This secret Confraternity is contesting the established order but its claims have become concrete and constructive. From the imaginary we reach the practical world. The Fama tells us that the Rose-Croix teaching is condensed in three writings. The first one, Axiomata, is the spiritual endeavour to extract from sciences and arts a whole system of propositions able to resolve all the problems that the human intelligence can propose now or in the future. The Rosicrucian message realises the synthesis of the traditional philosophy and of the theology as well as of the antic science and of the new testament. It reconsilise mathematics with the Gospel. It put together the microcosm science (Man) with the macrocosm (Universe). It is more or less certain that this fraternity has had no physical existence but it has had a large moral effect. It is the dream of an elite composed of writers and scientists. There is no proof of any Rose-Croix meeting. It is a symbolic creation and that explain the success of the publication of the “Manifestos” as they reflect a true aspiration: a reform of society, its moral, its philosophy, its philosophy but also its government and its religion. At the same time the Manifestos divulge the alchemy research. These are not only abstract messages. They aim to solve human problems. Hunger, sickness and old age can be banned if our society becomes Rosicrucian. The confraternity has always attracted practical men ready to see and hear as they are and not as we would like them to be. Since 1614 it has banned race and social discrimination among its followers. It preached the divulgation of knowledge to help improve man. To do this it was suggested to organise international meetings of scientists as we know them at the present time. These ideas are generally accepted now but it was not the case then. It is only necessary to mention the equality of education between men and women. The elixir of long life is obtained through alchemy. The transformation of cheap metals in gold is said to be possible.
The cross with the rose has first been used by Luther in his fight against the corrupted Catholic Church. A simple cross is the image of the sun but it also invokes the crucifixion of Christ. The rose will transform it in a symbol of beauty and life. Most authors link the three Manifestos with the masonry that already had existed for a long time then. Most lodges were not composed only of construction workers but had become open to anybody. In fact from 1717 the lodges abandoned all reference to the building trade. From the beginning there has always been a link between the masonry and the Rose-Croix or at least on some aspects of it and on some lodges and above all in the higher grades. For instance the 18th grade of the Masonic order of the Scottish Rite Old and Accepted is called Knight of the Rose-Croix. Both masons and Rosicrucians are fraternities. Mutual help and tolerance are common to the two organisations. The Masonic organisations were based on the construction art, the symbolic building of the Solomon Temple. The Rosicrucians are more interested in Metaphysics and the sciences annex as numerology, astrology, Cabal and alchemy. But as we can see all these initiatic societies are based on symbolic values that they share between them and are part of their traditions. (q)
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