Harvey Spencer Lewis

• Born — 25 November 1883 • Birthplace — Frenchtown, New Jersey, United States • Died — 2 August 1939 • Organization — AMORC • Title — Imperator of AMORC • Term — 1915–1939 • Successor — Ralph Maxwell Lewis • Children — Ralph Maxwell Lewis

Lewis was born November 25, 1883, in Frenchtown, New Jersey. His parents were of Welsh and German ancestry. Lewis was an advertising agent.

He had founded a group called the New York Institution for Psychical Research. The Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross (AMORC) was founded in 1915. He founded the organization after a trip to France with his father, claiming that he had been initiated into Rosicrucianism and was given a mission to spread it there in what he called an "old tower" in Toulouse. He presented this as a revival of the original, partially mythical and ancient Rosicrucian Order. Lewis affiliated with many occult groups, especially Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis. Following a 1916 split in the O.T.O., the schismatic German branch recognized AMORC, giving him a document to prove this. He was proud of receiving this document, despite differences in belief between the two organizations (AMORC did not practice sex magic). While predominantly Rosicrucian, the works of Lewis also incorporate neo-Templar elements, having a particular interest in the 18th century revivalist order of Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat and the Knights Templar. Lewis had had some contact with neo-Templar figures and related European occultists, including Émile Dantinne. Lewis was interested in Egyptology, and founded the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. It is located in Rosicrucian Park.

In 1931, Lewis, under the pen name Wishar S[penle] Cerve, wrote a book (published by the Rosicrucians) about the hidden Lemurians of Mount Shasta that a bibliographic note on Mount Shasta described as "responsible for the legend's widespread popularity." Lewis authored The Mystical Life of Jesus in 1929. The book is notable for defending a variant of the swoon hypothesis that Jesus survived his crucifixion. Lewis plagiarized entire chapters from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi H. Dowling.

• Illustration — Front of Lewis's burial marker Lewis died in 1939. He was succeeded as leader of AMORC by his son, Ralph Maxwell Lewis.