THE SECRET DOCTRINE OF THE ROSICRUCIANS/PART 1
PART
I
THE
ROSICRUCIANS AND THEIR
SECRET DOCTRINE
Rosicrucian Brotherhood
The student
of the history
of occultism and
the esoteric teachings,
and even the
average reader of
current books and magazines,
finds many references to "The
Rosicrucians," a supposed
anciet secret society
devoted to the study
of occult doctrines
and the manifestation
of occult powers.
But when such
person seeks to
obtain detailed information concerning
this supposed ancient
"order" he finds
himself baffled and
defeated. Before
acknowledging the futility
of the quest,
however, he usually
investigates one or
more so-called "orders" having
as a part of
their title the
word
"Rosicrucian,"
only to find
himself invited to
join such "order" upon
the payment of a
fee or
fees ranging from
a small amount
in some cases
to quite large
amounts in others,
each "order" claiming
to be the "only
original order," and
asserting that all
the others are
base imitators. The truth
is that there
is not in
existence, and never
has been in
existence, any popular
occult order sanctioned
by the real Rosicrucians,
which anyone may
join upon payment
of fees, large
or small, just
as he may
join any of the
better known fraternal
organizations of which
there are so
many.
The true
Rosicrucians have no
formal organization, and are
held together only
by the ties
of common interest
in the occult
and esoteric studies,
and by the common acceptance of
certain fundamental principles of
belief and knowledge. This
unorganized "order" has
members in all walks
of life, and
in all countries, and its members never announce themselves
as "Rosicrucians" to the general public. Admission
to this unorganized
"order" is never
granted upon the
payment of a fee, and is possible only upon the request
and recommendation of
three members in
good standing who
have themselves been
members for a certain
period of time,
and who have
attained a certain
degree of proficiency
in the attainment of the esoteric
knowledge, and in demonstrating
the principles discovered
by them under
the direction of
certain higher adepts
in the arcane wisdom.
Members of
the Rosicrucian body
are prominent in
the councils of
nearly all of
the occult organizations
and societies throughout the
world—in fact, it
is these persons
who are the
real leaven in
the general mass,
and who keep alive
the Sacred Flame
of Truth in them. Many Rosicrucians are also prominent
in philosophic and
scientific circles, and some
of them are
men quite prominent
in the large
affairs of the
business and professional world, and in the ranks of statesmanship. Others
are prominent in
movements like the
"labor movement" and
similar activities. Some are
prominent in the
councils of the
various churches, and
others are leaders
in Masonry and similar
secret societies. In
all of such
circles the Rosicrucians
exert a powerful influence, and always
in the direction of good.
"The Brothers
of the Rosy
Cross"
The modern
interest in the
Rosicrucian Teachings dates
back to the
early part of
the seventeenth century—about 1610, to
be exact. At
that time there were
rumors of the
existence of a
society known as
"The Brothers of
the Rosy Cross,"
the officers and
meeting places of which
were not known
to the public.
The mysterious society
was severely attacked
by the ecclesiastical authorities and
others, and was as
vigorously defended by those
who were interested
in the general
subject of occultism and
the esoteric teachings. There were many spurious
and counterfeit "orders" established
during the following century,
and for that
matter in nearly
every century since, but none
have been able
to show an undoubted
connection with the original order. Some of the original teachings of
the Rosicrucians have been incorporated
in some of the higher
degrees of Masonry,
and have served
a good purpose therein. The legend concerning the
origin of the order—true in
some respects, but
erroneous in others—was
as follows: That a
certain Christian Rosenkreutz,
a German nobleman
who had donned
the robes of
a certain order
of monks, had visited
India, Persia, and
also Arabia, and
had returned bringing with
him a certain
Secret Doctrine obtained from
the sages and
seers of those
Oriental lands. He
was said to
have established the
original Rosicrucian
Brotherhood about 1425,
its existence not
becoming generally known
until nearly two
hundred years afterward. The true
Rosicrucians, however, recognize
this legendary tale as being merely a cleverly
disguised recital of the
real facts of
the establishment of the unorganized
order, which must
be read between
the lines, aided by the
spectacles of understanding, in
order that its
real importance may
be grasped.
The present
writer does not
feel justified in
telling in these
pages the tale
as he understands
it, and as it
has been transmitted
to him by
those in authority;
in fact, to
make the same
public, he would be violating a
most sacred promise, which would
amount to a betrayal of his
initiation secrets. He,
however, is permitted
to state that the
Secret Doctrine of
the Rosicrucians is
a body of
esoteric teachings, handed
down for ages
by wise men
deeply versed in the
esoteric doctrines and
occult lore. This
Wisdom originally came
by way of
the Orient, and
in fact even today
comprises part of
the Inner Teachings
of some of
the highest Oriental
Brotherhoods. Its history
is but another instance
of the truth
of the old
Secret axioms, one of which
says that we
must "Look to
the East, whence comes
all Light."
For many
years little or
nothing was permitted
to be revealed
to the general
public concerning the
Secret Doctrine of the
Rosicrucians, but during
the past twenty-five
years there has
been a greater,
and still greater
freedom in this respect,
until today many
important Rosicrucian teachings
form a part
of nearly all
writings and teachings
upon the subject of
the Esotericism in
general, and of
the Higher Metaphysics
in particular. Theosophy, and the
general interest in Oriental Philosophies and Religions, have done much
to bring into public
notice some of the more elementary points
of the Secret
Doctrine. In fact,
in the highest
writings and teachings
of some of
the great organizations above
referred to the
Rosicrucian may find
many half-hidden bits
of the Rosicrucian
Doctrine, cleverly disguised from
the unprepared Many,
yet plainly revealed
to the prepared
Few.
The
Higher Alchemy
The
Rosicrucians, according to the
public encyclopaedias, and
other works of
reference, are held to
have been devoted
to the subject of Alchemy.
And, indeed, this
statement is correct.
But the modern
compilers of such reference books
have fallen into
the error of
supposing that the
Alchemy referred to was
performed wholly upon the Plane of Matter—and
concerned wholly with
the Transmutation of
Elements. They are
ignorant of the fact
that the Alchemy
which attracted the
Rosicrucians, and which
took up most
of their time
and attention, was Mental Alchemy,
and Spiritual Alchemy—something
quite different indeed,
though having of
course a correspondence to
the Material Alchemy,
according to the
Law of Correspondence. The
student of the
present book will discover this
fact, and will receive many valuable hints
concerning the higher forms of Alchemy, providing he is prepared
to read between
the lines of the text,
and to reason
by Analogy. The
axiom "As above,
so below," will be
found to work
out well in this connection.
Why the
Esoteric Teaching is
Kept Secret
It is
difficult to convey
to the average
European or American, the
true reasons underlying the Secrecy
which invariably surrounds the
Esoteric Teachings of
all the great
schools of occult
thought. Such a
person is inclined
to think that the
only reason therefore is
the delight in
"mystery mongering"
which he thinks he finds among
all occult teachers. But
to one who
penetrates even but
a short distance
on The Path, the true reasons
are perceived. Such a
one perceives the dangers of premature disclosure of
important esoteric principles to the
unprepared public mind. The following
quotations from a
well-known writer will
perhaps give a
hint to the
solution of this
question. The writer says:
"The Oriental
method of cultivating
knowledge has always
differed diametrically from
that pursued in
the West during the growth of
modern sciences. Whilst Europe has
investigated Nature as
publicly as possible, every step
being discussed with
the utmost freedom,
and every fresh
fact acquired circulated
at once for
the benefit of
all, Asiatic science has
been studied secretly
and its conquests
jealously guarded. I need not as
yet attempt either criticism or
defence of its
methods. The student
will later on see
that this falls
naturally into its
place in the
whole scheme of occult
philosophy. The approaches to that
philosophy have always been open, in one
sense, to all. Vaguely
throughout the world
in various ways
have been diffused
the idea that
some process of
study which men here
and there did
actually follow, might
lead to the
acquisition of a
higher kind of
knowledge than that
taught to mankind at
large in books
or by public
teachers. The East,
as pointed out,
has always been
more than vaguely impressed with
this belief; but
even in the
West the whole
block of symbolical
literature relating to astrology, alchemy, and mysticism generally
has fermented in
European society, carrying
to some peculiarly
receptive and qualified minds
the conviction that
behind all this
superficially meaningless nonsense
great truths lay
concealed. For such persons
eccentric study has
sometimes revealed hidden
passages leading to
the grandest imaginable realms of
enlightenment. But till
now, in all
such cases, in accordance with
the law of those schools, the neophyte
no sooner forced
his way into
the region of
mystery than he
was bound over
to the most
inviolable secrecy as to
everything connected with
his entrance and
further progress there. In Asia, in the same way, the chela,
or pupil of
occultism, no sooner
became a chela
than he ceased
to be a witness on
behalf of the reality
of occult knowledge.
I have been
astonished to find, since
my own connection
with the subject,
how numerous such chelas are.
But it is
impossible to imagine
any human act more improbable than the unauthorized revelation by
any such chela,
to persons of
the outer world,
that he is
one; and so
the great esoteric
school of philosophy successfully
guards its seclusion.
* * *
It is however
desirable to disabuse
the reader of one
conception in regard
to the objects
of adeptship that
he very likely
has formed. The development
of those spiritual faculties, whose
culture has to
do with the
highest objects of
the occult life,
gives rise as
it progresses to
a great deal of
incidental knowledge, having
to do with
physical laws of
Nature not yet
generally understood. This
knowledge, and the practical art of
manipulating certain obscure forces
of Nature, which
it brings in its train, invest an
adept, and even
an adept's pupils,
at a comparatively early stage of their education,
with very extraordinary powers, the
application of which
to matters of
daily life will
sometimes produce results
that seem altogether miraculous; and from the ordinary point
of view,
the acquisition of apparently miraculous power is such a
stupendous achievement, that
people are sometimes
apt to fancy
that the adept's
object in seeking
the knowledge he attains
has been to
invest himself with
these coveted powers.
It would be
as reasonable to
say of any great
patriot of military
history that his
object in becoming
a soldier has
been to wear
a gay uniform
and impress the imagination
of the nurse
maids.“
"The Secret
Doctrine of the
Rosicrucians"
What
is known as "The Secret Doctrine of
the Rosicrucians" is an extensive
body of esoteric
teaching and occult lore
which has been
transmitted from Master
to Student, from Hierophant to the new Initiate, for
countless generations. Seldom has
any part of
the Secret Doctrine
been committed to
writing, or exposed
to public view
on the printed page,
until the present
generation. Previous to
that time the
little that was written, or
printed, concerning this body
of teachings was
disguised in the
vague terms of
alchemy and astrology,
so that the
same would have one
meaning to the
average reader and another and
closer meaning to those who possessed
the key to the mystery. The
frequent references in the ancient
books to "sulphur," "mercury," and
other chemical elements, and
to "The Philosopher's
Stone," etc., were
all intended to
indicate certain portions of the teachings of
the Secret Doctrine to
those who already
possessed the key.
The Secret
Doctrine of the
Rosicrucians is believed
by those best
informed to have
been built up
gradually, carefully, and slowly, by the old occult masters and adepts,
from the
scattered fragments of
the esoteric teachings which were
treasured by the
wise men of all races. The legend runs that these fragments
of the Secret
Doctrine were the scattered
portions of the
old esoteric teaching
of ancient Atlantis—the
bits of the
great mass of the Atlantean occult teachings which were scattered
in all directions
by the great
cataclysm which had
destroyed that great continent. The few survivors of the Atlantean civilization carefully preserved these Fragments
of Truth, and passed them on to
their chosen students and capable
descendants.
The
old Masters who
made it the
object of their
lives to gather together once more these scattered fragments,
and to thus reconstruct the
Occult Doctrine of
the Atlanteans, found
a portion of
their material in
Egypt, in India, in Persia,
in Chaldea, in
Medea, in China,
in Assyria, and
in Ancient Greece,
and also in
the mystic records
of the Hebrews, such
as the Kaballah and the Zohar. The
common source, however,
may be regarded
as distinctly Oriental. The
great philosophies of the East,
in fact, may
be said to
have been built
upon the base
of these still more
ancient teachings. Moreover,
the great Grecian
Secret Teachings are
believed to have
been based upon knowledge
obtained from this same common source.
So, at
the last, the
Secret Doctrine of
the Rosicrucians may be
said to be
the Secret Doctrine
of Atlantis, transmitted
through the descendants
of the people
of that great
centre of occult knowledge.
The following
quotation from a
writer who, himself,
has gathered together
many bits of
the ancient wisdom, may be interesting. Speaking of these
ancient teachings he
says: "The teaching
has come down
to the present
age through the corridors
of time, from
the dim ages
of past eras,
races, and schools
of thought. Even
those highest in the
ancient occult councils,
however, are unable
to trace the
teachings, in an
unbroken direct line,
further back than the time of Pythagoras (about 500 B. C.), and a
little later in
Ancient Greece, although they
find many references thereto, and
extracts therefrom, in
some of the
older records of
ancient Egypt and
Chaldea, which serve to
show that the
schools of Pythagoras, and other ancient Grecian occultists,
were founded on occult instruction still more remote,
received in a
direct line of succession
of teachers and
pupils extending over
centuries. Investigators have
found traces of the
teachings in the
records of Persia
and Media, and
it is believed
that the inspiration for the original philosophical
teachings of Gautama, the founder
of Buddhism, was
received from the
same sources. Traces
are also found in the Hebrew
Esoteric Teachings."
The
writer continues: "The Grecian Teachings were undoubtedly obtained directly from Egyptian
sources, through Pythagoras, the relation between the early Grecian
teachings and philosophies, and the
older school of old
Egypt, being very
close and intimate.
Pythagoras is known to have received
instruction from Egyptian
and Persian hierophants. There is to be found the closest resemblance between the ancient Grecian
teachings, and those of
the Egyptian Esoteric
Fraternities. Some of the Teachers,
however, hold that the Grecian and Egyptian schools, respectively, were
but two separate offshoots
of an original
and older Teaching
which had its origin in the
lost continent of Atlantis. There are
many traditions connecting
the Teaching with
Atlantis, and it
is possible that both
Greece and Egypt
received it from this
common source, instead
of Greece being
indebted to Egypt
for the line of
transmission. But, be
this as it
may, it is
a fact that
all of the
traces of teaching
that the various occultists gather
from the traditions,
scraps of doctrine,
and legends regarding
Atlantis, can be
reconciled with the best
esoteric and occult
knowledge had by
the race today.
The fragments of
the Egyptian Esoteric
Teachings, many of which
are still preserved
in an undoubted
direct line of
succession, are practically
identical, in fundamental and
basis points, with the
Grecian Occult Teachings.
And, as
has been said,
the Persian, Medean,
and Chaldean legends
and traditions, and scraps
of teachings which
have been preserved,
show a common
source or origin
with those of Egypt and ancient Greece." The writer
adds: "We are
speaking now of
the historical view
of the subject,
only. The occult
traditions hold that the Teaching, in some
form, is as old as
the race itself,
and has been
known to the
advanced minds of
every great civilization of
the past, many
of which disappeared thousands of
years ago, all
traces of them
having been lost
to the present sub-race.
The traditions hold that the
Teaching was handed
down from the
Elder Brethren of the
race—certain advanced souls
who appeared in
the earlier days,
in order to
plant the seeds
of Truth, so
that they would grow,
blossom, and bear
fruit throughout the
ages to follow.
We do not
ask you to
accept this statement—it is not
material—for the Teaching
bears evidences of its own
Truth within itself,
without needing the
force of such high
authority. The ancient
tradition is mentioned
merely that the
student may know
that the same
is accepted as truth by many of
the highest occult
authorities and teachers."
"The Seven
Aphorisms of Creation"
In the
present book, the
writer has presented
for the consideration
of his readers "The Seven Aphorisms of
Creation" of the Rosicrucians, which embody the fundamental principles of
the Rosicrucian Secret
Doctrine. He has also
reproduced the leading
Secret Symbols of
the Rosicrucians which
relate to the
Seven Aphorisms of Creation. The student
who will master
the principles herein set
forth will have
brought himself to
a plane of
thought which will
naturally tend to place him en rapport
with the higher teachers
of the Rosicrucians,
and to render
him subject to
the offer of
still higher information
should he desire to
proceed further into
this great study.
Let the student
always remember the ancient axiom: "When the Pupil is ready, the
Master appears." But
the Pupil is not
"ready" until he has mastered the elementary instruction such as is given
in the pages
of this book.
It
is not
claimed, however, that
in the pages
of this book are given all the Secret Teachings of the Rosicrucians,
such as their Formulas and Methods of
Mental Alchemy, and Spiritual
Transmutation. Such information
cannot be cast broadcast, for
reasons which will be apparent
to every earnest
and intelligent student.
But, on the
other hand, such information
cannot be withheld
from those who
are ready to
receive it, and
who are moved
by the proper motives
in seeking to
acquire the secret
knowledge. When the
student learns how
to give "The
Right Knock," then will he find
proven the old
promise: "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
The
Symbol of the
Rosy Cross
The
well-known Symbol of the Rosicrucians— "The Rosy Cross"—appears in
several forms, as
for instance: The Cross
surmounted by the Rose; the Sword (the Cross handle)
attached to the Rose; the Cross
surmounted by the Crown; a modification
of the Phallic Cross, etc. The
explanation of the
general Symbol is
Sevenfold—the three highest being
reserved for Initiates
of a certain
rank, only, and
therefore cannot be
stated here. Below follow several of the
meanings which we
are permitted to translate and explain here:
(1)
The Cross Surmounted by the Rose, indicates that the
"Rose" (the mystic symbol of
the Divine) can be attained only by the
suffering of mortal
life (symbolized by
the Cross).
(2)
The Sword Attached
to the Rose indicates
that the Sword
of the Spirit
must be actively
employed in the Battle
of Life, in
order to win
the reward of
the Rose (the
Rose being the
reward bestowed by
the Queen upon the
victorious Knight, in
the olden days).
(3) The
Cross Surmounted by the Crown, indicates
that the suffering
of mortal existence,
borne by the
faithful disciple of Truth,
will inevitably be
rewarded by the
attainment of the
Crown of Mastery.
"Every Cross has
its Crown"; and "No
Cross, No Crown"; being old aphorisms
seeking to express
this truth.
(4)
The Modified Phallic Cross, indicates the Sexual Duality of the Manifested Universe—the Presence and
Activity of the Universal Male
Principle and the
Universal Female Principle,
respectively. [The Modified
Phallic Cross of the
Rosicrucians, however, must
not be taken
to indicate any
relationship of the
Rosicrucians with the gross
forms of Phallic
Worship, however. The
latter is merely
the distorted shadow
of the Truth,
and must not be
mistaken for the
Reality.] Concluding this introductory
statement, and inviting
you to enter
into the study
of the Secret
Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, let
us ask you to carefully
consider the following
words of an
ancient aphorism: "The
possession of Knowledge,
unaccompanied by a
manifestation and expression
in Action, is
like the hoarding
of precious metals by the miser—a vain and foolish thing.
Forget not The Law of Use, in
this and all other things."
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