The Rosicrucian Creed - AMORC

The New York Lodge Room.
allowed themselves to be manipulated in this
way. Frank Stromberg, the secretary, thus invited
the Imperator to receive the Master degree as
soon as he liked. However, Harvey Spencer
Lewis, occupied by more important matters, was
not to have the time to follow this plan to its
conclusion.
The First Rosicrucian Convention
The activities of the Order intensified: meetings,
administrative tasks, rituals and initiations
followed in succession. The pace was such that
at the end of the year, Harvey Spencer Lewis
realised that he was no longer going to be able
to assume his professional activities, and so he
decided to devote himself exclusively to the Rosy
Cross.
In spite of significant financial difficulties,
the Order grew considerably and in 1917
Rosicrucians organised their first national
convention. This event was held between 31 st
July and 4 th August in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
On that occasion, the Order’s Constitution was
examined and then adopted by the Supreme
Council. At the end of this first national gathering
Harvey Spencer Lewis was satisfied with the
work that had been accomplished and certainly
sensed that the Rosicrucian Order had entered a
new cycle of activity.
Actually, he thought that the manifestation
of the Order was subject to a cycle of activity and
dormancy so that it would appear and disappear
every 108 years. If the Order had ever possibly
operated according to theses cycles in the past,
it seemed difficult, nevertheless, to prove the
accuracy of this. But by theosophical addition, if
we reduce this number to its essential value of 9,
(108=1+0+8=9), it assumes an interesting aspect
to the extent that it effectively represents the
idea of gestation and cyclical renewal. As Jean
Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant point out, “nine,
being the last of a series of numbers, indicates both an
end and a beginning, that is, a transposition on to a
new plane. The last of the numbers of the manifested
universe, it begins the phase of transmutations. It
expresses the end of a cycle, the completion of a
The Rosicrucian Beacon -- September 2005
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