The Synthesis of Magic, Alchemy, and Kabalah

It was the development of modern science in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that demoted alchemy from a science and mystical 

During this period, however, occultism did not die out. Instead, a great synthesis occurred in which magic, alchemy, Hermeticism, and Kabalah were united into one occult system. This synthesis often attempted to include science in the mix as well. At this time occultists tended to gather in secretive societies where members could rise in rank as they learned more about their system. 

According to the first pamphlet, Rosenkreutz s wisdom was said to stem from a tradition that stretched back to ancient Egypt. Because he was dissatisfied with the institutions in his lifetime, Rosenkreutz founded his own brotherhood in Germany to pass on this tradition. 

In the seventeenth century Europe was also split between the Catholic and the Protestant religions and the two groups were often at war with each other. Although formed primarily of Protestants and frowned on by the Catholic Church, the Rosicrucians offered a middle 

Freemasons use the tools of stonemasons, not for physical work but to contemplate as symbols in their philosophical mystical practice, in the same way that Rosicrucians practice alchemy without the chemical experiments. In the Masonic ritual of initiation, a Mason acts out the death of Hiram and is reborn to the lodge. The twentieth century 

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