ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION

Paul Sédir (Yvon Le Loup) (1910)

What was the nature of the admirable knowledge of Moses and Elias? What was this key to true wisdom? Fludd told us in the Apologeticus. Following the Kabbalistic mode, he showed this key as having been given to the Son by the Father, and that it also had an efficacy all the more profound in the hearts of those to whom its was given so that these hearts might be purer and more accomplished. For it is the most accomplished hearts that the Spirit chooses to be its tabernacle.

At this time Fludd wondered if this gift of God had been completely forgotten by men, if this key, either due to the jealousy of the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, or else because of the profound silence kept by men of all nations, had been hidden and buried in forgetfulness in the bowels of man, for it is said that in the beginning God filled the earth with the Holy Spirit. Better still, He had Wisdom descend here below, so that, from his awakening, man worked under its direction to learn what was agreeable to God. Such was the great love of the Spirit for men that its made them its cherished children.

“Can one then doubt that this Spirit has remained until today with certain men selected for their pure and fervent hearts? Can one think that those who rejoice in this Spirit could be wrong? Indeed, the Spirit, by its presence, conducts them on the path of truth. There is no example of a century in which, amidst the general darkness, there could not be found some elect who had seen the light and possessed the knowledge.

“In all ages of the Church, there have been men to whom have been given the ability to conquer this tree, which is in God’s paradise, or been given of the hidden manna, or the morning star, or domination over the people, or white raiments to wear, or the gift of having their names written in the Book of Life, or being columns of the Temple and bearing the new name of the Lamb.

“Truth itself have been promised to us, furthermore, so that all which is hidden shall be made manifest, and all that is occult that been delivered up to understanding.

“We can see from all this that truth is guarded by an elite, that this truth will be revealed before the cyclical revolution of the world, by permission and the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, as was foretold by the prophets and the apostles; John the Baptist, who prepared and announced the coming of Christ, the elite in whom lives the Spirit who prepare for the advent of almighty Zion and the most brilliant Sun of Truth; they are the first dawn which precedes daybreak. But, dear God, how the virtues of these men are hidden, how secret their hiding places in which, in our times, the Spirit has fixed their earthly homes! They rejoice in divine riches and yet are poor and unknown by the world; for the world does not know the sons of God, because the sons of God do not wish to be known by the world.

“However the will of God is for the hidden to be made manifest. Through His prophet He has declared that before the revolution (or end) of the world all flesh would be penetrated by His Spirit. The Royal Psalmist said that the sons of Men of Faith will be intoxicated with voluptuousness beneath the protecting wings of God, Who is the Source of Life, and Who we see as Light within His Light.

“Thus we see by which men, inspired by God through the virtue of the Spirit, the announcing and revelation of this light can be accomplished.

“Is it the Father doctors in theology, or even the Pope himself, who will appear to possess and claim the seat of Jesus Christ on earth?

“I will prove that it is not among these men that one will find the men in question who plainly possess all the gifts of knowledge; for these men only have little or no such knowledge, and we know that they lack the total enjoyment of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are enumerated in the Epistle to the Corinthians. This is not because they do not have some glimmers, for one is quite eloquent, another quite believing, another quite chaste, etc., but these gifts are in themselves as a representation reflecting an image, or a shadow reflecting a body. But the true and real gifts lead to prophecy, the faculty to perform miracles, the possession of tongues, the healing of the sick, and it is these gifts which one may find in the harbingers of the hidden truth. The elect of God must speak in plain truth, prophesize, have true visions, express themselves in new tongues, interpret the Scriptures precisely, expel demons, heal the sick, observe the divine precepts, not oppose themselves to the Word of God. These are the indicators which allow us to recognize the true disciples of the Spirit. And, if some of our sages announce themselves to the vulgar world as being the possessor of all or the majority of these gifts, they lie, for the truth is not in them, and they are not a servant of Jesus Christ, but a slave to the world, whose true purpose is the hatred of the just.

“From my detailed research I have concluded, O Most Illuminated Brothers, that you are truly illuminated by the Spirit, by the impulse and divine warnings from which will be revealed those things which the sacred texts have mystically predicted must happen immediately before the end of the world. You, over all men of this age, have received from the Creator of the world happiness, spiritual virtue and superior divine grace. You see in His light, you are comforted by the Spirit of Wisdom, you lead a happy life, and it appears that you have received all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And if your actions conform to your words, which I avow I am no longer able to doubt, I say that one must have faith in your prophecies, and this is all the more reason for one to find them in perfect agreement with the sacred source of truth.

“What do you understand, in fact, by your Lion triumphant, who must soon come and who will come out of the tribe of Judah?

“What do you mean to say by your rising dawn? “Wasn’t eternal light foretold in the Scriptures?

“What is the rising of the sun, if not the Ancient of Days, if not the complete appearance of the true principle of the Word and of Light in the world, which the world knew not, which darkness comprehended not, which is Jesus Christ in the glory of His coming, the radiant morning star?

“Did you not speak through the mouths of the prophets and apostles when you made this known, and you signaled to all what God was infallibly and certainly disposed to offer the world at the moment of its ending, which will immediately follow: an expansion of light, of life, of truth and of glory, such as Adam possessed and lost?

“Then, you say, will cease all falsehood, all lies and all shadows which, little by little, with the revolution of the great world, slipped into the actions of men and obscured their light. Psalm XXXV, 6, Joel II, Daniel II, VII, I Corinthians II, and an infinity of other Scriptural passages confirm this.

“This essential research made, most wise Brothers, with your license, I shall seek to find if the grace of the Spirit is within you so fully it gives you entrance into paradise, as it was given to Moses and Elias, while living in this world.

“I see, by attentively reading your writings, that you are not inspired by illusions or diabolic prestiges, as ignorant men warn and say, or moreover the envious in their research on your Society. No – you act with the true aid of the Holy Spirit!

“And, indeed, the great arcana of the celestial reign can be revealed neither by the wise men of the world, mages, divines, or haruspex: God alone in Heaven can be their Revealer.

“My eyes were opened, and I understood, from your brief reply, what (on the advice of the Holy Spirit, just as you said) you supplied to two elect, in your cenacle. You have knowledge of the true mysteries and knowledge of the key which leads to the joys of paradise, as did the patriarchs and prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Since you use the same path and the same means as them to acquire the mystery, the entrance to paradise is open to you, as it was to Elias, who received divine warnings. And this is our doctrine for your to compare to the admirable treasure of old:

“You tell two chosen men that there is a mountain situated in the middle of the earth and guarded jealously by the Devil. Ferocious and powerful beasts make access to it difficult. You order them, once they have prepared themselves through prayers to such an initiative, to go to the mountain, during a long night. You promise them a guide, who will come and offer himself and join with them, and who they will not know.

“‘This man’, you tell them, ‘will lead you to the mountain. Have a virile heart, a heroic soul, fear nothing which may happen to you, and do not retreat. You have no need for a sword, or some other material arm; your arms are your devoted and continual prayers to God. The first sign which will show you that you are approaching the mountain is a wind of such violence that it cleaves the mount and breaks the rocks. Tigers, dragons and other horrible and cruel animals will offer themselves to your sight. Do not fear. Be firm of heart, for your conductor will not allow any harm to come to you. Yet the treasure is not yet found, however close it may be. Now comes an earthquake which disperses and flattens the heaps left by the wind. Keep from turning back. Yet the treasure is not yet open to you. After the earth’s trembling, will come an intense fire which will devour all matter and make the treasure appear to your eyes. And yet, you still won’t be able to see it. Then, towards the morning, a beneficent calm will come. Youwill see the morning star rise and announce the dawn. At this moment, the treasure will offer itself to your eyes.’”

“Such is the method and the formula for acquiring divine light, which is the treasure of treasures.

“‘But’, some will say, ‘the brothers act by magic and devilry, for where is this mountain, if not in hell? Who is the conductor, if not the Devil? What are this wind, this earthquake and this intense fire? Isn’t all this against the law of God?’ – I should briefly reply that the witness of the Scriptures itself justifies this means of knowing the divine mystery. Indeed, we read in Chapter 19 of the third Book of Kings, that Elias, fearing the wrath of Jezebel, rose up and fled, etc.

“We see that Elias slept in the desert, at night, under a juniper tree, when an angel spoke to him and gave him bread and water.

“Now what is the bread of angels, if not wisdom, the hidden manna which is promised to the victorious Church and which is the true key which gives us to contemplate the treasure? The conductor of the brothers, is this not the angel who comes on the way? Then don’t the angel and Elias climb Mount Horeb? Form his cavern Elias saw the first sign, a great wind shaking the mountain and shattering the stones, and God was not in the wind. Elias also felt a commotion in which God was not present, like an earthquake in which the treasure did not appear. Finally, Elias saw the fire, and God was not in the fire. Then he heard a soft cry in the gently moving air, and it was then that Elias heard the voice of God, just as the Rose-Croix only see the treasure at the break of day.

“What think you now, you gossips, of these Brothers, who appear to us enjoying the same source and the same treasures which in former times belonged to Elias? Where are the prestiges and diabolic illusions? They know neither the psychic nor the physical and all the mysteries of nature are open to them.

“They say they feel no joy from being able to make gold, nor, as Christ said, from being able to make demons obey them; but their joy bursts forth when they will see the Heavens open, the angels descend and return to God and their names inscribed in the Book of Life.

“And, besides, they appear to recognize that in one single moment they have recovered all the gifts which nature has admirably dispersed over all the places of the earth, as they The Gründlicher Bericht contains the same allegory, under a barely different form. – There are three meanings to this allegory.

“Also, in their Fama, which hypocrites and men keen for riches who want to come to us though their will could not follow; they do but evil to themselves, leading to their total destruction. As for our edifice, if ten thousand men wish to overthrow it, it will remain standing, sheltered from Evil, beneath the shadow of Thy Wings, O Jehovah !

“Conclude with me, O men of this world blinded by a cloud of ignorance, that the virtue and efficacy of the Holy Spirit are truly with the Brothers of the Rose-Croix; and believe that their retreat is situated either on the frontiers of this very place of earthly delights and next to the clouds, on the summits of certain very high mountains, where they follow the will of God, and where the inhabitants breathe and taste a most sweet and subtle air where Psyche blows, or the fragrance of the Spirit of True Wisdom.”

LEGES SOCIETATIS
STATUTES OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF DIVINE WISDOM

Jesus said that, when two people were gathered in His name to pray to His Father, their request would be granted; for He is ever in their midst.

1. Each member of the Society must cherish his brothers.
2. The members mustn’t speak ill of each other nor despise one another. 3. They must be faithful to each other.
4. They must be equally truthful.
5. Humbles and helpful to one another.
6. They must never laugh at these high studies.
7. The must keep secret what they learn there.
8. The must share their fortune with one anther.

The most eminent Member of this Society is the Lord Jesus, Son of God; for it is conducted in His name and His own word gives the certainty of His presence. Thus all members will be under strict obligation to observe the rules of the Society.

RULES OF CONDUCT OF A DISCIPLE OF Celestial Magic
TOWARDS GOD, TOWARDS HIS PRECEPTOR, TOWARDS
HIMSELF AND TOWARDS OTHERS, by the author of Echo oder exemplarischer Beweiss.

1. The disciple must fear God; for the fear of God is the beginning, the root and the crown of Wisdom.
2. He must pay attention to discipline.
3. He should only have little relations with the world; for, in the words of the Apostle James (IV, 4 and 5), friendship of the world is the enmity of God.
4. He must be pious, pure and not sin.
5. He must be prudent and level-headed.
6. Chaste.
7. He must be humble.
8. He must scorn money.
9. He little values the wisdom and foresight of men.
10. He must nourish an ardent desire for Divine Wisdom.
11. He must be obedient.
12. Industrious.
13. In the beginning he mustn’t search for the great secrets.
14. He must venerate these high studies.
15. He must be grateful, gentle and generous towards his master.
16. He must give alms willingly.

The symbolic jewel of the Rose-Croix, said Madathanus, is a rose on which can be detached a cross decorated with thirteen jewels.

In the middle is a diamond, the sign of wisdom.

On the top branch: a green jasper, sign of light; a yellow hyacinth, sign of love; a white chrysolith, sign of purity.

On the right-hand branch: a blue sapphire, sign of truth; a green emerald, stone of life; a golden topaz, sign of harmony.

On the lower branch: a violet amethyst, sign of justice; a multi-colored beryl, sign of humility; a pure red sardinian, sign of faith.

On the left-hand branch: a clear green chrysoprase, strength of the Law; a striped sardius, symbol of beatitude; a chalcedony, also striped, sign of victory.

OMNIA AB UNO

The preliminaries set down, we are going to divide the documents which have come down to us into three groups:

1° The spiritual or essential characteristics of Rosicrucianism.

2° The initiatory process as it is acquired through merit (Pythagoreanism) and as it is bestowed through grace (Christianism).

3° The particular characteristics of a Brother of the Rose-Croix. 57

The Rose-Croix dwell in a palace surrounded by clouds before which, on a rock, there is an alabaster platform, supported by four columns, with a golden scepter decorated with precious stones. Eleven steps of white marbled descend from the rock; all about is deep water, with a great vessel covered with a blue canopy. The master and his servants are dressed in red mantles. Not far from there is a living stream with an obelisk, on which is engraved the customs of this isle and twenty-seven languages. To arrive at the Prince’s palace, one must pass through a tower called ‘uncertain’, then through another called ‘dangerous’, then climb up to the rock, touch the scepter with one’s middle finger, and overcome the wolf and the goat; then a virgin will appear who will crown the traveler, the knight, and the clouds will disappear, one will see the palace, the traveler will be received, in a long robe of yellow silk with a high brown barrette; he will be installed, enthroned in celestial and terrestrial magnificence.

Irenxus Agnostus expressed it thus:

“He who follows the Word of God, who studies it, contemplates it in his heart, and who seeks Wisdom without cease, who follows it, seeks to live near its house and builds a hut right up against its palace. He brings his children under his roof, and the groves preserve him from the heat. He who follows the word of God does that, finds Wisdom, like a mother and receives him like a young fiancé. She nourishes him with the bread of understanding and the water of wisdom; he becomes strong and become attached to her; she raises him above his kind, unbinds his tongue, crowns him with joy and gives him an eternal name.

“We are happy with what Michael Maier wrote for us.

“Other societies have helped the liberal arts to flourish in the Orient and at Alexandria; Aristotle took his knowledge from Egypt ands knew how to give Alexandria a stone to vanquish its enemies.

“They alone are fit for our lessons which God designed from the beginning”55.

Fludd tells us this:

“Indeed, the Apocalypse said that in every age one will find men to whom, as the price of their victory, was promised:

a) the tree of life which is in God’s paradise ;
b) the hidden manna and the white stone;
c) the morning star;
d) the white raiments in which to clothe ourselves, and this gift that their names might not be erased from the Book of Life;
e) that they will be the columns of the Temple and will have the new name of the Lamb.

“The Evangelists understood that it was to such men who apply themselves to these words, commenting on them thus.

“It will be given to all those who will know how to receive the light which illuminates all men coming into this world, to become sons of God. They will be able to inhabit the house of Wisdom, securely built on the mountain at the command of the Savior Himself: “All men who receive My teachings and follow them, resemble the true sage who builds his house on the rock. The rains will fall, the rivers inundate, the winds will blow furiously against it, but it will never be overthrown, for it is build on the rock.”

“But, you say, why do the inhabitants of this metaphorical place live so secretively in their secret place? If they have so many virtues and powers, why do they not reveal their secrets for the benefit of the land which they inhabit (as Mersenne wished)? To which I reply that they are rich with divine riches, but that, in the world, they are poor and unknown. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that they scorn the riches and pomp of the world, for the Evangelist said: Do not love the world, nor anything that is in the world, for all is but concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes and a motive for pride.”

Schweighardt promised him who, having read and reread the precious book by Thomas a Kempis, bring his life exactly into conformity with the first Chapter, that a brother will write to him and come to him with the Parergon.

“The Ergon, which is the purification of the Spirit, the glorification of God on earth, is not only the work of the Brothers of the Rose-Croix, but also that of all true Christians. The human soul has two eyes: the right is the means to see in the Eternal, that is the Ergon; the left, depending on the time and the differences between creatures, looks upon what is better or worse for the life of the body; that is the Parergon. When the right eye looks upon the Eternal, the other eye is as if dead, and vice versa. This is Rhodostaurotic wisdom.”

“We know distant and unusual things supernaturally; we send (physical) messages to amuse ourselves, without needing to.

“Book M. teaches us that; even in what takes place in the counsels of the Indies; our knowledge expands little by little; but nothing is built upon if we do not possess its seed.

“Our founder reestablished the knowledge which Adam had at the moment of the Fiat. Adam did not lose everything with the fall. We have brought this remainder to its perfection.

“Our dwelling isn’t visible; however, we have often made it visible through compassion towards the poor and the sick” (Irenaeus Agnostus).

If one considers it from the scientific point of view, the Rose-Croix initiation is found indicated in the structure of the great pyramid of Egypt, in the Emerald Tablet, the Zodiac and the true Tarot.

You will understand that we, who are not Rose-Croix and who will probably never be worthy to be such, content ourselves to outline these sources, leaving to each the duty to study them in depth.

MEA VICTORIA IN CRUCE ROSEA

Processus initiatique.

WHAT CAN BE ACQUIRED.

The vocation is general but the elevation is special. (Irenaeus Agnostus).

We do not pretend to write a treatise on initiation. We have, following our custom, selected several suggestive extracts which will show the readers how to find out for themselves, so to speak.

“According to ancient doctrine, to become omnipotent, one must master one’s passions, forget all inclinations, destroy all human trace, submit through detachment. Man, if you cease to limit a thing within yourself, that is to say by wanting it and if you withdraw from it, it will come to you, passively, as water fills the place offered in the hollow of the hand. For you possess the real essence of all things within your own pure will, and you are the god you can become. Yes, such is the dogma and the arcane premier of true Knowledge”.

However, “barely in a thousand years has there been born a single man who could pass through the formidable gates which lead to the worlds of beyond”.

First of all the disciple is taught how to hold his tongue; the most capable people are admitted into the secret grades only after continuous observation of at least five years. Even the uneducated are accepted, as long as they are honest and discreet.

And Michael Maier adds: For the Rose-Croix to accept a student, his desire for knowledge and good will must have received confirmation by an illuminative manifestation.

We should note here that Maier represents above all the Pythagorean side of this tradition.

“A Society exists whose statutes and mysteries are an impenetrable secret for the most curious and most profound of the erudite. By virtue of these statutes, each member is held to guide, aid, and counsel the most distant descendants of those who, like your ancestor, took a part, however humble or unproductive as it might have been, in the mysterious works of the Order. We are engaged in directing them towards their happiness; moreover, if we are so ordered, we must accept them as disciples.

“To drink the inner life in a long draught is to see the higher life; to live life despite the times is to life universal. He who discovers the elixir discovers what is in space, for the spirit which vivifies the body fortifies the senses. There is an attraction in the elemental principle of light. In the lamps of the Rose-Croix, the fire is the pure and elementary principle. Light the lamps while you open the vase which contains the elixir, and the light will attract to you these beings to whom this light is life. Mistrust fear. Fear is the mortal enemy of knowledge“.

From the point of view of the symbolic development of magical powers, one can fruitfully study the Akedysseril by Villiers de l’Isle-Adam. The following pages of Zanoni will show the rest; and, finally, the Annonciateur by the same Villiers will unveil some of the ultimate purposes of a soul trained in this school.

“But first, to penetrate this barrier, the soul with which you listen must be sharpened by intense enthusiasm, purified from all earthlier desires. Not without reason have the so-styled magicians, in all lands and times, insisted on chastity and abstemious reverie as the communicants of inspiration. When thus prepared, science can be brought to aid it; the sight itself may be rendered more subtle, the nerves more acute, the spirit more alive and outward, and the element itself—the air, the space—may be made, by certain secrets of the higher chemistry, more palpable and clear. And this, too, is not magic, as the credulous call it; as I have so often said before, magic (or science that violates Nature) exists not: it is but the science by which Nature can be controlled. Now, in space there are millions of beings not literally spiritual, for they have all, like the animalculae unseen by the naked eye, certain forms of matter, though matter so delicate, air-drawn, and subtle, that it is, as it were, but a film, a gossamer that clothes the spirit. Hence the Rosicrucian’s lovely phantoms of sylph and gnome. Yet, in truth, these races and tribes differ more widely, each from each, than the Calmuc from the Greek,—differ in attributes and powers. In the drop of water you see how the animalculae vary, how vast and terrible are some of those monster mites as compared with others. Equally so with the inhabitants of the atmosphere: some of surpassing wisdom, some of horrible malignity; some hostile as fiends to men, others gentle as messengers between earth and heaven.

“He who would establish intercourse with these varying beings resembles the traveler who would penetrate into unknown lands. He is exposed to strange dangers and unconjectured terrors. That intercourse once gained, I cannot secure thee from the chances to which thy journey is exposed. I cannot direct thee to paths free from the wanderings of the deadliest foes. Thou must alone, and of thyself, face and hazard all. But if thou art so enamored of life as to care only to live on, no matter for what ends, recruiting the nerves and veins with the alchemist’s vivifying elixir, why seek these dangers from the intermediate tribes? Because the very elixir that pours a more glorious life into the frame, so sharpens the senses that those larvae of the air become to thee audible and apparent; so that, unless trained by degrees to endure the phantoms and subdue their malice, a life thus gifted would be the most awful doom man could bring upon himself. Hence it is, that though the elixir be compounded of the simplest herbs, his frame only is prepared to receive it who has gone through the subtlest trials. Nay, some, scared and daunted into the most intolerable horror by the sights that burst upon their eyes at the first draft, have found the potion less powerful to save than the agony and travail of Nature to destroy. To the unprepared the elixir is thus but the deadliest poison. Amidst the dwellers of the threshold is One, too, surpassing in malignity and hatred all her tribe,—one whose eyes have paralyzed the bravest, and whose power increases over the spirit precisely in proportion to its fear. Does thy courage falter?”

We know that men’s’ souls incarnate a great number of times, and that their deaths are but points of transition between two successive lives. We also know that these multitudes of existences have one aim, which is reintegration into the celestial Adam. Tradition also teaches that at the moment of each death two angels come to take the soul to conduct it to the tribunal of judgment; but, at the end of the last incarnation, when the soul finally goes to take the absolute life, it is Azraël who seeks it, calling it by its true name; and the place in the universe where the soul must then definitively die to created is the very place where it came down for the first time. All souls have a mysterious name which indicates their place of origin, their works, and the quality of light acquired during their probation. As a soul is king of a portion of the universe, it carried with it its subordinates by means of the actions it has accomplished, and in the place where it suffers its final natural death it sees reunited all the inferiors which it had been given to govern form its first descent. These are then reunited to the soul forever, and a portion of the consequences of the original fall are at the same time erased.

In sum, all that we have just cited refers to the human side, voluntary and accessible from initiation. Farther down the path comes a sad test for all. If one succumbs, one enters the left- hand path; if one is victorious, one enters the path whose direction we are now going to try to explain.

SUMMARY INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL POINTS OF THE STUDY OF DIVINE WISDOM

by the author of Echo oder exemplarischer Beweiss. OF GOD
1. May the recognize God as higher and more precious than all the riches of this world.
2. May he believe in God firmly and with all his heart.
3. With a fear of God, may he hold his grace and favor above the friendship of men.
4. –May he work to love and fear God with all his heart and preserve a pure conscience towards Him and towards men. 5. May he be sure that the Lord will reward the good and punish the evil.

OF THE DIVINE WORD.

1. Let him consider all that is written in the Scriptures to be the divine word, of the highest and indubitable truth.
2. Let him give more credence to the divine word and to human word; and may he never abandon this divine school for the lessons taught by man.
3. May he be convinced that the word of God will make him understand, in the inner, secret sense, many great mysteries, which will pass unperceived by those who only understand the external sense of the Scriptures.

OF THE INNER MAN.

1. Let him believe, according to the teaching of the Word, that the inner man, or soul, is much more perfect than the body; and that consequently one must hold onto one’s soul more than the whole world and all earthly goods.
2. Let him esteem not only eternal salvation and the blessedness of the soul, but in the same way his culture and his illumination during his terrestrial life.

OF THE FUTURE AND ETERNAL LIFE.

1. Let the disciple believe in a future, better and endless life. 2. In this eternal life, there are differences between the Elect.

OF DIVINE WISDOM.

1. May he have confidence in the divine promise which tells us that, if one seeks Wisdom in all sincerity, we will obtain it according to the will of God.
2. May he zealously desire this Wisdom and all its advantages.
3. Before divine Wisdom, may he hold human wisdom as folly. 4. May he so hold onto divine Wisdom, and prefer it over the wisdom, philosophy and arts of this world.
5. May he perform his studies not with temporal honors in mind, but only the culture of his Soul and his eternal and temporal illumination. 6. May he prefer celestial treasure over all terrestrial treasures.
7. May he strive to detach his heart more and more from temporal affairs, and deliver it completely to the study of divine Wisdom and to submit to it absolutely.
8. May he never worry if, in obedience to this Wisdom, he attracts the derision of the wise men of this world and is taken in their eyes as a madman.

WHAT CAN BE GIVEN.

I am that stone rejected by the builders which became the keystone of the vault. The death of Christ on the cross is the mystical death of the ego. (Fr. Hartmann).

One should firstly recognize Christ and be faithful to Him, secondly call upon Mary.

Neither Aristotle, nor Luther, nor Rome, nor monks will be useful in this affair (Irenaeus Agnostus).

This is what the author of Frater Rosatae Crucis said :
“One comes to Christ more quickly by imitating His life than by reading a lot.

“The Rose-Croix teach the Bible and Tauler.”

“He who cannot read”, said Julianus de Campis, “has only to listen to the preacher. “He must not only go towards Christ, but then become one with Him.
“Let us realize the passion of Christ in our heart.”

“In man there are: body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians V, 25 ; 1 Corinthians II, 14 ; Luke I, 46, 47) or three men:

“the sensual man;
“the reasonable man;
“the spiritual man.
“Each must bear his cross and, to do this, must crucify the first two, and pass through the third in humility, despair, death.
“The more man rises up, the more his cross becomes heavy.”

“The college of the Holy Spirit, said Schweighardt, is suspended in the air, where God wills, for it is He who directs it. It is mobile and immobile, stable and unstable; it moves on its wheels and by its wings; and, though the brothers spread Truth by loud trumpets, Julien de Campis always stands on the other side, armed with the sword of examination. If you have a bad conscience, no bridge, no cord will save you; you will fall into the pits of error much more deeply than you had been high, and you will perish there. Be like me; imitate the birds in the pure air. They fly; do the same. There is no danger in moving slowly, they risk much in haste. Let the doves fly out of your ark to see if the land blooms again: if they bring back an olive branch, it is because God has come to help you. You must bring aid to the poor in your turn. If they stay outside without bringing proof of truth, go into your garden, be content with your roots, plant patience, and protect your soul from despair. Though Julien may say: “What is not apt today will be even less so tomorrow; one cannot fight with force against wisdom”; the hour will come.

“The brothers have the gift of ubiquity; they are nearer to you than you think.

“This temple must be very small, for no brother has lived there for more than four weeks. However from there they see your thoughts better than you can manifest them. While you wait, read the old works of theology; that of Thomas à Kempis, for example; there you will have all the clear and beautiful teaching which is worthy to be engraved on gold and precious stones. Put it into practice in a continual manner; you will be more than half Rose-Croix; you will soon find the Magnalia of the Greater and Lesser World; soon a brother will appear. Such is the one path.”

“Christ”, said Madathanus, “is the tree of life through which the bitter waters of Mara are sweetened; we are its branches and we bear fruit through its virtue. We form but one being with Him. His spiritual flesh and blood are the aliment and tincture which nourishes the true inner man, for each principle is nourished by its analogue: the mortal body is nourished by the earth, the sidereal body is nourished by the firmament, and the soul lives through the Spirit of the Lord..

“The inner man or the pure dynamic body, with its celestial fiancée, forms through faith a spiritual essence which is the body of Christ, the tincture of life, a fiery, penetrating love. It is from spiritual humanity that Jesus gave His disciples a body and a celestial life which He brought from Heaven. The law is a fire which reduces nature in cinders, Adam and flesh through suffering and death; the Gospel is a water which spiritualizes by the grace of Christ and the Spirit and which produces peace, joy, benediction and life.”

The Imitation de Jesus Christ remains the manual for all who aspire to the invisible crown of the Rose-Croix. This book, modest and familiar, whose author for centuries has shied away from the admiration of men, is, after the New Testament, the most sublime that Providence has given to the white race. He who would practice perfectly all the counsels it gives, says Schweighardt, will already be half Rose-Croix. The secret virtue which confers on him a divine charm is this unique alliance of the ideal and the real, this continual and sublime descent into the vulgar cares of daily life, this uninterrupted elevation of the heart which transfigures the commonest actions.

Thomas à Kempis, who works of modern erudition have proved to be the author of this admirable book, belonged to the Society of Brothers of the Common Life. I owned one of his portraits. Nothing in the thin figure, nor in the irregular features, nor in the placid bearing of this initiator, point to the superhuman effort of his will, or the continually renewing sufferings from their conscious acceptance. Physical ugliness seems to be a common trait of being in whom moral splendor is bountiful; as if Heaven wished to give these elite souls a terrestrial principle so particularly perverse that their light alone must be strong enough for the evolution and harmonization.

To give an analysis of this great book would be impossible, for everything in it is essential; one can only find there the three great divisions of mystic life: the purgative, the illuminative and the punitive, to each of which is covered in one of its first three parts. The fourth, which talks about the sacrament of the Eucharist, appears to be but an addition written by some theologian desirous of reintroducing into ritualism this guide by those who adore the Father in spirit and truth.

It is, in fact, in the singular nakedness of this mystic chamber, in which it is prescribed we take refuge for prayer, that our soul may breathe a sufficiently strong air to turn away from the most intimate vow of human nature: the search for happiness. The antique serpent lurking within us, curled around the trunk of the Tree of Knowledge, tempts us through the joys of the flesh, through the joys of reason, through the joys of pride. Rare are the hearts which perceive other attractions, other goals to strive for; rarer still are those who, seeing them, have the courage to walk towards illness, towards human ignorance, towards humiliation. They alone can understand the Imitation and rejoice in the sublimities of the Gospels.

We comment on the work of the humble Netherlander which would become a complete course on the esoteric mysteries; and, next to the secrets which I could find there, how many arcana would I never forget, perhaps preventing other seekers from seeing them?

Schweighardt speaks of the Virgin Sophia and her garden, into which, he says, he has come, though unworthy, and through which one must pass to arrive at his goal. We translate the prayer he gives at this moment and which we thought rather beautiful:

“Lord, Father of all wisdom, have pity on the poor sinner that I am, enlighten my heart so that it might contemplate Thy marvels; remove from me all human sin, that I may know Thee, Thou and Thy Magnalia, through the power of faith and the truth of confidence, so that I might know Thy kindnesses, that I may become useful to my neighbor, for the love of Jesus Christ, Thine only Son, Who reignest, liveth and endureth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, throughout eternity. Amen. Amen. Amen.”

As Gutmann confirms , during the night man goes over his words and deeds of the day; he examines them, his spirit judges the good and the bad; God sends him instructions by means of His angels and shows him the true path. For there is such virtue in the shadows that a man of sane reason can obtain from the night all that is necessary for himself and for the good of his neighbor; but duty makes it incumbent on him to act the following day, according to the teachings given to him, and to walk in the light he has received. Thus is it that light can come out of darkness.

So Madathanus recounts how he received the Light. As what we are about to read is of elevated symbolism, I will leave the reader to extract an interpretation, be it alchemical, magical or mystical.

After a profound meditation on several passages from the Scriptures on the stories of Rachel, Jacob and the Dudaïm, on the dissolution of the golden calf by Aaron, our author falls asleep and sees Solomon in all his glory appear to him in a dream. Women, courtesans and captains of the Prince-of-Mages file in procession around the “Centrum in Trigono Centri”; his name was like oil poured out whose perfume penetrated all, and his spirit of fire was a key to open the Temple, penetrate the Holy of Holies and seize the horn of the Altar. Then the dreamer’s understanding was opened; he knew that, behind him, stood a naked woman; she was like the well-beloved of the Shir-ha-shirim (Song of Songs); but in her bosom an open wound poured forth blood and water; her clothes were about her feet, torn and covered with mud. Such is occult Nature unveiled, the pure virgin created by Adam; she lives in the garden; she sleeps in the double cavern of Abraham on the fields of Ephron and his palace is built n the depths of the Red Sea.

The dreamer was sorely afraid to be all these things and hear these words. But Solomon comforted him; with the sweat of the blood of the Virgin he cleared his understanding and fixed his memory, in order that he might know the greatness of the Most High, the height, the depth, the foundation of all of Nature. Then the king took our dreamer by the hand, and descended with him into a cellar from where they penetrated into a prepared secret room, with crystal windows, form which one could see the preceding chamber, the spouse of the King and the naked Virgin. Solomon prayed him to choose the one of the two women who pleased him, assuring him that he loved them equally. Among the princesses of the court who attended the meeting was a very old woman in all her finery, dressed in gray, wearing a black fur hat decorated with pearls and red silk, enveloped in a coat embroidered in Turkish style, advanced towards our hero and affirmed that she was the mother of the naked Virgin, adjuring him to choose her for his spouse. She adds: “I will give you a fusible salt to clean her clothes, an incombustible oil and an inestimable treasure”. So Solomon gave him this Virgin, as he asked; there was then a tumult in the King’s retinue and the dreamer slept till morning. On waking, he only saw the stained clothes of his fiancée on his bed; he preserved them carefully for five years, despite the bad smell they gave off. At the end of this time, not knowing what use they could serve, he thought about taking them apart. Then the old lady appeared in all her finery, who reproached him bitterly for his negligence; beneath these vestments, in fact, which he had neither washed nor put away, were hidden treasures. She then explained that the disgust he had manifested, at the time of his marriage, for the stained vestments of his fiancée at the time of his marriage, had irritated Saturn her grandfather, who had returned her to the state she was in before being born. Then she revealed to him the means of washing this lingerie and returning it to its original state. Thus the dreamer found the universal treasure.

SECRET SIGNS OF AN ADEPT

1. The Rose-Croix is patient. 2. Good.
3. He doesn’t know envy.

The Vulgate translates this term by the word Mandragores.

This was revealed to a pilgrim by an angel who removed his heart and replaced it with a burning coal. (Madathanus).

DEVICE OF THE ROSE-CROIX

Ex Deo nascimur.
In Jesu morimur.
Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus.

ROSICRUCIAN RULES

1. Love God above all.
2. Devote your time to spiritual development.
3. Be completely altruistic.
4. Temperate, modest, energetic and silent.
5. Learn to understand the origin of the metals within you.
6. Guard against pretension.
7. Live in constant adoration of the Supreme Good.
8. Learn the theory before the practice.
9. Exercise charity towards all beings.
10. Read the ancient books of wisdom.
11. Seek to understand their secret sense.
12. Arcana reserved to the Rose-Croix. It is purely interior. (Madathanus).