THE FIRST ROSICRUCIANS IN THE UNITED STATES ACCORDING TO SPENCER LEWIS

 

In his magazine The American Rosae Crucis of May 1916, Lewis narrated that in an old tower located in the French city of Toulouse and used (according to him) as a file cabinet by the Rosicrucians, he observed the following:

 

« I saw the last Oath of the Order made by Lafayette before he came to America, the first Rosaecrucian from France to come here. May his name ever remain sacred to the Order in America. »

(p.26)

 

 

 

In the book Rosicrucian Manual (1918) it is written:

 

« Mrs. May Banks-Stacey was a member of the English Branch which sponsored the first movement in America, Mrs. Colonel May Banks-Stacey, descendant of Oliver Cromwell and the D ’Arcy’s of France, placed in his hands such papers as had been officially transmitted to her by the last of the first American Rosicrucians. »

(p.133)

 

 

 

In his book "Questions and Answers " (1929), Lewis repeated it saying:

 

« The delegate from India [Mrs. Stacey] handed me the documents and jewels that had been preserved from the old Rosicrucian Foundation in Philadelphia.

 

During the years from 1909 to 1915 the Council met several times in my house or in the house of other members, with the attendance of individuals descended from the old Rosicrucians, and also of a few initiates in France from 1900 to 1909. »

(p.146-7)

 

 

 

In the eleventh edition of that book (1973) the following was added:

 

« As the editor of many esoteric magazines, I had become acquainted with various Rosicrucian manuscripts and had discovered that I had ties to the descendants of the first Rosicrucians in America who had settled in Philadelphia in 1694. This gave me access to many of his ancient papers, secret manuscripts and teachings. »

(p.174)

 

 

_ _ _

 

We therefore confirm that Spencer Lewis asserts that the Marquis de La Fayette was the first Rosicrucian to go to the United States and there he founded the first Rosicrucian Order in America, the most important lodge being the one established in Philadelphia.

 

But for reasons that Lewis does not specify, thIS first Order ceased to exist and that is why the Rosicrucians of France commissioned Lewis in 1909 to revive the Rosicrucian Order in America for a second cycle of existence.

 

And that is why during the years from 1909 to 1915 Lewis held several meetings attended by individuals descended from the ancient American Rosicrucians.

 

 

 

 

HOW TRUE IS ALL THIS?

 

There is no evidence to show that the Marquis de La Fayette was a Rosicrucian, it is known that he was a Freemason but only attracted by the revolutionary aspect that the Freemasons promoted and not at all by the esoteric aspect of which the Marquis de La Fayette never saw himself interested since all his life he was involved in politics and the military, but instead never once did he show any interest in the occult and therefore most likely he was not a Rosicrucian.

 

And there is also no evidence to show that the Rosicrucians went to the United States, and since the big charlatanism that Spencer Lewis showed, it is most likely that this was another of the many lies that individual invented.

 

This is confirmed by the fact that Lewis was not careful when it came to inventing his lies, which we perceive in the story he put up above since if the Marquis de La Fayette was the first Rosicrucian to go to the United States (and that did in the year 1777) then it doesn't make sense that the supposedly most important Rosicrucian lodge in the United States was established in Philadelphia in 1694 because that was a century earlier.

 

Nor does it make sense that if there were individuals descended from the ancient American Rosicrucians, none of them would have taken charge of keeping active this first Rosicrucian Order that supposedly already existed in the United States.

 

 

 

~*~

 

And this is one more example of the numerous falsehoods that Spencer Lewis invented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVATION

 

A member of AMORC told me that the Marquis de La Fayette would have been the first French Rosicrucian to go to America, but that there were already Rosicrucians in this territory who would have arrived earlier, sponsored by the English Rosicrucian branch.

 

Suppose that is so, but then where is the evidence?

 

There is no historical document that shows that this statement is true and we only have the affirmation of Spencer Lewis who proved to be a tremendously deceitful man and therefore someone who cannot be trusted.