by Diane Hodge

Created on: May 25, 2008

THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER EXPLAINED

My article on the Rosicrucian Order will focus exclusively on the AMORC, whose Supreme Grand Lodge was in San Jose California at one time and is now in Lachute, Quebec in Canada, because while I know that several groups have the word Rosicrucian in their names, my affiliation since 1971 has been with the Rosicrucian Order AMORC.

The teachings that form the basis of AMORC have been around in some form or another since Ancient Egypt, they do not belong to any particular group, since truth is universal and eternal.

The teachings are divided into degrees, each degree concentrating on a different subject. AMORC is not a religion, but has members of all religions and some with no religions.
The Order is divided according to language. In other words, there are English speaking Grand Lodges, a French speaking Grand Lodge, a Japanese speaking Grand Lodge and so on. There are about a dozen Grand Lodges at present. I say about because AMORC is expanding rapidly in Eastern Europe, where the teachings have only been able to be sent since the fall of Communism and new Grand Lodges will eventually be created for those countries.

Rather than saying that the Order is secret, we say it is private, since knowledge is power, and AMORC does have a lot of knowledge, it is dispensed in a particular manner, and all are asked to follow the same teaching. You are always told to test for yourself whatever is presented to you and to accept nothing without having tested it for yourself. To be a "walking question mark" is part of the AMORC student's make up.

It is true that the teachings are spread out over at least three decades, something that not everybody is willing to maintain, however, for those who persevere, it is worth it. We learn about man, about nature, about the universe, in fact, we learn about everything.

In the Order there is no discrimination, whether of race, age, sex or religion. No one is given any preference over one another; however what one does is recognized.

No Order or group will appeal to everyone on earth, and AMORC does not expect this. It is a very rigorous training, and does show you what the human being is capable of, even if this lifetime we do not attain it. We need time to undo the things that need to be changed and this can take several lifetimes. For each 100 people who join the Order no more than 10 remain and of those ten not all persevere.

This article was written by me as a Rosicrucian member, not as an official statement of what Rosicrucianism is.

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