Now, the old Order was in existence at least as early as the 1580s when John Dee was received into it in Poland. We are convinced that it did exist at least that early, and really, earlier. Before it became a "Christian" society, it was a Hermetic society. And this is important, because it takes us all the way back, as you can see in the TimeLine for the Harranians.
Also it is interesting that there are nine degrees in the structures of most of these systems: something we shall cover in the next section.
For now we shall present a story which comes to us by way of the pen of "Lady" "Queensborough", from her work, Occult Theocrasy. Chapter 87 of her work (pp. 499-502) contains a quotation from Wynn Westcott's 'History of the SRIA', 1900. We can do no better than to quote it, since it is worth a read, even if it is biassed British Fascist trash...
"The aim of the Society is to afford mutual aid and encouragement in working out the great problems of life and in searching out the secrets of Nature; to facilitate the study of the system of philosophy founded upon the Cabala and the doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus, which was inculcated by the original Fratres Rosae-Crucis of Germany, A. D. 1450; and to investigate the meaning and symbolism of all that now remains of the wisdom, art, and literature of the ancient world.
"The Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia was founded in 1866 by Frater Robert Wentworth Little, an eminent Freemason with much literary talent, and of great personal popularity. He was Secretary of the Province of Middlesex, and Secretary of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls. He became the first Supreme Magus and Master General of the College in 1867. His Knowledge and Authority emanated from two sources, and were supplemented by the learning and researches of several other prominent students of occult philosophy. Brother William Henry White, the Grand Secretary of England, preserved certain Rosicrucian papers which had come into his possession on attaining office in 1810, at Freemasons' Hall, and of these he made no use; Brother Little found these papers and used them. At the same time, and with the object of re-constituting a Rosicrucian College in London, he availed himself of certain knowledge and authority which belonged to Brother Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, who had, during a stay in Germany in earlier life, been in communication with German Adepts who claimed a descent from previous generations of Rosicrucians. German Adepts admitted him to some grades of their system, and had permitted him to attempt the formation of a group of Masonic students in England, who under the Rosicrucian name might form a partly esoteric society. With this license and with the manuscripts of ritual information, which Brother White had discovered in the vaults of Freemasons' Hall, Fratres R. W. Hughan, Woodman, O'Neal, Haye, Irwin, and some others, the present English rituals were adopted, and have been in use with some modifications made by Dr. Woodman and his successor, ever since the first regular meeting of the Society.
"The basic rule of the new Society stated that only Master Masons of good standing and repute should be admitted to membership, thus drawing a new distinction, of which we have no previous record; for earlier English Rosicrucian Colleges had no Masonic basis, and some fraternities abroad certainly admitted women on equal terms, of which fact there is extant literary proof.
"See the curious document called 'The admission of Sigismund Bacstrom, dated September 12th 1794'. This will be found reprinted in The Rosicrucian of October, 1876. The only literary extant evidence of the source of our Rosicrucian ritual from Brother W. H. White is contained in a letter in possession of the Society. The share of Kenneth Mackenzie in the origin of the Society depends at the present time on his letters to Dr. Woodman and Dr. Westcott, and on his personal conversations during the years 1876-1886 with Dr. Westcott.
"Fratres Hughan, Irwin, Hockley, Woodforde and Benjamin Cox have also contributed their personal knowledge on the subject.
"The original MSS. which Little possessed never came into the possession of the S. M., the late Dr. Woodman, and so were never received by the present Magus who has thus few proofs in writing of the historical basis, which he lays down in this sketch of the Society. The most natural conclusion is that Little returned these papers to some obscure portion of the records at Freemason's Hall, and that they are there still, although the present officials have not traced them. This explanation is very probable, because in September 1871, a Brother Mathew Cooke raised a complaint in Grand Lodge against Masonic officials for discovering, using and removing old manuscripts from the record rooms of Freemason's Hall. These papers supplied the basis for the reconstitution of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine, as well as of the Rosicrucian Society. They were both Christian bodies, and their records had been hidden away since the time of the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Sussex, in 1813, who, favouring the Unitarian doctrine, did all in his power to remove Christian grades from notice.
"Our records include a letter from the Rev. T. F. Ravenshaw, Grand Chaplain of England, one of the earliest Fratres of the Society, confirming much of the historic information which the author received from Dr. Woodman, Woodforde, Mackenzie and Irwin. This letter recites as follows:
(1)That the first S. M. Frater R. W. Little explained to him that the German Fraternity had an established regulation which permitted distinguished members to confer Rosicrucian grades in due order on suitable persons.
(2) That a certain Venetian Ambassador to England in the last century had conferred Rosicrucian grades and knowledge on Students in England; these in their turn had handed on the rule and tradition to others, of whom one of the last survivors was Frater William Henry White, Grand Secretary of English Freemasonry from 1810 to 1857; he retired and lived until 1866.
(3) From the papers he possessed Frater White admitted Frater Robert Wentworth Little.
(4) These papers came into Little's possession at Freemason's Hall on Frater White's retirement from office.
(5) The rituals are mentioned as being imperfect for ceremonial open use."
Now,
this is all rather interesting, because it says that possibly the solution to
the Cipher Manuscript dilemma is that: the reason why Westcott never received
the mysterious manuscript from Little was that Mackenzie inherited it, and used
it in his Society of Eight, and from thence turned around, prior to his death
in 1886, and came up with the Golden Dawn Cipher Ms. It is on record that Mackenzie
and Westcott were not very friendly. Mackenzie had been initiated into the real
Mysteries, the Authentic Tradition, but Westcott, only on the periphery…
We do not need to accept Ellic Howe's conclusions that are written up in The
Magicians of the Golden Dawn, tempting though they be. Westcott wasn't a dunce:
his writings in the Golden Dawn papers that are available, bear testimony to his
brilliance, but he was a company man, had been, and even after his retirement
to Mauritius, continued to be, no doubt.
Here is R. A. Gilbert, in the Introduction to The Golden Dawn Scrapbook:
"William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925), physician, coroner and magician, listed among his recreations 'Freemasonry' -- by which he meant not the mainstream craft, but the many odd Rites and Orders that flourished in late Victorian Britain. Westcott was active in most of them, including the Swedenborgian Rite of Freemasonry, of which Kenneth MacKenzie was the Grand Secretary. When MacKenzie died in 1886, Westcott took up his post and collected from MacKenzie's widow all the papers relevant to the Rite, together with some 'loose papers'. These were nothing other than the Cipher Manuscript.
[OUR NOTE: This would most likely be the Ritual Ms. that did not pass into Woodman's hands, or, possibly, something based on it.]
"For Westcott, who, like MacKenzie, had access to Trithemius' Polygraphiae (1561) which contained the cipher, translating the Manuscript was easy. And once Westcott knew what he had, he knew also what he would do with it. In Westcott's day, almost every occultist (if a man) was also a freemason and a member of the Masonic Rosicrucian Society, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. But that was essentially a study society with a series of simple graded ceremonies and Westcott dreamed of something else. For those who wanted work and not play, there was another society that was, in MacKenzie's words, 'practical and not visionary'. It was, however, severely limited, as its title -- The Society of Eight -- indicates. Westcott became one of the Eight and thus increased the store of occult knowledge that he would later feed to his budding magicians. He intended MacKenzie's rituals, however, for yet another Order." -- p. 5.
Also, in The Golden Dawn Companion, p. 7:
"...Hockley, MacKenzie and Irwin all disliked and distrusted S. A., which was why he was refused admission to Fratres Lucis."
Now it is stated elsewhere, that Bulwer-Lytton was the link, between the Nascent Dawn Lodge and the SRIA, even if, according to some accounts, Bulwer Lytton was not really associated with the Order, but merely a name on a list that the SRIA used to increase the prestige of its organization. It is likely that Bulwer Lytton was associated with High Grade rites, extra-Masonic rites, like the Fratres Lucis, which would explain a connection with the Nascent Dawn, whether its outpost in London, or its mother lodge at Frankfurt-am-Main. It is stated in other places that MacKenzie was Bulwer-Lytton's Magical teacher. Lytton, Levi, MacKenzie... all connected.
"Lady" "Queensborough" mentions in a footnote that she considers these rituals to derive from the Nicholas Stone Manuscript. But if that is the case, then the material in the find from the vaults at Freemason's Hall would have had to have been copied down prior to 1720 c.e., when the Stone Manuscript was destroyed, "by some too scrupulous brethren," according to Mackey's Encyclopaedia.
It is really immaterial, again, whether or not the German RC Existed in the 19th Century, whether Soror S. D. A. actually existed or not, whether these Cypher Manuscripts were found in a Second-hand Book-stall, or not. As we can show, this Order does date back to the Gold and Rosy Cross of 1777, and from there, to the "Rosicrucians", and from there all the way back to the Hermetic transmission from the Middle East, and Egypt.
So, then, we can say, with a great degree of confidence, that yes, the Rose+Croix did come about, not in the 17th Century in Christian Europe, nor even in the 15th Century, but in the 12th Century, in Syria, formed upon even more ancient strands of the Authentic Tradition.
Presently, we shall return to "Lady" "Queensborough's" narrative on the Rosicrucians, intended to scare us all, but really an inspired piece of history which is actually supported by true history in some particulars. Again, we must state for the record the fact that this kind of history is filled with legendary tales, persons, events, and this includes items which involve actual persons, places, things and events. We shall see the difficulty in all this when we get to the discussion of the existence of the real Raymond Lully, since there were at least two; and his role, re. the initiation of Kings into the Rose+Croix. But, we do know that there was indeed a R+C. We know that it does indeed bridge the gap between the Templars and the Freemasons. What's more, we are certain that the claims about its antiquity are true…. that is, it's origins in Primitive Christianity (i.e., Gnostic Christianity), and the schools which were responsible for these, which were at that time latter-day spin-offs of far older societies. And, we know that this society exists today, in several branches around the world.
In the segment following this, we shall present Mackenzie's chart, and the materials we possess on the degrees of the 1777 group. Continuing, now, with Occult Theocrasy, Vol. I., Chapter XXII, pp. 152ff.:
"The movement was greatly furthered by the impulse given it when, after the appearance of the Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio, a German Alchemist, Michael Maier, an English Physician, Robert Fludd, and a Pietist, Julius Sperber, wrote treatises in defence or explanation of the order of the Rose Croix.
"It has repeatedly been stated that Michael Maier, who frequently visited England, was a friend of Robert Fludd. He was the author of Themis Aurea and Silentium post Clamores, both Rosicrucian works. His political influence may be judged from his career. Physician to Rudolf II, he was created by him Count of the Palatinate, and acted as adviser to his sovereign. In 1609, Rudolf II issued an Imperial Charter granting religious liberty to the Moravians.
"Masonic authorities state that Maier, as a Rosicrucian, changed his official title to Summus Magister, Sovereign Master, which is that used by all his successors and borne by the principal Socinian Rose-Croix documents, dating from the time of Faustus Socinius to that of Johann Wolff, which are preserved in the Sovereign Patriarchal Council of Hamburg. …
"In his book Themis Aurea, written in 1616 and 1617 and printed in 1618, Maier, the Grand Master, refers to a resolution passed at a meeting in 1617 in which it was formally agreed that the Brotherhood of the Rose Croix must maintain the strictest secrecy for a hundred years. On October 31 1617, the Convention of the Seven at Magdebourg had indeed agreed to qualify its members during the ensuing one hundred years of secrecy as "The Invisibles". It had renewed its oath to destroy the church of Jesus Christ and had decreed that, in the year 1717, it would transform the fraternity into an association which could carry on a more or less open propaganda, while adopting such measures of prudence as might then be deemed expedient by the leaders of the sect. Finally, the Seven adopted definitely, as being sufficiently original to appeal to the popular imagination, Valentin Andrea's curious story of the Rose Croix which had been secretly printed in Venice towards 1613.
"Robert Fludd was the author of Tractatus Apologeticus (1617) and Clavis Philosophiae et Alchymiae (1633). He was greatly helped in the foundation of the Rose Croix order in England by Francis Bacon, author of Nova Atlantis (1624).
"Valentin Andrea to whom, as we have seen, are ascribed the works Fama and Confessio, as well as Chemycal Nuptials, had, in 1640, been appointed preacher to the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, who was soon to make him his chaplain.
"To those who know the important part played by a Duke of Brunswick during the French Revolution, this entrance of the Brunswick family into the sect is very interesting. As a Rosicrucian, Andrea was the teacher of Comenius (Amos Kominsky), who frequently visited England during his mysterious political career. Bishop of a Moravian community, Comenius was the leader of the Moravian Brethren, a sect pledged to achieve the extermination of the Catholic church and which, being considered heretical, was also suspected of practising secret satanism. The Moravians were imbued with Socinianism, that is the doctrine of Lelius Socinius which had been spread among them by his nephew Faustus Socinius who had found refuge in Moravia when persecuted by the Church. Their link with Rosicrucianism had already been established in the person of the pietist, Julius Sperber, who was also one of their leaders. When Kominsky was persecuted, he first went to London in 1641 and, early the next year, went to Sweden where he was granted refuge and help by the powerful Swedish Minister, Count Axel Osenstiern, himself a Rosicrucian adept and protector of another initiate, Ludwig van Geer from Holland.
"The combination of the pursuit of alchemy and hermeticism with political aims was frequently evidenced even before the official appearance of Rosicrucianism. The influence of adepts on the destinies of nations was immense.
"To Queen Elizabeth, the advice of John Dee, her alchemist, was always considered in matters affecting national policy, and to Dee, his crystal gazer, Edward Kelly, was indispensable as a medium.
"Ludwig van Geer, (one of the Seven present at Magdebourg) had settled in Sweden and had won over the chancellor, Count Axel Oxenstiern, then the real regent, in view of the minority of Queen Christina. A great industrialist of Dutch birth, with a colossal fortune made in the manufacture of cannon, he had become a Baron, and as owner of 20 ships of the Swedish fleet, he was an indispensable man.
"Another striking Rosicrucian figure was Thomas Vaughan, (Eugenius Philalethes) not to be confused with his pupil, George Starkey, known as Irenius Philalethes.
"It is said that it was Thomas Vaughan who, inspired by the writings of Nick Stone, conceived the idea of subverting to the ambition of the sect to which he belonged, the guild of the Freemasons which, owing to its universal character, lent itself better than any other to the realization of his project.
"Nick stone was one of the Seven of the Convention of Magdebourg. As an architect, belonging to the guild of the Freemasons, he had helped Inigo Jones, the grand-master of the English Lodges which, at this period, were nonsectarian. On the other hand, as a Rosicrucian he had grasped, in the Luciferian sense, the idea given by Faustus Socinius, and he had composed, for the nine grades of the fraternity, rituals which the chiefs declared remarkable. His ritual of the eighth degree (Magister Templi) was really Satanic. …
[Note: where did she get this from? We'd like to know. Evidently, from the Leo Taxil / Diana Vaughan forgeries.]
"Thomas Vaughan, struck by these manuscripts wondered whether it would be possible to extend the teaching of the Rose Croix to all "accepted masons", who were then admitted to the lodges in an honorary capacity; the Freemasons received in their guild, under the name of "accepted masons", peers and men of letters or professional men, as well as rich bourgeois, who enhanced the brilliancy of their meetings and patronized their entertainments. These honorary members were their protectors and benefactors. Vaughan believed that this element, gifted with certain intellectual qualities, would lend itself better to the propagation of the principles of occult Socinianism than the workers of the Fellow Craft, and, having made up his mind that this was the solution of the problem, he hastened to put it into practice.
"Some brothers of the Rose Croix were already mingling with the Freemasons. Among the members of the Warrington Lodge were Richard Penkett, James Collier, Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, and Hugh Brewer and in London the Whartons and their friends had slipped into a lodge as "accepted masons".
"Thomas Vaughan encouraged them to spread the principles of Socinius. Finally, at a meeting on the 14th May 1643, he announced that their desultory efforts at restrained proselytizing should be supplanted by a definite programme of entering the guild lodges with the object of using them as instruments to an end.
"The account of this meeting on the 14th May 1643, is given in full in the Memoirs of Philaletes and the whole plan of the Freemasonry of today is therein revealed.
"So blended are truth and fiction in the active career of this adventurous adept that Vaughan must always remain one of the most mysterious characters of Rosicrucianism.
"'When the plague of 1665 drove the Court from London to Oxford, Thomas Vaughan went thither with his patron (the king) and, a little later, took up his residence with the Rector of Albany, the Rev. Sam. Kem, at whose house, on February 27th of that year, he was killed by an explosion in the course of chemical experiments.' [A. E. Waite, The Works of Thomas Vaughan, Biographical Preface, p. xii.]
"His work in Masonry however has remained as his monument. Together with Elias Ashmole, pupil of Rabbi Solomon Frank and protégé of James Pagitt, Thomas Vaughan worked up the Masonic system of the first three degrees. These degrees, those of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason were devised for the temptation of the masses, while outside and above them continued the former secret system of the Rose Croix, four degrees of which belonging to the Gold Cross were known as: 1st, Zelator; 2nd, Theoricus; 3rd, Practicus; and 4th Philosophus; teaching merely the principles of alchemy, while the degrees of the Rose Croix were: 5th, Adeptus Minor; 6th, Adeptus Major; 7th, Ademptus [sic] Exemptus; 8th, Magister Templi and 9th, Magus.
"Contemporaneous with the evolution of free thought against revealed religion broke the revolution against civil authority plunging England into the throes of civil war, Oliver Cromwell was successful at the head of the Parliament troops while Charles I was everywhere betrayed by men on whom he relied. Henry Blount [Henry Blount, 1602-1680, Father of Charles Blount, the Rosicrucian.] was among the traitors accruing to Cromwell after the battle of Edgehill; at least the defeat of the king was his pretext, for treason was everywhere premeditated. The word of order was given by the Rose Croix, which had spread rapidly among the Puritans…
skipping to the end….
"The last of the Grand Masters of the Rose Croix was Johann Christian Wolff [According to Sedir…. the last grand master died in 1750 and his name was Brun…. q.v. See also the various encyclopaedias, like that of Mackenzie.]."-Occult Theocrasy, pp. 152-161.
There was a Wolff: a Christian von Wolff (1679-1754),
a pupil of Leibniz, one-time Secretary of the R+C at Nuremburg. As to Brun, the
Masonic Encyclopaedias indicate an Abraham van Brun. Mackey's states 1748 for
the date of death, citing Thory. Mackenzie places the death at 1768. He was a
prominent Mason and Rosicrucian at Hamburg, and was the soul of the True and Ancient
Rose+Croix.
The interesting thing about these dates is that it was in 1754 that Schrepfer assembled his group of Gold Rosicrucians together in Leipzig, according to Gould.
We see these things as continuations, not as separate and isolated incidents.
We have no idea where the account we just presented from Occult Theocrasy came from, but it is likely it came from the bogus exposés of "Leo Taxil". SUCH A SHAME! It is really a shame that these anti Tradition personalities fell for the lies generated by Taxil and company. They had their mission, their contribution to the Great Work, but for people to continue to believe the lies they generated is to defame the originators of the lies themselves. Enough is enough. Pink serpents, indeed! Oy vey. More pork, please. Was there a Convention of the Seven at Magdebourg? And what about the Degree names? Do they go back that far? For them to have existed at the time the New and Gold Rosicrucians did the reform of 1777, it is possible that they were reforming degrees that were much older, and had gotten corrupted, no?
It has been noticed by Masonic authors as going back at least to the early years of the 18th Century, created by a Sincerus Renatus…. Sigismund Richter… and here is what Robert Ingham Clegg has to say about the chappie:
"The first that we hear in history of a Rosicrucian Freemasonry, under that name, is about the middle of the 18th Century. The society to which we refer was known as the "Gulden-und-Rosen Kreutzer," or the "Golden Rosicrucians". We find this title in a book published at Berlin, in 1714, by Sigmund Richter, under the assumed name of Sincerus Renatus, and with the title of A True and Complete Preparation of the Philosopher's Stone by the Order of the Golden Rosicrucians. This book contains the laws of the brotherhood, which Findel thinks bear plain proof of Jesuitical tinkering.
"Richter describes a society which, if founded on the old Rosicrucians, differed from them in its principles. Findel speaks of these "Golden Rosicrucians" as if originally formed on this work of Richter, and in the spirit of the Jesuits, to repress liberty of thought and the healthy growth of intellect. If shaped at that early period, the beginning of the 18th Century, it is unlikely to have had a connection with Freemasonry. But the Order, as an attachment to Freemasonry, was not really perfected until about the middle of the 18th Century. Findel says that it was after 1756.
"The Order had nine degrees, all having Latin names; viz….: 1) Junior; 2) Theoreticus; 3) Practicus; 4) Philosophicus; 5) Minor; 6) Major; 7) Adeptus; 8) Magister; 9 Magus. Based on the three primitive degrees of Freemasonry as giving a right to entrance, it boasted of coming from the ancient Rosicrucians, of having all their secrets, and of being the only body that could give a true explanation of the Masonic Symbols, and it claimed, therefore, to be the fountainhead. There is no doubt that this brotherhood was a perfect example of the influence sought to be given, about the middle of the 18th Century, to Freemasonry by the doctrines of Rosicrucianism. The effort failed, however, to make it a Hermetic System. The Order of the Golden Rosicrucians, although for nearly half a century popular in Germany, and including many persons of high standing, at length began to decay, and died about the end of the 18th Century."
Wishful thinking.
As to Nicholas Stone, the architect and sculptor, we know he was apprenticed to Inigo Jones, and is mentioned in Anderson's Constitutions. We have no way of knowing whether he was in Magdebourg or not. Nor do we know if he was influenced by Socinianism. We do not see Socinianism to be particularly bold or Gnostic in its content, nor do we consider it to be evil, as these British Fascists did.
But - if there was a convention of Seven, including Michael Maier, Ludwig van Geer, Nicholas Stone, Robert Fludd, Andrea and others unknown to us…. we can be assured that it was for a good and a definite purpose.
Baigent and Leigh, in The Temple and the Lodge write about the planned organization of Grand Lodge, which they associate with the Royal Society, which was originally a front group for the Invisible College of Ashmole et. al. And, it was a front group for the R+C, and perhaps, for the Priory of SION (if it existed, that is)….. and included at least two of its alleged Grand Masters, Sir Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle.
This amalgamation also includes the survivals of the Templars, via the Scottish Templars…. These, in their turn, included both French and Scottish Knightly families, such as the Sellieres, our ancestors in the Work, (among many other Worthy and Famous ancestors, that is!) … who survived the extermination of the Order in 1312.
Interestingly enough, the R+C of fame and notoriety sprang up in Wüttembergm which is where the Western Esoteric Tradition began to flourish in Europe (post-Venice, that is)…. since the days of Johann Reuchlin and uncle Johann Stöffler von Jüstingen. This, too, is the area known as Swabia. Swabia, as we know, is the ancestral land of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who are also connected to the Sang Real. So, then, Scotland, France, Southern Germany, form an important axis in the Authentic Tradition, moreso than any of the rest, save for Ibiza.
What does this have to do with the theme of this section? We can see that we are a few centuries ahead of ourselves, yet it is in the R+C that the whole Authentic Tradition in the West, was preserved and propagated. The establishment of the Temple in the years prior to 1118, in Syria, being an event of great importance in European history, then it follows that its preservation and survival would be no less important through the very difficult years of the 14th through the 18th centuries.
So, then, when we read of, write of, or speak of the Rose+Croix, we are discussing the same thing, whether it is the Rosicrucian Fraternity (except for those Americanized Fraud operations), of Frater CRC or the various German "Masonic" Rose+Croix groups, or the SRIA, or the Golden Dawn. There is sufficient data available today to connect them all together, and all ultimately derive from the same parents, the Johannite Tradition, which is to say, the Order of the East, in Syria. This is in no wise a far-fetched statement, like those which can be found in the cheap advertisements. Prior to 1450, the Authentic Tradition was still not very solidified… Even today, it isn't much improved from that! There were threads in various sectors - Alchemical circles, Kabbalistic circles, the Guilds, even, in the various components of the Orders of Chivalry. However, it is not until 1450, in Rene d'Anjou's time, in Gemistius Plethon's time, in Bessarion's time, that these seeds finally began to germinate. And this group, as an organic whole, has continued, for better and for worse (in some cases), to the present day.
In light of the material we opened this section with, the article in Mackey's on the New, or Gold Rosicrucians… the Baron de Gleichen (1733-1807) provided us with the information about the Rose+Croix having Grand Masters named John I, II, III, IV, V, etc. Worthy of note is the fact that Gleichen was associated with the Amis Reunis Lodge, which has connections to Pernety's Rite, which Clegg/Mackey in "Mackey's Revised History of Freemasonry" credits for the invention of the 28th Degree, Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept, once upon a time it was called The Key of Masonry, by Francken…. and one of the earliest Traditional links, via the Scots Philosophic Rite and the Antient and Primitive Rite, to the Rite of Memphis (and that of Misraim, too), and finally to all the other Masonic and Quasi-Masonic rites that depend upon Memphis-Misraim for their legitimacy….
Then again, who needs paper in order to possess legitimacy? Those who do not possess the direct connection, as it were, or the associational links, that are necessary, or the genetic inheritance…. all three being equally necessary, really. Incarnational helps, too, but let's face it, anybody can be the present incarnation of so-and-so, so we say boo for now on incarnational…. Only the Illuminés Veritas know for sure…..
The Johannite Legend of the Templars came from Fabré Palaprat, and was bequeathed to J. M. Ragon, and the latter adds the story of Elias Ashmole creating the rituals of the 3 Craft degrees, although Waite mentions the Ashmole-Vaughan connection in The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, when he is writing of the Leo Taxil inventions.
Ragon was associated with Palaprat's French Templar organization. This, as we have written elsewhere, was split into more than one form. The Ordre du Temple, the Primitive Christian Church, the Chevaliers de la Croix. The latter, actually was more exclusive, and from what we have read, may have actually been a stepping stone to the Priory itself, the way the degree structure is made up. Some of this went to Belgium and became known as Kumris (see some of our material, published elsewhere). Papus tells us that his confederation of rites (the Institute of Esoteric Studies, the one he founded, that is) had Gnosis and Temple in the second highest tier of the hierarchy, below the H B of L, which is important, since the H B of L received an inheritance from the Asiatic Brethren. This is missing link stuff, for some groups, to be sure even if they deny it, they can make like it was their discovery all along….
Gnosis was the Ecclesia Gnostica that Papus inherited from Doinel and Ragon; and Temple was that same Temple org., inherited from Ragon, inherited from Palaprat, and which used the Levitikon as one of its foundation documents. And this book is said to have been discovered in a Second-hand Book-stall.
Perhaps all of this has been written many times over, and in some cases in our own work, but what of it? Sometimes repetition is necessary.
Rather than dismissing these individuals and the stories they tell us as spurious, it is worth investigating them all. If, for example, the Johannite Legend of Fabre-Palaprat and Ragon is bogus, as so many "scholars" would like us to believe, why was it published in so many places? And why is it considered less truthful than the story of how the Golden Dawn came about with its cypher mss., or how Crowley received the Book of the Law, or how Grand Lodge of England came together, or how Christian Rosenkreuz was the founder of the Rosicrucians, even if the person his character was based upon is really to be viewed as a reformer!
The Legend shows up in the source material (i.e., the Levitikon) - in Levi's History of Magic, in Pike's Morals and Dogma, in Mackenzie's Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, in Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, and undoubtedly other places… It is criticized by Mackey, by Clegg, by Waite (of course), by Nesta Webster (though she recognizes it as a valuable piece of propaganda - it's much more than that!), by Peter Partner (in The Murdered Magicians, and the same book reissued later under a different title)…
It would be advantageous to us were this crucial work made available to us today, in the English language. The Levitikon is truly a classic, and, as we have demonstrated, closer to what is most likely what actually happened: the most likely story of all.
We shall develop the antecedents of the R+C Tradition
(pre 1099, that is), later in this part of Qadosh: The Johannite Tradition.
For now, we shall discuss and quote materials relating to the 1777 Reformation.
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