Martinism: History of a Traditional Order Christian Rebisse, SI In this article Christian Rebisse presents a comprehensive review of the history of the Traditional Martinist Order, from its beginnings with Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin’s mentors, Jacob Boehme and Martinès de Pasqually, to today’s worldwide mystical order. n 1889, the Fourth World’s Fair, complished through human communica- celebrating the centenary of France’s tion with the so-called angelic hierarchies. I1789 Revolution, opened in Paris. It was According to Pasqually, the angels were a splendid fair where the marvel of electricity humankind’s only support in his efforts to triumphed. The fair’s main attraction was the become reconciled with the Divine after inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, a gigantic “The Fall.” metallic monument that was soon to become Thus, contrary to what is generally the symbol of triumphant materialism, thought, Martinism is not a mere exten- technology, and industry. Was it not the very sion of the Ordre des Élus-Cohen, and Mar- incarnation of a new Tower of Babel? tinès de Pasqually should not be consid- Meanwhile, Martinism was in the pro- ered the founder of the Martinist Order. cess of being reorganized and had just be- In 1772, before the organization of gun publishing its magazine L’Initiation. his Order was completed, Martinès de Upon what foundations did the Martinists Pasqually left France on family business for of that time rely to erect their Temple, and Haiti—from whence he never returned. who were the craftsmen of its reconstruc- He died in Santo Domingo in 1774. After tion? the disappearance of Pasqually, several dis- In answer, one may date the birth of ciples of the master continued to spread his the Martinist Order to the meeting of teachings, each from a unique perspective. two custodians of an “initiation” that had Two disciples particularly distinguished been passed down from the time of Lou- themselves—namely, Jean-Baptiste Will- is-Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803). ermoz and Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. Their names were Gérard Encausse (better known as Papus) and Augustin Chaboseau. An ardent adept of Freemasonry and theurgy, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz (1730- The Élus-Cohen 1824) was in contact with the German Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin was the Stricte Observance Templière (Strict Tem- disciple of Martinès de Pasqually. Around plar Observance). In 1782, at a Conven- 1754, Pasqually founded the Ordre des ticle of the Order in Wilhelmsbad, Will- Élus-Cohen (Order of Elect Priests) so as ermoz incorporated Pasqually’s teachings to have his disciples work toward per- into the higher degrees of that order—the sonal reintegration through the practice degrees of Profès and Grand Profès—but of theurgy, which relied on complex cer- did not pass along the theurgic practices emonial practices aimed at what Pasqually of the Élus-Cohen. During the Conven- termed the reconciliation of the “minor” ticle, the Stricte Observance Templière was person with Divinity. This was to be ac- reformed under a new name, the Cheva- Page 3 liers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte (Knights development. However, we do know that Benefactor of the Holy City). a group formed around him, alluded to Meanwhile, Louis-Claude de Saint- in the letters of some of his friends (circa Martin had renounced Freemasonry. He 1795) under the name Cercle Intime (Inti- forsook theurgy—“the exterior way”—in mate Circle) or Société des Intimes (Associa- favor of the benefits of “the interior way.” tion of Intimates). In Le Lys dans la Vallée In fact, he considered theurgy to be dan- (The Lily in the Valley) the great novelist gerous, and angelic evocation far from Honoré de Balzac refers to the existence of infallible when conducted through “ex- groups of Saint-Martin’s disciples: “An in- terior” methods. We might even put into timate friend of the Duchess of Bourbon, Saint-Martin’s mouth the following ex- Mme. de Verneuil, belonged to a holy soci- cerpt from a poem by Angelus Silesius, en- ety whose soul was Mr. Saint-Martin, born titled Chérubinique: in Touraine and nicknamed the Unknown Philosopher. This philosopher’s disciples Go away Seraphims, you cannot com- practiced the virtues recommended by the fort me! high speculations of mystical Illuminism.”2 Go away angels and all that may be The Initiation originally transmitted by seen close to you; Saint-Martin was passed I jump all alone into down to modern times the uncreated sea of through various so-called pure Deity. filiations. By the end of the nineteenth century, According to Saint- two men in particular Martin, the implement were the custodians of and crucible of this mys- the Initiation, Dr. Gérard terious communion is Encausse and Augustin the heart of humankind. Chaboseau, each through He sought “to enter into a different filiation. Let the heart of the Divine us briefly examine these and make the Divine filiations. enter his heart.” It is in Jacob Boehme. this sense that we call the Martinist Filiation path advocated by Saint- Martin “The Way of the Heart.” The evo- Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin died on lution of Saint-Martin’s interior perspec- October 13, 1803. He had initiated Jean tive can be traced to his discovery of the Antoine Chaptal, a chemist to whom we works of Jacob Boehme. In his personal owe the discovery of certain manufactur- diary, Saint-Martin wrote, “It is to my ing processes for alum and the dyeing of first master [Pasqually] that I owe my first cotton, as well as the vinification process steps upon the spiritual path, but it is to called chaptalization (the process of add- my second master [Boehme] that I owe the ing sugar to the must). Chaptal had sev- most significant steps.” He enlarged upon eral children, among them a daughter the ideas of his two masters and incorpo- who married to become Mme. Delaage. rated them into a personal system passed She had a son, Henri Delaage, who wrote on through an “initiation” to a few chosen many books on the history of ancient initi- 1 Rosicrucian disciples. ation. He in turn was initiated by someone Digest Saint-Martin was not the founder of whose name we do not know—probably No. 1 2014 the Martinist Order, which was a later his father or mother, for when his grandfa- Page 4 ther (Chaptal) died, the young Henri De- and made plans to pass this on to a few laage was only seven and too young to re- seekers of truth. To achieve their goal, they ceive the Initiation. Henri Delaage passed founded what we call the Martinist Or- on the Initiation to Gérard Encausse (Pa- der, and it is only after this time that the pus) in 1882. Martinist Order can be said to have existed The second filiation proceeded as fol- as such. (We will see later how the name lows. About the middle of 1803, Saint- of the Order was altered by adding such Martin was staying at Aulnay with his qualifications as “Traditional” or “Synar- friend, the Abbot de la Noue, whom he chical.”) had long since initiated. This clergyman, Although the Order had no struc- an independent priest possessing an ency- ture at that time, the number of initiates clopedic knowledge, initiated the lawyer increased rapidly. It was then that Papus Antoine-Louis Marie Hennequin. The lat- created the magazine L’Initiation. As Pa- ter initiated Hyacinthe Joseph-Alexandre pus had not yet finished his education, af- Thabaud de Latouche, better known under ter which he was to complete his military the pen name of Henri de Latouche, who service, it was not until July 7, 1892, that in turn initiated Honoré he successfully defended de Balzac and Adolphe his medical thesis. Still, Desbarolles, the Count what activity! He had of Authencourt, to whom already organized the we owe a famous disser- Ordre Martiniste, estab- tation on palmistry. The lished l’École Hermétique latter initiated Henri de (the Hermetic School), Latouche’s niece, Amélie created the magazines Nouël de Latouche, the L’Initiation and Le Voile Marchioness of Boisse- d’Isis, and written, at age Mortemart who, in 1886, twenty-three, Le Traité initiated her nephew, Au- Élémentaire de Sciences gustin Chaboseau.3 Occultes (The Elemen- tary Treatise on Occult The Creation of Sciences) and, at age the Martinist Order Papus. twenty-four, Le Tarot des It was from the meeting of these two Bohémiens (Tarot of the Bohemians). His spiritual descendants of Louis-Claude de associates were not much older than he, Saint-Martin—Augustin Chaboseau and except for F.C.H. Barlet. Papus—that an initiatory Order called In 1887, Papus’s esoteric interests had Ordre Martiniste (Martinist Order) was been aroused by the writings of Louis Lu- born. Papus and Augustin Chaboseau were cas, a chemist, alchemist, and Hermeti- both studying medicine. A mutual friend, cist. A student of occultism, he studied Gaëtan Leymarie, Director of La Revue the works of Eliphas Levi and made the Spirite, knowing of their deep interest in acquaintance of Barlet (Albert Faucheux), esotericism, arranged for them to get to- a learned occultist, and Félix Gaboriau, gether. The two medical students soon be- director of the Theosophical magazine Le came friends and discovered their mutual Lotus Rouge (The Red Lotus). In 1887, Pa- participation in initiatic filiations going pus also joined the Theosophical Society, back to Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. In founded earlier in 1875 by Helena Bla- 1888, they pooled what they had received vatsky and Colonel Olcott. Page 5 The 1891 Supreme Council headed by Victor-Emile Michelet, devoted to the study of symbolism; and Sphinge, Papus soon adopted a detached at- intended to promote the arts.