C. C. Massey. The avowed aim of the Society, as set forth

in the president's inaugural address, was the elucidation of those spiritualistic and other problems now grouped under the term "psychical research," and to which the Society somewhat loosely attached the designation of psychology. To this end they proposed to collect and consider the available material bearing on psychic phenom- ena, but in reality they accomplished little of any practical value, as may be seen from their published Proceedings (London, 1878). The president himself had not the necessary scientific qualifications for an investigator of such phenomena. In November, 1879, on the death of its president, the Society came to an end. But though the Psychological Society regarded the psychic phenomena from a more or less popular standpoint, and conducted its investigations in a somewhat superficial manner, neverthe- less it contained that germ of scientific enquiry into the domain of psychic science which, a few years later, in the Society for Psychical Research, was to raise the study to a level where it became worthy of the attention of philosopher and scientist. Hitherto those who were satisfied of the genuineness of the spiritualistic marvels had for the most part been content to accept the .explanation of spirit intervention, but the Psychological Society was the crystal- lisation of a small body of " rationalist " opinion which had existed since the days of Mesmer. Sergeant Cox, in his work, The Mechanism of Man states that " spirit " is refined matter, or molecular matter split into its constituent atoms, which thus become imperceptible to our physical
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organism ; a view which was possibly shared by the Psychological Society.
Psyehomaney : Divination by spirits or the art of evoking the dead. (See Necromancy.)
Psyehometry : A term used by spiritualists to denote the faculty, supposed to be common among mediums, oi read- ing the characters, surroundings, etc. of persons by holding in the hand small objects, such as a watch or ring, which they have had in their possession. The honour of having discovered the psychometric faculty belongs to Dr. J. R. Buchanan, who classed it among the sciences, and gave it the name it bears. His theory is based on the belief that ■everything that has ever existed, every object, scene, event, that has occurred since the beginning of the world, has left on the ether or astral light a trace of its being, indelible while the world endures ; and not only on the ether, but likewise on more palpable objects, trees and stones and all manner of things. Sounds also, and perfumes leave impressions on their surroundings. Just as a photograph may be taken on a plate and remain invisible till it has been developed, so may those psychometric " photographs " remain impalpable till the developing process has been applied. And that which is to bring them to light is— the mind of the medium. All mediums are said to possess the psychometric faculty in a greater or less degree. One authority, Professor William Denton, has declared that he found it in one man in every ten, and four women in ten. Dr. Buchanan's earliest experiments, with his own students, showed that some of them were able to distinguish the different metals merely by holding them in their hands. On medical substances being put into their hands they ■exhibited such symptoms as might have been occasioned if the substances were swallowed. Later he found that some among them could diagnose a patient's disease simply by hording his hand. Many persons of his acquaintance, on pressing a letter against their forehead, could tell the ■character and surroundings of the writer, the circumstances under which the letter was written and other particulars. Some very curious stories are told of fossilised bones and teeth revealing to the sensitives the animals they represent in the midst of their prehistoric surroundings. Professor Denton gave to his wife and mother-in-law meteoric frag- ments and other substances, wrapped in paper and thor- oughly mixed to preclude the possibility of telepathy, which caused them to see the appropriate pictures. Many mediums who have since practised psyehometry have become famous in their line. As has been said, the modus is to hold in the hand or place against, the forehead some small object, such as a fragment of clothing, a letter, or a watch, when the appropriate visions are seen. Psy- chometrists may be entranced, but are generally in a con- dition scarcely varying from the normal. The psychometric pictures, printed presumably on the article to be psychome- trised, have been likened to pictures borne in the memory, seemingly faded, yet ready to start into vividness when the right spring is touched. We may likewise suppose that the rehearsal of bygone tragedies so frequently witnessed in haunted houses, is really a psychometric picture which at the original occurrence impressed itself on the room. The same may be said of the sounds and perfumes which haunt certain houses. Psylli : A class of persons in Ancient Italy who had the power of charming serpents. This name is given by other writers to the snake-charmers of Africa, and it is said that the serpents twist round the bodies of these Psylli without doing them any injury, although the reptiles have not had their fangs extracted or broken. In Kahira when a viper
- enters a house, the charmer is sent for, and he entices it out by the use of certain words. At other times music is used, and it is believed that the serpents understand what
is said to them by the snake-charmers, so obedient are they. Purgatory of St. Patrick : (See Ireland.) Purrah, The : A secret society of the Tulka-Susus, an African tribe who dwell between the Sierra Leone river and Cape mount. The Tulka consist of five small communities which together form a description of republic. Each group has its own chiefs and council, but all are under a controlling- power which is called the Purrah. Each of the five com- munities has also its own purrah, from which is formed the great or general purrah, which holds supreme sway over the five bodies. Before a native can join a district purrah, he must be thirty years of age, and ere he can be received into membership of the great purrah, he must have reached the age of fifty. Thus the oldest members of each district purrah are members of the head purrah. On desiring admittance to the examination for the district purrah, the relations of the candidate must swear to kill him if he does not stand the test, or if he reveals the mysteries and the secrets of the society. Froebenius says : — " In each district belonging to a purrah there is a sacred grove to which the candidate is conducted, and where he must stay in a place assigned to him, living for several months quite alone in a hut, whither masked persons bring him food. He must neither speak nor leave his appointed place of residence.
" Should he venture into the surrounding forest, he is as good as dead.
" After several months the candidate is admitted to stand his trial, which is said to be terrible. Recourse is had to all the elements in order to gain satisfaction as to his firmness and courage. We are even assured that at these mysteries use is made of fettered lions and leopards, that during the time of the tests and enrolment the sacred groves echo with fearful shrieks, that here great fires are seen at night, that formerly the fire flared up in these mysterious woods in all directions, that every outsider who through curiosity was tempted to stray into the woods was mercilessly sacrificed, that foolish people who would have penetrated into them disappeared and were never heard of again.
" If the candidate stands all the tests, he is admitted to the initiation. But he must first swear to keep all the secrets and without hesitation carry out the decisions of the purrah of his community and all the decrees of the great head purrah. If a member of the society betrays it or revolts against it, he is condemned to death, and the sen- tence is often carried out in the bosom of his family. When the criminal least expects it, a disguised, masked and armed warrior appears and says to him : —
" ' The great purrah sends thee death ! '
" At these words everybody stands back, no one dares to offer the least resistance, and the victim is murdered.
" The Court of each district purrah consists of twenty-five members, and from each of these separate courts five persons are chosen, who constitute the great purrah, or the High Court of the general association. Hence this also consists of twenty-five persons, who elect the head chief from their own body.
" The special purrah of each community investigates the offences committed in its district, sits in judgment on them, and sees that its sentences are carried out. It makes peace between the powerful families, and stops their wranglings.
" The great purrah meets only on special occasions, and pronounces judgment on those who betray the mysteries and secrets of the order, or on those who show themselves disobedient to its mandates. But usually it puts an end to the feuds that often break out between two communities belonging to the confederacy. When these begin to fight, after a few months of mutual hostilities, one or other of
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the parties, when they have inflicted sufiicient injury on each other, usually wants peace. The commune repairs secretly to the great purrah, and invites it to become the mediator and put an end to the strife.
" Thereupon the great purrah meets in a neutral dis- trict, and when all are assembled announces to the com- munes at war that it cannot allow men who should live together as brothers, friends and good neighbours, to wage war, to waste each others' lands, to plunder and burn ; that it is time to put an end to these disorders ; that the great purrah will inquire into the cause of the strife ; that it requires that this should cease and decrees that all hostilities be forthwith arrested.
" A main feature of this arrangement is that, as soon as the great purrah assembles to put a stop to the feud, and until its decision is given, all the belligerents of the two districts at war are forbidden to shed a drop of blood ; this always carries with it the penalty of death. Hence everybody is careful not to infringe this decree, and abstains from all hostilities.
" The session of the High Court lasts one month, during which it collects all necessary information to ascertain which commune caused the provocation and the rupture. At the same time it summons as many of the society's fighting-men as may be required to carry out the decision. When all the necessary particulars are brought in, and everything is duly weighed, it settles the question by condemning the guilty commune to a four days' sack.
" The warriors who have to give effect to this decision are all chosen from the neutral districts ; they set out by night from the place where the great purrah is assembled. All are disguised, the face being covered with an ugly mask, and armed with lighted torches and daggers. They divide into bands of forty, fifty, or sixty, and all meet unexpectedly before dawn in the district that they have to pillage, pro- claiming with fearful shouts the decision of the High Court. On their approach men, women, children and old people, all take to flight, that is, take refuge in their houses, and should anyone be found in the fields, on the highway, or in any other place, he is either killed or carried off and no more is ever heard of him.
" The booty obtained by such plundering is divided into two parts, one of which is given to the injured commune, the other to the great purrah, which shares it with the warriors that have executed its decree. This is the reward for their zeal, their obedience and loyalty.
" If one of the families in a commune subject to the purrah becomes too powerful and too formidable, the great purrah meets, and nearly always condems it to unexpected sack, which is carried out by night and, as usual, by masked and disguised men. Should the heads of such a dangerous family offer any resistance, they are killed, or carried off, and conveyed to the depths of a sacred and lonely grove where they are tried by the purrah for their insubordination ; they are seldom heard of again.
" Such, in part, is the constitution of this extraordinary institution. Its existence is. known' ; the display of its power is felt ; it is dreaded ; yet the veil covering its intentions, decisions and decrees is impenetrable, and not till he is about to be executed does the outlaw know that he has been condemned. The power and reputation of the purrah is immense, not only in the homeland, but also in the surrounding districts. It is reported to be in league with the spirits (instead of the devil).
" According to the general belief the number of armed men who are members and at the disposal of the purrah exceeds 6,000. Moreover, the rules, the secrets and the mysteries of this society are strictly obeyed and observed by its numerous associated members, who understand and recognise each other by words and signs."
Puysegur : (See Hypnotism.)
Pyromancy, or divining by fire, has been alluded to in Extis- piey. The presage was good when the flame was vigorous and quickly consumed the sacrifice ; when it was clear of all smoke, transparent, neither red nor dark in colour ; when it did not crackle, but burnt silently in a pyramidal form. On the contrary, if it was difficult to kindle, if the wind disturbed it, if it was slow to consume the victim, the presage was evil. Besides the sacrificial fire, the ancients divined by observing the flames of torches, and even by throwing powdered pitch into a fire ; if it caught quickly, the omen was good. The flame of a torch was good if it formed one point, bad if it divided into two ; but three was a better omen than one. Sickness for the healthy, and death for the sick, was presaged by the bending of the flame, and some frightful disaster by its sudden extinction. The vestals in the Temple of Minerva at Athens were charged to make particular observations on the light per- petually burning there.
Pythagoras : (See Greece.)
Pythia : (See Greece.)
Q
Quimby, Dr. Phineas : (See New Thought.) Quindecem Viri : (See Sibylline Books.)
astrology, and was the author of several astrological and other works. Quirinus, or Quirus, is described as " a juggling stone, found Quirardelli, Coineille : A Franciscan born at Boulogne in the nest of the hoopoo." If laid on the breast of one towards the end of the sixteenth century. He studied sleeping, it forces him to discover his rogueries.
R
Races, Branch : (See Planetary Chains.)
Races, Root : (See Planetary Chains.)
Races, Sub : (See Planetary Chains.)
Rahat : (See Adept.)
Rahu : Whose name means " the tormenter," is one of the Hindoo devils. He is worshipped as a means of averting the attacks of evil spirits ; and appears to be of a truly devilish character.
Rakshasa : An Indian demon. In one of the Indian folk- tales he appears black as soot, with hair yellow as the lightning, looking like a thunder-cloud. He had made himself a wreath of entrails ; he wore a sacrificial cord of
hair ; he was gnawing the flesh of a man's head and drink- ing blood out of a skull. In another story these Brahma Rakshasas have formidable tusks, flaming hair, and insati- able hunger. They wander about the forests catching animals and eating them. Mr. Campbell tells a Mahrata legend of a master who became a Brahmaparusha in order to teach grammar to a pupil. He haunted a house at Benares, and the pupil went to take lessons from him. He promised to teach him the whole science in a year on condition that he never left the house. One day the boy went out and learned that the house was haunted, and that he was being taught by a ghost. The boy returned
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and was ordered by the preceptor to take his bones to Gaya, and perform the necessary ceremonies for the emancipation of his soul. This he did, and the uneasy spirit of the learned man was laid.
Randolph, P. B. : (See Spiritualism.)
Raphael, the Angel : In the prophecy of Enoch it is said that : " Raphael presides over the spirits of men." In the Jewish rabbinical legend of the angelic hierarchies Raphael is the medium through which the power of Tse- baoth, or the Lord of hosts, passes into the sphere of the sun, giving motion, heat and brightness to it.
Rapping : Phenomena of knockings or rappings have always accompanied poltergeistic disturbances, even before the commencement of the modern spiritualistic movement. Thus they were observed in the case of the " Drummer of Tedworth " (q.v.), the " Cock Lane Ghost," and other disturbances of the kind, and also in the presence of various somnambules, such as the Seeress of Prevorst (q.v.). With the " Rochester Rappings " — the famous outbreak at Hydesville in 1848, to which may be directly traced the beginning of modern Spiritualism — the phenomenon took on a new importance, rapidly increased to an epidemic, remained throughout the earlier stages of the movements the chief mode of communication with the spirits. Though it was afterwards supplanted to some extent by more elaborate and complicated phenomena, it continued, and still continues, to occupy a place of some importance among the manifestations of the seance-room. It is apparent from descriptions furnished by witnesses that the raps varied considerably both in quality and intensity, being sometimes characterised as dull thuds, sometimes as clear sounds like an electric spark, and again as deep, vibrating tones. Doubtless the methods by which they are produced vary quite as much. It has been shown, in fact, that raps may be produced by the ankle-joints, knee-joints, shoulders, and other joints, one man — the Rev. Eh Noyes — claiming to have discovered seventeen different methods. There are also instances on record where specially constructed " medium " tables were responsible for the manifestations. Besides the frankly spiritualistic explanation and the frankly sceptical one of fraud, there have been other scientific or pseudo-scientific theories advanced, such as electricity, odyle, ectenic force, or magnetism.
Rapport : 1 A mystical sympathetic or antipathetic connection between two persons. It was formerly believed that for a witch to harm her victims, the latter must first have become in rapport with her, either by contact with her person, or by contact with some garment she has worn. A certain witch, Florence Newton, was accused of establishing rapport between herself and those she 'sought to bewitch by kissing them, whereby she was able to compass their destruction. In the practice of animal magnetism it was considered that the only invariable and characteristic symptom of the genuine trance was the rapport between patient and opera- tor. The former was deaf, dumb, blind, to all save his magnetizer, and those with whom his magnetizer placed him in rapport. This condition, however, still observed in hypnotism, is referable to a perfectly natural cause. (See Hypnotism.) The term is preserved at the present day in Spiritualism, when it signifies a spiritual sympathy between the " control " and the medium or any of the sitters. The medium — or, more properly, the control — may be placed in rapport with anyone who is absent or dead, merely by handling something which has belonged to them. It is for a similar reason that the crystal is held for a few moments prior to the inspection by the person on whose behalf the crystal-gazer is about to examine it.
Raymond : {See Spiritualism.)
Rector : Control of Rev. W. S. Moses. (See Moses, William Stainton.)
Red Cap : The witches of Ireland were wont to put on a magical red cap before flying through the air to their meeting- place.
Red Lion : (See Philosopher's Stone.)
Red Man : The demon of the tempests. He is supposed to be furious when the rash voyager intrudes on his solitude, and to show his anger in the winds and storms.
The French peasants believed that a mysterious little- red man appeared to Napoleon to announce coming reverses.
Red Pigs : It was formerly believed that Irish witches could turn wisps of straw or hay into red pigs, which they sold at the market. But when the pigs were driven homeward by the buyers, they resumed their original shape on cross- ing running water.
RedclitT, Mrs. Ann : (See Fiction, Occult English.)
Regang : Malay system of Astrology. (See Malays.)
Regius MS. : (See Freemasonry.)
Reichenbach : (See Hypnotism.)
Reincarnation is an extremely important part of Theosophicat theory, and, while it is commonly regarded as a succession of lives, the proper aspect in which to regard it is as one single, indivisible life, the various manifestations in the flesh being merely small portions of the whole. The Monad, the Divine Spark, the Ego — whose individuality remains the same throughout the whole course of reincarnation — is truly a denizen of the three higher worlds, the spiritual, the intuitional and the higher mental, but in order to further its growth and the widening of its experience and know- ledge, it is necessary that it should descend into the worlds of denser matter, the lower mental, the actual and the physical, and take back with it to the higher worlds what it has learned in these. Since it is impossible to progress far during one manifestation, it must return again and again to the lower worlds. The theory which underlies reincarnation is entirely different from that of eternal reward and eternal punishment which underlies, say, the teachings of Christianity. Every individual will eventually attain perfection though some take longer to do so than others. The laws of his progress, the laws which govern reincarnation, are those of evolution and of karma. Evolu- tion (q.v.) decrees that all shall attain perfection and that by developing to the utmost their latent powers and qualities, and each manifestation in the lower worlds is but one short journey nearer the goal. Those who realise this law shorten. the journey by their own efforts while those who do not realise it and so assist its working, of course lengthen the journey. Karma (q.v.) decrees that effects good or bad, follow him who was their cause. Hence, what a man has done in one manifestation, he must be benefited by or suffer for in another. It may be impossible that his actions should be immediately effective, tout each is stored up and sooner or later will bear fruit. It may be asked how one long life in the lower worlds should not suffice instead of a multitude of manifestations, but this is explic- able by the fact that the dense matter which is the vehicle of these bodies, becomes after a time of progress, incapable of further alteration to suit the developing monad's needs and must accordingly be laid aside for a new body. After physical death, man passes first to the astral world, then to the heaven portion of the mental world, and in this latter world most of his time is spent except when he de- scends into the denser worlds to garner fresh experience and knowledge for his further development in preparation for passage into the still higher sphere. In the heaven world these experiences and this knowledge are woven together into the texture of his nature. In those who have- not pro- gressed far on the journey of evolution, the manifestations
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in the lower worlds are comparatively frequent, but with passage of time and development, these manifestations become rarer and more time is spent in the heaven world, till, at last, the great process of reincarnation draws to an end, and the pilgrims enter the Path which leads to per- fection. (See Theosophy, The Path, and the articles on the various Worlds.)
Remie, Major J. : (See Holland.)
Reschith Hajalalim : The name of the ministering spirit in the Jewish rabbinical legend of the angelic hierarchies. To this angel, the pure and simple essence of the divinity flows through Hajoth Hakakos ; he guides the primum mobile, and bestows the gift of life on all.
Revue Spirite, La (Journal) : (See France.)
Revue Spiritualiste, La (Journal) : (See France.)
Rhabdomancy : From the Greek words meaning " a rod " and " divination," is thus alluded to by Sir Thomas Browxi : — " As for the divination or decision from the staff, it is an augurial relic, and the practice thereof is accused by God himself : My people ask counsel of their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them. Of this kind was that practised by Nabuchadonosor in that Caldean miscellany delivered by Ezekiel." In Brand's Antiquities the following description is cited from a MS. Discourse on Witchcraft, written by Mr. John Bell, 1705, p. 41 ; it is derived from Theophylact : — " They set up two staffs, and having whispered some verses and incantations, the staffs fell by the operation of demons. Then they considered which way each of them fell, forward or backward, to the right or left hand, and agreeably gave responses, having made use of the fall of their staffs for their signs." This is the Grecian method of Rhabdomancy, and St. Jerome thinks it is the same that is alluded to in the above passage •of Hosea, and in Ezekiel xxi. 21, 22, where it is rendered " arrows." Belomancy and Rhabdomancy, in fact, have been confounded in these two passages, and it is a question whether in one of the methods arrows and rods or stones were not used indifferently. The practice is said to have passed from the Chaldeans and Scythians to the German tribes, who used pieces from the branch of a fruit tree, which they marked with certain characters, and threw at hazard upon a white cloth. Something like this, according to one of the rabbis, was the practice of the Hebrews, only instead of characters, they peeled their rods on one side, and drew the presage from their manner of falling. The Scythians and the Alani used rods of the myrtle and sallow, and as the latter chose " fine straight wands " according to Herodotus, it may be inferred that their method was that of the Hebrews, or some modification of it.
Rhapsodomancy : Divination by means of opening the works of a poet at hazard and reading the verse which first pre- sents itself oracularly.
Rhasis (or Rasi) : An Arabian alchemist whose real name was Mohammed-Ebn-Secharjah Aboubekr Arrasi. He was born at Ray, in Trak, Khorassan, about 850. In his youth he devoted himself to music and the lighter pastimes, and it was not till he had passed his thirtieth year that he turned his attention to the healing art. But having done so, he studied it to good purpose, and speedily became a most skilful physician. His natural goodness of heart induced him to turn his knowledge and skill to account in order to benefit his poorer brethren. The study of philosophy also claimed his attention and he travelled to Syria, Egypt, and Spain in search of knowledge.
He was exceedingly fond of experimenting in medicine and chemistry, and was the first to mention borax, orpirnent, realgar, and other chemical compounds. The authorship of two hundred and twenty-six treatises is ascribed to him, and some of these works influenced European medicine so late as the 17th century. He firmly believed in the
transmutation of metals, and wrote a glowing treatise on the subject which he presented to Emir Almansour, Prince of Khorassan. The Emir showed his gratitude in a practical fashion by giving Rhasis a thousand pieces of gold, at the same time desiring to be present during the working of some of the experiments with which the volume was plentifully illustrated. Rhasis consented, on condition that the prince supplied the necessary apparatus. No expense was spared in furnishing a laboratory for the alchemistical experiments, but unfortunately the boasted skill of the alchemist failed him and the performance ended miserably. Rhasis, who was now well advanced in years, was unmercifully beaten by the angry emir, who chose the unlucky treatise to belabour him with. This incident is said to have caused the blindness with which the alchemist was afterwards afflicted.
He died about 932 in the deepest poverty. In his studies in chemistry he has left some results of real value, notwithstanding the time and trouble he spent in the pursuit of the philosopher's stone. Another theory which he held in common with Geber and others was that the planets influenced metallic formation under the earth's surface.
Richet, Professor : (Sec Spiritualism.)
Richter, Sigmund : (Sen Rosicrueians.)
Riko, A. J. : (See Holland.) ■
Rinaldo des Trois Echelles : A much-dreaded French sorcerer of the reign of Charles IX., who, at his execution, boasted before the king that he had in France three hundred thou- sand confederates, whom they could not thus commit to the flames — meaning, doubtless, the demons of the Sabbath.
Ripley, George : This alchemist was born about the middle of the fifteenth century at Ripley, in Yorkshire, in which county his kinsfolk appear to have been alike powerful and numerous. Espousing holy orders, he became an Augustinian, while subsequently he was appointed Canon of Bridlington in his native Yorkshire, a priory which had been founded in the time of Henry I. by Walter de Ghent. Ripley's sacerdotal office did not prevent him travelling, and he prosecuted empirical studies at various places on the continent, while he even penetrated so far afield as the island of Rhodes, where he is said to have made a large quantity of gold for the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Going afterwards to Rome he was dignified by the Pope, the result being that, when he got back to Bridlington, he found his brethren there intensely jealous of him. It is reported, indeed, that he even resigned his position and retired to a priory at Boston, but this story is probably unfounded, the likelihood being that Ripley the alchemist has been confounded with George Ripley, a Carmelite friar who lived at Boston in the thirteenth century, and wrote a biography of St. Botolph.
Ripley died in England in 1490, but his fame did not die with him, and in fact his name continued to be familiar for many years after his decease. He had been among the first to popularise the chymical writings attributed to Raymond Lully, which first became, known in England about 1445, at which time an interest in alchemy was increasing steadily among English scholars — the more so because the law against multiplying gold had lately been repealed ; while Ripley wrote a number of learned treatises himself, notably Medulla Alchimice, The Treatise of Mercury and The Compound of Alchemic, the last-named being dedicated to King Edward IV. A collected edition of his writings was issued at Cassel in Germany in 1649, while in 1678 an anonymous English writer published a strange volume in London, Ripley Revived, or an Exposition upon George Ripley's Hermetico-Poetical Works.
Ripley Revived : (See Philalethes.)
Rishi : (Sec Adept and India.)
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Rita : (See Materialisation and Spiritualism.)
Robert the Devil was son of a Duke and Duchess of Normandy. He was endowed with marvellous physical strength, which he used only to minister to his evil passions. Explaining to him the cause of his wicked impulses, his mother told him that he had been born in answer to prayers addressed to the devil. He now sought religious advice, and was directed by the Pope to a hermit who ordered him to maintain complete silence, to take his food from the mouths of dogs, to feign madness and to provoke abuse from common people without attempting to retaliate. He became court fool to the Roman Emperor and three times delivered the city from Saracen invasions, having, in each case, been prompted to fight by a heavenly message. The emperor's dumb daughter was given speech in order to identify the saviour of the city with the court fool, but he refused his due recompense, as well as her hand in marriage, and went back to the hermit, his former confessor. The. French Romance of Robert le Diable is one of the oldest forms of this legend.
Roberts, Mrs. : (See Spiritualism.)
Robes, Magical : (See Magic.)
Robsart, Amy : (See Haunted Houses.)
Rocail : Said to have been the younger brother of Seth, the son of Adam. The circumstances attending his history are picturesque and unique. A Dive, or giant of Mount Caucasus, finding himself in difficulties, applied for aid to the human race. Rocail offered his services to the giant, and so acceptable did these prove that the Dive made his benefactor grand vizier. For a long period he governed the giant's realm with entire success, and reached a position of dignity and honour. However, when he felt himself growing old he desired to leave behind him a more lasting monument than public respect, so he built a magnificent palace and sepulchre. The palace he peopled with statues, which, by the power of magic, he made to walk and talk, and act in all ways as though they were living men, as, indeed, all who beheld them judged them to be. (See D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Oriental.)
Rochas dJAiglun, Eugene-Auguste Albert de : French Officer and writer, born at Saint-Firmin in 1837. He is chiefly remembered as an exponent of the fluidic theory of mag- netism. His works include des Force non definies (1887) ; le Fluide des magnetiseurs (1891) ; les Flats profonds de I'hypnose (1892) ; V Exterior ation de la sensibilite (1895) ; V Exterior atio-n de la motricite (1896) ; Recueil de documents relatifs a la levitation du corps humain (1897) ; les Etats superficiels de I'hypnose (1898) ; etc.
Rochester Rappings : The outbreak of rappings which occurred in Hydesville, near Rochester, N.Y., in 1848, and which is popularly known as the Rochester Rappings, is of peculiar importance, not because of its intrinsic superiority to any other poltergeistic disturbance, but because it inaugurates the movement of Modern Spiritualism. Hydes- ville is a small village in Arcadia, Wayne County, N.Y., and there, in 1848, there lived one John D. Fox, with his wife and two young daughters, Margaretta, aged fifteen, and Kate, aged twelve. Their house was a small wooden structure previously tenanted by one Michael Weekman, Who afterwards avowed that he had frequently been dis- turbed by knockings and other strange sounds in the Hydesville house. Towards the end of March, 1848, the Fox family were much disturbed by mysterious rappings, and on the evening of the 31st they went to bed early, hoping to get some undisturbed sleep. But the rappings broke out even more vigorously than they had done on the previous occasions, and Mrs. Fox, much alarmed and excited when the raps manifested signs of intelligence, decided to call in her neighbours to witness the phenomenon. The neighbours heard the raps as distinctly as did the Foxes
themselves. When the ■ sounds had indicated that they were directed by some sort of intelligence it was no difficult matter to get into communication with the unseen. Ques- tions were asked by the " sitters " of this informal " seance" and if the answer were in the affirmative, raps were heard, if in the negative, the silence remained unbroken. By this means the knocker indicated that he was a spirit, the spirit of a pedlar who. had been murdered for his money by a former resident in the house. It also answered correctly other questions put to it, relating to the ages of those present and other particulars concerning persons who lived in the neighbourhood. In the few days immediately following hundreds of people made their way to Hydesville to witness the marvel. Fox's married son, David, who lived about two miles from his father's house, has left a statement to the effect that the Fox family, following the directions of the raps, which indicated that the pedlar was buried in the cellar, had begun to dig therein early in April, but were stopped by water. Later, however, hair, bones, and teeth were found in the cellar. Vague rumours were afloat that a pedlar had visited the village one winter, had been seen in the kitchen of the house afterwards tenanted by the Foxes, and had mysteriously disappeared, without fulfilling his promise to the villagers to return next day. But of real evidence there was not a scrap, whether for the murder or for the existence of the pedlar, particulars of Whose life were furnished by the raps. Soon after these happenings Kate Fox went to Auburn, and Margaretta to Rochester, N.Y., where lived her married sister, Mrs. Fish (formerly Mrs. Underhill), and at both places outbreaks of rappings occurred. New mediums sprang up, circles were formed, and soon Spiritualism was fairly started on its career.
Rods, Magical : (See Magic.)
Rogers, Mr. Dawson : (See British National Association of Spiritualists.)
Rohan, Prince de : (See Cagliostro.)
Rome : Magical practice was rife amongst the Romans. Magic was the motive power of their worship which was simply an organized system of magical rites for communal ends. It was the basis of their mode of thought and out- look upon the world, it entered into every moment and action of their daily life, it affected their laws and customs. This ingrained tendency instead of diminishing, developed to an enormous extent, into a great system of superstition, and in the later years led to a frenzy for strange gods, borrowed from all countries. In times of misfortune and disaster the Romans were always ready to borrow a god if so be his favours promised more than those of their own deities. Though there was a strong conservative element in the native character, though the " custom of the elders " was strongly upheld by the priestly fraternity, yet this usually gave way before the will and temper of the people. Thus, as a rock shows its geological history by its differing strata, so the theogony of the Roman gods tells its tale of the race who conceived it. There are pre-historic nature deities, borrowed from the indigenous tribes, gods of the Sabines, from whom the young colony stole its wives ; gods of the Etruscans, of the Egyptians, Greeks and -Persians. The temple of Jupiter on the Capitol con- tained the altar of a primitive deity, a stone-god, Terminus, the spirit of boundaries : in the temple of Diana of the Grove, a fountain nymph was worshipped. Instances of this description are numerous.
Spirits. — In addition to the gods, there were spirits to be propitiated. Indeed the objects offered to the Roman for adoration were numberless. Apuleius gives a description of this when he tells of a country road where one might meet an altar wreathed with flowers, a cave hung with garlands, an oak tree laden with horns of cattle, a hill marked by
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fences as sacred, a log rough-hewn into shape, an altar of turf smoking with libations or a stone anointed with oil. Every single action of man's daily life had a presiding spirit ; commerce and husbandry likewise. There was eating Ednea, drinking Potina ; there were spirits of departure, of journeying, of approaching and home- coming. In commerce there was Mercurius, the spirit of gain, of money, Pecunia ; in farming, the spirits of cutting, grinding, sowing and bee-keeping. A deity presided over streets and highways ; there was a goddess of the sewers, Cloacina ; a spirit of bad smells, Mephitis. Spirits of evil must also be propitiated by pacificatory rites, such as Robigo, the spirit of mildew ; in Rome there was an altar to Fever and Bad Fortune. From the country came Silvanus, god of farms and woods, and his Fauns and nymphs with Picus, the wood-pecker god who had fed the twins Romulus and Remus with berries — all these were possessed of influences and were approached with peculiar rites. The names of these spirits were inscribed on tablets, indigitamenta, which were in the charge of the pontiffs, who thus knew which spirit to evoke according to the need. Most of these spirits were animistic in origin.
The Roman Worship consisted of magical rites destined to propitiate the powers controlling mankind ; to bring man into touch with them, to renew his life and that which supported it, the land with its trees, corn and cattle, to stop that process of degeneration constantly set in motion by evil influences. Everything connected with it typified this restoration. The Priests who represented the life of the community, were therefore bound by strict observances from endangering it in any way. Rules as to attire, eating and touch were numerous. Sacrifices were systematised according to the end desired and the deity invoked. There were rules as to whether the victim must be young or full-grown, male or female ; oxen were to be offered to' Jupiter and Mars ; swine to Juno, to Ceres the corn- goddess and to Silvanus. At one shrine a cow in calf was sacrificed and the ashes of the unborn young were of special magical efficacy. Human sacrifice existed within historical times. After the battle of Canna? the Romans had sought to divert misfortune by burying two Greeks alive in the cattle-market while in the time of Julius Ca?sar two men were put to death with sacrificial solemn- ities by the Pontiff and Flamen of Mars. Again, in the time of Cicero and Horace boys were killed for magical purposes. Fire possessed great virtue and was held sacred in the worship of Vesta, in early belief Vesta being the fire itself ; it presided over the family hearth ; it restored purity and conferred protection. Blood had the same quality and smeared on the face of the god symbolised and brought about the one-ness of the deity with the commun- ity. On great occasions the Statue of Jupiter was treated thus : the priests of Bellona made incisions in their shoul- ders and sprinkled the blood upon the image ; the face of a triumphant general was painted with vermilion to represent blood. Kneeling and prostration brought one into direct contact with the earth of the sacred place. Music was also used as a species of incantation, probably deriving its origin in sound made to drive away evil spirits. Danc- ing too was of magical efficacy. In Rome there were colleges of dancers for the purposes of religion, youths who danced in solemn measure about the altars, who, in the sacred month of Mars took part in the festivals and went throughout the city dancing and singing. One authority states four kinds of ". holy solemnity " ; sacrifice, sacred banquets, public festivals and games. Theatrical per- formances also belonged to this category, in one instance being used as a means of diverting a pestilence. The sacred banquets were often decreed by the Senate as thanks-
giving to the gods. Tables were spread with a sumptuous repast in the public places and were first offered to the statues of the deities seated around. The festivals were numerous, all of a magical and symbolic nature. In the spring there was the Parilia when fires of straw were lighted, through which persons passed to be purified ; the Cerealia, celebrated with sacrifice and offerings to Ceres, the corn-goddess, and followed by banquets. The Luper- calia, the festival of Faunus, was held in February and symbolised the wakening of Spring and growth. Goats were slain as sacrifice and with their blood the Luperci, youths clad in skins, smeared their faces. They took thongs of the goat-skin and laughing wildly rushed through the city striking the crowd, Roman matrons believing that the blows thus received rendered them prolific. Juno, the goddess of marriage and childbirth also had her festival, the Maironalia, celebrated by the women of Rome. There were the festivals of the dead when the door leading to the other world was opened, the stone removed from its entrance in the Comitium, and the shades coming forth were appeased with offerings. On these days three times in the year, when the gods of gloom were abroad, complete cessation from all work was decreed, no battle could be fought nor ship set sail neither could a man marry. To the Sacred Games were taken the statues of the gods in gorgeous procession, chariots of silver, companies of priests, youths singing and dancing. The gods viewed the games reclining on couches. The Chariot races also par- took of the nature of rites. After the races in the Field of Mars came one of the most important Roman rites, the sacrifice of the October Horse. The right-hand horse of the victorious team was sacrificed to Mars, and the tail of the animal, running with blood, carried to the Altar of the Regia. The blood was stored in the temple of Vesta till the following spring and used in the sacrifice of the festival of Parilia. This sacrifice was essentially magical, all citizens present being looked upon as purified by the blood-sprinkling and lustral bonfire. The Roman outlook upon life was wholly coloured by magic. Bodily foes had their counterpart in the unseen world, wandering spirits of the dead, spirits of evil, the anger of innocently offended deities, the menace of the evil eye. Portents and prodigies were everywhere. In the heavens strange things might be seen. The sun had been known to double, even treble itself ; its light turn to blood, or a magical halo to appear round the orb. Thunder and lightning were always fraught with presage ; Jove was angered when he opened the heavens and hurled his bolts to earth. Phantoms, too, hovered amid the clouds ; a great fleet of ships had been seen sailing over the marshes. Upon the Campagna the gods-were observed in conflict, and afterwards tracks of the combatants were visible across the plain. Unearthly voices were heard amid the mountains and groves ; cries of portent had sounded within the temples. Blood haunted the Roman imagination. Sometimes it was said to have covered the land as a mantle, the standing corn was dyed with blood, the rivers and fountains flowed with it, while walls and statues were covered with a bloody sweat. The flight and song of birds might be foretelling the decrees of Fate ; unappeased spirits of the dead were known to lurk near and steal away the souls of men and then they too were " dead." All these happenings were attributable to the gods and spirits, who, if the portent be one of menace, must be propitiated, if one of good fortune, thanked with offerings. Down to the later times this deep belief in the occurrence of prodigies persisted. When Otho set out for Italy, Rome rang with reports of a gigantic phantom rush- ing forth from the Temple of Juno ; of the Statue of Julius turning from east to west.
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A ugury. — Divination was connected with the Roman worship. There was a spot on the Capitol from which the augur with veiled head read the auspices in the flight of birds. Augurs also accompanied armies and fleets and read the omens before an engagement was entered upon. Divination was also practised by reading the intestines of animals, by dreams, by divine possession as in the case of the Oracles when prophecies were uttered. These had been gathered together in the Sibylline books (q.v.), and were consulted as oracles by the State. With the worship of Fortune were connected the Lots of Praneste. The questions put to the goddess were answered by means of oaken lots which a boy drew from a case made of sacred wood. The fortune-tellers also used a narrow-necked urn which, filled with water, only allowed one lot at a time to rise. Astrologers from Chaldea were also much sought after and were attached to the kingly and noble houses. Familiar things of everyday life were of magical import. Words , Numbers, odd ones specially for the Kalends, Nones and Ides were so arranged as to fall upon odd days ; touch was binding and so recognised in the law of Rome, as the grasp of a thing sold, from a slave to a turf of distant estate ; and knotting and twisting of thread was injurious so that women must never pass by cornfields twisting their spindles, they must not even be uncovered. There was a strange sympathy between the trees and mankind, and great honour was paid to the sacred trees of Rome. On the oak tree of Jupiter the triumphant general hung the shield and arms of his fallen foe ; while the hedges about the Temple of Diana at Nemi were covered with votive offerings. The trees also harboured the spirits of the dead who came forth as dreams to the souls of men. Pliny the elder says in this matter " Trees have a soul since nothing on earth lives without one. They are the temples of spirits and the simple countryside dedicates still a noble tree to some god. The various kinds of trees are sacred to their protecting spirits : the oak to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, olive to Minerva, myrtle to Venus, white poplar to Hercules." These trees therefore partook of the nature of their presiding spirits and it was desirable to bring about communion with their magical influence, as in the spring when laurel boughs were hung at the doors of the flamens and pontiffs and in the temple of Vesta where they re- mained hanging till the following year. Trees and their leaves were also possessed of healing and purifying value ; laurel was used for the latter quality as in the Roman triumphs the fasces of the commander, the spears and javelins of legionaries were wreathed with its branches to purify them from the blood of the enemy. Man himself had a presiding spirit, his genius, each woman her " juno " the Saturnalia was really a holiday for this " other self." The Roman kept his birthday in honour of his genius, offer- ing frankincense, cakes and unmixed wine on an altar garlanded with flowers and making solemn prayers for the coming year. City and village had their genii, also bodies of men from the senate to the scullions.
Death was believed to be the life and soul enticed away by revengeful ghosts, hence death would never occur save by such agencies. The dead therefore must be appeased with offerings or else they wander abroad working evil among the living. This belief is present in Ovid's lines : " Once upon a time the great feast of the dead was not observed and the manes failed to receive the customary gifts, the fruit, the salt, the corn steeped in unmixed wine, the violets. The injured spirits revenged themselves on the living and the city was encircled with the funeral fires of their victims. The townsfolk heard their grand- sires complaining in the quiet hours of the night, and told each other how the unsubstantial troop of monstrous spectres rising from their tombs, shrieked along the city
streets and up and down the fields." Beans were used in the funeral feasts. They were supposed to harbour the souls of the dead, and the bean-blossom to be inscribed with characters of mourning.
Dreams were considered of great importance by the Romans ; many historical instances of prophetic dreams may be found. They were thought to be like birds, the " bronze-coloured " hawks ; they were also thought to be the souls of human beings visiting others in their sleep ; also the souls of the dead returning to earth. In Virgil much may be found on this subject ; Lucretius tried to find a scientific reason for them ; Cicero, though writing in a slighting manner of the prevalent belief in these mani- festations of sleep, yet records dreams of his own, which events proved true.
Sorcery in all its forms, love-magic and death-magic was rife amongst all classes, besides necromantic practices. There were charms and spells for everything under the sun ; the rain-charm of the pontiffs consisting of the throwing of puppets into the Tiber ; the charm against thunder-bolts compounded of onions, hair and sprats ; the charm against an epidemic when the matrons of Rome swept the temple-floors with their hair ; and many more down to the simple love-charm strung round the neck of the country maiden.
Witches were prevalent. The poets often chose these sinister figures for their subjects, as when Horace describes the ghastly rites of two witches in the cemetery of the Esquiline. Under the light of the new moon they crawl about looking for poisonous herbs and bones ; they call the spectres to a banquet consisting of a black lamb torn to pieces with their teeth, and after, these phantoms must answer the questions of the sorceresses. They make images of their victims and pray to the infernal powers for help ; hounds and snakes glide over the ground, the moon turns to blood, and as the images are melted so the lives of the victims ebb away. Virgil gives a picture of a sorceress performing love-magic by means of a waxen image of the youth whose love she desired. Lucan in his Pharsalia treats of Thessaly, notorious in all ages for sorcery and draws a terrific figure — Erichtho, a sorceress of illimitable powers, one whom even the gods obeyed, to whom the forces of earth and heaven were bond-slaves ; and Fate waiting her least command. Both Nero and Agrippina his mother were reported to have had recourse to the infamous arts of sorcery ; while in the New Testament may be found testimony as to these practices in Rome. The attitude of the cultured class towards magic is illustrated by an illuminating passage to be found in the writings of Pliny the eider. He says " The art of magic has prevailed in most ages and in most parts of the globe. Let no one wonder that it has wielded very great authority inasmuch as it embraces three other sources of influence. No one doubts that it took its rise in rrledicine and sought to cloak itself in the garb of a science more profound and holy than the common run. It added to its tempting promises the force of religion, after which the human race is groping, especially at this time. Further it has brought in the arts of astrology and divination. For everyone desires to know what is to come to him and believes that certainty can be gained by consulting the stars. Having in this way taken captive the feelings of man by a triple chain it has reached such a pitch that it rules over all the world and in the East, governs the King of Kings." K. N.
Romer, Br. C. : (See Spiritualism.)
Rose : From the earliest times the rose has been an emblem of silence. Eros, in the Greek mythology, presents a rose to the god of silence, and to this day sub rosa, or " under the rose," means the keeping of a secret. Roses were used in very early times as a potent ingredient in love philters.
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In Greece it was customary to leave bequests for the main- tenance of rose gardens, a custom which has come down to recent times. Rose gardens were common during the middle ages. According to Indian mythology, one of the wives of Vishnu was found in a rose. In Rome it was the custom to bless the rose on a certain Sunday, called Rose Sunday. The custom of blessing the golden rose came into vogue about the eleventh century. The golden rose thus consecrated was given to princes as a mark of the Roman Pontiffs' favour. In the east it is still believed that the first rose was generated by a tear of the prophet Mohammed, and it is further believed that on a certain day in the year the rose has a heart of gold. In the west of Scotland if a white rose bloomed in autumn it was a token of an early marriage. The red rose, it was said, would not bloom over a grave. If a young girl had several lovers, and wished to know which of them would be her husband, she would take a rose leaf for each of her sweet- hearts, and naming each leaf after the name of one of her lovers, she would watch them till one after another they sank, and the last to sink would be her future husband. Rose leaves thrown upon a fire gave good luck. If a rose bush were pruned on St. John's eve, it would bloom again in the autumn. Superstitions respecting the rose are more numerous in England than in Scotland. Rosen, Paul : A sovereign Grand Inspector-General of the 33rd degree of the French rite of Masonry, who in 1888 decided that Masonry was diabolic in conception, and to prove his strictures published a work called Satan et Cie. The Satanism credited to Masonry by Rosen is social anarchy and the destruction of the Catholic religion. Rosenberg, Count : {See Dee.) Rosenkreuze, Christian : (See Rosicrucians.) Rosicrucian Society of England : (See Rosicrucians.) Rosicrucians : The idea of a Rosicrucian Brotherhood has probably aroused more interest in the popular mind than that of any other secret society of kindred nature : but that such a brotherhood ever existed is extremely doubt- ful. The very name of Rosicrucian seems to have exercised a spell upon people of an imaginative nature for nearly two hundred and fifty years, and a great deal of romantic fiction has clustered around, the fraternity f such as for example Lord Lytton's romance of Zanoni ; Shelley's novel St. Irvyne the Rosicrucian, Harrison Ainsworth's Auriol, and similar works. -
The name Rosicrucian is utilised by mystics to some extent as the equivalent of magus, but in its more specific application it was the title of a member of a suppositious society which arose in the late sixteenth century. There are several theories regarding the derivation of the name. The most commonly accepted appears to be that it was derived from the appellation of the supposed founder, Christian Rosenkreuze ; but as his history has been proved to be wholly fabulous, this theory must fall to the ground. Mosheim, the historian, gave it as his opinion that the name was formed from the Latin words ros, dew, crux a cross ; on the assumption that the alchemical dew of the philoso- phers was the most powerful dissolvent of gold, while the cross was equivalent to light. It is more probable that the name Rosicrucian is derived from rosa a rose, and crux a cross, and we find that the general symbol of the supposed order was a rose crucified in the centre of a cross. In an old Rosicrucian book of the last century, we further find the symbol of a red cross-marked heart in the centre of an open rose, which Mr. A. E. Waite believes to be a develop- ment of the monogram of Martin Luther, which was a cross-crowned heart rising from the centre of an open rose. History of the Supposed Brotherhood. — Practically nothing definite was known concerning the Rosicrucian Brother- hood before the publication of Mr. Waite' s work The real
History of the Rosicrucians in 1887. Prior to that a great deal had been written concerning the fraternity, and shortly before Mr. Waite produced his well-known book another had made its appearance under the title of The Rosicrucians, their Riles and Mysteries by the late Mr. Hargrave Jennings. This book was merely a farrago of the wildest absurdities, rendered laughable by the ridiculous attitude of tne author, who pretended to the guardianship of abysmal occult secrets. It was typical of most writings regarding the fraternity of the Rosy Cross, and as the Westminster Review wittily remarked in its notice of the volume, it deals with practically everything under the sun except the Rosicrucians. Mr. Waite's work, the result of arduous personal research, has gathered together all that can possibly be known regarding the Rosicrucians, and his facts are drawn from manuscripts, in some cases discovered by himself, and from skilful analogy. As it is the only authority on the subject worth speaking about, we shall attempt to outline its conclusions.
We find then that the name '* Rosicrucian " was un- known previously to the year 1598. The history of the movement originates in Germany, where in the town of Cassel in the year 1614 the professors of magic and mystic- ism, the theoSophists and alchemists, were surprised by the publication of a pamphlet bearing the title The Fama of the Fraternity of the Meritorious Order of the Rosy Cross Addressed to the Learned in General and the Governors of Europe. It purported to be a message from certain anony- mous adepts who were deeply concerned for the condition of mankind, and who greatly desired its moral renewal and perfection. It proposed that all men of learning throughout the world should join forces for the estab- lishment of a synthesis of science, through which would be discovered the perfect method of all the arts. The squab- blings and quarrellings of the literati of the period were to be forgone, and the antiquated authorities of the elder world to be discredited. It pointed out that a reformation had taken place in religion, that the church had been cleansed, and that a similar new career was open to science. All this was to be brought about by the.assistance of the illuminated Brotherhood, — the children of light who had been initiated in the mysteries of the Grand Orient, and would lead the age to perfection.
The fraternity kindly supplied an account of its history. The head and front of the movement was one C.R.C. of Teutonic race, a magical hierophant of the highest rank, who in the fifth year of his age had been placed in a con- vent, where he learned the Humanities. At the age of fifteen, he accompanied one, Brother P. A. L. on his travels to the Holy Land ; but the brother died at Cyprus to the great grief of C.R.C, who, however resolved to undertake the arduous journey himself. Arriving at Damascus, he there obtained knowledge of a secret circle of theosophists who dwelt in an unknown city of Arabia called Damcar, who were expert in all magical arts. Turning aside from his quest of the Holy Sepulchre, the lad made up his mind to trace these illuminati and sought out certain Arabians who carried him to the city of Damcar. There he arrived at the age of sixteen years, and was graciously welcomed by the magi, who intimated to him that they had long been expecting him, and relating to him several passages in his past life. They proceeded to initiate him into the mysteries of occult science, and he speedily became acquainted with Arabic, from which tongue he translated the divine book M into Latin. After three years of mystic instruction, he departed from the mysterious city for Egypt, whence he sailed to Fez as the wise men of Damcar had instructed him to do. There he fell in with other masters who taught him how to evoke the elemental spirits. After a further two years' sojourn at Fez, his
EVER-BURNING ' ROSICRUCIAN LAMPS
See article Magic Lamps on p. 246
These lamps were supposed never to require
replenishment
Cabaliitic (RoaicrucUn.} " Natural— Supernatural." " Light — Dark." "Dull— Light s" (The Myaieriea of •' Their Interchange") J/.B. — Tlse references to Nov and Chapter! are to thou correaponding m 1 ancient Roaierueian Tiacta or Charla— (addnced ben to prore luibeniicu'. I
The mystic interchange of Light and Darkne according to Rosicrucian belief
MYSTERIUM
Rosicrucian System Structure (Symbolic) of the "Argh»"or
(Forma— exterior and interior — of the "Ark of Noili," from the description of
Mdk. )
* Dace of the "Eiear.jd" Sign*
The Rosicrucian ' Ark of Noah
Cabaliatic (RoiicTodan) Production of the '• World*—- Visible."
"Generation" of the " Micrototmcs."
N.B.— the reference* to No*, and Chapter* are to thoie corresponding m »err
ancient Rcaieroeian Tract* or Chart*— (adduced here to prove authenticity.)
ROSICRUCIANISM
[face p. 340
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period of initiation was over, and he proceeded to Spain to confer with the wisdom of that country, and convince its professors of the errors of their ways. Unhappily, the scholarhood of Spain turned its back upon him with loud laughter, and intimated to him that it had learned the principles and practice of the black art from a much higher authority, namely Satan himself, who had unveiled to them the secrets of necromancy within the walls of the university of Salamanca. With noble indignation he shooK the dust of Spain from his feet, and turned his face to other countries only, alas, to find the same treatment within their boun- daries. At last he sought his native land of Germany where he pored over the great truths he had learned in solitude and seclusion, and reduced his universal philosophy to writing. Five years of a hermit's life, however, only served to strengthen him in his opinions, and he could not but feel that one who had achieved the transmutation of metals and had manufactured the elixir of life was designed for a nobler purpose than rumination in solitude. Slowly and carefully he began to collect around him assistants who became the nucleus of the Rosicrcuian fraternity. When he had gathered four of these persons into the brotherhood they invented amongst them a magical language, a cipher writing of equal magical potency, and a large dictionary replete with occult wisdom. They erected a House of the Holy Ghost, healed the sick, and initiated further members, and then betook themselves as missionaries to the various countries of Europe to disseminate their wisdom. In course of time their founder, C.R.C., breathed his last, and for a hundred and twenty years the secret of his burial place was concealed. The original members also died one by one, and it was not until the third generation of adepts had arisen that the tomb of their illustrious founder was unearthed during the re-building of one of their secret dwellings. The vault in which this tomb was found was illuminated by the sun of the magi, and inscribed with magical characters. The body of the illustrious founder was discovered in perfect preservation, and a number of marvels were discovered buried beside him, which con- vinced the existing members of the fraternity that it was their duty to make these publicly known to the world. It was this discovery which immediately inspired the brother- hood to make its existence public in the circular above alluded to, and they invited all worthy persons to apply to them for initiation. They refused, however, to supply their names and addresses, and desired that those who wished for initiation could signify their intention by the publication of printed letters which they would be certain to notice. In conclusion they assured the public- of the circumstance that they were believers in the reformed Church of Christ, and denounced in the most solemn manner all pseudo-occultists and alchemists.
This Fama created tremendous excitement among the occultists of Europe, arid a large number of pamphlets were published criticising and defending the society and its manifesto, in which it was pointed out there were a number of discrepancies. To begin with no such city as Damcar existed within the bounds of Arabia. Where, it was asked, was the House of the Holy Ghost, which the Rosicrucians stated had been seen by 100,000 persons and was yet con- cealed from the world ? C.R.C., the founder, as a boy of fifteen must have achieved great occult skill to have astonished the magi of Damcar. But despite these objec- tions considerable credit was given to the Rosicrucian publication. After a lapse of a year appeared the Con- fession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, addressed to the learned in Europe. This offered initiation by gradual stages to selected applicants, and discovered its ultra- Protestant character by what an old Scots divine was wont
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to call a " dig at the Pope," whom it publicly execrated, expressing the pious hope that his " asinine braying " would finally be put a stop to by tearing him to pieces with nails ! In the following year, 1616, The Chymical Nuptials of Christian Rosencreutz was published, purporting to be incidents in the life of the mysterious founder of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. But the chymical marriage makes Christian Rosencreutz an old man when he achieved initiation, and this hardly squares with the original account of his life as given in the Fama. By this time a number of persons had applied for initiation, but had received no answer to their application. As many of these believed themselves to be alchemical and magical adepts, great irritation arose among the brotherhood, and it was generally considered that the whole business was a hoax. By 1620, the Rosicrucians and their publication had lapsed into absolute obscurity.
Numerous theories have been put forward as to the probable authorship of these manifestoes, and it has been generally considered that the theologian Andres produced them as a kind of laborious jest ; but this view is open to so many objections that it may be dismissed summarily. Their authorship has also been claimed for Taulerus, Joachim Jiinge, and iEgidius Guttmann ; but the individ- ual in whose imagination originated the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross will probably for ever remain unkn own. It is however, unlikely that the manifesto was of the nature of a hoax, because it bears upon its surface the marks of intense earnestness, and the desire for philosophical and spiritual reformation ; and it is not unlikely that it sprang from some mystic of the Lutheran school who desired the co- operation of like-minded persons. Mr. Waite thinks there is fair presumptive evidence to show that some corporate body such as the Rosicrucian Brotherhood did exist : but as he states that the documents which are the basis of this belief give evidence also that the association did not originate as it pretended, and was devoid of the powers which it claimed, this hypothesis seems in the highest degree unlikely. Such a document would more probably emanate from one individual, and it is almost impossible to conceive that a body of men professing such aims and objects as the manifesto lays claim to could possibly have lent themselves to such a farrago of absurdity as the history of C.R.C. A great many writers have credited the brother- hood with immense antiquity ; but as the publisher of the manifesto places its origin so late as the fifteenth century, there is little necessity to take these theories into, con- sideration.
So far as can be gleaned from their publications, the Rosicrucians, or the person in whose imagination they existed, were believers in the doctrines of Paracelsus. They believed in alchemy, astrology and occult forces in nature and their credence in these is identical with the doctrines of the great master of modern magic. They were thus essentially modern in their theosophical beliefs, just as they were modern in their religious ideas. Mr. Waite thinks it possible that in Nuremburg in the year 1598 a Rosicrucian Society was founded by a mystic and alchemist named Simon Studion, under the title of Militia Crucifera Evangelica, which held periodical meetings in that city. Its proceedings are reported in an unprinted work of Studion's, and in opinions and objects it was identical with the supposed Rosicrucian Society. '" Evidently," he says, " the Rosicrucian Society of 1614 was a transfigura- tion or development of the sect established by Simon Studion." But there is no good evidence for this state- ment. After a lapse of nearly a century, the Rosicrucians reappeared in Germany. In 1 7 10, a certain Sincerus Racatus or Signiund Richter, published A Perfect and True Prepara- tion of the Philosophical Stone according to the Secret Methods
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of the Brotherhood. of the Golden and Rosy Cross, and annexed to this treatise were the rules of the Rosicrucian Society for the initiation of new members. Mr. Waite is of opinion that these rules are equivalent to a proof of the society's existence at the period, and that they help to establish the important fact that it still held its meetings at Nuremburg, where it was originally established by Studion. In 1785, the publication of Tlie Secret Symbols of the Rosicrueians of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries took place at Altona, showing in Mr. Waite's opinion that the mysterious brotherhood still existed ; but this was their last manifesto. These things are certainly of the nature of proof, but they are so scanty that any reasonable and workable hypothesis that such a society ever existed can scarcely be founded upon them. For all we know to the contrary they may be publications of enthusiastic and slightly unbalanced pseudo-mystics, and nothing definite can be gleaned from their existence.
In 161 8 Henrichus Neuhuseus published a Latin pamph- let, which stated that the Rosicrucian adepts had migrated to India, and present-day Theosophists will have it that they exist now in the table-lands of Tibet. It is this sort of thing which altogether discredits occultism in the eyes of the public. Without the slightest shadow of proof of any kind, such statements are wildly disseminated ; and it has even been alleged that the Rosicrueians have developed into a Tibetan Brotherhood, and have exchanged Protestant Christianity for esoteric Buddhism ! Mr. Waite humorously states that he has not been able to trace the eastern progress of the Brotherhood further than the Isle of Mauritius, where it is related in a curious manu- script a certain Comte De Chazal initiated a Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom into the mysteries of the Rose Cross Order in 1794 ; but we know nothing about the Comte de Chazal or his character, and it is just possible that Dr. Bacstrom might have been one of those deluded persons who in all times and countries have been willing to purchase pro- blematical honours. From the Fama and Confessio, we glean some definite ideas of the occult conceptions of the Rosicrueians. In these documents we find the doctrine of the Microcosmus (q.v.), which considers man as containing the potentialities of the whole universe. This is a distinctly Paracelsian belief. We also find the belief of the doctrine of Elemental Spirits (q.v.), which many people wrongly think originated with the Rosicrueians ; but which was probably reintroduced by Paracelsus. We also find that the manifestoes contain the doctrine of the Signatura Rerum, which also is of Paracelsian origin. This is the magical writing referred to in the Fama ; and the mystic characters of that book of nature, which, according to the Confessio, stand open for all eyes, but can be read or understood by only the very few. These characters are the seal of God imprinted on the wonderful work of creation, on the heavens and earth, and on all beasts. It would appear too, that some form of practical magic was known to the Brotherhood. They were also, according to them- selves, alchemists, for they had achieved the transmutation of metals and the manufacture of the elixir of life.
In England the Rosicrucian idea was taken up by Fludd, who wrote a spirited defence of the Brotherhood ; by Vaughan who translated the Fama and the Confessio ; and by John Heydon, who furnished a peculiarly quaint and interesting account of the Rosicrueians in The Wise Man's Crown ; and further treatises regarding their alchemi- cal skill and medical ability in El Havarevna, or The English Physitian's Tutor, and A New Method of Rosie Crucian Physick, London 1658. In France Rosicrucianism ran a like course. It has been stated by Buhle and others that there was much connection between the Rosicrueians and Freemasons.
A pseudo-Rosicrucian Society existed in England before the year 1836, and this was remodelled about the middle of last century under the title " The Rosicrucian Society of England." To join this it is necessary to be a Mason. The officers of the society consist of three magi, a master- general for the first and second orders, a deputy master- general, a treasurer, a secretary and seven ancients. The assisting officers number a precentor, organist, torch- bearer, herald, and so forth. The society is composed of nine grades or classes. It published a little quarterly magazine from 1868 to 1879, which in an early number stated that the society was " calculated to meet the re- quirements of those worthy masons who wished to study the science and antiquities of the craft, and trace it through its successive developments to the present time ; also to cull information from all the records extant from those mysterious societies which had their existence in the dark ages of the world, when might meant right." These objects were, however, fulfilled in a very perfunctory manner, if the magazine of the association is any criterion of its work. For this publication is filled with occult serial stories, reports of masonic meetings and verse. Mr. Waite states that the most notable circumstance con- nected with this society is the complete ignorance which seems to have prevailed among its members generally concerning everything connected with Rosicrucianism. The prime movers of the association were Robert Went- ■worth Little, Frederick Hockley, Kenneth Mackenzie and Hargrave Jennings, and in the year 1872 they seem to have become conscious that their society had not borne out its original intention. By this time the Yorkshire College and East of Scotland College at Edinburgh, had been founded — one does not know with what results. " This harmless association," says Mr. Waite, " deserves a mild sympathy at the hands of the student of occultism. Its character," he continues, " could hardly have deceived the most credulous of its postulants. Some of its members wrapped themselves in darkness and mystery, proclaimed themselves Rosicrueians with intent to deceive. These persons found a few — very few — believers and admirers. Others assert that the society is a cloak to something else — the last resource of cornered credulity and exposed impos- ture. There are similar associations in other parts of Europe, and also in America : e.g., the Societas Rosicruciana of Boston." But in the concluding pages of Mr. Waite's book we find the following passage : " On the faith of a follower of Honnes, I can promise that nothing shall be held back from these true Sons of the Doctrine, the sincere seekers after light, who are empowered to preach the supreme Arcana of the psychic world with a clean heart and an earnest aim. True Rosicrueians and true alchemical adepts, if there be any in existence at this day, will not resent a new procedure when circumstances have been radically changed." Mr. Waite appeals to these students of occultism who are men of method as well of imagination to assist him in clearing away the dust and rubbish which have accumulated during centuries of oblivion in the silent sanctuaries of the transcendental sciences, that the tra- ditional secrets of nature may shine forth in the darkness of doubt and uncertainty to illuminate the straight and narrow avenues which communicate between the seen and the unseen.
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel : English Author and Painter (1828- 1882). Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, poet, painter and translator, and commonly known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was born in London in 1828, his father being an Italian who had settled in England. While yet a boy Rossetti manifested aesthetic leanings, and accordingly he was sent to study drawing under no less distinguished a preceptor than Cotman, while shortly afterwards he entered the
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Royal Academy Schools. Then in 1848, feeling the need of still further tuition, he commenced working at the studio of Ford Madox Brown, a master who undoubtedly influenced him greatly ; and while under Brown's tuition he began to show himself a painter of distinct individuality, while simultaneously he made his first essays in translating Italian literature into English, and became known among his friends as a poet of rare promise. Meanwhile, however, Rossetti was really more interested in the brush than in the pen, and soon after finally quitting Brown's studio he brought about a memorable event in the history of English painting, this being the founding of the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, a body consisting of seven members whose central aim was to render precisely and literally every separate object figured in their pictures.
Leaving his father's house in 1849, Rossetti went to live at Chatham Place, Blackfriars Bridge, and during the next ten years his activity as a painter was enormous ; while the year i860 is a notable one in his career, marked as it is by his marriage to Eleanor Siddal. The love between the pair was of an exceptionally passionate order and from it sprang Rossetii's immortal sonnet-sequence called The House of Life, published in 1881 ; but Mrs. Rossetti died in 1862, and thereupon the poet, terribly cast down by his bereavement, went to live at a house in Chelsea with Swinburne and Meredith. Here he continued to write fitfully, while in 1871 he completed one of his most famous pictures, Dante's Dream ; yet the loss of his wife preyed upon him persistently, he was tortured by insomnia, and in -consequence he began to take occasional doses of chloral. Gradually this practice developed into a habit, sapping alike the physical and mental strength of the poet ; and though he rallied for a while during a stay in Scotland, where he lived at Penkill Castle in Ayrshire, it soon became •evident that his death was imminent unless he eschewed his drug. But he had not the strength of will necessary for this abjuration, he died in 1882 at Birchington, and his remains were interred in the cemetery there.
Rossetti had a marked bias for mysticism in various forms. William Bell Scott, in his A utobiography, tells how the poet became at one time much enamoured of table- turning and the like ; while waiving his somewhat childish taste herein, his temperament was undoubtedly a very religious one, and once towards the close of his life he •declared that he had " seen and heard those that died long ago." Was it, then, a belief in the possibility of •communicating with the dead which induced him, on his wife's death, to have some of his love poems enclosed in the coffin of the deceased ? while, be the answer to this question what it may, Rossetii's mysticism certainly bore good fruit in his art, his Rose Mary being among the most beautiful of English poems introducing the supernatural element. Nevertheless, it is by his painting rather than by his poetry that Rossetti holds a place as a great mystic ; for, despite his fondness for precise handling, all his pictures with the exception of Found are essentially of a mystical nature ; they are not concerned with the tangible and visible world, but body forth the scenes and incidents beheld in dreams, and do this with a mastery reflected by no other kindred works save those of Blake.
.Hound : {See Planetary Chains.)
Boustan : {See France.)
Rudolph II. : {See Gustenhover.)
JRuler ol Seven Chains : {See Planetary Logos.)
Runes : {See Teutons.)
Rupa is the physical body, the most gross of the seven prin- ciples of which personality consists. {See Seven Principles, Mayayi-rupa, Theosophy.)
Rupecissa, Johannes de : This alchemist was an ancestor of Montfaucon, the distinguished archaeologist, and his name
suggests that he was a man of gentle birth, while it is com- monly supposed that he was a French monk of the order of St. Francis, and it is reported that in 1357, presumably on account of his alchemistic predilections, he was imprisoned by Pope Innocent VI. Rupecissa contributed four volumes to the literature of hermetic philosophy : Coelum Philoso- phorum, Paris 1543, De Quinta Essentia Rerum Omniam, Basle 1561, De Secretis Alchemits, Cologne 1579, Livre de Lumiere, Paris, n.d. ; and these were admired by a number of the author's successors, but their value is really literary rather than scientific.
Rusalki : Rusalki, the lovely river nymph of Southern Russia seems to have been endowed with the beauty of person and the gentle characteristics of the Mermaids of Northern nations. Shy and benevolent, she lived on the small alluvial islands that stud the mighty rivers which drain this extensive and thinly-peopled country, or in the detached coppices that fringe their banks, in bowers woven of flowering reeds and green-willow-boughs ; her pastime and occupation being to aid in secret the poor fishermen in their laborious and precarious calling. Little is known of these beautiful creatures— as if the mystery and secrecy which was inculcated and enforced in all affairs of g°Ye.*?~ ment in this country had been extended to its fairy faith. Even Keightley, so learned in fairy lore, knows little ol Rusalki, and dismisses her with the following brief notice :— " They are of a beautiful form, with long green hair , they swim and balance themselves on the branches of trees, bathe in the lakes and rivers, play on the surface of the water, and wring their locks on the green meads at the water's edge. It is chiefly at Whitsuntide that they appear ; and the people then, singing and dancing, weave garlands for them, which they cast into the stream.
Russia : (For early history of occult matters in Russia see Slavs.) Spiritualism was first introduced into Russia by- persons who had become interested in the subject whilst abroad through witnessing manifestations of P^mc phenomena and acquaintance with the works of Allan Kardec, the French exponent of Spiritualism, trom tne first the new doctrine found its followers chiefly among members of the professions and the aristocracy, &naly including the reigning monarch of that time, Alexander 11. with many of his family and entourage as devoted adher- ents. Because of the immense influence of such converts the progress of Spiritualism in Russia was made smoother than it otherwise would have been in a country where the laws of Church and State are nothing if not despotic and disposed to look upon anything new in matters religious, intellectual or merely of general interest as partaking ol a revolutionary character. Even so, much of the spiritual- istic propaganda, manifestations and publications were prosecuted under various ruses and subterfuges such as tne circulation of a paper entitled " The Rebus," professedly devoted to innocent rebuses and charades and only inci- dentally mentioning Spiritualism the real object ol its being. Chief amongst the distinguished devotees ol tne subject was Prince Wittgenstein, aide-de-camp and tfu^.tea friend of Alexander II., who not only avowed his beliels openly but arranged for various mediums to give seances before the Emperor, one of these being the well-known