tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-347441082024-03-07T20:21:40.662+00:00Gareth Knight News & IdeasGareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-39941756276722593122017-11-26T10:24:00.001+00:002017-11-26T10:24:45.287+00:0051 - SIX MONTHS SILENCE
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sorry for the lack of new blog entries but I suffered a rather
severe heart attack just six months ago and have needed to take things easy
since. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gareth Knight</span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-55182201362776646862017-06-21T20:09:00.000+01:002017-06-21T20:09:50.097+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 50
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus, Monsieur
Philippe & Envoys of Heaven<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Like his ‘Spiritual Master’, Papus
was a strong partisan of reincarnation, particularly with regard to Maïtre
Philippe whom he believed to be one of those exceptional beings who appear from
time to time on Earth in much the same way that Jesus of Nazareth descended
into the Underworld at the time of the Crucifixion. That is to say who came
freely, as an Envoy of Heaven, without the compulsion of any personal karma.
Such are characterised by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>miraculous powers
allied to great modesty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">During his own earthly life Papus felt
he had had the good fortune to know one of these beings, along with the ability
to make him more widely known. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In his writings on reincarnation
Papus suggested<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that there was a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tradition that three of these envoys of the
Father were always present on Earth, sometimes incarnated together, at other
times functioning on different planes. Apart from his healing gifts the one he
had known and who had taught him so much, had demonstrated powers over thunder
and lightning, and over air and water as manifest in the weather. Much of this
is recorded in the personal testimony of those close to him, some of it in
circumstances that might seem personal and trivial, but which in its spiritual
parallels could be regarded as a ray of sunlight illuminating infernal
darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Examples at various levels have been
given under guise of fiction in Paul Sédir’s remarkable sequence of tales “<i>Initiations”</i>
which I have recently translated for Skylight Press and which reveal different
facets of the secret life of Monsieur Philippe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Such souls reincarnate voluntarily,
and truly remember, but make no claims about being great<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>historical characters. Claimants, even quite
sensible people, range from Mary Queen of Scots, through Mary Magdalen and Joan
of Arc to Anne Boleyn and even Saint John (still writing at the end of his last
incarnation, if with not quite such success!). One can of course speculate
about others. Papus considered Joan of Arc to have been one of these Heavenly
envoys. How else, he wondered, to explain the military genius of a girl who won
three victories on three successive days? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">There could of course be other
theories, for as Shakespeare’s great prevaricator cautioned “there are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio, that are dreamed of in your philosophy!” The
Roman church has tended to be hostile to any celestial messengers and in the
case of Joan, a formidable voice of the people sought a change in the verdict
of the ecclesiastical judges who, blinded by politics, had martyred an envoy of
Heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">However, turning from historical speculation
to current situations, Papus summed up his own conclusion by suggesting that
our current incarnation is, for the spirit, a ‘magnetisation’ of our future
physical lives. Every gift of oneself, beyond self interest, magnetises and
spiritualises, which is to say generates light that will become the vehicle of
the spirit on another plane. On the other hand, all contraction of the spirit,
whether it is called egoism, anger, envy, dislike, materialises and generates
clichés of sin that can become fatal for the Astral. Sluggishness will not get
us into heaven. <i>Whoever knows, forgives and prays. </i>Material objects,
earthly riches, honorifics, are tools conferred for the benefit of others and
no one has any right to monopolise them for personal satisfaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">As far as Papus was concerned, the
law of reincarnation is not an invention of the human brain, nor the bastard
creation of a delirious imagination. In the same way that the sun rises in the
physical world, and banishes the darkness of night in creative light, so is the
law of incarnation a sun of the invisible world; dissipating philosophical
errors, illuminating souls in their missions, and showing the justice of all
actions and reactions on all levels of existence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Which is all, if one thinks about
it, rather more than a divine system of cost accounting or double entry book
keeping. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-43237270610009987212017-06-11T23:54:00.000+01:002017-06-11T23:54:24.821+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 49
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">More Papus on Reincarnation<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>continue a
little further with Papus’ book<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Reincarnation:</i>
<i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Physical, Astral and Spiritual
Evolution – the Spirit before Birth and after Death.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those he considers to have studied reincarnation most were the
ancient Egyptians, who claimed that during life the spirit controlled all
acts of the body by means of forces emanating from the region of heaven where
the pole star was found; which is why entry to the Pyramids always faced that
direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After death, the Egyptians conserved the physical
body by salting it for three months, then injecting spices, thus preventing by
mummification the dispersal of the physical cells, and fixing all round the
body the astral force that would preside over the decomposition of these cells.
They went further than that with a complicated magical ceremony by which they evoked
the astral forces around the pole star, infusing them in the double of the reincarnated
mummy, either in the mummy itself or in little statuettes placed around the
mummy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They thus built veritable underground towns of
astral lives and were able to act directly on the earthly astral, fixing for a
very long time the pole of civilisation on their country, and retarding the
reincarnation of human beings by employing science against the forces of
destiny. It would be amazing to realise today the extent of the science of
ancient Egypt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But leaving these exceptions aside and returning to
the normal processes of death, at this moment the astral splits into two parts.
One section forms the ‘chariot of the soul’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>enveloping the spirit, with the other enveloping
the physical body that is about to decompose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If the human being has built its ‘chariot of the
soul’ well, so that images (or <i>‘clichés</i>) of good, or devotion, form luminous
stars in the astral matrix, then evolution of the future astral body will be assured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here he considers an extremely important problem.
Experts have remarked that the series of living organisms on earth form a sort
of well characterised hierarchy; the bodies of some living beings being little
different from the bodies of immediate inferior or superior beings. This idea
presides over the question of evolution of animated beings so dear to
Darwinists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is impossible to describe the existence of this
evolution, in its general conditions, on Earth. There is certainly a transformation
of organs, adaptations to the environment, but not the evolution of the body of
a dog into the body of a monkey, or the body of a monkey into the body of a
man. The reason is simple, it is that <i>evolution works not during physical
incarnation but during the astral state that immediately follows physical
death.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This,
he claims, is the moment when the astral body evolves, or transforms, and
becomes the origin of the astral body of an immediately superior being. In its
turn this astral body forms the physical organs, which is how a physical being
of an order immediately superior comes about on Earth, incarnating on a higher
level of the spiral of development. All physical bodies in nature evolve, constituting
the physical body of a human being, but this process happens on the astral
plane.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus, when after an astral repose more or less
prolonged according to the individual about to reincarnate, the moment of
reincarnation arrives, the future astral body differs from the preceding one
according to the conduct of the anterior life of the incarnated spirit. This is
the origin of beauty or ugliness of the future physical body, of the strength
or weakness of future organs, of the power of elevation of the astral forces,
of the sign of the zodiac by which the forces surround the spirit, along with
all the secret laws of spiritual reincarnation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Popular stories have presented this astral influence
in the form of good or bad fairies around the cradle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At the moment of conception, the force of attraction
of the future parents will be at their most intense, that is to say, the astral
forces which determine the physical, moral and spiritual health. It is thus
that parents protected by heaven, uniting their forces with that of the sun, will
incarnate spirits with the most evolved astral bodies. Conception is thus an
extremely serious act from the point of view of astral forces, so it is not surprising
that social customs and laws have developed around the regulation of love,
marriage and its social consequences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who fall short of the high ideals so
associated are likely to attract and be surrounded by inferior astral forces. And
another social problem is presented due to a lack of regard to the reincarnation
of spiritual principles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-86904192060823034692017-06-01T22:12:00.000+01:002017-06-01T22:12:34.843+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 48
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus on
reincarnation<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In the first of his weighty occult books
– <i>Elementary Treatise on Occult Science </i>(Traité Élémentaire de Science
Occulte) of 1888 – Papus makes little mention of Reincarnation. In fact by just
one word as a passing reference in a single paragraph. And it was not until
1912 that he got round to a book devoted entirely to the subject, <i>La
Réincarnation. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">His initial reluctance may have been
influenced by Eliphas Levi, who in his <i>History of Magic,</i> apart from a
brief mention of Pythagoras, was also short on the subject – as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pythagoras believed above all things in the
soul’s immortality and in the perpetuity of life. The endless succession of
summer and winter, day and night, sleeping and waking, illustrated amply for
him the phenomenon of death. For him also the particular immortality of human
souls consisted in persistence of memory. He is said to have been conscious of
his previous incarnations, and if the report is true it was something suggested
by his reminiscences, for such a man as he could have been neither imposter nor
fool. It is probable that he came upon former memories in his dreams, while
simple speculation and hypothesis have been constructed as positive affirmation
on his part.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">(A E Waite’s translation, to which he
added a typical snooty footnote: <i>“It happens that the hypothesis of
reincarnation was personally unwelcome to Eliphas Levi, and he did not know
enough of Zoharic Kabalism to realise that it is of some importance therein.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Whatever Eliphas Levi knew or did
not, there was little teaching on the subject in the West until the latter half
of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, via the Theosophical Society and a French
version of Spiritualism promoted by Alan Kardac. Generally speaking reincarnation
was not on the menu in the great traditions of Western esotericism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus shows an ironic sense of
humour in his opening paragraph: “If, as we firmly believe, something of us
subsists on another plane, it is a state to which we shall all be called,
sooner or later, to experience. <u>So why quarrel about it in advance?”</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">And goes on to say: “Physical
existence is divided between the dead and the living, who are the last to solve
the problem, and here the cerebral maturity of each of us comes in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“For some, Death is the end of all
that Nature has made until now. Intelligence, feelings, affections, all suddenly
vanish and the body becomes vegetable, mineral or gas according to natural
process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“For others, Death is a liberation.
The Soul, all light, departs from the body and flies up to the heavens,
surrounded by angels and glorious spirits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Between these two extreme opinions
all intermediary beliefs exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“ <b>Pantheists</b> base the
Personality of the Dead in the great currents of Universal Life. <b>Mystics</b>
teach that the liberated Spirit, freed from the chains of matter, continues to
live, attempting by its sacrifice to save others who still suffer on Earth. <b>Initiates</b>
of the various schools follow the evolution of being on diverse planes of
nature up to the moment when it will return, and by its desire take on a new
physical body on the Planet where it has not yet finished ‘paying’ its dues. Death
for one’s country almost always frees the Spirit from a return or reincarnation.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A classic <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>patriotic sentiment (<i>Dolce et decorum est
pro patria mori</i>) probably more popular in 1912 than after 1914 with the
exploitation of mechanised slaughter which brought about Papus’s transition in
1916. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">How many opinions, disputes,
polemics, remarks Papus, for a natural fact of which we are assured to see the
solution! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If asked for his opinion, Papus would say the Dead
of the Earth are the Living on another plane of evolution. In his opinion
Nature is a miser that loses nothing in any of its efforts. The brain of an
artist or savant represents years and years of slow evolution. Why should this
suddenly be lost?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a close relation is on a journey in a far
country, you can follow them in thought when your heart is calm. He would like
to give the reader the realisation that the dead have not disappeared for ever;
but are travellers on another plane across a country to which we will all
normally go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Heaven is where the heart is”, said Swedenborg. After
a period of more or less long sleep without suffering, since there is no longer
terrestrial matter, the Spirit awakes and begins a new existence. It attaches
at first to those it has left on Earth and may seek to communicate with them by
dream or some intermediary that might be found. We should not force
communication between different planes, which are always delicate and could
present certain dangers. When, after a sincere desire, or an ardent prayer
accompanied by an act of physical, moral or intellectual charity, the Spirit is
allowed to make contact, there is always a way that will not frighten an
earthly personality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">On the other hand, if one tries to
force communication, one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>risks being
tricked by the brain of the ‘medium’ who, unconsciously repeats ideas dear to
the consultant, by temporary images, animated photographs floating in the
astral, or via beings who serve themselves or the medium to seize a little
material existence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It is thus wise to wait for news of
the traveller. It needs calm to obtain the certainty of their effective
existence over there, and then think much of the traveller with the magnet of
love and not of despair and tears, and then, very gently, the veil will lift, a
sweet murmur fill the heart, the frisson of the presence of the beyond appear,
and little by little a great mystery be revealed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So much for Papus take on psychic
communication with the departed, but what about those who have passed on
further, to possible reincarnation in a different body or personality? Here he
launches into a technical analysis based upon ancient Egyptian religious
practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">(To be continued)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-17374772888795901392017-05-16T12:05:00.000+01:002017-05-16T12:05:00.279+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 47
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rosa Crux -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>spes unica!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, if truth were told, there is more of the
ineffable about the Rosicrucian tradition than can be told in terms of rules
and regulations, of committee meetings and banquets, or allegorical tales of
travellers to foreign lands. Jollivet Castelot perhaps came closest to revealing
the essence of the Rose Cross towards the end of his <i>Le Destin </i>or <i>Fils
d’Hermes. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless to say it can
only be expressed in highly poetic language – much of it beyond the common day
intellect – in images that are on the threshold of form. Make what you can of
this sample, with your higher imagination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O Rosa + Crux, spes unica!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O Rose + Cross, unique hope, our only
true hope, supreme joy, triumph of the Spirit come to the fact of the joyful
Knowledge!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O Rose + Cross, mysterious Church of the
limitless depths, Cathedral of Nature, Tower of Gold, immaculate Tabernacle,
stainless Mirror, Diamond Cup, Crown of the Magi, Diadem of the Adepti. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our admirable Mother, most beautiful
among the beautiful, pure Virgin, emerald Arch, Vase of Election, Refuge of
Wisdom, limpid Source of eternal Life and immortal Love, Sun of glory and Moon
of serenity!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O Rose + Cross, Star of Stars, Flower of
flowers, fresher than the dew, sweeter than honey, more fragrant that the aroma
of a thousand perfumes, more subtle than the breath of a young girl!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pivot of the worlds, Axis of the
Heavens, Tail of Comets, Breast of the Universe, visible and invisible, Mother,
Daughter and Sister of the gods, Bride of the Lord, Queen of Olympus.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Transparent Pearl on the Amethyst Ring,
divine Milk from the breast of Juno, Genitrice of Aphrodite!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O marvellous Rose and enchantress,
adorable Figure of Unity, ineffable blazing of the Sephiroth, impeccable form
dressed in the essence of all Things.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Reality of Appearances, Origin of
Movement, Point of union of Macrocosm and Microcosm, Alpha and Omega that dream
in silence of the XXI sages.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O Rose + Cross, august crossroad of the
seven mystic Cities of the flamboyant Palace of God, azured Vault of the
Luminaries, Sanctuary of births and deaths, Thou who welcomes the Adept, Thou
who makes participate in the harmony of the spheres, pours the inebriating
beverage of immortality, of the Elysian nectars. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He has placed his confidence within your
august hands and put on his forehead your own petals, to recover the purple of
your satin cloak.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">O Rose + Cross, what delicate kisses to
savour between the coral points of your round breasts, by the audacious lover
who has conquered you..................................!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But do not confuse this with sex magic – a tawdry
substitute. The figure whom he has in mind is represented by Trump XXI of the
Tarot – the Universe, with <i>whom</i> (rather than <i>which</i>) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he has entered into a new relationship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The system of initiation he uses is mapped out in
the sequence of Tarot Trumps according to the system of Eliphas Levi, beginning
with the Magician as candidate for initiation and working through three
sevenfold stages to Trump XXI – the Universe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In this system 0, the Fool, falls between XX and XXI
the Last Judgment. And it is indeed a Last Judgment which may well be failed,
identifying the initiate with the Fool, a witless victim rather than the
Innocent of the Golden Dawn system. Castelot identifies Tarot Trump 0 in his
own life with the experience of returning home at the end of the 1<sup>st</sup>
World War to find the town burnt, smashed and desecrated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Douai, the town largely burnt by the Germans, had
been systematically pillaged and devastated. All objects of value had been
confiscated by the officers, the rest, booty for the troops, broken or stolen...”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Castelot’s book has largely been dated by time so it
is unlikely to be translated or even reprinted in its native language but we
mention it as a key to what is taken for granted in a great deal of French
occult thought; at least as regards the order and naming (sometimes renaming) of
the Tarot Trumps as an initiation process. Something to meditate on, anyway. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">PART ONE – INITIATION<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I – The Recipient or Candidate [Magician]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">II – Sanctuary [High Priestess]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">III – Incubation [Empress]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">IV – Cubic Stone [Emperor]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">V – Quintessence [High Priest]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">VI – The Test [Lovers]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">VII – Victory [Chariot]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">PART TWO – SONS OF HERMES – ENTRY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">VIII – Balance [Justice]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">IX – The Hermit [Hermit] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">X – Wheel of Fortune [Wheel of Fortune]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XI – Strength – [Strength]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XII – The Hanged Man – [Hanged Man]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XIII – Transmutation of Forces – [Death]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XIV – Harmony of Mixtures – [Temperance] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">PART THREE – ADEPTHOOD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XV – The Devil – [Devil]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XVI – Collapse – [Lightning-struck Tower]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XVII – The Stars – [Star]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XVIII – The Moon – [Moon]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XIX – The Sun – [Sun]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XX – The Judgement – [Judgement]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">0 – The Ring – [The Fool]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">XXI – The Work of the Sun – [The World or Universe]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-70796843865882384592017-05-10T10:08:00.000+01:002017-05-10T10:08:23.173+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 46
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Rosicrucian
traditions<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1898, Papus, Paul Sédir and Marc Haven, confronted
with the remarkable powers of Maïtre Philippe who worked without benefit of membership of
any initiatory society, took the surprising step of starting another one, called
the <i>Fraternitas Thesauri Lucis</i> (or F.T.L). It was based largely on the work
of Sédir, whose research produced a book on the subject – <i>Histoire des
Rose-Croix – </i>published in 1910, with a posthumously published expanded
version (<i>Histoire et Doctrines des Rose-Croix</i>) in 1932, neither of which
are currently easy to come by. And not terribly easy to read if one has. But are at
least packed with facts.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rosicrucian origins extend back over centuries
and many who have written about them have done so from a standpoint of <em>ignorance
and hostility</em> or <em>ignorance and wonder</em>. Sédir decided to begin with remote
origins and predecessors and saw the Rosicrucians as deriving from three
traditional currents – the Gnostics, the Catholic church and Hermetic tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Gnosticism was developed by the
Cathars, Vaudois, Albigenses and Templars, and ultimately <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by
Dante in the <i>Divine Comedy</i>. The Catholic element was represented by certain
monks in contemplative orders. And the Hermetic stream, from Egypt and the
classical world, included alchemy and the Jewish kabbalah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Gnostic theories contained the remnants
of polytheism and Dante’s great poem was almost a declaration of war on the
Papacy by a revelation of the Mysteries; an application of the figures and
numbers of the kabbalah to Christian dogma by means of a journey conducted by
Virgil (wisdom) and Beatrice (love) through the supernatural worlds, like an
initiation into the mysteries of Eleusis or Thebes. Dante escaped the abyss
over the portal of which was the despairing injunction <i>“Abandon hope all ye
who enter here!” </i>by climbing back to the light in a topsy turvy kind of way,
using the grotesque figure of the devil and his works as part of the ladder.
Hell was only a barrier for those who did not know the way of return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Religious cloisters in the Middle Ages could
be favourable to mystical and occult thought, with such great names as
Thomas Aquinas, Arnold of Villeneuve, Albertus Magnus, the Lullys, St Bonaventura
and others. The secular clergy and even some Popes provided help and protection
as a number of royal letters in England confirm. Ripley reveals that the church
(abbey?) at Westminster was a meeting place for alchemists. And in1503, Trithemius asserted
that many books on magic and conjurations that he had read had affirmed his
Christian faith. Whilst <i>The Imitation of Christ </i>by Thomas â Kempis (1604)
was regarded as a Rosicrucian document and guide for neophytes, although it may
not read quite like that nowadays. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">On the Hermetic side we also have
recent efforts by Papus, Stanislas de Guaita and Josephin Peladan forming
groups of their own under a kabbalistic and Rosicrucian banner, with varying
degrees of success and failure, at which we have taken a passing glance. It
will be seen that a lot depends on the spiritual and psychological maturity of
its members. Those directly involved probably being the least reliable judges
of that. “Man, know thyself!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<i>No
sexism where none intended</i>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Alas, we know little of the content
or history of the F.T.L. Which is maybe how things <b><i>should</i></b> be!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-44593177197965523692017-04-24T16:56:00.002+01:002017-04-24T16:56:46.969+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 45<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Faith <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We casually remarked, in a masterpiece of
understatement in SH17 that back in 1890 Paul Sédir made himself extremely
useful to Papus and his associates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is perhaps time we filled in some of the details of the following years until
his death in 1926. For the first <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>decade he
played a major part in helping <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to build
up the Faculty of Hermetic Sciences, overseeing its three year course on
subjects that included alchemy, hypnosis, curative magnetism and divinatory
arts. Then having met and been astounded by Maïtre Philippe, he developed a mystical
equivalent to the traditional occult arts, including a five volume commentary
upon the Gospels. This we recently mentioned, regretting its unavailability in
English. The least we can do now is to give our version of a short example of
his take on the all important subject, the dynamics of faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway, here goes: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Ancient beliefs, still popular today, that affirm
the existence of spirits of the elements in vegetable and mineral forms are
true. In the invisible, everything possesses not only an aura and an etheric
double, but a spiritual type, soul, intelligence, sensibility and free will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘An alchemist working on a mineral affects its aura;
a magnetiser affects its etheric double; a magician works with its spirit,
whether by force or ingenuity. Although only a ‘spiritually free’ man does so
legitimately. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘A mountain, a rock, a field<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– a state, a province, a village<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
spring, a stream, a river – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>grass,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>grain, or forest <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gulf,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>ocean, or lake – house, room, or furniture – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tool, book, or letter – all have a physical existence
and an invisible being. Polytheistic belief <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is the recognition of these agents and their
power, and research into the right way to contact or conciliate them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Theoretically, a polytheist has to master a very
complex science and animistic disrupting force, and in practice, may work a
little good with fragmentary knowledge and a fragile will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Calming a storm can be effected in various ways.
There are physical means such as oil or explosive. There are fluidic ways,
given a knowledge of electro-telluric currents, to discern the poles of the
perturbing whirlwind, and annul them by producing artificial ones in a contrary
fashion. There are what could be called idolatrous ways, when a sailor makes a
promise or a threat to his god, to a saint, or to a sanctuary in his country.
The magician may determine the type of daimonic originators of a meteorological
disturbance and send other agents to fight them, as they do on barbarous coasts
or in the China seas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also
prayer pure and simple to God or to the Virgin. And finally there is the
procedure of the Christ, the effortless command, a method possible only to a
‘free’ soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘It is toward this last attitude that His disciples
inclined, with one single method – the culture of faith. “Fear and doubt exist,”
it has been said, “to prevent us over-reaching ourselves” and fear can be
surmounted by pride or humility. But it is necessary to have confidence in God.
Nothing comes to us without His permission; and so, as we are all His children,
altruism tends to make us happy if trials come upon us more than upon our
siblings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘But such self abandon is difficult, even the
primitive protozoa in stagnant water fear for their ephemeral existence! As for
ourselves, our whole life can be a succession of unjustified fears. That is
what we must fight against. We have within us the seed of faith. For it to grow,
we must first understand the all powerful Divinity. In the second place, throw
ourselves completely into the effort. In the third place, know that, even when
we seem to have done all that is possible, there remains the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>supreme attempt to try. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Faith is a substance that exists only in Heaven. Its
‘biological mode’ is supernatural. Intelligence, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>muscular or magnetic force, and reason are
nothing. Among the powers of the human spirit, only passion and will have points
of contact with it. It may seem ignorant, illogical, measureless, but it is
light in a dark night; it is life where there was none; it is the impossible
incarnating at our insistance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘But the Christ does not command only storms at sea.
In all being there is a hydrological function; with man it is the circulatory
system; in society it is commerce; in religion it is edificying doctrine. In
physiology the Christ is the heart (although in present society its place may
be taken by Mammon). In the Church, it is the celebration of the Mass. In
mathematics it is called Number; in physical nature the Brahmans call it the
dark sun; in philosophy it is truth; in art it is expression. In life the
storms that it calms include anything undefined, sick, wrong or insignificant. And
everywhere, <b>for</b> all and <b>in</b> all – is the Faith that we can employ
to re-establish harmony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Several times the evangelists affirm the power that
Jesus exercised over the forces of Nature. Let us take the miracles on Lake
Tiberiad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Travellers
tell many tales of this type, and, to confirm their numerous accounts it seems
that over the whole world men can be met who can command the clouds, the winds,
the rain, the storm, the hail. Enchanters in all races appear to possess this
power. But there is an essential difference between their procedures and that
of the Christ. They operate by means of a pact, expressed or tacit. Most give
something to such spirits and, in return, the spirit performs a service – it is
what popular legend calls selling one’s soul to the devil. Even those wonder
workers who believe they obtain their power by rational culture of their own
psychic forces, unconsciously conclude a pact with daimons on the mental plane.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Only mystics,
whatever their religion, who limit themselves to a single accomplishment of
charity by private prayer perform legitimate miracles. They ask, and the form
of the Word of God particular to their race grants it. The Christ, being the
supreme Master, knowing the language of all categories of creatures, commands
and they obey. ...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">`...For the being who has received the Holy Spirit,
a miracle is a very simple act, such as a sentence, like “take up your bed and
walk”. That being lives on the first plane, and has not, like the great poets
and great thinkers, its feet on earth and head in the heavens. It is completely
on the earth and at the same time completely in the heavens; it carries the
heavens with it wherever it goes and anything it undertakes. Thus Jesus needed
no great effort to heal, to resuscitate, to change the way of the worlds, to
calm a storm or to multiply fishes or loaves. He ordered and His creatures
obeyed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘What did He say to his terrified disciples?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why are you frightened, O ye of little
faith?” In fact the only cause of our fears is a lack of faith. This is not a
matter of <i>theological</i> faith, which <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>may be a belief in the Trinity, or the
Immaculate Conception, and other dogmas because they have been told they are
true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if these same sources affirm
that the Christ can cure them, or save them from ruin, they no longer believe
it. The dogmas do not touch us, do not move our terrestrial sensibilities, do
not affect us much, so we accept them. But when it is a matter of our health we
see nothing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but menacing catastrophe –
and faith evaporates. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘In fact, acceptance of certain truths
incomprehensible to understanding but that are admitted by authorised witness –
such as the great church councils <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– do
not penetrate to the depths of our being. The only true faith is to realise as
far as the material sense the affirmations of the Apostles. <i>“I believe in
God, the Father Almighty.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘If He is almighty, He can cure me, save me from
fire, from bankruptcy; if I believe He is my Father, He will heal me and save
me; if I am not convinced that He can do these things I have no faith. Now the
only sign of my conviction will be the serenity whereby I find the true
perspective of suffering, ruin and death; if these eventualities worry me, it
is because I have no faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘To adhere then with all the strength of our will,
all the fervour of our love, to the words of the Christ, that central adhesion
will gently illuminate our intelligence, and we will understand little by
little that which at first appeared obscure. If, what is more, we come to
oblige our body and its instincts to obey these words, then our faith will
begin to live. Mental belief alone is not enough; for faith to work miracles it
needs to live in our corporeal being. Faith without works is a dead faith. True
faith is susceptible to unlimited growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘It gives us peace of heart, knowledge of the
mysteries, thaumaturgic power. But do not confuse these divine powers with its
caricatures: of auto-suggestion, mentalism, artificial development of will
power. An American religion proclaims “Believe that evil does not exist and you
will be cured.” That is philosophic sophistry and a volatile illusion. Another,
Belgian, religion proclaims “Anything exists only because we believe it”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More sophistry; of oriental origin, and
another illusion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> 'I hope</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> I have been clear enough for you to see what
antinomy exists between the faith the Christ proposes and its human imitation.
May the length and minutiae of the necessary training necessary to render our
personality capable of receiving this divine force not discourage us; consider
how it needs the constancy of the athlete to develop muscles, cell by cell; or
the musician to render fingers or larynx supple; or the business entrepreneur
to amass a fortune coin by coin. Let us put ourselves to work. And not stop,
once begun.’ <em>Paul Sedir<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-54570298645384053642017-04-14T14:47:00.000+01:002017-04-16T11:12:23.339+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 44<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul Sédir and the ‘Inconnu’<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yves le Loup (1871-1926) better known by his mystery
name of Paul Sédir, one of the most erudite and experienced occultists in the
circle of Papus and Stanislas de Guaita, and member of a number of initiatory
societies, abandoned them to follow the mystical teaching of Maïtre Philippe,
founding the <i>Société des Amitiés Spirituelles </i>(Society of Spiritual
Friends) which still exists and publishes a number of his works. One of them,
with the significant title of <i>Quelques Amis de Dieu </i>(Some Friends
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God), under the rubric of <i>Un
Inconnu </i>(An Unknown) describes his Maïtre Philippe as follows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I affirm that I have had over a long
period, the good fortune to see a living man who, without apparent effort,
realised the perfection of the Gospels...Perhaps some anxious souls will be
encouraged if one of their companions affirms that the promises of Christ are
real because he has seen and touched experimental proof <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of them. That Christ, our Lord, said that one
day He would give his Friends the power to perform miracles greater than his
own; I have seen these accomplished. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Christ also said to his Friends that He would be with them until the end of the
world; I have seen this hidden presence. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The life of my Unknown one provides a
series of such proofs...You will recognise in him, I hope, one of these
mysterious ‘brothers’ of the Lord, one of the greatest, <b>the</b> greatest
perhaps, of the heralds of the Absolute...His doctrine was entirely that of the
Gospels and he valued books in proportion to their agreement with their
teaching. He accepted the writings of the Apostles to the letter and regarded modern
exegesis as superfluous.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“If one could love one’s neighbour like
oneself, Heaven would reveal the true meaning of these texts. He showed little
interest in argument, placing brotherly love before all, before prayer and even
before faith. He called pride and egoism the greatest obstacles to our
advancement. This man without any higher qualifications could reveal the errors
of experts...He explained his powers and knowledge by saying “A child of God, (a
being pure enough to sacrifice self for others and immediately forget it), knows
all things without need of study...<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Now this Christian, this philosopher,
was, above all, the most extraordinary wonder worker. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have seen all the marvels performed by
saints accomplished by him. Miracles flourished at his feet, they seemed
natural, inevitable, and nothing but prayer evoked them...He exercised the same
power in the same way over animals, plants, events and even the elements.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(His causing a lightning strike and thunder bolt close
to Papus was a particularly spectacular way of endorsing a conversion! And his
daughter in law remarked that the expression on the face of Papus after the experience
was enough to convince anyone that it had really happened!) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On many occasions Maïtre Philippe, Sédir’s <i>‘Inconnu’</i>
demonstrated his powers to experts, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>although it could happen that an ‘expert
witness’ would refuse to bear witness to having seen facts deemed to be ‘inexplicable!’
That is to say, could not believe his eyes! <i>{See ‘The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>professor’s dilemma’ – Sons of Hermes 29 –
for an example.} <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just who or what Monsieur Philippe was, remains the
subject of intense debate in France. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sédir, in a series of lectures at the end of
1920, recently discovered and published by Le Mercure Dauphinois as <i>La vie
inconnue de Jésus-Christ (The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>all but divinised him, whilst our old
friend Victor-Émile Michelet, in his memoirs of 1938<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>felt this view to be greatly exaggerated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Sédir was capable of flights of
metaphysical realisation far beyond the worthy commonsense Michelet, who put
down what he called such ‘deliquescent pseudo-mysticism’ to Sédir’s Breton and
German background – although influences such as Boehme and Goethe are hardly to
be sneezed at! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A few paragraphs taken almost at random from <i>La
vie inconnue de Jésus-Christ</i> can demonstrate this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The birth of the Word did not take
place at a certain moment in a certain place, but everywhere at once. Neither
the works of Christ, nor the events of the Gospels can be situated in history.
If we wish to make it food for our soul, we must remember that spiritual truths
are always happening. The Christ was not only born at Bethlehem but everywhere
a stable is willing to receive him.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“He did not cure this or that individual,
2000<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>years ago, but also now; this difficult
action requires the healed to be joined with the healer in his domain, and the
means for this joining is that power called Faith. For there is more than one
Bethlehem, more than one Tabor, more than one Golgotha; they existed already,
before they were given those names, and will continue to be until the end of
the world. They are there today, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the
same events occur even more gloriously, because more hidden. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“A storm on the Pacific Ocean can be
calmed because the waves were pacified one day on the Sea of Galilee. A criminal
can find pardon because a certain thief was forgiven 2000 years ago on Golgotha<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The things we find in the Gospel, the
drachma, the fig tree, the unleavened bread, the foolish virgins, the prodigal son....are living beings, virtues, on which our immortal being can feed if
we wish it so. You would understand me if you had felt a little of the
essential presence of these things in your secret life”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And apart from some small handbooks on the mystical
life the five volumes of Sédir’s commentary on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gospels <i>L’Enfance du Christ; Le Sermon sur
la Montagne, Les Guérisons du Christ, Le Royaume de Dieu, </i>and <i>Le
Couronnement de L’Oeuvre </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>surely
deserve translation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There is little information readily available in
English, although we have done our best to throw a little light into what the
French, with a Gallic shrug, call ‘the Anglo-Saxon world’ by translating <i>Initiations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>for Skylight Press, a series of essays
written by Sédir over the years that present <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Monsieur Philippe in semi-fictional form,
something after the way Marc Haven mirrored aspects of his character in his
biography of Cagliostro.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Upon which we wish everyone a fruitful Easter and
gentle reminder to think what it was and is and ever will be all about!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The future is in eggs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-44086630397233158472017-04-09T09:15:00.001+01:002017-04-09T09:15:59.418+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 43
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marc Haven, Cagliostro and ‘Monsieur Philippe’<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">One evening the occult bookshop in
the rue de Trévise, <i>La Librairie du Merveilleux, </i>attracted two serious minded
young men, a medical student, Emmanuel Lalande, (1868-1926), and his friend, a student
of pharmacy (and astrology) named Thomas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Lalande would become widely known as
Marc Haven, having followed the example of Papus by choosing a pseudonym from
the list of spirits of the planetary hours in the <i>Nuctémeron </i>of<i> </i>Apollonius
of Tyana. In his case ‘the spirit of dignity’. He was indeed a dignified
character and became particularly influential after marrying Victoire, (1878-1904)
the 19 year old daughter of Monsieur Philippe in 1897.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">This close association with the
family led him to write what was ostensibly a biography of an 18<sup>th</sup>
century thaumaturge <i>Le Maïtre inconnu: Cagliostro.</i> (Cagliostro – the
unknown Master), parts of which can be read between the lines, for under cover
of presenting Cagliostro, he provided insights into the wonder working
contemporary figure of his father-in-law Monsieur Philippe!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Who – or indeed what – was Monsieur
(or Maïtre) Philippe? A saint, many people thought, and some, such as Paul
Sédir, a form of the ‘second coming’ of Christ. Or, in the official view, a potentially
dangerous charlatan? (One reason we have such detailed records of him is thanks
to contemporary police reports!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus, on the other hand, found in
him a ‘spiritual’ guide who drew him, over the latter part of his life, from materialistically
minded occult populariser towards a form of Christian mysticism. Some saw this
as a weakness, although to my mind it was a broadening of his appreciation of
the invisible world(s). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Ironically, Papus was responsible
for Philippe’s involvement in Russian politics by introducing him to the royal
family, over whom he developed an extraordinary influence – which was only to
be expected given the couple’s personal and dynastic problems and Philippe’s
ability to do something to relieve them. After which it came to be assumed by
the brokers of power and their agents, rightly or wrongly, that no political
initiative could be pursued without the assent of Philippe. Also that he had
obtained his powerful influence by corrupting the court with beliefs of the most
credulous kind, as in the example of a lady in waiting who joyfully told the
tsarina “I have seen Monsieur Philippe!” only to be cut down by the reply
“Nobody can see Monsieur Philippe, he is a pure spirit!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In the end the combined efforts of the
Russian Orthodox Church, the Imperial court and the French diplomatic corps, to
say nothing of the Russian secret police in Paris, succeeded in having Philippe
return to France, but which only led to him being replaced by the sinister
Raspoutin, a <i>staretz</i> or wandering ‘holy man’, who lasted until he was murdered
in 1916, a decade after Monsieur Philippe had passed away from natural causes
at home in Arbresle, shattered by the early death of his beloved daughter. In
accordance with what many believed at the time – he could save others, but his
own he could not save. Or indeed himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">This is how Dr. Lalande described
his father-in-law. (Note also the capitalisation of references !) <i>“He was so
different from us, so much greater in knowledge, so free, that none of our
limitations applied to Him. Logic, morals, relationships, all for Him was not
what it was for us, since the whole of life was present to Him, with past and
future united in a single spirituality whose nature, essence, reasons, laws, ways
of working, he knew.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marc Haven’s brother, the philosopher André
Lalande, also wrote how closely Emmanuel was attached to Philippe by friendship
and admiration as well as relationship. That he was not simply a gifted healer
due to some psycho-physiological faculty not yet understood, but that it went
beyond that to a contact with divine power and inspiration. His moral authority
over casual on-lookers or the afflicted who came in search of healing was indeed
like a prophet surrounded by disciples, or even like Christ in the midst of the
Apostles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It was largely in celebration of
Maïtre Philippe that Dr Lalande wrote his biography of Cagliostro although there
was no direct parallel between the very different circumstances of Cagliostro’s
18<sup>th</sup> century life and times and those of Maïtre Philippe. It was
rather a perceived similarity of character, as described in the following
extracts that give the gist of Marc Haven’s vision of both men.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">As for the sick, the unfortunate,
who came to lay their troubles at his breast, they found in him a totally
tested patience and miraculous help and their voice was unanimous in the attics
of the poor and the mansions of the great in proclaiming his power and above
all his kindness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">He was not only a lone dignity to be
boasted about but a <i>Friend of God </i>and faithful soldier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Always kindly, he refused no
request; he listened, observed; his face receptive, his eye often took on a
strange expression as if absorbed by the interior life for the moment and after
he had replied, promising his intervention, his face resumed smiling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">When a <i>being of light</i> comes
to you, and offers you, with proofs of great power, the witness of a good will
without equal, is it admissible to harbour<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a feeling of mistrust?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">He overcame abuse, but always showed
respect for the government and institutions of the country receiving him. But
it is written in the laws of heaven that evil has a limit and that, when its
tooth, after having savaged great and small, moves on to a friend of God and
wounds him, it finally breaks itself there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">When asked where his knowledge and
persuasive power came from he replied that, by a special favour, God inspired
him and gave him the power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">He appears drying their tears,
lifting those wounded by life, giving the lost traveller the strength and
courage to walk until dawn, sowing joy and beauty in the shadows, illuminating
the heavens, bringing the glorious beverage of immortality. That is what is
important to humanity, which the earth remembers. These are the diamonds of
nature preciously revealed at its breast which eternally mark the acts of its
life. These letters of light <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>can be
read; these voices of the earth can be heard; they speak of him. If our eyes
are still greatly troubled and our ears unused to hear the witness, at least it
is not in the phrases of a gazetteer or in police reports that we will seek his
name, his titles or his face ... we evoke the kneeling crowds, the great and
small of the earth before him; seeing again this being, so sublime in love
within wisdom.... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>am of no time and no place. Outside time and space, my spiritual<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>being lives its eternal existence, and if I
plunge my thoughts into remounting the course of ages, if I bear my spirit
towards a mode of existence far from that which you perceive, I become that
which I desire. Consciously participating in absolute being, I rule my actions
according to the milieu that surrounds me. My name is that of my function and I
chose it, and thus my function, because I am free. My country is where I direct
for the moment my steps. Identify yourself with yesterday, if you wish, by evoking
the years lived by ancestors who are strangers to you; or of tomorrow, in
illusory pride in a grandeur that will perhaps never be yours. As for me, I am
that which is....<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Here I am: I am noble and a traveller;
I speak and your soul trembles in recognition of ancient words;<i> </i>a voice
within you which was killed a long time ago responds to the appeal of mine. I
act, and peace returns to your hearts, and health into your bodies, hope and
courage into your souls. All men are my brothers, all countries are dear to me;
I cross them so that, everywhere, the Spirit can descend and find a way towards
you....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Like the South wind, like the
brilliant light of the South that characterises the full knowledge of things
and active communion with God,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I come towards
the North, towards the fog and the cold, abandoning everywhere in my passage
some parts of myself, dispensing me, diminishing me at each point, but leaving
you a little clarity, a little warmth, a little strength, until I am finally
stopped and definitively fixed at the end of my career, <i>at the time when the
rose blooms upon the cross...<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Why do you want anything more? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were children of God, <i>if your soul
was not so vain and curious, you would already have understood!...<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“The progressive experience of my
forces, of their sphere of action, of their scope and their limits, was the
struggle I had to hold against the powers of this world. I was abandoned and
tempted in the desert; I fought with the angel like Jacob, with men and with
demons, and these, vanquished, have taught me the secrets that concern the
empire of shadows, so that I can never lose myself in any of the routes from
which no one returns. ..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“From then on I received, with a new
name, a unique mission. Free and master of life, I only dreamed more to employ
it for the work of God. I knew it would confirm my acts and my words, as I
would confirm His name and His kingdom on Earth. There are beings who no longer
have guardian angels; I am one of those.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">These citations from <i>Cagliostro,</i>
selected by others and somewhat approximately translated by me, characterise
the being and comportment of one ‘sent from Heaven’ applicable to both
Cagliostro and Maïtre Philippe according to Mark Haven’s vision and
observation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-7376001562700962372017-04-04T09:05:00.000+01:002017-04-04T09:05:21.720+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 42
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Barlet <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The name “Barlet” crops up in many
places in Parisian esoteric circles during the Papus period, and is the pseudonym
for Albert Faucheux (1838-1921)<i> –</i> derived from an anagram of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his Christian name. He had been a civil
servant before his retirement, a registrar of births, marriages and deaths at
Boulogne sur Mer and later at Abbeville, after which he seems to have
maintained a toe hold in Paris in a tiny apartment down by the river. A modest
and reclusive figure, dedicated and knowledgeable, never known to refuse a
service to anyone, he was welcome as a senior member of esoteric groups of the
time. Not only the Martinists and Rosicrucians but as a local representative
for foreign organisations, such as the Anglo-American H.B.L. (Hermetic
Brotherhood of Luxor), who welcomed his reputation for a squeaky clean respectability.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: -36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His name is found at the head of a
number of articles in magazines or books of the period, particularly on
astrology but not exclusively so, as for example 25 pages of ‘Notes on the
Astral’ in the middle of Papus’ <i>Traité Éleméntaire de Science Occulte. </i>Michelet,
as a dedicated gentleman of letters, considered Barlet’s style hardly an easy
read, (and regretfully we would not quarrel with that) but the young Papus was
obviously grateful, calling the notes remarkable extracts from a longer piece
that he had published before in early issues of his journal <i>l’Initiation.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: -36pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it came to knowledge and wisdom, it is
not difficult to rank Barlet alongside the likes of Saint Yves d’Alveydre, although
completely different characters in temperament and social background. Barlet
was certainly more modest and approachable. “Please,” he was heard to say to
one enquirer, “Do not call me ‘master’ – I am just an old student.” And it was
thought that, probably because of his innate modesty, he had never bothered to
record his studies in any collected and systematic way, apart from a rumoured
and unpublished work on the Zodiac and Planetary Spirits. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Michelet, who met most leading
occultists of his time, thought highly of him, and reckoned that Barlet was not
only familiar with all myths and legends but had the ability to draw out their
deeper significance, “rather like reducing fractions to a common denominator”. And
even to verge on the prophetic, as he records a meeting with him in the middle
of Paris in first days of July 1918. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It was easy to remember the date, for
the situation was extremely worrying, as the populace expected the imminent bombardment
of the city following the final desperate advance of the German army.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Well,” he asked Barlet, “have you looked
at the way things are going and worked them out?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Yes,” the old initiate replied,
“the aspects are very good. Venus, who is our protector, is entering a
favourable position. The second fortnight in July will be good for us and mark
the point of the beginning of success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In August the situation will be better and in September even better, and
in October better still. I see the end of the war before the end of the year.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">As we know, this came in November
1918. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“There is one point though,” he added,
“on which I am doubtful: Russia. Instead of finding guidance on that, I found
myself concerned with Nicolas II and the death of the Tsar.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Who, in fact, with his family, had already
been murdered although nobody in the west yet knew it.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For an hour, Barlet elaborated on astrological
concordances with physical events on the planet, and that day, after he left
Barlet, Michelet felt convinced of the favourable process of events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">One regret bothered him though: it
was that most of the knowledge and wisdom possessed by Barlet would never be
presented in a coherent body of work, but simply scattered in occasional articles
or conversations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Which caused him to reflect that,
although there are some people too busy teaching to be able to learn very much,
Barlet was too concerned with learning to find time to teach! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A problem for actual or aspiring
initiates everywhere?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-74635668839143643152017-03-29T11:49:00.000+01:002017-03-29T11:49:13.398+01:00THE TESTAMENT OF MERLIN
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To
get you started....<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Testament of Merlin<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Théophile Briant <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">translated by Gareth Knight<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
one-eyed story teller began, while polishing his sword:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“In
olden days things were not like they are now. Men and the gods knew each other.
Men spoke with the gods, and knew their language. Animals also spoke, even the
fish. I’m telling you the honest truth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“In
olden days objects chose their owner. They were good servants to him, but not
for others. One day, during the famous battle of Mag Tured, Ogma found the
sword of Tethra, king of the Fomorians. Ogma drew the sword and cleaned it.
Then the sword told her all that she had done since her birth. That was what
swords did, when someone took it from its scabbard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
blacksmith showed the sword, whose steel shone in the night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Today
this sword is dumb. But I know its history.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“How can
you know it?” asked Ronan, the Seneschal’s squire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“It
speaks to me when I’m sleeping. It’s a very old sword that I keep in reserve on
the orders of Merlin, the bard with the golden neck torque.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Keep it
for who?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“That’s
a secret.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This
evocative story follows the life and work of Merlin as founder of the Round
Table Fellowship, the return of Excalibur to the Lake, the safe conduct of
Arthur to Avalon, the liaison with Viviane and the Faery powers in the Forest
of Broceliande, the resuscitation of the disciple Adragante in the Cauldron of
Keridwen, the remarkable sequence of initiations for the young knight, the tradition
of the ‘threefold death’ of Merlin at the hands of some shepherds<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at Drumelzier on the Scottish borders and his
subsequent apotheosis. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Much of
this is of great contemporary relevance in the current confrontation of
Christian and Neo-Pagan dynamics – the religion of Divine Love and the religion
of Ancestral Wisdom. The question<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>being
– are they so irreconcilable as is sometimes thought?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Told by
Théophile Briant , editor for twenty years of the remarkable<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>journal <i>Le Goëland (The Seagull),</i>and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a great <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>enthusiast and patron of all things Breton,
Celtic and esoteric . Recently discovered by Gareth Knight,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>translated from the French, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and published by Skylight Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">ISBN 978-1-910098-02-8<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>£11.99<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$18.99<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Skylight Press <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-84616640349629854112017-03-24T18:00:00.001+00:002017-03-24T18:00:11.467+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 41
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Saint-Yves d’Alveydre - The Intellectual
Master <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Marquis Saint-Yves d’Alveydre (1842-1909) was
and remains one of the great names of <i>fin de siècle</i> French occultism. Even
Papus acknowledged him as his ‘intellectual master’, superior to all apart from
Maïtre Philippe who became his ‘spiritual master’. Whilst Victor-Émile Michelet
writes that in his experience no one else carried such an enormous grasp of
esoteric knowledge or so harmoniously expressed it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He became something of a recluse after the death of
his wife, devoted himself to esoteric study and was visited only by the
occasional student, which could be something of a marathon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Michelet recalls going to visit him one Sunday
morning and not getting away until evening after a whole day’s discourse on
various esoteric questions. Most of these Saint-Yves had never written about,
as he was extremely cautious when it came to traditions of occult secrecy,
despite writing a whole raft of books. His early studies had been under the
influence of savants of the 18<sup>th</sup> century and we should not be misled
by the assumption that this period was completely dominated by the rationalism
of the Encyclopaedists or the mockery of Voltaire. The time was also rife with
hermeticists and mystagogues. Fabre d’Olivet, in particular, (through his
works, <i>The Hebrew Tongue restored</i> etc.) opened the way for Saint-Yves
who, by his own efforts, went beyond his teachers, although some have accused
him of plagiarising them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What became his major works were a book <i>La Mission
des Juifs </i>(The Mission of the Jews) and a device, <i>l’Archéomètre. </i>At
least this is the opinion of Michelet, writing his memoirs many years later. In
fact Saint-Yves wrote a whole series of books on the development of human
civilisation of which <i>La Mission des Juifs </i>was generally reckoned to be
the culmination, while the <i>Archéomètre</i> was a device similar to Wronski’s
that ended up rescued, in a somewhat parlous condition, by Eliphas Levi. As far
as one can gather, it was a three dimensional mechanical device with much the
same functions as the Tarot plus considerable ancillary zodiacal and similar
symbolism. It seems to have been a kind of ingenious pre-computer that
fascinated many at the time but which appears something of an enigma nowadays.
Whether this is to our loss or gain remains a matter for conjecture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Certainly, when it comes to the series of books, we
could categorise Saint-Yves as a kind of Western equivalent to Madame Blavatsky
and later attempts, from W.B.Yeats to Alice A. Bailey, to account for the
universe on umpteen cosmic planes. One is likely to be either very impressed or
very sceptical – or awkwardly shunteded somewhere inbetween.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We may feel, from the sketchiness of his remarks,
that Michelet was somewhat out of his depth when it came to interviews with the
hyper intellectual and intuitional Saint-Yves. However, we also have an account
from our alchemist friend Jollivet Castelot, who spent some time with the sage,
whom he refers to as ‘the Grey Eminence of Hermeticism’ or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘the enigmatic Hermit’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It was not easy to arrange a meeting, and had to be
done through a number of intermediaries, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>possibly after several attempts, as the great
man disliked the idly curious or the importunate; his fastidious delicacy and
high intellectuality caused him to avoid contact with those he regarded as imbeciles
or fools, so he was quite incapable of being a populariser like the highly
sociable Papus and his friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Castelot found the white furniture and Louis XV
sculptures in Saint-Yves’ apartments in Versailles to be in much the same
antique style as one would expect in a town conceived and steeped in ancient royalty.
Whatever the semi-Bohemian Michelet says about Saint-Yves having come down in
the world after his wife’s death, he was still comfortably off, thanks to
connections with the family of Napoleon III. The carpets were soft and thick
underfoot, the curtains heavy, the armchairs deep and covered in fine silk.
Each piece of furniture and ornament indicating refined taste. Silence reigned;
almost mystic in its calm fragrance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Saint-Yves invited him into the little private salon
that he kept as a sanctuary for his private thoughts and that communicated with
an oratory. He asked Castelot to sit before him, his face to the light, and thus
dominated his guests, keeping them under his regard. Sporting a well cut frock
coat with the prestigious thin ribbon of the Legion of Honour, he sat in a
throne-like chair of purple velvet, his legs casually crossed, a cigarette
between his fingers, captivating all with a lordly charm - like an elderly
courtier, senior churchman, or professional diplomat says Castelot.. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Conversation was more like a monologue but Saint-Yves
spoke admirably, handling words with consummate art that produced the effect of
fine music – and he expected people to listen attentively. Any interruption cut
his flow, and any contradiction was disagreeable to him, for he expected people
to be convinced by the superiority of his discourse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Jollivet Castelot it was best to sit
back and let him express his ideas in full force, which were usually
beautifully and harmoniously expressed in the context of a deep background of
metaphysics. The Gnostic doctrines of Saint-Yves were vast and fruitful, like
the universal nature that they claimed to express.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He commented on the theory of the Incarnate Word,
the universal immanence and transcendence of Christian Redemption, the
fundamental unity of all religions, derived from a Christianity developed from
an original Catholicism, constituting a universal synthesis embracing the
origin of languages and the symbolism of alphabets, hieroglyphs, philosophies,
societies and arts, which he had reconstituted by means of his<i> Archéomètre,</i>
to which he had put the final touch after twenty years of study, aided by the
revelations of a Brahmin initiated into the ultimate divine Mysteries.<i> </i>Thanks
to this, seekers would finally possess the sovereign key to all Nature, all
religions, all knowledge, as the<i> Archéomètre</i> would reveal the supreme
arcana of the Gnosis, Hermeticism, Alchemy, Astrology and Magic. The marquis
stopped his flow of instruction only to offer another cigarette, glass of superior
champagne or a pink biscuit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Castelot was still there at six o’clock in the
evening, and returned two days later to remain just as long under the
prestigious charm and ennobling influence and dialectic of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this incomparable intellectual mystic,
marvelling at the ease and grace of his metaphysical constructions and immense
horizons, along with a general critique of diverse modern systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Saint-Yves made little of current occult teaching or
the esoteric movement in general. His ideas on initiation, secret societies and
magic differed considerably from the opinions of Papus, Guaita and others. He
had little use for their occult systems or even most occultists, considering
their definitions arbitrary and their practices dangerous. He identified true Magic
with pure Religion and absolute Knowledge – that only those identified with Christ
attained, for they then lived in God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nonetheless he enjoyed
enormous respect from his contemporaries including Castelot and it is not easy
for us to come to our own assessment of his teaching without wading through a
great deal of untranslated work, at least until the recent translation of his <i>Mission
de l’Inde en Europe <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>(The Mission of
India to Europe) of 1886 under the title of <i>The Kingdom of Agartha – A
Journey into the Hollow Earth, </i>which book maintains that deep below the
Himalayas were enormous underground cities under the rule of a sovereign
pontiff known as the Brahâtma. Throughout history, the ‘unknown superiors’
cited by secret societies were believed to be emissaries from this realm who
had moved underground at the onset of the Kali-Yuga, the Iron Age. Ruled in
accordance with the highest principles, the kingdom of Agarttha, sometimes
known as Shamballa, represents a world that is far advanced beyond our modern
culture, both technologically and spiritually. The inhabitants possess amazing
skills their aboveground counterparts have long since forgotten and it is home
to huge libraries of books engraved in stone, enshrining the collective
knowledge of humanity from its remotest origins. Saint-Yves explained that this
secret world would be made available for humanity when Christianity and all
other known religions of the world began to truly honour their own sacred
teachings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Personally a little of
this goes a long way despite my respect for Joscelyn Godwin who claims “There
is a grandeur to this book. Its vivid and elegant prose lifts it far above the logorrheic
authors of visionary and channelled literature. It rivals the fantasy fiction
of H.P.Lovecraft or Jorge Luis Borges and reminds us that the earth is a place
with many unexplained corners, enigmas and surprises in store for us surface
dwellers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am still not
convinced, not being a Lovecraft or Borges enthusiast anyway, but then I am
known to have been wrong before. We must each find our own way through the
labyrinth!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-39630251994617147492017-03-17T17:45:00.002+00:002017-03-17T17:45:51.831+00:00NEW WEB SITE FOR DION FORTUNE BUFFS
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Broadway; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">NEW WEB SITE FOR DION FORTUNE BUFFS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The <b>COMPANY OF AVALON</b> are putting on a short course at
Hawkwood College from April 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> to 6<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th </span></sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>entitled <b>FROM EDEN TO AVALON.</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">and the annual <b>Dion Fortune Seminar</b> at Glastonbury Town Hall
will take place on 23<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> September 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">for details go to their new web site<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">https://www.companyofavalon.co.uk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-64851151768767269752017-03-08T13:51:00.000+00:002017-03-08T13:51:04.891+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 40
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Eliphas Levi,
the Tarot and Monsieur Philippe revisited<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">We began this series of chats about occultism
in France during the belle époque by concentrating upon Eliphas Levi, and
indeed it is only as we have progressed – looking at those he influenced – that
I have realised what an important figure he was. Even if he didn’t get all his
facts right he was convincing enough to persuade others to follow his vision;
and so the movement grew, inspiring enthusiastic organisers, publicists<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and researchers such as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Papus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and the rest. It is thus a little surprising that he comes rather late
in the sequence of memoirs by Victor-Émile Michelet – but when he does his life
story illustrates some of the deeper effects of initiation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">As Michelet records, Eliphas Levi
died on 31<sup>st</sup> May 1875, after a turbulent life ranging from
priesthood to imprisonment, wandering actor and popular portraitist, socialist
agitator and guest of English lords, all the while coming to terms with ‘the
astral light’ over years of meditation and experiment. As Michelet remarks, while
it is true that ‘the spirit bloweth where it listeth’ it also brings testing times
to those who seek to reveal its secrets; and after his initiation, from
whatever source, he seemed sustained by an interior occult force, and became an
excellent and compelling writer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The contemporary poet Catulle Mendès
used to recite sentences from Levi’s <i>Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie </i>that
he had memorised for their beauty. But before his ‘second birth’ the political
and religious pamphleteer Alphonse-Louis Constant was only a mediocre writer. Michelet
puts the sudden change down to his inspiring ‘daimon’ in the Socratic sense,
and reckons that one can see a similar case in the playwright Corneille, who
wrote very ordinary plays in his early period, until suddenly, after <i>Le Cid,
</i>he wrote masterpiece after masterpiece. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It was the same with Eliphas Levi, who
in his early period wrote books and pamphlets with no more value than their
generous intention, but in the light of initiation wrote several where the most
profound knowledge was expressed in the language of a consummate artist. He may
have written between times at a lower level, but in Michelet’s estimation,
books written in the final period of his life attain the heights of his best. In
my view this is probably more easily discerned in the original French rather
than the somewhat ponderous English translations by A.E.Waite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">This has led to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eliphas Levi’s interpretations being taken as
the one and only true by the French, despite some gross and discernable errors
of fact – picked up from Court de Gebelin’s earlier speculations – but
nonetheless, honestly pursued, the system works, as systems usually will. In
latter years, study of the Tarot has increased so exponentially and in so many
directions that early differences of interpretation, once thought infallible,
can now be realised for what they are; and for what an individual or a group
can get out of them by sustained meditation and contemplation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">One can imagine however, how
disconcerted earlier generations of occultists have felt when confronted with
such differences of interpretation. No reason to wonder why Papus should have resigned so quickly from the French branch of the Golden Dawn when
it was first set up in Paris. No excuse for differences from perceived or
claimed authority in those days!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So anyone who wants to get the best
out of French occultism had best decide to follow Eliphas Levi – most of
the rest of that nation have, from Oswald Wirth to Marc Haven to name but two respected
later writers on the subject. In my own books on Tarot I have pursued a number
of alternative lines, in the hope of broadening rather than confusing minds.
One of them, <i>Tarot & Magic,</i> written some years ago, has just been
translated into Italian; its latest incarnation being named <i>Tarocchi e
Magia, </i>which gives me something of a warm glow to think that in a sense the
Tarot is returning home on a ticket provided by me – for according to the best
scholarship Italy is where the wondrous system started from in the form that most
of us know it, (cf <i>A Wicked Pack of Cards </i>and <i>A History of the Occult
Tarot, </i>by Professor Michael Dummett and his friends). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Marc Haven, by the way, was a
Christian Qabalist like myself, and also had the best of both worlds – magical
and mystical – in having married Victoria, the daughter of Maïtre Philippe, the
remarkable thaumaturge, referred to by Michelet as “the little peasant of the
Lyonnais” Philippe Nizier Vachod, whom they called ‘Monsieur Philippe’ whose
role in secret history <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has never been
accurately told,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and perhaps never will.
What seems certain to Michelet is that if the French government of the day and its
diplomats had<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been less stupid, they
would have helped Philippe instead of persecuting him, the last imperial couple
in Russia would not have fallen into the power of Rasputin, and the inevitable
Bolshevik revolution would have been delayed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So who was this Philippe? A great
thaumaturge, a saint, some say, a popular charlatan the official world replies.
But the official mind understands nothing of anything that does not fall into
the narrow confines of rational belief. Truly, Philippe seems to have been an
excellent ordinary kind of man but gifted with real powers as a healer and
visionary . No doubt he would have spent the rest of his life in his house at
Arbresle near Lyons attending to the needs of the sick if Papus had not
precipitated him into political adventures.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">We will return to this educative but
depressing story at a later date. For much hangs upon it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-17641190053388810282017-02-19T00:23:00.000+00:002017-02-19T00:23:07.030+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 39
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Thèophile Briant [1891-1956] and the Testament of Merlin<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">If any French writer could qualify for the title of a Son of Hermes
then the Breton writer, magazine editor and publisher Theophile Briant would
certainly be up there high at the top of the list. Born in 1891 he comes a
little out of sequence in our listing but we mention him now in light of his remarkable
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>book <i>The Testament of Merlin</i>
which has just been translated into English (by myself) and published by
Skylight Press. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">A great enthusiast of all things Breton, Celtic and Arthurian
Briant spent twelve years writing this powerful account of the life and work of
Merlin. Reviews were enthusiastic when it first appeared, (in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1975, 19 years after his death!) describing
the author as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>poet, visionary and novelist
all at once. Able to create characters and give them life, he reveals a mastery
of the art of evocative description and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>scenes
are impregnated with the Celtic and religious atmosphere of the epoch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Steeped in the tradition of the Mysteries he structures his work on
a three fold framework. The first section opens in a sixth century Summer
Solstice as King Arthur’s fleet leaves Armorica en route for ‘the Last Battle’ against
Mordred and the Saxons. The second is an initiatory sequence featuring faery
mysteries in the Forest of Broceliande. And the third, which ends the life of
Merlin (on the physical plane at any rate) is enacted against a back drop of
claims between old and new religions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Although the Round Table Fellowship is defeated at the Last Battle
it nonetheless ends with the conviction that “We may have been beaten at
Salisbury but King Arthur still lives”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How can he be dead when he had Merlin for a friend and protector and had
been transported, still living, off to Avalon? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">As the King sleeps in Avalon the earthly action is taken up by
Merlin ‘of the golden torque and star’ one of whose functions as a bard has
been to rouse the blood of the warriors in battle; a druid certainly, brought
up in the religion of the Ancestors, that of Nature, but who had in infancy met
one of the many Christian missionaries of the time, bringing a message of love
and forgiveness from a man in the the East called Christ. Son of an unknown
God, who had been put to death by his fellows and of whom a certain Joseph of
Arimathea has piously collected the blood. The Cup that was passed round in the
meal of the Round Table Fellowship before the Last Battle was said to be the
symbol of sacrifice of this god and was of some attraction to younger knights
since it was said that the purest of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>them
might be worthy to possess this precious cup whose secret has not yet been
revealed to anyone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">On the evening of the terrible battle of Salisbury unspeakable
grief had been the lot of the few survivors, which include Merlin who, however,
is able take charge of the bodies of the two whom he loves most, his king, and
his young disciple, Adragante the Gael. Not being able to accept that the death
of these two friends can be the ‘unimaginable dawn’ of the Christian god he appeals
to the god of occult forces, via his former master, the Druid high priest of
the forest, who has promised him help if he maintains the ancient faith. Like
Roland on the evening of defeat at Roncevaux, Merlin sounds his silver horn,
and in the night, from afar another horn responds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The deal is done! No Christian any more, nor life as king’s bard, Merlin
returns to the solitude of the forest, attentive to the voices of Nature
to revive his soul in his own way, which involves the not unpleasant setting up
in a rock crystal castle with the faery Viviane and renewing acquaintance with
his old friend the ferryman Barynthus who drops by from time to time in his
world encompassing ship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">King Arthur is not dead; some time he will return. As for
Adragante, ‘reborn’ by the old magic of his Master, he will be witness of what
is to follow, but only by writing, for one problem of the cauldron of Keridwen is
that although it can resuscitate it renders the recipient dumb – a child of
silence, or son of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>secrecy, product of a
Truth that abandons itself to the Shadows. With the fervour of disciple, Adragante begins
a journal and it is through his eyes and his pen that the story continues,
which is also one of initiation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Many tests await him: cold, hunger, storm, loneliness, on this
coast of Armorica or confined<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the depths
of the forest . But Merlin had warned and prepared him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">At the threshold of the route are many teachings and symbols; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a rebel boar, national emblem of Brittany, a
solar bear that triumphs by Intelligence, a golden apple tree of Knowledge, a flower
of the Graal, mystically flowing with blood issuing from the Crucifixion to
perpetuate its memory. Here too is a sacred book of wisdom from which writing
is absent (to avoid any error of interpretation) with 78 images, 22 Trumps,
9 numbers, that give the adept the Key to the Universe and Life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Guided by his master, Adragante descends to the submarine depths
and their inhabitants; lower still, to the centre of the Earth where the Fire,
principle of all life, reveals to a few initiates the secret of the Great Work;
finally to the hall of eternal Time, hung with its deceiving mirrors of Past and
Future. It is in these that he sees the plain strewn with the
corpses of Salisbury. And an even more terrible sight, a vague form, wearing
the white robe of the druids, and the five pointed star of the bards, falling,
face bloody, under a hail of stones. The ‘threefold death’ of Merlin at the
hands of some shepherds in the Scottish border country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must however vanquish his
fears of menacing serpents until, winning free from the underworld caverns, aided
by Merlin, he breaks through to the light of dawn by the sea, the sun flooding the bay of
Cézembre, from whence the story began, now reflecting the Infinite Light of God the
Creator. It had been necessary to confront the Shadows to approach the great
mysteries of Life and Death, and accede to a new life, illuminated by Knowledge
and Love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">That had been Merlin’s the wish for him: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the initiation of the disciple until he sees
his Master disappear from his sight in a mysterious and triumphal ascension.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Merlin it seems was a man torn between two religions that he needed
to reconcile, Druidism and Christianity, each necessary to his soul thirsting
for the Infinite – and perhaps like Théophile Briant himself, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for in the front of one of his books is the
following quotation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Modulating in turn, on the Lyre of Orpheus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The sighs of the Saint and the Faery’s cry.”</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Gérard de Nerval]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-83834186903880879232017-02-09T16:18:00.002+00:002017-02-09T16:25:14.021+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 38<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A View from the
Lab<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The alchemist François Jolivet
Castelot felt that neglect of a laboratory approach to the occult <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be detrimental to the truth because too
‘mystical’<span style="color: red;"> </span>(by which he really meant
psychological – the truly mystical power play of the likes of Maïtre Philippe or
certain saints of the church is something yet again!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So in support of the laboratory
context, his book <i>La Science Alchimique </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1904) contained a photograph of himself and three
associates at work in ‘the laboratory of the Alchemical Society of France’. Or
rather, not so much ‘at work’ as posed in smart suits, gentlemen amateurs in
theatrical attitudes of scientific discovery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The ‘laboratory’ is decorated with
the kind of tasteful wall paper one might expect to find in a well furnished
provincial villa in his hometown of Douai, garnished with an array of presumably
scientific hardwear, including a lit Bunsen burner, to which, ironically and
possibly dangerously, no one is paying any attention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the four consults a book as
bulky as a church bible, whilst the other three are gazing in awe, at the mysterious
contents of a small bottle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This genteel display is obviously a far
cry from the lab work of the Curies, shovelling tons of uranium ore in their
back yard in search of radium, but at least it demonstrates an awareness of
public relations remarkable for 1904. It is a pity that they backed the wrong
horse, so to speak. And it was the Curies who picked up the Nobel prizes - although
at a heavy cost to their health. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But the epoch was fertile for the
exchange of ideas, and the most successful teachers and practitioners were also
the most skilled communicators – such as Castelot, Papus or Paul Sédir in the
esoteric field. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In part this meant involvement in
group projects such as the recently revived Martinist Order but it included the
willingness and ability to cross boundaries and talk to those of other schools
of thought, including individuals of international reputation in other spheres.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One such was the Swedish playwright,
August Strindberg, who for some years was preoccupied with alchemy and wrote a review
of one of Castelot’s books in the daily paper <i>Le Figaro. </i>During a
wandering life he came to live in Paris for a time and uncharacteristically invited
the young man to call on him. So one cold foggy winter’s evening François duly
turned up at the shabby hotel – mostly occupied by students – in which
Strindberg chose to stay. The concierge had a standing order to admit no one,
for Strindberg hated visitors, but on persisting and sending in his card
François was eventually admitted to a small chilly room that even lacked <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The great<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>alchemist playwright was seated at a bare
wooden table on which some manuscripts were scattered, the remains of supper,
and some miscellaneous items of glassware upon which a candle cast a guttering
light. The only other furniture was an iron bedstead, a bedside table, a couple
of wicker chairs, a small trunk and a portable wash stand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Strindberg rose, very tall and
straight, and offered his hand, putting Castelot in mind of an old Viking, with
grey hair cut short over an immense forehead. He described him as giving the impression
of a shy colossus, with pale blue eyes, cold as the fiords, as limpid as a
child’s, with icy reflections of nickel and steel, and a bushy moustache that
bristled like an angry cat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He spoke execrable French with a
guttural accent of which Castelot could understand not a word, but knew enough
German for some conversation to be possible, though not without difficulty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">August Strindberg was a member of
the Swedenborgian church and his ideas appeared close to occultism as a result.
In alchemy the two shared much the same views, both believing in hylozoism, the
presence of life in all matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Strindberg showed his visitor the
result of some experiments he had performed involving iron sulphide, ammonia
and oxalic acid and in time their relationship became closer. They exchanged
formulae in regular correspondence, with the Scandinavian becoming an adviser
to the French Alchemical Association and a regular contributor its journal, the
<i>Rosa Alchemica.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Castelot tried to convert Strindberg
entirely to hermeticism, and introduced him to Papus and Sédir, only to be met
with misunderstandings as Strindberg’s distrust, brusqueness, and sensitivity
clashed with Parisian self-regard and deference to leaders of the Martinist
Order. The project was eventually abandoned and the Swede continued his
solitary way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Castelot still cast his net wide
however, remarkably including one of the most important figures in the
scientific world, Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907) – considered by some one of
the greatest chemists of all time, and called ‘the father of organic chemistry’
in that he synthesised a number of organic compounds from inorganic substances
– a transition regarded as impossible by conventional chemists but which was
not entirely at odds with alchemical theories and assumptions. And in later
life Bertholet researched and wrote books on the early history of chemistry and
the origins of alchemy, and translated a number of medieval texts and
manuscripts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He even admitted the theoretical possibility
of transmuting metals and the synthesis of elements, despite rejecting the
burgeoning atomic theory, and was sympathetic to Castelot’s aims and ideas if
not a follower of them – discussing amicably and questioning sympathetically Castelot’s
beliefs and procedures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Another important contact, of
immense personality, social contacts and administrative power, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was the colourful minor aristocrat Lieutenant-Colonel
Count Rochas d’Aiglun, who was administrator of the archaic yet highly prestigious
École Polytechnic, and played an important role in supporting and authorising research
into subjects such as the theory and practice of hypnotic states, the exteriorisation
of sensibility, the whole domain of magic, contact with the Other World , the
appearance of phantoms, powers of the interior senses and the possiblities of
enchantment and magnetic influence. Certainly no mage or sorcerer went further
than Rochas into the realms of the after life. He was described by Castelot as
a tough feverish little man with a sardonic expression on a face part faunlike
and part Mephistophelean, fearless necromancer and pioneer magnetiser and
magician without reproach who successfully thwarted occasional attempts to
deprive him of his commanding academic position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">These early researchers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had the courage of their convictions and could
be thoroughly unreasonable as well as successful men!<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-21374316355917982972017-01-22T16:57:00.000+00:002017-01-22T16:58:06.977+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 37<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><em>An approach to Star Alchemy </em> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>François
Jollivet-Castelot, a leading alchemical enthusiast, like Gérard Ecausse, was an
early starter when it came to writing books. In fact even more so! He started
at the age of 20. No wonder Papus was impressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The first, entitled <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>La Vie et l’Ame de la Matière </i>(The Life
and Soul of Matter) came out in 1894. It was his belief that all matter was
alive, a philosophy going by the name of ‘hylozoism’ with the laboratory
discipline of ‘hyperchemistry’ trying to encourage the progress of that ‘evolution’.
The natural route was hoped to be from lead into gold! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The contemporary discovery of
radioactivity and of sub-atomic particles such as the electron and atomic
nucleus at first encouraged theories of the alchemically minded although, as
has since been established, lead tends to be the end of a process of <b><i>decay</i></b>
from unstable elements such uranium, radium and polonium rather than the start of a <b><i>progress</i></b>
into bankable precious metals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Comment on
devient Alchimiste </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(How to Become
an Alchemist) came out at much the same time that J.J.Thomson discovered the
electron, Ernest Rutherford the atomic nucleus, and Paul and Marie Curie
radioactivity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fascinating period,
when interest in alchemy by sons of |Hermes was running alongside discoveries
on the nature of matter that at first did suggest that all matter came from a
common base – an electromagnetic spectrum. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the orthodox who proved right in the
end through the magical wonder of the creation of matter progressively cooked up in
stars or in cosmic rays to be explosively distributed to solar and planetary
systems via hydrogen, helium, lithium and the like to make us what we are,
beings who originated as star dust. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Divided into three parts, this Jollivet-Castelot book
claimed to be the most complete on the subject, presenting an Initiation to Alchemy. The
first part devoted to ALCHEMY AND THE KABBALA; the second to MAGICAL TRAINING
on HOW TO BECOME AN ADEPT; the third under the title PRACTICE details of
experimentation, historic and critical. A SYNTHESIS to sum it all up. It was
considered by enthusiasts to be an important work of initiation that would convince
many chemists and philosophers, for, addressed to the sceptical expert, it brought
- through the Laboratory - the laws of Analogy and the principles of mineral
Transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There was, however, not a great deal
in practical terms from the efforts of the alchemists, although in 1925
Jollivet-Castelot did claim to have transmuted a small amount of silver into
gold and became somewhat embittered that his work was never tested or verified, let alone approved,
by official science. Reluctance of academia to take him too seriously may have
been a consequence of his initial book, which was not so much evidence of
scientific research as the musings of<span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">an occult student
speculating on the significance of the Tarot Trumps as outlined by Eliphas Levi
– ground already turned over by the youthful Papus, nine years his senior. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He had however, published, in 1904, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>La Science Alchimique, </i>covering the
history of the subject through predecessors such as Roger Bacon, Raymond Lully,
Arnold de Villeneuve and Nicolas Flamel up to contemporaries such as Albert
Poisson and Stanislas de Guaita, and in which he took account of recent
scientific discoveries which he felt to be in support of alchemical theory, such
as the common electromagnetic basis of all the chemical elements, which could,
theoretically at least, point to the possibility of transmutation of one
element into another. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Thus he hailed the discovery of
radioactivity by Paul and Marie Curie in a chapter on ‘The Life of Metals’ even
if evident only in certain elements. His enthusiasm is quite infectious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A new state of
matter, to which physicists have given the name of radio-activity, has been
discovered by M. and Mme Paul Curie, who have thus recorded, if that is what one
could call it, of the life and soul of certain remarkable metals. In fact,
polonium, radium and actinium possess a spontaneous radiation, a luminosity
analogous to phosphorus, but much more intense and permanent; radioactivity a
hundred thousand times more intense than that of uranium (recorded in 1896 by
Becquerel) luminous energy particular to these metals, that they derive from no
external agent, and that develop electricity, impress photographic plates, pass
through solid bodies, exercise on animate beings a marked physiological action
, finally communicating properties, by induction, to the substances which one
finds in contact with particles of polonium, radium and actinium. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The emission of
these radio-active bodies is composed of a gaseous emanation, arrested by
glass, and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a radiation that penetrates
glass and metals; this radiation divisible into two types: one responsive to
magnetism, the other not so. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Research on
these bodies is still very difficult and expensive: one retrieves about a tenth
of a gram of chlorate of radium from a ton of the mineral residues of uranium.
[Note: Philosophically the radium, by its energetic spontaneity, demonstrates
the reality of Monism, that is to say the identity of force and matter,
essential forms of Being, and beings, of the Universe. The living unity of the
Cosmos thus appears in its simple beauty.] <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Experts are
literally plunged into a stupor by the demonstration of this strange
physico/chemical phenomenon that contradicts the ‘static and unchangeable’ principles
of Contemporary Science regarding the conservation of Force and Matter. What is
it that constitutes this focus of spontaneous energy, this radiation that
nothing is needed to feed and that cannot lose an atom of its weight of
substance. That is the enigma that has come to trouble the self satisfaction of
official Science. The Soul of Matter, the Life of metals under the form of Od,
appears astonishing to the eyes of physicists! They state undeniably, by means
of the fact, the irrefutable experience. <b>Hylozoism! </b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, where they think they are manipulating
an inert substance, they are, on the contrary, touching animate matter, living,
bizarre and mysterious, that delivers to them its indistinguishable astral
spark! <b>“Matter is one, it lives, it evolves and transforms.”</b> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a far cry from speculation
about the relevance of Tarot cards to the creation and behaviour of matter but
is a fair shot at the constitution of physical chemistry and shows a sense of
wonder that is altogether admirable, similar to scientific workers in the field
today, such as the French astrophysicist <span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">Michel Cassé, whose </span><i>Stellar Alchemy The Celestial Origin of
Atoms </i>I have found to be one of the most inspiring books on the creation of
the elements I have met. {English translation by Cambridge University Press}. It
is, regrettably, priced at far more than it should be in my opinion, but by
shopping around the second hand markets it is possible to pick up a bargain. <span style="color: red;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It contains a defence and
illustration of nuclear astrophysics, one of the most beautiful sciences there
is. It bridges the gap between the atomic microcosm and the celestial
macrocosm, setting out the origin and evolution of all the elements that make
up our universe. It combines the physics of the very small and the very large,
the inner workings of nuclei at one end of the scale and stars at the other. A
sumptuous marriage between nuclear physics and astronomy, Earth and sky,
celebrated in scientific thought, opening the way to a genuinely universal
history of the material substance constituting all visible things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-89747648588090022622017-01-08T14:47:00.000+00:002017-01-08T14:50:27.936+00:00 SONS OF HERMES - 36<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">François
Jolivet Castelot - alchemist - and Madame de Thebes, society clairvoyant.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Turning a new page for a new year, {<i>my
contacts seem to like a rest between Advent and Twelfth Night</i>}we will leave
aside for a time the last days of Maïtre Philippe – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Friend of God” and “spiritual master” of
Papus – to follow the steps of a very active newcomer, the enthusiastic young
alchemist François Jolivet Castelot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After his initiation into the
Martinist Order {<i>that we described in SH16</i>} he set about forming an
alchemical society, devoted to collecting relevant books and manuscripts and encouraging
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the performance of alchemical
experiments; his belief being that Matter is inseparable from Life and that every
atom and molecule of a metal or a mineral expresses the Universal Will according
to the degree of evolution it has attained. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Founding a monthly magazine, <i>Rosa
Alchemica, </i>he organised meetings at public restaurants to encourage
enquirers, although was disappointed that many were what he regarded as too
“Parisian”, that is to say preferring to chat and speculate about occult
theories rather than apply themselves to the prayer, practice and discipline of
laboratory work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Although this did not prevent
François from seeking guidance from wherever he might find it, including the fashionable
society clairvoyant, Madame de Thebes, who for the past twenty five years had operated
a psychic consultancy in luxurious apartments near the Arc de Triomphe. Her
impressive list of clients included the Empress of Austria and the Queen of
Italy as well as a number of artistes from establishments such as the Opèra,
the Vaudeville and the Comedie-Française.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Albums full of their autographed portraits decorated her rooms along
with an impressive bevy of model elephants {<i>don’t ask me why!</i>}of various
sizes, in bronze, copper or porcelain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A bejewelled and matronly figure now
in her fifties, an hour of whose time originally set back clients a golden ‘Louis’
– or 20 franc piece – the equivalent of ten Victorian sovereigns – that eventually
inflated to twenty four times that sum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matching her style to those who came
for guidance, she received the young alchemist rather after the style of an
ancient temple priestess granting audience to a junior magus. In an analysis of
his character and fortune, examining <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his
hands with the aid of a magnifying glass, she predicted eventual success
that would be earned through his own efforts, for though luck might not always
favour him, given due application he would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>attain the mental poise that could bring high achievement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">She also encouraged <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his current political sympathies, that at the
time followed those of the Duc d’Orléans in supporting the restoration of the
monarchy. With her list of aristocratic customers, perhaps this was to be
expected!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it has to be said
that twenty years later the highly idealistic young man became committed to
Christian communism – a combination that did not help his prospects, political
or mystical, terribly well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, in terms of the present,
like many of her kind, Madame de Thebes’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>high degree of popularity probably rested on the
psychological skills of a sensitive and sympathetic ‘agony aunt’ rather than a
mastery of the secrets of cheiromancy – or palmistry. But let credit rest where
it is due!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the youngest of Papus’
trusted associates, Jolivet Castelot visited Paris frequently during the next
few years, admitted to the higher Martinist lodges and appointed Professor of
Alchemy and Spagyric Medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also
covered Magic, Hermetic Therapeutics, Astrology, Alchemy, History of Occultism,
Mysticism and the Divinatory Arts, although techniques of ceremonial magic gradually
played a lesser role, becoming regarded as contrary to Martinist principles; preference
being given to Kabbalistic tradition and esoteric Christianity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An influence coming no doubt from Maïtre
Philippe, although also implicit in Saint-Martin’s original approach to the
doctrines and practice of his initial teacher, Martinès de Pasqually .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-49425723991596260622016-11-06T22:09:00.003+00:002016-11-06T22:09:56.589+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 35
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Maïtre Philippe
and the Tsar of Russia <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">On his initial visit to Russia Papus
referred in glowing terms to his own “spiritual master” but without saying who
it was. However, somewhat to mutual embarrassment, it was revealed by a local
Martinist and not long before a couple of aristocratic ladies of the Court made
it their business to call on Maïtre Philippe down in Lyons. They in turn were
considerably impressed by his powers, which led to him receiving, at the end of
1900, an invitation from Grand-Duke Vladimir to visit Russia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">He stayed on for two months and
gained such a reputation that on his departure the Tsar, who must have felt a
bit upstaged, let it be known that he and the Tsarina wished to meet M. Philippe
themselves on their forthcoming state visit to France. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">This was all highly irregular, but
the Tsar could not be gainsaid, and on the official visit, in September 1901, a
private meeting was arranged between the three of them in the grounds of the
ancient palace of Compiègne, north of Paris, under the tightest security, in
the far off presence, at a very respectful distance, of a small number of
security guards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Such was the impression Philippe
made on the royal couple that they invited him to visit Russia again, this time
as their personal guest. In view of his extraordinary powers, it is not
surprising that within a very short time, his influence over the ruling family
was becoming such that that no important decision could be taken without
consulting him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">His ability to effect some amazing
cures led the Tsar to ask why he was not recognised as a qualified doctor of
medicine in France, and insisting that he should become one. This caused
considerable embarrassment in French official circles, where he was considered
to be some kind of dangerous political adventurer. From the 1880’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his powers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had brought him in touch with other foreign
courts and their aristocracy, including the Bey of Tunis; the Sultan of Turkey;
Kaiser Wilhelm, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany; Franz-Josef, Emperor of
Austria; Leopold, King of the Belgians; Edward, Prince of Wales; the royal
families of Italy and Montenegro, and even Pope Leo XIII whom Philippe urged to
sell some of the Church’s treasures in aid of the poor, and melt down the gold
statues hoarded in the Vatican cellars. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In the end the Tsar insisted he be recognised
as a doctor of medicine in Russia, with a practical examination to show that
his elevation was not merely a result of the Tsar’s whim. Part of the
examination involved diagnosing half a dozen difficult hospital cases, which he
not only did with accuracy but brought about cures for them as well! As a
result he was given an important position in public health, with the rank of
general – all official positions in Tsarist Russia carrying a military rank in
those days. And no doubt the uniform rivalled that of Head of the Fire Brigade
at Arbresle even if the latter did include a ceremonial sword! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">He was loaded with gifts by the Tsar,
including a couple of new fangled horseless carriages, one of which he drove
occasionally, of which there exists a charming photograph – an open three
wheeler, like a cross between a motorcycle and an invalid carriage, with the
driver at the rear and two passengers, side by side, at the front. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Although the other vehicle was so
grand that it was quite useless, being on the scale of a six seater
presidential limousine, suitable only for great occasions of state. It was last
heard of as unsalable in an auctioneer’s warehouse. His favourite gift from
Russia however looks to have been an enormous sheep dog – standing on its hind
legs it is fully his own height. <i>{This along with about 80 other pictures of
the time appear in a souvenir album <b>Monsieur Philippe de Lyon 1905-2005 </b>compiled
by Philippe Collin for Editions Le Mercure Dauphinois, Grenoble. And well worth
the price, currently 17 Euros, even if you don’t read French.}</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-2066637423764797362016-10-30T12:45:00.000+00:002016-10-30T12:45:05.782+00:00SONS OF HERMES - 34
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus and the
Russian court<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">When the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia paid
a state visit to France in 1896 Papus seized the opportunity to present them
with a message of welcome and self introduction, encouraged by the fact that
there had ever been a keen interest in mystical traditions by the Romanov family
throughout the 19<sup>th</sup> century, ranging from Martinism with Alexander
I, through astrology with Alexander II, and spiritualism with Alexander III. Not
forgetting Nicolas I’s patronage (for a time) of the legendary Wronski. The
present Tsar had more intimate and immediate problems, including the need to
produce a son and heir and to cope with a budding revolution, which led him to cultivate
in turn Papus, Maïtre Philippe, and finally, in desperation, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the ‘mad monk’ Rasputin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The tone of Papus’ letter (too
tedious to quote) can be judged by the concluding two paragraphs: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>“It is because your Majesty rules a Western
Empire, most truly religious and closest to the ways of Providence, that we
salute his arrival to the land of France, which itself, amongst other interventions
of Divine Providence, has merited Charles Martel, who began the work that Holy
Russia is called upon to conclude, and Joan of Arc, who re-established our
Country in the name of Heaven.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“May your Majesty
deign benevolently to accept our welcome and may his Empire be
immortalised<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by total union with divine
Providence. Such is the dearest wish of those who pray your Majesty to accept
our homage and deepest respect. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Director
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Initiation’ – Gérard ENCAUSSE
(Papus) </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Doctor of Medicine of the Faculty of
Paris, President of the Independent Group of Esoteric Studies, President of the
Supreme Council of the Martinist Order, Delegate General of the Kabbalistic
Order of the Rose Cross.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus certainly knew how to lay it on!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And accompanied his message with presentation
copies of <i>l’Initiation; le Voile d’Isis; la Paix Universelle; l’Hyperchimie;
Le Journal du Magnétisme; La Chaine Magnétique; Le Progrès spirite; Le Groupe
indépendant d’études ésoteriques; L’Ordre Martiniste; L’École secondaire de
Massage de Lyon. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">And it brought its fruits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Helped by the influence of some Russian
Martinists he was presented to Nicolas II in 1901 by the Tsar’s uncle, Grand
Duke Nicolas, on the first of three visits to Russia, in 1901, 1905 and 1906. And
until his death he remained in touch with the imperial family and the Court. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">As President of the Supreme Council
of his own <i>Ordre Martiniste</i> he founded a lodge at St Petersbourg of high
dignitaries, of which the Tsar himself was probably President. Papus became
greatly esteemed by members of the royal family, who gave him many presents,
and even published a Russian language edition of his <i>Traité élémentaire de
Science occulte.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Indeed such was his prestige that
the French ambassador to Russia, Maurice Paléologue, revealed in his memoirs an
intriguing situation that almost beggars belief. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">At the beginning of October, 1905,
Papus was called to St Petersbourg by some of his highly placed supporters, who
begged him to throw some light on a serious political situation. Military
setbacks in Manchuria (possibly including sending truckloads icons to troops
instead of weapons) had provoked civil unrest in many parts. The Tsar lived in
a state of anxiety, harassed by conflicting and passionate advice from family,
ministers, dignitaries, generals, and unable to choose between them. Some
declared he had no right to renounce his ancient ancestral powers and must rigorously
defend the status quo. Others urged him to recognise that the time had come to
introduce a new constitution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The very day that Papus arrived in
St Petersbourg, terror spread in Moscow where a revolutionary syndicate
proclaimed a general strike on the railways. (Film buffs may also recall events
on the Odessa steps and at sea in Griffith’s early classic <i>Battleship
Potemkin.</i>)<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Papus was immediately summoned to
the imperial palace at Tsarskoie-Sélo where, after a hurried consultation with
the Emperor and Empress he set up a magical ritual for the next day. Apart from
the royal couple no one else was present, apart from a young aide de camp,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an army captain who later became governor of
Tiflis. Allegedly by intense concentration of willpower and magnetic exaltation
Papus was able to evoke the spirit of Alexander III, a keen spiritualist and father
of the present Tsar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Despite the fear that seized him in
addressing this invisible being, Nicolas II asked his late father how he should
deal with the new current of liberalism that menaced Russia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;">The reply was unequivocal: <i>“Whatever the cost, you must crush
this present Revolution, even though it will rise again one day, more violent
than its repression today must be. No matter! Take courage, my son! Do not give
up the fight!”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;">While the royal couple tried to take on board this fearsome
prediction Papus assured them that by his magical powers he could put off the
predicted catastrophe as long as he remained ‘on the physical plane.’ He then
performed the necessary rites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;">As things turned out, Papus died at the end of October 1916
and the 1917 Revolution, that ultimately saw the end of the old Russia, broke
out within three months. One can play about with various dates concerning all
of this if one likes to play such mind games; it is made rather more numerologicaly
complex by the fact that Russia still used the old Julian calendar, so all
recorded dates of the period are 13 days behind the rest of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;">At a more personal, perhaps cynical, level one might even
consider Papus’ prediction to have been a form of insurance policy for his own
safety, for along with Maïtre Philippe, he came under the close and hostile
attention of both Russian and French secret police, who had no understanding of
what this magical stuff was all about, and suspected the worst. After all, the
Elizabethan magus Dr John Dee had had a reputation for combining occultism with
espionage. And one hesitates to think what a combination of Harry Potter and
James Bond might be like! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;">At another level, the wisdom of the advice of the deceased
Alexander III might be questioned, if its first result was ‘Bloody Sunday’, on
9<sup>th</sup> January 1905 (<i>old style</i>), when a peaceful demonstration that
tried to present a deputation to the palace was fired upon by the Imperial
Guard, resulting in a thousand casualties, including two hundred deaths. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;">The event became of huge symbolic significance in that it
was in commemoration of ‘Bloody Sunday’ that, twelve years later, the 1917
Revolution broke out that finally put paid to the Tsarist regime, with the
murder of the Tsar and Tsarina and their four children a year later. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 166;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-65410221872208806252016-10-21T14:38:00.000+01:002016-10-21T14:38:01.968+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 33
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Stanislas de Guaita<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Spiritualism<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following his
reservations about the use of animal magnetism and hypnosis Stanislas de Guaita
turned his attention to Spiritualism, which is more logically called Spiritism
in France. With his somewhat jaundiced aristocratic eye he considered its
contacts to be, at best<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>primitive and useless,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and at worst parasitic and harmful. This
despite its following by some respected writers such as Allan Kardec and the distinguished
astronomer <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Camille Flammarion. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He did not deny that it was possible to establish
relations with superior intelligences, but believed that such contacts could be
safely pursued only in a hierarchical context, using procedures that only
initiation could confer, and that the problem with spiritualists was that they
lacked reliable discernment of the identity and nature of their contacts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Contemporary popular spiritualism caught the public
imagination in America in 1848 and by 1853 had successfully crossed the
Atlantic. Not that there was anything particularly new about it, he said. It
had been practised in various forms in ancient times, as in Chinese ancestor
worship, and even in the classical period – <i>mensae divinatoriae, </i>(divinatory
tables)<i> – </i>were<i> </i>mentioned by Tertullian. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Once established in Europe it was not long before phenomena
became increasingly sensational. Tables not only tilted under the impress of
hands but moved without physical contact. Other objects, from chairs to musical
instruments, soon joined in the show. And when all this began to seem
commonplace there was further diversion into self writing pencils and chalks,
luminous hands and eventually complete phantoms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The common denominator in all of this was the
presence of a medium, one who could act as a link between the planes, as a
consequence – in Stanislas de Guaita’s view – of a pathological condition, an incontinence
of vitality that energised the phenomena.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Disembodied hands appeared, which might be luminous
or flesh coloured, their shape clearly seen but becoming cloudy around the area
of the wrist. They were palpable, and those who touched them described them as
being like skin gloves filled with warm air. No bones could be felt, and if
they were firmly grasped they became a vague mass of problematic substance that
gave way under further pressure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That these exteriorisations emanated from the medium
was suggested by the fact that the more they increased, the more depleted the
medium became. To the point that if, to replenish a sudden loss of nervous
force, the medium grasped the hands of another, (preferably a young person in
good health), the one so seized would experience a sensation of languor,
perhaps accompanied by shivering, when in contact with the parlour vampire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The room temperature might also drop by several
degrees and cold draughts blow at the precise moment that any major phenomena <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>took place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There was also the phenomenon of ‘repercussion’. If
any apparition was struck by a physical object, the medium might physically
suffer a counterpart of the injury. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">De Guaita cites the case of a public séance in New
York recounted to him by an eye witness, when a spectator drew a hand gun and
shot a phantom. There was an immediately cry of distress from the medium, who fell
unconscious to the floor, chest marked with a deep bruise, and who afterwards lay
between life and death for more than a month. Yet he had not been struck by the
bullet, which was found in the wall opposite to where he had been located. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This could be likened to the case of the shepherd Thorel,
whose face was covered in scratches from the sword blows struck the day before
on his astral form. And on another occasion when two slugs from a small calibre
pistol for shooting sparrows had been fired by the curé Tirel in the direction
of a ghostly commotion, the young boy who was the only one able to see the astral
form of the shepherd, declared it had been struck twice in the face. And two
equivalent bruises <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were indeed later to
be seen on Thorel’s physical face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Stanislas de Guaita goes on to point out that there
are mediums of different kinds apart from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>materialising ones and in particular cites those he describes as
‘incarnatory’ mediums, who offer up their bodies for other beings to take over.
He has, he says, witnessed strange and stupefying scenes, when, in a few
seconds the medium was transformed in posture, voice, looks, and gestures, in a
sudden metamorphosis of the whole person. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">His graphic account suggests that he himself was the
amazed witness on such an occasion, leaving<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>him to wonder if he had been deceived by some inner impersonator, whether
human, elemental or larval, when this equivocal being, using him as a kind
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘psychic mirror’, had reflected the
image of his friend stored in the depths of his memory. That is to say,
reflecting the contents of his own soul back to him!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There is room for endless speculation in all of
this, but it seems likely that some form of telepathic communication plays a
part. In my own experience, such an explanation cannot be discounted in any
form of psychism – with the pooled consciousness of all participants forming a
kind of group mind that can tap into individual and group memories or
assumptions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After beginning to drift into speculations on the
possible abuse of psychical contacts, each seedier than the last, Stanislas de
Guaita suddenly breaks off to conclude with an account of an experiment in
telepathic communication. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">STATEMENT relating three instances of MENTAL SUGGESTION
obtained by Messieurs <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Liébeault
(Antoine) and de Guaita (Stanislas) at the residence of Dr. Liébeault, 4, rue
de Bellevue (Nancy). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We, the undersigned, Liébeault (Antoine), doctor of
medicine, and de Guaita (Stanislas) man of letters, both currently living at
Nancy, attest and certify having obtained the results that follow. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mlle Louise L..., put into a magnetic sleep, was informed
that she would have to reply to a question put to her <b><i>mentally</i></b>
without the use of any word or sign. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dr. Liébeault, his hand pressed to the forehead of the
subject, collected his thoughts for an instant, concentrating his attention on
the question:- “When will you be cured?” which was his intention. The lips of
the somnambule suddenly moved: “Soon”, she murmured distinctly. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">She was then asked to repeat, before all persons present,
the question she had intuitively perceived. <b><i>She repeated it, in the same words
that the question had been formulated in the mind of the experimenter.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This first experiment, undertaken by Dr. Liébeault at the
instigation of Mr. De Guaita, was thus plainly successful. A second test gave
less rigorous results, but perhaps more curious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mr. de Guaita, being put in rapport with the magnetised,
mentally posed another question:- “Will you come back next week?” “Perhaps,”
was the subject’s reply; but invited to tell everyone present what the mental
question was, replied “You asked me if you would come back next week.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This confusion, over a word in the sentence, is very
significant, it seems, in that the young lady had erred through reading the
mind of the magnetiser.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So that no indicative phrase be pronounced, even in a low
voice, Dr. Liébeault wrote on a piece of paper: - “Mademoiselle, on waking, see
your black hat changed into a red one.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The note was passed in advance to all witnesses, then
Messrs. Liébeault and de Guaita, in silence, placed a hand on the forehead of
the subject while <b><i>mentally</i></b> formulating the agreed sentence. Then
the young lady, told that she would see something unusual in the room, was
awakened.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Without hesitation she looked at her hat and with a great
burst of laughter cried “That’s not my hat,” and did not want it. It had just
the same shape, but the situation became rather embarrassing, as it was necessary
she take her own... <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But at last, “What do you think is different about it?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“You know very well. You’ve got eyes as well as me!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“But what?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a long time before she agreed to say what was
different about her hat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“You are teasing me...” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pressed with more questions she finally said,: “You can see
very well that it‘s red!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As she still refused to take it, to put an end to the
hallucination, they persuaded her that it would return to its original colour.
The doctor blew on it, and in her eyes it became her own again, and she agreed
to take it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">These are the facts that we certify have obtained together,
in confirmation of which we have signed the present statement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dr. A.A.Liébeault – Stanislas de Guaita – Nancy, June 9<sup>th</sup>
1886. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It goes without saying, added
Stanislas, that Dr Liébeault, extremely sceptical on the matter of thought
transference</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, did not agree on the success of any other
experiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-26626369346551490812016-10-10T21:24:00.001+01:002016-10-10T21:24:41.930+01:00SONS OF HERMES -32
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Stanislas de Guaita – on the use and
abuse of animal magnetism. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the second volume of his <i>Serpent of Genesis, </i>Stanislas
de Guaita reports the strange court case of a priest being sued by a magician
for physically attacking him. It was heard at the beginning of 1851 before a
magistrate at Yerville (Seine-Inférieure) in which a shepherd named Thorel
sought damages from the curé of Cideville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The origin of
the dispute concerned a village sorcerer, referred to as G**, renowned<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the practice of occult healing, but who
liked to treat his clients in the cemetery of the local church. When the abbé Tirel,
the curé, attempted to stop this practice G** threatened him with vengeance so
violently <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that he was duly imprisoned. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The events described were sworn under oath by a
score of witnesses, including the Marquis de Mirville, a recognised expert in
these matters and author of <i>Des Ésprits et de leurs manifestations
fluidique, </i>(Spirits and their fluidic manifestations). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Two young boys of twelve and fourteen, studying for
the priesthood, were being brought up in the presbytery of Cideville by the
curé. And it was upon these two that the vengeful fury of G** fell, through the
action of one of his acolytes, the shepherd Thorel, who established a fluidic
link with the younger boy by approaching him at a local sale. Thereafter, a
storm of phenomena descended on the presbytery, which was shaken to its
foundations by knocks within the walls, on many occasions lasting for hours, and
attracting hundreds of curious visitors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then the mysterious agent began to show a form of
intelligence by means of a dialogue of knocks: one knock for yes, two for no,
and several knocks corresponding to the letters of the alphabet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to this procedure the Devil – for so Monsieur
de Mirville chose to call it – replied with infallible correctness regarding
the name, age, place of domicile, and social standing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of a number of visitors who were unknown
locally. Was ever a demon so obliging? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then inert objects began to dance – tables to turn,
chairs to walk through the rooms, and knives, brushes, and breviaries to fly
out of one window and back through another. Windows flew open, heavy furniture
rose up and remained suspended. A large desk covered in books threw itself at
one distinguished visitor but abruptly stopped within a few millimetres of his
forehead before dropping at his feet as lightly as a feather. All these things were
witnessed and confirmed by a growing number of reliable witnesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meanwhile the boy that Thorel had touched began to
see an unknown shadow behind him dressed in a peasant’s smock. And some days
later, on being shown Thorel, he cried without hesitation “That’s the man!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the priests saw a column of grey vapour
moving and undulating behind the obsessed child and several others also saw
this serpent like vapour alternately condensing and dilating before
disappearing, whistling, through cracks in the door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The child was terrified into a state of nerves that
developed into convulsions, causing great anxiety, and one day saw a black hairy
hand come out of the fireplace – whilst all heard the sound of heavy breathing.
The child cried out – and all were astonished to see the imprint of five
fingers, perfectly marked, on his cheek. Meanwhile the child ran outside in the
vain hope of seeing the hand, which had disappeared back up the chimney, come
out of the smoke stack on the roof!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then one of the ecclesiastics who lived at the
presbytery put forward a daring proposal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He confessed to once having read a book on sorcery that said that
invisible beings feared sword points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
why not try that? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No sooner said than done, and after several
unsuccessful attempts (the magical agent was quite adept at hiding itself!) it
produced an incident of great importance. They were on the point of giving up
when a last thrust of a sword point<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>brought a flash of crackling flame accompanied by a high pitched
whistling. A white smoke spread everywhere, so thick and foetid that they had
to open the windows to clear it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This unexpected result gave them confidence in this
duel with the invisible, and the experiment was repeated with good results.
Suddenly a word resounded through the room, weakly, but distinctly articulated.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It said “<i>Pardon</i>”; clearly heard by all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They lay down their swords to continue the dialogue.
<i>“Pardon?”</i> they replied, <i>“ yes certainly we will pardon you, and
better than that: we will spend the night in prayer to ask God to pardon you as
well...but on one condition, that tomorrow, whoever you are, you come to ask
pardon from this child.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“You will pardon us all?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“How many are you?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Five, including the shepherd.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We pardon you all.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As soon as this was said all phenomena ceased! They
returned to the presbytery in silence, and prayed on their knees until dawn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the afternoon a man presented himself at the
presbytery. It was Thorel, his eyes downcast, and in an apparently contrite
attitude. His face, which he failed to conceal under his cap, was covered with
scratches, bleeding in several places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s the man!”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
cried the child, beginning to tremble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Asked by the curé why he had come Thorel replied
that his master had sent him in order to find a little organ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“No, Thorel, you came for something
else....And how did you get all those scratches?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The shepherd tried to evade the question. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The abbé Tinel continued <i>“Be honest! You have
come to ask pardon of this child. That is why you are here. On your knees,
Thorel!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh well... Pardon! Yes...pardon!” </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">the
creature cried, falling on his knees before the child, on whom he put his
hands, at which the state of the poor child became worse and doubled in
intensity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A second confrontation took place later, in the town
hall, between the priest and the shepherd, who, before several witnesses, fell
on his knees as before, saying <i>“Pardon, I ask your pardon,” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>but this time it was towards the curé that
he crawled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“For what do you ask pardon, Thorel?
Explain yourself!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, Thorel continued to advance, and reached
out to grab the priest’s cassock. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Do not touch me, or in Heaven’s name I
will strike you!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It was then that the curé of Cideville rushed forward
and struck the sorcerer three times with a stick, which became the basis of the
court case for physical assault. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The justice of the peace at Yerville was stupefied,
never have come upon such allegations before. His summing up, although quite
vague and obscure, at least acknowledged the unanimity of the witnesses. The
case against the curé was dismissed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
Thorel was ordered to pay costs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For Stanislas de Guaita, a sorcerer could be defined
as one who puts occult forces of nature to work for malevolent purposes, as
demonstrated in such a graphic way in the above account, which has been
considerably shortened in Stanislas de Guaita’s account, who in keeping with
his high principles asks if <b><i>any</i></b> use of animal magnetism could
fall under this definition?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For what is
it but the subjection of a thinking being to the will of another – or the
annihilation of their free will? That a state of magnetic subjection (which
would include hypnosis) is nothing but the temporary alienation of a being
originally free but now possessed. Such possession is more or less despotic and
more or less durable, and in de Guaita’s view stems from the imposition of a vampiric
and parasitic existence (or <i>daimon) </i>over the personality of the subject.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the
suggestion is limited to constraining the subject in a precise way to
accomplish an isolated fact, the daimon remains <i>potential </i>until the
required hour and perishes at a stroke when its power has passed into action.
But if the suggestion is prolonged with a view to determining a series of
similar acts, often at long intervals, the daimon that forms the living
substratum of these acts stretches into the future, that is to say takes hold
of the subject and forms the latent life of these actions, necessarily to come.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Is this, one wonders, a reason for Maïtre Philippe’s
reluctance to endorse the normal run of magnetic healing – claiming his own to
be of a superior kind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divinely inspired
rather than psychologically based. Even if the result sought seems beneficial –
giving up smoking or some other addiction by these means for example? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-14582911574611246412016-10-04T22:29:00.000+01:002016-10-04T22:29:03.044+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 31
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How to become an alchemist<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">François Jollivet Castelot, (whom we have met before
{in SH16} being initiated by Papus into the Martinist Order), published a book
in 1897 called <i>Comment on devient alchemiste: traité d’hermétism et d’art
spagyrique </i>(How to become an alchemist: treatise on hermeticism and the
spagyric art). The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>spagyric art according
to the book concerns alchemical principles applied to the vegetable rather than
the mineral world. On the title page we learn that the author is Secretary
General of <i>l’Association Alchimique de France </i>and editor of the magazine
<i>L’Hyperchimie </i>as well as being Special Delegate to the Supreme Council
of the Martinist Order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Papus
provides a lengthy Preface welcoming this pioneering work, claiming that Science
once had a metaphysical side, recognising a Spirit and a Soul behind the
Physical. So alchemy was as much a religious as an intellectual pursuit, with
the Oratory playing as important a part as the Laboratory. A fact
incomprehensible to those who think that alchemy is simply the first childish
babblings of an adult modern chemistry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In older times Nature was studied in its aspects of Body,
Life and Spirit, united in one unique science. The study of the <b>Body</b> of
Nature taught the laws of universal organisation, social as well as natural.
The study of the <b>Life</b> side of Nature brought understanding of the laws
of transformation, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>such as crude ore
into refined metals and wild flora and fauna into cultivated species. And study
of the <b>Spirit</b> inspired knowledge of the laws of creation and the power,
not only to transform, but to create. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During the 14<sup>th</sup>, 15<sup>th</sup> and 16<sup>th</sup>
centuries a reaction developed whereby the metaphysical part (Soul and Spirit)
was rejected and only the physical remained, a post mortem on the corpse of
Nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then Papus makes a startling claim! That he received
an alchemical initiation in July 1883.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Startling because he would have been only 18 years old at the time, just
a year after his<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>private initiation into
Martinism. Did this come from a fellow Martinist? Who knows? However, he
considers it sufficiently important to quote in full a document concerning it,
our translation of which runs as follows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Man! <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You desire to know our faith; and wish to
become one of us. Our door is not closed but is open to all who know how to
enter the temple. We have no priests, and you can arrive at the faith on your
own, with the help of an adept whose duty is limited to showing you the way.
You must pursue it alone after that. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hear ye!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You know nothing and you want to learn.
Why? You are discontented and want to be happy, thinking that science will
bring the happiness you desire; you think that by work you can overcome the
ennui that oppresses you. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hear ye!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All that is true. You could be happy;
but you should not think that Science, the true Science, will make you happy
through money. Nor should you come to us if you seek a knowledge that will
bring you honours. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you count on Science to ‘arrive’ – go
to the University Faculties. There you will learn all that is needed to be many
things if you work at it. By that you may achieve respect, but never <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>happiness. Jealousy, ambition will overcome
you and you will pass your life in continual irritation, not knowing who or
what opposes you. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You will suffer as much as can be
suffered in your spirit by what you teach. For if you are independent you will
feel that what they make you say is wrong. Or if you are submissive you will
find that after gaining the highest honours you are as discontented as before,
starved of the happiness you sought. You may try again, but being old and lost
in the maze of modern Science, you will always feel, regarding Nature, that you
lack something.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hear ye!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The true adept must be independent.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alchemy will not make you a physical
fortune. It will give you a more lasting one, a spiritual fortune, that
misfortune cannot weaken.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Whatever you suffer, you will be happier
than any savant, eaten up with jealousy or pride; or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the wealthy, eaten up by boredom. Boredom,
ambition and pride will fly far from you, and through that you will be superior
to all men. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are not wealthy, you will live by
working, but will never reveal the secrets you have found. Each day will bring
another load of intellectual riches, and your work will seem easier each day.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Soon you will come to work less for men
and more for Faith, and your tastes will be quite modest in a happiness that contents
you with little. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Do not think that my words are without
foundation. In support of what I say I can cite the example of more than two
thousand of our own who have lived peacefully and modestly in the midst of the
cruellest wars in the most turbulent centuries, and always good fortune smiled
upon them. When, come to the height of intellectual happiness, you find God revealed
to you. When, just and wise, however modest your employment among men; you will
be superior to the official expert. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Both ways are open: it is for you to
choose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I repeat that we cannot grant
you any material well being; we can only bring you spiritual happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hear ye!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Before entering into the book of God,
you will need to look at men.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Look at the friend who sells his friend
for gold; look at those men who destroy each other for gold, look at those
priests who are eaten with ambition for honours; look at the doctor who kills
men to earn more and does not admit that he is powerless; look around you: you
will only see everywhere the hunt for gold. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You who have come to us aiming to become
rich more quickly. Do you think that we too dementedly struggle in the current
that drives to despair? Do you think that alchemists are as unhappy as other
men? I tell you that we are happy in the midst of all the fevered mishaps of
today; do not believe that we think only of gold.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">True adepts who found this secret, as
witness the pieces of gold exposed today in foreign museums, these adepts, I
say, died without revealing their secret for they knew men too well. If
transmutation exists, the adept does not dream of the riches it can procure
him. He dreams of it because it is one more occasion for him to find himself
near to God and to prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you study Nature, never forget that
your discoveries must not be told to anyone indiscriminately.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Realise that the adepts distrust men,
and as soon they have given advice to any who appear worthy, they leave things
to Nature.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The adept </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">must be alone in his work with just a few students.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">If you wish to
leave your work to descendents, follow the advice of our Masters.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Hermes
Trismegistus, who knew the story of the Moon and the Sun: John of London, who
could explain the hermetic signs, and all our other great masters recommend
speaking only in parables. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The proud
cannot understand our language; they can laugh at it, and that is their punishment.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The ambitious
cannot be ours, for in so far as a man is ambitious he is linked to the
condition of human beings and cannot understand Hermes. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Do not be
concerned when the ignorant laugh at our masters, when they treat them as fools
or mystagogues. Watch, Pray and be Silent. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Finally, once
you have known the great law of God, if some misfortune comes to you on the
part of men, you will know how to endure it. The first flash of pure gold will
make you forget all the injustices. And if some day you have your heart broken
by the ingratitude of a friend, the exaltation of the air by the fire will show
you the way to wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">My son you have
heard. Reflect carefully, and if you so decide, enter resolutely into the way
of God.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">We have kept
our promises my son, our counsel has shown you the way to happiness, it is for
you to follow it, by which we will see if you are worthy to be an adept. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">If after
studying nature you find the true way, be assured that we will open your eyes
and then I will be happy for I will have found an adept with whom to share our
discoveries.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Then, confident
in the law of nature, we will see men gather round us and we will happily await
the moment when we join in the sublime concert of Divinity.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">+ +
+<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So much for the document which, while making a case
for the pursuit of alchemy, may not give very much detailed information, as
tends to be the way with alchemical literature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>François Jollivet-Castelot does his best in the text of his book, which
is divided into three parts, structured closely on the Tarot, following the
sequence favoured by Eliphas Levi. As we will see in French occultism of the
period, with the exception of a few mavericks and fortune tellers, Eliphas
Levi, is regarded as an infallible rock upon which to start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, the Emerald Tablet of Hermes is perhaps the
best preliminary for an understanding of multi-dimensional reality – and following
Papus’s preface – is given pride of place in François Jollivet-Castelot’s book.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We append his list of contents, which may give some
hints to the general drift of his lines of thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Alchemy
and the Kabbala </b>or the <b>Septenary of Principles. </b>1.<i> Juggler:</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Force, Absolute, God, Male. 2<i>. Popess</i>:
Matter, Nature, Feminine. 3. <i>Empress</i>: Energy, Movement, Holy Spirit,
Neuter. 4. <i>Emperor</i>: Life, Birth, Symbolic Cross. 5. <i>Pope</i>:
Universal intelligence. 6. <i>Lovers</i>: Equilibrium, Analogy of Contraries.
7. <i>Chariot:</i> Astral light; Realisation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How to become an Adept </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">or
the <b>Septenary of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Laws.</b> 8. <i>Justice</i>:
Harmony, Balance, Equilibrium of Forces and Faculties. 9. <i>Hermit</i>:
Isolation, Power on the Astral. 10. <i>Wheel of Fortune</i>: the Future,
orientation of the Life of the Adept. 11. <i>Strength</i>: Strength of the
Will, Energy of Thought. 12. <i>Hanged Man</i>: Voluntary Sacrifice,
Abnegation. 13. <i>Death</i>: Death of the Passions, Regeneration,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deprivation. 14. <i>Temperance</i>: Changing,
many Exchanges, Adaptation, Mutations, the Adept knows how to make the Stone
and to use it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Practical </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">or
the <b>Septenary of Actions. </b>15.<i> Devil</i>: Astral Light in circulation,
dynamised. 16. <i>House of God</i>: Adamic Fall of Matter, Destruction. 17. <i>Stars</i>:
‘involuted’ Physical forces in the Work made to evolve. 18. <i>Moon</i>: Chaos
– the matter of the Work in travail. 19. <i>Sun</i>: Elements, Nutrition, Mineral
kingdom. 20. <i>Judgement</i>: own Movement, Respiration, Vegetable kingdom (2<sup>nd</sup>
degree evolution). 21. <i>Fool</i>: Innervation, Animal kingdom (3<sup>rd</sup>
degree evolution), Matter is living. 22. <i>World</i>: Great Work realised,
Return to Unity. <i>[The third ‘septenary’ (although containing <u>eight</u>
Trumps with the inclusion of the Fool) is said to correspond to the
transformations of evolved Matter in the Great Work – to the operations of
Alchemy itself.]<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Jollivet-Castelot “respectfully and
fraternally dedicated” his book to the memory of Albert Poisson, (1868-1893)
founder of the <i>Societé Hermetique</i>, who had written three books on
alchemy before his death at the tender age of 24, including a much sought <i>Théories
et Symboles des Alchimistes. </i>Victor-Émile Michelet evoked him in his
memoirs, recalling an evening spent at Stanislas de Guaita’s apartment when
Albert Poisson triumphantly brought in a beautiful old alchemical book he had
found in a bookseller’s bin on the Quays, great joy lighting his face as they
pored over the engravings, from the marriage of the mystical King and Queen in
the Egg within the athenor up to the birth of the Royal Child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">If ever the face of a man revealed
his personality, he said, it was certainly that of Albert Poisson. During his
short life an alchemist was an unlikely person to meet but no one, on seeing
him, could be surprised to learn that he was an alchemist, for he had the look
of a legendary “puffer”, with his long thin face emerging from a dark cloak,
framed in intense black hair and beard, from which projected a great nose
reddened and dilated by the fire of the athanor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">His brief life was filled with the
ardent haste of one who was destined to die young. From the age of twelve all
his pocket money was devoted to buying books on alchemy, and at eighteen he
threw himself into continual research. The morning was devoted to personal
study in his room in the rue Saint-Denis, part library, part laboratory. The
afternoon was spent studying and working in the laboratory of the Faculty of
Medicine, and on leaving there he was off to the Quays in the hunt for books.
Thus he built up a precious library that he left to Papus and Marc Haven. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">But he was not a solitary enclosed
in an introverted prison of study. He could be seen, affable and discrete, in
all groups where those in quest of esoteric knowledge met to study, and at
these meetings he never despaired of finding some interesting proposition or
some ardent spirit capable of becoming a study companion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Was it Poisson who discovered Rémi
Pierret? He was certainly one of the familiar visitors of this curious man who
lived on the hill of Ménilmontant, concierge at a house that certainly did not
appear luxurious. Like the great mystic Jacob Boehme, he scratched a living as
a shoe repairer. And there, surrounded by sheets of leather and mended shoes,
was one of the finest alchemical libraries of the 19<sup>th</sup> century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">How did this humble man acquire it,
and develop such a passion for the art of Hermes? Nonetheless the likes of
Albert Poisson, Stanislas de Guaita, Papus, Marc Haven and Victor-Émile
Michelet might be found here as study companions of the friendly cobbler.
Nonetheless the impoverished Rémi Pierret was forced over time, with heavy
heart, to sell his beloved books. Most of which ended up with Papus and
Stanislas de Guaita. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Another noted alchemist and friend
of Jolivet-Castelot was the stormy Swedish playwright Strindberg whom we can
perhaps take a look at, from a safe distance, at a later date. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-4439986763995289272016-09-26T00:19:00.000+01:002016-09-26T00:19:37.227+01:00PORTAE LUCIS
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Back in the 1980’s on one of my
first trips to France I was invited to give a talk at the Pompidou Centre in
Paris by an outfit called <i>Les Philosophes de la Nature</i> the brain child
of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a charismatic character called Jean
Dubuis, a scientist by profession but also an esoteric teacher with an emphasis
on alchemy in theory and practice. I was quite amazed by what I saw and
heard and regretted that my French at that time was not quite equal to learning all I would have
liked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Jean Dubuis has since passed on at
the age of 90 but I have heard that much of his work, translated into English, has
just been made available free on the internet courtesy of an organisation
called Portae Lucis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For details go to http://www.portaelucis.fr/GB/html/porte1.htm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34744108.post-18403293928344776062016-09-20T17:14:00.000+01:002016-09-20T17:14:07.347+01:00SONS OF HERMES - 30
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The cabinet
maker’s story<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Henri Ravier was a 28 year old
cabinet maker and joiner in 1870 when he was called to measure up a coffin for
a seven year old boy. As he bustled about with his mate in the courtyard a
couple of doctors emerged from the house discussing the death certificate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Nothing could
have been done to save the child.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Not even if
we’d been called earlier. Do you agree with my diagnosis of meningitis?”
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“I’m sure
you’re right.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Anyway, the
little glass of eau-de-vie that father Chapas gave us wasn’t bad was it!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">And so without further thought to
child or grieving parents they left. No sooner had they done so than two young
men hurried up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“It took ages
to find you. He must be dead by now. The doctor said he’d been in a coma. Do
you know what that is?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“It’s nothing, nothing!
But we must hurry!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">They knocked at the door and a man opened
up who obviously knew them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Monsieur
Claude,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> <i>we’ve just heard the news and have
come to offer our condolences.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“That’s very good
of you, Nizier. Come on in. He’s on the bed.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Nizier Philippe also greeted Madame
Chapas, who did not speak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">They mounted the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mother passed them in the passageway and
opened the bedroom door for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The 21 year old Nizier Philippe
crossed himself and indicated the others to sit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he presented Madame Chapas with a
strange question: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Are you
willing to give me your son now?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">She answered <i>“Yes”</i> almost
automatically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Nizier stood before the child’s bed in
contemplation for a few moments, and then said in a clear voice: <i>“Jean, I
bring <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your soul back to you!”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Amazingly, the chalk white face of
the body began to regain colour, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>looked
up at Nizier Philippe, and smiled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The strange question Philippe directed
at the child’s mother harked back a few years to when she had asked his help
when her husband fell ill. On that occasion he had simply said <i>“Go home and
make him some soup and he will be all right.” </i>And so it had occurred. But when
asked how much she owed him he replied: <i>“Nothing, but you can give me your
son if I ask for him.”</i> An enigmatic remark, all the more strange coming
from a young Nizier Philippe who could have been no more than a teenager at the
time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">No more was said until little Jean
Chapas grew up. Like his father and grandfather before him, he sought the life
of a waterman on the great rivers of the Rhône and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saône. But having passed the necessary examinations
– he would then have been aged about 20 and the year 1883 –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his mother received a message from Monsieur
Philippe: <i>“Tell your son to come and see me tomorrow, I need him.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The informal apprenticeship he had thus
begun as a spiritual healer was not an easy one. The boy put himself completely
at the disposal of Monsieur Philippe but the first day passed with nothing for
him to do. The same thing happened next day. Then on the third day he was sent
on a few errands, to buy tobacco, some postage stamps, and deliver a prescription.
Then little by little he was admitted to minor jobs at public meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For several years he diligently
performed all the tasks set him by Monsieur Philippe, some of which involved
some kind of testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, for
instance, Monsieur Philippe received word from a lady who was very upset by the
loss of her hair. He told Jean Chapas to buy some lotion at a pharmacy and take
it to her, and then meet him at a café where he would be waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Jean Chapas found on his arrival
that the woman was in complete despair and threatening to throw herself from
the sixth floor of the building. For a whole hour he tried to reason with her, far
beyond the time fixed for meeting Monsieur Philippe. Eventually he arrived,
very late, to find his master still there, smoking his pipe but frowning
heavily. Jean Chapas tried to explain what had happened but Monsieur Philippe
cut him short and reprimanded him. He should have realised it would have been quite
easy for him to have stopped the woman’s hysterics from a distance if he had
been informed of them. So...<i>“When I give you a time to meet me, <b>be</b> <b>there</b>!”</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Eventually Monsieur Philippe, in the
presence of his girl friend, gave him a kind of rosary he had fashioned, a cord
full of knots, with the instruction <i>“Take this for an hour each day to your
room; and when you reach this knot here, you will be in the presence of the
Holy Spirit.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Presumably he did so,
but he never spoke about it to anyone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Eventually, in February 1894, after
a decade of gradually increasing responsibility, Monsieur Philippe presented
him at a public meeting with the words, <i>“From now on Monsieur Chapas is
charged to do what I have done up to now ...We are fishermen come to fish for
those that would escape”. </i>And the following year he announced that <i>“from
now on great powers are granted to Monsieur Chapas. </i>Whom, however, he
always referred to his as<i>“the corporal!” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By all accounts – no light rank! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">From Thursday 13<sup>th</sup>
December 1894, Henri Ravier began to fulfil his mission of taking notes of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>meetings and carried on through until 31<sup>st</sup>
March 1903. They are not as comprehensive or systematic we might wish but the random
jottings of a retired carpenter and joiner. There are about a hundred of them
altogether, the first taken at typical public meetings but later moving on to events
at practitioner classes laid on at the recently founded School of Magnetism.
His sense of their importance is however revealed by his referring to himself
as <b><i>Jean-Baptiste</i></b> Ravier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was one of a growing band who tended to regard Maïtre Philippe as a second
coming of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a view that was
shared by the man himself – although he had occasional apparent lapses as when
he reportedly said that it had taken him several years to find a mother and
father who had the single forenames of Marie and Joseph. I suspect a certain
sense of irony in his make-up. But raising people from the dead was not in the
gift of any old spiritual healer! And Jean Chapas died a second time in the
typhoid fever epidemic of 1899 and was once again resuscitated by Nizier
Philippe after a death certificate had been issued. Which led Jean Chapas, who
also had an ironic sense of humour, to refer to himself ever after as <i>“a
dead man on leave”.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">After a lifetime of continuing
healing ministry, increasingly haunted by precognition of the coming 2<sup>nd</sup>
World War, he eventually died a third and last time in September 1932, whilst fishing
beside the Rhône. His master, also a keen fisherman, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had once predicted <i>“Jean, you will just
have time to get your coat and rod and follow me.” </i>He arguably chose a good
time to do it as the Holocaust gathered strength in Europe!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b><i><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">References</span></u></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">: Confirmation de l’Évangile par les actes et les paroles de Maïtre
Philippe de Lyon </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">by
Jean-Baptiste Ravier (Le Mercure Dauphinois 2005) and <i>Vie et Enseignement de
Jean Chapas, le disciple de Maïtre Philippe de Lyon </i>by Philippe Collin (Le
Mercure Dauphinoise 2006).<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Gareth Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14843539121554727373noreply@blogger.com0