Rosicrucian Brotherhood

Fludd, Robert. "The Rosicrucian brotherhood." In A Christian Rosencreutz anthology, ed. P.M. Allen, 349-379., 1968. 

Robert Fludd wrote that the planetary conjugations of 1603-1604 were a sign for the Rosicrucian Brotherhood to expand its membership in preparation for the great Restoration of Arts and Sciences of the World, which they called the Instauration. The Rosicrucians believed the arrival of the Golden Age of Aquarius would lead all men to embrace Righteousness. ... 

There are, of course, lots of Rosicrucian essays, over two hundred written between 1614 and 1623, and Eglinus may be just one of many writers excited by the possibility of a Rosicrucian brotherhood, real or imaginary. Yet the closeness of Eglinus to the publication of the earliest Rosicrucian manifestos at Kassel, his earlier encounter with Giordano Bruno, an interest in Paracelsian cosmology and Basilian alchemy, and his prophetic chiliasm set within the tradition of the returning Elias Artista, make him at least a good candidate for admittance into the inner circle of Rosicrucian enthusiasts. 

Clymer, Reuben Swinburne. The Rosicrucians - their teachings. The Fraternitas Rosae Crucis American section. The Manifestoes issued by the Brotherhood, Order, Temple and Fraternity of the Rosicrucians since its Foundation in America have been edited and the teachings made applicable to modern conditions and the needs of the New Age. Quakertown (PA) Philosophical Publ Co, 1941. 275p. 

Appended is an extract from a Rosicrucian document on the seven metals (from Waite Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross)... 

Paracelsus (1493-1541), one of the greatest alchemists and the founder of modern medicine, defined alchemy as the transformation of one natural substance into another, one fit for a new use. He created non-herbal medicines, which he considered the main physical goal of alchemy. However, he was equally strong in his belief that the true quest of the alchemist was his own spiritual transformation. The students of Paracelsus tended to split in two directions those who developed the science of medication, which led to modern medicine and then chemistry and those who abandoned the laboratory to search for spiritual gold within, a course which led to mystical philosophies like Rosicrucianism, a mystical brotherhood that emerged in the seventeenth century. 

The alchemical Philosophers Stone is the main subject of this book. It has many names including the Elixir of Life, occult gold, manna and dew. For thousands of years the knowledge of this marvelous Stone has been the sole province of mystical brotherhoods including Eg tian Priests and Pharaohs, Melchizedek Priests, Arabian Schools, Rabbis, Kabbalahists, Indian Yogis, Rosicrucians, Freemasons and lone Jewish alchemists. 

This attitude shows a certain resemblance to some ideas in the two treatises mentioned above, in which Maier took part in the debate about the Fraternitas Roseae Crucis In these he justifies the existence of the brotherhood and its maintenance of anonymity by the observation inter alia that secret societies for the investigation of nature, and above all of res chymicae, have existed in very age.". The Rosicrucians, according to Maier, were a collection of upright men, doctors of medicine and investigators of nature.For reasons of self-defence, they can scarcely be expected to expose themselves to criticism or exploitation from outsiders and it is known that alchemy still has many opponents.One should also take into consideration the dangers that beset the honest Chymici, on the one side from swindlers and on the other from unscrupulous and greedy patrons. 

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