out the rest of his existence in a monastery, but as a brooding old man in old age, from whose life seven days are described, the time from Maundy Thursday to Wednesday after Easter of the year 1459:

  1. On the first day, the rose cross, who lives in a hermitage on the slope of a mountain and is depicted as godly, humble and pious, receives an invitation to a royal wedding. During the night he dreams of being imprisoned in a tower with others. But he and some prisoners can escape using a rope that has been lowered into the tower.
  2. On the second day he undertakes the difficult hike to the castle, where he is let in by the gatekeeper and meets an illustrious company, among which there are many boasters and pompos.
  3. On the third day the guests are subjected to a weighing ceremony in order to determine their characteristic qualities on the virtue scale . Most guests fail because of this. While these impostors are chased away, Rose cross holds even additional weights was what he and others elect the " Golden Fleece " received the order and it is passed through the lock.
  4. On the fourth day there is a theatrical performance (an allegory of the Reformation ). Afterwards, the chosen guests have to pledge absolute loyalty, as they then witness the beheading of six members of the royal family and it was previously explained to them that the rediscovery of the decapitated depends on the guests.
  5. On the fifth day, Rosenkreuz discovers the sleeping Venus while strolling in a castle chamber. In order to deceive the other guests, the funeral of the royal family is staged. But Rosenkreuz is the only one who can observe that the actual coffins of the deceased are being shipped to a remote island.
  6. The sixth day is spent doing alchemy in one of the castle towers. The experimenters succeed in creating a living bird from dead matter. Finally, a new royal couple emerges from the beheaded.
  7. On the seventh day the company boarded twelve ships. The guests are made the "Knight of the Golden Stone" and have to commit to five religious orders. Instead of a happy ending, Christian Rosenkreuz is in dire straits because his discovery of the sleeping Venus on the fifth day is considered a mistake, which is why he has to take up the service of gatekeeper of the royal palace as a punishment.

Immediate effect

Secret figures of the Rosicrucians, Altona, 1785.

The Fama and the Confessio generated a tremendous response in Europe. Since no address of the alleged brotherhood was known, the dispute with her had to take place publicly. From 1614 to 1625 more than four hundred prints on the subject appeared. The respective authors wanted to contact the brotherhood, express criticism or approval, or prove that the society existed. In the French treatise literature, the Rosicrucians were mostly viewed negatively, and they were associated with Satanism . But “The Rosicrucians”, whose identity and goals were looked for, never existed, they were a literary fiction. After Andreae's idea of ​​a Rosicrucian brotherhood, which was supposed to set a thought process in motion, had developed into an enthusiastic movement with partly sectarian features of enthusiasts and jugglers and the term Rosicrucian was thereby devalued for a serious discourse about the hoped-for social reform, distanced itself Andreae of it.

The social significance of the manifestos

The Tübingen Rosicrucian manifestos, which appeared at the end of the Renaissance era, were once the focus of "one of the most powerful, intellectual reform movements" of Protestantism. While the satire General and General Reformation of the whole wide world , published in 1614, was amused by all external reforms to improve the world and humanity, the Rosicrucian Manifesto, which was appended to the European governments and scholars, was the 36-page memorandum Fama Fraternitatis , written in a more serious tone. The Fama called for a reform of science, religion, culture and society. At the same time, against the background of the Copernican shock, it was complained that the ethical way of coping with life could not keep pace with the rapid advancement of science and the associated technical possibilities and is lagging far behind. This deficit created dangerous disharmonies that were identified as the cause of serious political and social conflicts in the world; The Fama Fraternitatis appeared four years before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War and called on the scholars and rulers of Europe to take measures in order to initiate a necessary “general reformation” that encompasses all social and cultural living conditions.

Spiritual history environment

The Rosicrucian Movement arose in the so-called denominational age. This epoch was marked by an intense discourse on religious and denominational problems that had a strong impact on public life. The beginning of the modern era faced the end of the Renaissance era irreconcilably, while a paradigm shift took place: The hysterical witchcraft culminated in the waves of persecution of 1590, 1630 and 1660, and the political Rosicrucian manifestos appeared shortly after Giordano Bruno's death by fire in Rome (1600) . When the third Rosicrucian scripture, the Chymical Wedding by Johann Valentin Andreae, appeared in print in 1616, the heliocentric worldview of Copernicus was declared a heretical heresy by the Roman church . Doomsday prophets and apocalyptists had a boom. Despite the primacy of the right doctrine of Lutheran Orthodoxy, whose stronghold was in Tübingen at the time, dissatisfaction with dogmatic rigidities and an established lack of charity spread. In this environment, the mystical, spiritualistic piety and edification literature of the theologian Johann Arndt , especially his Four Books on True Christianity , was very well received. A pronounced tendency towards chiliasm , the expectation of the millennial kingdom of peace promised in the Johannes apocalypse, spread. Significant exponents of this direction were the Görlitz shoemaker Jakob Böhme and the Lutheran pastor Valentin Weigel , whose name was immediately used by orthodoxy as the heretic name of mystical-spiritual heresies, Weigelianism .

The mystical marriage of the Thames and the Rhine

The historian Frances A. Yates identified the Heidelberg Castle as the template for the fairytale castle of Andreae's Chymic Wedding .

The Rosicrucian discourse was conducted in the slipstream of the power-political controversies at the time of the great European war. According to the English historian Frances A. Yates , the Rosicrucian Manifestos formed the mystical backdrop to a movement at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War that aimed to make Frederick V of the Palatinate King of Bohemia. According to this, the followers of this movement described the wedding of the Palatine Elector Friedrich V (1596–1632), the “Winter King” and leader of the Protestant Union, with the daughter of the English King James I , Princess Elisabeth, with the alchemical initiation process from Andreae's fairy tale Chymische Hochzeit Stuart (1596–1662), in 1613. According to Yates, there are clear allusions in the fairy tale of the Chymic Wedding and its symbolism to the Heidelberg Castle , which was dominated by the Palatinate lion symbolizing political hopes. In this respect, the Rosicrucian myth in the sense of this mystical marriage of the Thames and the Rhine would have become the ideology of the Calvinist bloc led by the "Winter King" and thus a new European power factor. But the Catholic League put a military and political end to these dreams and hopes with its victory in the Battle of White Mountain . On a contemporary, Rosicrucian motifs, satirical engraving, the failed efforts to withdraw Bohemia from the Habsburg rule and subordinate to the Palatinate government were satirized.

Establishment of the Royal Society

The educational reformer Johann Amos Comenius created a concrete program from Andreae's Rosicrucian ideas, which he presented to the English parliament.

The Rosicrucian Manifestos inspired many prominent contemporaries in intellectual history, especially Johann Amos Comenius . Comenius' writing The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart is essentially an adaptation of Andreae's writings. In his last work, the Clamores Eliae , Comenius no longer differentiated between his own reform program and the Rosicrucian "General Reformation " and described the Church of the Bohemian Brethren , which he headed from exile as bishop , as the first actually existing Rosicrucian brotherhood. Comenius, who had studied with Andreae, became famous as an educational reformer with his overall representation of the world in words and pictures, the Orbis sensualium pictus (1658), which was connected to a plan for world redemption . Following on from the ideas of Bruno and Campanella, he wanted to combine all reliable and useful knowledge in a "book of books", which should reflect the invisible order of the cosmos in its structure. He presented this plan to the English parliament in 1641 in his program Via lucis ( The Way of Light ). In addition, he came to England personally in 1641 to promote the establishment of a college of well-meaning philosophers, an elite of researchers based in England who were supposed to collect the knowledge of all of humanity in order to make it accessible to all people without reservation. From this should emerge the "true universal Philadelphian Church" as the guardian of global culture. His proposals for economic reform were enriched with ideas, which he presented as a concrete organizational plan by converting Andreae's Rosicrucian fables and partnership plans.

When the Royal Society was founded in London in 1660 under Rosicrucian influence , Comenius dedicated his book The Path of Light , which had previously been submitted to Parliament, to it , in the preface of which he motivated scientists to strive for goals beyond the limits of their research areas. Comenius, who had to leave England without having achieved anything in 1642 because his proposals fell on deaf ears as Parliament was preparing for war with the King, wanted in 1668, when he learned of the establishment of the Royal Society , to propose its spiritual paternity as the realization of his Claim "college" for yourself. Therefore, he downplayed the importance and influence of Andreae and Campanella for his plan of world salvation and instead gave the newly enthroned spiritual founding father of the Royal Society , Francis Bacon , as his source of inspiration, which Bacon ignored.

Andreae mocks the Rosicrucian Movement

The inventor of the Rosicrucian myth, Johann Valentin Andreae, mocked the wild reactions and cries of the emerging Rosicrucian movement, and his public comments on this were exclusively negative while defending the contents of the manifestos. In 1619, in his book Turis Babel, he described the search for the Rosicrucians as an illusion, since the Fama had primarily caused deceivers, alchemists and jugglers to give confusing answers. Subsequently, he declared the fictional brotherhood, which never existed, to be the ideal of a future Christian community in which the position of the literary figure of Christian Rosencreutz is taken by Christ himself, which he said in his Menippus of 1617 and 1619 in the preface to his work Christianopolis further clarified: The fictional Rosicrucian play only had the aim of "inculcating a Christian life". This does not require a brotherhood, but rather personal initiative. After the attempt with the Rosicrucian manifestos had failed because of their unsuitable pansophic-hermetic clothing, because it only attracted crushing spirits and threw the world of scholars into complete confusion, Andreae tried to implement his goals and ideals for the formation of a Christian society in a smaller group. To this end, he founded the Societas Christiana with numerous old friends in 1619/20 .

Confrontation with the opponents

The unorthodox manifestos called opponents from the Orthodox Christian camp and from among conservative enlightening natural scientists. At first, the Lutheran orthodoxy, which was extremely sensitive to all heretical fluctuations and deviations, reacted particularly hostile, as it was intent on consolidating a fixed religious orientation of the still young Protestantism, and branded the Rosicrucian impulse as a betrayal of Luther's work: the Rosicrucian ideas were presented as a creation of the Calvinist ones Reformation or Anabaptism and dubbed the Rosicrucians as like-minded people of the Weigelians, the Bohemians and Schwenkfeld followers. As long as it was consolidated in the era of an active Counter-Reformation , the Catholic Church reacted in a much more relaxed manner and regarded the Rosicrucians mainly as Lutheran heretics.

Other effects

After the merely literary appearance of the so-called "older Rosicrucians" from 1614 onwards, some distinguished individuals, the so-called "middle Rosicrucians", referred to this Rosicrucian impulse. Among other defended Michael Maier and the Englishman Robert Fludd the manifestos of the Rosicrucians and saw themselves as acting on their behalf. An organization or an order was not formed by the “middle Rosicrucians” either. The Reformation collecting basin made up of Pietists and followers of Jakob Boehmes theosophy (Boehmians) played an essential role in the dissemination of the Rosicrucian manifestos at the beginning of the 17th century. The subsequent flood of Rosicrucian writings, which dealt with the manifestos between 1616 and around 1625, led to processes of change in the original Rosicrucian ideas. On the one hand, these took on theosophical and Christosophical traits and, together with the Weigelians and Bohemians, via Abraham von Franckenberg , combined with Christian mysticism, culminated in Pietism . On the other hand, Sperber, Mögling, Maier and Fludd changed the Rosicrucian ideas by enriching it with alchemical-cabbalistic speculations, which led to the spread of this literary genre among devout alchemists and swarming spirits.

Rosicrucian Organizations

classification

The history of Rosicrucian ideas and organizations spans a period of over 400 years. In addition, there is the almost unmanageable number of sometimes small and very small groups and groups that rename, split or refer to each other and form a confusing network of lines of tradition. It is therefore obvious that the attempt was made to classify this conceptually.

A striking difference is that during the time of the manifestos and their reverberations, only individuals are historically tangible. An existing secret organization was accepted by contemporaries but could never be proven, and it is now consensus that such an organization never existed. In contrast, from the middle of the 18th century, a large number of groups became historically comprehensible, which were often organized hierarchically according to the Masonic pattern. The first of these groups are the Gold and Rosicrucians in Germany.

The authors of the manifestos, their personal surroundings and those people who took up and represented the ideas of the manifestos are therefore often referred to as "older Rosicrucians" in contrast to the groups and organizations that followed them and who wanted Christian Rosenkreutz to be their spiritual ancestor and invoked such a tradition. Members and representatives of these organizations are referred to somewhat vaguely as "late rose cruisers".

Occasionally the term "middle Rosicrucians" is used for representatives and directions that depend on the history of ideas from the older Rosicrucians, but cannot be assigned to the organized, later Rosicrucians. At Edighoffer, this middle period, in which the writings of the older Rosicrucians were translated and received in other European countries, especially in England, lasted from the middle of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th century. During this period there was also isolated news about the existence of Rosicrucian groups, for example Leibniz is said to have belonged to a group of Rosicrucians and alchemists, but the existence of an organization comparable to the later Gold and Rosicrucians is considered unlikely. Greffarth sees a phase of reception and mediating tradition supported by Freemasons between the older ones and the Gold and Rosicrucians, to which Elias Ashmole and the English masonry of the 17th century belong above all .

After all, the term “New Rosicrucians” is mainly used for groups that appear from the middle of the 19th century and depend on one another through a network of lines of tradition, starting with the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia in England. In particular in this context one speaks of the Rosicrucian Revival in England and its consequences, especially the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its unpredictable effects on occultism and esotericism in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In his dissertation, Harald Lamprecht attempted to summarize the variety of forms of the New Rosicrucians in categories, of which he distinguishes three:

  • Initiatory Rosicrucianism : In these communities the importance of a spiritual succession is emphasized, i.e. similar to the Freemasons the regular establishment of a new lodge is only possible through foundation and authorization by an existing lodge ( charter ), special emphasis is placed on these groups on chains of initiation and lines of tradition that can be traced as far back as possible, and authenticity that is thereby assured. The initiating organizations include the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and the AMORC .
  • Theosophical Rosicrucianism : This subheading includes groups in the line of tradition of the Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky .
  • Gnostic Rosicrucianism : These groups are characterized in that ideas and concepts of Gnosis were added to a considerable extent. A well-known example is the Lectorium Rosicrucianum .

A clear assignment of individual groups to one of the categories can of course not be free from arbitrariness. In any case, the Lamprechtian categories seem to have neither been adopted nor significantly received.

Geographical classifications are hardly useful, especially for the more modern groups, as these mostly operate internationally or at least claim that they are. Finally, summarizing groups along verifiable lines of tradition would mean that the model of initiatory Rosicrucianism is implicitly applied to all groups.

Individual Rosicrucian groups

In the following, the more important Rosicrucian communities that have appeared since the mid-18th century are briefly presented in a shortened chronological order. Further information can be found in the relevant main articles.

The Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians

It was not until more than 140 years after the Rosicrucian Manifestos appeared in the 18th century (probably 1757) that the first Rosicrucian organization was founded in Frankfurt , the anti-Enlightenment order of the Gold and Rosicrucians , which has its roots in German high-level freemasonry . According to the self-understanding of the order, its beginnings go back to Moses and even to Adam .

In Belvedere of the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin Friedrich Wilhelm II got. A necromancy demonstrated.

The actual initiators of the Gold and Rosicrucians were Johann Christoph von Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder . Bischoffwerder managed to gain the favor of the gullible Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia , whereupon he and Wöllner decided to deceive him: In 1873, Theodor Fontane described in his wanderings through the Mark Brandenburg how Friedrich Wilhelm in the Belvedere of the Charlottenburg Palace and in the In the Blue Grotto at Marquardt Castle, the ghosts of Marcus Aurelius , the Great Elector and the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz were presented, which is said to have impressed him so much that he was unable to answer even one question from an illusionist and a ventriloquist about life to judge raised great deceased. The Crown Prince was enthusiastically accepted by Duke Friedrich August on August 8, 1781 as Ormesus Magnus . The ghost magic was then raised to the constant practice of the order and carried out by means of ghost apparatus ( laterna magica ) of the impostor Johann Georg Schrepfer , which had come into the possession of Bischoffwerder after his death.

With the appointment of Bischoffwerder as Minister of War and Wöllner as Minister of Education after Friedrich-Wilhelm II's accession to the throne, the order gained political importance in Prussia. On July 9, 1788, Wöllner issued an edict of religion that sought to re-establish Lutheran orthodoxy ; the alliance between the Prussian state church and Enlightenment Protestantism was thus terminated. However, this power of the Rosicrucians remained an episode, since the king kept his distance from them from 1792; There is no evidence that the order had material advantages from its temporary proximity to the throne.

The order, which was mainly active in the German Empire, acted as a secret Christian sect with alchemical tendencies. The religious leaders claimed to have unmistakable wisdom to ban poverty and disease and to have the secret recipe for the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone from the “ prima materia ”. Shaped by the theosophists and pansopers of the 16th and 17th centuries, attempts were made to fight against the rationalism of the Enlightenment. The esoteric fields of activity were based on three secret doctrines: the practical and speculative alchemy of the Gnostic-Christian style, the cabbalistic thought processes of Knorr von Rosenroth and the mysticism of Jakob Boehme . The Rosicrucian ritual was based on this and stated that the aim of the order was to purify fallen people in order to “restore the defaced image of God” and to produce gold by concentrating on base metals . The well-known ritual collections of the order showed that the alchemical religious beliefs were derived from Paracelistic and iatrochemical teachings and the phlogiston theory. As traditionalists, the Gold and Rosicrucians identified themselves completely with the Aristotelian worldview, adhered to the four-element theory and ignored the contemporary chemical structure, which was greeted with scorn and ridicule by their contemporary enlightenment critics and the chemical historians of the 19th century. Two comprehensive reforms of the order were carried out: in 1767 one declared u. a. the Bible as the only guideline.

In 1777 it was announced that the superiors of the order had invented Freemasonry and had exclusive knowledge of the secret meaning of Masonic symbolism. Only holders of the master degree of symbolic masonry were admitted to the nine levels of the order. The mother lodge " To the three globes " became the German headquarters of the order. The Gold and Rosicrucians infiltrated Freemasonry and there were double memberships, which was primarily favored by the high degree system , which was directed against the enlightened goals of Freemasonry.

The members were subject to a rigid system of rule, headed by the superiors, who were unknown and were considered infallible. They had to be given absolute obedience. Work was carried out in circles with a maximum of nine people, headed by a circle director, who in turn was subordinate to a main director, who in turn was accountable to the chief director. The membership fees were so high that membership for members of the middle or lower classes was excluded. The circles in Berlin and Kassel had the most members. The latter was around 1779 a. a. Founded by Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring , who recruited his friend, the travel writer Georg Forster .

At the behest of Wöllner, the order, with the support of the Jesuits, did everything in its power to exterminate the Illuminati order . The future Illuminatist Adolph Freiherr Knigge polemicized violently against the Gold and Rosicrucians, whom he accused of fraud, in his book Ueber Jesuits, Freemaurer and Deutsche Rosencreutzers , protested against their goldmaking and set them knowledgeable of the "true spirit" of the "older Rosicrucians" of the 17th century. The Illuminist Johann Joachim Christoph Bode also made his debut with his pamphlet Strong Evidence from the own writings of the High Holy Order of Gold and Rosenkreutzer (1788) on an opponent of the order.

In the superior sense of mission of the order, the bearers of the ninth degree were considered god-like. Their claim that they were given power over all humanity through magical procedures hastened the downfall of the order. When the mystical purpose of the order faded into the background and an ever stronger political orientation became noticeable, disappointment spread when the miraculous powers promised to the members of the upper grades with effective propaganda failed to materialize. The overestimation of alchemy, the aspects of which were increasingly recognized as outdated, did the rest. When Wöllner's attempt at the Masonic Congress in 1782 to subordinate the Freemasons, who still pay homage to Strict Observance, to the order failed, the decline took its course. Finally, in 1787, the temporary standstill of the circle work was ordered in a regulation called "Silanum". Further visible activities of the order are not known. Conceived as a secret society, the order is also understood in research as the secret church of the 18th century, which, as a social and spiritual system, combined esoteric and ecclesiastical-Christian elements and functions for its members.

Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S. R. i. A.)

The memory of the legends of the Rosicrucians was kept alive in the high degrees of Freemasonry, which was first achieved in 1865 with the foundation of S. R. i. A. becomes historically tangible.

The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S. R. i. A.) was founded in 1865 by Robert Wentworth Little (1840-1878) in London. The S. R. i. A. only accepted regular Masons in the master's degree and was primarily a Masonic study group that dealt with various aspects of the secret sciences at regular meetings. Occasionally, ceremonial acts were also performed. From the S. R. i. A. branches have emerged in different parts of the world, for example in Scotland the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia or in the USA the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis . In the USA, in 1908, under George Winslow Plummer, the Societas Rosicruciana in America , which also had the abbreviation S. R. i. A. used, but also accepted non-Masons and women.

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Because some members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S. R. i. A.) the previous research of their order were too fleeting and they wanted to test practical magic, William Wynn Westcott , William Robert Woodman and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers founded the Hermetic Order of the Golden in 1888 Dawn . The original degrees of the German Gold and Rosicrucians of the 18th century were taken over and a tenth degree (Ipsissimus) was added. According to the founding legend, an old " cipher manuscript ", the authenticity of which is disputed, was authorized and legitimized by a high-ranking member of a German Rosicrucian order to establish the English branch. The inner circle of the Golden Dawn, to which only advanced members belonged, formed from 1892 the "Order of the Red Rose and the Golden Cross" ( Ordo Rosæ Rubeæ et Aureæ Crucis , short: RR et AC). This was allegedly associated with "secret superiors". After Westcott retired from senior positions in 1897, Florence Farr became chief adept of the English branch while Mathers lived in Paris and directed the order from a distance. This led to some clashes among the members. These peaked in early 1900 when the London Temple adepts refused to accept Aleister Crowley into the Inner Order. Mather's authoritarian leadership style and doubts about the authenticity of the founding legend led to the open rebellion of the London Temple. The few Mathers remaining loyal members formed their own branch, which was later named Alpha et Omega (A∴O∴). The London adepts initially tried to continue the leadership on a democratic basis, but failed to reach an agreement, so that the order finally broke up in 1903. The mystically oriented members followed Arthur Edward Waite in the Independent and Rectified Rite of the Golden Dawn , while the magically oriented members under Robert William Felkin founded the Stella Matunina , which was active until the late 1970s.

There are currently several organizations in the tradition of the Golden Dawn , such as the "Sodalitas RosaeXCrucis et Solis Alati" founded in 2002, which conducts esoteric training courses and magical initiations in several countries.

Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix

Stanislas de Guaita (1871–1897), founder of the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix
Joséphin Péladan , founder of the Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique , an ally and later rival of de Guita

In France, too, there was an ongoing interest in the Rosicrucian legends within high-grade masonry: French occultists founded the Ordre Martiniste in 1888 , from which the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix emerged in the same year .

The Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix (Kabbalistic Order of the Rose Cross), which is closely linked to the Martinist Order , was founded in Paris in 1888 by Joséphin Péladan and Stanislas de Guaita . The members included the doctor Gérard Encausse (Papus), the astrologer and alchemist Albert Faucheaux (1838-1921) and the writer Paul Adam (1862-1920). The leadership of the order was held by a supreme council headed by de Guaita. Six visible and six "invisible" members are said to have belonged to the supreme council, which borrowed from the "Unknown Superiors" of the Strict Observance and the Gold and Rosicrucians. De Guaita, who described himself as a " left-hand Rosicrucian ", was a staunch Satanist and paganist . Péladan, on the other hand, as a Catholic mystic, represented the more Christian Catholic Rosicrucianism. The Ordre Kabbalistique had three degrees of initiation and a secret fourth degree. In addition to the history of the Western esoteric tradition, with a focus on Rosicrucianism, Hebrew topics were part of the teaching. In 1890 there was a schism : Péladan resigned from the order, partly because he was bothered by the satanic orientation of de Guaitas and his esoteric interests were more shaped by Catholic piety, and founded the Ordre de la with some members in June 1890 Rose-Croix Catholique et esthétique du Temple et du Graal his own Rosicrucian order . The Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix , which is still active today, works to a certain extent with the rites of Memphis-Misraïm and those of the Martinist Order . Some American Rosicrucian organizations derive their authority directly from this order, such as the AMORC .

Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique

The Ordre de la Rose Croix Catholique et esthétique du Temple et du Graal was founded in 1892 by Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918) after he had fallen out with the Satanist Stanislas de Guaita . Péladan hoped that the founding of the order would create a symbiosis of Rosicrucianism and the Catholic Church in order to be able to maintain the esoteric tradition under the wing of the Church. He organized several exhibitions in the so-called Salon de la Rose-Croix. From March 10 to April 10, 1892, up to 60 artists and writers took part in the first salon, including Fernand Khnopff , Jean Delville , Ferdinand Hodler , Rodo and Erik Satie . Péladan founded a Rosicrucian orchestra, for which the composer Satie wrote some pieces, including Trois Sonneries de la Rose-Croix . The salon exerted a cultural influence on French aestheticism . There were various theatrical performances within the Théatre de la Rose-Croix.

On May 14, 1890, Péladan demanded on behalf of the Rosicrucians that the public and the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris should submit to him. After his death in 1918, the order was continued in a modified form by Emile Dantinne (Sar Hiéronymous). Dantinne was also a member of the European Antique Arcanæ Ordinis Rosæ Rubeæ et Aureæ Crucis (AAORRAC or OARC).

Paschal Beverly Randolph and the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis

Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875) referred to himself from 1859 as "The Rosicrucian". By Rosicrucianism he understood primarily his own magical system, without alchemical and Paracelsic elements, on the basis of the predominance of the will. He is considered the first Rosicrucian in the USA. His studies of the European occult tradition and his contacts with Bulwer-Lytton and Hargrave Jennings led to the foundation of the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis . Randolph worked as a spiritualist medium. He is the most important founders of the sexual magical tradition in Western occultism, and in its internal instructions, he taught the use of magic mirror and the exercise of sexual acts for magical purposes. Randolph founded several orders that had an innovative function for subsequent magical alliances of the 20th century, especially for the OTO. In San Francisco , Randolph founded the Rosicrucian Order of Rosucrucia, Phythianae and Eulis , which fell apart after his death.

Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO)

OTO (from 1903 to 1923): founded in 1903 by Karl Kellner , Heinrich Klein and Franz Hartmann . People connected to the OTO included Theodor Reuss , Aleister Crowley and Harvey Spencer Lewis . Aleister Crowley was among other things a member of the Golden Dawn and founder of the occult order Astrum Argenteum . According to Theodor Reuss (around 1921), the OTO was the outer facade of Rosicrucianism in Europe at that time. For AMORC existed until the 1950s a mutual recognition ratio.

Rudolf Steiner and the anthroposophical Rosicrucianism

Rudolf Steiner saw himself as a Rosicrucian and, in the historical understanding of the Fama, assumed an actually existing Rosicrucian movement, the beginning of which he relocated to the 13th century and to which he attached political importance: According to Steiner's theory, these Rosicrucians are presented as emissaries of a white lodge, which as secret masters behind all political activities. After Steiner had received a charter from the OTO in 1907 , he founded a Rosicrucianism which claimed to be an esoteric version of Christianity. Steiner took the view that the fictional character Christian Rosencreutz existed in person and, as the great master of his hidden brotherhood, sent his intimate friend Buddha to the planet Mars in 1604 , where he performed an act of sacrifice analogous to the “Mystery of Golgotha”. Through this act of sacrifice, Christian Rosencreutz exerted influence on important world and human historical developments and prevented the division of humanity into materialists and spiritualists. In his last incarnation as Count of Saint Germain , Rosencreutz indicated that every 100 years a spiritual “Christian Rosenkreutz current of power” had a particularly strong impact. This effectiveness was expressed in the publication "Geheime Figur der Rosenkreuzer", published in 1785 and unveiled about 100 years later in Blavatsky's first work Isis . After a "Rosicrucian Congress" in 1907 Steiner gave lectures in 1911 in the newly founded Rosicrucian branch of the TG about Christian Rosencreutz , whom he believed to be presently incarnated and by whom he felt "overshadowed" without saying who he was thinking of. Steiner was seen by friends as the reincarnation of Christian Rosencreutz.

Rosicrucian Fellowship

The Rosicrucian Fellowship (also: Rosicrucian Community) was founded in 1909 by Carl Louis Fredrik Graßhoff under the pseudonym Max Heindel in the US. In 1907 Heindel traveled to Germany, where he took part in training courses and lectures by Rudolf Steiner and was initiated into Steiner's Freemasonry together with Paula Hübbe-Schleiden . Against Rudolf Steiner's will, Heindel published parts of the Rosicrucian teachings kept secret by Steiner, which Steiner taught from 1905 to 1914 as head of the inner Rosicrucian community of the OTO "Mysteria Mystica Aeterna". On this basis, the Rosicrucian Fellowship currently represents a theosophical-pansophic, partly anthroposophical ideas and an esoteric Christianity.

Fraternitas Rosae Crucis (FRC)

The Fraternitas Rosae Crucis is the oldest American Rosicrucian Society and was founded in 1910 by Reuben Swinburne Clymer (1878-1966) in Quakertown (Pennsylvania) . With regard to American Rosicrucianism, Clymer is considered to be the most vehement advocate of a claim to sole representation, according to which he is the sole authorized head of an earthly organization that has existed in secret for centuries. Clymer's historical statements about the FRC were just a fancy product to create the appearance of authority to supporters. He dedicated whole books mainly to the fight against other Rosicrucian groups, especially his main competitor AMORC , against whose association the FUDOSI order of initiation he polemicized and which he opposed the FUDOFSI , as anti-FUDOSI, in order to win as many Rosicrucian orders as possible for his cause. Clymer saw himself as the rightful successor to the sex magician Paschal Beverly Randolph . Although Randolph's sex-magic techniques differed only slightly from those of his epigones Reuss and Aleister Crowley, he spoke out in his books decisively against the Rosicrucian Order of the two. A German Rosicrucian group called Fraternitas Rosae Crucis was banned by the Nazis in 1936.

Antiquus Mysticus Ordo Rosæ Crucis (AMORC)

AMORC - “Old Mystical Order of the Rosicrucian”: An initiatory order founded in February 1915 by Harvey Spencer Lewis , which initially pursued roughly the same goals as the OTO on the basis of a regular recognition relationship with the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) and close relationships with Theodor Reuss . However, Crowley's theorems and the OTO-Lamen have not been used by the AMORC since the 1950s. Members are offered a paid distance learning course divided into 16 degrees, in which the entire spectrum of illuminist speculations is shown. The German-speaking branch of AMORC officially started its work in 1952. Martin Erler became the first German grandmaster of the AMORC. He left the AMORC in 1954 due to differences of opinion and founded the " Ordo rosae aurea (ORA)" in Munich in 1956 . Erler thought the AMORC was a hoax , but stayed in touch.

Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (FRA)

One of the most significant smaller Rosicrucian groups is the Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (FRA) founded by Arnoldo Krumm-Heller in the 1920s . As "protégé" of Aleister Crowley , Krumm-Heller succeeded in building the largest Rosicrucian organization in the Spanish-speaking area. For his teaching he borrowed from Freemasonry, theosophy and different systems of sexual magic . After Krumm-Heller's death in 1949, the FRA split up into numerous competing branches. Krumm-Heller and the FRA play an important role in the development of the Gnostic Movement and the Gnostic Church , which was founded in Mexico in the 1950s by Samael Aun Weor (Victor Gómez Rodriguez, 1917–1977), a Colombian FRA member. After Weor's death, the Gnostic Church also disintegrated into dozens of rival groups based on the teachings of the FRA.

Builders of the Adytum (BOTA)

The Builders of the Adytum (abbreviated BOTA) was founded in 1922 by Paul Foster Case (1884-1954) and is one of the successor organizations of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . Later the order was continued by Ann Davies . BOTA understands Rosicrucianism as a system of self-initiation: Case took the view that the Rosicrucians were not an organized society and that the term “Rosicrucian” had to be understood as a state of consciousness.

Fraternity of the Inner Light

Similar to Paul Foster Case, a further branch emerged from the AeteO∴ around 1927/1928: Dion Fortune was inaugurated at the A∴O∴ in London around 1919, left again in 1922 and later trained at the Stella Matutina continued. Around 1927/1928 she founded her Fraternity of the Inner Light , which was renamed the Society of the Inner Light in 1939 and which still exists today. From it emerged the Servants of the Light (S. O. L.) , which were founded by WE Butler and are now directed by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki .

Ordre du Temple Solaire (Sun Temple)

The Order of the Sun Templars (Ordre du Temple Solaire) was founded by Joseph Di Mambro , who belonged to the AMORC from 1956 to 1968, and is one of the offshoots and splits of the AMORC . The radically world-rejecting Sun Templars became known for their collective murder and suicide campaigns, in which a total of 74 cult followers in Canada, France and Switzerland were killed in 1993, 1995 and 1997. The members left a "Testament of the Rose Cross" in which they described themselves as "loyal servants of the Rose Cross". The massacres staged by the Sun Templars result from apocalyptic special doctrines and radicalizations that have no equivalent in the AMORC, which is distancing itself from them. The Sun Templars drew their worldview from all possible esoteric, religious and occult sources, but above all from the modern theosophy of the medium Helena Blavatsky and the same elitist Rosicrucian direction, which claims to have an exclusive knowledge of an actually existing, but “invisible” secret “Rosicrucian” Brotherhood ”, as whose earthly representatives one understands oneself. In the 1960s, Di Mambro came into contact with Jacques Breyer, who in 1952 undertook to re-establish the medieval Knights Templar under esoteric auspices. Accused of fraud, Di Mambro moved near Geneva, where he set up a temple lodge and the Golden Way Foundation . Under the homeophat Luc Jouret , the neo-Templar order Ordre Rénové du Temple (ORT), co-founded by the former French AMORC leader Raymond Bernard, was taken over in 1983, which enabled expansion to Canada. Meanwhile, Di Mambro indoctrinated the Sun Templars with the apocalyptic delusions of his Templar teacher Breyer: In preparation for the approaching end of the world, the members were enticed to make large donations to build survival centers. In 1990 it became known that di Mambro had used technical tricks to fool the 442 members into "appearances as a master" and that donations were misappropriated by the management for a luxurious lifestyle. Resignations and demands for money back led to the crisis in which world fears turned into paranoia. Now an elitist contempt for the world was chanted: the world was so bad that survival of the end of the world had become impossible, which is why the transit to a higher stage of development, the transition to another world, had to take place, as the theosophical roots of the community teach. Occasionally, pickup by a UFO was promised. Weapons were bought to punish traitors within their own ranks. Between 1994 and 1997, four incidents resulted in the death of numerous members by suicide or murder.

Antiquus Arcanus Ordo Rosae Rubeae Aureae Crucis (AAORRAC)

The Antiquus Arcanus Ordo Rosae Rubeae Aureae Crucis (= Old Secret Order of the Ruby Red Gold Cross) is an Austrian pansophic organization based at Krempelstein Castle, initially founded by Hans Wolff under the name Fraternitatis Rosa Crucis Austriae . The AAORRAC is like the "Psychosophische Society" are in Zurich, a collective organization of several other groups or are connected: the Ordre Martiniste Austria , the Areopagus European Cultural Ring of military orders that pansophic World Federation , the Grand Orient of high grade and a Templar group. The AAORRAC emerged from the Hermetic Rosicrucian Order AORC , which was created 20 years earlier at Castle Krämpelstein and was founded at the end of 1952 by the Upper Austrian poet Eduard Munninger (1901–1965). The AAORRAC claims to be "the ancestral order of the Rosicrucians" and to stand continuously in the "Rosicrucian succession" up to the present day. Contrary to this alleged peculiar succession line, there are connections to other Rosicrucian groups, such as the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis , the Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (FRA) and especially the AMORC . According to the then AMORC Grand Master Erler, Munninger's AAORRAC was then affiliated with the AMORC, and “five to six members would have held their rites naked around fire in forest clearings at night”. The order was a “mixture of chaos and imaginative knight costumes”. The members deal with study, research and comparison of all magical systems. The AAORRAC distinguishes itself sharply from black magic and vulgar spiritualism . The AAORRAC's pansophic rites have a Gnostic background and, like many Gnostic systems, have a tendency towards docetism .

Lectorium Rosicrucianum

The Lectorium Rosicrucianum (LR), also known as the School of the Golden Rose Cross , is an international organization founded in 1946 in Haarlem ( Netherlands ). It emerged from a large group of members of the former Haarlem branch of the Rosicrucian Fellowship , which had separated in 1935. The spiritual leaders in the Lectorium Rosicrucianum are Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri. Shortly before Rijckenborgh's death in July 1968, the College of International Spiritual Leadership was created, to which his son Henk Leene also belonged. After tension in the leadership, a large group of members under Henk Leene was replaced in March 1969 and founded the R + C, Rosae Crucis community . The LR is a representative of the so-called Gnostic Rosicrucianism and sees itself as the successor to the medieval Cathar religious movement . The aim of the LR is a transfiguration, i.e. H. a structural renewal of spirit, soul and body, as described in the Gospels as being born again from water and the Spirit. In this process, the interaction in the group plays a fundamental role.

Community R + C, Rosae Crucis

The community R + C, Rosae Crucis was founded in 1969 by Henk Leene, the former Grand Master of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum (LR) and son Jan van Rijckenborgh , after conflicts about leadership and differences of opinion regarding the spiritual direction in the LR. So the community R + C again propagated an individual self-initiation path and tried to avoid the extreme positions and one-sidedness of the LR, while in the LR the spiritual path could only be followed in a group. In 1972 the name was changed to "Esoteric Community of Siva". With the abandonment of the Rosicrucian name, the LR literature was banned and those terms from the songs and the books exchanged that were too close to the LR.

Antiquus Ordo Rosicrucianis (AOR)

The Austrian-based Antiquus Ordo Rosicrucianis - Old Order of the Rosicrucians (AOR) is one of the youngest foundations among the Rosicrucian groups. The order claims to have been founded in the 1990s by "high initiates" of the FUDOSI successor group Cercle d'Alexandrie . However, there will only be visible activities from March 2006. The director is the freelance wedding and funeral speaker Hamid Mirzaie, who has been calling himself "Elias Rubenstein" since 2011. Mirzaie previously worked at BOTA . The AOR differs from most other groups that call themselves Rosicrucian in its commercial habitus and its methods for the immediate satisfaction of needs: For 25 euros per month, interested parties can receive two teaching letters for self-study , in which exercises and insider tips are conveyed for the realization of wishes and dreams . There are branches in three German and four cities in Austria and one Croatian group.

symbolism

Andreae's writings testify to his extensive knowledge of the emblematic . In Theophilus he explained the symbolism of the cross: the vertical bar stands for the descent of divine grace and the grateful ascent of souls to God. The horizontal bar symbolizes the spread of the Gospel and illustrates charity . The intersection of the two cross bars symbolizes the idea of ​​wholeness and is identical with Christ , who unites and transfigures everything on the cross. The Monas Hieroglyphica depicted by Andreae in the Chymical Wedding refers to the complex meaning of the cross symbol. Since the rose is usually five-petalled, it is often associated with the cross symbolizing the number five.

The symbol of the Rosicrucians is a cross with one or more roses. For Rudolf Steiner the rose cross is a meditation symbol , the seven attached roses symbolize the purification of instincts and passions. The symbolism can be traced back to the family coat of arms of Johann Valentin Andreae , which showed four roses in a St. Andrew's cross . Andreae himself describes this combination in the "Chymical Wedding Christiani Rosencreutz" as the clothing of Christian Rosenkreuz:

“For this I prepare myself for the way, put on my white linen skirt, girded my loins with a blood-red ribbon, cross-white tied over the axles. I put four red roses on my hat: so that I could be noticed by such signs under the heap. "

The cross can symbolize various things, such as humans or the material world. For example, the rose can symbolize the blossoming soul or divine life. The Hermetic Rose Cross of the Golden Dawn contains alchemical, Hermetic and Kabbalistic elements.

Reception of the Rosicrucians in art and culture

The idea of ​​Rosicrucianism found its way into modern western esoteric literature: The writings of Karl Otto Schmidt and GW Surya's novel Moderne Rosenkreuzer (1907) are regarded as forerunners of the current tendency to individually apply esoteric practices and healing methods even without being tied to a Rosicrucian order or a certain doctrine practice.

In music, two pieces by Erik Satie reflect the influence of Rosicrucian concepts:

  • Erik Satie: Hymn pour le "Salut Drapeau" du "Prince byzance" du Sâr Péladan. In: Ders .: Melodies et chansons . Hamonia Mundi, Hamburg 1996 (1 CD)
  • Erik Satie: Trois Sonneries de la Rose + Croix. In: Ders .: The complete piano music . Decca, London 2003 (5 CDs)

Fonts

  • Johann Valentin Andreae : Christianopolis . Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1981, ISBN 3-8067-0898-3 (reprint from Esslingen 1741).
  • Johann Valentin Andreae: The brotherhood of the Rosicrucians. The original texts (edited by Gerhard Wehr ). Anaconda, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-86647-146-7 .
  • Johann Valentin Andreae: Fama Fraternitatis. The original manifesto of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood was edited for the first time from manuscripts that were created before the first printing of 1614 by Pelp van der Kooij. With an introduction to the origin and tradition of the Rosicrucian manifestos by Carlos Gilly, Haarlem, Rozekruis Pers, 1998, ISBN 90-6732-205-9 .
  • Johann Valentin Andreae: Collected writings. especially Volume 3: Rosicrucian Writings. Fama Fraternitatis RC (1614) - Confessio fraternitatis RC (1615) - Chymic wedding Christiani Rosencreütz (1616) - General and General Reformation of the whole wide world (1614). Edited, translated and commented by Roland Edighoffer, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-7728-1429-7 .

literature

  • Tobias Churton: The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians: The World's Most Mysterious Secret Society. Inner Traditions Publisher, Rochester, Vermont 2009, ISBN 978-1-59477-255-9 .
  • Richard van Dülmen : The utopia of a Christian society. Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654) (= Culture and Society Volume 2.1), Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1978, ISBN 3-7728-0712-7 / ISBN 3-7728-0711-9 (Habilitation at the University of Munich , Philosophical Faculty, 1973).
  • Roland Edighoffer: The Rosicrucians. Beck (BsR 2023), Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39823-5 .
  • Karl RH Frick : The enlightened. Volume 1: Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1973, ISBN 3-201-00834-6 ; New edition: Marix, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-006-4 .
  • Carlos Gilly : The Rosicrucians as a European phenomenon in the 17th century and the winding paths of research. In: Rosenkreuz as a European phenomenon in the 17th century. Pimander 7, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam / Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7728-2206-1 , pp. 19–56.
  • Carlos Gilly, Frans A. Jansen (eds.): The legacy of Christian Rosenkreuz. Johann Valentin Andreae and the manifestos of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood 1614–1616. Lectures held on the occasion of the Amsterdam Symposium 18. – 20. November 1986. Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Pelikaan, Amsterdam / Hauswedell, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-7762-0279-3 .
  • Harald Lamprecht : New Rosicrucians. A manual (= Church - Denomination - Religion , Volume 45). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 (dissertation Uni Halle 2001).
  • Christopher McIntosh: The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason. Eighteenth century rosicrucianism in Central Europe and its relationship to the Vnlightenment. SUNY, New York 2nd edition 2011, ISBN 978-1-4384-3559-6 .
  • Christopher McIntosh: The Rosy Cross unveiled: the history, mythology and rituals of an occult order. Aquarian Press, Wellingborough 1980, ISBN 0-85030-228-5 . New edition 1997 under the title: The Rosicrucians. The history, mythology and rituals of an esoteric order. York Beach (Maine) 1997, ISBN 0-87728-893-3 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Ruppert : Rosicrucian . Diederichs, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7205-2533-3 .
  • Simon Walter: The Rosicrucians? In: Frank Jacob (Hrsg.): Secret Societies: Kulturhistorische Sozialstudien (Globalhistorische Comparative Studies 1). Würzburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-8260-4908-8 , pp. 141-165.
  • Frances A. Yates : The rosicrucian enlightenment. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1972, ISBN 0-7100-7380-1 . German: Enlightenment under the sign of the Rosicrucian. Klett, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-12-908840-7 .
Fiction

Web links

Commons : Rosicrucian  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Rosicrucian writings

Various writings in chronological order.

History of the Rosicrucians

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke : The Occult Roots of National Socialism. Marix, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 57 and p. 125.
  2. ^ Karl RH Frick : The Rosicrucians as a fictional and real secret society. In: Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (ed.): Secret societies and the myth of the world conspiracy (=  Herder library. 9569) (=  Initiative. 69). Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau [a. a.] 1987, ISBN 3-451-09569-6 , pp. 104-105.
  3. ↑ Harald Lamprecht : New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 19.
  4. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 19 ff. And 41–43.
  5. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 22, p. 26 and p. 34.
  6. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 22 ff.
  7. ↑ Horst E. Miers : Lexicon of Secret Knowledge (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Goldmann, Munich 1993, pp. 212-213.
  8. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 27f.
  9. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 30–34.
  10. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 42–44.
  11. ↑ a b c Hans-Jürgen Ruppert : Rosicrucians. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7205-2533-3 , pp. 24-25 and pp. 35 ff.
  12. ^ Wilhelm Kühlmann: Rosicrucian. In: Theological Real Encyclopedia . Volume 29, Berlin / New York 1998. p. 407.
  13. ^ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert: Rosicrucian. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7205-2533-3 , pp. 9-11.
  14. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 42–44.
  15. ^ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert: Rosicrucian. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7205-2533-3 , p. 19.
  16. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 20.
  17. ^ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert: Rosicrucian. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7205-2533-3 , p. 37 f.
  18. ^ A b Justin Stagl: A history of curiosity: the art of traveling 1550-1800. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2002, p. 174.
  19. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 40f.
  20. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 157–159.
  21. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 47.
  22. ↑ a b c Karl RH Frick: Light and Darkness. ISBN 3-86539-044-7 .
  23. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 156–158.
  24. ↑ Not only by the contemporaries in the 17th century. Even at Theodor Fontane , we read: "Stifter was Frater Rose Cross, a German, as witnessed his name. It seems beyond doubt that such a monk really lived and practiced the art of goldmaking with his adepts ”( Wanderings through the Mark Brandenburg. Vol. 3. In: Complete Works. Vol. 11. Nymphenburger, Munich 1963, p. 299 ).
  25. ↑ Edighoffer: The Rosicrucians. Munich 1995, pp. 95-102.
  26. ↑ Frances Yates: Enlightenment in the Sign of the Rose Cross. Stuttgart 1972, p. 165.
  27. ↑ Geffarth: Religion and Arcane Hierarchy. Leiden 2007, p. 48 f.
  28. ^ Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 79.
  29. ^ Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 167–169.
  30. ^ Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 249 f.
  31. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 47 ff.
  32. ^ Theodor Fontane: Walks through the Mark Brandenburg . Second volume: Havelland and Spreeland . Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1991, p. 180 f .; Roland Edighoffer: The Rosicrucians. Munich 1995, pp. 108-109; Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon. FA Herbig, 2000, p. 718 f.
  33. ↑ Reinhard Markner: Imakoromazypziloniakus. Mirabeau and the decline of the Berlin Rosicrucianism . Note: Brother Ormesus. In: Reinhard Markner (PDF; 283 kB), p. 9.
  34. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon. FA Herbig, 2000, p. 719, p. 758 f. and p. 912.
  35. ↑ see also: Harmonica Order
  36. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler : German history of society, vol. 1: From feudalism of the old empire to the defensive modernization of the reformers 1700-1815. Beck, Munich 1995, p. 275 f.
  37. ^ Gerd Heinrich  : History of Prussia. State and dynasty. Ullstein, Berlin 1984, p. 258.
  38. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 395-397.
  39. ^ A b Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon. FA Herbig, 2000, p. 718 f.
  40. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 359-360.
  41. ↑ Helmut Reinalter : The Freemasons . C. H. Beck-Verlag, Munich 2000. p. 78.
  42. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, pp. 52–54.
  43. ↑ Gerhard Steiner: Freemasons and Rosicrucians. Georg Forster's way through secret societies . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-05-000448-7 , p. 60.
  44. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon. FA Herbig, 2000, p. 719.
  45. ↑ Roland Edighoffer: The Rosicrucians. Beck Munich 1995, p. 110.
  46. ^ Karl-Heinz Göttert : Knigge or: From the illusions of decent life. dtv 1995. S 56 and 46.
  47. ^ Arnold Marx: The Gold and Rosicrucians. A mystery association of the late 18th century in Germany. In: The Masonic Museum. Volume 5, 1930, pp. 151-154.
  48. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, p. 369f.
  49. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 50.
  50. ↑ Renko D. Geffarth: Religion and Arcane Hierarchy: The Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians as a secret church in the 18th century. Brill Academic Pub, 2007, p. 275 ff.
  51. ^ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert: Rosicrucian. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2004, p. 52.
  52. ^ Website of the "Sodalitas RosaeXCrucis et Solis Alati" founded in 2002
  53. ↑ a b c d e The Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix in: Material for the book: New Rosicrucians by Harald Lamprecht.
  54. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, p. 83.
  55. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski : The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 157-163.
  56. ^ Karl RH Frick: The Rosicrucians as a fictional and real secret society. In: Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (ed.): Secret societies and the myth of the world conspiracy (=  Herder library. 9569) (=  Initiative. 69). Herder, Freiburg i. Br. [U. a.] 1987, ISBN 3-451-09569-6 , p. 125.
  57. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 194 and 196.
  58. ↑ James Webb : The Age of the Irrational. Politics, Culture & Occultism in the 20th Century. Marix, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-86539-152-0 , p. 102; Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , p. 200.
  59. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 197 and 200.
  60. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 194-195.
  61. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , p. 207.
  62. ^ Karl RH Frick: The Rosicrucians as a fictional and real secret society. In: Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (ed.): Secret societies and the myth of the world conspiracy (=  Herder library. 9569) (=  Initiative. 69). Herder, Freiburg i. Br. [U. a.] 1987, ISBN 3-451-09569-6 , pp. 125-126.
  63. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 170 ff., 205-207 ff.
  64. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 90-94.
  65. ↑ Peter-Robert König: A life for the rose (Arnoldo Krumm-Heller), Munich 1995, ISBN 3-927890-21-9 , p. 47 f.
  66. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of secret knowledge. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1993, p. 220.
  67. ^ Karl RH Frick: The Rosicrucians as a fictional and real secret society. In: Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (ed.): Secret societies and the myth of the world conspiracy (=  Herder library. 9569) (=  Initiative. 69). Herder, Freiburg i. Br. [U. a.] 1987, ISBN 3-451-09569-6 , pp. 127-128.
  68. ↑ Peter-Robert König: A life for the rose (Arnoldo Krumm-Heller), Munich 1995, ISBN 3-927890-21-9 , p. 151.
  69. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 108-110, p. 151, p. 163 .; Peter-Robert König: A life for the rose (Arnoldo Krumm-Heller), Munich 1995, ISBN 3-927890-21-9 , p. 48.
  70. ^ Massimo Introvigne : Rosicrucianism III: 19th-20th Century. In: Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Ed.): Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. Brill, Leiden 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-15231-1 , p. 1020.
  71. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of secret knowledge. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1993, p. 120.
  72. ^ Pat Zalewski: Talismans & Evocations of the Golden Dawn . 2002, footnote p. 93: According to this, Fortune only achieved grade 2 = 9 in the A.O.
  73. ^ Ceremonial Magic Unveiled by Dion Fortune in the Occult Gazette , January 1933. According to this, the Fraternity of the Inner Light was originally formed by Dion Fortune as an atrial organization with Moina Mather's approval in order to attract new members to the A.O. However, at no time did Mathers authorize Fortune to set up its own successor organization to the A.O.
  74. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of secret knowledge. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1993, p. 222.
  75. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , p. 111.
  76. ↑ Roland Edighoffer: The Rosicrucians. Munich 1995, pp. 79-80.
  77. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert: The myth of the Rosicrucians. EZW-Texte 2001, No. 160, pp. 16-21.
  78. ↑ Thomas Gandow: The Secret of the Sun Temple - "No suicide in the human sense". religio.de, accessed on April 22, 2012 .
  79. ^ Georg Schmid, Oswald Eggenberger: Churches, sects, religions: religious communities, ideological groups and psycho-organizations in the German-speaking area: a manual. TVZ, Theologischer Verlag Zurich 2003. P. 256 ff.
  80. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of secret knowledge. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1993, pp. 15 and 220.
  81. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , p. 162 ff.
  82. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: Material and additions to the book "Neue Rosenkreuzer. A manual. "
  83. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Göttingen 2004, p. 253 f.
  84. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians - A manual . Ed .: Denominational Institute of the Evangelical Federation. 2004th edition. tape 45 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 275, 280 .
  85. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians - A manual . Ed .: Denominational Institute of the Evangelical Federation. 2004th edition. tape 45 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 275, 280 .
  86. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 40 ff., 286 ff.
  87. ^ Website of the free wedding and funeral speaker Hamid Mirzaie. ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zeremonie.at
  88. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: The Rosicrucians. Fascination of a myth. Evangelical Central Agency for Weltanschauung Issues (EZW), EZW texts No. 221/2012. P. 22.
  89. ↑ Website of the Old Order of the Rosicrucians (AOR)
  90. ↑ Roland Edighoffer: The Rosicrucians. Beck Munich 1995, p. 128ff.
  91. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of secret knowledge. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1993, p. 531f.
  92. ↑ Richard van Dülmen (Ed. And Introduction): Fama Fraternitatis, Confessio Fraternitatis, Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz. Anno 1459 . Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7668-0421-9 , p. 51.
  93. ^ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert: Rosicrucian. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2004, p. 48 f.
  94. ↑ PDF download: The Rosicrucians as a European phenomenon in the 17th century and the winding paths of research.
  95. ↑ Material on the book: "Neue Rosenkreuzer" by Harald Lamprecht: Supplementary and in-depth information on individual sections and an extra chapter on non-organized Rosicrucianism


This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 1, 2006 .