Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis - History

History

In 1909 Harvey Spencer Lewis visited France in search of Rosicrucians, was duly initiated in Toulouse, France, and given the mandate to establish an order in North America. After further qualification and preparation the first official Manifesto was issued in the United States in 1915, announcing the establishment of Rosicrucian activity in America. May Banks-Stacy, the co-founder of AMORC, was said to be one of the last successors to the original colony of Rosicrucians that settled in America during the late 17th century, and an initiate of the Rosicrucians of the East. Lewis became a "secret partner" of Big Business in America. According to railroad magnate Arthur Stillwell, no other man has exerted a greater influence as a secret partner in American free enterprise than Lewis. Walt Disney was once a member of AMORC as was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and Jack Palance's daughter Holly Palance.

AMORC headquarters were located in New York City, San Francisco, and then Tampa before moving to San Jose, California, in 1927. Harvey Spencer Lewis died in 1939 and, in accordance with wishes stipulated in his will, was succeeded in the Office of Imperator by his son Ralph Maxwell Lewis who had previously served as Supreme Secretary. Gary L. Stewart who previously served as Grand Master of the English-Speaking jurisdiction and then Vice President of the Board of Directors was appointed to the Office of Imperator upon Lewis' death in 1987 in compliance with Lewis' wishes. Christian Bernard who had been the Grand Master of France and then succeeded Stewart to the position of Vice President of the Board was elected to the Office of Imperator in 1990 by the Board of Directors.

During World War II AMORC underwent a dramatic period of growth. After the war ended AMORC was able to lend support to its European sister organizations. Eventually many of these then came under the administration of AMORC's leadership in San Jose. 2009, the centennial year of H. Spencer Lewis's initiation in Toulouse, saw growth in membership in the English Grand Lodge for the Americas and very active participation in on-line activities including Facebook, Twitter, online Discussion groups, a social networking site, podcasts and Rosicrucian TV on YouTube. Rosicrucian Park in San Jose received many improvements as well, including the completion of accessibility upgrades to the museum, planetarium and grounds and the installation of sustainable native plant gardens.

AMORC uses traditional history, consisting of tales and legends represented as having been passed down for centuries by word of mouth as well as the conventional chronological history, which consists of verifiable fact. AMORC traces its origin to mystery schools established in Egypt during the joint reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, about 1500 BCE. They united the priesthoods of Egypt into a single order under the leadership of Hatshepsut's Vizier, Hapuseneb. Each Temple had its associated Per Ankh (House of Life) where the Mysteries were handed down. In uniting the priesthoods, the Per Ankhu were also united. These schools were formed to probe into "the mysteries of life" — in other words, natural phenomena, and initiatic spirituality. AMORC also claims that among their most esteemed pupils were Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) and his wife Nefertiti.

Over centuries these Mystery Schools spread into Greece and thence into Rome. During the Middle Ages they were concealed under various names. AMORC claims that Rosicrucianism is mentioned as far back as 1115 CE in a book of the collection of Brother Omnis Moriar in Germany. However, no other record of such a brother and book has appeared. The alleged name probably derives from the opening words of Horace in Ode 3.30 in which he writes: “Non Omnis Moriar” (“I shall not completely die”).

Rosicrucianism rose to considerable prominence in Europe during the Seventeenth Century following the publication and wide circulation of a small pamphlet, the Fama Fraternitatis. AMORC scholars have suggested that Rosicrucians first came to America in the area of present day Carmel-by-the-Sea, California in The Vizcaíno Expedition of 1602–1603. AMORC maintains that the next Rosicrucian expedition came in the chartered vessel Sarah Maria during the early months of 1694 under the leadership of Grand Master Johannes Kelpius and they established a colony in what is now Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. They finally settled on the banks of the Wissahickon. "In that retired valley beside the flowing brook the secret rites and mysteries of the true Rosicrucian Philosophy flourished unmolested for years, until the state of affairs brought about by the American Revolution, together with pernicious Sunday legislation which also discriminated against the keepers of the scriptural Sabbath day, gradually caused the incoming generation to assimilate with the secular congregations." This is disputed by another organization, the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross at one time headed by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. Johannes Kelpius of the Jacob Boehme Lodge in Germany led the German Pietists to America and these Rosicrucian immigrants and their descendants established a commune in 1732 at Ephrata, Pennsylvania known as the Ephrata Society under the leadership of Johann Conrad Beissel and Peter Miller (who at the behest of Congress translated the Declaration of Independence into seven languages); the buildings still exist today as part of a historical park known as Ephrata Cloisters. It is also a fact that the two rival organizations historically disputed their claims to Rosicrucian genuineness.