Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited

by Ralph White

In 1995, to honor the role of Central Europe in the spiritual history of the West, the New York Open Center invited students of Rosicrucianism and the Western Mystery traditions to the Czech Republic to discuss the historical backgrounds of Rosicrucianism. Two years later a second meeting was held in Prague to celebrate the Hermetic world of Rudolf II. The result is this in which John Matthews addresses the relationship between the Grail and the Rose; Christopher Bamford speaks of the prehistory of the Rosicrucian reformation in the late Middle Ages--among women mystics, alchemists, Cathars, Franciscan spirituals, as well as in Luther and the great Paracelsus; Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke tells the wild tale of John Dee's mission to central Europe; Joscelyn Godwin unfolds the paradigmatic Rosicrucian life of Michael Maier; Claire Goodrick-Clarke recounts influence of Comenius; Paul Bembridge speaks of Rosicrucian Resurgence at the Court of Cromwell; Robert Powell describes the roles of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Rudolf II; and Christopher McIntosh speaks of the Rosicrucian Legacy.

Genres: History

293 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of scholarly essays based on the research of Frances Yates and her book the Rosicrucian Enlightenment. I just read that book again as well.

I pretty much went over Rosicrucianism in my last review to Samuel Hartlib and the Universal Reformation, so I’m not going to cover all that again here. Suffice it to say that all the same figures are discussed here, e.g. Johan Valentin Andreae, Francis Bacon, John Dee, Samuel Hartlib, Jan Amos Comenius, Robert Fludd, etc.

Some essays here are better than others, but overall an intriguing investigation.