LOUIS D’ESTISSAC II
The first of the three panels separated by the caryatids, the one on the left, exhibits a central
flower, our hermetic rose, two comb-type shells, known as merelles de Compostelle (1), and
two human heads, one of a very old man at the bottom, the other of a cherub at the top. We
uncover here a formal indication of the materials we need for the Work and the result the
artist should expect therefrom. The old man’s mask is the emblem of the primary mercurial
substance to which, say the philosophers, all metals owe their origin. "You must know",
writes Limojon de Saint-Didier (2), "that our old man is our mercury; that the name suits it
because it is the raw matter of all metals; the Cosmopolite says it is their water, and gives it
the name of steel and magnet, and he adds, to further confirm what I have just uncovered for
you: Si undecies coit aurum cum eo, emittit suum semen, et debilitatur fere ad mortem usque;
concipit chalybs, et generat filium patre clariorem" (3).
On the west portal of the Chartres Cathedral, we admire a very beautiful 12th century statue
where the same esotericism is so luminously expressed. It is a tall old man of stone, crowned
and haloed --- which already signifies his hermetic personality --- draped in the ample mantle
of the philosopher. In his right hand he holds a zither (4). In his left hand he raises a bulging
phial somewhat like the pilgrims’ calabash. Standing between the posts of a throne, he
tramples underfoot two intertwined human-headed monsters, one of which has wings and bird
feet (Plate XIV). These monsters represent the raw bodies whose decomposition and
assemblage into another form of volatile quality provides the secret substance we call mercury
and that suffices to single-handedly accomplish the entire work. The calabash, which contains
the beverage of the peregrinator, is the image of the dissolving qualities of the mercury,
cabalistically called pilgrim or traveler. In the motifs of our fireplace, the same is represented
by the scallop shells (5), also used as, and called holy-water basins, because therein is kept
holy or blessed water, qualifications which the ancients applied to mercurial water. Here, in
addition to the purely chemical meaning, the two shells, still teach the seeker that the regular
and natural proportion demands two parts of the dissolving agent for one of the fixed body.
From this operation, accomplished according to the art, arises a new, regenerated body, of a
volatile nature, evoked by the cherub or angel (6) who dominates the composition. Thus, the
death of the old man gives birth to the child, and ensures its vitality. Philalethes advises us
that in order to achieve the goal we must kill the living so as to resuscitate the dead. "By
taking", he says, "the gold, which is dead, and the water, which is living, we form a
compound in which, after a brief decoction, the gold seed becomes alive while the living
mercury is killed. The spirit coagulates with the body and the two putrefy forming a silt-like
substance, until the constituent parts of the compound are reduced to atoms. Such is the nature
of our Magistery" (7). This double substance, this perfectly matured, augmented and multiplied
compound becomes the agent of the marvelous transformations which characterize the
philosophers’ stone, rosa hermetica. The rose is sometimes white, sometimes red, depending
on the ferment, silver or gold, which serves to orient our first stone. Flamel describes for us
the two philosophers’ flowers, blooming on the same rosebush, Flamel describes for us in his
Book of Hieroglyphic Figures. They similarly embellish the title page of Mutus Liber, and are
seen blooming in a crucible, on the Gobille engraving illustrating the twelfth key of Basil
Valentine. It is known that the celestial Virgin wears a crown of white roses and it is also
known that the red rose is the signature reserved to the initiates of the higher order, the Rose
Cross (8). Finally, explaining this term Rose Cross will allow us to complete the description of
the first panel.
Apart from the alchemical symbolism whose meaning is even quite clear, we unveil in this
panel another hidden element, relating to the high rank occupied, in the initiatory hierarchy,
by the man to whom we owe the motifs of this hieroglyphic architecture. The fact that Louis
d’Estissac had conquered the title par excellence of hermetic nobility is beyond doubt. The
central rose in fact appears in the center of the St Andrew cross, formed by the rising of stone
bandelettes which we can assume had previously covered and enclosed it. It is the great
symbol of manifested light (9), which is indicated by the Greek letter X (khi), initial of the
words [*197-1] (Chone), [*197-2] (Chrysos), and [*197-3] (Chronos), crucible, gold, and
time, triple unknown of the Great Work. The cross of St Andrew ([*197-4] --- Chiasma), in
the shape of an X, is the hieroglyph of luminous and divergent radiations, emanated from a
unique fire/center, reduced to its simplest expression. Therefore, it is clearly the graphic of the
spark. Its radiation can be multiplied, but it is impossible to further simplify it. These
intersecting lines produce the diagram of the shining of stars, of the radiating dispersion of all
that shines, lightens and irradiates. Thus it has been made the seal, the mark of illumination,
and, in a wider sense, of spiritual revelation. The Holy Spirit is always perpendicular to its
body, that is to say, in a cross. For the Greek cross and that of St Andrew have in hermetics an
exactly similar meaning. One frequently encounters the image of the dove completed by a
halo which specifies the hidden meaning, as can be seen in the religious scenes of our
Primitives and in a number of purely alchemical sculptures (10). The Greek X and the French
X represent the writing of light by light itself, the trail of its passage, the manifestation of its
movement, the affirmation of its reality. It is its true signature. Until the 12th century, no
other mark was used to authenticate old charters; from the 15th century on, the cross became
the signature of illiterates. In Rome, auspicious days were signed with a white cross and
unfavorable ones with a black cross. It is the complete number of the Work, because unity, the
two natures, the three principles, and the four elements give the double quintessence, the two
Vs joined in the Roman cipher X for the number ten. The number is the foundation of the
Pythagorean Cabala, or of the universal language, whose curious paradigm can be seen on the
last page of a little alchemy book (11). Bohemians used the cross or the X as a sign of
recognition. Guided by this graphic traced on a tree or on some wall, they still camp exactly
on the spot occupied by their predecessors near the sacred symbol which they call Patria. One
could believe this word to be of Latin origin and apply to the nomads this maxim which the
cats --- living objects of art --- strive to practice: Patria est ubicumque est bene --- wherever
we are comfortable, there is our country; but their emblem refers to a Greek word [*198-1]
(Patria), with the meaning of family, tribe, race. The cross of the Gypsies or Romanies
therefore indicates the place of refuge assigned to a tribe. Furthermore, almost all meanings
revealed by the sign X have a transcendent or mysterious value, and this fact is singular. In
algebra, X is the unknown quantity; it is also the problem to be solved, the solution to be
discovered; it is the Pythagorean sign of multiplication, and the element to cast out the nines
in arithmetic; it is the popular symbol of mathematics in what concerns higher or abstract
development. It characterizes that which, generally is excellent, useful, remarkable ([*198-2] -
-- Chresimos). In that sense, and in the slang of students, it serves to single out the French
Polytechnic School (12) by securing the superiority that the "taupins and dear comrades" (13) of
that school would not permit to be discussed or disputed. The best pupils, candidates to the
school, are united in each promotion or "taupe", by a cabalistic formula composed of an X
whose opposite angles the chemical symbols of sulphur and potassium hydrate are written:
SXKOH. This is pronounced, in slang of course, "souffre et potasse pour l’X" (14). The X is
the emblem of measure ([*199-1] --- metron), taken in all its meanings: dimension, area,
space, duration, rule, law, boundary or limit. For this occult reason, the international standard
of the meter, made of platino-iridium and kept in the pavilion of Breteuil in Sevres, has the
shape of an X in its cross-section (15). All bodies of nature, all beings either in their structure
or in their appearance, abide by this fundamental law of radiation, all are subjected to this
measure. The canon of the Gnostics applies this measure to the human body (16); and Jesus
Christ, spirit incarnate, St Andrew, and St Peter, personify its glorious and painful image.
Have we not noticed that the aerial organs of vegetables --- be they lofty trees or tiny herbs ---
show along with their roots the characteristic divergence of the branches of the X? In what
manner do flowers bloom? Section vegetable leaves, leafstalks, nervures, etc., examine the
cross-sections under a microscope and you will observe, with your own eyes, the most
brilliant, the most marvelous confirmation of this divine will. Diatoms, sea urchins, starfish
are other examples; but, without looking any further, open an edible shellfish --- be it cockle,
conch, scallop --- and the two valves opened flat will show you convex surfaces endowed
with grooves in the double fan shape of the mysterious X. Its whiskers gave the cat its name
(17); we do not doubt that they hide a meaning of high degree of knowledge and that this
gracious feline owes the honor of being raised to the rank of Egyptian deities to this secret
reason. Speaking of cats, many among us remember the famous Chat-Noir (Black Cat) (18),
which was so popular under Rodolphe Salis’ management; but how many knew what sort of
esoteric and political center was concealed there, what international masonry was hidden
behind the ensign of the artistic cabaret? On the one hand the talent of a fervent, idealistic
youth made up of aesthetes seeking glory, carefree, blind, and incapable of suspicion; on the
other, the confidences of a mysterious science mixed up with obscure diplomacy, a two-faced
tableau deliberately exhibited in a medieval framework. The enigmatic tableau deliberately
exhibited in a medieval framework. The enigmatic "tournee des grands ducs" (19) signified by
a cat with scrutinizing eyes under its black coat, with its rigid, disproportionate X-shaped
whiskers, and whose heraldic posture gave to the wings of Montmartre mill a symbolic value
equal to its own (20), was not a pleasure outing for princes! Whether held by the god’s hands,
trampled underfoot by him or whether bursting out of the eagle’s claws, Zeus’ lightning bolts,
which make Olympus tremble and scatter terror among mythological humanity, do espouse
the graphic shape of radiation. It is the translation of celestial fire or terrestrial fire, of
potential or virtual fire which composes or disintegrates, engenders or kills, vivifies or
disrupts. Son of the sun which generates it, servant of man who liberate and feeds it, divine
fire, downfallen, imprisoned in heavy matter in order to determine its evolution and orient its
redemption, is Jesus on his cross, image of the igneous, luminous and spiritual radiation
incarnate in all things. It is the Agnus (lamb) sacrificed since the beginning of the world and it
is also Agni, Vedic god of fire (21), but is the Lamb of God bears the cross on his banderole
just as Jesus bears it on hi shoulder, if he supports it with his foot, it is because he has the sign
of it inlaid in his very foot: image outside, reality inside (22). Whoever receives in this way the
celestial spirit of the sacred fire, who bears it within himself and is marked by its sign, has
nothing to fear from elemental fire. These elects, disciples of Elias and children of Helios,
modern crusaders having for guide the star of their elders, go for the same conquest with the
same cry of God wills it! (23).
This higher and spiritual force, acting mysteriously amidst concrete substance, compels
crystal to take its form and its immutable characteristics; it is this force which is its pivot, its
axis, its generating energy, its geometric will. And this configuration, varying infinitely,
though always based on the cross, is the first manifestation of organized form, by
condensation and embodiment of light, soul, or fire. Owing to their same arrangements, spider
webs old back gnats, nets catch fish, birds, and butterflies without hurting them, fabrics
become translucent, wire gauze cuts off flames and oppose the inflammation of gases.
Finally, in space and time, the same immense ideal cross divides the 24 centuries of the cyclic
year ([*201-1] --- Chiliarmos), and separates the 24 elders of the Apocalypse into four groups
of ages, of whom twelve sing the praises of God, while the other twelve bemoan the downfall
of man.
How many unsuspected truths remain hidden in the simple sign that Christians renew every
day on their own person without always understanding its meaning nor its hidden virtue! "For
the word of the cross is folly for those who go astray; but for those who save themselves, that
is to say for us, it is the instrument of God’s power. This is why it is written: 'I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. What has
become of the wise? What has become of the doctors of law? What has become of those
spirits interested in the knowledge of this age? Has God not proved the wisdom of this world
to be foolishness?’" (24).
How many more know about it than the wild ass which saw the birth of the humble God-
Child in Bethlehem, transported him, triumphant, to Jerusalem, and received as a memento of
the King of Kings the magnificent black cross that it bears on its back? (25).
In the alchemical domain, the Greek cross and the cross of St Andrew have come meaning
that the artist must know. These graphic symbols, reproduced on a great number of
manuscripts, and which are in certain texts the object of a special nomenclature, represent
among the Greeks and their medieval successors, the crucible of fusion that potters always
marked with a small cross (crucibulum), sign of good make and of tested solidity. The Greeks
also used a similar sign to indicate an earthenware matrass. We know that this vessel was
destined for coction and we think that, because of its very material, its usage must have
differed little from that of a crucible. Moreover, the word matrass, used in the same sense in
the 13th century, comes from the Greek [*202-1], (metra) matrix, a word equally used by
puffers and applied to the secret vase serving in the maturation of the compound. Nicolas
Grosparmy, Norman Adept of the 15th century, gives an illustration of this spherical utensil,
laterally tabulated, which he also calls matrix. Furthermore, the X denotes sal ammoniac of
the sages or salt of Ammon ([*202-2] --- ammoniakos), in other words, salt of the Ram (26),
which was formerly written, more accurately, harmoniac, because it realizes the harmony
([*202-3] --- assembling), the agreement of water with fire, because it is the mediator par
excellence between heaven and earth, the spirit and the body, the volatile and the fixed. It is
also the Sign, without any other qualification, the seal that reveals to man the intrinsic virtues
of the prime philosophical substance through certain superficial lineaments. Finally, the X is
the Greek hieroglyph for glass, purest of all matters, affirms the masters of the art, and the one
nearest to perfection.
We believe we have sufficiently demonstrated the significance of the cross, the depth of its
esotericism, and its predominance in symbolism in general (27). As far as the practical
realization of the Work is concerned, it certainly offers no less value or teaching. It is the first
key, the most considerable and most secret of all the ones that can open the sanctuary of
nature to man. This key always appears in visible characters, outlined by nature herself,
obedient to the divine will on the cornerstone of the Work, which is also the fundamental
stone of the Church and Christian Truth. And so in religious iconography, a key is given to St
Peter as his particular virtue, allowing us to distinguish him among the apostles of Christ as
the one who was the humble fisherman Simon (cabalistically, [*205-1] --- C-monos --- the
only ray) and who was to become his earthly spiritual representative after the death of the
Savior. We find him represented in that same manner on a very beautiful 16th century statue
sculpted in oak wood and kept in the Church of St Etheldreda in London (Plate XV). St Peter,
standing up, holds a key and displays the Veronica, a peculiarity which makes this remarkable
image a unique work of exceptional interest. From the hermetic standpoint, symbolism is
certainly doubly expressed thereon, since the meaning of the key is repeated in the Holy Face,
miraculous seal of our stone. Furthermore, the Veronica is here presented to us as a veiled
replica of the cross, major emblem of Christianity and signature of the sacred Art. In fact, the
word veronica does not come from the Latin vera iconica (true and natural image) --- which
teaches us nothing --- as certain authors claimed, but from the Greek [*205-2] (pherenikos),
he who procures victory (from [*205-3] --- phere --- to bear, produce, and [*205-4] --- nike --
- victory). Such is the meaning of the Latin inscription: In signo vinces, "You will vanquish
by this sign", placed under the Christ monogram of the labarum of Constantine, which
corresponds to the Greek formula [*205-5] (En totu nike). The sign of the cross, monogram of
Christ, of which the X of St Andrew and the key of St Peter are two replicas of equal esoteric
value, is indeed the very mark capable of assuring victory by the sure identification of the
unique substance exclusively assigned to the philosophical labor.
St Peter holds the keys of Paradise, although only one is sufficient to insure access to the
celestial dwelling. But the first key becomes two, and these two intercrossed symbols, one of
silver, the other of gold, constitute, with the triple crown, the arms of the sovereign pontiff,
heir of Peter’s throne. The cross of the Son of Man, reflected in the keys of the Apostle,
reveals to men of good will the arcane of universal science and the treasures of the hermetic
art. It alone allows him who possesses its meaning, to open the gate of the closed garden of
Hesperides and to pick, without fear for his salvation, the Rose of Adepthood.
From what we have said about the cross and the rose, its center, or more exactly, its heart ---
this bleeding heart, radiant and glorious of Christ-matter --- it is easy to infer that Louis
d’Estissac bore the high title of Rose Cross, mark of higher initiation, brilliant testimony of a
positive science made concrete in the substantial reality of the absolute.
Nevertheless, if no one could deny our Adept the grade of Rose Cross, one should not deduce
from this fact that he belonged to the hypothetical brotherhood of the same name. To so
conclude would be to commit an error. It is important to know how to discern the two Rose
Crosses so as not to confuse the true with the false.
We will probably never know what obscure reason guided Valentin Andraea, or rather the
German author called by this pseudonym, when he had the pamphlet entitled Fama
Fraternitatis Rosae-Crucis printed in FrankfurtOder, around 1614. Perhaps he was pursuing a
political motive, either attempting to counterbalance, through a fictitious occult power, the
authority of the Masonic lodges of his time, or wanting to provoke the grouping of the Rose
Crosses who were disseminated everywhere into one single fraternity, depository of all their
secrets. However it may be, if the Manifesto of the brotherhood was unable to realize any of
its objectives, it still contributed to spread among the public news of an unknown sect,
endowed with the most extravagant attributions. According to the testimony of Valentin
Andrae, its members, bound by an inviolable oath and submitted to a severe discipline,
possessed all the riches and power to accomplish all marvels. They called themselves
invisible, claimed they could make gold, silver, precious stones; cure paralytics, the blind, the
deaf, all the contagious, and the incurables. They pretended to possess the means to prolong
human life beyond its natural limits, to converse with higher and elementals spirits; to
discover even the most hidden things, etc. Such a display of prodigies had to strike the
imagination of the masses and justify the assimilation which was soon made of the Rose
Crosses, thus introduced, with magicians, sorcerers, Satanists, and necromancers (28). A rather
disobliging reputation which they shared, moreover, in certain provinces with the Freemasons
themselves. Let us add that the latter had hastened to adopt and introduce into their hierarchy
this new title out of which they made a rank without attempting to know its symbolic
significance or its true origin (29).
In short, the mystical fraternity, in spite of the voluntary affiliation of a few learned
personalities whose good faith was taken by surprise by the Manifesto, never existed
anywhere else than in the desire of its author. It is a fable and nothing more. As for the
Masonic rank, it also has no philosophical significance whatsoever. Finally, if we mention,
without entering them, those little chapels where one get lazily promoted under the Rose
Cross banner, we will have uncovered the diverse modalities of the apocryphal Rose Cross.
Moreover, we will not maintain that Valentin Andraea exaggerated much the extraordinary
virtues that certain philosophers, more enthusiastic than sincere, give to the Universal
Medicine. If he attributes to the brothers what could only belong to the Magistery, at least we
find therein the proof that his conviction was based upon the reality of the stone. Further, his
pseudonym clearly shows that he knew quite well what part of occult truth entered into the
symbol of the cross and the rose, the emblem used by the ancient magi and known by all
antiquity. To such an extent that after reading the Manifesto, we are led to see there a mere
alchemical treatise, whose interpretation is neither more difficult nor less expressive than so
many other writings of the same nature. The tomb of the Knight Christian Rosenkreuz (the
Christian and Rosicrucian cabalist) presents a singular identity with the allegorical cave,
furnished with a chest of lead, which is inhabited by the fearsome guardian of the hermetic
treasure (30), that fierce genie whom the Songe Verd (Green Dream) calls Seganissegede (31). A
light emanating from a golden sun lights the cave and symbolizes the incarnate spirit, divine
spark imprisoned in things, already discussed. Enclosed in the tomb are the numerous secrets
of wisdom and this cannot come as a surprise since, the principles of the Work being perfectly
known, the analogy naturally leads us to the discovery of connected truths and facts.
A more detailed analysis of this booklet would teach us nothing new except for a few
indispensable conditions of prudence, discipline, and silence for the use of Adepts; judicious
advice undoubtedly, but superfluous. True Rose Cross, the only ones who are worthy of
bearing this title and provide the material proof of their science, have no need of it. Living
isolated in their austere retreats, they do not fear ever being known, not even by their brothers.
A few, nevertheless, occupied important positions: d’Espagnet, Jacques Couer, Jean
Lallemant, Louis d’Estissac, the Count de St Germain are among those; but they knew how to
mask the origin of their fortune so skillfully that no one was able to recognize the Rose Cross
under the features of the gentleman. Which biographer would dare to certify that Philalethes --
-this friend of truth --- was the pseudonym of the nobleman Thomas Vaughan, and that under
the epithet of Sethon (the wrestler) was hidden an illustrious member of a powerful Scottish
family, the Lords of Winton? By attributing this strange and paradoxical privilege of
invisibility to the brothers, Valentin Andraea recognizes the impossibility of identifying them,
much as great lords traveling incognito in private dress and carriage. They are invisible
because unknown. Nothing characterizes them except modesty, simplicity, and tolerance,
virtues that are generally scorned in our conceited civilization prone to the ridiculous
exaggeration of personality.
Besides these highborn men we have just mentioned, how many other scientists preferred to
bear their Rosicrucian dignity without pomp, living among the working people in a voluntary
mediocrity, and the daily practice of professions without nobility! Such is the case of a socalled
Leriche, a humble blacksmith, unknown Adept and possessor of the hermetic gem. This
gentleman of an exceptional modesty would have been forever unknown if Cambriel (32) had
not taken the trouble to name him, telling in detail what he did to bring back to life the young
man from Lyon, Candy, an 18-year old whom a lethargic attack was about to kill (1774).
Leriche shows us what the true sage must be and how he must live. If all Rosicrucians had
maintained themselves in this prudent reserve, if they had observed the same discretion, we
would not have to deplore the loss of so many quality artists, carried away by blundering zeal,
blind faith, or pushed by the irresistible need to attract attention. This conceited desire for
glory led Jean du Chatelet, baron of Beausoleil, to the Bastille prison in 1640, where he died
five years later; Paykul, a Livonian (33) philosopher, transmutes before the Senate of
Stockholm and is condemned to be beheaded by Charles XII; Vinache, man of the lower
class, knowing neither how to read nor write, but on the other hand knowing the great Work
down to its smallest details, also painfully expiates his insatiable taste for luxury and
notoriety. It is to him that Rene Voyer de Paulmy d’Argenson appeals to manufacture the gold
which the financier Samuel Bernard intends for the payment of the debts of France. Once the
operation is finished, Paulmy d’Argenson, in gratefulness for his faithful services, captures
Vinache on February 17, 1704, throws him in the Bastille, and has his throat cut March 19th,
coming in person to make sure that the murder has been executed, and then has him
clandestinely buried March 22nd around six at night under the name of Etienne Durand, age
60 --- when Vinache was actually only 38 --- and completes his crime by publishing that he
died of a stroke! (34). Who then, after reading this, would find it strange that alchemists refuse
to reveal their secrets and dared to prefer to remain shrouded in mystery and silence?
The pretended Brotherhood of the Rose Cross never had any social existence. Adepts bearing
this title are only brothers through knowledge and the success of their work. No oath compels
them, no statute binds them together, no rule apart from the hermetic discipline, freely
accepted, voluntarily observed, influences their free will. All that could have been written or
related according to the legend attributed to the theologian de Cawle is apocryphal and worthy
at most of feeding the romantic imagination of a Bulwer Lytton. The Rose Cross did not know
one another; they had neither meeting place nor headquarters, nor temple, ritual, or external
mark of recognition. They did not pay dues and would never have accepted the title given to
some brothers, of Knights of the Stomach since banquets were unknown to them. They were
and still are isolated workers dispersed throughout the world, "cosmopolitan" searchers in the
narrowest meaning of the word. Since the Adepts do not recognize any hierarchic grade, it
follows that the Rose Cross is not a rank but the sole consecration of their secret works, that
of experience, positive enlightenment, whose existence had been revealed to them by strong
faith. True, some masters were able to assemble young aspirants around them and accepted
the mission of counseling them, directing them, orienting their efforts and creating some
small, sometimes recognized, often mysterious, initiation centers whose souls they were. But
we certify --- and very pertinent reasons allow us to say so --- that there has never been
among the possessors of the title any other connection but that of scientific truth confirmed by
the acquisition of the stone. If the Rose Cross are brothers through discovery, work, and
science, brothers through acts and works, it is in the manner of the philosophical concept
which considers all human beings members of the same human family.
In summary, the great classical authors who taught the precepts of our philosophy and the
arcane of the art in their literary or artistic works, those also who left irrefutable proofs of
their mastery, all are brothers of the true Rose Cross. And it is to these learned people,
famous, unknown, that the anonymous translator of a famous book (35) addresses himself
when he says in his Preface: "As it is only by the cross that the true faithful must be tried, it is
to you Brothers of the true Rose Cross, who possess all the treasures of the world, that I am
appealing. I defer entirely to your pious and wise advice; I know that it can be but good,
because I know how gifted you are with virtue above the rest of men. As you are the
dispensers of Science, and that consequently I owe you what I know, if I may say that I know
something, I want things to return whence they came (according to the institution that God
established in Nature). 'Ad locum', says the Preacher, 'unde exeunt flumina revertuntur, ut
iteru fluant': 'All is yours, all comes from you, and so all will return to you".
May the reader excuse us for this digression which led us farther than we wished. But it
seemed necessary to us to clearly establish what is the true and traditional hermetic Order of
the Rose Cross, to isolate it from other common groups placed under the same banner (36), and
to allow to single out the rare initiates from the imposters who draw vanity from a title whose
acquisition they could not justify.
(1) Scallop shells. In French the name relates to St James of Compostella --- see Translator’s
note.
(2) Lettre aux Vrays Disciples d’Hermes (Letter to the True Disciples of Hermes), in the
Triomphe Hermetique (Hermetic Triumph).
(3) "If gold is joined eleven times with her (the water), it emits its seed and becomes
debilitated to the point of death; then the seed conceives and engenders a son, clearer than its
father".
(4) It isn’t rare to find alchemy characterized as the Art of Music in medieval texts. This name
is the motif of the effigy of the two musicians who can be noticed among the balasters
completing the upper story of the Manor of the Salamander at Lisieux. We have also seen
them reproduced on the house of Adam and Eve at Le Mans, and we can again find them in
the Cathedral of Amiens (the kings-musicians of the high gallery), as well as in the dwelling
of the counts of Champagne, commonly called house of the musicians in Reims. In the
beautiful plates illustrating the Ampitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae of Heinrich Khunrath
(1610), there is one representing the interior of a sumptuous laboratory; in the middle of this
laboratory there is a table covered with musical instruments and many musical scores. The
Greek word [*194-1] (musikos) has for root [*194-2] (mythos), fable, apologue, allegory,
which also means spirit, the hidden meaning of a tale.
(5) See Translator's note.
(6) In Greek [*194-3] (aggelos), angel, also means messenger, a position which the divinities
of Mt Olympus had reserved for Hermes.
(7) Philalethes: Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium, in Langlet-Dufresnoy, Histoire
de la Philosophie hermetique (History of Hermetic Philosophy), Paris, Coustelier, 1742, vol.
II, ch. 13, 20.
(8) Translator’s Note: The author uses the adjective Rose Cross instead of Rosicrucian and
explains why further on.
(9) The symbol of light is found in the visual organ of man, window of the soul opened onto
nature. It is the X-shaped crossing of bands and the optic nerves which anatomists call
chiasma (from Greek [*197-4] --- chiasma, disposed as a cross, root [*197-5] --- chiazo, to
cross in X). The intercrossed wicker of chairs led to the name of Cayelles ([*197-6], ray of
light) in the dialect of Picardie.
(10) The ceiling of Lallemant’s house in Bourges offers a remarkable example of this image.
(11) La Clavicle de la Science Hermetique (The Clavicle of Hermetic Science), written by an
inhabitant of the north during his leisure hours, 1732; Amsterdam, Pierre Mortier, 1751.
(12) Translator’s note: Famous French engineering school known as the X
(13) Translator’s note: Each promotion is referred to as taupe (mole in English), and the
students of a promotion are called taupin.
(14) Translator’s note: Literally sulphur and potash for X, but in French slang it means "suffer
and swot up for the school".
(15) We are not speaking here of the copy #8 kept in the Conservatory of Arts and Professions
in Paris, which is the legal standard, but of the international prototype.
(16) Leonardo da Vinci used and taught it, transporting it from the mystical domain to that of
aesthetic morphology.
(17) X, the Song of Light. The Picard dialect, guardian of the traditions of the sacred language
like the Provencal, has kept in English the hard primitive ka to designate the cat (chat in
French).
(18) Translator’s note: Very famous cabaret in Montmartre in the 19th century.
(19) Translator’s note: Literally, "the round of the grand dukes", which means in French
slang: to go out on a spree.
(20) Rodolphe Salis imposed on the artist Steinlein, author of the vignette, the image of the
Mill of the Galette, that of the cat as well as the color of the coat, the eyes, and the geometric
straightness of the whiskers. The cabaret of the Black Cat, founded in 1881, disappeared at
the death of its creator in 1897.
(21) The Hindu swastika, or in French croix grammee, cross with branches in the shape of a
gamma g, is the sign of divine, immortal, and pure spirit, the symbol of life and fire and not,
as people wrongly believe, a utensil designed to produce flame. [Translator’s note: This
material was written before the existence of Nazi Germany].
(22) Let us not be accused of leading our reader into useless and vain reveries. We assert that
we speak in a positive manner, and initiates will not be mistaken by it. Let us say this for the
others. Boil a sheep’s foot in water until the bones can be easily separated; you will find one
among them which bears a medial furrow on one side and separated; you will find one among
them which bears a medial furrow on one side and a Maltese Cross on the opposite side. This
signed bone is the true knucklebone of the Ancient; with it Greek youth played their favorite
game (similar to jacks). This bone was called [*201-2] (astragalos), word formed from [*201-
3] (aster, starfish, star of the sea, because of the radiating seal we are talking about, and of
[*201-4] (galos) used for [*201-5] (gala), milk, which corresponds to Virgin’s Milk (maris
stella) or Mercury of the Philosophers. We will avoid speaking about another etymology even
more revealing because we must obey philosophical discipline which forbids is from
unveiling the entire mystery. Our intention is therefore limited to awakening the sagacity of
the investigator, allowing him to acquire through personal effort that secret teaching whose
elements the most sincere authors have never wished to uncover. All their treatises being
achromatic, the hope of finding the least indication concerning the basis and foundation of the
art is useless. For this reason we are attempting as far as possible to render these sealed works
useful by supplying the matter which formerly constituted the first initiation, i.e., the verbal
revelation essential to understand them.
(23) A cabalistic expression holding the key to the hermetic mystery. Dieu le Veut (God wills
it) is taken for Dieu le Feu (God the Fire), which explains and justifies the badge adopted by
the crusader knights and its color: a red cross borne on the right shoulder.
(24) St Paul: I Corinthians 1:18-20
(25) This signature caused the donkey to be called St Christopher of Palm Sunday, because
Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, that very day when alchemists customarily begin
their Great Work.
(26) Ammon-Ra, the great solar divinity of the Egyptians, was normally represented with a
ram’s head, or, when he kept his human head, with spiral horns that originated above his ears.
This god, to whom the ram was sacrificed, had a colossal temple in Thebes (Karnak); one
entered it by following an avenue lined with crouching rams. Remember that the ram is the
image of the water of the sages, just as the solar disk, with or without the uraeus --- another
attribute of Ammon --- is that of the secret fire. Ammon, saline mediator, completes the trinity
of the principles of the Work, of which he realizes the concord, unity, and perfection it
realizes in the philosophers’ stone.
(27) So it is that Gothic cathedrals had their facades built according to the essential lines of
the alchemical symbol of spirit and that their floor plan is a copy of the imprint of the
redeeming cross. Inside they all show these bold interesting ribs in the form of crosses whose
invention properly belongs to the Freemasons, enlightened builders of the Middle Ages. So
that in the medieval temples the faithful find themselves situated between two crosses, one
lower and earthly on which they walk --- the image of their daily Calvary --- the other, higher
and celestial, towards which they aspire, but which only their eyes allow them to reach.
(28) Edouard Fournier, in his Enigmas des rues de Paris (Enigmas of the Streets of Paris),
1860, mentions "the Sabbath of the Rosicrucian Brothers" which took place in 1623 in the
country solitude of Menilmontant. On a note he adds: "In a booklet of the time, Effroyables
pactions (Awful pacts), etc., reproduced in vol. 9 of our Varieties Historiques et Litteraires
(Historical and Literary Varieties), it is said that they gathered 'sometimes in the Montmartre
quarries, sometimes along the springs of Belleville and there they set forth the lesson privately
before making them public'".
(29) The grade of Rose Cross is the eighth of the French Masonic rite and the eighteenth of
the Scottish rite.
(30) Cf. Azoth ou Moyen de faire l’Or cache des Philosophes (Azoth or the Means to Make
the Philosophers’ Hidden Gold); Paris, Pierre Molet, 1659.
(31) An anagram for Genie of the sages --- in French --- Genie des sages.
(32) See L.P.-Francois Cambriel: Cours de Philosophie Hermetique ou d’Alchimie, en dixneuf
lecons (Course in Hermetic Philosophy or Alchemy, in 19 Lessons); Paris, Lacour et
Maistrasse, 1843.
(33) Translator’s note: Livonia no longer exists today as a country; it was located between
today’s Estonia and Lithuania, and its capital was Riga.
(34) Un Mystere a la Bastille, Etienne Vinache, medecin empirique et alchimique (A Mystery
at the Bastille: Etienne Vinache, Empirical and Alchemical Doctor), by Dr Roger Goulard, of
Brie-Comte-Robert; Bulletin de la Societe d’Histoire de la Medicine (Bulletin of the French
Society of the History of Medicine), vol 14, no. 11 and 12.
(35) Le Texte d’Alchymie et le Songe Verd (Book of Alchemy and the Green Dream); Paris,
Laurent d’Houry, 1695. Preface, et seq.
(36) In the 19th century, two Rosicrucian Orders were created and quickly fell into oblivion:
(1) The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose Cross, founded by Stanislaus de Guaita; (2) The Order
of the Rose Cross of the Temple and the Grail, founded in Toulouse around 1850 by the
Viscount of Lapasse, spagyric physician, student of Prince Balbiani of Palermo, supposedly a
disciple of Cagliostro. Josephin Peladan, who gave himself the title of Sar, was one of the
aesthetic animators. This idealistic movement, lacking enlightened initiatic direction and a
solid philosophical basis, could only have a limited duration. The Rosicrucian Salon opened
its doors from 1892 to 1897 and then ceased to exist.
