Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt01034)

There are few published references to the Temple; those in Theosophical
publications tend to be vague, and those outside the TS tend to be
inaccurate - for example, McIntosh, 1980:142, or Fr. Wittemans, "A New and
Authentic History of the Rosicrucians "Rider, London, 1938:180-181. The
author interviewed a number of people who had been members. It has been
suggested that authority for the Temple had been received from John Yarker
or Theodor Reuss, or from French Martinists; that such an authority may
have been sought is not unlikely, but no evidence has been seen that it
was obtained. An elaborate Temple of the Rosy Cross was opened in 1914 at
the Theosophical community at Krotona in California.

In 1912, with the help of Mrs Marie Russak (1865-1937), Wedgwood founded
the Temple of the Rosy Cross, a ritualistic body which included an
adventist theme, and was concerned with kabbalism, astrology, Masonry,
Christian ceremonial and symbolism. Various claims have been made as to
the esoteric or Masonic origins or ?succession? from which the Temple
derived, and the first announcements about the Temple were concluded with
the letters H, H and L contained within a triangle. In fact, these
initials represented Herakles, Helios and Lomia, the ?Star Names? of Mrs
Besant, Mrs Russak and Wedgwood respectively. Only members of the TS ?in
good standing? could be admitted, and members of other occult orders (the
ES and masonry excepted) were not eligible.

The ritual of the Temple was said to have been composed by Mrs Besant,
under the inspiration of the Master the Count, and involved the lighting
of candles for each of the World Teachers (Vyasa, Thoth, Zarathustra,
Orpheus, Buddha, Krishna and Jesus) as the stories of their lives were
recounted. Mrs Besant seemed less enthusiastic about the ritual than
Wedgwood and others, but saw it as providing a means "to satisfy the
ritualistic temperament in the T.S." Revelations from the Masters came at
Temple meetings via Wedgwood or Mrs Russak. Mrs Russak and Wedgwood
consecrated a Temple in London with George Arundale (1898-1945) as
Pontiff, C. Jinarajadasa (1875-1953) as Preceptor and Maud Sharpe as
Prelate. Lady Emily Lutyens (1874-1964) was an active member, and the
officers were said to have been nominated by Jiddhu Krishnamurti, at that
time the focus of an emerging Theosophical adventist movement. As Kuhn
[Alvin Boyd Kuhn Theosophy. A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom, Henry Holt
& Co, New York, 1930:334} described the Temple: ?An elaborate regalia was
required and a ceremonial was devised which a member of the Masonic body
told the author equalled in beauty and dignity anything he was conversant
with in the higher degrees of Masonry. The initiates took a solemn pledge
to do nothing contrary to the interests of their Higher Selves and the
ceremonies were said to have been attended with elevated types of
spiritual experience. Great emphasis was laid on the "magnetic purity" of
everything handled by the officiants. Powerful sublimations of spiritual
forces were thought to be operative through the instrumentality of the
ritual.?

The Temple was governed by a Council of Twelve, of whom three were ?in
physical incarnation? (presumably Besant, Wedgwood and Arundale), and
other nine existed in the spiritual realms. The Temple had an Adventist
theme, and its secret teachings declared that the Master The Count, by
whose authority the order had been established, was to incarnate within
its membership. By 1913 it was claimed that the Temple had 290 members in
London, one hundred in India, and others in the USA and other countries.
Grand Temples had been established at Adyar, Edinburgh, Krotona, The
Hague, Paris, and Brussels, and the Supreme Temple was located in London.

Leadbeater never approved of the Temple, basically because, having had no
part in its foundation, he had no control over it, and because it involved
the production of messages from the Masters through agents other than
himself or Mrs Besant. In 1914 he "brought through" a message from the
Master ordering its dissolution. An alternative explanation ? that the
Master The Count found ?certain defects? in the Temple ? was offered by
Jinarajadasa in 1915 when he was commissioned to prepare an alternative
rite for public use. This was the Ritual of the Mystic Star. A further
alternative to the Temple, but based upon it, was The Krotona Service,
once used in the TS in the USA. It offered reverence to the World Teachers
and looked forward to the coming of the Maitreya who would ?shape the
destiny of a new branch race of our Aryan root stock.? [The Krotona
Service, no pub., np, (?1926):6]

Dr Gregory Tillett