Rosicrucians

Rosicrucians, international fraternal order devoted to the pursuit of esoteric wisdom. Two such orders in the United States are the Rosicrucian Fraternity and the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, usually abbreviated AMORC. The former group has a headquarters in Quakertown, Pennsylvania; the latter group has an international headquarters in San Jose, California. Both groups hold that the order began in remote antiquity in Egypt and continued in existence through periods of deliberate secrecy. Rosicrucian teachings combine elements of Egyptian Hermetism, Gnosticism, Jewish Cabalism, and other occult beliefs and practices. Many scholars believe that the order actually developed in Germany after the publication of the Fama Fraternitatis and the Confessio Rosae Crucis (1614, 1615; The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross; trans. 1652). These pamphlets record a journey to the Orient made by a pseudonymous Christian Rosenkreuz, who was said to have lived at least a century earlier; they claim that the movement was founded by Rosenkreuz in order to impart the secret wisdom he had gained. The symbol of Rosicrucianism is a combination of the rose and the cross, from which the order takes its name.