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Elixir.Thus the book conveys in a way how man purifies to a
man of sanctity through hardy initiations.
Many a researcher have proposed that this book was
written by Johann Valentin Andrea, a Lutheran priest and that
he indeed was behind the founding of the brotherhood. J.
Gordon Melton, in his book Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in
America draws attention to an interesting point: "It is
interesting that Andrea is a fervent Lutheran because Martin
Luther's coat of arms also had a rose and a cross.
Rosencreutz`s Travel to the East
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Rosencreutz`s life
story covers a period of his travels to the Islamic realm of
the East in a quest to obtain Eastern Secrets. According to
this legend, he first goes to Cyprus, intending to travel to
Jerusalem but when his companion dies there he goes to a place
called Damcar as he is directed by some Eastern wise men.
Much doubt has been expressed about the name of the place
Damcar. Many suggested that it would be Damascus in Syria
which was a center of learning. This has led to much
controversy as to whether the travel had actually occurred. In
the Waite translation it is stated that German editions
confused Damasco with Damcar. Damasco is Damascusin
Syria, but Damcar is Dhamar, in Arabia. Therefore, it
should read Damcar rather than Damasco. If one takes a
close look at Abraham Orteliuss ancient map of the Middle
East as shown in Figure 1, one can discern this city which was
a center of learning then. It is in South Yemen where Saabeans
of Arabia lived. The mind in the mists of History would
inevitable wander to their Biblical Queen Belkis who had
traveled to meet King Solomon in Jerusalem.
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Figure 1.
Damcar
Continuing the story; the wise men who knew the secrets
of nature have educated Rosencreutz in the natural sciences
such as medicine, physics, mathematics and alchemy. They also
gave him a secret book called M. It is possible that this
may be the famous Liber Mundi which is said to contain many
secrets.
Three years later Rozenkreutz went on to Egypt where he
studied natural history and metaphysical works of legendary
Hermes Trismegistus. Then he traveled to Fes. Claimed to be in
his own words every year representatives of Arabian
scientists gather here to discuss if better things in arts
(science) have been discovered and whether new experimentation
proved any of their working hypotheses wrong. Eventually new
findings are made to advance Mathematics, Medicine and
Magick.
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If one accepts the year 1378 as the year in which
Christian Rosenkreutz was born, then it appears that his
Middle East adventure must have taken between 1389 and 1402,
before the conquest of Istanbul by the Turks in 1453.
Esotericism
Every belief system has two aspects, one exoteric (open)
and the other esoteric (concealed) as almost a general rule.
Examples are two opposing aspects, like outer and inner, the
visible and the concealed, symbolically in Sufism; the rind
and the flesh.
Usually the exoteric aspect of a religion teaches morals,
giving instructions on being good, tells stories about
happenings of the past. The lessons to be derived from these
instructions and stories are left to the initiate to discover
and these discoveries from time immemorial have been preserved
by the real priests and prophets. They have kept their secrets
in coded words, symbols, allegories, enigmas. These secrets
could only be gained by schooling, the system being to teach
them in stages. This may be called successive initiation to
the knowledge and societies exercising this may be named
Initiatic Societies as suggested by famous Masonic historian
Paul Noudon. At the esoteric core of the doctrine was the idea
of the human beings being able to worship without an
intermediary and molding of minds to purify man towards
(quoting Pike) a-tonement. This means the reversal of a
church centered world to a man centered world and is contrary
to the advantages (material and authoritarian) of the
establishment. The established authority was a King or Sultan
ruling in the name of God. This inevitably had given rise to a
Church-King alliance. Thus, any idea to shake this partnership
had to be banished.
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At certain times the esoteric core had come to light but
was forcibly buried by the establishment. Inquisitions,
tribunals were set up by the oligarchy to punish the heathen
and the rebellious. Now it is time to query how this esoteric
core fed Rose-Croix.
Fountains of Esoteric Knowledge in the East
Figure 2 is a Map of Biblical Fertile Crescent. The name
implies a region where many civilizations lived and left their
marks. At this juncture it is remarkable that for 200000 years
of Human History the intellectual abilities of humans have
been dormant until 4000 BC (a merely 2% of the whole time span
until our time) when the Sumer (Shumar) kingdom shone in this
region. The accumulation of knowledge since then has been
astounding.
Figure 2. The Fertile
Crescent
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The most important esoteric system that the medieval
times inherited from past unknown of this land is Hermeticism.
Thus it is thought expedient to dwell on this vast subject in
as concise a way as possible.
Hermetic Thought
Hermes
A prominent legend of Ancient Egypt is that of Isis-
Osiris-Horus: Set (or Tifon) who is jealous of his Priest-King
brother Osiris, gouges out his eye, kills him and throws parts
of his body in the river Nile. Thus Osiriss wifeIsis becomes
a widow. This widow, after seeking for and finding the body
parts, puts them together, thanks to the grace of sun-god Ra.
Then, using Osirissgenitals, gives birth to a male child
called Heru in ancient Egyptian or Horus in Greek. His name
connects to the sun god Ra who helped Isis to compose his
fathers partsand he has many eyes. His name Horus (plural
Hori because of his numerous eyes) has the syllable Iri which
means eye in Egyptian Hieroglyphics; in fact a symbol of the
eye of Cosmos or of Godly power. The association of his name
with the sun furthers when a branch of Sbis called
Mandeists, St.John the Baptist Christians who baptize by water
and whostill live in Northern Iraq used to call the same Angel
of Illumination Zehrun which they place in the House of the
Sun. In archaic languages, words had consonants only, voiced
when spoken. Hence Hermes is written as HRM. To bring out his
association with the sun; his name is formed as HI-RA-M which
means Illuminated because RA is for The Sun,Light, andIllumination. Similarly, with the letter u it becomes Khur-am
in Persian where Khur means Light, Sun.
In addition, Poimander, which is an addendum to
Corpus Hermeticum means Shepherd of People reminiscent of
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the Shepherd of Hermes in Greek Mythology. Romans called
him Mercury Trismegiste.
According to myth; Hermes is the first in history to
build a Temple to worship God, to talk about medical
science, to warn about the Flood. He has built two
pyramids to preserve wisdom, named them el-Barb and
Ihmm and carved all knowledge of his time on their
walls. These carvings were hieroglyphic and symbolic lest
their meaning be known to the profane. Another legend
says that God had revealed his name to him after
ascending him to heaven. He had then engraved this name
on a golden triangle with its tip down and placed it onan agate stone at the bottom of a deep pit. The pit was
protected by nine arches on top of which he built a
Temple.
Plato mentions Theuth in two places as founder of
Arithmetic, Calculus, Geometry, and other sciences. This is
purported to be ancient Egypts Thoth, Tahuti, Thech,
Tat which all meant Guide. Thoth in Celtic is Toatha
Daath in Kabala; and has become Death inEnglish, perhaps
because of his legendary role of shepherding souls to their
final trial. Ancient Egyptians used the incantation Aa Aa
Tehuti where Aa Aameant Thrice Great. Around 300 BC one
sees Toth-Hermes pair to be interchangeable. When Greeks
translated the sacred Aa Aa Tahuti call in their own
language as Trismegistos, this word gained different
connotations. Some Islamic thinkers ascribe to this triple
name Thrice Wizened and deduce that the blessed triangle
consisting of Prophetdom, Wisdom, and Caliphate;
representative of Prophet Mohammeds authority has been
bestowedon himby God. While Egyptian Toth was transformed
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to Greek Hermes its pure celestial image was lost and it
became a Greek god with cosmic powers.
The short introduction to Hermes above shows that he has
had a prominent place in many cultures. That is why the
philosophy called Hermeticism has been a source for many
esoteric schools of thought.
Hermetic Philosophy (Hermeticism)
In the context of this paper, this subject will be mostly
restricted to the Philosophy rather than the Alchemical aspect
of Hermeticism.
Archaic Hermeticism
Extant Hermetic literature is termed Corpus Hermeticum.
This consists of 17 main Dialogs. One should add to this the
40 passages compiled in AD 50 and the 3 Coptic Manuscripts
discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Archaic Hermetism
is Egyptian which stresses on discovering and revealing the
truth. Emerald Tablet is a work that reflects this
philosophy. According to this belief system all in Universe
has originated from one source, however all were
interconnected. Thus; a change at one place resulted in
another at another place. Macro cosmos (Universe) and Micro
cosmos (Man) wereinterrelated. The idiom As Above so below
reflects this view. Hermeticism supposes soul and body to be
conjoined and that every substance has a soul. Oneness of God
and immortality of the spirit are other elements. At this
stage it is worth stressing that the idea of everything in
cosmos being connected and a cause at one place can bring
about changes at another has been a driving force first for
alchemists and then in time for scientists. An early example
of this is the Sbis of Harran. They tried to utilize the
principle above to influence the course of events by trying to
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influence celestial events like the motion of the Planets.
Their books on astrology and Liber Hermetis are fruits of
such efforts.
Syncretic Hermeticism
The archaic Egyptian Hermeticism has undergone vast
changes in Alexandria that was founded by Alexander the Great
in 331 BC. The consequent syncretism is exemplified when one
considers the Greek Serapis statue to be amalgamated with the
Egyptian Apis originating from a belief in Osiris. The
syncretized Hermetic literature reflected beliefs in Ancient
Egypt, Pentateuch, Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster as well as
Stoicism, Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Pythagorianism and similar
trends of thought. According to Michel Eliade this collection
was a mixture of Judeo-Egyptian syncretism with a grain of
Persian lore. For example; the myth of creation in Poimander
is very similar to that of the Pentateuch. At places the
teachings in Corpus inclines towards Dualist Platonismand
also Pantheist Stoicism:
There is an invisible God in cosmos which is not created
by God directly. Androgynous Nous (the supreme wisdom) gives
existence to a Demiurge who then creates the cosmos and then
the celestial man (Anthropos). Anthropos gets down to Earth
and there unites with Nature (Physis) to give existence to
earthly human beings. Meanwhile however; the sacred primary
Anthropos remains in heavens. It alone gives life to humans.
His life transfers life to self, his light transfers light to
intellect (nous). It is this concept that gives rise to the
thought that man on earth has a mortal and an immortal
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attribute. It is due to this unique characteristic that if man
endeavors he can walk towards god with the help of the sacred
essence within him. According to this stream of thought;
matter is identical with darkness. Light is spirit and
illumination is in spirit. Life on earth is a process of
struggle between matter and spirit. Hermeticism has an
optimistic and a pessimisticaspect. The optimistic one is
Monistic and Pantheist. According to this; nature is good
and beautiful because Invisible God reflects himself there.
Thus, anyone who studies nature and understands its beauty
becomes fulfilled. Man is the third and last point of the
triangle: following God and Cosmos.
The pessimist doctrine asserts that nature is evil
because it has been created not by the Primordial God but by
the Demiurge. Thus anybody who does not turn his back on
nature can never know his God. Since world consists of evil;
one has to be a stranger to it in order to be reborn to the
divine realm.
Esoteric Islam and Hermeticism
Contemporary with the Church of Romes emergence Mohamed;
as a messenger of God appeared in Arabia and called for a
complete surrender to God. This was the beginning of Islam,
the last of the religions with a book named Quran. The Holy
Quran teaches that all revealed religions should be recognized
and to every nation or people a prophet has been sent.
Exoteric and Esoteric aspects are also present in Islam. The
exoteric bases are Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving and
Pilgrimage. Islamic esotericism exists in the Shia sects of
Islam and amongst the Sufi who; while observing the Sacred
Laws (Sharia) also interpret the Holy Quran in mystical ways.
Circumventing the political struggle between the followers of
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Ali, and the Orthodox Moslems headed by the Umayyad dynasty it
can be stated that Alis followers were called Shia (Shiites)
and Alewites in general by some. Many esoteric cults derive
from their various groupings occurring on the bases of
disputes of esoteric nature. Fatimids, Ismailis, Nusairi may
be cited.
Within Islamic esotericism, as in all esoteric movements,
there are steps towards gaining knowledge. This is called the
wisdom of gradual teaching (hikmat at-tadrij). The
invocation to God contains the following declaration of faith:
"There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of
God.Masters of Esoteric thought interpret this as "there isno Truth except Truth". It is said that Prophet Muhammed
instructed his companions Abu Bakr, Ali and Salman al-Farisi
in esoteric Islam. After his death in 632 A.D. they proceeded
to establish their own orders. Nevertheless, due to political
infighting, authority in the Islamic empire became divided.
Those who did not have their share of Esoteric Islam seized
power. Strict religious laws (sharia) were imposed. Therefore
Muslim conservators of esoteric Islam went into hiding.
It is expedient at this stage to see how Hermeticism was
perceived by the Islamic initiates:
In Islamic culture Hermes is known as Idris. He was
nicknamed tailor not because he was one but he could mold
human character like a tailor designed a costume. Traces of
Greek and/or Hebrew belief is apparent in the perception. The
following similarities in sacred texts are supportive of this.
According to the Old Testament Enoch(Uhnuh) is a religious
person, lived for 365 years and was exalted to heaven.
(Tekvin, V/23). Idris (his equivalent) has been mentioned
directly twice in the Quran: The first is Remember Idris too
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because he was a devout Prophet. We exalted him to a sublime
place. (Meryem, 56-57). The second is Remember Ishmael,
Idris, Dhul-kifl (probably Ezekiel). All of them were of the
patient ones. (Enbiya, 85).
In Prophet Mohameds ascension to Heaven story he talks
to Idris on the fourth heaven. This stage of heaven is
associated with the sun constellation and in Mythology this
sign is associated with Hermes as we have seen. This is taken
as further proof of the identicalness of Hermes-Idris.
Some Islamic thinkers consider the term Hermess
Triangle (Hermesl-mselles) as signifying three different
persons named Hermes. The first is Idris who has taught man
about the sky and the Medical Science, Letters of the
Alphabet, how to dress, warned them about the flood. He has
constructed the first temple to worship God. The second Hermes
or the Hermes of Babylon has lived in Babylon after the
deluge and is a master of Medicine, Philosophy, and Perception
in Numbers. Furthermore he has instructed Pythagoras. Legend
has it that this is the Hermes Trismegistos and this Hermes
is the one who found one of the two columns on which all
knowledge was inscribed by Noah before the flood. That is how
he acquired his knowledge. It was he who resurrected the
wisdom and science that was lost in the Deluge. The Third
Hermesor the Hermesof Egypt had lived more recently in a
center of excellence called Munif in Egypt before the rise of
Alexandria. The story has it that he was a student of
Agathodaimon, the alchemist. He established many cities
including Edessa (Urfa today). He wrote books about animals,
plants, medicine, philosophy, alchemy. He had important
manuscripts on astrology and was a teacher of Asclepius. He
has a place to his name in the mountains of Lebanon. These
mountains are significant to some denominations including the
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Druze. On the other hand the Historian Herevi mentions Idriss
place of birth as Harran, and there is a special shrine in
Kufe (Iraq) attributed to him.
Harran (Figure 2) was home to Sabiis who had synthesized
the Babylonian religion with that of Esoteric Greek tradition.
The people of Harran were inheritors of New Pythagorianism and
Hermeticism. Hermetic Sabiis were accepted as people of the
book by Moslems and this later enabled their ideas to be
repeated by later Moslem esotericists. One of their prominent
scientists Sbit bin Kurra has translated Hermess Kitbul-
Nevmis from Syriac to Arabic.The prominent philosopher al-
Kindis student Ibn Tayyib el-Serahs sees Hermes as thefounder of Sbi religion. Semseddin el-Dimask in his book
Nuhbett-Dehr states that the term Sbi derives from
Sabi (child) implying the son of Hermes. To day Sbi
live in Iraq under the name Mandean as a small society. They
are Gnostics called Christians of Saint Johnin reference
to John the Baptist. In Mecrits book named Gyetl-Hakm
the seventh Chapter entitled Tabiat-i Tamme is about Sabiis
and it is said that this chapter was written by Hermes. The
following call on Hermes is interesting: We hail you with all
your names; Utarid in Arabic, Tir in Persian, Harus in Latin,
Hermes in Greek, and Budd in Hindu.
Sufi and Esoteric Movements
During the eighth and ninth centuries, esoteric sages of
Islam openly declared that they were followers of Islamic
esotericism. Many were arrested and questioned. Their
explanation often caused them great distress. Many were
imprisoned and executed.
Actually most of the Sufi Orders act according to the
Islamic law (Sharia). Nevertheless in their teaching they
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refer to esoteric wisdom as a fruit covered by the "rind"
which is the exoteric aspect.
Sufi wear white robes of Lambs wool. Symbolically this
is because Lamb has always been consecrated by the sun. Thus;
wearing this wool awakens their heart towards the luminosity
of the sun guiding them towards the light of wisdom.
Farah, in his Islam states: "The Sufis laid out the
'path' (tariqah) that would lead to gnosis (marifah) or mystic
knowledge of the Lord. The 'path' of ascension to divine union
with God passes through stages known commonly as 'stations' or
'stages': the last stage is that of fana, or passing away in
God, which is the ultimate desire of a successful mystic. The
Sufi at this point ceases to be aware of his physical identity
even though he continues to exist as an individual.
The Hermetic Philosophy" that Part is of the Whole
and the quest to arrive to the whole is a holy journey is
the principle also underlies the Sufi ideal (Vahdet-i-Vucud).
Emebering that Poimander; the addendum to the Corpus
Hermeticum means Shepherd of People; the word Enoichion inPoimander means inside eye, hearts eye in Greek. This
terminology means a lot to the Islamic Sufis. According to
them the hearts eye should open through strife which is
called Cihad to arrive at the whole. Mansur al-Hallaj as a
mystic had realised illumination, (fana), or as Sufis call
passing away in the Divine Beloved, exclaiming:
I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is. We are two
spirits dwelling in one body. When thou seest me thou seest
Him, And when thou seest Him, thou seest us both.
Mansour al-Hallaj was executed in (922). Shortly
afterwards a secret society called the Brethren of Purity
(Ihvan us-Safa) was founded in the Iraqi city of Basra (Figure
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3.) The Brethren supported scientific studies into philosophy,
theology, astrology, metaphysics, cosmology, and the natural
sciences, including botany and zoology. They were also
politically active. They prepared and published an
encyclopedia comprising existing knowledge. They used to
enchant: "He, who knows himself, knows his Lord".
Figure 3.
Mediterranean (800 AD)
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Figure 4. Mediterranean (900 AD)
Figure 5. Mediterranean Fatimid Empire (1000
AD)
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Ismailism and the Fatimid Empire
Figures 3 to 5 above show the political changes in the
Mediterranean basin between 800-1000 AD. It shows the
evolution of the Umayyad-Abbasid Empire into separate
Emirates, the situation in Spain and Sicily and the Fatimid
Empire of later times.
Ismailism deserves special attention from among Islamic
sects. This sect has resulted from a schism in Shiism which
itself is a result of a split in mainline Islam. Shi'ism
developed into two separate directions: the metaphorical
Ismaili group focusing on the mystical path and the
literalistic group focusing on divine law (sharia).
The smaili sect is also named the Seven Imam Shiites.
Following their traits from Wikipedia: As Muslims, the Ismaili
affirm the fundamental Islamic testimony of truth. They believe
Muhammad was the last and final Prophet of God and that the
Quran was revealed through him. All Muslims hold this
revelation to be the culmination of the message that had been
revealed through other prophets of the Abrahamic tradition
before Mohamed, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus.
Ismailism rose at one point to become the largest branch
of Shiism, and climaxed as a political power with the Fatimid
Empire in the tenth through the twelfth centuries.
In the tenth century Ismailis established the Fatimid
Empire in North Africa.This land since time immemorial has
been inhabited by the indigenous people known as Berber.Someprefer the name Imazighen because Berber was derived from
the term barbari that the Romans gave to the people they
conquered across Northern Africa. They have known invasions
and occupations that date back thousands of years, including
those of the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Vandals, the
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Byzantines, the Arabs, the Spanish, the Turks and the French.
Despite ceaseless efforts by each colonizer to erase and
eradicate this indigenous culture, the latter not only
survived but also constitutes the foundation onto which the
other cultural layers were added. Before conversion to Islam
in the eighth century the Berbers had polytheistic and
animistic religious practices. Many of them were Gnostic
Christians. Berber authors include Saint Augustine,
Tertullian, Apuleius, Saint Cyprian, Lactantius, Ibn Khaldun,
and Ibn Battuta among others.
The Shiite belief of twelve Imams (seven in the case of
Ismailis) with the last one lost (ascended to heaven) andwould return one day to redeem mankind appealed to these
people. Thus the belief systems intermingled.
The Fatimids practiced exoteric Islam in Public. However
they opened the Grand House of Wisdom (Dar-ul-Hikmet) for the
study of esoteric philosophy. There; missionaries (Dais) were
trained and tasked with the propagation of Islamic thought
everywhere including Europe. The Fatimid Caliph was the Grand
Master of the House of Wisdom. Students from East and West
were instructed in their philosophical conferences called
Meetings of Wisdom. (Majalis-al-Hikmet).
In A Short History of the Saracens, the Muslim
historian Ameer Ali says: "the account of the different
degrees of initiation adopted in the House of Wisdom forms
an invaluable record. In fact; the House of Wisdomat Cairo
became the model of all the Freemasonic Lodges created in
Christendom".
The orthodox Sunni rulers in Baghdad disliked the
Esotericism of Fatimids. Hence they started a war against
Hereticsand ended the Fatimid Empire.
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Rose and Cross in Sufism
The symbol of Prophet Mohamed was rose. Since in Islamic
culture love for Mohamed meant having faith in Islam, Rose has
become the symbol of such faith as well. In Islamic culture a
child is named after the person with whose morals the child is
wanted to be associated. Mohameds name means he who praises
(the God). If a person who is named Mohamed does not prove
worthy of this name, the one who has named him as well as the
father would have sinned. This has caused many to use the name
Mehmet instead of Mohamed. This symbol has caused many
Moslems name their children beginning with the Gl which
means Rose in Turkish. The same understanding has used Gl asa suffix to the name of the Prophets wife Aye Aise with
Gl to make it Ayegl. In certain parts of Anatolia they
give priority to Gl and say Glaye.
In Sufism Rose represents sacred beauty. A Rose bud
symbolizes unity, and in addition man conjoined with god
and a blossomed Rose "the appearance of unity in
multiplicity", to "disclose a vital secret". Rose garden means
"openness of heart, a heart cleansed of dirt and ready to
reflect the divine beauty.
It is interesting to cite the Rose and Cross section of a
Masters gratitude prayer which consists of five sections in
order to show the importance attached to the cross. This
incantation is usually exercised squatting in a circle:
There is no God but God repeated four times in four
measures. In the first the head goes right, the second left,
the third above and the fourth below stressing the four points
of the cross. In the meantime the eyes go from left to right
praying for the veil covering the Ego to open and reveal the
divine world. The eyes then go on a vertical line, meanwhile
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praying for the hearts garden of the divine world to open.It
is begged for the secret rose of Sufism to blossom in this
garden at the point of intersection of the imaginary lines of
the cross that was traced by the eye. During these movements
the right hand extends right, left to left then both join on
the heart. The interpretation is that cross is symbolic of the
four elements and of the alchemists cubicle in which they
melt. The changing color of the Rose in the middle from pale
pink to scarlet shows the stages of Alchemic maturity.
The Inroads of Hermetic Esotericism to Europe
Running through all cultures are the threads of an
underground Primordial Tradition which is well concealed.
The Sufis say, "Everything that comes from the Eternal One
yearns to return to Him."
Now is the time to answer the question: How did this
stream of thought found its way to Europe?
A priory one has to emphasize that Celtic, Germanic,
Gothic tribal invasions of Europe (100-300 AD) had destroyed
the culture there: At the beginning of the Middle Ages, all
the West had was Platos Timaios dialogue and a few writings
of Aristo in the name of literature. We can add to these the
writings of Church Fathers inspired by New-Platonism.
St.Augustins(354-400 AD) Sacred State may be an example.
The infusion of esoteric ideas followed diverse routes
mostly originating from North Africa which may be summarized
as follows:
Septimania
The portion of the Roman Empire where the seventh legion
was stationed was named Septimania. It was occupied by
Visigoths in 462 AD. It corresponded roughly with the modern
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French region of Languedoc-Roussillon. Figure 6. Shows its
location.It passed briefly to the Arabsin the eighth century
before its reconquest by theFranks. Septimania was a zoneof
the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia down to the
thirteenth century, though it was culturally and politically
separate from northern France. Thus it was open to a cultural
infusion which occurred through immigration from the Holy
Land, North Africa and within Europe itself. Bogomils hence
Cathars lived there. They were Gnostic Christians to the
chagrin of the authorities in Rome. This gave rise to a
transfer of esoteric knowledge which disturbed the authorities
in Rome. It was finally brought under the control of the
French kings through the Albigensian Crusade. (1209-1229).
However, esoteric wisdom was preserved amongst the people,
facilitating transfer of new ideas.
Figure 6. Septimania
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Spain
During the Arab empires of Umayyad (661-750) and
subsequently Abbasid (750-1258), different states in North
Africa were born and disappeared in time. (Figures 3 to 5).
Arab conquest of North Africa has started in 669. In 710 Arabs
crossed the Gibraltar and conquered most of Spain. Their
advance into France was stopped by Charles Martelle in 732.
Thus, Islamic esotericism was imported from North Africa.
Sicily
The Islamic Aghlabi kingdom (800-909 AD) conquered
Sicily which ended in 878 AD (Figure 4). They brought Islamic
thought to this part of the world. However, Sicily then fell
under Norman occupation. King Leon II was very interested in
Esotericism which had taken roots there. He obtained books on
Hermeticism and on Egyptian, Greek Philosophy and established
Collegia in Palermo. This had a marked influence in the
transfer of esoteric ideas to Europe.
Fatimid Empire in North Africa
From North Africa (Figure 5.) the Fatimid rulers (909-
1171) dispatched missionaries (dais) throughout the known
world. Under cover they even infiltrated Christian Europe.
Accomplished in the esoteric doctrine, the dais could use any
outer form - be it artistic, scientific, religious or secular
- to impart universal and perennial truths. Even poetry, for
which the Sufis are renowned, could be used to transfer
spiritual insights from one culture or religion to another.
Their use of allegory and cipher amounted to a secret
language, the universal language of initiates. Together with
wandering Sufis, they transmitted ancient wisdom to Europe.If
one goes back to the story of Rosenkreutzs adventure it may
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be stated that Fez at the time was in fact a center for
philosophical and occult studies: There Abu-Abdullah, Gabir
ben Hayan Imam Jafar al Sadik's alchemy, Ali-as-Sabramallisi's
astrology and magick, Abdarrahman ben Abdallah al Iskari's
esoteric sciences was taught. These studies have been in
existence since the time of Umayyad dynasty.
Arabic Esoteric writings of Neo Platonism have been
transmitted to Europe after the conquest of Spain and Sicily
by the Arabs followed by the Fatimid works. Particularly
Cordoba has become the center for dissemination of such lore.
Averroes (bn-i-Rt) in Cortoba has been one center of
attraction. His esoteric Corpus has become well-read. Manyof his ideas were assimilated by Siger of Brabant and Thomas
Aquinas and others.
Byzantium and Istanbul
The knowledge accumulated in the region of the Arabic
lands in Mesopotamia were translated from Arabic to Greek and
Latin by Assyrian clergy and transmitted to Istanbul Thus
making it a repository of knowledge.
Italy
Collegia have been in existence in Italy since the time
of Pythagoras. (580-500 BC.) George Gemistius Pletho, a
scientist from Byzantium had visited Florence in 1439 with a
mission to join up the Orthodox and Catholic factions of
Christianity. The Duce Cosimo de Medici assigned Marcilio
Ficino, a prominent new Platonist as his assistant. The
conquest of stanbul in 1453 by the Turks caused many
scientiststoemigrate to thewest. In 1460 a copy of Corpus
Hermeticum was brought from Byzantium. The translation by
Marcilio Ficino and the distribution of this source of
esoteric knowledge affected Europe.
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Ficinos student Pico Della Mirandola in 1486 wrote the
book Nine Hundred Conclusions which syncretized Kabalist,
New Platonist and Esoteric Islam. A very important center of
transmission of knowledge was the Florence Academy. Ficinos
most celebrated contribution is The Theology of Plato. In
this book he describes New Platonism and synthesizes it with
Christianity. Amongst other centers; the Academies of Naples,
Venice, Rome, and finally the Comacine near Lake Como are
prominent. This last one has started the Comacine movement
in France which, according to Masonic historian Paul Noudon
has played an important part in the development of
Freemasonry.
Crusades
The soldier-monks who had come to the Holy Land to fight
the infidel encountered myths ideas that they never expected.
They were taken in by the esotericism of the East, adopted
many of the customs and beliefs and carried them back home,
giving rise to another wave of cultural transfer. The crucial
point here is that they were already steeped in esoteric
tradition:
Citing Albert Pike from his Morals and Dogma, page 694:
In 1118 nine Knight Crusaders of the East in whom were
Godefroi de Saint-Omer and Hugues de Payens, consecrated
themselves to religion and took an oath between the hands of
the Patriarch of Constantinople, a See always secretly or
openly hostile to that of Rome from the time of Photius. The
avowed object of the Templars was to protect the Christians
who came to visit the Holy Places: their secret object was the
re-building of the Temple of Salomon on the model Prophesied
by Ezekiel.
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This re-building, formally predicted by Judaizing
Mystics of the earlier ages, had become the secret dream of
the Patriarchs of the Orient. The Temple of Salomon, re-built
and consecrated to the Catholic worship would become, in
effect, the Metropolis of the Universe, the East would prevail
over the West and the Patriarchs of Constantinople would
possess themselves of the Papal power.
In the following paragraphs; Pike states that they in
fact had in mind to search into and establish the Gnostic
Christianity of St. John the Baptist.
This would obviously put the order in a class of
societies following esoteric knowledge outside the bounds of
Orthodox Catholicism.
The crusaders took along construction teams of their
monasteries which were a continuation of Collegias of the
Comacine cited above. A Similar organization called Ftvve
existed in the Ismaili sect. This gave rise to an interchange
of knowledge in architectur and construction. They also
encountered the trade lodges and guilds of the East the
prominent one being Ahi. These institutions all fed on
Islamic esotericism.
This bondage was dictated by political realities. Fatimid
were arch enemies of the Sunni Arabs. Thus they easily allied
with the crusaders. The rituals of the Druz who are successors
of the Fatimids show examples of this cooperation. This sect
has many beliefs based on Christianity which has resulted from
such contact.
Selahattin Eyyubi extinguished the Fatimid state in 1171.
This brought the crusaders close to the most radical branch of
Ismailis: The assasins or the Fedayeen of Hasan Sabbah. Huges
De Payens and other knights visited Hasan Sabah at his Alamut
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castle upon invitation. There they learned about his
organization structure and about their version of the esoteric
doctrine. They amalgamated most of what they had with what
they had learned. They also learned to conceal their real
beliefs which are called takiyye as a doctrine. Ismailis
wore white garments. Templars adopted this custom as well with
the addition of the Red Cross on their chest.
Figure 7. Summary of
Inroads (600-1100)
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Figure 8. Last but One Step (1500-....)
Conclusion
The repercussion of the transfer of these ideas to Europe
has been colossal; ideals like Rationalism, secularity,
freedom of conscience have taken root. This in fact is the
story of the kick start of illumination.
Figure 9. Final Voyage ???
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