The Rosicrucian manifestos of the early seventeenth century announced a mysterious brotherhood, but it has never been shown that an organised order stood behind them. A century later, by contrast, a very concrete association that invoked the Rose-Cross arose in the German-speaking world: the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross, in German Gold- und Rosenkreuz. It was one of the most important esoteric orders of the eighteenth century and left a legacy of grades and symbols still recognisable in many modern organisations.
First traces: Sincerus Renatus
In 1710 a Silesian pastor, Samuel Richter, published under the pseudonym Sincerus Renatus an alchemical treatise entitled The True and Perfect Preparation of the Philosophers' Stone. In an appendix appeared the rules of a brotherhood "of the Golden and Rosy Cross", described as an association of alchemists with rules of secrecy and conduct.
We do not know whether this brotherhood really existed at the time or whether it was an ideal project. The text is nonetheless the first document in which the name that would become the order's appears.
Reorganisation in the second half of the century
A structured Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross is securely documented from the middle of the eighteenth century, particularly in the Habsburg lands and southern Germany. In the 1770s the order was thoroughly reorganised and reached its greatest extent, with circles in many German and Austrian cities.
An important rule laid down that candidates had to be Master Masons already. The order thus presented itself as a higher degree of Freemasonry, able to offer what ordinary lodges did not: alchemical and spiritual knowledge.
The nine grades
The order's structure was arranged in nine grades, which would be taken up, with small changes, by several initiatory societies of the nineteenth century:
| Grade | Latin name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Juniores |
| 2 | Theoretici |
| 3 | Practici |
| 4 | Philosophi |
| 5 | Minores |
| 6 | Majores |
| 7 | Adepti Exempti |
| 8 | Magistri |
| 9 | Magi |
This sequence lies at the origin of the grades of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and, through it, of the Golden Dawn, where names such as Zelator, Theoricus, Practicus and Philosophus appear.
Alchemy in practice
Unlike many societies of the time, the Golden and Rosy Cross attached great importance to laboratory work. Members received instructions on concrete alchemical operations, from preparing materials to distilling them, and had to report their results to their superiors.
Alchemy was also understood in a spiritual and religious sense. The order's texts combined the search for the philosophers' stone with Christian devotion, in the conviction that the purification of matter and that of the soul went hand in hand.
The secret symbols of the Rosicrucians
The best-known document associated with this milieu is the collection Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, published at Altona between 1785 and 1788. It contains illustrated plates of extraordinary complexity, combining alchemical, kabbalistic and Christian symbols: pyramids of spheres, trees, concentric circles, figures of Christ and diagrams of the cosmos.
These images have enjoyed a long afterlife and have been reproduced and discussed by many later authors.
Secrecy and pseudonyms
Like other orders of the time, the Golden and Rosy Cross imposed strict secrecy. Members used Latin order names, superiors often remained unknown to the lower grades, and documents were copied by hand and passed on with caution.
Influence at the Prussian court
The order's moment of greatest political visibility came in Prussia. Two influential members, Johann Christoph Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder, played an important role beside the crown prince, the future King Frederick William II, who was admitted to the order before ascending the throne in 1786.
Having become a minister, Wöllner promoted in 1788 a religious edict imposing Lutheran orthodoxy in teaching and preaching. This measure, heavily criticised in Enlightenment circles, was interpreted by contemporaries as a sign of Rosicrucian influence over the government.
Decline
Towards the end of the 1780s the order entered a crisis. Tensions with Enlightenment circles, internal doubts about the results of alchemical work and political changes rapidly reduced its activity. By the death of Frederick William II in 1797, the order had lost most of its importance.
A bridge between two eras
The Golden and Rosy Cross is a crucial link in the history of Western esotericism. It took up the legacy of the seventeenth-century manifestos and Renaissance alchemy, translated it into a concrete initiatory structure and passed it on, through its grades, to the nineteenth-century orders. Without it, the form that the Rosicrucian tradition took in the modern age would be hard to understand.
In short
- In 1710 Sincerus Renatus published the rules of a brotherhood of the Golden and Rosy Cross.
- The structured order flourished in the second half of the eighteenth century and required the degree of Master Mason.
- Its nine grades, from Juniores to Magi, were taken up by nineteenth-century Rosicrucian orders.
- Alchemy was practised in the laboratory and understood at the same time in a spiritual sense.
- The order had influence at the court of Frederick William II of Prussia, then declined rapidly.
