1- "It is a religion": New members in their pamphlets ("mamdamus") are instructed "always emphasize that AMORC is not a religion"... but they are encouraged to set up an "altar" at home ("telesterion"), with Egyptian deities, specially the Sun-God AMEN-RA, incense, candles... and place on the wall the "Confession of Maat", which starts with "Homage to thee, Great God, Thou Master of all Truth, I am pure..." the prayer to the 42 gods of Egypt ("Maat" is "Truth")... the children should receive the "Appellation Rite", as a substitute for the Christian Baptism ("Rosicrucian Manual", p.177)... and all of this is Religion!... don't swallow their lie!. 2- "Spiritism": AMORC officially denigrates "Spiritism", but the sealed instructions, the "mandamus", encourage members to contact departed spirit Masters, in the "psychic contacts with soul personalities"" who are now part of the Universal Soul, and they need an identity to express themselves; the neophyte, in fact, becomes that physical "medium", what in theology is known as "demonic control"... and this is spiritism!... don't swallow their lie!... besides, the initiation rituals end with "so mote it be", a standard oral oath of witchcraft cults... and his founder, Lewis, was a well known occultist. 3- They don't deliver "the welfare promised" in the adds... instead, the "initiate" what he has to do is to stare in a mirror, and trace a 5 inch cross on it while repeating "Hail, Rosi Cross", until his imagination or the devil gives him a foolish hallucination... and that's the most of the mystical experience he is going to get!... and with these hallucinations he imagines "soul trips", and he thinks to have "mental power", and even "alchemy" to transform the metal in gold... but the gold never appears!... only foolish demonic phenomena and spirit conjurations: "So mote it be" 4- About the "Bible", they continue the lies!: They say "the Bible is the regulator of life, the end of all true study, the compendium of the Universal World"... but to say that the God of the Bible does not exist, he is the "Supreme Intelligence", a form of "pure energy", but "not a person", just "a number endowed with motion"... they don't distinguish between God and creation, everything is God!... ...Jesus, is said to be the highest initiate of the sun period, but he is not God... the Holy Spirit is the foremost initiate of the moon period, but he is not God, he is not even a person!... "Genesis" is dismissed as a "beautiful poem"... - To pardon your sins, you don't need the Blood of Christ, they can only be expiated with the law of AMRA: "Send a check to AMORC"!. 5- "Prominent Thinkers", are said to be Rosicrucians, like Jesus, Pythagoras, Descartes, Newton, Plato, Aristotle, Dante, Cicero ... and it is another lie!... they were not Rosicrucians!.

THE "LODGES": Some Rosicrucians attend the "Lodges", that resemble a Masonic one, but with men and women. The Master lodge sits at one end of the room, and the Matre lodge, a woman, sits at the other end. The Vestal Virgin in front of the Master with the sacred fire to ignite incense used in the rituals. In the center of the lodge stands the "Shekinah" or sacred triangle, flamed with 3 candles. Members wear Masonic-type aprons, and before each initiation they swear a solemn oath to keep the secrets of the fraternity inviolate. "Two special feasts": New Year Feast, about March 21, and Outdoor Fete, around Sept. 23.

THE "ROSE"... AND THE "CROSS": The symbol of Rosicrucians is a Christian cross with a rose in the center, and it is an "alchemy symbolism": - The "Cross", is the symbol of the sun, the tree of life, the generator force, the male element. - The "Rose", is the female element, symbol of beauty and delicacy. Marriage, as the union of male and female, is regarded as a metaphor of the alchemic elemental fusion that the soul undergoes in its ascent to spiritual illumination. ... The "cross" represents "the body of man", with the "rose" symbolizing "man's soul unfoldig and evolving". The fundamental elements of the two spheres of Rosicrucianism, earthly and heavenly, are not only visible but are thereby fused in the symbols of the rose superimposed on the cross. "Number 7", is the perfect one: At birth, or on the initiation, a human being possesses a "dense body"; at age 7, he attains a "vital body"; at 14, the "desire body"; and at 21, "mind" is formed.

HISTORY... AND LEGEND: Rosicrucianism traces its roots to the Egypt before Christ... and all the groups claim to be founded by "Christian Rosenkreutz": - Christian Rosenkreutz, is a character of the "Fama Fraternitatis" novel written by the German Lutheran Johann V. Andreae in 1610... but he never existed!... in 1617, Andreae published an article stating that the "Fama" was a novel, a satire, without any basis in real life, affirmation he sustained until the moment of his death... and he believed that the teachings of Rosicrucianism were false and that the history of the movement was dotted with legends and fabrications... ... And even so, all the Rosicrucian groups have the "Fama" as their main doctrinal book, with another two novels by Andreae, "Confessio Fraternitatis" (1615), and "Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz" (1616); Andreae also stated that these two books were "fiction novels", without any basis in real life!. Organizations: At least 20 different: - In "Europe": It started in Bohemia, Germany, after the "Fama". 7 groups in Europe. - The "AMORC", the largest, founded by H. Spencer Lewis in 1915. Headquarters in San Jose, California, with an entire block which includes a museum, temple, administration building, auditorium, planetarium, art gallery, and library. Their periodical is the "Rosicrucian Digest". - "Rosicrucian Fellowship", founded by Heindel in 1909, in Oceanside, California. - "Societas Rosicruciana", in 1879, in New York (321 W. 101 St.), requires its members to be Masons. Its quarterly magazine: "Mercury".

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Religions and 101 Cults