Scholar, artist, and communications professional Anne Nordhaus-Bike is shining a light on the overlooked contributions of women in the Rosicrucian Order with her newly published scholarly article in the Rose+Croix Journal, Volume 19, March 2025.
“Women have been left out of much of history, even though they have contributed half of what has happened on the planet,” Nordhaus-Bike said. “Without women’s stories, we lack the details of their heroic deeds and what it’s like to have triumphs as a female.”
Nordhaus-Bike, president of ANB Communications, an arts and communications firm she founded in 1993, resides in the Clearing neighborhood of Chicago. She earned her degree, with honors, in art history from the University of Chicago.
Her passion for feminist writing stems from her upbringing in a household filled with diverse perspectives.
“I am one of seven siblings – five sisters and two brothers,” she said. “Our household was a lively one, with many personalities and people with diverse interests and perspectives. Our parents were progressive and free thinkers who raised us to question and think independently. They were also entrepreneurs with an at-home business long before that became common.”
Coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s, Nordhaus-Bike was deeply influenced by the social movements of the time.
“As freedom and independence movements spread across the world and the women’s movement was gearing up, I wanted the ideals I’d grown up with, the dreams for a just and balanced world, to take shape in the world and end the discrimination I experienced and witnessed over and over in the workplace and society in general,” she said. “So many of my female family members from previous generations were strong women who advocated for equality and social justice. Feminists are people who support equal rights for women, and so I come from that tradition, in both the women and men in my family.”
The Rose+Croix Journal, an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed online publication, is produced by the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC (Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis).
This organization, which traces its philosophical lineage to ancient Egypt, explores natural laws to foster harmony. The journal carries on the spirit of free philosophic and intellectual inquiry from the days of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, focusing on mysticism, science, history, the arts, and spirituality, especially research that crosses over multiple fields of study.
Nordhaus-Bike’s article, Founders, Funders, Feminists: The Women Who Co-Founded, Co-Led, and Co-Inspired the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, presents extensive research into the lives of many women who, despite the obstacles of their time, devoted their energies and creativity to furthering mystical and philosophical ideals. The article tells their stories in an accessible style, accompanied by numerous historical photographs and other images.
Spanning 92 pages and featuring 38 illustrations, the extensively researched article is accessible at Rose+Croix Journal or via tinyurl.com/RoseCroixANB. It includes nearly 350 endnotes, making it a substantial contribution to the historical understanding of the order.
Among the illustrations is a painting of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti by Nordhaus-Bike, an artist associated with Woman Made Gallery in Chicago.
“As an artist affiliated with the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, I was thrilled that the Rose+Croix Journal included my painting of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti in this article,” she said.
The article highlights a range of remarkable women: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an internationally bestselling poet and nonfiction writer; Marie Corelli, the bestselling novelist of her time; Marie Russak Hotchener, an internationally acclaimed opera singer who later played a pivotal role in re-launching the Rosicrucian Order in North America, while also making a name for herself as a writer, publisher, and architect; and Jill Jackson Miller, a radio and film actress known as Harlene Wood, went on to become a peace activist after co-writing the song Let There Be Peace on Earth.
The article also delves into the crucial yet often overlooked contributions of Canadian and African American women who helped establish the order in North America in the early 1900s.
“Women played a critical role in co-founding AMORC in North America, and they continue to play central roles in leading the order in a tradition of female-male inclusivity dating to ancient Egypt,” Nordhaus-Bike said. “A century ago, in addition to the many and difficult tests and trials their male counterparts faced, the women who were involved at that time endured social prejudice, legal restrictions, and other obstacles due to misogyny and discrimination ‘on the basis of sex.’ Yet they persevered.
This article focuses on them as a testament to their courage, strength, intelligence, and particularly their mystical and philosophical devotion and evolution.”
For Nordhaus-Bike, sharing these stories is a responsibility.
“It became important to me as I grew up, and throughout my adult life, to speak up, to witness and state what I was seeing, and share the truth of women’s many contributions in modern times and across history,” she said. “Most history leaves women out or doesn’t tell the full story of their lives and achievements.”
She hopes her article inspires readers to reevaluate history.
“I want people to see themselves and history differently – to recognize their own potential,” she said. “Like these women, they can achieve great things despite difficult odds. I hope people revisit the writings, books, poems, and songs of these women and that they’ll look at history more clearly and realize something is missing when women are excluded.”
Nordhaus-Bike’s blog post about the article, including a link to read and download it, is available at artistanne.com. More about her artwork can be found at artistanne.com.
Great article by Kelly White! A superb reporter! Very thorough job.