Reviewing the Rosicrucian Orders – Introduction

April 27, 2020

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Main Index Page Featuring the Rosicrucian Reviews

There are so many fraternities claiming to be the one true “Rosicrucian Order” out there that for newbies it’s becoming hard to distinguish which organization might best suit them and their own spiritual pursuits. So let’s solve that problem.

Over the course of the last five years I have diligently written this series, the “Reviews of the Rosicrucian Orders,” which examines each group acting under the mantle of the Rosicrucian name.

Seeing that several Rosicrucian fraternities appear to be competitive or at least share enough similarities it is helpful to readers and new seekers alike if indeed anyone could better distinguish between these fine brotherhoods.

So the time has come to finalize my series, which began in 2014. Here at last, I list the entire set of five main reviews, which gave birth to Pansophers.com.

In 2014, it all started with this announcement:

Stay tuned on this blog for the Reviews of the Rosicrucian Orders

Over the last five years, I have taken measures to carefully judge and review each of the various Rosicrucian Orders. I reviewed their strengths and weaknesses and gave more information on the learning materials they offer.

Friends joined along the way, forming a vibrant community and making Pansophers the foremost Rosicrucian website online!

The very best part was seeing new faces join Pansophers and become authors here themselves. Naturally, I am awestruck by your support.

Although I originally planned to review ALL organisations using the Rosicrucian name (including the masonic side Orders like the Society of Rosicrucians in Anglia), I have decided to cap my reviews at these five main orders:

This means, it is up to you as a community to jump on board and provide more information if anyone is interested in reviewing the other groups, such as the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, or the Society of Rosicrucians in America etc.

Besides, these five named groups: AMORC, the G.D, Martinism, the Egyptian Rite and Anthroposophy are the most accessible Rosicrucian bodies. New students will most likely start here, and this review series is foremost a guide for them.

Of course, there are many more lesser-known Rosicrucian Orders, which prefer to remain behind closed doors. You can always check my Rosicrucian Groups List to view them all (and new groups can contact me to be added to the list).

Using a points-rating system provided the best means to carry out the reviews. Each of the Orders have been awarded points based on their measured performance.

Here is how Rosicrucian Order Reviews were done:

Step One: Landmarks

In order to review the fraternities, a standard was required by which to appropriately MEASURE their qualities.

Therefore I set out by writing several posts, describing “what is Rosicrucian, and what is not,” by utilizing the original Rosicrucian manifestos as landmarks.

Those posts became my:

In addition, the original Rosicrucian Reviews were done over a series of some twenty posts, all of which are still on this blog, and each sub-review of the five Orders also contains more information about these Rosicrucian landmarks.

Therefore, although each of the five main reviews are useful, be sure to read each of the old post, where I define several aspects of the Rosicrucian Tradition!

Now, for those readers who do not know what “Landmarks” are; they are typically used with Masonry as signposts for what constitutes a recognized and accepted order. By careful observation of the Fama, the Confession, and the Chemical Wedding of CRC, being the primary Rosicrucian documents of the early 1600’s that sparked the movement, we can better gauge how closely todays’ Rosicrucian Orders resemble that tradition which they intend to embody.

That being said, a few Orders come up quite short!

Step Two: Points/Star Rating System

You’re all familiar with Amazon’s established a star rating system for their products. I had originally tried to implement a star rating application to allow readers to also vote and have their say. Now people can get a bit emotional and heated when their favourite source of wisdom is dissected. That is understandable, especially if it has done them a lot of good and helped them meet friends and form life-long rewarding bonds. My reviews are were never meant to be subjective though. I surgically approached these reviews using the landmarks method.

The landmarks, I termed “Rosicrucian Pillars,” simply provided criteria for examination. Then each Order was measured and awarded a score in terms of how well they fulfil and embody those Rosicrucian landmarks.

In total, a Rosicrucian Fraternity can be awarded up to 100 points.

Step Three: Involving Long Time Members

Let’s not just use this as a platform to discredit other societies we do not view in the same light as our own. Several members from those Orders being reviewed were invited to have their say. They were consulted and provided information.

Obviously, they wanted to prove that their own Order was the best Rosicrucian Order. Whenever evidence was submitted, it was carefully examined.

They were as welcome to be as subjective as they like, as their role was to further share how being a member of that order has benefited them, what it has taught them and how it has changed them. It is about spiritual transformation, after all.

Step Four: Up to 20 Bonus Points for an X-Factor

Every Order has something special. Some orders have better monographs, some have stronger links to alchemy, and are deeply rooted in a real historical tradition. In recognition of what makes each order special up to 20 points will be awarded for this “X-Factor” element, which I have named the Wildcard Score. .

This is where it gets interesting because this is the wildcard where any Order can win extra points for outright originality and excellence.

The award was always given when any Order represented an aspect of the three original manifestos, the Fama, Confession, or Chemical Wedding, in some special way, that no other Order does so well or is particularly unique.

Step Five: Judges Final Conclusion

The last section of each review was provided by Ian Gladwin, Stephen Murtaugh, Christine Eike and myself. Each of us comes from various Rosicrucian Orders and backgrounds. As a team, our role is to provide level-headed feedback. We debated and cross-examined the reviews within a private group and provided the final result on my blog. We further concluded with remarking how each Order might be able to improve their score based on the landmarks set out.

What Next?

Next, go ahead and read my five Rosicrucian Reviews:

Also, a warning:

Remember, you are not your Order! Your Order should never be considered a major part of your identity, in as much as a negative review of your Order says nothing about YOU. It only describes some negative qualities of the organization you study with, imperfect as they are.

If you are interested as to why I also examine the negative dirt on each Order and their founding leaders you’ll want to pop over to my other post “Why the Nit-picking in the Rosicrucian Reviews?”

In that post I reveal one of our most important missions at Pansophers; which is getting Rosicrucian students to realize that, for all of us, it’s about the greater tradition itself. What if you did not identify yourself as a member of AMORC, a member of BOTA, or a member of the Golden Dawn?

Make sure when you read my blog you “Just be a Rosicrucian.”

Finally, thank you for reading this introduction to ‘Reviewing the Rosicrucian Orders.’ Any feedback is welcome, and if you would like to contribute your own blog post to Pansophers feel free to contact me.

Next blog post: Part 2 Scoring System for Reviewing the Rosicrucian Orders.

I hope you enjoy the entire series of the Reviews of the Rosicrucian Orders 🙂