Editing Rosicrucianism (section)

== History ==
Between 1610 and 1615, two anonymous manifestos appeared in [[Germany in the early modern period|early modern Germany]] and soon after were published throughout [[Early modern Europe|Europe]]. The [[Fama Fraternitatis|''Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis'']] (The Fame of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross) was circulated in manuscript among German [[Occult|occultists]] since about 1610, and published at [[Kassel|Cassel]] in 1614. [[Johannes Valentinus Andreae]] has been considered the possible author of the work.<ref name="Hedesan Rudbøg 2021 p. 137">{{cite book |last1=Hedesan |first1=G.D. |last2=Rudbøg |first2=T. |title=Innovation in Esotericism from the Renaissance to the Present |publisher=Springer International Publishing |series=Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-030-67906-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZEtEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |access-date=2023-01-26 |page=137}}</ref> A literal reading narrates the travels and education of "Father Brother C.R.C." and his founding of a [[Secret society|secret brotherhood]] of similarly prepared men. Names, numbers, and other details have [[Hermetic Qabalah|Qabalistic]] allusions, in which the cognoscenti of that era were well-versed. The ''[[Confessio Fraternitatis]]'' (The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC), published in Frankfurt in 1615, responded to confusions and criticisms and elaborated the matter further.<ref name="tiro">{{Cite book |last=Case |first=Paul Foster |title=The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order: An interpretation of the Rosicrucian allegory & an explanation of the ten Rosicrucian grades |publisher=Weiser Books |year=1989 |isbn=9780877287094 |location=Newburyport, MA |pages=3–6 |language=en}}</ref>
Many were attracted to the promise of a "universal reformation of mankind" through a science "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the [[physical universe]], and the spiritual realm",<ref>Lindgren, Carl Edwin, ''{{Citation |title=The way of the Rose Cross; A Historical Perception, 1614–1620 |url=http://users.panola.com/lindgren/rosecross.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108052032/http://users.panola.com/lindgren/rosecross.html |archive-date=8 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}''. Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, Volume 18, Number 3:141–48. 1995.</ref> which they say had been kept secret for decades until the intellectual climate was ready to receive it.<ref name="Yates, Frances A 1972">[[Frances Yates|Yates, Frances A.]] (1972), ''The Rosicrucian Enlightenment'', London</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Vickers |first=Brian |title=Frances Yates and the Writing of History |date=June 1979 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=51 |issue=2, Technology and War |pages=287–316 |doi=10.1086/241901|s2cid=144766713 }}</ref> The manifestos elaborate these matters extensively but cryptically in terms of [[Hermetic Qabalah|Qabalah]], [[Hermeticism]], [[alchemy]], and [[Christian mysticism]], subjects whose methods, symbolism, and allusions were ardently studied by many intellectuals of the period.<ref>Martin, Pierre. ''Lodges, Orders and the Rosicross: Rosicrucianism in Lodges, Orders and Initiating Societies since the early 16th century''. Edition Oriflamme, 2017. {{ISBN|9783952426258}}</ref>

In 1616 a third anonymous volume was published, the ''[[Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz]]''. In his posthumously published autobiography, Johann Valentine Andreae acknowledged its origin in a romantic fantasy that he wrote before he was 16 years old (1602), among other likewise forgotten juvenilia, and which he elaborated in response to the ''Fame'' and ''Confession'', and said of it that "the Chymical Wedding, with its fertile brood of monsters, a ''ludibrium'' which surprisingly some esteem and explicate with subtle investigations, is plainly futile and betrays the vanity of the curious" (''Nuptiae Chymicae, cum monstrorum foecundo foetu, ludibriu, quod mireris a nonullis aestimatum et subtili indagine explicatum, plane futile et quod inanitatem curiosorum prodat'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Waite |first=A. E. |author-link= |date=1924 |title= The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross: Being Records of the House of the Holy Spirit in its Inward and Outward History |url= |location= London |publisher=William Rider & Son Ltd. |page= 226 |isbn= }}.</ref> He called Rosicrucianism a "[[ludibrium]]" (a lampoon or parody) during his lifetime, in writings advocating social and religious reform through a sectarian Christian organization of his design.<ref>{{cite book |last=Waite |first=A. E. |author-link= |date=1924 |title= The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross: Being Records of the House of the Holy Spirit in its Inward and Outward History |url= |location= London |publisher=William Rider & Son Ltd. |pages= 231–242 |isbn= }}</ref> Some scholars of esotericism suggest that Andreae disowned Rosicrucianism  to shield his clerical career from the wrath of the religious and political institutions of the day.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} "[I]t is clear from his "''Turris Babel''", "''Mythologia Christiana''", and other works, that he considered the manifestos a reprehensible hoax."<ref>{{cite book |last=Waite |first=A. E. |author-link= |date=1924 |title= The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross: Being Records of the House of the Holy Spirit in its Inward and Outward History |url= |location= London |publisher=William Rider & Son Ltd. |page= 240 |isbn= }}</ref> This augmented controversies as to whether they were a hoax, whether the "Order of the Rosy Cross" existed as described in the manifestos, or whether the whole thing was a [[metaphor]] disguising a movement that really existed, but in a different form.

The promise of a spiritual transformation at a time of great turmoil, the manifestos influenced many figures to seek esoteric knowledge. Seventeenth-century occult philosophers such as [[Michael Maier]], [[Robert Fludd]], and [[Thomas Vaughan (philosopher)|Thomas Vaughan]] interested themselves in the Rosicrucian worldview.<ref name="Yates, Frances A 1972" /> In his work "''Silentium Post Clamores''" (1617), [[Michael Maier]] described Rosicrucianism as having arisen from a "primordial tradition", saying "Our origins are Egyptian, [[Historical Vedic religion|Brahminic]], derived from the [[Eleusinian Mysteries|mysteries of Eleusis]] and [[Greco-Roman mysteries#Samothracian Mysteries|Samothrace]], the [[Zoroastrianism|Magi]] of Persia, the [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagoreans]], and the Arabs".{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In later centuries, many esoteric societies claimed to derive from the original Rosicrucians. The most influential of these societies was the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]], which derived from [[Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia]] and counted many prominent figures among its members. The largest is the [[Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis|Rosicrucian Order, AMORC]], a multinational organization based in [[Rosicrucian Park]], San Jose, California, US. [[Paul Foster Case]], founder of the [[Builders of the Adytum]] as a successor to the Golden Dawn, published ''The true and invisible Rosicrucian Order'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Case |first=Paul Foster |title=The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order: An interpretation of the Rosicrucian allegory & an explanation of the ten Rosicrucian grades |publisher=Weiser Books |year=1989 |isbn=9780877287094 |location=Newburyport, MA |pages= |language=en}}</ref> elaborating the Qabalistic basis and interpretation of the ''Fame'' and ''Confession''.