XX. The Jewels for the Magi, Officers, and Brethren, are

to be worn at all ceremonial meetings.

MODERN ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETIES. 421
JEWELS OF THE ROSIE CROSS.

Jewel of the Supreme Magus.

An ebony Cross, with golden roses at its extremities and
the jewel of the Rosie Cross in the centre. It is surmounted
by a crown of gold for the Supreme Magus alone, as repre-
sented in the engraving below, and the jewel is to be worn
round the neck, suspended by a crimson velvet ribbon.

Jewel of the two Junior Magi.

As above, but without the crown, and worn in the same
manner.

Jewel of the Grand Officers.

A lozenge-shaped plate of gold enamelled white, with the
Rosie Cross in the centre, surmounted by a golden mitre, on
the rim of which is enamelled in rose-coloured characters
LUX, and in its centre a small cross of the same colour.
This jewel is worn suspended from the button-hole by a
green ribbon an inch in width, and with a cross also

422 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

embroidered on it in rose-coloured silk, as shown in the
engraving below, which is as nearly as possible one-third of
the actual size of the jewel.

Jewel of the Fraternity.

The lozenge-shaped jewel of the Rosie Cross, as above,
without the mitre, suspended by a green ribbon an inch in
width, and without the embroidered cross.

This information is transcribed from a secret record of
the association, entitled " The Rosicrucian," which was iirst
published in 1868, appearing as an infinitesimal quarterly
of twelve small pages, and subsequently continued as a
monthly magazine, which subsisted till the year 1879, when
it accomplished another transformation, whose history I have
failed to trace. There is much curious material contained
in the two series. An early number announces the objects
of the society which it represents. It is "calculated to
meet the requirements of those worthy Masons who wish 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, of
those mysterious societies which had their existence in the
dark ages of the world when might meant right, when every

MODERN ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETIES. 423

man's hand was against his brother, and when such com-
binations were necessary to protect the weak against the
strong."

These objects appear to have been fulfilled in a very
desultory manner, so far, at least, as the organ of the asso-
ciation is concerned. Eeports of Masonic meetings, long
serial stories of an occult character, and somewhat feeble
poetry by supreme magi and worthy fratres, permanently
occupied a large proportion of an exceedingly limited space
for a period of ten years.

In 1871 the society informed its members that it was
entirely non-masonic in character, with the sole exception
that every aspirant was required to belong to the masonic
Brotherhood. The assigned reason is the numerous points
of resemblance between the secrets of Rosicrucians and
Freemasons. The object of the association was then stated
to be purely literary and antiquarian, and the promulgation
of a new masonic rite was by no means intended. " The
society is at present composed of 144 Fratres, and is ruled
over by three brethren, who have attained to the ninth
degree, or Supreme Magus. Seventy-two of these compose
the London College, and thirty-six is the statutory number
of each of the two subordinate colleges " at Bristol and
Manchester. Every College, excepting the Metropolitan,
was restricted in 1877 to thirty-six subscribing members,
exclusive of those of the ninth grade ; the following numbers
being permitted in each grade : —

1. Magister Templi . or VIII0.

2. Adeptus Exemptus . or VII0.

3. Adeptus Major . . or VI°.

4. Adeptus Minor . . or V°.

5. Philosophus . . or IV°.

424 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

6. Practicus . . or III0.

7. Thearicus . . or 11°.

8. Zelator ... or 1°.

The numbers were doubled in the Metropolitan College,
but these arrangements were practically abrogated by the
admission of supernumerary members until the occurrence
of i( substantive vacancies." A Yorkshire College was con-
secrated in 1877 ; a college in Edinburgh to represent the
East of Scotland had been established some time previously.

The prime mover in this Association was Robert Went-
worth Little, who died in the year 1878, at the age of
thirty-eight ; he was the Supreme Magus, and the actual
revival of the Rosicrucian Order in England was owing to
his instrumentality. The Honorary Presidentship has been
conferred upon various noblemen, the late Lord Lytton
was elected Grand Patron, and among the most important
members must be reckoned the late Frederick Hockley,
Kenneth Mackenzie, and Hargrave Jennings.

The most notable circumstance connected with this
society is the complete ignorance which seems to have
prevailed amongst its members generally concerning every-
thing connected with Rosicrucianism. This is conspicuous
in the magazine which they published. Frater William
Carpenter complains that he has not obtained much light
from the work of Frater Jennings, and that he himself is
" an untaught speculator." Frater William Hughan is
acknowledged as an adept, but he does not seem to have
been aware that the "Fama" and " Confessio Fraternitatis "
originally appeared in Germany. Frater Carpenter inclines
to the opinion that the question had better be left to itself,
as " an inquiry into the matter is destined to get every one
who attempts it into an entanglement. He humbly con-

MODERN ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETIES. 425

fesses that it is too wonderful for him, too high, and that
he cannot attain it. At the same time he hazards a new
definition of the much-abused term Eosicrucian, which he
believes to have been assumed by the Brotherhood not
because they sought light by the assistance of ros, dew, but
in rus, solitude, which is conclusive as to the philological
abilities of this "untaught speculator." By the year 1872,
the members seems to have discovered that their organ and
indeed their society had scarcely borne out its original
intention, for " the general body of members have done
little to promote the elucidation of Eosicrucian lore ; " but,
in spite of resolutions to the contrary, matters continued in
much the same condition, though glowing expectations
were entertained on the initiation of one Frater Kenneth
Mackenzie VI0., a burning and a shining light of occultism,
somewhat concealed beneath the bushel of secresy. I
gather from various casual statements that the balance of
opinion in the camp of the " Eosicrucian Brotherhood in
Anglia " is to the following effect — That Andreas was in
some way connected with the authorship of the u Fama "
and " Confessio Fraternitatis," that the fraternity of
Christian Eosencreutz as described therein and in the
"Chymical Marriage" had no tangible existence, but that
they gave rise to the philosophic sect of Eosicrucianism,
which name became, in the words of Thomas Vaughan, a
generic term, embracing every species of mystical pre-
tension.

This harmless association deserves a mild sympathy at
the hands of the students of occultism.

' ' It has not done much harm, nor yet much good ;
It might have done much better if it would. "

1 "Hours with the Mystics," ii., 104.

426 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

Its character can hardly have deceived the most credulous
of its postulants. Some of its members wrap themselves
in darkness and mystery, proclaiming themselves Kosi-
crucians with intent to deceive. These persons find a few-
very few — feeble — in truth very feeble — believers and
admirers. Others assert that the Society is a mask to
something else — the last resource of cornered credulity and
exposed imposture. There are similar associations in other
parts of Europe and also in America, e.g., the Societas
Eosicruciana of Boston. In concluding this notice of
modern Eosicrucian associations, I beg leave to warn my
readers that all persons, whether within or without the
magic circles of public libraries, who proclaim themselves to
be Kosicrucians are simply members of pseudo-fraternities,
and that there is that difference between their assertion and
the facts of the case " in which the essence of a lie consists."

Though the true Eosicrucians, supposing such a society
to have had at any period a tangible and corporate exist-
ence, disappeared very suddenly from the historical plane,
the glamour of the mystery which surrounded them proved
a prolific prima materia for the alchemical transfigura-
tions of romance and poetry, and insured them a place in
legend. Two curious traditions are noticed by Hargrave
Jennings, but his mental tortuosity has, in both cases, in-
duced him to pervert the story which he recounts by the
introduction of worthless and untruthful details manufac-
tured by his own imagination, and prudently ascribed to
other, of course unnamed, sources of information. One of
these is the alleged discovery of the tomb of Eosicrucius.
Mr Jennings cites Plot's " History of Staffordshire " as his
authority for this legend ; I have carefully looked through

MODERN ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETIES. 427

the large folio volume of this "painstaking antiquary,"
but have failed to verify the reference ; the Spectator
for May 15, 1712, cites the story in the words of the
original narrator, and this version I present, for compari-
son, to the students of the " distinguished esoteric littera-
teur's " pseudo-history. Mr Hargrave Jennings says that it
is " poor and ineffective," an opinion not uncommon to
other interpreters of history who manipulate their materials
in the interests of their private opinions.

" A certain person having occasion to dig somewhat deep
in the ground, where this philosopher lay interred, met
with a small door, having a wall on each side of it. His
curiosity, and the hopes of finding some hidden treasure,
soon prompted him to force open the door. He was imme-
diately surprised by a sudden blaze of light, and discovered
a very fair vault. At the upper end of it was a statue of a
man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning on his left
arm. He held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a
lamp burning before him. The man had no sooner set one
foot within the vault, than the statue, erecting itself from
its leaning posture, stood bolt upright ; and, upon the
fellow's advancing another step, lifted up the truncheon in
its right hand. The man still ventured a third step, when
the statue, with a furious blow, broke the lamp into a
thousand pieces, and left his guest in a sudden darkness.

" Upon the report of this adventure, the country people
soon came with lights to the sepulchre, and discovered that
the statue, which was made of brass, was nothing more
than a piece of clock-work ; that the floor of the vault was
all loose, and underlaid with several springs, which, upon
any man's entering, naturally produced that which had
happened.

428 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

" Rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this method
to show the world that he had re-invented the ever-burning
lamps of the ancients, though he was resolved no one should
reap any advantage from the discovery."

The second story has suffered still further outrage. Mr
Hargrave Jennings asserts that it is related upon " excellent
authority." This authority is a work by Dr John Campbel,
entitled "Hermippus Redivivus; or, the Sage's Triumph
over Old Age and the Grave," and the reference therein is
" Les Memoires Historiques " for the year 1 687, tome i.
p. 365, which no one has been able to identify, and which,
according to William Godwin,1 had perhaps no other exist-
ence than in the fertile brain of the compiler.

"There happened in the year 1687, an odd accident at
Venice, that made a very great stir then, and which I think
deserves to be rescued from oblivion. The great freedom
and ease with which all persons, who make a good appear-
ance, live in that city, is known sufficiently to all who are
acquainted with it; such, therefore, will not be surprised
that a stranger who went by the name of Signer Gualdi,
and who made a considerable figure there, was admitted into
the best company, though nobody knew who or what he was.
He remained at Venice some months, and three things were
remarked in his conduct. The first was, that he had a small
collection of fine pictures, which he readily showed to any-
body that desired it ; the next, that he was perfectly versed
in all arts and sciences, and spoke on every subject with
such readiness and sagacity, as astonished all who heard
him -} and it was in the third place observed, that he never
wrote or received any letter ; never desired any credit, or
made use of bills of exchange, but paid for every thing in
ready-money, and lived decently, though not in splendour.
1 Preface to " The Travels of St Leon."

MODERN ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETIES. 429

1 ' This gentleman met one day at the coffee-house with
a Venetian nobleman, who was an extraordinary good judge
of pictures : he had heard of Signor Gualdi's collection, and
in a very polite manner desired to see them, to which the
other very readily consented. After the Venetian had
viewed Signor Gualdi's collection, and expressed his satisfac-
tion, by telling him that he had never seen a finer, con-
sidering the number of pieces of which it consisted, he cast
his eyes by chance over the chamber-door, where hung a
picture of this stranger. The Venetian looked upon it, and
then upon him. 'This picture was drawn for you, sir/
says he to Signor Gualdi ; to which the other made no
answer but by a low bow. 'You look,' continued the
Venetian, ' like a man of fifty, and yet I know this picture
to be of the hand of Titian, who has been dead one hundred
and thirty years, how is this possible 1 ' ' It is not easy,'
said Signor Gualdi gravely, ' to know all things that are
possible, but there is certainly no crime in my being like a
picture drawn by Titian.' The Venetian easily perceived,
by his manner of speaking, that he had given the stranger
offence, and therefore took his leave.

" He could not forbear speaking of this in the evening to
some of his friends, who resolved to satisfy themselves by
looking upon the picture the next day. In order to have
an opportunity of doing so, they went to the coffee-house
about the time that Signor Gualdi was wont to come
thither -, and not meeting him, one of them, who had often
conversed with him, went to his lodgings to enquire after
him, where he heard that he had set out an hour before for
Vienna. This affair made a great noise, and found a place
in all the newspapers of that time."

The mysterious Signor Gualdi was "' suspected to be a

430 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

Rosicrucian." The acknowledged fictions of a later period
occasionally introduce the Society to the novel-reading
public. Among these may be mentioned the incoherent
and worthless romance, entitled " St Irvyne ; or, The
Rosicrucian," which was written by Shelley at the age of
seventeen; Lord Lytton's "Zanoni;" "The Rosicrucian's
Story," by Paschal R. Randolph, an American half-breed of
no inconsiderable talent, who translated the " Divine Po-
miander," formed an ephemeral Rosicrucian publishing
company, and crowning a chequered existence with a
sudden suicide, is still much respected among certain
spiritual circles, occasionally " communicating " with quite
the average veracity of other " controls" performed by the
" choir invisible." The official organ of the English Societas
Rosicrudana has also provided its select and esoteric circle
of " antiquarian " illuminati with " Leaves from the Diary of
a Rosicrucian," a romance of considerable ability by Kenneth
Mackenzie, F.R.C., IX°.

CONCLUSION.

"THERE is a point," quoth a grandiloquent pseudo-
Eosicrucian in an impressive and tragedy voice, ' ' there is
a point," he repeated in the conventional whisper of the
unexplainable mystic, " beyond which we inevitably must
keep silence. We are driven to take refuge in portentous
darkness and in irretrievable mystery." The godless and
incorrigible scepticism of a coarse, unsubdued intelligence,
surrendered to a reprobate sense, and basely and wilfully
grovelling in the blind alleys of natural causes, begs leave
to believe that this is because extremes meet, that the
heights of the inexpressible are closely approximate to the
abysmal depths of bathos. But the unsubdued intelligence
is known to have covered the shame of its naked ignorance
with the " filthy rags " of a posteriori methods. Anathema
maranatha. Let it have no part in the life to come !
Nevertheless, I have found it superfluous to "keep guard
over " the secrets of the Eosicrucians, or to veil their mys-
teries in inviolable silence, and this is for a simple reason,
namely, that they have never revealed any. If the mani-
festoes I|have published emanated in reality from a secret
society, it has stood guard over its own treasures, and as
neither Mr Hargrave Jennings nor myself can "boast of
having ever — really and in fact — seen or known any supposed
(or suspected) member in the flesh," we have nothing to
reveal or to withhold. " The recondite systems connected

432 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

with the illustrious Kosicrucians " are, of course, enveloped
in darkness, and, in common with other students of esoteric
lore, I am inclined to consider that this darkness does cover
a real and, possibly, a recoverable knowledge. But it is
not of our making and in our age, which has nothing to
fear from the rack or the faggot, and but little from the
milder agonies of eternal Coventry, it is no longer worth
preserving. Nihil est opertum quod non revelabitur, et occultum
quod won scietur. The time has come when that which was
muttered in darkness may be declared plainly in the full
face of day, and when that which was whispered in the ear
can be proclaimed on the house-top. The tremendous
secrets of spiritual alchemy are about to surrender at dis-
cretion to the searching investigations of the sympathetic
and impartial student at work in the cause of truth. On
the faith of a follower of Honnes, I can promise that nothing
shall be held back from those true Sons of the Doctrine, the
sincere seekers after light who are prepared to approach the
supreme arcana of the psychic world with a clean heart
and an earnest aim. True Rosicrucians 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. The pontiffs of darkness and mystery
will probably discover that it is too late to make use of
that policy of assassination which is supposed to have been
applied in the case of the Abb4 de Villars. I appeal, there-
fore, to those students of occultism who are men of method
as well as of imagination, of reason as well as of intuition, to
assist me in clearing away the dust and rubbish which
have accumulated during centuries of oblivion, misrepre-
sentation, and calumny in the silent sanctuaries of the trans-
cendental sciences, that the traditionary secrets of Nature

CONCLUSION. 433

unencumbered by evasive veils, which preserved them per-
haps in the past from the violence of tyrants and intellec-
tual task -masters in the high places of religion and
science, but which are rent on every side, and " execrable
from the moment that they are useless," may shine forth in
the darkness of doubt and uncertainty, to illuminate the
strait and narrow avenues which communicate between the
seen and the unseen.

While this work was passing through the press, Mr
Hargrave Jennings has issued the third edition of " The
Eosicrucians, their Kites and Mysteries." It is spread over
the space of two large volumes of an imposing and hand-
some appearance. It embodies some new but wholly
irrelevant materials, and does not contain one syllable of
additional information on its ostensible subject. The
additional illustrations are quite beside the question,
having no reference, however esoteric and remote, to the
Eosicrucian mystery. This edition, in fact, justifies still
further the severe criticism which I have been forced to
make on the purposeless and rambling speculations of its
eccentric author.

2 E

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

NUMBER I. (p. 17).

ACCORDING to the " Kabbala Denudata " of the Baron
Knorr de Eosenroth, the Eose signifies the Shecinah. The
reason is given in the Zohar, sect, ^mor., " Quod sicut
Rosa crescit ad aquas, et emittit odorem bonum, sic Makhuth
hoc gaudet nomine, cum influxum assugit a Binah, quce bonum
elevat odorem"

The definition of John Heydon concerning the letters
E. C. comes too late to be of much value on historical
grounds. " But some may ask what I mean by E. C. The
ceremony is an Ebony Cross, flourisht and decked with
Eoses of Gold. The Cross typifies Christ's sufferings upon
the Cross for our sins ; the Eoses of Gold shew the glory
and beauty of his resurrection from death to life. This is
carried to Mesque, Cascle, Apamia, Chaulatean, Virissa
Caumich, Mount Calvery, Haran, and Mount Sinai, where
they meet when they please and make resolution of all
their actions, then disperse themselves abroad, taking their
pleasure alwayes in one of these places, where they resolve
also all questions of whatsoever hath been done, is done, or
shall be done in the world, from the beginning to the end
thereof. And these are the men called Eosicrucians,"

ADDITIONAL NOTES. 435

NUMBER II. (p. 18).

It is the sign of Mercury, but its position in the twelfth
clavis of Basil Valentine indicates a further and more
arcane importance. " The vivific gold, the vivific sulphur,
or the true fire of the philosophers, is to be sought in the
house of Mercury" says Eliphas Levi (" Mysteries of Magic,"
p. 202). The " sulphur, mercury, and salt of the philo-
sophers," says the same adept, " condensed and volatilized
by turns, compose the azoth of the philosophers." The
alchemical " balm of sulphur," according to the Baron
Tschoudy's " Catechism for the Grade of Adept, or Sublime
and Unknown apprentice Philosopher" (see "L'Etoile
Flamboyante "), is identical with the " radical moisture,"
which is also the mercury of the philosophers, the base of
every species in the three kingdoms of Nature, but more
particularly the seed and base of metals when it is pre-
pared philosophically by the extraction of what is superflu-
ous and the addition of what is wanting for the performance
of the Hermetic opus. On this point, see Pernetz, " Dic-
tionnaire Mytho-Hermetique."

NUMBER III. (p. 57).

This is a common and significant superstition. Perhaps
it originated in the Phoenix legend ; it is dear to mystical
writers, at any rate, and has prompted some curious and
abstruse reasoning. The bee is especially a subject of folk-
lore, and is a symbol of the ungenerating and sexless spirit
of man, which yet presents itself to the mind under a male
aspect.

436 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

NUMBER IV. (p. 169).

The symbolical representation of the tetrad under the
figure of a four-square garden, enclosure, house, or city is
very common among mystical writers. A familiar instance
is found in the Apocalypse, .where the New Jerusalem is
represented as a perfect square descending out of heaven.
Compare the " Eoman de la Rose " —

' ' Haut fiit li mur et tons quarres
Si en fu bien clos et bar-re's,
En leu de haies, uns vergiers,
On one n'avoit entr6 bergiers."

This passage is rendered by Chaucer in the following
manner : —

" Square was the wall, and high somedele
Enclosed, and ybarred wele,
In stead of hedge, was that gardin,
Come never shepherde therein."

NUMBER V. (p. 223).

The appendix to a series of epistles, entitled " Selenia
Augustalia," and written by Johann Valentin Andreas,
contains an account, thus arranged, of the offspring of this
marriage : —

JOH. VALENTINI ANDREW.

Propago.

Johann Valentin Andrese, natus 1586, 17 Aug., et Agnes
Elisabeth Griiningeren, n. 1592, 29 Mart. ; nuptias habent
1614, 2 Augusti.

Unde liberi.