Our story
About the Rose Circle
A social and learning circle for the Western esoteric tradition, first convened in 2006 and now renewed in New York by Rose Circle Foundation, Inc.
Our mission
To be a bridge between the adept and the academic.
Universities now teach Western esotericism as a serious field. Initiatic orders keep its practice alive. Most curious people have access to neither. The Rose Circle sits between them: we invite scholars and practitioners to speak, and we make room for everyone else to listen, ask, and take part.
What we hold to
Open to all
No affiliation with any lodge, order, or church is required, and none is promoted over another.
Scholar and practitioner
Every program pairs historical rigor with lived experience of the traditions.
Good company
Ideas travel best over a shared table. Our gatherings are social first.
Our story
From a salon in Bayonne to a circle across cities
Spring 2006
The first Rose Circle
A conference in Bayonne, NJ, with talks on Masonic and esoteric subjects and a panel of experts. That evening became a banquet modeled on Péladan’s Salons de la Rose-Croix, with Rosicrucian art on the walls and readings at dinner.
2007
A lecture archive
The first rosecircle.org published papers on Plato and Freemasonry, Rosicrucian history, Masonic symbolism, and the Royal Arch, and launched the Rose Circle Society.
2008
The Rose Circle Research Foundation
The Foundation opened a members’ site with essays on initiation, symbolism, and the spiritual life, and named its first Fellows.
Oct 4, 2008
Second Rose Circle Conference
Antiquarian and Golden Dawn historian R.A. Gilbert and Rosicrucian scholar Dr. Christopher McIntosh speak in New York City.
Feb 26, 2011
Mystical Reason
Dr. McIntosh marks the reprint of The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason with Steven Burkle on alchemy, at the Masonic Hall, 71 West 23rd Street.
2015
The Premiere Symposium
The last gathering recorded on the original site.
2026
The circle reopens
Rose Circle Foundation, Inc. revives the gatherings, starting with socials in New York and growing chapter by chapter.
What we explore
The Western mystery tradition, in all its branches
✠ Rosicrucianism
The 17th-century manifestos, the orders they inspired, and the Rose Cross as a living symbol.
☿ Alchemy
The Great Work in the laboratory and the soul, from Paracelsus to Jung.
☉ Hermeticism
The Corpus Hermeticum, the Emerald Tablet, and the Renaissance magi who revived them.
✡ Kabbalah
The Tree of Life in its Jewish, Christian, and Hermetic readings.
☽ Gnosticism
Nag Hammadi, the Cathars, and the modern Gnostic churches.
△ Masonic symbolism
The Craft, the Royal Arch, the Rectified Scottish Rite, and the Élus Coëns.
Who we are
Rose Circle Foundation, Inc.
The Rose Circle is a program of Rose Circle Foundation, Inc., a New York nonprofit corporation. We work closely with Rose Circle Books, the independent press for Rosicrucian, Martinist, and Masonic scholarship, whose authors and translators speak at our gatherings.