Concerning the true nature of Lux E Tenebris: an angel or a man? (Or, why we should be Adepts first and scholars second)

o

THE LAST MONTH following G.H. Fra. L.e.S.’ announcement regarding the Third Order transmission of secret teachings for the higher grades of the Second Order, the R.R. et A.C. of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, has seen quite some stir and heated discussions on various fora and the blogosphere. Some conclusions have taken some ludicrous heights, in the usual reconstructionist fashion that we have come to be used to during the recent years.

Now, the good Frater Olen Rush recently published a transcript from a visionary experience back in 1888 by one Frater Vota Vita Mea, that is Thomas Henry Pattison which is listed as No. 8 of the Horus Temple No. 5 membership roll, admitted as a 5°=6° by march 1888.

This letter has previously been published in full by R.A. Gilbert in his The Golden Dawn Scrapbook, pages 37-39. The transcript reeds in full thus (retaining comments by Mr. Gilbert within square brackets):

Copy of Communication from the Inner Ring, made to Fra. Vota Vita Mea, given in his letter of June 20, 1888 to Fra Sapere Aude:

The Crowned One gave to Fras. V.V.M. and H. [presumably F.D. Harrison] much information concerning the natural creation and the following symbol was the one he adopted to illustrate primary creation or the union of first causes:

After this Fra. H. was conducted by an Eagle-headed messenger into the presence of the Angel R + [Raphael] (whom I, S'Rioghail Mo Dhream, know by the motto L[ux] e T[enebris]) He said:

‘I wish to speak to you of the G.D. The prime mover of it must exercise the keenest possible care, and must not accept people into its secrets who are not Occult Students, they all ought to have some occult development which has been the outcome of their own research; otherwise much Evil Magic will be the result. Much good can come out of it if rightly directed, but one Evil One can upset the Harmony of the whole, so that its efforts would be neutral for a lengthy period. The Idea in view must be not to establish an Order; but to gather together those men who are an Order In themselves. Understand that the G.D. is MY Order and that I am and must be accountable for it. The last one initiated [Dr T.W. Coffin, who left the Order within a year having remained in the grade of Neophyte] must be considered and allowed to wait before giving information; 2 or 3 others also are not of much use, and others are likely to drop out. You must take every care not to initiate any who have no occult tendency in a degree developed. Convey my message to those who can carry out my advice.

‘You must consider yourselves highly favoured indeed for being allowed to come in contact with the one (the Crowned One) you did tonight.

‘Also, I would caution and advise you to be very careful in the use of Divine Names, and all symbols should (be) correctly traced. I have seen this lady in Switzerland whom you have been trying to release. I confirm the work you have attempted. But you have failed to fully carry out your intention. The failure is due to the want of correctness in carrying out your Ritual. When the Divine Names are used they are made operative by the emotion of the Soul; if uttered by a cold soul-starved man they are of no use. Put your soul-power into them, and let your whole being speak them; then they do become Operative; and the final Issue of this lady in Switzerland is left open at present for your instruction. You have discovered and commanded the assailants, but you have not yet subdued them; although she will be very carefully watched now: You must make your promise of protection a fact, and establish it as a permanent operation. I shall see you again as to this.’

He also said; - ‘The G.D. will soon find the prime movers plenty to do; they will have more applicants than they can take; and if not careful will get beyond their control.’

He then said to Fra. H, ‘You can go’; and the Eagle-headed Messenger conducted him back.

Now, people has of course noted the particular mention by S.L. MacGregor Mathers of Lux e Tenebris, the motto that MacGregor Mathers re-used for his later in the flesh Secret Chief which he met in Paris in 1892. Some have therefore speculated that MacGregor Mathers started out with a belief of solely astral or angelic powers as the source of the Third Order, and that he later on changed his beliefs into the concept of continental Rosicrucian initiates.

For me this seems plausible, and even more plausible that he believed in both. I personally believe that MacGregor Mathers used the Lux e Tenebris phrase as a generic motto for whatever Secret Chief or source of inspiration he had come into contact with or believe in at a certain point. After the meeting with his physical Secret Chief in Paris he started to apply that motto onto him. Later on there started to spread a false rumour that the identity of L.e.T. was a Dr. Thiessen of Liege, who supposedly died in 1909. However, it’s a well known fact amongst initiates that the L.e.T. motto is a blind, and that the real motto and true identity of MacGregor Mathers’ continental Secret Chief is still secret to this day.

However, one reconstructionist and history revisionist author has even suggested that MacGregor Mathers must have referred to the infamous Madame Horos as his Secret Chief when he announced that he had been visited by them in the flesh. But in his usual manner this author hasn’t made his homework sufficiently enough and completely either missed or ignored the fact that MacGregor Mathers’ in the flesh contact with Madame Horos was established in early 1900, while he made his first official and written claims of physical contact with his Secret Chiefs back in 1896, that is four years prior to him taking in Madame Horos and her husband as guests at his Paris house. He also totally misses the fact that MacGregor Mathers in a weak moment (probably his weakest) believed Madame Horus to be fräulein Sprengel, who used the motto of Sapiens Dominabitur Astris, not that of Lux E Tenebris.

Now let me present the facts, not any fantasies, and again quote MacGregor Mathers’ manifesto concerning the Secret Chiefs in full:

The Manifesto of G.H. Frater Deo Duce Comite Ferro 7° = 4°, Adeptus Exemptus, Chief Adept and Ambassador of those Secret and Unknown Magi who are the concealed Rulers of the Wisdom of the True Rosicrucian Magic of Light:

Unto

The Theorici Adepti Minores of the Order R∴ R∴ et A∴ C∴

Notice: This Manifesto is to be placed in the hands of each Theoricus Adeptus Minor upon his or her attainment of that Grade. After he or she has carefully read the same; he or she must send a written Statement of voluntary submission in all points regarding the Orders of the G∴D∴ in the Outer and the R∴R∴ et A∴C∴ to G.H. Frater Deo Duce Comite Ferro before being permitted to receive any further instruction. Unless he or she is prepared to do this, he or she must either Resign from the Order, or elect to remain a Zelator Adeptus Minor only. And he or she hereby undertakes to refrain from stirring up any strife or schism hereon in the First and Second Orders.

It is necessary that you who have now attained the Grade of Theoricus Adeptus Minor after having passed through the numerous examinations on the Secret Knowledge of the Zelator Adeptus Minor Grade of the Second Order should now understand how that wonderful system of Occult Wisdom has been obtained for you.

Prior to the establishment of the Vault of the Adepts in Britannia (the First Order of the G∴D∴ in the Outer being therein actively working) it was found absolutely and imperatively necessary that there should be some eminent Member especially chosen to act as the link between the Secret Chiefs and the more external forms of the Order. It was requisite that such Member should be me, who, while having the necessary and peculiar educational basis of critical and profound Occult Archaeological Knowledge should at the same time not only be ready and willing to devote himself in every sense to a blind and unreasoning obedience to those Secret Chiefs: - to pledge himself for the fidelity of those to whom this Wisdom was to be communicated: - to be one who would shrink neither from danger physical, astral, or spiritual, from privation or hardship, nor from terrible personal and psychic responsibility; one who, while receiving for transmission the Hidden Wisdom of the Rosy Cross, should be willing to pledge himself under the severest penalties possible, that the Order should be worked in conformity with the principles laid down by those Secret Chiefs not only for the present time but in the future also: - and who should further possess an Iron Will unable to be broken by any unlooked for opposition that might arise in the carrying out of these duties: - he must further pledge himself to obey in everything the commands of the aforesaid Secret Chiefs 'perinde ac cadaver' body and soul without question and without argument whether their commands related to: - Magical Action in the External World; or to Psychic Action in other Worlds or planes, whether Angelic, Spiritual, or Demonic; or to the Inner Administration of the Order to which so tremendous a Knowledge was to be communicated; and that he must further be prepared to abide in any country; to undertake any journey at a moment's notice, or to confront the chances of death, pestilence or elemental upheaval, if called upon in the course of fulfilling their demands to do so; that he would further undertake, whatever might occur, never to lose faith in the Chiefs of the Order, and to keep his body in such a condition of physical health and especially of vital energy, that the ordinary chances of corporal illness and exhaustion should not be permitted to become any bar to his constant efforts and exertions: - all this and yet further conditions were insisted upon as the only pledges under which this Divine Wisdom was to be permitted to be given out: - and these had to be confirmed by the most terrible Obligations.

I, MacGregor Mathers, 'S Rioghail Mo Dhream 5° = 6°, Deo Duce Comite Ferro 7° = 4°, was the Frater selected for this Work: whom you know as the Chief Adept of the Second Order under the title of Deo Duce Comite Ferro which I had taken upon me.

At my urgent request Soror Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum [i.e. Moina Mathers] was allowed to be associated with me in this labour, but only on condition of pledging herself in the same manner, though in a less degree.

With all this it was insisted that I, the aforesaid Frater, and in a less degree the aforesaid Soror were to be held responsible for any action undertaken thro' misapprehension of the instructions of the Chiefs, no matter in what manner those Instructions were to be conveyed.

That yet further it must not be expected that these pledges should confer upon me any right to expect abnormal material support or assistance. The conditions in question, being only those on which I was to be allowed so great an honour as to be the Recipient of the Knowledge for transmission to the Order; and also that in all this my obedience was not to be the passive one of an unreasoning Machine, but the active one of the intelligent and voluntary Ministrant of the Magic of the Eternal Gods.

These preliminary conditions having been solemnly undertaken by us; then, and only then was I able to proceed to the attainment of the Knowledge of the full 5° = 6° Ritual and of the Obligation thereof; and the establishment of the Vault of the Adepts; my quitting England being a necessary preliminary thereto.

The working of the Second Order having been thus initiated I was enabled to proceed to the acquirement of the Wisdom of the Zelator Adeptus Minor Grade for transmission to you: - a work, the enormous strain and labour of which it is impossible for me to exaggerate. For, you must not think that the obtaining of this Knowledge of the Second Order for you has been merely and simply the somewhat commonplace labour of translating a heap of unclassified MSS ready placed in my hands for that purpose. This might indeed be difficult and fatiguing, but it would be the merest child's play compared with the Herculean task that I have been called upon to execute.

Concerning the Secret Chiefs of the Order, to whom I make reference and from whom I have received the Wisdom of the Second Order which I have communicated to you, I can tell you nothing.

I do not even know their earthly names.

I know them only by certain secret mottoes.

I have but very rarely seen them in the physical body; and on such rare occasions the rendezvous was made astrally by them at the time and place which had been astrally appointed beforehand.

For my part I believe them to be human and living upon this earth; but possessing terrible superhuman powers.

When such rendezvous has been in a much frequented place, there has been nothing in their personal appearance and dress to mark them out as differing in any way from ordinary people except the appearance and sensation of transcendent health and physical vigour (whether they seemed persons in youth or age) which was their invariable accompaniment; in other words, the physical appearance which the possession of the Elixir of Life has traditionally supposed to confer!

On the other hand, when the rendezvous has been in a place free from easy access by the Outer World they have usually been in symbolic robes and insignia.

But my physical intercourse with them on these rare occasions, has shewn me how difficult it is for a mortal, even though advanced in Occultism, to support the actual presence of an Adept in the Physical Body; and such meetings have never been granted to my own personal request, but only by their own special appointment; and usually only for some reason of special importance.

I do not mean that in such rare cases of physical converse with them that the effect produced on me was that intense physical exhaustion which follows depletion by magnetism; but, on the contrary, the sensation was that of being in contact with so terrible a force that I can only compare it to the continued effect of that usually experienced momentarily by a person close to whom a flash of lightning passes during a violent storm; coupled with a difficulty in respiration similar to the half-strangling effect produced by ether; and if such was the result produced in one, as tested as I have been in practical Occult Work, I cannot conceive a much less advanced Initiate being able to support such a strain even for five minutes, without Death ensuing.

Almost the whole of the Second Order Knowledge has been obtained by me from them in various ways; by clairvoyance, by Astral projection on their part and on mine-by the table, by the ring and disc, at times by a direct Voice audible to my external ear, and that of Vestigia, at times copied from books brought before me, I know not how, and which disappeared from my vision when the transcription was finished, at times by appointment Astrally at a certain place, till then unknown to me; and appointments made in the same manner and kept in the same manner as in the case of those rare occasions when I have met them by appointment in the physical body.

The strain of such labour has been, as you can conceive, enormous; in especial the obtaining of the Z ritual, which I thought would have killed me, or Vestigia or both, the nerve prostration after each reception being terrible from the strain of testing the correctness of every passage thus communicated; the nerve prostration alluded to being at times accompanied by profuse cold perspirations; and by severe loss of blood from the nose, mouth, and occasionally the ears.

You know the extreme and sustained attention and critical judgment requisite to obtain any reliable and truthful answer through the Table or the Ring and the Disc. Add to all this Ceremonies of Evocation, almost constant strife with opposing Demonic Forces endeavouring to stop the delivery and reception of the Wisdom; and the necessity of keeping the mind exalted towards the Higher Self; while at the same time exercising the critical Archaeological Knowledge and having to make the many references necessary to detect any misapprehension of meanings of passages in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Egyptian and what not; and you will only then have a faint idea of what my struggles have been. The only one among you who has known the fearful difficulties I have had to contend with, has been Sapere Aude [Westcott] and he has therefore well known that such work could not be done in a hurry and rapidly like mere mechanical transcription, or even like ordinary original composition.

But unless the Chiefs are willing to give me the Knowledge, I cannot obtain it for you: - neither will I give it to you unless I know that the Order is being worked conformably with their wishes and instructions.

What I discountenance and will check and punish whenever I find it in the Order is any attempt to criticise and interfere with the private life of Members of the Order; neither will I give the Wisdom of the Gods to those who endeavour to use it as a means of justifying intolerance, intermeddling, and malicious self conceit. The private Life of a Person is a matter between himself or herself, and his, or her God; and no person who has taken the obligation of 5° = 6°, and studied the same can be ignorant of its clauses and penalties.

The Temples of the Order are places for the performance of Sacred Ceremonies, and the petty criticisms and uncharitableness of social clubs and drawing rooms, should be rigidly banished from them. To invoke carelessly and inadequately the Divine White Brilliance and the Forms of the Eternal Gods while permitting your mind and lower personality to be filled with uncharitableness; towards your neighbour, self righteous pride, and trivial social considerations, is an abominable blasphemy; it is that taking the Name of God in vain which is a most pernicious sin; for by so doing you cannot touch the God, but instead and in his semblance arouse the Evil Antithesis.

This, I know, has been a sin among you during the last twelve months; and be sure that this must bring its reaction; and there is no surer road to this error than the encouragement of the feeling of the Pharisee: ‘God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are’. Such a formula, whether expressed or implied, means at once separation from that God who is universal.

Of what use are the Second Order Centres, if they are not places where the Gods and the Angelic Forces are invoked in Spirit and Truth; and where Mystic Powers have their abode, and where petty social gossip can find no place.

It is possible for you to be word perfect in all the knowledge of the Zelator Adeptus Minor Grade and to know all its Ceremonies by rote; and yet unless you can really and profoundly grasp their inner meaning, an uninitiated person who has a strong will, faith, reverence, self sacrifice, and perseverance, may be more truly a Magician than you.

Finally, the reading of this Manifesto will have made you comprehend the enormous amount of time and energy necessary to obtain the Wisdom of the Second Order. To this must be added the considerable amount of labour connected with the Order - my own work in the outer world - and with all this the imperative necessity of keeping my physical health and vital energy always up to full pitch; and at times having had the extra disadvantage of being compelled to earn my own living in the world.

I therefore expect you to aid me to the best of your ability by carrying out my wishes regarding the management of the Order and by abstaining to the utmost of your power from putting any extra hindrance in my way.

I have considered it advisable that you should have both had in your possession and carefully studied the whole knowledge of the Zelator Adeptus Minor Grade before receiving this Manifesto.

S. L. MacGregor Mathers. 'S Rioghail Mo Dhream
Deo Duce Comite Ferro 7° = 4°
87 Rue Mozart, Auteuil, Paris
October 29th, 1896

It is my belief that this manifesto should be treated as an official order document and statement on the nature of the Secret Chiefs and the Third Order, at the time period of MacGregor Mathers’ most frequent encounters with them. I would also in this instance want to quote W. B. Yeats from his Autobiographies, written in 1926. Here Yeats recalls a conversation with MacGregor Mathers concerning the the Secret Chiefs:

Once, when Mathers told me that he had met his Teachers in some great crowd, and only knew that they were phantoms by a shock that was like an electric shock to his heart, I asked him how he knew he was not deceived or hallucinated. He said, “I had been visited by one of them the other night, and I followed him out, and followed him down that little lane to the right. Presently I fell over the milk-boy, and the milk-boy got in a rage because he said that not only I but the man in front had fallen over him.” He, like all that I have known who have given themselves up to images, and to the speech of images, thought that when he had proved that an image could act independently of his mind, he had proved also that neither it, nor what it had spoken, had originated there.

This account fully corroborates MacGregor Mathers’ beliefs as shown in the above quoted manifesto and fully refute Madame Horus as his Secret Chief, which is a proposperous and outrageous proposition in the first place. A further evidence of this is that it is clearly stated in the manifesto that the reason of MacGregor Mathers and his wife Moina to leave England and permanently moving to Paris was to come closer to his Secret Chiefs, such as L.e.T.; thus it reads:

I [was] able to proceed to the attainment of the Knowledge of the full 5° = 6° Ritual and of the Obligation thereof; and the establishment of the Vault of the Adepts; my quitting England being a necessary preliminary thereto.

S.L. MacGregor Mathers’ statement must be placed in juxtaposition with what Moina Mathers, in her preface to her husband’s book The Kabbalah Unveiled, wrote in 1926 concerning this matter:

Three or four years later he was told by his Occult teachers to transfer his centre to Paris, where my husband and I lived for the rest of his life.

There is no doubt in my mind that Moina clearly refers to S.L. MacGregor Mathers’ prime motivation to move to Paris as to facilitate his communication with his Secret Chiefs. If they were solely astral or angelical contacts, surely there wouldn't be any need of a physical relocation. These written statements, when compared together, for me clearly confirms that his Occult teachers were real and physical individuals.

It is fine by me that there is a variety in the Golden Dawn community. It is fine by me that we share different views regarding the Secret Chiefs and the Third Order, or even that some deny the very existence of the latter and regard it only to be a myth, etc. Each to his own. But what I cannot accept is that facts are being twisted around to serve a militant reconstructionist agenda.

I have watched this debate regarding the Secret Chiefs silently up until now. I honestly don’t care what others think about them or about others’ opinions about my beliefs. These days I’m not surprised at anything anymore; there are obviously no limits to the amount of delusions in the community. Without any connection with the tradition to restraint the imagination people have all sorts of personal opinions and are damn proud to present them all over the internet. The idioticy of the Golden Dawn community is starting to get so piled up it must be almost impossible to wade through it as a prospecting initiate. People may actually start to believe in these fantasies. That’s why I feel obliged to set the record straight.

This whole matter has made me ponder the sad and sordid state of the Golden Dawn community. It has dawned upon me for the last couple of days that it [i.e. the community] produces scholars rather than Adepts. Many today even equate them two. Since the dawn of the last revival of the Golden Dawn Tradition in the 1970’s, it has been a subject to historical research with scholars as Ellic Howe, Francis X. King and R.A. Gilbert. This has put a tone to the whole current. Adepts of the tradition has followed suit en masse.

Now, I do believe that scholarship is a good thing, but if taken moderately. To many initiates and students of the Golden Dawn have an overly detached and dispassionate attitude towards its Tradition. It is not a historical curiosity that can be reconstructed at will; it’s a living Tradition that wants to express itself according to its own rationale. Is has its own soul, it is an entity which acts as an intermediary between the Divine and the mundane. It is possible that the first quoted document (from V.V.M.) captures that notion and spirit. Read it again from this point of view.

Where are the feelings of awe and sacredness in relation to the Tradition? I don’t know about you, but I have had a strong and passionate love affair with the Golden Dawn. For me It is truly a mistress. A jealous mistress, yes, but one which also comforts me and makes me aspire to better myself as a human. I am never alone with the Golden Dawn. She is a infinite source of joy and inspiration. The richness of the Golden Dawn, of its written and living Tradition, is awe inspiring. It is a beautiful Tradition which has been passed on to us to be managed as its stewards, for the betterment of its initiates. As initiates we are her children. Some of her children have been more able than others to act as her vehicles for transmission and expression, which has developed or reformed the Tradition further. These are the most proficient Adepts and prominent teachers, who would naturally become the Chiefs.

Granted, the Golden Dawn is not a religion, and the Order is not a Church. Neither should it be a personality cult. But the Order is not an academic institute, nor is its teachings any science theory. The Golden Dawn is a spiritual path which can be equated with any spiritual path, also those as represented by different religions and Churches. The Order is a Holy institution. It is eternal. Its Halls are sacred as well as it rites; its Officers represent and channel divine powers. It is part of a long chain of vehicles which has transmitted a divine knowledge to aspiring initiates who search for Apotheosis and the attainment of the Philosopher’s Stone. These initiates are aware that by themselves they may produce some minor effects, but with the aid of the Order they become able to create vertible Wonders.

It is only if you approach the Temple with reverence and true spiritual love and compassion that you can gain that sought after illumination. Show deep respect for the Adepts that has walked these steps before you. Show deep respect for its former teachers who has presented the teachings of the Tradition for your own benefit. For your own benefit, mind you!

Would any eastern brother scorn and ridicule its Master or teacher? Would a tantrika downplay on the achievements of previous Masters and teachers of his kaula (spiritual family)? Would a Buddhist show disrespect or spite towards the Boddishatvas? Would a Qabalist badmouth any of its long chain of Masters, or Tzadiks, such as Isaac Luria, Sabbathai Zvi, Nathan of Gaza or Jacob Frank? Why do you think a traditionalist Qabalist makes homage to these individuals whenever he mentions their name, in the same manner as a muslim gives honour to the prophet? Do you believe a Martinist would slander Martinez de Pasqually or Louis Claude de Saint-Martin? No? Why do you think? Because they were perfect Masters? Think again.

Now, I’m not admonishing anyone to feel reverence to S.L. MacGregor Mathers or to place him upon a pedestal. He is not a demi-god; he wasn’t a saint. What I’m saying is that we as initiates and Adepts should feel respect and gratitude to him, and other past teachers of our Sacred Order and Tradition, such as W.W. Westcott, J.W. Brodie-Innes or R.W. Felkin, and even Paul Foster Case and Dion Fortune. I happen to believe that MacGregor Mathers wasn’t that monster as some has tried to make us believe. I happen to believe that he was a good man and a great teacher, a dedicated person who did his very best to make each and everyone of us, who are heirs to his achievements, to gain communion with our God. However, this is not at all about canonisation.

Being initiates we belong to a family with ancestral roots that goes back to antiquity. The Golden Dawn is but the latest form that this entity or ancient egregore has taken in our modern era. We as initiates are part of that egregore. We have the duty to pass on the tourch, which has been passed on to us from our elder brethren and sisters, some of who are historically known and others are not. When we receive the torch we must aspire to leave it in a better condition that it was previously, when the time finally arrives to pass on the torch to further generations. We do not better our Tradition and perfect our Order’s teachings by badmouthing our predecessors, who did the very best that they could manage considering their resources and individual abilities. We do it by setting our own example by our own hard work in perfecting our own base nature. Through our hard work may we come to understand not only ourselves but also that mistress we call the Golden Dawn.

Why is this such a damn hard concept to understand in our post-modern era? This latest tendency amongst some outspoken authorities in the community is childish, to say the very least. It’s infantile and is filled with ugly projections. It smells awful of that old oidipean theme – that of killing your own father to acquire the Kingdom and its Queen. These individuals simply cannot accept the fact that they have to rest upon the shoulders of previous teachers’ achievements, even if they happen to be long since dead. This overly fixation on certain historical personages is an unhealthy sign, which is truly counterproductive.

Many of our previous Adepts, reformers and Chiefs weren’t that perfect and most illuminated individuals that we would hope them to be. We all know that. Probably only few numbers of them achieved that state that we long for as Adepts, to become more than human. Thus it’s easy to turn that initial idealization into literal demonisation. But as initiates we should know better than to succumb to such infantile urges; nothing necessitates this. There is no excuse for us as professed initiates to make ridicule of our ancestors, especially not in public arenas, just to attain scholarly peer recognition or to make greater sales of our books. Attain apotheosis for God’s sake (literary). Stop being scholars; start acting as true initiates and real Adepts instead.

Addendum (2014-03-13)

Since writing this blog yours truly is no longer affiliated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega® (H.O.G.D./A+O®). However, my general view on this subject stays firmly unchanged, as expressed in the above written text, and what I have authored previously on the Gyllene Gryningen blog still represents my overall opinion.

S∴R∴

The importance and significance of lineage and tradition

o

A couple of weeks ago I answered a query on the necessity of secrecy and lineage, in particular the one claimed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®. The querent asked if the mysteries aren’t written upon the face of nature for those with eyes to see to discern? He also asked if higher states of consciousness, truth, understanding, and ancient wisdom are within the sole repository of one group and its untraceable (not susceptible to objective verification) lineage?

My answer to this was the following, interpolated with some notes that came to my mind while preparing this post: Cosmic consciousness and Union with the ALL, as well as Immortality, is the birthright of every human. But there exists a particular set of techniques that may facilitate this birthright better than the slow and normal processes of Nature. These techniques, which mimics the way of Mother Nature but at the same time enhances it, constitutes a tradition and thus a lineage. Lineage, passed from a true initiator to the initiate, also confers direct changes of consciousness; this should be the case in all genuine initiation, also that of the Golden Dawn in the Outer, although changes in the latter are more subtle compared to initiations of a higher degree or arc.

Note: This fact is the reason why almost all of the yogic and tantric Far Eastern brethren emphasise the significance of correct lineage, tracing it back to some mythical figure or demi-god in the ancient past. The first thing that finds the newly initiated student is the narrative of the chain of past masters. Especially made mandalas containing a list of these (see image at the head for an example) are provided to the student to meditate upon to adjust his mind to the mindset of past masters and egregore. The Sufi orders of the Near Eastern brethren places equal emphasis on lineage; the student becomes humbled by the fact that by the hand placed upon him by his initiator he feels the grip of all the past masters back to Mohammed himself. In continental Europe a similar concept of lineage is a natural part of the Lodge culture in the different Martinist and Rosicrucian bodies.

This scorn against the notion regarding importance placed in lineage is a quite recent phenomenon and may almost be entirely restricted to the Anglo-Saxon domain or English speaking nations, although not if you trace your history further back than to the 1960’s when the old books by Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie were repulished and widely circulated, serving as the source for the establishment of new Golden Dawn Temples without any trace back in history. Thus today it is politically incorrect in the Golden Dawn Community to claim any lineage whatsoever, because of this situation, and any such suggestions immediately becomes ridiculed by the reconstructionalist cohort.

But I must emphasize that there exist several different traditions (although they are not that different in essence, only in culture and language) which are probably equally effective, both in the West and the East. The particular tradition that the H.O.G.D./A+O teaches in its higest Grades is part of the Western Hermetic Alchemical Tradition, which has many similarities with Hindu and Tibetan Tantra and Daoist Internal Alchemy; there are some differences but many similarities – they are all part of the Alchemical Tradition. But Cosmic Consciousness and Union with the ALL, and perhaps even conscious Immortality, may be achieve by other means as well, such as contemplative mysticism and Theurgy. However, those who have experienced the true Alchemical Tradition (both Occidental and Oriental) knows that its formulae of energetic manipulation and transmutative powers of matter are second to none.

Note: Furthermore there exists several different European bodies within the Hermetic tradition of the Occident that do possess these mysteries, or at least parts of it. But in the Golden Dawn Community these higher and traditional teachings are extremely rare, with some few exceptions, not because it’s not accessible to them but because most teachers and leaders with an reconstructionalist bent aren’t at all intersted in it or even doesn’t believe it exists; they are suffering from a blind spot.

So in the final analysis, the querent in part was right that the mysteries of the ALL talks to us all through Nature. But I hold that there also exists man made formulae, based upon millennia of experience amongst a long chain of initiates, and highly evolved teachers which can provide a species of “short cut” to experiencing states of consciousness which are the innate part of Nature. This formulae are conferred through lineage, both in the Occident as well as in the Orient.

S∴R∴

Prejudice against Magic and the legacy of the Golden Rosy+Cross

o

A while ago I stumbled across someone asking why major organizations calling themselves “Rosicrucian” talks degradory about magic and what members of any of the Golden Dawn Orders had to say regarding this. The fact is, as it seems, that most organizations which uses the words “Rosicrucian” or “Rosy Cross” in their name (some of them even trade marking the word “Rosicrucian”) seems to have a very low opinion of magical practice and the magical world view which is common in the Golden Dawn Tradition.

Firstly, the big reason for these “Rosicrucian” organizations to take such a stance against magic is simply out of appeal to the greater mass. In comparison with the organized Golden Dawn community (and also the Thelemic) the big-name “Rosicrucian” organizations have a very large following which may be comparable to world-wide Freemasonry in magintude. Simply put, these “Rosicrucian” organizations are for the many, G∴D∴ is for the few. The level of training and study in any Golden Dawn organization will put most people off who have found comfort in any of the big name “Rosicrucian” organizations. On the other hand, as with Freemasonry, the big name “Rosicrucian” organizations are also quite wealthy and in most cases are able to present very impressive infrastructure and material means to present not only voluminous correspondence courses but also impressive grand scale lodge spacings, etc.

A.M.O.R.C. Temple

I happen to have a past in one of these big name “Rosicrucian” Orders, the A.M.O.R.C. (“Ancient and Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross”), but left that organization because of it frequently branding anything magical or occult as being “superstitious”, and contrasting it to mysticism. I soon went over to the B.O.T.A. (“Builders of the Adytum”), while still being a member of A.M.O.R.C., through some contacts there, and from B.O.T.A. into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (again through some contacts in the B.O.T.A.), as I lacked instruction on Ceremonial Magic in the former organization; thus out of necessity the one led into the other. The level of study and practice in the B.O.T.A. is on an entire different level compared to A.M.O.R.C. (already in its early levels), and the practical work in the G∴D∴ on yet a higher level of complexity compared to Paul Foster Case’s and Ann Davies’ correspondence courses in the B.O.T.A. Thus, my real WORK began with entering the Hermetic Order Order of the Golden Dawn.

But already in the B.O.T.A. you have traditional occult teaching in its courses which is based upon the Qabalistic and Hermetic system of the Golden Dawn (remember P.F. Case was a former Adept of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega). One such example is the use of the Tarot (which seems to be lacking in A.M.O.R.C.), and later the Tattwas, which is clearly occult in its orientation. Ann Davies developed this further and made it even more “magical” in its application. In Case’s early papers for the School of Ageless Wisdom and his Chapter (the equivalent of G∴D∴ Temple) papers there are quite a lot of teachings regarding Ceremonial Magic. What Case opposed was the use of “Enochian Magic”, not magic per se. He taught the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram for his Zelatores, as an example.

Paul Foster Case

Secondly, I don’t agree with the dichotomy of labeling something as “mysticism” and branding something other as “magic”. Theurgy truly transcends these two divisions, as it uses the aim of the former through the methodology of the latter. The only difference that I can perceive is that mysticism (at least in the West) tries to separate spirit from matter (soul from body) while magic involves matter as well as spirit. Thus Hermetic and Qabalistic Magic is more akin to Tantric Mysticism which uses “magic” and “alchemy” together with “yoga”, compared to the chaste ascetics of most yogic and Buddhist traditions. But on the other hand, the majority of the yogic practices use the system of the Chakras and Kundalini (the concept of Siva and Shakti), which again makes this more of an alchemico-magical practice than anything else. Thus the division between magic / alchemy on one hand and mysticism on the other is a typical western perspective and relatively late addition, sadly perpetuated through modern “Rosicrucian” organizations such as the A.M.O.R.C.

But I doubt that neither Harvey Spencer Lewis nor his son Ralph M. Lewis, the first Imperatores of A.M.O.R.C., did this out of ignorance but, as I have suggested, because they had the strong ambition of gaining a huge membership. This foremost goal it certainly has succeeded with and also used the financial means gained from this much impressively indeed. Orders of this magnitude have employees and a administrative staff who works full time to run their organization; they resemble corporations. Just take a look at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California. But I ask if a large membership roll should count as a true measure stick of a “successful” Rosicrucian Order or tradition? Is there really a need of a “Golden Dawn Park,” how appealing this though may be?

Rosicrucian Park in San Jose

I have no actual ambition to hang out A.M.O.R.C. in particular but rather want to address the phenomenon itself, that of shunning magical practices. As I have a personal experience of A.M.O.R.C. I must use this organization as an example for any big name “Rosicrucian” organization. To their credit, they are the biggest “Rosicrucian” Order to date, and probably will be for quite some time. And in their defense it must be stated that I never advanced past their Atrium (ante chamber) level, which is the equivalent of the Neophyte Grade of the Golden Dawn (the name of “neophyte” being used for members in the Atrium). Thus I have no experience of their Temple work and higher degrees. But I did work as a voluntary in the Nordic Grand Lodge of A.M.O.R.C. and on a daily basis met its leadership for several months. Thus I believe I’m well acquainted with the mentality as may be encountered there, and also of its inner echelons.

Therefore I must ask if the practices taught in the A.M.O.R.C. actually may be branded as typical “mystic”? The so-called “Liber 777” practice is nothing less than the creation of an “astral temple”, which smells lots as occultism if you ask me. Thus the use of imagination has an important place in the A.M.O.R.C. practice, such as in healing work. I also encountered the instruction of keeping a journal of my daily work and was taught the basic principles of meditation, including using the god-form posture. Much of this may also be found in most Golden Dawn based occult shools.

H.S. Lewis

There are also some vague references to Alchemy in the history of A.M.O.R.C., for example a purported Alchemical transmutation of Zinc into Gold made by H.S. Lewis in New York on June 22, 1916. This feat was performed before an audience composed of members of his Order, one scientist and one journalist, who were told that all of the laws necessary for such an accomplishment were clearly stated and explained in the first four degrees of the Order. A chosen group of 15 brought with them selected and secret, but non-toxic, ingredients which was then mixed together. The “transmutation” purportedly took sixteen minutes to perform and inflicted second and third degree burns to Lewis’ hands. Only half of the zinc brought to the meeting was “transmuted” and the other half was used to compare it to the “transmuted gold”. However, the only reference we have of this event was written by H.S. Lewis himself for the organization’s magazine The American Rosae Crucis, so we must take the veracity of this account with more than one pinch of salt. But it is interesting nevertheless, as it shows that the practice of Alchemy is seen as being an integrated part of the Rosicrucian tradition.

Furthermore, A.M.O.R.C. taught alchemy through the 1930’s and 40’s and again in the late 80’s, but in this it used a scientific approach to Alchemy rather than occult. Frater Albertus (Dr. Albert Richard Riedel) was involved in these Alchemical classes, which wasn’t part of the standard curriculum of the A.M.O.R.C. but rather constituted an extracurricular activity that was soly reserved for a selected few. However, reading Frater Albertus’ own works I cannot find much of the A.M.O.R.C. spirit in his books. Albertus clearly appropriated the Qabalistic model according to the Golden Dawn as well.

Frater Albertus

I admire Frater Albertus much, as well as one other former A.M.O.R.C. luminar, Jean Dubuis. The latter fully embraced the Golden Dawn system and even pioneered the revival of the Golden Dawn in France in the late 1970’s. His Qabalah correspondence course is nothing less than a Golden Dawn course, and blends the occult and magical teachings of the latter with that of the invaluable Alchemical courses. The only trace of influence from A.M.O.R.C. in Dubuis’ lessons that I can find is the use of mirrors in some of the meditations. Other than that I also find some Martinist teachings – the way of the heart – as Dubuis seems to have been mostly involved with the Martinist part of A.M.O.R.C. But the greater majority in his courses on Esotericism and the Qabalah is clearly Golden Dawnish.

Regarding Alchemy being scientific, of course it is; it is a science and art. But not “scientific” according to today’s paradigm of positivist empiricism. It is a ‘scientific spirituality’ of a holistic type, which clearly integrates Theurgy into its practice, at least if you study the classics. This doesn’t show in Frater Albertus’ books, but nevertheless in his classic The Alchemist’s Handbook he cites an entire document from a conference held by members of the Gold- und Rosenkreutz Order. This Order, also known by its Latinized name Fraternitas Rosae et Aureae Crucis, or R. et A.C., is the only historically tangible organization we can speak of being “originally Rosicrucian”. As a matter of fact it was at the A.M.O.R.C. facilities in Sweden that I first encountered its much renowned work Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, aus dem 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert (“Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians”) from 1785. This important work, which is quite influential to the Golden Dawn Tradition, was regarded by the A.M.O.R.C. to be a Rosicrucian manifesto, on par with the first two from 1614 and 1615 – Fama et Confessio Fraternitatis. It is interesting to note that this particular German Order not only was greatly admired by H.S. Lewis but also taught and practiced both Alchemy and Magic. The fact is that Theurgy or Magic was the capstone of their entire system – alchemy thus being but a preparation for Theurgy.

The frontespice of Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians

Thus there is abundant evidence that the practice of ritual magic isn’t contrary to the spirit of Rosicrucianism. On the contrary, Magic, Alchemy and Astrology, called the “Trivium Hermeticum”, must be seen as a whole. Divorce Alchemy away from the other two you will reduce it to a simple “spagery” or “pseudo-chemistry”. The Alchemical credo is “Ora et Labora”, meaning “pray and work”. In this context the prayer is an invocation of the Higher, ergo Theurgy.

This is why I won’t consider the majority of the “Rosicrucian” organizations as representing Hermeticism at all, at least not in the A.M.O.R.C. monographs that I have studied. What is left of Rosicrucianism if you divorce it from its Hermetic roots? There are of course individuals in these organizations that have a good understanding of hermeticism, but I ask if this knowledge of theirs comes from their Order itself? Why isn’t Alchemy taught regularly and in A.M.O.R.C.’s official monographs? Also, why is the Holy Qabalah only taught as an un-official side course as well? What is left of Rosicrucianism if you divorce it from the Qabalah?

Before I end this exposé on Magic in the Rosicrucian tradition, I would like to explain myself why I consider the R. et A.C., or Golden Rosy+Cross, to be “the only historically tangible organization”. With this I mean the “earliest” and “foremost” organization which can be historically proven without a doubt, which has had the most tangible impact upon the Neo-Rosicrucian movement since the middle and late 19th Century (including the A.M.O.R.C. and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn).

Rosicrucian Philosopher

Regarding the circle in Tübingen and the Die Unzertrennlichen, which is supposed to predate the Golden Rosy+Cross and purportedly to have produced the original Rosicrucian manifestos from the early 17th Century, all we have of “proof” of an actual organization (in contrast to a one man show, perhaps with some aid of friends) is speculations. There surely are prominent individuals from the 16th and 17th Century being seized by a common spirit, but do we have historical proof of them actually being part of a common fraternity? Not by academic criteria. But in the Golden Rosy+Cross we actually have traces and facts which may be proven historically, or at least being worthy of historical research. That’s why I am referring to them as the “only historically tangible organization”.

Regarding the earliest date of their origin, let me again direct the attention of the reader to the Latinized name for the Golden Rosy+Cross, the Fraternitas Rosae et Aureae Crucis (which was in use by the German 18th Century Golden Rosicrucians). The Samuel Richter (who used the pseudonym ‘Sincerus Renatus’) pamphlet Bereitung des Philosophischen Steins der Brüderschaft aus dem Orden des Gülden-und Rosen-Creutzes (“The True Preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone of the Fraternity of the Golden Rosy Cross”), dated from 1710, isn’t the earliest source of this name. I suggest looking at this little paper written by the renowned Swedish scholar Susanna Åkerman. Thus we see here a possible Italian circle of alchemists referring to themselves as the Golden Rosy+Cross. This evidence taken together with the legendary book Thesaurus Thesaurorum A Fraternitate Rosæ et Aureæ Crucis Testamento Anno 1580 creates a quite solid picture of a Golden Rosy+Cross Order which predates Samuel Richter’s pamphlet by at least a half century.

The frontespice of a secret document of the Philosopus Grade

The book Thesaurus Thesaurorum, which is brimmed with alchemical and theurgical operations (of which one is very similar to the so-called “Abra-Melin operation”), and which may have an Italian origin, dates itself back to 1580. However historians often consider that being a typo for 1680. A.E. Waite, who was something of a sceptic to most extravagand claims, suggests this even being a typo for 1780. However, in this particular case, Waite was clearly prejudical. Christopher MacIntosh, the author of The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, has the following to say regarding the Thesaurus Thesaurorum:

An important manuscript in this connection is the “Testamentum der Fraternitet Roseae et Aureae Crucis” in the Austrian National Library, Vienna. This is clearly based on Sincerus Renatus, or on the same sources from which he drew, since many of the rules and procedures in it, such as the forms of greeting, are identical to those described by Renatus. At the same time there are significant changes. For example Renatus gives the total number of brethren as 63, while the Testamentum raises it to 77. As to the date, a note on one of the endpapers records that the manuscript was acquired by Johann Adalbert, Prinz de Buchau [sic], in 1735.

First of all, MacIntosh says that Samuel Richter’s “A True Preparation” and the “Thesaurus Thesaurorum” can be based upon a common source as well, predating both manuscripts. In this regard I fully agree with him. Secondly, the date 1735 clearly dismisses 1780 as the actual date. Most scholars that I have read believes it to be from 1680. I personally believe it to predate 1710, and perhaps even 1680. I have a friend who is a Swedish scholar and he clearly believes that Samuel Richter was initiated into the Italian branch of the Golden Rosy+Cross. I have no reason to disbelieve him, nor any of MacIntosh’s or Åkerman’s findings.

Personally I believe there indeed was a network of early initiates which may be called “Rosicrucian”, writing pamphlets and manifestos, etc., such as the Tübingen circle from late 16th and early 17th Century. The Golden Rosy+Cross of late 17th Century Italy (and possible France), and of 18th Century Germany, represents the next phase of the Rosicrucian movement, which ties in to the first wave as represented by the Fama Fraternitatis. We see initiates who has become disillusioned and have their foundations shaken by the Thirty Years War. We see initiates who are disappointed by the Lutheran reformation, which has taken religion back to the letter of the Holy Book, threatens with damnation in hell and shuns mysticism. We also see initiates who watches an “enlightenment”, initially showing promise (remember that alchemists like Isaac Newton pioneered modern science and Descartes openly applied for membership to the Rosicrucian Order) but now instead disrespecting and deriding spirituality, religion, and especially the occult arts, such as astrology, magic and alchemy; simply put becoming “god-less”.

Movements and philosophies change, and adapts to the currents of time, also the Rosicrucian one. We see in the Golden Rosy+Cross a movement who wants to trace their tradition back to the roots of Hermeticism and the Qabalah. We see a movement who emphasizes the practice of operational Alchemy and Theurgy (Magic), in contrast to both organized religion and empirical positivist science, who believes in a tangible transformation of natural humanity into divinity. Not metaphorically but actually, comparable to the Eastern traditions (remember Samuel Richter’s allusion to the original Brethren moving to India). According to Christopher MacIntosh, the Golden Rosy+Cross represents a movement which must be considered being a third force in relation to the Catholic Church and enlightenment. I happen to agree with him.

The Alpha et Omega

I don’t believe the Golden Rosy+Cross to be Catholic at all, as sometimes has been asserted, but rather all inclusive when it comes to the Christian religion (admitting both Catholics and Lutherans, and what ever). If anything, I would label the German Golden Rosy+Cross as Pietist (which is a Lutheran reformation within the reformation). If anything, the Golden Rosy+Cross wanted a further reformation of Christianity, or at least attracted Christians of this bent (such as the pietists). The Fratres Lucis (which grew out of the Golden Rosy+Cross) even went futher to include also the Jewish.

Thus I prefer to look upon the Thirty Years Wars (the actual First World War) as a calcination of European culture, ideology, philosophy, etc. I believe it is hard for us today to understand what impact that war had upon the mentality of the European mind, especially amongst the intellectuals (and thus initiates); one may compare this with how the Second Word War has changed the European mentality. The Rosicrucian pamphlets between 1614-16 represent a stance typical prior to the outbreak of the War (polemicising to the extreme), while the Golden Rosy+Cross of Italy and Germany represents the post War mentality (weary of conflict, trying to see a common unity within the Christian world).

Strangely enough, one doesn’t find any traces at all relating to the Christian religion nor to Christian symbolism in the teachings of the above mentioned big-name “Rosicrucian” organizations, contrary to the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.), Golden Dawn’s Second or Inner Order, which continues the Rosicrucian tradition of the Fraternitas Rosae et Aureae Crucis (R. et A.C.).

S∴R∴

What is the real purpose of the R.R. et A.C.?

o

Readers of this blog should be aware by now of my position regarding the projected future of the Golden Dawn, which in my opinion should have an alchemical theme to balance the prevalent magical contents of its first and second Orders. To be able to do this I propose the use of already existent and traditional formulae of alchemy outside of the standard G∴D∴ box. I refer any new reader to my essay Alchemy and the Golden Dawn for more information.

Now, an issue has been raised lately against the use of “foreign” traditions into the Golden Dawn. Instead of this these who oppose a blending of older Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions with that of the Golden Dawn assume that the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn or the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.), and its Grades of Adepti, is supposed to primarily be an in depth analysis and extrapolation of the Outer Order, its Rituals and diagrams, etc., as contained there.

Reading some adherents who oppose this inclusion of other Hermetic and Rosicrucian existing alchemical formulae I interpret them as laying to much emphasis upon a intellectual analysis of these subjects to compensate for the lack of magical formulae beyond the sub-grade of Theoricus Adeptus Minor, as presented in the original work of S.L. MacGregor Mathers and W.W. Westcott. Their form of “alchemy” amounts to nothing more than speculations (although interesting in their own right) regarding the Tarot Keys and its relation to alchemical processes and stages, etc.

However I want to make it clear that I do share the opinion that the Outer Order rituals have a great potential to be used in personal work, in the same venture as the Ritual ‘Z-2’ as drawn up by Mathers. Thus I have no problem at all with the notion that the Adeptus Minor should study the Outer Order in detail, and use these formulae of the Outer Order Grades for his or her personal development in Theurgy, in the same venue as with the Z document and the 0°=0°. On the contrary it is my opinion that the Outer Order Rituals should be analyzed in the sub-grades of the R.R. et A.C.

Those of you who have followed my blog for a longer time will also recognize that I have suggested the alignment of the sub-grades of the Adeptus Minor 5°=6° to the study of the Outer Order Grades, i.e. to study the Neophyte Ritual and its practical application as a Neophyte Adeptus Minor (N.A.M.), the Zelator Ritual and its application as a Zelator Adeptus Minor (Z.A.M.), likewise the Theoricus Ritual as a Theoricus Adeptus Minor (Th.A.M.), etc. Would I be hostile to this kind of study if I had suggested this arrangement? No, of course not.

But that being said, I ask if this is all that is to the R.R. et A.C.? Is it even the most important aspect of the work of the Adepti? Is it primarily supposed to be an intellectual and speculative mind game (i.e. anal-ysis of Outer Order Rituals and attached diagrams), or is it supposed to be an operative Order providing transformative formulae of Theurgy and Alchemy?

Thus what I’m against is the emphasis laid upon Outer Order analysis suggested by some modern developers. There is lot of important work to be done by the Adept which doesn’t involve the Outer Order at all, but introduces different and even more potent formulae of Magic and Alchemy. The Golden Dawn should be placed in a wider context, especially on the Inner Order level, which interlinks with other sub-traditions of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian current.

Thus I represent a current that sees a great benefit in the use of traditional techniques, which has been widely in use by different Orders older than that of the Golden Dawn. Why should it be regarded as “foreign”, just because it originally didn’t use the label “Golden Dawn”? Why create something new and potentially speculative where there is such a wealth of Hermetic tradition already existing in Europe, which has been used since many centuries? The problem doesn’t lie in that there is a lack of a Rosicrucian tradition (that needs to be invented and developed), but on the contrary, that there is so much already existing which has a very high potency, but that lies there unused and collecting dust.

18th Century Europe was ripe with esoteric formulae taught through lodges or circles, based upon Hermeticism, the Holy Qabalah, Rosicrucianism and Martinism. Lots of it went dormant in the early 19th Century but in its latter part some was revived and further developed, or resurfaced, such as through the Golden Dawn and the R.R. et A.C., and the traditions revolving around and evolving from Papus in France. Some was preserved through the rites of Misraim and the Rose-Croix d'Orient but in most cases vehicles became diluted or corrupted.

Although one must remember that the emphasis in the 18th Century were on Alchemy, both External and Internal. Today lots of documents are collecting dust in private collections, and in public, semi-public and freemasonic libraries. I my opinion modern research should focus upon that rich but “lost” tradition.

Thus I ask you: Why re-invent the wheel when it already has been invented and just waits to be re-discovered?

Some Organizations has the benefit of being guided by guardians who sits on the true Keys to this tradition. Most however don’t. But that doesn’t mean that there is nothing to do, and only try to compensate with new developments without any guidance but the foundation already laid out in the old and published material.

Now, I’m not at all against new developments, but I’m seriously concerned if that is what it all amounts to. Speculations regarding the possible relation between the 22 Tarot Trumps and the stages of alchemy, or the 22 plates of the Splendor Solis, is nice, at least to stimulate the intellect. But it won’t get you very far in applying actual alchemical formulae. But an even greater danger in all of this lies in the inevitable influences received from modern conceptions of science or worse, the “New Age” market.

Well, I myself like to be influenced by psychoanalysis in my interpretation of the Qabalistic and Theurgical tradition. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that I have lost the traditional perspective. It’s more that I see patterns of similarities and like to broaden the perspective. At least that is my ambition, and I hope that I don’t get lost to easily in the seductive constructs of the modern mind. Thus, new developments should complement, not compensate the lack of, tradition.

But I do understand where this suggestion of analysis of Outer Order Ritual comes from. It is true that S.L. MacGregor Mathers extrapolated the 1°=10° Grade Ceremony in the Theoricus Adeptus Minor sub-grade. Thus he introduced the Th.A.M. to study of the Fylfot Cross, the Table of Shewbread and the Seven Branched Candlestick, as well as the diagram of the Flaming Sword of the Kerubim.

So it is logical to continue with this in the development of the higher sub-grades. However, even in Mathers’ system that was not the only task expected of the Th.A.M., nor was it the most important as it seems. This may be easily inferred from a study of the ‘List of Studies appointed for the Grade of Practicus Adeptus Minor’ (as published by Ellic Howe in The Magicians of the Golden Dawn).

Out of a list of 15 points only 4 concerns the actual 1°=10° ritual. The other points concern completely different formulae of Theurgy which takes off from the Zelator Adeptus Minor study, such as the Ring and Disc, development of clairaudience, further Telesmatic work, an elaborate system of prayer with the use of Egyptian God-Forms, Geomancy, Enochian Chess, etc.

So for me it is obvious that there should be room left for completely different formulae of Magic and Alchemy not having anything to do with the Outer Order Rituals, and it is here (as it was in the original Z.A.M. and Th.A.M. curriculum) where the emphasis should be. And here it becomes quite problematic, as it definitely needs much more creative effort and knowledge of the ancient traditions on behalf of the Chiefs, to create challenging instructions. I suspect this is why there is such emphasis laid on the intellectual analysis of the Outer Order in some schools in the first place.

What I do have a problem with, in this instance, is the notion that the use of alchemical formulae and processes, originally used in other and older venues than that of the G∴D∴ has no place there. What these people miss is the fact that the highest formulae of alchemy is and has always been independent of any outer freemasonic style “Rites” or particular traditions such as the Golden Dawn.

All of the true outer vehicles of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian Tradition are but preparatory schools to prepare the initiate to this true Ageless Wisdom contained in what we call the “Third Order” in our Tradition, but other modern authors has referred to as “The Great White Brotherhood”, but we in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn/Alpha et Omega nowadays simply refer to as the “Alchemical Masters”.

Thus the ancient form of Hermetic Alchemy is the core-source behind all other more modern and legitimate Rites in the Rosicrucian tradition, such as Egyptian Freemasonry (or the “Misraim Rite”). Its Arcana Arcanorum or “Secret of Secrets” of Internal Alchemy was never extrapolated from the actual Rite of Egyptian Freemasonry. It was the other way around; the True Keys to unravel the Alchemical Process was placed in this repository, around which was to be created the Rite of Egyptian Freemasonry as inspired by this “Secret of Secrets”.

The same must be said regarding the Golden Dawn tradition as presented in the Cypher Mss. Its knowledge of Hermetic Inner Alchemy never was nor could ever become extrapolated from the actual Outer Order. Thus it is the other way around; from Hermetic Alchemy was developed the Golden Dawn in the Outer and over all its symbolism is placed the True Keys to unravel the Alchemical Process.

The initiate is prepared subconsciously and energetically in the Outer Order and its hidden alchemical symbology, to receive the advanced alchemical teaching later in his studies. But the initiate needs the true Keys to see their actual meaning. On the other hand, his due preparation makes it easier for him to grasp the alchemical doctrine intuitively after reception of the Keys. But it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fully understand the alchemical implications of the symbology of the G∴D∴ in the Outer, from the operative angle, without this missing Key.

This may also be said of external Alchemy. You normally won’t understand the actual process of Internal Alchemy just by mere performance of the outer processes. For this you need the Keys as given by an Alchemical Master. But on the other hand you will easily grasp the Internal Process after long work with the outer, when you eventually are given these Keys from the hand of the Master.

So, unfortunately, there is no other way than a dead end to be found if one tries to extrapolate advanced alchemical formulae from the Outer Order without the possession of the Keys to unlock Hermetic Alchemy, as the entire Golden Dawn tradition depends from it. Mathers obviously possessed some of these, as may be judged from the Th.A.M. material that he created to explain the diagram of the Flaming Sword of the Kerubim.

This is also a position often held in alchemical circles that it is only few practitioners of the Royal Art who, by the Grace of God, unravel the code as contained in the ancient texts, without the aid of an true initiate of Hermetic Alchemy. The same may be said regarding the creation of a curriculum of the R.R. et A.C. I truly hope, for the sake of the students if not the teachers, that the latter has received this Divine Grace in their work.

Another point. There is often in the Golden Dawn held the opinion that there exists a natural connection between effectiveness and complexity put into a formula. Thus the Golden Dawn often created very complex ceremonial containing several parts extrapolated from the Neophyte Ritual, as suggested in Ritual ‘Z-2’.

Now it is imperative that the Adept must prepare himself duly before starting with the powerful processes of Internal Alchemy. But there are more powerful (and simpler) processes to be learned while in the Inner Order compared to the suggested analysis and implementation of Outer Order Rituals.

However, one formula doesn’t contradict or make unnecessary the other. Personally I like the idea of using a ritual based upon the 1°=10° to make a Geomantic divination, or even alchemical operation. I just recently read John Michael Greer’s Circles of Power and I really like what he suggests with the Equinox formula (that’s a topic for another essay).

But in my experience, what really started to get my secret fire to awaken (got my juices going so to speak) wasn’t any 3 hour long ceremony performed every one or two weeks, but a much more simpler rite (taking approx. 15 minutes) performed daily for a prolonged period of time, involving the activation of my internal Planets, and another even simpler meditation. But of course, the major invocations may have contributed or rather did contribute to the whole picture of my magical process in a subtler and indirect way.

And now I wonder: Why cannot these kind of exercises be allowed to be integrated with the R.R. et A.C. curriculum, or be counted as valid from a G∴D∴ context? These simpler exercises are definitely valid from a purely hermetic and rosicrucian context. And here I was assuming that the G∴D∴ and R.R. et A.C. actually was a Hermetic and Rosicrucian organization… Well isn’t it?

The problem is that people treat the G∴D∴ as a totally separate and self-sufficient organism, separated from the rest of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian community or body. We shouldn’t forget where the G∴D∴ came from. I also am strongly convinced that these isolationist tendencies were completely foreign to the minds of the founders Westcott and MacGregor Mathers. What they did was to integrate several existing traditions into a new and coherent whole. This assimilating quality of the G∴D∴ tradition is one of its strengths and should be utilized even today to further develop the tradition.

What many readers of English occult literature are missing, simply because of the Tower of Babel, is the vast richness of the continental Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions of Europe. Thus it’s not easy to look outside of the G∴D∴ box when so much information is still waiting to be translated into English. I myself, as a Swede, count myself to this unfortunate category, Sweden having turned its back towards the French culture during the 19th Century in its search for Anglo-Saxon influences.

During the “Gustavian era” (i.e. during the reign of the Swedish King Gustav III in the late 18th Century) Swedish intelligentsia and nobility was ripe with the Hermetic and Rosicrucian currents of Germany and France, during a phase where French was a second language to Swedish. Freemasonry was already imported from France and initially followed its Scottish system. Most women and men of the upper class were involved somehow in secret societies. We had active Lodges here of both the Gold- und Rosenkruetz Order, the Asiatic Brethren and E.L.U.D. During the patronage of the King Swedish Freemasonry was developing and took its peculiar esoteric form as it is renown for today. King Gustav III himself was a Freemason and his younger Rosicrucian brother, the Duke Carl (later King Carl XIII), reformed the Swedish Rite into a form it has retained until today. During this era Sweden was definitely on the map of European Rosicrucianism. But during the Victorian era all we had left here was Freemasonry.

Someone told me once that to learn about alchemy I had to learn to read French and German. I can think of yet another language. A quick google on French book titles or retail sellers of occult literature confirms this assumption to be right. English literature can only get you that far. To find the true Holy Grail of the Hermetic Tradition you have to search in different places outside of the Anglo-Saxon culture sphere.

Most European occultists know that the Hermetic tradition, as well as later Rosicrucian, is composed of the triad of disciplines, the Trivium Hermeticum of Magic (Theurgy), Alchemy and Astrology. Even if the Anglo-Saxon tradition went very far with the magical side of this tradition through the Golden Dawn, it lost track almost entirely when it approached alchemy – the ROYAL ART. In my opinion the alchemical tradition has been very much more alive on the European continent since the occult revival of the 19th century.

I believe that an “alchemical wedding” is needed today between the splendid G∴D∴ magical and qabalistic tradition, and its initiatory system, and that of continental Rosicrucian alchemy. Contrary to some, I do see a real benefit from this conjunction to create a living and traditional Rosicrucian tradition composed of the Trivium Hermeticum. Contrary to some, I don’t see this unification as foreign to the essence of the Golden Dawn.

S∴R∴

The passing of a hermetic teacher

o

Jean Dubuis

* 29/4/1919
† 6/4/2010

R.I.P.

The Western Esoteric Community has lost one of its most important and prominent teachers. With his base in Rosicrucianism and Martinism Jean Dubuis has helped many students of the occult in different forms. I have written about him or his teachings many times before on this blog and gathered some salient biographical information in my Swedish essay on Jean Dubuis, the Golden Dawn Adept.

Few people are aware of the fact that he not only was a student of the Golden Dawn tradition but that he also ran a Golden Dawn Temple in the late 1970’s. He thus was one of the earliest pioneers to reinaugurate the Golden Dawn tradition in our modern era.

Unfortunately for me I never had the opportunity to meet him. Thus I have only met him through his correspondence courses on Esotericism, Qabalah, Spagery and Alchemy. His genius is clearly evident in the legacy of written material which he has left for us. Let us uphold his memory and mission by following his directions. Let us follow his often repeated adage of “Ora et Labora”.

S∴R∴

The Path of the Black Dragon

o

In the Western or Hermetic external Alchemical traditions there mainly exists two major paths according to the subject matter, that of the Red and that of the Black Dragons. In Hermetic Alchemy the Dragon signifies the First Matter or Materia Prima, the crude material basis that is to be subjected to the Great Work, or Opus Magnum. There are also distinct “ways” or “paths” which are related to the process itself, or the Modus Operandi of the Great Work. They are basically three, the “wet” or “humid” way, the “dry” way, and lastly the “amalgams” or “mixed” way, the last one combining processes of both the dry and the wet ways.

In short the wet way uses glassware and a “secret fire”, as contrasted to the vulgar fire used in the dry way, and therefore it is seen as the more noble of them both. The amalgams way uses both the vulgar fire from the furnace (Athanor) and glassware. While the process of the wet way is more prolonged and take months rather than days to finish as with the dry way, using heat from chemical reactions which reaches temperatures way below 500°C, the dry way reaches very high temperatures approximating 1000°C.

While there are several matters used with the wet way, such as the Vitriol (Sulphate salts) and the Red Dragon, or Cinnabar (Mercury sulphide), there is a general agreement (however not uncontested) that the matter of the dry and amalgam ways concerns Antimony. Actually it is the mineral and not the metal of Antimony that is being used, i.e. Stibnite (Antimony sulphide). This mineral has several names in Alchemy, such as the Black Dragon, the Scaly Dragon, the Grey Wolf, the Child (or Offspring) of Saturn, the First Born or Saturn, Daughter of Saturn, Son of Saturn, and Venomous Serpent. A beloved child has many names as we say in my native country of Sweden.

The Black Dragon

The Amalgams Way of Antimony was followed by Nicholas Flamel and Eirenaeus Philalethes, and Jean Dubuis, while the Wet Way of Vitriol was lead by Basil Valentinus and that of Cinnabar by Kamala Jnana and Roger Caro, while the Dry Way of Antimony was perpetuated by Basil Valentinus, Cyliani and Fulcanelli. This essay mainly concerns with the so-called “Dry Way of Antimony”, which has been popularised by the books of Eugène Canseliet (1899-1982), the beloved pupil of Fulcanelli. Thus we will remain within the French Alchemical tradition and continue with its disclosure, an exposition that I started with my essay on The Path of the Red Dragon.

The original cover of “Le Mystère des Cathédrales”
drawn by Julien Champagne

Today Fulcanelli is regarded as perhaps the greatest of the Masters of external Alchemy, revered by many modern students of the Hermetic Path. The name “Fulcanelli” is a pen name or a “magical motto”, which may be translated into “The Sacred Fire” (from the roman god Vulcan and the Canaanite god El). He only penned two books that have become modern classics, Le Mystère des Cathédrales (“The Mystery of the Cathedrals”) from 1929, and Les Demeures Philosophales (“Dwellings of the Philosophers”) from 1930. A third book was planned but never came to be published, called Finis Gloriae Mundi (“End of the World’s Glory”).

Part of Fulcanelli’s favorite painting “Finis gloriae mundi”
by Juàn de Valdès Léal

Some claim Canseliet wrote or compiled these works using the notes from his master. Perhaps Canseliet was somewhat involved in its editing as he wrote rather lengthy introductions to both, and later wrote several books on Alchemy using his own name, the most prominent being the L'Alchimie expliquée sur ses textes classiques. In this latter book, which never has been translated into English, Canseliet quite openly describes the Dry Way of Antimony, and modern adherents of this way use both it and Fulcanelli’s Les Demeures Philosophales as their main source material.

Sketch of Fulcanelli by R. A. Schwaller dated 1930

It is said that already in his Dwellings of the Philosophers Fulcanelli were more generous than his predecessors in describing the Alchemical process, however scattered it may be through his work. But in the same vein as the old Masters of the Art, Fulcanelli also resorted to veiled symbolism in his descriptions. This has of course led to different interpretations about the nature of the process, and even about the very Matter of choice, i.e. the identity of the Black Dragon or Daughter of Saturn as Fulcanelli calls it. It’s a fact that even Canseliet sometimes contradicts Fulcanelli, if we are to interpret Fulcanelli literately. And this polemic still continues today and a recent one on two Yahoo forums moderated by the Portuguese Alchemist Rubellus Petrinus actually inspired me to write this piece.

Basil Valentin

Fulcanelli himself believed that he was the pupil of Basilius Valentinus, the famous German alchemist supposedly born in 1394. Canseliet claim Fulcanelli was born in 1839 and there are many other fantastic stories attached to his character, as for example Canseliet meeting his old master in 1953 for the first time after his disappearance, after the end of World War II, and in a much more younger appearance and vigour at that. He is of course reputed to have successfully transmuted led into gold through Projection already in the 1920’s.

François Jollivet-Castelot in his laboratory

However the identity of Fulcanelli is still shrouded in a veil of mystery, even if Canseliet left us some clues. Several names and identities have been proposed, all French, such as the painter Jean-Julien Champagne (1877-1932), the scientist Jules Violle (1841-1923), the renowned alchemist François Jollivet-Castelot (1876-1939), and even Canseliet himself (although that last suggestion seems to be the least probable). However if the suggestions regarding Jollivet-Castelot are correct, this clearly ties him with Cyliani, through G F Tiffereau who reportedly knew Jollivet-Castelot. Most believe him to have been Champagne because of the similar physical appearance.

Self portrait by Jean-Julien Champagne from 1930

The name Fulcanelli is closely attached to an occult group called Frères d'Heliopolis (“Brotherhood of Heliopolis”), which included Canseliet, Champagne and Jules Boucher (1902-1955). Some maintain that Fulcanelli was the founder and head of this Brotherhood. Now this fellow Boucher is interesting besides the other three because of his merits which he later earned as a Martinist, as he later lead the group called l'Ordre Martiniste Rectifié (O:::M:::R:::), founded in 1948 claiming lineage to Robert Ambelain (1907-1997). The fact is that Boucher lead a earlier group together with Ambelain, founded by them together in 1935 and called Association pour la Rénovation de l'Occultisme Traditionnel (L'A.R.O.T.). What we see here is a tightly knit collage of French Adepti which has been highly influential in the modern French occult movement, both before and after the Nazi occupation.

The Ex Libris of Jules Boucher

While on the subject of the highly influential French esotericist Robert Ambelain, it is well worth to mention in this context, that he was the head of the Rose-Croix d'Orient and its inncer circle, the l'Ordre des Chevaliers EASIA-EASIE (“Eques A Santi Iohannes Apostolica-Eques A Sancti Iohannes Evangelistae”). Now Ambelain taught a form of Inner Alchemy based upon certain Pythagorean principles, to produce the Philosopher’s Stone. He also claims that Fulcanelli himself taught a similar Inner Alchemical technique to his students, besides teaching the Dry Way of Antimony. Furthermore Ambelain claims that the Black Madonna, abounding in the Catholic world, was not only the patron of the Order but also the symbol of the Materia Prima of the Dry Path, i.e. of Antimony.

The Black Madonna

Canseliet left several students of his own and inspired others to perpetuate the Fulcanelli tradition of Alchemy, the most renown today being Rubellus Petrinus and Patrick Rivière. Rubellus Petrinus claims that he was taught the Dry Way by the French Alchemical Master publicly know as “Solazaref”, which also used to call himself “Pierre d’Ouche”, who was a close friend of Canseliet and headed the group Filiation Solazaref. The real identity of Solazaref according to some is Daniel Winter. This Filiation seems to be defunct today because of infighting but Solazaref left us some French books to study the Dry Way of Antimony, such as Introitus ad Philosphorum Lapidem.

Eugène Canseliet in 1982

Rubellus Petrinus is the nom de plume of the Portuguese alchemist Telémaco A. Pissarro (1951-), who has written a book translated into English entitled The Great Alchemical Work of Eirenaeus Philalethes, Nicholas Flamel and Basil Valentine which basically is a testament of the author’s understanding of these old Masters of the Royal Art. He runs a very informative web site on Alchemy and Spagery, which perhaps is the best source on the internet about these subjects. He runs several Yahoo-Group forums, the English the-Alchemist and the Portuguese-Spanish Os-alquimistas and El-alquimista, the latter one restricted for only laboratory practicing and experienced alchemists.

Rubellus Petrinus

All these sites are extremely rich on source material when it comes to the practical application of the classical texts and the level of discussion is unparalleled. This fact has clearly placed Rubellus Petrinus on the absolute forefront in contemporary Alchemy of today. He is widely critically acclaimed for his work and contribution to the field of Alchemy and Spagery by most contemporaries amongst scholars and renown practicing alchemists. The fact is that I have this man to thank for most of the information regarding practical Alchemy that I have gathered and complied into this essay.

Patrick Rivière, who claims to have been a personal student of Canseliet, runs an Alchemical group in France known as Spagy-Nature, which is devoted to both the spagyrical tradition of Paracelsus and the Antimony Dry Way of Fulcanelli and Canseliet. This group is also linked to a neo-rosicrucian organization called CHR+CHM, claiming antiquity and lineage to the Rosicrucians of the 17th century. Rivière is an acclaimed author on the history of Alchemy dealing with Paracelsian spagery and the works of Fulcanelli, with French titles such as Alchimie: Science et Mystique, or Alchimie et Archimie, or Pratique de l’Oeuvre Alchimique Végetale & Métallique, etc. The only English translation to date is a book entitled Fulcanelli: His true identity revealed.

Patrick Rivière

Patrick Rivière also runs a quite informative web site for his group Spagy-Nature, where he exhibits some of his work, both as an author and as an alchemist. He has also starred in a documentary by Christian Sulleman entitled L'Alchimie, Science et mysticisme made for France 3. It runs for 52 minutes and is very well made film in my opinion, featuring several French spagyrists and the alchemist Rivière. The last 20 minutes is dedicated to the Dry Way of Antimony and documents the Alchemical process which I will describe below, performed by a member of the Spagy-Nature (presumably Rivière himself). You may watch this entire documentary here, divided into three parts because of time restrictions (the last two minutes of the 2nd part and the entire 3rd part containing the Antimonian work).


L'Alchimie, Science et mysticisme 1/3
Uploaded by Arcadya.

L'Alchimie, Science et mysticisme 2/3
Uploaded by Arcadya.

L'Alchimie, Science et mysticisme 3/3
Uploaded by Arcadya.

After this brief historical exposition, let us now turn our attention to the actual working process as described by Canseliet, the expounder of the mysteries of Fulcanelli, and the preparation of the Holy Mother (Black Madonna). Now I have already mentioned that this signifies the mineral ore, or Stibnite, from which Antimony is extracted. So in the preparation of the Black Dragon it must be subjected to a process of Separatio or Solve. This is done by adding three more matters, namely Mars and a “Double Salt” composed of Tartar and Nitre.

The Nitre is an animal salt or saltpetre blended with dew (which naturally contains a nitrate; the Salt of Dew). The traditional Salt of Tartar is sometimes called “potash” or potassium and is a vegetable salt. Together our Nitre and Tartar constitutes our Salt, which is a Double Salt. This is used together with the purified Stibnite during the process of Separation. But before the Separation the Stibnite must be properly prepared to create the “Antimony of the Sages”, which is done through Assation and Purgation.

Julien Champagne in his laboratory ca. 1927

The initial preparation of the Stibnite is through a process that is described by Canseliet and Solazaref, and by the latter referred to as the “Philosophical Assation”. The reason behind this is that metals taken from the mine or bought in a shop are dead and have to be “reincruded”, i.e. brought back to life. Through this Philosophical Assation the Antimony of the Sages of Fulcanelli is produced, according to the students of Canseliet.

Canseliet in his laboratory

This process transforms the vulgar matter or Stibnite into a Philosophical Matter. Some however contest that this process is actually the true Philosophical Assation. There is also a polemic against and for the need of this Assation, as the detractors accuse Canseliet of inventing it to explain away the denial of Fulcanelli of the vulgar Antimony being the actual matter. I will return to the polemic in the last part of this essay, after my disclosure of the remaining parts of the Alchemical process of the Dry Way of Antimony.

Next comes a process called the Purgation or simply “Purge”, where the Stibnite is purified of its silica using a refractory clay crucible put into a furnace and through a “distilation per descensum”. The greatest problem with the Purge or Purgation is that the alchemist needs to know exactly the suitable temperature for Stibnite ore purgation, so that the Sulphur isn’t burnt away. This of course requires lots of experience of metallurgy.

Crucible

Now it is in place to say something about the furnace which is used in the Dry Way of Antimony, in the before mentioned Purgation and in the following processes. It is basically a modern melting furnace often built by the alchemist himself, from a large cylindrical aluminium cooking pot or from a dustbin. The two ears of the pan comes handy as the furnace has to be portable and placed outside, because of the poisonous fumes which is created during the process (remember one of the names for the Matter, i.e. “venomous serpent”). The inside is covered with a refractory insulator, such as concrete combined with fireclay, vermiculite or silica (sand), or a combination of more or all of these materials. Some simply use cement. In either case a hollow cylindrical space is left in the centre to hold the crucible. The opening is at the top of the cooking pot. A hole is drilled at the side made to fit the propane gas burner.

Furnace with propane gas burner

Some also build similar furnaces as the above example but instead of using propane gas they place charcoal at the bottom and mount an air-blower into the hole at the side so that the furnace is able to reach the desired temperatures. Even though there are many practical advantages of using a propane gas burner I personally find this last type of a charcoal burner as more appealing as it more resembles the ancient Athanors, but without resorting to bellows to keep the high temperature levels. There are lots of “do it yourself” web sites which amply describes the creation process of a melting furnace, of whatever kind desirable.

Charcoal furnace

Furnaces of the first propane gas kind made by Spagy-Nature (as seen in the documentary) may be bought in France from Patrick Rivière’s site at Alchymie.net. Professionally made furnaces similar to these hand-made ones may be bought from several distributors and workshops all over the world. These furnaces are indispensable for this work on the dry and amalgams paths, as both start off with the same preparation and separation in creation of the so-called “Martial Regulus of Antimony”. We may now proceed with it, having prepared and purified the Stibnite ore through Assation and Purgation for it to become the Antimony of the Sages.

Professional furnace

The Antimony, being finely grinded, is now placed inside a refractory clay crucible. Next the alchemist puts a quantity of finest and very old Mars, also grinded to a fine powder. The reason behind this is that Fulcanelli regards it as the male “fire” or “sulphur” that the Alchemist introduces into the female Antimony, which eventually will become the Mercury. Fulcanelli designates Sulphur as “Adam” and Mercury as “Eve”.

Fulcanelli likens this with the image of the crucifixion of Christ, who was put onto the cross by three iron nails. Cyliani on the other hand gives us the metaphor of the knight killing the Black Dragon with a Spear, using a “substance” to unlock the door to the Temple holding the Dragon. Alchemists interpret this “substance” as the Double Salt. Hence the Double Salt, finely grinded, is also to be joined according to specific ratios of quantity, which are partly described in the works of the ancient Masters of the Art, such as Flamel and Philalethes.

The crucible is sealed with a lid and placed inside the furnace. A heat resistant cover, with a chimney hole, is placed onto the opening of the furnace with which to contain the heat. The temperature is now supposed to reach almost 1000°C during the process of Separation of the Martial Regulus from the Antimony. Or to be more specific, the Regulus is separated from the Antimony with the assistance of Mars and the Double Salt. When all reaches the desired temperature and is melted the compound or alloy is then poured into a stainless steel mould with a conical shape.

Crucible inside the furnace

After cooling the waste material is gently removed from the solidified matter with a hammer. The result is the so called Martial Regulus of Antimony, also called the “Starry Regulus”, or using Fulcanellis own words “Astral Stone”, “Celestial Water”, “Alkehest”, and “First Mercury”. These wastes left after the creation of the Regulus are in Alchemical parlance called the “Caput Mortum” and from this is the Sulphur extracted, which is called “First Adam” by Fulcanelli.

Conical mould

In the last part of the first stage of the Great Work the Martial Regulus or Mercury is to be put through a process of Mercurial Purification. This basically means that the Regulus or Mercury is put into the crucible anew, heated to the melting point when it is again poured into the conical mould to cool off, while Adam melts over the Starry Regulus to create a thin enamelled layer. When cooled it creates a scoria called “our Vitriol”.

And this process of Purification is repeated two or three more times to reflect the three days between the crucifixion and resurrection of the Christ. The three nails used in the crucifixion mentioned above echo this process of purification by Mars. Each time this is repeated the Regulus takes a more shining or starry appearance, likened to the Mercury. This is a reference to the glorius body of the Christ after his resurrection, but also to the star that guided the magi (alchemist) at the birth of Jesus. In this purified state the First Mercury has been transformed into the “Philosophical Mercury”. This matter now produced is also called the “mirror of art”, a term understandable by looking at the image of the purified Regulus shining like a mirror.

Martial Regulus

In each of these Purifications the thin enamelled layer or Vitriol created changes its colour and in the 3rd or 4th Purifications takes the form of a clear substance. Thus far the Alchemical work upon the Black Dragon or Stibnite is similar in the Dry Way of Fulcanelli and Canseliet, and in the Amalgams Way of Flamel and Philalethes alike. But as the latter now proceed with a wet or humid processes, the path of Fulcanelli, as taught by Canseliet, continues to proceed with the Dry Way using ovens and crucibles.

Thus we now proceed with the second part of the Great Work or Coagula, which constitutes the Eagles or Sublimation of the Alchemical Sulphur and Mercury, together with the Green Lion. This process is sometimes also called the preparation of the “Rebis”. The end result of this is the so-called “Remora”. Remora, or “suckerfish”, is a fish that reputedly is very hard to catch and therefore serves as a good metaphor for the difficulty of this process and where most fail in the work. It was mentioned already by Michael Sendivogius.

Green Lion

According to Canseliet Adamic Red Earth is placed at the bottom of the crucible. Next is placed the Philosophical Mercury, also called Eve in Fucanellian parlance. When the desired temperature is reached the Red Earth will give away its Sulphur, which will rise and blend with the Philosophical Mercury above it, which in turn will start to melt and rise to the surface. These melted parts of the Philosophical Mercury is called the “ocean” in which the blackish fish Remora is suppose to swim. When the melted Mercury blends with the Green Lion it becomes golden and when cooled produce the Remora.

Remora

Thus the resultant of the Eagles process will be the fish Remora. Its blackish colour has also given it the name of “Black Crow” according to Fulcanelli. The third and last part of the Great Work concerns Coction or cooking of the Remora with the “Secret Fire”, or Golden Salt. This is the digestion process that supposedly all have failed since the days of Fulcanelli as it constitutes the most difficult phase of the work. This process is supposed to eventually result in the Philosopher’s Stone.

Philosopher’s Stone

To take the Stone to the test a Transmutation or Projection is performed. One gram of the Philosopher’s Stone is placed into the crucible together with some base metal, such as vulgar Mercury. Placed into the furnace and exposed to a high temperature the metal is supposed to transmute into Gold.

To complicate matters further there are some alchemists today who regard Fulcanelli as the last in line of Alchemical Masters, or even alchemists, and all authors after him as “puffers”, or to use Fulcanelli’s own words working with “archemy” not Alchemy. Even Canseliet is regarded as a soufleur by some. Not only is the process described wrong by him, according to his detractors, but even his choice of Materia Prima. They state that the Matter is not Stibnite, even if it is supposed to be a mineral sulphide. The often-proposed alternative mineral is Galena (Lead sulphide), because of the fact that Fulcanelli refers to the First Matter as “G”, as in the Masonic letter contained in the Hexagram. The Materia Prima is also called Cohol or Khol, i.e. “coal”, a word often attached to Galena in ancient times.

Masonic letter “G”

Some state that Canseliet initially worked with Galena until 1945 (i.e. at the time of the disappearance of Fulcanelli) but failing in his work with Lead rejected it to embrace Stibnite, after meeting the Spanish alchemist José Gifreda. Being more successful he started to understand that Fulcanelli must actually have have meant Antimony, and by “rejecting” it actually embraced it in the old traditional confusing manner of the old masters of the Art as to hide their secrets.

Galena as the mineral “G”

Others contest Canseliet’s description of the process also because of the fact that many masters of the Art repeatedly state that you cannot use a solvent or alkahest (i.e. Salt) from another kingdom (i.e. vegetable or animal) to dissolve a metal. This is a reference to the Double Salt, which is both vegetable and animal. But in defence of the use of Nitre and Tartar the highly revered Eirenaeus Philalethes used an alkahest that actually was taken from the animal kingdom.

Regarding my own opinions on the matter of the true identity of the Materia Prima I will keep that to myself. But in defence of Stibnite in contrast to Galena one has to contemplate the designation which Fulcanelli, as well as all elder masters, have given to the Matter, i.e. that of the “Offspring of Saturn”. Besides the seven classical Planets (metals) the ancients recognized more metals which were seen as related to the main seven, such as the different Saturnian metals, of which Antimony is but one example. Galena on the other hand is the main Led ore and thus from it is extracted Lead and Sulphur, i.e. it cannot be an “offspring” as it is Saturn itself.

But this is typical of Alchemical lore as each classical author attached his own meaning to the use of common Alchemical symbolism and often developed his own path to the Philosopher’s Stone. Wouldn’t it be best in a perfect Alchemical world if all authors used the same meanings attached to the common symbology, and that there were but one Path? Yes, but this unfortunately is not the case.

So in my essay I have made an exposition of one peculiar Path dealing with one of several First Matters (Antimony), preparing it according to one of several Ways (Dry), according to a peculiar Alchemical master (Canseliet). This is but one of several Ways or Paths, but a very popular one at that, practiced by quite a few alchemists of today. It is also a widely expounded Way, but restricted to French, Spanish and Italian literature and some web sites, in particular the one maintained by Rubellus Petrinus. This subject of the Dry Way of Antimony is also widely discussed on the several fora owned by Petrinus.

The Cruciferous Globe - symbol of Antimony

Thus my exposition is but a summary of information which may be gathered from published sources, even if it takes some time of investigation. Now, when I wrote the first version of this essay I wrote all I know about it in plain and fully disclosed manner. But adhering to the old principle of Silence I finally decided to heavily amend and abbreviate the text until it reached the format which you have been reading.

Silent madonna

Anyone wishing to read the fully disclosed version, which describes this entire process of the Great Work in detail, may send me an e-mail. But to receive a pdf-copy you have to be a member of my Order, or belong to an affiliated or recognized Temple or fraternal organization.

Finally I must also state that the confusion that resides within Alchemy mainly concerns the external way, or analogical path, also referred to as the Lunar Mysteries. When we concern ourselves with the Internal Way of Hermetic Alchemy the confusion is dissipated. Hence the confusion arises in a general misinterpretation of Alchemy in the first place, who seeks outer similarities in internal processes as disclosed by the direct or Solar Mysteries.

However I personally do see a great significance and practical value of the Lunar Mysteries, as well as the Solar. Thus I consider practice of Outer or External Spagyric Alchemy as a prerequisite of the practice of Inner or Internal Hermetic Alchemy. And on the Tree of Life and the Rosicrucian Grade system I would correspond the work with the Black Dragon to the fiery Geburah of Mars and the Adeptus Major 6°=5° Grade, as well as I would assign the work with the Red Dragon to the watery Chesed and the Adeptus Exemptus 7°=4° Grade; the former because of the use of vulgar fire of the Athanor and intense processes, not to mention the creation of the Martial Regulus, and the latter because of the humid and tranquil quality of the work, and the use of the Secret Fire.

S∴R∴