Secret Societies - 1/june/2024

The year is 1610. You are an aspirant occultist. John Dee is dead. Shakespeare is soon for the grave. Europe has spent the last century and a half embroiled in bloody religious wars at the behest of kings and priests. Faith in the old institutions is strong, but there are whispers. Dangerous ideas like science, democracy, rationalism, and the rights of man, are taking root in the coffee shops and reading groups of Europe. The broth of the enlightenment simmers on the backburner of history. 

This is a strange era for magic. Where the renaissance was dominated by a chain of individual thinkers, all in conversation with one another, the 1600s saw a new element in the mix: The Secret Society. 

Despite what you might imagine, Secret Societies like the Freemasons were actually quite common. Though, they were less mystical order, more trade guild meets labor union meets excuse to get out and drink with your buddies. The Freemasons specifically were essentially a trade guild made of middle class professionals. Masons, carpenters, plumbers, etc, would all regularly meet to share professional knowledge and generally get out of the house. Membership offered access to knowledgeable professionals, discounts at mason-affiliated stores, and burial services. The structure of organizations like the Freemasons would provide a blueprint for would-be occult societies going forward. 

Putting an exact date on the beginning of Freemasonry is difficult. Records are blended with mythologized history —

NOTES

Rosicrucians have three big manifestos:

Fama Fraternalis: https://www.crcsite.org/rosicrucian-library/fama-fraternitatis/ 

Confessio Fraternitas: https://www.crcsite.org/rosicrucian-library/confessio-fraternitatis/

Chymical Wedding: https://www.crcsite.org/rosicrucian-library/chymical-wedding1/ 

Decidedly protestant lol

“Hereby was that high and noble spirit of Brother C.R.C. so stirred up, that Jerusalem was not so much now in his mind as Damasco; also he could not bridle his desires any longer, but made a bargain with the Arabians, that they should carry him for a certain sum of money to Damcar.

He was but of the age of sixteen years when he came thither, yet of a strong Dutch constitution. There the Wise Men received him not as a stranger (as he himself witnesseth), but as one whom they had long expected; they called him by his name, and shewed him other secrets out of his cloyster, whereat he could not but mightily wonder.”

Ah, I see where we get the Templar connection lol

CHAPTER 9 OF THE CONFESSIO FRATERNITAS

“These characters and letters, as God hath here and there incorporated them in the Sacred Scriptures, so hath He imprinted them most manifestly on the wonderful work of creation, on the heavens, on the earth, and on all beasts, so that as the mathematician predicts eclipses, so we prognosticate the obscurations of the church, and how long they shall last. From these letters we have borrowed our magic writing, and thence made for ourselves a new language, in which the nature of things is expressed, so that it is no wonder that we are not so eloquent in other tongues, least of all in this Latin, which we know to be by no means in agreement with that of Adam and Enoch, but to have been contaminated by the confusion of Babel.”

I dont think they realize how many theological doors that opens. 

“Chapter XII.

For conclusion of our Confession we must earnestly admonish you, that you cast away, if not all yet most of the worthless books of pseudo chymists, to whom it is a jest to apply the Most Holy Trinity to vain things, or to deceive men with monstrous symbols and enigmas, or to profit by the curiosity of the credulous; our age doth produce many such, one of the greatest being a stage-player, a man with sufficient ingenuity for imposition; such doth the enemy of human welfare mingle among the good seed, thereby to make the truth more difficult to be believed, which in herself is simple and naked, while falsehood is proud, haughty, and coloured with a lustre of seeming godly and human wisdom.”

GIRL THATS YOU. YOU DO THAT. 

Michael Maier seemed to write a lot of commentaries on the rosicrucians? Specifically we are gonna look at a text called Silentium Post Clamores, Paul Dupont, MD, FRC

Michael Maier[1] (Latin: Michael Maierus; 1568–1622) was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg. He was a learned alchemist, epigramist, and amateur composer. Oh like John Dee Rudolph II. 

FREEMASONRY (Hanegraaff 382)

• Masonry is a sorta esoteric theater

• The degrees themselves are pageantry 

• Earliest evidence of operative mason lodges, the Old Charges, goes back to the 14th century. 

• Old charges were written by clerics, only people who had the knowledge

• They contain a fabulist history of stonemasonry, which supposedly goes back to Solomon

• “They were written down by clerics, the sole possessors of the knowledge in question, who supervised the workers to keep them obedient to the rules of Christian life. Beside moral prescriptions (the “charges”), these texts merely contain a “Craft History” that is fabulous, legendary, and mythical: careless of chronology or verisimilitude, it links the work of the cathedral builders to that of the builders of the Tower of Babel or the Temple of Solomon, whose heirs and successors they are supposed to be.” (Hanegraaf)

• “A major concern was to protect the professional skills as far as possible, so as to reserve the privilege of their exercise to those who were worthy. Hence there was a strong tendency not to spread technical knowledge, and especially not to put it into writing, which in any case would have been of little use at a time when almost all the workers were illiterate.” (also hanegraaf)

• Around the 17th century in scotland, it became customary to invite local dignitaries into the Freemasons, giving them the “Mason Word” so they could make use of it professionally

• Then you get Robert Moray in the 17th century, who introduces Speculative Masonry, or the idea of applying masonic concepts to life and spirituality. This plants the seeds for esoteric masonry.

• Around 1660, as modern science is taking shape, we get echoes of the Kabbalistic and Cabalistic renaissance, combined with alchemy and some gnostic vibes (though im unsure if they were actually trying to include biblical apocrypha)

• Left off 384 with the bit about Andrew Michael Ramsay

Idk im probably gonna rewrite below this line.

It is 1485, you are a master stonemason in the city of Venice. Europe is at war. What else is new. Down the street, some weirdo named Leonardo is drawing blueprints for flying machines. You were essentially trained from birth in the art of stonecutting. The knowledge in your head keeps the crops watered, fortresses upright, and the streets clean of filth. As such, your knowledge is very, very valuable. You need to exchange knowledge with other masons but you can’t just publish all your secrets in a book, no sir. If every two-bit stonecutter learned your techniques it would put your job security in jeopardy. What you need is a nice, secluded place where you can talk shop with your peers. Maybe you could form a sort of society, one that regularly meets in secret. Somewhere all the masons like you would be free from prying eyes. 

The Freemasons are a magical society in the same way that Yoko Ono was a Beatle. They should not, by definition, be here, but their influence is widespread, and to omit them would be a bat to the kneecaps of any good history of magic. The freemasons are a square peg in the round hole of magical history. Many occult historians have tried to roughly hammer them into place, only to find themselves lost in the swamps of mythical pseudohistory. 

There is no clear beginning to Freemasonry. The oldest documentation we have is a set of late 14th-century clerical records known as the Old Charges. Their version of Masonic history is fantastical, reaching back to the builders of the Temple of Solomon, and the Tower of Babel, clearly intended to serve more as mythology than fact. In reality, the early freemasons were far, far, closer to a trade union than a coven of mystics. 

It is easy to quibble over terminology with the Masons. Are they “occult?” Are they “esoteric?” What is the difference? This is the business of people who are smarter than me. We are going to call them “occult-adjacent” and move on. The important thing is that the structure of Freemason lodges was extremely influential on later occult organizations. They were the blueprint for magical societies going forward, and that blueprint had two main features:

One, Secret Knowledge. They promised secret knowledge that could only be learned within the organization. 

Two, an Initiatory Structure. The organization had ranks. Ranking up required undergoing some intimate experience that led to mysterious inner changes. In short; you get more secreter knowledge as you rank up. 

THE MASONS AND ESOTERIC SYMBOLISM

“But If the Masons are only Magic-adjacent, what about all their magic-y symbolism?” I hear you ask. Indeed, mention the word “Freemason” and it will likely conjure images of eyes-in-pyramids and sacred t-squaraes and whatnot. Is that brick-a-brack magic?

Yes and no! It is important to remember that normal language always comes before esoteric language. The Masons likely did not start out as this esoteric, initiatory order. There is little evidence (Hanegraaff 385) that the Masons contracted to build the great cathedrals of Europe were given any special knowledge beyond their ordinary trade secrets. They had normal secrets they needed to discuss, and a good way to do that was in visual code. Coded language evolves just like any other language. People get poetic with it. Give it 200 years, and you’ve got a complex and evocative system of esoteric symbolism that can be used to convey ideas in ways that ordinary language cannot. 

This idea of Masonic symbolism is shared by Andrew Michael Ramsay, whose 1737 writing on the topic is worth quoting in its entirety: “‘We have secrets; they are figurative signs and sacred words, which comprise a language sometimes mute, sometimes most eloquent, to communicate over great distances and to recognize our Brethren no matter what their language or their native land’. It was only by playing on a much later, indeed quite recent interpretation, that these symbols assembled on the “tracing boards” could be compared to mantras, to supports for meditation opening onto an inner experience. That some minds were capable of such a development is probably due to the fact that these figures and boards play a major role during the ceremonies in which the masonic degrees are conferred.” (Hanegraaff 385)

Even if Masonic symbolism cannot be considered explicitly magical, this passage serves to illustrate how magical symbolism evolves, changes, and functions. So while Masonic symbolism is esoteric almost by accident, it would be massively influential on later magical societies, who would leverage these same concepts for explicitly magico-religious aims. 

FREEMASONRY AND SECRET DOCTRINES

Even early on, the Freemasons were integrating ideas from contemporary magic. Christian Theosophy and Alchemy were among the most prominent ingredients. 

• The relations between Freemasonry and → esotericism are problematic. They depend essentially on the idea that freemasons generally have about their own institution: is it above all an “esoteric society”, an initiatic society – and are those the same thing? –, an intellectual circle, or simply a fraternal association? Masonry has given different answers at different times and places, and the experts who study the history and sociology of this institution from the outside do not necessarily agree among themselves.

• Calling the masons “esoteric” could mean a few things. 

• 1 the presence f secret knowledge to be deciphered

• 2 Initiatory systems, which through intimate experience is revealed, leading to a sort of “inner liberation” or an “ontological rebirth”

• (This is interesting, because Masonic doctrine seems to present the idea that all things have a sort of implicit mystery, and that by learning about things we engage in a sort of constant riutal) 383

• “Beside moral prescriptions (the “charges”), these texts merely contain a “Craft History” that is fabulous, legendary, and mythical: careless of chronology or verisimilitude, it links the work of the cathedral builders to that of the builders of the Tower of Babel or the Temple of Solomon, whose heirs and successors they are supposed to be.”

“”

We gotta talk about Maier. 

TEHRE hes on fucking page 747 of the Haanegraf dictionary. 

MAIER (1669 - 1622)

• Known mainly for Atalanta Fugiens

• And his position in the Rosicrucian Affair

• Lutheran

• Extensively studied, seemed to be into egyptology

• Maier first developed an interest in → alchemy in 1599 whilst in Königsberg, where he witnessed the healing of a chronically ill man through the application of an English iatrochemical remedy. (haanegraf, 748)

• at some time in 1608 he moved to Prague, where he became personal physician to Rudolf II and entered the hereditary peerage on September 29, 1609.

• Maier’s varied corpus displays an admixture of late Renaissance humanist learn- ing, pre-Paracelsian iatrochemical conceptions and a heterodox Lutheran → mysticism; a pervasive motif is his alchemical interpretation of the symbolism of Egyptian and Greek mythology, which was definitively formulated in the Arcana Arcanissima (1614)

Maier’s involvement with the early Rosicrucian phenomenon has been the subject of a great deal of unfounded speculation through the centuries. Contrary to the thesis of Frances Yates (The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, 1972)

ROSICRUCIANISM (Hanegraaff, 1009)(fucking finally)

• The phenomenon known as “Rosicrucianism” has its origin in 1614, with a volume that appeared in Kassel, Germany, containing three texts: Allgemeine und General Reformation der gantzen weiten Welt (Universal and General Reformation of the Whole Wide World), Fama Fraternitatis, Deß Löblichen Ordens des Rosenkreutzes, an alle Gelehrte und Häupter Europae geschrieben (The Fame of the Fraternity of the Praiseworthy Order of the Rose-Cross, Written to all the Learned and Rulers of Europe), and Auch einer kurtzen Responsion (Also a Short Reponse) signed by → Adam Haslmayr.

• Chymical Wedding was published the following year, and did pretty well in Europe, but generated a lot of polemics. Others tried to identify the ideological sources

• Basically, it was a proposed solution to three big problems for european intellectuals at the time: A crisis of Religion, politics, and epistemology.

• The manifestoes originated in the “Learned and Christian Society” established by → Johann Valentin Andreae in Tübingen in 1610. (YAY FINALLY SOME GOOD HISTORY)

• Andreae probably wrote Chymical wedding by himself, and collaborated on the other manifestos

• Basically, he wanted christians to stop squabbling, and reconcile with science and learning already.

• The rose is the symbol of spiritualized matter, of God unfolding into reality. 

• “ Paracelsus, in his Liber de resurrectione et corporum glorificatione (Book of the Resurrection and Glorification of Bodies, circa 1533), explains that man, regenerated by the Cross, thereafter receives a spiritual body whose glorification is symbolized by the rose; it is Christ, the Man-God, who transfigures us, just as the philosophers’ stone transmutes metallic matter. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Fama Fraternitatis mentions the name of Paracelsus with respect and admiration,”

• In the same way, the Confessio states that the time has come to speak, to reveal the mysteries of the Adamic language, i.e. the primordial idiom, transparent as light, which the animals in Paradise understood and which allowed Enoch to converse with angels. Because the Rosicrucians already possess the knowledge of this language, they claim to be able to go beyond the exoteric meaning of the Bible and give it a spiritual reading, so as to discover that the Holy Scriptures are the quintessence of the entire world, and so as to decipher the characters of the liber Naturae. (How John dee of them)

• Another influence is that of De arte cabalistica (On the Kabbalistic Art), published by → Johannes Reuchlin in 1517.

• -

•  Finally, theirs is a secret philosophy, i.e., one that is connected with the mysteries of the → correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm, which only reveal themselves through masks, in a symbolic ambivalence accessible solely through initiation.

• It’s hermetic, but also encompasses more than that. Its perennialism, but non-syncretic, which is interesting. Its basically esoteric natural theology. Kinda. Its equal parts espousing The Book and The World.

• (Should we talk about natural theology?)

• The Confessio alludes to the pseudo-Paracelsian prophecy of the Lion of the North, taken up by Haslmayr in his Responsion to the Brothers of the Rose-Cross that was bound with the first edition of the Fama. The action of the Rosicrucians prepares for the advent of the Lion, whose universal monarchy will inaugurate an era of felicity (hehe get it)

• The Lion is the spiritus mercurius

• The unicorn is active purity

• The dove is volatile mercury / the holy spirit

• The sword is the penetrating, fecundating energy.

• The water that is gathered at the fountain is the water of grace. It is what the alchemists call aqua permanens (permanent water), whose virtue is to transform the body into spirit and confer indestructibility upon it.

• On Friday, dies veneris (the day of Venus), Christian Rosenkreuz discovers in the subterranean caverns the Arbor philosophica (philosophic tree) whose branches are like the veins of the earth whose coagulated blood becomes the metals, especially gold. Venus, whom he beholds naked, is the matrix from which its roots draw their sap, and her fecundity will permit the realization of the Great Work.

• This influence remained literary, however: there is no proof that the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross described in the Fama Fraternitatis ever existed, and it is only in the 18th century that actual organizations calling themselves “rosicrucian” first come into existence

MARTINISM

History of Martinism and the F.U.D.O.S.I.: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4DdFDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA10&dq=martinism&ots=x0_1IwU4-a&sig=4LBaX9LOXwZtmnPFf0fMVZwKVWU#v=onepage&q=martinism&f=false 

Cloud upon the Sanctuary: https://sacred-texts.com/eso/cuts/index.htm 

Martinism Willermonism and Freemasonry by Papus: https://rosecirclebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Papus-on-Martinism-FREE.pdf 

HANEGRAAF ON MARTINISM

Hanegraaf Dictionary starting around 770

• Martinism had two periods. Sections are Doctrine, Cult, and Legacy.

• Hanegraaf Says the Papus work is good. Captures it well.

• Second Martinism refers to the re-awakened Martinist order under Papus. 

• First Martinism is the one invented by Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, and Martines de Pasqually, more the second. 

DOCTRINE:

• In the beginning was MArtines de Pasqually. He defines Martinism.Its a Gnosis, meaning Esoteric Science. 

• Pasqually had several students: Saint-Martin, Willermoz, de Maistre, etc

• The idea is that the aquisition of knowledge causes an inner transformation. Which is kinda neat. Like, the objects you’re learning about aren’t changing. You are. 

• Their doctrine is focused on the relationships between Man, The World, and God. They call it a “Heiro-History” and its not descriptive, its dynamic. Interestingly dialectic. 

• Saint-Martin has a book called Natural Table of the Relationships between God, Man, and the Universe That I should read.

• The martinists believe these relationships are degraded, and in need of restoration. Their sacred history follows a narrative of recalcitrance, divine retribution, and restoration

• Martinist doctrine has a Cosmology, Anthroposophy, Theosophy, Angelology

• An angel cult with a liturgy, all placed under the sign of Sophia

• Their cosmogony is clearly influenced by kabbalistic and neoplatonist doctrine

• Hanegraaf says the best martinist exegete is called  Robert Amadou

• God has a multiple-nature in an interestingly neoplatonist sense that is probably not important for the book

• Wait they DONT mean “Emanation” as in Gnostic emmanationism. They mean more like “dependent on a cause” like in the aristotelian sense. Weird.

• Okay so spirits dont “belong” to the divine essence, they “participate” in it.

• They reject hypostatic distinction. They’re modalists.

• Oh huh. Matter isn’t evil. Its the buffer between evil and god. Its meant to contain evil, to keep it from contaminating creation.

• “Matter is null and void, only the appearance of reality”

• Matter is created by the operations of minor spirits. They mix the “spiritous essences” (in the alchemical sense) of salt sulphur and mercury, to create the THREE elements of eater fire and earth. 

• Adam is a Man-God

• Man is lowest on the divine order, and our job is to contain evil spirits, and to manifest divine glory. We were put on earth to punish evil. Neat.

• Adam has a throne waiting in heaven, once he has completed his work

• “The indispensable traveler’s guide – the ‘road-map of the Elus Coëns’ (Ama-dou) – is the famous figure universelle, otherwise called tableau universel,”

• “Equally valuable is the descriptive commentary provided by Willermoz (published by Amadou as Preface to the Leçons de Lyon, 43-45).”

• Christ is a universal reconciler. He is active anad present during the whole of history.

• (left off on 775)

• “Nonetheless – and this is fundamental – Martines tells us insistently ‘not to consider these three circles [sensible, visual, and rational] only materially’. For in reality, the ascent represented by their traversal symbolizes the successive stages of reconciliation of minor-men, at the end of which the latter will be reintegrated in the quaternary” (774)

• Thats really interesting. Its not that God is emanating into the world as starlight in an al-kindi type of way, these hierarchies of spirits are themselves the body of god engaging in rectification, and the world is a natural consequence of that.

THE CULT

• All this exists for a practice

• They wanna usher along reintegration to re-achieve the primal unity.

• “This is the goal that Martines set for his Order, first called “Ordre des Élus Coëns de Josué”, then “Ordre des Chevaliers Maçons Élus Coëns de l’Univers”. It appeared to be a masonic and chivalric Order, but this was merely for practical purposes, so as to offer to seekers unsatisfied by other Systems a real spiritual goal,”

• They completely failed to implant their order in french masonry. Largely because they were so doctrinally different.

• Claimed their knowledge went back to Abraham etc

• They use the word Coën instead of Priest. They’re not Cohanim, the priests of the temple of Jerusalem before Rabbinical Judaism. 

• They’re claiming to be the Original Coens, the priests of the knowledge taught to Adam.

• “The true ceremonial cult was taught to Adam after his fall by the reconciling Angel; it was piously performed by his son Abel in his presence, re-established by Enoch who taught new disciples, then forgotten by the whole earth and restored by Noah and his children; again renovated by Moses, David, Solomon, and Zorobabel, and brought to final perfection by Christ in the midst of his twelve Apostles at the Last Supper’.”

• “This cult is“quatriple” or quadruple, consisting of: 

  • 1) sanctification, corresponding to the divine Thought or to the Father; 

  • 2) reconciliation, corresponding to the divine Will or to the Word; 

  • 3) purification, corresponding to the divine Action or to the Holy Spirit; 

  • 4) expiation, corresponding to the divine Operation or to Man.

THE LEGACY

• Suffered some kind of official ostracism

• Apparently influenced some high ranking french mason named Bacon de la Chevalerie

• Apparently Willermoz kept getting accused of shit he “could not always deny”

• Willermoz maintained the system for as long as he could, but his version was more crypto-masonic rather than masonic, which Martines would have hated

• Willermoz was ultimately the longest-lasting transmitter of the work

• But without a leader, the movement languished in obscurity until Papus brought it back in the 19th century

COMPTE SAINT-GERMAIN

• Probably just some wandering noble who told wild stories

• Kinda surprised at how boring this section is

• Seems like the most significant works we have of him are musical compositions, so thats neat. 

• Claimed he could do some interesting alchemical shit

SWEDENBORG

• P. 1096 of Hanegraaf

• “Without exception Swedenborg’s biographers see his religious crisis in mid-life as the defining experience of his biography.” is one hell of an opening quote lmao

• Consistiently claims to have been tasked by god to create a new reformed christianity

• Never actually attempted to organize a new church

Scientific Period

• Dad was a Lutheran priest with peitist leanings and a bent for the supernatural

• Mom was a pious daughter of a Mine Owner

• At school he absorbed a notably Cartesian perspective

• Became interested in hebrew studies during a golden age of Hebrew studies at the university of Uppsala

• Moved to london, studied with a ton of cutting-edge astronomers

• Studied Newton’s calculus, but we dont know if they met

• Developed an interest in theology, had a teacher who studied kabbala

• Visited Leewunhoek

• Left for the continent in 1712, travelled around for a few years, published some more literary works

• Bunch of stuff happened, but he ended up as the Extraordinary Assessor of Sweden’s mines, an extremely important decision. 

• In 1733, he asked for a leave of absence so he could publish his first major work, Opera Mineralis in three volumes. The first had his interesting cosmology and atomic theory, the second and third contained his scientific studies of metals.

• He was clearly trying to explain the origins of the universe through mathematical and mechanical principals. He followed Descartes Vortical theory

• DESCARTES VORTICAL THEORY

• Lemme see if I can't explain this:

• Vortical Theory: A theory of matter created by Rene Descartes. Descartes worked from a 5-element theory, and he conceptualizes empty space as Aether. Vortical Theory says that atoms aren't actually physical things, they're tiny vortexes in the Aether, like tiny black holes. Except they have no mass or substance. A "vortical atom" infinitely approaches zero, without ever reaching it.

• Swedenborg says "God (an infinite thing) created these vortical atoms, and made the world (a finite thing.) Therefore, voritcal atoms exist halfway between infitnity and finitude. By understanding the mechanics of these things, we can understand both the world, and God."

• His next book is called “Prodromus Philosophiae Rationcinantis de Infinito et Causa Finali Creationis; deque Mechanismo Operationis Animae et Corporis”

• He says that if the world is subject to mechanical law, so must the soul. His efforts are commendable. 

• Martin Lamm (1915; 2000) lauded his work, but “The review acknowledged, however, that some might find this characterization of the soul ‘somewhat gross’” (1100)

• In De Infinito, he demonstrated to his own satisfaction, that the soul played an important role in creation. This was the skeleton for his next big stab: Trying to figure out the nature of the soul, and its relationship to the human body. This gave us two works:

• Oeconomia Regni Animalis (Amsterdam 1740/1741; two volumes) and Regnum Animale

• He had an unpublished manuscript that featured copied quotations from philosophers, theologians, and the bible. Its just called “A Philosophers Notebook”

• In this notebook, you can watch him angling more and more towards the occult as he attempts to discern the relationship between Cause and Effect

SPIRITUAL CRISIS

• In the summer of 1743, Swedenborg had bad dreams. 

• He was trying to publish what he hoped was his magnum opus. 

• “In one dream he is lying beside a pure woman, who he believes to be his guardian angel. He is told by her that he smells ill. This signaled the beginning of a period marked by fierce temptations.”

• These repeated dreams brought him to the brink of despair. 

• “It is then, he wrote, that the real temptation began” (1101)

• He had a dream where christ told him not to undertake any task without him

• He published the final volume of Regneum Animaliae, but abandoned all of his other projects

NEWTON