 The Order of the Rose Cross, or Rosicrucianism is the theology of a secret society of mystics and alchemists, allegedly formed in the late medieval Germany.
One famous scientist who practiced alchemy was Sir Isaac Newton, believed by some to be a former Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Order.
Christian Rosenkreutz, English Christian Rose Cross, is the legendary founder of the Rosicrucian Order as presented in the three Manifestos published in the early 17th century.
The first anonymous public document on the Rosicrucian Order is the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis which appeared in 1614 in Kassel (Germany), followed in 1615 by the Confessio Fraternitatis .
In 1616 appears the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz in Strasbourg which discloses for the first time the founder's name as Christian Rosenkreutz.
According to legend, Christian Rosenkreutz discovered and learned Esoteric Wisdom on a pilgrimage to the Middle East among Turkish, Arab, and Persian sages, possibly Sufi or Zoroastrian masters, supposedly in the early 15th century. Upon his return to Europe, he gathered a small circle of friends/disciples and founded the Rosicrucian Order in 1407.
As a group of alchemists, their most sought after goal was the Philosopher’s stone, a legendary alchemical tool, supposedly capable of turning base metals into gold; it was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. In early Christian lore, the philosopher's stone was carried by Eve out of the Garden of Eden, implying that it is one and the same as the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The Philosopher’s stone is to be found in the “Interior parts of the Earth”, according to the alchemical motto VITRIOL: "Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem ("Visit the Interior Parts of the Earth; by Rectification Thou Shalt Find the Hidden Stone.").
The Rosicrucians claimed to have visited this place and obtained the precious treasure.
In a little work called Lumen de Lumine, or A New Magical Light Discovered and Communicated to the World, published in London in 1651, by Eugenius Philalethes, we find a remarkable letter, presumably from the Rosicrucian Order titled "A Letter from the Brothers of R. C. Concerning the Invisible, Magical Mountain, And the Treasure therein Contained."
A short excerpt of the letter is as follows:
"There is a mountain situated in the midst of the earth, or center of the world, which is both small and great. It is soft, also above measure hard and stony. It is far off, and near at hand, but by the providence of God, invisible. In it are hidden most ample treasures, which the world is not able to value.
Near the daybreak there shall be a great calm, and you shall see the Day-Star arise and the dawning will appear, and you shall perceive a great treasure. The chiefest thing in it, and the most perfect, is a certain exalted tincture, with which the world (if it served God and were worthy of such gifts) might be tinged and turned into most pure gold.
This tincture being used will make you young when you are old, and you shall perceive no disease in any part of your bodies. By means of this tincture also you shall find pearls of that excellency which cannot be imagined."
The midst or center of the earth may have referred to the Equator, and the mountain situated very near at the Equator, may have referred to one of the mountains of Atlantis as the following 1669 map by an alleged alchemist, Athanasius Kircher shows us:
The location of Atlantis along the Equator was confirmed much earlier in 1602 by the Italian Dominican philosopher and alchemist Tommaso Campanella, in his philosophical work The City of the Sun. It is presented as a dialogue between a Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller and a Genoese Sea-Captain who discovered a magical city. Inspired by Plato's Republic and the description of Atlantis in Timaeus, it describes a theocratic society where goods, women and children are held in common. This “City” was located along the Equator:
Grand Master: Prithee, now, tell me what happened to you during that voyage?
Captain: I have already told you how I wandered over the whole earth. In the course of my journeying I came to Taprobane, and was compelled to go ashore at a place, where through fear of the inhabitants I remained in a wood. When I stepped out of this I found myself on a large plain immediately under the equator (which means South of the Equator).
Grand Master: And what befell you here?
Captain: I came upon a large crowd of men and armed women, many of whom did not understand our language, and they conducted me forthwith to the City of the Sun.
In 1634, a conspiracy in Calabria, led by one of Campanella’s followers, threatened troubles for the Dominican philosopher. With the aid of Cardinal Barberini and the French Ambassador de Noailles, Tommaso Campanella fled to France, where he was received at the court of Louis XIII with marked favour. Protected by Cardinal Richelieu and granted a liberal pension by the king, he spent the rest of his days in the convent of Saint-Honoré in Paris.
I discussed the subject of Atlantis very lengthily in this website because the discovery of its location is very important in determining the secret hiding place of the Holy Grail, so please bear with me on this.
Addenda:
1. The Catholic Encyclopedia has this to say about Athanasius Kircher’s involvement in alchemy:
“That the most varied judgments should be formed and expressed on a man of such encyclopædic knowledge was only to be expected. He tried to find a grain of truth even in the false sciences of alchemy, astrology, and horoscopy, which were still in his time much in vogue, nor is it surprising that in the province of astronomy he did not at this early date defend the Copernican system.”
2. Read more on Tommaso Campanella’s involvement in alchemy and magic.
Sources:
http://63.249.123.11/eso/sta/sta38.htm
http://sacred-texts.com/utopia/cots/cots01.htm |
