Scholar, artist, and communications professional Anne Nordhaus-Bike has had a scholarly article published in the Rose+Croix Journal, Volume 19, March 2025.
Published by the Rosicrucian Order (Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, or AMORC), an international community of philosophers studying natural laws in order to live in harmony with them and tracing its origins to ancient Egypt, the Rose+Croix Journal is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed online journal that focuses on topics related to science, history, the arts, mysticism, and spirituality.
Nordhaus-Bike's article is, "Founders, Funders, Feminists: The Women Who Co-Founded, Co-Led, and Co-Inspired the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC." It reveals the often forgotten, overlooked, and untold stories of women—some of them very well known in their day—who played key roles in establishing the Rosicrucian Order in both ancient times and in the United States and Canada in the early 20th century.
Deeply researched yet highly readable, the article, at https://tinyurl.com/RoseCroixANB, unfolds across 92 pages and contains 38 illustrations (including many historical photographs) and nearly 350 endnotes.
Among the illustrations is a painting of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, painted by Nordhaus-Bike, an artist associated with Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Some other women covered in the article, particularly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an internationally bestselling poet and nonfiction writer; Marie Corelli, the wildly popular and bestselling novelist of her time; Marie Russak Hotchener, an internationally acclaimed opera singer, Theosophist, and international speaker; and Jill Jackson Miller, a radio and film actress whose stage name was Harlene Wood and who went on to become a peace activist after co-writing the song "Let There Be Peace On Earth."
The article also focuses on the nearly forgotten stories of Canadian and African-American women instrumental in establishing the order in North America in the early 20th century.
"Women played a critical role in co-founding AMORC in North America, and they continue to play central roles in leading the order in a tradition of female-male inclusivity dating to ancient Egypt," Nordhaus-Bike said, noting that they "endured social prejudice, legal restrictions, and other obstacles due to misogyny and discrimination 'on the basis of sex.'"
Nordhaus-Bike is an artist and president of ANB Communications, a Chicago, Illinois, USA-based public relations and communications firm. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago.
For more on Nordhaus-Bike and her art, go to https://artistanne.com/.
About Anne Nordhaus-Bike
Award-winning artist Anne Nordhaus-Bike paints colorful, calming watercolors inspired by nature.
Anne’s art has appeared in numerous solo and group shows as well as many arts programs, presentations, and performances. Her work has been published in periodicals and books; covered in numerous print publications; and featured in broadcast media, both on television and feature films.
She received a degree in art history, with honors, from the University of Chicago and went on to launch a fine arts column that ran for two decades in the Gazette Chicago newspaper, where she has served in various capacities since the newspaper’s founding in 1983. She joined Gazette Chicago’s board of directors in 2004. She founded her multimedia arts firm, ANB Communications, in 1993.
A member of the prestigious Woman Made Gallery in Chicago since 1998, she launched her book, Follow The Sun, with a book signing at Woman Made in 2012; the book includes more than a dozen of her original watercolors. Among her many awards and honors, she was named to the National Women’s Hall of Fame’s Wall of Fame.
Anne lives with her husband Bill and cat Sterling in Chicago, where she makes art and enjoys cooking, tai chi, and time in nature.
For more information about Anne Nordhaus-Bike, go to artistanne.com.