by V.H. Frater T.S.O.

For reasons, that need to be explained later on, most of today’s occultists have a rather disturbed relationship with the figure of Jesus Christ. If it comes to the maximum, the modern occultist identifies him with a highly illuminated Man or a metaphorical Force or divine essence, that is totally abstracted from the Person called Jesus of Nazareth. This article is designed to help the reader understand, why the ancient Rosicrucians have to have been Christian. From the publicly available documents of the hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as founded by S.L. MacGregor-Mathers most of today’s solitary occultists and hermetic societies have their legacy in some form or another. As stated in other articles on this Website, this Order was merely an outer façade of the far more ancient school of the Rose and Cross.

Of this Order a lot is published, yet only very little is truly known. One of the Rosicrucians main Emblems is, what to modern Occultists is known as the Rosecross-Lamen. We must not discuss here, how it looks like and will just post here the regular, well-known image. More of discussion has been made on its backside. From sometimes rather dubious Golden Dawn resources we get a certain image of what was written on its back. These resources derive their information from an emblem, that dates before the founding of the Original Golden Dawn. It looks like this:

As we can see, on the lamen displayed here is written the phrase “MAGISTER JESUS CHRISTUS D ET H”, the latter part meaning “DEUS ET HOMO”, which translates the whole phrase into: “the Master Jesus Christ, God and Man”. This indicates the answer to the question in the Title of this Article.

Another point is given in the introduction page of the Christian Mysticism section of the Homepage. Here it is mentioned, that according to the Fama Fraternitatis of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross on the Sarcophagus in the centre of the Crypt of Christian Rosenkreutz is written “JESUS MIHI OMNIA”. The Fama is far older than the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn and has been at the Time of its publishing in 1614 influenced the occult community at the Time to an utmost degree. The above cited phrase indicates, that not the concept of a Christ, nor the modern “Christ-Consciousness” is meant, but the Man Jesus of Nazareth. This man of whom the ancient Rosicrucians knew, that he was both, God and Man. Thus the inner Mysteries and Teachings of their Order was based and centred around Jesus Christ.

If we are we to believe, that the Golden Dawn was never more than the outer School of the true Rosicrucian Order (later named RR et AC by Mathers) then we have to accept, that not only the Rosicrucian Order, but also the Golden Dawn were both imperatively Christian.

On the same mentioned Sarcophagus were written other phrases including the above mentioned there were five phrases, one of them being “LIBERTAS EVANGELII” “Freedom of the Gospels”. So the ancient Rosicrucian did not only believe in Christ, but also in the Gospel making thus the New Testament and ultimately the whole Bible part of their mystical teachings. Thus it is only a short way of them most likely having also accepted the Nicene Creed, for it summarizes the whole of Christian Mysticism.

The above mentioned things are of a more mundane or shall I say “intellectual” Nature. A true Mystic will seek to find the above mentioned also in the mystic Symbols of the Sacred Magic of Light. And, dear Reader, they are there in abundance.

Firstly, the Rosecross itself is an emblem of Christ. In the teachings, more precisely in the 1=10 Initiation of the historic Golden Dawn we find a Phrase, which has a deep cabalistic meaning it is “thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory, the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the Valley, Amen”. The initial “thine is” refers to the Hebrew “Atah” which can also be translated into “thou art”. Thus God is referred to the attributes in the phrase, including the Rose. Now if God is the Rose and the Rose is on the Cross, there is a Symbolic truth behind the Crucified Jesus, hanging on the Cross, taking on the sins of the World. That this is in fact the case we find in other, older emblems of the Rsoicrucians, where above the Rose an image of the Risen Chrsit is placed and the Words “EMANUEL” are written.

Secondly, the name of the so called founder of the ancient Order, Christian Rosenkreutz, is in fact, as many have already found out not the Name of a Man, but the sacred Motto of an Adept at the Time. “CHRISTIANUS ROSAECRUCIS” as the Name would be transliterated into Latin means “Christian of the Rose of the Cross”. So clearly the founder professed in His motto to be a Christian and confessed, that the teachings of His Order were based on the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene, which they believed to have been the incarnation of God, the Vast and Mighty One.

Thirdly, in the ancient Egyptian Mysteries the Cult around the slaying and rising of Osiris, in the Descent and return from the Underworld by Mithras, Orpheus and Ulysses, by the death and rebirth of Dionysus etc. the Principals of the Mysteries of the Calvary Cross of Golgotha have been prophesised. Yet in today’s occult literature and community these figures are more accepted than Jesus the Nazarene. This mainly because he is oftentimes regarded as too young to be an archetype. The Mystical Gospel of John however tells us, that Jesus was there from the very beginning “IN PRICIPIO ERAT VERBUM” John 1.1.

We agree that all these points can be contended and that they most likely will be. Let it be clear here, that the deeper mysteries of Jesus the Nazarene, the Crucified One, our Lord will not be reveiled in written form, but by the practitioner of His sacred path alone, and therefore at this point shall be the end of this article.