THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

[from ftp://ftp.winternet.com/users/robin/magick/text/frater-achad.zip ]

                                I. N. R. I.
                                   ____

Subject: DE MYSTERIIS ROSAE RUBEAE ET AUREAE CRUCIS


                                    by

                                    ONE

                              Whose Number is

                                    777

                               Frater Achad

              Wherein. under the form  of  an admonition to an
              Adeptus Minor of the R.R. et A.C.,  is disclosed
              the true Symbolism of the Rosy Cross for the en-
              lightenment of those who are worthy of the same.



        MARK WELL, O my Son, and give heed unto this my counsel and advice,
 O thou who hast for the first time this day beheld the  Mysteries  of  the
 Redde Rose whereon sparkleth the Dew,  and  of the Golden Cross from which
 cometh the Light of the World.  Is not this Symbol to be  found  upon  the
 breast of all true Brethren of the Rosie Cross?  Hold fast  to  this Jewel
 and treasure it as thy Life itself,  for  many  and great are its virtues,
 and of these will I now discourse unto you in part.

        Know then, O my Son, that there be many Crosses and that  the  Sym-
 bolism of these varieth according to the Art of the Wise which giveth them
 due Proportion;  so,  too,  are  to be found Roses whose Petals signifie a 
 Five-fold,  and  a Twenty-two-fold,  and a Forty-nine-fold Order.   These,
 again,  may seem to be united or divided,  in whole or in part;  yet  each
 Symbol concealeth its aspect of the One Secret most  perfectly,  according
 to the Understanding of the true Seeker after L.V.X.

        It would seem in these latter days that the true  Light  hath  been
 much darkened and obscured, so that even the most ignorant imposters, hav-
 ing heard our motto "Omnia ab Uno," which signifieth how All  cometh  from
 the One, have thought that all Roses and all Crosses be alike and of equal
 virtue;  yet herein they err gravely,  which error hath become apparent in
 the strange confusion which at this time prevaileth,  so  that their words
 have become as a Babel,  even as it was of old time to the great  hurt  of
 the human race.

        And even though our Father, Christian Rosencreutz,  and our Antient
 Brethren his heirs and successors,  did much to restore the Order  of  the
 Universe and the Power of the Word therein,  yet  such  is the Darkness in
 which men live,  and such the confusion that is now upon us,  that it were
 indeed time that the true Brothers should again extend the  Light  of  the
 Cross, if-so-be a spark of the true Fire yet burns brightly within them.

        Unto you,  O my Son,  in whom that Fire burns,  I  would  be  as  a 
 bellows to fan the Flame into a great burning which shall illume the Dark-
 ness wherein thou walkest; so that from a flickering rushlight thou mayest
 become as a Lamp of Pure Oil,  and that thy Lamp may  shine  forth  as  an 
 Ever-burning Star of Hope to thy fellow men.

        For this reason will I discourse unto you,  not  of  the  Cross  of
 Suffering to which thou wert bound and upon which thou tookest thine obli-
 gation on behalf of the Universe---that Obligation,  every Clause of which
 contained a Secret reference to the Holy Sephiroth,  the Emanations of the
 One from Whom cometh All---but rather of that great and complete Symbol of
 the Rose and Cross concealed within thy breast,  upon the back of which is
 engraved  "Magister Iesus Christus--Deus est Homo--Benedictus Dominus Deus
 Noster qui dedit nobis Signum" and thy Mystic Name as Fra:. R.R. et A.C.

        But it is of the face of the Cross that I would  chiefly  discourse
 unto thee, for, wearing it upon thy breast, thou art become as the Sun who
 seeth not His own Face,  yet giveth the Light of His  Countenance  to  the 
 Just and to the Unjust with equal Love and Blessing.

        What is it, then, that I see upon thy breast, O my Son?

        In the Centre of All is  a  Single  Point  of  Light  whose  Starry
 Brilliance blinds these eyes, for it is even as Hadit,  Thy Secret Self at
 the Centre of thy Being.  It is Unique,  Thy One Secret which thou sharest
 with the One, not the Many.  It is Thy True Name,  the Word which  brought
 Thee into Being, whose Echo thou art, and will be to the End. This I know,
 for such a Word and such a Light dwelleth in Me, and I in Him.  It is also
 that Word which is writ in the  White Cubic Stone,  but  for  each  it  is 
 different, and no man may know It but he who possesses It.

        Around, and Illumined by that Central Light,  is  a  Rose  of  Five 
 Petals.  It is the Star of Unconquered Will, the Will of the One Light and
 Word of thy Being as it comes into Manifestation in Matter. It is the Sign
 of Man, the Microcosm, who mirrors through his Five Senses, the Great Rose
 of Creation.  This Rose lives indeed,  and  the  Green barbs,  which  have 
 opened to display it,  are still bright with colour as they extend in Four
 Directions,  each harmonizing and bringing to a point Two of the  Elements
 from which thou wast made.

        This Rose sparkles upon a  Cross  of  Gold,  and  though  crucified
 thereon, to it Glory and Suffering are identical.  This Cross  is  of  Six
 Squares, an Unfolded Cube;  it is that same White Stone wherein  the  True
 Name was Concealed, yet opened as a Cross in order that it may be known as
 a Living Stone,  displaying the Secret of Life Itself.  With its  Arms  it
 showeth forth the L.V.X. which is the Light of  the Cross;  its  sacrifice
 discloseth the Rose of Love,  and this supreme act of revealment declareth
 its own essential Liberty.  Thus we find Light, Life, Love and  Liberty in
 the very Heart of Man, while concealed behind all are the words:  Deus est
 Homo.

        This, O my Son, I behold On the Centre of thy Jewel,  but  even  as 
 thou art but a tiny image concealed within the Heart of  a  Greater  Rose,
 wherein it flashes forth as a gleam of Red Gold.

        Thou rememberest, O my Son, when thou wast within the Sacred Vault,
 which is to be found within the Mountain of A:.--that Vault of Seven Sides
 of which showeth forth the Colour of one of the Great  Planetary  Intelli-
 gences?  Never wilt thou forget that LIGHT which is the Great  Mystery  of
 the Ceiling of the Vault,  even  though,  Ages hence,  the Darkness of the 
 Floor may be obliterated from thy memory when the Light has completed  Its
 Work.

        Dost thou remember how, touching with the Wand the Rose  and  Cross
 upon the breast of the form in the Pastos, thou wert prompted to say  "Out
 of the darkness let the light arise"?  And how  a  Voice  from  the  still
 figure within, replied: "Buried with  that  LIGHT  in  a  mystical  Death, 
 rising again in a mystical resurrection, Cleansed and Purified through him
 our MASTER, O Brother of the Cross of the Rose!  Like him, O Adepts of all
 ages, have ye toiled; like him have ye suffered Tribulation. Poverty, Tor-
 ture,  and Death have ye passed through.  They have been but the purifica-
 tion of the Gold."

        "In the Alembic of thine Heart,
         Through the Athanor of Affliction,
         Seek thou the true stone of the Wise."

        Hast thou not found such a Stone concealed in the Heart of the Rose
 of Creation? Is not that Stone Thyself? Never again wilt thou be "Shut up"
 for the Rose of Thy Being has opened, and Thy prison  has  been  exchanged
 for a Cross.  But in this transition  "That which is below has become like
 unto that which is above" and that which is within seeth  Itself  in  that
 which is without.  Thus there is Beauty and  Harmony  in  this  Degree  of
 Adeptship.

        But though thou mayest know the Word of this Grade and the Formulae
 thereof,  thou hast yet to Overcome many difficulties e'er thou art Master
 of the Temple of the Universe. Around thee I see the First Three Petals of
 the Greater Rose,  forming an upright Triangle upon which are  the  Sacred
 Letters Aleph (A),  Men (M) and Shin (Sh),  each shining upon a petal of a
 different Colour--Yellow, Blue, and Red. As thou hast already been taught,
 these are the Three Mother Letters of  the  Sacred  Hebrew  Alphabet,  the
 Letters of the Three Elements, of which the Fourth,  or Earth,  is the ad-
 mixture. Thou must master the Elements, O my Son! These are to be found in
 the Cross of thine own being, and thou already learned to  "Establish thy-
 self firmly in the equilibrium of forces,  in the centre of the  Cross  of
 the Elements, that Cross from whose Centre the Creative Word issued in the
 birth of the dawning Universe." Thou has learned to be  "Prompt and active
 as the Sylphs,  but to avoid frivolity and caprice;  to be  energetic  and
 strong like the Salamanders, but to avoid irritibility and ferocity; to be
 flexible and attentive to images like the Undines,  but to avoid  idleness
 and changeability;  to be laborious and patient like the  Gnomes,  but  to
 avoid grossness and avarice."  Thou must not forget these early lessons in
 thy search after greater ones.

        Seven other Petals encircle these Three, each again shines forth in
 its true Colour, forming the Rainbow of Promise; but of Promise fulfilled,
 since the Circle is Complete.  Upon  each  Petal  appears  another  Sacred
 Letter, the Letters of the Seven Planets,  those great  Elementary  Rulers
 whose Influence  is ever-present and whose Aid  and  Co-operation  of  the
 Great Celestial Intelligences. Who, through thine own Holy Guardian Angel,
 are ever ready and willing to lend thee of their Wisdom and  Power.  These
 are the Rulers of the Sephiroth below Chokmah and above Malkuth, according
 to the Plan of the Minutum Mundum which thou saw'st upon the  small  altar
 within the Vault of Initiation.

        Yet again, surrounding these Seven, are  twelve  outermost  Petals,
 engraved with the Simple Letters of the Twelve Signs of  the  Zodiac,  the
 Sphere of the Fixed Stars. Each has its appropriate Colour, and all may be
 recomposed into the White Light of the Centre.  In the Outer these Colours
 mix and form the Grey of the Sphere of Chokmah,  which is ever the balance 
 of Black and White; but Within,  the Great Star Universe is  focused  upon
 that Central Point,  which is Everywhere,  since the circumference of  the
 Infinite Rose os Nowhere.  This Centre is the Kether of the Whole  Scheme,
 for "Deus est Homo."

        Thus, O my Son,  have I drawn for thee the Great Rose  of  Two-and-
 twenty Petals,  the Two-and-twenty Letters of the Holy Alphabet from which
 may be formed all Words, sacred and profane.  These are united  and  bound
 together in such a manner that the Sigils  of  the  Angels  may  be  drawn 
 therefrom, but of this I may not speak more plainly, for it is thy task to
 discover and use them.  And the Influence of the Rose is that MEZLA  which
 is the Influence from the Crown,  and this descendeth like  Dew  upon  the 
 Rose, even as it Uniteth the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.  This Tree  is
 itself formed as an Ankh, which is but a form of the Rose and Cross,  used
 by our Brethren of Antient Egypt as a Sign of their Way or Going;  as such
 it is the Key of the ROTA, or Taro of Thoth.

        When, O my Son, by means of thy Central Will,  thou shalt have  ex-
 panded thy Rose of Five Petals so that it comprehends  this  Greater  Rose
 whereof the Petals are Two-and-twenty,  thou  mayest  come  to  a  further
 understanding of the Cross which hath Four Arms, the sum of which from One
 to Four, being Ten, as are the Holy Sephiroth.

        The Great Cross, of which the cross of thy being  is  a  reflection
 and minute counterpart, is again formed of Six Squares, for it,  too,  re-
 presents the Unfolded Cube. The Cube is matter, the Cube unfolded displays
 the several Elements with their Spiritual Centre. So, likewise,  doth IHVH
 appear as God of the Elements until SHIN, the Holy Spirit, descendeth into
 the midst and bursteth Him asunder as IHShVH,  which is the  Name  of  the
 God-Man, the Redeemer.

        So likewise is Man,  the Pentagram of  the  Elements  Crowned  with 
 Spirit, shown with Unconquered Will on each Arm of the Cross.  Thus is  he
 Master of the Four Worlds, through co-operation with  the  Macrocosmic  or
 Divine World which is found Symbolized by the  Hexagram  below  the  Great
 Rose on the lower Arm of the Cross,  and which appears surrounded with the
 Sign of the Sun in the midst.

        The extremity of each Arm of the Cross is Triple,  and each tripli-
 city is assigned to the Three Alchemical Principles in their  proper  com-
 binations. Thus again we find the suggestion  of  Twelve  Circles,  corre-
 sponding to the Zodiac or Star Universe, while the Thirteenth is concealed
 as a Point in their midst, and is the UNITY thereof.  Thirteen is One plus
 Three which is Four;  Four is the Number of Manifestation  in  Matter;  in
 in Matter the Three Principles (or Gunas) are ever  operative,  singly  as
 forces united as Spirit.

        Thou has, O my Son,  the knowledge of the  Invoking  and  Banishing
 Rituals of the Pentagram, whereby thou mayest control the Elements and the
 Astral Plane; therefore thou understandest how these Pentagrams should  be
 traced with thy Wand and Will,  and how this formula is symbolically shown
 in the arrangement of the Symbols of the Elements which  are  shown  round
 the Pentagrams upon the Arms of the Mighty Cross. Thou knowest,  too,  how
 the Planetary Rulers,  and even the Zodiacal Signs,  are to be Invoked  or
 Banished by means of the Holy Hexagram,  the true arrangement of which  is
 also shown in this Symbol. But what of the Barbed Rose Leaves which in the
 Microcosmic Rose were single,  and  here  are  shown  as  Triple  in  each 
 quarter? What of the Letters and Symbols thereon?

        Here indeed is given the Formula whereby the L.V.X.  may  be  drawn
 from the Cross, and the Key-Word found, and the Word be  subtly  extracted
 therefrom. Without this knowledge how cans't thou give the true  Signs  of
 thy Grade?  Let us therefore analyse  the  Keyword,  as  did  our  Antient  
 Brethren:

        I.
        N.
        R.
        I.

        Yod.
        Nun.
        Resh.
        Yod.

        Virgo, Isis, Mighty Mother.
        Scorpio, Aphopis, Destroyer.
        Sol, Osiris, Slain and Risen.
        Isis, Aphopis, Osiris..

        I. A. O.

        Make now the Signs whereby the L.V.X. which is  the  Light  of  the 
 Cross, shines forth, and thou hast the meaning of the Rose Leaves  of  thy
 Mystic Jewel; leaves that are Ever-Green as Life Itself.

        And now, O my Son, go thou and partake  of  the  Mystic  Eucharist, 
 even as thou hast been taught by Those who Know. Fortify thyself, for thou
 hast yet a perilous journey before thee.  Thou  hast  been  led  unto  the 
 Light; bethink thee that there is yet another Rose and Cross,  the Rose of
 Nine-and-forty Petals---which is Seven by Seven---upon the Cross  of  Five
 Squares. The Mysteries of these thou wilt someday know,  but not now;  for
 these partake of the nature of that Great Darkness of N.O.X., the Darkness
 which is as the Light which is Higher than Eyesight;  the Pure Darkness of
 Understanding, or of the Womb of the Lady Babalon,  and the  City  of  the
 Pyramids which is the abode of NEMO.

        May thy Mind be open unto the Higher,
        Thy Heart a Centre of Light,
        And thy Body the Temple of the Rosy Cross.

        Vale Frater!

                                    -o-

EOF