Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry:

The Egyptian, Essenian, and

Templar Origins

© 2011 Rosicrucian Order, AMORC

 René Descartes (1596–1650)
 Philosopher and mathematician
 Searched for the Rosicrucians in Germany,
reportedly without success
 Wanted to establish a new and universal science, one
that answered all types of questions and went
beyond simply mathematics
 His return to Paris in 1623 coincided with the
Rosicrucians making their presence known there
 Rejected esotericism in favor of clear and distinct
ideas
 René Descartes (1596–1650)
 Refused all attempts to understand the purpose of
Creation; his conception of Creation was mechanistic
 Befriended Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the
Winter King and Queen—Frederick and Elizabeth
 Descartes‘s approach to science helped humanity to
move toward modern scientific knowledge, free
from dangerous prejudices and superstitions
 Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
 Petitioned first Queen Elizabeth and later King
James I to support a project of reforming the sciences
 Wanted learning to be an instrument providing for
the prosperity and happiness of humanity
 His book The Advancement of Learning (1605)
suggested creating a fraternity assembling learned
people from all countries with each member
exchanging knowledge for the greatest benefit of all
 Devised an entertainment performed the day after
the wedding of Frederick V and Elizabeth
 After his death, meetings took place that gave rise to
the Royal Society; participants sometimes referred to
themselves as the “Invisible College,” a term used at
that time to refer to Rosicrucians as well
 Jan Amos Komensky (1592–1670)
 Witnessed the coronation of Frederick V and
Elizabeth; hoped for Frederick’s return to the throne
following the Battle of White Mountain
 Became enthusiastic about the project of reform
described in the Rosicrucian manifestos
 Believed that education was the best means for
preparing oneself for eternal life, and that all human
beings should have access to education
 Was part of the discussions in England which led to
the founding of the Royal Society
 Proposed new world-wide organizations (College of
Light, Ecumenical World Consistory, International
Tribunal of Peace)—institutions which foreshadowed
such great international structures as the United
Nations and UNESCO
 As we have observed, the Rosicrucian manifestos
engaged the philosophers of the time and played a role
in the development of European culture. However,
following this period, esotericism, philosophy, and
science were to go their separate ways, with the
Enlightenment on one side and Illuminism on the
other.

At this juncture we witness the birth of the first

major groups that were to characterize Western
esotericism for a long time to come. Until then the
supporters of esotericism had formed loose groups
rather than true organized movements, but now there
appeared initiatic orders, such as those of the Rose-
Croix and of Freemasonry, organized into lodges
where initiations were transmitted.
 With the onset of the Thirty Years’ War,
Rosicrucians withdrew from the public eye
 In Germany they took refuge in the alchemical
movement, which experienced significant
growth at this time
 In England, Rosicrucians were involved in the
beginnings of Freemasonry
 Rosicrucians would reappear in the middle of
the eighteenth century, priding themselves on
origins preceding those of Freemasonry and
Christianity by claiming a filiation dating back
to ancient Egypt
 A 1638 poem by Henry Adamson, “The Muses
Threnody,” described the relationship between the
two movements:
For we be brethren of the Rosie Cross;
We have the Mason’s Word and second sight,
Things for to come we can foretell aright.
 In 1676 a London newspaper (the Poor Robin’s
Intelligence), published a notice:
To give notice, that the Modern Green-ribonn’d
Caball, together with the Ancient Brotherhood of the
Rosy Cross; the Hermetick Adepti and the company
of Accepted Masons all intend to dine together…
The notice advised people interested in going to wear
spectacles, otherwise the Societies might make
themselves invisible
 A 1730 article of the Daily Journal stated:
It must be confessed that there is a society abroad, from
which the English Freemasons have copied a few
ceremonies, and take pains to persuade the world, that
they are derived from them. These are called Rosicrucians
from their Prime Officers being distinguished on the High
days by Red Crosses.
 A letter from 1750 holds, “English Freemasons have copied
some ceremonies from Rosicrucians and say they are derived
from them and are the same with them.”
 Such authors as Johann Gottlieb Buhle (in 1804) and Thomas
De Quincey (in 1824) described Freemasonry as emanating
from Rosicrucianism
 The two oldest references to Masonic initiations
concern individuals in either direct or indirect contact
with Rosicrucianism
 The first reference dates to May 20, 1641 and concerns
Sir Robert Moray (1608 or 1609-1673), who was
initiated into Masonry in a lodge in Edinburgh
 Moray, a founding member of the Royal Society and an
exponent of alchemy, was the benefactor of Thomas
Vaughan (1622-1666), who created one of the first
English translations of the Rosicrucian manifestos
 Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) recorded in his diary that he
was admitted to a Masonic lodge at Warrington in
Lancashire on October 16, 1646
 In 1652 Ashmole published Theatrum Chemicum
Britannicum, a volume composed of alchemical treatises;
in the first few lines of this work Ashmole refers to the
Fama Fratenitatis
 He recalls that the first Rosicrucian manifesto described
the coming to England of “Brother I.O.,” one of the first
four companions of Christian Rosenkreuz
 Ashmole also hand-copied his own translation of the
Rosicrucian manifestos, and at one time he made a formal
petition to be admitted to the Rosicrucian circle
 Over a century later, Nicholas de Bonneville (1760-1828)
went so far as to say that Freemasonry had borrowed all
its allegories, symbols, or words from the Rosicrucians
Although it would be
incorrect to say that
Freemasonry originated
with the Rosicrucians,
we must note that the
first Freemasons were
members of the English
Rosicrucian movement of
the 18th century
 Masonic activities began in the 18th century, and the year
1717, when the Grand Lodge of London was formed, is the
generally acknowledged foundation date
 In 1723, James Anderson published the Constitution,
presented as a reorganization and correction of “old
Masonic archives”
 The materials used were the Old Charges, texts belonging to
the ancient guilds of stonemasons, the oldest dating from
the fourteenth century
 But rather than directly descending from the old operative
Masonic guilds, Freemasonry (or speculative masonry) was
a society of thinkers who described themselves as part of a
lineage going back to Adam, and claimed to have inherited
the Liberal Arts, knowledge inscribed long ago on the two
pillars that survived the Great Flood
 Apart from the legendary history of Freemasonry,
Anderson’s Constitution provided the Order’s rules, as
well as some songs meant to accompany lodge
meetings
 Generally speaking, the Constitution’s plan was more
social than spiritual
 In an era marked by divisions engendered by the
Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Freemasonry
was content to encourage its members
To that religion in which all men agree, leaving their
particular Opinions to themselves: that is, to be good
men and true or Men of Honour and Honesty, by
whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may
be distinguished.
 Freemasonry was originally only composed of two
degrees, Apprentice and Companion (today known as
Fellow Craft); the Master degree appeared around 1730
 Official references to this degree were first found in the
second edition (1738) of Anderson’s Constitution
 In 1760, we first see the symbolism of the Hiram legend
incorporated into the Third Degree
 Hiram Abif, not to be confused with King Hiram of
Tyre, was the architect of the Temple of Solomon, and
died shortly after the Temple was completed
 The legend of the discovery of Hiram’s tomb has
parallels with the legend of Christian Rosenkreuz, and
Antoine Faivre has suggested that Hiram can be
perceived as the son of Christian Rosenkreuz
 At first, Freemasonry did not appear as a truly initiatic
society; its ceremonies were called “rites of reception”
 The term “initiation” first appeared in print around
1728-1730, and only became official in France in 1826
 While Masonic rituals conferred a mysterious aspect to
its meetings, the lodges were essentially places where
philanthropy was practiced and the fine arts cultivated
 Only gradually did Freemasonry develop an initiatic
and esoteric aspect
 By the seventeenth century, references to Egypt had all but
disappeared, with a few exceptions
 Gerhard Dorn (1530-1584), a disciple of Paracelsus, in
casting a critical eye over the esotericism of his era, felt that
the Primordial Revelation, confided to Adam and perfected
by the Egyptians, was distorted by those who had
transmitted it to us (the Greeks)
 Athanasius Kircher (1610-1680), a Jesuit scholar and expert
in archaeology, linguistics, and alchemy, spent decades
trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs
 He claimed that hieroglyphs concealed the remnants of
knowledge confided to humanity before the Great Flood,
thus Egypt was the cradle of all knowledge
 Two popular novels testified to renewed interest in
Egyptian esoterism: Les voyages de Cyrus ou la nouvelle
cryopédie (1727, Andrew Michael Ramsay) and Sethos,
histoire ou vie tirée des monuments, anecdotes de l’ancienne
Égypte (The Life of Sethos, taken from private Memoirs of
the ancient Egyptians) 1731, Abbé Jean Terrasson
 In Sethos, Terrasson describes the initiation of an Egyptian
prince in the secret temples of Memphis
 The trials of purification by the four elements – earth,
water, fire, and air – undergone by the heroes were
repeated by Freemasonry in its ritual
 These books made Egypt fashionable again, as evidenced
by Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet The Birth of Osiris
(1751), and later, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1789), an opera
which blended Masonic initiation and Egyptian tradition
 The revival of interest in Egypt inspired Freemasons in the
creation of new degrees
 In 1736, the Scottish chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay
delivered a speech at a Paris lodge which gave rise to the
appearance of the “high degrees” or “side degrees”
 He described Freemasonry as being the resurrection of the
“Noachide religion,” a primordial, universal, and
undogmatic religion
 He added that this Holy Order was brought back to Europe
by the Crusades but was basically forgotten except in the
British Isles, and Scotland in particular
 Freemasonry soon began to expand from Great Britain to
the rest of Europe
 The legends relating to the Templars, Chivalry, and Old
Testament described by Ramsay would soon awaken the
curiosity of the originators of the high degrees
 Egyptian themes, as well as alchemy, Kabbalah, and magic
were also included in these transformations
 Between 1740 and 1773, the high degrees proliferated
remarkably; among them, the Rose-Croix reappeared in
the form of a high degree
 Soon, the Rose-Croix degree came to be seen as the final
grade of Freemasonry
 Certain systems of high degrees were constituted into
independent orders in France and Germany in the 1750s
 Around this same time, Rosicrucianism again had the
freedom to establish an autonomous order
 The Rose-Croix initially reappeared under the auspices of
alchemy, which experienced considerable growth between
1700-1750 throughout Europe
 Most of the alchemists claimed to have drawn their
inspiration from Rosicrucianism
 In 1710 Sincerus Renatus (Samuel Richter) published The
True and Complete Preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone of the
Brotherhood, from the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross, an
alchemical treatise containing practical laboratory
procedures and an appendix of rules governing the Order
of the Golden and Rosy Cross
 This work was inspired by works from Julius Sperber and
Michael Maier, and also took rules from the Order of the
Inseparables, an alchemical order founded in 1577
 In fact, the order described by Sincerus Renatus did not
seem to have ever existed
 In his work, Sincerus Renatus also mentions the Golden
Rosicrucians, a name which had previously been
mentioned by Peter Mormius in a 1630 work
 Mormius was the author of a legend that claimed that in
1622 Frédéric Rose had founded a secret society of three
members called the Golden Rosicrucians
 The phrase “Golden Rosicrucians” became relatively well-
known and some of its rules were found much later in the
Masonic-Rosicrucian degree of the Prince Knights of the
Rose-Croix
 In the following years a Rosicrucian Order was to see the
light of day
 In 1749, Hermann Fictuld published Aureum Vellus, in
which he spoke of a society of Golden Rosicrucians which
he described as being the heirs of the Golden Fleece
founded in 1429 by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy
 Around 1757 Fictuld created a Masonic rite, the Societas
Roseae et Aureae Crucis (Fraternity of the Golden Rosy
Cross), composed of a series of Rosicrucian degrees
 This fraternity thrived in many towns but appeared to
become extinct in 1764; in actuality it was reformed and
gave rise to another Rosicrucian Masonic rite which
appeared in the 1770s and fostered alchemy and theurgy
 In 1776 a new Rosicrucian Masonic rite was constituted—
the Order of the Golden Rosy Cross of the Ancient System
 A hierarchy of nine degrees was adopted—Zelator,
Theoreticus, Practicus, Philosophus, Adeptus Minor,
Adeptus Major, Adeptus Exemptus, Magister Templi, and
Magus
 The rituals and teachings of these degrees blended
alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry
 The movement produced the celebrated book Secret
Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16th and 17th Centuries,
which is composed primarily of magnificently illustrated
alchemical treatises, and is often presented as the most
significant Rosicrucian book after the three manifestos
 The Masonic Order of the Golden Rosy Cross of the
Ancient System of the eighteenth century claimed a
lineage going back to Ormus (or Ormissus), an Egyptian
priest baptized by St. Mark
 Ormus thus christianized the Egyptian mysteries and
founded the Order of Ormusiens, giving it the symbol of a
golden cross enameled in red
 In 151 CE the Essenes were combined with them, and the
order then took the name of the Guardians of the Secret of
Moses, Solomon, and Hermes
 In the twelfth century the order admitted a few Templars,
and when the Christians lost Palestine in 1118, the order’s
members scattered throughout the world
 Three of them settled in Europe and founded the Order of
the Builders of the Orient
 Despite its mythical lineage, the Masonic Order of the
Golden Rosy Cross arose in Germany in the eighteenth
century in the wake of the Strict Templar Observance,
which was the most important Masonic rite at that time
 Until this period Rosicrucianism had only given rise to
small groups whose rituals have remained undiscovered,
whereas the Masonic Order of the Golden Rosy Cross has
left numerous documents attesting to its activities
 It expanded widely throughout central Europe but was
disbanded by its founders in 1787, after having given rise
to the Initiated Knights and Brothers of Asia
 The enigmatic Comte de Saint-Germain was probably part
of this movement
 The Rose-Croix Degree appeared within Freemasonry at
basically the same time as the Order of the Golden Rosy
Cross of the Ancient System
 The existence of this high degree was first confirmed in
1757, under the title of Rosicrucian Knight
 This degree was the seventh and final degree of the Rite
Francais of 1786, and the eighteenth of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite
 However, the symbolism of the degree did not refer to
themes found in seventeenth century Rosicrucianism, it
was Christian in character, so certain Freemasons in the
nineteenth century tried to dechristianize it by proposing a
philosophical interpretation of its symbolism
 The most ancient rituals of the Rose-Croix degree date to
1760 and 1761, just a few years after the appearance of the
Societas Roseae et Aureae Crucis of Frankfurt
 The degree of the Knight of the Eagle, Pelican, Knight of
St. Andrew, or Mason of Heredom are other designations
of the Rose-Croix degree
 The discourse accompanying another version of this
degree described the order’s origins by referring to the
Sabaeans, Brahmins, Magi, Hierophants, and Druids
which it describes as being the ancestors of the
Rosicrucians
 The Rosicrucians are portrayed as the heirs of an initiatic
chain whose links comprise the Egyptians, Zoroaster,
Hermes Trismegistus, Moses, Solomon, Pythagoras, Plato,
and the Essenes
 Henry Corbin observes in the myths connected with these
orders some elements reflecting a spiritual filiation
through a spiritual knighthood
 This Fraternity of Light has operated since the beginning
of Creation itself for the elevation of humanity toward the
Spiritual Temple—in other words, to the reconciliation of
humanity and the Divine
 The filiations of the movements working for this purpose
are not to be found in visible history, but in hierohistory or
sacred history
 In this sense it is not incorrect to see a filiation in these
different movements, provided that it is not taken literally
 However, it should be noted that in the era of which we
are speaking, the Rose-Croix was often considered the
jewel of this spiritual knighthood