by cortez » Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:59 pm
I'm not sure who the the real Rosicrucian's are, these ones I don't believe are swimming the same circles as George 'Order of the Rose' Bush etc. I just thought it was funny last night when I found the press release. <br><br>I still think it's funny. If I join now do I get to tour the Vatican library?<br><br>Who knows though. They seem to claim heritage to almost everything (From Atlantis to French cabaret singer Edith Piaf)<br><br>Here's an article on it<br><br>------------------<br><br>Latest word on ancient order<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/355812p-303282c.html">link</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>The Rosicrucian Order, an ancient society that traces its roots back to the myths of Atlantis, launched a membership drive this week at the Waldorf-Astoria. It coincided with the publication of its first manifesto since 1616.<br><br>Why now?<br><br>"Well, it's part of the widespread interest in examining life and making sense of it," said Julian Johnson, a New York educational company executive and member of the national board of directors of the Ancient and Mystical Order of Rosae Crucis.<br><br>The membership drive was launched in New York because it is where this order was founded 90 years ago. The Waldorf-Astoria was chosen, Johnson said, because it was a comfortable place for everybody. About 50 people attended.<br><br>The order also is sponsoring "salons," or membership workshops, in Chicago and Los Angeles. "They're meant to let people know how they can come into contact with us at this auspicious time," Johnson said.<br><br>The manifesto, titled "Positio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis," outlines the order's position on the state of the world - "worrisome" - and makes an appeal for increased individual efforts to improve it. Three earlier manifestos were published in three successive years beginning in 1614. "Maybe it was just time," Johnson said in explaining the appearance of a new manifesto after all this time.<br><br>The organization's privacy - "don't call it secrecy," said Johnson - has left many people with the impression that Rosicrucians belong to a religious cult. "We are not religious," Johnson said. "We're an educational and charitable organization."<br><br>Still, at monthly public meetings at the New York Lodge on the lower East Side, participants meditate and hear lectures that some people might confuse with a liberal sermon. There are frequent references to spirituality, and one designated group, the Council of Solace, meditates and prays daily for others.<br><br>There is no collection plate. "There are annual dues," Johnson said. "About $350 a year. But you can pay by the month."<br><br>The order held a regional meeting early this week in Rye, with about 300 people attending. Julie Scott, whose title is grand master of North America, spoke on current issues and ancient traditions. She lives in San Jose, Calif., headquarters of the Supreme Grand Lodge and burial place of Spencer Lewis, its founder. He arrived there in 1928 and built an Egyptian museum and park that attracts more than 150,000 tourists a year.<br><br>Membership numbers are not public, but Johnson estimates that there are 100,000 adherents in the U.S. Many, like him, left other churches to join the order. Johnson was baptized Catholic and attended a Protestant church in the South Bronx before joining the Rosicrucians when he was 20. "My father was a member," Johnson said, "so I knew all about it and the more I heard, the more it made sense to me."<br><br>There are several organizations using the name and all of them cite their ties with secret occult orders, some in Egypt and others in Europe. Some were born in schisms, but, according to the Ancient and Mystical Order history, Lewis traveled to France in 1909 to receive a charter establishing an order in the United States.<br><br>Lewis was affiliated with various British occult associations before founding his order and, some critics allege, borrowed some of his teachings and emblems from them. One symbol is the rose and cross that gives Rosicrucians their name - the cross represents the physical body and the rose its soul. One of his principle works, a mystic life of Jesus, was reportedly taken word-for-word from an earlier biography, "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus."<br><br>The order describes itself as the spiritual beneficiary of secret and esoteric societies that flourished long ago in Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome, and Rosicrucians claim many famous historical figures as adherents, among them Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, mathematician Isaac Newton, René ("I think, therefore I am") Descartes, and, more recently, French cabaret singer Edith Piaf.<br><br>The connection with Atlantis, the mythical continent that some people believe sank centuries ago when an earthquake destroyed Athens, is based on teachings by ancient philosophers who cited its influence on their thinking. The Rosicrucian historical time line begins about 26 centuries ago.<br><br>"A lot has happened since then," Johnson said, "but we appeal to the same people as we always did - people looking for answers." <p></p><i></i>
