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Thick Hardback – Barnes and Noble first edition 1993
Compared to the Freemasons with whom they are sometimes confused, Rosicrucians seem like explorers at the heart of a mystery. A secret, fraternal order devoted to occult studies, the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, as it is sometimes called, may well be both older and more doctrinally complex than its Masonic counterpart. Officially beginning in Germany around 1614, Rosicrucianism may have been several centuries older. Waite discusses the precursors of the movement -- some with legitimate claims, others not -- dating as far back as the first century A.D. Kabalists, alchemists, and mystics, such as Jacob Boehme, and Raymond Lully, are featured in Waite's discussion of the development of Rosicrucian symbolism, and the evolution of its notions of the origins of life and the substance of the soul. The bulk of the book, however, is devoted to the rising and falling fortunes of the Brotherhood since its formal entry into the world after the appearance of several pamphlets, written by Christian Rosenkruez (psuedonym of Johan Andrea, and origin of the name of the order) in the early 17th century.
