The Temple Legend I
GA 93
16 December 1904, Berlin
9. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science III
It is important that we should speak about the higher degrees of Freemasonry, because this manner of instruction sets itself special tasks, certain aspects of which will be discussed in the near future. We are dealing, in the main, with a special rite, that is called the combined rite of Memphis and Misraim.1 According to legend the Memphis Rite is supposed to have originated with a man called Ormus, who was converted to Christianity by St. Mark in the year 46. It is said that the Crusaders carried this masonic knowledge with them from the Holy Land and founded a Grand Lodge in Scotland in the twelfth century. The legend derives the name Misraim from Mizraim, one of the sons of Ham. He came to Egypt, possessed himself of the country and called it after his name (Misraim or Mizraim—an old name for Egypt). The teaching about Isis, Osiris, Typhon, etc., is supposed to have come from him, cf. Schuster: Die geheimen Gessellschaften, Verbindungen und Orden (Volume 2, Leipzig 1906). According to Heckethorn: (Secret Societies, Book 8, Chapter 20), the Egyptian masonry was founded by Cagliostro. The Rite of Misraim is attributed (Heckethorn, Book 8, Chapter 10) to a foundation in Milan of 1805, i.e., ten years after the supposed death of Cagliostro, which foundation was laid by several masons ‘who had been refused admission into the Supreme Grand Council.’ The Rite of Memphis is said to be a copy of the Rite of Misraim and was founded in Paris in 1839. It is supposed to have been combined with the Misraim Rite towards the end of the nineteenth century, since when it has been known as the ‘Memphis-Misraim Rite.’ John Yarker (see note 16), the ‘Absolute Sovereign Grand Master in and for Great Britain and Ireland of the Combined Scottish, Memphis and Misraim Rite,’ established a Grand Orient (Grand Lodge) for Germany in 1902. I have already mentioned that the Memphis and Misraim rite possesses a great number of degrees, that ninety-five degrees must be undertaken, and that usually the Supreme Leaders of the Grand Orients—i.e. those of Germany, Great Britain and America possess the ninety-sixth degree. These degrees are so arranged that up to the end of about the eightieth to eighty-ninth degree they are divided up in the way I shall presently describe to you.
From about the eight-seventh degree onwards start the real occult degrees into which no one can be initiated who has not made a thorough study of the subject. I always make the reservation that in Europe there is nobody who has undertaken all these degrees or who has really undergone an occult Freemasonry training. But that is of no particular concern as far as Freemasonry goes, because its renewed task still awaits it in the future, and, when the time comes, the Organisation will be available; the vessel will be there which is needed to carry out what has to be achieved.
Now I must mention the various branches of Freemasonry and their tendencies, even if I am only to indicate some thing briefly. First of all, it is to be borne in mind that the whole of the masonic higher degrees trace back to a personality often spoken about but equally very much misunderstood. He was particularly misunderstood by nineteenth century historians, who have no idea of the difficult situations an occultist can meet in life. This personality is the ill-famed and little understood Cagliostro. The so-called Count Cagliostro,2 Count Alexander Cagliostro, allegedly identical with the Sicilian Joseph Balsamo—a fact which he himself, however, always vigorously denied—died in the Vatican prison in 1795. He is regarded, along with the Count of St. Germain, as one of the most controversial figures of the eighteenth century. In an account of his life by Francois Ribadeau Dumas: (Cagliostro, Allen and Unwin 1967) the attempt was made to put the record straight. For instance, it was quoted out of the Protocol of the trial by the Inquisition that ‘it has not been possible to find a single witness among Cagliostro's accusers who had known Balsamo.’ Furthermore, a passage is quoted from the book by Cagliostro's ‘learned historian,’ Dr. Marc Haven, Le Maitre inconnu Cagliostro: ‘No one has proved that Balsamo and Cagliostro are one and the same person; neither Morands, nor Goethe, not the Commissary Fontaine, nor even the trial of the Holy Inquisition have produced a document which precludes all doubt.’ in whom an individuality concealed itself which was recognised in its true nature only by the highest initiates, attempted originally to bring Freemasonry in London to a higher stage. For during the last third of the eighteenth century, Freemasonry had fairly well reached the state that I have described. He did not succeed in London at that time. He then tried in Russia, and also at The Hague. Everywhere he was unsuccessful, for very definite reasons.
Then, however, he was successful in Lyons, forming an occult masonic lodge of the Philalethes [Searchers after Truth] out of a group of local masons, which was called the Lodge of Triumphing Wisdom. The purpose of this Lodge was specified by Cagliostro. What you can read about it is, however, nothing but the work of ignorant people. What can be said about it is only an indication. Cagliostro was concerned with two things: firstly, with instructions enabling one to produce the so-called Philosopher's Stone; secondly, with creating an understanding of the mystic pentagram. I can only give you a hint of the meaning of these two things. They may be treated with a deal of scorn, but they are not to be taken merely symbolically, they are based on real facts.
The Philosopher's Stone has a specific purpose, which was stated by Cagliostro; it is meant to prolong human life to a span of 5,527 years.3 In the notes of Marie Steiner von Sivers it is said to be 5,530 years. According to Heckethorn (Book 8, Chapter 20), 5,557 years (see note 13). Ribadeau Dumas (in the work quoted above) states that Cagliostro left many works behind him, among which is one entitled: The Art of prolonging Life. All of them, apart from his Egyptian Ritual, have disappeared. As Ribadeau Dumas says: ‘If they haven't been burned, they must reside in the Vatican archives. Let us hope that, in the light of the new ideas of the occumenical movement and reconciliation with the “separated Brethren”, the Vatican library will one day release these curious documents to which Cagliostro so often referred and through which he might be vindicated.’ To a freethinker that appears laughable. In fact, however, it is possible, by means of special training, to prolong life indefinitely by learning to live outside the physical body. Anyone, however, who imagined that no death, in the conventional sense of the word, could strike down an adept, would have quite a false view of the matter. So, whoever imagined that an adept could not be hit and killed by a falling roof slate, would also be wrong. To be sure, that would usually only occur if the adept allowed it. We are not dealing here with physical death, but with the following. Physical death is only an apparent occurrence for him who has understood the Philosopher's Stone for himself, and has learned to separate it. For other people it is a real happening, which signifies a great division in their life. For he who understands how to use the Philosopher's Stone in the way that Cagliostro intended his pupils to do, death is only an apparent occurrence. It does not even constitute a decisive turning point in life; it is, in fact, something which is only there for the others who can observe the adept and say that he is dying. He himself, however, does not really die. It is much more the case that the person concerned has learned to live without his physical body; that he has learned during the course of life to let all those things take place in him gradually, which happen suddenly in the physical body at the moment of death. Everything has already taken place in the body of the person concerned, which otherwise takes place at death. Death is then no longer possible, for the said person has long ago learned to live without the physical body. He lays aside the physical body in the same way that one takes off a raincoat, and he puts a new body on just as one puts a new raincoat on.
Now that will give you an inkling. That is one lesson which Cagliostro taught—the Philosopher's Stone—which allows physical death to become a matter of small importance.
The second lesson was the knowledge of the Pentagram. That is the ability to distinguish the five bodies of man one from another. When someone says: physical body, etheric body, astral body, Kama-Manas body, causal body, [higher Manas or spirit self] these are mere words, or at best, abstract ideas. Nothing, however, is achieved by that. A person living today as a rule hardly knows the physical body; only one who knows the Pentagram learns to know the five bodies. One does not know a body by living in it, but by having it as an object. That is what distinguishes an average person from one who has gone through such a schooling that the five bodies have become objects. The ordinary person does indeed live in these five bodies: however, he lives in them, he cannot step outside [of himself] and look at them. At best he can view his physical body when he looks down at his torso, or sees it in a mirror. Those pupils of Cagliostro who had followed his methods would thereby have achieved what some Rosicrucians achieved, who had basically undergone a training with the same orientation. They were in a school of the great European adepts, who taught that the five bodies were realities, and not to remain as mere concepts. That is called ‘Knowing the Pentagram’ and ‘Moral Rebirth’.
I will not say that the pupils of Cagliostro never achieved anything. In general they went as far as comprehending the astral body. Cagliostro was extremely skilful in imparting a view of the astral body. Long before the catastrophe broke over him, he had succeeded in starting schools in Paris, Belgium, St. Petersburg and a few other places in Europe, in addition to the one in Lyons, out of which later emerged at least a few people who had the basis for some to proceed to the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth higher degrees of Freemasonry. Thus, Count Cagliostro at least had an important influence on occult masonry in Europe before ending his days in the prison in Rome. The world should not actually pronounce judgment on Cagliostro. As I have already indicated, when people speak about Cagliostro, it is as though Hottentots were to speak about the erection of an overhead railway, because the relationship of apparently immoral outward acts to world happenings is not understood.
I remarked earlier that the French Revolution arose out of the secret societies4 This almost certainly happened during lecture 5 given on the 4th November 1904, though it is not recorded in the notes. of the occultists, and if these currents were investigated further, they would lead back to the school of the adepts.
It may be that what Mabel Collins depicted in her novel Flita5 Mabel Collins (pseudonym for Mrs Kenningdale-Cook), 1851–1927, was one of the best authors of the Theosophical Society. Rudolf Steiner wrote an appreciation of her novel Flita, True Story of a Black Enchantress, when it first appeared in German translation. This was published March 1905 in the periodical Luzifer-Gnosis and is recorded in the complete edition in German of Rudolf Steiner's works in Volume 34, Luzifer-Gnosis. is hard to understand. In it she describes, rather grotesquely, how an adept has the World Chessboard in front of him in a secret place, and lets the pieces play, and how he, so to speak, controls the Karma of a continent upon one very simple little board. It does not quite take place as it is described there, but something on a much greater scale than that does actually happen, of which what is described in Flita gives only a distorted picture.
Now the French Revolution certainly proceeded from such things as this. There is a well-known story contained in the writings of the Countess d'Adhémar. It related that, before the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Countess d’Adhémar, one of the ladies-in-waiting to Marie-Antoinette, received a visit from the Count of St. Germain.6 See note 4 to lecture 5 given on 4th November 1904. He wanted to be presented to the Queen and to beg audience of the King. Louis XVI's minister, however, was the enemy of the Count of St. Germain, who therefore was not allowed into the King's presence. But he described to the Queen with great accuracy and detail the major perils which were looming ahead. Regrettably, however, his warnings were ignored. It was on that occasion that he uttered the great saying which was based on truth: ‘They who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind’7 According to the account of Madame d'Adhemar, the Count said to her: ‘Madame, they who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind; this is what Jesus said in the Gospels, perhaps not before I did but, anyway, his words have been preserved in writing, only mine could have been made use of.’ Quoted from Heyer: Aus dem Jahrhundert der Französischen Revolution, (Edition 1956). These words, however, do not appear in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament, Hosea, Chapter 8, verse 7. (See also the statement in lecture 5 of the 4th November 1904). and he added that he had uttered this saying millenia previously, and it had been repeated by Christ. Those were words which were unintelligible to the ordinary person.
But the Count of St. Germain was right. I will only add a few more touches which are quite correct. In books about the Count of St. Germain you can read that he died in 17848 He is reputed to have died in Eckernfoerde on 27th February 1784. As proof of this is the death register of the St. Nicholas Church in Eckernfoerde, according to which he was ‘quietly interred’ on 2nd March 1784. at the court of the Landgrave of Hessen,9 Prince Karl, 1744–1836, son of the ruling Landgrave Frederick II, Danish General and Governor of the Dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein. His Freemasonry writing: La Pierre Zodiacale du temple de Denderah, appeared in 1824. His memoires, which were dictated 1816/17, appeared in Copenhagen in 1861 and, in German translation, in Cassel in 1866. In the latter is to be found a report concerning the Count of St. Germain. who later became one of the most advanced German Freemasons. The Landgrave nursed him until the end. But the Countess d'Adhémar recounts in her memoirs10See Karl Heyer's: Aus dem jahrhundert der Französischen Revolution. that he appeared to her long after the year 1784, and that she saw him six more times long after that. In reality he was at that time, in 1790, with some Rosicrucians in Vienna11Rudolf Steiner apparently bases his statements on an article by Isabel Cooper-Oakley in the periodical Gnosis, of 15th December 1903, the pertinent passage of which reads (Quoted from: The Count of Saint-Germain, by Isabel Cooper-Oakley, Rudolf Steiner Publications, p. 145 and p. 140 et seq.):
‘Franz Graeffer left us the curious account of a journey by Saint Germain to Vienna. Unfortunately this description is not quite satisfactory. Graeffer himself confesses that it was written on 15th June, long after the event. He says: “A peculiar irresistible feeling has compelled me to set down these transactions in writing once more, after so long a time, just today June 15th 1843.” Further, I make this remark, that these events have not been hitherto reported.’
‘One day the report was spread that the Comte de St. Germain, the most enigmatical of all incomprehensibles, was in Vienna. An electric shock passed through all who knew his name. Our Adept circle was thrilled through and through: St. Germain was in Vienna!
‘Barely had Graeffer, his brother Rudolf, recovered from the surprising news, than he flies to Hiniberg, his country seat, where he has his papers. Among these is to be found a letter of recommendation from Casanova, the genial adventurer whom he got to know in Amsterdam, addressed to St. Germain.
‘He hurries back to his house of business; there he is informed by the clerk: “An hour ago a gentleman has been here whose appearance has astonished us all. This gentleman was neither tall nor short, his build was strikingly proportionate, everything about him had the stamp of nobility ... He said in French, as it were to himself, not troubling about anyone's presence, the words: ‘I live in Fedalhofe, the room in which Leibnitz lodged in 1713.’ We were about to speak, when he was already gone. This last hour we have been, as you see, Sir, petrified ...”
‘In five minutes Fedalhofe is reached. Leibnitz's room is empty. Nobody knows when “the American gentleman” will return home. As to luggage, nothing is to be seen but a small iron chest. It is almost dinner time. But who would think of dining! Graeffer is mechanically urged to go and find Baron Linden; he finds him at the “Ente”. They drive to the Landstrasse, whither a certain something, an obscure presentiment, impels them to drive post-haste.
‘The laboratory is unlocked; a simultaneous cry of astonishment escapes both; at a table is seated St. Germain, calmly reading a folio, which is a work of Paracelsus. They stand dumb at the threshold; the mysterious intruder slowly closes the book, and slowly rises. Well know the two perplexed men that this apparition can be no other in the world than the man of wonders. The description of the clerk was a shadow against reality. It was as if a bright splendour enveloped his whole form. Dignity and sovereignty declared themselves. The men were speechless. The Count steps forward to meet them; they enter. In measured tones, without formality, but in an indescribably ringing tenor, charming the innermost soul, he says in French to Graeffer: “You have a letter of introduction from Herr von Seingalt; but it is not needed. This gentleman is Baron Linden. I knew that you would both be here at this moment. You have another letter for me from Bruehl. But the painter is not to be saved; his lung is gone, he will die July 8th 1805.
‘St. Germain then gradually passed into a solemn mood. For a few seconds he became rigid as a statue, his eyes, which were always expressive beyond words, became dull and colourless. Presently, however, his whole being became reanimated. He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of his departure, then said: “I am leaving (ich scheide); do not visit me. Once again will you see me. Tomorrow night I am off; I am much needed in Constantinople; then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will have in the next century—trains and steamboats. These will be needed in Germany. The seasons will gradually change—first the spring, then the summer. It is the gradual cessation of time itself, as the announcement of the end of the cycle. I see it all; astrologers and meteorologists know nothing, believe me; one needs to have studied in the Pyramids as I have studied. Towards the end of this century I shall disappear out of Europe, and betake myself to the region of the Himalayas. I will rest; I must rest. In exactly 85 years people will again set eyes on me. Farewell, I love you”. [Said in 1790. Exactly 85 years later (1875) the Theosophical Society was founded.] After these solemnly uttered words, tie Count repeated the sign with his hand. The two adepts, overpowered by the force of such unprecedented impressions, left the room in a condition of complete stupefaction. In the same moment there fell a sudden heavy shower, accompanied by a peal of thunder. Instinctively they return to the laboratory for shelter. They open the door. St. Germain is no more there ...’ and said, which is perfectly true, that he was obliged to retire to the Orient for the span of 85 years, and that after that time people would again become aware of his activity in Europe. 1875 is the year of the founding of the Theosophical Society. These things are all connected to ether in a certain way.
In the school founded by the Landgrave of Hessen, also, there were two main concerns: the Philosopher's Stone and the Knowledge of the Pentagram. The Freemasonry founded by the Landgrave of Hessen at that time continued to exist in a rather diluted form. In fact, the whole of Freemasonry, as I have described it, is called the Egyptian rite, the rite of Memphis and Misraim. The latter traces its origin back to King Misraim who came from Assyria—from the Orient—and, after the conquest of Egypt, was initiated into the Egyptian mysteries. These are indeed the mysteries which originate from ancient Atlantis. An unbroken tradition exists from that time. Modern Freemasonry is only a continuation of what was established then in Egypt.
Before I go into details I would like to say that Freemasonry which extends to the higher degrees is something which, in its more intimate aspect, is quite different from the normal craft masonry. The ordinary craft masonry rests on a kind of democratic principle, and if the democratic principle is to be applied to matters of knowledge, it is obvious that it will lead to a state of affairs in which the brothers who have congregated together will mainly do nothing but bring forward their own views. Truth, however, is something about which one cannot hold one's own views. One either knows a truth or one is ignorant of it. No one can say that the three angles of a triangle add up to 725 degrees instead of to 180 degrees.
When people sit together and have a discussion they talk about their own views, sometimes also about the most elevated things. But all of this exists on the level of illusion, and is just as irrelevant as what a person says who is ignorant of the true sum of the angles of a triangle and only gives his own opinion about it. Just as one is unable to discuss whether the sum of the angles of a triangle have this or that many degrees, so one is also unable to have a discussion about higher truths. That is why the democratic principle is not applicable to matters of knowledge, for there is no basis of argument on which to discuss them. What distinguishes masonry of the higher degrees from craft masonry is that one learns to know the truth step by step. Whoever has recognised a thing can no longer hold more than one opinion about it. One has either recognised it, or one has not done so. The ninety-six degrees have, therefore, a certain justification
At the head is the so-called Sovereign Sanctuary, who is identical with what is known as the Grand Orient in Freemasonry, and is in possession of the real occult knowledge.12It would seem that a person, rather than a body of people, is here meant. Heckethorn, in talking about the Order of Memphis, says that: ‘it works 33 degrees and embraces a far more extensive ritual of workable degrees than any other rite, every one of its 33 degrees having its appropriate and elaborate ceremonial easily arranged for conferment and its titles are purged of ridiculous pretensions. Its government is strictly representative, as in our own political constitution. The 32 and 31 are the first, second, third and fourth Officers of the Chapter, Senate and Council and form the Mystic Temple and judicial Tribunal, the presiding Officer, or Grand Master of Light, having the 33rd degree to enable him to represent the Province in the Sovereign Sanctuary (33–95) or ruling body.’
Dr. Steiner speaks at the beginning of this lecture about the Combined Rite of Memphis and Misraim having a great number of degrees, that 95 out of the 96 Degrees have to be undertaken by its members and that the Supreme Leaders of the Grand Orients usually possess the 96th Degree. It seems likely that it is this Supreme Leader who is in possession of the actual occult knowledge and knows the path and the language of the Freemasonry manifesto, through which is revealed the voice of the ‘Wise Men of the East.’ He knows the path and the speech of that which can be picked out in the masonic manifesto,13See preceding lecture of 9th December in which the text of the manifesto is given in full. and which makes it possible to hear the voice of the Wise Men of the East. When he has reached this step, he is certainly in a position to hear the voice of the Wise Masters. So far, however, must one have worked one's way up, that one is in possession of very definite knowledge, and also of definite inner qualities and inner capacities which by no means purely cover themselves with the conventional bourgeois virtues, but are something more meaningful and intimate. I would note that [compared with] what we have been speaking about here, what theosophical literature reveals of a theoretical or practical nature forms only an elementary part. So that the theoretical side of the higher degrees of Freemasonry far surpasses what can be divulged in popular theosophy. What can be disclosed there is dependent upon the permission given by the adepts to allow these things to be popularised up to a certain grade. But it is not possible to make all knowledge public.
It is correct to say that humanity will be astonished by some of the discoveries which will be made in the near future. But they will be rather premature discoveries and will thereby cause some havoc. The task of the Theosophical Society consists mainly in preparing people for such things. For instance, what I described at the beginning as the knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone was formerly much more universally known than it is today and, indeed, it was known already during a certain period of the Atlantean Epoch. At that time the possibility of conquering death was really something which was commonly known. I only wish to remark that I was not very happy about allowing this truth to appear in print recently. Therefore where this should have come in the discussion about Atlantean times in the Luzifer article, a row of dots was printed in place of those things which may not yet be communicated.14This relates to the articles which appeared in the periodical Luzifer-Gnosis, in December 1904 under the title ‘From the Akashic Records.’ See Cosmic Memory, Chapter 4, ‘Transition of the Fourth into the Fifth Root Race,’ p.66 (Rudolf Steiner Publications Inc., New York, 1961). It cannot even yet be communicated in its entirety. There is a very similar piece of information recorded by a very advanced medium, which appeared in the Theosophical Review15The article in question appeared in the December issue of the Theosophical Review of 1904 signed only ‘E.’ Its contents were the result of a combined exercise undertaken by ‘E,’ the interrogator, ‘T,’ the medium employed to transmit by automatic means the communications of ‘F,’ the spirit guide. What follows comprises only a few extracts of the original article.
‘F,’ though a politician and a man of the world, is an enthusiastic humanitarian ... He added that he felt very anxious, for soon an important discovery would be made which would give the doctors a greater power than they had even now, and that it would lead to more cruelty in experiments on animals, for the man who found it out would think he had learned it by vivisection. “But remember, it is not so, it is not a discovery, only a remembrance; for the man who will find it out was an Atlantean, and the Atlanteans were far more learned in medicine than we are; indeed the body had no secrets for them”. I then began to question him about Atlantis ...
They commanded the elements, made fine weather or storm as it pleased them. There were no children, for by an effort of unnatural power they attained to the great secret of causing life without material union of the two forces. The soul returned and reincarnated by an effort of will, taking its form from the natural elements without any other medium. This was what ultimately ended their power, for it could not be allowed to continue. It is dimly figured in a late Hebrew legend by the “tree of life”. There was nothing left of progression, and therefore a cataclysm had to overtake this civilisation, and destroy even its memory.
‘They overset the balance of creation, and so ruined their civilisation. The material cause was that they withdrew the life-force of the earth, and exhausted all the supplies of the life-current. This caused convulsions of nature, and the storm broke, irremediable, terrible, and swamped them. The Titans vied with the gods but were defeated. All religions tell this tale as a note of warning.
‘Your earth is a living creature, and if you can tap its life-current you can work all miracles. The Atlanteans are the souls of today in some cases, but they have been discrowned ... They had to return into ordinary life by the simple way of being born as an ordinary infant.
‘I will now tell you a little more about the wonderful power of Atlantis, so as to make you realise what man has been, and will be in the future ages; for to tell the truth Atlantis was material perfection, to this man can never return, but to perfection he will come in future time.
‘The ways of life of the highest classes were most simple, for nourishment was obtained almost from the air alone. Like orchids, the rulers, and more especially the priests, drew all their sustenance from the substance contained in the atmosphere. Consult any botanist you like and you will see that I am right. You cannot do this, for you are not self-materialised; you are creatures born, and not made by your own will ...
‘It was only the discovery of the great secret, that of the “tree of life”, which simplified matters, and that you will never regain until you cease to care for the power for its own sake. I mean the secret of death and birth. There is no need for men to die. There is no reason for men to be born. I know the secret in part, but not fully, for I am not good enough to be permitted to recall the wonderful power. If I could do this I should at once be tempted to reveal it to you, for it would be, God willing, an eternity of happiness.
‘I will, however, try and define somewhat and give you an example. A man is entirely renewed each seven years; after a while, however, he deteriorates and slowly decomposes. This is owing to ignorance, for if he knew how to regulate the inflow of new particles, he would never choose worse but rather better particles, and the atoms would remain permanently polarised by his will. Man is really held in a single cell; this cell is immortal and descends from generation to generation, creating ever new forms in which a human spirit can manifest. If this cell is retained in the body, and there is no procreation or waste of conservative power, then there is no reason why man should not exist for ever, during the cycle. By his children, however, man reproduces himself, and so destroys his material self. To an adept, to marry is to become a lower creature subject to death. This is truth. Every man or woman who creates can only do so by handing on his immortality. Man is a spirit, and the spirit is the central point of the materialised form. The whole of mankind accepts death as a necessity, and therefore hypnotise themselves into a belief that they must, die, but there is no reason for it if the cell is still intact in them.
‘Think it over and understand that this is one of the chief Christian teachings that has been corrupted. Christ rose from the dead to be the first fruits of life.
‘I want to refer to the new discovery which will be made, and of which I have previously spoken. It was well known once, and will return to the fated man's memory, and he will be hailed as a benefactor of humanity. In the old days of Atlantis when the secrets of the body were entirely unveiled to the caste of rulers and priests, they learnt it in a far more terrible way even than that of vivisection, namely by the stultification of the soul, thus destroying or distorting the power of evolution in a creature. You do not know this, thank God! or the earth would be once more a land of devils ...’ dealing with exactly the same thing in a rather different form. The overcoming of death in Atlantean times is naturally preserved in the memories of the individuals concerned without their being aware of it. There are many people reincarnated today who passed through that period in their former lives and who are led to such revelations through their own memories. That will first of all lead to a kind of overrating of certain medical discoveries. People will imagine that medical science was the discoverer of such things. In reality people will have been led to them through their own memories of Atlantean times.
Certain things will mature in the near future and therefore we shall speak about them. This makes it necessary to see the need of a step by step advance in the gaining of knowledge. This step by step advance is therefore rightly emphasised by those who wish to revive the Misraim and Memphis Rite at the present time. Even if this does not succeed during the next year or two, one must not think that failure in such things is of any significance There is a man at the head of the American Misraim movement, whose significant character constitutes a sure guarantee of constancy in the advance. This is the excellent Freemason, John Yarker.16Yarker, 1833–1913, was an Englishman who was active within English Freemasonry. When it is here said that he was at the head of the ‘American’ Misraim movement, this is on the grounds of a statement made in the Historical Edition of the Oriflamme, Berlin 1904, co-edited by him, to the effect that only America possessed a legitimate Charter and that Yarker had been appointed in New York in 1872 ‘by S.G.C. 33° as “Chief Representative” and “Guarantor of Friendly Relationships” with the Manchester Grand Orient of the Scottish Rite and Sovereign Sanctuary of the Memphis and Misraim Rite.’ As significant masonic author he had obtained high Degrees in many different connections. (See end of note 1 to this lecture).
It is difficult to say at the moment what form the matter will take in Great Britain and Germany. You will perceive that one must reckon with the human material concerned, and that the German movement, therefore—if it is to concern itself with such matters -will also have to reckon with what is available in this direction. If genuine occultists are to take part in such things they must needs be active in one or other direction. They will not always be able to take part in such things. Even the Masters, when they prescribe something of this kind, have to take their cue from great universal laws.
If, therefore, you hear something concerning the German Misraim-Memphis tendency, you should not imagine that this now has significance for the future. It is only the frame into which a good picture may later be put. This German Misraim Order stands under the overall guidance of a certain Reuss,17Theodore Reuss, 1855–1923. Authorised by Yarker to inaugurate the setting up of the Memphis-Misraim Rite in Germany. Rudolf Steiner did not know Reuss at that time. An account of this is going to appear in the documentation of the history of Rudolf Steiner's ‘Esoteric School’ (untranslated). who holds the actual leadership in Great Britain and Germany today. Then, the well-known Carl Kellner18Carl Kellner, 1851–1905, Austrian inventor and big businessman. According to Hugo Göring in the January issue, 1895, of the periodical Sphinx (Official organ of the German Theosophical Society, edited by Hübbe-Schleiden), he invented the process for the manufacture of cellulose and worked together with the medical doctor, Franz Hartmann. Kellner was the Sovereign Honorary General Grand Master for the Memphis and Misraim Rite in Great Britain and Germany and signed himself as such for the Historical Edition of the Great Oriflamme of 1904. also works in this direction. The actual literary work is in the hands of Dr. Franz Hartmann,19Franz Hartmann, 1838–1912. After an adventurous life and personal acquaintance with H.P. Blavatsky, he founded the so-called ‘Leipzig’ Theosophical Society. He was the editor of the theosophical periodical Lotusblüten. He is mentioned by Rudolf Steiner in his autobiography: The Course of My Life and in the second volume of Rudolf Steiner's letters. who serves the Misraim Rite with his pen to the very utmost. That is as much as I can impart to you in this or that fragment from here or there, concerning this movement.
Now I can only characterise what is involved here in general terms. There are four kinds of instruction given in the- Misraim Rite.20The four kinds of instruction described by Rudolf Steiner are enumerated by Heckethorn (p. 299), where he deals with the ‘Organisation of the Rite of Misraim.’ He says: ‘Then arose the Rite of Misraim with ninety degrees arranged in four sections, viz. 1. Symbolic, 2. Philosophic, 3. Mystical, 4. Cabbalistic; which were divided into seventeen classes.’ ‘The Rite of Memphis,’ he says (p. 301), ‘is a copy of the Rite of Misraim and was founded in Paris in 1839. It was composed of ninety-one degrees, arranged in three sections and seven classes.’ Where Heckethorn speaks of the ‘Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry or Order of Memphis’ (pp. 253–256), he states: ‘The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry works thirty-three degrees, divided into three sections, embracing modern, chivalric and Egyptian Masonry, as the latter was worked on the continent last century ... It embraces a far more extensive ritual of workable degrees than any other rite, every one of its thirty-three degrees having its appropriate and elaborate ceremonial easily arranged for conferment, and its titles are purged of ridiculous pretensions.’
On the other hand, when speaking about the Egyptian Rite in connection with Cagliostro, Heckethorn says, (p. 352): ‘The Egyptian Rite invented by Cagliostro is a mixture of the sacred and profane, of the serious and laughable; charlatanism is its prevailing feature.’
From this it appears that the ‘Memphis and Misraim Rite,’ referred to by Rudolf Steiner, is a complex mixture of those rites which confer the Higher Degrees. Heckethorn refers to these as ‘spurious masonry’ (p. 265), in contradistinction to ‘Blue’ or ‘Symbolic’ Masonry, which restricts itself to the three lowest degrees only. The ninety-six degrees can therefore be achieved through four different kinds of instruction or disciplines. These four disciplines, by means of which one advances, are the following: First, the so-called symbolic instruction or discipline. By means of this, certain symbols can be recognised as facts. The person concerned is instructed in the occult laws of nature, through which quite definite effects are produced through cyclic movements in humanity.
The second kind of instruction or discipline is the so-called philosophic one. It is the Egyptian hermetic discipline. It consists of a more theoretical kind of instruction. The third kind of instruction is the so-called mystical discipline, which is based more upon inner development, and which, if rightly applied, would lead above all else to the appropriate manipulation of the Philosopher's Stone, that is, to the overcoming of death. That is essentially expressed in one of the sentences which I read out to you which stated that by means of Freemasonry everyone is able to convince himself of the fact of immortality. It depends, however, as the Cabbala says, whether this is requested or not. The fourth kind of instruction is the Cabbalistic one. It consists in the recognition of the principles of world harmony in their truth and reality, the ten basic ... [Gap]
By means of each of the four paths one can rise to a higher perception through the Misraim Rite. But there is actually no one within the ranks of Freemasonry today who would accept the responsibility of giving practical guidance to anyone, because those concerned have not undergone these things themselves, and the whole affair is a provisional arrangement and only intended to provide a framework for something which is still to come. It is possible that this framework will be filled with occult knowledge. Occult knowledge has to be cast in existing moulds. The important thing is that such moulds exist in the world. If there is molten metal and no mould into which to pour it, you are unable to do anything but let it run out in one lump. So it is also with spiritual currents. It is important that moulds exist into which can be poured the spiritual metal. That is symbolised by the Molten Sea. That will become recognised when what is now seemingly only vegetating receives form for outward manifestation.
Last time I read to you from a speech by the English Prime Minister Balfour.21This has not been recorded in the notes at our disposal. In connection with the speech itself, see note 19 to the previous lecture and the succeeding note to this. From that, then, it is already noticeable that certain things are physical truths today, that are in primeval occult perceptions. If you read Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, you will find there a passage relating to electricity, which expresses word for word what physicists are now gradually arriving at. What is written there is, however, only a hint at what is actually involved. It is the physical atom which is in question. This was misunderstood by all outward—but not occult—science until four or five years ago. It was taken to be [body having] mass in space. Nowadays one is beginning to recognise that this physical atom bears the same relationship to the force of electricity that a lump of ice bears to the water from which it has been frozen. If you conceive of water becoming frozen to ice, so is the ice also water, and in like manner the atom of physics is nothing else but frozen electricity. If you can grasp this point completely and were to go through the statements about the atom contained in all the scientific journals until a year or two ago, and were to regard them as rubbish, you will have more or less the right idea. It is only very recently that science has been able to form a conception of what the atom is. It stands [in the same relationship to electricity] as ice does to water out of which it has been frozen. The physical atom is condensed electricity. I regard Balfour's speech as something of extreme importance.22The following extract of Balfour's speech is the part referred to. Under the heading: ‘Reflections suggested by the New Theory of Matter.’
‘But today there are those who regard gross matter, the matter of everyday experience, as the mere appearance of which electricity is the physical basis; who think that the elementary atom of the chemist, itself far beyond the limits of direct perception, is but a connected system of monads or sub-atoms which are not electrified matter, but are electricity itself; that these systems differ in the number of monads which they contain, in their arrangement, and in their motion relative to each other and to the ether; that on these differences, and on these differences alone, depend the various qualities of what have hitherto been regarded as indivisible and elementary atoms; and that while in most cases these atomic systems may maintain their equilibrium for periods which, compared with such astronomical processes as the cooling of a sun, may seem almost eternal, they are not less obedient to the law of change than the everlasting heavens themselves.
‘But if gross matter be a grouping of atoms, and if atoms be systems of electrical monads, what are these electrical monads? It may be that, as Professor Larmor has suggested, they are but a modification of the universal ether, a modification roughly comparable to a knot in a medium which is inextensible, incompressible and continuous. But whether this final unification be accepted or not, it is certain that these monads cannot be considered apart from the ether. It is on their interaction with the ether that their qualities depend; and without the ether an electric theory of matter is impossible.
‘Surely we have here a very extraordinary revolution.’
It is interesting to note that Balfour does not use the term ‘frozen’ electricity or ‘coagulated’ electricity as the German translation does. He merely states that matter is the ‘mere appearance of which electricity is the physical basis.’
It is ... [Gap] something which has been published since 1875 [1879?].23See note 20 to the preceding lecture. The fact has been known to occultists for millenia. Now one is beginning to realise that the physical atom is condensed electricity. But there is still a second thing to be considered: what electricity itself is. That is still unknown. They are ignorant of one thing: namely, where the real nature of electricity must be sought. This nature of electricity cannot be discovered by means of any outer experiments or through outer observation. The secret which will be discovered is that electricity—when one learns to view it from a particular level—is exactly the same as what human thought is. Human thought is the same thing as electricity, viewed one time from the inside, another time from the outside.
Whoever is now aware of what electricity is, knows that there is something living within him which, in a frozen state, forms the atom. Here is the bridge from human thought to the atom. One will learn to know the building stones of the physical world; they are tiny condensed monads, condensed electricity. In that moment when human beings realise this elementary occult truth about thought, electricity and the atom, in that same moment they will have understood something which is of the utmost importance for the future and for the whole of the sixth post-Atlantean epoch. They will have learned how to build with atoms through the power of thinking.
This will be the spiritual current which will again have to be cast in the moulds which have been prepared for it by occultists over millenia. But because the human race had to pass through the era of the development of understanding and to look away from the true inner work, the moulds have become mere shells. But they still retain their function as moulds, and the right kind of knowledge will have to be poured into them.
The occult investigator obtains his truth from the one side, the physical scientist from the other. Just as Freemasonry has developed out of working masonry, out of the building of cathedrals and temples, so one will in future learn to build with the smallest of building blocks, with entities of condensed electricity. That will call for a new kind of masonry. Then industry will not be able to carry on any more as it does today. It will become so chaotic and will only be able to work purely out of the struggle for existence per se, as long as man does not know ... [Gap] Then it would be possible for someone in Berlin to drive into the city in a cab, while in Moscow a disaster which he had caused was taking place. And nobody at all would have any inkling that he had been the cause of it. Wireless telegraphy is the beginning of this. What I have portrayed is in the future. There are only two possibilities available: Either things go on chaotically, as industry and technology have done until now, in which case it will lead to whoever has the possession of these things being able to cause havoc, or else it will be cast in the moral mould of Freemasonry. *This last sentence appears as follows in the notes of Marie Steiner-von Sivers: ‘These things will either continue chaotically, as industry and technology have done until now, or harmoniously, as is the aim of Freemasonry; then the highest development will be achieved.’
Question: Why is the Catholic Church so antagonistic towards Freemasonry?
Answer: The Catholic Church does not want what is coming in the future. Pius IX was initiated into Freemasonry. He tried, through the Chapter of Clermont, to bring about a connection between the Jesuits and the Freemasons. That did not succeed, and therefore the old enmity between these two remained. Our Jesuits know little about these things, and the clergy are also unaware of what is involved. The actual clergy ... [Large gap]
The Trappists have to keep silent, for it is known that by doing so an important faculty of inspired speech in the next life is implanted. That is indeed only to be understood through a knowledge of reincarnation.
9. Wesen Und Aufgabe Der Freimaurerei Vom Gesichtspunkt Der Geisteswissenschaft
Es ist wichtig, über die Hochgradmaurerei zu sprechen, weil diese Lehrart sich wieder besondere Aufgaben setzt, und in der nächsten Zeit manches davon besprochen werden wird. Wir haben es im wesentlichen zu tun mit einem besonderen Ritus, nämlich mit dem, den man als vereinigten Ritus von Memphis und Misraim bezeichnet. Ich habe schon darauf hingewiesen, daß dieser Memphis- und Misraim-Ritus eine hohe Anzahl von Graden hat, daß fünfundneunzig Grade durchgemacht werden müssen, und gewöhnlich die höchsten Leiter eines Großorients — namentlich des Großorients von Deutschland und von Großbritannien und Amerika - den 96. Grad haben. Diese Grade sind so, daß sie etwa bis zum Ende der achtziger Grade in einer Weise eingeteilt sind, wie ich es gleich auseinandersetzen werde.
Etwa vom 87. Grad angefangen, beginnen die eigentlichen okkulten Grade, in die nur diejenigen eingeweiht werden können, welche sich dem wirklichen Okkultismus widmen. Immer mache ich den Vorbehalt, daß es auf dem Kontinente wohl niemand gibt, der wirklich diese Grade alle durchgemacht hat, oder der wirklich eine okkulte Freimaurerschulung durchgemacht hat. Aber das schadet bei der Maurerei nicht besonders viel, weil sie ihre Aufgabe erst wieder erhalten wird und dann werden auch die Organisationen da sein, die Hülle wird da sein, die man braucht, um das zu erreichen, was erreicht werden soll.
Nun muß ich verschiedene Freimaurerströmungen und ihre Tendenz angeben, wenn ich auch nur in Kürze etwas andeuten will. Zunächst ist einmal zu berücksichtigen, daß die ganze Hochgradmaurerei zurückführt auf eine Persönlichkeit, die vielfach genannt wird, aber auch sehr viel verkannt wird. Namentlich ist sie verkannt worden von den Geschichtsschreibern des 19. Jahrhunderts, die keine Ahnung davon haben, in welch schwierige Lagen der Okkultist im Leben kommen kann. Es handelt sich um die Persönlichkeit des von wenigen erkannten, viel berüchtigten Cagliostro. Der sogenannte Graf Cagliostro, in dem sich eine Individualität verborgen hat, welche nur den eingeweihtesten Okkultisten in ihrer wahren Eigenart bekannt ist, versuchte zunächst in London die Freimaurerei auf eine neue Stufe zu stellen. Denn sie war schon im letzten Drittel des 18. Jahrhunderts ziemlich auf dem Standpunkte, auf dem ich sie charakterisiert habe. In London gelang es dazumal nicht. Er versuchte es dann in Rußland und auch im Haag. Überall mißlang es aus ganz bestimmten Gründen.
Dann aber gelang es ihm, in Lyon aus einer Reihe dort lebender Freimaurer eine Philaletenloge zu begründen mit okkultem Inhalt, und zwar die Loge, welche genannt wurde Loge zur «Triumphierenden Weisheit». Der Zweck dieser Loge ist von Cagliostro angegeben worden. Was Sie aber darüber lesen können, ist nichts anderes als etwas von unverständigen Leuten Geschriebenes. Dasjenige, was darüber gesagt werden kann, sind ja eigentlich auch nur Andeutungen. Es handelte sich bei Cagliostro um ein zweifaches: erstens um den Unterricht zum Zwecke der Herstellung des sogenannten Steines der Weisen; zweitens um die Eröffnung des Verständnisses für das mystische Fünfeck, für das mystische Pentagramm. Nun kann ich Ihnen nur andeutend sagen, was diese zwei Dinge zu bedeuten haben. Es kann viel gespottet werden darüber, aber sie sind nicht nur symbolisch zu nehmen, sondern beruhen auf Tatsachen.
Der Stein der Weisen hat einen bestimmten Zweck, der von Cagliostro angegeben wurde: er sollte das menschliche Leben auf 5527 Jahre verlängern. Das erscheint dem Freigeist lächerlich. Tatsächlich ist es aber möglich, durch besondere Schulung das Leben ins Unermeßliche zu verlängern dadurch, daß der Mensch lernt, nicht mehr in seinem physischen Körper zu leben. Derjenige, der sich aber vorstellen wollte, daß den Adepten kein Tod im gewöhnlichen Sinne des Wortes treffe, der würde sich etwas Falsches darunter vorstellen. Auch wer glaubt, daß ein Adept nicht von einem Ziegelstein getroffen und erschlagen werden kann, auch der würde sich etwas Falsches vorstellen. Das würde allerdings nur dann gewöhnlich eintreten, wenn der Adept es zuläßt. Nicht um den physischen Tod handelt es sich, sondern um Folgendes. Der physische Tod desjenigen, der für sich selbst den Stein der Weisen erkannt und ihn herauszusetzen verstanden hat, ist für ihn nur ein scheinbares Ereignis. Für die anderen Menschen ist er ein wirkliches Ereignis, das einen großen Abschnitt in seinem Leben bedeutet. Für den, der in der Weise, wie Cagliostro es mit seinen Schülern gewollt hat, es versteht, den Stein der Weisen zu benützen, ist der Tod nur ein scheinbares Ereignis. Er bildet nicht einmal einen besonders wichtigen Abschnitt im Leben; er ist nämlich etwas, was nur für die anderen da ist, die etwa den Adepten beobachten können, und die sagen, daß er stirbt. Er selbst stirbt aber in Wirklichkeit gar nicht. Die Sache ist vielmehr so, daß der Betreffende gelernt hat, überhaupt nicht in seinem physischen Körper zu leben; daß er gelernt hat, alle diejenigen Vorgänge, die im Momente des Todes im physischen Körper plötzlich vor sich gehen, nach und nach während seines Lebens vor sich gehen zu lassen. Es hat sich mit dem Körper des Betreffenden alles schon vollzogen, was sich sonst im Tode vollzieht. Dann ist der Tod nicht mehr möglich, denn der Betreffende hat längst gelernt, ohne den physischen Körper zu leben. Er legt den physischen Körper in ähnlicher Weise ab, wie man einen Regenmantel auszieht, und zieht einen neuen Körper an, wie man einen neuen Regenmantel anzieht.
Nun, einen kleinen Begriff werden Sie sich wohl daraus bilden können. Das ist der eine Unterricht, den Cagliostro überlieferte - der Stein der Weisen -, der den physischen Tod zu einer Bedeutungslosigkeit herabsinken läßt.
Das zweite war die Erkenntnis des Pentagramms. Das ist die Fähigkeit, die fünf Körper des Menschen voneinander zu unterscheiden. Wenn jemand sagt: Physischer Körper, Ätherkörper, Astralkörper, Kama-Manas-Körper, Kausalkörper, so sind das bloß Worte oder, wenn es hoch kommt, abstrakte Begriffe. Damit ist aber noch nichts getan. Der Mensch, der heute lebt, kennt in der Regel kaum den physischen Körper; erst derjenige, der das Pentagramm kennt, lernt die fünf Körper kennen. Einen Körper erkennt man nicht, wenn man in ihm lebt, sondern erst dann, wenn man ihn als Objekt hat. Das ist dasjenige, was einen Durchschnittsmenschen unterscheidet von dem, der durch eine solche Schule gegangen ist, daß für ihn die fünf Körper Objekte geworden sind. Der gewöhnliche Mensch lebt ja auch in diesen fünf Körpern. Aber er /eb? darinnen, er kann nicht heraustreten und sie anschauen. Höchstens seinen physischen Körper kann er anschauen, wenn er an seinem Leibe heruntersieht oder ihn im Spiegel sich beschaut. Die Schüler Cagliostros würden, wenn sie richtig seine Methode befolgt hätten, dazu gekommen sein, wozu einzelne Rosenkreuzer gekommen sind, die im Grunde genommen in einer Schule waren, die dieselbe Tendenz hatte. Sie waren in einer Schule der groBen europäischen Adepten, die dahin führte, daß die fünf Körper Wirklichkeiten wurden, nicht bloß Begriffe blieben. Das nennt man das «Pentagramm-Kennen» und «Moralische Wiedergeburt».
Ich will nicht sagen, daß die Schüler des Cagliostro es nicht zu etwas gebracht haben. Sie haben es im allgemeinen dahin gebracht, den Astralleib zu begreifen. Cagliostro war äußerst geschickt, ihnen eine Anschauung vom Astralleib beizubringen. Lange bevor die Katastrophe über ihn hereinbrach, war es ihm gelungen, außer der Schule in Lyon auch Schulen in Paris, Belgien und Petersburg und einigen anderen Orten Europas zu errichten, aus denen später wenigstens einigermaßen solche Leute hervorgegangen sind, die den Grundstock abgegeben haben für diejenigen, welche es bis zum 18., 19., 20. Grade der Hochgradmaurerei gebracht haben. So hat immerhin der Graf Cagliostro, bevor er in den Kerkern von Rom sein Leben beendigen mußte, einen bedeutenden Einfluß auf die okkulte Maurerei in Europa genommen. Die Welt sollte über Cagliostro im Grunde genommen gar nicht urteilen. Ich deutete schon an, daß es im allgemeinen so ist, wenn die Leute über Cagliostro sprechen, wie wenn der afrikanische Hottentotte von der Einrichtung der Hochbahn spricht, weil es nicht einzusehen ist, in welchem Verhältnis die äußeren, scheinbar unmoralischen Taten zu den Weltereignissen standen.
Ich bemerkte schon früher, daß die Französische Revolution hervorgegangen ist aus den geheimen Vereinigungen der Okkultisten und daß, wenn man die Strömungen weiter verfolgt, man sie verfolgen könnte bis in die Schule der Adepten hinein.
Es ist möglich, daß das, was geschildert ist als Roman von Mabel Collins in dem Buch «Flita», schwer zu verstehen ist. Sie schildert da in einer sehr grotesken Weise, wie ein Adept an einem verborgenen Orte das Weltenschachbtett vor sich hat und die Figuren spielen läßt, und wie er sozusagen das Karma eines Kontinentes auf einem sehr einfachen Kärtchen bestimmte. Das ist nicht unmittelbar so, wie es da geschildert wird, sondern etwas viel Grandioseres als dies geht in der Tat vor sich, wovon das in«Flita» Geschilderte nur ein verzerrtes Abbild ist.
Nun, die Französische Revolution ist durchaus aus solchen Dingen hervorgegangen. Bekannt ist eine Geschichte, die in Büchern der Gräfin d'Adhémar enthalten ist. Da wird gesagt, daß vor dem Ausbruch der Französischen Revolution die Gräfin d'Adhémar, eine Hofdame der Marie-Antoinette, den Besuch erhielt eines Grafen von SaintGermain. Er wollte sich melden lassen bei der Königin und um Audienz bei dem König bitten. Der Minister Ludwig XVI. aber war der Feind des Grafen Saint-Germain; er konnte daher nicht an den König herankommen. Der Königin hat er aber mit großer Schärfe und Genauigkeit geschildert, was für große Gefahren bevorstehen. Aber seine Warnungen sind ja leider nicht beachtet worden. Er hat dazumal das große Wort gesprochen, das auf Wahrheit beruht: «Wer Wind sät, der wird Sturm ernten», und er setzte hinzu, daß er dieses Wort schon vor Jahrtausenden gesagt und es dann Christus wiederholt hat. Das war ein Wort, das für jeden Außenstehenden unverständlich ist.
Aber der Graf Saint-Germain hatte recht. Nur noch ein paar Züge will ich hinzufügen, die durchaus richtig sind. In Büchern über den Grafen Saint-Germain können Sie lesen, daß er 1784 am Hofe des Landgrafen von Hessen gestorben ist, der dann einer der vorgerücktesten deutschen Freimaurer gewesen ist. Er hat ihn bis zu seinem Tode gepflegt. Die Gräfin d’Adhe&mar erzählt aber in ihren Memoiren, daß er lange nach dem Jahre 1784 ihr erschienen sei, daß sie ihn noch sechsmal lange nach dieser Zeit gesehen habe. In Wahrheit ist er damals im Jahre 1790 bei einigen Rosenkreuzern in Wien gewesen und hat das gesagt, was auch richtig war: daß er sich auf fünfundachtzig Jahre nach dem Orient zurückzuziehen habe, und nach fünfundachtzig Jahren werden jene seine Tätigkeit in Europa wieder wahrnehmen können. 1875 ist das Gründungsjahr der Theosophischen Gesellschaft. Diese Dinge hängen alle in einer bestimmten Weise zusammen.
Auch in der Schule, die der Landgraf von Hessen begründet hat, handelte es sich wesentlich um diese zwei Dinge: um den Stein der Weisen und um die Erkenntnis des Pentagramms. In einer etwas veränderten Gestalt lebt nun die damals von dem Landgrafen von Hessen begründete Maurerei fort. Nämlich diese ganze Maurerei, wie ich sie geschildert habe, nennt man die des ägyptischen Ritus, des Ritus von Memphis und Misraim. Dieser führt seine Entstehung zurück auf den König Misraim, der von Assyrien - vom Oriente — herübergezogen war, und nach der Eroberung Ägyptens in die ägyptischen Mysterien eingeweiht wurde. Das sind Geheimnisse, die noch aus der alten Atlantis stammen. Von da ab gab es eine fortdauernde Tradition. Die neue Freimaurerei ist nur eine Fortsetzung dessen, was damals in Ägypten begründet worden ist.
Bevor ich auf Einzelheiten eingehe, möchte ich sagen, daß die Hochgradmaurerei eine solche ist, die sich auch intimer ganz wesentlich unterscheidet von der gewöhnlichen Johannesmaurerei. Die gewöhnliche Johannesmaurerei beruht nämlich auf einer Art demokratischem Prinzip, und wenn das demokratische Prinzip in Erkenntnisdingen gehandhabt werden soll, so ist es selbstverständlich, daß es dazu führt, daß die versammelten Brüder im wesentlichen nichts anderes machen, als daß jeder seine Meinung vorbringt. Die Wahrheit ist aber nichts, worüber man Meinungen haben kann. Eine Wahrheit weiß man, oder man weiß sie nicht. Es kann niemand sagen, daß die drei Winkel im Dreieck 725 Grad haben statt 180.
Wenn die Menschen zusammensitzen und reden, so reden sie über ihre Meinung, auch unter Umständen über die höchsten Dinge. Aber alles das ist auf dem Plane der Täuschung und ebenso unzutreffend wie dasjenige, was der sagt, der nicht weiß wie groß die Winkelsumme im Dreieck ist, der nur eine Meinung davon hat. Ebenso wie man nicht diskutieren kann, ob die Winkelsumme eines Dreiecks so oder so viel Grade hat, ebensowenig kann man diskutieren über höhere Wahrheiten. Deshalb ist das demokratische Prinzip in Erkenntnisdingen unmöglich, weil es auf keiner Unterlage beruht. Das, was die Hochgradmaurerei von der Johannesmaurerei unterscheidet, das ist: daß man stufenweise die Wahrheit erkennen kann. Wer erkannt hat, der kann nicht mehr verschiedener Meinung sein. Man hat erkannt, oder man hat nicht erkannt. Die sechsundneunzig Grade haben also eine gewisse Berechtigung.
An der Spitze steht das sogenannte souveräne Sanktuarium, das identisch ist mit dem, was man bei der Maurerei den Großorient nennt, der im Besitze der eigentlichen okkulten Erkenntnisse ist und den Weg kennt und die Sprache dessen, was im Manifest der Maurerei gelesen werden kann, und das ermöglicht, die Stimme der «Weisen Männer des Ostens» zu hören. Wenn er diese Stufe erreicht hat, so ist er allerdings imstande, die Stimme der weisen Meister zu vernehmen. Bis dahin muß man sich aber durchgearbeitet haben, so daß man im Besitze eines ganz bestimmten Wissens ist, ferner im Besitze ganz bestimmter innerer Qualitäten, innerer Eigenschaften, die sich durchaus nicht bloß decken mit den gewöhnlichen bürgerlichen Tugenden, sondern etwas viel Intimeres und Bedeutungsvolleres sind. Ich bemerke, daß [im Verhältnis] zu alledem, wovon hier die Rede ist, das, was in theoretischer und praktischer Beziehung in theosophischen Büchern mitgeteilt wird, nur ein elementarer Teil ist, so daß das Theoretische der Hochgradmaurerei weit über das hinausgeht, was in der populären Theosophie verbreitet werden kann. Das, was da verbreitet werden kann, beruht auf der Erlaubnis [von seiten] der Adepten, bis zu einem gewissen Grad in der Popularisierung der Erkenntnis zu gehen. Aber es ist nicht möglich, alle Erkenntnisse zu verbreiten.
Es ist richtig, daß die Menschheit über manche Entdeckung in der nächsten Zeit sehr erstaunt sein wird. Aber sie werden etwas verfrüht kommen und deshalb manches Unheil stiften. Die Theosophische Gesellschaft hat im wesentlichen die Aufgabe, auf solche Dinge vorzubereiten. Zum Beispiel war das, was ich eingangs bezeichnet habe als die Erkenntnis des Steines der Weisen, schon einmal viel verbreiteter als es heute ist, und zwar schon zu einer gewissen Zeit der atlantischen Bevölkerung. Da war wirklich die Möglichkeit, den Tod zu überwinden, etwas, was gang und gäbe war. Ich möchte nur bemerken, daß ich nicht gern gerade jetzt schon diese Wahrheit habe drucken lassen wollen. Daher sind im «Luzifer» an der Stelle, wo das stehen soll bei der Besprechung der atlantischen Zeit, Punkte gemacht für das, was noch nicht mitgeteilt werden kann. Ganz kann es auch nicht ausgesprochen werden. In der «Theosophical Review» ist von seiten eines sehr vorgeschrittenen Mediums eine ganz ähnliche Mitteilung verzeichnet worden, die genau dieselbe Sache in einer etwas anderen Form enthält. Die Überwindung des Todes in der atlantischen Zeit ruht natürlich im Gedächtnisse der Individualitäten, ohne daß sie es wissen. Es sind heute viele Menschen wiedergeboren, die in einer früheren Inkarnation jene Zeit durchgemacht haben, und die durch ihr eigenes Gedächtnis auf solche Erkenntnisse hingeführt werden. Das wird ja zunächst zu einer Art Überschätzung gewisser medizinischer Entdeckungen führen. Man wird glauben, daß die naturwissenschaftliche Medizin solche Entdeckungen gemacht hat. In Wahrheit werden die Menschen durch ihr Gedächtnis aus der atlantischen Zeit her darauf geführt.
Gewisse Dinge werden reif werden in der nächsten Zeit, und deshalb wird darüber gesprochen werden. Das macht notwendig, daß man einsieht die Notwendigkeit des stufenweisen Aufrückens in der Erkenntnis. Dieses stufenweise Aufrücken wird daher mit Recht betont von denjenigen, welche heute den Misraim- und Memphis-Ritus wieder aufleben lassen wollen. Wenn dies auch in den nächsten Jahren mißglückt, so darf man nicht glauben, daß Mißerfolge in solchen Dingen etwas zu bedeuten haben. An der Spitze der amerikanischen Misraim-Bewegung steht ein Mann, dessen bedeutsamer Charakter eine gewisse Garantie bildet für die Standhaftigkeit im Vorrücken. Das ist der ausgezeichnete Maurer John Yarker.
Was für eine Gestalt die Sache in Großbritannien und Deutschland annehmen wird, ist heute schwer zu sagen. Sie werden einsehen, daß man für solche Dinge mit dem betreffenden Menschenmaterial rechnen muß, und daß daher auch die deutsche Bewegung - wenn sie mit solchen Dingen zu tun haben soll - mit dem rechnen muß, was in dieser Richtung darin ist. Wenn wirkliche Okkultisten an solchen Dingen beteiligt werden sollen, so müssen sie von der einen oder anderen Richtung engagiert sein. Sie werden sich nicht immer an diesen Dingen beteiligen können. Auch die Meister, wenn sie so etwas vorschreiben, werden sich nach großen umfassenden Gesetzen zu richten haben.
Wenn Sie also etwas über deutsche Misraim-Memphis-Richtung hören, so dürfen Sie nicht glauben, daß dies heute schon eine Bedeutung für die Zukunft hat. Es ist nur der Rahmen, in den einmal ein gutes Bild hineingesetzt werden kann. Dieser deutsche Misraim-Orden steht unter der Oberleitung eines gewissen Reuß, der wohl die eigentliche Führung in Großbritannien und Deutschland heute inne hat. Dann wirkt auch in dieser Richtung der bekannte Carl Kellner. Die eigentliche schriftstellerische Arbeit liegt wohl in der Hand des Dr. Franz Hartmann, der mit der Feder diesem Misraim-Ritus am allermeisten dient. Das ist das, was Ihnen in diesem oder jenem Fragment von da oder dort zuströmen kann von dieser Bewegung.
Ich kann nun nur im allgemeinen eine Charakteristik geben von dem, um was es sich hier handelt. Der Lehrarten dieses MisraimRitus sind vier. Die sechsundneunzig Grade können somit in vier verschiedenen Lehrarten oder Disziplinen erreicht werden. Diese vier Disziplinen, durch die man aufsteigt, sind: Erstens die sogenannte symbolische Lehrart oder Disziplin. Dadurch können gewisse Symbole als Tatsachen erkannt werden. Es wird der Betreffende eingeführt in die okkulten Naturgesetze, durch die ganz bestimmte Wirkungen in zyklischen Bewegungen in der Menschheit hervorgerufen werden.
Die zweite Lehrart oder Disziplin ist die sogenannte philosophische. Es ist die ägyptisch-hermetische. Sie ist eine mehr theoretische Lehrart. Die dritte Lehrart ist die sogenannte mystische, die mehr auf innerlicher Entwickelung beruht und die, wenn richtig angewendet, vor allen Dingen zur entsprechenden Handhabung des Steines der Weisen führen würde, nämlich zur Überwindung des Todes. Das ist im wesentlichen auch angedeutet in dem einen Satz, den ich Ihnen vorgelesen habe und der besagt, daß sich in der Freimaurerei jeder überzeugen kann von der Unsterblichkeit. Es kommt aber, wie die Kabbala sagt, darauf an, ob er das verlangt oder nicht. Die vierte Lehrart ist die kabbalistische. Sie besteht darin, daß man die Prinzipien der Weltordnung in ihrer Wahrheit und Wirklichkeit erkennt, die zehn Grund... [Lücke].
Auf jedem der vier Wege kann man zu den höheren Erkenntnissen durch den Misraim-Ritus aufsteigen. Es ist aber wohl niemand innerhalb der Freimaurerei da, der heute die Verantwortung übernehmen würde, jemandem wirkliche Anleitung zu geben, weil die Betreffenden die Dinge nicht selbst durchgemacht haben, sondern die ganze Sache ein Provisorium ist und nur einen Rahmen schaffen soll für etwas, das noch kommen soll. Es ist möglich, daß dieser Rahmen ausgefüllt wird mit okkultem Wissen. Okkultes Wissen soll in die Formen gegossen werden, die da sind. Daß Formen da sind in der Welt, das ist wichtig. Wenn Sie geschmolzenes Metall haben und keine Form, so können Sie mit ihm nichts anderes anfangen, als es zu einem Klumpen herauslaufen zu lassen. So ist es auch mit den geistigen Strömungen. Es ist wichtig, daß diese Formen da sind, in die man das geistige Metall wird hineingießen können. Das ist symbolisiert im Ehernen Meer. Das wird erkannt werden, wenn dasjenige, was jetzt nur scheinbar vegetiert, Gestalt für die Öffentlichkeit erlangt.
Letztes Mal habe ich Ihnen aus einer Rede des englischen Premierministers Balfour vorgelesen. Es ist da bereits aufmerksam darauf gemacht, daß gewisse Dinge heute physikalische Wahrheiten sind, die uralte okkulte Erkenntnisse sind. Wenn Sie in Blavatskys «Geheimlehre» nachlesen, werden Sie dort eine Stelle finden über die Elektrizität, welche buchstäblich dasselbe besagt wie das, worauf die Physiker jetzt nach und nach kommen. Was Sie aber finden, ist eine bloße Ahnung von dem, um was es sich handelt. Es handelt sich um das physikalische Atom. Bis vor vier, fünf Jahren ist von aller äußeren — nicht der okkultistischen - Wissenschaft dieses verkannt worden. Man hat es für eine raumerfüllende Masse gehalten. Heute fängt man an, dieses physikalische Atom als dasjenige zu erkennen, was es wirklich ist. Man kommt darauf, daß dieses physikalische Atom sich so verhält zur Kraft der Elektrizität, wie sich ein Klumpen Eis verhält zum Wasser, aus dem es gefroren ist. Wenn Sie sich Wasser vorstellen, das zu Eis gefriert, so ist das Eis auch Wasser. Und so ist das physikalische Atom nichts anderes als gefrorene Elektrizität. Wenn Sie dies ganz begreifen und die Mitteilungen, die bis vor wenigen Jahren in sämtlichen wissenschaftlichen Schriften über die Atome enthalten waren, durchgehen und sie für Blech ansehen, dann werden Sie ungefähr die richtige Vorstellung gewinnen. Erst seit dieser kurzen Zeit kann sich die Physik eine Vorstellung bilden von dem, was das physikalische Atom ist. Es verhält sich nämlich wie ein Eisklumpen zu der Wassermenge, aus der er gefroren ist. Das physikalische Atom ist kondensierte Elektrizität. Die Rede von Balfour betrachte ich als etwas außerordentlich Wichtiges.
Es ist ... [Lücke] etwas, was seit dem Jahr 1875 [1879?] herausgebracht ist. Die Tatsache ist bei den Okkultisten schon seit Jahrtausenden bekannt. Nun fängt man an zu wissen, daß das physikalische Atom kondensierte Elektrizität ist. Aber es handelt sich noch um ein zweites: zu wissen, was Elektrizität selber ist. Das ist noch unbekannt. Sie wissen nämlich eines nicht: wo das Wesen der Elektrizität gesucht werden muß. Dieses Wesen der Elektrizität kann nicht gefunden werden durch irgendwelche äußere Experimente oder durch äußere Anschauung. Das Geheimnis, welches gefunden werden wird, ist, daß Elektrizität genau dasselbe ist - wenn man auf einem gewissen Plan zu beobachten versteht -, was der menschliche Gedanke ist. Der menschliche Gedanke ist dasselbe Wesen wie die Elektrizität: das eine Mal von innen, das andere Mal von außen betrachtet.
Wer nun weiß, was Elektrizität ist, der weiß, daß etwas in ihm lebt, das in gefrorenem Zustande das Atom bildet. Hier haben Sie die Brücke vom menschlichen Gedanken zum Atom. Man wird die Bausteine der physischen Welt kennenlernen, es sind kleine kondensierte Monaden, kondensierte Elektrizität. In dem Augenblicke, wo die Menschen diese elementarste okkulte Wahrheit von Gedanke, Elektrizität und Atom erkannt haben werden, in dem Augenblicke werden sie etwas erkennen, was das Wichtigste sein wird für die Zukunft und für die ganze sechste Unterrasse. Sie werden mit den Atomen bauen können durch die Kraft des Gedankens.
Dies wird die geistige Strömung sein, die wieder hineingegossen werden muß in die Formen, die seit Jahrtausenden von den Okkultisten geschaffen worden sind. Aber weil die menschliche Rasse die Verstandesentwickelung durchmachen mußte und absehen mußte von der eigentlichen inneren Arbeit, sind sie Hülsen geworden, aber als Formen geblieben, und es wird die richtige Erkenntnis hineingegossen werden müssen.
Der okkulte Forscher gewinnt die Wahrheit von der einen Seite, der physische Forscher von der anderen Seite. Ebenso wie die Maurerei aus der Werkmaurerei, aus dem Dom- und Tempelbau hervorgegangen ist, ebenso wird man künftig bauen müssen mit den kleinsten Bausteinen, mit den kondensierten Elektrizitätsmengen. Das wird eine neue Maurerei nötig haben. Dann wird sich die Industrie nicht mehr so abspielen können wie jetzt. Sie wird so chaotisch werden und nur auf reinen Kampf ums Dasein hinarbeiten können, solange man nicht weiß... [Lücke].1Im Stenogramm ist hier eine Lücke; in einer Ausschrift in Klartext findet sich als Ergänzung: [was als Gedanke in diese Hülsen hineingegossen werden muß. Weiß man das aber], Dann würde möglich sein, daß in Berlin jemand mit der Droschke in der Stadt fahren kann, während in Moskau stattfindet das Unheil, das er von Berlin aus verursacht hat. Und kein Mensch würde eine Ahnung davon haben, daß dieser Mensch das verursacht hat. Die drahtlose Telegraphie ist ein Anfang davon. Was ich ausgeführt habe, ist Zukunft. Nur zwei Möglichkeiten sind vorhanden: Entweder die Dinge gehen chaotisch weiter, so wie die Industrie und Technik bisher vorgegangen ist. Dann führt es dazu, daß der, welcher im Besitze dieser Dinge ist, großes Unheil anrichten kann, oder es wird in die moralische Form der Maurerei gegossen.2Dieser letzte Satz lautet in den Notizen von Marie Steiner-von Sivers: «Diese Dinge gehen entweder chaotisch so weiter wie bisher Industrie und Technik, oder harmonisch, wie es das Ziel der Maurerei ist, dann wird die höchste Entwickelung erreicht.»
Frage: Warum die katholische Kirche der Freimaurerei so gegnerisch gegenüberstcht?
Antwort: Die katholische Kirche will nicht das, was in der Zukunft kommen soll. Pius IX. war eingeweiht in die Freimaurerei. Im Kapitel von Clermont hat er versucht, eine Verbindung zwischen den Jesuiten und der Freimaurerei herzustellen. Das ist nicht gelungen, und daher ist die alte Feindschaft zwischen diesen beiden geblieben. Unsere Jesuiten wissen wenig von diesen Dingen, und auch die vom Klerus wissen nicht, um was es sich handelt. Der wirkliche Klerus ... [größere Lücke].
Die Trappisten müssen schweigen, denn man weiß, daß durch das Schweigen für das nächste Leben eine bedeutende Fähigkeit, begeistert zu reden, veranlagt wird. Das ist allerdings nur bei der Erkenntnis der Wiederverkörperung verständlich.
9. The Nature and Purpose of Freemasonry from the Perspective of Spiritual Science
It is important to talk about high degree Masonry because this type of teaching has set itself special tasks, and some of these will be discussed in the near future. We are essentially dealing with a special rite, namely that which is known as the United Rite of Memphis and Misraim. I have already pointed out that this Memphis and Misraim rite has a large number of degrees, that ninety-five degrees must be passed through, and that usually the highest leaders of a Grand Orient — namely, the Grand Orient of Germany, Great Britain, and America — have the 96th degree. These degrees are such that, up to about the end of the eighty degrees, they are divided in a manner which I will explain in a moment.
Starting at about the 87th degree, the actual occult degrees begin, into which only those who are devoted to real occultism can be initiated. I always make the reservation that there is probably no one on the continent who has really gone through all these degrees or who has really undergone occult Masonic training. But that does not particularly harm Masonry, because it will regain its task, and then the organizations will also be there, the shell will be there that is needed to achieve what is to be achieved.
Now I must mention various Masonic movements and their tendencies, even if only briefly. First of all, it must be taken into account that all high-degree Masonry can be traced back to a personality who is often mentioned but also greatly misunderstood. He was particularly misunderstood by the historians of the 19th century, who had no idea of the difficult situations in which occultists can find themselves in life. I am referring to the personality of the little-known, much-notorious Cagliostro. The so-called Count Cagliostro, in whom there was hidden an individuality known only to the most initiated occultists in its true nature, first attempted to raise Freemasonry to a new level in London. For in the last third of the 18th century, it was already at the stage I have described. He did not succeed in London at that time. He then tried in Russia and also in The Hague. Everywhere he failed for very specific reasons.
But then he succeeded in Lyon in founding a philatelic lodge with occult content from a number of Freemasons living there, namely the lodge called the Lodge of Triumphant Wisdom. The purpose of this lodge was stated by Cagliostro. But what you can read about it is nothing more than something written by people who did not understand it. What can be said about it are really only hints. Cagliostro was concerned with two things: first, teaching for the purpose of producing the so-called philosopher's stone; second, opening up understanding of the mystical pentagon, the mystical pentagram. Now I can only hint at what these two things mean. They can be ridiculed, but they are not just symbolic; they are based on facts.
The philosopher's stone has a specific purpose, which was stated by Cagliostro: it was supposed to extend human life to 5,527 years. This seems ridiculous to the free spirit. In fact, however, it is possible to extend life indefinitely through special training, whereby man learns to no longer live in his physical body. However, anyone who imagines that adepts do not experience death in the usual sense of the word would be mistaken. Even those who believe that an adept cannot be struck and killed by a brick would also be mistaken. However, this would only happen in the usual sense if the adept allowed it. It is not a question of physical death, but of the following. The physical death of someone who has recognized the philosopher's stone for himself and understood how to extract it is only an apparent event for him. For other people, it is a real event that marks a major stage in his life. For those who understand how to use the philosopher's stone in the way Cagliostro wanted his students to, death is only an apparent event. It does not even constitute a particularly important phase in life; it is something that only exists for others who can observe the adept and say that he is dying. But in reality, he does not die at all. Rather, the person concerned has learned not to live in his physical body at all; he has learned to allow all the processes that suddenly take place in the physical body at the moment of death to take place gradually during his lifetime. Everything that normally takes place at death has already taken place in the body of the person concerned. Then death is no longer possible, because the person concerned has long since learned to live without the physical body. He discards the physical body in the same way that one takes off a raincoat, and puts on a new body as one puts on a new raincoat.
Well, you can probably form a small idea of this. This is the one lesson that Cagliostro passed on—the philosopher's stone—which reduces physical death to insignificance.
The second was the knowledge of the pentagram. This is the ability to distinguish the five bodies of the human being from one another. When someone says: physical body, etheric body, astral body, Kama-Manas body, causal body, these are merely words or, at best, abstract concepts. But that does not achieve anything. People living today generally know very little about the physical body; only those who know the pentagram learn about the five bodies. You cannot recognize a body when you live in it, but only when you have it as an object. This is what distinguishes the average person from someone who has gone through a school where the five bodies have become objects for them. The ordinary person also lives in these five bodies. But he is inside them and cannot step out and look at them. At most, he can look at his physical body when he looks down at his body or looks at himself in the mirror. If Cagliostro's students had followed his method correctly, they would have achieved what individual Rosicrucians achieved, who were basically in a school that had the same tendency. They were in a school of the great European adepts, which led to the five bodies becoming realities and not remaining mere concepts. This is called “pentagram knowledge” and “moral rebirth.”
I do not mean to say that Cagliostro's students did not achieve anything. In general, they managed to understand the astral body. Cagliostro was extremely skilled at teaching them about the astral body. Long before disaster struck him, he had succeeded in establishing schools in Paris, Belgium, St. Petersburg, and several other places in Europe, in addition to the school in Lyon, from which at least some people emerged who laid the foundation for those who reached the 18th, 19th, and 20th degrees of high-degree Freemasonry. Thus, before he had to end his life in the dungeons of Rome, Count Cagliostro had a significant influence on occult Freemasonry in Europe. The world should not judge Cagliostro at all. I have already indicated that when people talk about Cagliostro, it is generally like an African Hottentot talking about the construction of the elevated railway, because it is impossible to see how his outward, seemingly immoral deeds relate to world events.
I have already noted that the French Revolution arose from secret societies of occultists and that, if one follows the currents further, one can trace them back to the school of adepts.
It is possible that what is described as a novel by Mabel Collins in the book “Flita” is difficult to understand. She describes in a very grotesque way how an adept in a hidden place has the chessboard of the world before him and lets the pieces play, and how he determines, so to speak, the karma of a continent on a very simple card. This is not exactly as it is described there, but something much more grandiose is actually taking place, of which the description in “Flita” is only a distorted image.
Well, the French Revolution definitely arose from such things. There is a well-known story contained in the books of the Countess d'Adhémar. It is said that before the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Countess d'Adhémar, a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, received a visit from a Count of Saint-Germain. He wanted to announce himself to the queen and ask for an audience with the king. However, the minister of Louis XVI was an enemy of the Count of Saint-Germain, so he could not get to the king. But he described to the queen with great sharpness and precision the great dangers that lay ahead. Unfortunately, his warnings were not heeded. At that time, he spoke the great words based on truth: “He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind,” adding that these words had been spoken thousands of years ago and repeated by Christ. These were words that were incomprehensible to any outsider.
But Count Saint-Germain was right. I would like to add just a few more points, which are entirely accurate. In books about Count Saint-Germain, you can read that he died in 1784 at the court of the Landgrave of Hesse, who was then one of the most advanced German Freemasons. He cared for him until his death. However, the Countess d'Adhe&mar recounts in her memoirs that he appeared to her long after 1784, that she saw him six more times long after that time. In truth, he was with some Rosicrucians in Vienna in 1790 and said what was also true: that he had to retire to the Orient for eighty-five years, and after eighty-five years, those would be able to resume his work in Europe. 1875 is the founding year of the Theosophical Society. These things are all connected in a certain way.
In the school founded by the Landgrave of Hesse, these two things were also essential: the philosopher's stone and the knowledge of the pentagram. The Masonry founded by the Landgrave of Hesse lives on today in a slightly modified form. The entire Masonry as I have described it is called the Egyptian Rite, the Rite of Memphis and Misraim. Its origins can be traced back to King Misraim, who came from Assyria – from the Orient – and was initiated into the Egyptian mysteries after the conquest of Egypt. These are secrets that date back to ancient Atlantis. From then on, there was a continuous tradition. The new Freemasonry is only a continuation of what was founded in Egypt at that time.
Before going into details, I would like to say that high-degree Freemasonry is very different from ordinary Johannine Freemasonry. Ordinary Johannine Masonry is based on a kind of democratic principle, and if the democratic principle is to be applied to matters of knowledge, it is obvious that this will lead to the assembled brothers doing nothing more than expressing their opinions. But truth is not something about which one can have opinions. Either one knows the truth or one does not. No one can say that the three angles in a triangle are 725 degrees instead of 180.
When people sit together and talk, they talk about their opinions, even about the highest things. But all this is on the plane of deception and just as inaccurate as what is said by someone who does not know how large the sum of the angles in a triangle is, who only has an opinion about it. Just as one cannot discuss whether the sum of the angles in a triangle is this or that number of degrees, so one cannot discuss higher truths. That is why the democratic principle is impossible in matters of knowledge, because it has no basis. What distinguishes high degree Masonry from Johannine Masonry is that one can recognize the truth step by step. Those who have recognized it can no longer disagree. Either one has recognized it or one has not. The ninety-six degrees therefore have a certain justification.
At the top is the so-called sovereign sanctuary, which is identical to what is called the Grand Orient in Freemasonry, which is in possession of the actual occult knowledge and knows the way and the language of what can be read in the Manifesto of Freemasonry, and which makes it possible to hear the voice of the “Wise Men of the East.” Once he has reached this level, however, he is able to hear the voice of the wise masters. Until then, however, one must have worked one's way through so that one is in possession of a very specific knowledge, and furthermore in possession of very specific inner qualities, inner characteristics, which are by no means merely the usual bourgeois virtues, but something much more intimate and meaningful. I note that [in relation] to all that is being discussed here, what is communicated in theoretical and practical terms in theosophical books is only an elementary part, so that the theory of high-degree Freemasonry goes far beyond what can be disseminated in popular theosophy. What can be disseminated is based on the permission [on the part] of the adepts to go to a certain extent in popularizing the knowledge. But it is not possible to disseminate all knowledge.
It is true that humanity will be very astonished by some discoveries in the near future. But they will come a little too early and therefore cause some harm. The Theosophical Society has the essential task of preparing people for such things. For example, what I referred to at the beginning as the knowledge of the philosopher's stone was once much more widespread than it is today, namely at a certain time among the Atlantean population. There was really the possibility of overcoming death, something that was commonplace. I would just like to note that I did not want to have this truth printed just yet. Therefore, in “Lucifer,” where it should appear in the discussion of the Atlantean period, points have been made about what cannot yet be communicated. It cannot be said entirely. In The Theosophical Review, a very advanced medium has recorded a very similar message, which contains exactly the same thing in a slightly different form. The overcoming of death in the Atlantean era naturally rests in the memory of individuals, without them knowing it. Many people are reborn today who went through that time in a previous incarnation and who are being led to such insights through their own memory. This will initially lead to a kind of overestimation of certain medical discoveries. People will believe that scientific medicine has made such discoveries. In truth, people are being led to this through their memory from the Atlantean time.
Certain things will come to fruition in the near future, and therefore they will be talked about. This makes it necessary to understand the need for gradual advancement in knowledge. This gradual advancement is therefore rightly emphasized by those who today want to revive the Misraim and Memphis rites. Even if this fails in the next few years, one must not believe that failures in such matters mean anything. At the head of the American Misraim movement stands a man whose significant character is a certain guarantee of steadfastness in advancing. That is the distinguished Mason John Yarker.
What form the matter will take in Great Britain and Germany is difficult to say today. You will understand that one must reckon with the human material involved in such matters, and that therefore the German movement—if it is to have anything to do with such things—must reckon with what is present in this direction. If real occultists are to be involved in such things, they must be committed to one direction or the other. They will not always be able to participate in these things. Even the masters, if they prescribe such things, will have to abide by great and comprehensive laws.
So if you hear something about the German Misraim-Memphis movement, you should not believe that this already has any significance for the future. It is only the framework into which a good picture can one day be placed. This German Misraim Order is under the overall leadership of a certain Reuss, who is probably the actual leader in Great Britain and Germany today. The well-known Carl Kellner is also active in this direction. The actual writing is probably in the hands of Dr. Franz Hartmann, who serves this Misraim rite most with his pen. That is what you may encounter in this or that fragment from here or there about this movement.
I can now only give a general description of what this is all about. There are four types of teaching in this Misraim rite. The ninety-six degrees can thus be attained in four different types of teaching or disciplines. These four disciplines through which one ascends are: First, the so-called symbolic type of teaching or discipline. Through this, certain symbols can be recognized as facts. The person concerned is introduced to the occult laws of nature, through which very specific effects are brought about in cyclical movements in humanity.
The second type of teaching or discipline is the so-called philosophical. It is the Egyptian-Hermetic. It is a more theoretical type of teaching. The third type of teaching is the so-called mystical, which is based more on inner development and, when applied correctly, would lead above all to the proper handling of the philosopher's stone, namely to the overcoming of death. This is essentially also indicated in the one sentence I read to you, which says that in Freemasonry everyone can convince themselves of immortality. However, as the Kabbalah says, it depends on whether they desire it or not. The fourth type of teaching is the Kabbalistic. It consists of recognizing the principles of the world order in their truth and reality, the ten fundamental... [gap].
On each of the four paths, one can ascend to higher knowledge through the Misraim rite. However, there is probably no one within Freemasonry today who would take responsibility for giving anyone real guidance, because those concerned have not gone through the process themselves, but the whole thing is a temporary arrangement and is only intended to create a framework for something that is yet to come. It is possible that this framework will be filled with occult knowledge. Occult knowledge is to be poured into the forms that exist. It is important that forms exist in the world. If you have molten metal and no mold, you can do nothing with it but let it run out into a lump. The same is true of spiritual currents. It is important that these forms exist into which the spiritual metal can be poured. This is symbolized in the Iron Sea. This will be recognized when that which now only seems to vegetate takes shape for the public.
Last time, I read to you from a speech by the English Prime Minister Balfour. It already draws attention to the fact that certain things that are physical truths today are ancient occult knowledge. If you read Blavatsky's “Secret Doctrine,” you will find a passage about electricity that literally says the same thing that physicists are now gradually coming to realize. But what you find is merely a vague idea of what it is. It is the physical atom. Until four or five years ago, this was completely misunderstood by all external — not occult — science. It was considered to be a mass filling space. Today, people are beginning to recognize this physical atom for what it really is. They are coming to the conclusion that this physical atom behaves in relation to the force of electricity in the same way that a lump of ice behaves in relation to the water from which it froze. If you imagine water freezing into ice, the ice is also water. And so the physical atom is nothing other than frozen electricity. If you fully understand this and go through the information that was contained in all scientific writings on atoms until a few years ago and regard it as nonsense, then you will gain approximately the right idea. Only since this short time has physics been able to form an idea of what the physical atom is. It behaves like a lump of ice in relation to the amount of water from which it froze. The physical atom is condensed electricity. I consider Balfour's speech to be extremely important.
It is ... [gap] something that has been known since 1875 [1879?]. The fact has been known to occultists for thousands of years. Now we are beginning to understand that the physical atom is condensed electricity. But there is a second issue: knowing what electricity itself is. That is still unknown. For you do not know one thing: where to look for the essence of electricity. This essence of electricity cannot be found through any external experiments or external observation. The secret that will be discovered is that electricity is exactly the same thing—if one knows how to observe it on a certain level—as human thought. Human thought is the same essence as electricity: one time viewed from within, the other time viewed from without.
Anyone who knows what electricity is knows that something lives within them that forms the atom in a frozen state. Here you have the bridge from human thought to the atom. You will come to know the building blocks of the physical world: they are small condensed monads, condensed electricity. The moment people recognize this most elementary occult truth about thought, electricity, and atoms, they will recognize something that will be most important for the future and for the entire sixth subrace. They will be able to build with atoms through the power of thought.
This will be the spiritual current that must be poured back into the forms that have been created by occultists for thousands of years. But because the human race had to go through the development of the intellect and had to refrain from the actual inner work, they have become shells, but have remained as forms, and the right knowledge will have to be poured into them.
The occult researcher gains the truth from one side, the physical researcher from the other. Just as masonry emerged from the craft of building cathedrals and temples, so too will we have to build in the future with the smallest building blocks, with condensed quantities of electricity. This will require a new kind of masonry. Then industry will no longer be able to function as it does now. It will become so chaotic and will only be able to work toward a pure struggle for existence as long as we do not know... [gap].1There is a gap in the stenogram here; in a transcript in plain text, the following is added: [what must be poured into these shells as thought. But if we know that], Then it would be possible for someone in Berlin to drive a cab through the city while the disaster he caused from Berlin is taking place in Moscow. And no one would have any idea that this person caused it. Wireless telegraphy is the beginning of this. What I have described is the future. There are only two possibilities: Either things will continue chaotically, as industry and technology have done so far. Then it will lead to those who possess these things being able to cause great harm, or it will be cast into the moral form of Freemasonry. 2This last sentence reads in the notes of Marie Steiner-von Sivers: “These things will either continue chaotically as industry and technology have done so far, or harmoniously, as is the goal of Freemasonry, and then the highest development will be achieved."
Question: Why is the Catholic Church so opposed to Freemasonry?
Answer: The Catholic Church does not want what is to come in the future. Pius IX was initiated into Freemasonry. In the Chapter of Clermont, he attempted to establish a connection between the Jesuits and Freemasonry. This was not successful, and therefore the old enmity between the two has remained. Our Jesuits know little about these things, and even the clergy do not know what it is all about. The real clergy ... [large gap].
The Trappists must remain silent, for it is known that silence gives one a significant ability to speak enthusiastically in the next life. However, this is only understandable if one believes in reincarnation.