Martinism

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The hexagram - symbol and " pentacle " of Martinism.

The Martinism is a collective term for some directions of esoteric Freemasonry, which in various forms of Spaniard Martines de Pasqually decline (1727-1774). A distinction is made between the Martinezists , who work according to the older system of Martinès de Pasqually, and the Martinists , who work according to the modified system of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803). Pasqually's teachings and rituals also contained elements of sex magic . With these components borrowed from Gnosis , such currents came close to Masonic-mystical endeavors for the first time in the 18th century.

origin

The later founder of Martinimus, Martinez de Pasqually , first founded the high degree Masonic order Elus Coën . After the occult character of Elus Coën became known through some indiscretions, the management of the Grand Lodge forbade the activity. When the French government also banned Freemasonry in all of France in February 1767, Pasqually reorganized the order. As a replacement for The nullified Grand Loge he appointed in March 1767 that a Tribunal Souveräin his Elus Coen, now the highest Masonic authority is what he allegedly during an exorcism had been authorized. As the "secret overseer", Pasqually was the highest chief of this order, to which he also accepted Saint-Martin in 1768. The developing degree system called the holders of the Rèau-Croix degree, the highest degree, "Très Puissant Maitre". This term is later also found among the Martinists. Pasqually put his teaching together from Gnostic, Manichaean , Cathar elements, to which he added building blocks from the traditions of the Hermetic and Christian-Jewish esotericism, as found in the Spanish Kabbalah, the Christian Kaballa Knorr von Rosenroth and his Sulzbacher circle .

The "older" Martinists

Significant for Martinism are the works of Saint-Martin, who hit the nerve of the French cultural elite with “Errors and Truth”. In it he explains to the seeker or Hommes de désir to rediscover the divine origin through the path of the heart. People are asked not to drift along in everyday life, but to consciously perceive the present and shape it.

Saint-Martin was inspired by the works of the German shoemaker and philosopher Jakob Böhme , some of which he translated into French.

After Matthias Claudius translated his work “Errors and Truth” into German in 1782 , further books and writings followed:

  • L'Homme de désir - The Seeker , (1790)
  • Ecce homo - See what a person (1792)
  • Le Nouvel Homme - The New Man , (1792)
  • Le crocodile, ou la guerra du Bien et du Mal - The crocodile or the struggle between good and evil , (1799)
  • Le Ministère de l'homme-esprit - The service of the spirit man , (1802)

After Saint Martin's death in 1803, the followers of his philosophy and theosophy called themselves Martinists from then on. However, it has been proven that Saint-Martin left no organized discipleship and always viewed the lodge system as something external that had to be fertilized internally. He then consequently asked his friend Willermoz around 1790 to delete his name from the Masonic lists in order to be able to dedicate himself to the divine from now on. Nonetheless, in the 19th and 20th centuries, various esoteric organizations not only used Saint-Martin as patron saint and source, but also traced the descent of their own organization back to him through imaginatively decorated succession chains in order to create the appearance of authenticity. It is remarkable that two different succession chains were used to connect the Ordre Martiniste, founded in 1891, with the tradition of the older Martinists, at the end of which Gérard Encausse, who allegedly claims to have been initiated into the internals of Martinism in 1882, and the librarian of the Museum Guimet (French: Musée Guimet), Augustin Chaboseau stood. For example, the French occultist Gérard Encausse alias Papus , with the support of Stanislas de Guaita , brought the scattered Martinists together in the Martinist Order Ordre Martiniste . Papus' efforts led to a renewed bloom of Martinism.

The "younger" Martinists

Like the "older" Martinists, Saint-Martin also served as the namesake of many "younger" Martinists. However, there were also directions within Martinism at the beginning of the 20th century that primarily related to Pasqually and his teachings of Elus Coën . An organizational succession line that has been repeatedly asserted that leads to the “older” Martinists of the 18th century cannot be historically proven. In terms of the history of ideas, however, the “younger” Martinists are dependent on the “older” Martinists. In addition to the spiritual ancestors Pasqually and Saint-Martin, the “younger” Martinists also refer to the alchemists Heinrich Khunrath and Alexander Seton , the theosophists Jakob Böhme and Johann Georg Gichtel, and high-grade masons such as Jean Baptiste Willermoz and Rudolf von Salzmann.

The Traditional Martinist Order (TMO) and the British Martinist Order (BMO)

Two Martinist orders of today, the Traditional Martinist Order (TMO) and the British Martinist Order (BMO), are intertwined with the Rosicrucian Society AMORC . The BMO cooperates with the Militia Crucifera Evangelia (OMCE), the former AMORC Grand Master Gary L. Steward . The TMO, which was founded by Augustin Chamboseau and Harvey Spencer Lewis , only accepts members of the AMORC, whose respective imperator (head) is also the head of the TMO.

The Hermetic Order of Martinists (HOM)

Only members who are Freemasons and members of the Rosicrucian Society Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia are accepted into the Hermetic Order of Martinists .

Rose Croix Martinist Order (R + CMO) and the Rose + Croix Martinist Order

The US-based Rose Croix Martinist Order and the Rose + Croix Martinist Order based in Ohio (Canada) refer to the Rosicrucians in their proper names.

literature

  • Karl RH Frick: The enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies until the end of the 18th century. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst E. Miers : Lexicon of secret knowledge. (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Goldmann, Munich 1993, pp. 406f.
  2. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005. p. 532.
  3. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005. P. 518ff.
  4. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005. p. 525.
  5. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005. p. 528.
  6. ↑ The Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix in: Material for the book: New Rosicrucians by Harald Lamprecht .
  7. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of secret knowledge. (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Goldmann, Munich 1993, p. 269.
  8. ^ Karl RH Frick: Light and Darkness. Gnostic-theosophical and Masonic-occult secret societies up to the turn of the 20th century. Volume II. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-044-7 , p. 390.
  9. ↑ a b c Harald Lamprecht : The Rosicrucians. Fascination of a myth. EZW texts No. 221/2012, p. 19.
  10. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004. p. 114.