Them gold-durn Rosicrucians is at it again...!

I just found out (via Xymphora) about "the May-Day Mystery," the decades-old hermetic game (but is it just a game?) played out via Arizona newsprint.

Over the past decade or two (or three?), a mysterious group called "the Orphanage" has spent a lot of money on full-page ads (or, as they prefer, "announcements") offering clues to some fabulous, esoteric mystery. The clues involve music, art, literature, multi-lingual puns, and references to historical figures. Interpret the clues correctly and you may find gold, or the elixer of life, or Buddhahood, or the secret of world domination, or the phone number of the world's best fellatrice, or...well, something.

Let me admit, albeit with some facial crimson, that I'm a hopeless addict when it comes to hermetic theatricals of this sort, though I know better than to take them too seriously. I may well dive into this mystery -- after the election. First things first.

If you want to get an early start, either download this Word Document, or head to this web page.