Secret Society Airs Its Dirty Power Struggle

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The mystic Rosicrucian Order, a super-secret society that has brought the artifacts and rituals of ancient Egypt to San Jose, suddenly finds itself waging a public, modern-day battle over worldly power and money.

On Monday, the order ousted its leader, Gary Stewart, after obtaining a court order and summoning police when he refused to leave Rosicrucian Park, the world headquarters on Naglee Avenue. It also filed a lawsuit accusing Stewart of embezzling $3.5 million and hiding the money in the tiny European republic of Andorra, between France and Spain.

The deposed leader, in his own legal papers, alleges that he was illegally stripped of power only after he discovered that other officers have been plundering the order's coffers for years.

And so it was that a society that claims 250,000 members worldwide, zealously guards its privacy, traces its roots to 1500 B.C. and seeks to unite humanity through cosmic consciousness, began to air its dirty linen this week in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Rosicrucian bank accounts are frozen. About 175 employees at the San Jose world headquarters may not be paid. And, both sides allege in court papers, the order's financial survival is at stake.

The legal battle brings to a head a three-year internal power struggle that began when Stewart succeeded Ralph Lewis as imperator and president of the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, as it is formally known. During Stewart's tenure, dissident order members circulated more than a dozen ``hierarchy letters,'' criticizing him. There have been numerous firings, excommunications, reports of death threats and threats of slander suits.

Christian Bernard, who heads the order's Grand Lodge in France and was one of Stewart's most powerful rivals, is temporarily in charge.

The tale became public Friday, when Treasurer Burnam Schaa sought a court order to oust Stewart.

In court papers, Schaa and the order accuse Stewart of embezzling $3.5 million of a $5 million loan from the Silicon Valley Bank. Schaa alleges that Stewart transferred the money to a bank in Pittsburgh, and later to the Andorran bank, without Schaa's knowledge or the authorization of the nonprofit organization's board of directors.

But Stewart said in separate court papers that Schaa knew all about the Andorran affair. He contends that it was all part of a plan to move the order's Spanish Grand Lodge, now based in San Jose, to the Spanish state of Galatia.

Schaa said in his legal documents that the Supreme Grand Lodge - the order's board of directors - asked him to return the money.

Stewart said he explained that the bank in Andorra would not open until Monday.

The directors asked him to resign. He asked for two hours to think it over, according to court papers.

When he returned, Stewart fired everyone in the room. He tried - unsuccessfully - to turn the tables on his accusers. He read from a proclamation, a copy of which was in the court records:

``In the past three years, I have witnessed absolutely horrendous acts which, in good conscience, I cannot and hopefully will not need explain. Now, we are looking at . . . the strong possibility of embezzlement. I try to take action and you want me removed. I find that suspicious. . . . For attempting to conduct illegal activities, I now exercise my right as Imperator and dissolve this Board, firing each of you.''