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THE MANIFESTO OF THE FRENCH ROSICRUCIANS THAT LEGITIMIZES AMORC


 
 
THE HISTORY OF THIS DOCUMENT
 
Spencer Lewis, the founder of AMORC, had created his organization claiming that he was being sponsored by the French Rosicrucians, but faced with increasing skepticism from his members, they asked Lewis to give a proof, to which Lewis responded by showing them a letter that was allegedly written by a leader of the French Rosicrucian Order who, with another Rosicrucian dignitary, had gone to visit Lewis in New York.
 
The fraudulent of this letter was demonstrated in this other article (see link).
 
After the discontent of AMORC members due to the fact that they could not see neither the mysterious Mr. Verdier nor the Supreme Magus, and they only had a doubtful letter as proof, they asked Lewis to give them more tangible evidence of the authority he had to found AMORC.
 
To which Lewis informed them that he was going to ask the high Rosicrucian authorities from France to send him a sponsorship document to show them, and some time later in his magazine The American Rosae Crucis of July 1916, Lewis published the following article:
 
 
The text says:
 
« Early in August of 1915 a complete report of our American activities and successes was sent to the Supreme Grand Lodge of France to be forwarded to the Supreme Council of the World. At the same time a formal request was made by the Grand Master General on behalf of the Lodge here for a regularly executed paper of Sponsorship of the American Order signed by the Supreme Council, should that Council deem the status of the American Order sufficient proof that its instructions and laws were being obeyed.
 
On September 30, 1915, after a special assembly of the Supreme Council in France, there was prepared and duly issued "Pronunziamento R. F. R. C., No. 987432" embodying a Manifesto declaring that the Supreme Council and Grand Lodge A. M. O. R. C. of France, on behalf of the Supreme Council A. M. O. R. C. of the World, declared and acknowledged its complete sponsorship of the Order in America, confirmed the initiation of the American Imperator and his appointment as Dignitary Supreme in North America and verified its issuance of papers instructions, jewels, seals, etc., to him.
 
This very important document, written on the specially prepared and water-marked paper of the French Order, was signed and scaled by the present Supreme Grand Master of the Order in France, his officers and the Grand Master who at one time initiated the American Imperator into the Order.
 
The signatures, some of them of prominent men in military and governmental affairs of France, are accompanied by their official "marks," and the seals of various sizes and designs and verity and attractiveness to this unique document. Suspended from the paper itself is one of the curious, old-styled wax-and-paper seals of the Order, bearing its strange, though intelligible, marks and words.
 
The document was enclosed in a light-weight metallic, telescope envelope, which was moisture proof. It was sealed, and had the French Orders national, or Supreme Council's seal impressed in the metal of the container, and bore not only the necessary postage stamps but others of a military and "custom" nature, bearing marks of approval and examination abroad.
 
This document, when received and presented to the American Supreme Council in October, brought great joy as the sign of approval and endorsement of the work done here in America by those the French Council had appointed.
 
The document, properly framed and preserving the original container, hangs upon the wall in the Supreme Grand Lodge in New York beside the American Council Charter where it may be easily seen and read, for it is written in very fair English. »
(p.15)
 
 
Lewis says that this document could be seen in the New York Lodge, but that is false because in reality this document was never shown directly to the members of AMORC, only Lewis published a photograph of this document in a blurb entitled The Rosicrucian Initiation (1917) and whose image was of poor quality.

He republished this photo in his Cromaat B pamphlet (1918) which was reserved for members of AMORC:
 
 
Below the image it says:
 
"Photo of Original Paper of French Sponsorship and Its Metallic Container.”
 
 
This photo also appeared in the first editions of the book "Rosicrucian Manual", but later neither Lewis nor AMORC showed this document again, which is very disconcerting since it is supposed to be the greatest proof to legitimize this organization.
 
So although it is true that this "important document" was never personally examined by anyone, fortunately for the researchers interested in this matter at least its photographic image is preserved in some publications:
 
 
Below the image it says:
 
"Photograph of the original document in which the Rosicrucian Order of France sponsored AMORC in the United States with the Pronouncement RCRF 987'432. It was sent in a kind of bronze box and was signed and sealed by the main dignitaries of the Rosicrucian of France. It is addressed to our Imperator H. Spencer Lewis and has been a treasure since it was examined and authenticated by the first Supreme Council of the Order of the United States."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WHAT IS ITS AUTHENTICITY?
 
What they said is false because no one outside of Spencer Lewis was able to examine this document, and since this document having mysteriously disappeared because it was never heard from again, we do not know what was wrote in this "important manifesto signed by the highest governmental and military instances of France and with the signatures and seals of two Rosicrucian Grand Masters".
 
However, today we have the help of better technology so we can make extensions, analyzes and comparisons. So let's do it, and for that, let's start with an enlarged image:
 
 
 
This enlargement allows us to see a little better the postage stamps in which we find nothing military or government. It is really very doubtful that the Government of the French Republic has sent this document to Spencer Lewis with his compromising sponsorship of an American Rosicrucian organization, since the French Government remains very far from any religious, mystical or esoteric organization in order to guarantee his neutrality, so it doesn't make sense that he would be so benevolent towards AMORC.
 
And if we take into account that at that time France was overwhelmed since it was in the middle of the First World War, this document makes even less sense.
 
And why send this document by mail instead of having it by diplomatic bag given the sensitivity of the matter, and even more so in times of war, which would arouse the suspicions of the French and North American postal services, and also the intelligence services of France and from United States?
 
These reflections and the fact that Lewis avoided showing that document at all costs make one very suspicious about its authenticity.
 
In addition, we observed that the seals of what the document should have been, and the embossed seals of the wrapping envelope or package, are retouched. Which is a technique that was widely used at the beginning of the 20th century to correct images and consists of modifying the negatives using ink to add or erase objects.
 
 
Now let's see an enlargement of the package recipient's label and in which, despite the poor quality of the image, it can be seen that the package was addressed to H. Spencer Lewis.
 
 
 
And it is precisely when we get a better look at the package label where Mr. Lewis' postal address appears, that we discover one of the most blatant and big charlatanisms of Spencer Lewis, and explains why he never wanted to show the original document to anyone and even the photograph did not appear again in any other AMORC publication.
 
And so that you can perceive the evidence, below we reproduce the image of the Constitutive Charter issued and signed by Lewis to the Grand Lodge of AMORC of New York and which appears in all editions of the Rosicrucian Manual that have been published by AMORC.
 
 
 
It can be seen that in the lower right margin of the letter is the H. Spencer Lewis signature.
 
 
 
Now, to the image of the postal package label where Lewis's postal address is, we put Lewis's signature below to it and the result is as follows:
 
 
 
And we verified with true astonishment that Lewis's letter coincides with the postal address on the package label, and in the face of such evidence we can only assume that Spencer Lewis sent that package to himself!
 
This is such gross clumsiness that none of the people who have examined these photographs can understand how Lewis could have been so clueless, and surely when Lewis realized his mistake, that is why he was quick to disappear the evidence and therefore did not turn around to reproduce this photograph with the documents, since more than one would have realized the amazing coincidence that exists between Lewis's handwriting and the letter of the address to which the package is destined.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONCLUSION
 
This document is yet another of the many fraudulent documents that Spencer Lewis produced to impress his followers and shows how extremely charlatan this individual was.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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