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he great mystic and philosopher, Thus Pythagoras became a “cosmopolitan” Pythagoras (580 BC – 490 BC), is initiate and he was able to achieve a unique well known to serious students of synthesis of the Ancient Initiatory Tradition. T That Tradition was then “reflected” on the great Western Esotericism. He is considered as a very remarkable part of the great “Golden Plato. According to Bernard Russel, Platonism Initiating Chain” of Ancient Greece, including: is Pythagoreanism in the form of literature and Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Proclus, Platonism became the main philosophical trend and we may add Ammonius Sakkas, Porphry in the West for many centuries through the help and Iamblichus as well. of Margilio Ficino and the Platonic Academy in Florence, affecting modern philosophy up His life has been exclusively described in many to (at least) Kant and Hegel. books (and in numerous web-sites on the In- ternet); thus, we do not consider it necessary Besides the philosophical and academic effect to provide in this article a full biography of that Pythagoreanism –through Platonism- has Pythagoras. The only essential element which exercised on Western Philosophy, the more must be emphasized here is the fact that Py- mystical aspects of Pythagoras have affected thagoras—through his extensive trips and ini- and given rise to some important Esoteric tiations in the then-known world, incorporates Orders in the West such as: in his mystical philosophy, besides the Greek Theological Tradition, the Babylonian, Chal- The Fratelli Oscuri (The Order of Covered or dean, Egyptian and Persian Tradition. Also Hidden Brothers), appeared around the 15th there are indications (but not full proofs on a Century in Byzantium. In 1600, that Order had historical basis) that Pythagoras was initiated spread all over Italy. Its members claimed that in the Northern “Hyperborean” Tradition by the Order has its origins in the Pythagorean the priest of the “Northern” Apollo, Abaris. Circle of Byzantium. That Circle left Byzan- (According to Ancient Greeks, the Northern tium for Salonica (a major city in Northern lands were those “beyond the Celtic land” that Greece) and then, after the fall of Salonica to is, Britain, Germany, Iceland and Scandinavian the Turks (1430) left for Italy. nations). - 19 - © 2006-2007 Frater O.L. - SRC&SSA Splendor Solis - No. V - ! i g - 2006 A.D. In 1650 the Holy Inquisition intervened and don and they created that Order in 1871. We stopped the activities of the Order in Italy. In have some of the names of the Brothers who the meantime through the English gentleman formed the core of the Order, such as Mal- Sir Thomas Bodley who had been initiated leat, Cachire de Beaurepaire, Eslin, Etienne in that Order in Italy in 1554, the Pythago- Bazot, etc. Well known esotericists were also rean Tradition was transferred to England in members like Richard, Fabre- Palaprat (who 1577. Queen Elizabeth was tolerant against was the man who revitalized or re-established spiritual organizations so the Order of the Templars the Order prospered. From during the Napoleonic the archives of the Order, Period and has been also we know the names of the its Grand Master) and the Brothers who formed the great Mason and Masonic first core of the Order: Sir writer J..M. Ragon who Thomas Bodley (the Head according to some sources of the Order until his death has been the Head of the in 1612), Thomas Smith, Wil- Order as well. Again, we liam Sedley, Nicolas Bacon, were not able to trace the Sir Walter Raleigh, the lord history of the Order be- D’Avonay and Walter Midle- yond the 19th Century so may. In order to secure the either it ceased existing or esoteric works of the Order, was absorbed into other they created a “cover” which Orders. acted also as an introductory stage. They gave it the name The Academy of the Sub- “The Tavern of the Muses”. lime Masters of the Shin- Such “Taverns” were estab- ing Ring or the Hermetic lished in Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh. Rite of Negotiators: This is also a French Order We have the continuous line of succession of existing already in France in 1780. It was im- the Heads of the Order until 1753. ported to France by the Baron De Blaerfindy, a On the 26th of July, King Charles II prohibited Scottish military officer residing in France. He the activities of the secret societies in England. initiated the Brother Bommard who has been The Head of the Order then, Sir Thomas Stanly the mayor of the city of Douai. It is consid- re-named the “Tavern” to “Club of Smokers”. ered as a very important Pythagorean Order Smoking was a habit recently imported from having Four Degrees plus a Fifth one for the America. Citizens liking that habit were free Hierophants. Among its members was included to create clubs in which they were free to en- the famous hermeticist Dom Pernety who es- joy smoking. So, under this cover, the Order tablished at Avignon a Pythagorean-Hermetic continued existing. Walter White, secretary of Academy with 100 members – the “Illuminated the Royal Society of London, reports that even of Avignon”. Another very important member in 1888 the Order was existing and the great was J.M. Ragon. He was initiated as a Mason English poet Tennyson was a member also. We in Belgium in the Lodge “The Real Friends” were not able to trace the history of the Order and he became the Worshipful Master of that beyond that period. Either it ceased existing or Lodge. He also belonged in the Lodge “Phoe- it was absorbed into other Orders. nix” of the Grand Orient of France and also in the Misraim Rite. He supported the Order The Hermetic Rite of the Child’s of Wisdom: of the Temple, re-established by Fabre Palaprat From England the Pythagorean Tradition was as we mentioned earlier, and he was publishing transferred to France. The French Brothers the first French Masonic magazine under the received the Pythagorean Rituals from Lon- title “Hermes”. - 20 - © 2006-2007 Frater O.L. - SRC&SSA Splendor Solis - No. V - ! i g - 2006 A.D. In the case of that Order, we are lucky enough: and their rituals and symbols are not connected Part of its teaching became in 1826, the 12th to the Judeo-Christian Tradition which is more Degree of the Scottish Philosophical Rite, an or less adopted by all Masonic Rites. important Masonic Rite which is still active and prospering all over the world and considered This is why we consider as important to exam- as “regular” by the Grand Lodge of England. ine the Pythagorean philosophy of numbers, So, many Masons have the opportunity to have the Pythagorean Numerology which incorpo- contact with (part of) its teaching. rates within itself the essence of the Pythago- rean Doctrine-which reflects as we have said The Order of the Free Pythagorean Initiators earlier- the Initiatory Tradition of the Ancient (Ordo Initiatorum Librorum Pythagorae): World. Pythagoreanism holds that numbers are having Emille Dantine as a Head and then not only symbols denoting quantity and quan- Jean Mallinger established in Brussels after the titative relationships but most of all symbols First World War. That Order was based on expressing various States of Existence, symbols Pythagorean circles established during the sec- expressing qualities and substances. According ond half of the 19th Century in Paris, Northern to the Pythagorean and Platonic approach, France, Belgium, etc. During 1955 the Order human kind hasn’t invented numbers but has established branches in Germany (starting from discovered them. That is numbers are not a Munich), in Austria, in Greece (1961) and in human “product”—they exist independently of Brazil. It changed its name to: humans. Humans have invented the numerical symbols expressing the idea that each number The Order of the Golden Rose (Order Rosae denotes. According to Aristotle (Metaphys- Anreae): having Martin Erler as its Head. As far ics I.6) Plato suggested that numbers are “the as we know-through discussions we had with a Causes of the Substance of Things” and con- friend Mason participating in the Greek branch siders them as intermediary entities between the of the Order- the Order has seven degrees and Sensible Reality and the World of Ideas. This works with Greek-Egyptian Rituals. approach—that numbers do have their own existence independently of humans—is known Important to mention also that according in the History of Mathematics as the “Platonic to the Founding Constitution of the Grand Approach”. We always have to remember this Lodge of England (1717), Pythagoras, Plato approach when trying to understand the eso- and the Ancient Academies are characterized teric meaning that Pythagoreans have assigned as the cornerstone of all Masonry although the to numbers. Orders mentioned previously are not Masonic End of Part I. By Frater O.L. - 21 - © 2006-2007 Frater O.L. - SRC&SSA e will try now to present, in a symbol for the Absolute One (if a symbol can summarized form, part of the be used in this case) is the all encompassing Pythagorean interpretation and cycle. Wphilosophy of Numbers: 1 ONE/MONAD ABSOLUTE ONE: This Number and these terms express the idea This is not a number according to Pythagore- of the Manifested God, the Divine Mind and ans. Under this term, the Absolute, Ineffable the Will of God in Action. It is also called the God is symbolized. The Unknown God, the Creative Divine Monad. According to Pro- Ain-Sof (in Kabbalah), the Tao. The Non-Ex- clus, the great neo-platonist and commenta- istent God- not in the sense that God does not tor of Plato, Monad is “the Mind the Indivis- exist, but in the sense of the non-manifested, ible”- the Mind penetrating the various realms eternally Unknown, Hidden God- the Being of Existence.
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