by Marcus Katz
Vignette: The Mystical Explosion
The mystical experience can often be likened to an explosion caused by a bomb planted by a bomber. By the time that one has come to one’s senses after the event, which was so totally unexpected and shattering, the explosion has long wiped out any chance of seeing the footprints of the bomber. The thought process – and sometimes the practices and sequence of exercises or reading – that precede a mystical experience can rarely be precisely recalled nor ordered. This makes for frustrating learning, although one builds up a sense of faith that the viewpoint is more important than the past journey.
Frater P.P.E. had two such experiences in this light, the first of which was whilst at a place of employment. He was musing on some kabbalistic conundrum and turned to look away from the window and at a red electric plug connected to a wall socket. At that moment, the red plug became real in a sense unlike anything he had experienced before or since. The whole of existence was present and correct in a timeless moment, before it slipped away back into the previous state of awareness. Perhaps there was something in the symbolism of being plugged in, or perhaps the colour red? These events are rarely repeatable.
The second experience was when Frater P.P.E. was sitting on the floor at a manual typewriter, in the days when that counted as a wireless word processor with its own built-in printer. He turned to pick up a sheet of paper and was suddenly and undoubtedly seized with an absolute knowledge of what the universe was for, what it intended, and how it all worked. This lasted for several seconds before again being replaced by everyday consciousness. Afterwards, there was some sense of it all being about friction and communication, but these hardly touched upon the actual experience.
The initiation system is designed to promote these higher states and prepare the initiate to hold them for longer periods of time.
The result of setting up these systems / frameworks / exercises is that what is not willed, what is not magical, what is not balanced, begins to become more obvious, even if only distantly at present. The initial reaction to this is often one of displacement – an unwillingness to even admit that anything is happening. It is this gentle tension that begins to shift the ground. Again, a gentle heat.
The continuation – in fact, the concentration upon – the techniques is paramount. They provide the framework in which initiation takes place, and the foundation for further progress. They also provide an experiential language in which you can maintain orientation during later experiences.
Again, it is not the content that is so important – it is the pattern and the process. This becomes clearer as you work through any initiation, and is why the system is flexible across time, space and culture.
Beyond this, at the end of your Zelator work, there is an initiation into Theoricus, ascribed to Yesod, ‘Foundation’ on the Tree of Life. It should be noted that each grade of initiation is an entirely different state of consciousness.[19] It is this state that truly denotes the initiate of that sephirah – a Zelator is in an entirely different headspace than a Practicus, for example, even if they both like the same music, or they wear different clothes.
The experiences of dryness, boredom, frustration, and even apparently external distractions and events which seek to prevent one from continuing study are part of the 'Dweller on the Threshold' syndrome, which we examine later in this volume.
The outer is not a sign-post in this work; the concerns, practices and values of each grade are entirely different. The initiation at the end of Zelator throws you into an intense state which might be predicted by the tarot cards attributed to the paths connecting Yesod to the other sephiroth. It is not to be taken lightly, although it is offered to you at the end of your year’s apprenticeship. It initiates at least another one to three years of work and experience that is impossible to explain until it is commenced.
Exercise: Examining the Zelator
You may now choose to look at the grade of Zelator. Research calcination, and look at the tarot cards that correspond to the paths which lead in / out of Malkuth: The Last Judgement, The Universe and The Moon. What influences do you see these cards as having upon your present state? What warnings do they hold? What opportunities do you have to learn their lessons and transcend them?
You may wish to consider joining us in the Crucible Club and engage in a graduated series of self-study exercises opening up the Western Esoteric Initiatory System at your own pace – at the conclusion of which an application may be made to the Order of Everlasting Day for which this work is a presentation.
The Secret Ladder
“Thus, the axis of the sefirot also constitutes the vertical ladder that is climbed by the mystic when he progresses in both understanding and in discovering experientially the higher levels of the divine structure.”
— Moshe Idel, Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism[20]
The ladder provides a central icon in the mysteries of the WEIS. We here mention many of the variations of this principle icon in our Great Work, to which we will return later. As a symbol of the ascent narrative, it denotes many things. Firstly, of course, it is a means of ascending from the lower to the higher – but it is equally a symbol of the descent of the higher to the lower. As above, so below.
Frontispiece, Mutus Liber
In an illustration by Dürer, we see the astrologer sat in a chair on which the planets provide panels or stages uniting the Earth or globe in the astrologer’s hands to the celestial world above his head – each planet thus representing a stage of connection between man and the heavenly realm. In Christian imagery, we see paintings of Saints progressing up the ladder in steps, but with the demons attempting to arrest their ascent in a variety of ways. In one representation, we see that our ascent may be contested by other agents. It is of little consequence if these are seen as internal or external to the self, so long as it is recognised that there appear to be challenges to our ascent.
The ladder is utilised in tracing boards within Freemasonry. The tracing boards are used as important teaching devices in Freemasonry, and are often painted as large panels and shown to a candidate during an initiation ritual. The ladder and step-ladder appear not only in Freemasonic art and diagrams, but also as actual items in certain rituals.
In this famous frontispiece of the alchemical work, Mutus Liber (published c. 1677), we see a drawing of Jacob’s Ladder – the ladder which was seen by Jacob in a dream – with the angels ascending and descending. In this particular version, we see the angel blowing a trumpet to awaken Jacob from his sleep. This reminds us somewhat of the commencement of the Rosicrucian manifesto, the Chymical Wedding, and also the tarot image of The Last Judgement.
The tarot card The Last Judgement also corresponds to one of the paths connecting Malkuth, the Kingdom, to the upper reaches of the Tree of Life. It is thus of import to the Zelator.
In another ladder diagram, this one of a cosmological nature, by Robert Fludd in 1619, we see the ladder reaching up to the divine realm or the celestial realm signified by a star or bright light.
The rungs on this ladder are marked with aspects of human ability: sensus, imaginalis, ratio, etc., for the senses, imagination and rationality. Here we start to see that the rungs of the ladder are being viewed as essential building blocks for connecting with the divine. By working on the areas marked by the rungs, we create the ladder.[21]
The nature of the ladder as signifying the hierarchy of realms is seen most clearly in Ramon Lull’s (1232-1316) illustration. Here Lull depicts the divine city and the world as being divided by a ladder of grades of being, starting with the mineral world, the world of plants and animals, then moving up through man and the angelic realm.
The figure holds a further map of the aspects of art and science and human ability that provides a mechanism or compass for making the ascent to the divine world.
Steps of Ascent, from Ramon Lull’s Liber De Ascensu et Decensu Intellectus (written 1304, first published 1512)
The Sound of the Trumpet
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“Therefore we appeal to many a learned man in our writings
With letters and by our own hands
Although our names are not known,
That is known to many a philosopher
Many a chemist, many a Doctor
Many a Reverend, many a worthy man
Knows the sound of our trumpet.”
Altar of the Theraphic Brotherhood, 1617[22]
We will now examine a number of perspectives on the ‘Rosicrucian manifestos’, specifically regarding the original intention behind their writing and publication. It is the present author’s view that the manifestos represent a test – in its truest forms of both challenge and measurement – of the time in which they were composed. This test – a word whose etymology means a vessel in which metals were assayed, similar to the Latin root, testa, ‘pot’ or ‘shell’ – is indeed such a shell in which a critical examination was carried out on the consciousness of the age. Not only are the manifestos loaded with metaphors – of light and dark, of lions and eagles, of night and dawn, of chalices, fountains, vipers, and asses – they are in themselves a meta-metaphor in which there is “the right, simple, easy and ingenious exposition, understanding, declaration, and knowledge of all secrets.”[23]
It is also noted that in modern parlance, the mechanism by which this intention was carried out was the use of ‘undercover viral marketing’; a method by which a large audience of interested persons is rapidly reached by harnessing the existing social network ‘underneath’ the existing media, state or institutions. Tobias Churton approaches this concept when he refers to the publication of the first manifesto, the Fama Fraternitatis (1614) as “one of the most virulent intellectual hurricanes ever to hit Europe.”[24]
The effectiveness of this method – likely the first use of viral marketing in print – is evidenced by the rapid spread of the Rosicrucian ‘furore’ prior to its premature closing-down at the onset of the Thirty Years War, and its longevity to the continuing expressions of Rosicrucianism in the present day.[25]
We will limit this present survey primarily to the first two published works of the ‘Fraternity of the Rosy Cross’, namely the Fama Fraternitatis (1614) and the Confessio Fraternitatis (1615), although we will also use selected material from the Chymical Wedding (1616). The so-called ‘fourth manifesto’, Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum (or, The Mirror of the Wisdom of the Rosicrucians), will also be referenced specifically with regard to the ‘college’ of the Fraternity, which indicates in metaphor the likely intention of the manifestos as a whole.
To begin, we will set the historical context of the publications, then move on to a brief textual analysis, particularly where the intention of the writings is given, either explicitly or implicitly. We will be looking at contemporary thoughts on the likely authorship of the documents, and the background of the author which further illuminates possible intentions arising from his activities and worldview.
Although the symbolism and metaphors employed are arguably the most discussed, divertive and mysterious elements of the texts, we will briefly touch upon these aspects, not wishing to add what Waite calls the “purposeless and rambling speculations” made on Rosicrucianism.[26] Having illuminated likely intentions from these perspectives, we will finally look on the actual impact of their publication.
Historical Context
The publication of the documents in Germany between 1614 and 1616 contextualises their writing in a time of critical change in Europe. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation had ended after 100 years, and the Thirty Years War was to start within four years of the publication of the Fama Fraternitatis. The key dates referenced here are given in the table below.
A Timetable of Rosicrucian Publications
1517: Commencement of Reformation by Martin Luther.
1555: Peace of Augsburg ended violence between Lutherans and Catholics in Germany.
1586: Johann Valentin Andreae (born).
1604: A trigonus igneus (‘fiery triangle’) appears in the constellations of Serpentarius and Cygnus.
1606: Religious tensions broke into violence in the German free city of Donauwörth. The Lutheran majority barred the Catholic residents of the Swabian town from holding a procession, causing a riot to break out.
1612: Death of Emperor Rudolph II, leading to expectation of radical reforms.[27] Manuscript version of Fama Fraternitatis refered to by Adam Haselmayer.
1614: Publication of Fama Fraternitatis, dess Loblichen Ordens des Rosenkreutzes (or, The Declaration of the Worthy Order of the Rosy Cross) at Kassel (in German).
1615: Publication of Confessio Fraternitatis at Kassel (in Latin).
1616: Publication of Die Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkruetz (or, The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz) at Strasbourg (in German).
1618: Publication of Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum (or, The Mirror of the Wisdom of the Rosicrucians). Start of the Thirty Years War.
1622: Two ‘Rosicrucian’ posters appear in Paris.[28]
1654: Johann Valentin Andreae (died).
The first appearance of the word ‘Rosenkreuz’ in a printed book was in a Tyrolean schoolmaster’s response to the unpublished Fama, in 1612.[29] This schoolmaster, musician and alchemist, Adam Haselmeyer, was deeply versed in the works of Paracelsus, and proclaimed a newly-founded religion, the ‘Theosphrastia Sancta’. According to Gilly (2003), this response demonstrated that Haselmeyer saw both Rosenkreuz and Paracelsus as revealing the ‘Theosphrastia Sancta’, a divine truth preserved throughout history, in order to bring about a new religion of “evangelical freedom ... promised [to] this latter world.”’[30]
This was how the manifestos were to be received – as an announcement, a trumpet call, a revelation bringing about an awakening of a new Christian truth; one promised not by the Church, but by the Hermetic tradition of which Paracelsus was theologist. Indeed, this new truth was seen by Haselmeyer as a form of religious science – deciphering the ‘textus libri Naturae’ – and as a form of observance, practical, and experimental.
In this we see how the new philosophy reflected the ‘Christo-cabalistic divine magic’ of Khunrath, who wrote some years earlier in his own Confessio:
... when ye my contemporaries were idly dozing, I was watching and at work, meditating earnestly day and night on what I had seen and leaned, sitting, standing, recumbent, by sunshine, by moonshine, by banks, in meadows, streams, woods and mountains.[31]
This insistence of communion with Nature, travel, universal brotherhood, and a life imitating that of Christ was to form the template which the manifestos would exploit, to present highly critical ideas within an allegorical framework, itself referring to, and calling for – and in effect, attempting to bring about – a general reformation of the whole world.
It is clear that the author/s of the Confessio saw the time being due for this reformation. They saw themselves as lighting the ‘sixth candlestick’ which would bring about a new age – perhaps developing the model of Joachim of Fiore, who saw three ages: that of the Nettles, Roses and Lilies.[32]
Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1642)
Authorship
Although published anonymously, it is now widely accepted that the manifestos originated in the ‘Learned and Christian Society’ established by Johann Valentin Andreae in Tübingen in 1610.[33] This group also included Christoph Besold and Tobias Hess. It is likely that the manifestos were the result of a meeting of these minds, although Andreae did claim authorship of the Chymical Wedding. It has been reasonably suggested that as Andreae was aged only 19 at the time of the writing of this latter text, on the evidence of its more mature construction and content, compared with other works by Andreae, it was likely re-worked by the group prior to actual publication.[34]
This authorship, whether individual or collective, in part or in whole, emphasises the intent of the manifestos to respond to what Edeighoffer calls “the crisis of European consciousness in the 17th century.” A collective of individ
uals, radical reformers, synthesised a spiritual gnosis of a “Neoplatonic, gnostic reworking of orthodox Christian theology,”[35] and presented that in the shell of allegory and mystery as challenge to the piety of the age.
The Fama
The first of the manifestos, the Fama, describes the life, travels and death – and later discovery of the tomb – of a certain Brother C.R., “a German, the chief and original of our fraternity.”[36] The Fama records the beginnings of a brotherhood, comprising originally four, and after the building of a secret college, the Sancti Spiritus, enlarging to eight members. These members travel, and hold to six articles, including the requirement to keep secret for 100 years. During the following description of the later finding of the tomb of C.R., the text returns to the need for secrecy and brotherhood on numerous occasions.
The Fama is overtly anti-Papal; the Church is described as “not cleansed.”[37] However, the Fama is also critical of alchemy, the “ungodly and accursed gold-making,”[38] although it notes that the first of the brethren to die – Brother J.O. – was “well-learned in Cabala” and indeed describes a manuscript, ‘Book H.’, which attested to this knowledge.[39] The religious context which the Fama explicitly states is Christian:
But that also every Christian may know of what religion and belief we are, we confess to have the knowledge of Jesus Christ ... Also we use two sacraments, as they are instituted with all Forms and Ceremonies of the first renewed Church.[40]