For those of you who might be interested, here are some email excerpts from Master Anjala’s recent Rosicrucian tour of Sacred Italy. This was a three- week trip sponsored by AMORC that was attended by dozens and dozens of Rosicrucians.  (AMORC sponsors tours in different mystical places throughout the world. Next year’s tour to Egypt (and maybe Morocco?) will be in August and people are already signing up.) 

Enjoy!

August 19

I’ve been on a Rosicrucian tour of Sacred Italy since August 9th. Since then I’ve traveled to Assisi, Tivoli, Rome, Assisi again, Venice, Florence, and today I’m in Napoli (aka Naples).  So Many Misadventures!  So Many Pasta meals!  So Many Macedon deserts (read fruit salad, usually with cocomele (watermelon) naranja (orange, sometimes blood orange), kiwi, pineapple, and apple.  Variations on that theme.  So many sights! Macedonia was a Balkan country conquered by the Romans (Italians) in the 2nd century BC, and somehow the country name for fruit salad persists centuries later.)

First, I spent six days before the World Convention with Rosicrucian friend Stefanie, going through Assisi and Tivoli and unplanned detours.

 

Then five days in Rome for the Rosicrucian World Convention where I met and made friends from around the world and re-met friends from around the world.  Did various convention events and caught group taxis to famous sights in Rome.

 

Then the start of the tour!  Originally planned for max 40 people, it was sooooo popular that the planners adjusted in a major way.   We started the tour with 105 people and three tour guides and daily schedules starting at 5 or 6 am.  Those of you who know I’m a night person know how much I enjoyed that. Thus, I caught a lingering cold that turned into bronchitis.

The photo below is of the main hall inside the Temple of Minerva, in Assisi, which originally was said Roman temple, then converted to a Christian church, then a jail, then a church again.

 

 

 

Yesterday we said bye to half the tour-goers and the rest of us took off from Rome to Ostia Antica and then back to Rome. This morning from Rome traveling past Napoli to Baia, Cuma, and then back to Napoli.

Here are some glimpses from the Sansevero Chapel in Napoli.  The Prince of Sansevero, an alchemist and Freemason, had an overarching vision and gathered fantastic artisans to make it happen.

This chapel is in a building I consider extraordinarily ugly, that was built with thousands of pyramids on its face, rather like a waffle iron.

And some of the dark grey exterior pyramids have been inscribed with symbols that scholars say is a secret musical score. See the video in the link below. It turns out that the ugly building is a sheet of music, and it is also the instrument, because you play the pyramids like a xylophone! More great stuff about the Chapel

 

Once inside, the Chapel contains some of the most gorgeous statues I’ve ever seen.  They don’t allow photos inside so the photo of the Veiled Christ wasn’t taken by me.  I think Christo Velato (Veiled Christ) in the Sansevero chapel kicks Michelangelo’s David’s naked rump.

And it turns out that the Prince also funded a reprint of a book called “Iconologia” by Cesare Ripa.  This book was a bestseller among artists and patrons, and images in it inspired another major sculptor (Bernini) to make the statue “Truth Unveiled By Time” (which in turn led to the phrase, The Naked Truth, I surmise) which I later saw in the fabulous Borghese Gallery).  Looks like she has the sun in her right hand.  Her draperies aren’t as delicate, as those on the Veiled Truth but her happiness is pretty fine.

Once inside, the beautifully proportioned Chapel room has groups of sculptures that you can instantly tell are symbolizing a lot more than their inscriptions – and yes, for each group there is the exoteric, public and easily understood meaning. But each group of sculptures also has a meaning to those who study esoteric symbols and Alchemy.  So this trip has really delivered some Sacred Italy!

See more photos of the Sansevero Chapel inside HERE