The Birth of the
Rosicrucian Fellowship
The History of its Inception
by Mrs. Max Heindel
An Account of
Max Heindel's
Preparation and Work
in the Esoteric
Field
1865-1919
Early Years of
Max Heindel
Max Heindel, Rosicrucian Initiate and founder of The Rosicrucian Fellowship,
was born on July 23, 1865. His father was Francois L. Von Grasshoff, of a noble
family connected with the German Court during the time of Prince
Bismarck. After emigrating to Copenhagen, Denmark, he met and married a Danish
woman, three children being born to them. The oldest of these was Carl Louis
Von Grasshoff, who later adopted the pen name of Max Heindel.
At the age of sixteen Max Heindel entered the shipyards of Glasgow,
Scotland, where he learned engineering. As Chief Engineer of a trading steamer
he took trips into many lands, thus gaining a wide knowledge of the world and
its people. For a number of years he was Chief Engineer on a large Cunard Line
passenger ship plying between America and Europe.
Between the years 1895 and 1901, he was a consulting engineer in New York
City. During this time he married, the marriage being terminated by the death
of his wife in 1905. A son and two daughters were born of this marriage.
After going to Los Angeles, California, in 1903, Max Heindel became
interested in the study of metaphysics, joining the local branch of the
Theosophical Society and serving as its vice-president from 1904-1905. During
this time there began to grow within him an increasingly intense desire to
understand the cause of the sorrows and sufferings of humanity and to help
alleviate them. He began the study of astrology, which he found to his delight
gave him the key by means of which he found he could unlock the mysteries of
man's inner nature.
The events in Max Heindel's life immediately subsequent to 1905 are given in
the following account of the birth of the Rosicrucian Fellowship. Until his
transition on January 6, 1919, he was active in doing the pioneer work of
launching the Fellowship, including the acquisition of land for the
establishment of International Headquarters in Oceanside, California, the
building of necessary buildings, publishing of books, etc.
The Birth of the
Rosicrucian Fellowship
In order to make the origin of the Fellowship clear to our readers we will
give a history of how and when Max Heindel met the Elder Brothers of the
Rosicrucian Order. We will, moreover, use his own words at times to make the
matter more clear.
During the summer of 1905, through overwork on account of his extreme desire
for spiritual knowledge, Max Heindel was taken seriously ill in Los Angeles
with heart trouble, so ill that for months his life was despaired of. Much of
the time during this illness he spent out of the body, consciously working and
seeking for the truth as he might find it on the invisible planes. He was
undaunted by sickness, however, and as soon as health permitted, he went on the
lecture platform to spread his esoteric knowledge.
In May, 1906, this work was cut short in San Francisco because of the great
earthquake, and his lecture tour led him to Seattle and the northern part of
the country. After a course of lectures in that city he was again forced to
spend some time in a hospital with valvular heart trouble. Still undaunted, he
once more took up his work of lecturing in the northwestern part of the United
States.
In the fall of 1907 during a most successful period in Minnesota, there came
to Mr. Heindel a friend who had for months been begging him to go to Berlin to
meet a man whom she claimed to be a most wonderful lecturer and
teacher. Failing by correspondence to induce him to leave his work in America,
she had come to Minnesota for the express purpose of personally urging him to
go. She was successful at last in persuading him to make the trip.
After reaching Germany he attended lectures and had several interviews with
this teacher. But in a short time he found that this man had little to give
him, and that what he gave out was not new to him. In disappointment he was
ready to go back to America. As he sat in his room in great dejection, feeling
that he had given up a big work in America to take this trip, a being, who he
later learned was an Elder Brother of the Rosicrucian Order and who afterward
became his Teacher, appeared, clothed in his vital body, and offered to help
him on certain esoteric points. The information which the Teacher gave him was
concise and logical and beyond anything Mr. Heindel was capable of writing. On
a later visit the Teacher offered to impart to him the teachings which he
desired, provided that he keep them secret. Max Heindel had for several years
searched and prayed that he might find something wherewith to appease the soul
hunger of the world. Having suffered and known the longings of his own heart,
he could not give the promise to the Elder Brother, and refused to accept
anything that he could not be permitted to pass on to his soul-hungry
brothers. The Teacher left him.
Can you imagine the feeling that would naturally come over a starving man
who had been denied food for some time to have some one offer him a piece of
bread but before he could taste of it to have it snatched away? The last
condition would be more wretched than the first. So it was with Max Heindel.
About a month later, however, the Teacher appeared in his room again and told
him that he, Max Heindel, has stood his test. He stated that if he had accepted
the offer, namely, to keep the teachings a secret from the world, he, the Elder
Brother, would not have returned. He was told of the candidate whom they had
at first chosen, who had failed to pass his test in 1905; also that he, Max
Heindel, had been under the observation of the Elder Brothers for a number of
years as the most fit candidate should the first one fail. In addition he was
told that the teachings must be given out to the public before the close of the
first decade of the century, which would be the end of December, 1909.
At this last interview with the Teacher he was given instructions as to how
to reach the Temple of the Rose Cross, which was near the border between
Bohemia and Germany. At this Temple Max Heindel spent a little over one month
in direct communication with and under the personal instructions of the Elder
Brothers, who imparted to him the greater part of the teachings contained in
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. The first draft of this book,
which was made while he was in the Temple, the Teacher told him was but an
outline. The heavy psychic atmosphere of Germany was particularly adapted to
the communication of mystical thought to the consciousness of the candidate,
but he was told that the three hundred and fifty pages of manuscript which he
had written would not satisfy him when he reached the electric atmosphere of
America, and that he would then wish to rewrite the entire book. In his great
enthusiasm he at first doubted this. He felt that he had received a wonderfully
complete message. But the Elder Brother's predictions were true. After
Mr. Heindel had spent a few weeks in New York City, what the Elder brothers had
told him proved to be a fact. The style in which the manuscript was written did
not then please him, and he set about the work of rewriting.
He rented a cheap hall bedroom on the seventh floor of a rooming house, and
during the hottest summer months of 1908 he sat in this hot room typing from 7
A.M. until 9 and sometimes 10 P. M., when he would go out for his dinner.
After a walk through the hot streets of New York he would again resume his work
on the manuscript, continuing until after midnight. The heat becoming too
intense, he moved to Buffalo, New York, where he finished the manuscript about
September, 1908.
The next problem which faced him was how to get the book published and where
he was to procure the means for its publication. On account of the heat of that
season of the year he was unfortunate in starting lectures and classes in
Buffalo. But later he found a good field for his work in Columbus, Ohio, where
Mrs. Rath-Merrill and her daughter assisted him in the drawing of diagrams. In
this city he spent a number of successful months in lecturing and teaching, and
then formed the first Rosicrucian Center, November 14, 1908.
After each lecture he distributed free mimeographed copies of the twenty
lectures of the Christianity Series. Starting with Lecture No. 1, The Riddle of Life and Death, he gave to each one present a copy to take
home to study. These copies he ran off on his mimeograph machine at night
after the lecture. With a small hammer, a packet of tacks in his pocket, and
his advertising cards under his arm, he walked miles each day to place these
cards where they would reach the eyes of the public. He wrote his own newspaper
articles and placed them in the hands of the editors, who were sometimes very
prejudiced against the new teachings. Mr. Heindel, however, with his pleasing
personality, could usually win them over, sometimes getting a full column
write-up which brought a goodly crowd.
After delivering twenty lectures in Columbus, his path led him to Seattle,
Washington, where he had made many friends in 1906. He hoped to interest some
friend there in assisting him to print his book. This friend proved to be
William M. Patterson, who not only assisted him to get the book into the hands
of the publisher but, being a printer and editor himself, was able to give him
much valuable advice as to the publishing. Mrs. Bessie Brewster and Kingsmill
Commander were also most helpful in assisting him in the editing of the
manuscript. Following this, and accompanied by William M. Patterson, he took
the manuscript of the Cosmo-Conception and the twenty lectures to Chicago, where they were later published.
We will give here a few of Max Heindel's own words descriptive of his work
in Chicago: "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception was published in November, 1909, about five weeks before the end of the first decade of the century. Friends had edited the original manuscripts and had done splendid
work, but I had of course to revise it before giving it to the printer; then I
read the printer's proof, corrected and returned it, and reread it after
mistakes had been rectified. I read it again after the type had been divided
into pages, and gave instructions to the engravers about the drawings and to
the printer about placing them in the book, etc. I was up at 6 A. M. and toiled
until 12, 1, 2, or 3 in the night during all those weeks, amid endless
confusion, with tradesmen and the roar of Chicago about my ears, sometimes
almost to the limit of nervous endurance. Still I kept my faculties together
and wrote many new points into the Cosmo. Had it not been for the support of the Elder Brothers, I must have gone under. It was their work,
however, and they saw me through. Yet I was almost a wreck when the strain was
past."
While in Chicago the entire edition of the Cosmo-Conception,
with the exception of a few hundred copies which were taken to Seattle, was
stored with a woman who conducted a publishing house. Being in debt this woman
used the Cosmo-Conception stored with her to pay her indebtedness to other publishers. When the request was later made from Seattle for more books, it was found that the first edition of two thousand copies was
exhausted. This necessitated the ordering of the second edition. A sixty-page
index was then added.
While it might seem that the loss of two thirds of the copies of the
Cosmo-Conception must have been a calamity to one of limited
means, it was far from it. It proved to be a godsend, for the woman had been
associated with New Thought, Theosophy, and various other advanced thought
movements for a number of years and had furnished them with books she procured
from large publishing houses. She induced them to accept the
Cosmo-Conception, which up to that time had been comparatively
unknown. Thereby she created a demand which was one means of spreading the
Rosicrucian teachings to many parts of the world. It was a cloud which truly
had a silver lining.
After having established Fellowship Centers in Columbus, Seattle, North
Yakima, and Portland, Mr. Heindel returned to Los Angeles in November, 1909, to
start work in that city.
To continue with this story it is now necessary that the writer bring in her
own associations. Previous to Max Heindel's leaving Los Angeles and between the
years of 1898 and 1906 the writer, who was then Augusta Foss, and Mr. Heindel
had been close friends, spending much time together in the study of esotericism,
astrology, and kindred subjects. When he returned to Los Angeles in 1909 with
the Rosicrucian Teachings, the writer found in the
Cosmo-Conception that which she had been seeking for a number of
years. It satisfied the inner longing. It was the food for which her soul had
hungered. She at once threw herself heart and soul into the work, and assisted
Mr. Heindel with his lectures and classes.
Between November 29, 1909 and March 17, 1910, he conducted classes and gave
lectures in Los Angeles. Giving three public lectures a week, he filled a hall
holding one thousand full to the door each night. By March his health would not
permit him to go on. Shortly afterward he was taken ill with the usual heart
trouble, and while in the hospital at the very point of death he had a most
remarkable experience. We will append his description of it in his own words:
"On the night of the 9th of April, 1910, when the New Moon was in Aries, my
Teacher appeared in my room and told me that a new decade had commenced that
night, and that in the coming ten years it would be my privilege to give to the
world a science of healing such as later described. The Fellowship would
furnish helpers in the great work.
"This was the first intimation I had had that such work was contemplated.
The night before, my work with the newly formed Los Angeles Fellowship Center
had terminated. I had traveled and lectured six out of seven nights, and
several afternoons a week besides, since my Chicago publishing experience. I
was sick and withdrawing from public work to recuperate. I knew it was very
dangerous to leave the body consciously when ill, for the etheric body is then
unusually attenuated, and the silver cord breaks easily. Death under such
conditions would cause the same sufferings as suicide, so the Invisible Helper
is always cautioned to stay in his body when it is suffering. But at my
Teacher's request I was ready for the soul flight to the Temple, and a guard
was left to watch the sick body.
"As we have stated previously in our literature there are nine degrees in
the Lesser Mysteries of whatever country, and the Rosicrucian Order is no
exception. The first of these corresponds to the Saturn Period, and the
exercises having to do with it are held on Saturn's day at midnight. The second
degree corresponds to the Sun Period, and that particular rite is celebrated at
midnight on Sunday. The third degree, corresponding to the Moon Period, is held
on Monday at midnight; and so on with the remainder of the first seven degrees;
each corresponds to a Period and is held on the day appropriate thereto. The
eighth degree is celebrated at the New Moon and the full; the ninth degree at
the summer and winter solstices.
"When a disciple first becomes a lay brother or sister, he or she is
introduced to the rite held on Saturday nights. The next Initiation entitles
him also to attend the midnight services at the Temple on Sunday nights, and so
on. It is to be noted, however, that while all lay brothers and sisters have
free access in their spiritual bodies to the Temple during all days, they are
barred from the midnight services of the degrees which they have not yet
taken. Nor is it a visible guard who stands at the door and demands a password
of each as he desires to enter, but a wall is around the Temple, invisible yet
inpenetrable to those who have not received the 'Open Sesame.' Every night it
is differently constituted, so that should a pupil by mistake or through
forgetfulness seek to enter the Temple when the exercises are above his status,
he would learn that it is possible to bump one's head against a spiritual wall
and that the experience is by no means pleasant.
"As already said, the eighth degree meets at the new and full moon, and all
who have not attained to it are debarred from that midnight service, the writer
among them; for these degrees are no mere mummeries to be obtained by the
payment of a few paltry coins, but require a measure of spirituality far beyond
my present attainment, a stage to which I may not attain in several lives
though not wanting in effort or aspiration. You will therefore understand that
on the night of the New Moon in Aries, 1910, when the Teacher came for me, it
was not to take me into that exalted gathering of the eighth degree but to
another session of a different nature.
"Besides, though this session was held in the night as it occurs in
California, the time being different in Europe the exercises of the New Moon
had been held in Germany hours before, so that when I arrived at the Temple
with my Teacher, the sun was already high in the German heavens.
"When we entered the Temple, some time was devoted to an interview with my
Teacher alone, and in it he outlined the work of the Fellowship as the Brothers
would wish to have it carried out.
"After the interview we entered the Temple, where the twelve Brothers were
present. It was arranged differently from what I had seen it before, but lack
of space forbids a detailed description. I shall only mention three spheres,
suspended above one another in the center of the Temple, the middle sphere
being about half way between floor and ceiling; also it was much larger than
the two others, which hung above and below it.
"The various modes of vision above the physical are: etheric or X-ray, color
vision, which opens up the Desire World; and tonal vision, which discloses the
Region of Concrete Thought, as explained very fully in The Rosicrucian Mysteries. My development of the latter phase of spiritual sight had
been most indifferent up to the time mentioned, for it is a fact that the more
robust our health, the closer we are enmeshed in the physical and the less able
to contact spiritual realms. People who can say, 'I never had a day's sickness
in my life,' at the same time reveal the fact that they are perfectly attuned
to the physical world and totally incapable of contacting the spiritual
realm. This was nearly my case up to 1905, though I had suffered excruciating
pain all my life, the effects of a surgical operation on the left limb in
childhood. The wound never healed until I changed to a meatless diet; then the
pain also ceased. But my endurance during all the previous years was such that
it never showed by a line on the face, and in every other respect I had perfect
health. It was noticeable, however, that when blood flowed as a result of an
accidental cut, it would not coagulate, and a great quantity was always lost;
whereas after two years on a clean diet the accidental loss of an entire nail
in the morning resulted in the loss of only a few drops of blood; I was able to
use the typewriter the same afternoon; there was no festering as the new nail
grew.
"Upbuilding of the spiritual side of the nature, however, brought disharmony
to the physical body; it became more sensitive to conditions around; the result
was a breakdown. This was all the more complete because of the before mentioned
endurance that kept me on my feet for months after I should have given in, with
the result that I came very close to death's door.
"Out of this precarious condition, however, has come an increasing ability
to function in the spiritual world. While, as said, my tonal vision and the
ability to function in the Region of Concrete Thought here related were
indifferent and chiefly confined to the lowest subdivision thereof, a little
assistance from the Brothers that night enabled me to contact the fourth
division, where the archetypes are found, and to receive there the
teaching and understanding of that which is contemplated as the highest ideal
and mission of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.
"I saw our Headquarters and a string of people coming from all quarters of
the world to receive the teaching. I saw them issuing thence to bring balm to
afflicted ones near and far. While here in this world it is necessary to
investigate in order to find out about anything, there the voice of each
archetype brings with it as it strikes the spiritual consciousness a knowledge
of what that archetype represents. Thus there came to me that night an
understanding which is far beyond my words to express, for the world in which
we live is based upon the principle of time, but in the high realm of the
archtypes all is an eternal Now."
You will note in the above article that Max Heindel was able by the help of
the Teacher to function in the fourth division of the Region of Concrete
Thought, where the archetypes of physical form are found. This can only be
accomplished after passing through the fourth Initiation, or fourth degree,
which corresponds to the first half of the Earth Period. Only after passing
through the third stratum of the earth can a man function in the fourth
division of the Region of Concrete Thought.
At the time of this Initiation into the deeper Mysteries the Brothers
imparted to him the knowledge that an Ecclesia or Temple was to be built on
Mt. Ecclesia, where a Panacea was to be prepared. The spiritual outpouring
obtained in such a place by the use of a certain formula given to Mr. Heindel
on that memorable night in the Temple will be combined with a suitable physical
substance to facilitate transmission. This Panacea cannot be prepared until the
right conditions are made for it in the Ecclesia by the Probationers.
Our Temple was erected and dedicated on December 25, 1920, before the second
decade of the century had closed. This Temple, the Ecclesia, was erected for
the purpose of affording more powerful means for the healing of
disease. Healing meetings are held in this holy place at a regular time each
day by the Probationers who have consecrated their lives to this work.
Assistance is rendered by the Elder Brothers, who are using Headquarters as a
focusing point. Added to this is the work of the Invisible Helpers, who are
Probationers located in many parts of the world. The healing power generated in
the Ecclesia has increased the efficiency of the work of the Invisible Helpers
so that the cures effected are frequently quite miraculous, and our work of
healing is spreading over the entire globe.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship teaches that the wonderful organism called the
human body is governed by immutable natural laws. All disease results from
wilful or ignorant violation of Nature's laws. People are ill because in this
life or in a previous one they have disregarded the fundamental principles on
which the health of the body depends. If they wish to regain and to retain
health, they must learn to understand these principles and regulate their daily
habits in conformity with them.
The Rosicrucian Order
The Rosicrucian Order, founded in the 13th century, is one of the schools of
the Lesser Mysteries. The other Lesser Mystery schools are variously graded to
meet the spiritual requirements of the most precocious among other segments of the human race with whom they work. Christian Rosenkreuz is
the 13th member of the Rosicrucian Order. Only the Brothers of the Order have
the right to speak of themselves as "Rosicrucians."
Seven of the Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order go out into the world
whenever occasion requires, appearing as men among other men, or working in
their invisible vehicles with or upon others as needed. But it must be strictly
kept in mind that they never influence any one against his will or contrary to
his desires, but only strengthen good wherever found. When any of the seven
Brothers are working in the world, they have and use material bodies just as
other people do, and they live in a house which people in general might
consider the house of some well-to-do but not ostentatious person. They hold
offices or positions of distinction in the community where they live, but it is
only to give a reason for their presence and not create any question as to what
they are, or who they are, or as to there being anything out of the ordinary in
them. Outside of the house in which they live and in that house and through
that house there is what may be called the Temple. This is etheric and is
different from our ordinary buildings. it might be likened to the auric
atmosphere that is around the Pro-Ecclesia at Headquarters. This is much larger
than the material building and is etheric. Manson's word picture of a spiritual
church gives an idea of what such structures are. They are around and through
buildings and churches where people are devoted to spiritual things, and of
course they differ in color. The Rosicrucian Temple is extraordinary and not to
be compared with any other structure. It surrounds and interpenetrates the
house in which the Elder Brothers live. This house is so permeated with
spirituality that most people would not feel very comfortable or at ease there.
Five of the Brothers of the Rose Cross never leave the Temple, and although
they possess physical bodies, all their work is done from the inner worlds.
Though the Elder Brothers are human, they are vastly exalted above our own
status.
A considerable period of intensely zealous life as a visible helper
must be lived by the aspirant before he has evolved his soul body to
such a degree of luminosity that it attracts the Teacher. (Note: At the same
time the pupil is building his soul body, he is also accumulating a power
within in like proportion.) No listless, easy-going study or dreamy
contemplation will bring the Teacher. He is himself a servant in the
highest sense of the word, and no one who is not serving with all his soul need
expect to meet him. When he does come, he will need no credentials, for the
very first sentence spoken by him will carry conviction, and so will every
other word he ever speaks to the pupil, for being endowed with the
consciousness which we shall all possess in the Jupiter Period (a
self-conscious picture consciousness) each sentence will bring before the
listener a series of pictures which will accurately illustrate his meaning. For
instance, if he undertakes to explain the process of death, the pupil sees
inwardly the passing Spirit leaving the body; he may note the uncoiling of the
silver cord; he sees the rupture of the seed atom in the heart and how its
forces leave the body and cling to the Spirit. The Elder Brother is able to
accomplish this with his pupil in the following manner:
First, he, the Elder Brother, fixes his attention upon certain facts which
he wishes to convey to the mind of his pupil. The pupil, who has become fitted
for Initiation by evolving within himself certain powers (which are still
latent, however), is like a tuning fork tuned to a pitch identical with that of
the vibrations of the ideas sent out by the Elder Brother in the pictures.
Therefore, the pupil not only sees the pictures, but he is able to respond to
their vibration. Thus vibrating to the ideal presented by the Elder Brother,
the latent power within the pupil is converted into dynamic energy, and his
consciousness is lifted to the level required for the Initiation which he is
being given. This is the reason why the secrets of true Initiation cannot be
revealed. It is not an outward ceremonial but an inward
experience. This description is the nearest to what Initiation really is
that can possibly be given to one who has not experienced it himself. There is
no secret about the pictures in the sense that one would not tell it, but they
are secret because no earthly words are coined which could adequately describe
such a spiritual experience. It is true that the Initiation takes place in the
Temple particularly suited to the needs of a certain group of individuals who
vibrate within a certain octave, and that there are others present. But it is
not what they do or say which constitutes Initiation, for Initiation is an
inward experience whereby the latent powers that have been ripened within are
changed to dynamic energy, which Initiation teaches the pupil to use.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship;
Its Relation to Other
Rosicrucian Societies
The Rosicrucian Fellowship, founded by Max Heindel under the direct guidance
of the Elder Brothers of the Order, is the authorized representative for the
present period of the ancient Rosicrucian Order, of which Christian Rose Cross,
or Christian Rosenkreuz is the Head. This Order is not a mundane organization,
but has its Temple and headquarters on the etheric plane. It authorized the
formation of the Fellowship by Max Heindel for the purpose of carrying the
Western Wisdom Teachings to the Western people. In earlier ages the Order
carried on its work through various secret societies in Europe and elsewhere;
but the growth and advancement of the people of the United States have in
recent years reached such a point that the Order deemed it advisable to
establish an exoteric center here for the extension of its work. The
Rosicrucian Fellowship is its latest manifestation in physical form, putting
out the most up-to-date version of the Rosicrucian Teachings, in
twentieth-century scientific terms, which are at the same time simple and
devoid of technical abstractions.
The particular work of the Fellowship, now (1966) being governed by a Board
of seven Directors elected from among its Probationers by the voting members
(Mrs. Heindel passed on in May of 1949), is to disseminate the esoteric
doctrines of the Christian religion, since the Rosicrucian Philosophy is an
esoteric Christian philosophy. It is destined to become the universal religion
of the world, because the Christ is to have charge of human evolution during
the present Great Sidereal Year of approximately 25,000 years. Anyone who is
willing to conform to the regulations of the Fellowship, the Preparatory School
for the Rosicrucian order, and who is not a hypnotist, or professionally
engaged as a medium, palmist, or astrologer, is eligible to enroll and study
its Teachings by correspondence. There is no fixed price on any of the
self-study modules. The work is carried on by means of freewill offerings and the income
from the sale of books.
Other Rosicrucian societies in the United States claim, we believe, lineal
descent from earlier branches of the ancient Rosicrucian Order in England,
France, Egypt, or other countries. The Rosicrucian Fellowship has no lineal
connection with these organizations, but represents a renaissance of the Order
in the Western World.
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