Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
Grade VI – Adeptus Major
The Vault is prepared by placing upon the floor a pastos, with its head near
the centre of the Vault and its foot to the East.
2005
The Sacred Volume is placed on the pastos at the head, and a lighted lamp at
the foot: a memorial tablet may be placed on the pastos, and if this is done it
should be placed so that it can be read from the East. The chairs should, as far
as is practicable, be set out to form a seven-sided shape, with apex to the
East. The Vault is but dimly lit.
The candidate must be an Adeptus Minor Grade V and must wear the Jewel of the
V Grade.
Whenever possible, although this may be varied by permission of the S.M. or a
Chief Adept, there should be not more than two Candidates for Grade VI.
In the anteroom the Acolyte prepares the Candidate and instructs him how to
knock for admission. (Five and One).
Ceremony of Reception
One year should elapse between the Minor and Major Receptions, but the Most
Worthy Supreme Magus or the Chief Adept of a Province may abbreviate the period.
The Candidate, wearing the Jewel of the Rosicrucian Society and ribbon of the
5th Grade, knocks as an Adeptus Minor with five and one; he is not veiled. The
Vault is prepared as for Grade V.
Ind.: Right (or Very) Worthy Conductor, please confirm that all
within the Vault are of Grade VI or higher.
Cond.: Right Worthy Inductor, I confirm this.
All rise.
Ind.: Very Worthy Fratres, I open this College of Adepti Maiores,
by giving Five and Two knocks, ***** **, and
with the Mystic Words Memento Mori.
The knocks are repeated by the Expositor and Conductor.
Conductor opens V.S.L. All resume their seats.
The Minutes of the last Adept Grade meeting in the Province should be read at
this point, unless they have already been read in Grade VII°: the Ind. then
calls on the Prov. Sec. to produce and read the Form bearing the authority of
the Supreme Magus or Chief Adept for the advancement of the Candidates.
The general lighting is extinguished.
When the knocks given by the Candidate are heard the Conductor admits him and
places him in the West facing the Inductor.
Ind.: Are you an Adept?
Con. for Cand.: I have seen the lesser light that shines in
darkness, and have passed the barrier that shuts out the uncovenanted races of
men.
Ind.: By what word do you seek admission?
Con. for Cand.: By the mysterious Word Thanatos whose
signification is known only to a true Adeptus Minor.
Ind.: Frater Conductor, you will give the Candidates your hands,
with the grip of Adeptship, and let Virtue unite two Hearts and two Souls, and
may Friendship make you one.
This is done.
Ind.: Worthy Fratres, as you have borne in mind the solemn
Covenant that exists between you and the Adepts of the Society of the Rose and
Cross, and have now voluntarily presented yourself to renew that sacred
covenant, let me inform you that each step you take, and each word you utter
will bind you still closer to our Fraternity. Reflect therefore, before you
enter into irrevocable engagements. Pronounce not words which are, to every true
Adept, fraught with deep and mystic import unless you are resolved to adhere to
the principles they teach.
I will now recite to you the Covenant you entered into at the time of your
Reception as an Adeptus Minor, and you must again signify your assent, if you
can conscientiously agree to abide by the same in Spirit and Truth.
Ind.: The Fratres will rise. Let the Candidates kneel.
The Expositor. Candidate and Conductor kneel at the head of the Pastos.
Ind.: You will place your left hand beneath the Sacred Volume and
extend your right hand upwards. State your Christian and Surnames, and the Motto
by which you are known in the Society, and renew your assent by saying after me:
I, …, in the presence of the living God, Who hath triumphed over death, and
the terrors of the grave, solemnly swear that I will ever obey the just commands
of the Supreme Magus; that I will not communicate to any living Soul, unless to
a duly sworn Adept, the time, place and occasion of my induction; that I will
study the mysteries of the three worlds, Elemental, Intellectual and Celestial;
and finally, that I will consider myself bound to the Fratres of this Grade by a
peculiar tie, respecting and loving them while living, and mourning for them
when dead.
So help me the Lord and Arbiter of Life and Death and keep me faithful to
this solemn Covenant.
Ind.: You will now twice kiss the Sacred Volume.
This is done and the Sacred Volume is replaced on the Pastos.
Ind.: Having repeated the Covenant of the Adepts you may rise.
The Expositor places his right forefinger on the Candidate’s lips with the
words:
Exp.: You are a man of Honour, and a Rosicrucian Adept; be silent,
prudent and wise.
The Expositor returns to his place.
All, except Conductor and Candidate, resume seats.
Ind.: Worthy Fratres, the Occult Sciences reveal to man the
mysteries of his nature, the secrets of his organisation, and the means of
attaining perfection and happiness.
From chaos order arose and, out of darkness, light; in like manner from the
dust and ashes of our corporeal forms springs the pure and lustrous essence of
Immortality. No storm can shake, no cloud can darken the spirit of the
self-contained and virtuous man.
However black may be the night his calm untroubled heart beats on in faith
and love, his eye beholds the coming radiance, and when others sink beneath
gloomy terror, the prescience of his glorious future sustains the child of hope.
For you this dawn appears, for you this spiritual freedom is promised, but
you must purify your soul by a moral lustration; you must purge your mind of the
earthly dross of mere humanity, and strive in earnest to become a partaker of
those immortal joys, which are to be found equally in the Past, the Present and
the Future.
To guide your progress let me impress upon you the value and importance of
our symbols. Study their mystic meaning, and shape your actions by the precepts
therein revealed. Our ceremonies may seem to many curious and obscure, but when
thoroughly comprehended they are instinct with life and beauty.
We employ these symbols, because knowledge thus communicated dwells longer in
our memories than mere utterances that pass away.
The Conductor leads the Adept to theist and places him before the Inductor.
Ind.: The words of an Adeptus Major are Memento Mori.
Not in the craven spirit of one who goes to a doom he fears, but like a
Pilgrim whose heritage of Light shines afar off beyond these dim and darksome
plains. For the wise man Death is not. Men have raised a phantom, which
ignorance alone renders terrible. Death is change, and mutability is a law of
nature. We therefore contemplate this inevitable change with serene and hopeful
faith, and regard this mortal life as but a vestibule to the Temple of
Immortality. Persevere therefore, my Frater, in the study of true philosophy,
and in due time you shall receive an exceeding great reward.
The time of your reception is now technically six in the morning or the dawn
of day, and in regular progression we hope you will reach the light and glory of
Noon, when the Sun shines in its strength, and the earth rejoices in its rays.
The Sign and Grip are those of an Adeptus Minor. The knocks by which you may
on another occasion obtain admission are Five and Two. Five is the sign of
Adeptship in our Order, and two the sign of your having obtained the Second
Adept grade of Adeptus Major.
Be seated, My Very Worthy Fratres, and the Expositor will read a Lecture upon
the aims and duties of an Adeptus Major.
The Lecture of the Expositor
Very Worthy Frater Adeptus Major, as you have now been duly received into the
Sixth Grade of our Society, which is the second Grade of Adeptship, let me
congratulate you on the progress you have made.
The special duties of our ancient Fratres in this Grade were the teaching and
guidance of the Practici. In addition to these duties an Adeptus Major was
instructed in the importance of Contemplation and was taught that great powers
are to be gained by Mental Concentration. Each Adept of our Society should
therefore make a solemn study of himself, observing any mental or moral failings
that beset him, and should endeavour to cultivate and strengthen those faculties
which he finds lacking in his development. The life of an Adept well spent in
thought, word and deed should be a fitting preparation for a calm repose.
The Secret Words of this Grade, Memento Mori, are intended to provide a
bridle to your tongue, a guardian to your mind and a tutor to your passions.
These Secret Words should also form the text of your self communings, and be
a ladder by which your thoughts may rise from your duties as a man of the world
to your privileges as a spiritual being. It may well be that, even in this
world, by rising above your material surroundings you may in a higher sphere
attain wider perceptions and deeper insights.
As our Secret Words also remind us that death must come to all sooner or
later, and may come to any of us today, it is fitting that I refer to the Great
Change. The Christian Faith teaches us that when a life here is ended the body
returns to the earth, and the Spirit to God who gave it.
As the end approaches we become more and more conscious of the pattern which
has made up our life, and it is well if we are able to realise that, despite
error, life has been well spent.
The man who has passed his life in selfish enjoyment and mortal sin is indeed
to be pitied as he approaches his last days and is not fortified for dissolution
by the consciousness of good deeds done and the uplifting grace of God’s love
from which he has cut himself off.
Let us ever strive to obey the Divine Commands and to love our neighbours as
ourselves.
And the body we live in should be respected and preserved in health so far as
possible; we are placed here to live our lives, not to destroy them. In life
only can we learn from experience, and progress along the path that leads to
perfection. There is no progress to be made in the grave; so we must work while
it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work.
Most Worthy Supreme Magus (or Right Worthy Inductor) my task is done and
nothing remains but to express the hope that in due time our Very Worthy Frater
may attain to the exalted Grade of Adeptus Exemptus.
The Conductor will now lead the Candidate to the Inductor, who will invest
him with the Jewel of the Grade, and present him with a copy of the Ritual.
Inductor rises and gives One knock; all rise.
Ind.: Fratres, our duties being performed, I close this College of
Adepti Maiores with the Mystic Words Memento Mori and with Five and Two knocks. *****
**.
Expositor and Conductor repeat knocks. ***** **.
Conductor closes V.S.L.
Inductor recites the Benediction.
Ind.: Benedictus Dominus Deus noster per secula seculorum. Amen.
Note: When in College the Adepti Maiores should wear the Rosicrucian Jewel
suspended by a Yellow ribbon upon which is the number VI and may wear the Golden
Jewel of Adeptship upon which the additional inscription ‘AD.MA VI’ has been
engraved.