Media:Hardcover Pages:288 Shipping Weight (lbs):1.2 Dimensions (in):8.9 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN:9067320587 EAN:9789067320580 ASIN:9067320587
Publication Date:December 1991 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Esoteric Secrets of the Alchemical WeddingAugust 30, 2008 This book reveals immense esoteric wisdom to both the heart and the mind. Not only can you not help but turn and turn the pages, you realise there is no way back. A lot of esoteric books attempt to speak to the heart, but due to our distracted and petrified nature, such books rarely speak to us beyond the intellect. The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosy Cross speaks directly to that pure but trapped part of us which longs to be on the divine path with Christian Rosencreutz - it tickles the rose! Whether we then surrender ourselves to God by way of the cross, and allow the rose to bloom, is a matter of Will.
I have found, and still find, it very difficult to dissolve the lower, egoistic will, and it can therefore be difficult to read beautiful books without distraction. This book, however, is written so well that it cut through the spasmodic mental distractions which usually interrupts and spoils my reading.
I have read a lot of Samael Aun Woer's books, and spent much time listening to lectures on Glorian's website (they publish SAW's books in English). I think this may have helped me to understand The Alchemical Wedding more profoundly, but equally I think that reading The Alchemical Wedding has helped me understand Samael Aun Woer's works, along with other great Gnostic works such as Pistis Sophia - I can't recommend these enough. If you have a sincere heart, even if it is not yet quite as pure as you'd like, reading The Alchemical Wedding really is like drinking water from the fountain of life (John 4:14). And you can't help but thirst for more. I hope you can be touched in the same way, whether you read this book or not.
Religious fascism comes in many forms...November 1, 2007 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
J. van Rijckenborgh, The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross (Rozekruis, 1991)
I was planning on writing a review of this based solely on my amusing observation that this is actually a one hundred fifty page novel with six hundred pages of footnotes, and make it a cautionary tale on the dangers of interpreting a text long after it was written and not taking into account the advances in science that had occurred in the interim. Then I came across the following passage, and realized I could let van Rijckenborgh do all my reviewing for me:
"It is most often the case that although, in the beginning, one yearns for the new state of life, it is like when one looks at a beautiful painting or reads a lovely book, or listens to some delightful music: it gives satisfaction for a moment, it is aesthetically pleasing, but nothing more. It does not change your way of life." (2:183)
Perhaps that's true of some people. Most, even. But I don't know a single avid reader who would make the claim that no book he's ever read has changed his life; I'd be suspect of one who did, in fact. This sort of facile reasoning is synecdochic of the entire "footnote" section of the books (this is a two-volume set), which reads more like an interminable sermon than a work of literary scholarship. Even better, not long after that, I came upon this lovely passage:
"In the coming times, the modern Spiritual School will give evidence of the place it occupies as servant of the Brotherhood. Working from its magnificent 'Home Sancti Spiritus', its sevenfold Living Body, the Brotherhood of the Rosycross will permit nothing which is not in conformity with its great plan." (2:236)
I don't think I need to point out the problems inherent in such writing (and I'm not just talking about the hideous grammar). It's entirely possible that van Rijckenborgh has some excellent points, and that the majority of his analysis of Andreae's book (which is included, and is really rather good) is sound; the places where it obviously lapses, however, show exactly why academic rigor should be so strictly enforced. Some lapses in judgment call-- or should call, for anyone with a remotely critical mind-- the entire text into question. **
Essential reading for TruthseekersOctober 7, 2007 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For those who have read the manuscripts of the Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross,but found them difficult to understand,here is the only book I have found that sheds light on the subject and makes it comprehensible. Any serious seeker for Truth will be touched in the heart by this wonderful explanation of the symbolism and importance of these classic Rosicrucian manusripts. Highly recommended to all who search for wisdom and understanding.
Gnostic ChristianityJuly 30, 2001 5 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is definitely a good book for anyone interested in Gnostic teachings (or ancient Rosicrucians) -- especially Christian ones. I found it hard to follow because for me, it was too Christian. When I hear or read "Jesus Christ" I immediately think of the Catholic's version: the dead man on the cross. It is essential for anyone reading this book to distinguish between the physical and the immaterial -- something I was not able to do.
