The first complete historical and philosophical investigation into the ?invisible fraternity? of the Rosicrucians

• Contains the latest research on the origins of the Rosicrucian movement

• Presents the ties between Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the Templars

• Written by a ?perfected? Knight of the Rose Croix and the Pelican (18th degree, Ancient and Accepted Rite)

For nearly 400 years, incredible myths and stories have been woven around the ?invisible? Brothers of the Rose Cross, the Rosicrucians. It is said that they possessed the secret of man and God, that they could turn lead into gold, that they governed Europe in secret, that theirs was the true philosophy of Freemasonry, and that they could save--or destroy--the world. In The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, Tobias Churton, a ?perfected? Knight of the Rose Croix and the Pelican (18th degree, Ancient and Accepted Rite), presents the first definitive historical and philosophical view of this mysterious brotherhood.

Starting at its beginnings in Germany in 1603, Churton unveils the truth behind the complex story that underlies the Rosicrucian movement. He explains its purpose, the motives of its earliest creators, and the manifestos ?accidentally? published in the 17th century that emerged at precisely the time when modern science was emerging. He details the people who influenced its development--including Johannes Kepler, Robert Fludd, and Sir Francis Bacon--and the ties between the Rosicrucians, Freemasons, and Templars. He also shows how Rosicrucianism shaped the mythology and spiritual consciousness of both North and South America and reveals that there are many Rosicrucian fraternities still active throughout the world today.

Tobias Churton is Britain's leading scholar of Western Esotericism, a world authority on Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and Rosicrucianism. He is a filmmaker and the founding editor of the magazine Freemasonry Today. An Honorary Fellow of Exeter University, where he is faculty lecturer in Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, he holds a master's degree in Theology from Brasenose College, Oxford, and created the award-winning documentary series and accompanying book The Gnostics, as well as several other films on Christian doctrine, mysticism, and magical folklore. The author of many books, including Gnostic Philosophy, The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, and Aleister Crowley: The Beast in Berlin, he lives in England.

The first complete historical and philosophical investigation into the "invisible fraternity" of the Rosicrucians

• Contains the latest research on the origins of the Rosicrucian movement

• Presents the ties between Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the Templars

• Written by a "perfected" Knight of the Rose Croix and the Pelican (18th degree, Ancient and Accepted Rite)

For nearly 400 years, incredible myths and stories have been woven around the "invisible" Brothers of the Rose Cross, the Rosicrucians. It is said that they possessed the secret of man and God, that they could turn lead into gold, that they governed Europe in secret, that theirs was the true philosophy of Freemasonry, and that they could save--or destroy--the world. In The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, Tobias Churton, a "perfected" Knight of the Rose Croix and the Pelican (18th degree, Ancient and Accepted Rite), presents the first definitive historical and philosophical view of this mysterious brotherhood.

Starting at its beginnings in Germany in 1603, Churton unveils the truth behind the complex story that underlies the Rosicrucian movement. He explains its purpose, the motives of its earliest creators, and the manifestos "accidentally" published in the 17th century that emerged at precisely the time when modern science was emerging. He details the people who influenced its development--including Johannes Kepler, Robert Fludd, and Sir Francis Bacon--and the ties between the Rosicrucians, Freemasons, and Templars. He also shows how Rosicrucianism shaped the mythology and spiritual consciousness of both North and South America and reveals that there are many Rosicrucian fraternities still active throughout the world today.

Acknowledgments

Introduction
My Rosicrucian Adventure

One The Stars
The Importance of Revelation
The Reformation
The Last Light
Johannes Kepler and the New Stars
A Conjunction on the Pont Neuf, Paris

Two Tübingen and the Universe
The Science
Rays
Abu Ma'shar al-Balki
Röslin versus Kepler
Grebner and Studion

Three A Prince of Utopia
Interrogation
Enter the Genius
The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz
The Whirlpool
A Gang of Conspirators

Four The Alchemical Wedding of Johann Valentin Andreae
Who Was behind the Fama Fraternitatis?
Augustus, Prince Elector of Anhalt
Enter the Rosicrucians

Five Fama Fraternitatis, or the Brotherhood of the Most Commendable Order Roseae Crucis
Damcar and the Sabians

Six The Strange Case of Dr. Adam Haslmayr
The Search for the Brotherhood
A House in the Languedoc
The Decameron
Montpellier and Maguelone
François Rabelais and the Rosicrucian Brotherhood

Seven The Reformation of the Whole Wide World
Raphael Eglin
Hesse-Kassel
The Signifying Fish
Alchemical Politics
The Splash
The Second-Known Printed Response to the Manuscript Fama Fraternitatis
The Motive for Publishing the Fama Fraternitatis
Jesuit Conspiracy

Eight The Confession of the Fraternity
John Dee and the More Secret Philosophy

Nine Rosymania I: The Furor and Its Aftermath
Julius Sperber and Aegidius Gutmann
Philip Ziegler, King of the Rosicrucians
Count Michael Maier
Robert Fludd

Ten Rosymania II: Educating the World
Sir Francis Bacon
Bacon's New Atlantis and the Fama Fraternitatis
René Descartes and the New Mathematics
Descartes and Faulhaber
Joachim Morsius
Abraham von Franckenberg
Comenius and Hartlib

Eleven Andreae CosmoXenus
De Christiani Cosmoxeni genitura iudicium
Chymische Hochzeit: Christiani Rosenkreuz. Anno 1459
Turris Babel sive judiciorum de Fraternitate Rosaceae Crucis chaos
Mythologiae Christianae sive virtutem et vitiorum vitae humanae imaginum libri tres
Institutio pro magica curiosis (Education for those curious about magic)
The Societas Christiana

Twelve The Rose Cross in Britain
Andreae's Image of the Christian Society in England
Rosicrucians Are Crazy
Fasciculus chemicus
The Philosopher's Stone Revealed
The Way to Bliss
Poor Robin's Intelligence
Robert Samber and a Lost Rosicrucian Free Masonry
Conclusion

Thirteen The Revenge of the Curiosi
What Is a Rosicrucian?

Fourteen The Invisible House
The Enlightenment

Fifteen The Age of Reason
Samuel Richter
Hermann Fictuld
Dom Antoine-Joseph Pernety
The Masonic Eighteenth-Degree Rose Croix
Martinès de Pasqually
Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund
Jean-Baptiste Willermoz
Louis Claude de St.-Martin
Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen and Bernhard Joseph Schleis von Löwenfeld
Alchemy Among the Gold- und Rosenkreuzer
Social Idealism
Nikolay Ivanovich Novikov

Sixteen The Age of Progress
Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat
Antoine Fabre d'Olivet
Joseph Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre
Paschal Beverley Randolph
The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Stanislas, Marquis de Guaïta; Joseph-Aimé (Joséphin) Péladan; Gérard-Anaclet-Vincent Encausse, or "Papus"

Seventeen The Age of…