John Dee - The Rosie Crucian Secrets (2.2 MB)
Book downloads: 1147
The Rosie Crucian Secrets. Their Excellent Method of making Medicines of Metals also Their Lawes and Mysteries. The first publication of an alchemical work entitled The Rosie Crucian Secrets, No. 6485 of the Harleian manuscripts, now housed in the British Library. In the past the book had been ascribed to John Dee, an ascription which was convincingly rebutted by A. E. Waite. In a prefatory essay, the editor of the current volume, E. J. Langford Garstin, argues that it was actually Waite who was in error, and that the origin... More >>>Book can be downloaded.
Note that, unfortunately, not all my books can be downloaded due to the restrictions of copyright. However, most of the books on this site do not have copyright restrictions. If you find any copyright violation, please contact me at . I am very attentive to the issue of copyright and try to avoid any violations, but on the other hand to help all fans of magic to get access to information.
If you are having difficulty downloading books, or you are looking for a book that is not on the site (but maybe it is in my home library), please write me a email to
and I will try to help, I can send the book by e-mail
darkbooks.org began in early 2008 I am happy to donate my time to providing you this resource, I would also like to note, that, although I try, I do not always have enough time to deal with the site, including, unfortunately, I do not always have time to answer all letters, because I have to earn money for a living. If you can financially help me, it would free me from the worries of earning money for living, perhaps partially, but ideally completely, then all 100% of my time could be devoted to the site. Also I do pay monthly web server/files storage and hosting costs to keep this site on the air. Please consider making a donation to help me continue this activity and devote more time to it or at least offset the cost of paying for storage/hosting. Even a small contribution helps!
The Rosie Crucian Secrets. Their Excellent Method of making Medicines of Metals also Their Lawes and Mysteries. The first publication of an alchemical work entitled The Rosie Crucian Secrets, No. 6485 of the Harleian manuscripts, now housed in the British Library. In the past the book had been ascribed to John Dee, an ascription which was convincingly rebutted by A. E. Waite. In a prefatory essay, the editor of the current volume, E. J. Langford Garstin, argues that it was actually Waite who was in error, and that the original ascription of the work to Dee was correct, but most most modern scholars are convinced that the attribution is spurious. ISBN: 0-85030-441-5. Just a hint of shelf wear, light pencilled date on inside cover, otherwise a bright Near fine copy.
This manuscript was copied from a version which was published through the Popular Press and was no longer available at the time of our putting together this draft. The original is a one-off copy in the London museum. This copy is our first draft and is not complete in that we have as yet only copied that part of the manuscript which we deem most necessary to preserve for our own purposes and for the future, which is roughly half of the book. Of those portions which we have not included here some is totally useless, a larger part is published elsewhere and the rest is considered but an interesting curiosity with little or no practical value. Nevertheless we do intend completing the transcription of the entire document at some future date. These bits include some notes on the Rosicrucian Order, the Lexicon and the actual footnotes. In order to keep the original work as intact as possible we have made an exact copy including the varieties of spellings and terms used inconsistently throughout.
The original manuscript is loosely attributed to John Dee, it seems for the only reason that his name appears in the margins of the original, yet the contents of some of this work have been attributed in the past to another individual.
It matters little for the work speaks for itself in its practical value.
About Author:
John Dee (July 13, 1527 - 1608) was a noted British mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, occultist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He also devoted much of his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy.
Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on advanced algebra at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery. In one of several tracts which Dee wrote in the 1580s encouraging British exploratory expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage, he appears to have coined the term "British Empire."
Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology, and Hermetic philosophy. He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic and divination, instead considering both ventures to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world.
Dee's status as a respected scholar also allowed him to play a role in Elizabethan politics. He served as an occasional adviser and tutor to Elizabeth I and nurtured relationships with her two leading ministers, Francis Walsingham and William Cecil.
In his lifetime Dee amassed the largest library in England and one of the largest in Europe.