Women Mystics, Famous In Their Day, Re-Enter History

I’m so happy to announce that the Rose+Croix Journal, an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed online journal, has just published my scholarly article “Founders, Funders, Feminists: The Women Who Co-Founded, Co-Led, and Co-Inspired the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC.”

Published by the Rosicrucian Order, 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 focuses on topics related to science, history, the arts, mysticism, and spirituality. My article appears in the journal’s latest edition, Volume 19, March 2025.

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.

Article Includes My Original Oil Painting Of Nefertiti

Although I conducted extensive research to create this article (which comes in at 92 pages with nearly 350 endnotes), I wrote it in a journalistic style. So it’s highly readable – and filled with 38 illustrations, many of which include intriguing historical photographs.

Among the illustrations is an oil painting I created of Nefertiti, one of the women profiled in the article. Did you know Nefertiti was far more than the “pretty face” made famous by the iconic sculpture of her? She also was a great mystic and cultural revolutionary who co-ruled Egypt with her husband; together they became history’s first monotheists.

Why I Wrote This Article

Four years ago, the Rosicrucians in Chicago invited me to give a talk. I’d been researching women in mystical history, so I decided to build a presentation around that topic. It was so well received that the Toronto Rosicrucians asked me to share the talk with their members; for that version, I expanded the talk considerably to include women mystics of Canada, who were instrumental in establishing the Rosicrucian Order in North America in the early 20th century.

Members in Canada responded so favorably that I knew I would need to turn the presentation into a written version someday so others could hear the stories of many remarkable women who overcame social prejudice, legal restrictions, and other obstacles due to misogyny and discrimination “on the basis of sex” to make major contributions to human and mystical history.

Last August, “someday” became “do it now!” when the Rose+Croix Journal extended its deadline and put out a call for more papers for its next issue. I felt called to share what I’d learned, and this project turned into the main focus in my life for the following seven months.

I sat down to write on August 7, showed up at the computer every day for the next five weeks, and turned in the 100-plus page manuscript in mid-September. Along the way, I felt the women I was writing about with me, cheering me on and helping me complete a massive amount of additional research at the same time I was writing their stories.

Then followed months of steps toward publication: peer review, tight deadlines to respond to reviewers’ questions with yet more research, and rounds of “back and forth” with additional reviewers to get the article just right according to my original vision.

Once Famous Writers, Musicians Join Other Trailblazers To Present A More Complete History

Existing historical accounts, particularly for mystical and initiatic groups, barely mention women – even though women have played major roles in all aspects of history, including in religion and mysticism. One of spirituality’s most important concepts, the mystical principle of balance, demonstrates the importance of updating history to reflect the blending of opposites (especially female and male) that lies at the very heart of all creation. Ancient mystics understood this concept, as a tradition of female-male inclusivity dates to ancient Egypt (including its mystery schools, which attracted seekers from throughout the ancient world).

My article helps start the process of restoring balance by highlighting women leaders, including women from the late 19th and early 20th centuries who achieved fame and fortune in their day as well as important trailblazers who have been less well known until now. Among these are:

• Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an internationally bestselling poet and nonfiction writer.
• Marie Corelli, the wildly popular writer who became the internationally bestselling novelist of her time.
• Marie Russak Hotchener, an internationally acclaimed opera singer, Theosophist, and speaker on esoteric subjects.
• 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 nearly forgotten Canadian and African-American women who became instrumental in establishing Rosicrucian mysticism in North America in the early 20th century.

See The Article Now

You can see the article and enjoy my Nefertiti painting (and all the other images) at the Rose+Croix Journal site’s page for the current issue.

I wish you much pleasure and many “aha” moments as you discover – or rediscover – the women presented in the article. Enjoy!