Editing Rosicrucianism (section)

== Rosicrucian Enlightenment ==
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[[File:Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (page 1).jpg|thumb|right|upright|The publication of the ''[[Fama Fraternitatis|Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis]]'' (1614)]]

In the early 17th century, the manifestos caused excitement throughout Europe by declaring the existence of a secret brotherhood of [[alchemy|alchemists]] and sages who were preparing to transform the arts and sciences, and religious, political, and intellectual landscapes of Europe. Wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent. The works were re-issued several times, followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable or otherwise. Between 1614 and 1620, about 400 manuscripts and books were published which discussed the Rosicrucian documents.

The peak of the "Rosicrucianism furore" was reached when two mysterious posters appeared on the walls of Paris in 1622 within a few days of each other. The first said "We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city (...)", and the second ended with the words "The thoughts attached to the real desire of the seeker will lead us to him and him to us."<ref>Cited by Sédir in ''Les Rose-Croix'', Paris (1972), pp. 65–66</ref>

The legendary first manifesto, ''[[Fama Fraternitatis|Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis]]'' (1614), inspired the works of [[Michael Maier]] (1568–1622) of Germany; [[Robert Fludd]] (1574–1637) and [[Elias Ashmole]] (1617–1692) of England; [[Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens]], [[Gotthardus Arthusius]], [[Julius Sperber]], [[Henricus Madathanus]], [[Gabriel Naudé]], [[Thomas Vaughan (philosopher)|Thomas Vaughan]] and others.<ref>Sédir (1972), ''Les Rose-Croix'', Paris, pp. 59–68</ref> Rosicrucianism was associated with [[Protestantism]] ([[Lutheranism]] in particular).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.contra-mundum.org/cm/reviews/tw_masonry.pdf|publisher=Contra Mundum|title=Review of The Origins of the Freemasonry: Scotland's Century 1590–1710|access-date=1 December 2009|archive-date=23 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723170636/http://www.contra-mundum.org/cm/reviews/tw_masonry.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Elias Ashmole's ''Theatrum Chimicum britannicum'' (1650) he defends the Rosicrucians. Some later works impacting Rosicrucianism were the ''Opus magocabalisticum et theosophicum'' by [[George von Welling]] (1719){{snd}}of [[alchemical]] and [[paracelsian]] inspiration{{snd}}and the ''Aureum Vellus oder Goldenes Vliess'' by [[Hermann Fictuld]] in 1749.

Michael Maier was appointed ''Pfalzgraf'' ([[Count Palatine (Imperial)|Count Palatine]]) by [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor]], [[King of Hungary]] and [[List of Bohemian monarchs|King of Bohemia]]. He also was one of the most prominent defenders of the Rosicrucians, clearly transmitting details about the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" in his writings. Maier made the firm statement that the Brothers of R.C. existed to advance inspired arts and sciences, including [[alchemy]]. Researchers of Maier's writings point out that he never claimed to have produced gold, nor did [[Heinrich Khunrath]] or any of the other "Rosicrucianists". Their writings point toward a symbolic and spiritual alchemy, rather than an operative one. In a combination of direct and veiled styles, these writings conveyed the nine stages of the involutive-evolutive transmutation of the ''threefold body'' of the human being, the ''threefold soul'' and the ''threefold spirit'', among other [[esoteric knowledge]] related to the "Path of Initiation".

In his 1618 pamphlet, ''Pia et Utilissima Admonitio de Fratribus Rosae Crucis'', [[Henrichus Neuhusius]] wrote that the Rosicrucians departed for the east due to European instability caused by the start of the [[Thirty Years' War]]. In 1710, [[Sigmund Richter]], founder of the [[secret society]] of the [[Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross|Golden and Rosy Cross]], also suggested the Rosicrucians had migrated eastward. In the first half of the 20th century, [[René Guénon]], a researcher of the [[occult]], presented this same idea in some of his works.<ref>Guénon, René, ''Simboles de la Science Sacrée'', Paris 1962, pp. 95ff</ref> [[A. E. Waite|Arthur Edward Waite]], an eminent author of the 19th century, presented arguments contradicting this idea.<ref>Waite, Arthur E. (1887), ''The Real History of the Rosicrucians – founded on their own Manifestos, and on facts and documents collected from the writings of Initiated Brethren'', London, p.&nbsp;408</ref> It was in this fertile field of discourse that many Rosicrucian societies arose. They were based on the occult, inspired by the mystery of this "College of Invisibles".

Some modern scholars, for example [[Adam McLean]] and Giordano Berti, assume that among the first followers of the Rose Cross there was also the German theologian [[Daniel Cramer]], who in 1617 published a treatise entitled "Societas Jesus et Rosae Crucis Vera" (The True Society of Jesus and the Rosy Cross), containing 40 emblematic figures accompanied by biblical quotations.<ref>See. Adam McLean (editor), ''The Rosicrucian Emblems of Daniel Cramer: The True Society of Jesus and the Rosy Cross'' (Edinburgh, 1991), and Giordano Berti (editor), ''The Sibyl of the Heart'' (Boves, 2015).</ref>

[[File:Prosphil.jpg|left|thumb|Frater C.R.C. – [[Christian Rosenkreuz|Christian Rose Cross]] (symbolical representation)]]
The literary works of the 16th and 17th centuries were full of enigmatic passages containing references to the [[Rose Cross]], as in the following (somewhat modernized):{{clarification needed|date=February 2025}}

{{blockquote|<poem>For what we do presage is not in grosse,
For we are brethren of the Rosie Crosse;
We have the Mason Word and second sight,
Things for to come we can foretell aright.</poem>|[[Henry Adamson]]|The Muses' Threnodie (Perth, 1638).}}

The idea of such an order, exemplified by the network of astronomers, professors, mathematicians, and natural philosophers in 16th-century Europe promoted by such men as [[Johannes Kepler]], [[Georg Joachim Rheticus]], [[John Dee]] and [[Tycho Brahe]], gave rise to the [[Invisible College]]. This was the precursor to the [[Royal Society]] founded in 1660.<ref>"The origins of the Royal Society lie in an 'invisible college' of natural philosophers who began meeting in the mid-1640s to discuss the new philosophy of promoting knowledge of the natural world through observation and experiment, which we now call science." http://royalsociety.org/about-us/history accessed 2 May 2014</ref> It was constituted by a group of scientists who began to hold regular meetings to share and develop knowledge acquired by [[scientific method|experimental investigation]]. Among these were [[Robert Boyle]], who wrote: "the cornerstones of the Invisible (or as they term themselves the Philosophical) College, do now and then honour me with their company...";<ref>Cited by R Lomas (2002) in ''The Invisible College'', London</ref>
[[File:Rosicrucian Concept of the Tree of Pansophia.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A 17th century depiction of the Rosicrucian concept of the Tree of [[Pansophia]], 1604]]
[[John Wilkins]] and [[John Wallis]], who described those meetings in the following terms: "About the year 1645, while I lived in London (at a time when, by our civil wars, academical studies were much interrupted in both our Universities), ... I had the opportunity of being acquainted with divers worthy persons, inquisitive of natural philosophy, and other parts of human learning; and particularly of what hath been called the New Philosophy or Experimental Philosophy. We did by agreements, divers of us, meet weekly in London on a certain day and hour, under a certain penalty, and a weekly contribution for the charge of experiments, with certain rules agreed amongst us, to treat and discourse of such affairs..."<ref>Cited by H. Lyons (1944) in ''The Royal Society 1660–1940'', Cambridge</ref>