The Rosicrucians by Christopher McIntosh

Author:Christopher McIntosh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser Conari

Although the ancient fathers and wise masters have met together ever since the beginning of the world and separated themselves from the profane masses, it was only in the time of Moses that the order laid down a rule of the highest secrecy in Egypt and in the wastes of Arabia. During and after the Babylonian captivity the brotherhood was established in Syria. And in the time of Solomon the classification or division was established. In the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries the whole brotherhood was reformed and finally given its present constitution. But, in order that the Chiefs might better conceal their aims and more easily ascertain men's eagerness for knowledge, the three lowest grades of freemasonry were established as a nursery to the higher sciences.8

There follows a description of the nine Rosicrucian grades, designated according to the following Qabalistic enumeration:

1 9 Junior

2 8 Theoreticus

3 7 Practicus

4 6 Philosophus

5 5 Minor

6 4 Major

7 3 Adeptus Exemptus

8 2 Magister

9 1 Majus

This document, to my knowledge, is the earliest published reference to these nine grades. They were later described in Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blösse [The Rosicrucian Revealed] by Magister Pianco (a.k.a. Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen), published in 1781. This later description of the grades was copied wholesale by Kenneth Mackenzie in his Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia (1877) and thence passed, with minor alterations, into the modern ritual magic tradition.

The document I have quoted lists each grade's name, number, sign, color, and word; the name of its chief; the land where its members are to be found; the chief's residence; the place and intervals of meetings; the number of circles designating the grade; the science pursued by the members; and last, but not least, the cost of admission. The attributes of the Junior grade are as follows:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.