(1586-1654 e.v.)
by T. Apiryon
Johann Valentin Andreae was a Lutheran pastor, and the author of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz (1616), a light and sometimes humorous allegorical fantasy of the marriage of the Sun and Moon. Some skeptical authors credit Andrea with the authorship of the “Fama Fraternitatis” and the “Confessio Fraternitatis,” and with the creation of the Rosicrucian mythos as a hoax. The Rosy Cross emblem may have originated with Andrea’s family crest. Crowley wrote a parody of the Chymical Wedding titled “Liber Ambrosii Magi Hortus Rosarum” (see Collected Works, vol. II).
References:
McIntosh, Christopher; The Rosicrucians, the History and Mythology of an Occult Order, Crucible, Wellingborough 1987
Seligman, Kurt; Magic, Supernaturalism and Religion, Pantheon, New York 1948/1971
Waite, Arthur Edward; The Real History of the Rosicrucians, London 1887
Yates, Frances; The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, ARK, London 1972/1986
Original Publication Date: 5/24/95
Revised: 5/28/06
Originally published in Red Flame No. 2 – Mystery of Mystery: A Primer of Thelemic Ecclesiastical Gnosticism by Tau Apiryon and Helena; Berkeley, CA 1995 e.v.