The Rosicrucians with Tobias Churton

Perhaps the most notorious esoteric secret society of all time, the Rosicrucians still inspire enormous amounts of mystery and interest to this day. Yet what is going on with the Rosicrucians exactly? Where did they come from? Who were the Rosicrucians? Why do they matter still? Was it all some kind of inside Joke? To set all of this straight is the scholar of Western Esotericism and the author of many books which are important to our interests here at WMiT?- the Great Tobias Churton!

Tobias Churton is one of Britain’s leading scholars of Western esotericism as well as a world authority on Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Freemasonry, and Rosicrucianism. Holding a master’s degree in theology from Brasenose College, Oxford, he was appointed Honorary Fellow of Exeter University in 2005. His books The Golden Builders and The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians are absolute essential reads, as are most of his books. For all that Mr. Churton gets up to, click the link below!

Show Notes

• The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians: The World’s Most Mysterious Secret Society by Tobias Churton – This is literally the first book I will recommend on this Topic, and it is hands down the best book
• What is a Rosicrucian? Ideals and Definitions
• Read Many of the original Rosicrucian Documents
• Paracelsus
• Johannes Valentinus Andreae
• The Rosicrucian Enlightenment by Frances Yates – Very influential but scholars have since moved on from Frances’ thesis here
• The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited
• The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz: A Romance in Eight Days by Johann Valentin Andreae in a new version by John Crowley – The author of Little, Big (fantastic novel, read it) gives his version of this classic and it is by far my favourite
• Videos on Rosicrucianism from Angela’s Symposium
• The Embassy of the Free Mind has many Rosicrucian documents which will soon be digitized and ready to read online. They have a Rosicrucian Exhibit on right now
• Rosicrucians through the Ages
• The Rose Cross – A Historical and Philosophical View
• Esoteric Tradition Through Fiction: the Rosicrucian Example
• A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits by Paracelsus
• The Rosicrucian Emblems of Daniel Cramer – More than the ideas of Rosicrucianism, I love the symbols and iconography
• Rosicrucian Magic by Frater Acher. FA talks about his Book on Glitch Bottle Podcast
• Joséphin Péladan – Very influential for symbolist artists
• Bibliographia Rosicruciana by Carlos Gilly – Not yet published and so far it looks like it will only be available in German, but this looks to be the most comprehensive study of the Rosicrucian phenomenon ever produced
• Rosicrucian Tradition – Traditional Teachings of the Invisible Order – Has a list of some of the current orders that call themselves Rosicrucian