Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis

For the history of the wider movement, as well as other groups named "Rose-Cross" and "Rosicrucian", see Rosicrucianism, and for the "Rosicrucian Society of England", see Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia.

Official Worldwide Emblem of the Rosicrucian Order
Cross of the Rosicrucian Order
A Rosicrucian Master's Cross, from the AMORC Rosicrucian Library in San Jose

The Ancient and Mystical Order Rosæ Crucis (AMORC), also known as the Rosicrucian Order, is the largest Rosicrucian organization in the world. It has various lodges, chapters and other affiliated bodies throughout the globe, operating in 19 different languages. It operates as a fraternal order in the mystical Western Esoteric Tradition.

AMORC claims an association with a "perennial philosophy", often referred to as "The Primordial Tradition". The Order further states that it is heir and custodian of the "Rose-Croix" of the past, thereby making it the oldest existing Traditional Fraternity and a modern-day manifestation of the 'Rosicrucian Fraternity' of old, which is believed by some to have originated in the traditions of the Ancient Egyptian Mystery schools. The ancient Mysteries are said to have been preserved through the millennia by closed secret societies until the early years of 17th-century Europe. At that point, according to AMORC internal mythology, the time was right for the existence of this body of secret knowledge to become open, i.e. revealed, to the world, in the form of the Rosicrucian manifestoes.

Famous seventeenth-century Rosicrucian Michael Maier described the origins of Rosicrucianism as "Egyptian, Brahmanic, derived from the Mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace, the Magi of Persia, the Pythagoreans, and the Arabs".[1] Several of his other works also allude to the mysterious origins of the Rosicrucians.[2]

Today, AMORC is regarded as representing an "open cycle" of the ancient Rosicrucian tradition, its existence being a "reactivation" of Rosicrucian teaching in the United States, with previous Rosicrucian colonies in the United States having become dormant.

AMORC presents itself as a worldwide philosophical and humanistic, non-sectarian and apolitical fraternal order devoted to "the study of the elusive mysteries of life and the universe."[3] It is also open to both men and women of legal adult age (18 years old in most countries) regardless of their various religious persuasions.

  1. ^ Maier, Michael (1617). Silentium Post Clamores, Hoc Est, Tractatus Apologeticus: Quo Causae Non Solum Clamorum, seu Revelationum Fraternitatis Germanicae de R.C. sed & Silentii, seu non-redditae ad singulorum vota responsionis, una cum malevolorum refutatione, traduntur & demonstrantur.
  2. ^ "The Real History of the Rosicrucians: Chapter X. Rosicrucian Apologists: Michael Maier". www.sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  3. ^ "The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC". AMORC.