ROSICRUCIAN GRACE

“God of my Heart, God of my Realization, grant that this food may be purified and magnetized by the spiritual vibrations emanating from my hands, and that it will satisfy the needs of my body and soul. May all those who are hungry participate in this meal and share spiritually with me the benefits I shall gain from it.” SO MOTE IT BE!

METAPHYSICAL AID

Anyone in need, whether a member of the Rosicrucian Order or not, is welcome and encouraged to enlist the aid of the Mountain Rose Pronaos Metaphysical Aid committee. Simply contact an Officer or the Metaphysical Aid Chairperson and give the name of yourself or another. Your request will be provided to the Metaphysical Aid Committee without delay. Please note: Metaphysical Aid will be given for one month at a time. If the need is met before that time period, please let us know. If more than one month’s aid is needed, please contact us again to keep the aid flowing toward your need.

PURPOSE OF THE ORDER

The Rosicrucian Order, which exists throughout the world, is a nonsectarian fraternal body of men and women devoted to the investigation, study and practical application of natural and spiritual laws. The purpose of the organization is to enable every one to live in harmony with the creative, constructive forces for the attainment of health, happiness and peace.

THE MYSTICAL PRINCIPLE OF SNUFFING CANDLES

Light to the student on the mystic path, has come to mean wisdom, particularly esoteric comprehension or personal illumination. The flame has also depicted the fire of divine zeal which burns within the soul of every man. This fire must be carefully tended lest man become a cold, emotionless being devoid of all compassion and marked by a loss of the godly qualities which are his natural heritage.

Further, the flame and light have become symbols of a quest of man’s mission in life, namely, the search for more knowledge. Today many universities, colleges, and scientific institutions have incorporated the torch or “lamp of knowledge” in their official insignia to depict their lofty aims. Many worldwide fraternal organizations such as the Rosicrucians, Freema1sons, Theosophists, and Martinists use in their rituals candles and torches to which they refer as luminaries, flambeaux cressets, and the like.

Frequently, a number of candles – two, three, five, or seven – are used in such ceremonies. To each candle or “light”, a different significance is attached. Thus each may represent a plane of the human consciousness in its evolutionary progress; or again mind, matter, and soul; or birth, life and death. In the past, even the substance of the candles had a symbolic significance. The early Christian church used candles made exclusively of beeswax, the wax depicting the achievement of the bee’s labor in gathering honey, for which it would sacrifice its life.

Mystically, among the esoteric orders such as the Rosicrucians, it is thought impossible to extinguish, that is, to completely destroy, the flame of a candle depicting the symbolic light. No matter how dark a place or region, light is there to some degree. This is not only a mystical principle, but a scientific fact as well. Light is a positive quality of the universe. It is a being, of all substance; therefore, it can never cease to be. Darkness is a negative condition. It is no actual state. It is relative; it is merely a lesser degree of light. Light exists throughout the universe. It is ubiquitous. However, conditions make it possible for it to be more intense in some places than others. Light, therefore, cannot be dispersed in the sense that it can be entirely thrust out of some areas of the universe. A room may be brilliantly illuminated and another right next door may be said to be dark, but within both rooms light of varying degrees exists. In a so-called dark room, then, light has not been removed, destroyed, or really extinguished; there is just less of it.

Mystically, when candles are illuminated, it depicts that some of the greater light, meaning the light or energy that permeates the entire universe, has been concentrated on these objects as a flame to serve a specific purpose – to teach a lesson. When the lesson or ceremony is completed, we do not extinguish the light, I repeat, in the sense that we destroy or put out of existence the flame of the candle. By snuffing the candle with a snuffer, or my moistening our fingers, we have merely changed its concentrated manifestation. We have caused the particular flames, the points of light on the candles, to merge with the whole energy of light existing everywhere.

To give you a little better understanding, we shall use a simple analogy. When man dies, his soul is not extinguished. Mystically speaking, it is absorbed into the absolute Universal Soul, the Cosmic, whence it came. It follows, therefore, that when we snuff a candle flame in our Sanctum; we are merely doing likewise – causing light to be absorbed into its source. When, however, we blowout the candle flame, it is interpreted as the intention to disintegrate the flame – an attempt to cause it to no longer exist as light – even it is invisible, intrinsic, vibratory form. This procedure, therefore, is considered a profane way of extinguishing a candle flame in all Rosicrucian and authentic esoteric orders’ rituals and ceremonies.

- Rosicrucian Forum April 1980