‘The Orphic Tradition and the Rosicrucian Manifestos’

     
The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library’s April installment of its lecture series will bring Angel Millar back to the lectern with Antonios Chrysovergis for a discussion of “The Orphic Tradition and the Rosicrucian Manifestos.”

This will be Thursday the 26th at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall. RSVP here. From the publicity:


An examination of the relationship between the Orphic and Rosicrucian traditions, and a philosophical interpretation of the Rosicrucian manifestos from the Orphic perspective.

Bro. Antonios Chrysovergis:

Antonios Chrysovergis

• Master of Music, Music Education, Boston University, Boston, MA
• Bachelor of Music, Music Performance, Berklee College of Music, Boston
• National Diploma, Performing Arts, Chichester College, West Sussex, UK
• Studies in Greek Philosophy at National Kapodistrian University of Athens
• Studies in Kabbalah at Ben Gurion University
• Member of Service City Geba Lodge No. 1009
• Constitution Chapter No. 140, RAM
• Rockville Centre, AASR

Publications:

• The Spiritual Meaning of Music, From Ancient Greece to Today (2016, Dec. 4, Phalanx; Reprinted in Italy by generazionebio.com, 2017, Jan. 18).
• The Sufi Mysticism of Music, Sound, and Vibration (2017, Feb. 25, Phalanx; Reprinted by BeHereNowNetwork.com, 2017, March 6).
• Myth, Catharsis, and The Riddle of The Sphinx (2017, July 6, Phalanx)
• In Search of Light: A Journey Through the Mysteries of the Great Gods (2017, Oct. 22, Phalanx)
• Philosophy as the Art of Self-Initiation (2017, Nov. 11, Phalanx; Reprinted in Greece by JuniorsClub.gr, 2017, Nov. 17)

Bro. Angel Millar

Publications:

Angel Millar

• Freemasonry: A History (Thunder Bay Press, 2005)
• Freemasonry: Foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition (Salamander and Sons, 2014)
• The Crescent and the Compass (Numen Books, 2015; revised and expanded edition Torazzi Press 2017)
• His writing has also been published in New Dawn magazine, Quest magazine, and The Philalethes, among others.

     

‘Chemical Wedding: The first book of science fiction?’

     
On Monday, The Guardian published a story on the The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz, one of the three Rosicrucian manifestos published four centuries ago, thanks to the pending publication of a new version of the story. At issue is whether the original, penned by Johann Valentin Andreae, is the first sci-fi novel ever published, as contended by the writer who is producing the new edition. The following is copyright © 2016 The Guardian.

Work from 1616 is

‘the first ever science fiction novel’

A fantastical story of Rosicrucianism

by Johann Valentin Andreae pioneered the genre,

says author who has written a new version

A 400-year-old story about a man who journeys to a mysterious royal wedding is “the first science fiction novel,” long predating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and other, later writers considered pioneers, according to the award-winning writer John Crowley. In his opinion, the genre starts with Johann Valentin Andreae’s 1616 work The Chemical Wedding, a new version of which he is publishing in November.

Andreae’s story opens as a winged woman, “so bright and beautiful, in a sky-colored robe,” invites Christian Rosencreutz—the real-life founder of the philosophical secret society of Rosicrucianism—to a “Royal Wedding.”

“If God Himself decree it, Then you must to the mountain wend Where three stately temples stand. From there you’ll know Which way to go. Be wise, take care, Wash well, look fair, Or else the Wedding cannot save you,” says a letter which sends Christian on a seven-day journey to serve the Bridegroom and the Bride, in Crowley’s new version of the text.

The book was published in Germany in 1616 as if it were the work of Rosencreutz, and was part of the widespread excitement over Rosicrucianism. Andreae later admitted he was the author. Crowley, winner of a world fantasy award for lifetime achievement, has written a new version of the story, drawing from extant English translations and working with a German scholar. His is the first new version of the story in at least 25 years, according to publisher Small Beer Press, which will release a paperback version in November illustrated by Theo Fadel. Crowley first discovered it in the writings of Frances Yates, who thought it was a political allegory—something Crowley disagrees with.

“It’s not a tract, and I actually don’t think it’s an allegory. I think it’s a ‘Thrilling Wonder Tale,’ taking the most extreme possibilities of the alchemy of the day and deploying them in a story as though they are actual happenings,” Crowley said. “Science fiction works the same way—[to] take the farthest-out science possibilities and embody them in stories.
“When Andreae confessed late in life to writing it he called it a ‘ludibrium’—a Latin word that can mean a joke, a skit, a jeux d’esprit or a hoax. I don’t think he was trying to disown it, but he certainly didn’t seem to want it taken with full seriousness. And it’s the fun, the outlandish incident, the surprises, and the wonderful main character—Christian Rosenkreutz, an old self-doubting, curious, kindly, horny guy—all that’s what I wanted to bring to new readers.”

Published in 1616, The Chemical Wedding predates Johannes Kepler’s novel Somnium, which was written in 1608 but not published until 1634 and “which usually gets the nod” as the first science fiction story. But as Crowley writes in his introduction to The Chemical Wedding, Somnium “is more of an illustrated example or thought-experiment than a real story,” and while “the astronomy underlying it is new … it doesn’t carry the thrill of wild but just-around-the-corner possibilities that SF ought to.”

He says that the science of The Chemical Wedding “is late Renaissance alchemy, which had the same fascination for readers of the time as the scientific possibilities of classic SF did in its last-century heyday.” Crowley admits that “alchemy is not science if by science we mean only what is now included in that accretion of tested knowledge that still holds up as true even if primitive or inadequate.” Nonetheless, he argues, “alchemy is science … in the sense that it had a general picture of the material world and a rational scheme for formulating hypotheses and proceeding with investigations of it.”

“So that’s why The Chemical Wedding is the first science fiction novel: unlike other contenders, it’s fiction; it’s about the possibilities of a science; and it’s a novel, a marvelous adventure rather than simply a parable or an allegory or a skit or a thought experiment,” writes the author, adding that “like SF, it probably appealed to a self-selected readership of geeks and enthusiasts.”

Experts in the field were delighted at the news of the book’s reissue, but are not entirely convinced by Crowley’s claim. “If the modern novel as such is 17th century and is a ‘thing,’ then it cannot qualify as the first SF novel. If, on the other hand, any lengthy tale is a novel, surely Utopia [published in 1516] is the first SF novel,” said Professor Farah Mendlesohn, a science fiction academic. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not fascinating.”

“There are lots of 16th-century utopias and dystopias, which I’d say have a better claim to being SF than Chemical Wedding. Thomas More’s Utopia was first published in 1516 after all,” said Adam Roberts, professor at Royal Holloway and science fiction novelist. “Alchemy isn’t science, it’s magic: so it’s a stretch to call it ‘science fiction.’ Nor is this the first ‘alchemical novel’ and it certainly isn’t the first magical story. There are plenty of alchemical and magical romances throughout the medieval period and further back.”

“There is a qualitative difference between stories of magic, which go back through medieval romance to Beowulf and the Odyssey, and stories that extrapolate from the new discourses of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, which we call ‘science’ The Chemical Wedding doesn’t extrapolate anything; it’s a Biblical allegory and magical fable.”

SF author John Clute’s entry for Andreae in The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction notes Crowley’s argument, adding that “in terms of its complex narrative register, the tale might also be described as a ludic fiction for its combination of burlesque, satire and deadpan elevatedness.”

“In the Science Fiction Encyclopedia we use the term ‘proto SF’ for most texts before Mary Shelley, and even some after,” said Clute. “Working out the first SF novel is not easy, a bit like looking for the source of the Nile in an alternate world where there is no Lake Victoria to discover.”
     

‘April in Anthroposophy’

     
The following is my highly selective choice of events upcoming this month at Threefold Educational Center in Chestnut Ridge, New York. There’s a lot more. Click here. From the publicity:

Piano Trios Plus!

Sponsored by Rockland Symphony Orchestra

Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m.

Join us for an afternoon of beautiful music at the third performance of Rockland Symphony Orchestra’s 2015-16 Chamber Concert Series. The program will feature the Melos Trio & Friend performing:

• Dvorak’s Piano Trio in E minor Op. 90 “Dumky”
• The Phantasie Trio in C minor (1907) by Bridge
• Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E flat Op. 16

The Melos Trio & Friend are Fredrica Wyman (piano), Karen Gilbert (violin), Edward Simons (viola), and Stephen Reid (cello).

Admission: $20 General, $15 Seniors, $10 Children (ages 12-18). Children under 12 free.

Piano Recital by Marcus Macauley

Fourth Year Dornach Fundraiser

Sponsored By Eurythmy Spring Valley

Sunday, April 17 at 4 p.m.

This afternoon recital will include:

• Three Preludes and Fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier
• Brahms’ Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119
• Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, D.960

Marcus Macauley

Marcus Macauley has been playing the piano and writing music for most of his thirty years. Born in Seattle, he won his first concerto competition at age 11. Before graduating high school, he had performed with seven orchestras, including Seattle Symphony, and won six national composition awards. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he premiered dozens of works, he has collaborated with such musicians as Brad Lubman, Thomas Buckner, and Truls Mørk, and had master classes with George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, John Perry, and Charles Rosen. Since 2009 he has been a resident musician for Eurythmy Spring Valley and toured with eurythmists throughout the U.S. and in Switzerland, Taiwan, and China. His principal teachers have been pianists Michi Hirata North, Peter Mack, and Vincent Lenti, and composers Janice Giteck, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez.

Suggested donation: $20/$10 students and seniors/$5 children. All proceeds to support the Fourth Year, Class of 2016 Graduation trip to Dornach, Switzerland.

Celebrating Shakespeare:

A Performance to Honor

the 400th Anniversary of the Bard

Sponsored By Threefold Educational Center

Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.

[On the 400th anniversary of his death,] an evening of eurythmy, speech, sonnets, dramatic monologs, and a eurythmical exposition of Act II of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Admission: $16 suggested donation.

Christian Rosenkreutz

with Rev. Bastiaan Baan

Sponsored by the Seminary

of the Christian Community In North America

Monday, April 25 through Friday, April 29

This course will take place on the occasion of the publication of the English translation of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz with commentary by Bastiaan Baan.
The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz is one of the most important writings of esoteric Christianity, first published anonymously in German in 1616. It is an allegorical story divided into seven journeys about how Christian Rosenkreutz was invited to a castle to assist the “chymical wedding” of the king and queen.

The word “chymical” refers to alchemy, or the uniting of opposites—hence, the sacred wedding. It is a book concerned with the inner transformation of the soul. Bastiaan Baan’s interpretation and commentary makes this work accessible to readers of today, and shows the special language used by the author to express the meditative content of his text.

Fee: $150.

In Concert: Magical Strings

Sponsored by the Fellowship Community

Wednesday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m.

Philip and Pam Boulding

Experience the vibrant ringing sounds of Magical Strings, as Philip and Pam Boulding bring their Celtic Harp & Hammer Dulcimer to the Fellowship Community! Their music, described by the Washington Post as “sonically gorgeous,” will carry you to sublime realms with ancient airs and have you dancing to lively jigs and reels. Their unique compositions and stories will take you to Ireland and beyond. Philip and Pam, who have been touring internationally for 37 years and have recorded more than 20 albums, will be performing on their own hand-crafted instruments.

Admission is free; donations are welcome.

From the Victorian to the Modern Poets:

A Poetics Course

with Coralee Frederickson, Ph.D.

Sponsored by Eurythmy Spring Valley

Thursday April 28, 9:35 a.m. to 2:55 p.m.

Friday, April 29, 9:35 a.m. to 12:25 p.m.

Wilfred Owen

Continuing on from her course on American Romantic Essayists and Poets, Coralee Frederickson, Ph.D., will draw us from Alfred Lord Tennyson and Gerard Manley Hopkins, in the late 19th century, into the modern, poetic voices of the 20th century, beginning with the work of Wilfred Owen, a representative of World War I poetry. The diverse styles of e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, and Seamus Heaney will be explored, among many others.

Coralee Frederickson, Ph.D. has been the School Leader at Den norske Eurytmihøyskole, in Oslo, Norway, as well as the Program Director of their B.A. Completion Program, which was hosted over two cycles at ESV. Coralee is now the Co-Director of the Alanus University M.A. Program in Eurythmy, which is based in Alfter, Germany, and is also bringing a cycle of their program to our campus.

Course fee: $75.
     

‘Rosicrucian wedding invitation’

     
A much anticipated convivial appointment will prevent me from attending, but there is no reason why you should miss the Rosicrucian Order’s program Saturday afternoon where one of the original Rosicrucian manifestos will be the topic of discussion. From the publicity:

The Chymical Wedding:

A Marriage with the Soul

Saturday, January 9

1 to 3 p.m.

Rosicrucian Cultural Center

2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.

New York City

Courtesy AMORC

On the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the third Rosicrucian manifesto, join Grand Master Julie Scott in an exploration of the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz, an initiatic narrative describing one person’s quest on the way to the marriage with his soul.
     

‘Divine Wisdom-Divine Nature’

     
It’s too good to be true, but it is true. The Ritman Library is publishing a book for the quadricentennial celebration of the publication of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes that showcases the 17th century visual arts inspired by the founding literature of Rosicrucianism. From the publicity:

Divine Wisdom – Divine Nature

This lavishly illustrated work, published on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes in 2014-16, focuses on an extraordinary range of images that appeared in Germany in the early 17th century.

The illustrations partly originated in a circle of artists and thinkers who were directly inspired by the Rosicrucian Manifestoes and also by similar sources expressing the relationship between God and Nature, the macrocosm and the microcosm.

The images were included in the works of several authors: Heinrich Khunrath, Daniel Mögling, Stephan Michelspacher, Robert Fludd, and Michael Maier. The books themselves were published in various cities in Germany: Hanau, Frankfurt, Augsburg, and Oppenheim. It is probably no coincidence that the majority of the works came out in the years 1616-18, after the publication of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes.

Divine Wisdom – Divine Nature opens with a general introductory part on the people behind the Rosicrucian Manifestoes and continues with a discussion of the images in the works of these five authors, at least four of who claimed allegiance to the ideals and aspirations of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood.


The book will be available in both English and German. Price: €30,00. No release date has been announced yet.

Click here to read Esther Ritman’s preface.

Of course the library will host an exhibition to complement the book. If you’re lucky enough to be in the neighborhood this week, do stop by. From the publicity:

This exhibition of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica examines the visual imagery that can be associated with the Rosicrucian Manifestoes. Never before was such complex imagery used to explore the relationship between God, Nature and Man. In this anniversary year, 400 years after the publication of the Fama Fraternitatis, the BPH once more returns to the sources to investigate the Rosicrucian phenomenon that is both characteristic of the atmosphere of expectancy in the early 17th century (“Europe is pregnant and about to bear a powerful child”) and typical of the continued appreciation of the Hermetic tradition.
     

‘Explore the Appellatio Fraternitatis’

     

The Rosicrucian Order has five nights of workshops planned for next week to bring to life the meanings of the Order’s new writings, the Appellatio Fraternitatis, in the tradition of Rosicrucianism’s founding documents printed in the early 17th century. (If you didn’t know, this year is the quadricentenary of the publication of Fama Fraternitatis in Germany. I have been meaning to write about this for three months—and hopefully will do so by year’s end—but it is difficult to collect my thoughts of this hefty subject.)

Anyway, Steven Armstrong will return to the Rosicrucian Cultural Center uptown for discussion and activities intended to explain what all this literature means, and to make it useful in life.

From the publicity:

In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the issuance of the Fama Fraternitatis, the Appellatio Fraternitatis is a powerful call to understand and to manifest the Rosicrucian Principles in this crucial time in human history.

March 31 through April 4

Nightly from 6:30 to 7:30

Rosicrucian Cultural Center of New York City

2303 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard

This participatory workshop will explore not only the meaning of each section, but will also discuss ways of implementing each in our lives.

The first night we will consider the Preface and the Historical Background of the Manifestos.

The second night we will work with the Appeal for Spirituality.

The third night will center on the Appeal for Humanism.

The fourth night will deal with the Appeal for Ecology, and the Conclusion.

On the fifth night, participants will discuss the Imperator’s Discourse: Being a Thinking, Active, and Responsible Mystic.

Please read and meditate on the appropriate sections before each workshop.

The facilitator of this workshop, Steven A. Armstrong, M.A. Hum., M.A., M.Div., is a professional historian, philosopher, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay area. He serves at the Grand Lodge in Membership Services; is an active member of both the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC and the Traditional Martinist Order; and has served as an officer in both Orders. His current areas of interest include how the Primordial Tradition permeates all world traditions, and the way in which the Rosicrucian and Martinist paths provide unique and unifying viewpoints on those traditions. The author of more than 30 published papers, articles and podcasts, and a lecturer for the RCUI, he is no stranger to New York City, as he received two of his Master’s Degrees at Fordham University’s Rose Hill Campus.
   

‘Fama and Confessio’

     

Courtesy Ouroboros Press

The Temple of the Rosy Cross, 1618.

Treat yourselves—well, some of you anyway—to copies of the limited edition imprints of the Rosicrucian Manifestos soon to be available from our friends at Ouroboros Press, printers of esoteric texts and supporters of education in our arts.

Of course the books are the Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis, the heralds of the founding in the early 17th century of the Brethren of the Rosy Cross, an order outside of dogmatic religions that championed the search for the secrets to life, the universe, and everything via Alchemy and Kabbalah.

The texts’ origins, not unlike the origins of practically everything else one studies in the Western Mysteries, are obscure and confounding, and yet the so much is built upon the foundation they constructed that they are essential reading. And if you have to read a book, I suppose it may as well be a beautifully bound, heirloom quality masterpiece you will treasure for life.

And then there is the trade edition for guys like me. Click here to make your selections and place your advance orders.

Silkscreen on camel-stock prints, 18x24, of the artwork above also are available for purchase at $25 each.

Courtesy Ouroboros Press