New Orleans: Crescent of Darkness- A Threads of Damocles "A" Universe


	The Martinists History Of all the Mystical Orders that flowered in France during the 18th century none has had an influence comparable to that which entered into history under the name of Martinism. Its appearance coincided with that of a remarkable personage named Joachim Martinez Pasquales. Joachim Martinez Pasquales was born in Grenoble in 1710, and he spent his life teaching a religious system to which he gave the name Elus Cohen, that is to say the Elect Priests. (Cohen, in Hebrew, means Priest) It is necessary to permit light to spread little by little, otherwise it would be too dazzling and would blind mankind instead of lighting up his path. This was why Pasquales distributed his teachings in small amounts. In May 1772, Martinez went to Santo Domingo (now Haiti) and he died two years later, at Port-au-Prince, on September 20, 1774. One of the disciples of Pasquales was Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, a French nobleman, who was serving as a lieutenant in the Foix Regiment when he first heard about Martinez Pasquales and his rite of Elus-Cohen. Louis Claude de Saint-Martin resigned from the French army and went to Bordeaux where he was initiated into the degrees of Elus-Cohen by Honore de Balzac's brother. For three years he acted as secretary to Pasquales and as a result he bacame firmly immersed into the inner spirit of the Elus-Cohen. He also achieved considerable progress as his extensive studies enabled him to penetrate very quickly into all aspects of Martinist illuminism. He travelled frequently to Lyons which had become an influential centre of the Elus-Cohen. In Lyons he drafted the book Des Erreurs et de la Verite (Of Errors and Truth). This book had a considerable impact on mystical thought at the end of the 18th century. It was one of his many literary achievements. Saint-Martin found himself disturbed by the ceremonies associated with his master's teachings and he gradually withdrew fron the Elus-Cohen in order to devote himself soley to the study of spirituality and mysticism. He eventually went to Paris where he was well recieved. He disagreed strongly with the "male only" rules prevalent at that time as he had many women amoung his close circle of friends. Women in particular quarrelled among themselves as to which of them should be privileged by his company. St Martin formed small groups which were purely spiritual and which excluded ritualistic ceremonies. Up to the outbreak of the French Revolution, he alternated the lessons to his students with travel outside France where he established firm connections with those of like mind. It was during one of these trips that he discovered the works of Jacob Boehme whose theories he added to those of Pasquales. Moreover, he discovered that they could be superimposed, one onto the other. The disciples of de Saint-Martin spread the Doctrine of the Unknown Philosopher in France, Germany, Denmark and above all in Russia. It was through one of them, Henri Delaage, that in 1880 a brilliant young Parisian doctor, Gerard Encausse (Later to be known as Papus), became acquainted with the doctrines of Saint-Martin and decided to become their champion. For this purpose, in 1884, together with some of his associates, he established a Mystical Order which he called the Ordre Martiniste or the Marinist Order. Doctrine The Martinist Pentacle

The Martinists

History

Of all the Mystical Orders that flowered in France during the 18th century none has had an influence comparable to that which entered into history under the name of Martinism.

Its appearance coincided with that of a remarkable personage named Joachim Martinez Pasquales.

Joachim Martinez Pasquales was born in Grenoble in 1710, and he spent his life teaching a religious system to which he gave the name Elus Cohen, that is to say the Elect Priests. (Cohen, in Hebrew, means Priest)

It is necessary to permit light to spread little by little, otherwise it would be too dazzling and would blind mankind instead of lighting up his path. This was why Pasquales distributed his teachings in small amounts. In May 1772, Martinez went to Santo Domingo (now Haiti) and he died two years later, at Port-au-Prince, on September 20, 1774.

One of the disciples of Pasquales was Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, a French nobleman, who was serving as a lieutenant in the Foix Regiment when he first heard about Martinez Pasquales and his rite of Elus-Cohen.

Louis Claude de Saint-Martin resigned from the French army and went to Bordeaux where he was initiated into the degrees of Elus-Cohen by Honore de Balzac's brother. For three years he acted as secretary to Pasquales and as a result he bacame firmly immersed into the inner spirit of the Elus-Cohen.

He also achieved considerable progress as his extensive studies enabled him to penetrate very quickly into all aspects of Martinist illuminism. He travelled frequently to Lyons which had become an influential centre of the Elus-Cohen.

In Lyons he drafted the book Des Erreurs et de la Verite (Of Errors and Truth). This book had a considerable impact on mystical thought at the end of the 18th century. It was one of his many literary achievements.

Saint-Martin found himself disturbed by the ceremonies associated with his master's teachings and he gradually withdrew fron the Elus-Cohen in order to devote himself soley to the study of spirituality and mysticism.

He eventually went to Paris where he was well recieved. He disagreed strongly with the "male only" rules prevalent at that time as he had many women amoung his close circle of friends. Women in particular quarrelled among themselves as to which of them should be privileged by his company.

St Martin formed small groups which were purely spiritual and which excluded ritualistic ceremonies.

Up to the outbreak of the French Revolution, he alternated the lessons to his students with travel outside France where he established firm connections with those of like mind. It was during one of these trips that he discovered the works of Jacob Boehme whose theories he added to those of Pasquales. Moreover, he discovered that they could be superimposed, one onto the other.

The disciples of de Saint-Martin spread the Doctrine of the Unknown Philosopher in France, Germany, Denmark and above all in Russia. It was through one of them, Henri Delaage, that in 1880 a brilliant young Parisian doctor, Gerard Encausse (Later to be known as Papus), became acquainted with the doctrines of Saint-Martin and decided to become their champion. For this purpose, in 1884, together with some of his associates, he established a Mystical Order which he called the Ordre Martiniste or the Marinist Order.

The Martinists

History

Doctrine

The Martinist Pentacle