RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page iiEach issue of the Rosicrucian Digest provides members and all interested readers with a compendium of materials regarding the ongoing flow of the Rosicrucian Timeline. The articles, historical excerpts, art, and literature included in this Digest span the ages, and are not only interesting in themselves, but also seek to provide a lasting referenceshelf to stimulate continuing study of all of those factors which make up Rosicrucian history and thought. Therefore, we present classical background, historical development, and modern reflections on each of our subjects, using the many forms of primary sources, reflective commentaries,the arts, creative fiction, and poetry.This magazine is dedicated to all the women and men throughout the ages who have contributed to and perpetuated the wisdom of the Rosicrucian,Western esoteric, Tradition.May we ever be worthy of the light with whichwe have been entrusted.In this issue of the Rosicrucian Digest we are initiated into the sagacity and inspiration of the Men and Women of the Traditional Martinist Order.Page 1Peter Kingsley, Ph.D. Paths of the Ancient Sages: A Pythagorean HistoryGiulia Minicuci and Mary Jones, S.R.C.PythagorastheTeacher:FromSamosto Metapontum Ruth Phelps, S.R.C. The School of PythagorasAnonymous The Golden Verses of PythagorasAntoine Fabre dOlivet,Excerpt from Examination of the Golden VersesHugh McCague, Ph.D., F.R.C. Pythagoreans and Sculptors: The Canon of Polykleitos Melanie Richards, M.Mus., S.R.C. Pythagoras and MusicLisa Spencer, M.A.O.M., S.R.C. TheNeo-PythagoreansatthePortaMaggiorein RomeJean Guesdon, S.R.C SilenceFrater X, Music of the Spheres and Pythagorean Numerology Ben Finger,Apollonius: Man or Myth? Ralph M. Lewis, F.R.C.Reviewing our ActsStaff of the Rosicrucian Research Library A Pythagorean BookshelfThe Traditional Martinist Order - Introduction2Martinism: History of a Traditional Order3Christian Rebisse, SITake Back My Will13Louis-Claude de Saint-MartinMartinist Lessons14Julian Johnson, SIAurora20Jacob BoehmeTranslated by Marion S. Owens, SITreatise on the Reintegration of Beings23Martins de PasquallyOf Errors and Truth24Louis-Claude de Saint-MartinWhat Becomes of the Dead28Papus, SI (Grard Encausse, MD)Traditional Martinist Order Discourse32KABBALAH (Te Tree of the Sephiroth)Ieschouah, Grand Architect of the Universe38Christian Rebisse, SIThe Cloak44Julie Scott, SIMartinism: The Way of the Heart49Steven Armstrong, SIThe Holy Spirit54Christian Bernard, SIEstablishedin1915bytheSupreme Grand Lodge of the English Language Jurisdiction,AMORC,Rosicrucian Park, San Jose, CA 95191.Copyright 2014 by the Supreme Grand LodgeofAMORC,Inc.Allrights reserved.Republicationofanyportion ofRosicrucianDigestisprohibited without prior written permission of the publisher.ROSICRUCIANDIGEST(ISSN #00358339) is published bi-annually for $12.00 per year, single copies $6.00, bytheGrandLodgeoftheEnglish LanguageJurisdiction,AMORC, Inc., at 1342 Naglee Ave., San Jose, CA95191.POSTMASTER:Send address changes to ROSICRUCIAN DIGESTat1342NagleeAve.,San Jose, CA 951910001.Official Magazine of the Worldwide Rosicrucian OrderVol. 92 - No. 1 No. 1 - 2014MartinismeRosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 2The Traditional Martinist Order - Introduction.................................. . . . . . . . . . . . ...................................The Traditional Martinist Order is an initiatic Order and a school of moral chivalrybasedonJudeo-Christian mysticism.Althoughbasedontheeso-tericteachingsofChristianityandJudaism (Kabbalah),itisnotareligionandMar-tinistmemberscomefrommanydifferent traditions and all walks of life.In addition, theMartinistteachingsincludelessonsand experimentsonunderstandingourdreams, therelationshipsofnumbers,attuningwith the celestial bodies, symbolism, and more.TenameMartinismisderivedfrom thatofLouis-ClaudedeSaint-Martin (1743-1803),theFrenchmysticandau-thorwhowroteunderthepseudonymof theUnknownPhilosopher.Martinism was formed into an Order by Grard En-causse, MD (known as Papus) and Augus-tinChaboseauinthelate1800s,andis nowconductedundertheauspicesofthe Rosicrucian Order, AMORC.In this issue of the Rosicrucian Digest, we present excerpts from some of the core texts of Martinism and a sample Martinist lesson. We also share inspiring perspectives and meditations from some modern Mar-tinists.AsMartinistmemberssometimesex-presstooneanother,wehopethatthis issueoftheRosicrucianDigestfeaturing Martinism may assist you in ever dwelling in the Eternal Light of Divine Wisdom!Page 3Martinism: History of a Traditional OrderChristian Rebisse, SIIn this article Christian Rebisse presents a comprehensive review of the history of the Traditional MartinistOrder,fromitsbeginningswithLouis-ClaudedeSaint-Martinsmentors,Jacob Boehme and Martins de Pasqually, to todays worldwide mystical order.In1889,theFourthWorldsFair, celebratingthecentenaryofFrances 1789 Revolution, opened in Paris. It was a splendid fair where the marvel of electricity triumphed. The fairs main attraction was the inaugurationoftheEiffel Tower,agigantic metallic monument that was soon to become thesymboloftriumphantmaterialism, technology, and industry. Was it not the very incarnation of a new Tower of Babel?Meanwhile, Martinism was in the pro-cess of being reorganized and had just be-gunpublishingitsmagazineLInitiation. Upon what foundations did the Martinists of that time rely to erect their Temple, and who were the craftsmen of its reconstruc-tion?Inanswer,onemaydatethebirthof theMartinistOrdertothemeetingof two custodians of an initiation that had beenpasseddownfromthetimeofLou-is-ClaudedeSaint-Martin(1743-1803). Teir names were Grard Encausse (better known as Papus) and Augustin Chaboseau.Te lus-CohenLouis-Claude de Saint-Martin was the disciple of Martins de Pasqually. Around 1754,PasquallyfoundedtheOrdredes lus-Cohen(OrderofElectPriests)soas tohavehisdisciplesworktowardper-sonalreintegrationthroughthepractice oftheurgy,whichreliedoncomplexcer-emonial practices aimed at what Pasqually termedthereconciliationoftheminor personwithDivinity.Tiswastobeac-complishedthroughhumancommunica-tion with the so-called angelic hierarchies. AccordingtoPasqually,theangelswere humankinds only support in his eforts to becomereconciledwiththeDivineafter Te Fall.Tus,contrarytowhatisgenerally thought,Martinismisnotamereexten-sion of the Ordre des lus-Cohen, and Mar-tinsdePasquallyshouldnotbeconsid-ered the founder of the Martinist Order.In1772,beforetheorganizationof hisOrderwascompleted,Martinsde Pasqually left France on family business for Haitifromwhenceheneverreturned. He died in Santo Domingo in 1774. After the disappearance of Pasqually, several dis-ciples of the master continued to spread his teachings, each from a unique perspective. Twodisciplesparticularlydistinguished themselvesnamely,Jean-BaptisteWill-ermoz and Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.AnardentadeptofFreemasonryand theurgy,Jean-BaptisteWillermoz(1730-1824)wasincontactwiththeGerman StricteObservanceTemplire(StrictTem-plarObservance).In1782,ataConven-ticleoftheOrderinWilhelmsbad,Will-ermozincorporatedPasquallysteachings into the higher degrees of that orderthe degreesofProfsandGrandProfsbut didnotpassalongthetheurgicpractices ofthelus-Cohen.DuringtheConven-ticle,theStricteObservance Templirewas reformedunderanewname,theCheva-RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 4liers Bienfaisants de la Cit Sainte (Knights Benefactor of the Holy City).Meanwhile,Louis-ClaudedeSaint-MartinhadrenouncedFreemasonry.He forsooktheurgytheexteriorwayin favor of the benefts of the interior way. Infact,heconsideredtheurgytobedan-gerous,andangelicevocationfarfrom infalliblewhenconductedthroughex-teriormethods. Wemightevenputinto Saint-Martinsmouththefollowingex-cerpt from a poem by Angelus Silesius, en-titled Chrubinique:GoawaySeraphims,youcannotcom-fort me!Goawayangelsandallthatmaybe seen close to you;Ijumpallaloneinto theuncreatedseaof pure Deity.AccordingtoSaint-Martin,theimplement and crucible of this mys-teriouscommunionis the heart of humankind. He sought to enter into theheartoftheDivine andmaketheDivine enterhisheart.Itisin this sense that we call the path advocated by Saint-Martin Te Way of the Heart. Te evo-lutionofSaint-Martinsinteriorperspec-tivecanbetracedtohisdiscoveryofthe worksofJacobBoehme.Inhispersonal diary,Saint-Martinwrote,Itistomy frst master [Pasqually] that I owe my frst stepsuponthespiritualpath,butitisto my second master [Boehme] that I owe the most signifcant steps. He enlarged upon the ideas of his two masters and incorpo-ratedthemintoapersonalsystempassed on through an initiation to a few chosen disciples.1Saint-Martinwasnotthefounderof theMartinistOrder,whichwasalater development.However,wedoknowthat agroupformedaroundhim,alludedto inthelettersofsomeofhisfriends(circa 1795) under the name Cercle Intime (Inti-mate Circle) or Socit des Intimes (Associa-tion of Intimates). In Le Lys dans la Valle (TeLilyinthe Valley)thegreatnovelist Honor de Balzac refers to the existence of groups of Saint-Martins disciples: An in-timate friend of the Duchess of Bourbon, Mme. de Verneuil, belonged to a holy soci-ety whose soul was Mr. Saint-Martin, born in Touraine and nicknamed the Unknown Philosopher.Tisphilosophersdisciples practiced the virtues recommended by the high speculations of mystical Illuminism.2 TeInitiationoriginallytransmittedby Saint-Martinwaspassed downtomoderntimes through various so-called fliations.Bytheendof thenineteenthcentury, twomeninparticular werethecustodiansof the Initiation, Dr. Grard EncausseandAugustin Chaboseau, each through adiferentfliation.Let usbriefyexaminethese fliations.Martinist FiliationLouis-Claude de Saint-Martin died on October13,1803.HehadinitiatedJean AntoineChaptal,achemisttowhomwe owethediscoveryofcertainmanufactur-ingprocessesforalumandthedyeingof cotton,aswellasthevinifcationprocess calledchaptalization(theprocessofadd-ingsugartothemust).Chaptalhadsev-eralchildren,amongthemadaughter whomarriedtobecomeMme.Delaage. She had a son, Henri Delaage, who wrote many books on the history of ancient initi-ation. He in turn was initiated by someone whosenamewedonotknowprobably his father or mother, for when his grandfa-Jacob Boehme. Page 5ther (Chaptal) died, the young Henri De-laage was only seven and too young to re-ceive the Initiation. Henri Delaage passed on the Initiation to Grard Encausse (Pa-pus) in 1882.Tesecondfliationproceededasfol-lows.Aboutthemiddleof1803,Saint-MartinwasstayingatAulnaywithhis friend,theAbbotdelaNoue,whomhe hadlongsinceinitiated.Tisclergyman, an independent priest possessing an ency-clopedicknowledge,initiatedthelawyer Antoine-Louis Marie Hennequin. Te lat-terinitiatedHyacintheJoseph-Alexandre Tabaud de Latouche, better known under the pen name of Henri de Latouche, who inturninitiatedHonor deBalzacandAdolphe Desbarolles,theCount of Authencourt, to whom weoweafamousdisser-tationonpalmistry.Te latterinitiatedHenride Latouchesniece,Amlie NouldeLatouche,the MarchionessofBoisse-Mortemart who, in 1886, initiated her nephew, Au-gustin Chaboseau.3Te Creation of the Martinist OrderItwasfromthemeetingofthesetwo spiritualdescendantsofLouis-Claudede Saint-MartinAugustinChaboseauand PapusthataninitiatoryOrdercalled OrdreMartiniste(MartinistOrder)was born. Papus and Augustin Chaboseau were both studying medicine. A mutual friend, GatanLeymarie,DirectorofLaRevue Spirite,knowingoftheirdeepinterestin esotericism,arrangedforthemtogetto-gether. Te two medical students soon be-camefriendsanddiscoveredtheirmutual participationininitiaticfliationsgoing back to Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. In 1888, they pooled what they had received andmadeplanstopassthisontoafew seekers of truth. To achieve their goal, they foundedwhatwecalltheMartinistOr-der,anditisonlyafterthistimethatthe Martinist Order can be said to have existed assuch.(Wewillseelaterhowthename oftheOrderwasalteredbyaddingsuch qualifcationsasTraditionalorSynar-chical.)AlthoughtheOrderhadnostruc-tureatthattime,thenumberofinitiates increasedrapidly.ItwasthenthatPapus createdthemagazineLInitiation.AsPa-pus had not yet fnished his education, af-ter which he was to complete his military service, it was not until July 7, 1892, that hesuccessfullydefended hismedicalthesis.Still, whatactivity!Hehad alreadyorganizedthe OrdreMartiniste,estab-lishedlcoleHermtique (theHermeticSchool), createdthemagazines LInitiationandLeVoile dIsis, and written, at age twenty-three,LeTrait lmentairedeSciences Occultes(TeElemen-taryTreatiseonOccult Sciences)and,atage twenty-four,LeTarotdes Bohmiens(TarotoftheBohemians).His associateswerenotmucholderthanhe, except for F.C.H. Barlet.In 1887, Papuss esoteric interests had been aroused by the writings of Louis Lu-cas,achemist,alchemist,andHermeti-cist.Astudentofoccultism,hestudied theworksofEliphasLeviandmadethe acquaintance of Barlet (Albert Faucheux), alearnedoccultist,andFlixGaboriau, directoroftheTeosophicalmagazineLe Lotus Rouge (Te Red Lotus). In 1887, Pa-pusalsojoinedtheTeosophicalSociety, foundedearlierin1875byHelenaBla-vatsky and Colonel Olcott.Papus.RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 6Te 1891 Supreme CouncilPapussoonadoptedadetachedat-titudetowardtheTeosophicalSociety. ItpromotedanEastern,Buddhisticcon-cept of esotericism which went so far as to trivialize, even suppress, the perspectives of Westernesotericism.Tisattitudepro-claimingthesuperiorityofEasternover Western traditionalarmed Papus. At the same time a more serious danger appeared onthehorizonwhichmadeitimpossible toperpetuatethe Westerntraditioninits customarysilenceandobscurity.Accord-ing to Papus and Stanislas de Guaita, some occultistsweretryingtoshiftthehubof esotericism away from Parisits tradition-alcentertoplacesmorefavoredbythe Eastern enthusiasts.Tusitwasdecidedinhighplaces, Papuswrote,thatacampaignofexten-sionshouldbeundertakentoselecttrue initiatescapableofadaptingtheEastern traditiontothecenturywhichwasabout to open. Te purpose was to preserve the perenniality of the Eastern tradition while atthesametimeopposingatrendwhich wouldhaveledsincereseekerstowardan impasse between Eastern and Western eso-tericism.Martinismwastobetheinstru-ment of this plan.In1890,Papusresignedfromthe TeosophicalSociety.Fromthatdate, Martinism became better organized. Mar-tinistinitiationsbecamemorefrequent, andinthefollowingyear,July1891,the Martinist Order created a Supreme Coun-cilcomposedoftwenty-onemembers.4 Papus was elected Grand Master. Trough Papuss many talents and the material sup-portofLucienMauchel(Chamuel),the Ordergrewrapidly.TefrstMartinist Lodgeswereestablished,andfoursoon appearedinParisLeSphinx,headedby Papus, which ofered general studies; Her-manubis,headedbySdir,whichtaught mysticismandeasterntradition;Velleda, headed by Victor-Emile Michelet, devoted tothestudyofsymbolism;andSphinge, intendedtopromotethearts.Martinist groups formed in several other French cit-iesaswell.TeOrderalsospreadtoBel-gium,Germany,England,Spain,Italy, Egypt, Tunisia,theUnitedStates,Argen-tina, Guatemala, and Colombia. Te April 1898 issue of LInitiation claimed as many as forty lodges throughout the world, and later that year it could boast one hundred thirteen.Te Faculty of Hermetic SciencesMartinistswantedtoreviveWestern esotericism; however, there was no place in FrancewhereHermeticsciencescouldbe studied.Papusrefected,Sincethereex-istfacultieswherewecanlearnmaterial-isticsciences,whyshouldnttherebeone wherewecanlearnesotericsciences! To meetthatneed,Martinistsorganizeda schoolthatwouldcreatecoursesandlec-turesintendedtocommunicateWestern esotericvaluestoseekersdrawnfromthe public.Tisschoolbecamethebreeding ground from which prospective Martinists were selected for initiation. In fact, it was to become the outer circle of the Martinist Order, and was called the cole Suprieure LibredesSciencesHermtiques(theInde-pendentHighSchoolofHermeticSci-ences). It later changed its name to Groupe Indpendantdtudessotriques,thento cole Hermtique, and fnally to Facult des Sciences Hermtiques (Faculty of Hermetic Sciences).It ofered a multitude of courses (about twelvemonthly),withsubjectsranging fromKabbalahtoAlchemy,Victor-Emile Michelet to the Tarot, covering the history of Hermetic philosophy. Te more diligent teacherswerePapus,Sdir,Victor-Emile Michelet,Barlet,AugustinChaboseau, and Sisera. A special group under Augustin ChaboseaustudiedtheEasternsciences. Another under F. Jollivet Castelot studied Page 7Alchemy and took the name Socit Alchi-miquedeFrance(AlchemicalSocietyof France). Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix HavingorganizedtheoutercirclethencalledtheGroupeIndpendant dtudessotriquestheMartinistsalso created an inner circle, the Ordre Kabbal-istiquedelaRose-Croix(KabbalisticOr-deroftheRoseCross).OnJuly5,1892, theMartinistOrderandtheOrdreKab-balistiquedelaRose-Croixwerelinkedby anagreement.AccordingtoStanislasde Guaita,MartinismandtheRose-Croix constitutedtwocomplementaryforcesin thefullscientifcmeaningoftheterm.5 TeKabbalisticOrderoftheRoseCross hadbeenrevivedin1889byStanislasde GuaitaandJosephinPladan.Admission wasreservedstrictlyforMartinistS.I.s who had attained that Degree at least three yearsbeforeandunderspecialcircum-stances.Tenumberofmemberswasto be limited to one hundred forty-four, but apparently this number was never reached.Te purpose of the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix was to complete the spiri-tual formation of those in the S.I. Degree. It was divided into three Degrees, leading tothefollowingdiplomas:Bachelorin Kabbalah,KabbalahGraduate,andDoc-tor of Kabbalah. When Stanislas de Guaita died in 1897, eight years after the Orders founding, Barlet was appointed head, but neverfulflledhisduties;theOrdreKab-balistiquedelaRose-Croixbecamemore or less dormant. As late as World War I in 1914,Papuswasstilltryingtorevivethe Order, without success.TospreadIlluminism,theMartinists didnothesitatetomergewithotherini-tiatory organizations. Tus, in 1908 Papus organized a great international spiritualis-ticconventioninParisaneventwhich brought together no fewer than thirty ini-tiatory organizations. Te secretary of this huge undertaking was Victor Blanchard, a Martinist who later made use of this tech-nique to organize the F.U.D.O.S.I.Sometimes,inhismanyalliances, Papuswouldallowhimselftobeover-whelmed by the emotional zeal of his col-leagues. So it was with the glise Gnostique (GnosticChurch),foundedaround1889 byJulesDoisnelafteraspiritualexperi-ence.ItisoftenclaimedthattheGnostic Churchbecametheofcialchurchofthe Martinists.Infact,theimportanceofthe alliancehasbeenexaggeratedbysomeof the pseudo-successors of Papus. Although theMartinistOrdermergedwithmany organizationsLesIllumins(TeIllumi-nati),LesBabistes(TeBabists),LeRite cossais(TeScottishRite),orMemphis Misramitalwaysmaintaineditsin-dependence.Itwascommonpracticein thosedaystobelongtoseveralinitiatory organizations at once. Some, unfortunate-ly, abused the privilege, becoming aficted withaterriblediseasethatoftenappears among the superfcially initiated: the ten-dencytocollecttitlesasasubstitutefor true esoteric study.Papus and most of the Martinist lead-ers had assumed important responsibilities in the Egyptian Freemasonry of the Rite of Memphis-Misram, for example. But com-paredtoitsninety-sevendegrees,thefew Martinistdegreesseemedinfnitesimal! AnumberofMartinists,dazzledbythe prodigious titles of the Memphis-Misram Degrees, no longer took time to study the teachings. Tus, many plunged into a kind ofinitiatorypromiscuityand lost theun-derlying purpose and essence of initiation.World War I (1914-1918)WiththeonsetofWorldWarIthe Order became dormant. Everyone was in-volved in defending France. Papus volun-teeredforthefrontandwasassignedthe postofchiefphysician,withtherankof Captain.Heviewedassacredhisobliga-RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 8tions to his country. Augustin Chaboseau, unabletoserveinaphysicalcapacity, joinedthedepartmentalstafofAristide Briandsministry,frstasamagistrate, thenasChairmanoftheBoard.Papus died before the end of the war on October 25,1916.Bythetimethewarwasover, members of the Supreme Board were scat-tered;nonewGrandMasterwaselected. WithPapusgone,Martinismisdead, JollivetCastelotlamented.6SeveralMar-tiniststriedtoassumeleadershipofthe Order, but they altered the essence of Mar-tinism so drastically that many Martinists preferred not to participate and remained independent.Short-Lived SuccessionsSeveral Martinist groups came into ex-istence at that time, but most were short-lived, and followed no single leader. When a Russian Martinist asked Barlet who was theOrdersleaderinFrance,Barletan-swered, half-smiling: Martinism is a circle whose circumference is everywhere with its center nowhere.7 Let us take a quick look attheorganizationsofthisperiod,which are often confused, and some of the issues that historians have enjoyed clouding.Tefrstoftheseorganizationswas formedundertheleadershipofJeanBri-caud,whoclaimedthatPapushaddesig-nated Teder to be his successor, and Teder in turn, on his deathbed, had named Bri-caudashissuccessor.HeshowedthePa-risianMartinistsadocumentpurporting tocertifyhisappointmentastheheadof theOrder,butnoonetookitseriously, believing that Bricaud had probably writ-ten it himself, and he was not recognized.8 Jean Bricaud formed a small group in Lyon whichmasonizedtheOrderbyadmit-tingonlyeighteenth-degreeMasons.Te resultwasaversionofMartinismwhich hadlittletodowiththatofPapusand AugustinChaboseau.Inaddition,Jean Bricaudclaimedanlus-Cohenfliation whichRobertAmbelainhasshowntobe without foundation.9 Bricauds movement remained essentially centered in Lyon.10Asecondgroupwasestablishedun-dertheleadershipofVictorBlanchard. Blanchard had been Master of the Parisian LodgeMelchissedecandwasrecognized byanumberofParisianMartinists.On November11,1920,theJournalOfciel announcedtheestablishmentofVictor Blanchards Order under the name Union GnraledesMartinistesetdesSynarchistes (GeneralAssociationofMartinistsand Synarchists),orOrdreMartinisteSyn-archique(SynarchicalMartinistOrder). In1934,VictorBlanchardinitiatedH. Spencer Lewis into that Order. Later, Lew-is would receive from Blanchard a charter tobeGrandInspectorfortheAmericas, anothertobeSovereignGrandMaster LegatefortheUnitedStates,andautho-rizationtoestablishtheLouis-Claudede Saint-Martin TempleinSanJose.(Ralph Maxwell Lewis would also be initiated into theOrdreMartinisteSynarchiqueinSep-tember 1936.) We will return to the Ordre Martiniste Synarchique later.Augustin Chaboseau.Page 9InParis,severalindependentgroups werecreated,buttherewasnoSupreme CouncilacknowledgedbyMartinistsasa whole.Infact,mostMartinistspreferred to continue working independently in the backgroundinsteadofrushingintoquar-rels over succession.Birth of the Traditional Martinist OrderTere seemed to be no solution to the problem.In1931,JeanChaboseausug-gested to his father that the survivors of the 1891 Supreme Council meet to reestablish the Martinist Order on its pristine founda-tions. Apart from A. Chaboseau, the only survivors were Victor-Emile Michelet and Chamuel.WemustnotforgetthatAugustin Chaboseauwastheco-founderofMar-tinismin1889andhadreceivedhisini-tiationthroughthedirectfliationofhis aunt Amlie de Boisse-Mortemart. Victor-EmileMichelethadbeenanimportant memberoftheHermeticUniversityand MasteroftheVelledaLodge.Chamuel had been the material organizer of the Or-der, using the back room of his bookstore toshelterthefrstactivitiesoftheOrder. Other Martinists joined them: Dr. Octave Bliard, Dr. Robert Chapelain, Pierre Lvy, Ihamar Strouvea, Gustave Tautain, as well as Papuss son, Philippe Encausse. Philippe associatedwiththeMartinistOrderfora time,thenpartedfromit.Hisconcerns seem to have been elsewhere, as confrmed by a book he devoted to the memory of his father the following year.11OnJuly24,1931,theMartinists, meetingagainwithAugustinChaboseau, decided to revive Martinism under its au-thenticandtraditionalaspect.Todistin-guish it from numerous pseudo-Martinist organizations, they added the qualifcation TraditionaltothenameoftheOrder.In doingso,thesurvivorsofthe1891Su-premeCouncillaidclaimtotheperpe-tuity of the Order founded by them with Papus.12Martinismwasregainingsomeofits strength. A Grand Master was appointed. Astraditiondictated,itwastheoldest member,AugustinChaboseau.Asearly asApril1932,hechosetorelinquishthe ofce to Victor-Emile Michelet. Although active, the Order remained relatively secret under his leadership. When Michelet died on January 12, 1938, Augustin Chaboseau resumed the ofce of Grand Master of the Traditional Martinist Order.Martinism and F.U.D.O.S.I.InAugust1934,thefrstmeetingsof theF.U.D.O.S.I.wereheldinBrussels.13 Various initiatory Orders were brought to-gethertounitetheireforts.Troughthe F.U.D.O.S.I.,VictorBlanchardhopedto restore the worldwide unity of Martinism under his leadership. However, many Mar-tinistswereabsent.TeTraditionalMar-tinist Order was not represented and does notseemtohavebeeninvited.JeanBri-caud, probably fearing that his title would bechallenged,preferredtoabstain.On August 9, during a Martinist meeting, Vic-tor Blanchard was recognized as Sovereign GrandMasterbyattendingMartinists, andGeorgesLagrzeasDeputyGrand Master.14VictorBlanchardauthorizedDr.H. SpencerLewistoestablishLodgesofthe Synarchical Martinist Order in the United States,butwasunabletodeliverthere-quireddocumentstoeitherLewis,mile Dantinne,EdouardBertholet,orothers. Asaprecaution,Dr.Lewispreferredto waitforformalgeneralrulesbeforeven-turingfurther.Martinistsfromotherju-risdictionsadoptedthesameattitude.It turnedoutthattheactivitiesoftheSyn-archicalMartinistOrderwerelimitedto thetransmissionofthevariousMartinist DegreeInitiations,andtheOrderother-wise had no actual existence. Tere was no MartinistLodgeinParisatthetime,and Victor Blanchard gave his initiations in the temple of the Fraternit des Polaires.RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 10Fiveyearslater,notmuchhadim-proved.In1939theF.U.D.O.S.I.re-solvedtoremovethetrustthathadbeen bestowedonVictorBlanchard.Georges Lagrzetooktheopportunitytopoint outtomembersoftheF.U.D.O.S.I.that therewasindeedaMartinistfullyquali-fedtoleadtheOrder,whoseexistence Blanchard, intentionally or not, had never mentioned. Tis Martinist, Augustin Cha-boseau, past collaborator of Papus and last survivorofthe1891SupremeCouncil, wasalsotheonlyoneentitledtodirect thedestinyofMartinism.Consequently, adelegationwassenttomeetwithAu-gustinChaboseau.Afterconsideringthe situation, he agreed to head the Martinist Order. At a special F.U.D.O.S.I. meeting, alltheattendingMartinistsralliedbefore theauthorityoftheGrandMasterofthe Traditional Martinist Order. Tus, in July 1939, the Traditional Martinist Order was admittedintotheF.U.D.O.S.I.,resulting in a drop in the membership of the Synar-chical Martinist Order.AugustinChaboseau,whohadjust assumedtheleadershipofMartinism,re-placedVictorBlanchardasImperatorof the F.U.D.O.S.I., becoming one of a triad ofImperatorsrunningthatorganization, thetwoothersbeingSrHieronymus (mileDantinne)andRalphM.Lewis (hisfatherhavingpassedthroughtransi-tion on August 2, 1939). A few days later, aletterfromtheInternationalSupreme CounciloftheTraditionalMartinistOr-derconfrmedRalphM.Lewissappoint-mentasRegionalGrandMasterforthe UnitedStatesofAmericaandmemberof the International Supreme Council.World War II (1939-1945)JustasMartinisttraditionwasbeing reestablishedacrosstheAtlanticOcean (and none too soon), European Martinists, a few months later, were subjected to a new andterribleordeal.WorldWarIIwasto havedireconsequencesfortheMartinist Order. Many Martinists lost their lives on battlefeldsandinconcentrationcamps. OnAugust14,1940,shortlyafterthe outbreakofhostilities,theFrenchofcial newspaper published a decree from the Vi-chy Government banning all secret societ-ies in France. Most of the leaders of these organizationswerearrested.TeTradi-tional Martinist Order became dormant in France in an ofcial sense, but underneath thetrueworkneverstoppedasAthanor and Brocliande Lodges remained secretly active. Taking refuge in Brittany, Augustin Chaboseauwasnotovertlyharassed,but Dr. Bliard had some difculties with the Gestapo.GeorgesLagrzewasforcedto hideinNormandy,theninAngers,15 but despite constant searches of his residence, he continued to communicate with Ralph M. Lewis through Jeanne Guesdon.Bytheendofthewarin1945,there wereonlyafewsurvivorsleft.Te Tradi-tionalMartinistOrderwasofciallyre-vived under Augustin Chaboseau, but un-fortunatelyhepassedthroughtransition on January 2, 1946. Georges Lagrze died Ralph Maxwell Lewis.Page 11in Angers on April 16 of that year. Te Or-der in France had, with their passing, lost essentialelements.JeanChaboseauwas appointed to succeed his father. Tough a worthy Martinist, he was a poor organizer andfailedtorevivetheOrderinFrance. TemembersoftheSupremeCouncil graduallylostconfdenceinhimandre-signed.Itshouldbestated,however,that someMartinistsdidmuchtocomplicate hiswork;tiredofquarreling,JeanCha-boseaudecidedtodeclaretheOrderdor-mant. Belgian Martinists, under the lead-ership of Sr Renatus (Ren Rosart), tried tocontinuetheworkoftheOrderunder thenameOrdreMartinisteUniversel,and VictorBlanchardapprovedthedecision. ButRenRosartstransitioninOctober 1948 efectively checked any further devel-opment of the Universal Martinist Order. Brother Heb Alghim S (Dr. E. Bertholet) succeededRenRosart,butchosetoal-low an Order that had never been active to die out. On May 13, 1965, Dr. Bertholet passed away without appointing a succes-sor.16Meanwhile,theTraditionalMartinist Order had sufered no harm in the United Statesandwasworkingquietly,waiting for afairs to calm down in Europe. Ralph LewiskepthistitleofRegionalGrand Master, and ten years later, when the Tra-ditional Martinist Order was reestablished in France and other countries, he assumed thetitleofSovereignGrandMaster.For forty-eightyearsRalphM.Lewisledthe TraditionalMartinistOrder.Afterhis transitiononJanuary12,1987,hewas succeeded by Gary Stewart. In April 1990, ChristianBernardwasappointedSover-eign Grand Master of the Traditional Mar-tinist Order.Todays Traditional Martinist OrderAsyoucansee,theMartinistOrder, despiteadversity,hasalwayssucceeded intransmittingitsLightthroughtime. Tough there exist several Martinist obe-diencestoday,itistheTraditionalMar-tinistOrderwhichhasthelargestmem-bership.Inthelastfewyears,Sovereign Grand Master Christian Bernard, has been patientlyreorganizingtheOrder.One hundredyearsaftertheestablishmentof theSupremeCouncilin1891,andsixty years after the founding of the Traditional RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 12ENDNOTES1.Not all Martinist historians agree on this point. Some believethatSaint-Martindidnotpassoninitiation intheusualsenseoftheterm.Accordingtothem, Papusshouldbelookeduponasthefounderofthe MartinistInitiation.SeeLeMartinismebyRobert Amadou, Ascse publishers, 1979, chapter IV. Up till now, nothing warrants a defnite judgment one way or the other.2.deBalzac,H.LeLysdanslaValle(Nelson:1957) p. 64.Martinist Order, he announced plans both tore-centertheOrderonitstraditional values and practices and to adapt it to the modernworld.Underhisleadership,the Orderappearstobeexperiencinganew birth.OnehundredyearsaftertheFrench Revolution,Martinistsundertheleader-ship of Papus sought in their own way to contributetothespiritualizationoftheir time. In their desire to execute this mission, theyscatteredServiteursInconnus(Un-known Servants) throughout the world in furtherance of the Great Work. Te stakes at the time were considerablethe threats hoveringoverEasternesotericism,theas-centofanindustrialcivilization,thead-vent of the reign of quantityall posed real dangers to the interior life of human-ity.Tepresentbearssimilaritiestothat period, and all could see, in the bicenten-nialcelebrationoftheFrenchRevolution in1989,thatmuchremainstobedone. Victor Hugo said: Revolution changes ev-erything, except the human heart.Humanitynow,asintheperiodof theMartinistresurgence,isimperiledby progress. It is not by chance that initiatory organizations such as the Traditional Mar-tinist Order have been so active as of late, for they teach that it is not outside that a revolutionmusttakeplace,butinsideof us, within the heart of each. Martinists call this Te Way of the Heart.3.Regarding the circumstances of this Initiation, see the article,Pierre-AugustinChaboseauAnUnknown Servant,byChristianRebisse,publishedinthe Rosicrucian Digest, Spring 1993 issue, p. 14.4.Tis creation was announced in the following issues of LInitiation: No. 10, July 1891, pp. 83-84; No.11, August 1891, p. 182; and No. 12, September 1891, p. 277.5.Carr, G. Essais de Sciences Maudites, 1, Au Seuil du Mystre (Paris: 1890) p. 158.6.Castelot,F.JollivetEssaideSynthsedesSciences Occultes (Paris: E. Nourry, 1928) p. 189.7.Ventura,GastonTuttigliUominidelMartinismo (Rome: Atanor Publisher, 1978) p. 59.8.Ibid.9.Ambelain,RobertLeMartinisme(Paris:Niclaus, 1946) pp. 151-155.10. JeanBricaud had successors we cannot mention here for lack of space.11. Encausse, Philippe Papus, sa Vie son Oeuvre (PapusHisLife,HisWork)(Paris:PythagorePublisher, 1932).IntheDecember1932VoiledIsis,pp.793-794, Jean Reyor was the frst to mention this aspect of Papuss son: It seems we systematically lay aside all that could be truly interesting in the extremely active career of this astonishing Papus . . . not a word about the constitution and the life of this Martinist Order of which Papus was the promoter. Philippe Encausse corrected this faw in successive editions of his work.12. Ambelain,RobertLeMartinisme(Paris:Niclaus, 1946) p. 174.13. F.U.D.O.S.I.istheabbreviationofFdration Universelle des Ordres et Socits Initiatiques.14. Tis event was announced in the August-September 1934 issue of Adonhiram magazine, p. 6.15. In1942,GeorgesLagrzerevivedanOrderof lus-Cohen.TisOrderhadnodirectfliation withthatofMartinsdePasqually,butanindirect fliation through the C.B.C.S., since Georges Lagrze hadthegradeofGrand-ProfsinthatOrder.After G.Lagrzestransitionin1946,RobertAmbelain claimed the succession to G. Lagrze. Yet, a few days before his transition, Georges Lagrze had written a letter to Ralph M. Lewis in which he announced his decisiontomakethisOrderdormantasithadno solidfoundation.In1967,IvanMosca(Hermete) succeededRobertAmbelainastheheadofthe Ordre des lus-Cohen. In 1968, concerned about the legitimacyofthe1942resurgence,hedecided,in agreement with Robert Ambelain, to make the Order dormant(seeProclamationintheOctober1968 LInitiation magazine, pp. 230-231).16. Contrary to certain legends, Dr. Bertholet was never SovereignGrandMasteroftheOrdreMartiniste Synarchiqueandconsequentlyneverpassedthis title down to an eventual successor. A recent visit to Mrs. A.R., the present successor to Mr. Genillardhimself successor to Dr. Bertholet in other initiatory functionshasconfrmedittous.Moreover,Dr. BertholetsinitiatorynameintheMartinistOrder was not Sr Alkmaon, this name being his in the O.H.T.M. In Martinism, his name was Heb Alghim S.Page 13Take Back My WillTake back my will, O Source of all, take back my will;forifIcansuspenditoneinstantbefore You, the torrents of Your life and light, having nothingtoresistthem,shallpourimpetuouslywithin me.Helpmetobreakdownthewoefulbarriersthat dividemefromyou;armmeagainstmyself;triumph within me over all Your enemies and mine by subduing mywill.OEternalPrincipleofalljoyandofalltruth! When shall I be so renewed as no longer to be conscious of self, save in the permanent affection of Your exclusive andvivifyingwill?Whenshalleverykindofprivation appeartomeaprofitandadvantage,bypreservingme from all bondage, and leaving me ample means to bind myself to the freedom of Your spirit and wisdom? Adapted from the prayers of Louis-Claude de Saint-MartinRosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 14Martinist LessonsJulian Johnson, SIJulian Johnson has served the Traditional Martinist Order in many capacities. He currently serves as the Board Treasurer of the English Grand Lodge for the Americas. In this article, he elucidates some of the most valuable and inspiring lessons of the Martinist teachings.TheMartiniststudies,drawnfrom thespiritualinsightsofLouis-ClaudedeSaint-Martin,ofera unique window into the nature of human-kind, the Cosmos, and the Divine as well astheirinterrelationship.Teunintel-ligible,becomesintelligible,theobscure becomesclear.Wealsobegintoglimpse themeaningofthereferencestothecre-ativepowersthathumankindpossessed initsso-calledFirstEstate,powersand capacitiesthatbecomeavailabletothe mysticalaspirant.Teroadtoreturning tothisFirstEstateislengthy,butofers rewardsateverypointalongtheway. Martinismprovidesinnumerableinsights andtoolstoaidthemysticalstudentin making this journey. From this profound source, each student draws his or her own MartinistLessonsaccordingtoherorhis needs on the mystical path.Te intent of this article is to refect on a few Martinist Lessonsgleanedbytheauthor,exploring theirembeddedwisdomand,hopefully, stimulating further personal realization on the part of the author and the reader.One of the profound ideas conveyed in the Martinist teachings is the principle of the Equilibration of Opposites.Tis takes us back to the Biblical story of the Garden ofEden,wherehumankindisintroduced to the Pillars of Opposition.After eating the proverbial forbidden fruit, humankind comestoknowGoodandEvil,themost fundamentalofthemultitudinouspairs of opposites that our perceptions give rise to.Fromwalkingandbeingonewith theDivineintheGarden,humankindis seeminglyseparatedfromtheDivineand enterstheworldofperceivedduality,ex-periencing the duality of Divinity and Self. Martinismteachesinvaluablelessons about the world of duality.One of the frst istherelativityofthepairsofopposites. In the words of the Kabbalists, the pillars dance.Terearenoabsolutequalities, only the perceived value of a quality in re-lation to its imagined opposite.Tis same idea is presented to us in our Rosicrucian studies, with the illustration of a fashlight. Inadarkenedroom,thelightofafash-light appears as positive in comparison to the otherwise darkness. However, the same lighttakenoutsideintothenoondaysun becomes almost imperceptible in compari-son to the brilliance of the Sun. It now rep-resents relative darkness in comparison to the Sun.Te pillars dance.Of course, we see essentially the same truth in the reports of travelers from high-er income countries to the lowest income countries.Eventhemostdisadvantaged individual traveling from the United States to rural areas of underdeveloped countries recognizeshisorherrelativeafuencein comparison to the many people who lack access to clean water and even the most ba-sic shelter.Poverty becomes wealth in an-other setting.Te scientifc wisdom of one era is ignorance in another. What is waste toonecreatureisfoodtoanother.Te Martinist teachings encourage us to refect onthemanypairsofoppositesthatour minds identify and their relativity, helping Page 15us to realize that the qualities we perceive have no absolute values in themselves, but are assigned them by our minds based on time, place, and personal experience.EquilibrationHowever,Martinismgoesevenfur-ther,byoferinginsightintotheKabalis-tistic concept of the Middle Pillar and how wemayapplyittoourpersonalworkof reintegration.Goingbeyondthepairsof oppositesthatweperceive,Martinismre-mindsusthatourgoalistodiscoverthe equilibrating third or middle pillar which restoresthedualitybacktoUnity.Tis state,whichresolvesthetwopillarsback totheiroriginalunity,isauniquecondi-tion that transports us beyond the subjec-tive and ever-changing experience of dual-ity, opening the window to simply perceive WhatIs,withoutjudgment,liketheim-mediate experience of a new food on ones palate.Unliketheinstructionthatonere-ceivesthroughreligiouseducation,our Martinistteachingsadviseustoclingto neitherpillar,butinsteadtoequilibrate this pair of opposites in our consciousness. Tis does not mean teetering on an imag-inedmidpointbetweenopposites.Tis can be seen through the pair of opposites, prideandhumility.Teobjectiveofthe mystical student is not to eschew pride for its opposite, humility, but instead to move beyondtheconcernofhowheorsheis seenbyothers,whetherasimportantor unimportant. Whenthisisachieved,the mystical student simply goes about her or his activities without concern for the esti-mation of herself or himself in the eyes of others.Te duality is restored to unity and no longer manifests in our consciousness.In line with its unique view of the Pil-larsofOpposition,Martinismalsotrans-formsourthinkingaboutthenatureof good and evil.Tese are not static charac-teristics to the Martinist, but indicators of harmony or inharmony.According to the dictionary, harmony is the orderly arrange-ment of things, in other words, everything in its place.What is good or harmonious for one creature may be bad or inharmoni-ousforanother.Tecarbondioxidewe exhale is a waste product of human respira-tion and potentially toxic to humans, but carbondioxide atthe sametimeservesas an important nutrient for plant life. Yet,theMartinistunderstandingof thispairofoppositesgoesfurther.Like Rosicrucianism,Martinismembracesthe foundational concept that all of Creation, andnotablyhumankind,isinastateof continuingevolution.Citingthewords ofMartinsdePasqually,Intheend, allwillreturntotheBeginning.Sofor theMartinist,humankindisevolvingon apathofreturntotheDivinityreferred toasReintegration.Onherorhispath ofevolution,theseemingperpetual movement or dance of good and evil serves as a source of guidance for the Martinist. In Martinist terms, evil is that which is opposed to our spiritual evolution.How-RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 16ever,theMartiniststudentcomestoreal-izethatnostaticlistofthatwhichisevil canbecomposed.Ateachpointinher or his journey, the Martinist aspirant must examinehisorherdesires,thoughts,and actions to evaluate whether they continue to aid or instead impede his or her spiritual progress.When they aid the students spir-itualadvancement,theyaregood;when theyimpede,theyhavebecomeopposed to the students spiritual progress and evil. Tiscanalsobeillustratedthroughthe simpleanalogyofapairofshoes.Apair ofshoespurchasedforachildoftenwill shield the childs feet from injury and cold and provide physical support.In this way, the shoes are good.However, if fve years laterthechildsfeetwereforcedintothe same pair of shoes, they would eventually harm the childs feet, leading to injury and deformity.Te shoes would now be evil in relation to that childs development.Usingamysticalexample,wecansee this same realization through another pair ofopposites,idolatryandputrefaction. Idolatry refers to building up the value of something in our mind; putrefaction refers tosomethingintheprocessofbreaking down. When we frst embark on the Path, we usually have brought along with us an anthropomorphicconceptoftheDivine thatwehavebuiltup,heavilyinfuenced by our childhood experiences and religious upbringing.Similarconceptsareshared bymuchofhumanity.Intheextreme form,theDivinetakesonthefullrange ofhumancharacteristics,rangingfrom lovetoanger.Suchconceptsareusually accompanied by a Divine-sanctioned code of conduct that helps regulate the behavior ofindividualstowardothers,whichisof obviousvaluetosociety.Increatingour conceptorimageoftheDivine,wehave takensomethingunknowableandinefa-ble and given it form in our minds as a way tomorepersonallyrelatetoit.Wehave created an image of the Divine, and while it is not made of metal or stone, it quali-fes as a form of idolatry.For much of our lives,ourconceptorimageoftheDivine may have helped to personalize the Divine and to foster our awareness of the presence oftheDivineinoureverydayexistence. Upuntilthatpointitaidedourspiritual growth, and by a Martinist understanding, was good.However, in our development as mys-tical students, we must be prepared to al-lowtheconceptandimageoftheDivine which we have created to be broken down and destroyed; otherwise it will ultimately limitourdevelopment.Ifwesteadfastly hold onto the image or concept of the Di-vine that we have created, it will interfere with our ability to come to a greater real-izationoftheactualnatureoftheDivine or the First Cause. Te formerly good will becomeevilinthatitlimitsourspiritual progress.Forreference,theBuddhistas-pirant is admonished that he or she must frst empty his or her cup in order for it to beflled.Similarly,theMasterJesusad-visedthatonecannotputnewwineinto oldwineclothwithouttearingitapart. New wine requires new wine cloth.Jesuss parableofthevineandthebranchesem-bodies this same principle when it refers to the pruning of the branch that brings forth fruit, so that it may bring forth more fruit. Te Alchemy of Illumined ToughtOneofthemostprofoundideasthat Martinism emphasizes can be summarized inthephrase,theAlchemyofIllumined Tought.Tis phrase points to the creative power of the Divine Mind that we are part of.Most of us are frst introduced to this ideaasRosicrucians,whenwelearnthe practiceofvisualization,anintroductory step into the creative power of the Divine Mind resident within us.We may sense a more profound meaning when we are told thataRosicruciantempleismadesacred byourthoughtandconduct.Nonethe-Page 17less, these just hint at the power of Mind or consciousness at the core of our Being. But what is Illumined Tought?One way ofdescribingitis:Toughtthatisener-gizedbyawarenessofonesspiritualna-ture and connection to the Divine.Such thought moves us above mere awareness of thephysicalandemotionalworldsofour consciousness, attuning us with the world thatliesbehindordinarilyperceivedreal-ity.Well-preparedofcers,inperform-ingourMartinistandRosicrucianrituals and initiations, attune with the higher as-pectoftheirBeinginordertocreatethe conditionsthatwillbemostbenefcialto themselvesandthoseparticipatinginthe ritualsandinitiations.Fortheobservers, thedesignandcontentoftheritualsare aimed at bringing their consciousness into awareness of the higher aspects of their Be-ing.In addition to providing a temporary upliftment of our consciousness, over time such experiences yield their transformative efects,helpingustoprogressivelytrans-form our consciousness into a fuller aware-ness of our true nature.Many of the techniques that we learn inourMartinistandRosicrucianstud-ies serve as tools to remind us or bring us back to awareness of the higher aspects of our Being.In a time of distress, when we consciouslymaketheRosicruciansignor mentally enfold ourselves in the Martinist cloak,weareattuningourconsciousness with the higher aspect of our Being.Tis shift opens a channel for the higher orga-nizingandconstructiveprinciplesofthe DivineConsciousnesstomanifestimme-diately in our material reality, bringing or-der and harmony. RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 18Universal Force Difused Invisibly Troughout the Whole TenextMartinistLessonwewill refectonisrelatedtotheprecedingand inspired by our teachings reference to the universal force difused invisibly through-out the whole.From every vantage point, weliveinaseaofenergy.Tescientist willnotethattheenvironmentwelivein is flled with electromagnetic energy from a host of sources.At the most fundamen-tal level, the universe is flled by a feld of backgroundenergy,speculatedasarising from the Big Bang that brought the mate-rial universe that we know into existence. Inaddition,thespaceweoccupyisalso flledbyelectromagneticradiowavesata multitudeoffrequenciesfromcountless sources emanating from our planet and be-yond. Up to 65 billion particles, known asneutrinos,passthrougheverysquare centimeterofourbodieseverysecondat certain times of the day.Butinadditiontothemanyknown frequenciesofenergyweliveamidst,we evenmorefundamentallyliveinaseaof Cosmic Intelligence.While it is invisible to our eyes and imperceptible to our physi-cal senses, our mystical explorations show ittobeomnipresentandalwaysavailable forourengagement.TisCosmicIntel-ligence,nevertheless,manifestswithin usandallaboutus.Itistheintelligence thatgovernsthemyriadactivitiesofthe estimated37trillionindividualcellsthat make up our body; it is the consciousness thatmanifestsineverylivingcreature, small or large; it is the force that underlies thelawsoftheuniverse;itistheintelli-gencethatregulateswhatwecallkarma; itistheconsciousnessthatmanifestsas and through each of us.Like in our bod-ies,thisIntelligenceisnotcenteredina single location, but is everywhere at once, undilutedthroughoutthecreation.One of the common defning characteristics of theexperienceofCosmicConsciousness istheawarenessoftheomnipresenceof this Immanent Intelligence.It exists apart fromtimeandspaceandisever-present and universal. In the words of the Apostle Luke, it is that within which we live, move, and have our being.As said in Psalm 139:Where can I go from Your Spirit?Or where can I fee from Your presence?If I ascend into heaven, You are there;IfImakemybedinhell,behold,You are there.If I take the wings of the morningAnd dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,Even there Your hand shall lead me,And Your right hand shall hold me.If I say, Surely the darkness shall fall on me,Even the night shall be light about me;Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,But the night shines as the day;Te darkness and the light are both alike to You.Know TyselfWewillclosewithonelastMartinist Lesson, in many ways it is really the frst. It is based on the injunction Man [Person], Know Tyself.In our Martinist teachings, itisreferredtoasthestudyoftheBook ofManorHumankind.Saint-Martin speaks of the importance of directing our attention inward, to study the object most immediateandathand,ourownnature. Hecontraststhiswiththeoutwardap-proaches of science and philosophy of his time, which is still true today.Conscious-nessandBeingremainalmostentirely unexploreddomainsintheworldofsci-ence, notwithstanding the phenomenal ac-complishmentsthatsciencehasachieved. While humankind continues to extend the frontier of that which can beknown, sci-encehaslargelyignoredthestudyofthe Knower, leaving this object of study to the mystic and mystical aspirant.I can fnd no Page 19better words than those of Saint-Martin to capture the urgency of this inward path.Atthefrstglancewhichonedirects upononeself,onewillperceivewithout difcultythattheremustbeascienceor an evident law for ones own nature, since there is one for all beings, though it is not universallyinall,andsinceeveninthe midst of our weakness, our ignorance, and humiliation, we are employed only in the search after truth and light.Albeit, there-fore, the eforts which a person makes daily to attain the end of ones researches are so rarely successful, it must not be considered on this account that the end is imaginary, but only that we are deceived as to the road whichleadsthereto,andarehenceinthe greatest of privations, since we do not even knowthewayinwhichweshouldwalk. Te overwhelming misfortune of human-ity is not that we are ignorant of the exis-tence of truth, but that we misconstrue its nature.What errors, and sufering would havebeensparedusif,farfromseeking truthinthephenomenaofmaterialna-ture, we had resolved to descend into our-selves, and had sought to explain material things by humanity, and not humanity by material things; if fortifed by courage and patience, we had preserved in the calm of our imagination the discovery of this light whichwedesire,allofus,withsomuch ardor.Te human understanding, by apply-ing itself so exclusively to outward things, of which it cannot even yet give a satisfac-toryaccount,knowslessofthenatureof onesownbeingeventhanofthevisible objectsaroundus;yet,themomentwe ceasetolookatthetruecharacterofour intimate essence, we become quite blind to theeternalDivineSourcefromwhichwe descend:for,ifHumanity,broughtback to our primitive elements, is the only true witness and positive sign by which this su-premeUniversalSourcemaybeknown, thatsourcemustnecessarilybeefaced, when the only mirror that can represent it to our minds, disappears.Tis is enough to show how carefully weoughttosoundthedepthsofourbe-ing,andafrmthesublimityofoures-sence,thatwemaytherebydemonstrate theDivineEssence,forthereisnothing else in the world that can do it directly.Irepeat,that,toattainthisend,ev-eryargumenttakenfromthisworldand nature, is unsatisfactory, unstable. We sup-posethingsfortheworld,toarriveata fxedBeing,inwhomeverythingistrue; welendtotheworldabstractandfgura-tiveverities,toproveaBeingwhoisal-togetherrealandpositive;wetakethings withoutintelligence,toproveaBeing whoisintelligenceitself;thingswithout love, to demonstrate the One who is only Love;thingscircumscribedwithinlimits, to make known the One who is Free; and things that die, to explain the One who is Life.Closing Prayerfrom Saint-MartinEternalsourceofallwhichis,You whosendspiritsoferrorandofdarkness to the untruthful, which cut them of from Your love, do You send unto one who seeks Youaspiritoftruth,unitinghimforever with You.May the fre of this spirit con-sume in me all the traces of the old person, and,havingconsumedthem,mayitpro-ducefromthoseashesanewperson,on whom Your sacred hand shall not disdain to pour a holy Chrism!Be this the end of penitence and its long toils, and may Your life,whichisoneeverywhere,transform mywholebeingintheunityof Yourim-age, my heart in the unity of Your love, my activity in the unity of the works of justice, and my thought in the unity of all lights...................... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .....................RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 20AuroraJacob BoehmeTranslated by Marion S. Owens, SILouis-ClaudedeSaint-MartinwassoinspiredbythewritingsofthemysticJacobBoehme (1575-1624) that he learned German when he was forty years old so that he could read his Second Masters original words. In the text below, Provincial Master Marion Owens trans-lates from Baroque German into English excerpts from Boehmes description of his Spiritual Awakening, in his famous frst work, Aurora.Asmymiserablesoullifteditself seriously up to God as in a thunder storm,withmyheartandmind, includingallthoughtsanddesireslocked therein,andwithoutstoppingtowrestle, receivingGodsloveandmercy,andnot givingup,Godthenilluminatedmewith theHolySpirit.Thus,theHolySpirit brokethroughwithinme.Itwaslikea thunderstorm!Youwillfndnobookinwhichyou willdiscoverdivinewisdom.Ifyougo outintoabloomingmeadow,whereyou canperceive(smellandtaste,etc.)Gods wondrous powers, even though this is only anexampleoftheDivinePowerbecause in Tird Principle material matter is made visible.Buttoseekers,itsadearteacher. Tey will fnd much there.And when I write, giving testimony to the heavenly God, the Divine Itself has im-pressed these things into my mind so that I believe it without any doubt, understand and experience all, not through my physi-calbody,butthroughmyspiritualbeing, withinmysoul,withthe WillandPower of God....Tis is not to construe that my under-standing is more evolved than others, but Iamonlylikeasmalltwig,onlyasmall spark from God. Te Divine can place me whereGodwills,Icannotresist.Tisis not my Natural Will, bequeathed with all mystrength,butasmysoulwithdraws,I do not understand the work and in all re-spectshavetobeatandscratchthedevil and am, as are all human beings, subject to sadness and temptation.God has given me this understanding, it is not me who knows this but the I that I am.Tecorrectobservationsarethese:If thehumanwillrestswithinGodsWill, theSoulwillseewithGodseyeitseter-nal depth because it remains within Gods Word. Tus the spoken Word and the Soul becomeamagicalimageoftheconstella-tion. Te astral Soul cannot become form simplyoutoffantasy,butbecomesform according to the image within Mind. Tus the Soul can see what the Highest of High has planned and what should happen.Accordingly, the Word of God, as the Sourceofthesoul,speakstothesoulin imagesandimpressionswhichonlythe Soul understands.If I had no other book but mine, that I myself am, then I have enough books. Te whole Bible lies within me. As I have Gods Soul, what more books do I need? Should IfghtforwhatisoutsideofmebeforeI learnwhatiswithinme?TusIreadmy Self,thusIreadGodsbookandallyou, my dear Brothers and Sisters, are also my alphabetthatIreadwithinme.Because my mind and will fnds you within me, I wish with all my heart that you would fnd me, too.Page 21AlthoughwecannotsayofGodthat thepureGodheadisNature,butathree-foldmajesty,wemustsay,however,that God is within Nature even though Nature does not know it.WhenreasonspeaksofGod,what Godisinspiritandwill,itwouldmake sense to consider God to be something re-mote to this world, and unknown, some-thing in a diferent place than this world, residing high above the stars, who governs only through Its Spirit with an omnipres-entPowersomewhereinthisworld,this threefoldmajesty,whosebeautyinallis evident. Because of our reasoning, our rea-son descends into the illusion that God is really a stranger.God is All. God is Light and Darkness, LoveandHateandFire,buttheDivine alone can name Itself God with the Light of divine Love. It is an eternal contrast be-tween darkness and light. None seizes the other,andoneisnottheother,butisits own spirit, but diferent in virtue, and nei-ther one exists by itself.Godcannotbedescribedspecifcally as this or that. Te Divine Self has neither nature nor body. God is not inclined par-ticularlytowardsanythingbecausenoth-ing comes before the Deitynot good or evil. Te Divine Itself is the beginning, an eternalnothingness.Godisnothingand everythingandisonewillinwhichlies the whole world and all of creation. In the Divinealliseternalandwithoutbegin-ning,inequalmeasurement.Godisnei-ther Light nor Darkness, neither Love nor Hate, but the eternal Oneness.When I contemplate what God is I say, Godhasnomotive,nobeginning,God owns nothing but the Divine Self. God is eternallycreatedandrecreatestheDivine Self out of nothing. God is the will of wis-dom, and wisdom is Gods manifestation.Te name of God is YHVH.If you wish to write about God, or see God,observenature.Onecannotwrite about God. Te Soul sees the Creator but cannotspeakaboutitbecausethedivine spiritisapowerwhichcannotbespoken or written about in human language.TeDivineSpirit(theHolyGhost) emerges from the Creator and is the third-fold Being of the godhead. Te same as the elementsofthisworldemergefromthe SunandStarsandarethemovingspirit withinallmaterialthingsofthisworld. Likewise,theDivineSpiritisthemoving spiritwithinGodandeternallyemerges fromGodandfulfllsGodentirely,i.e. God regenerates. Tis weaving strength is within the entire Unity of the Creator.Terefore, you noble human being, let not the antichrist and the devil fool you by trying to convince you that divinity is far away from you, and lead you to a remote RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 22anddistantheaven!Nothingiscloserto you than heaven because within you are all three Principles of eternity and within you willregeneratetheholyParadiseasGod lives within.TodescribeGod further,pictureawheel standingbeforeyouwith sevenotherwheels,one wheelismadewithin the other one, so it could standonallendsonall sides.Nowremember this, the seven wheels are the Seven Spirits of God, they are reborn, renewed, one within the other, and is as if you take one wheel, andwithinitareseven wheelsallexistingwithineachotherand all have spherical rims like a round ball.TusGodsspiritpermeatesallspace in eternity like a wheel wherein the begin-ning is also the end.Te Being of All Beings is One but di-videsitselfintotwoprinciples,lightand darkness,inblissandsufering,ingood and evil, love and anger, fre and light, and from this second eternal beginning, a third beginningarisescreatingitsowneternal desire to be.Whatelseishidden?Tephilosophia andthedeepmeaningofGod,theheav-enly delight, the revelation of the creation of angels, the revelation of the Fall of the devil,fromwhichcomesallevil,thecre-ation of this world, the purpose for the cre-ation of humanity, and all creatures within this world, and the secrets of regeneration and eternal life.Tis will simply all be revealed in depth. Why not at the height of this mystic work? So that any cannot be praised that they did it! And all would be destroyed through the devilsconsorts!Whydoesthecreatordo this? To show that the time will come for reintegration and to retrieve what was lost, sothathumanitywillseeandenjoythe fulfllment and exult in the pure light and knowledge of God.Tatiswhynow willariseanAurora,the morningredsky,sothat the day can be noted and acknowledged.Whoever wantstosleepcancon-tinuetosleep.Whoever stays on guard and awake and trims ones lamp, will alwaysbeawake.See, thebridegroomisarriv-ing.Whoeverisawake anddecorated,willgo totheeternalheavenly wedding. Whoeversleeps however, will sleep forever and ever in the deep prison of tormented abyss.Jacob Boehme. Page 23Treatise on theReintegration of BeingsMartins de PasquallyIn the excerpt below from his Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings, Martins de Pasqually provides guidance on how we can use free will to work toward personal reintegration with the Divine.Evil,Istressagain,doesnothaveits origins in the Creator or in any of its particularcreatures.Itcomesonly from the thought of the spirit opposed to the laws, precepts, and commands of the Eternal, thoughtwhichtheEternalcannotchange inthespiritwithoutdestroyingitsfreedom and particular existence, as I have explained before. However, this does not mean that the spirit which generated evil is evil itself, for if the bad spirits changed their will, their action would also change, and from that moment, therewouldnolongerbeaquestionofevil throughout the expanse of the universe.Are you going to say that this could not happen because God, being immutable in His decrees, condemned those who gener-atedeviltoeternalprivation?Myanswer isthatitistruetheCreatorcondemned toprivationandendlesssuferingthose whoprofessevil.ButIwouldalsopoint out that when the Creator manifested jus-tice upon His creature, He called Himself Fatherofboundlessmercy.Ishallspeak more fully of this divine mercy elsewhere. I come back again, however, to the genera-tionofevilcausedbytheevilwillofthe spirit,andsaythattheevilgenerationof thespirit,beingevilthoughtinefect,is called spiritually bad intellect, in the same way that good thought is good intellect. It is by these kinds of intellects that good and bad spirits communicate to humanity and leave upon their consciousness all kinds of impressions,anditisuptothemtouse their free-will to accept or reject them.RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 24Of Errors and TruthLouis-Claude de Saint-MartinInthisexcerptfromhisbook,OfErrorsandof Truth,theUnknownPhilosopher,Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, explains the ten leaves of the priceless book that Humanity received at its birth.Humanitysinexpressibleadvan-tagesintheiroriginalstatewere connectedwiththepossession andcomprehensionofapricelessbook thatwascountedamongthegiftswhich theyreceivedatbirth.Althoughthisbook consisted of only ten leaves, it contained all the lights and knowledge of what was, is, and will be. The power of humankind was then so extensive that they possessed the faculty of reading through the ten leaves of the book at once and taking it in at a glance.Atthetimeofhumanitysdegradation this book was indeed still in their possession, buttheyweredeprivedofthefacultyof comprehendingitaseasilyasbefore,and we can no longer understand all the leaves except by reading one after the other. How-ever, we will never be entirely reestablished in our rights until we have studied them all. Althougheachofthesetenleavescontains aspecialknowledge,theyare,nonethe-less, so intertwined that it is impossible to understandoneperfectlywithoutattain-inganunderstandingofthemall.Even thoughIhavesaidthathumanitycanno longerreadthemexceptinsuccession, none of their steps will be assured if we do notexaminethemintheirentiretyand the fourth leaf particularly, which serves as a rallying point for all the others.Tis is a truth to which humanity has paidlittleattention.Itishoweverone which is infnitely necessary for us to observe and understand as we are all born with the bookinourhand.Ifstudyingandunder-standingthisbookarepreciselythetasks we need to accomplish, we can then judge how advantageous it is for us to avoid mak-ing any errors in its study.Yethumanitysnegligenceconcerning this matter has been carried to an extreme. Very few among us have noticed the essen-tialunionofthebookstenleaveswhich renders them absolutely inseparable. Some havestoppedinthemiddleofthebook, others at the third leaf, others at the frsta situation which has produced atheists, ma-terialists, and deists, respectively. It is true thatafewhaveperceivedsuchties,but theyhavenotunderstoodtheimportant distinction that needs to be made between eachoftheseleaves,and,fndingthem boundtogether,theyhavebelievedthem to be equal and of the same nature.Whathasbeentheresult?Bylimiting themselvestothatpartofthebookthey did not have the courage to go beyond, and by depending upon the fact that they were neverthelessexpressingthemselvesaccord-ingtothebook,theyhavepretendedthat they possess an understanding of the entire book.Terebybelievingthemselvesinfal-lible in their doctrine, they have exerted all theirefortstoproveit.Butsuchisolated truths,receivingnosustenance,havesoon deteriorated in the hands of those who had thusseparatedthem,andthereremained nothingfortheseimprudentpeoplebuta vainphantomofknowledge,whichthey could not ofer as a solid body, nor as a true being,withouthavingrecoursetoimpos-ture.Tisispreciselywherealltheerrors we shall examine eventually in this treatise originated, as have all those we have already Page 25disclosed,suchasthetwoopposingprin-ciples, the nature and laws of corporeal be-ings, the diferentfacultiesofhumankind, andtheprinciplesandoriginofreligion and rites.Te part of the book in which these er-rors have primarily occurred will be shown afterwards, but before considering this mat-terwewillroundouttheunderstanding thatonemusthaveofthisincomparable bookbypresentingindetailthediferent learning and properties, the knowledge of which is contained in these leaves.TeFIRSTdealtwiththeuniversal principleorcenterfrom which all centers continu-ally emanate.TeSECONDdealt withthecreativecauseof theuniverse,ofthedual corporeallawsupporting it;ofthedualintellectual law manifesting in time; of the dual nature of human-ity; and generally of every-thingthatiscomposedof and formed by two actions.TeTHIRDdealt withthefoundationof bodies;ofalltheresults andproductionsofall genders.Tiswhereisfoundthenumber of immaterial beings who do not think.Te FOURTH dealt with all that is ac-tive; of the principle of all languages, wheth-er temporal or beyond time; of the religion andritesofhumankind.Tisiswhereis foundthenumberofimmaterialbeings who think.TeFIFTHdealtwithidolatryand putrefaction.Te SIXTH dealt with the laws govern-ingtheformationofthetemporalworld andthenaturaldivisionofthecircleby the radius.Te SEVENTH dealt with the cause of winds and tides; of the geographical scale of humankind; of its true knowledge and the source of its intellectual or sensate produc-tions.Te EIGHTH dealt with the temporal number of that which is the sole support, force,andhopeofhumanityinother words,ofthatrealandphysicalbeing whichhastwonamesandfournumbers duetoitsbeingactiveandintelligentat the same time. And since its action extends over the four worlds, it also dealt with jus-ticeandalllegislativepowers,whichin-cludethe rights of sovereignsand theau-thority of generals and judges.TeNINTHdealt withtheformationof thecorporealhumanin the womb of woman and withthedecomposition oftheuniversalandpar-ticular triangle.Finally,theTENTH was the channel and com-plementofthepreceding nine.Itwasundoubtedly the most essential and that without which all the oth-erswouldnotbeknown, because, by placing all ten in a circumference accord-ing to their numerical order, it will be found tohavetheclosestafnitywiththefrst, from which all emanate. And if one desires tojudgeitsimportance,letitbeknown thattheAuthorofallthingsisinvincible because of it, as it is a barrier which protects the Deity from all sides and which no being can pass.Tus, we perceive in this enumeration alltheknowledgetowhichhumankind canaspireandthelawsthatareimposed upon us. It is clear that we will never pos-sessanyknowledge,norwillweeverbe able to fulfll any of our true duties, with-out going to and drawing from this source. RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 26We also actually know the hand that must lead us to it, and although we cannot take asinglesteptowardthisfertilesourceon our own, we will certainly advance towards it by forgetting our own will and allowing [the source] to act for us.Terefore,letuscongratulatehuman-kind for still being able to fnd such a sup-port in our misery. Let our hearts be flled with hope when we perceive that even to-daywecandiscoverwithouterrorinthis preciousbooktheessenceandproperties of being, the reason for things, and certain and invariable laws of human religion and riteswhichwemustnecessarilyrenderto the Primary Being. In other words, due to humans being at once intellectual and sen-sateand nothing in existence is not one or the otherwe must recognize our own relationship with everything which exists.Asthisbookcontainsonlytenleaves andyetcontainsAll,nothingcanexist withoutbelonging,byitsverynature,to one of these ten leaves. Tus, there is not asinglebeingwhichdoesnotindicatein itselfthenatureofitsclassandtowhich ofthetenleavesitbelongs.Everybeing ofersustherebythemeansnecessaryfor instructingusineverythingconcerning it. But, to direct ourselves in such under-standing, we must distinguish the true and simple laws constituting the nature of be-ingsfromthosewhichhumansthinkup and substitute for them every day.Letusnowconsiderthatpartofthe book which I have declared as having been the most abused. It is the fourth leaf which has been recognized as having the closest af-fnity to humanity, as this is where our duties and the true laws of our thinking being have beenwritten,aswellasthepreceptsofhu-man religion and rites.If,indeed,wefollowedwithexacti-tude, constancy, and pure intention all the pointsclearlyexpressedtherein,wecould obtain the help of the very hand that had punishedus;elevateourselvesabovethat region of corruption to which we are rele-gated by condemnation; and recover traces of this ancient authority by virtue of which wedetermined,inthepast,thelatitudes andlongitudesnecessaryforthemainte-nanceofuniversalorder.But,sincesuch powerfulresourceswereattachedtothis fourth leaf, it is also, as we have stated, in this part of the book that humankinds er-rors were the most considerable. And, truly, ifhumanshadnotneglectedsuchadvan-tages, all would still be peaceful and happy upon earth.Tefrstoftheseerrorswastotrans-posethisfourthleafandsubstituteinits placetheffth,orthatwhichdealswith idolatry.Insodoing,humanitydistorted their religious laws and thus could not de-rivethesamebeneftsfromthemnorthe sameassistanceastheywouldhavehad they preserved the true rites. On the con-trary,receivingonlydarknessastheirre-ward, they engulfed themselves in it to the point of no longer even desiring the light.Aswesaidatthebeginningofthis book, the course of this principle was such that it made itself evil by its own will. Such wastheerrorofthefrstbeing,andsuch has been that of many of its descendants, chiefyamongthepeopleswhoseektheir Orient [East] in the South of Earth.Tisiswhatconstitutesthiserror orcrimewhichcannotbeforgivenand which, on the contrary, is inevitably subject to the most rigorous punishment. But the majority of beings are protected from these errors,becauseitisonlybywalkingthat one falls, and the greater number of beings do not walk. However, how is it possible to advance without walking?Teseconderrorconsistsofhaving takenaroughideaofthepropertiescon-nected with this fourth leaf and to believe thattheycouldbeappliedtoall,because attributing them to objects for which they are unsuitable makes it impossible to dis-cover anything.Page 27Moreover,whodoesnotknowhow slighthasbeenthedegreeofsuccessat-tained by those who base matter upon the four elements, who dare not refuse thought to animals, who attempt to square the so-larcalculuswiththelunarcalculus,who searchforlongitudeuponEarthandfor thequadratureofthecircleinaword, whoattempteverydaytofndaninfn-ity of discoveries of this sort and in which theynevergainsatisfactoryresults(aswe shall continue to show later in this treatise). Yet this error is not directlyaimedagainst theuniversalprinciple.Tosewhofollow itarenotpunishedexceptbyignorance, and it does not demand any expiation.Tereisathirderrorbywhich,and throughthesamesuperfcialignorance, humanityhasbelieveditselfinpossession ofthesacredadvantagesthatthisfourth leaf could, indeed, communicate to them. Pursuing this idea they have spread among theirfellowbeingstheuncertainnotions oftruthwhichtheythemselveshavecre-ated.Teyhavedirectedtheeyesofthe people,whoshouldonlyhavedirected themtowardsthePrimaryBeing,upon themselves, as well as the physical, active, andintelligentcauseanduponthose who,bytheiraccomplishmentsandvir-tues,haveobtainedtherighttorepresent the Primary Being upon earth. Tiserror,withoutbeingasdisastrous as the frst, is however infnitely more dan-gerous than the second, because it gives be-ings a false and childish idea of the Author of all things and of the paths leading to the Author. To summarize, those who have had the impudence and audacity to announce themselves thusly have, so to speak, estab-lished an infnity of systems, dogmas, and religions.Teseestablishments,already so lacking in substance in themselves and theirinstitutions,couldnotavoidexperi-encing further alterations so that, being ob-scure and shadowy at the moment of their origin, they have completely disclosed their deformities through the passing of time.Terefore,byaddingtheenormous abuses that have been made in the knowl-edgecontainedinthefourthleafofthis book,ofwhichweareallguardiansat birth,andbyaddingtheconfusionthat has proceeded therefrom to all that we have observedregardinghumankindsignorance, fears, and weaknesses, as well as our depar-ture from the symbols, we will have the ex-planation and origin for this multitude of religions and rites prevalent among people.Withoutadoubt,wecanonlydespise themwhenweperceivethisvarietywhich distortsthemandthismutualopposition whichunveilstheirfalsities.Butifwedo notlosesightofthefactthatthesedifer-ences and peculiarities have never afected anybutthesensate,andifwerecallthat humankind, being by our thinking the im-age and likeness of the Primary and High-estofthinkingbeings,bringswithusall our own laws, then we shall recognize that when they are born our religion is also born withinus.Farfromhavingcometousas a result of the entreaties, caprice, ignorance, andterrorwhichnaturescatastrophesmay haveinspiredwithin,allofthesecauses, onthecontrary,constitutewhathasof-tendistortedhumankindsreligionand broughtpeopletothepointwheresome even distrust the only remedy available to usforthealleviationofourmisfortunes. Weshallrecognizetoevenamuchgreat-erextentthatbeingsalonesuferfrom thesevariationsandweaknesses,andthat thesourceoftheirexistenceandtheway granted them for attaining it will never be lesspure. Weshallalsorecognizethatwe willalwaysbecertaintodiscoverapoint of reunion that will be common to us and ourfellowbeingswheneverwedirectour eyestowardsthissourceandtowardsthe only light that must lead us to it...................... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .....................RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 28What Becomes of the DeadPapus, SI (Grard Encausse, MD)Papus, the co-founder of the Traditional MartinistOrder, joined the French Army Med-icalCorpin1914attheoutbreakofWorldWarI.Heservedasamedicalofcerin thetrenchesontheWesternFront. RefectingonhisexperiencetherehewroteWhat Becomes of the Dead. Following are two excerpts from that text. Papusdied while in service to his country in 1916, at the age of ffy-one.Chapter 1Section of the EagleFeminine Intuition: Te IdealTereasoningandskepticalbrainof man appreciates concise and precise argu-ments corroborated by facts. But for you, mothers, spouses, sisters who mourn a be-lovedonewhopassedthroughtransition, no arguments are necessary. Your intuition alone is sufcient.Guardians of the most subtle forces of Nature, there is something dwelling with-in you that speaks louder and more clearly than all the complicated reasoning of men! You feel and know that the dear ones who passed away are near you. Tey appear in an occasional dream to embrace a mother or beloved spouse. Te child that has not yet been submerged by terrestrial forces is also a dweller on two planes. Tat child is able to perceive a dead soldier-father who is the object of the secret tears of his or her mother.Hallucinations,nervousness,men-talillness,saysthescientist!Nevertheless, women feel defnitely that those are reali-ties that transcend terrestrial ones.Tesickdogthatisreleasedbyher master among the plants of the felds soon discovers the herb that will generate her re-covery. Yet she has never received instruc-tions from any school. However, there is a force circulating in that animal that is less falliblethanthescienceofmanyhuman beings. Tis force is the intelligence of Na-ture that the profane call instinct.Now,youwomenfromeveryclassof societyarethesacredguardiansofthat formative intelligence of Nature. Listen to the whisper of that mysterious voice which vibratesinthedepthofyourheartand whichisperceptibleonlytoyou.Itwas that same voice that enchanted your heart formerlywhen,asayoungwoman,your fancconversedwithyouduringthose long and unforgettable promenades. Ten, when the infant was born, even before he had learned to speak, the soft and mysteri-ous voice became audible anew.Today,youareatthelowestpointof your sorrow. Te voice cries out again: No, mother, your son has not departed without recourse. Te Creator is the Divine Parent and a Parent is never an executioner.Page 29Your son has died for his country and thushasbecomeoneofthelightsofthe invisibleplanes.Acurtainseparateshim from you, but your love will sufce to lift it.Becourageousthoughyouareover-whelmedbysorrow.Hope,pray,anddo not reveal to anyone the words spoken by thevoice.Mayyourheartremainsealed sothattheprofaneandthedeflersmay have no access to it. Send the scholars and the skeptics back to their studies; call upon thedepartedone;prayforenlightenment fromthosethatliveinthehigherworld. Ten,the VirginofLightwillshedupon youhergoldencelestialveilandbehind thisveilwillappearyourbelovedones, blessing you and smiling at you.Women of Earth, glorious or crucifed, may the Divine bless you, for you are wor-thy!It is to you that I am appealing, women who have lost a cherished one; either a son, husband,orcloserelative.Iamspeaking to you because your intuition has not been distorted by the incomplete science of the century. Is it not a fact that you know the belovedonehasnotdisappearedforever? Is it not a fact that you feel the truth con-cerning the afrmation of all the religions of Earth and especially of your own, when they declare that death is but a momentary transformation?Inthedepthofyourheart,youhave thecertaintythatyouwillseeagainthe dear one who passed away, especially since he or she has sacrifced themselves volun-tarily for their country. Tis mysterious in-tuitionenhancestruthitself.Testateof consciousness of the dead one has changed. Teir sacrifce has propelled them to a level higher than the one they had occupied pre-viously.Teyareunitedatalltimeswith thoseleftonEarththroughlove,which isimperishable.Amerecurtainseparates that being from those left behind, but that curtain may be lifted sometimes.Becalm,overcomeyouranguish,be confdent and strong. Nature has selected youtoconserveitsmostpreciousforms and its most sacred seeds. Dry your tears, fortheonewhomyoumournisnotfar from you. Tey are like travelers who, ex-ploring a new country, are unable to com-municate easily with those left at home.Strivetoperceivetheradianceofthe love that exists within the serene mind of the departed one. Feel how this being sur-roundsbytheirpresencetheirlittlechil-dren and all those that remained here after their transition. Ask the Higher Beings for help.Prayaccordingtotheritualofyour religion and then you will perhaps be given permissiontoseethedepartedoneonce again,forDeathhasterrornolongerfor onewhoisacquaintedwiththeMyster-ies. To this soul, it is a mere change where Earth takes back the body which it lent to thesoulforoneexistenceandwherethat soul,liberatedandclothedwithamore subtle body, evolves on a new plane.Pray and the veil will be lifted for you.At this time, we shall try to explain the terms: spirit, subtle body, and plane.Later, we shall resume that explanation forthenarrowmindsoftheskepticsand loversofreason.Considerthesepagesto be a sweet musing; they are not written for them.Chapter IISection of ManConstitution of the Human BeingInordertocomprehendourasser-tionsregardingthetransformationsun-dergonebythehumanbeingafterdeath, it is necessary that we explain at this time thehumanconstitutionwhilestillinin-carnation.Sinceagreatnumberofbooks havebeenwrittenalreadyonthissubject by diverse schools of thought, we shall not be too explicit while we demonstrate those assertions.RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 30For the sake of clarity, which is our ob-jective, we wish to remind you that the hu-manbeingwasconsideredbytheancient initiates to possess three principles or ele-ments while incarnated:1.TePhysicalBody,lentbyEarthfor onelifetime,islinkedtothisplanet by the food it provides for growth and substance.2.Life, which is like a spark that emanates betweenthetwopolesthatconstitute humanitythebodybelow,thesoul above.Lifeislinkedtotheterrestrial atmosphere by the breath, and that at-mosphere is, in turn, joined to the light oftheSunthatenergizesit.Tus,the breath connects humanity to the forces emanatedfromthestarswhosedirect-ing center is the Sun. Life has been giv-enmanynameswhichratherconfuses thepoorneophyte.Paulnamesitsoul (Corpus, Anima et Spiritus); the schools of spiritism call it perispirit; the occult-ists term it the astral body. We shall not enumerate the Hebrew, Egyptian, Chi-nese, and Sanskrit appellations given to this principle called Life that has always excited the interest of all researchers.3.TeImmortalSoulislinkedtothe forcesoftheinvisibleplanebyintu-ition, feeling, and will.During terrestrial life those three prin-ciplesareunitedintimatelywithonean-other. Te soul liberates itself during sleep andpermitsLifetocleanthebodyand operatetheorganswhichdependdirectly upon organic life.Let us summarize: Incarnated humans are constituted by three principles:Te Physical Body Life Te Soul.TePhysicalBodyislinkedto Earth.LifeisconnectedtotheStars,to Universal Life.TeSoulistiedtotheHigher Forces and to the Divine Plane.Letusdisregardthediferentanalyses ofthoseprinciplesthataresaidtocom-prise seven, nine, or twenty-one elements. Nothing is lost in the discussion by ignor-ing them. Rather, to consider them would complicate simple matters unnecessarily.Whathappenstothethreeprinciples atthehourofdeath?Tevitalsparkis extinguishedandLife,theVitalForce,is separated into two poles:1.Temoreluminouspartremains around the soul and becomes the astral vehicle,thevehicleofthesoul,orac-cording to Pythagoras, the subtle body which surrounds the soul on the astral plane.2.Tesecondpart,thedenserone,re-mains in the physical body that has be-come a cadaver.Te cadaver returns to Earth as a used garment returns to the used clothes dealer. Since Earth can take back at will anything that belongs to it, worms may destroy the garmentwhichisjoinedtothesoulby onlyaverytenuouslink.Itisnottothe disintegratingbodythatdevotionshould be rendered, but rather to the love and the ideas that the departed one left.Te soul retains its complete personal-ity. Te impact of passing from one plane totheotherdimsthefacultiesmomen-tarily, but the soul fnds itself surrounded byfriendsandrelativeswhohadearlier departed.Ifthepersondiedforthecol-lective,heorsheis,moreover,helpedby spiritual beings who alleviate any sufering thatheorshemaybeenduring.Tus,if one wishes to mourn, the tears should be shedundoubtedlyonbehalfofthepoor blind human beings of Earth and not the liberated soul who, by the sacrifce of their terrestrial life, endeavored to save the col-lective of their country.Suchhasbeentheteachingofthe Sanctuaries for more than 7,000 years. All initiates have always been convinced about Page 31this personal existence that succeeds terres-trial life, for they have lived it experimen-tally. Te initiation into the Isis Mysteries had no other aim in its elementary aspect and the initiations into all Mysteries in all countries have always had the same objec-tive. In the Sanskrit language, the individ-ualwhoknowsthesetruthsinapractical way is called Dwidia which means dweller on two planes.Becausescientifcstudieshaveeither reached a plateau or undergone a deforma-tion,certainmindshavecometobelieve ingoodfaiththatafterdeathaperson becomeseithercabbage,carrots,orwild fowers.Natureisthemostmeticulousofall misers.Shewouldneverspendcenturies toevolveahumanbrainforthepurpose of annihilating in one minute the slow and progressiveefortofsomanyyears.Te humansoulsurvivesafterphysicaldeath, andourknowledgeconcerningthisfact compels us to verify this afrmation.At Chaumont-sur-Argonne, near Pierreftte, in a trench a young German was dead, holding near his head and at eye level his prayer book....Poor victim of the madness of the great, I salute you.... Knowing death was coming, you bravely prepared your soul for its physical departure, and, obscure hero, you called on the One who awaits all. May your gesture be blessed. It is of no consequence that you were an enemy of my country and an envoy of the blind who sacrifced the fower of their men to the base satisfaction of their ambition....Tomorrow you will return to the earth, but you will have drunk from the waters of forgetfulness... I salute you and I pray with you.Papus RosicrucianDigestNo. 12014Page 32Traditional Martinist Order DiscourseKABBALAH (Te Tree of the Sephiroth)We present below a sample discourse from the teachings of the Traditional Martinist Order, this one featuring a discussion of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.I greetyoubeforetheluminariesofthe Traditional Martinist Order!IntheSepherYetzirah,itissaidthat thebenevolentandmercifulGodcreated the universe through thirty-two wonderful pathsofWisdom.Tesethirty-twopaths correspondtothetwenty-twoHebrew lettersandtothetenSephiroth.After havingstudiedthetwenty-twolettersin thetwopreviousdiscourses,themoment hasnowcometoapproachthetopicof the ten Sephiroth.TeKabbalistssaythatwhen thePri-mordialLightdescendedfromtheAin-Soph,orinotherwordstheInfnite,to give the breath of life to all the worlds and all creatures, It arrayed itself in the shape of ten lights. Tese are the Sephiroth, which the Zohar compares to the ten forms that God produced to direct the unknown and invisible worlds, and the visible worlds. In the frst chapter of the Sepher Yetzirah, it is said that they came out of the nothingness and that their appearance is as a fash of light whose extremities are without limit. Onecanalsoreadinthisbookthatthe Word of the Divine comes and goes with-in them and [that] when the Word speaks, suchasahurricane,theybowbeforethe Divine Trone and they celebrate.Tewordsephirothisthepluralof sephira,afemininewordthatmeansnu-meration. As you know, the ten Sephiroth are arranged in a hierarchical manner and are linked one to another by channels. Tey are:Kether,Chokhmah,Binah,Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. Together they form Te Tree oftheSephiroth,whichis,insomeman-ner, the invisible skeleton of Creation. As indicated in the Sepher Bahir, the branches of this tree nourish themselves in the Ain-Soph,thehiddentranscendence.Rather thandiscusstheAin-Sophtoday,wewill study this concept in the next discourse. As you will notice on the diagram, the tenSephirotharearrangedinthreecol-umns forming a symbolic structure called Binyam.Te left column is Severity. It extends fromthesephiraBinahtothesephira Hod. Associated with the letter Mem, and with water, it symbolizes passivity and has a negative polarity.TerightcolumnisMercy,some-times called Clemency. It extends from the sephira Chokhmah to the sephira Netzach. AssociatedwiththeletterShinandwith fre,itsymbolizestheforceofexpansion and has a positive polarity.Finally, the central column is Equilib-rium.ItextendsfromthesephiraKether tothesephiraMalkuth.Associatedwith theletterAleph,andwithair,itsymbol-izestheequilibriumbetweenthetwopo-larities,aswellastheunionbetweenthe Divine World and the Material World.Tekabbalistictraditionrelatesthese threecolumnswiththepatriarchsAbra-ham,Isaac,andJacob.Youwillalsonote that the columns descend from the infnite to the fnite through the four levels, or four materialized worlds, indicated by the dot-ted lines in the diagram.Page 33TefrstlevelistheOlamAtziluth, theWorldofEmanation.Formedbythe sephiroth Kether, Chokhmah, and Binah, it represents the Divine Will in a pure state.Te second level is the Olam Briah, the World of Creation. Formed by the sephi-rothChesed,Geburah,andTiphereth,it istheworldwhereDivineWillistrans-formed into creative energy.TethirdlevelistheOlamYetzirah, theWorldofFormation.Formedbythe sephirothNetzach,Hod,andYesod,itis theworldofmovementandgeneration, where all forms are elaborated.Finally, the fourth level is Olam Assiah, the World of Action. Formed by the sephi-ra Malkuth, it is the world of phenomena, of matter and human beings.It can be said that the four worlds sym-bolize the expansion of the Divine through the visible and invisible planes of Creation. It is the reason why they are associated with the four letters of the Tetragrammaton,