Uh the emergence of the beginning of our scientific knowledge of astronomy the creation of the Royal Society for the exploration of all of the natural history of mankind these movements were all part of what was referred to then as the way of toress a looking into the future and the
Gradual building of a great structure of World Knowledge founded upon the Firm Foundation of the inductive system of reason now who would likely be able to spearhead such a movement only a person who had this look of tomor who was himself in some way concerned with the transition between Aristotelian
Scholasticism and the rise of modern humanism it is said that our father CRC returning from his travels at Fez and Damar in North Africa and the near East returned or retired to a monastery and there he began the compilation of the Encyclopedia of all knowledge it was his uh purpose to
Prepare a work in which everything known to man might be made available to the scholars of this new age he may have worked very hard he might have been very industrious in his Endeavors but needless to say no such a work ever appeared under his name nor
Was any work uh uh available at the time at which he was supposed to have function the only actual example of the type of work which he was devoted to was the insto Magna of Lord bacon this was as bacon himself declared to be an encyclopedia of all knowledge necessary useful or possible
To man that he worked and labored through his years to produce this work we know and we also know that the Nova organm regarded as the first textbook of modern science was Lord Bacon’s Masterpiece and it was the first section of the insto Magda so here we have a man living at
The time when the first manifestos were published none were published earlier doing the very work that the author of The Unknown uh book was said to be concerned with there were many other parallels also but we must find some explanation for the rise of a sudden point of
View we don’t solve everything in this way but I think we solve something I think we become a little close come a little closer uh to the necessary foundations of our subject Mr wait trying to explore his aspect of the field makes a pretty thorough survey of the Alchemists and the alchemistic
Philosophers who flourished about the time of the beginnings of the rosac crucian controversy or shortly before that time he examines their elaborate symbolical Works their mystical thesis and their strange and wonderful formulas in an effort to discover if possible a route for Rosicrucianism in this area um naturally he fails for the
Simple reason that these necessary links are not available according to his point of view there is no evidence for example that the alchemistic philosophers ever used any of the essentially rosac crucian devices or symbols and there is no proof that the rosac crucians ever actually made use of the alchemical
Symbols in any outward or common sense there’s only one possible way in which these groups can be linked there is every possibility that the Alchemists were actually concerned with the same end namely social regeneration that concerned the rosac crucian order but the alch were a very spectacular group their wonderful old
Books are filled with the most elaborate diagrams and symbols uh the regularly issued texts of the rosac crucian society are either unillustrated or but slightly so they do not make use of these elaborate devices and Designs certainly not in the first circle of the apologists and supposed authors of the
Works we may then have parallel motions motions which might bridge at times for if there were any rosac CRS to be discovered the best candidates are among the Alchemists also we realize that about the time that these manifestos of the rosy cross began to appear there was a considerable impulse toward the
Elaboration of Al chemical writings most of the best texts most extravagantly Illustrated volumes were issued within 10 or 15 years of the appearance of the rosac crucian manifestos there is a package here somewhere but the two groups seem to have at least a physical separation they do not intermingle in the common sense
Of the word although there are certain indications of Poss possible sympathy between them arriving then at the beginning of the historical cycle of rosac crism we look around to see if we can names or persons that might well be associated with this Society two names of well-known persons in the chemical and
Mystical literature of the period stand out one was the English physician Robert flood and the other the German chemist Michael Meer both of these men wrote about rosac crism uh Meyer in particular also wrote considerably about alchemy the Frankfurt publisher Theodor de Bri Illustrated many of the writings
Of both of these men and also many emblem books and other significant volumes which appeared about the same time flood uh writes quite enthusiastically about the rosy cross gives a long and learned discourse about the habits of the Brotherhood which actually says nothing and then at the end States
Clearly that he claims no membership this sort of eliminates him uh unless we wish to assume that he lied in print uh the other possible candidate that we have uh Michael Meyer who was a nobleman and a counselor to his King uh does write also about the rosac
Crucians he discusses them and mentions them and describes their habitations in Germany but before he gets through he also proves conclusively that he knew nothing about them the next uh important work comes out is also by Maya called the laws of the fraternity the Rosie cross here Maya really does quite an
Impressive job he writes a small book in which he gives all the rules laws and proper U Credo of the society unfortunately however he once again says nothing for all he has done is taken the original material in the fam and enlarged upon it he has made extensive definition
Of the various rules briefly stated there but when we get through with the book he has really added nothing new so we summarize the situation as it stands in the 17th century three books appear the fame and confession of the Society of the rosy cross published in 1614 possibly available as early as
1612 uh somewhat sometime in manuscript It is believed they were circulated and a third work the the chemical marriage of Christian Rosen kites which appeared two years later now in the fame and confession our illustrious brother CRC is never referred to by anything except initials he is delivered to us as
Christian Rosen CS only in the chemical marriage now the question that must further be established is from a critical standpoint is the chemical marriage in any way an actual Manifesto of the society flood did equally well in writing on rosac crucian material at the same time and at the end insists that he
Doesn’t know the order and has never met a member of it Mayer did a splended job and with the same negative uh conclusion therefore as the fame and confession had been in circulation for two years are we really entitled to assume that the chemical marriage was an actual official production of the
Society or was it one of the many loia that appeared during the next 5 or 10 years we like to assume for practical purposes that it probably was directly or indirectly a Manifesto if it can be traced to to bacon we probably have every reason to assume that it was a
Genuine work whether we can trace the fame and confession to bacon are not the problem but here again you can have a lot of fun it is assumed that the author of all of these works that is of the fame and confession was a German and of course it is assumed that
The author of the chemical marriage was a German while these Works may have been lished in Germany the German author had some troubles when he got stuck for a word which might be a little unusual in German he usually used an English word which might possibly imply that English
Was his mother tongue or it may have been put there on purpose to create this question in the mind of the reader anyway it is a valid question for in an emergency or in some strange abstraction of learning of uh language uh it might well be that we would fill
In with some word more familiar to us but let us assume for the moment that these three books were all genuine Productions we have to question the appendix of the F fertis where in this was to this was added a small work by balini an Italian author on the
Universal Reformation of mankind it was all of a theme but this work only appears in one addition of the fame and confession so here we are with three books looking for an author these three books stand completely alone and every effort to tie them successfully to any other group of
Literature seems to be little better than useless uh weight comes to this conclusion that these three books stand alone and then he begins to ask himself whether these books stand or whether the whole group of volumes fall together this is a question which I I don’t think we can fairly take I prefer
The more moderate course of assuming that some person or persons with a real and definite purpose and perhaps speaking for a private Society devoted to esoteric m iCal or even religio political activities did Issue these manifestos that for one reason or another nothing further transpired we were assured that these
Would appear in many languages actually they did not the only time when they appeared in any other language was much later when they were translated they were not simultaneously issued in five tongues or anything of that nature and uh the very various announcements and pronouncements contained within the volumes uh seemingly never were
Fulfilled to show how the situation was in the year of Grace 1616 uh it we might have to compare it to some strange thing that might arise today where suddenly there would be thrown upon us a most solemn and uh apparently official document affirming the existence of some strange or secret
Government uh and inviting us all to join in this great movement for the Regeneration
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