THE DARK SIDE OF AMORC

The following writing is a summary of the discussion that took place about AMORC in the web: http://forum.culteducation.com/list.php?6

Michael Jones

According to the Rosicrucian Order AMORC, there are certain rules members have to follow absolutely in order to continue to receive protection of the egregore of AMORC. These rules are clearly spelled out in the monographs of AMORC and the Rosicrucian tradition.

Besides paying your membership fee to AMORC and other important points I have mentioned in previous post, members must (or must not):

1)   Cannot criticize the Rosicrucian Order AMORC and the teaching of AMORC and its spiritual leaders (terms use for the officer of AMORC visible and invisible).

2)   Members must not read writing that is critical of AMORC.

3)   Members must voice their opinion against writing that are critical of AMORC.

The reason given for this last one is that if a member is not willing to voice opinion against writing that are critical of AMORC, it means that they do not believe deep inside in the teaching of AMORC and is therefore not worthy of the protection of the egregore of AMORC.

And this is the dilemma. You cannot read a book that is critical of AMORC and you must take position for AMORC against such book. This smells fishy to me.

So fear is the force that pushes members of AMORC into criticizing so harshly Pierre Freeman for his book “The Prisoner of San Jose”.

I welcome any feed back about this dilemma.

Keir

It comes down to organizations that wish to propagate their own propaganda and the suppression of dissidents, criticism and or critical thought. (One's warning lights should be flickering!)

Nerveno

That is not a dilemma at all, I spoke to a current 12+ degree member the other day about this book and he told me if I want to then read it!

Fear is human nature. Fear is not a tool of AMORC. There are no "Invisible Masters" that have the control Michael states. They are a term for people who have achieved mastery of their own lives. A goal every AMORC student strives to achieve.

I look forward to talking to anyone about this matter and hopefully clear the misconceptions.

Of course if you believe in something you will take their side in it. Cult or not.

And before it is said again. I am not brainwashed by AMORC. i am a member and i am speaking from what I know before joining. I defend them only because my time with them is pleasant and I enjoy being a student.

Kier

Cults take on many forms. Not all groups operate the same way. One should always hear the side of dissidents of any group. There are always two side of the story.

Italsportkit

I have read the book and it is basically the author who thought that with AMORC could find economic prosperity in the USA, he was from Haiti. He didn’t go to work because was studying all night, when he was going to marry instead of talking to the future wife he was reading books of AMORC.

This is one of the most boring books I have ever read, and you can see in all the book how sad is this man. A total disaster of man.

He blames AMORC for everything it did not work in his life, instead of blaming himself for his stupidity. Its so obvious that if you just read books and study you will not find jobs and a life.

He is describing AMORC almost like scientology where they force you to read and study 24 hours. I am studying with AMORC and I only dedicate a couple of hours a week so I don’t know why he was on the studies 24 hours a day. Please read the book and you will se how lost is this man.

Peter Hughes 73

My Dear friend Italsportkit (I should Frater/Soror) since you said you are a member of AMORC. I have read the book too. I think he did an excellent job of explaining the entrapping nature of the Rosicrucian teaching.

Stating you are studying with AMORC and dedicate a couple of hours a week is plain lie.

For example setting your sanctum every Thursday: unpack your candles, install your minor, unpack your incense find the proper lighting for the room, find matches, find the right monograph, get your diary, get a pen,.. these seemingly simple task add up to at least one hour to simply prepare the sanctum for study.

Now some one from outside of AMORC might ask why pack and Unpack. Simple according to the Rosicrucian Order AMORC these are so sacred that they must be kept away from the eye of the "Profane"(I am using here AMORC loaded language).

Now, taking a shower or wash yourself before sanctum study, deep breathing, I forgot listen to sanctum music to put you in meditative mood,... all these AMORC basic manipulating techniques will absolutely add up to another hour...

Now Let mention the torturing time you spend trying to bridge inside of your mind the complete non-sense statement of the monograph: "Up is down, down is up", "Actuality vs. Reality", "Time does not exist",... of course all these has an AMORC purpose create dissonance in the mind of the member, put the member into a very trance/hypnotic state. So the member becomes very suggestible and will not question the content of these monographs.

Now almost every monograph gives exercises for members to practice daily during the week and all these add up to at least 8 to 10 hours a week for a beginner.

As you get more advance, AMORC gives members many new exercises to do and also force members into reviewing the early exercises.

So to tell that you spend two hours a week doing the AMORC study make me conclude that you are simply promoting the same advertising statement of AMORC.

But again if you are a member of AMORC, you have no choice because according to AMORC if you do not defend AMORC against anything critical of AMORC, you will lose the protection of the egregore of AMORC.

Michael Jones

I found this experiment in the book “The Prisoner of San Jose” by Pierre Freeman.

I went back to the monograph and verify his description of the experiment. It is in monograph # 6 of Atrium 1. For those long time member that has the pre-1993 version of the monographs, you will find it in a different location but still in the Neophyte section. I have both version of the monographs but do not have time to search for the location in the old monograph.

AMORC gives specific instruction for the member to perform this experiment before studying this monograph. This of course put the member in a very suggestible state for the reading of the monograph. I have practice this experiment for many times over my 25 years of affiliation to AMORC and never realized that I was hypnotizing myself.

Atrium 1, Monograph 6. Remember we are sitting in from of a mirror with candles on a table and incense burning.

Experiment # 1

AMORC asks the member to concentrate on the light of the two lighted candles for an undefined period of time.

Experiment # 2

AMORC asked the neophyte to extinguish one candle and leave the other burning. He then must sit with his feet flat on the floor, executing four or five neutral or normal breaths. Once he is completely relaxed, he must focus on the lighted candle, taking care not to blink. He must keep this focus until he feels he has become one with the candle.

During this experiment, the neophyte is asked to try not to be conscious of himself or who he is. In other words, he should lose himself in the object of his concentration. When losing focus, he should pause momentarily and then renew his concentration, though no more than twice at one time.

Then, he should relight the second candle and continue studying the monograph. After reading the monograph completely, he should briefly meditate.

The Anticult

Yes, that is basic self-hypnosis, which makes you more Suggestible. Using a candle to stare at, is a very common method.

Nerveno

This exercise you mention is not hypnosis. It is a form of meditation (concentration or recursive meditation) its aim is to build concentration and while it can be used for self-hypnosis, it is because of the trance state you enter not the exercise itself. The above I learnt before AMORC.

What Pierre Freeman doesn’t add (or you forgot to add) is that there is an element of conscious concentration involved in the exercise to attempt to perceive and change colors around the candle. This therefore keeps your objective consciousness active. Reducing the chance of your brain waves changing and entering a trance state suited for self-hypnosis.

They mentioned losing awareness of yourself and that around you. But do you not notice that when you concentrate hard enough? You cannot truly concentrate while taking note of external stimuli. They also ask you to meditate briefly on a question they pose to you about the exercise.

The way you word the exercise (basically not in its full form you miss bits out) of course it will change the way people think of it. So please, include the full explanation. With you Michael, you claimed to be a long standing member so i thought you would know this exercise well.

With regards to the sanctum. They never tell you to disassemble it. They even suggest that the sanctum be permanent only temporary if you have to. They never mention the word "Profane" simply they suggest you do not show to people because they may make misinformed decisions about what it is and means.

With regards to the time. I don’t know how it takes you an hour to set up. I keep everything i need right next to my Sanctum. Takes about 5 minutes. And if it takes longer than the time given by AMORC. So what? In all honesty if you wish to study you will make time and fit it around your life like I do.

Vern 76

I have been a member for over 50 and do not feel I have a dilemma. By using the principles for the Mastery of Life they have provided me I am now comfortable in retirement after a 43 career in accounting and financial management.

I have been involved in other self improvement organizations like Toastmasters and found they supplement the principles taught by the Rosicrucian Order. I did not find any need or requirement to spend untold hours studying and reading the studies and books. On the average there is no need to spend more than 2 hours a week unless you elect to do so.

As far as the posts on setting up a home sanctum it takes only 5 minutes to set it up and take down if you keep your stuff organized. In fact you can elect to leave it set up if you a space to do so.

There are certain obligations to being a member. But you will find that requirement with most other organizations. Your are sworn in when you join the Army to be loyal to the country you are serving, or if you join a church you go through a ceremony where you affirm you loyalty to the teaching of that church. This give some sense of structure to our society. I feel free to read whatever I want to read without restrictions.

There also are procedures to follow if for any reason I do not agree with the decisions of any officers of the Order and want to appeal that decision. We need certain rules in order to have order in the world. So we have speed limits, the taking of other persons goods without their permission is a crime, etc. Need I say more?

Clefwalker

I have been in AMORC for 27 years and am leaving this year. I do believe that I was supposed to experience the Order and learn from it, but I always felt "out of place." I think the danger is that one subconsciously accepts the fear of being judged not to be a "good member." Any established organization is going to have its own principles and rules - if you are a member, you abide by them.

Right now, I feel released from a straitjacket. Being a "Rosicrucian" does not mean being a member of AMORC. It is much deeper and older than that, and beyond any physical organization. Unfortunately, there are some in the administration who are very controlling and force their rigidity on others.

I can say that anyone actually practicing being a "walking question mark" was not really accepted, especially if any actions taken by the Order were criticized.

Hopeful

That’s not true. Very early on in AMORC studies you are advised to be “a walking question mark” and not take anything you are told on faith. In my almost 6 years as a member of AMORC I have never been forced (or even persuaded) to do anything I didn't want to. My values and opinions remain very much the same as before I joined. If anyone tried to tell me what to do or think I would leave!

Scaro

I have a longstanding interest in researching AMORC history, and some would say, as a critic or even enemy of AMORC. Certainly I'm very interested in the group's history and in HS Lewis and his foundation myths for the group. I have been very strongly attacked in the past for asking uncomfortable questions by some of the die-hard members. So be it.

I am not in AMORC. I was a member it briefly for about eighteen months total, the last time was 2003. I didn't leave due to any dispute or falling out, it just wasn't for me. I thought the teachings were nothing that one could not find out for free and were fairly diluted. In my opinion, some of what went on seemed a bit kooky or silly.

However, I think the criticism of AMORC in the past year or two is nonsensical, and it is now time to turn around to defend them, in the interests of a balanced and truthful picture.

Let us look at what is alleged in recent posts.

Money

AMORC functions like most groups by the contributions of members. AMORC dues are modest, compared to most other organisations in many other areas of life. I'm a Freemason and that's about the same as AMORC membership. For their Supreme Grand Lodge dues, members receive a weekly lesson and a couple of regular publications. This used to cost about $US250 when I was a member. Fairly inexpensive, considering all you get.

For a modest outlay, members in towns and cities that have a physical lodge are able to pay lodge dues and participate in rituals, open days, various exercises, courses and lectures. We are talking about a fee of about $US60 a year for this privilege. The events have a nice feel and are social, communal events in a relaxing, modestly furnished building with such damnable cultic practices as the drinking of tea, and the eating of cake and biscuits with like minded others and listening to talks on topics like medieval women mystics and so on. I know, I used to be in the Melbourne lodge and it was a pretty good place.

The lodge buildings are typically owned by the members, being held in trust by the Grand Lodge for the country, I think.

I think AMORC had a system of contributions called “Amra” and yes, they ask to be “remembered” in members’ wills. So what? That might be a $50 donation!

I am quite sure all is not sweetness and light, as in any large organisation, and I believe AMORC has had some dodgy tax practices that have gotten into the French newspapers. But nothing out of the ordinary.

Magic

His founder, H.S. Lewis had great disdain for magical practices and AMORC has always been a mystical, rather than magical organisation. This is abundantly clear from his writing on these topics.

Ralph Lewis, his son, who ruled the roost in the organisation for 48 years, has been described more or less as 'an agnostic Buddhist' in his take on life. Certainly not a magician.

The allegations of magic seem to stem from the writings of Samael Aun Weor who was apparently disciple of a rival Rosicrucian organisation for a time. Frankly, they seem hysterical.

Mind Control

This notion that AMORC controls minds by persuasion seems to me a nonsense. If I am persuaded by a smooth talking salesman to buy a vacuum cleaner, am I subject to mind control?

The definition of mind control that Pierre Freeman uses is so diluted as to be absolutely meaningless - everyone who tries to persuade you of anything at all would be “practicing techniques of mind control”.

The AMORC people I know where not controlled in any way by the group. They felt free to dismiss some of HS Lewis' voluminous output of writing as 'nonsense', while other parts they liked. They felt free to belong to other groups like BOTA - whose founder was scathingly critical of HS Lewis as a “Rosicrucian impostor”.

I knew no one who I would consider to have been controlled by the group. The lodge I was in certainly had many 'controlling' personalities, but anything based on a secretive hierarchy is going to attract such personalities.

I think AMORC functions as an outer order quite well. It seems to provide the mystical basics at a modest price and the companionship of like-minded others to discuss, meditate and practice together.

Many people go on from it to other organisations or orders, or maintain membership of AMORC while being in other mystical groups, some of which are critical of or even opposed to AMORC. Most who do this are unmolested by their fellow members or the hierarchy.

AMORC does not do anything that any other 'reputable' or mainstream religion doesn't do. As far as the experience of the average member goes, it is a fairly benign organisation.

Ben

Yelgim

I am in the Illuminati Section Degree 10 Monograph 11 and practicing Psychic Awakening No 3 Adrenals and was wondering if someone could please tell me how many more monographs to go also how many Master Monographs in 11 and 12. The reason I am asking is that I have been told Degree 10 has less than 50 Master Monographs and degree 11 less than 70.

My dad has the older style 1950 through 1970 and he says that Degree 10 had 97 Degree 11 had 167 and Degree 12 had 325 so if what I have heard is true then Christian Bernard has seriously gutted the Illuminati section

Any info would be appreciated

Peter Hughes 73

You can easily buy the Monographs from San Jose. They are just very expensive. For all the monographs from Neophyte (monograph 1) to 12 Temple degre AMORC will charge you a lot of money.

You might want to be careful before sending your money out because San Jose has a "No refund policy".

Of course AMORC will not use the term "no refund policy", because AMORC is very slick in how they do "the Cosmic Business".

Serap

Here is my story, this week I canceled membership of AMORC.

I really learned a lot, after 13 years now its time for something new, I want to continue my spiritual way on my own as I am a yoga acharya and didn’t feel good any more in the AMORC group, people didn’t develop and there where stupid commentaries about Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, yoga, also some members seem to be little mini racists.

Nothing special as this happens in every group; Just that every time I came to the group I didn’t feel to well and it costed me a lot of energy to hear always the same kind of commentaries like:

-      "Aahh!  Aren’t you in India again to get diary, people there eat everything do ya really think its good and you can learn something from a third world country."

I learned so many things from my spiritual teachers in India, kundalini-vidya (the full thing), had sakshi bav (withness state) consciousness as well as out of body experiences almost every day, met my masters in astral.

The point is: I really was thinking a long time if it is the right step and: I simply did it! I was never a prisoner of AMORC, never felt like this and now when I wanted to cancel membership. I did; that’s all.

AMORC can only be as good as the members, Rosicrucian way has a lot to do with group rituals, if the people are conservative and small minded.... its impossible to develop.

I always defended AMORC and still I think it can be a good thing for some people, but in AMORC the problem seems to be endless boring rituals and people who don’t develop, they come for cake and tea and pretend to be some summum bonum high degree -illuminati member ... but they behave like some mini Nazis 1945 ... sorry but this is the truth!

I have been in India such a long time twice, lived 2 years in South Africa / Durban, and had unbelievable spiritual mini enlightments, OBEs, mystical experiences and I feel its time to continue on my own, I don’t have questions any more, i am not searching any more, don’t need people who tell me what they think reality is about, not in yoga and not in AMORC or any other organization.

For me vedanta and tantric yoga comes very close to absolute, I don’t have to pay membership fees and show these stupid membership cards every time I come even if everybody knows me there.

AMORC it’s not a brotherhood, more like a membership at Amazon, but you can learn a lot and teachings might help to understand for a while.

Zaim

AMORC is a noxious sect where you are brainwashed. I is not a Rosicrucian order, His founder was a liar and a criminal. You must really run away from this organization that is just a destructive cult like the Church of Scientology.

Scaro

I am a long term researcher and also a critic of AMORC, but your accusations are clearly defamatory and unjustified.

I think its claims to occult “legitimacy” are questionable, even its claims to teach “Rosicrucian” content are debatable . . . there are many Rosicrucian groups and AMORC is only one, though the largest and most public.

Particularly since the days of Dame Frances Yates and her groundbreaking book on this area, 'The Rosicrucian Enlightenment' in the early 70s, a school of study of the occult has grown in academia. This has stimulated enough research and articles to where it is possible to examine and define what “Rosicrucian” means in a fairly objective and historical way, and AMORC often doesn't even approach that definition, in spite of occasional nonsensical attempts to threaten and cajole other orgs and play the trademark game in relation to the “Rosicrucian” name.

Harvey Spencer Lewis, the founder of the org, some might pattern as a true mystic, others might say he was a cad, telling hysterical lies at times to build up his organisation. He was found in court to have plagiarised a lot of material that he sold to his students as 'secret wisdom.' On the other hand, it seems he didn't do anything much that would have hurt another human being; he was inventive, hugely energetic, from all accounts funny, and the organisation he set up was largely benign.

So, despite being a critic, and having had long correspondence with other critics of AMORC, eg, Robert Vanloo, Elias Ibrahim, etc, I do feel that justice demands I say the truth about AMORC when it's labeled as a 'destructive cult.' It just isn't so.

AMORC charges minor dues to the ordinary member, perhaps $US200-300 a year, for which the member receives a full curriculum of weekly lessons with practical exercises that might be encountered in any mystical tradition. It's presented in an easily digested format. It demands only a couple of hours study a week. This is small beer. $5 or $6 a week and a couple of hours for study.

Demands for funds outside the Supreme Grand Lodge dues (the fees for getting the mailed lessons) are minor. There are lodge dues if you want to attend a physical group that meets in a building; in Melbourne, Australia, the cost was about $US50. A year for the privilege. For that you got a full programme of open days on Saturday, rituals, access to a decent library - distinguished by including books by a number of authors highly critical of HS Lewis!

OK, there are additional conferences you might attend, courses etc, but not that many, and for most, the cost is hardly astronomical. I attended one when I was a member at Sydney Lodge. The cost was $US15 a day, and included lectures, exercises, food and tea and coffee. These events might take place quarterly.

Members had gone out of their way to provide food, do the catering, and make others feel welcome. They weren't brainwashed into doing this any more than anyone in a small Catholic parish group might be. They were nice people who believed some of their system and had found a place they were spiritually comfortable. That was about it.

Occasionally you might come across someone in the group who was a bit kooky, a 'true believer' I suppose. But this wasn't because of AMORC. It's just that small groups like this do attract folk like that sometimes. Trust me, I've been a member of enough little groups to know the type!

Some of the worst of these people detached from AMORC in 1990 after the Imperator, a former rodeo clown (!) named Gary Stewart, was removed in a palace coup. He founded another group, but even though some of the old AMORC die-hards went with him, he publicly gave marching orders to some of the more noxious of them a few years ago, presumably realising the danger that fanatics pose.

Most of the members I knew were balanced, compassionate people. Most had a healthy range of interests in things outside their mysticism, and more than half were members of other mystical groups. The head of the Melbourne Lodge was a popular and well known Mason, and also a member of a group whose founder roundly attacked Lewis in the 1920s. Hank was well aware of this. It did not bother him in the slightest.

As for compulsion and manipulation, well I don't think AMORC does much of that. They do the soft-sell on some of their publications (they have a publishing arm) and sure, they'd like you to stay a member, and say as much, but fairly well leave your affiliation up to you . . . remembering that probably more than half AMORC members only interact with the group by receiving the lessons and do not affiliate with physical lodges.

Do they have some flowery promises? Well, yeah. But what religious group doesn't? And they do leave your beliefs largely up to you, including your affiliation with other occult orders, mainstream religions, your politics, and what you believe from their lessons.

Most of the members I spoke to believed some of what the order taught, but not all of it. One of them thought the founder was a complete charlatan and felt quite OK with venturing that view to me. Member attitudes seemed less derived from a personality cult around the founder instead being largely derived from having tried and tested the exercises and having found them effective in their lives. By and large, they were good people.

I think all of this needs to be recognised in any valid consideration of what AMORC is.

My biases and affiliations . . . I was a member of AMORC for 18 months to 2 years, and have been a member of other Rosicrucian and occult groups not connected to AMORC for many years. Some of the people in those groups are current or former members of AMORC. I have written a few history articles on AMORC history and examining related orders.

Ben

Clefwalker

Ben, thank you for your thoughts. I feel the same way – if one is a "regular" member, it is pretty peaceful and one doesn't feel the cult aspect. Some people need to feel that "belonging" that characterizes membership in an organization, and they make it into a quasi-cult. I never felt that I was being overly influenced, although one does begin to think like a Rosicrucian after a while. My beef at this point is the leadership of the American Grand Lodge, which has manifested itself as rigid and inflexible. I am gradually cutting the ties, although there may still be a connection for a short while.

Scaro

That's ok Clefwalker.

I have no doubt there is a small minority who did turn AMORC into their personal cult.

These people tended to be the most rigid adherents to the personality cult around the Lewises. Being a camp follower of that kind is inevitably going to lead to a fork in the road at some point, because the Lewises were human and made significant errors.

So you either choose to diverge from reality and keep the rosy-tinted glasses on when it comes to the doings of Harvey, Ralph, Raymond, Christian and the gang, or you adjust the myth, experience a bit of disappointment, and hold true to reality.

I think that's a real stage in growth for the mystic. If you can read RS Clymer on Lewis' pilfering of writers like William Walker Atkinson, and still say 'Oh well, he did a few bad things, but his system is still OK' then that's an adult response, I'd say.

If you read Clymer and then conclude that Clymer was an evil liar and that all he said about the Lewises was wrong, or you decide to totally abandon the Lewises and seek perfection elsewhere, then in my view, you're not dealing with reality in an adult way.

There used to be a few on the alt.AMORC newsgroup who fit the 'camp follower' mold. It did not surprise me to find that their detachment from reality segued into other areas of their lives . . . one of them even maintaining a fiction that he was a Vietnam veteran . . . while his wife posted vociferously on the alt.AMORC about why people should go fight in the Iraq war! What a piece of work!

But that's the full cultic “disconnect” in operation, the way I see it. But these whackaloons are thankfully a very few, and most people I met in AMORC didn't act that way. Most were good; some were really evolved, intellectual individuals who would not have been out of place in the upper echelons of Buddhism or with the Jesuits, or any other “mainstream” system.

There did seem to be a few nasty folk who turned AMORC into their own little power trip, i.e., less about being a true believer and more about seeing how far and fast they could climb the hierarchy and play favourites and little exclusionary games, messing with those they saw as lower down in the pecking order.

As to 'thinking like a Rosicrucian'. If you immerse yourself in any system of training you'll come to think as the system prescribes. I would say I think in an 'occult' or 'initiated' way because that's been my training, in a variety of groups. I think I got more value out of belonging to a few groups, as I could contrast aspects of their teaching, and it made it easier to see the value and parallels in different systems, say in Islam and Christianity, where Rosicrucian study of one kind or another improved my understanding and appreciation of what's going on with the 'spiritual technology' of those faiths.

I think there always comes a point where you need to cut your ties with a group. Even some of the strongest AMORC defenders have done that. That isn't to say the system is wrong, it's just that the effect of the path is to lead to changes, flux, and growth, and the rigidity of a system that might have suited you five years ago eventually comes to be a hindrance.

I think part of the path is knowing when to let go. Thankfully, I do not think AMORC stops people when they need to do that.

I have even heard that they are thinking of letting people give up their AMORC membership and maintain membership in their Martinist order, which seems to be an obvious progression.

Ben