Tradition through the Ages

When Man first turned his eyes to the Heavens, he felt drawn to the Divine. He stood in awe before the greatness and grandeur of Creation compared to his own smallness and recognized in it a power or powers which he deified.

When primitive Man left the caves, a civilization was born and the art of writing ensued to meet his needs. Then groups were formed in which certain individuals appeared - the eldest as a rule - who exerted authority over the members of the group by prophecies and manifestations described as divine or supernatural.

Eventually the groups disappeared, giving place to classes formed by the fusion of a number of groups. We then note a sense of 'one-ness' being formed In each of these classes there were the privileged who were powerful and made use of these powers to impose on others, But we also see noble-minded individuals making their mark, exerting an influence not only on the needy and the suffering but also on the mighty and powerful.

Classes were succeeded by tribes and the moral part played by the individuals in classes, now extinct, became almost impossible.

Papism made attempts to reign among these tribes. The result was that those who desired to prevail through knowledge felt powerless and were forced to form a special category within that whole - that of the hierophants - so as to retain the authority that was their due and lead people towards goodness.

Since time immemorial sacerdotal powers were entrusted to those who were named 'the class of the initiated'.

In those ancient times, the Schools of Memphis and Abydos, as well as the secondary School of Eneh, were active. These schools possessed various mysteries. Candidates had to undergo great hardships demonstrating the physical, psychic and mental faculties necessary for the purposes aimed at.

These Schools promised various powers to the initiates:

1) The Wise Men who graduated from them would have the ability to read the stars and know the destinies of people.

2) They would be able to read the thoughts of others and learn whatever lay hidden in them.

3) They would be able to commune with the invisible world.

Upon becoming a 'Masters, the Wise Man would be able to have control over forces and elements of Nature. They claimed that certain Masters were able to becalm tempests. A certain Wise Man is even said to have changed the course of the River Nile with a wave of his wand. All this seems extraordinary in our days, yet history bears witness to their authenticity.

From Ancient Egypt let us proceed to Judaism.

The Israelites left Egypt hoping to attain the Promised Land. The legend of their passage across the Red Sea is too well known to mention here. They reached Arabia and Mesopotamia led by Moses who worked miracles with his rod as did his brother Aaron, i.e. Moses is said to have hit a rock with his rod and made water flow from it so as to quench the thirst of his people in the desert. This can be described as a miracle in terms of human knowledge. Were Moses to repeat these feats in our day and age, we would still be unable to explain them away in spite of our superficially advanced civilization. Just as the Israelites, we too would have had to accept them as miracles.

Forty-seven years after the exodus from Egypt, Moses finally established the first kingdom in Judea. There, a School started to flourish - proof of which still exists - and 107 years later, Solomon, their leader and King, issued principles, which obviously had their roots in this School. They professed the use of high Magic, which permitted mastery over the elemental powers, a science also known to Moses. So once again we see Moses' influence in this School. The promises given to the candidates here were the same as those given in the Schools of Egypt where Moses was initiated. Hebrew initiation is based on this kinship.

At the same time, just across the sea from them, we find the Orphic and Pythagorean Schools flourishing with the concepts and philosophies of ancient traditions.

During a period of 4-6 millenniums in which various Initiatic Schools that possessed the tradition were established in the eastern Mediterranean region, human intellect developed and we observe an effort of this intellect tending towards superior and greater concepts. This, however, as recorded in history, was seriously affected by subjugation and mundane wisdom.

Then Christ came on Earth. Besides the secular teaching He gave to all those who followed Him in the hills and vales, He also taught a small circle of disciples, pious men who listened to Him with respect and to whom He said, "I have not come to bring joy and the kingdom of the earth but that of Heaven".

From then on, Initiation - which so far had aimed at the acquisition of mastery over the forces of Nature - radically changed, for the reward was no longer obtained on earth but on higher spheres, in a higher consciousness.

The era of Christ passed, as did His death and resurrection. Humankind followed a different path towards progress. Indeed there were slaves who refused to acknowledge Kings as the all-mighty and philosophies which made a great leap forward towards greater justice and the restriction of power. As was said before, this era passed and humanity resumed its slumber!

Does this mean that lethe ('lethe' - oblivion) won the day? As a reaction to this new era of Christianity, a number of Societies and great Schools made their re-appearance. The School of the Essenes, that of Alexandria, that of the Pythagoreans and others were founded, promising their followers to re-establish the ancient traditions.

One of these Schools linked the ancient tradition with the Christian one. It was named the School of Rosicrucians and its seat was in Attica, then Ephesus and finally in Byzantium. Its secret teachings were based on the knowledge of ancient wisdom together with that of Christian wisdom, symbolized by the Rose and the Cross respectively. The Rose does not represent the flower but the hexagram.

When disciples of this School reached a certain stage of Initiation, they were taught that every being should try to draw out and set free certain individual faculties from their slumbering state. When this was achieved, the individual could act beneficially upon the Whole, could bring about calm, tame tempests and restore peace all round. This individual would thus become a protector and not a master of others.

According to the Rosicrucians, every Initiate who wished to possess superior powers should begin by spreading goodness and happiness to all around them. After passing through certain stages of Initiation, the disciples had to externalise themselves, thus allowing their unconscious principle to distance itself from the body and transport itself wherever it could be of help to its fellow-persons. In the third stage of Initiation, the Disciple was told that whoever managed to externalise himself and pass the test period with good will and love, would then be able to dash to a sphere higher than that of Nature and come in contact with the higher entities which dwell in those levels.

After the fall of the Eastern Empire (Byzantium), this School transferred its seat to the North, towards Austro-Hungary, then went north-west and reached France and England. It is under the auspices of this School that all the powerful men of that time worked to spread the Good to their fellow-persons. Thus we see the name of the Rosicrucians appearing in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, southern Norway and finally in France.

Still, I wonder if all these sects were true Rosicrucians, This is a very moot point. If we accept them as true we needs must accept their teachings and their leaders as well. If not, then they are usurpers from whom we should protect ourselves. I believe that they were not true followers or usurpers but just honest persons of good faith.

After the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the invasion of the barbarians, the Mystics were forced to resort to more hospitable lands. These true Rosicrucians settled in Germany and some in France. But these Masters had no intention of establishing a centre, for this was impossible. What was possible was for each to have a group of loyal followers.

After the death of their Masters, these disciples transmitted the Initiation to others and the movement adopted the name of Rosicrucians. In fact, the root was Rosicrucian, but the corresponding Initiation was not, for although the teaching was Rosicrucian, the various 'keys' were not transmitted integrally, We must confess that all the books regarding the Rosicrucian movement should be studied very carefully so that the truths may be grasped but the errors avoided.

Let us now deal with the living and come to our own day and age.

At present we have a different spiritualistic movement. In the past we had the Spiritualist Free Masonry, Martinism, Villermanism, free groupings of studies, societies of magnetism, etc. I stop here for I do not wish to include the Order of the Lily and the Eagle among these, since it bears absolutely no relation to this movement.

Spiritualist Free Masonry expresses the Hebrew Tradition. The Order of the Temple (the Templars) expresses the Egyptian Tradition - that of Memphis, Misaim. Martinism, Villermanism express the Judeo-Christian Rosicrucian Tradition, that is , the method followed erstwhile by the Rosicrucians but in a new form. Lastly, Martinism differs from all the above in that its founder was deeply imbued with profound philosophic ideas. St. Martin was a Christian at heart and the movement he created was free with Christian and scientific tendencies.

Let us now examine spiritualism. This movement first saw the light in the United States, following an incident that I will recount. There lived a family of three: father, mother and daughter. One day, after lunch, the daughter was sitting opposite her father at a small table, when all of a sudden the table began to jump about. They were filled with terror but the father noticed that whenever he stood up the table would stop moving. The moment he sat down, the table would begin to jump again. He then called a number of scientists to witness the fact. The newspapers got wind of it and thus the first idea of a spiritualist 'table' was born. The experiment was repeated, commented upon and accepted. Later, after some research into the causes of it all, it was finally decided that through the game of this 'wooden table with wooden nails', an animal (vital) magnetic chain was formed, able to produce certain extra-ordinary phenomena.

I shall not go into further details on spiritualism. I just wish to say that spiritualism is nothing but the most tangible expression of spiritual entities, which, by some means or other, try to manifest to humans. Of course, I do not refer to the 'table' alone but to all other means in use by various spiritualist schools. It stands to reason that one has to accept manifestations to which one is present, but one should check their authenticity before believing them and not be too gullible.

What makes me very wary of these séances is that these phenomena can be mere 'reproductions' (with the help of certain persons) and there are many charlatans who have tried to destroy the path that has been opened and only bring about confusion. One had better believe in only one out of ten such experiments and doubt not only the authenticity of the person performing them but also that of secondary causes which can produce such effects.

I hold that for those who decide that they have a natural tendency to delve into the truth and acquire powers so as to become protectors of the great human masses, this path of experimentation is not suitable. Nine times out of ten the phenomena are false.

After this very brief discourse on the ancient traditions, I shall end by pointing out the various links between the former and the tradition of the Order of the Lily and the Eagle.

Let us examine the theory of Deon, the Generator;

This theory aspires to make the individual strong, Master of the Laws of Creation and able to avoid their adverse effects. The Knight and Damsel of the Order of the Lily and the Eagle is a person who is benevolent to their fellow-persons, for they can put to flight all those powers which attach the ill and the frail.

Now let us examine the link between past traditions and the theory of Dea, O V Mother.

We find the word 'Love' uttered in the depths of the Pyramids, in the valleys of Judea, in Greece. But the 'Love' of O V Mother is of a different kind. It is of particular importance to the individual, for this Love is no longer the expectation of some reward but absolute negation of self. It is sacrifice with no expectations whatsoever. Dea teaches Her Knights and Damsels to do good to their fellow-persons not only as an affirmation of their own personality but as an act without any hope of return or acknowledgement.

Dea's theory goes even further. There is another tendency throughout Her teachings, that of the union of the natural, visible level with the invisible one. When Dea's chosen ones have reached a certain stage of Initiation and have accomplished their duty as benefactors to humankind, they may obtain the grace to spring from the Cycle cosmos to the Cycle Ouranos.

To aspire to penetrate into the Cycle Eon would be rash indeed!

Greek EON Book 4 & 5