Fraternitas Saturni

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Lodge sign of the Fraternitas Saturni

Fraternity of Saturn ( lat. Brotherhood of Saturn ) is one with magic and mysticism busy end lodge that on May 8, 1926 in Berlin by Eugen Grosche was founded as Grand Master.

Origin and history

In the following, the lodge names are used as far as possible within the Fraternitas Saturni, as far as known, the civil names of the members are given when they are first mentioned; in these cases the lodge name follows in brackets.

The Fraternitas Saturni arose in Germany as a result of disputes that had occurred during and after the so-called Weida Conference . The disputes led to the closure of the Berlin Pansophic Lodge of the light-seeking Brothers Orient Berlin (Collegium Pansophicum) on April 1, 1926 , in which Gregorius had been secretary of the lodge since December 16, 1924. The Fraternitas Saturni is based on Aleister Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis and Freemasonry , from which one borrowed the principle of "freedom, tolerance and brotherhood" and the initiation system, which was initially ten degrees and later expanded to 33 degrees. The aim of the Fraternitas Saturni is to promote humanity through further development of the individual. In addition, methods are used that go beyond natural science and that are referred to as western occultism or magic . The order is not bound to any denomination or religion .

On May 8, 1926, the Fraternitas Saturni was enlightened by a small group of five members (Eugen Grosche, Max Staack, Hans Müller, Artur Schumacher and Joachim Winckelmann) former members of the Pansophischen Lodge of the light-seeking Brothers Orient Berlin.

In addition to Gregorius' bookstore Inveha, which also acted as an "occult book publisher" and in which lodge members received a 10% discount, the Fraternitas Saturni ran the "Esoterische Studiengesellschaft e. V. Berlin ”, which was previously affiliated to the Pansophische Gesellschaft and whose director was Gregor A. Gregorius. In this study society, the higher-level lodge members worked as lecturers and teachers, this teaching activity in the lodge was a prerequisite for the first R + C degree , the Gradus Pentalphae (see below), there were also experimental evenings. The "Esoteric Study Society" was closed on October 31, 1929 after five years of existence due to economic problems, and a "Gnostic Working Community" was founded to replace it.

In addition, 17 so-called neophytes changed from the branch of the Berlin Pansophic Society to the Fraternitas Saturni. Contrary to other assumptions, the former master of the chair of the Berlin Pansophische Lodge Albin Grau (Pacitus) and Karl Germer (Saturnus) were not included.

After its dissolution on March 13, 1928, the members of Rah-Omir Quintscher's "Order of Mentalistic Builders" were asked to join the local boxes of the Fraternitas Saturni. Quintscher, who lives in Dresden, received the Gradus Mercurii in the course of this , but left the lodge a little later. This development meant that both Adonism and the resulting magical system of Franz Bardon left traces in the Fraternitas Saturni .

The Fraternitas Saturni worked until the summer of 1934 before it ended its box work. Grosche had to endure a total of 3 house searches by the Gestapo during the Third Reich . The first, unspecified search took place in autumn 1934. The second took place just under a year later on September 30, 1935 and the last on December 19, 1936 at 7.15 a.m. After 1945 work was resumed from Berlin. In January 1947, Karl Wedler (Giovanni) was accepted into the lodge. From 1950 Gregorius came into contact with Hermann Joseph Metzger, the head of the Swiss OTO, who could not be traced back to Aleister Crowley, but to the OTO founder Theodor Reuss . Gregorius, who had already been awarded the V ° OTO by Heinrich Tränker before the Weida Conference , spent part of his time in exile during the time of National Socialism in Switzerland with a group in Ticino belonging to Metzgers OTO . He tried to use these contacts and connections to rebuild the Fraternitas Saturni beyond the borders of Germany and offered Metzger the management of the Fraternitas Saturni in Switzerland and outside Germany, which Metzger accepted. Metzger helped Gregorius to set up Fraternitas Saturni country boxes in Switzerland and Austria. Due to differences of opinion between Gregorius and Metzger, the collaboration was terminated in the fall of 1953, Gregorius wanted to continue the merging of various types of Masonic doctrines that were practiced in the early OTO under Reuss, including the sale of high grades to make money, Metzger feared the protest of regular Masonic lodges, used Gregorius 'contacts in the circles of those interested in magic and mysticism and stole two manuscripts of Gregorius' books.

Since the early 1950s Gregorius had been in correspondence with the British Kenneth Grant , who had been his secretary and student in Crowley's last years. Grant had been named IX ° OTO, the highest degree of the OTO, by Germer. When Grant mentioned Gregorius in the manifesto for the establishment of his Nu-Isis Lodge and Gregorius published an abridged version of this manifesto in his lodge magazine Blätter für angewandte occult Lebenskunst , Germer concluded that he had been the possible head of the OTO (OHO, "Outer Head of the Order “) negotiated grant from the OTO. In the period that followed, Gregorius distanced his lodge from both the OTO and Crowley's Thelema , the sex-magical content of the OTO high degrees was already integrated in the Gradus Pentalphae of the FS and, according to Gregorius, "[t] he brothers of the 'Fraternitas Saturni' lodge [...] no thelemites ”.

On March 18, 1957, the Fraternitas Saturni was officially entered in the Berlin register of associations. At that time there were active atrial boxes in Hamburg and Stuttgart , and from 1955 to 1956 there was an atrium box in Düsseldorf. In 1962 an atrium box was founded in Frankfurt am Main under the direction of Johannes Maikowski (Immanuel, 18 °, 22 °, member of the FS since October 1955, Orient Berlin), who, in addition to his wife (Flita, 16 °), also Walter Englert (Ptahotep , 18 °) belonged to. In 1963 Immanuel founded an offshoot of the Fraternitas Saturni, the Fraternitas Luminis Ordo Regina Adeptorum (FLORA), and according to his own statements, he was appointed by Gregorius as his successor in December 1963, a few days before Gregorius' death. This led to a split of the Fraternitas Saturni into a Frankfurt and a Berlin grand lodge.

After Gregorius' death on January 5, 1964, the former lodge secretary and grand inspector (29 °) Margarete Berndt (Roxane) succeeded the grand master's office, who was elected in 1964 at the Easter box. At the Easter Lodge in 1965, Roxane, who was in poor health, handed over the office of Grand Master to Giovanni. In 1966, Guido Wolther (Daniel) was elected grandmaster as a member of the 12 °. Wolther sold Adolf Hemberger (not a FS member), who wrote books about magic under the pseudonym Klingsor, the lodge interna, which Hemberger then published in his Documenta et Ritualia Fraternitas Saturni (18 volumes) and his Der mystisch-magische Orden Fraternitas Saturni . The business relationship developed so that Wolther invented rituals and materials for Hemberger, which were then resold by Hemberger. This process led to a sensational and scandalous image of the Fraternitas Saturni in public.

In 1969 Walther Jantschik (Jananda, also uses the pseudonyms Aythos and CIT), who held the journeyman's degree (8 °), was elected as the new grandmaster at the Easter box, and some of the Frankfurt Saturn brothers rejoined the mother box. Daniel moved to the Frankfurt Grand Lodge as 33 ° GOTOS. After half a year Jananda was voted out, and Stanislaus Wicha (Andrzey), who had become a member in the same year, was named Grand Master. Daniel and Jananda resigned shortly after their dismissals. Andrzey remained in office until 1977, his successor was Joachim Müller (Horus).

From 1978 the local orienteer Bersenbrück, under the direction of Dieter Heikaus (Honorius, later Set-Horus), slowly made itself independent of the Fraternitas Saturni and split off completely from the mother box in January 1980 as Ordo Saturni. Some masters of the Fraternitas Saturni and high grade members from Gregorius' time joined the Ordo Saturni and in July 1986 Giovanni also joined. On March 4th 1989 Set-Horus was named 33 ° GOTOS.

Another spin-off from the Fraternitas Saturni, which works on the Saturn gnosis, is the Communitas Saturni founded by Immanuel in 1993. Immanuel founded a number of lodges, some of which refer to the Fraternitas Saturni in their names. The "Grand Lodge Gregor A. Gregorius of the Fraternitas Saturni in Kaiserslautern" founded by him in the 1990s merged with the Fraternitas Saturni in 2003.

to teach

The Fraternitas Saturni is emphatically eclectic , its curriculum (an alternative name for the degree system) includes Rosicrucian , Hermetic , Alchemical , Kabbalistic and astrological fields of activity, but also includes the study of theosophy , yoga , religious studies and gnosis . The members should work specifically on their weaknesses through initiations and the processing of the degrees and counteract the one-sided emphasis on properties.

The Saturn magic of the Fraternitas Saturni differs considerably from other magical traditions. According to the Fraternitas Saturni, it is not a traditional system of traditional magic, does not obey the principle of the solar, but works with the "dark light" of the " Demiurge Saturn ".

Lodge meetings are held on the third Saturday of the month, with a ritual as a framework with part opening and later part closing of the box. Between these two parts of the ritual, new admissions, assessments or exemptions from lodges take place, lectures can also be given, lodge matters discussed or joint meditations held. Members who do not have the opportunity to take part in the lodge assembly will be sent "good harmonious thought forces". On Holy Saturday the founding of the Fraternitas Saturni by Gregorius is commemorated in a solemn Easter box.

The identification mark for members is a ring made of silver with an acute-angled triangle surrounded by four bands that join on the back. In the triangle is the astronomical symbol of the planet Saturn with a precious or semi-precious stone set on the lower arch, which represents the degree of lodge.

The Fraternitas Saturni expanded the Law of the New Aeon ( Thelema , the law for the Horus Age ) of the Liber AL vel Legis , which was propagated by Crowley : “Do what you want is the law. Love is the law, love under will ”with the addition“ merciless love! ”. Individual members, for example the high degree Johannes Maikowski (Master Immanuel), reject Thelema and Crowley.

Degree system

development

In the degree system of the Fraternitas Saturni originally ten degrees were processed. The first three were externally based on the three degrees of blue St. John's Freemasonry (apprentice, journeyman, master) and were referred to as pronaos , Greek for 'vestibule of the temple': neophyte (apprentice), Gradus Mercurii , lat. 'Degree of Mercury' (Journeyman) and Gradus Solis , Latin for 'degree of sun' (master). This was followed by three Rosicrucian grades: the Gradus Pentalphae , lat. “Degree of the Pentagram ”, the Gradus Sigilii Salomonis , lat. “Degree of the Seal of Solomon ” and the Magus Heptagrammatos , lat. “Magician of the Seven Star”. The highest level of initiation or training were the three degrees of the Sovereign Sanctuary of Gnosis , which were called Templarius , Latin “Templar Lord”, Gnosticus , Latin “Gnostic” and Magister Aquarii , Latin “Master of Aquarius”. Before the pronaos degree, there was also the degree of novice brother , which served the mutual acquaintance of the candidate and lodge. The Grand Master held the highest degree Magister Aquarii and carried the title Master of the Chair .

In the early 1960s, the initiation system was expanded to 33 degrees. The degrees are based on the framework of the degrees of the "Old and Accepted Scottish Rite" of Freemasonry, but were given different names and their own content. This created a differentiated and complex structure in which only certain key degrees are worked out in order to get into the deeper levels of the lodge. These degrees include the 8 ° ( Gradus Mercurii ) and the 12 ° ( Gradus Solis ). The other degrees are linked to different fields of activity, which the members of the Fraternitas Saturni are free to work on.

Degree contents

In the Fraternitas Saturni under Gregorius, a brother or sister was bestowed the title of frater after three years at the earliest. This recognition enabled the lodge member to apply for the Gradus Mercurii . Since 1954 the Gradus Mercurii has been obtained through two written papers on subjects of occult science and an oral examination. Another condition for this degree was lively communication with the lodge management.

The Gradus Solis marked the actual entry into the box after at least six years in the forecourt. The owners had to undertake to bequeath all books and documents of interest to the lodge to the Fraternitas Saturni. Likewise the box jewelry, ritual objects and the robes of the box, should it not be the wish of the degree holder to be buried with them. In addition, this degree required extensive knowledge of occult science and previous teaching work within the lodge. The Gradus Solis also authorized the lodge to lead a local Orient.

A degree of the Fraternitas Saturni, which significantly shapes the image of the FS in public, is the 18 ° ( Gradus Pentalphae = 'degree of the pentagram '). The area of ​​responsibility of the 18 ° deals with the work of the path to the left hand , with tantra and borrowings from Crowley's sexual magic , which were further changed (e.g. ritual love positions according to the current planetary constellations). Gregorius, who was also a student of Heinrich Tränker , the head of the OTO at the time and founder of the Collegium Pansophicum, summarized the secrets of the Ordo Templi Orientis in the Gradus Pentalphae . Since a large number of forged documents were published about this degree ( "Hemberger material" ), precise information about the content of this degree is difficult to verify. Members who do not want to deal with the topics of the 18 ° can instead work on the 19 ° Magus Sigilli Salomonis , a “mystical” degree, or the “esoteric” 20 ° Magus Heptagrammatos .

The degree of the Gradus Ordinis Templi Orientis Saturni corresponds to the initials of this title, GOTOS, which also designate the Egregor of the Fraternitas Saturni.

Civil service

In addition to the various degrees, which are understood as an expression of the connection to the lodge and spiritual progress, the Fraternitas Saturni knows six official positions. These support the master of the chair and his two overseers in the organization of the lodge. The civil service of the lodge is divided into the internal civil service and the external civil service . The former includes the archivist , the treasurer and the secretary . The external civil service consists of the master of ceremonies , the porter and the caretaker .

Active Saturn lodges

Fraternitas Saturni

The association founded in 1957 continues to this day. For its 75th anniversary (2003) the Grand Lodge Fraternitas Saturni merged with the "Grand Lodge Gregor A. Gregorius", which was founded by former Grand Master Immanuel. The name Fraternitas Saturni was retained after the merger.

Ordo Saturni

In 1979, the local orient Bersenbrück separated from the FS and the Ordo Saturni was founded. Some FS masters later joined him, according to the self-portrayal of the Ordo Saturni, all FS high-grade members from the Gregorius period should have joined the OS. The occult researcher P.-R. König writes: "The former local lodge Bersenbrück split off under Dieter Heikaus ( Set – Horus , 1942–2007) as Ordo Saturni . All masters and high grades that Grosche knew personally passed over to this new grand lodge in 1987 at the latest Kropp stays with the Berlin FS and is the only member there that Grosche has known personally. " Grandmaster Dieter Heikaus advertised his order in the "Spiritual Address Book" in the mid-1980s, among other things, with the fact that the Ordo Saturni had a "special department for ariosophy ".

Communitas Saturni

In 1993 the Communitas Saturni was founded in Kaiserslautern. This lodge received a lodge patent from former grandmaster Immanuel, maintains daughter lodges and therefore calls itself a grand lodge.

Periodicals

From the end of the 1920s to 1933, the Fraternitas Saturni published the magazine Saturn Gnosis . It mainly contained texts and poems by members of the lodge, but also by Aleister Crowley and others. When Gregorius revived the brotherhood after the Second World War , the magazine Blätter for Applied Occult Art of Living was published until his death .

literature

  • Alexander Popiol, Raimund Schrader: Gregor A. Gregorius - mystic of dark light . Esoterischer Verlag, Bürstadt 2007, ISBN 978-3-932928-40-6 .
  • Stephen Flowers : Fire and Ice. The magical secret teachings of the German secret order Fraternitas Saturni . Translated into German by Michael DeWitt . Edition Ananael, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-901134-03-4 .
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Haack: The Fraternitas Saturni (FS) as an example of an arcane-mystogenic secret order of the 20th century . Hiram Edition 1, Working Group for Religious and Weltanschauung Issues 1977, ISBN 3-921513-11-1 .
  • FW Lehmberg (Hrsg.): Magical reprints and internals of the Fraternitas Saturni . Hiram Edition 10, Working Group for Religious and Weltanschauung issues 1980, ISBN 3-921513-48-0 .
  • Volker Lechler: The first years of the Fraternitas Saturni. Taking into account the change of script between Gregor A. Gregorius (ie Eugen Grosche) and Rah-Omir (ie Wilhelm Quintscher) . Stuttgart 2015. ISBN 978-3-00-046818-6 .
  • Volker Lechler: Heinrich Tränker as theosophist, Rosicrucian and Pansoph. Stuttgart 2013.
  • Hans-Jürgen Glowka: German occult groups 1875-1937. Hiram Edition 12, Working Group for Religious u. Weltanschauungsfragen, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-921513-54-5 .
  • Hans Thomas Hakl : The magical order of the Fraternitas Saturni. In: Occultism in a Global Perspective. edited by Henrik Bogdan and Gordan Djurdjevic. Routledge 2014. Chapter 3 from p. 37. ISBN 978-1844657162 .
  • Hans Thomas Hakl: Fraternitas Saturni. In: Wouter J. Hanegraaff: Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. Vol. I. Brill, Leiden 2005, pp. 379-382.
  • Essays by Gregor A. Gregorius , including http://www.parareligion.ch/saturn.htm
  • Andreas Huettl, Peter R. König : SATAN - disciples, hunters and justice. Kreuzfeuer Verlag, Großpösna 2006, ISBN 3-937611-01-0 .

Web links (own representations)

Web links (critical representations)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Lechler: The first years of the Fraternitas Saturni. Pp. 69–86 also for a discussion of the various founding dates.
  2. ↑ Volker Lechler: Heinrich Tränker as theosophist, Rosicrucian and Pansoph. Pp. 280-360.
  3. ↑ Volker Lechler: Heinrich Tränker as theosophist, Rosicrucian and Pansoph. Pp. 337-346.
  4. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice , various passages, especially p. 78 ff.
  5. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. Pp. 19-40.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l F. W. Lehmberg: Magical reprints and internals of the Fraternitas Saturni .
  7. ↑ Volker Lechler: The first years of the Fraternitas Saturni. P. 70–72 and illustration of the founding deed of the Fraternitas Saturni P. 80–81.
  8. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Cont. SATURN"
  9. ↑ Volker Lechler: The first years of the Fraternitas Saturni. Pp. 69-86.
  10. ↑ Volker Lechler: The first years of the Fraternitas Saturni. Pp. 275-292.
  11. ↑ Volker Lechler: The first years of the Fraternitas Saturni. P. 292.
  12. ↑ Stephen Flowers : Fire and Ice. P. 38.
  13. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturn's Égrégore in sunny Ticino"
  14. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturn's Égrégore in sunny Ticino"
  15. ↑ parareligion.ch introduction
  16. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturn's Égrégore in sunny Ticino"
  17. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturn's Égrégore in sunny Ticino"
  18. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturn's Égrégore in sunny Ticino"
  19. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Contact with Karl Germer at last"
  20. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Kenneth Grant: the Typhonian OTO in England"
  21. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturnian Turmoil"
  22. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturnian Turmoil"
  23. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturnian Turmoil"
  24. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Saturnian Turmoil"
  25. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Johannes Maikowski"
  26. ↑ Stephen Flowers : Fire and Ice. P. 39 f.
  27. ↑ a b http://www.parareligion.ch/fs3.htm Section "HOW MANY Gotoses CAN BE THE GOTOS?"
  28. ↑ a b http://www.parareligion.ch/2008/fs/wolther.htm
  29. ↑ http://www.parareligion.ch/fs5.htm , sections on Wolther and Hemberger
  30. ↑ http://www.parareligion.ch/fs5.htm Section about Hemberger
  31. ↑ http://www.parareligion.ch/2007/ja/baphomet.htm
  32. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Adolf Hemberger"
  33. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Adolf Hemberger"
  34. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Adolf Hemberger"
  35. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Adolf Hemberger"
  36. ↑ parareligion.ch section "The Ordo Saturni"
  37. ↑ a b c d http://www.parareligion.ch/2010/homunc/homunc.htm
  38. ↑ parareligion.ch section "Johannes Maikowski"
  39. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. P. 80 ff.
  40. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. P. 53 f.
  41. ↑ http://www.parareligion.ch/2007/fs/ritual.htm see section "Lodge work"
  42. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. P. 99.
  43. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice , various passages, e.g. B, p. 123, line 13.
  44. ↑ www.parareligion.ch See section "RITUAL CONCLUSIONIS = closing ritual"
  45. ↑ a b For the old degree system of the FS, see FW Lehmberg: Magical special prints and internals of the Fraternitas Saturni .
  46. ^ Reform and presentation of the new degree system, see Stephen Flowers: Feuer und Eis. P. 82 ff.
  47. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. P. 40.
  48. ↑ http://www.parareligion.ch/2007/ja/aythos.htm see especially the requirements for the 26 °
  49. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice , especially p. 47 ff.
  50. ↑ a b http://www.parareligion.ch/fs3.htm see section "The Ordo Saturni"
  51. ↑ Peter-R. Koenig: Fraternitas Saturni: Johannes Goeggelmann / Saturnius. In: www.parareligion.ch. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  52. ↑ Peter-Robert König: The OTO phenomenon RELOAD. Volume 3. Working group for religious and ideological issues, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-941421-16-5 , p. 330.
  53. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. P. 36 ff.