Fama Fraternitatis - 1614

Wiewohl wir nun wohl wissen, daß es umb ein ziemliches noch nicht an dem, da wieder unserm Verlangen oder auch anderer Hoffnung mit allgemeiner Reformation divini et humani, solle genug geschehen, ist es doch nicht unbillich, daß, ehe die Sonne auffgehet, sie zuvor ein HELL oder dunkel liecht in den Himmel bringt und unter dessen etliche wenige, die sich werden angeben, zusammen tretten, unsere Fraternitet mit der Zahl und Ansehen des gewünschten und von Fr.R.C. fürgeschriebenen Philosophischen Canons, einen glücklichen Anfang machen oder ja in unserer Schätz (die uns nimmermehr aufgehen können) mit uns in Demut und Liebe genießen die Mühsamkeit dieser Welt überzuckern und in den Wunderwerken Gottes nicht also blind umbgehen.

Vi vet dock att det enligt vår åstundan och andras förväntningar efter någon tid kommer en allmän reformation av både gudomliga och mänskliga ting. Ty innan solen går upp, upplyses himlen av
MORGONRODNADENS ljus. I väntan på denna reformation församlas några få som med sitt antal skall utöka vårt brödraskap, höja dess anseende och stärka dess förhoppningar och ge de av Fr.R.C. föreskrivna Filosofiska Canons en lycklig begynnelse. I all ödmjukhet och kärlek skall dessa nytillkomna tillsammans med oss dela våra skatter, som aldrig skall förgås, och så lindra denna världens möda och inte längre vandra ovetande om kunskapen om Guds underbara verk.

Howbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others: for it is fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there should appear and break forth AURORA, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky; and so in the mean time some few, which shall give their names, may joyn together, thereby to increase the number and respect of our Fraternity, and make a happy and wished for beginning of our Philosophical Canons, prescribed to us by our brother R.C. and be partakers with us of our treasures (which never can fail or be wasted) in all humility, and love to be eased of this worlds labor, and not walk so blindly in the knowledge of the wonderful works of God.

Definition

Det brittiska ordenssällskapet Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn och den tyska Frimurarlogen L'Aurore Naissante, vilket grundades i London 1888 respektive Frankfurt-am-Main 1807, delade på samma hebreiska namn Chevrah Zerach Bequr Aur, förevisat i gyllene gult vid bloggens huvud, vilket ordagrannt kan översättas till “Stigande Gryningsljusets Sällskap”. Denna tyska Rosenkorsiska Frimurarloge i Frankfurt, vilket måste anses vara det ursprungliga modertemplet till GOLDEN DAWN, kallade sig på tyska även Loge sur Aufgehenden Morgenröthe, vilket kan översättas till “Gryende Morgonrodnadens Loge”. Detta skiljer sig åt från den engelska seden att översätta orden Bequr Aur till “Golden Dawn” eller “Gyllene Gryningen”. Med anledning av Rosenkorstraditionens tyska ursprung är en mer korrekt översättning av Bequr Aur, genom franskans L'Aurore Naissante och tyskans Aufgehenden Morgenröthe, inget annat än GRYENDE MORGONRODNADEN. Denna hänvisning till ett stigande gryningsljus, morgonrodnad eller aurora är en klar hänvisning till den allmäna reformationen omnämnt i det ovan citerade stycket från Fama Fraternitatis. Denna blogg har dock valt att behålla den försvenskade anglo-saxiska termen GYLLENE GRYNINGEN för att denna, invand som den är, lättare associeras med den Rosenkorsiska tradition som här ämnas att framställas.

Licht, Leben, Liebe

torsdag 10 juli 2014

The Scarab from the North



IN THE PAST I have been accused of worshiping Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Although I do respect the man’s work with the modern hermetic revival my greatest hero is actually the great Polish Adept and alchemist Michael Sendivogius (1566–1636) who was referred to as Heliocantharus Borealis (“scarab from the north” or “the worshiper of the northern sun”). He was well aquainted with John Dee and Edward Kelley, as well as a favorite in the courts of the Bohemian Emperor Rudolf II and the Polish (and Swedish) King Sigismund III Vasa. He is also one of the few proto-modern Adepts who reputedly succeded with the Great Work of producing the Philosophers Stone, which is on record at the beforementioned courts in Prauge and Cracow. With an Polish ancestry and being a permanent resident of Sweden I feel a strong spiritual sympathy with this cosmopolitan Scarab from the North

On my Gyllene Gryningen Blog I have written about Sendivogius before, in my quite popular essay The Rosicrucian Kingdom of Poland. But here I would like to address a point in that great Polish Adepts writing which bears quite some significance on the current state of the Order in Scandinavia or Hyperborea. Let me quote from Sendivogius’ preface to his Tractatus de Sulphure Altero Naturae Principio (“A Treatise on Sulphur and Other Natural Principles”) from 1613: 
The times are at hand when many secrets of Nature will be revealed to men. The Fourth or Northern Monarchy is about to be established; a happy age is coming; enlightenment, the Mother of Sciences, will soon appear; a brighter Sun than in any of the preceding three Monarchies will rise and reveal more hidden secrets. This Monarchy (as the ancients foretold) God’s Omnipotence will found by the hand of a prince enriched with all virtues who, it is said, has already appeared in this present age. In this our northern region we see a prince of uncommon wisdom and valour, whom no king can surpass in victories or in love of men and God.
There is no doubt that in this Monarchy God will reveal to us more secrets of Nature than it took place in the pagan darkness or under the rule of tyrants. Philosophers used to describe these Monarchies not according to their powers but by their placement and the parts of the world they cover. On the first place they place the Eastern, then the Southern, then the Western and finally the Northern and last one which is expected in these countries and about which I will speak at length in my Harmonia.
In this Northern coming polar Monarchy (as the Psalmist says) mercy and truth will meet together, peace and justice will kiss each other, truth will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from heaven. There will be one Shepherd and one fold, and knowledge will be the common property of all without envy. I look forward to all this with longing. (Translated by A.E. Waite.) 
Now, this sentence bears a direct reference to the first Rosicrucian Manifesto published one year later, in 1614, entitled Fama Fraternitatis, which states that 
In Politia we acknowledge the Roman Empire and Quartam Monarchiam [“Fourth Monarchy”] for our Christian head. 
The reference to “a brighter sun” that will rise in Sendivogius preface is clearly and actually a reference to the statement in the Fama of the appearance of an “Aurora, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky”. Let me quote that important paragraph from the Fama in full for greater elicudation:
Howbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others: for it is fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there should appear and break forth AURORA, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky; and so in the mean time some few, which shall give their names, may joyn together, thereby to increase the number and respect of our Fraternity, and make a happy and wished for beginning of our Philosophical Canons, prescribed to us by our brother R.C. and be partakers with us of our treasures (which never can fail or be wasted) in all humility, and love to be eased of this worlds labor, and not walk so blindly in the knowledge of the wonderful works of God.
Thus, what we see here in both Sendivogius words and that of the Fama Fraternitatis, which were published simultaneously, is a reference to a Nascent Aurora of the North. This Aurora mentioned in the Fama is clearly the Aurora Borealis (“Northern Light”), announcing the advent of the Forth Monarchy as foretold by Heliocantharus Borealis. In the Hermetic Order of the Nascent Aurora (H∴O∴N∴A∴) we have set as our mission to manifest a Novo Aurora Nascente in Hyperborea which from a spiritual point of view sets out to epitomise what that great Polish Adept and our Rosicrucian predeccessors prophesised exactly four Centuries ago, starting with the Vernal Equinox of 2014.

S∴R