Paintsites Blog: Rosicrucian Park, San Jose, Thursday, September 12, 2019

Over the years we have painted many times on the beautiful grounds of Rosicrucian Park. Here is some information from two videos by Grand Master Julie Scotts who speaks about the Rosicrucian Order and the history of the Park.

The Rosicrucian Order is a philosophical and educational organization whose members study topics which are related to natural laws, in an attempt to live in harmony with these laws. The order was founded by H. Spencer Lewis in 1915, but they trace their historical lineage through the alchemists, the medieval mystics, back to the mystery schools of ancient Greece and Egypt.
The headquarters of the Rosicrucian Order was moved to its current location in San Jose in Rosicrucian Park in 1927.
The Rosicrucian Planetarium was built because the founder wanted to introduce the mysteries of space and astronomy to people. It was built during the Great Depression, as only the fifth planetarium constructed in the United States.
The Rosicrucian Research Library was constructed in 1939 and contains many books including the Rosicrucian manifestos from 1614 - 1616.
The current Egyptian Museum was built in 1966, built to resemble the temple of Amun at Karnak. The museum began with one small artifact on the founder's desk, the lionheaded goddess Sehkmet, but today it houses the largest collection of authentic Ancient Egyptian artifacts on display in western North America.
The Peace Garden which is authentic to the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt was dedicated in 2004.
The Alchemy Garden was built in 2013. It is divided into four different sections related to Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. All of the plants in the Fire section have red bark, berries, or leaves, or their growth is stimulated by Fire. The Earth section has poppies and lavender and plants that can be used in the Alchemy Lab in the yet to be completed Alchemy Museum.
The building that will house the Alchemy Museum was built in 1934 as Rose-Croix University. The Alchemy Exhibit inside the Egyptian Museum which opened in 2015 will be expanded and moved into the Alchemy Museum.

The weather was hot and sunny and we artists were very happy for all of the trees which provided shade to keep us comfortable.

For more information about the Park including the videos summarized above, visit:

https://www.rosicrucianpark.org/
https://egyptianmuseum.org/

Upcoming Paintsites: See the SCVWS website or the September/October Newsletters for details:

Thursday, Sept 19, Allied Arts Guild, Menlo Park
Saturday, Sept 21, Edenvale Gardens Regional Park / Hayes Mansion, San Jose
Thursday, Sept 26, Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz
Thursday, Oct 3, Ardenwood Historic Farm, Fremont
Thursday, Oct 10, Los Altos History Museum with potluck at member's home
Thursday, Oct 17, To Be Announced
Thursday, Oct 24, Sawyer Camp Trail, San Mateo County
Thursday, Oct 31, Triton Museum Grounds, Santa Clara

Artists and their artwork:

Edward's painting of the Research Library

Kaaren admires Annie's sketch in the Peace Garden

Annie's painting of the Peace Garden reflecting pool

Kaaren's painting of lotus flowers in the Peace Garden

Cindy had just completed an SCVWS workshop on abstract painting

and she designed her lotus flower painting using techniques from that class.

Wanda's painting of pampas grass

Linda P.

Linda's colorful painting of the fountain in the Alchemy Garden

Jayne

Jayne's two-page journal spread of the fountain in the Alchemy Garden

Tanvi's painting of the fountain in the Alchemy Garden

Tanvi's painting of the Egyptian Museum entrance

Charlene painted with us for the first time.

Here is her painting of an Egyptian Temple.

Sham

Sham's painting of an Egyptian Temple

John sits in front of the massive columns of the building

which will house the Alchemy Museum

John's unfinished painting of Egyptian architecture

Joe's painting of an Egyptian figure and architecture

Pythagoras was born in Greece, lived 570-490 BCE, and influenced astronomy, cosmology, mathematics, and philosophy - especially the Rosicrucian Tradition. In astronomy he was either the first or one of the first two to teach that the earth was spherical. He was the first to identify the morning star and evening star as the same celestial object which we now know as the planet Venus.