The Library of the Order
The founding documents, discourses and epistles made available to the public.
The Library of the Order is kept at Harrowmere under the charge of the Keeper of the Library. It holds the archives of the Order, the collections of its founders, and some four thousand volumes on the Western Mystery Tradition, available to members by arrangement. The greater part of the Order's own writings are private to its degrees. The documents gathered here, however, have always been public, and the Order commends them to every enquirer. They are the best introduction to its mind.
The Charter of Harrowmere
The founding document of the Order, drafted and signed at Harrowmere on Michaelmas 1987 by the three Wardens and nine companions. It constitutes the Order, defines its purpose, establishes its government and binds it to the Twelve Articles.
Read the CharterThe Twelve Articles of Chivalry
The Rule of the Order, composed by Edmund Thorne Ashby in 1987 and adopted by the Charter. Every Postulant is examined upon the Articles; every member renews them annually at the Convocation.
Read the ArticlesEpistle to the Pages
A letter of welcome written by Ashby in 1989 to those newly received into the Order, and given since then to every Postulant at the beginning of the postulancy. The gentlest and most personal of the Order's documents.
Read the EpistleDiscourse on the Cup
The address delivered by Ashby at the fifth Annual Convocation in 1992, and the central statement of the Order's understanding of the Grail as the heart made ready to receive the Light.
Read the DiscourseThe Collections
The Library holds three named collections. The Ashby Collection comprises the first Grand Master's working library of Renaissance Hermetic and chivalric literature, together with his manuscripts and correspondence; its catalogue was completed in 2026. The Marchetti-Vale Collection comprises the first Grand Prior's library of Martinist and mystical texts in French, Italian and English, with her translations. The Lindqvist Collection, still growing, comprises the Warden Emeritus's library of alchemical texts and his laboratory notebooks.
Members may consult the Library by arrangement with the Keeper. Scholars who are not members may apply in writing to the Chancery; such applications are considered individually and are frequently granted.
Publications
The Order publishes for its members an annual volume, the Harrowmere Papers, containing the addresses of the Convocation and selected studies by members. It is not offered for sale. The Order does not publish its rituals or the instructional papers of its degrees, and any document purporting to be such, offered for sale or circulated electronically, is not authentic.
A Reading List for Enquirers
Enquirers often ask what they should read before petitioning. The Order's own four public documents, above, are the first answer. Beyond them the Order recommends the classical Hermetic writings in any sober translation; the three early Rosicrucian documents; the principal works of the Unknown Philosopher; the great medieval romances of the Grail; and some one good history of the Western Mystery Tradition. The Order recommends no modern popular works and asks enquirers to be wary of any book that promises power or certainty.