R. Swinburne Clymer
| Reuben Swinburne Clymer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 November 1878 Quakertown, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | 3 June 1966 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Osteopath, author, publisher |
| Known for | Reviving or creating the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis |
| Home town | Quakertown |
| Children | Emerson M. Clymer |
Reuben Swinburne Clymer (November 25, 1878 - June 3, 1966) was an American occultist and modern Rosicrucian responsible for either reviving or creating the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis, perhaps the oldest continuing Rosicrucian organization in the Americas. He practiced alternative medicine, and wrote and published works on it as well as (his version of) the teachings of Paschal Beverly Randolph, sex magic, vegetarianism, religion, alchemy, and Spiritualism. This led to a number of conflicts with Harvey Spencer Lewis and the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, FUDOSI, Aleister Crowley, and even the American Medical Association.
Clymer was born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. He studied medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and registered as an osteopath in New York in 1910. His work with alternative medicine regularly brought him into trouble with the United States government and the American Medical Association. As an osteopath, he opposed vaccination, and claimed that meat was the primary cause of cancer, and (especially when combined with beans, bread, potatoes, and beer) immorality and insanity.
Clymer joined the FRC in 1897, becoming a grand master of it in 1905 at age 27.
In either 1900 or 1904, Clymer got into publishing with his Philosophical Publishing Company, which he used to keep Paschal Beverly Randolph's books in print well into the 20th century. Clymer was deeply influenced by Randolph, of whom he created a hagiographic (and mostly fictitious) history. Clymer claimed that his orders were founded by Randolph (although many were completely unrelated), tying their already mostly fictional histories together under Randolph, particularly the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light orders in Quakertown.
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