Guest Blogger! Rosicrucian Beginnings

I asked a friend of mine to right something for this space on any topic of her choosing. 

I come across so few people who belong to one of the Rosicrucian Orders.  As a resident of Northern CA, I would expect there to be more since the one I belong to (AMORC) is headquartered in San Jose.  When I joined the Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosae Crucis in 1997 in San Diego at the age of 29, I was pretty much the youngest person there.  There were a few in their late 30s but most were in their 40s and above.  It will be sixteen years in May that I joined the Order and I found myself thinking recently if it really was the best path for me. 

I have always been a big picture kind of person who loves details but only after I got the big picture.  It was hard for me to receive those monographs every month or so and actually do the work in the manner they suggested only reading one section a week in order for the material to digest.  I would read the whole thing really fast and then jones for more waiting another month or more for the next monograph.

In AMORC, study is self paced, not enforced and not tested.  Side study topics were subtle suggestions rather than overtly recommended.  As an ADHD adult, I don’t do subtle very well.  My side studies varied wildly and I would read or study whatever captured my attention but I always read my monographs, practiced the exercises and contemplated the concepts until I internalized them. 

AMORC is very cerebral.  If you are a Rosicrucian, then you are a mystic and at some point in your studies you will identify that way.  The Order does not openly encourage training in other traditions and never discusses other magical orders (I didn’t even know other magical orders existed until 2009) but they do however make it very clear that you can be any religious persuasion and still be a Rosicrucian.

As a Mystic, you are slowly encouraged to remove emotion from your practice (way different from the Thelemite I have become).  You are encouraged to do humanitarian work on the astral level daily.  You are encouraged to be the epitome of a good citizen following the 30 point creed of good behavior.  Lineage was subtly discussed but never boasted about.  Humility overrules all.  I always felt like I belonged to the most secret, most elite and most privileged Order ever.

As I progressed through the degrees, a spiritual alchemy took place that I didn’t notice too much.  It was slow, gradual, easy and natural.  I didn’t realize how much that transmutation would serve me and frustrate me when I started my Golden Dawn path.

When I started my Golden Dawn path, I was arrogant about my Rosicrucian beginnings, I was special after all, I was already a Rosicrucian and these Golden Dawn folks had to go through five grades to get there.  I would hear about magicians working the Tree building their egos only to get squashed when they were expected to be humble in the 5-6 at Adeptus Minor.  What I soon realized is I didn’t have any skills.  Ah the universe smacked me down in a hard way.  I could work my own brand of magic in a mystical way but I didn’t have any hard and fast rules.  I would never be able to understand the workings of Enochian or the Goetia.  I barely understood what Magick really was let alone True Will or even how to do a banishing.

But still…I had magick in my life.  I could manifest things, I had a connection to the divine and it spoke to me on occasion, I was on a path even if I didn’t have a word for it.

In recent months, I have realized a few things about my Rosicrucian beginnings.  As I go through a Golden Dawn style system from the beginning grades, what a wonderful opportunity to practice my mystic upbringing.  I will be filling in the holes in my knowledge and skills with other individuals who will possess things that are complimentary with mine.  We can each have what we have without making the other “less than.”  I have also realized that as I progress, I don’t have to fall prey to the ego trap because I can use those tools that I learned in the early years. 

Spiritual alchemy has already been at work on my personality.  I don’t yet know how to invoke something but I love all beings as if they were a magical ball of love.  I don’t know what my true will is but I can see my HGA working in my life and conversing with me.  I don’t know how to evoke anything but I don’t have an attachment to material things.  I don’t know the first thing about Enochian but I really truly love myself and when I see other people who have my characteristics I embrace them with love also.

My Rosicrucian roots have served me well and I can see that starting out that way was the most perfect way for me to start out.  Everything about my path has been perfect.  I’m a big picture kind of a person remember?  I would never have been successful in a strict Golden Dawn order back in 1997.  And as a newly diagnosed ADHD person at 29, I didn’t have the concentration I do now.  It was perfect that I was in an Order that allowed me to pursue my interests as they interested me.  I may not have gotten all the information but I learned some of it so that now all I’m doing is filling in gap and holes.

Perfect as it should be and as it is once we figure it out.