Swedenborg rite
The Swedenborg rite is an independent and “ irregular ” high level Masonic system . In Germany this rite is currently not being worked on.
Emergence
The name of this high level system refers to Emanuel Swedenborg , although the system has no connection with his work and the Swedenborg Society also rejects any connection with this rite. The history of the rite can be divided into a short-lived system in the 18th century, which was lost in the turmoil of the French Revolution , and a more recent one - which still exists today in small remnants - from the 19th century.
The older Swedenborg rite was initiated by Dom Antoine-Joseph Pernéty (actually “de Pernetti”) (1716–1796), a former Benedictine monk, in 1786 with the establishment of the “ Société des Illuminés d'Avignon ” and was in contact with both to Martinists as well as to the theosophists of a group that called themselves Illuminés Théosophes (or in England Illuminated Theosophists ) around 1787 . It dealt in a total of six degrees (including the St. John's degrees ) with hermetic, theosophical, numerological and alchemical speculations, the interpretation of dreams, the search for the philosopher's stone , colorfully mixed with Catholic elements, such as the veneration of the Virgin Mary and recitation of the Athanasianum .
The second system named after Swedenborg was created by Samuel Beswick (1822–1903), a (later suspended) Swedenborgian clergyman who also wrote the extremely lengthy rituals (even for a high-grade system at that time), allegedly around 1859 in the USA and in 1876 after Canada England exports. In 1877 the Supreme Grande Lodge and Temple for Great Britain and Ireland of the Swedenborg Rite was installed in London . Theodor Reuss introduced it to Germany in 1902.
Grade, content
The content is related to the Memphis Misraïm rite , which means that this system can be classified as hermetic . Above the degrees of Johannis masonry, which are a prerequisite for admission but are not processed by the rite, the following further degrees rise (according to the "Constitution" by Theodor Reuss):
- The Swedenborg Rite conveys the knowledge of all degrees of Egyptian Masonry, and gives in three degrees the degrees of Enlightened, Exalted and Perfect Masonic Masters, which are the degrees 4 *, 18 * and 30 * of the old and accepted Scottish Rite (ancien et accepte). The Rosicrucian Degree and the Chosen Degree of the Grail form the conclusion of the whole system.
literature
- Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner: Internationales Freemasonic Lexicon . Herbig, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-7766-2478-7 .
- Karl RH Frick : The enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies until the end of the 18th century . Marix-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-006-4 .
- Karl RH Frick: Light and Darkness. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the turn of the 20th century . Marix-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-044-7 (contains "origins and beginnings" and "history of their teachings, rituals and organizations")
- Arthur Edward Waite : Martinism and the Masonic Rite of Swedenborg . Kessinger Publishing, 2007, ISBN 9781430436799
- Reinhard Breymayer : 'Elias Artista': Johann Daniel Müller from Wissenbach / Nassau, a critical friend of [Emanuel] Swedenborg , and his effect on the Swabian Pietists F [riedrich] C [hristoph] Oetinger and P [hilipp] M [atthäus] Hahn . In: Literature and Culture in the German Southwest between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. New studies, dedicated to W [alter] E [rnst] Schäfer on the occasion of his 65th birthday . Edited by Wilhelm Kühlmann. Rodopi, Amsterdam; Atlanta, G [eorgi] a 1995 ( Chloe. Beihefte zum Daphnis , Vol. 22), pp. 329-371. - Johann Daniel Müller (* 1716) was an important patron of the Illuminati of Avignon under the pseudonym "Elias Artista" / "Élie Artiste".