The Brothers of the Rose Cross
All those aspiring ones who align themselves, "in spirit and in truth," with The Rosicrucian Fellowship and its Teachings, place themselves within the sphere of the Illumined ones of the human race whom we speak of as the Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross. It is greatly to our advantage as spiritual aspirants to realize the full significance of this fact and endeavor zealously to reap the full benefit of such a wonderful privilege. We can help make ourselves more attractive to their assistance by taking time to meditate upon them and their humanitarian endeavors, to send them our gratitude and love, to rededicate ourselves to serving them in their constant efforts of uplifting humanity.
The Brothers of the Rose Cross are Adepts, being among those Compassionate Ones, who, through many lives, have unfolded their inner faculties to a very high degree by loving, self-forgetting service to the race. They have passed through all the Lesser and Greater Mystery Schools, thereby reaching a stage of evolution which frees them from all the ties to Earth. However, they have elected to stay here on Earth as helpers, each being given work according to his particular interest and bent.
These Hierophants of the Western Wisdom Teachings have forged a second spinal cord by drawing the lower love-ray of Venus upward and transmuting it to altruism, conquering for it the dominion over the sympathetic segment of the first spinal cord and the left cerebral hemisphere now ruled by the passionate Hierarchy of Mars, the Lucifer Spirits. Thus each Brother is a complete creative unit on both the spiritual and physical planes, able to use the bi-polar force (masculine and feminine) through the double spinal cord, illuminated and raise in potential energy by the spinal spirit fires of Neptune (Will) and Uranus (Love and Imagination). This creative energy conceives in the twin hemispheres of the cerebrum, ruled by Mars and Mercury, a vehicle fit for the expression of the Spirit, which is then sent out and objectified in the world by the spoken Creative Word. By means of this power he is able to perpetuate his physical existence and create a new body before he leaves the old one.
All of the Brothers have a material body, and they live in a house (in Germany) which appears to be the home of well-to-do but not ostentatious people. They hold offices of distinction in their community, but these positions are only for the purpose of giving a reason for their presence. Thus they avoid questions and suppositions as to what they are or what they are doing. Outside their house and through their house is what may be called the Temple. It is etheric and is different from our ordinary buildings, but may be likened to the auric atmosphere around the Pro-Ecclesia or Temple at Mt. Ecclesia, in Oceanside, California (2222 Mission Avenue), which is etheric and much larger than the buildings themselves. Such structures are around churches and other buildings where people are very spiritual and of course differ in color. The Rosicrucian Temple is superlative and not to be compared to anything else; it so permeates with spirituality the house in which the Elder Brothers live that most people wouldn't feel comfortable there.
Being able to control their actions and emotions, the Brothers save all unnecessary strain upon their bodies. They know the exact elements required to keep up their bodies. They know the exact elements required to keep up their bodies, and the proper proportions in which to take them. Thus they secure the maximum nutrition and a minimum of waste. For that reason they may keep their bodies in a state of youthful preservation and vigorous health for hundreds of years.
Lay brothers who have been connected with the Temple for twenty to forty years in this life have indicated that the Elder Brothers look just about the same today as they did thirty or forty years ago. Judging by the standards of ordinary men they seem now to be about forty years of age.
It has been said by some of the lay brothers that Christian Rosenkreuz is today using a body which has been preserved for several centuries. This may or may not be so, but our august leader is never seen by the lay brothers who gather at the Temple (etheric) for the midnight service. His presence is only felt and is the signal for beginning the work.
To trace the beginning of the Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order is as difficult as it is to find proof of the beginning of the first Manifestation of God. Since theirs is a work which aims to encourage the evolution of humanity, they have labored far back into antiquity--under one guise or another. We have historical proof, however, of the appearance as early as the thirteenth century of advanced teachings which were to prove as a bright star to many.
During the past few centuries the Brothers have worked for humanity in secret. Each night at midnight there is a service at the Temple where the Elder Brothers, assisted by the lay brothers who are able to leave their work in the world (for many of them reside in places where it is yet day when it is midnight in the location of the Temple of the Rose Cross), gather up from everywhere in the Western World the thoughts of sensuality, greed, selfishness and materialism. They seek to transmute into pure love, benevolence, altruism, and spiritual aspirations, sending them back to the world to uplift and encourage all Good. Were it not for this potent source of spiritual vibration, materialism must long ago have totally squelched all spiritual effort, for there has never been a darker age from the spiritual standpoint than the last three hundred years of materialism.
Seven of the twelve Brothers go out into the world whenever occasion requires, appearing as men among men, or working in their invisible vehicles with or upon others as needed; yet it must be kept strictly in mind that they never influence people against their will or contrary to their desires, only strengthening good wherever found. The other five Brothers never leave the etheric Temple, and although they do possess physical bodies, all their work is done from the inner worlds.
The Thirteenth of the Order is the Head, Christian Rosenkreuz, the link with a higher Central Council composed of Hierophants of the Greater Mysteries, who do not deal with ordinary humanity at all, but only with graduates of the Lesser Mysteries. He is hidden from the outside world by the twelve Brothers, as the central ball is hidden by twelve balls of even size. Even the pupils of the School never see him, but at the nightly services in the Temple his presence is felt by all.
Every midnight at their service the Elder Brothers open their breasts to attract the darts of hate, envy, malice, and every evil that has been launched during the past twenty-four hours. First, in order that they may deprive the Black Grail forces of their food; and secondly, that they may transmute the evil into good. Then, as the plants gather the inert carbon dioxide exhaled by mankind and build their bodies therefrom, so the Brothers of the Holy Grail transmute the evil within the Temple: and as the plants send out the renovated oxygen so necessary to human life, so the Elder Brothers return to mankind the transmuted essence of evil as qualms of conscience along with the good in order that the world may grow better day by day.
During the Temple Service the twelve Brothers, together with the lay brothers, function in their soul bodies. Hence it is evident that the presence of the Head of the Order is altogether spiritual. Nevertheless, he is always active in the affairs of the world, working with the governments of the nations in the Western World to guide them along the appropriate path of their evolution. To this end he appears in a physical embodiment, at least part of the time.
After the first year of World War I the Elder Brothers, by dint of hard work and organization, succeeded in creating an army of Invisible Helpers who, having passed through the gate of death and having felt the sorrow and suffering incident to an untimely transition, were filled with compassion for the others who were constantly pouring in, and became qualified to soothe and help them until they also had found their balance.
The Elder Brothers all possess the external picture consciousness of the Jupiter Period, which they use in initiating their pupils into the Rosicrucian Order. The Initiator fixes his attention upon certain cosmic facts, and the candidate, who has become fitted for certain powers, is like a tuning fork of identical pitch with the vibration of the ideas sent out by the Initiator in pictures. Therefore, he not only sees the pictures but is able to respond to the vibration, and the latent power within him is converted into dynamic energy and his consciousness is lifted to the next step upon the ladder of initiation.
The mass of humanity is taken care of by the religion publicly taught in the country of their birth; but there are always pioneers whose precocity demand a higher teaching. To them a deeper doctrine is given through the agency of the Mystery School belonging to their country. When only a few are ready for such preparatory schooling they are taught privately, but as they increase in number the teaching is given more publicly. The latter is the case in the Western World at present. Therefore the Brothers of the Rose Cross gave to Max Heindel the Philosophy as published in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and sanctioned the launching of The Rosicrucian Fellowship to promulgate the Teaching. The purpose is to bring aspiring souls into contact with the Teacher when by service here in the Physical World they have shown their sincerity and given reasonable assurance that they will use their spiritual powers for service in the other world when they shall have been initiated therein. The scientific method of soul unfoldment advocated by the Elder Brothers is always bound to benefit anyone who practices it and can never under any circumstances cause harm to anyone.
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