In Defence of AMORC: Luna de Illán’s Rosicrucian Journey
In this blog post one member of AMORC comes forwards to share her journey and answer some of the concerns and opinions that have been voiced against AMORC. Luna de Illán shares her rewarding experience, having studies with AMORC for ten years and the benefits she has found in the warm helping hand of fraters and sorors of the Rosicrucian Order. Further, she has done this amazing piece of Rosicrucian art especially for this post with a poem.
*A note to the reader: This blog post does not represent the opinions of Pansophers officially but is a guest post from a new author who is joining us today.
Artwork copyright © to Luna de Illán
To my brothers and sisters in Hermeticism, and the Rosy Cross,
I will tell you about my roughly ten-year journey within the Rosicrucian path, which began with AMORC. I am sorry to hear that some of you felt lied to or ripped off by the order. I assure you that I experienced the opposite. A mystical school–undoubtedly–influences the student’s mind and style. However, schools that excessively ritualize teachings create, in my opinion, addicts and not adepts.
Students clinging to a teacher’s cloak for too long stop walking on their own. Exclusivity to specific religious affiliations produces polarization, which disciples at heart reject. Since “all roads lead to Rome,” Hermetic philosophy has a commonplace amongst the ancients. Switching to a different school for me, at this point, is irrelevant.
Someone like myself appreciates the detached nature of the AMORC system. I am officially Jewish and I know other AMORC members who are Zoroastrian and Muslim. AMORC offers us the opportunity to collaborate together and join our spiritual potential towards the “betterment” of humanity, in service of The All. There is no discrimination, no peer pressure, no shaming of the other’s beliefs. It is not necessary to give up one’s personal religion in order to agree that the “Christ-like” consciousness is the next level of human evolution.
I am not a prisoner of AMORC like Pierre S. Freeman. I joined the order fully understanding what I was doing and very eagerly. I had been looking to join AMORC for many years and it is funny how it happened. An old friend obsessed with “the Illuminati” asked me to sketch a tattoo with symbols from Manly P. Hall’s book “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” when I stumbled upon the section dedicated to the Rosicrucians. I suddenly remembered that I wanted to join them and looked up AMORC online. At the time, membership was paper-based and $300/year, which was a stretch for me (barely making about $20k/year in California). I joined the “Friend of AMORC” option for $77/ year and received miscellaneous materials along with “Liber 777” and “Liber 888.” That was September the 9th, 2009. When “Liber 777” also known as “The Celestial Sanctum” arrived, I carefully read the instructions and tried it for the first time. That was the moment when I realized that I would sign up for the full membership as soon as I could financially afford it.
Let me say that AMORC never behaved like a “money-making” engine to me, as–unfortunately–some in this space remarked. Quite the contrary: AMORC reduced their yearly dues by creating an “online-only” option for half of the paper-based price and by offering a month-to-month form of payment. There was a time during my early years at AMORC, when I was barely surviving on really low wedges and could not afford the yearly membership. I notified the Grand Lodge and they allowed me to continue receiving my monthly monographs for the following year without paying a penny. Once I started paying dues again, they never charged me anything retroactively. During these times, I attended Hermes Lodge every Sunday. Many fraters and sorors approached me and offered me cash and other kinds of help. A beloved frater, who I never met in person to this date and who is a great inspiration to our online community (and who also introduced me to this blog), sent me a generous donation. Another beloved frater who died a few years ago helped me redo my resume so that I could find a higher-paying job. How can I forget the kindness of those who helped me when I needed it, including the Grand Lodge? It is hard for me–as a disciple of the teachings of the Rosy Cross–to think that those who brashly insult AMORC and slam its members are anything close to serious or advanced in their path to Hermeticism and Rosicrucianism. While I chose AMORC as my Hermetic school, to me any other Hermetic order or student deserves the same respect I confer to my direct colleagues. I am grateful to learn from their diverse experiences.
I hear those who defect AMORC complaining about unfulfilled expectations. Joining a Rosicrucian order should never be done with the expectation of becoming rich. The Rosicrucian schools are the most spiritual schools of the “I” orders. It is true that AMORC changed the content of its monographs over the years. It is not true that the new monographs are completely different from those mailed half a century ago. Whoever interested can find new and old versions in certain sites online and judge for themselves. I do not promote copyright violations, hence I will not post the direct links; certainly they exist. The style of the language is very different, perhaps because AMORC wants to reach a bigger audience. The new content is presented in a more simplistic and impersonal manner, which is easier to understand by whose native language is not English or who lacks higher education, and obviously, less attractive or exciting to the more intellectual. Essentially, this is the primary change.
Human-made organizations with headquarters and material expenses will inevitably charge fees. Confidential items are akin to non-disclosure agreements. People join orders voluntarily, not at gunpoint. How some people sign and keep non-disclosure agreements diligently, yet spitefully denounce the “secrecy” of AMORC and other esoteric orders, it is mysterious to me. If a friend confides one a secret, does one have the right to spill that secret after fighting with one’s friend? What kind of friend would one be? Furthermore, does one truly believe? Because if one does believe, one may infer that under the infallible Cosmic Law not just “anything that one says” but anything that one thinks can be used against one. I suggest to meditate on the implications of what I just wrote.
In summary, my experience at AMORC has been a very spiritual one, surrounded by loving, generous brothers and sisters who are not materialistic, as mistakenly thought by a few. Brothers and sisters that I witnessed to financially blossom over the years since the time that I met them at Hermes–along with myself too–thanks to the application of the Hermetic principles as taught by members of AMORC and the divine mind of The All. Nothing to do with fees collected by AMORC, Hermes, or forced AMRA. To those who want to learn some more about their teachings, I can recommend a highly controversial book (not sponsored by AMORC) that cost the author his membership and it is one of the main reasons why AMORC’s old monographs were re-written. That book today–ironically–drives individuals to AMORC, despite the trouble it caused when published. It is titled, “Wisdom of the Mystic Masters” by Joseph J. Weed.
My perpetual “bible” is called “The Kybalion.” To this date, impressed by the level of depth and research encountered in many occultist books I read, I cannot find another work tying all the pieces together as cohesively as this book does. Simple enough to reach the novice, broad enough to grasp the essentials, intentionally vague so as to skip the minutiae that hinders the spiritual progress of many mystics. Thus, I agree with Sam Robinson’s view that AMORC has been influenced greatly by William Walker Atkinson and that it is mostly a “reformed” Rosicrucian version of the ancient Memphis-Misraim rite. None of it insults me or makes me want to leave. On the contrary: I secretly smile with pride. I do disagree with the opinion that William Walker Atkinson was an Eastern mystic though. One may see it that way because of his inclination to use Indian pseudonyms or due to his works on Yoga. Although the core of his philosophical work was based on Eastern teachings, there is a small abyss between Atkinson’s occultism and Eastern mysticism for those who “dig” both. I believe Atkinson to be the true embodiment of the modern Western mystic. There is no particular reason why Western mystics should skip Eastern wisdom in favor of Paganism and Magick. As I wrote before, “all roads lead to Rome.”
So Mote It Be!
Sun gives Light and Life,
Lives in the unfolding Rose,
Blood Rose of the Offered,
Heart of the Mighty Ankh of ancient Amarna.
Ex rosa apes mel,
Rosa mel apibus,
Mel amoris,
Mel Dei.
Dei,they, thy, I, cast a spell on Two Companions,
Bearers of the One Code, Lineage of Pythagoreans,
Harmonizers of the Moon,
The Two great pillars.
The Winged Brothers of Good and Evil: “I,” Luminarii.
Finite spheres of the Infinite.
Three, the Neophyte steps.
Three, from nimbus to fractal.
Three, from Trinosophia.
Thrice great.
Three to one.
One to None.
At the mystical Shekinah, kneel to The All, in silence.
Close all eyes but the zenith and look within:
The “OM” is the secret song of the “AM.”
AM is the alternating Chessboard of Nous and Null.
I am that I am.
Salutem Punctis Trianguli.
By, Luna de Illán
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This was my experience with AMORC in the mid- to late 1970’s. Wonderful, kind, humble, generous people at San Jose, at our local chapter, and (as Board Chairman for our chapter) throughout Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
I absolutely love your article! I stepped out of AMOR after several years for one and one reason only: I did not have the time for the study and the practice to make it worthwhile. What you mentioned about the fees and help is inspiring. Your exposé gets me reflecting about this and other groups (my own participation and motivations) in ways I was not normally prone to. Thanks for sharing your story!
Thank you for this article, it was very interesting.
I was a member of AMORC for about ten years before discovering my love for Qabalah and moving over to BOTA so that I could study this aspect of the tradition in far greater depth than AMORC could offer.
I too love The Kybalion – what an incredible book. Interestingly enough, one of the authors of that work is said to be Paul Foster Case who founded BOTA. Another of his works, “The Book of Tokens” is probably my favourite work of his though. It is a series of meditations on the nature of The All, written as if The All is meditating upon its own nature.
Although I bear no allegiance to AMORC these days, I can never forget how my higher self originally brought me to that order. In the 1980’s My father had told me about an “old” organisation he remembered seeing ads for many years earlier that he had always wondered about but never followed up. He said it was called the Rosicrucian Order. I had never heard of it. That very night I went to join my local gym and, while sitting down in the waiting room next to a stack of tattered old magazines, I picked up the top one to flip through while waiting for the manager…and there on the first page that opened in my hands was a half page ad for The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. I was flabbergasted. I tore it out and the rest is history.
That little event tells me that AMORC was the right path for me. And because of that, I can only have respect for what they do. They opened the door and let me cross the threshold into a bigger world.
AMORC was the first order I joined and I spent 3 or so years studying. I found the order to be helpful and found it a great introduction that spurred my interest in spiritual Alchemy. I quit the order to join another more concerned and focused on spiritual Alchemy and ‘The Great Work’. I found nothing malevolent in AMORC and would recommend it in order to find ones desired path, perhaps in the order or via the coverage of topics and paths that could be specialized in, or those found outside of the order in other orders.
Wow I am leaning to joining the Order
I have been considering joining. My grandfather was a member and I found some of his writings from the 30s and 40s. He died before I was born but I’ve had an inexplicable interest in the occult since I was a kid, and have looked into various mystery traditions. Maybe that’s next.
“[…] to think that those who brashly insult AMORC and slam its members are anything close to serious or advanced in their path to Hermeticism and Rosicrucianism. While I chose AMORC as my Hermetic school, to me any other Hermetic order or student deserves the same respect I confer to my direct colleagues. I am grateful to learn from their diverse experiences.”
I read the linked article from the “insult” hyperlink and I did not see any outright insults.
Similarly, denouncing secrecy is not spiteful. It is merely sharing an opinion about secrecy. This reminds me of something Aleister Crowley said roughly one hundred years ago. He said all the secrecy was a silly pursuit since you could stand on a soapbox on a busy street corner and begin divulging the Order’s deepest secrets and no one would pay any attention.
When someone is writing a critique of a school they will necessarily have to offer some criticism. That is not an insult. I once read a critique of a university that graduated a student from the Mathematics College and the local company that hired him reported that the graduate did not know how to compute a weighted average. It is not disrespectful to observe this failure. If someone says that “You will not get a good math education there” it is not an insult or a slam against the graduates if it is an accurate assessment based on competent evaluation by knowledgeable peers.
I have read books by several Senior members of AMORC that eventually left the order. They are fairly unanimous in their evaluations of AMORC as very elementary and that experienced initiates are not well learned in basic Rosicrucian fields of study. Just off the top of my head I recall that Mark Stavish and Reuben Israel both made similar comments and suggested looking elsewhere to learn Kabbalah, Tarot, etc.
If you are a member of a particular group and you love that group it is a good idea to understand why you love it and not feel threatened or insulted by claims that it doesn’t do some specific thing well, especially when you do not care about that specific thing. If you like the convocations, incense, candles, vowel intonations, Council of Solace etc. along with the sense of community and you do not care about Spagyric or Mineral Alchemy, why get upset if someone says your school does not teach Spagyric or Mineral Alchemy?
If the critique contains factual errors, by all means, point them out and ask for a correction. However if the content is accurate, perhaps you could just accept that others will make decisions based on their own value system.