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The name Rosicrucian has become a generic term embracing every species of doubt, pretension, arcana, elixers, the philosopher’s stone, theurgic ritual, symbols or initiations. In its loosest definition it simply refers to a lover of wisdom and a searcher for knowledge. At the other extreme it can refer to a blindered follower of formalized ritual intent on creating gold out of base metal.
The earliest reference to Rosicrucianism is the publication in Cassel in 1614, of Allgemeine und General-Reformation der ganzen beiten Welt. Benebst der Fama Fraternitatis des oblichen Ordens des Rosencreuzes an alle Gelehrte und Haupter Europa geschrieben. An English translation by Thomas Vaughan, Fame and Confession of Rosie-Cross, appeared in 1652.
This book and Chemische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreuz, are presumed to be the work of John Valentine Andrea (1586/08/17-1654/06/27), although unproven claims to an earlier manuscript or folk tradition have been made.
Other scholars such as Roger Bacon (1214-1292), Raymond Lully (d. 1315) and Cornelius Henry Agrippa (d. 1535) have been claimed as Rosicrucians although there is no proof that they were even aware of the name.
Andrea’s tale of an invisible Society of Rosicrucians describes the founding of a society of eight "lovers of wisdom" who studied medicine and occult sciences and dedicated their lives to practicing "physic" without payment. They met in a "House of the Holy Spirit" and each appointed one man to succeed him at his death. Although the existence of this society or brotherhood has never been proven, many subsequent groups have claimed lineage.
The first suggestion of a link to Freemasonry was made in a satirical letter that appeared in the English Daily Journal in 1730. Subsequent writers, such as J.G Buhle in 1804, have asserted, without logic or proof, that Freemasonry sprang from Rosicriucianism. But the symbolism of Rosicrucianism is derived from a Hermetic philosophy; that of Freemasonry from operative stonemasonry. The story of the death, burial and disinterment of Rosicrusianism’s founder, Christian Rosenkreuz, is reminiscent of the Hiramic legend, but no more so than other funerial legends. Both the Hiramic legend and a Continental version involving Noah were known to freemasons prior to Elias Ashmole’s masonic initiation, discrediting any theory that Ashmole introduced Rosicrucian themes into Freemasonry.
Although Andrea’s Rosicrucians were Christian, contemporary groups embrace a wide range of traditions such as the Hermeticism of Hermes Trismegistus, the Pythagorean school of ancient Greece, the Qabala of the Hebrews and the alchemical tradition of mediaeval Europe.
The nineteenth century saw the rise of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis, Societas Rosicruciana in America, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Ordo Templi Orientis, Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose Croix, Order of the Temple & the Graal and of the Catholic Order of the Rose-Croix, and the Rose-Croix de l'Orient, Les Freres Aines de la Rose-Croix.
In the twentieth century: the Rosicrucian Fellowship, Lectorium Rosicrucianum, Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross, Corona Fellowship of Rosicrucians, Fraternitas Ros? Crucis, Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua, Collegium Pansophicum, Builders of the Adytum, the Servants of the Light, the Antiquus Arcanus Ordo Ros? Rub? Aure? Crucis (AAORRAC), the Antiquus Arcan? Ordinis Ros? Rub? Aure? (AMORC), and the Ancient Ros? Crucis have all made claim to a Rosicrucian tradition, if not lineage.
Some of these groups were founded by freemasons, some are still in existence. None have any relationship with regular Freemasonry.
Downloadable books (free):
Max Heindel - The Rosicrucian MysteriesArthur Edward Waite - The Real History Of The Rosicrucians Part I
Arthur Edward Waite - The Hermetic And Rosicrucian Mystery
Anonymous - Rituals Of The Societas Rosicrucianis In Anglia
