Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that began in Europe during the early 17th century. It was inspired by the secret teachings of Christianity and an ancient Greek philosophy called Hermeticism. This movement became known after several writings were published, which introduced the idea of a secret group called the Rosicrucians. The movement is represented by a symbol called the Rose Cross or Rosy Cross.

Over time, many groups formed based on Rosicrucian ideas. Examples include the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross (1750s–1790s), the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (1865–present), and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (1887–1903).

At first, the Rosicrucians were not believed to be real people. The first known real Rosicrucians appeared in the 18th century, likely around the year 1763.

History

The Rosicrucians were described in writings by a group called the Learned and Christian Society.

Between 1610 and 1615, two anonymous writings appeared in Germany and were later shared across Europe. One, called The Fame of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, was passed among German scholars who studied mystical topics. It was published in Cassel in 1614. A man named Johannes Valentinus Andreae is believed to have written it. The text tells the story of a man named "Father Brother C.R.C." and describes how he started a secret group of people who shared special knowledge. The names and numbers in the text have meanings connected to mystical traditions known at the time. Another writing, The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC, was published in Frankfurt in 1615. It explained the ideas in the first text and addressed questions about the group’s goals. Many people were interested in the idea of a "universal reformation of mankind" through a science based on ancient, hidden truths. These truths, the text claimed, could explain nature, the universe, and the spiritual world, but had been kept secret until the time was right. The writings used complex symbols and ideas from mystical traditions like Qabalah, Hermeticism, alchemy, and Christian mysticism, which were studied by many thinkers of the time.

In 1616, a third anonymous book was published, called The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. Later, in a book he wrote after his death, Andreae said the story in this book was a fictional tale he had written when he was a teenager. He described the book as a "ludibrium," meaning a joke or parody, and said it was not serious. Andreae also wrote about creating a group to promote social and religious change. Some scholars believe he denied the Rosicrucian ideas to avoid problems with religious and political leaders of his time. These debates continue today, as people question whether the Rosicrucian group was real, a metaphor, or a hoax.

The promise of spiritual change during a time of uncertainty inspired many people to study hidden knowledge. Thinkers like Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, and Thomas Vaughan were influenced by Rosicrucian ideas. Maier wrote in 1617 that Rosicrucianism came from ancient traditions, including Egyptian, Brahminic, and Persian teachings.

In later centuries, many secret societies claimed to be connected to the original Rosicrucians. One of the most important was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which came from a group called the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. This society included many famous people. Today, the largest Rosicrucian group is AMORC, an international organization based in San Jose, California, USA. Paul Foster Case, who started a group called the Builders of the Adytum, wrote a book explaining the mystical meanings behind the original Rosicrucian writings.

Rosicrucian manifestos

Between 1614 and 1617, three anonymous writings were published in Germany and later across Europe: the Fama Fraternitatis RC (The Fame of the Brotherhood of RC, 1614), the Confessio Fraternitatis (The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC, 1615), and the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosicross anno 1459 (1616).

The Fama Fraternitatis describes the story of a German doctor and philosopher known as "Father Brother C.R.C." (later identified as Christian Rosenkreuz, or "Rose-cross"). It states that he was born in 1378 and lived for 106 years. It claims he studied in the Middle East under various teachers, a detail that may suggest a connection to Islamic mysticism or Sufism, which influenced some Western mystical traditions.

During C.R.C.'s lifetime, the group was said to have only eight members, all doctors who had taken vows of celibacy. Each member promised to heal the sick without payment, keep their fellowship secret, and choose a successor before dying. Three generations of these members are said to have existed between about 1500 and 1600, a time when greater freedom in science, philosophy, and religion allowed the Rosicrucians to share their knowledge with the public.

Many people do not take the manifestos literally, but instead see them as either hoaxes or symbolic stories. They 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."

The first Rosicrucian manifesto was influenced by the work of Heinrich Khunrath of Hamburg, author of Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1609). Khunrath was influenced by John Dee, who wrote Monas Hieroglyphica (1564). The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz begins with a symbol from Dee’s Monas Hieroglyphica. The writer also claimed the brotherhood possessed a book similar to the works of Paracelsus. Adam Haslmayr, a friend of Karl Widemann, wrote to him in 1611 about Rosicrucians who revealed the Theophrastiam.

In his autobiography, Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654) claimed the anonymously published Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was one of his works. He later described it as a ludibrium (a form of mockery). In his later writings, he criticized alchemy, placing it alongside music, art, theater, and astrology as less serious sciences. Some sources say Andreae’s role in creating the Rosicrucian legend is debated, while others say it was widely accepted.

Rosicrucian Enlightenment

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

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

The legendary first manifesto, Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (1614), inspired the works of Michael Maier (1568–1622) of Germany; Robert Fludd (1574–1637) and Elias Ashmole (1617–1692) of England; Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, Gotthardus Arthusius, Julius Sperber, Henricus Madathanus, Gabriel Naudé, Thomas Vaughan and others. Rosicrucianism was associated with Protestantism (Lutheranism in particular).

In Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chimicum britannicum (1650) he defends the Rosicrucians. Some later works impacting Rosicrucianism were the Opus magocabalisticum et theosophicum by George von Welling (1719) – of alchemical and paracelsian inspiration – and the Aureum Vellus oder Goldenes Vliess by Hermann Fictuld in 1749.

Michael Maier was appointed Pfalzgraf (Count Palatine) by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. He also was one of the most prominent defenders of the Rosicrucians, clearly transmitting details about the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" in his writings. Maier made the firm statement that the Brothers of R.C. existed to advance inspired arts and sciences, including alchemy. Researchers of Maier's writings point out that he never claimed to have produced gold, nor did Heinrich Khunrath or any of the other "Rosicrucianists". Their writings point toward a symbolic and spiritual alchemy, rather than an operative one. In a combination of direct and veiled styles, these writings conveyed the nine stages of the involutive-evolutive transmutation of the threefold body of the human being, the threefold soul and the threefold spirit, among other esoteric knowledge related to the "Path of Initiation".

In his 1618 pamphlet, Pia et Utilissima Admonitio de Fratribus Rosae Crucis, Henrichus Neuhusius wrote that the Rosicrucians departed for the east due to European instability caused by the start of the Thirty Years' War. In 1710, Sigmund Richter, founder of the secret society of the Golden and Rosy Cross, also suggested the Rosicrucians had migrated eastward. In the first half of the 20th century, René Guénon, a researcher of the occult, presented this same idea in some of his works. Arthur Edward Waite, an eminent author of the 19th century, presented arguments contradicting this idea. It was in this fertile field of discourse that many Rosicrucian societies arose. They were based on the occult, inspired by the mystery of this "College of Invisibles".

Some modern scholars, for example Adam McLean and Giordano Berti, assume that among the first followers of the Rose Cross there was also the German theologian Daniel Cramer, who in 1617 published a treatise entitled "Societas Jesus et Rosae Crucis Vera" (The True Society of Jesus and the Rosy Cross), containing 40 emblematic figures accompanied by biblical quotations.

The literary works of the 16th and 17th centuries were full of enigmatic passages containing references to the Rose Cross, as in the following (somewhat modernized):

"For what we do presage is not in grosse,
For we are brethren of 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 promoted by such men as Johannes Kepler, Georg Joachim Rheticus, John Dee and Tycho Brahe, gave rise to the Invisible College. This was the precursor to the Royal Society founded in 1660. It was constituted by a group of scientists who began to hold regular meetings to share and develop knowledge acquired by experimental investigation. Among these were Robert Boyle, who wrote: "the cornerstones of the Invisible (or as they term themselves the Philosophical) College, do now and then honour me with their company. . .";

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

The Illuminati regarded the Rosicrucians as the forerunners of the Enlightenment. The Illuminati could be understood as yet another Freemasonic or Rosicrucian utopia.

Legacy in esoteric orders

According to Jean Pierre Bayard, two Masonic groups inspired by Rosicrucian ideas appeared near the end of the 18th century. One was the Rectified Scottish Rite, which was common in Central Europe where the "Golden and Rosy Cross" had a strong presence. The other was the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, first practiced in France, where the 18th degree was called the Knight of the Rose Croix.

The shift from "operative" Masonry, which focused on building, to "speculative" Masonry, which focused on ideas and philosophy, happened between the late 16th century and the early 18th century. Two of the earliest known speculative Masons with recorded initiations were Sir Robert Moray and Elias Ashmole. Robert Vanloo noted that early 17th-century Rosicrucianism had a major influence on Anglo-Saxon Masonry. Hans Schick believed that the writings of Comenius (1592–1670) reflected the ideals of early English Masonry before the Grand Lodge was founded in 1717. Comenius was in England in 1641.

The Gold und Rosenkreuzer (Golden and Rosy Cross) was created by the alchemist Samuel Richter. In 1710, Richter published a book titled The True and Complete Preparation of the Philosopher's Stone in Breslau under the name Sincerus Renatus in Prague. The group was a secret society with levels, special signs, and writings about alchemy. Under the leadership of Hermann Fictuld, the group changed its structure in 1767 and again in 1777 due to political issues. Its members claimed that Rosicrucian leaders invented Freemasonry and that only they understood the hidden meanings of Masonic symbols. The Rosicrucian Order was said to have been founded by Egyptian "Ormusse" or "Licht-Weise," who later moved to Scotland and became known as the "Builders from the East." In 1785 and 1788, the Golden and Rosy Cross group published The Secret Symbols of the 16th and 17th Century Rosicrucians.

In 1762, Baron Schoudy introduced a Rosicrucian degree into Freemasonry.

The Masonic lodge Zu den drei Weltkugeln (The Three Globes), led by Johann Christoph von Wöllner and General Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder, was influenced by the Golden and Rosy Cross. Many Freemasons joined Rosicrucianism, and it became popular in many lodges. In 1782, at the Wilhelmsbad Convent, the Old Scottish Lodge Friedrich at the Golden Lion in Berlin asked Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and other Freemasons to accept the Golden and Rosy Cross, but this request was not successful.

After 1782, the Golden and Rosy Cross group added Egyptian, Greek, and Druidic traditions to its alchemy practices. Studies of the group suggest that it may have influenced modern secret societies and that the Nazis, as described in The Occult Roots of Nazism, may have been inspired by it.

According to E.J. Marconis de Negre, a Masonic historian, the "Rite of Memphis-Misraim" was founded in part by the Golden and Rosy Cross group. Marconis and his father Gabriel M. Marconis are considered the founders of this rite. Earlier ideas about the Rosicrucian Order came from a Rosicrucian scholar, Baron de Westerode, in 1784. The Rosicrucian Order was said to have been created in 46 AD when an Alexandrian Gnostic teacher named Ormus and his followers were converted by one of Jesus' disciples, Mark. Their symbol was a red cross with a rose on top, which is why they were called the "Rosy Cross." This symbol is believed to have started Rosicrucianism by combining Egyptian traditions with early Christian teachings.

In Italy, Giustiniano Lebano held important positions in the Memphis-Misraim rite and influenced later secret teachings, including those of Giuliano Kremmerz and the UR Group. The Neapolitan branch of the Memphis-Misraim rite, called the Grande Oriente Egizio, asked Kremmerz to create the Brotherhood of Myriam, which aimed to use magical healing for people with illnesses, including those who were not members of secret societies.

Maurice Magre (1877–1941), in his book Magicians, Seers, and Mystics, wrote that Rosenkreutz was the last member of the Germelshausen family from 13th-century Germany. The family lived in a castle in the Thuringian Forest near Hesse and followed Albigensian beliefs. The entire family was killed by Landgrave Conrad of Thuringia, except for the youngest son, who was five years old. A monk from Languedoc secretly took the boy to a monastery where he was raised and later met four brothers who helped him start the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. Magre’s account is based on oral traditions.

Around 1530, more than 80 years before the first Rosicrucian manifesto was published, the combination of a cross and a rose appeared in Portugal at the Convent of the Order of Christ, which was once home to the Knights Templar and later renamed the Order of Christ. Three symbols called "bocetes" are still on the vault of the initiation room, with a rose at the center of a cross

Modern groups

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many groups claimed to be part of the Rosicrucian tradition. These groups can be divided into three main types: Esoteric Christian Rosicrucian groups, which believe in Christ; Masonic Rosicrucian groups, such as SRIA and Societas Rosicruciana; and initiatory groups, like the Golden Dawn and the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC).

Esoteric Christian Rosicrucian groups teach hidden knowledge about the deeper teachings of Christianity.

The Rosicrucian Fellowship was founded in 1909 at Mount Ecclesia, with the first building started in 1911. It teaches spiritual ideas that Christ mentioned in the Bible, such as in Matthew 13:11 and Luke 8:10. The Fellowship aims to help people grow by balancing their minds and hearts while serving others selflessly. It claims the Rosicrucian Order was started in 1313 and includes twelve important figures around a leader named Christian Rosenkreuz. These individuals are said to have advanced beyond the cycle of rebirth and are working to prepare the world for a new spiritual era, including understanding hidden worlds and spiritual abilities, over the next six centuries leading to the Age of Aquarius.

In Russia, some people with mystical interests used the Edict of Toleration in 1905 to form or revive secret groups they believed were ancient. These groups created new Rosicrucian organizations, such as Emesh Redivivus, the Orionist-Manicheans, and the Lux Astralis. These groups were forced to stop operating by the Soviet government by 1933.

According to Masonic writers, the Order of the Rose Cross is described in an important Christian book called The Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri around 1308–1321.

Other Christian groups include Freemasonic Rosicrucian organizations that teach through study or symbolic initiation. Initiatory groups that follow a system of degrees and steps for learning and initiation also exist.

Many groups claim they are connected to earlier Rosicrucian groups in England, France, Egypt, or other countries. Some say they are spiritually linked to a real, hidden Rosicrucian Order. Note that there are other Rosicrucian groups not listed here. Some groups do not use the name "Rosicrucian." Some groups listed are no longer active.