Esoteric Christianity Part 2:

 The Rosy Cross and The Holy Guardian Angel:

“Do what thou will shall be the whole of the Law.”

Although the Rosy Cross is certainly not a Christian symbol it has often been misinterpreted as such, there also are no bona fide Rosicrucian orders who call themselves the Rosicrucians. In fact, anyone can be a Rosicrucian if such a person has attained to a sufficient level of spiritual awakening and anyone who claims to be one is lying or simply doesn’t understand what the word means. However, the term Rosicrucian implies that one adheres to a specific philosophical perspective and that is the perspective of the White School of Magick, wherein The Great Work is the aim and ultimate goal of the aspirant.

Most who follow the path of Rosicrucianism, do it within a student teacher framework, this was the case with famous Rosicrucians, such as Rudolph Steiner and Pascal Beverly Randolph, both of whom to my knowledge never divulged the names of their Masters as they called them or the methods and teachings they received and both of whom were also members of the OTO, which Crowley also was a member of, and both of whom achieved the Great Work proving their success. They were indeed what we may consider bona fide Rosicrucians, even though neither were ever members of AMORC… Then there is Aleister Crowley, a man with very particular philosophic insights that these two men more than likely didn’t share and both in stark contrast to Crowley, masked the true meaning of their teachings within the framework of Christian Esotericism. There is no need for that sort of nonsense today, as the slave gods have been overthrown and so has the interpretation of the Rosy Cross and the means to its attainment. Aleister Crowley too was a bona fide Rosicrucian and also the wickedest man alive, as per a popular newspaper article written about him. As such, we may infer, that the attainment does not hinge on Christian precepts of moral dogma, but that anyone may attain, if given the right instructions.

The symbol of the Rosy Cross is a 22 petaled rose placed in the middle of a cross, this is a symbol of raising our consciousness in a vertical line to become one with our Holy Guardian Angels. Basically the 22 petaled rose is the Heart and Soul of the Adept, that through an act of Love under Will has achieved union with the divine and has become one with the universal mind that pervades the cosmos, thereby the attainment is concerned with Universal Love or Agape. Aleister Crowley said and I’m paraphrasing, that once conversation with one’s angel is attained, it is felt as a tremor throughout the universe. In Esoteric Christianity this is called awakening Christ Consciousness and is paralleled by the Sankharas of Love, Compassion and Detachment in Buddhism, as per the nature of the attainment. It is said these acts of selfless devotion then take on a life of their own, after the attainment they become alive in the heart of the aspirant awakening him to a new sense of wholeness, as the magician’s heart is ripped open to accommodate this influx of Divine Light. Once a magician attains Knowledge and Conversation with his Holy Guardian Angel his true being is exposed and he realizes his True Will, that which he was born to do and who he truly is, his whole being is laid bare. The 22 petals, therefore, represent the 22 paths on the Tree of Life making the Rosy Cross a qabalistic symbol of uniting the Microcosm with the Macrocosm, as the points of the cross have the markings of the elements giving it the name of the Cross of the Elements. This union is also reflected at Tiphareth on the Tree of Life, or the sphere of the sun, also known as the sphere of Beauty. This Sephirah can be seen as separating the top part of the tree from the lower part and is thus reflective of the attainment.

So, the triune constitution of man is a Rosicrucian doctrine that may be found in the writings and theories of all who adhere to this school of thought. This constitution being Matter, Soul and Spirit. The Soul which is created through occult work is that which binds the world of matter and spirit together and it is this vehicle that becomes a receptacle for Divine inspiration and in Christian parlance wherein the Christ is awakened (Christ Consciousness is achieved or Knowledge and Conversation with one’s Holy Guardian Angel is attained). This awakening is presented on the Tree of Life as the grades within the Ethical Triad or the grades of Adepthood, Aleister Crowley called these Grades the Order of the Rosy Cross. This attainment is only possible, if an aspirant has sufficiently built up his psychospiritual faculties to withstand the pressure of being that high up on the Tree of Life. Making it the aim of occult orders to serve as schools that may guide all sincere seekers towards this attainment. It must certainly be heeded that occult knowledge throughout the centuries have been kept out of the hands of the profane for good reason, however today we are living in strange times where one may learn how to do back flips in a day by watching a YouTube video. But by doing a backflip incorrectly, I may only break my neck…

Sadly, we may never know who the Rosicrucians are or were. The only yardstick that we have to judge them by is the work that they have done for the benefit of humanity. Most of these great men were not recognized for their greatness in their own life times, although some were, and such are the likes of people like Aleister Crowley and Rudolph Steiner, the former having had mixed reviews. This then is the aim of the Western Esoteric Tradition; to be immortalized through that work which an Adept produces for the benefit of mankind and the preservation of the Western Mystery Tradition and this is what is known as the Great Work.

“Love is the law, love under will.”