The Rosycross Press is based in Haarlem, the Netherlands. It publishes on behalf of the School of the Golden Rosycross, known internationally as the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, which also has its headquarters in Haarlem. The Rosycross Press has published a large number of titles written by Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri, not only in Dutch but in many other languages, and also publishes works by other authors with gnostic leanings.

Rosycross Press bookshop Haarlem, The Netherlands

This inner path, leading to the rebirth of Spirit, Soul and Body, had to be made accessible not just to the few, but to large numbers of people. This could not happen overnight, and has taken long ages of preparation, in order to make people sufficiently receptive to this idea and mature enough to work with it.

An important landmark in this process was the publication, in the early 1600s, of the Rosicrucian manifestos. These introduced to the general public, for the first time, the idea of a worldwide spiritual reformation. Other major landmarks were the enormous theosophical impetus instigated by Helena Blavatsky and her co-workers in the 19th century, and the work of Rudolf Steiner and Max Heindel in the early years of this century.

Another part of this preparation process was the formation of the School of the Golden Rosycross, which began its work in 1924. This School has a dual purpose: that of disseminating information about the process of Spirit-Soul renewal, and that of guiding and helping in a practical way a group of those who actually want to follow this path.

Throughout all the many hundreds of talks they gave, and the books they wrote, it is clear that their aim was to cut through the conditioning of the ego so as to give their pupils a distinct vision of what was required of them. To do this they expressed the essential teachings of Spirit-Soul rebirth in all kinds of different ways and considered them from countless angles. Often they found it necessary to speak in a rather emphatic way, and to depict in stark, bleak outlines the depth of human imprisonment in the material world. Always, they used texts, stories and symbolism drawn from all times and all places to illustrate their points, and to show that the transfiguristic path they were teaching was not new, but has been handed down -- though often in veiled form -- ever since the dawn of human development.

Thus, although the methods they taught were adapted to modern times, their teachings were essentially the same as those of earlier groups such as the Essenes, the Christian Gnostics, the Manichaeans and the Cathars, to name but a few.

Fundamental to the teachings of all these groups was the idea that there are two orders of existence: one governed by the law of antitheses -- the world of time and space in which we live; and another -- the divine order of existence -- in which the laws of eternity apply. These groups also taught that every human being is potentially connected with the divine order of existence via a divine Spark, present right at the centre of the human system, in the heart. This divine Spark is dormant within us, but can be brought back to life if -- with our cooperation -- it is reconnected with the pure energy of the divine order of existence.

The aim of all these groups, then, was to form foci in which that pure, divine energy could be concentrated, for the help of all those human beings who wanted to re-establish their connection with the divine world.

In common with the early Christian Gnostics, Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri called this power Gnosis. In its truest sense, Gnosis is the radiation of the Godhead -- an omnipresent, primordial plenitude of absolute love, wisdom and power. It is the threefold divine energy which gives access to the path of liberation.

That is why Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri saw Gnosis not as something that was confined to the gnostic groups which existed in the early years of the Christian era. They saw it as something universal, timeless and intended for everyone.

This understanding provided a unique viewpoint from which to examine the spiritual teachings of all ages, for it made it possible to pick out the gnostic thread running through all of them. Thus, when Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri applied the gnostic key to such enigmatic texts as the 17th century Rosicrucian manifestos, the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, the gospel of the Pistis Sophia, and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, a clear, unified pattern began to emerge.

Nowhere is this pattern more evident than in their expositions of the Bible, which are included throughout most of the forty or more books they wrote. In these, Christ is clearly revealed not just as a being who lived 2000 years ago, but as a power which, ever since the Fall of humankind, has gone out from the Godhead to `seek that which is lost' and to restore all things to wholeness. So Christ is the means by which Gnosis is revealed to us.

Throughout their work, Catharose de Petri and Jan van Rijckenborgh emphasized that the efforts of the ego, whether mental or emotional, mystical or occult, do not give access to this revelation. It is, they said, achieved only via the awakened divine Spark, which they often called the `Rose of the Heart' or `Christ-atom'. They taught that, although this awakening requires the willing cooperation of the ego, it leads to a gradual inner process of transformation through which the ego's separative state is transcended and a new, higher consciousness is born. This, they explained, was the true, hidden message of the Gospels: an inner path of the cross through which the Christ is resurrected in our own inner being. In this point of view they were not alone, for it was shared by the 17th century Rosicrucians, the Cathars, the Manichaeans and the Christian Gnostics who went before them.

This realization -- that the ground on which Christ and Gnosis are encountered lies not outside, but within every human heart -- accounts for the fact that Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri did not set themselves up as authorities or gurus, or wish to be put on a pedestal in any way. Their only aim was to kindle a direct contact between the Rose of the Heart and the Gnosis itself, and to offer guidelines that might help their pupils to pass more safely and smoothly through the phase of transition between the old consciousness and the new. Then, gradually, as pupils actively followed the path of experience opening up before them, it would be possible for the Gnosis to become their guide and teacher in an increasingly immediate way.

Though both had their own individual style of speaking and writing, there was a uniquely harmonious synergy between Jan van Rijckenborgh and Catharose de Petri, and it was as a result of their combined efforts that the Spiritual School they founded in the Netherlands became what it is today: a movement with centres all over the world where the transfiguristic process they lived and taught is put into practice.