The Rosicrucian manifestos heralded a new movement of christian-hermetic liberation, and the wondrous reconciliation of both science and religion. Thus, this fancied the minds of many.
“Those who receive this knowledge shall become masters of all arts and crafts; no secret shall be hidden from them; and all good works of the past, present, and future shall be accessed to them. The whole world shall become as one book and the contradictions of science and theology shall be reconciled. Rejoice oh humanity! For the time has come when God has decreed that the number of our Fraternity shall be increased.”
- Confessio Fraternitatis
This alone I could imagine, caused much confusion in the minds of their readers, for where then was the supposed increasing members of this fraternity? Was it only revealed to a select elect of individuals? Was it to tease the minds of many and usher only the worthy who sought hard enough to find this secret order? Or was it truly just a orchestrated Ludibrium? It seemed as though there were efforts made by the order to cloak and reveal their existence…
Two mysterious posters appeared a few years later on the walls of Paris in 1622. 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." So evidently, this was an agenda; to perhaps recruit only the true seekers, whom carried a sort of true and pure desire to be of this order. And thus, there thoughts and pure hearts alone would mystically put them in the paths of this hidden order. For after all, all great things are earned and sought after…
Here writes Manly P. Hall, in his work, Secret Teachings of all Ages; “Efforts to join the order were apparently futile, for the rosicrucians always chose their disciples. Having agreed on whom they believed would do honor to their fraternity, they communicated to their chosen ones in mysterious ways.” Which he described was sent by letter, either anonymously or with a peculiar seal, usually bearing the letters R.C upon it. Where then the individual would be instructed to go to a certain place at a certain time.
However this “philosophical fad” of the seventeenth century sure did attract charlatans and frauds- profiting off of this popularity of the desires of many to join the rosicrucians by pretending to be the order for religious or political popularity. This only creating a double veil and uproar of atrocity. Meanwhile, the order carried on hidden in the shadowy backgrounds. So, what were the supposed rosicrucians truly about? Their manifestos make clear of the existence, purposes and activities of this order. And thus Michael Maier (1568–1622) makes clear upon his commentaries of the Fama and Confessio, “What is contained in the Fama and Confessio is true. It is a very childish objection that the brotherhood have promised so much and performed so little. With them, as elsewhere, many are called but few are chosen.” and then goes on to say: “The masters of the order hold out the rose , but they impose the cross on those who are entering.” Thus testing the hearts of all who try to enter in. Some have even theorized that the rosicrucians obtained abilities unlike man; and that they were citizens of two realms; the physical one and a supernatural one. Their supernatural powers gave them ability to be seen and unseen, and thus, were not subject to time or distance. As absurd as this may sound to many, there are and were documentations of such theories. And even within the central rosicrucian texts, The Fama states that their order has abilities to heal and cure all diseases, obtain clairaudience and telepathy, and were given a book; The Rotae Mundi from which all secrets and knowledge can be learned. Furthermore, in some other more hidden works on the rosicrucians, it is even whispered about that they obtain secret pocket devices- that have certain abilities and powers. And whereupon they also obtained the Elixir of Life - Radicale Tonicum “Aour potabile” drinkable light. These cures were said to be given without charge by the rosicrucians; for this was one of their key christian principles. “To serve their neighbor and thereby serve God” (Matthew 25:40) In Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, Elias Ashmole states that Queen Elizabeth was cured of smallpox by a member of the Order, and that the Earl of Norfolk was healed of leprosy by a Rosicrucian physician who may have been Robert Fludd.
In Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians, Dr. Franz Hartmann describes the Fraternity as “A secret society of men possessing superhuman powers; they were said to have been able to prophesy future events, to penetrate into the deepest mysteries of Nature, to transform iron, copper, lead, or mercury into Gold, to prepare an elixir of life by the use of which they could preserve their youth and manhood; and moreover it was believed that they could command the elemental spirits of nature and knew the secret of the Philosophers Stone, a substance which rendered him who possessed it all-powerful, immortal, and supremely wise.”
