Some Background on the Societas Rosicruciana from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2092/paper3.htm

The initial Rosicrucian manuscripts began to be circulated in Germany around 1610. They were published in 1614. Since that time there have been no shortage of fraternities, organizations, and groups of all kind claiming direct lineage to the unknown authors of the documents. The truth or falsehood of these various societies does not concern us here. It is enough to say that the most legitimate fraternity is that one which most seriously studies and practices its own doctrine. So I proceed with the beginnings of our Society - our Society meaning the original S.R.I.A.


The main personality in our beginning is Robert Wentworth Little (1840 - 1878) who basically founded and organized the Society in 1866. R.W. Little became the first Supreme Magus and his certificate is dated December 31, 1866. (The minutes of the first meeting however are dated June 1, 1867.) He undoubtedly had counsel from others including Kenneth Mackenzie. There are many names associated with the beginning years of our Society that have contributed much to Masonic history. The grade structure seems to go back to a society founded in 1757 by Hermann Fictuld (Gold- und Rosenkreuz). The structure was first published in 1781 in the book The Rosicrucian in his Nakedness (Der Rosenkreitzer in Setner Blosse). It is thought that the rituals were found in the Grand Lodge library and translated from the German by William Henry White for Robert Little.

When Little died at age 39 in 1878 he appointed Dr. William R. Woodman (1828-1891) to succeed him. And when Woodman died in 1891 he in turn appointed William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) who held the office till his death in 1925. These latter two, Woodman and Westcott, along with another S.R.I.A. member, Samuel L. Mathers (1854 - 1918) founded another society in 1888 designed to take these rites to an even deeper and more symbolic level. This society was called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. By 1893 there were 5 temples in operation. Many of the members were drawn from the S.R.I.A., but they also allowed women members.

My purpose in mentioning the Order of the Golden Dawn is that the symbol of the Rose-Cross emerged from that Society in a much more profound way than ever before. It becomes the symbolic embodiment of much of the Rosicrucian Order's teachings. And I will consider that form later in this paper. But before I can do that I want to review the basic teachings of our First Order, the first four grades: Zelator, Theoricus, Practicus, and Philosophus.