Thus as some brothers, past the human life, enter eternity, we cannot go over the sacred number of 77, and as the brotherhood must not be constituted without the number 77, according to an ancient custom we have chosen for our meetings certain places, in the east as well as west, rather in all four sites in the world. Thus, if there is a soul who, after having been sufficiently examined, is acknowledged worthy of being accepted, that soul should attend our meeting and must, like us, agree with all the following points and promise and keep silent for eternity and only after it is eligible to receive the holy priesthood and, thanks to the concreation, can wield the magic. In fact, without the concreation no one is a mage because before internal anointing, the external one must take place, and the thing happens so:
When, after advance notice of brothers, is called a meeting and the brothers have greeted among them an extraneous brother who must be virtuous if an older is present, such a meeting can give him signum. Still, he cannot celebrate the concreation, nor let him take the oath, can only order him to keep silent and ask if he is willing to keep the following points: therefore the assembly, also to not offend their conscience, cannot reveal him about extasibus, or secret operations, which are part of Mysterium, but they can reveal him about another thing of sapientia and tholium. Nevertheless, as in the writings here and there, few are cultured in operations hidden on the secret operations, in order not to break the seal before time must go cautiously as the candidate, after he turned his back to the brotherhood, doesn’t make poor use.
Thus, if the brother is present at the meeting, it is necessary to ask him if he knows what God is and that his spirit is examining his heart and loins. That’s happened before Urim, which nevertheless has to be covered; in this way, they soon know what he will say and what he knows on the Highest.
Then he read the following points:
1. Since the brotherhood has existed, according to the divine providence plan, the number of brothers must never exceed 77.
2. Among us, religious problems should never be nor envy. Still, everyone should allow his brother to recognize his faith and remain faithful to his awareness, which belongs to God, so do not allow hate between us. And we have real religion if we believe and know that God is made up of three persons – father, son, and holy spirit- and we fear him, love him, are devoted to him, allow him to head us and rule, and even better that he dwells in us. While the others, who are religious, and are still tied to religion, cannot give than to God totally because they are divided and obey human commandments, so to the Great Spirit’s eyes, they are outrageous as they don’t love God with all their heart, soul, and strength. Subjugate their forces, as the most sacred offer, to human commandments and don’t love their close people with a pure soul because they are hypocritical. In fact, in Israel, the Holy just wants the heart exclusively for him and to make it his temple and property. In fact, since the beginning of the world belonged to our brotherhood, look for the Lord, and love the knowledge men own to varied nations. Thus every brother, any religion he believes, should live free, not be tied to anybody, and not be accountable to anyone of his faith. Nevertheless, if one has the gall to give in to the flesh and put on religious issues, the brother who has been asked should make sure he is or is not a brotherhood member. And if he is a member of the brotherhood. And if he is, he has to realize he is become religious and doesn’t love God anymore with all his heart, is not tied only to Him, and doesn’t take him a Spirit dwelling in himself; if instead, he isn’t a member, he shouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t know the real constitution.
3. After the death of the current emperor ( chief of the brotherhood), another will be elected, and we subjugate him, obey him like the previous one, and be faithful till the end. We have abrogated the ordering, which modifies the traditional election.
4. The emperor should and must have in the list the name of every brother and the living place for them to be saved in case of necessity. Furthermore, it must be noted that, as established from the beginning, the emperor to be elected should be chosen from the seven oldest. To this purpose, in Europe, we have only four houses in which we can be held our assemblies, that’s to say Ancona, Nuremberg, Hamburg, and Amsterdam.
5. We furtherly announce that when two or four brothers are gathered, they alone cannot elect, even before the emperor, another brother if he is not elderly with the seal. So if one discovers that one pretends to be a brother but hasn’t got the signum from the elderly or the emperor, he should be careful and not show his one.
6. Every apprentice should obey his lord and brother for seven years and be faithful as a brother for all the time of his life to death.
7. More than one brother, even if from time to time cooperate and perform together some extasi, should not live together so that nothing must transpire of their secrets.
8. Thus, it is forbidden to elect as a brother a relative if before he has not been examined and approved. A brother should elect an extraneous since the art cannot be inherited.
9. Thus, if brothers want to have an heir, if before the latter has professed for him, they should keep him for seven years as an apprentice and communicate his name to the emperor, his nationality, job, and provenance, so that the apprentice, in due time, may receive the concreation and the signum in our assembly.
10. When brothers meet, the usual greeting should be: Ave Frater, and the other should answer: roseae et aureae; Hence the first will replay: crucis. And when they recognize, talk to each other in this way: Benedictus Dominus Deus noster, qui dedit nobis signum. Then they will show each other the seals, and the seal can never be changed despite the names never being known. But if a trick is discovered, the thing that may happen due to the carelessness of a brother is a seal gets lost and ends up in extraneous hands, and one should pretend not to know it and abandon it as soon as possible, the town and place.
11. It is expressly ordered that the brother who has finished his seven years of apprenticeship and has been accepted and admitted to the emperor in one of our houses and has taken the oath of secrecy is given what he needs of funds and mysterium (tincture) to live on for sixty years, to him in exchange he is ordered to carry out its work diligently and to communicate to the emperor anything remarkable that finds: in fact – being the nature inscrutable – every brother is tied to behave in that way since the beginning. Additionally, the brother must promise not to offend God using mysterium, not to cause damage to the next with it, not to destroy any nation with it, and not use mysterium to shed blood or to help a tyrant.
12. If the brother wants to talk of the mysterium, they should be alone in a closed room. Then everyone can open his heart, and they can also operate together.
13. A brother can and should give to another some lapis, free of charge, as God’s gift cannot be sold.
14. It is forbidden to project a person who is not accepted by us unless done to honor the art. Nevertheless, mind the thing occurs without danger. Then the place should soon be abandoned.
15. Brothers should avoid talking extraneous, particularly with women. But if a brother cannot live alone, which would be better – he can take a woman and tie to her in fear of God.
16. Every brother is tied not to cause any damage, because of hate, neither to persons nor to the equilibrium of souls, animals, trees, and plants. These may be possible in the mysterium whose achievement can seem prodigious to man, but they upset the order of nature.
17. Similarly, we warn of giving some of the stone to a pregnant woman, as the fruit of the conception could die or be born before the time.
18. Additionally, it is forbidden to use the stone when the weather is very warm, not to increase fire of nature and to incur sudden death.
19. It is forbidden to reveal any of our houses.
20. Thus, we repute necessary for our emperor to change house every ten years and make the thing in an assembly known, during which the brothers must give another name for the brotherhood to keep hidden.
21. Every brother, who has been accepted among us, is ordered to change his name. Furthermore, if he goes to a place he has already been to earlier, he should modify his looks utilizing the stone so as not to be recognized.
22. No brother should be abroad for above ten years: wherever he goes and whatever name he takes, he must always communicate with the emperor.
23. No brother can start work in the same place where he has already lived for a year and whose he knows the nearby; additionally, he should avoid all the ignorantes professores ( ignorant who suppose to know).
24. Furthermore, a brother should not reveal to anybody his wealth; he should particularly avoid all religious persons. In the name of high priests, these bring evil into their hearts. They conceal their artifices with the words of the Highest. So a brother must keep away from them, as rarely can one expect something good from them, which awards mostly exteriority.
25. When a brother wants to operate, he should ask for help manual help from elderly people rather than young; the latter, as possible, should avoid attending the operation de visu ( seeing it).
26. Furthermore, a brother should not tell anyone where or when he will leave when he leaves a place. And if he doesn’t mean to get back, he should write to the home holder to give away his left things to the poor.
27. a brother should bring along the stone in powder form inside a crystal phial, because, in oil form, the stone is not transportable. Additionally, no brother can bring along anything of our philosophical fire, as a severe accident may occur.
28. A brother who, having committed an imprudence, has the misfortune of being discovered by a potent must give him death rather than revealing the mysterium because only God can reveal the mysteria.
At this point, it is necessary to ask the brother if he is willing to fulfill all the duties which have been read to him and if he has clearly understood. If he answers yes, he must put his hand on the symbol, that’s to say, a palm bough; after that, the new brother must get down on his knees, and everybody must give him three kisses and say: “Dear brother, we order you to keep the silence”. The emperor in his priest garment goes to him with to elderly by his side, which puts the new brother in the middle, then unveils the Urim; the brother should raise his right hand, stretch the thumb and the first two fingers, put the left hand on the heart and repeat the following words:
“I N.N. promise to our living and eternal God not to reveal to anybody the secret and all the mysteries taught to me, and you will teach that without the agreement of my superior, but to keep inside me close with the natural seal, to not reveal any brother, neither his name, nor to the emperor, and to not show the stone to anybody. I promise before God to keep silent for eternity, even deathbed. That God and his holy word help me to take the oath.
After that, the concreation will occur. The Brother is get anointed and blessed as mage-priest, and the spirit of Jehovah goes to him; for this reason, he. For this reason, he cannot be seen for some days. Furthermore, he begins to predict, drawing from the spirit; all this is noted and written.
Then, when they separate each other, everyone must say the words of the seal: ” Frater Aureae vel Roseae Crucis Deus sit tecum cum perpetuo silentio, Deo promisso et nostra sancta congregatione ( brother of gold or rose cross God is with you with perpetuum silence, to God and our holy congregation is promised)”. Then the new brother is given both the extases or secret operations of our ancestors and the diploma with a seal, as a sign through which the brother can be recognized, to show the signum when he goes to another brother.
Furthermore, the new brother is always given the name of the lastly died brother, a tradition always observed.
There follow the extases or secret operations:
Sixth Chapter: On the preparation of sal circulatum.
Seventh Chapter: On the arcanum lapidis and caeli metallorum.
Eighth Chapter: On the secret magic in the mysterium.
Eleventh Chapter: How a magus can modify and rejuvenate his own nature.
Twelfth Chapter: How a magus can affect Sky and Earth.
Thirteenth Chapter: How a magus can multiplicate and make grow all the trees, herbs and flowers.
All that is bequeathed by our ancestors. Hence we transmit it to our brothers for them to operate according to truth, so as to know, pay tribute to, and glorify the Great Creator!
End of the Introduction.
The Wien manuscript edited in La Via della Vera Alchimia ended here. But I managed to add the fourteenth and fifteenth parts neglected by Archarion’s edition.
The Fourteenth Chapter, namely: “How a mage can make artificial mirrors from a metal by means of constellation” has been taken and translated from Agape-Prometeo’s Thesaurus Thesaurorum, augmented with comparisons found in Sesheta’s edition of Thesaurus Thesaurorum.
To be continued at Testamentum Fraternitatis Roseae et Aureae Crucis. Part 2 .
- Creation in collaboration with.