The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross by Arthur Edward Waite || Manly Hall

This evening we are really in the midst of something and we are dealing with a subject which has taxed the ingenuity of some very able minds among them mr arthur edward wait i think we need in this case to say a little something about the author

Of the book we are going to consider mr waite was one of the outstanding writers of his time in the otherwise neglected field of the esoteric arts and sciences his production in this area was prodigious and as author editor translator and preface writer he made available to english-speaking people

Many rarities of early philosophy and european mysticism that might not yet be available to us we are most appreciative for his inspiration in contributing to the translation of the museum of medicine for example and we likewise deeply appreciate his industry in making available the two large folio volumes on the alchemical

Writings of paracelsus we remember him also as the translator of the french transcendentalist elephant levy we also know that uh mr waite was a mystic and poet in his own right and his book of poems of mystery and vision is an entirely commendable work we also know from his general literary

Style that he was a man of ability in these areas and from his research material that he was by nature a good student and with the available material in the library of the british museum at his disposal he has preserved for us a wonderful bibliography of authors texts and books

That might otherwise remain comparatively unknown to the modern student down through the years i have gradually assembled the greater part of his original reference material so that probably eighty percent of the books that he quotes particularly in the volume under consideration this evening we have in the original editions

These different activities also relate to another line of his thinking it was a prominent english mason and wrote considerably on freemasonry including encyclopedic works dealing especially with the british point of view on things masonic uh he had very little sympathy for the american point of view on almost any subject

And was essentially first last all the way along an english gentleman with a profound admiration for everything english well as most of his authors were not english this should not have caused any great amount of consternation but in looking along and in following many of the difficult courses which he attempted to follow

We do not always find that we can come in accord with his conclusions all through his writings we find a peculiar note that detracts from the seriousness which the subjects might justify for example in his translations of the writings of the french transcendentalist alexis levy levy who was actually a french priest by

The name of abbey louis constant wait does an excellent translation and then in the preface apologizes for the original author he explains definitely that he is not to be held responsible for the innumerable mistakes made by the good abbey in his original texts this is a rather curious point of view

We don’t know who is on the defensive but it looks as though mr waite is very concerned over his reputation this was love’s labor lost however as the very field in which he was operating must inevitably have ruined his reputation outside of a small group of sympathetic friends

The corporate image of mr waite therefore arises as an individual with a good scholarly mind and a powerful body of preconceptions uh his work on the brotherhood of the rosy cross first appeared in 1924 and i secured my copy in the spring of 1925 when the book was

Still fresh from the press reading it at that time i noticed in looking it over a few days ago i made a couple of notes on the title page a poor habit but i didn’t intend this book for resale the note that is pertinent to the situation

Is my finding in the first reading of the book mr waite reasons from conclusions and not taught them and this i think is generally his dilemma throughout nearly all of his writings he is so desperately for afraid that he will not be respectable he is so desperately frightened lest his scholarship be questioned

That he moves along in a state of caution that becomes to a degree at least a little ridiculous considering the nature of the subject matter of all his publications i suppose this book which was one of his last might uh have caused him the greatest difficulty he undoubtedly had been gathering notes

And relative matters for a long time as his first written work appeared in 1887. therefore we have a considerable literary career not too long ago the original papers manuscripts and so forth of mr waite were offered at auction and brought a substantial sum i did not bid on them because most of

The manuscripts had already appeared in book form but throughout his work writings we find that caution leads him almost inevitably to a strong point of negation in his effort to be sure that he is not supporting something that is not right he finally ends up by supporting nothing this is not unreasonable

Considering the obscuration of the field but it still leaves us with the mystery about which the book is built remaining unsolved all he seems to be able to do with it is harvest the winds this end in itself is not of great importance the important thing is that he has preserved

For us the necessary titles names and publication dates of practically every important text in the field this makes possible that others may follow after him and picking up the threads of his particular interests may uh unravel them further now as the book deals primarily with the subject of the rosicrucians

I think we should try to orient ourselves a little bit in his thinking on the subject the burden of mr waite’s feelings are the burden is that the rosicrucian organization was a mystical society completely and entirely esoteric that almost every contender for a place in the membership of the society

Was either an optimist or a fraud that actually practically every book written in the last hundred years on the subject of rosicrucianism is a monstrous absurdity that all our authors except himself are highly prejudiced uh he is different he’s just prejudiced against everybody this uh situation uh must cause us to

Review a little some of his special findings in an effort if possible to see what we can do with the material he offers us always remembering that his quotations are probably correct and his interpretations on them probably incorrect we have a wonderful opportunity in reading such material to preserve our own

Reference frame we can resist the temptation to drift along with our author we can pause and reflect and in this way perhaps attain considerable mental discipline out of a book which if read without criticism might prove rather uh disintegrating to a point of view for example early in his work he begins

To shatter uh the conclusions and uh foundations that had been built during the 18th 19th and the first decade of the 20th century these conclusions pointed rather definitely to certain possible sources for rosicrucianism i concur with mr waite fully in his realization that this society was not as a society an ancient institution

That all efforts to give it a mythological antiquity are essentially futile that even with the best possible research we are unable to trace it back earlier than the opening years of the 17th century we must however clearly differentiate between rosicrucianism as a formal organization and rosicrucianism as a possible descent

Of mysticism which in its proper right goes back a very long time if therefore we wish to assume that the principles apparently concealed beneath the enigma of the rosy cross if we consider these principles as ancient we will be well justified if however we consider the organization to be ancient we have

Absolutely no ground on which to stand and i also am inclined to agree with mr waite that we cannot permit psychic revelation to fill this gap uh we cannot assume that someone in a trance is able to produce a valid history unless in that trance something is communicated by which reasonable

Investigation can be stimulated the idea of trying to fill these gaps with romance will not actually advance any cause to any great degree in the study of the origin of the society most scholars have assumed that the original documents of the rosicrucian society were published by a german theologian

Who was the religious and spiritual counselor of the duke of wittenberg one johann valentin andrei uh mr waite dismisses this concept as being entirely incredible because it would require that the so-called chemical marriage of christian rosencrates one of the earliest documents of the society was written when andre was only 24 years old

And mr waite regards this as an absurdity he feels that uh a work of this pretension of this uh depth of this importance could only have been the production of either a very mature person or one of a group having considerable knowledge in common i read the uh chemical marriage of christian rosenkreutz

And this particular point of view that mr waite advances it does not seem to be valid so far as i am able to understand uh andre had available to him at that time an enormous quantity of alchemical and mystical literature he uh rose to literary distinction

At a time when there was a very large output of books dealing upon the general themes of his interest a bright young man taking this material could certainly have compiled the work which he produced for this work is not exceptionally profound it is not impossibly deep or incredibly wise

Its real a place in the literature of its time is determined almost entirely by its title therefore as if the word christian words christian rosencroits had been left off this particular volume would have been only another remnant of early modern reform literature in favor of the andre hypothesis

There are certain other points that we might mention one of these is the relationship between andre and bacon and here mr waite really has a bad time it is obvious from the beginning that our english author is no baconian he regards the entire baconian hypothesis as completely and entirely ridiculous

Here again i sympathize with him but i don’t agree with him the reason i don’t agree with him is that certain definite links have been established these are links mr waite ignores or else did not know them and in either case uh they they represent valid evidence that um

There might be more to this phase of the subject than he is willing to admit now the hypothesis that lord bacon might have been the founder of the rosicrucian society is at the outset not particularly attractive in the first place uh the bacon shakespeare controversy has caused a powerful alignment

Of opinions and of course most of the scholarly opinion is on the side of willie shakespeare although i see that this is now being affected by the popular purse the shakespearean museum at stratford-on-avon is now asking for 250 000 pounds to enlarge premises and facilities and make way for a larger tourist trade

Several uh individuals who might have something to do with finding the 250 000 pounds have journeyed over to stratford and taken a look around they have come back and their general opinion is that the stratfor museum is about the largest fraud of its size in the world

But there is absolutely no evidence of proof in that museum that even one relic is authentic and as to whether or not the building is the correct one this is also largely open to question and the general feeling is now that uh it is hardly even possible

That the immortal god ever set foot in the shakespeare house it’s not even certain that it was built at that time but no one seems to worry too much about it naturally we may expect a considerable tempest in a teapot over this particular issue but in all probabilities practical

Considerations will prevail and the funds will be raised simply because whether the relics are any good or not people are perfectly willing to come and see them and pay moderately for the privilege of sitting in willy’s chair now it happens that this chair has already been sold twice

And taken out of the country and it’s still there so you can try to solve these mysteries they’re almost they’re almost as difficult to explain as the miraculous multiplication of the bones of saints which have a tendency to show up and one saint i believe has already known to have had seven skulls

This difficult situation seems also to apply to the shakespeare dilemma we must also realize that young people have done rather well in their time in william henry island a boy of 17 forged a complete shakespearean play and the immortal samuel johnson got down on his knees and kissed the edge of the manuscript

So youth does not necessarily deny precocity the situation then involving the baconian hypothesis is largely colored by other matters and uh we we’re not too sure of the ground on which we stand actually there are many parallels between the so-called adventures of our father crc the mysterious christian rosencroits

Of the chemical marriage and the somewhat better known lord varialum these parallels were however advanced by the wrong people they were advanced by enthusiasts they were advanced by persons wearing the wrong school tie and things of that nature and as a result were generally discredited but whether they were advanced by wise

Or foolish men the facts must stand on their own feet that there was a link between andre and lord bacon seems to be part of our basic mystery so i might mention a little episode that some of you may remember but which others may not have come across in our writings

Back in nineteen twenty six seven and eight when i was working on this large book which i did on symbolism word came to me that uh one of the oldest and most important masonic lodges in england the mother kill winning lodge of scotland had a very rare portrait of lord bacon

As an old man of course his lordship is supposed to have died 66 but this portrait was supposed to be a picture of him at much greater age the thought intrigued me and full of youth and exuberance i wrote the mother kill winning lodge through their secretary and asked if

They had such a picture and if so they would be gracious enough to send me a copy of it uh they were gracious enough and shortly after the picture arrived the picture was out of an elderly bearded gentleman the long white beard who had a black skull cap

And underneath and around the picture was the inscription johannes valentin andrei thought perhaps they’d sent me the wrong picture so i wrote back and asked them if this was the picture of bacon and they assured me that it was now what the mother kill winning lodge of scotland might happen

To know about this i’m not too sure but they seem to feel that they knew what they were sending me and such an irrustrious body would not like to be passed off lightly another interesting point in relationship to this situation is found in the writings of john burton who were published

Anonymously under the title of democritus jr the work which he did was called the anatomy of melancholy and this as the name sounds was a most uh nostalgic volume which today would be a good textbook for certain specialists in abnormal psychology but the book was full of all kinds of interesting

Notes and news and as one man who contributed so many books and manuscripts to the folger library in washington told me he said many of us believe that this was originally lord’s bacon scrapbook but in any event it is accredited to a mr burton a very reverent gentleman of the church of england

On one page of this book uh there is a reference to christian rosencroits or the mysterious father crc after this is the usual mark indicating a footnote and below is the footnote johann valentin andrei kama lord variable period now this does not appear in all editions of the book however

But it does appear in certain earlier editions the only work that we know that describes the tomb of christian rosencroits outside of the actual rosicrucian manifestos is a work on mathematical magic by a dr wilkins who was a member of the society which later became the royal society of england and which as

Pratt points out was inspired by bacon wilkin wilkins in his book describes the tomb with the ever burning lamp in the ceiling and calls it the tomb of our illustrious brother francis rosie cross of course francis was bacon’s first name and uh certainly francis is not by any chance

A form or christian the manifesto says christian rosenkreutz wilkins presumably with no typographical error in mind calls him francis rosie cross there are numerous little odds and ends like this which mr wakes chooses to totally ignore and therefore i am not sure that he makes a strong case

To prove uh that the rosicrucian enigma uh had no place in the life of lord bacon also if we remember the manifestos christian rosencroits died over a hundred years before the mysterious opening of his tomb as this tomb was supposed to have been opened in the early years of the 17th century

The mysterious founder had been dead quite a long while uh in the dr burton’s dear old book already referred to however there is the statement the founder of the rosy cross still living now this doesn’t uh quite fit in to the picture for he couldn’t be still

Living if the original text was correct there seems to be no doubt in anyone’s mind who really thinks this enigma through that uh a group of persons uh perhaps definitely agents of esoteric orders perhaps descendants uh through the troubadours and the temple of ancient mystical associations

Did get together in the beginning of the 17th century and formed a fraternity of some kind um it has been said of lord bacon that he rang the bell that brought the wits together and there seems to be something of this nature involved in our controversy

There were only certain men of this time if they had any reputation in letters at all who can be intimately associated with a project of this nature the uh actual texts of the society issued between 1614 and 1616 uh all of them are dated by their content even the chemical marriage is dated

It is dated to a way of life to a point of view and this dating definitely coincides with the protestant reformation these works could only have come into existence after the rise of lutheranism we must therefore suspect that these books issued from some protestant background it would be almost incredible that they

Could have issued from any other background inasmuch as the very manifestos themselves indicate that the founder of the society brought back his knowledge and wisdom from the arabs and from the moslems which for most of orthodox europe would have been an unhappy background and not likely to cause confidence at that time

We had to have some group of intellectual liberals also it is quite obvious from the text of the work that they centered around the concept of a universal reformation of mankind they centered around the entire theory of the passing of an old way of life that a new world was coming into existence

A world of new values new human and that the fama and confessio fraternatus were heralding in a great world change this world change was naturally part of the period of which we are concerned for actually the opening years of the 17th century differentiate the medieval period from the modern world

Of his discovery of the blood the rise of the philosophy of bacon and rene descartes 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 tomorrow-ness 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 who would likely be able to spearhead such a movement only a person who had this

Look of tomorrow-ness 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 damka 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 available at the time at which he was supposed to have functioned the only actual example of the type of work which he was devoted to was the instruction 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 novumarganum regarded as the first textbook of modern science was lord bacon’s masterpiece and it was the first section of the

Instroration magna 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 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 closer come a little closer uh to the necessary foundations of our subject mr waite trying to explore his aspect of the field

Makes a pretty thorough survey of the alchemists and the alchemistical philosophers who flourished about the time of the beginnings of the rosicrucian controversy or shortly before that time he examines their elaborate symbolical works their mystical theses and their strange and wonderful formulas in an effort to discover if possible a route for rosicrucianism

In this area 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 alchemistical philosophers ever used any of the essentially rosicrucian devices or symbols and there is no proof that the rosicrucians

Ever actually made use of the alchemical symbols in any outward or common sense there is 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 rosicrucian order but the alchemists were a very

Spectacular group their wonderful old books are filled with the most elaborate diagrams and symbols the regularly issued texts of the rosicrucian society are either unillustrated or but slightly so they do not make use of these elaborate devices and design 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 rosicrucians 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 alchemical writings most of the best texts most extravagantly illustrated volumes were issued within 10 or 15 years of the appearance of the rosicrucian 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 possible sympathy between them arriving then at the beginning of the historical cycle of rosicrucianism 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 maya both of these men wrote about rosicrucianism uh meyer in particular also wrote considerably about alchemy the frankfurt publisher theodore de bruy 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 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 uh eliminates him uh unless we wish to assume that he lied in print the other possible candidate that we have michael meyer who was a nobleman and a counselor to his king does write also about the rosicrucians 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 important work comes out is also by maya called the laws of the fraternity of the rosy cross here maya really does quite an impressive job he writes a small book in which he gives

All the rules laws and proper uh credo of the society unfortunately however he once again says nothing for all he has done is taken the original material in the family and enlarged upon it he has made extensive definitions 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 somewhat sometime in manuscript it is

Believed they were circulated and a third work the the chemical marriage of christian rosencrates 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 rosencroits 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 rosicrucian material at the same time and at the end and insists that he doesn’t know the order and has never met

A member of it maya did a splendid 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 logia that appeared during the next five or ten years we like to assume for practical purposes that it probably was directly or indirectly and manifesto if it can be traced to bacon we probably have every reason to assume that it was a genuine work

Whether we can trace the fame and confession to bake it’s another 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 published 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 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 farmer fraternitatis wherein this was to this was added a small work by bukolini an italian author on the universal reformation of mankind

It was all of a theme but this work only appears in one edition 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 a little better than useless uh wait 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 mystical or even religious 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 various announcements and pronouncements contained within the volumes seemingly never were fulfilled

To show how the situation was in the year of grace 16 16 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 of mankind a small fragmentary splinter movements of this kind have appeared at frequent intervals but that never amounted to anything so the excitement grew immediately men of tomorrow-ness whether they were affiliated with anything or not

Were greatly moved by the dignity the humanity the nobility of these manifestos and all were most anxious to join so that at that moment the society had its best press and there was a tremendous popular interest everybody began to look around and there’s uh very interesting contemporary records dealing with this subject

Alchemists began searching desperately because they believed these rosicrucian brothers or adepts probably had the secrets of the transmutation of metals the mystery of eternal youth and uh the medicinal elixir of life so they uh they were searching for them uh progressive political leaders were very anxious to be affiliated with this

Organization philosophers scholars divines clergymen even priests bishops were doing everything they could to find out where these brothers were and the furore got greater and greater but there wasn’t any address to address a letter to there wasn’t anyone who seemed to be able to give any information whatsoever letters sent to mysterious

Adepts were always returned unopened at the same time of course as well might be expected a whole group of charlatans masquerading under weird titles and looking important drifted through various communities were immediately identified as rosicrucians but again these evaporated without very much uh contribution to the public good one

Early description of such an adept is contained in a delightful little book called the complete history of an unknown man this is uh exactly what it was and when you got through with the history the man was still completely unknown uh the only thing about him that was demonstrable

As any of any historical significance was that he was a sort of a pied piper for he went into one small german town and whistled all the rats out of the houses this was his only claim to rosicrucian identification the hopelessness of trying to communicate with these brothers left only one uh alternative

They want ad column now of course at that time newspapers were not really what they are today in fact in venice newspapers were still being written by hand one copy for each subscriber so this wasn’t very successful the only thing that appeared to be feasible was to publish small booklets oh 10 15

20 pages some of them are only eight pages in which some aspiring candidate would state his qualifications assure the brotherhood that he would be their dedicated servant and to please let him know where to reach them then these booklets were published in small numbers of 500 or a thousand

And circulated throughout europe in the hope that they would fall into the hands of one of the brothers and he in turn would communicate with the aspirant to membership probably 50 or 100 of such publications are already known and there were undoubtedly many more again however these were not effective

Because the writers of them most of them later wrote other works complaining that their first brochures were ignored so we had this little cycle of literature that only supports the fact that in 1616 the adepts of the rosy cross were as difficult to find as they are now

And situations didn’t really better much but we uh should take go along with some consecutive thought and try to fill out the situation a little further gradually another type of literature arose as the rosicrucians decided not to speak for themselves a very interesting but not necessarily enlightening group of apologists appeared

Among the apologists being our friends meyer and flood these apologists would write an elaborate manifesto thesis document or perhaps even a fine large folio in small print the substance of the book being that if the rosicrucians wish to remain unknown it was their right to do so and nobody

Had any reason to question it well to wade through 250 pages of medieval latin to learn this was itself rather disappointing these apologists however gradually developed imaginations which is not uncommon and is still a practice found among mystical writers uh not being able to learn anything else they began to decide for themselves

What rosicrucianism was and uh by six by 1650 we had a dozen or more fine texts on the subject no two of which agreed with each other and each one of them propounding to expound the original mystery of the fraternity i can agree with mr waite and the fact that you can

Read them all and gain nothing some of them are very interesting most of them are a bit desperate uh several of them are uh permeated with a general atmosphere of futility but after a time we find another note coming in namely the quest for the fast dollar

And even as early as 1650 uh people were not completely without that little mercenary twist of mind by the 50s and 60s a whole group of self-proclaimed rosicrucians were available to anyone who wished to sample their fare they wrote extensively one of them was john hayden who did quite an elaborate

Uh series of works uh in his holy guide describing the temples palaces and shrines of the rosicrucian fraternity in england unfortunately he failed to give any locations and therefore we got to not too much comfort or consolation but he did write with great are you

Edition in fact he had ideas that no one before him or since have uh ever fallen upon or really adequately quoted by the end of the 17th century by 1680 or 90 the situation reached a dead end uh it passed into a dignified limbo the original society had never claimed

Uh any distinction by its action it had never come forth and revealed itself its early circle of apologists were gone the secondary circle were already mingling their rosicrucian interests again with the stream of alchemy and hermetic arts and these in turn were beginning to wane under the impact

Of the rise of experimental science minds were now turning more to chemistry and archaeology and antiquities and the development of various remedies based upon scientific knowledge so everything remained comparatively quiet until the beginning of the 18th century when we had quite a revival of rosicrucian thinking this second cycle however

Begins to take on an entirely different color we now find the subject becoming more and more involved in ritualism and ceremonialism uh the rise of rosicrucian secret societies these societies sprang up in many areas there is no evidence or proof that they had any foundations of the original order

But at that time communication was poor the public mind was open to almost any innovation and the general difficulties politically of the countries of europe seem to cause people to take particular interest in something of a hopeful idealistic or mystical nature these secret societies did gather into themselves a number

Of interesting people some of them rather brilliant people but it cannot be said that the mainstream of the subject was in any way enriched in fact it perhaps was a little impoverished because now the old landmarks were pretty much obscured unless you had the time patience and wealth to investigate the original sources

This drifted along through most of the 18th century and during this time also we began to find the rise of masonic fraternities uh both regular and irregular in various parts of europe freemasonry developed a kaleidoscope of degrees every inventive and ingenious individual had another masonic right uh this situation continued to compound itself

Until there was really no rhyme or reason left in the gradually developing structure of freemasonry finally in the near the end of the 18th century the great congress of williamsburg was brought together convened for the purpose of clarifying the masonic situation among the uh delegates at this congress by the way

Were two names also associated sometimes with rosicrucianism the count caliostro and the county saint-germain these were delegates at the congress of wilhelmsbad as a result of that masonry cleaned house and relegated most of its uh doubtful degrees uh to the historical and archaeological department and again rosicrucianism uh waned

And became more or less concerned or involved in certain specialized groups of masonic scholars the 19th century didn’t add a great deal to this picture did however clarify the masonic position in connection with the rosicrucian order uh movements arose of masonic research and scholarship like the lodge of the quarter

Cardinality in london the lodge of the four kings which was the great masonic research lodge which worked with old beliefs legends rituals degrees and more or less became involved in the rosicrucian controversy through the its overlapping membership one of the members dr w was also the head of the societies

Rosa cruzianis in anger which was a free masonic auxiliary uh devoted to rosicrucian studies admission requiring that the candidate be a master mason uh during the latter part of this century the great american masonic scholar general arthur pike the sovereign grand commander of the ancient accepted scottish rite of

Freemasonry of the southern jurisdiction received an invitation from europe to found a masonic rosicrucian auxiliary in this country i have seen the correspondence in the house the temple of washington and if my memory does not fail me the letter was answered by general pike’s son and in this letter the son points out

That his father is now in two advanced years and too heavily burdened with other responsibilities to undertake the establishment of a masonic research body in a rosicrucian interest in the united states so that the masonic end as far as this country is concerned ends more or less in this way although one

Small masonic research group the society rosie cristiano in america was founded and did flourish for a little while in the northern jurisdiction of the scottish rite around this point the rosicrucian controversy uh more or less fades out so far as masonic alchemical political and aluminist problems

Are concerned and in the late years of the 19th century and in the opening years of the 20th century rosicrucianism took on very largely the aspect of a christian theosophy and as such uh did create and does maintain organizations in this country uh dealing perhaps to a degree with rosicrucian problems

But very largely concerned with mysticism or with the esoteric aspects of man’s life none of these organizations are able to use any of the original texts as a basic text for their own work however because no text of the original order dealing with any of its mystical practices or

Beliefs is known to exist now mr wake takes on another position here which perhaps is of some interest to us he now assumes that the entire descent of the rosicrucian society was completely secret uh that it is actually impossible to trace either its doctrine or its ritual from any exoteric organization that has

Appeared that there are certain fraters or brothers of the society that have as in the old pythagorean school perpetuated their knowledge by selecting disciples to succeed them and that this small group has descended over a long period of time and that somewhere here and there scattered about are legitimate rosicrucians

At this point mr weight becomes extremely hedgy and uh takes on an atmosphere of almost uh uh anxious humility and leaves us with somewhat the impression that perhaps he might be one of them but as he doesn’t seem to have courage enough to say so perhaps he shouldn’t have brought it up

In the first place because again his findings do not indicate any unusual possession of information in this area the wonderful and strange experiments that defy all human thinking are taking place constantly in the human body there is nothing more mysterious in the alchemical texts than the mystery of digestion and assimilation in man

There is nothing more wonderful than how food is changed gradually within the stomach into all of the subjective energies necessary for the maintenance of the body the stomach is the greatest alchemist we have ever conceived of yet these processes in nature being natural reasonable and orderly they seem to tell us

That with nature everything is possible and just as there are laws by which digestion is possible so these laws operating in space can be understood and can be applied to other related or practical purposes the very principle which makes it possible for man to live at all is the

Principle which when properly understood will enable man to live well thus man himself becomes and is an alchemist really whether he knows it or not but the bringing through of this knowledge into his awareness in a way that he can control it so that by art he can perfect nature enables

Him to perform the great work so mrs atwood tells us obviously that the great work is a simple fact and that this great work is the perfection of the consciousness of man by means of which this consciousness ultimately retain regains its universal completeness and is reunited with its divine source

Great work is the production of the heavenly man the prediction the production of the universal truth principle which is the elixir of eternal life because it bestows immortality it is the transmuter of all base metals because it provides the means by which every material element of man’s compound nature

Is transformed into its spiritual equivalent and it is also the symbol of the removing of the flaws from precious stones and the manufacturing of artificial gems uh the precious stones and the artificial gems relate particularly to man’s psychic fields where these stones like the pearl of great price

And the rose diamond of the rosy cross all represent the sole attributes of man the shining abdomens which exist within his own nature just as surely also as the sangria or the holy grail the cup of the blood of the king is the human heart containing as it does the blood of the

King or the blood of life so this uh holy grail is likewise the ancient symbol of the alchemical vessel in which the transmutation takes place therefore this transm transmutation is also a holy eucharist it is the mysterious transformation of the blood and wine into the life and body of christ

All the legends and fables bearing upon these things have arisen in the consciousness of man who has given me a world of a mystery which he has consciously forgotten but lot within himself man is aware as omar sowell says that from his base metals must be followed the key

That shall unlock the door they howl without that actually in man himself is the whole of the hermetic mystery that all these books are therefore veiled accounts attempting to preserve brown through the corruptions of uh world conditions the same esothetic doctrine that was taught in the sanctuaries of greece and egypt and india

Yet a new language has been developed and devised and now miss atwood points out one of the interesting and important parallels namely that this new language that was developed by the alchemists and was gradually taken over by the chemists is the language of a scientific salvation that in these formulas and rituals

It is no longer simple piety that accomplishes the works that man is actually capable of a voluntary cooperation with nature in the advancement of all of the works of light she then has it something that may seem a little difficult for us to comprehend but i believe that basically she is

Right namely that the works of life possible to man include not only the improvement of his own nature but ultimately the regeneration of his world that actually these works of man represent the power to use light not only to cleanse the body the soul and the spirit

But to cleanse all of nature to cleanse the air the earth the fire that it is perfectly possible for man to charge the very energy fields of his planet just as he is charged himself by these fields and that man by the development and perfection of his own

Life makes all things new again in the world around him and in this way fulfills the promise that from his own righteousness there shall come a new heaven and a new earth that the alchemical mystery therefore is a kind of chain reaction and we are beginning to appreciate that

Such a thing might be conceivable when we begin to think in terms of nuclear physics we are now in the position where we realize the tremendous energy forces can be loosed which have an incredible and unknown effect upon not only living things but upon the very fountains of life

The sources of the energies and the powers with which we are concerned and perhaps mrs atwood would have been very much impressed had she been able to live to realize that in the vision of the atom we have a proof of the release of infinite life-like power [Applause]

From one tiny almost incredibly small source we also know that the fission that we have now achieved is only a very partial fission and that in all probability there is enough energy in each atom to perfect or destroy an entire solar system all depending upon use and use is moral alchemy

Use is the power which arises in man by means of it she becomes a gardener in the garden of the metals by which he becomes the faithful guardian of the tree of life upon which grow the stars of all the metals in the museum’s medical [Applause] also mrs atwood has come to the

Conclusion that this process must be a completely ordinary and exact one but somewhere along the line in the destruction and decline of the mysteries those aspects of alchemy which were truly scientific were relatively lost uh one of the uh german princes finally imprisoned an alchemist

And set him to work to find the secret of uh the transmutation of metals this alchemist never succeeded but among the experiments which did succeed was the discovery of the formula for dredged in china and as a result this particular king became a very rich and powerful man without the transmutation of metals

And the whole history of alchemy and chemistry has been a history of by-products the search for the elixir of life has enriched our pharmacophia has given us numerous devices and inventions has led to such discoveries as illuminating gas and things of this kind there were things found along the way

By men searching for something else but it is interesting that in their search along the way they found practical valuable and useful things that they discovered the operations of law and therefore that it might not be entirely fair to say that chemistry is the same sound of alchemy a mad mother

Actually all of these uh chemical experiments were based upon certain convictions but as mrs atwood points out somewhere along the line the direct course was lost somewhere in the course of man’s existence he began uh to look around him uh for means of applying knowledge and in this mrs atwood quotes from the

Instro ratio magnet of lord bacon in which his lordship points out that man in the course of time has learned to apply wisdom to almost everything except himself he has taken skill and turned it to breeding better cattle or raising more grain to the acre but he

Has forgotten in the course of this to turn his skill within himself to the improvement of his own being this was the difference between alchemy and chemistry essentially chemistry as we know it today is devoted to experimenting with the elements of nature alchemy with the elements of nature in man

Always man has had a tendency to look out from himself toward other things and to take the energies which he possesses and direct them to the victory over other things however the very laws by which man hopes ultimately to conquer the world all the same laws by which man must

Finally learn to conquer himself and alchemy points out that if man first achieves uh the kingdom of heaven or the transmutation within himself then all other things will be added to him where it is said of the powder of the red lion which is the great power of the projection of metals

That it will transform into perfect gold one hundred thousand times its own weight this undoubtedly refers to something [Applause] we can say that insight turned upon the unknown will transform a hundred thousand times its own mass of ignorance into truth the virtue will transform many many times its own mass

Into common good in any event however uh the problem was to apply uh a knowledge of exactitudes toward the great problem and that is man why is this so essentially necessary why cannot we ultimately win by simply putting the world into in order around man and then permitting man to enjoy

This fruit of his own labor the answer is pretty obvious that all the changes that occur in the world must first arise within man therefore man cannot ex perfect the experiment in nature until he has perfected it in himself he can continue his undisciplined struggle with nature

He can continue this effort to overfill nature by still alone but without directive without insight without consciousness concerning ways means and ends without vision the people perish and without having within his own nature the achievement of the magnum opus or the great work it is impossible for man to direct nature

To control it or to turn it to the fulfillments of its own purpose until man knows the end he cannot lead nature to that end thus in some mysterious way the great experiment must first be performed in man and then in the world these are the two great laboratories

The laboratory of the human soul and the laboratory of the cosmos whether whenever the rule is found actually and absolutely in one it will be applicable to the other whereas hermes tris megistas has written that which is above is the same as that which is below that which is the lesser

Is the same as that which is the greater where all things are bound together by the law of analogy in this uh pattern boom the search for the inward transmutation must do a search after a science a science of the handling the directing the multiplying the expanding the

Extending and the transforming of light This light must come into man for this light must make reason possible to man for reason is mind plus light love is heart plus light strength even of body is physical resource plus light the mystical experience is dedication and devotion plus light light must always be the agent

Of all these things and if this light be lifted up it will draw all things to it and this light is the light which cometh into the world and light every man who cometh into the world [Applause] so the problem again is the magnificent chemistry of light now it is obvious that

The outwards were moving very closely toward the indian concept of yoga that they were sensing uh the same right principle that is also to be found in maryanna buddhism the the world of the radiance of truth the world of the eternal right in which all things live and move and have their being

The how is this like to be made available the alchemist said that it had to be extracted from darkness and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not so the base substances seen in the alchemical retort have to do with light hidden in darkness

Just as gold is hidden in the base metals of the earth just as the life which the small plant takes from the ground comes from the dark mother in which its roots are placed so everywhere in the darkness of earth there is life and this life makes things grow

And the vitality of life and nature must in some way be discovered and separated from darkness it must be as in the opening chapters of genesis which according to mrs atwood absolutely recapitulate the entire alchemical process and that any chemist thoroughly understanding the first chapter of genesis can

Actually transform base metals into gold physically as well as spiritually because in this our in this section is contained the summary of creation and this summary of creation is the key to the continuance of creation for the world of the metals creation is forever in the world of god creation is continuous

Uh creation is not something that started and then suddenly ceased and only the products went on the very processes of genesis are being repeated every instant and will be to the end of existence for constantly creation is unfolding itself constantly light is descending into darkness and darkness in its fullness of term

Is releasing light again by the mystery of the second birth so each person is searching for light and how is he going to find it how is he going to make this exploration into the dark mystery of base matter in order to extract light in addition to light itself what is the

Most common base matter of our existences uh not uh now in terms of physical materials but in terms of that which we all have in common one answer is that we all have the base material of living living is something that happens to everything that is alive

Everything that has life right in it lives therefore living is in some way an unfolding of the life-like principle so each person lives every day he lives according to his knowledge according to his insight or the lack thereof he lives well or badly according to his own instincts his selfishness his nature and

According to the mysterious uh impulses which plagued his psychic integration but there is this common matter of life or living and we may call it experience where experience is really nothing more than the gathering up of the treasures of the light and these are the treasures which thieves cannot break in and steal

Nor rust destroy so each day whether we are aware of it or not we are experiencing something and every experience is an experiment in life everything that happens to us has a right meaning but this does not always mean that we know what that meaning is but into our own reservoirs our capacities

Are stored away these works of the light [Applause] and bacon refers to these also by the same general theme the works of light now the works of light in nature result in growth and purification the works of light in the experience of man result in a form of knowledge

A form of self-education continuously going on in nature everything that man does teaches him something only unfortunately man does not always know what he is taught therefore he goes on experiencing much and learning comparatively little but nature preserves in the subnet conscious nature of man that which he has learned

And this becomes so to say a supply of crude oil this is the supply of impregnated material for in experience the gold of value is hidden within the darkness of ignorance and in the alchemical tradition a dragon was fashioned to symbolize this and in the greek legends

This dragon round itself around the tree of life on which hung the mysterious golden fleece and it was to discover this golden fleece that jason and the argonauts made their great journey and this was part of a ritual of initiation into the mysteries so the man’s revolution his process of

Existence down through time has resulted in the gradual accumulation of a properly impregnated material this material is in his memory it is in his subjective thinking it is in the background of everything that he is this impregnated material is the basis of his career his home

His business it is the reason why he can pass an examination in school it is the reason why he can fill out an application form when he wants a job all of this building continuously alright in darkness leads us to the alchemical certainty that there is a continuous process going on in man

In which the works of light are achieving victory over the works of darkness and yet the light and the darkness are together and uh they are not clearly divisible as billy points out somewhere the dawn or the break of the aurora light must come and mrs atwood looks

To the hermetic mystery to try to understand these uh wonderful occurrences taking the alchemical thinking again you come to such problems naturally as faith understanding dedication discipline you’ll find that in the hermetic mystery there has to be some mysterious agent the active agent of the stone

Now the active agent of the stone is a kind of mordant it is a catalyzing agent of some nature and uh in alchemy faith plays very much this part because something has to stir uh this combo this compound which lies in obscurity somewhere that jason has to go forth and search

For the golden fleece somewhere in this in man’s nature there must gradually arise the conviction that there is a mystery and that this mystery can be solved in ancient times education included the clear statement of the simple fact that modern education no longer does include any intimation that there is a mystery

Or that it can be solved and that there is a road or a way that leads to the accomplishment of the universal medicine [Applause] so in the alchemical tradition actually strange names are given to familiar things but these familiar things are not in themselves simple they are not in themselves commonplace

We can say that it sounds much of a come down that some elaborate alchemical material should turn out to be faith but actually we have no way of knowing the full dimension of faith it is probably stronger and greater and more mysterious than any physical chemical or element we have ever explored

It is because certain words have lost their meaning have lost their profundity uh that we we do not recognize the value of valuable words and one of the most valuable of these words is in itself faith faith has some kind of a transmuting power in life faith releases light into the soul

Even as doubt obscures light now in alchemy also there is always the ancient master alchemy constantly refers to some strange wandering habit some deeply versed and secret one who possesses the knowledge in the paracelsium corpus this is called elias artista or elias the artist a kind of mysterious immortal wandering alchemist who never

Dies who possesses the elixir of life who has made the great transmutation and goes around the world forever selecting dedicated and faithful disciples visiting them in their laboratories and revealing to them the secrets of the arts when their own merits deserve such revelation who is the mysterious silas artista

The one master alchemist who never dies who goes on and on revealing to those who are ready the secret of the stone one way of looking upon him is quite a simple way and he is the alchemical tradition itself he is the one who cannot die because he is

A great conviction he is a great mystery locked in human consciousness but he appears only to those who are worthy he makes himself known to the alchemist only when this alchemist has prayerfully dedicated his labors to truth and to light then he appears and gives the key to the

Mystery and then vanishes again and is seen no more this represents uh mrs atwood’s thinking that we would almost term today the archetypal psychological teacher locked within our own consciousness and walked also within the consciousness of universals in the world of every integration or organization that exists in nature

Is the mysterious fact of the immutable mathematical formula upon which that organization is based everything in the root of itself is instinctively a work of light everything has within its own nature the strange seal of its own identity elias the artist is perhaps partly tradition partly the great story

That has come down to us apartment is also the subconscious teacher in ourselves the old one the folk consciousness that we have perhaps it is descended to us in our blood in our heredity perhaps it is the symbol of the infinite sequence of previous embodiments by which we have come to our

Present state but it is the old one and the true one locked in us locked in our conscious experience and available only to us when we have ourselves performed the works of light so the struggle or the labor always concerns with this and now mrs atwood goes into considerable detail

In relation to neoplatonism quoting from protagonists propolis and many of the other mystics of north africa and athens relating to the works of light in terms of the motion of consciousness itself from ignorance to illumination illumination being of course the final absorption into light a man’s growth as a

As a medic experience deals with the seven steps of the ladder of alchemy and this ladder the escala de lessage is in actuality the same as the seven steps of bacon’s mysterious ladder of the arts or ladder of wisdom in this consciousness ascends through seven steps represented by the orbits of the planets

Which are in turn the alchemical symbols of the elements therefore as the metals and the elements are arranged upon a ladder or to form the links of the golden chain of homo which bound earth to the pinnacle of olympus so this ladder of the rise represents the seven ascending levels of human consciousness

By means of which man rises from ignorance to universal insight all this of course is theoretically quite understandable but the question always remains how is it done how is it physically psychologically or spiritually possible to perform this work this becomes of course the difference between theoretical alchemy

And practical alchemy and it is the method of how this can be done and not the fact that it can be done which constitutes the esoteric doctrine in the hermetic sciences uh mrs atwood senses this and realizes it and tries in the light of the study of many of these

Deep works to put together a formula a pattern not now to be used chemically although she believes and most alchemists have taught that the formula for the regeneration of man will also regenerate the metals but to discover this mystical insight by means of which the human being can

Achieve the transmutation of his own consciousness from darkness into light or to free the souls of the metals from their bodies in order that they may unite to form the universal medicine now all the alchemists have agreed upon one thing namely that you cannot combine the souls of metals

Four of these metals are in various conditions of their own development you cannot take the outward bodies of elements and force these bodies together you cannot take common lead and mingle it with iron and produce anything more than a kind of alloy a glad and iron these two will not accept each other

They will not become actual uh cells united they will only be bodies united and souls in stress alchemy creates another symbol the the hermetic mercury the mysterious symbol of the universal solvent mercury is said to be the one element that will accept other elements into its own soul therefore mercury becomes in a

Mysterious way in the alchemical tradition the symbol of christ because also it is the child of the sun and moon or the offspring of heaven and earth but even in the case of these elements the alchemists tell us definitely that crude iron and crude silver cannot be united to produce

The mystery that before these elements can be combined they must die for unless the seed dies says saint paul it shall not live again therefore the mystery like the mystery of the early christian convert is the mystery of the first ball of them that sleep in death

The whole story has to be a story of resurrection it has to be a story of the rolling away of the stone and of the empty of the empty sepulchre it is the story of that which has risen from its own mortality to become the eternal proof and hope of

Immortality for all creatures for the resurrection of christ and the old apostles is the proof of the resurrection of all that lives this in turn relating to the metals in the alchemical mystery is that the metals must die they must be crucified they must descend into darkness they must pass into limbo

Which is the retart or their chemical vessel and here they must be caused to suffer as in a purgatorial which is a purging or cleansing and here in the due course of time they will ultimately be forgiven or restored by the descent of christ into limbo for the salvation of souls

So now our alchemists tell us that these elements must die and the question is what are meant by these elements i think that the buddhists would answer that very simply that these elements are the sensory perceptions and the mental focus are the elements that form the mysterious six-pointed star with the sun

Or self or satna in the center the mysterious shield of david of the jewish kabbalah these representing them the psychic integration centers of man representing the powers of the sensory perceptions these must die in order that their own secret energy may be released again so that by only by man’s victory over

The census is the message or the power or the true reality that is locked in these senses as in the basic metal matter of experience only in this way can it be released so we come to meditation to zen uh to practically any of the disciplines of neoplatonism or the ancient greeks

For the death of the sensory perceptions is simply quality meditation the absolute relief of man from the pressure of the objective functions of his own composite nature the man becoming still causes confusion to die in him and it is the death of confusion that results in the rise of value for when the

Confusion of the testimony of the senses has been still then the wisdom that is locked in these senses becomes compatible and can mingle thus when the senses and their functions are suspended the principle of consciousness upon which they all depend is realized in its unity in other words

The elements the principles the energies of the senses perceptions can be alchemically united as long as the senses themselves do not function so by a complete suspension of the personal the universal elements within us can come together but while we continually disturb these elements by our own objective awareness they cannot come together

Mrs atwood feels that this is the burden of part of the illusionian mystery ritual and certainly of neoplatonism which is based there on in the orthotic rhapsodies that these tell the story of a mystical suspension of error and illusion by means of which reality can reaffirm itself by which the individual will find

In principles these things which he cannot discover while he is addicted uh to the shadows or appearances of things let us take a simple example of the point involved namely take religion we will imagine that an individual is torn between religions and science while religion is in its crystallized integration within himself

While religion in him is a series of specific beliefs while religion has to do uh with uh the consubstantiation of the host why religion has to do with the assumption of the virgin why religion has to do with the co-eternity of the three persons of the trinity while these factors are in consciousness

Religion is working in its own way but it is not assumable with anything else we go then over to science and we say the fatherless man is dedicated to biology so that his universe moves around the central axis of biological situation or he is a physicist

Or he is an astronomer or he is dedicated to any of the works of the light of science he is then not only involved but by his own limitations imposed upon his own areas he cannot even circumscribe the whole boundary of science he was only working with a little area a

Scientist thus engaged and preoccupied and a religionist thus engaged and preoccupied cannot meet they can have certain superficial friendly relationships perhaps but they have no identity no conscious realization of each other yet if either of these was able to completely disassociate his consciousness from any aspect of his

Reaction his labor or reactive work and go to the substance of it if the religionist could separate religion from theology if the scientist could separate science from the sciences in other words perform this alchemical reduction to source [Applause] then science would realize that the substance upon which it is

Both is inevitable immutable universal law and the religionists would discover that the substance upon which faith is built is inevitable and immutable universal law in their principles therefore these two can unite but once they have become structures they cannot unite this is why alchemy says that you have to destroy

The outward forms of things you have to calculate them you have to burn them or corrupt them or destroy them until nothing of the battle remains but ashes then the living spirit within these things can unite for in all life there is an identity of truth right

And this identity of truth like truth light is the secret of compatibility and compatibility or the union or mingling and identification of these elements finally represents the amalgam from which the great stone of the wise is projected by alchemy so first by the reduction of all things to their essences

They become susceptible of union and out of the union of these divided elements comes the sudden re-experience of the unity of the archetype of life from which they descended the continual discovery of increasing unities the ascent from particulars to generals the gradual disintegration of the external natures of things and

The re-establishment of their internals in this way the great alchemical transmutation takes place this can be put in terms of chemistry and will probably operate chemically it can be put in terms of religion and will operate religiously or in terms of philosophy but in man the

Peculiar term of it is in the term of your work consciousness searching for the whole redemption of man lies in the reduction of the confusion or complexity of man to the absolute stillness which is the death of the divided parts and then from the death of this these divided parts

A spirit rises the spirit released from confusion was released from difference from discord and from the various vibratory patterns of elements suddenly is restored to its own bright light nature so in the alchemical tradition again the purpose is forever to reduce the bodily interference of things with the unfoldment of the life within

Body the grand experiment is therefore to be attained in universal conscious re-identification with the infinite this means the final elimination of the gross in all things the transmutation of every base metal into principle the final falling away of all bodies illusions beliefs creeds sex divisions which exist primarily in the mental

Nature of man when these fall away when these are overcome when these are relaxed and released so that they no longer interfere then man gradually brings together the essences of all things and in the reunion of essences within the living alchemical retort of his own soul man achieves the great transmutation he

Becomes the adept he becomes the yoga he attains the samadhi he becomes the embodiment of the entire discipline of antiquity which had for its essential purpose the production of the man of light the production of the luminous and regime the great complete composite being which is hidden from us by the confusion

And complexity of our own mortal existence so all can be approached in this way is the burden of mrs atwood’s study and i think as we proceed with it we realize and we will realize more if we read her work the tremendous amount of thought and the tremendous amount of insight that went

Into it we wonder if the strange story of how it was done we know the universe works mysteriously perhaps in her we had some strange alchemical transmutation by which in the early years of the 19th century she was able to produce this work in any event it is a dignified and important volume

And certainly one of the worthiest to appear in the interpretation of the hermetic arts well i think we better let you get your business home now you

source