STUDIES IN CULTURAL ICONOLOGY 1

STUDIES ON WESTERN ESOTERICISM

IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
 STUDIES IN CULTURAL ICONOLOGY

Publications of the
Research Center for Cultural Iconology and Semiography,
University of Szeged

Series editors:

GYÖRGY E. SZÖNYI
Managing Editor

ANNA KÉRCHY
ATTILA KISS
ÁGNES SÁVAY-MATUSKA
 STUDIES IN CULTURAL ICONOLOGY 1

STUDIES ON WESTERN ESOTERICISM

IN C ENTRAL AND E ASTERN E UROPE

EDITED BY
NEMANJA RADULOVIĆ AND KAROLINA MARIA HESS

JATEPress 2019
 Publisher’s Reader:
GYÖRGY E. SZÖNYI

Cover design by
ETELKA SZŐNYI
based on Johan Isaac Hollandus’ Hand der Philosophen,
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© the Authers, 2019

© JATEPress, 2019

ISBN 978–963–315–397–0

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Table of contents

György E. Szönyi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Áron Orbán
Love, Magic and Illness. The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’
Amores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Rafał T. Prinke
Dr. Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards (1860–1923), the last
Praemonstrator of the Golden Dawn, and his brother Louis Stanley
Jast (1868–1944), the Theosophist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Michele Olzi
“From Russia with Love,” a case of Russian culture and immigration
in Western Esotericism: Maria de Naglowska (1883–1936) . . . . . . . . . . 71
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Spyros Petritakis
The reception of Nikolaos Gyzis’sBehold the Bridegroom comethby
Rudolf Steiner in Munich in 1910: Its ideological premises and echo
in the cross-fertilization of artistic and Theosophical Doctrines . . . . . . . 83
Rudolf Steiner’s lecture on Gyzis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Towards a colour theory: Rudolf Steiner’s aesthetic predilections
and aspirations around 1910 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Gyzis’s echo: the Aenigma Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The iconographical sources of the Bridegroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Karolina Maria Hess

Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus
in Poland Before World War II – an Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Historical background of Romanticism in Polish lands . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Roots of National Messianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

5
 Poland as Christ and Winkelried of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Messianism and Esotericism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Słowacki and his Genesic philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Słowacki – a Theosophist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Theosophical movements and ideas of the nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Cracow, Wawel Hill – the Seventh Chakra of the Earth and its
connection to King-Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Theosophical New Patriotism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Panorama of esoteric milieus of Messianic character before World War II 124
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa . . . . . 129
Biographical note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Wisła esoteric milieus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Agnieszka Pilchowa’s works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
The twilight of Wisła’s circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
A Clairvoyant’s diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Pilchowa’s Astral World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Astral beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Spiritual awakening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The dawn of the New Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Influences on the system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

György E. Szönyi
The Philosophy of Wine. A Peculiar Chapter in the Esoteric Philosophy
of Béla Hamvas (1897–1968) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Nadežda Elezović
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe:
Marina Abramović, Tomislav Ćurković, Marko Pogačnik,
Damir Stojnić, Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Igor Zlobec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
The spatio-temporal framework – Continuity of avant-garde tendencies 159
Damir Stojnić . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Igor Zlobec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Vladimir Dodig Trokut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Marko Pogačnik (1944) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

6
 Tomislav Ćurković (1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Marina Abramović (1946) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Nemanja Radulović
Contemporary Magic Healing in Serbia and New Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Noel Putnik
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia . . . . . . . . . . . 191
A Comparative Perspective: Croatia and Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Dr. Wolf: a Man with Almost no Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
The Practices of the Ancient Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
The Problems of Self-Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Inventing the Shamanic Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Anti-Discursive Attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Conclusion: “Shamania” or a Genuine Quest for the Otherworld? . . . 207
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Márton Szentpéteri
The Body of Christ and Hiram. The “Veiled Christ” by Giuseppe
Sanmartino and the Cappella Sansevero in Naples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Meanings Veiled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
The Temple of Masonic Meaning: Baroque Art in Masonic Context . 216
Prologue: Beyond Meaning? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

John MacMurphy
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Distorted Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Abulafia’s Pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Abulafia’s Messianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
The Emergence of Christian Kabbalah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

The Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

7
GYÖRGY E. SZÖNYI

Introduction

With this volume the RESEARCH GROUP FOR CULTURAL ICONOLOGY AND SEMIOGRAPHY
of the University of Szeged launches its new series of books, Studies in Cultural
Iconology. Our purpose is to provide a forum for our own research, which has
its roots in the 1980s but has been catching up with the development of scholar-
ship ever since, having yielded fruits in various international cooperation proj-
ects and conferences organized by us. Our previous publications include the
Hungarian language series, Ikonológia és műértelmezés (Iconology and Inter-
pretation), featuring fifteen volumes between 1997 and 2019; and several Eng-
lish volumes touching upon various aspects of cultural iconology and emblem-
atics that have been published under the labels of Papers in English and Amer-
ican Studies, Studia Poetica, or appeared as individual titles. From now on, we
also invite new and cutting-edge results in the field of cultural iconology that we
shall be delighted to present to the international scholarly community.
The present volume collects essays discussing esoteric cultural representa-
tions from the Central- and Eastern European region, looking through many cen-
turies. The study of esotericism has grown in importance since the middle of the
tewntieth century. While in the premodern world (up to the end of the seven-
teenth century) such topics as alchemy, astrology, angelology, and magic were
natural ingredients of the organic world picture; since the Enlightenment these
fields of interest have become constituents of anti-rationalist counter culture or
sensational topics for the Romantic imagination. Positivistic scholarship redis-
covered Western esotericism, and during the nineteenth century started collect-
ing and publicizing data, with no, or condescending value judgements, backed
by Max Weber's famous dictum about “disenchantment,” expecting that irra-
tionalism and even religion will disappear with the advance of science.
By now we know that this did not happen and will not in the future. Today
we are already deeply permeated with the resurrected interest in the transcen-
dental, called by sociologists, scholars of religious studies, and cultural historians
“re-enchantment”.
The serious scholarly study of these tendencies started with the new War-
burgian approach to medieval and Renaissance hermeticism, initiated by Aby

9
10 György E. Szönyi

Warburg in the early twentieth century, then continued by his followers at the
Warburg Institute in London ever since. The relatively narrow field of research
was quickly widened in time, encompassing the Antiquity as well as the post-
Renaissance periods, finally reaching the postmodern. At the same time, the cul-
tural historical interest has also widened in a number of directions, from religi-
ous studies and psychology to literary- and art history.
By the beginning of the present millenium several dedicated departments
were established to study Western esotericism, as it has become termed. Next
to some American university programs, due to Antoine Faivre's efforts, first the
Sorbonne, then the University of Amsterdam made possible to acquire a uni-
versity diploma, what is more, a doctoral degree in studying esotericism with a
serious scholarly methodology. At the University of Exeter, the late Nicholas
Goodrick-Clarke established another (unfortunately since then discontinued)
program, its scope of interest was well reflected in his textbook, The Western
Esoteric Traditions. A Historical Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Undoubtedly the central figure of this whole new scholarly orentation has been
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, founder and professor of the Center for the History of
Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. His
important publications include the monumental Dictionary of Gnosis and Wes-
tern Esotericism (Leiden: Brill, 2006); Esotericism and the Academy. Rejected
Knowledge in Western Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2012); Western
Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, 2013). He was also
instrumental in founding the European Society for the Study of Western Eso-
tericism (ESSWE) in 2005 in order to provide a forum for the strictly scholarly
researches to this wide-ranging topic. ESSWE has been flourishing ever since,
holding a major international conference every two years. The third one was
hosted by the University of Szeged in 2011, from which selected essays were
published in the volume, Lux in Tenebris. The Visual and the Symbolic in West-
ern Esotericism (ed. Peter J. Forshaw; volume 23 in Aries Book Series; Leiden:
Brill, 2016).
With the development of ESSWE, affiliated with it, various areal and topical
networks have been formed. One of those, named CEENASWE (Central and East-
ern European Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism) was es-
tablished at the Central European University in Budapest, in 2014. Since then,
two more conferences were held, one in Belgrade in 2016, and another in Sze-
ged in 2018. The papers of the Belgrade conference were published by Nemanja
Radulović in Esotericism, Literature and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe
(University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology, 2018).
Introduction 11

The present volume collects papers from the 2014 Budapest conference, ad-
ding to them some other articles. These papers examine how occult and esoteric
themes appear in visual and verbal media, connecting to intellectual history,
literature, the arts, present day pop culture, and religious practices. The topics
range from the witchcraft motives in the love poetry of the 15th-century
Humanist poet, Conrad Celtis; through the activities of Polish and Russian theo-
sophists; Croatian, Greek, Polish painters of the spiritual; the philosophy of wine
by the Hungarian esoteric philosopher Béla Hamvas; to contemporary Serbian
magic and neo-shamanism. Two studies touch upon the influence of Freemason-
ry and the Kabbalah in Western esotericism, and, although these are not specific-
ally Central European topics, they provide parallel perspectives to what the other
papers of the collection are investigating.

György E. Szönyi
ÁRON ORBÁN

Love, Magic and Illness.

The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores

Conrad Celtis (1459–1508), often called the “Arch-humanist” of Germany, had

interests that went far beyond the range of those disciplines that are now classified
under the term humanities.1 Son of his age, he had a perception of the world dif-
ferent from ours, and many aspects of nature that are now generally considered as
occult formed integrant part of his thinking – or at least his poetical universe. Even
compared to contemporary literature, numerological, magical, or – most of all –
astrological ideas appeared (either in a playful or in a more serious manner) de-
finitely frequently in his oeuvre.2 This is not surprising, taken into consideration (to
adopt just one perspective) that his wide correspondence included such hermeticist
thinkers as Johannes Trithemius or Johannes Reuchlin, who – as Celtis himself –
were heavily influenced by Ficinian Platonic ideas. Relatively few scholars have
investigated so far the “occult” aspects of the Celtis-oeuvre, and these studies were
rather restricted to the astrological or symbolical numerological motifs, which per-
meate Celtis' poetical cosmos. Motifs of magic or sorcery have important functions
in some Celtis-works, and however playfully the poet treats them, the clarification
of their role in the construction of meaning would be as important as in case of
astrology or Pythagorean number symbolism. Hermann Wiegand made important
observations on the necromantic scene in Amores I. 14;3 the similarly interesting

1
For an extensive inquiry of Celtis' humanist program and its relation to his Amores, see
Jörg Robert, Konrad Celtis und das Projekt der deutschen Dichtung: Studien zur humanis-
tischen Konstruktion von Poetik, Philosophie, Nation und Ich (Tübingen: Max Niemeyer,
2003). An English Celtis-monograph has been provided by L. W. Spitz, Conrad Celtis. The
German Arch-Humanist (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957).
2
For an overview of these aspects in Celtis' oeuvre, see Á. Orbán, Solar-astral Symbolism
and Poetical Self-representation in Conrad Celtis and his Humanist Circles (PhD Dissertation,
CEU, Budapest, 2017), 73–105.
3
H. Wiegand, “Konrad Celtis: Nekromant und Bruder Fausts im Geiste; zu Elegie I,14 der
‘Amores,’” in Iliaster. Literatur und Naturkunde in der Frühen Neuzeit. Festgabe für Joachim
Telle zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. W. Kühlmann et al. (Heidelberg: Manutius, 1999), 303–319.
While the poet and his master is stylized here as a necromant, many stereotypes of classical
(female) witchcraft are also attached to him, since necromancy and witchcraft belonged
closely together in classical literature; nevertheless, the enumeration of witchcraft-skills in
this elegy fulfils a different function than in Amores IV. 10, analyzed below.

13
14 Áron Orbán

scenes or allusions to female witchcraft in the Amores have only been passingly
mentioned.4
The Quattor libri amorum secundum quattuor latera Germaniae (“Four Books of
Love according to the Four Sides of Germany”; briefly: Amores) was the main piece
within a comprehensive, programmatic publication of Celtis’ works, appearing in
Nuremberg in 1502 with the support of Emperor Maximilian I; the publication
meant to represent the new poetry of Germany.5 The Amores are basically love
elegies loosely strung on a fictive6 narrative: Celtis wanders to four different parts
of what he calls Germania, and has love adventures with four different women in
four towns, each on the coast of a river or sea. The poet follows in many ways the
generic traditions of the classical love elegies, but replaces the classical mythology
with a cosmic-astrological and a topographical-ethnological background.7 The
cosmic nature of the work is enhanced by a system of correspondences based on
the number four: four books are devoted to four women, directions, rivers, seasons,
parts of the day, elements, temperaments, qualities, zodiacal signs, ages of life, and
colors. This system explicitly appears in the woodcuts of the Amores, though the
significance of these aspects in the text itself vary greatly. Love itself functions in
this poetical universe as a cosmic principle, and already the praefatio emphasizes
the opposition between the two faces of Love: heavenly and earthly, amor honestus
(honourable) and amor spurcus (filthy) or infamis (infamous).8 The didaxis of the
work is primarily based on the demonstration of the different nature and value of
the two kinds of Love. These ideas, together with their contemporary or classical
sources (going back as far as Plato's Symposium), have been amply analyzed by
Jörg Robert in his monograph9, and my study may throw light on a further aspect

4
Ibid., 306; H. Grössing, “‘Astra inclinant’? Astrologie in den ‘Amores’ des Konrad Celtis,”
in Pharmazie in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Festgabe für Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke zum
65. Geburtstag, ed. C. Friedrich (Stuttgart: Wiss. Verl.-Ges., 2009), 181–2.
5
The first version of the Amores was ready by 1494 at the latest. About the historical
context of the publication see Peter Luh, Kaiser Maximilian gewidmet. Die unvollendete
Werkausgabe des Konrad Celtis und ihre Holzschnitte (Frankfurt/Main et al.: Peter Lang,
2001); summarily: Robert, Konrad Celtis, 161–171. Modern edition of the Amores (hence-
forth: Am.): Quattor libri amorum secundum quattuor latera germaniae; Germania generalis;
Accedunt carmina aliorum ad libros amorum pertinentia, ed. F. Pindter (Leipzig: Teubner,
1934).
6
Though the protagonist has the same name as the author of the Amores, the bio-
graphical basis of the work is rather thin, the elegies are partly or fully fictive.
7
Robert, Konrad Celtis, 272–280.
Am. praef. 16–18. In several elegies, too, this distinction clearly appears, e. g. Am. I. 14.
8

73–89.
9
Robert, Konrad Celtis, 188–228.
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 15

of the problematics of Love: witchcraft-motifs may help a great deal to illustrate

some crucial ideas of the work, the notions of love and magic, and especially amor
infamis and sorcery.
In the time and space where Celtis mostly lived, in late fifteenth-century Ger-
many and Austria, the issue of witchcraft emerged more and more often in private
or public discussions. From the perspective of this context, one can distinguish at
least three different, though overlapping, notions of witchcraft. First, late medieval
trial records and narrative sources allow us to reconstruct the figure of witch in the
medieval popular tradition.10 This witch is basically a sorceress, more often woman
than man, pursuing harmful magic (maleficia). The most characteristic, obviously
ancient, folk-beliefs attached to her, as it appears from the records of fifteenth-
century Germany, are her ability to cause illnesses to man and cattle, to raise
storms, to pursue love magic (mainly with potions), to steal things, or to ride wolves
or other animals. Her intercourse with demons rarely appeared among the accusa-
tions, and that only at the end of the fifteenth century. There was a considerable
rise of witch trials by the 1480s–1490s, and Celtis must have heard about such
cases.11 By this time, indeed, as early as the first half of the fifteenth century, there
appeared a new, extended notion of the witch: beyond sorcery, this diabolical witch-
craft is further characterized by diabolism (worship of Satan or other demonic crea-
tures).12 The witch was supposed to have physical intercourse with demons, from
whom they received their evil power. A whole mythology was gradually created,
with witches’ Sabbath, desecration of the sacraments and so on. This modified pic-
ture of the witch was created by intellectuals: theologians, inquisitors, mainly from
Italy and Germany. The treatise which accelerated the most the spread of this notion
in the late fifteenth century is the Malleus Maleficarum (“Hammer of the Witches”,
1487),13 which, given the approval of the pope, contributed to a great extent to the

10
From the immense secondary literature about European witchcraft, I refer in this
article only to the studies most relevant for my investigations. For late medieval popular
witchcraft in Germany, see e. g. R. Kieckhefer, European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in
Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1976).
11
During one of the most infamous trials in the history of European witch-hunts, the
1485 Innsbruck trial, 48 women were accused (by the same Heinrich Kramer who wrote the
Malleum Maleficarum). Among the lesser trials, those in Nuremberg (1489) or Vienna
(1498), for instance, are most likely to be heard of by Celtis. (For a catalogue of trials see
Kieckhefer, Witch Trials.)
12
See e. g. Stuart Clark, Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern
Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); Walter Stephens, Demon Lovers: Witch-
craft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002).
13
Its one certain author is Heinrich Kramer (Institoris); the authorship of Jakob Sprenger
is debated. Stephens, Demon Lovers, includes an in-depth analysis of this treatise.
16 Áron Orbán

witch craze in the later centuries. The most famous treatises from fifteenth-century
Germany include J. Nider's Formicarius (“The Ant Colony”, c. 1437) and Ulrich
Molitor's De lamiis et phytonicis mulieribus (“Of Witches and Diviner Women”,
1489).14 As will be seen later, Celtis was involved in discussions about
contemporary witchcraft. However, he as a humanist also looked for classical pat-
terns for the characters in his poetry, and the classical literature also had its own
witches.15 This classical witchcraft was heterogeneous, too. The epic figures of Circe
and Medea, the pursuers of love magic in Virgil or Horace, the cannibalistic Erichtho
of Lucan – to mention just a few examples – have all different characteristics; never-
theless, one can discern stereotypic ideas that characterize most often the classical
witch. They control the weather, destroy the crops, change the landscape, draw
down the moon; they cause illnesses, summon the dead, collect herbs and bones,
pursue erotic magic, worship Hecate, and often change shape. This study aims at
demonstrating how and why the various witchcraft-motifs are inbedded in the
Amores and help transmit its messages, and how these ideas could be related to
contemporary discourses about witchcraft.
Love, as cosmic principle, as the symphatetic bond that holds the world together,
was often associated with magic16 – notably by Platonic thinkers –, while magic was
long considered to have two major aspects, distinguished as white and black magic,
magia naturalis and necromantia and so on. This distinction was suitable to be har-
monized with the above mentioned distinction between amor honestus and infamis.
Drawing heavily on Ficino's Symposion-commentary, Beroaldo systematically drew
up these parallel oppositions in his commentary of Apuleius' Metamorphoses.17 In
Beroaldo's view, the one kind of magic, associated with divine love, is “the service
of gods”, is “Platonic and philosophic”, while the other one is “demonic” magic,
goetia (approximately “witchcraft”) or theurgia, associated with amor infamis. Celtis
demonstrably knew these ideas of Beroaldo,18 and Apuleius – whose Hermetic-Pla-

14
Both works, just as the Malleus Maleficarum (henceforth: Malleus), were published
several times in Germany, both in Latin and German.
15
See e. g. G. Luck, Hexen und Zauberei in der Römischen Dichtung (Zürich: Artemis,
1962); D. Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A
Sourcebook, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 .
16
This age-old association gained various new forms especially in the Renaissance; the
idea that love, as a magical phenomenon, was prone to black magic, gained new significance,
too. R. Kemper, “Zwischen schwarzer Magie und Vergötterung: Zur Liebe in der frühen
Neuzeit”, in: Literatur, Artes und Philosophie, ed. Haug, W.et al. (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1992),
141.
17
F. Beroaldo, L. Apuleii Madaurensis philosophi Platonici Opera, quae quidem extant,
omnia (Venice, 1500).
18
Robert, Konrad Celtis, 211–9.
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 17

tonic De mundo Celtis edited with a commentary19 and whose Metamorphoses in-
cludes witch-figures in significant roles – was one of the poet's favourite auctores.
On the other hand, the use of love magic – which can cause suffering in many
ways – was always among the skills of the the classical witch, from Circe and Medea
through, say, Horace's witches, Canidia, Sagana and others, who make love potions
by necromantic means.20 In the three great classical masters of love elegies, Ovid,
Tibullus and Propertius21, there is a typical figure among the lesser characters, the
lena, who attracted the stereotypes of classical witchcraft.22 Lena (“procuress, bawd,
brothel-keeper”; the word has no English equivalent) is usually an old, drunken hag,
who corrupts the woman loved by the poet and helps her procure another, richer
lover, teaching her sexual and magical skills. By her typical activities, the figure of
lena united several motifs of corruption and decay: harmful magic, wile, the
materialistic sides of love, drunkenness. However, the lena remains in the
background in the elegies, which focus on the lovers themselves.
Given, on the one hand, the didactic aim of Celtis – pronounced in the praefatio
of the Amores – to demonstrate the nature of love, on the other hand the above
mentioned association of love and magic, it is not surprising that Celtis took up the
idea of witchcraft from the classical elegies. He does not draw such explicit and
systematic parallels as Beroaldo did;23 however, the close affinity of love and magic
in general, and amor spurcus and witchcraft in particular, lurks in the background
of the Amores-narrative. Indeed, contrary to the classical elegies, in the Amores even
a central figure can behave as a witch, if the use of these motifs fits the narrative.
This is the case in certain elegies of book IV, as will be seen; however, allusions to
witchcraft occur in the other parts as well.24 A typical example occurs in elegy 7 of
Book I – the Book dedicated to Poland and Hasilina – in a context of love as a force
that corrupts, coerces, makes man captive. After the well-known topoi of com-
plaining about the lover's fraudulent nature and the poet's own suffering from love,
Apollo warns him of the docta meretrix (“educated / cunning courtesan”), “because
– believe me – she transforms you into a thousand shapes, as the offspring of the

19
L. Apulei Platonici et Aristotelici philosophi Epitoma divinum de mundo Seu Cos-
mographia ductu Conradi Celtis (Vienna: J. Winterburg, 1497/98).
20
Hor. Sat. I. 8; Epod. 5; Epod. 17.
21
Within the elegiac trinity, Celtis drew on Propertius the most in his Amores: cf. Robert,
Conrad Celtis.
22
Tib. I. 5; Prop. IV. 5; Ov. Am. I. 8.
23
Namely, between divine love and natural magic on the one hand, and infamous love
and black magic on the other.
24
E. g. Am. I. 14. 61–72 (see note 3), II. 7. 1–10 (see below), II. 11. 47–48.
18 Áron Orbán

Circean waters [Circe] was used to do”.25 To be sure, Circe's transformative power
can be taken allegorically: love potentially lowers man to an animalistic level of
existence.
In Book IV, Celtis arrives at Lübeck and meets Barbara Cimbrica, a mature
woman, who takes a great effect on the poet. By this time, the poet has grown old,
but at their first meeting (elegy 2) Barbara manages to kindle his love for her, and
to pour new strength in him by means of a carmen (song / incantation):26 from this
the reader can already suspect that Barbara may have magical powers. In elegy 5,
Celtis is ill (with French disease?27), but Barbara cures him, giving him not only
healthy foods, but also healing ointments, and medicinal herbs, used in a bath:

Iuscula nunc miscens ferventi et iure polentas, You often fed me broth and hot mush, and
Radices, succos, poma et odora dabas. then roots, juices, fruits, and aromatic spices.
Nec mihi defuerat granosum cortice pomum I never lacked the shelled pomegranate,
Extinguens aestus, Barbara cara, meos, which soothed my fever, dear Barbara; I never
Nec mihi defuerat pullus, capus, altilis, oryx, lacked the meat of chicken, capon, fowl, wild
Omnia sollicito larga favore dabas. goat; you, generously and with dedicated
Unguentisque tuis variis mea membra fovebas care, used to give all these to me. With your
Restituens vires, Barbara cara, meas. ointments you kept taking care of my body,
Balnea cum variis herbis mihi saepe struebas, thus restoring my strength, my dear Barbara.
∆υναµεδία28 tibi cognita tota fuit. 29 You often prepared for me herbal baths of
many kinds; for you have acquired all the
learning concerning the healing power of
plants.30
282930

Herbal bath and ointments may or may not be magical; these methods, taken
together with the praise of her expertise in medicine, remind one of the powers of
Medea, perhaps the most stereotypical witch of the classical love elegies.31 Celtis
just plays with the idea, but the allusions are quite clear. The passage has several

25
Am. I. 7. 77–78. Nam te transformet (mihi crede) in mille figuras, / Ut mea Circaeis
nata solebat aquis.
26
Am. IV. 2. 46.
27
The real Celtis suffered from French disease from at least 1498: cf. Der Briefwechsel
des Konrad Celtis, ed. Hans Rupprich (Munich: Beck, 1934), p. 350 (letter from Stabius) and
other letters.
28
Dinamidia is a medieval expression, used for books about medicinal herbs; see e. g.
Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae IV. 10. 3.
29
Am. IV. 5. 13–22.
30
The English translations of the Latin passages in this article are mine.
31
One of the classical elegies that could serve as a model for the scene is in Tibullus (Tib.
I. 5. 9–16), where the poet reminds his lover, Delia, how he and a crone skilful in magic
cured her of a serious illness by magical means.
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 19

common expressions with a passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses32, where the poet

describes the powers of Medea, who is going to raise Aison from the dead (succus,
radices, unguens, herbis; the phrase nec mihi defuerat). Furthermore, Celtis had
already explicitly alluded to this Medea-passage in Book II: the irremediable love of
Elsula reminded the poet of Medea's love magic.33 In the Barbara-passage, too,
sexuality lurks in the background: pomegranate (v. 15) is one of its symbols. One
can conclude that, while on the surface layer of interpretation the poet's recovery
was due to natural methods, the intertextual environment of the passage, both
within (Barbara's sexual behaviour, incantations, witch-roles in other elegies of Book
IV) and beyond the Amores (the Medea-motifs) reveal that Barabra's sexual and
magical skills could also contribute to this recovery. Magic is ambivalent, it can be
both bless and curse, can both heal and kill, just as the herbs and ointments of
Medea could be both medicine and poison. Here one could see the bright face of
Barbara, in accordance with their harmonic love relationship at this phase of the
narrative; however, the motifs of magic and witchcraft here and earlier in the
Amores already suggest for the reader that later on Barbara may show her dark
face, too.
In elegies 8–9, Barbara sees Celtis to a curious cellar, where people feast, drink,
and make love: in fact, an orgy seems to take place there. Celtis would abstain from
being involved, but Barbara, who quickly gets drunk, eventually seduces him suc-
cesfully. The scene has an underwordly, dionysiac atmosphere: the similes refer to
the dead in the underworld,34 or to the Bacchantes.35 The beer which Barbara drinks
is metaphorically called a venenum (“philtre”, but also “poison”),36 because it helps
arouse sexual desire – which leads to decay? The preparing of venena are
characteristic activities of Medea and other witches. While these are only indirect
references to witchcraft, the scene prepares with its atmosphere the next elegy,
where Barbara really speaks as a witch. Underworld, excessive sex, drunkenness:
this is the world of amor spurcus or infamis.

32
Ov. Met. VII. 264–272.
33
Am. II. 7. 1–10: Herbarum vires nec amoris pocula coxi / Nec strigis aut ranae viscera
rupta mihi / Et neque servavi, dederam ut tibi munera, caelum, / Tristia depinxi nec
simulacra poli, / Ossa nec in vacuis collegi sparsa sepulcris, / In cruce nec furis secta
verenda tuli. / Nec mihi mactata est volucris pellita per alas, / Artibus Aeaeis nec tibi pectus
ago / Nec tibi Thessalico lymphavi carmine mentem, / Elsula, nec magicis cantibus ipse
premo...
34
E.g Am. IV. 8. 35–36.
35
E.g. Am. IV. 9. 15.
36
Ibid.
20 Áron Orbán

It is in elegy 10 that Barbara explicitly assumes the role of a witch. While she
used her positive, healing powers in elegies 2 and 5, here we can see her destructive
face: if not in reality, at least in words. Barbara apprehends Celtis making love with
her servant, Lamia... and vents her rage on both of them. In detailing the various
modes of her revenge, she actually gives a catalogue of maleficia. Practically all the
enumerated skills are extraordinary, magical spells, harmful to health. For the sake
of convenience, I enumerated in the right column the spells in short, marking
whether they can be found in the classical (italics), medieval (underlined) or both
(expanded
37
words) witchcraft-traditions.
Huic ego perfodiam candentia lumina frontis Pierce through the eyes
Putrescentque sibi femina carminibus! make the loins rot by incantation
Tuque refrigescens nostrumque perosus amorem,
Efficiam veretro vulnera saeva tuo inflict cruel wounds on his penis
Afficiamque tuas ferventi bile medullas turn him insatiable, yet impotent...
Te cupidum tento ramice posse nihil!
Tunc tremulo incedes curvatus poplite in urbe
Infamisque mei fabula amoris eris.
An nescis succos me noscere, semina et herbas? ...by herbs, poisons
Femina nulla magis docta veneficiis!
Arte mea Codonus furiosas elevat undas raise storms at sea
Carminibusque meis, fluctibus astra ferit;
Arte mea possum lunam deducere caelo charm the moon down from the sky
Atque gelare vagas doctaque sistere aquas; make the running water freeze and halt its
Arte mea laetas ferio cum grandine fruges course; raise hailstorms and thereby des-
Et Bacchum nostris aufero carminibus; troy the crops and the vineyards
Arte mea sculptus sub certo est annulus astro fashion a ring with astral powers
Crystallusque mihi abscondita quaeque canit; by means of a crystal have insight into
Arte mea scriptus nuper mihi forte character, hidden things
Qua Moses Pharium merserat arte ducem; write down magical characters
Arte mea expressa est, qua pectora dura liquescunt, arouse love by means of a wax figure
cera et vesano concoquit igne viros;
Arte mea tumidis mihi lac subducitur agnis steal milk from sheep
Aspectuque meo fascino, quaeque volo; cast an evil eye on whomever she pleases
Arte mea possum sanis inducere morbos, inflict illnesses on healthy people, and
Poenarum et quicquid sub Styge Pluto tenet; infernal pains
Arte mea possum superas revocare sub auras
Manes et Furiis impero docta tribus; conjure up the dead and the furies
Arte mea invidiam durum converto in amorem
Affectusque meo carmine quosque rego.37 turn any emotion into its opposite

This passage has been called a catalogue of classical sorcery.38 Truly, this is
primarily classical witchcraft. One finds here most of the witchcraft-stereotypes that

37
Am. IV. 10. 19–48.
38
Wiegand, “Nekromant,” 306.
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 21

appear in the classical elegies and other classical literary works.39 The recurring arte
mea (“by my art” or “skill”) is a frequent idiom in Ovid and other love poets (e. g. in
the above mentioned Medea-scene of the Metamorphoses40), it usually refers to the
power of carmina. Furthermore, the witchcraft-stereotypes appear in the
frameworks of curse or menace in the classical elegies, too (though there it is the
poet who curses the bawd-witch, so Celtis turned the roles in his Amores); in
Seneca's tragedy, it is Medea herself who delivers a revenge-speech.41 However, as
can be seen from the above passage, several maleficia are also characteristic of
medieval witchcraft,42 and there are non-classical ones as well. Stealing milk was a
typical accusation in witch trials in Germany43 and in folk believes as collected in
19–20th century. Astral ring, divination through a crystal ball or mirror, magical
letters44 are accesories of late medieval magic in general, not just of witchcraft.45
Here I highlight just one of them, the making of a magical ring under certain
astrological conditions. Such astral magical objects did occur in late medieval or
Renaissance magic, for instance in Ficino's theories.46 In Celtis, too, an astral object
is mentioned in Amores II. 7,47 when the poet enumerates 'Medean' methods of love

39
Beyond the elegiac trinity of Ovid, Tibullus and Propertius, Virgil has to be mentioned
in the first place: it is mostly with these authors that the similarity of motifs also appears on
the level of textual similia, e. g. lunam deducere (v. 31) cf. Verg. ecl. 8. 69; cera... liquescunt
(v. 39–40) cf. Verg. ecl. 8. 80.
40
Ov. Met. VII. 176.
41
The beginning speech in Seneca's Medea.
42
Beyond the common witchcraft-motifs (indicated with expanded words), some of the
classical ones (indicated with italics) or variations of these might also occur in early modern
or later folklore as characteristics of witches; nevertheless, Celtis has most probably taken
all these from the classical elegies, his primary models in the Amores.
43
It is mostly in Germany that such accusations occured in the trials (see Kieckhefer,
Magic, 63 note 109); stealing milk occurs in witchcraft-treatises, too ( Malleus, II. 1. 1).
44
Magical letters or runes from part of different magical traditions, but since Celtis
mentions them here in a Biblical context (v. 38: “by which skill Moses had sunk the Egyptian
leader”), one may think of the influence of Reuchlin or Trithemius, Celtis' friends, in whose
magical theories the Hebrew alphabet played a crucial role. About Trithemius and Reuchlin's
De berbo mirifico, see more below.
45
The last two also appears in the “catalogue” of magical beliefs in Celtis' Oden, Epoden,
Jahrhundertlied. Libri odarum quattuor, cum epodo et saeculari carmine, ed., tr. Eckart
Schäfer (Tübingen: Narr, 2012; henceforth: Od.) III. 19 (see below).
46
See e. g. D. P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella (London:
The Warburg Institute, 1958), 12–25. The most important source-book for learned astral
magic was the high medieval Picatrix.
47
Am. II. 7. 4: Tristia depinxi nec simulacra poli.
22 Áron Orbán

magic; furthermore, there is a Celtis-epigram titled De annulo (“On a ring”)48, which

speaks about a golden ring with a “bloody stone” (a carbuncle?), made to coerce a
“girl” to love; the similes with the Gorgo-head and Deianeira's fatal philtre (v. 5–6)
bring in the atmosphere of classical witchraft. Since the text appears among
epigrams about Hasilina and Poland, probably Hasilina is meant under the “girl”,
and the words sub certo sidere sculptus49 (“engraved under definite constellations”),
a phrase identical with the one in v. 35 of the above passage, also connect the
epigram to the Amores. The astral ring as a love magical object seems to be firmly
associated to witchcraft in Celtis' mind.
Celtis apparently merged classical and medieval traditions in his catalogue of
witchcraft-methods: Barbara is not simply stylized as a stereotypical classical witch.
Thus she could appear more alive for contemporary readers, and fitted better the
setting of the narrative, the northern scenes of Book IV. Barbara's witch-
characterisitics have a macro-structural function as well: it is not by chance that it
is the last Book of the Amores where the witchcraft-motifs blossom out. In the
system of correspondences, the Fourth Book is of the darkest, most sinister char-
acter: it is the Book of winter, Capricorn, night, melancholy, old age. In addition to
Celtis, Barbara, too, seems to be quite old, like the bawd-witches of the classical
elegies. Melancholy and Saturn (the planet astrologically belonging to Capricorn)
had a far-reaching symbolism around 1500 in Europe.50 I cannot discuss here the
relation of the Amores to this symbolism, but Celtis drew on at least one set of ideas,
the late medieval popular layer of melancholy-traditions, in fashioning the figure of
Barbara as an old woman: in elegy 12, for instance, she is portrayed as a
cantankerous, misanthropic, greedy, lustful, furious51 crone.
There is one more possibly witch-like figure that has to be highlighted here.
Barbara's servant was called Lamia: originally, in classical folk-belief, lamiae were
female demons who devour childs, then this word came to denote “witch” in general,

48
Epigr. I. 11 in Hartfelder's edition of epigrams (Fünf Bücher Epigramme von Konrad
Celtis, Berlin: S. Calvary, 1881) corrected by D. Wuttke, “Supplement zu Hartfelders Edition
der Celtis-Epigramme,” in Renatae Litterae: Studien zum Nachleben der Antike und zur euro-
päischen Renaissance: August Buck zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. K. Heitmann und E. Schroeder
(Frankfurt: Athenäum, 1973): Annule sanguineum qui stringis in orbe lapillum, / Quique auri
puri non leve pondus habes, / I, precor, et duram coge in mea vota puellam, / Nam mihi sub
certo sidere sculptus eras. / Perseus gorgoneo mutavit corpora vultu, / Et Iove comminuit
Deianira satum.
49
Ibid., v. 4.
50
See, first of all, R. Klibansky – E. Panofsky – F. Saxl, Saturn and Melancholy (London:
Nelson, 1964).
51
Furiousity (v. 21 of elegy 12) was the state of mind that served as a basis for the
curses and menaces, the witchcraft-catalogue in elegy 10: Vidi ego, quae furias elicuere meas
(v. 2).
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 23

already in antiquity.52 When Barbara, just before her “catalogue” cited above, calls
her servant omnivorans bestia spurca53 (“all-devouring filthy beast“), this is an
allusion both to the original meaning of lamia and to the amor spurcus Lamia
previously made with the poet. Now, the servant Lamia happens to appear in elegy
7 of book IV (Ad Lamiam ancillam...), too. Celtis would visit Barbara at night, but
Lamia doesn’t let him in, she would only do it for a considerable sum of money.54
The poet-lover gets angry, and doesn’t spare the girl his curses: would that she feel
the
55
same as he feels now! And he continues:
Rivalisque meus, cuius nunc languida amore es, My rival – for whose love you are now
Illius hic vindex fraudis et ultor erit. pining away –, he will be the avenger and
Terque quaterque tuum crudo cum verbere tergum revenger of that evil deed. He shall strike
Pulset et increpitet virga sonora nates. your backside three and four times with
Cumque tuo dormis tanquam secura cubili bloody blows and lash your buttocks with
Et placidus somnus te, malefida, tenet, a whizzing cane. And while you are
Ille superveniens baculo tua terga domabit, sleeping safely in your bed, enjoying an
Vindicet et fictos in mea vota dolos. 55 undisturbed sleep, o you cheater, he will
come down upon you and break in your
unbending back with a stick, and take re-
venge on you for the trickery by which
you frustrated my desires.

The guardian of the mistress, who prevents the poet from getting what he wants,
is a typical figure of the classical love elegies, just as the poet's rival, who is
wealthier than the poet. However, in Celtis' elegy, the poet's “request“ from the rival
is quite curious. The rival should beat the guardian – obviously because she would
not let him to her mistress either –, but why at night, while “she is sleeping”? Why
“the buttocks”? Why is the girl “pining away” for this rival? There is an inter-
pretation that would make these references clear: these may be allusions to demonic
copulation. In the new notion of the diabolic witch (see above), her physical
intercourse with the demon is the key element. This role would fit the girl's name
in the elegy, Lamia. The words denoting stick, rod or cane (virga, verbera, baculus)
may stand for the genitals of some demon. In the treatises the demonic copulation
can be both pleasant and unpleasant activity, so the “punishment” in the poem may

52
Also in Apuleius' Metamorphoses, e. g. I. 5. 17. In the Renaissance, the word also
appears in the title of witchcraft-treatises, e. g. Ulrich Molitoris, De lamiis et phytonicis
mulieribus.
53
Am. IV. 10. 18
54
Love for money – the main theme of the poem – is a typical characteristic of amor
spurcus.
55
Am. IV. 7. 15–22.
24 Áron Orbán

be an allegory of such a weird intercourse.56 The motifs of beating and making love
are closely connected in at least two earlier loci in the Amores, too.57 The phrase
terque quaterque also occurred previously in a sexual context58; the word super-
veniens can refer to both aggressive and sexually motivated approach. The term
malefida harmonizes with malefica, the most frequent medieval term for the witch. It
is because of the sexual act that the scene would take place at night, in the girl’s
cubile. To sum up, such an interpretation would explain all the puzzling circumstances
of the “punishment” given by the rival: the servant's name Lamia (who is malefida),
the visit at night, the pleasant-unpleasant “beats” on the backside or buttocks.
These possible “demonic” associations perhaps render the threats or insults of
the angry poet more serious than they seemed at first. In the background of the
elegy, basically the same idea may be present that was to be the key accusation in
later witchcraft trials, and the key element of the expanding witchcraft-mythology
introduced by the fifteenth-century treatises. However, beyond the fact that this is
still not the time of the witch craze, the passage cited above is still a poetical play,
a hidden allegory, and only one of the possible interpretations. Celtis found a
spectacular way to express his lyrical subject's anger and, more generally, his
condemn of amor spurcus. In this and the other Amores-elegies analyzed above, one
should never forget about the fictitious-symbolical nature of the narrative, and the
role of musa iocosa (“playful muse”) in the whole work.59
As it appears from scholarly treatises, legal sources, literary and visual artworks,
there was a general concern about witchcraft in southern German territories by the
end of the fifteenth century. In the following I make some suggestions about how
Celtis could participate in this discourse, in what ways his environment could
conribute to the presence of witchcraft-ideas in his work. He was not the type of
scholar who was inclined to read through several hundred pages of difficult Latin
texts; as an extroverted personality, and an active participant and organizer of
literary life, he rather exchanged ideas in learned discussions, talks with friends.
There is at least one piece of evidence of such a conversation. Celtis' Ode III. 19 is
dedicated “To Johannes Melber of Bamberg, a philosopher60, about all kinds of

56
See e. g. J. Hansen, Quellen und Untesuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns und
der Hexenverfolgung im Mittelalter (Bonn: C. Georgi, 1901), p. 162 or p. 198; Malleus, II.
1. 4.
57
Am. III. 4. 51–56; Am. III. 8. 6 and 14. The contexts here do not involve witchcraft.
58
Am. I. 10. 15–16.
59
Amply analyzed by Robert, Konrad Celtis (esp. 228–248).
60
Naturally, the term philosophus was then used in a much wider sense than today,
especially with Celtis, in whose humanistic program philosophia / sapientia included all the
arts and sciences.
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 25

magic”.61 Melber, about whom very little is known,62 speaks to Celtis about all sorts
of magical activities, either popular or learned techniques: magical images, letters,
chants; methods of divination, invocation, alchemy and so on. At the end of the
poem, Celtis emphasizes his skeptical attitude toward all the enumerated super-
stitions. The second part of the magical “catalogue”63, introduced as rusticorum
fama virorum (“oral traditions of men in the countryside”), obviously reflects beliefs
about witches. Most of the activities mentioned here are current late medieval
popular beliefs: witches steal milk, arouse love, cause illness, ride on billy-goat,
freeze rivers, throw lightning, cut the genitals of married men and shoot secret
arrows.64 Many of these motifs can be found in learned witchcraft-treatises too,
notably the Malleus maleficarum.65 It is probable that Melber read or heard at least
the main ideas of the Malleus (or a similar treatise), and transmitted it to Conrad
Celtis; they may have spoken about demonic copulations, too.
Celtis must have had fruitful conversations about secret sciences, magical beiefs
with the abbot of Sponheim (later, of Würzburg), Johannes Trithemius, a scholar
famous for having combined elements of theological and magical traditions in his
theories. For both Celtis and Trithemius (just as for a certain Georg Faustus66), the
University of Heidelberg and the humanist scholarly circle related to it played a
crucial role in their intellectual developement. In 1494 – at the time when Celtis was
finishing the first version of his Amores – he visited Trithemius in Sponheim and
used his library.67 In the next decade, the abbot wrote his Antipalus maleficarum68,
which argued against the witches in a similar way as the Malleus maleficarum did.
Let us turn to Johannes Reuchlin (Capnion), the other famous German scholar
among Celtis' friends who incorporated occult, Platonic-Hermetic traditions into his
theological views. Reuchlin was a member of the Sodalitas Rhenana (one of the
sodalities that Celtis helped organize); one sign of their friendship is an ode written

61
Ad Ioannem Melberium Bambergensem philosophum, de omnimoda magia.
62
Rupprich identifies him with Erhardus Melber, mentioned in a letter to Celtis
(Briefwechsel No. 195, p. 325, n. 3).
63
Od. III. 19. 33–44.
64
Ibid., v. 35–37.
65
E. g., about how they deprive men of the virile member: Malleus, II. 1. 17; about how
they shoot secret arrows: I. 2. 16.
66
F. Baron, Doctor Faustus: From History to Legend (Munich: W. Fink, 1978), ch. 2.
67
N. Brann, The Abbot Trithemius (1462–1516): The Renaissance of Monastic
Humanism (Leiden: Brill, 1981), 16.
68
For a summary of this work, see N. Brann, Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter
in the Controversy over Occult Studies in Early Modern Europe (New York: State University,
1999).
26 Áron Orbán

by Reuchlin and Johannes Krachenberger that celebrates the author of the Amores,
and that appeared before Book IV of the Amores in the representative 1502
publication.69 There is at least one passage in Reuchlin's De verbo mirifico (“On
miracle-working words”, 1494) that entertains similar witchcraft-ideas as Celtis does
in certain passages of his Amores. In the De verbo, the three participants of the
dialogue discuss – among others – the issue indicated in the title. Arguing for the
existence of the miraculous power of the word, the enthusiastic Sidonius mentions
the example of Medea, and incorporates in his argument some passages from the
same Aeson-chapter of Ovid's Metamorphoses that Celtis also drew on several times
(as seen above).70 'Quid enim non carmina possunt?' 71 (“What indeed cannot the
incantations do?”) – cites Sidonius Ovid, and he enumerates the same stereotypical
skills of the classical witch that Ovid enumerated in order to represent the power
of incantation;72 similarly to another “power-demonstration,” the arte mea... passage
of the Amores. Baruchias is skeptical in his answer to Sidonius; interestingly, when
he complains about the charlatans who, out of financial reasons, pretend to have
such powers, he mentions as an example the old soothsayer-witch living in the
countryside.73 Since she becomes an examplary figure in the debate, Charles Zika
claims that the old rustic witch “fulfils an important function in the structure of” De
verbo mirifico.74 Naturally, Reuchlin's and Celtis' similar use (around the same time)
of classical sources about witchcraft and incantation does not mean that the one
took the idea from the other (though the two authors surely knew each other's
works in question75); more probably, the parallel may be due to a common
intellectual climate that in the works themselves results in common patterns of

69
Modern edition: in Appendix II of Pindter's Amores-edition .
70
Reuchlin, De verbo mirifico (Basel, 1494), fol. b 4r-v.
71
Ov. Met. VII. 167.
72
Ibid., v. 153–4: verbaque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos, / quae mare turbatum,
quae concita flumina sistunt; v. 200–7:...concussaque sisto, / stantia concutio cantu freta,
nubila pello, / nubilaque induco, ventos abigoque vocoque, / vipereas rumpo verbis et
carmine fauces, / vivaque saxa sua convulsaque robora terra / et silvas moveo iubeoque
tremescere montis / et mugire solum manesque exire sepulcris! / Te quoque, Luna, traho.
73
Reuchlin, De verbo, fol. b 4v. Baruchias speaks about demens aliqua saga (some mad
female soothsayer); the witch-stereotypes he continues with make clear that he thinks of
witches.
74
C. Zika, Reuchlin und die okkulte Tradition der Renaissance (Sigmaringen: J. Thorbecke,
1998), 180.
75
I have already mentioned Reuchlin's ode that appeared in the Amores-publication; and
it is in the Amores itself (Am. III. 10. 69) that Celtis alludes – ironically – to Reuchlin's De
verbo mirifico (Robert, Konrad Celtis, 186).
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 27

combining ideas of classical “literary” witchcraft, medieval witchcraft and

hermeticist views about the magical power of the word.
Celtis could also draw inspiration from the fine arts: a number of witch-depic-
tions were in circulation by the end of fifteenth century. Celtis happened to be the
friend of the most famous artist of such woodcuts, Albrecht Dürer. The most re-
nowned witch-woodcut of the Nuremberg artist-humanist, the Witch Riding Back-
wards on a Goat (fig. 1), was made around 1500,76 in the same period that saw the
closest cooperation between Dürer and Celtis.77 Dürer or his workshop was res-
ponsible for several woodcuts of the Amores.78 According to Sullivan, the witch-
depictions of the type exemplified by Dürer's above mentioned woodcut have less
to do with witch-persecutions (previously emphasized by some scholars) than with
the revitalization of classical ideas by humanists: the Witch Riding Backwards on a
Goat “is also appropriate as a response to humanist interests”.79 Dürer's image
evokes the atmosphere of the classical satire, primarily that of Lucian: “Dürer's witch
is plausible as an upside down version of the beautiful Aphrodite”.80 Many of these
characteristics also fit the witch-role that Barbara assumes in Amores IV. 10: the
inspiration gained from classical literature, the mixture of serious and playful
treatment of the figure,81 the emphasis on the sphere of distorted, infamous love
and sexuality. There are commonalities in the two witch-representations in the
details, too. Certain general stereotypical motifs, like the hailstorm or the old age of
the witch, appear both in Celtis' text and Dürer's image. The way Dürer's witch
grasps the horn of the billy-goat she sits on can be taken as an allusion to her skill
to render men impotent82 (cf. v. 22–24 in Celtis' “catalogue”). Perhaps the most int-
riguing issue is the association of witch and Capricorn, in both Dürer and Celtis. In
Dürer's woodcut the witch's mount is elongated in a way that reminds one of the
traditional Capricorn illustrations, and indeed, Capricorn (the zodiacal sign be-
longing to December, and to Saturn) may allude to winter, night and death, just as
other motifs of the picture (e. g. the hailstorm); the close affinity of these motifs in

76
M. Sullivan, “The Witches of Dürer and Hans Baldung Grien”, Renaissance Quarterly
53 (2000), 357.
77
See D. Wuttke, “Dürer und Celtis: von der Bedeutung des Jahres 1500 für den
deutschen Humanismus”, in Humanismus und Reformation als kulturelle Kräfte in der
deutschen Geschichte, ed. L. Spitz (Berlin et al.: De Gruyter, 1981), 121–150.
78
See Luh, Kaiser.
79
Sullivan, 'The Witches', 357.
80
Ibid., 359.
81
About the seria mixta iocis (Am. praef. 48) charachteristic of the Amores, see Robert,
Konrad Celtis, 241–7.
82
See e.g. Sullivan, 'The Witches', 341.
28 Áron Orbán

the Amores83 have already been treated above. Again, the motifs of the two witch-
representations do not overlap to such extant that we should necessarily assume
direct exchange of the relevant ideas; nevertheless, the above observations certainly
provided ample evidence that Dürer and Celtis, having worked under the same
intellectual climate, entertained many similar ideas and methods of representation
concerning the issue of witchcraft (too).
The foregoing discussion of the
contemporary intellectual historical
context of Celtis' witch-like figures
was not exhaustive, the examples
– with Dürer's, Melber's, Reuchlin's
and probably Trithemius' similar
ideas to those of Celtis – just served
to demonstrate that the issue of
witchcraft formed an integral part of
the humanist discourse around the
“Arch-humanist”. The above ana-
lyzed Amores-passages might have
provided data for a better under-
standing of the history of witchcraft-
ideas and their artistic appearance
in the German Renaissance. More
importantly, I hope that the dis-
cussion of these ideas helped to
understand better the Amores itself,
the German “Arch-humanist's” pro-
bably most significant work. Witch-
craft-motifs could serve as powerful,
spectacular symbolic means contri-
buting in many ways to the const-
ruction of meaning in the Amores,
expressing, first of all, amor infamis, Fig. 1. Albrecht Dürer: Witch Riding Backwards
or the ambivalent nature and the on a Goat

dangers of love and magic, two

powers whose close affinity – otherwise an age-old idea – became an important
issue in several Renaissance scholarly theories and artworks.

83
The above mentioned ode to Melber can also be included: this mentions the caper as
the mount of witches (v. 39).
The Role of Witchcraft-motifs in Conrad Celtis’ Amores 29

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———. Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter in the Controversy over Occult
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RAFAŁ T. PRINKE

Dr. Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards (1860–1923),

the last Praemonstrator of the Golden Dawn,
and his brother Louis Stanley Jast (1868–1944),
the Theosophist

While a comprehensive history of Polish esotericism is yet to be written, it is quite

safe to assume that there were few major figures of European importance. The only
Pole of unquestionably momentous influence was the alchemist Michał Sędziwój
(Michael Sendivogius, 1566–1636), whose works enjoyed enormous success and
were published in numerous editions and translations not only during the two
centuries following his death, but also from the late 19th century until the present.
Although it is still a matter of debate to what extent alchemy was “esoteric” and
whether the particular Sendivogian brand should be counted as such, the Polish
author’s texts were re-read and re-interpreted by both more scientific “chymists”
and clearly esoteric “adepts” of the 17th and 18th centuries. His impact on modern
esotericism can be inferred from the number of modern popular translations into
many languages, from that in The Hermetic Museum, edited by Arthur Edward
Waite in 1893, to a recent version in Greek. Frequent references to Sendivogius are
found in such celebrated esoteric authors as Fulcanelli or Carl Gustav Jung.
Certainly no other Polish esotericist — be it a writer or an adventurer — could
match the fame and magnitude of “Sarmata Anonymus”, as he was called by Michael
Maier. Perhaps the next in importance was Tadeusz Grabianka (1740– 1807), the
“King of New Israel”, one of the leaders of Illuminés du Mont-Thabor or d'Avignon,
who was active all over Europe, from his native Podolia, where he had an alchemical
laboratory in his estate of Ostapkowce (now Ostapkivtsi, Ukraine), through
Germany, France and England, to St. Petersburg where he died in prison. The great
Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) and his one-time “guru” Andrzej
Towiański (1799–1878) exerted some limited influence on Western European
esotericists with their respective versions of Polish messianism. In the 20th century
Czesław Czyński (1858–1932) was for some time the leader of the Martinist Order
in Russia (nominally also a member of the O.T.O.) and Mieczysław Dymitr Sudowski
(1897–1971) gained worldwide fame as Mouni Sadhu.

31
32 Rafał T. Prinke

It does not follow, however, that Polish esotericism should not be studied on its
lower level of unoriginal compilers and hundreds of practitioners, both in Poland and
abroad. The research area that may prove especially fruitful is indeed that of less
conspicuous Poles involved in the major esoteric movements. In the late 1970’s, while
reading Ellic Howe’s groundbreaking monograph on the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn, I noticed a brief mention of one “Dr Bogdan Jastrzebski Edwards of Bradford”
among the names of early members who were physicians.1 The index entry showed
that he was mentioned again, but without the Polish surname expanded, in a listing
of early Portal grade initiations: “Sat. 25 Feb. Dr B. E. J. Edwards (‘Deus Lux Solis’,
0E= 0E Oct. 1888), a Horus [Temple] member who also joined the Order at a very
early date”.2 Because “Jastrzębski” is obviously a Polish surname and “Bogdan” is quite
a popular first name in Poland, it looked like
I had spotted a Polish member of that
foundational organisation for the subse-
quent tradition of modern magical esoteric-
ism. The information was quite scanty, how-
ever, and I had to wait for nearly a decade
until another publication that was funda-
mental for recreating the history of the
Golden Dawn appeared in 1986, namely R.
A. Gilbert’s The Golden Dawn companion,
which brought some more details. The ad-
dress book and/or the roll of members, on
which Gilbert’s list of the Golden Dawn
members was based, had the Polish part of
the name misspelt as ‘Jastryebwski’ but it
also supplied the address where Dr. Ed-
wards lived in Bradford, so it was easy to
deduce that “Mrs Dr Edwards”, living at the
same address and initiated in 1892, was his
wife. Quite unexpectedly, yet another mem-
ber of the same Horus Temple No. 5, ini-
Fig. 1. Portrait of Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski or tiated in 1889, was listed as “Lewis Stanley
Dr Edwards (1860–1923) from the frontispiece de Jastryebwski” of Halifax, later of Peter-
of his memorial publication Masonic Secrets borough, so clearly was a relative.
(Courtesy of The Library and Museum
of Freemasonry, London)

1
Ellic Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn: a documentary history of a magical
order, 1887–1923 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972), 51.
2
Ibid., 97.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 33

Even more intriguing were two pieces of information in R. A. Gilbert’s indis-

pensable compendium: that in October 1900 (probably from 1897 or maybe even
1892) B. E. J. Edwards was the Praemonstrator of the Horus Temple (with T. H.
Pattinson as its Imperator),3 and that as late as 1912 William Wynn Westcott, one
of the three co-founders of the order, intended to leave some of his “occult pro-
perties”, related to three orders of freemasonry and to theosophy, to “Pattinson and
Edwards” as his heirs.4 Because on-site research in England was not possible for me
at that time, the topic lay latent for a quarter of a century until I returned to it in
2010, when Internet resources and contacts made such research much easier.
Partial results of my investigations were presented at the ESSWE Conference in
Szeged in 2011. It would not be possible to unfold the fascinating story of the
Jastrzębski brothers without immense help from many people, especially R. A.
Gilbert, the renowned historian of the Golden Dawn, three Yorkshire local historians:
Malcolm Bull, Roger Beasley, and Kai Roberts, as well as a number of others,
indicated in footnotes. While updating the information for the present paper in
2014, I found the website of Sally Davies devoted to biographies of GD members.5
Her ongoing research project is based on a wide range of primary sources, including
the original Membership Roll, in which she found one person missing from R. A.
Gilbert’s list.6 The biographies of the Jastrzębski family members, published online
by Sally Davies in September and October 2013, are very detailed and partly
overlapping with my own findings (when we used the same sources), but in many
respects they are complementary.
The story begins in Zebrzydowice, a large village located some thirty kilometers
south-west of Cracow, in the part of Poland which was under Austrian rule
throughout the 19th century. On 6 December 1823, in the house number 132, a son
was born to Teodor Jastrzębski and his wife Anna “de Kownice” (so probably
Kownicka). He was christened twenty days later, on the second day of Christmas,

3
R. A. Gilbert, The Golden Dawn companion : a guide to the history, structure, and
workings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Wellingborough: Aquarian, 1986),
36–37.
4
Ibid., 23.
5
Sally Davies, “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,” September–October 2013;
http://pws.prserv.net/Roger_Wright/GD/ and http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
/GD/.
6
The Roll, address book, and other Golden Dawn documents were owned by R. A. Gilbert
and deposited by him in The Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London; the collection
is in the online catalogue at: http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/catalogue.php. The
person missing in the printed list is Alice Elizabeth Major (1849–1906); her biography has
not been researched by Sally Davies yet (as of 13 February 2015) but she was certainly one
of two daughters of Richard Henry Major (1818–1891), a notable historian and geographer.
34 Rafał T. Prinke

with the names Stefan Ludwik.7 The family may have been members of nobility, as
they later claimed, but it needs confirmation. Also the financial status of his parents
is not clear and nothing is known about his early life or education, but the testimony
of his friend indicates that at the age of twenty three he knew much about literature
and liked to discuss books of contemporary novelists.8 Most probably he took part
in the Kraków Uprising of early 1846, one of numerous and unsuccessful attempt
of Poles to regain independence, and after it was suppressed, he escaped to Hungary
like most of his comrades, to join the Polish Legion formed there by general Józef
Wysocki (1809–1873) in 1848, to support Hungarians — led by Lajos Kossuth
(1802–1894) — in their fight for independence from Habsburg hegemony.
Eventually the Hungarian and Polish forces were defeated by the Austrian army in
the battles of Szőreg and Temesvár in August 1849, soldiers were dismissed and the
principality of Serbia allowed them to cross over it to Turkey, so about 5000 men

7
Liber baptisatorum IV, 68; the records are still kept at the parish archive in
Zebrzydowice and the former parish priest Rev. Ryszard Gołuch (now retired) kindly found
the entry at my request; at present there are persons of the same name living in the village
but to establish if they are related and whether Teodor and Anna had other children, more
detailed onsite research would be needed. Later in England Stefan Ludwik gave
Zebrzydowice as the place of his birth and his age recorded on several occasions also fits
this birth record.
8
Teodor Tomasz Jeż [Zygmunt Miłkowski], Od kolebki przez życie: wspomnienia [From
the cradle through the life: memoirs], 3 vols. (Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności,
1936–1937), 1:380; it should be noted that until recently some facts from his life were
ascribed to Jan Ludwik Jastrzębski (1804–1852), especially in the article on the latter in the
monumental and prestigious Polish biographical dictionary: Franciszek German, “Jastrzębski
Korwin Jan Ludwik,” in Polski słownik biograficzny [Polish biographical dictionary]
(Wrocław–Warszawa–Kraków: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossilińskich, 1964–1965), 78–79; even
more confusing are short biographical notes nominally on Stefan Ludwik but with the birth
year and many facts from the life of Jan Ludwik: Marian Tyrowicz, Towarzystwo Demok-
ratyczne Polskie 1832–1863: przywódcy i kadry członkowskie. Przewodnik biobiblio-
graficzny [Polish Democratic Society 1832–1863: leaders and members. A bio-bibliographic
guide] (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1964), 260–261; Rafał Geber, ed. Julian Aleksander
Bałaszewicz: Raporty szpiega [Julian Aleksander Bałaszewicz: Reports of a spy, 2 vols.
(Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1973), 2:477. The confusion was noticed and
cleared up by: Danuta Rederowa, “Jan Ludwik Jastrzębski: Z życia naukowego Wielkiej
Emigracji [Jan Ludwik Jastrzębski: From the scientific life of the Great Emigration],” Analecta:
Studia i materiały z dziejów nauki 8 (16) (1999): 127–178. Another Jastrzębski of unknown
given name, who participated in the 1846 revolt in Bochnia, is likewise confused with Stefan
Ludwik in: István Kovács, A lengyel légió lexikona, 1848–1849 [Lexicon of the Polish legion
1848–1849] (Budapest: MTA Történettudományi Intézet, História Könyvtár, 2007), 222.;
most importantly, the information that he returned from England to Poland and died in
Marcyporęba in 1873 is wrong, as he most certainly was still alive in 1891, listed by the
census in Halifax (the entry from Kovács’s book was kindly provided by György Szönyi).
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 35

arrived at Vidin.9 The group included 833 Poles, who came on 25 August with
Stefan Ludwik Jastrzębski among them, now in the rank of infantry lieutenant.10
About two hundred more arrived later, then 124 of them returned to Austria when
amnesty was offered, while sixteen converted to Islam and joined the Turkish army.
In November the remaining 790 officers and soldiers were transported to Szumen
(then called Szumla) to be interred.11
Already in Hungary, when the army was dispersed, Jastrzębski joined a group
of young officers who became friends and kept together afterwards.12 One of them
was Zygmunt Miłkowski (1824–1915), later a notable novelist (writing under the
pen name of Teodor Tomasz Jeż), politician, and author of voluminous memoires,
which contain further information about Stefan Ludwik. As they had nothing to do
in Szumla, Jastrzębski proposed they might start publishing a handwritten news-
paper entitled Dziennik Emigracji [Emigration Daily] and became its secretary, while
Miłkowski was the first editor-in-chief. Six issues in all are known to have been
published between late July and mid-August 1850. The articles were collected by
Jastrzębski, corrected by Miłkowski, and dictated by him to a group of colleagues,
so that about twenty to thirty copies were produced.13 When Miłkowski left Szumla,

9
Most recent general research on the Polish Legion in Hungary and its later fate may
be found in: Andrzej Szmyt, “Legion Polski po upadku węgierskiej Wiosny Ludów [The Polish
Legion after the downfall of the Hungarian Revolution,” in W kraju i na wychodźstwie. Księga
pamiątkowa ofiarowana Profesorowi Sławomirowi Kalembce w sześćdziesięciopięciolecie
urodzin [At home and on emigration. Memorial book presented to Professor Sławomir
Kalembka for his sixty fifth birthday], ed. Jan Sobczyk, et al. (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe
Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2001), 595–612; Emil Noiński, Generał Antoni Jeziorański
(1821–1882) [General Antoni Jeziorański (1821–1882)] (Siedlce: PhD dissertation,
Akademia Podlaska, 2009), 37–52.
10
Józef Wysocki, Pamiętnik jenerała Wysockiego, dowódcy Legionu Polskiego na
Węgrzech z czasu kampanii węgierskiej w roku 1848 i 1849 [Memoirs of general Wysocki,
commander of the Polish Legion in Hungary from the period of the Hungarian campaing in
1848 and 1849], 2 ed. (Kraków: J. K. Żupański & K. J. Heumann, 1888), 133, no. 20.
11
Jerzy Skowronek, Polityka bałkańska Hotelu Lambert (1833–1856) [The Balkan policy
of Hotel Lambert (1833–1856)] (Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego,
1976), 175–177; Georgi Parvev, “Polscy emigranci a społeczeństwo bułgarskie w latach
1849–1850 [Polish emigrants and the Bulgarian people during the years 1849–1850],” in
Wielka Emigracja i sprawa polska a Europa (1832–1864) [The Great Emigration and Poland
vs. Europe (1832–1864)], ed. Sławomir Kalembka (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu
Mikołaja Kopernika, 1980), 179–196.
12
Jeż, Od kolebki przez życie, 1:362, 3:59.
13
Ibid., 1:380.; no copy of the newspaper was believed to have survived until Georgi Parvev
discovered four (out of six) issues in Biblioteka Czartoryskich in Cracow, which were then re-
edited in print: Sławomir Kalembka, ““Odzyskany” rękopiśmienny, szumeński “Dziennik
Emigracji” z 1850 roku: reedycja [“Redicovered” handwritten “Emigration Daily” of Szumen
from 1850: re-edition],” Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici: Historia 22 (1988): 107–133.
36 Rafał T. Prinke

others replaced him as the editor, with Jastrzębski acting as the liable editor for the
penultimate (the last known) issue dated 9 August 1850. The content was political
and the newspaper was related to the underground activities of the Polish
Democratic Society (PDS), one of two rivaling parties of Polish emigration in
Western Europe, with which Jastrzębski and his friends sympathised. 14
Turkish authorities encouraged the interred soldiers to leave the country and the
first group sailed off from Varna to Malta in March 1850, and then to England or
France. Another group with Miłkowski must have left in July and went to
Southampton, from where the future novelist moved to London, in order to find a
job and continue his political activities.15 In the spring of 1851 he learned that
another group was on its way to England, so he joined the official delegate of the
PDS, Stanisław Worcell (1799–1857), and went to Liverpool to meet his friends
from Szumla and help them to start a new life in England. The ship with nearly 300
people, with Stefan Ludwik Jastrzębski among them, arrived on 4 March 1851.16
The PDS already had a network of contacts with Polish émigrés who had come after
1831 and were well established, as well as with English businessmen who could
offer jobs. They organised meetings with the Polish heroes, as the soldiers were
perceived, and many of them found new home in 23 different towns throughout
England and Scotland, establishing new local sections of the PDS wherever they
went.17 Together with many others, Ludwik Jastrzębski (now using his second name
only) signed the formal membership application on 8 March 1851, upon his
disembarkment in Liverpool, indicating “Zebrzydowice in Galicia” as his place of
birth.18 He did not stay in England long, however, and soon went to France with
another friend, where Miłkowski joined them some time later (all had false British
passports). In Paris they entered the circles of Count Ksawery Branicki (1816–
1879), whose brother Aleksander (1821–1877) was a patron of Eliphas Lévi
(1810–1875) and greatly interested in esoteric matters himself. But before they had

14
Jeż, Od kolebki przez życie, 1:381; Kalembka, ““ Odzyskany” rękopiśmienny,” 111–113.
15
Miłkowski writes he left Turkey with the first group and arrived in England in April
1850, but then he would not be able to edit the (not surviving) first issue of Dziennik
Emigracji, as he claimed; Jeż, Od kolebki przez życie, 3:59.
16
Helena Rzadkowska, Działalność Centralizacji Londyńskiej Towarzystwa Demokra-
tycznego Polskiego 1850–1862 [The activities of the London Centralisation of the Polish
Democratic Society 1850–1862], Prace Komisji Nauk Historycznych, 29 (Wrocław–War-
szawa–Kraków–Gdańsk: Ossolineum / Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1971), 42.
17
Jeż, Od kolebki przez życie, 1:464–465; Rzadkowska, Działalność Centralizacji, 42–43.
18
Lucjan Krawiec, “ Lista członków Towarzystwa Demokratycznego Polskiego z lat
1832–1851 [A list of members of the Polish Democratic Society from the years 1832–
1851],” Materiały do biografii, genealogii i heraldyki polskiej [Buenos Aires – Paris] 1
(1963): 128–132, here 129, no. 3488.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 37

a chance to meet Branicki, all Poles who came illegally from England were identified
by the police and ordered to return at the cost of the French government. They
suspected that they were denounced by the rival group of Polish emigration known
as Hotel Lambert.19 Once they were back in London, the PDS leaders decided to send
them as emissaries to Poland, to find out about the political atmosphere and
possibility to start organising people with the prospect of a new uprising. It was
decided that Jastrzębski would go to Galicia and Miłkowski to the Ukraine — the
respective areas they were from. The latter left for Poland at the turn of August and
September 1851, but it is not clear whether the former also visited Poland, as he
disappears from Miłkowski’s memoirs.20 He either stayed or returned to England by
1854, when he was already in Halifax and there he signed a declaration against the
political activities of Prince Adam Czartoryski, the leader of the Hotel Lambert party.21
In the early 1850’s there were ten sections of the PDS active in English towns
other than London, among which were those in Bradford and Halifax. The latter
represented the most radical faction of revolutionaries.22 Stefan Ludwik Jastrzębski
must have been attracted to it and thus settled down in Halifax. In 1854 a series of
meetings were held throughout England by Polish refugees, not only winning public
approval for their cause of reviving Poland, but also receiving enormous help from
industrialists and craftsmen. Those meetings attracted as many as 60,000 people (in
Staffordshire Potteries) and Jastrzębski certainly was involved in their organisation.23
He continued political activities and stood as a candidate for “Centralisation”, as the
ruling body of the PDS was called, in 1855 (with 6 votes) and 1858 (with 2 votes).24
As late as 1862 he participated in a great meeting of all political factions within
Polish emigration in the George and Blue Boar Hotel in London, at High Holborn 270,
and supported the resolution proclaiming its unity (now as Ludwik Stefan).25

19
Jeż, Od kolebki przez życie, 1:466–472.
20
Ibid., 1:473–474; Rzadkowska, Działalność Centralizacji, 44; Alina Barszczewska–
Krupa, Reforma czy rewolucja [Reform or revolution] (Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie, 1979),
275.
21
Tyrowicz, Towarzystwo Demokratyczne Polskie, 260.
22
Sławomir Kalembka, Wielka Emigracja. Polskie wychodźstwo polityczne w latach 1831–
1862 [The Great Emigration. Polish political emigration during the years 1831–1862] (War-
szawa: Wiedza Powszechna, 1971), 378–379; Rzadkowska, Działalność Centralizacji, 46.
23
——, Działalność Centralizacji, 79–80.
24
Tyrowicz, Towarzystwo Demokratyczne Polskie, 275.
25
Lidia Ciołkosz and Adam Ciołkosz, Zarys dziejów socjalizmu polskiego [An outline of
the history of Polish socialism] (Londyn: Gryf Publications, 1972), 37–38.; The Times, 1
December 1862, 25.
38 Rafał T. Prinke

Some later accounts assume that Jastrzębski lived for some time in Kidder-
minster but the only reason for that claim is the fact that in the first quarter of
1859 he married Elizabeth (Lizzy) Morgan, the daughter of Benjamin, a market
gardener in Franche near Kidderminster. Even though it is quite far from Halifax
(over 200 kilometers), both towns had close links, being important centres of carpet
industry. More detailed research on the Morgan family shows that her brother John
Lewis Morgan married a girl from Halifax, who was of exactly the same age as his
sister. He also named his farm “Halifax” after her birthplace, so it is highly probable
that Stefan Ludwik Jastrzębski met his wife either when she accompanied her
brother visiting his fiancé in Halifax or that he was a friend of John Morgan’s future
wife and went with her on a visit to Franche. Moreover, both couples got married
in Kidderminster in the same quarter of 1859 (most probably on the same day).26
The couple continued living in Halifax, where Stefan started his own business as
a tobacconist and was naturalised on 6 November 1873 as a former Austrian sub-
ject.27 The year of his death remains unknown but he was still alive in 1891, when
he announced bankruptcy at the age of 68.28 In the census of 1901 his wife Lizzie
was already listed as a widow and she was still alive at the time of the next census
in April 1911.29 She died in the third quarter of 1918 at the age of 80. They had
three sons born in Halifax soon after their marriage: Bogdan Edward (1860),
Thaddeus Theodore (1862) and Louis Stanley (1868).30 All three of them made
exceptional careers in England, truly amazing for the sons of a poor immigrant and
a gardener’s daughter.31 When they died, their friends and co-workers wrote

26
The vital details are provided in the pedigree chart, which I have compiled from
information found in the online databases: freeCEN, freeREG, freeBMD, and from the
excellent HKP Building Reports of the Kidderminster Civic Society at: http://kidderminster
civicsociety.btck.co.uk/HKPBuildingReports. The chairman of the Historic Kidderminster
Project is a writer and local historian Nigel Gilbert, who kindly checked my research on the
Morgans and confirmed my hypothesis.
27
Mieczysław Paszkiewicz, “Polacy naturalizowani w Wielkiej Brytanii w XIX wieku [Poles
naturalised in Great Britain in the 19th century],” Materiały do biografii, genealogii i heraldyki
polskiej [Buenos Aires – Paris] 3 (1966): 65–116, here 89, application no. 1161.
28
“Receiving orders,” The London Gazette, April 28 1891, 2342; “Notices of release of
trustees,” The London Gazette, December 29 1891; information found and kindly supplied
by Roger Beasley.
29
Census data kindly supplied by Roger Beasley.
30
The genealogical details I have been able to find are summarised in the pedigree chart,
compiled from the data in online databases: freeCEN, freeREG, freeBMD; from information
found in the sources and publications cited in the text, and kindly provided by Yorkshire
local historians Malcolm Bull, Roger Beasley, and Kai Roberts.
31
Maria Danielewiczowa, “Trzej bracia: Edwards, Jastrzębski i Jast, [Three brothers:
Edwards, Jastrzębski and Jast]” Wiadomości [London], no. 1084 (1967): 2.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 39

biographical memorials (two of them were published), and the youngest brother has
his entries in encyclopedias and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography — a
truly rare distinction.32
Bogdan, later known as B. E. J. Edwards or
Dr. Edwards, studied medicine in Edinbourgh
at the time when Arthur Conan Doyle was also
a student there. Later he became a successful
general practitioner in Brighouse and was also
appointed Medical Officer of Health. He was
actively promoting St. John’s Ambulance Bri-
gade (for which he received the Order of St
John of Jerusalem) and was an early leader of
local Boy Scouts. During World War I Bogdan
Jastrzębski Edwards was instrumental in es-
tablishing and managing Auxiliary War Hospi-
tals in Boothroyde and Longroyde, for which
he received Medal of the British Empire and
Royal Red Cross. In 1887 he married Henrietta
Palmer of Halifax, daughter of a master tailor,
and they had four children, of whom two had
Fig. 6. Thaddeus Theodore Ślepowron died by 1911 and the son Harold in 1917 (at
de Jastrzębski (1862–1930) the age of 26 but it is not clear if he fought in
(Courtesy of Halifax Central Library,
Calderdale Council)
the war). Their daughter Elsie remained

32
Those works contain much biographical and professional information which I only
briefly summarise: Vaughan Bateson, Masonic secrets and the ancient mysteries: A memorial
lecture to the late Arch-President Brother Doctor Edwards, delivered to the Garuda Temple,
The August Order of Light (Bradford: Privately printed by the Clarence Press for The August
Order of Light, 1923).; I am indebted to Jennifer Rampling, the alchemical scholar of Cam-
bridge and Princeton, for making for me a photographic copy of the Bodleian Library copy
of this rare publication (200 copies were printed), and to Martin Cherry of the Library and
Museum of Freemasonry in London for providing high quality scans of the selected pages
reproduced here; W. T. Harverson, “Memoir of T. T. S. de Jastrzebski “Thaddeus”,”(The Ferns,
Eastbourne: Central Library, Halifax / MS B JAS, HT 28130245, 1932).; a copy of the type-
script kindly provided by Anne Jackson and Katie Warriner of the Halifax Central Library;
W. G. Fry and W. A. Munford, Louis Stanley Jast: A biographical sketch (London: The Library
Association, 1966); James G. Ollé, “Jast, Louis Stanley (1868–1944),” in World encyclopedia
of library and information services, ed. Robert Wedgeworth (Chicago: American Library
Association, 1993), 411–412; K. A. Manley, “Jast, Louis Stanley (1868–1944),” in Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
40 Rafał T. Prinke

unmarried and died in 1964 in Halifax, being the last descendant of Stefan
Ludwik.33
Bogdan’s younger brother Thaddeus retained the Polish surname throughout his
life and also used the name of the heraldic clan in the form “Ślepowron de
Jastrzębski”, usually abbreviated to “T. T. S. de Jastrzebski”, while his friends referred
to him as “Shamski” due to the difficulty of pronouncing it properly. In 1881 he
passed the Civil Service Examination and started his work in the General Register
Office, where he eventually reached the position of Assistant Registrar General and
head of the Statistical and Intelligence Branch. He not only organised censuses in
England, but also ran many other statistical projects and wrote articles for the
Encyclopaedia Britannica and scientific journals. During World War I he created the
Belgian Refugee Register,34 for which he was created Chevalier de l’Ordre de Leopold
in 1919. A prominent fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and contributor to its
journal,35 as well as of the American Academy of Social and Political Science,
Thaddeus de Jastrzębski also gave public lectures on a variety of topics, was involved
in the Working Men’s College, wrote for daily newspapers, authored a short novel
Lottery of Death (as Stanley Stevens), the libretto for a comic opera Guinevere, or Love
laughs at law (staged at Kilburn Town Hall in 1890), and a volume of poetry
Downland and other verses.36 In 1890 he married Frances Elizabeth, a daughter of
Abraham Thackrah, ironmonger in Halifax. Of their two children, Hubert died of
wounds as a volunteer in World War I, while Norah married Albert Wespi of
Lausanne, where her father moved shortly before his death in 1930. Norah died in
1956 without issue.37
The youngest brother, Louis Stanley (who shortened his surname in 1895 and was
later known as L. Stanley Jast), was even more successful. He pursued the career of
a public librarian, assuming the position of the chief librarian in Peterborough, then
in Croydon, and eventually in Manchester. He introduced many innovative ideas into
English libraries (such as free shelf access, cataloguing by Dewey classification,
interlibrary loans, mobile library service, and even ordering books by telephone) and

33
The biographers of Stanley Jast had access to her papers (now probably lost) and in
the preface they thanked “the late Miss Elsie Edwards (Jast’s niece) for books, cuttings and
other information”; Fry and Munford, Louis Stanley Jast, ix.
34
T. T. S. de Jastrzebski, “The Register of Belgian Refugees,” Journal of the Royal
Statistical Society 79, no. 2 (1916): 133–158.
35
“Obituary,” ibid., 93, (1930): 629.
36
S. de J. [T. T. S. de Jastrzebski], Downland and other verses (London: Maclaren & Sons,
1929).
37
Testament of Albert Wespi, Eidg. Winkelried-Stiftung, Archives fédérales suisses AFS,
Bern, Ref. code: E7001C#1975/32#304*.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 41

published many articles in professional journals

(Library World, Library Association Record and
Library Review). Some of Jast’s lectures and es-
says presenting his ideas on such novelty topics
as libraries for children or collecting photo-
graphs, were published in print.38 The most
important of those was the pamphlet of 1927,
in which he presented his vision of an ideal lib-
rary, which was realised a few years later in the
design of the Manchester Central Library, on
which he worked with the architect Vincent
Harris.39
In the Library Association, of which he was
the honorary secretary from 1904 to 1915,
Louis Stanley Jast met Ethel Winifred Austin, a
pioneer of library services for blind people and
developer of the National Library for the
Blind.40 They engaged to be married after the Fig. 7. Louis Stanley Jast (1868–1944)
war but in 1918 Winifred died, upon which (Courtesy of Manchester Libraries,
Jast wrote a play entitled The lover and the Information and Archives,
dead woman. In 1925 he married Millicent Manchester City Council)

Beatrice Murby, an active feminist, suffragette,

and prominent Fabian Society member (the treasurer of its Women's Group), who had
earlier been an amateur actress and theatre producer. She ran the private New Stage
Club which staged plays by George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen and others, then
banned in England. Murby herself played the main role in Oscar Wilde’s Salomé
(1905), directed by Florence Farr, as well as produced and directed other plays41. She

38
H. D. Gower, Louis Stanley Jast, and William Whiteman Topley, The camera as
historian: A handbook to photographic record work for those who use a camera and for
survey or record societies (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1916); Louis Stanley
Jast, The child as reader (London: Libraco Ltd., 1927); ——, Libraries and living: Essays and
addresses of a public librarian (London: Grafton & Co., 1932); ——, The provision of books
for children in elementary schools (London: Libraco Ltd., 1928); ——, The library and the
community (London – New York: T. Nelson & Sons, 1939).
39
——, The planning of a great library: A lecture delivered in the School of Librarianship
at University College, London, December 10 th, 1926 (London: Libraco Ltd., 1927).
40
K. A. Manley, “Austin, (Ethel) Winifred (1873–1918),” in Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004a).
41
She published articles on feminism in The New Age weekly in 1908, a small book
issued by its press: Millicent Murby, The common sense of the woman question (London:
New Age Press, 1908); and gave lectures on such topics as “Sex and society: A few radical
42 Rafał T. Prinke

also translated some philosophical works by Henri Bergson and corresponded with
him. Her involvement in the avant-garde theatre earlier in the century may have been
what attracted Stanley Jast to her, because he was also an amateur playwright and
poet.42 His dramas were staged by The Unnamed Society, co-founded by him, which
later developed into the Manchester Library Theatre.43
According to the testimonies collected by their biographers, all three Jastrzębski
brothers were not only excellent public speakers, but brilliant conversationalists as
well, and had exceptional linguistic abilities. Their father ensured that they had at
least some command of Polish and they also certainly learned French. Thaddeus
was fascinated with German poetry, which he read in original, while Bogdan and
Stanley studied ancient and exotic languages. Most importantly, they were avid
readers and writers, with a love for books inherited from their father. It is surprising
how a Polish exiled soldier, who arrived in England as a penniless refugee and
certainly not speaking a word of English, soon built up a library of literary classics
in the language of his new country. As Stanley Jast later remembered:

I was fortunate that I grew up in a house full of books, some of which were
children’s books, but many of them, most of them in fact, would not be
considered as falling into this category. Hence I read, or tried to read, nearly
everything at hand, for my father — wisely, as I think — imposed upon us no
taboos. I could not have been more than twelve or thirteen when I devoured
the Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau [...] but though I remember the thrill
of the episode with Mme de Warrens, it was all so vaguely realised that I am
not aware that it did me any particular harm — any more than reading about
pirates and bloody encounters on the field of battle increased my natural
ferocity. Hence my belief that a fairly normal boy or girl can read anything that
is literature without ill-effects; at all events that to forbid books is likely to have
effects that are worse.44

considerations”; see her summary of several such lectures in: Sally Alexander, ed. Women's
Fabian tracts, Women's Source Library, 7 (London: Routledge, 1988), 105–128.
42
Louis Stanley Jast, Poems and epigrams: Yet speaketh (Keighley: Wadsworth & Co., The
Rydal Press, n.d.); ——, The lover and the dead woman, and five other plays in verse (London
/ New York: George Routledge and Sons Ltd. / E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923); ——, Shah Jahan:
A play in five acts (London: Grafton & Co., 1934); ——, What happened to a library book
(London: Libraco Ltd., 1928).; the last one is written in verse for children.; for a brief
discussion and samples of his poetry see: Sally Davies, “Stanley Jast as Poet,” 17 October
2013; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GD/STANLEYPOET.htm.
43
More information on the Society’s activities, with pictures of costume designs,
photographs and details of other Jast’s plays staged there can be found in: Louis Stanley Jast,
L. Sladen-Smith, and Eric Newton, The unnamed book (Manchester: Sherratt and Hughes,
1924).
44
Jast, Libraries and living, 138.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 43

Such liberal atmosphere and appreciation of the value of book knowledge at the
Jastrzębskis’ home in Halifax was certainly responsible for the fact that all the three
brothers pursued literary activities in their spare time, and two of them — Bogdan
and Stanley — developed a lifelong interest in esotericism. It is unclear when and
why Bogdan became interested in it, while Stanley may have picked it up from his
elder brother. The earliest certain information is of Bogdan joining the newly
founded Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Stanley following in his footsteps
less than a year later.
The Golden Dawn was formally established on 12 February 1888 by the three
Chiefs — William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell
MacGregor Mathers — and on 1 March the first nine candidates were initiated in
the Isis-Urania Temple No. 3 in London. Two of them were from Weston-super-
Mare, where the Osiris Temple No. 4 was to be located in October of the same year,
and one was from Baildon near Bradford. His name was Thomas Henry Pattinson,
a watch and clock maker and repairer by occupation, who had already been an
enthusiastic esotericist for a number of years. The area of West Yorkshire seems to
have been a centre of occult activity in the 1870’s and 1880’s, partly under the
patronage of Rev. William Alexander Ayton (1816–1908), an Anglican clergyman
and practising alchemist.45 He met Pattinson in 1881 or 1882 and intended to
organise a lodge for the study of occultism in Bradford.46 Although he was a
freemason, he never joined the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, the masonic body
from which most of the early members of the Golden Dawn were recruited, as all the
three Chiefs were active members and W. R. Woodman was its head (Supreme
Magus) at the time.47 Pattinson also became a freemason (initiated in the local lodge
of Baildon No. 1545) and was admitted into Societas Rosicruciana, where he

45
A concise biography researched by Ellic Howe is included in his edition of Ayton’s
correspondence: Ellic Howe, ed. The alchemist of the Golden Dawn: The letters of the Revd
W. A. Ayton to F. L. Gardner and others 1886–1905, Roots of the Golden Dawn Series
(Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1985), 10–13.; for a more detailed discussion of his
Golden Dawn involvement see: R. A. Gilbert, Revelations of the Golden Dawn: the rise and fall
of a magical order (London: Quantum, 1997), 149–158.; a detailed biography, including
family history and occult activities can be found in two online publications: Sally Davies,
“William Alexander Ayton — family history,” 6 June 2013; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.
blueyonder.co.uk/GD/AYTONSFAMCH.htm.; and ——,“ William Alexander Ayton — occult
activities,” 22 June 2013; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GD/AYTONSOCCULT
LIFE.htm.
46
Gilbert, Revelations of the Golden Dawn, 153; ——, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric
Section (London: Theosophical History Centre, 1987), 10–11. (here the approximate year
they “became occultly acquainted” is quoted from Ayton’s lecture of 1890).
47
Howe, The alchemist of the Golden Dawn, 12–13.
44 Rafał T. Prinke

immediately received an honorary 8th degree.48 In March 1888 Pattinson was

enlisted as a member of the Correspondence Circle of the prestigious Quatuor
Coronati masonic research lodge, in which William Wynn Westcott was the Junior
Warden (third highest officer).49 He was thus recognised as “a zealous member of
the Soc. Ros. and the Theosophical Society”50, the latter of which he may have joined
some time earlier together with Ayton,51 and was certainly on friendly terms with
the Chiefs of the Golden Dawn still before his initiation. Soon after the initiation (still
in March), Pattinson wrote to Westcott: “I find 7 interested friends all ready to fall
in with the idea of forming a G. D. here in Bradford [...]. 5 out of the 7 are old occult
students [...]. I dare say 3 of us could come to London and then be initiated there,
afterwards make arrangements for a Lodge up here”.52 It was on Pattinson’s and his
friend J. Leech Atherton’s initiative,53 and with Ayton’s support, that the Horus
Temple No. 5 was established in Bradford on 10 October 1888 (consecrated by
Westcott or Mathers on 19 October).54 Earlier, on 10 June 1888, he was appointed
the Provincial Hierophant, responsible for recruiting new members in Yorkshire.55
The first six of Pattinson’s recruits included five men from Bradford and one
from Baildon, where he also lived himself. They were all initiated in London (four
in May and two in September), while the very first member ritually admitted into the
Horus Temple (and the 52nd member of the Golden Dawn) was “Dr Bogdan E.

48
——, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 54.
49
St. John's card of the lodge Quatuor Coronati, No. 2076, London, (Margate: insert of
Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 3, 1890), 22, no. 711.
50
——, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 45.
51
Gilbert, Revelations of the Golden Dawn, 153.
52
——, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 10.
53
He was a Congregationalist minister; for a detailed biography see: Sally Davies,
“Jeremiah Leech Atherton,” 19 January 2013; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
/GD/ATHERTONJL.htm.
54
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn companion, 35 (consecrator not named); ——, The Golden
Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 10 (“consecrated by Westcott on 19 October”); Howe, The
magicians of the Golden Dawn, 54 (“consecrated by Mathers at a ceremony held at the
Alexandra Hotel on 9 October” — probably this information is outdated but as neither
publication has a source reference, it is difficult to decide which of the two versions is
correct).
55
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn companion, 133–134; Marie Campbell, Strange world of the
Brontës (Wilmslow, Cheshire: Sigma Leisure, 2001), 175; this local history book contains
some factual information I could not find in other publications on the Golden Dawn; it
appears to be well-researched but has no footnotes; in 2011 I contacted the author who had
just moved to a new house and her old notes were not accessible.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 45

Jastryebwski” of Brighouse, who took the order motto “Deus Lux Solis”.56 The cere-
mony took place in the Alexandra Hotel at Great Horton Road (there is a car park
on its site now), where the Horus Temple found its first home.57 The hotel’s owner,
Carlo Faro, was initiated at the same ceremony (but remained only a nominal
member), together with three other neophytes (two from Bradford, one from
Baildon). During the following year only two new members were acquired, one of
whom was “Lewis Stanley de Jastryebwski” of Halifax with the motto “Fiat Lux”.
Three years later, on 20 March 1892, “Mrs Dr Edwards” of Brighouse (i.e. Henrietta,
Bogdan’s wife) joined the Order and chose the motto “Spes et Caritas”. She
eventually reached only the second degree but the brothers advanced to the Second
Order, with Bogdan passing through the 5=6 degree on 25 February 1893 and his
brother following him on 12 January 1897. It is clear that Stanley and Henrietta
were recruited by Bogdan, while he must have been known to Pattinson earlier,
most probably being one of the original “7 interested friends” or maybe even “5 old
occult students”, and that was why he had invited him to be the first initiate of the
Horus Temple. Because Bogdan Jastrzębski was not a freemason until much later
and did not live in Bradford, they must have met through other esoteric contacts.
The Theosophical Society, which Pattinson may have joined together with Ayton
at an early date, did not spread its activities beyond London until 1889,58 so it is
doubtful that he would have met Jastrzębski in it. There was, however, enough
occult activity going on in and around Bradford. As early as July 1884, the British
and Foreign Society of Occultists started publishing a journal entitled The Seer and
Celestial Reformer (from 1885 until 1889 it appeared as The Occultist). The moving
spirit behind it was John Thomas (Charubel, 1826–1908) and the society had a
secret inner order called the Celestial Brotherhood, quite similar to the Golden Dawn
in its structure.59 Thomas lived in Cheshire but the journal “was produced at
Bradford in Yorkshire and it was here that a number of his scattered occultists lived,
among them some of his regular contributors”.60 The authors all wrote under

56
Unless indicated otherwise, all data on initiation dates and mottoes of the Golden Dawn
members are quoted after the authoritative listing in: Gilbert, The Golden Dawn companion,
124–175.
57
The name of the hotel was Alexandra, not Alexander, as misprinted in: ibid., 134., but
correct on p. 36, and in: Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 54.
58
A. P. Sinnett, The early days of theosophy in Europe (London: Theosophical Publishing
House, 1922), 96–97.
59
Robert A. Gilbert, “The disappointed magus: John Thomas and his “Celestial Brother-
hood”,” Theosophical History 8, no. 3 (2000): 98–111.
60
Ibid., 101.; title pages are reproduced in: Joscelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel, and John
Patrick Deveney, The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and historical documents of
an order of practical occultism (York Beach: Samuel Weiser Inc., 1995), 304, 313.
46 Rafał T. Prinke

pseudonyms and some of them contributed also to The Lamp of Thoth, a handwritten
journal produced by the Order of the Dew and the Light (otherwise called the Ros
Crux Fratres), with its headquarters in Keighley near Bradford and neighbouring on
Baildon, where Pattinson lived.61 Still another journal, The Occult Magazine, was
published by The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor in Glasgow from early 1885 until
the end of 1886, again with some of the same authors, most notably David Lund or
“Zanoni”, the secretary of the Society of the Dew and the Light.62
The Rosicrucian Brotherhood of Keighley was clearly seen as an important rival
by both the expanding Theosophical Society and the newly founded Golden Dawn.
The former printed in its most important journal Lucifer of 1889 an editorial note
decrying the society and its head “Mr. Joseph Blackburn, of Keighley”, especially for
his use of the pseudonym “Magus”, accusing him and his pseudonymous colleague
“Dr. Dulcamara” of being “the bitterest enemies and persecutors of Theosophy”. This
was followed by a fierce exposure signed by “One who has been duped”, i. e. a
former member of the group. According to him that “bogus occult society [...] has
members in almost every town in England” and is mostly preoccupied with
practicing black magic. “One man [...] tries to project himself on the astral plane and
beget astral children”, while other members “boast that they sacrifice kids and they
already sacrificed two”, for which purpose one of them “keeps a goat that is heavy
with kid at present, no doubt intended for this use”. Right after that followed a
statement from S. L. MacGregor Mathers in the name of the Metropolitan College
of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (of which he was then the secretary) dis-
claiming any connection with the Order of the Dew and the Light and explaining
that they are false pretenders. He also added, taking the opportunity of advertising
his own order, that the “Fratres and Sorores” of true “Rosicrucian G. D.” should
“warn the unwary and uninitiated” that their rivals do not possess “our ancient and
secret knowledge”. David Lund responded to it in the August issue of Lucifer with
a lengthy text refuting all the accusations, to which the “One who has been duped”
replied with more condemnations, supported by quotations from the minutes of the
Keighley Rosicrucians’ meetings and fragments from the rituals of the Order. It was

61
Some of the content was reprinted in the occult magazine of the same title which was
published in Leeds in the 1980’s by The Sorcerer’s Apprentice bookshop and edited by its
owner Chris Bray, who is in possession of the only known copies of the original journal.
62
Some confusion was introduced by: Godwin, Chanel, and Deveney, The Hermetic
Brotherhood of Luxor, 303–340, where the authors state The Occultist and The Occult
Magazine were the same journal which changed its title, while both continued independently
after the initial and unsuccessful attempt of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor to take over
the former; see: Gilbert, “The disappointed magus,” 100.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 47

followed again by a short statement on behalf of the Societas Rosicruciana (this time
with no reference to the Golden Dawn) by William Wynn Westcott. 63
The secretary of the Order of the Dew and the Light stated that he knew who the
“One who has been duped” was and “in fact there is a trio of them, two of whom
have been suspended from the Brotherhood of Ros Crux Fratres, and the other is a
most unfortunate and disappointed man”. R. A. Gilbert identifies “the nameless
Dupe” as probably T. H. Pattinson, so it is likewise possible that one of the others
may have been Bogdan Jastrzębski.64 But Pattinson was also a member of the
Celestial Brotherhood of John Thomas, from which he and Ayton withdrew probably
in 1885.65 Because Jastrzębski only graduated from the University of Edinburgh in
1884, it is rather doubtful he may have joined Thomas’ group at that early age.
Studying in Scotland, however, he may have had contacts with the Hermetic
Brotherhood of Luxor, operating from Glasgow. Ayton was seriously involved in it
and even became the Provincial Grand Master of the South (i.e. England)66 before
he “discovered its true nature” and left it in 1885 or 1886.67 Thomas Pattinson also
intended to become a member of it but his application was rejected (as testified by
Ayton’s letter of 1885) and two years later it was most probably he who wrote an
article for The Theosophist, signing it as “A Victim” and denouncing both the
Brotherhood of Luxor and the Keighley Rosicrucians as black magicians or
swindlers.68 Whether Bogdan Jastrzębski was a member of one of those organi-
sations or not, he most certainly belonged together with Pattinson to the group of
Ayton’s “Yorkshire chelas”, as he called them, and that is why he was the first
person initiated into the Golden Dawn in the newly consecrated Horus Temple in

63
“We copy...” [Editor]; “The Dew and the Light” by One who has been duped;
“Rosicrucian Society of England” by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, Lucifer 4 (June) (1889):
348–351; “To the Editor of Lucifer” by David Lund; “To the Editor of Lucifer” by One who
has been duped; “To the Editor of Lucifer” by W. W. Westcott, Lucifer 4 (August) (1889):
511–518; see also: Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 47–48; R. A. Gilbert, The
Golden Dawn : twilight of the magicians (Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1983), 30–31;
Gilbert, “The disappointed magus,” 101.
64
Gilbert, Twilight of the magicians, 31.
65
Gilbert, “The disappointed magus,” 104; in 1890, writing to John Yarker, who became
a member of the Celestial Brotherhood, Thomas called Pattinson a renegade and his foe
(together with two others), while he respected Ayton and only remarked that he had “grown
cold” towards him (ibid., 105).
66
Godwin, Chanel, and Deveney, The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, 87, 345–348.
67
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 17.
68
Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 55; Godwin, Chanel, and Deveney, The
Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, 3; the whole article is reprinted on p. 365–369.; Ayton’s
statement shows that the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was active in Bradford and Leeds
as early as 1882.
48 Rafał T. Prinke

Bradford. Ayton himself (and his wife) joined the Golden Dawn in London in July
1888 but was immediately made an honorary member of the Bradford Temple by
Pattinson, to keep the cordial relationship with their guru.69
Both Frater Deus Lux Solis and Frater Fiat Lux were sincere about their Golden
Dawn membership. As already noted above, they were received into the Second
Order as two of only fourteen members (out of fifty four initiated before 1897) of
the Horus Temple to reach the 5=6 degree. Manuscript copies of some rituals in the
hand of Bogdan Jastrzębski survived in a private collection and in 2008 were
purchased by the Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London, catalogued as
Rituals U, J, Z of Rosea Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, the Inner or Second Order of the
Golden Dawn (dated 1996–1897, GBR 1991 GD 2/1/15). The same collection also
preserved a manuscript by his brother Stanley, containing a transcription of an
alchemical text entitled A true revelation of the Manual Operation for the Universal
Medicine called the Philosopher’s Stone, by the Celebrated Philosoper of Leyden, as
attested upon his death bed with his own blood 1662. Interestingly, it was bound
into one volume together with some rituals and other texts, mostly transcribed by
Ayton, known for his special interest in alchemy (Ritual of Tiphereth etc., dated c.
1894–1901, GBR 1991 GD 2/1/11).
The situation in the Horus Temple became tense in 1892 when Francis Drake
Harrison, the Cancellarius (one of the three Chiefs of the Temple), and Oliver Firth70
started to behave improperly, making fun of the rituals, showing disobedience to
their superiors, and commenting the Order’s teachings with disdain. The situation
became so problematic that the other two Chiefs — Imperator (J. Leech Atherton)
and Praemonstrator (Thomas Henry Pattinson) — resigned and asked the London
headquarters for intervention. When it was confirmed, William Wynn Westcott took
charge of the Horus Temple and ruled it until 1897, while the disobedient members
were expelled (together with Florence Spink, now Firth’s wife, John Midgley and
Edward Mackey).71 In 1897 Pattinson became the Imperator, Atherton was elected
as the new Cancellarius and the office of the Praemonstrator was taken over by B.
E. J. Edwards or Bogdan Jastrzębski. They signed with these functions a summons
for a meeting dated 11 March 189872 and a printed circular letter dated 6 October

69
Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 55.
70
For detailed information on him and his wife see: Sally Davies, “Oliver Firth,” 28 August
2014; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GD/FIRTHOANDF.htm.
71
The turbulence in the Horus Temple is discussed and documented in: Howe, The
magicians of the Golden Dawn, 110–112; Gilbert, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section,
10–14; ——, Revelations of the Golden Dawn, 41–44.
72
Library and Museum of Freemasonry, GBR 1991 GD 2/3/3/7f, Summonses of the
Horus Temple, No. 5, Bradford, Yorkshire.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 49

Fig. 2. First title page of Dr Edwards Fig. 3. Main title page of Masonic Secrets, a lecture
Memorial (Courtesy of The Library by Vaughan Bateson, dedicated to the memory of Dr
and Museum of Freemasonry, London) Edwards or Bogdan Jastrzębski (Courtesy of The
Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London)

Fig. 4. A page from Masonic Secrets, Fig. 5. Early chiefs of the Order of Light,
listing the professional and masonic acheivements from the appendix to Masonic Secrets
of Bogdan Jastrzębski (Courtesy of The Library and (Courtesy of The Library and Museum of
Museum of Freemasonry, London) Freemasonry, London)
50 Rafał T. Prinke

1900, from which it is known that there was a project to purchase a room in
Bradford to be used for Temple meetings.73 From July 1893, when the owner of the
Alexandra Hotel became bankrupt, they met in the Masonic Rooms at Salem Street
in Bradford. The purchase was most probably not realised but when in 1983
Egyptian style murals were discovered in the attic of Gobbles Restaurant in Godwin
Street, with Horus as one of the main figures, it was suggested that they were the
remains of the Golden Dawn Horus Temple but eventually it turned out that the
mural (which no longer exists) was from the 1950’s.74
The three men held their offices until 1902 and it can be argued that technically
Horus No. 5 was the last surviving temple of the original Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn and thus Jastrzębski was the Rosicrucian Brotherhood’s last acting
Praemonstrator. Of the original three Chiefs of the whole Order and co-founders of
the Golden Dawn, William Robert Woodman had died in 1891, his position as the
Imperator was taken over by Mathers, while William Wynn Westcott became the
Praemonstrator and the office of Cancellarius remained vacant.75 Westcott resigned
from all offices in the Golden Dawn in March 1897, probably forced to do so by
Mathers,76 who designated Florence Farr to replace him as the “Chief Adept in
charge in Anglia”.77 Although Mathers (residing in Paris) now considered himself to
be the sole and autocratic head of the Order, formally Farr was his equal as the other
Chief Adept. So after the turbulences of early 1900 and open rebellion of several
senior members in London, Mathers dismissed Florence Farr from her office in a letter
of 23 March.78 The Committee formed by the rebels stroke back and deposed Mathers
at a meeting on 29 March. On 19 April he was formally suspended as a member (so
actually expelled), together with those remaining loyal to him.79 Two days later a new
Constitution of the Order was drawn up and the Executive to run it was elected,

73
Edited in: Gilbert, The Golden Dawn companion, 36–37; the original is reproduced in:
——, Revelations of the Golden Dawn, 41.
74
A series of articles in Bradford Star of November 1983, referred to by: Kai Roberts,
“The Victorian Occult Revival in West Yorkshire,” (2010)
75
The story of the Order’s decomposition presented in: Francis King, Ritual magic in
England (London: Neville Spearman, 1970), 69–72, should be used with care, as it was
superceded by the magisterial monograph of Ellic Howe, which was in turn supplemented
by numerous authoritative publications of R. A. Gilbert.
76
Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 165–166.; a letter to Frederick Leigh
Gardner of March 17; Gilbert, Twilight of the magicians, 40.
77
Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 169; an undated (end of March ) letter from
Westcott to Gardner.
78
Ibid., 214.
79
Ibid., 226.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 51

consisting of three adepti, with Florence Farr as the Moderator.80 On 23 April Aleister
Crowley, acting as Mathers’ emissary, in turn expelled five leaders of the rebellion
(including Florence Farr) from both Orders of the Golden Dawn.81 Thus Westcott
became the only Chief Adept who remained in the Order.
While the rebels took over the original Isis-Urania Temple No. 3 in London,
Mathers continued to run the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris. The Amen-Ra Temple
No. 6 in Ediburgh remained loyal to him, and a rival Isis Temple in London was set
up by Edward Berrige, assisted by Westcott as his advisor (even though he was in
fierce conflict with Mathers).82 Because the Osiris Temple No. 4 in Weston-super-
Mare had ceased operating in 1895, it follows that the Horus Temple No. 5 in
Bradford was the only one that stayed neutral and thus was the last of the original
Golden Dawn temples. It not only did not join the dissenters, but rejected Mathers’
authority, accepting that of the retired (but not expelled) Chief Adept. A declaration
to that effect (in Westcott’s handwriting) was signed by T. H. Pattinson, the Im-
perator of the Horus Temple, on 11 June 1900.83 The position of William Wynn
Westcott was described by R. A. Gilbert as “firmly on the fence, but with sym-
pathetic gestures to one side or the other as it suited him”, so he was likewise trying
to maintain neutrality.84 Formally Westcott was now “Adeptus Emeritus”, but
Mathers recognised his authority and suspected that the conspirators in London
had asked him to become the Chief of the Order, once they got rid of himself.85 They
were, however, equally afraid that he would side with Mathers and return as the
Head of the Order in England, claiming his authority over what remained of the
Golden Dawn.86 If such were the opinions of the fighting parties, it may be argued
that William Wynn Westcott was indeed the last Head of the original Golden Dawn
and the Horus Temple with Bogdan Jastrzębski-Edwards as its Praemonstrator was
the final chapter in the history of the magical order, as it was originally conceived
and founded in 1888. That chapter was closed in 1902 with a meeting which took
place on 9 January at 81 King’s Arcade in Bradford. The participants were “eighteen
men (sixteen from the Horus Temple, whose total membership was then twenty-
one)” and the object was the foundation of a new temple of a completely different

80
Ibid., 228.
81
Ibid., 229.
82
Gilbert, Twilight of the magicians, 42.
83
——, Revelations of the Golden Dawn, 81.
84
Ibid., 181.
85
Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn, 230.
86
Ibid., 245–246.
52 Rafał T. Prinke

occult order called the August and Oriental Order of Light.87 The original member-
ship register starts with “T. H. Pattinson” and “Dr. Edwards”, with “Dr. W. Wynn
Westcott” on the third position.88 The involvement of Westcott was quite perma-
nent, because ten years later he intended to “let Pattinson and Edwards have my
Theosoph[ical] papers and the Order of Light and Sat Bhai and Order of Perfection
papers”.89 He also called The Order of Light “a semi-Rosicrucian institution”, fitting
it into his favourite tradition without any obvious reason other than that he himself
was its “Chief of the Council of Instruction (Agni)”. 90
Before discussing that next phase of Bogdan Jastrzębski’s esoteric career after
the Horus Temple No. 5 of the Golden Dawn was transmuted into the Garuda
Temple No. 1 of the Order of Light, it is necessary to go back and examine his and
Stanley’s involvement in the Theosophical Society during the 1890’s, because it was
at that point that the occult interests of the two Jastrzębski brothers parted and
they went their own paths. When the Golden Dawn Temple was established in
Bradford in 1888, its patron, Rev. William Alexander Ayton, “encouraged the
members to support Theosophy”, of which society he and Pattinson had already
been “zealous members”.91 Bogdan Jastrzębski joined it together with “a Bradford
batch of people, almost all of whom were in the GD as well” early in 1889,92 his wife
Henrietta in late 1893 (when she had already been a Golden Dawn soror for over
a year),93 while his brother Stanley also “received the diploma of Fellowship of the

87
Campbell, Strange world of the Brontës, 178.
88
The scan is available on the Order’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/augustorder
oflight/temples/temple1; comparing the names of the founders with those in: Gilbert, The
Golden Dawn companion, only ten appear to be the same. But the membership roll and
address book used by Gilbert contains Horus members up to 1896 only, so others may have
joined it later and there may have been sixteen, as Campbell states without a source
reference.
89
Ibid., 23; the presence of Westcott is also confirmed by Will Read’s printed comment
to: Ellic Howe, “Fringe masonry in England, 1870–85,” Ars Quatuor Coronatorum 85 (1972):
242–295.
90
William Wynn Westcott, “Data of the history of the Rosicrucians (2nd ed., 1916),” in
The magical mason: Forgotten Hermetic writings of William Wynn Westcott, physician and
magus, ed. R. A. Gilbert, Roots of the Golden Dawn Series (Wellingsborough, Northamp-
tonshire: The Aquarian Press, 1983), 28–39, here 37.
91
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 11.
92
Sally Davies, “Bogdan Edward Jastrzebski Edwards,” 16 September 2013; http://www.
wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GD/BOGDANH.htm.; the information comes from “Theo-
sophical Society Membership Register”, vol. Jan 1889–Sep 1891, p. 106 but exact date is
not given.
93
Recorded in the volume of “Theosophical Society Membership Register” for
Jun1893–Mar1895 on p. 65: ibid.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 53

Theosophical Society in 1889”, so probably right after he entered the Golden

Dawn.94 At the time he was still living with his parents in Halifax and started his
professional career at the Public Library there. Early in 1890 “a class for the study
of Theosophy has been formed by L. S. De Jastrzebski, F.T.S., and others, and is now
[November 1890] under the direction of F. Strickland, F.T.S.”.95 This was Francis
Strickland, who was to be initiated into the Golden Dawn Horus Temple — certainly
upon Stanley’s encouragement — in July 1891, but resigned in 1893. Also in
December 1890 Stanley Jastrzębski had a long article published in the Lucifer
journal,96 while in August he contributed a paper entitled “Dogmatism and
Theosophic Brotherhood” to The Agnostic Journal and Eclectic Review, which was
followed by a series of articles “Theosophy on the defence”, printed weekly from 8
November untill 17 January 1891. At about the same time he “set up a
Theosophical Lending Library (in Halifax) with the help of a donation of a box of
books from the Countess Wachtmeister”.97
According to the history of theosophy in Bradford compiled in 1941 by Robert
Clayton, before 1891 the first informal group of theosophical students met regularly
(every week) for some years at Baildon (certainly in Pattinson’s house) and at the
nearby Frizinghall (perhaps at the home of Luther Hill, who later joined the Golden
Dawn in November 1891 but soon resigned). On 4 February 1891 a charter was
granted to Bradford theosophists for founding a lodge in that town.98 The first
meeting took place on the very next day and “of the eighteen founding members all
save two were members of Horus Temple, while the only officer of the Lodge who
was not a member — John Midgley, the Secretary — was initiated in the following
June”.99 Only three Horus members were not present but both Bogdan (“Dr. B. E. J.
Edwards”) and Stanley (“L. S. Jastrzebski”) arrived and their names were recorded
in the minute book.100 The latter did not come to meetings regularly and remained
a member for a year only, which is understandable, because he then moved from

94
Fry and Munford, Louis Stanley Jast; he is listed on p. 114 in the same volume of
“Theosophical Society Membership Register”: Sally Davies, “Lewis or Louis Stanley
Jastrzebski,” 8 October 2013; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GD/STANLEY
LIFE.htm.
95
“Halifax,” The Vahan 1 (December 1, 1890) (1890): 78.
96
Jastrzebski, “A dream & its interpretation: A dialogue,” Lucifer 7 (15 December 1890)
(1890): 309–315.
97
Personal communication from Cynthia Trasi, President of Bradford Theosophical
Society (February 2011).
98
Robert Clayton, History of the Theosophical movement in Bradford (London1941).
99
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 11.
100
Clayton, History of the Theosophical movement in Bradford.
54 Rafał T. Prinke

Halifax to Peterborough. His brother Bogdan stopped attending the Lodge meetings
after the first few ones and it was probably him, who was interviewed after a year
of absence. His explanations must have been accepted because at the Annual
General Meeting on 1 February 1893 he was elected a Vice-President but then
disappeared from the minutes again and eventually resigned, together with six other
members (Thomas Henry Pattinson and his wife among them). 101
On 30 August 1893 the new Athene Lodge was established in Bradford by those
who resigned from the original lodge (plus five others) and Dr. Bogdan E. J. Edwards
was elected its first president. Those seven ex-members (of whom six were founding
members) of the original Bradford Lodge were active in the Horus Temple, while its
president Oliver Firth, his wife and his close associates Francis Drake Harrison
(whose later theosophical career made him Grand Secretary of Annie Besant’s
Universal Co-Masonry), and John Midgley (who preserved the Lodge’s library after
its dissolution in 1898), were the very Golden Dawn adepti, who were expelled by
Mathers for misconduct and making fun of the rituals. Interestingly, the reason for
the split of the Bradford Lodge remained unknown until R. A. Gilbert discovered it
in the Golden Dawn documents, describing the nature of the clash as having been
one “effectively between Eastern and Western paths”. 102 As Robert Clayton wrote:
“It is difficult to understand why another lodge should have been considered
necessary in Bradford seeing that the already existing lodge was having difficulty
in keeping its doors open. One can only surmise that there was a lack of cohesion
among the members”.103 Clayton’s main informant and the one who encouraged him
to write a history of theosophy in Bradford was none other than Francis Drake
Harrison, for many years the president of the “new” Bradford Lodge, which was
revived in 1902 and amalgamated with the remnants of the Athene Lodge. Thus
even though he was only briefly a member of the Golden Dawn and did not have a
high opinion of it, he never divulged the secrets of the Hermetic Order.
As the new president, Dr. Edwards became active again and gave public lectures
on theosophical themes. On 1 November 1893 he “delivered a paper on ‘Egyptian
Religious Symbolism’ from which students could trace the close correspondence
between the Egyptian and Hindoo systems of belief as to the mysteries of Creation.
The speaker showed some beautifully painted copies of hieroglyphs in illustration
of his remarks.” Then on 13 February 1894 “Dr Edwards lectured on ‘Ancient Egypt’

101
Information from the original minutes of the Bradford Lodge kindly provided by
Cynthia Trasi (January 2011); the election of Dr. Edwards was also reported in Lucifer 12
(March–August 1893): 78–79.
102
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 14.
103
Clayton, History of the Theosophical movement in Bradford.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 55

to 29 people in the Bradford Mechanics’ Institute”.104 Bogdan Jastrzębski’s wife

Henrietta (“Mrs. Edwards”) joined the Athene Lodge in November 1893 but at the
Annual General Meeting in August 1894 a new president was elected (Edith Ward)
and Dr. and Mrs. Edwards resigned from their membership, together with five other
members (presumably the Pattinsons and other Horus Temple magicians).105 It is not
clear if they remained members of the Theosophical Society or not, but certainly —
as will be seen — their interest in Eastern forms of occultism did not wane.
In the meantime, Stanley Jastrzębski (from 1895 known as Jast), spent the years
1892–1898 as the Chief Librarian at Peterborough and then in July 1898 was
appointed Chief Librarian of the Croydon Public Libraries. In October of the same
year he joined the Croydon Lodge of the Theosophical Society and in February
1900 was elected its Vice-President. He gave lectures on various theosophical topics
and became so popular in the area that also other lodges invited him.106 When he
took over his most prestigious post in Manchester in 1915, he immediately also
became a member of the Manchester City Lodge and continued lecturing in the
district, especially during 1919 and 1920.107 After he retired in 1932 and went to
live near Bath, Stanley Jast prepared some of those talks for publication and they
appeared in a volume entitled What it all means in 1941.108 The book was quite
successful, as three years later it was also published in the USA under a different
title and then reprinted at least twice. 109
The influence of theosophy can also be seen in Stanley Jast’s professional work.
In the first volume of The Library World a section “Select lists of books on special
subjects” was started in 1899 and the second such list published (after one on pho-
tography) was that on “Occultism and Theosophy”, compiled by Jast and containing
a wide and representative selection of works grouped under the subject headings

104
From announcements in the Bradford Observer, (Bradford) Daily Telegraph and
(Bradford) Daily Argus, kindly provided by Cynthia Trasi (January 2011); Athene Lodge
rented a room for meetings at the Mechanics’ Institute and Dr Edwards’ lecture inaugurated
it; see: Lucifer, 14 (March–August 1894): 82.
105
Information from Cynthia Trasi (January 2011).
106
Fry and Munford, Louis Stanley Jast, 23.
107
Ibid., 44.
108
L. Stanley Jast, What it all means: A brief and non-technical exposition of reincarnation
and magic as applied to the world to-day (London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd., 1941).; a brief
account of the views expressed there is provided by: Sally Davies, “Stanley Jast: Ritual, Magic,
Drama and Love,” 17 October 2013a; http://www.wrighrp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/GD/
STANLEYBLFLOVE.htm.
109
L. Stanley Jast, Reincarnation and karma: A spiritual philosophy applied to the world
today (New York: Bernard Ackerman Inc., 1944); reprinted by Castle Books 1956 and
Kessinger Publishing 2004.
56 Rafał T. Prinke

of Theosophy, Esoteric Christianity, Gnostics, Magic, Egyptian Magic, Kaballah,

Rosicrucians, Alchemy, Astrology, Tarot Cards, and Palmisty.110 Of much greater
interest and importance is, however, theosophical inspiration of many of Jast’s ideas
and innovations introduced by him into public libraries, which made him famous.
Much ahead of his time, he viewed the library as a “networking machine” and al-
ready in Croydon, in the early 1900’s, organised exchange between branch libraries
and mobile service, using telephone links, so that “books could be requisitioned by
any library from any other and delivered within thirty minutes of the phone call,
something unheard of at the time”.111 Visitors were coming from Germany, Holland
and even India to see how the provincial Croydon became the leader in practical
librarianship solutions but few of them were aware that “Jast’s view of the library
machine owed much to his profound interest in oriental mysticism, specifically theo-
sophy”.112 His metaphysical belief about shared consciousness of humanity and its
link to the Absolute, as well as about knowledge transfer through reincarnation,
were not just abstract ideas but found their reflection in actual designs for the
Manchester Central Library, first presented as a lecture in the School of Librarian-
ship at University College, London on 10 December 1926. It was afterwards pub-
lished with many drawings of his own, illustrating the practical application of his
ideas, eventually materialised in the magnificent library building raised in Man-
chester.113 His later designs also showed the ideal library as a grid and a pyramid,
“symbolic of the existence, in his mind, of a network rather than a hierarchy — in
a similar way to the functioning of today’s World Wide Web”.114 He even used the
terms “web” and “nerve ganglion”, visualising the networking of knowledge through
libraries. This strange mixture of theosophical mysticism and professional utilitarism
in Jast’s thought was studied by Alistair Black in the only paper devoted to it (as
opposed to brief observations in other articles on Jast), using archival material from
Jast Papers in Manchester Central Library (Archives Collection, M514/1/1) with his

110
——, “Select lists of books on special subjects: Occultism and Theosophy,” The Library
World 1 (April 1899) (1899): 200–202.
111
Alistair Black, Simon Pepper, and Kaye Bagshaw, Books, buildings and social engineer-
ing: Early public libraries in Britain from Past to Present (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2009),
296.
112
Ibid.
113
Jast, The planning of a great library.; some of the drawings are reproduced in: Black,
Pepper, and Bagshaw, Books, buildings and social engineering.
114
Alistair Black, “Networking knowledge before the Information Society: The Manchester
Central Library (1934) and the metaphysical–professional philosophy of L. S. Jast,” in
European modernism and the Information Society: Informing the present, understanding the
past, ed. W. Boyd Rayward (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashagte, 2008): 172.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 57

unpublished drawings and notes.115 This fascinating aspect of Stanley Jastrzębski’s

contribution to the world of librarianship certainly calls for more attention and
additional research from the perspective of esoteric studies. When Jast died in
1944, many obituaries were printed in library journals, but also in theosophical
periodicals, commemorating him in both communities.116
Returning to Jast’s brother Bogdan Jastrzębski or Dr. Edwards, when he and his
Bradford fratres withdrew from theosophical activity in Athene Lodge in 1894 and
effectively closed the Golden Dawn Horus Temple No. 5 in 1902, they started — as
already mentioned above — a new esoteric venture called the August Order of
Light, opening its Garuda Temple No. 1 in Bradford on 9 January 1902. It was (and
still is) a freemasonic system of higher degrees, however Edwards, unlike his lifelong
friend Pattinson, had not been a mason. He was thus quickly initiated in his local
Brighouse Lodge No. 1301 in 1902, as the second person that year. 117
The Order of Light was originally created by Maurice Vidal Portman (1860–
1935), a minor aristocrat who served in the Royal Indian Marine from the age of
sixteen and was made the officer in charge of the Adaman Islands in 1879. He is
remembered as an early ethnographer who used photography to document the
isolated paleolithic tribes discovered there.118 While on health leave in England
between December 1880 and December 1883, he started spreading information that
he had been initiated in India in a bath of mercury and hired a house in Kilburn for
ritual workings.119 The surviving rules, regulations and rituals are dated 11 November
1881 and signed: “Portman M. V., Grand Hierophant Presiding in the West of the
August Order of Light and Prince of Kether”.120 The degree names, symbolism and
teachings used Hinduist imagery, just like the Order of Sat B’hai, invented in Anglo-
Indian army and brought to England by Captain James Henry Lawrence Archer about

115
Ibid.; some of the drawings are reproduced in that paper.
116
J. L Davidge, “Called home — Stanley Jast,” The Thosophist 66 (1945): 117
117
Information kindly supplied by John D. McRiner, Past Master and former Secretary of
Brighouse Lodge No. 1301 (January 2011).
118
Satudru Sen, “Savage bodies, civilized pleasures: M. V. Portman and the Andamanese,”
American Ethnologist 36 (2009): 364–379; when he died, his obituary appeared in various
learned journals including Nature 135 (1935): 573.
119
Arthur Edward Waite, A new encyclopedia of Freemasonry (London: Rider, 1921),
2:214.
120
Yasha Beresiner, “August Order and a Cabalistic Jew,” in Masonic curiosities and more...
ed. Tony Pope (Melbourne: Australian and New Zealand Masonic Research Council, 2000),
189–195.; the author, a former Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge and member of the
August Order of Light, kindly provided additional information and sent me his original
typescript of that chapter of his hard to find book, so I do not refer to page numbers in the
citations below.
58 Rafał T. Prinke

1872, and some other similar creations, the relationships between which are difficult
to untangle with any certainty.121 Ellic Howe described it as having “the same echoes
of Hinduism as the Sat B’hai, but with a Cabbalistic top-dressing”, while Yasha
Beresiner tried to trace the supposed Jewish author of the rituals, hinted at in the
correspondence of John Yarker. In 1882 Portman initiated William Alexander Ayton,
in spite of the fact that the latter could not make himself believe the story Portman
(then barely twenty one years old!) told him on how he had himself been initiated in
India by Count St. Germain, who was about 180 years old, yet looking forty. But he
also remarked: “However, I learned a good deal of Oriental Occultism from him [...] He
gave Initiations in regular form according to what he had seen in India. I was
initiated”.122 Another initiated was Robert Palmer-Thomas, a member of the Societas
Rosicruciana and a prominent (though late) adept of the Golden Dawn (initiated 7
November 1896). At its inception, the Order of Light seems to have accepted women,
one of them being the actress and poet Lilith Ellis.123 A very intriguing fragment from
the original Portman’s regulations of 1881 is quoted by Beresiner: “Female members
of the side degree of ‘Parvati’ [...] meet by themselves under the Presidency of the
Abbess of Patti and can be inspected by the Members of the ‘Order of Light’ in their
offices [...] Also the President of any Hall has the power to send for them to assist in
the magical experiments”.124
It seems that at some point Portman intended to give his rite over to John Yarker
and merge it with the Order of Sat B’hai on purely masonic basis. But apparently
Yarker was not interested and Portman, disappointed with freemasonry, returned to
the Andaman Islands in 1882 and stayed there until 1901. As Ayton recollected in
an address to the Horus Temple in early 1890, “he [Portman] left it in my hands to
reform the Lodge”, so looking for “real occultists” he first met Pattinson and some
others, which was “really the commencement, in an indirect way, of this Horus
Temple”.125 Ayton himself “set no great value on it [Portman’s Order]”126 but made the
rituals of the August Order of Light available to Pattinson and Dr. Edwards-
Jastrzębski, who reworked them thoroughly before they inaugurated the Garuda
Temple No. 1 in Bradford in 1902. The publication of the Order of Light printed upon
Bogdan Jastrzębski’s death states that “the rituals now in use, are revisions by Arch-

121
The most authoritative account of them is included in: Howe, “Fringe masonry in
England.”, but some of Howe’s information is corrected by later researchers.
122
Gilbert, Revelations of the Golden Dawn, 152–153.
123
Waite, A new encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 2:214.
124
Beresiner, “August Order and a Cabalistic Jew.”
125
Gilbert, The Golden Dawn and the Esoteric Section, 11.
126
Ibid.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 59

Presidents T. H. Pattinson and Dr. B. E. Edwards, of the original Ritual supplied by Dr.
Maurice Vidal Portman, a learned student of Eastern lore, an Occultist and Politician,
who went to India in the train of the late Lord [Edward Robert, later 1st Earl] Lytton,
when Viceroy of India, in 1876. During his residence there, Brother Portman made
himself familiar with the literature and ritual observances of the Eastern Indian Races,
whether Brahmans, Buddhist, Jains or Mohammedans, and gained much curious lore
from the Fakirs and religious devotees of all creeds; for some years he was Governor
of the Andaman Islands, where he collected many quaint traditions and magical arts
from the natives, and from strangers of many Asiatic lands”.127 The two Arch-
Presidents obtained a warrant from the founder, which has been preserved in the
Order’s archives in Halifax, and which states: “I, Maurice Vidal Portman, Founder of
the Order of Light, Authorise T. H. Pattinson and J. B. Edwards to admit members to
the Order and to hold meetings thereof and I confirm their past actions in so
doing”.128 It is undated but was certainly issued upon Portman’s return from India in
1901, when they informed him about their plans and changes already done to the
rituals. The author of the commemorative publication of 1923 (probably antedated,
as the list of the Guardians of Light or heads of the Order appended at the end
includes one for 1924–1925) was Dr. Vaughan Bateson (1873–1938), the third Arch-
President (an honorary title granted to those of greatest merit to the Order), known
for his idea of identifying people by their fingerprints which — interestingly — he
conceived from his observations of some Indian customs and Rudyard Kipling’s (who
was his friend and one of the subscribers to the memorial book) writings.129 Bateson
presented Jastrzębski’s role in the preparation of the new rituals, praising his lan-
guage abilities and knowledge: “A great philologist and an extraordinary linguist, he
was specially well acquainted with Hebrew and Kabalistic learning, and his knowl-
edge of the ancient Egyptian, Aztec and Hindoo records made him an authority on
antiquarian subjects. He was [also] and enthusiast in Esperanto. Grasping, in a manner
few occidental students are able, the problems of Eastern Philosophy, he could
expound subjects rarely attempted in a wonderfully lucid and interesting manner. His
lectures at the Equinoctial Ceremonies of the Order of Light were always looked
forward to as intellectual treat which cannot be surpassed. The beautiful and learned
rituals of the Order owe much to his erudition and fortunate phrasing”.130

127
Bateson, Masonic secrets and the ancient mysteries, 81–82.
128
Beresiner, “August Order and a Cabalistic Jew.”
129
Vaughan Bateson, “Personal identification by means of finger-print impressions,” The
British Medical Journal 1 (1906): 1029–1032.
130
——, Masonic secrets and the ancient mysteries, 9–10; the rituals of the 1970’s (which
may or may not be the same as designed by Pattinson and Edwards) are available online:
http://www.stichtingargus.nl/vrijmetselarij/aol_r.html, aol_r2.html, and aol_r3.html.
60 Rafał T. Prinke

The Garuda Temple No. 1 of the Order of Light continued to meet at 81 King’s
Arcade, in the Market Street area in Bradford, until it was demolished in 1939 or
1940 and they moved to Godwin Street, where the above mentioned murals disco-
vered in 1983 were executed in the early 1950’s. In 1971 the Temple was moved to
York and then to Halifax, and a new one (Garuda Temple No. 2) was established in
Bleackheath, London, in the house of Andrew Stephenson, later the Supreme Magus
of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, who also revised the rituals. When he moved
to New Zealand in 2006, the Temple found a new home in the Radlett Masonic Hall.
In recent years the Order of Light has spread to Australia, the USA and India.131
Bogdan Jastrzębski pursued his regular masonic career rather slowly and only
on 18 December 1907 was installed Master of his Brighouse Lodge for the follow-
ing year.132 After that date he also served as Provincial Senior Grand Deacon of
West Yorkshire and became a member of the Halifax Past Masters’ Association.133
Bogdan’s main motivation for advancing to the Master’s degree was quite obviously
the foundation of the Bradford college of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, the
membership of which was restricted to Masters of freemasonry. The first meeting
of Woodman College took place on 23 March 1908 at the Masonic Hall (Rawson
Street, Bradford), it was consecrated by Westcott,134 and twelve new aspirants were
admitted, with Dr. Edwards among them. In the same year he was made an
Honorary Magister of the 8th degree, presumably granted to him on account of his
close association with William Wynn Westcott and Thomas Henry Pattinson. Es-
tablishing the college in Bradford was probably the latter’s idea, as he had been
removed from the roll of members of the York College in 1896 (as suspected by R.
A. Gilbert, he probably simply did not pay his dues) and did not join any other Col-
lege, but he remained an Honorary Magister of the Society.135 The Bradford occult-
ists thus continued their “Rosicrucian adventure” along strictly masonic lines and
in close cooperation with the former Chief Adept of the Golden Dawn and now (from
1892) the Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana. In his well-known pamphlet

131
Personal recollection of the later history of the Order was available online in January
2011 but now disappeared: Andrew B. Stephenson, “The History and Work of the Order and
the founding of Temple No. 2: Some personal recollections,” 1992 (revised 2001);
http://www.the-order-of-light.org.uk/History_and_Work.html.; a popular article on the
August Order of Light, including some pictures of the Garuda Temple No. 2 and its members,
was published by: Leo Zanelli, “The light moves on,” The Square 32 (June) (2006): 12–17.
132
Information received from John D. McRiner (January 2011).
133
Bateson, Masonic secrets and the ancient mysteries, 7.
134
Westcott, “Data of the history of the Rosicrucians (2 nd ed., 1916),” 37.
135
Information kindly provided by R. A. Gilbert from the Transactions of the Metropolitan
College of the SRIA for 1908 (January 2011).
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 61

of 1913, Westcott listed among “the learned juniors of our Society” the names of “Dr
Vaughan Bateson, Thomas Henry Pattinson, [...] Dr B. J. Edwards”. 136
While he often gave lectures to the local August Order of Light and presumably
to Woodman College (which consisted of more or less the same people), the involve-
ment of Bogdan Jastrzębski in the work of Societas Rosicruciana at the central level
of the Metropolitan College seems to have been limited. Just like he did not go to
London to be initiated into the Golden Dawn in 1888, he also remained home when
twenty three years later he submitted a paper to the London college, so it was read
by T. W. Lemon on 13 July 1911 and reprinted in the Transactions for that year
under the title “The Vision of Mer-Amen Ramzes, 12th king of the 19th dynasty”.137
Sally Davis discovered, following a clue in the text, that it was not an original piece
written by Dr. Edwards. As she wrote: “you would only have been able to guess what
was up if you had known him well. Westcott knew him well, but was ill and couldn’t
attend the meeting. The Vision of Ramzes XII had been translated by Bogdan from
‘Faraone’ by ‘B. Prus’”.138 This shows not only the kind of humour with which
Jastrzębski approached the serious matters of Rosicrucian freemasonry, but also that
besides all other languages he was still fluent in Polish, which he had learned at home
from his father Stefan Ludwik Jastrzębski, and could read and translate a key
fragment from one of the greatest Polish novels of the 19th century, Pharaoh by
Bolesław Prus (real name Aleksander Głowacki, 1847–1912), described by Joseph
Conrad in 1914 as “better than Dickens” (otherwise Conrad’s favourite novelist).
The already mentioned “In Memoriam” book, published after Dr. Edwards’ death,
was written by the third Arch-President (and fellow “junior Rosicrucian”) Vaughan
Bateson, who had “intimate relationships with him beyond the ordinary” but, as he
states, it was really compiled “from scanty notes taken at his lectures and what
memory recalls” and only contains “in a more stable form some of his teachings by
which we have all benefited in the past”.139 In the closing section Bateson addressed
the gathered members of the Garuda Temple No. 1 (the text was originally read as
a lecture on 23 September 1923, the Autumnal Equinox) with the words: “and each
of you can be builders of this Temple of Light for the good of the race as was our

136
William Wynn Westcott, “The Rosicrucians, past and present, at home and abroad
(1913),” in The magical mason: Forgotten Hermetic writings of William Wynn Westcott,
physician and magus, ed. R. A. Gilbert, Roots of the Golden Dawn Series (Wellingsborough,
Northamptonshire: The Aquarian Press, 1983a), 40–47.
137
B. E. J. Edwards, “The Vision of Mer-Amen Ramzes,” Transactions of the Metropolitan
College (1911): 29–36.
138
Davies, “Bogdan Edward Jastrzebski Edwards”.
139
Bateson, Masonic secrets and the ancient mysteries, 11.
62 Rafał T. Prinke

beloved brother, Dr. Edwards, whose influence still lives in our lives and in this
Order of Light he loved so well”.140
The brief biography at the beginning of Dr. Edwards Memorial (as the alternative
title reads) lists his various achievements and honorary titles — professional, state
and freemasonic — but there is no mention of the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn in the whole text of the book. Because Bateson had not been a member, he
may have not known about it. However, Bogdan Jastrzębski’s lifelong occult friend
Thomas Henry Pattinson was still alive (his name appears among the subscribers),
as was their patron friend William Wynn Westcott (also a subscriber), and it may
have been at their suggestion that on the frontispiece, under the only known
photograph of Dr. Edwards, his Golden Dawn motto “DEUS LUX SOLIS” was boldly
displayed without further explanation. The magical order these words belonged to
had disintegrated two decades earlier, but its last Praemonstrator, Dr. Bogdan
Edward Jastrzębski, the eldest son of a Polish exile, was still known by that motto
to his old friends.

Fig. 8. The grave of Bogdan Jastrzębski, his wife Henrietta, son Harold,
as well as Adela and Herbert, who died in infancy (Brighouse Cemetery)
(Photograph by Kai Roberts)

140
Ibid., 80.
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 63
64 Rafał T. Prinke
Bogdan Edward Jastrzębski-Edwards and his brother Louis Stanley Jast 65

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MICHELE OLZI

From Russia with Love, a case of Russian culture and

immigration in Western Esotericism:
Maria de Naglowska (1883–1936)

“What is prayer for a soul accustomed to the rite of the Eastern Church? It is
necessary that I spell it out, for those who shall read me will undoubtedly be
Catholics or, at the least, people who have been taught according to the
Catholic mentality. For them, for these presumed readers, prayer means
obeying a law of the Church, of which only the leaders know what purpose it
serves. Prayer, for the average Catholic, is the fulfilling of a duty in order to
receive in exchange, protection or grace from Heaven. It isn't, as for the
Orthodox an entry into direct communication with Divinity, of which we really
drink the essence. It isn't this act of supplication without it even being
necessary to say or think the words. Our prayer is not even called prayer. The
word that we use, molitva, means “influence”, and we experience it as
designating a state of holiness where, worldly preoccupation being absent, we
attract toward ourselves the power of Heaven. Among us one prays as one
sings, when one feels carried beyond the world and that was definitely my case
at the time of which I am speaking. The icon that I focused on while praying
was one of those Byzantine images covered in old, darkened silver with which
we are all familiar. It represented St. Serge-of- the- Many Miracles who, they
say, was the first founder of monastic life in Russia. His face was barely visible,
but the metal that made up his vestments shone mysteriously in the yellow
glow of the votive lamp burned night and day on the icon stand. It is not very
surprising, given the state in which I then found myself that in my eyes, the
lightly marked face of Saint Serge took on unusual proportions. His eyes
became animated, and I felt a real look there. Certainly not that of the great
Saint, but rather that of the Unknown to whom I Had bound myself.” 1

This passage is taken from Le Rite Sacré de l'Amour Magique [The Sacred Rite of
Magical Love], published in Paris, 1932. It was the third work (in order of appear-
ance) of the Russian writer Maria de Naglowska, renowned (by newspapers and
local news) as the “Luciferian Priestess”, the “Third Term of the Trinity (the Woman
in this case, not the Holy Ghost!) religion Prophetess”, troublemaker, and fierce anti-

1
Maria de Naglowska, Le Rite Sacré de l'Amour Magique – Aveu 26.1 (Paris: Éditions
de la Flèche, 1932), 40–41.

71
72 Michele Olzi

bourgeois polemicist. Marija Dmitrevna Naglovskaja2 is not, or should not be known

only for her heterodox and/or scandalous conduct. Maria “de Naglowska”3 is one
of the best (female) examples of promulgation of Russian/Slavic culture in Europe,
and in Western Esotericism. It is testified not only by her works, which I had a
glimpse of, but her own actions. Naglowska's activities, as teacher, journalist, and
a beloved mother, which unfortunately we will only briefly mention about, are the
first step to understand her doctrine. The education and human formation of our
protagonist flow directly into her future “religion”.4 This character influenced deeply
and in a peculiar way eminent exponents belonging to esoteric, artistic, and cultural
European milieus in the first half of twentieth century. Amongst the reasons of this
“influence” there is Naglowska's intellectual maturity, result of a series of multi-
cultural and complex experiences. I find the result of this maturity process to be
present in all of Naglowska's works, actions – even in her new religion's doctrine.
The literary production and the biographical data of the Russian poetess resound
with Eastern, Russian, Slavic notes that Madame de Naglowska brought with her
during the spiritual pilgrimage that lasted an entire life. From Kazan to Paris, Marija
brought her culture and her vicissitudes to Western Esotericism and Spirituality.
Before starting this dissertation, we need to focus on the state of the research
and literature on Maria de Naglowska's life. The first biographical attempt concern-
ing the Russian poetess was made by Sarane Alexandrian.5 In his Les libérateurs de
l'amour [Liberators of Love] (1977) Alexandrian dedicates the essay “Maria de
Naglowska et le satanisme féminin” to the Russian author. In this essay Alexandrian
proceeded to select some of Maria de Naglowska's writings, in attempt to write a
chronicle of her life. Delighted by Alexandrian's work, Naglowska's devoted disciple
Marc Pluquet6 got in touch with the French writer, and soon Pluquet drafted the one
and only (till this day), official biography of Madame de Naglowska, La Sophiale –
Maria de Naglowska sa vie – son Oeuvre [La Sophiale – Maria de Naglowska's life

2
According to Elena Megeninoff's dossier, located at Central State Archive in Rome.
3
Probably the French version of family name “Naglovskaja”.
4
Sarane Alexandrian, “Maria de Naglowska et le Satanisme feminin”, in idem. Les libé-
rateurs de l'amour, (Paris: Seuil, 1977), 187.
5
Sarane Alexandrian (1927–2009), journalist, writer and André Breton's secretary. For
Alexandrian's biographical profile see his autobiographical work Sarane Alexandrian, L'Aven-
ture en soi (Paris: Mercure de France, 1990) and Christophe Dauphin, Sarane Alexandrian
– ou Le grand défi de l'imaginaire (Lausanne: Age d'Homme, 2006).
6
Marc Pluquet (n.d.–1987) carpenter, “entrepreuner physique et intellectuel” in the sur-
realist milieux, and devoted follower of Naglowska's doctrine and circle.
From Russia with Love, ... Maria de Naglowska 73

and work].7 In 1994 Massimo Introvigne dedicated a chapter of his survey on Satan-
ism and Satanic groups Indagine sul Satanismo [Investigation into Satanism] to her
connections with the French Neognostic/Occultist/Esoteric environment. In 1996
Vittorio Fincati translated for the first time in Italian the work where it is possible
to find the passage quoted at the beginning, Il Rito Sacro dell'Amore Magico [The
Sacred Rite of Magical Love].8 In the preface of the Italian version, Fincati added
details on Naglowska's life and works, comparing the historical French sources.9 In
2008 Hans Thomas Hakl in the BRILL's publication, Hidden Intercourse – Eros and
Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism, presented an essay on “The Theory
and Practice of Sexual Magic exemplified by Four Magical Groups in the Early
Twentieth Century”. Of four groups I found La Confrérie de La Flèche d'Or, that is
Maria de Naglowska's mystical-cultural circle. In very recent times (in 2010, 2011,
2012, and 2013) Donald Traxler translated for the publishing house Inner Tradition
the main works of the “Priestess of Magical love”. Between the published titles I
found: The Light of Sex – Initiation, Magic, and Sacrament; Advanced Sex Magic –
The Hanging Mystery Initiation; The Sacred Rite of Magical Love; and the most
quoted and popular work of Madame de Naglowska, Magia Sexualis. Despite the
titles, the content of the books reveals two different impressions of Madame de
Naglowska: the first image would be that one of an oriental idol of perversion; the
other image that one of an Orthodox saint. This duplicity is due to the fact that
elements of religiousness and popular lore are blended (in this personage) with a
unique style of Russian aristocracy. At the beginning of the twentieth century in
Western Europe this attitude allowed her to gain notoriety. In connection to this is-
sue, one may notice how Alexandrian relates Naglowska's affiliation with Khlysty's
sect and her initiation by Rasputin,10 and at the same time Donald Traxler compares,
in a note at the beginning of the one of his translations, the life of the Russian writer
with that one of Saint Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg (better known as Xenia
Grigoryevna Petrova).11 The impossibility to distinguish between Holy and Profane
in Maria de Naglowska was due to the lack of information and the obscurity
surrounding her life. An undeniable fact is the nature of Naglowska's thought and

7
Reprinted in La Sophiale (see Marc Pluquet, La Sophiale – Maria de Naglowska, Sa vie,
Sa oeuvre [Paris: Ordo Templi Orientis, 1993]), it was originally circulating (before the Nine-
ties) as a typescript with the address of the typographer: Éditions Gouttelettes de Rosée, 44
rue de la Dysse 34150 Montpeyroux.
8
See Vittorio Fincati, trans., Il rito sacro dell'amore magico (Milan: Primordia, 1996).
9
See Vittorio Fincati, Satanismo Femminista (Milan: Primordia, 1999), 1–14.
10
Alexandrian, “Maria de Naglowska et le Satanisme feminin”, 187–189.
11
Donald Traxler, introduction to The Sacred Rite of Magical Love – A Ceremony of Word
and Flesh (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 2012), IX-XVII.
74 Michele Olzi

new religious doctrine, which had their roots in a specific field. One will gain an un-
derstanding of Naglowska thanks to the Russian/Slavic sources that valorised her
works and lectures.
To launch our analysis, I must begin from a certain point in time, in other words,
from the origins. Marija Dmitrevna Naglovskaja was born on the 15th of August,
1883 in Saint Petersburg; her father was Chief of the Army and governor of Kazan
province: Dmitry Stanislovovič Naglovskij (1838–1890)12 and her mother was
Katherine Kamaroff (N.D.–1895), of whom we know almost nothing. Between the
1890 and the 1895 the young Marija lost both her parents and only twelve was
given in custody to the aunt Elena Meženinova.13 The aunt committed Marija's edu-
cation to “Smolna” Institute in Saint Petersburg, an institution reserved to Russian
aristocracy's descendant.14 Between 1905 and 1910 a number of significant events
took place in her life: she fell in love with the Jewish musician and instrumentalist
Moshe Hopenko (1880–1949) after meeting him at a concert. Marija was a noble
and the love story between her and the musician would have been unable to survive
scrutiny in Russia. So they fled for the first period to Berlin,15 then to Switzerland.
Their first stop of the “Swiss period” was Geneva. The couple got married, Marija
gave birth to two children: first was a boy, Alexandre and he was circumcised, the
second a girl and she was named as Esther at Geneva's town hall.16 The year was
1912, we know for sure thanks to the literary production of our heroine.17 In this
period Marija worked as poetess,18 translator, and teacher. Linked to her last two
jobs was another factor particular to their stay in Geneva: the connection she held
with the Russian and Jewish community. 19 As I have noted before, Marija worked,
in the first two decades of century, in the translation and pedagogical field. She

12
Pluquet, La Sophiale, 3.
13
See note 2.
14
The reference is to Smolny Insitute, or the Society for the Education of Noble Maidens
(i.e. Смольный институт благородных девиц), whose building was commissioned by the
Society to the Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi.
15
My supposition is that they fled in Berlin in 1908.
16
Pluquet, La Sophiale, 3.
17
See Maria de Naglowska, Nouvelle Grammaire de la langue française (Genève: Eggi-
mann, 1912) and Maria de Naglowska, La Paix et son principal obstacle (Genève: s.n., 1918)
the text on the dust jacket.
18
The first collection of poem by Madame de Naglowska was published in 1914, with
the title of Les Chants du Harem – ou Ali-Merkha.
19
Our hypothesis is that a high number of members of Jewish community in Geneva
were of Polish origin, but we have to research further, before expressing my opinion on this
topic.
From Russia with Love, ... Maria de Naglowska 75

collaborated with the University of Geneva, and with many private scholarly institu-
tions. In 1912 Maria de Naglowska published her first pedagogical work, the Nou-
velle Grammaire de la langue française [New grammar of French language], pub-
lished at the Eggimann Library in Geneva. The book was intended as a grammar
manual for Russian refugees in Switzerland who needed help learning the French
language. The second work linking Marija to the University of Geneva was the trans-
lation in Russian, in 1916, of Une révolution dans la philosophie [A revolution in
philosophy] by Frank Grandjean.20 This text is a summary of the philosophical
theories of the French philosopher Henri Bergson (specifically focused on Bergson's
“elan vital”). Naglowska's work as a translator leads us to reflect on two topics. The
first one concerns Marija's benevolence towards the Russian community, while the
second topic concerns the circulation and influence of the philosophical currents
in the first half of twentieth century in Eastern Europe and its communities abroad.
The spread of Bergsonism (in this case transmitted via the Russian language) sug-
gests that in this period, in different Russian communities of Switzerland, there was
an interest for the philosophical themes appearing throughout the Europe.
I wish to make a slight digression: the great influence of thinkers like Nietzsche,
and Bergson in Russia and Eastern Europe is widely documented.21 What I would
like to research further (also in Naglowska's case) is how the Russian, and Slavic
communities reacted at that time to this cultural and philosophical evolution. It is
my opinion that the publications in Russian by Eggimann, Atar, and the Félix Alcan
Library belong to this field of studies.
Going back to Naglowska's life: while Moshe Hopenko was specialising in musical
composition under Henri Marceau, Marija Naglovskaya supported the family financial-
ly even with money she received from her home. At the same time her reputation was
under attack from the Russian and Jewish community. Things got worse when her
husband (it is alleged that he was a close friend and supporter of Theodor Herzl)22
took the decision to leave Geneva for Palestine. The financial aid from her motherland
ceased and Marija gave birth to a third baby, André. André Hopenko (Naglowska's
third born) describes how the situation was, at the moment of his birth:

20
Frank Grandjean (1879–1934) was professor of Philosophy at the University of
Geneva in the same years Madame de Naglowska emigrated in Switzerland. He helped Maria
a lot during the “Swiss period”.
21
For a in-depth analysis of the phenomenon see the work of research edited by Bernice
Glatzer Rosenthal, here specifically see Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Nietzsche in Russia
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1986) and Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, ed.,
New Myth, New World: From Nietzsche to Stalinism (University Park: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 2002).
22
See Pluquet, La Sophiale, 3; Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) was a Hungarian writer and
lawyer, founder of the Zionist movement together with Max Nordau.
76 Michele Olzi

“After my father had gone away, the hostilities of the Russians (i.e. the Russian
community in Geneva) were, this time, more aimed at bringing my mother to
the cradle of the Russian Orthodox Church, and that is how all three we were
baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church of Geneva when I was eight days,
since for them she was, by all means and purposes, an unmarried mother. My
brother kept the name of Alexandre, my sister became Marie, and I got the
name of André. It was evidently a Russian victory, and this created a strong
opposition on the other side (i.e. the Jewish community). To them we were now
goïs. Goï for them, unmarried mother for the others, my mother could not rely
on anyone and began to work very bravely, in the interest of us four.”23

Despite the obvious challenges, marija kept working and supporting her family in
geneva. He began working as a journalist for several newspapers, and it was through
the practice of this profession that she reached a new breaking point in her life: at a
conference in 1918, whose title was la paix et son principal obstacle [the peace and
its main obstacles].24 the conference was held at the hall of the university, and maria
de naglowska was the keynote speaker. She exposed in this speech her libertarian
position, and exhibited her opposition against the powers that ruled the roost in
europe at the times, russia included. This act cost her prison, and later an expulsion
from geneva, for both her and her family. So it began an exodus, at the end of the
twenties, that led naglowska and her two sons (alexandre reached his father in
palestine) to stay for a very short period in bern, then in basel, to finally obtain a
polish passport in this city25 in order to leave for rome, italy in 1920.
I would like to expose the “italian period” of naglowska's life, illustrating her rela-
tionship with avant-garde art movements (dada) and one of the most prominent ex-
ponents of the philosophical and esoteric milieu, julius evola,26 as well as the other
adventures that took place in the “mediterranean basin” nearby, but I have to post-
pone that to another time, when I have the opportunity to expose the subject ex-
haustively.

23
André de Montparnasse, L’Apatride (Lyon: s.n., 1956), 9.
24
A polemical pamphlet of the same title (La Paix et son principal obstacle) had been
published in the “last month of 1918”, see De Naglowska, La Paix et son principal obstacle, 13.
25
De Montparnasse, L'Apatride, 14; Pluquet, La Sophiale, 4.
26
It is alleged that Maria was involved in a “love affair” with the the Italian philosopher
Julius Evola (1898–1974). What is ascertained at the moment is: Maria wrote an article for
the magazine (edited by Evola and Arturo Reghini) Ur, witch contained an anonymous article
marked “Alexandrie d'Égypte, 1927” (see De Naglowska 1971, 360); Maria translated (from
Italian to French) a dadaist poem by Evola, La parole obscure du paysage intérieur – Poème
à 4 voix; Maria published two articles by Evola on the first and second number of her
journal, La Flèche. For an in-depth analysis of Naglowska's relationship with Evola see Hans
T. Hakl, “Alcune presenze femminili nella vita di Julius Evola”, La Cittadella 34 (2008).
From Russia with Love, ... Maria de Naglowska 77

Moving the time span forward of nine years, we find our russian poetess making
her appearance on the 3rd of september, 1929 in paris, together with her son
andré.27 Having had her work permit withdrawn because of her irregularities with
the swiss government, marija had to rely on her own abilities to survive. So she
began to try out her skills in the french town, initially as a translator. We find marjia
as a co-translator in her first work (together with a mysterious s. de leo) of the bio-
graphy of raspoutine,28 written by his personal secretary aron simanovitch. The
publication's subject was not randomly chosen: who else could deal with the french
translation of the one of the first biographies on the “holy devil”, if not his (alleged)
disciple?29 This work as well as the main books of madame de naglowska, not only
reveal her esoteric sources, but her interests at that time. From marija's literary pro-
duction, to her actions during the parisian period, we sense how de naglowska's
character had become a point of reference amongst those who followed this new
kind of spirituality. One of the factors that helped marija achieve such popularity
was the “russian/slavic influence” characterised her habits in public places, her writ-
ings, and her actions. Very quickly I formerly mentioned (out of the many topics
concerning naglowska's life and doctrine, and I intend to present more in-depth ana-
lysis and research in the future) naglowska's esoteric circle in montparnasse, la
confrérie de la flèche d'or [fraternity of golden arrow].30 this group was born in the
early thirties, after the foundation of the newspaper, which became the official com-
munication organ of the same circle, that is la flèche – organe d'action magique [the
arrow – magical organ of action]. 31 if we read one of la flèche's releases, or one of

27
André Hopenko, who wrote his autobiography under the pseudonym of “André de
Montparnasse”
28
The publication of the agenda of Rasputin's secretary Aron Simanovič, Raspoutine
(Paris: Gallimard, 1930) represents one of the few apologetic works on the character of the
“Holy Devil”, and was published during the same years of the major biographical work on
Rasputin, like that one of two members of Rasputin's death conspiracy like prince Feliks
Jusupov, La fin de Raspoutine (Paris: Plon, 1927) or Wladimir Puriskevic, Comment j'ai tué
Raspoutine, (Paris: J Povolozky et cie, 1924).
29
Between the first works linking Maria de Naglowska to Grigorij Efimovič Rasputin
(1869 – 1916) there is that one of Pierre Geyraud, pseudonym of ex-trappist Raoul Guyader,
and the writer René Thimmy. Both the authors report, in their works, an interview with
Madame de Naglowska (in Thimmy's version de Naglowska's character is disguised under
the name of “Vera de Petrouchka”). Both the interviews have similar elements, and in both
the report Maria tells her interviewer about her initiation and contact with Rasputin see
Pierre Geyraud, Les petites églises de Paris (Paris: Émile-Paul Frères 1937), 144–153; and
René Thimmy, La Magie à Paris (Paris: Éditions de France 1934), 71–91.
30
For an in-depth analysis on the group se Hans T. Hakl, “The Theory and Practice of
Sexual Magic”, in Hidden Intercourse – Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western
Esotericism, ed. Jeffrey J. Kripal et al. (Leiden: BRILL, 2008), 445–478.
31
The first La Flèche's number was published on the 15 th of October 1930.
78 Michele Olzi

the (unfortunately few) testimonies of naglowska's disciples, we can guess how,

through the popularity of the character of la sophiale's,32 the group was cultivating
a cultural myth. The fact that maria de naglowska went to prey at notre-dame de
paris before impersonating a luciferian priestess,33 and the fact that she pretended
to be rasputin's disciple is not a contradiction. If we consider the passage quoted at
the beginning of this paper, we can understand very well the connection between
these two ways she employed to access the spiritual dimension. The “old traditional
channels” are used, and adapted to the new needs of the sacred that take place (in
this case) in western esotericism and french occultism. Here we have a completely
unique situation: a cultural myth was made through the personality, gestures, and
accomplishments of a rebellious woman, in the cradle of modern occultism. This
myth that we mention is that “from the eastern europe”. Going back to the number
of la flèche, or any number of the magazine, one can often find a page promoting
the future publications, at the time. Amongst these books series that were promoted
it is possible to find titles of great interest, such as asia mysteriosa by zam bhotiva34
and l'aurore naissante ou la racine de la philosophie, de l'astrologie et de la théo-
logie [the rising dawn or the roots of philosophy, astrology and theology] by jacob
boehme35 (both from the catalogue of dorbon-âiné publishing house), as well as
“mandragora”, “le golem”, and “le juif errant” [the wandering jew]. these last three
works belonged to a mysterious books collection known by the name of “dragon
vert”[green dragon]. it has been possible for me to deduce (from other articles and
the advertising on la flèche) that these three titles were to be documentary collec-
tions and folk tales on the mentioned issues. There is another title from this collec-
tion that I would like to quote, that is les rituels des sociétes de magie sexuelle [the
rituals of sex magic societies], by p. kohout-lasenic. The title does not exist in any
catalogue, but as pointed out in the article of hans thomas hakl, already mentioned
above, there is a reprint from 1992 in prague, whose title is magie sexuelnie [sex
magic] and by petr kohout. Kohout's pen name is pierre de lasenic. One of the most
interesting thing is that kohut-lasenic was member of czech esoteric group univer-
salia. What kind of connections there were between kohut and naglowska is no easy

32
This the surname she (i.e. Maria de Naglowska) was renowned with.
33
This De Naglowska's habit is reported for the very first time by Pluquet in his bio-
graphical account (see Pluquet, La Sophiale, 17).
34
La Flèche, 15th February 1931, 8. Zam Bhotiva, pseudonym of the Italian writer Cesare
Accomanni (1882-?). Accomanni founded together with a young man of French-Italian ori-
gin, Mario Fille, the La Fraternité des Polaires (Polar Fraternity) one of the most remarkable
esoteric group in the French Occult milieu at the beginning of the Century.
35
Ibid.
From Russia with Love, ... Maria de Naglowska 79

guess,36 but we know for sure that madame de naglowska had been a peculiar influ-
ence in french and czech esoteric contexts.
I would like to conclude with three examples that illustrate de naglowska's influ-
ence. The first example concerns the reprint and translation into different languages
of her works from nineties till today.37 This move encouraged the popularisation of
said woman's ideas, doctrine, and character. The second example concerns the phe-
nomenon of collecting all kind of texts, testimonies, object (real or fake) linked to
naglowska's person and/or life. One of the most curious facts concerns the “magical
mirrors” that maria de naglowska supposedly gave to her disciples during the last
séance of the group. It is possible to see one of these mirrors together with an
orthodox icon (always gifted by naglowska to anonymous disciple), in the virtual
museum gallery of “surnateum – the museum of supernatural history”.38 The third
example concerns the presence of de naglowska's character in literature. According
to pluquet's biography, between the members of la confrérie de la flèche d'or there
were also representatives of the artistic movement of surrealism.39 So we can guess
(as alexandrian had already suggested, and proved by his research) that la
sophiale's character had a peculiar influence on the french surrealists. The best
example comes to us with the french surrealist poet, writer, and occultist ernest

36
Pierre de Lasenic (1900–1944) pseudonym of Petr Kohut was a writer, and one of the
most emblematic figures in Czech hermetism of the Twentieth century. Further researches
are needed to establish Lasenic-Naglowska's connections, but a first general survey on Magie
Sexuelnie's topics (Pierre de Lasenic (ps. Petr Kohut), Magie Sexuelnie [Praha: Trigon, 1992]),
compared and confronted with Maria's work, La Lumière du Sexe (Paris: Éditions de la
Flèche, 1932) reveals that the Kohut-Lasenic's conception of sex magic has a lot of elements
in common with that one of Madame de Naglowska. Kohut founded in 1937 the Horev-Klub
in Prague whose lessons were focused on astrology, magic and alchemy. The material of this
order (today available to a wider audience, see Bibliotheca Horev, Přednášky pro Universalii
a Horev-klub [Praha: Vodnář, 2014]) presents some interesting ideas on “Internal Alchemy”,
and has some point in common with Madame de Naglowska's point of view.
37
Pluquet's work is an example (see Pluquet, La Sophiale) of how, in the late Nineties, the
French OTO reprinted all the work by Maria de Naglowska. Another manifestation of OTO's
interest in Naglowska's character is the article by Fr. Marcion dedicated to her doctrine/
religion (see Fr. Marcion, “Introduction à l'oeuvre de Maria de Naglowska”, Thelema 27
[1992]: 18–20).
38
It is possible to see the photo of “De Naglowska's Magic Mirror” in the virtual
“Museum d'histoire surnaturelle” (founded by the French artist Fabrice Mignonneau in
1997), at the following web address http://www.surnateum.org/English/surnateum/
collection/hauntics/Maria.htm. In the description of the content of “ de Naglowska's Lot”
(acquired in 1999 from a French correspondent of the Museum), what must be brought to
our attention is how “the Magic Mirror was manufactured in Prague around 1880”.
39
Amongst Maria de Naglowska's adepts it is possible to find the poet Jean Carteret
(1906–1980), the painter Camille Bryen (1907–1977), and the sculptress Germaine Richier
(1902–1959).
80 Michele Olzi

gengenbach,40 who under the pseudonym of jehan sylvius together with pierre de
ruynes (pseudonym in turn of robert desnos) wrote the novel la papesse du diable
[the devil popess] (1931).41 The novel is set at the beginning of the last century in
france, from the privileged point of view of the events in paris. An army of the
“satanic priestess of pleasure” invaded entire france. Their leader was a female arch-
priestess coming from caucasus, who organised satanic orgies in the sanctuary of
the french nation. Where? In notre-dame de paris, where else! It is just another ex-
ample of how the maria de naglowska's molitva operated in the esoteric scene.

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40
Ernest Gegenbach (1903–1979) better known under the pseudonym of Jean Genbach
or Jehan Sylvius, was one of the most controversial French writers and surrealists of the
beginning of the twentieth century.
41
See Jehan Sylvius (ps. Ernest Gengebach) and Pierre de Ruynes (ps. Robert Desnos),
La Papesse du Diable (Paris: Éditions de Lutèce, 1931).
From Russia with Love, ... Maria de Naglowska 81

———. La parole obscure du paysage intérieur – Poème à 4 voix. Translated by Maria de

Naglowska. Zurich: Collection Dada, 1920.
———. Maschera e volto dello spiritualismo contemporaneo – Analisi critica delle
principali correnti moderne verso il sovrannaturale. Milan: Bocca, 1932.
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———. “Lettre de l'abbé Gengenbach à André Breton”. La Révolution surréaliste 8 (1926).
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1953.
———. Les petites églises de Paris. Paris: Émile-Paul Frères, 1937.
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———. “The Theory and Practice of Sexual Magic”. In Hidden Intercourse – Eros and
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———. “Julius Evola and the UR Group”. Aries 12 (2012): 53–90.
———. “Maria de Naglowska and the Confrerie de la Fleche d'Or”. Politica Hermetica 20
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———. I Satanisti – Storia, miti e riti del satanismo. Milan: SugarCo, 2010.
———. Indagine sul Satanismo – Satanisti e Anti Satanisti dal Seicento ai giorni nostri.
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Orientis, 1993.
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1924.
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———. Nietzsche in Russia. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1986.
———. The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Ithaca and London: Cornell University
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Sylvius, Jehan (ps. Ernest Gengebach), and Pierre de Ruynes (ps. Robert Desnos). La
Papesse du Diable. Paris: Éditions de Lutèce, 1931.
Sylvius, Jehan (ps. Henri Meslin e Ernest Gengenbach). Les Messes Noires – Satanistes et
Luciferiens. Paris, Éditions de Lutèce, 1929.
82 Michele Olzi

Thimmy, René. La Magie aux Colonie. Paris: Éditions de France, 1935.

———. La Magie à Paris. Paris: Éditions de France, 1934.
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———. Advanced Sex Magic – The Hanging Mistery Initiation. Rochester: Inner Traditions,
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———. The Light of Sex – Initiation, Magic and Sacrament. Rochester: Inner Traditions,
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———. Magia Sexualis – Sexual Practices for Magical Power. Rochester: Inner Traditions,
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———. Initiatic Eroticism and other Occult Writings from La Flèche. Rochester: Inner
Traditions, 2013.
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SPYROS PETRITAKIS

The reception of Nikolaos Gyzis’s

Behold the Bridegroom cometh by Rudolf Steiner
in Munich in 1910: Its ideological premises
and echo in the cross-fertilization of artistic
and Theosophical Doctrines.

´ κα πØρ •τύπωτον, Óθεν φων¬ν προθέουσαν"

´ φäς πλούσιον •µφ γύην ÕοιζαÃον ©λιχθέν"
Proclus1

Rudolf Steiner’s lecture on Gyzis

In 1910, during his peregrination throughout Europe in the early twentieth century,
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), at that time a member of the German Theosophical
Society, visited Munich in order to present before the theosophical audience the
mystery drama of Edouard Schuré (1841–1929), Les Enfants de Lucifer [The
Children of Lucifer], as well as his own Rosicrucian play Die Pforte der Einweihung
[The Portal of Initiation].2 During that time, from the 16th to the 26th of August,
Steiner delivered a series of lectures on the Die Geheimnisse der biblischen
Schöpfungsgeschichte [Secrets of the Bible Story of Creation], and on 25 August he
added to his program a smaller speech on the painter Nikolaos Gyzis (1842–

1
“[or you will see] a formless fire, from which a voice is sent forth, or you will see a
sumptuous light, rushing like a spiral around the field.” Proclus (In rem p., I, 111, 1–12),
quoted in Ruth Majercik, The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Leiden
and New York: Brill, 1989), 104–105.
2
The first performance of Schuré’s Les Enfants de Lucifer was given in Munich on the
19th of May in 1909. For Édouard Schuré’s notion of the Théâtre de l’âme and its inter-
twining with the visual arts and modernity see Helmut Zander, “Ästhetische Erfahrung: Mys-
terientheater von Edouard Schuré zu Wassily Kandinsky,” in Mystique, mysticisme et moder-
nité en Allemagne autour de 1900, ed. Moritz Bassler and Hildegard Chatellier, conference
proceedings, University of Strasbourg, 1996, (Strasbourg: Presses Universitaires de Stras-
bourg, 1998), 203–221. For an account and critical discussion of the history of the Theo-
sophical and Anthroposophical movement in Germany see Helmut Zander, Anthroposophie
in Deutschland: theosophische Weltanschauung und gesellschaftliche Praxis, 1884–1945,
two vols. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007).

83
84 Spyros Petritakis

1901).3 Gyzis, a prominent Greek painter—who after having studied in the Academy
of Fine Arts in Munich became a professor there from 1886 onward until his death
in 1901—was much appreciated by his contemporaries for his ability to intertwine
in his visual vocabulary elements from the illustrious Greek heritage, the Byzantine
icons and the more recent stylized Jugendstil.4 Despite the fact that Steiner’s lecture
on Gyzis was transcribed by Carlo Septimus Picht­a fervent adherent and editor of
Rudolf Steiner’s oeuvre, who published it in the journal Blätter für Anthroposophie
[Feuillets for Anthroposophy] in 1951­its content, eluded the attention of the
academic community.5 Since Rudolf Steiner’s public speech Gyzis’s work has fallen
into oblivion in Anthroposophical circles and a further survey on the eventual links
between Gyzis’s paintings and the Theosophical doctrine still remains unfulfilled.
Steiner’s admiration for Gyzis chimes with the fact that the painter, at the meridian
of his artistic life, left behind the traditional genre scenes that were typical for a
professor in the Academy and orientated himself towards a more spiritual painting,
comprised of strange angelic beings of apocalyptic imagery.
Furthermore, the painter has been conspicuously absent from the European
schema of symbolism or relegated to footnotes in academic texts by art historians.
This absence of Gyzis from a European history of Symbolism is contingent on the
peripheral location of Greece, compared to Munich or Paris at the turn of the cen-
tury, and therefore on the limited role that Greece could play in the reconfiguration
of the artistic, European landscape. It is worth stressing here that although the late
work of the painter reaped the admiration of a cultivated, intellectual milieu in
Greece, consisting mainly of literates, art critics, poets and magazine directors, it en-
countered, however, a rather glacial reception on the account of its hermetic con-
notations. Thus, many efforts have been made to purge it of its mystic and symbolic

3
Rudolf Steiner, Die Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte: das Sechstage-
werk im 1. Buch Moses: ein Zyklus von zehn Vorträgen und ein einleitender Vortrag, Mün-
chen, 16. bis 26. August 1910, GA 122 (Dornach: Rudolf-Steiner Verlag 2010).
4
For a helpful biography on Gyzis cf. the book of M. Montandon, based and composed
on the now lost diaries of the painter; Marcel Montandon, Gysis (Bielefeld and Leipzig: Vel-
hagen & Klasing, 1902); For a further survey on Gyzis’s artistic course see Marinos Kalligas,
Νικόλας Γύζης, η ζωή και το έργο του [Nikolaos Gyzis, His Life and Work], (Athens: Educational
Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, 1981); Konstantinos Didaskalou, Genre– und alle-
gorische Malerei von Nikolaus Gysis (PhD diss., Munich: LMU, 1991); Konstantinos Didas-
kalou, Der Münchner Nachlass von Nikolaus Gysis, two vols. (Munich: s.n., 1993); Nelli
Missirli, Νικόλαος Γύζης, 1842–1901 [Nikolaos Gyzis, 1842–1901], (Athens: Adam, 2002)
(1st ed. Athens: Adam, 1995).
5
Rudolf Steiner, “Aus dem Lichte die Liebe,” Blätter für Anthroposophie 3 (1951): 421–
426; Carlo S. Picht, “Nikolaus Gysis. Zum Gedenken an seinem 50. Todestag (4 Januar 1951),”
Blätter für Anthroposophie 3 (1951): 419–421.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 85

elements, or, in other words, to subdue the “lurid modernization” and supplant it
with more representational thought-systems and ideologies.6 For example, Kalligas,
director of the National Gallery of Athens between 1949 and 1969, underlined that
“Gyzis’s religious works enrich the traditional Christian iconography with a new
figure, a figure that can be regarded neither as purely orthodox nor purely western.
It is profoundly Christian.”7 Similar modes of thinking have permeated the field of
Greek art historiography till the recent times, thus, thwarting the understanding of
Gyzis’s late work.
Since the late 1980s, various studies that have indicated that the theosophical
discourses prompted artists within the symbolist movement ­such as Wassily
Kandinsky, František Kupka, Piet Mondrian, Hilma af Klimt, Arnold Schönberg and
Alexandre Scriabin­ to reject the traditional modes of thinking and most importantly
to crack the barrier of verisimilitude by identifying hidden abstract elements in
nature. Building on those studies, I address the Gyzis’s case with the intention to
place his work in the centre of these discourses, hoping at the same time to provoke
the interest of other scholars on his case.8 As Kassimati states, Gyzis took a pro-
found interest in theosophical books, although no other information survives that
could lead us to a more specific direction.9 Yet, Gyzis’s reception at the begin

6
Eugenios D. Matthiopoulos, Η τέχνη πτεροφυεί εν οδύνη. Η πρόσληψη του νεοροµαντισµού
στο πεδίο της ιδεολογίας και της θεωρίας της τέχνης και της τεχνοκριτικής στην Ελλάδα Art Springs
Wings in Sorrow: The Reception of Neo-romanticism in the Realm of Ideology, Art Theory and
Art Criticism in Greece (Athens: Potamos Publishers, 2005), 537. Matthiopoulos states that
Greek art critics, who tried to force Gyzis’s artistic production into a Greek narrative, down-
played the Symbolist-mystic elements evident in his paintings. See also Antonis Danos, “Idealist
‘grand visions,’ from Nikolaos Gyzis to Konstantinos Parthenis: the Unacknowledged Symbolist
Roots of Greek Modernism,” in The Symbolist Roots of Modern Art, ed. Michelle Facos and
Thor J. Mednick (Farnham Surrey, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015), 11–22.
7
Kalligas, Νικόλας Γύζης, 175. Kalligas approaches Gyzis’s late work through the lenses
of Greek antiquity, that is to say, under the presupposition that an unaltered and mystified
essence traverses the various stages of Greek civilization, whose manifestations crystallize
in the eternal values of rhythm, anthropomorphism, symmetry, analogy, sobriety and geo-
metry. For a critical argumentation over the notion of “Greekness” appropriated by Kalligas,
see Eugenios D. Matthiopoulos, “Η θεωρία της ‘Ελληνικότητας’ του Μαρίνου Καλλιγά” [The
Theory of ‘Greekness’ by Marinos Kalligas], Historika, 25 (2008): 331–356.
8
Sixten Ringbom, The Sounding Cosmos; a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the
Genesis of Abstract Painting, (Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 1970); Maurice Tuchman, Judi Freeman and
Carel Blotkamp, eds., The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890–1985, exh. cat., County Mu-
seum of Art, Los Angeles (New York: Abbeville Press, 1986, rev. 1999); Bernd Apke and Ingrid
Ehrhardt, eds., Okkultismus und Avantgarde: von Munch bis Mondrian, 1900–1915, exh. cat.,
Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (Ostfildern: Edition Tertium, 1995).
9
Marilena Z. Kassimati, “Η καλλιτεχνική προσωπικότητα του Νικολάου Γύζη µέσα από το
ηµερολόγιο, τις επιστολές του και τις καταγραφές άλλων καλλιτεχνών: µια νέα ανάγνωση της
‘ελληνικότητας’” [The Artistic Personality of Nikolaus Gysis, viewed from his journal, his
86 Spyros Petritakis

ning of the twentieth century indicates that some aspects of his late work were
highly appreciated among particular circles of artists and further triggered within
them a reconceptualization of traditional religious painting.

Fig. 1. Nikolaus Gyzis, Behold the Bridegroom (1899–1900),

Oil on Canvas, 2,00 x 2,00 m. Athens, National Gallery.

Rudolf Steiner’s lecture referred to a well-known painting of Gyzis, Behold the Bride-
groom Cometh, which is now preserved in the National Gallery of Athens, but then
was kept by his family in his studio (Figure 1). The large painting has as its theme
the arrival of the Bridegroom [Nymphios], a service of the Orthodox Church that
sermonizes on the vigilance upon the Messiah. As far as the literary derivations of
the painting are concerned, it is often stated that Gyzis resorted to the New
Testament and more specifically to the various verses from the Matthew’s Gospel

correspondence and other artists’ registers: A new understanding of his Greekness], in Ο

Νικόλαος Γύζης: ο Τήνιος εθνικός ζωγράφος [Nikolaus Gysis, The national painter of Tinos], ed.
by Kostas Danousis, Conference proceedings, (Athens: Study Society Tinos, 2002). Kassimati
drew on the account of Gyzis’s grandson, Ewald Petritschek.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 87

and from the Revelation of John.10 Furthermore, Gyzis draws on a book called Her-
meneia (1730–1734) by Dionysios of Fourna (1670–1744), a manual or treatise on
Byzantine painting, which provides a synthetic Gospel account of the life of Christ.11
Gyzis requested this book in a letter of his in 1886 and it must have been by that
time that the idea of a religious painting dawned on him. 12 Although the theme of
the “Second Advent of Christ” has been treated iconographically in a traditional way
by German artists, such as in the fresco depicting the Last Judgment, created by
Peter von Cornelius (1783–1867) in Ludwigskirche in Munich, Gyzis’s Bridegroom
is marked by a shift away from the canon in terms of stylistic and compositional
innovations.
In the Bridegroom the following scene takes place (Figure 1): in the middle of a
magical chamber, resembling the interior of a cathedral, the figure of Christ emerges
seated on an altar-shaped throne. Various rings of fire are coiling vehemently in
vorticose motions up to the margins of the picture, where the angelic hosts
genuflect, awaiting the Revelation. The scene gives the impression of an impending
end of the world by a huge conflagration, like—evoking the words of Proclus—“a
formless fire, from which a voice is sent forth, a sumptuous light, rushing like a
spiral around the field.”13 Gyzis began working on this large painting in the late
1880s and a large amount of preparatory sketches is preserved that allows us to
reconstruct in a way the overall setting of the scene (Figure 2–3).14 It was in the
artist’s intention to amplify the scene of the Revelation by adding on the lower part
the falling of Lucifer in the shape of a lightning.

10
The relative verses from the Bible are the following: Matt. 25:6: “And at midnight there
was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him;” Matt. 25:31: “When
the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit
upon the throne of his glory;” Matt. 25:32: “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and
he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats;”
Rev. 20:11: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.”
11
Kalligas, Νικόλας Γύζης, 182; Danos, “Idealist ‘grand visions,’” 14–15.
12
Kalligas, Νικόλας Γύζης, 176–188; Gyzis’s correspondence is published in Georgios
Drosinis and Lampros Koromilas, eds., Επιστολαί του Νικολάου Γύζη [Correspondence of
Nikolaos Gysis] (Athens: Eklogi Editions, 1953), 176–178.
13
Majercik, Chaldean Oracles, 104–105.
14
A series of preparatory sketches, drafts and studies of the painting exist in National
Gallery of Athens that demonstrate that the idea of this religious work germinated Gyzis’s
mind in the early 1890s and preoccupied him for the largest part of the decade. The work,
however, remained unfinished, though the separate drafts stand in their own as individual
works of art and they were exhibited as such. See Kalligas, Νικόλας Γύζης, 176–188; Missirli,
Nikolaos Gyzis, 288–305.
88 Spyros Petritakis

Fig. 2 Nikolaus Gyzis, Behold the Bridegroom Fig. 3 Nikolaus Gyzis, Behold the Bridegroom
(preparatory sketch, 1899–1900), Oil Drawing (preparatory sketch, 1899–1900), Oil Drawing
on canvas, 27,5 × 22,5 cm, on canvas, 27 × 26,5 cm, Athens,
Athens, National Gallery National Gallery

I would like to adumbrate here the basic ideas expressed in Steiner’s lecture. His
approach is spiraling out from the content of his play The Portal of Initiation, in
which he expounds the basic aspirations of the theosophical movement and the
hurdles that are raised on man’s path towards spiritual enlightenment. According
to him, theosophy resembles a current that percolates the manifold ramifications
of cultural life and sheds light on human’s quest for spiritual truth.15 In order to give
a vivid representation of his vision, Steiner draws the audience’s attention to
Goethe’s “Song for Mohammed” (Mahomets Gesang), in which the German poet des-
cribes how a rillet, springing from a rock, unfolds into a river, pullulates into a
stream, winds and gloriously flows into the ocean, with all its freight that accu-
mulated during its journey.16 Steiner contends that art emanates from such a uni-
versal spring: “Is it true that the spring of the being of the World emanates from the
place, where art manifests itself outwardly?” [Quillt wirklich die Quelle des
Weltenseins da, wo äußerlich die Kunst sich ankündigt?].17 The river stands here for
all this spiritual force that enables human beings to unfold their productivity, in-
dividualism and civilization. We should bear in mind that such an appropriation of
Goethe’s poem diffuses in the Theosophical public a more esoteric understanding
of artistic creativity, according to which the external form or shape of an artwork

15
Steiner, “Aus dem Lichte die Liebe,” 421–426.
16
Ibid., 423.
17
Ibid., 424.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 89

enshrouds the veritable source of artistic creation, which remains per se invisible.
Thus, the knowledge of how to use this spiritual flow of energy is a gift bestowed
only upon the enlightened individuals, poets and artists, who in their turn should
diffuse it towards the masses. Throughout his life, Steiner made mention on many
occasions on Goethe’s parables, the most significant being the fairy tale of the Green
Snake and the Beautiful Lily (Das Märchen, 1795). In this abstruse story a river
appears separating the two realms, the one of the spirit and the other of the senses.
Only few entities have the ability to cross the two worlds and form bridges that
could allow human beings to cross over. A reverberation of Steiner’s preoccupation
with this fairy tale can be found in the storyline and in the character-building of his
Mystery Drama The Portal of Initiation. Thus, this oscillation between the
intellectual world of the senses and the spiritual world of clairvoyance finds its
pendant in the aesthetic discourse of Goethe's Mahomet's Song.
In order to present his vision in a more intelligible way, Steiner revealed a rep-
lica, in a smaller scale, of Gyzis’s Bridegroom, which was commissioned by him
some days before.18 He, furthermore, assigns to the painting the explanatory title
Throughout the Light, the Love [Aus dem Lichte die Liebe], which also corresponds
to his theory of light, as we will demonstrate below. Thereupon, Steiner focuses on
two aspects: Firstly, on the iconographical details of the picture and secondly on the
psychological effects of the colours used by Gyzis. On the whole, Steiner interprets
the painting not only from the scope of religious truth or as rendition of its most
profound meanings but mostly unpredictably from a cosmological, quasi astro-
nomical, viewpoint.
According to Steiner, the painting depicts the various stages–evolutionary pe-
riods of the world’s creation process, couched in “the objectively painted” [mit so
sachlicher Richtigkeit gemalt] figures of the spiritual hierarchies. In Steiner's ac-
count of how humanity is evolving, the divine-spiritual beings appear to bestow hu-
manity with potentialities.19 Steiner elaborated further on that matter in his lectures
preceding the one on Gyzis. In his lecture on the 22nd of August, Steiner discusses
the various ranks of Spiritual beings above men, namely the nine orders, whose
forces participate in the creation process and the human consciousness.20 Their
nomenclature derives from the Christian Neoplatonist Dionysius the Aeropagite but
the mytho-historical framework that Steiner retains, owes much to Blavatsky and

18
The commission was given to the Firma C. Kuhn in Munich. The proportions of the
painting were 42,5 x 42,5 cm. See Steiner, “Aus dem Lichte die Liebe,” 424.
19
Ibid., 425.
20
Steiner, Die Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte, 104–110.
90 Spyros Petritakis

her sources, the Ptolemaic Cosmogony, Hinduism and Kabbalah.21 Among the
entities, the Spirits of Will possess the most subtle, fundamental forces: Subdividing
further, the Thrones are the most powerful, elemental forces that participate in the
world’s condensation process into solid ground.22 Other hierarchies are the Spirits
of Wisdom, the Kyriotetes, the Spirits of Movement, the Dynameis and the Spirits
of Form, the Exusiai or Elohim. Finally come the Spirits of Personality (Archai),
Archangels and Angels, all together forming seven stages. According to Steiner,
manifestations of these Spiritual beings can be discerned in the painting: the inferior
angels that genuflect, the Seraphim and Cherubim flanking the figure of the
Bridegroom and finally the thrones around the middle of the scene, depicted as
formless, whirling wheels of fire. Perhaps, even the seven scale structure that leads
to the Majesty of the Christ could be interpreted as indicating the seven ranks of
angelic forces. Steiner, however, does not confine his analysis in what we could call
a figure-identification play. When he indicates that Gyzis paints “the harmonies of
the Hierarchies,” what he implies more is that in front of our eyes we encounter the
harmonious interweaving of the various Spiritual entities, the manifestation of their
activity in world’s creation. Thus, by the first three-fold Hierarchy, the Seraphim, the
Cherubim and the Thrones, we must understand, furthermore, the three different
cosmic-astronomical cycles, namely, the Old Saturn, the most subtle era, and the
progressively denser ones, the Sun and the Moon. Behind the first triad Hierarchy
there is warmth, the second, light and the third, colour.23 Thus, as Steiner points out,
the result of Hierarchies’s interaction with the visual, sensual and material world of
our experiences is manifested in the rendering of different colours in the painting:
the higher the Hierarchy, the brighter, warmer the colour. The Thrones that are
identified with the dark and gloomy world of the saturnine existence appear as
overflowing light in the middle of the scene, whereas the other yellow-red
gradations that materialize in fiery rings, demonstrate the interactions of the other
first-triad Hierarchies.
In this context, Steiner rephrased the biblical text “And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters” into “The Spirit of Elohim radiates over the elementary
states” [Der Geist der Elohim brütet über den elementaren Stoffansammlungen],
drawing, thus, the audience’s attention to the radiation of the figures in Gyzis’s

21
See Kathi Meyer-Baer, Music of the Spheres and the Dance of Death, (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970), 38–41.
22
Steiner, Die Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte, 146
23
Lecture delivered in Dornach, 4 Januar 1924 “Die Hierarchien und das Wesen des Re-
genbogens.” See Rudolf Steiner, Das Wesen der Farben: Drei Vorträge, gehalten in Dornach
am 6., 7. and 8. Mai 1921 sowie neuen Vorträge als Ergänzungen aus dem Vortragswerk der
Jahre 1914 bis 1924 (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1986), 217–232.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 91

painting.24 For example, Steiner interprets the vestiges of gold-hued color over the
faces and swords of the angels as the physical activity of radiation that emanates
from the “Spirit of Elohim”. By that, he means that the Spirits of Form, the Elohim,
interweave with the Thrones, the Fire Element, producing, thus, the scorched con-
tours on the figures.25 He even draws the attention to the two cosmic spheres that
glow at the upper part of the scene, which he correlates with the genesis scene by
Michelangelo in the Capella Sistina. According to Steiner the scene echoes the mo-
ment at which the new God hovers above, so as to create the world, whereas the old
God departs leaving behind demolished shells of the old realm. What Steiner tries
to denote here is that the two spheres in Gyzis’s painting are reminiscent of the
distinction between the two hypostases of God,26 that is to say, the Elohim that
through a higher state of evolution blossomed out into Jahve-Elohim. The Elohim
are deemed here as the separate organs of a body that gradually, under the evolu-
tion process, merge into Jahve-Elohim. The concept of evolution is seminal in
Steiner’s thought in order to understand the aforementioned description. Neverthe-
less, it is not clear whether Steiner implies that the two spheres represent the old
Saturn era and the present earth stage or other eras, such as the Old Sun and Old
Moon. From archival research we managed to elucidate further on that matter.
As Max Gümbel Seiling, a member of the German Theosophical Society, who has
contributed to the preparation of the Mystery Plays in Munich during summer, and
has recited the “Song for Mohammed” during the speech, recalls, Steiner imbued the
two spheres of the painting with a further cosmological meaning. More specifically,
the ancient planet on the left of the scene echoes the astronomical period of Man-
vantara whereas the new one on the right the period of Pralaya. Most of the Theo-
sophists were deeply acquainted with the above terms, which denoted, according to
the Theosophical Ontology, the eternal manifestation of the cyclic procession of deri-
vations and retractions.27 Whereas the Manvantara denotes the periods of the uni-
verse’s manifestation, Pralaya stands for the “sleep stage”, during which each cyclic
universe submerges after a period of pulsating ascension. This entire mytho-historical
framework derives, of course, from Blavatsky, even though Steiner elaborates it
further with more cycles, subdivisions and epicycles, that form at last a vast cosmic
mechanism, whose manifestation Steiner sees in Gyzis’s artistic creation.

24
Steiner, “Aus dem Lichte die Liebe,” 425.
25
A closer look to the painting reveals us that Gysis was using a colour of yellow parch-
ment that gives the impression of gold irradiations.
26
Ibid., p. 425. Correlate also with the lecture given in Munich on 18 August 1910 [Die
Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte], Steiner, Geheimnisse der biblischen
Schöpfungsgeschichte, 42–52, especially 44.
27
Max Gümbel-Seiling, Mit Rudolf Steiner in München (Den Haag: De nieuwe Boekerij,
1946), 64.
92 Spyros Petritakis

Towards a colour theory: Rudolf Steiner’s aesthetic predilections

and aspirations around 1910
When we come to discuss now the references on colour in Steiner’s lecture we shall
encounter some interesting points that require further analysis. Apart from focusing
on the singed contours of of the angels, which results in the warmth and shimmer
that the scene emits, Steiner describes the gradual unraveling of colors, from indigo
blue towards red, as a visual manifestation of the various stages of human evolution.
He even contends that red leans towards chastity [“dem keuschen, wunderbaren
Rot”] whereas indigo blue has a tendency towards devotion and humility [“zur
Andacht ... das zur Demut stimmende Blau”].28 Two points should come here under
discussion, firstly the dissolution of the fixed lines that constrain the colour, and
secondly, the symbolic use of colors.
In order to understand and reconstruct Rudolf Steiner’s aesthetic horizon of
expectations a historian must gauge to what extent an individual’s worldview is
rooted in pre-defined aesthetic phenomena or in which unique way his ideology is
intertwined with other configurations against the socio-cultural context. On 26
August 1910, a day after the speech, four members of the Theosophical Society
founded the Theosophical and Artistic Fund (Theosophisch-künstlerischer Fonds),
aiming at subsidizing Steiner’s theatrical performances and more important at find-
ing a place where to house them. Therefore, this move opened the way for the erec-
tion of the “Johannesbau,” a venture which, due to various reasons, was never
completed.29 Perhaps the idea of a building consecrated to St. John’s Revelation is
also an echo of Gyzis’s similar encounter with the Gospel. Even though Steiner was
trying to find favor with the Theosophical Society by following the standard trajec-
tory of esoteric knowledge, he nevertheless engrafted new elements to his body of
theory that resulted in a totally new concept of art. I believe that Steiner’s remotion
from Annie Besant’s aesthetic bandwagon must be placed at that period, and Gyzis
must have served for Steiner as the aesthetical paradigm towards more mystical,
Christological subjects. Indeed, later in 1914 Steiner seems to have returned to the
figure of the angel that hovers above the God in the cupola in Goetheanum and by
doing so, he paid tribute to the artist he once admired (Figure 4).
The second aspect I would like to bring up concerns Rudolf Steiner’s earlier oc-
cupations with artistic phenomena, and how the lecture on Gysis fits in that theo-
retical framework. During his formative years in Weimar (1879–1882), Steiner,
while delving into the Schiller and Goethe archives, had shown a remarkable interest
in art theory and its correlation with epistemology, the product of this inquiry being

28
Steiner, “Aus dem Lichte die Liebe,” 424.
29
Zander, Anthroposophie in Deutschland, 1081.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 93

the “Sophien” editions. Among the first painters Steiner extolled for the use of vivid
and glowing color was the Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), who by that
time had reached, not without objections though, the acme of his reputation.30 Later,
during a trip in London in 1903, Steiner named Turner “a magnificent painter”
[herrlichen Maler] and acclaimed the treatment of light and darkness, out of which
the figures are born.31 Turner’s link with spirituality should not strike us as
irrelevant and remote to the issue; it was Rosenblum who placed him among the
eccentric Northern route that runs the gamut of history of modern painting without
stopping at Paris, that is to say, from Caspar David Friedrich up to Rothko.32 What
Steiner must have kept as lesson after seeing Turner in London is his capacity to
paint with swirling brushstrokes, avoiding a strict, preparatory sketch. Furthermore,
the Evening of the Deluge and the Morning after the Deluge (1843, London, Tate
Gallery) disclose Turner’s attempt to articulate a theory based on Goethe’s Farbenlehre
[Theory of Colours, 1810].33 This distinction between aerial and material colors, as
well as the polarity of darkness and light must have rung a familiar chord in Steiner’s
aesthetic world view. He must have recognized in those paintings the hypostatization
of Goethe’s aesthetic universe, namely, the predominance of a dynamic color-tone
congruence that refuted the well established Newtonian tradition.34 This duality
between light and darkness, with color being the mixture of the two, is reminiscent
of Aristotle’s colour theory, as it appears in the Περ αÆσθήσεως κα αÆσθητäν (De
sensu et sensibilibus), a work which was well known to both Goethe and Steiner. In

30
Rudolf Steiner, Farberkenntnis: Ergänzungen zu dem Band “Das Wesen der Farben,” eds.
Hella Wiesberger and Heinrich O. Proskauer (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1990), 501.
31
Rudolf Steiner, Briefe, vol. II, 1890–1925 eds. Edwin and Paul G. Bellmann Froböse
(Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1987), 432.
32
Robert Rosenblum, Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition: Friedrich
to Rothko (London: Thames and Hudson, 1978) (1st ed. New York: Harper & Row 1975).
Rosenblum speaks of Nolde and Turner in the following way: “Nolde’s seascapes, too, strike
familiar chords in the history of Northern Romantic painting, especially in the art of Turner,
whose more liquid paint techniques are particularly prophetic of Nolde’s molten palette and
brushwork, where light, color, cloud, and sea fuse into an indivisible whole of glowing, im-
palpable energy,” 135 (underline mine).
33
Martin Kemp, The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to
Seurat (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 299–303.
34
For the polemic on Newton and the diffusion of Goethe’s theory in the artistic field,
especially the Expressionists or Malevich, see Jacques Le Rider, “L’héritage de Goethe: ro-
mantisme et expressionism,” in Aux origines de l’abstraction: 1800–1914, ed. Serge Lemoine
and Pascal Rousseau, exh. cat., Musée D’Orsay, Paris (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux,
2003), 111–120. However intriguing, it would require further analysis in order to embed
Gyzis in this theoretical framework.
94 Spyros Petritakis

a more esoteric context, the Manichaeans had set forth similar doctrines, with which
Steiner was equally acquainted.35

Fig. 4 Foreground: Rudolf Steiner, Sketch for the middle figure of the
small cupola of the first Goetheanum, Pastel in paper, 50,8 × 40,5 cm,
1914, Kunstsammlung Goetheanum. Background: Nikolaus Gyzis,
Behold the Bridegroom, op. cit.

Turner, also was heading towards a more immaterial painting, defying the represen-
tational norms of the Academy and focusing on a different aesthetic basis of pic-
torial theory. The weaving of light and darkness by dint of swirls of colour is indeed
common in both Turner and Gysis. According to Goethe, the different gradations of
colour are identified with the various modifications of light. In Gysis’s painting God
Himself—following thus St. Augustine’s dictum that “God is light,”—is depicted as
pure yellow, whereas the rings seem to vary from yellow-orange to red until they
meet, outside the chamber, the indigo-blue, the other half of the color wheel and the

35
Rudolf Steiner, Bausteine zu einer Erkenntnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha: kosmische
und menschliche Metamorphose: siebzehn Vorträge, gehalten in Berlin vom 6. Februar bis 8.
Mai 1917 (Dornach: Rudolf-Steiner Verlag, 1996), 294; Andrew Phillip Smith, The Gnostics:
History, Tradition, Scriptures, Influence, (London: Watkins Publishing, 2008), 124–143.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 95

opposite pole to the light. Goethe observes that “Yellow is the colour nearest to
light,” in contrast to blue, the other pole, and gold is the purest and brightest state
of yellow.36 However, in Gyzis’s painting gold and light weave together in a more
complicated manner, as Steiner also indicates, letting us assume that a byzantine or
East Orthodox artistic doctrine is perhaps here adopted. Let us only refer to the
importance of gold colour in the circles of Russian Symbolists, the Argonauts, whose
journal Zolotoe Runo [Golden Fleece] was illustrated with poems of Andrei Bely, as
this one: “suffused with fire is the heavenly vault... / Don your armour / Of fabric
fraught with sun! / The ancient Argonaut! / summons to follow / he calls / on a
horn / of gold: / To the sun, to the sun, whoever loves freedom / let us fly into the
ether / of azure blue” (manifesto-poem, 1903).37 Interestingly enough, Bely, who
met Steiner in 1912 after hearing some of his lectures together with Anna
Turgenjewa, is “weaving” here the image of a golden sphere emerging out of an
azure blue firmament like in the Bridegroom painting.
In conclusion, Steiner interpreted Goethe’s aesthetics on several occasions and
by 1904 was ready to combine the great German philosopher with Theosophy. In
this context we would like to contend that Steiner, in his quest for a theology of co-
lours that would embrace the Goethe legacy, ran around 1907 into Gyzis’s painting,
in which he saw the different strands of his philosophic thought—the German
idealistic tradition and the esoteric–Rosicrucian knowledge—becoming, eventually,
congruously interlaced.

Gyzis’s echo: the Aenigma Group

The approach of Gyzis’s Bridegroom through Goethe’s aesthetical universe points
to the importance of Goethe’s reception in German Theosophical circles and more
specifically it sheds light not only on the ideological appropriations of Goethe’s co-
lour theory, but also on the fermentation process of abstraction at the turn of the
century. Steiner projects here his experience with Turner and Goethe on Gyzis and
by doing so he actualizes Goethe’s Farbenlehre on the horizons of younger artists
that attended his lectures. At the same period, under the influence of Rudolf Steiner,
Kandinsky was also delving into Goethe’s colour theory. Kandinsky was familiar with
Steiner’s Luzifer-Gnosis, which he quoted in Über das Geistige in der Kunst [On the
Spiritual in Art], and he attended Steiner’s lectures during his sojourn in Berlin in

36
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Theory of Colours, Trans., Charles Lock Eastlake, (Lon-
don: J. Murray, 1840), 307.
37
Samuel Cioran, Vladimir Solov!ev and the Knighthood of the Divine Sophia, (Ontario:
Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1977), 5.
96 Spyros Petritakis

1907–1908.38 Having settled in Munich in 1908, Kandinsky had abundant

opportunity to cultivate his interests in the teachings of Steiner. Two of his former
pupils in the Phalanx-Schule, Emy Dresler and Maria Strakosch-Gießler, were
involved with Steiner’s Mystery plays in Munich at that period. To what extent
Kandinsky availed himself of this opportunity and attended the lecture Steiner gave
on Gysis, remains yet uncertain. Since the Über das Geistige in der Kunst [On the
Spiritual in Art] was written in 1910 and published later in 1911–1912, it remains
a crucial question, whether Kandinsky was aware of the lecture on Gysis and the
discussion on colours and angelic forces by Steiner. Gyzis’s application of warm-cold
coloring together with its spiritual connotations —the red draws towards life, the
indigo draws away from it— allows us to read in the artist’s oeuvre the
prefiguration of imminent cultural phenomena.
Nevertheless, the question remains as to how Rudolf Steiner came to know
Gyzis’s Bridegroom, since the work was until now believed to have been in the pos-
session of the artist’s family in Munich. From archival research I draw the conclu-
sion that the missing link was Anna May Rychter (born Kerpen, 1864–1954), a stu-
dent of the painter, whose father, Heinrich May, was Gyzis’s personal doctor. From
1897 onwards, Gyzis kept orderly correspondence with Anna May, which is now
preserved at the national Gallery of Athens. In these letters we find out that Gyzis
thought highly of Anna and entrusted her many of his future plans, asked her
advice, and shared with her the pathos of music. Margarita Hauschka, the niece of
Anna May-Rychter, recounts that in the Atelier of Gyzis’s young student in
Adalbertsstrasse in Munich, in the vicinity of the Theosophical Branch, a picture was
hanging, supposedly with the title “Majestät Gottes” (The Majesty of God), perhaps
a variation or a lost sketch of the “Bridegroom.”39 As Tadeusz Rychter (1873–1943),
a young painter from Poland and also Gyzis’s student, formerly associated with the
cultural modernist Milieu of the political cabaret Kleiner grüner Ballon [Small Green
Balloon] in Krakow, came to rent the atelier, recognized Gyzis’s painting at once and
solicited to keep the painting together with the apartment. Since Anna May rejected
the naive offer, Rychter sufficed to make a small replica of the original work and
after that the two artists came into a relationship. It was through Rychter that Anna
May acquainted herself with Rudolf Steiner in 1905– 1906 and perhaps through her

38
Wassily Kandinsky, “Über das Geistige in der Kunst [1912],” in Kandinsky. Complete
Writings on Art, ed. Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo (New York: Da Capo, 1994) (1st ed.
Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982), 145.
39
Margarethe Hauschka, “Das Triptychon ‘Gral’ von Anna May,” Das Goetheanum, Wo-
chenschrift für Anthroposophie, 54 (1975): 187–190; M. Gottlieb, “Anna von Rychter-May,”
Mitteilungen aus der anthroposophischen Arbeit in Deutschland, 29 (1954): 128–129; Eva
Levy, “Anna May-Rychter,” in Anthroposophie im 20. Jahrhundert, ed. Bodo von Plato
(Dornach: Verlag am Goetheanum, 2003), 506.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 97

Rudolf Steiner familiarized himself with the work of the painter. At the same time, it
is recorded that a copy of the Bridegroom decorated the theosophical Branch of
Munich in 1910 and it was especially known to its members.40 Anna May, who
worked as a stage decorator for the Mystery plays in Munich in 1910, that is to say,
at the time when the lecture on Gyzis was given, received from Steiner an analytical
commission about a painting that should adorn the Johannesbau in Munich and
should depict the different stages of Christianity, from Solomon through the Holy Grail
and up to the Rosicrucian Christianity.41

Fig. 5 Anna May Rychter, The Triptych of Graal, 1912–1914 (now lost). Image from Aenigma, Gruppe
bildender Künstler, cat. exp., Galerie Das Reich, Munich, from Februar 5 to March 13, 1918 (Kind
concession: Dr. Reinhold J. Fäth).

This threefold painting, reminiscent of the work of her master, is preserved to us

through a transparent by her niece. The painting was firstly exhibited in February
1918 in the Gallery Das Reich [The Kingdom] (Figure 5), after her involution in the
artistic group Aenigma and later, in the same year, in Glaspalast, were she exhibited
it under the name May-Kerpen.42 The work ended up in Hamburger Waldorfschule,
where it was destroyed during the bombings at the Second World War. For the end

40
Hans-Jürgen Bracker, “Eine frühe Botin der Anthroposophie in Palästina: Zum 50. To-
destag der Malerin Anna Rychter-May,” Novalis Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken, 58
(2004): 61.
41
Hauschka, “Das Triptychon ‘Gral’, 187. Gottlieb, “Anna von Rychter-May,” 128–129.
42
Aenigma, Gruppe bildender Künstler, exh. cat., Galerie Das Reich, Munich, from Februar
5 to Mars 13, 1918; Münchener Kunstausstellung, exh. cat., Glaspalast, Munich: 1918, 43.
98 Spyros Petritakis

of our story, Anna May moved with her husband to Palestine, where she lived as a
saint, cultivating direct links with other anthroposophists. Her husband’s traces
were lost soon after he was commissioned to paint a church in Poland in 1939.43
Thus, the links between Anna May and other Aenigma artists, such as Maria
Strakosch-Gießler (1877–1970), a former student of Kandinsky, indicate that Gyzis’s
name was circulating among Theosophists and his religious works were already
known by the majority of the Aenigma members.

Fig. 6. Nikolaus Gyzis, Archangel

(Study from the The Grounding of Faith), since 1894,
Oil Drawing on canvas, 80 × 69 cm, Athens, Benaki Museum

The iconographical sources of the Bridegroom

As we have already indicated the reception of Gyzis’s Bridegroom shows direct links
with the occult networks in central Europe. Yet, the iconographic or literary sources
of these religious works remain unknown. Although it is tempting to link Gyzis with

43
Gottlieb, “Anna von Rychter-May,” 128–129; Hauschka, “Das Triptychon ‘Gral’,”
188–189.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 99

the spiritual renaissance in Munich around 1900, lack of evidence hinders us from
corroborating such a relationship. It is risky, therefore, to jump to the conclusion
that Gyzis was an orthodox Theosophist. More likely he had embraced aspects of
the theosophical or other mystical teachings that coincided with his own worldview,
finding, thus, in the theosophical doctrines a peg on which to hang and reflect his
own spiritual quests. Under this scope, our purpose here is not to encumber the
interpretation of Gyzis’s paintings with highfalutin schemes, but, instead, to offer a
foil for the way artists within the anthroposophical milieu might have understood
and appropriated his work.

Fig. 7 Left: Nikolaus Gyzis, Behold the Bridegroom, 1894–1900, Oil on canvas, 85 × 60 cm, Munich,
Family Collection of the artist. Right: Images of Syzygies
and other Pythagorean configurations as appeared in Blavatsky 1982, 19–20.

Gyzis must have been aware of the spiritual activities and research that took place
in Munich in the late nineteenth century. Works such as The Victory of Spirit Over
Matter (1899–1900), The Archangel: Study from The Grounding of Faith (1895,
Figure 6), The Fall of Satan (1895–1900), The Harmony (Figure 8), The New Aeon
(1895–1900), betray an embracement of theosophical ideas around 1900. Concern-
ing his work The new Aeon, he comments in his letters: “[...] I shall send you a
100 Spyros Petritakis

photograph of a study on the Jahrhundertwende [Turn of the Century] or rather the

progress of the civilized world throughout the darkness of the future, escorted with
the arts and sciences holding lighted torches.”44 The picture that would decorate the
upper part of the scene depicted The Victory of Spirit Over Matter, a subject that
may have been later paraphrased by Kandinsky as the equestrian Saint George who
fights the Dragon. A similar fight that depicted the Fall of Satan was to accompany
the Bridegroom. Could it be that we have here an echo from the “emanations” of
God, the Aeons, or the “pleroma”, of which Blavatsky speaks in the Secret Doctrine?
In the late nineteenth century Munich, Germany’s Kunststadt, became a flou-
rishing center for the theory and practice of occultism, spiritualism and parapsy-
chology, all of which constituted the seedbed for political and especially artistic
ebullition. The allurement of spiritualism as a battering ram against the impregnable
fortress of science and its ideological medium, positivism, was shared by many
artists and intellectuals at that time, most considerably among them the Munich
Secessionists Albert von Keller (1844–1920) and Gabriel von Max (1840–1915).45
All of them were proponents of a new aesthetical paradigm that would be based on
the cross-fertilization of different fields, such as the aesthetic, the scientific and the
occult ones. The Munich psychiatrist Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, many painters,
such as Gabriel von Max, Albert von Keller, Toni Stadler, Heinrich Max, and Franz
Lambert—some of them held a position in the Munich Academy, like Gyzis and
Max—as well as the Art Historian Gabriel Muther, were among the members of the
influential Psychologische Gesellschaft [Psychological Society], founded in Munich
in 1886, which engaged in research concerning the soul, somnambulism, hypnotism
and other dreamlike states of trance. Thus, apart from the secularization of religious
themes, which triggered enormous resistance on the part of the Catholic Church, a
wider spiritual upheaval evolved that led to profound changes in the field of the
visual arts, since the invalidation of dogmas meant that traditional iconographies
were no longer binding. This deeper understanding of religious sentiments was
often filtered through theosophical doctrines, as many researchers have recently
indicated, and was canalized to the visual arts, leading gradually to the

44
Drosinis and Koromilas, Επιστολαί του Νικολάου Γύζη, 250–251.
45
For a helpful survey on the spiritual life in Munich see Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker and
Gian Casper Bott, eds., Séance, Albert von Keller and the Occult, exh. cat., Frye Art Museum,
Seattle (Washington: University of Washington Press, 2010). Gyzis knew Keller as we con-
clude from a letter of his to Ourania Nazou (18 October, 1899); see Drosinis and Koromilas,
Επιστολαί του Νικολάου Γύζη 250. Also, in 1874, Gysis resided in an apartment, which was
before von Max’s atelier; See Missirli, Nikolaos Gyzis, 346.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 101

dematerialization of subject matter.46 We do not have any evidence that Gyzis had
direct contacts with the Psychological Society or its members. We can, however, point
out that both, Albert Keller and Gyzis, were members of that Albert Keller together
with Gyzis were members of the Künstlergesellschaft Allotria (Art Association Allotria)
founded in 1873 by Franz von Lenbach, from which the Munich Secession originated.
What still remained hitherto unnoticed, is the fact that in 1895, Gyzis designed the
cover for the illustrated magazine Über Land und Meer [Over Land and See], which
abounds in Masonic iconography. The redactor of the magazine, Ludwig Gärtner, was
indeed an orderly member of the Psychological Society.
It could be that Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine, of which the first two volumes from
the third English Edition by Froebe were available to the German public since 1893,
provided since 1893, provided the artistic seed of inspiration for Gyzis’s Bride-
groom.47 In the third volume Blavatsky refers to the Gnostic system of Valen-
tinians.48 Gyzis may have drawn inspiration particularly from the sketches made by
Blavatsky and George Robert Stowe Mead (1863–1933) on the Pistis Sophia, a
Gnostic text attributed to the Valentinian School (Figure 7–8).49 According to the
Valentinians, angels are mediators between the Pleroma and the spiritual seed of
humans; they are manifestations of the Aeons. The angels appeared to Sophia as a
host accompanying the Savior. The Savior and his angels manifest the Pleroma as
beings simultaneously one and many. This assimilation is conceived of as a mar-
riage, and this is the ideological context for the concept of the “bridal chamber.”50
In Blavatsky’s presentation of the Valentinian system, however, different traditions
coalesce, such as those of Pythagoras and Plato. In order to vindicate this Gnostic
system, Blavatsky conveyed to her students that these drawings prove that in Plato’s
words “the Deity geometrizes.” In Dionysius’s The Celestial Hierarchy, as we have

46
On this subject see Veit Loers and Pia Witzmann, “Münchens okkultistisches Netz-
werk,” in Okkultismus und Avantgarde: von Munch bis Mondrian, 1900–1915, eds. Bernd
Apke and Ingrid Ehrhardt, exh. cat., Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (Ostfildern: Edition Tertium,
1995), 238–244.
47
The first complete translation of Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine (the four vols, from the
English third Edition) was accomplished by Robert Froebe in 1899 with the assistant of
Franz Hartmann.
48
Helena P. Blavatsky, Die Geheimlehre: die Vereinigung von Wissenschaft, Religion und
Philosophie, Trans., Robert Froebe (Leipzig: Theosophisches Verlagshaus, 1899), 469–470.
49
In 1890–1, G. R. S. Mead published a serial article on “Pistis-Sophia” in Lucifer maga-
zine (Vol. 6), the first English translation of that work. The first edition of his translation of
Pistis Sophia appeared in 1896.
50
Einar Thomassen, “Valentinian Ideas About Salvation as Transformation,” in Metamor-
phoses: Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early Christianity, ed. Turid
Karlsen Seim and Jorunn Økland (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter, 2009), 169.
102 Spyros Petritakis

seen before, the angels appear rotating in wheels and are arranged according to
their warmth; the higher the order, the greater their radiance.51 The scene, where
all the angelic forces are merged under the light of God resembles large whirlpools
of fire, the Empyrean, which Aristotle also mentions, and that is later preserved
within Gnostic circles, as well as in Christian doctrine. The theme is also associated
with the music of the spheres, the correspondence between macrocosm, the divine
principle, and microcosm, which encompasses the human beings. 52

Fig. 8 Left: Nikolaus Gyzis, Behold the Bridegroom, op. cit. (Geometrical analysis).
Right above: Chart of the Pleroma, according to Valentinus as appeared in Blavatsky 1982, 15.
Right under: Nikolaus Gyzis, Harmony (Drawing), 1893, mixed Media on Cardboard, 62,5 × 58 cm,
Thessaloniki, Municipal Gallery.

When looking closer at the structure of the painting now, we can see that Gyzis took
an interest in arranging the whole scene by means of concentric circles and
diagonals, more hinted by the subtle strokes of colour than by the strict drawing
lines (Figure 8). Infrared reflectogramm analysis of the painting The new Aeon has

51
Kathi Meyer-Baer, Music of the Spheres, 40–41.
52
Under this light a comparison with Gustave Doré’s (1832–1883) illustration of Celestial
Rose (1868) from Dante’s Divine Comedy appears very interesting.
The reception of N. Gyzis’s Behold the Bridegroom cometh by R. Steiner 103

shown that Gyzis was an expert in drawing and also mastered well the balance of
lines and forms of the whole composition, setting symmetrical axes to underpin this
“invisible harmony.”53 Montandon has made a similar remark regarding the Bride-
groom.54
Various preliminary studies of the Bridegroom, preserved now in the National
Gallery of Athens, indicate that Gyzis was, indeed, from the first moment concerned
with the problem of structure, searching to design an invisible web. From a He-
raclitean worldview the painter erases all traces of representation in order to hint
at an invisible, hidden harmony. He ignores the illusionary world of the senses, the
Maya, and weaves his figures in a colorful, luminous net, which smolders the con-
crete forms of the scene. The preparatory sketches of the painting also indicate that,
from the very beginning, Gyzis was trying to arrange the whole scene through
successive vortices of incandescent colour. Another preparatory sketch (figure 7)
indicates that Gyzis was engrossed in solving two pictorial problems: the first con-
cerns the organization of space by dint of successive, concentric circles that would
merge into one another and build up the invisible but explicit harmony of the scene.
The second issue involves the distribution of warm and cold colours in the picture
as the diagram beneath the figure of God indicates (figure 7). This wheel of
complementary colours points out that Gyzis oriented towards a warm-cold anti-
thesis, like that of Goethe’s, discussed above, skipping at the same time the green
and violet tones as unnecessary. It may have been that Gysis was also aware of the
German Edition of Goethe’s Farbenlehre (1890–1), which included an introduction
by Steiner. Whether the twelve tone-gradations, like spindle cells, may also carry
some other musical or theosophical connotations, is still unclear. Thus, in Figure 8,
I emphasize some of the painting’s elements, discussed above, and juxtapose them
with the schema that Blavatsky publishes in her Secret Doctrine. In the theosophical
tradition the pentagram symbolizes the nuptial union of the two genders or in the
Pythagorean tradition the amalgamation of microcosm and macrocosm. Finally, in
the diagram, the smaller circles surrounding the seated figure of Christ mark the
spots where the fire wheels or Thrones appear in a symmetrical pattern.
Furthermore, these wheels are arranged in groups of one or three, which indicates
that Gyzis does not cull exclusively from byzantine iconographical tradition. 55

53
S. Sotiropoulou et al., “The Artistic Traits of Gyzis: a First Diagnostic Approach to His
Paintings,” in Proceedings of the 4 th Symposium of the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry,
ed. Yorgos Facorellis, et al., (Oxford: BAR International Series, 2008), 606.
54
Montandon, Gysis, 118; he speaks of “mystical mathematics.”
55
In that sense, Fourna’s Hermeneia does not provide us with a satisfactory answer. I as-
sume that Gyzis must have become acquainted with the traditional rendering of Thrones, af-
ter seeing the ones depicted in the orthodox Salvatorkirche in Munich. In Andrei Rublev's
The Christ in Majesty (1408, Tempera, Assumption Cathedral, City of Vladimir, Russia) the
104 Spyros Petritakis

Considering these remarks, an important issue may arise: Why does Steiner in
his lecture on Gyzis neglect to comment upon all these obvious geometrical con-
figurations, which could perhaps contribute further to the comprehension of the
painting's spiritual meaning? Amplifying my previous arguments I would like to
state that in bold contrast to the French theosophical doctrine, in which the pre-
valence of mathematics and geometry was emphasized, Steiner was striving to es-
tablish a theology of colors by letting the rivers of Goethe – the currents of German
idealism – flow into his philosophical matrix.
After taking these different strands together I would like to point out that Gyzis’s
work deserves further attention from art historians, as it emerges in the foreground
around 1910. This was a crucial time both for the future of the Theosophical
Society, since Steiner at that time was abandoning its ideological bandwagon, and
for the outcome of the artistic ebullition of the pre-war years. At this time —to
paraphrase Marshall Berman— the firm and solid certitudes of modernized societies
melt into thin air.56

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KAROLINA MARIA HESS

Romanticism and National Messianism

in Theosophical Milieus in Poland
Before World War II – an Overview1

The aim of the paper is to examine the complex relations between Romanticism and
its Messianic philosophy and the ideas shared by esoteric groups in Poland in the
first half of the 20th century. It is divided into three parts, where the first is focused
on the introduction to the specificity of Polish Romantic literature, that is the idea
of National Messianism, which emerged in the particular historical and political
context. It explains the role of the so called Three Bards, and concepts such as Po-
land as Christ of the Nations, and Poland as Winkelried of the Nations. Esoteric con-
tent was clearly present in Romantic literature from the beginning, but some topics,
such as Słowacki’s Genesic philosophy, became especially important for esoteric
groups at the turn of the 20th century. The second part of the text is focused on the
Theosophical movement in Poland, and on the reception of esoteric concepts and
new esoteric interpretations of concepts rooted in Romanticism within it. Here one
can count attempts to find traces of Aryans in Polish mountains or imagining Tatras
as Himalayas, teachings about national places of power, concepts such as “Karma
of the Nation”, “New Patriotism”, and incarnation of the “King Spirit”, all of which
emerged in the Polish Theosophical Society in the 20s, that is in the interwar period,
when Poland had just regained independence. The last part presents the
Theosophical Society and related movements, that were inspired by ideas rooted in
Romanticism, against the background of other esoteric milieus with similar interests.
Messianic philosophy was something shared by many groups, even if their
ideological profiles were different. The last part, therefore, places the Romantic
aspect of Polish Theosophy in the wider socio–cultural context.

Historical background of Romanticism in Polish lands

To understand the specific nature of Polish Romanticism, it is necessary to sketch
its historical background. The Romantic era, spanning the last decades of the 18th
century and the first half of the 19th, coincides in Poland with the period of so-called

1
The research project was financed from the sources of the National Science Centre,
Poland, awarded on the basis of decision no. DEC–2013/11/N/HS1/04812.

109
110 Karolina Maria Hess

Partitions. The lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the union of the

Crown of Polish Kingdom and the Great Duchy of Lithuania, existing from 1569 to
1795) were gradually divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria between 1772 and
1795. The last partition was complete, and as a result Poland lost its independence
for 123 years, that is until the end of World War I in 1918.2 During this time the
questions of independence and national liberation were the dominant topics of
reflection and debate among Polish intellectual elites, both in formerly Polish lands
and in exile.
The ideas of Romanticism, which in various countries often revolved around vari-
ously understood notions of freedom, in Polish literature and art were in effect
concentrated, in all their diversity, on the ideas of nation and statehood. The period
of partitions was also a time of failed insurrections, primarily against the Russian
Empire, which led to the so–called Great Emigration. Many of the most important
works of Polish Romantics were created in exile, which contributed to their specific
character. The doctrine of National Messianism and a particular historiosophy as-
sociated with it become one of the main – if not the most important – topics in
Polish Romanticism.

Roots of National Messianism

It is worth noting that the entry for Messianism in Polish lexicons typically dis-
cusses several meanings of the concept, before underlining that in Poland it has a
specific meaning besides those more common ones. Following a standard definition,
Messianism can be understood as (1) a socio-religious doctrine, a belief in the
coming of a Messiah, who will restore freedom to nations and redeem humanity; (2)
a belief in a unique historical mission, bestowed on a nation or individual; (3) in
Poland – as a doctrine attributing to the divided and occupied nation the role of
Messiah of Nations, who will redeem all mankind through its suffering.3 Suffering
indeed is something the Polish Messianic thought probably focuses on the most.
Waldemar Chrostowski correctly observes: “In looking at their history and identity
the Poles show a clear tendency to highlight suffering as the key to the nation's
philosophy of history. For more than three centuries suffering has been a constant
historical determinant of Poland and the price paid for patriotism. Suffering can
mean defeat; it can be regarded as proof of the absence or impotence of God. Polish
spirituality, however, puts suffering in a different perspective. Suffering is seen as

2
For more see e.g. Jerzy Lukowski, The Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795 (New
York: Routledge 2014).
3
See Messianism [lexical entry] in Słownik Języka Polskiego http://sjp.pl/mesjanizm and
Słownik Języka Polskiego PWN http://sjp.pwn.pl/sjp/mesjanizm;2567583 [20.04.2016].
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 111

a sign of chosenness and the specific mission of Poles. The notion of chosenness is
historically rooted. It explains all events in the light of the role and position of the
Polish nation in God's plans.”4 Both suffering and the special mission of Poles give
us a perspective on the aims and means of Messianism, so it will help to see how
it flourished within esoteric thought.
The roots of Messianism as a complex of philosophical and moral doctrines
reach back to Judaism and the awaiting of Messiah who will liberate the nation of
Israel. It is also there where the idea of a nation especially chosen by God originates.
It gave rise to historiosophical reflections concerning the special missions of
individuals and nations, which would lead to the liberation or rebirth of mankind as
a whole. In Poland, as has been mentioned, the aspect of redeeming suffering was
especially stressed, and so the Messianic mission was identified frequently with the
sacrifice of Christ and considered within the paradigm of innocent sacrifice,
suffering and redemption. The idea of Messianic self–sacrifice and redemption of
mankind’s sins by a chosen nation was assimilated and developed by the Polish
Romantics as a response to the fall and partition of their country in the late 18th and
early 19th century. It was particularly prominent among members of the Great
Emigration after the failed November Insurrection (in 1831), and its greatest proc-
laimers were the national “Three Bards”. “Wieszcz”, usually translated as Bard, in Po-
lish means “soothsayer”, “prophet”, “herold” or “oracle”. Those are: Adam Mickiewicz
(1798–1855), Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849), and Zygmunt Krasiński (1812–1859).
Sometimes, a fourth Bard is added – a prolific poet of a younger generation, Cyprian
Kamil Norwid (1821–1883). If we wanted to make some generalizations, we could
follow some authors and say that “Mickiewicz, the master of the epic and lyric, may
be called the poet of the present; Krasiński, the prophet and seer, the poet through
whom the future spoke; while Słowacki, the dramatist, was the panegyrist of the
past.”5 It should be underlined that the Bards, even if very influential and
responsible for spreading the Messianic message, were not the first to conceive of
it. Józef Hoene-Wroński (1776–1853) is considered the forerunner of Polish
Messianism,6 and he also stressed Slavic motifs in his philosophy.7 Other im

4
Waldemar Chrostowski, “The Suffering, Chosenness and Mission of the Polish Nation,”
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, 4 (1991), 1–14.
5
Charles D. Warner, Hamilton W. Mabie, Lucia I. Runkle, George H. Warner, Library of
the World’s Best Literature, Ancient and Modern: A – Z (New York: J. A. Hill & Company
1902), 13508.
6
Rafał T. Prinke, “Uczeń Wrońskiego – Éliphas Lévi w kręgu polskich mesjanistów,” in
Pamiętnik Biblioteki Kórnickiej 30 (2013), 133. Thanks to the research of Rafał Prinke, many
intriguing facts about the relation of Alphonse-Louis Constant (1810–1875), widely known
under his pen name Éliphas Lévi, and Hoene-Wroński are now known. For example, Lévi,
devoted to the meaning of Messianism formed by the philosopher, criticized the use of the
112 Karolina Maria Hess

portant thinkers that influenced the Bards, and not only them, were younger col-
leagues of Wroński, Polish idealist, Hegelian philosophers, among them Józef Kremer
(1806–1875), August Cieszkowski (1814–1894), and Józef Gołuchowski (1791–
1858). The role of a philosopher and mystic Andrzej Towiański (1799–1878)8
should be also mentioned. Those are definitely the figures that one has to include
in a larger picture of the Three Bard’s ideas, as well as the influence of Messianism
on esoteric milieus.

Poland as Christ and Winkelried of Nations

The most important Messianistic manifesto is considered to be the “Vision of Father
Peter”, a fragment of the national classic, the 3rd part of Dziady [Forefather’s Eve]
by Adam Mickiewicz. The drama also includes the “Great Improvisation”, a famous
monologue of the main protagonist – Konrad – reflecting on questions of freedom,
love and God. In Father Peter’s vision, which alludes stylistically to ancient
prophecies such as the Apocalypse of John, Poland is imagined as the Christ of
Nations. France is the Pontius Pilate washing his hands – refusing to help the Poles
during their insurrection – the young fighters exiled to Siberia are compared to the
infants slaughtered by Herod; and the cross of Christ is made of “three dried up
peoples”, a clear reference to the three occupying forces. The vision includes many
other elements bringing out the symbolic dimension of the Polish nation’s suffering.
Rafał Prinke, who researched the formula “Poland as Christ of Nations” and its
esoteric contexts, notes that the slogan does not literally appear in Mickiewicz’s dra-
ma Dziady (the allegory is present there, but not the term), but it first appears in the
work by Eliphas Levi’s (Alphonse-Louis Constant, 1810–1875) Le Deuil de la Po-

term (which he considered stolen from Wroński) by Mickiewicz and Towiański (see 134–
135, 144). As Prinke cites, Constant wrote about the “morbid poetry of Mickiewicz and the
delusions of some obscure sectarian named Towiański.” Prinke also suggests that it is more
probable that it was Mickiewicz (who was familiar with Kabbalah), not Wroński, that was
responsible for the turning point in Constant’s interests which led him to create his magic
doctrine (see Prinke, Uczeń Wrońskiego, 148–149, c.f. Lévi, Dogme et rituel de la haute
magie, Paris 1861, 52).
7
See Józef Hoene-Wroński, Prospectus du Messianisme (1831), Messianisme ou Ré-
forme absolue du savoir humain I (1847), Épître à S.A. le prince Czartoryski, sur les desti-
nées de la Pologne et généralement sur la destinée des nations slaves (1848), Philosophie
absolue de l’Histoire ou Genèse de l’humanité, 1852, Historiographie (1852).
8
Towiański has influenced both Słowacki and Mickiewicz, but he is known mostly for
his great impact on the latter. However, the author of the book Mickiewicz hermetyczny,
Zdzislaw Kępiński, suggests that Mickiewicz, who knew the principles of the hermetic theo-
sophy of Rosicrucianism, used his knowledge to improve the fundaments of Towiański’s
“sect” (that is the Circle of God’s Cause, see below).
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 113

logne (= F. Lamennais, A. Constant, Le Deuil de la Pologne, Paris 1847). Lévi was

familiar with Polish Messianic circles at the time, and they influenced each other.9
Mickiewicz’s drama was published in 1832; two years later Słowacki’s Kordian10
appeared (inspired partly by a disagreement between the two poets). Instead of a no-
tion of passive suffering, Słowacki presents the ideal of active struggle, embodied in
the character of the legendary Swiss hero, Arnold von Winkelried. According to a
Swiss legend, Winkelried’s sacrifice brought about the victory of Switzerland in the
Battle of Sempach (1386), where he threw himself upon the Austrian pikes, taking
some of them down with his body. This broke up the Austrian front, and made an
opening through which the Swiss could attack. The heroic leap of Winkelried was
supposedly accompanied by a cry “Road to Freedom”. In Słowacki’s drama, Kordian
shouts from the top of Mont Blanc “Poland the Winkelried of Nations” (of Europe),
challenging Mickiewicz’s vision of passive sacrifice and urging his compatriots to
active and heroic struggle. However, in the drama the struggle fails, undermined by
Satan and his intrigues. Both those visions have shaped Polish thinking about the road
to freedom and national liberation. What they had in common, we should observe, is
that in both the sacrifice was to be complete and fatal.

Messianism and Esotericism

Romantic poets occupy a very important (if not the most important) place in the na-
tional cultural canon up to present day. It is not very surprising that Messianistic
ideas were also very popular, in various forms, among almost all esoteric milieus in
Poland at the turn of the 20th century. Moreover, they boomed in the interwar pe-
riod, when Poland regained her independence, and citizens of the new country tried
to find a new philosophy for the future nation. Romanticism not only inspired later
initiation doctrines and movements, but itself contained many allusions and refer-
ences to esotericism and mysticism.11

9
Prinke, Uczeń Wrońskiego, 142. See also 140–144. Regarding the political situation
and the emigration of the Polish intellectual elites that followed it, it is worth noting that
from the beginning of the 19th century there was a strong Polonophile current in French
culture, and on the other hand, there were a lot of Polish authors writing in French.
10
The full title Kordian. First part of a trilogy. The coronation plot.
11
It is worth noting that the study of esoteric motifs and inspirations and their signi-
ficance in the work of Romantic poets is one of the few instances where esotericism is seri-
ously discussed in Polish scholarship in the last decades (cf. Zdzisław Kępiński, Mickiewicz
Hermetyczny [Hermetic Mickiewicz] (Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1980),
Maria Janion, Maria Żmigrodzka, Słowacki Mistyczny. Propozycje i dyskusje sympozjum
Warszawa 10–11 grudnia 1979 [Mystical Słowacki] (Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut
Wydawniczy 1981) and the polemical responses to these books. It can be said that while an
emphasis on esoteric motifs in other writers and artists is often received with criticism or
lack of understanding, when it concerns the Romantic era, it is relatively uncontroversial.
114 Karolina Maria Hess

It is very important to stress that Polish national Messianism was on the one hand
similar, on the other hand different from the Messianism in other Slavic countries.
Nemanja Radulović in his article “Slavia Esoterica Between East and West” points out
some characteristic features of the Esotericism in Slavic countries, where Slavs are
seen as holding mediating role between Eastern and Western thought.12 The unity of
Slavic nations, or Pan-Slavism, is often characterized in the categories of Messianism.
The term is also widely present in Russian thought. Polish milieus often employed
Slavic references (as will be seen below in Theosophical contexts), but it needs to be
kept in mind that the specific historical situation of Poland, its partitions (casting
doubt on any notions of unity) and loss of independence, together with ideas
developed by thinkers and writers who had to remain in exile, distinguished Polish
Messianism from its (Pan-)Slavic counterparts and gave it a more specific focus.

Słowacki and his Genesic philosophy

Among the national Bards, with whom esotericists liked to identify, Słowacki was
without doubt the one who attracted most interest. For he has created, in several of
his works, a philosophical system known as “Genesic” philosophy. It is most pro-
minent in two works: Genezis z Ducha13 [Genesis from the Spirit] and Król–Duch14
[The King–Spirit], but elements of it can be found in other writings as well (see e.g.
Samuel Zborowski15).
Genesis from the Spirit, written in 1844 is a prayer-monologue, spoken from the
perspective of the divine Spirit. It is considered to be a manifestation of “knowing
faith” (gnosis–like), a postulate of unification of reason and intuition. It expresses a
spiritual vision of the universe and alludes to idealistic historiography.
The first and probably so far last translations of the poem, as well as some other
works (or at least fragments) of the Three Bards into English were prepared by
Theosophists. Here is an example (section 1) of translation of the Genesis from the
Spirit by Kazimierz Chodkiewicz.

O GOD, THOU lifted me up on the cliffs over the sea that I should recognize the
eternal life of my Spirit, and suddenly I became an Immortal, a son of God, the
Creator of all visible things, and one of those who living on golden suns and
stars voluntarily offer Thee their Love. For before the world was created, my

12
Nemanja Radulović, “Slavia Esoterica Between East and West”, Ricerche slavistiche 13
(59) 2015: 73–102.
13
Juliusz Słowacki, Genezis z Ducha (Poznań: Ostoja, 1918),
14
Słowacki, Król–Duch (Paris: Maulde i Renou, 1847).
15
Słowacki, Samuel Zborowski (Vilnius: Zorza 1928).
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 115

Spirit dwelt in the WORD, and the WORD was in Thee, and I was in the WORD.
And we, the Word Spirits, asked Thee to give us Forms and immediately Thou
gavest us these forms, O Lord, permitting us to create from ourselves, from our
Will and our Love, the first visible shapes, and appear before Thee in
manifestation.16

What is very interesting from present perspective, is that Chodkiewicz changed

some parts a little, for example he omitted (or rephrased very imprecisely) a part
where some dualistic motif was mentioned directly.17 However, it was an important
element for Słowacki, as he underlined some words in this fragment. Possible rea-
sons may be that Chodkiewicz, as most Theosophists, tried to present Słowacki as
a Theosophist as well, so those changes might have been introduced to remove in-
congruent elements. In any case, many passages of the Genesis from the Spirit,
some of which I am presenting here, are definitely something that could attract the
attention of those interested in Western esotericism.

Thus You have separated the spirits that chose light as their form, from spirits
that chose to manifest in darkness . And those in suns and stars, while those in
earths and moons began the work of forms, from which You, Lord, collect
constantly the product of love, because of which all is created, through which
all is born.
[...]
For my spirit, as the first Trinity of three persons, composed of Spirit, Love and
Will, flew forth, calling upon kindred spirits of similar nature, and through love
rousing in himself the will, changed one point of invisible space into a flare of
magnetic-attractive forces.
And these transformed into forces electrical and fulgural.
And they warmed up in the Spirit.18

Another verse from the poem says something that we can paraphrase as “Help me,
o God, that my words, written with deep insight and intuition, may go to my country
and my people, and awaken first the hidden spiritual forces of Love and Wisdom.
I pray, O Lord, for the Wisdom in Faith, for the Knowing Faith, and for the Feeling
of Immortality, born from the Faith which KNOWS, because it understands the

16
For all of the text see http://slowacki.chez.com/genesis.htm. Translated by Theosoph-
ist, Kazimierz Chodkiewicz in London, 1966, cf. Słowacki, Genezis z Ducha, 7. Chodkiewicz
wrote a commentary to the poem too.
17
The reasons have to be researched further. A probable reason might have been that
Chodkiewicz wanted to omit those parts of the poem that did not exactly fit the Theosophical
point of view. See the section Słowacki – a Theosophist? below.
18
Translated by KMH, cf. Słowacki, Genezis z Ducha, 8.
116 Karolina Maria Hess

creative power of the Spirit, in which I already behold the Fiery Angel of the future
Sacrifice. For everything is created through the Spirit and for the Spirit and nothing
exists for material purposes. This will be the well-found Wisdom of my nation in the
future, and in the purified Wisdom a unity of Emotions will be born, which will
guide my country to her final attainment of the goal chosen for her in the creative
plan of the Divine Kingdom on this globe.”19
The “Genesic” philosophy of Słowacki, generally speaking, is based on the be-
lief that the essence of all being is spiritual, and matter is a form of Spirit as well.
Every being is constantly striving to achieve a higher level of perfection, but the
changes are not necessarily of evolutionary nature – they may be rapid – as new
forms in matter need to disrupt older structures to emerge. Revolution here could
be understood as destruction of the old forms of the Spirit, and the process as ne-
cessary, because leading to perfection. Motifs of Genesic philosophy can be found
in the novel Nietota. Księga tajemna Tatr written by Tadeusz Miciński (a member
of a Theosophical circle) in 1910, as well as the works of another author interested
in Western esotericism, Antoni Lange – Logos, Palingeneza, and others.

Słowacki – a Theosophist? 20
Regarding the numerous examples of references to Słowacki’s works, it is quite clear
that people involved in various esoteric currents could not remain indifferent to
Słowacki’s mystical writings. Some groups even suggested that he foresaw the ideas
they were promoting, and he was an early speaker for them. The best example is
Theosophy. Not only in the Polish lands, but also for Theosophists abroad, he was
a very important inspiration. In the archives of the Headquarters of the Theo-
sophical Society in America in Wheaton21 documents connected to the activity of
Polish-speaking Theosophical branches in the United States can be found – two in
Chicago and one in Milwaukee. The interesting fact is that two of those three
branches were called Juliusz Słowacki, despite the fact that the second branch knew
about the first when it was established – they still decided to use the same name.
It was, moreover, uncommon that the name of a new branch would not be directly
connected to Theosophy. There is an extant justification for the name from the
Branch’s members. Part of it says:

19
Translated by Chodkiewicz, cf. Słowacki, Genezis z Ducha, 53–54.
20
It should be underlined that interpreting Słowacki as a Theosophical thinker would be
anachronism, and this is not a case here.
21
I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Janet Kerschner for her help with finding
the data on Polish-speaking Theosophists in the USA.
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 117

The spiritual meaning of his poems was so much Theosophical, in 19th century
in Poland, that he was not fully understood by His People, until now, and
Theosophy makes it possible to grasp the meaning of highly spiritual poems
about Karma, Reincarnation, Dharma, etc. Now we understand him much better
by the aid of Theosophy – if Theosophical movement existed in Poland in his
time, he sure would have been at the head of Polish Theosophy. [Signed by
Acting Secretary of Juliusz Słowacki Lodge {organizing}, A. Berest, Dec. 1936]22

Another work, which kindled the imagination even more, is King–Spirit (or the Spirit
King), an unfinished book called sometimes a ‘Panslavic epic poem’ [epos wszechsło-
wiański]. The motif of a spiritually gifted king who will lead his nation to salvation,
was common in Polish esoteric literature. Here is a fragment of the 1st part:

My sufferings and sincere torments,

and the constant fight against a drove of satans,
their bright weapons and sunny shields,
snake pits filled with treason...
I will tell... fulfilling perennial decrees,
which place this burden on me today,
to sing the things bygone,
and the holy spirits’ great holy wars.

The poem alludes to the motif of a Slavic role in the history of nations, and Messian-
ism in the meaning that was discussed above.

Theosophical movements and ideas of the nation

Although there were many forms of interaction between Western esotericism, Ro-
manticism and national Messianism in Poland, I’d like to focus especially on one ex-
ample to show how the ideas were presented, that is on the Theosophical movement
in Poland, where all the main elements of national Messianism, like the King– Spirit
motif, Poland as Christ of Nations, and the idea of a special place of Poland on the
map of the world, are present. It is even more interesting in light of the fact that Theo-
sophy itself rarely offered ideas such as that of a chosen nation, itself propagating the
brotherhood of all nations, even if often engaged in their fights for freedom.
We already saw examples of the interest in Słowacki in Theosophical circles.
Now let us go through some Theosophical interpretations of the national messianic

22
Anton Berest (Letter to Etha Snodgrass, Dec 21, 1936), in: The files of Juliusz Slowacki
Branch, Chicago IL (Chartered on December 16, 1936, dissolved on July 23, 2001), the Ar-
chives of the Theosophical Society in America, Wheaton.
118 Karolina Maria Hess

ideas like mystic geography of Poland with its two gates, chakras, the Dharma of the
nation, New Patriotism and the incarnation of the King–Spirit.
The situation of Poland in the 19th century and later was interpreted symbolical-
ly in two perspectives – on the one hand, emphasis was put on the Romantic sym-
bolism of mountains and the sea, the two gates of the Commonwealth – the Baltic
and the Tatra. Wanda Dynowska (1888–1971), the Secretary General of the Polish
section of the Theosophical Society, wrote about them in such manner in her article
for an issue of The Theosophist partly devoted to Poland.23 The other perspective
referred to a clash of civilizations, that is, to the special place of Poland in the
collision of West and East. It was in Poland where the future synthesis of both
cultures was to take place. Theosophical literature and Edouard Schure's book The
Great Initiates were largely responsible for the image of the East involved here. In
response to an interest in searching for the origins of civilization in India, in Poland
people began eagerly to look for traces of Aryan presence in the Tatra mountains.
To great popularity rose the symbol of the swastika, which came to be found
everywhere – and drawn everywhere. Jan Reychman24 has collected examples of the
search for Aryans in the Tatras (as well as references to the Tatras as Himalaya, and
to Polish culture as a form of Indian culture), from Polish poems, novels, and other
works – a few of which are presented below:

Ewa Łuskina, Genezis z ducha Aryów:

So the base of the triangle, the apex of which shines with the brilliance [...] of
diamond among the glaciers of the Himavat – finds its footing in our land –
from the dark woods of Lithuania to the sunny pastures of the Tatra.25

Tadeusz Miciński, Nietota. Księga tajemna Tatr:

Tatra – Himalaya [...] I have stripped myself from all delusion, all semblance,
to the bare soul of a Proto-Indian. [...] I must find at last my solution of being:
I must understand [...], will I reach Purana Bhagavat? [...] Indian knowledge is
the fulfillment of what among us has been narrowed down into a dogma.26

23
Wanda Dynowska, “Seas and Mountains in the Life of Poland,” The Theosophist 11
(1942): 400–403.
24
Jan Reychman, Peleryna, ciupaga i znak tajemny (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie
1976).
25
Ewa Łuskina, “Genezis z ducha Aryów,” Lamus 12 (1911/1912), 64.
26
Miciński became a member of the Theosophical Society on December 31st, 1909, cf.
“Theosophical Society General Register” Vol. III, From 11th June 1904 to 3rd August 1910, No.
26081–43120, No. 39924.
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 119

Miciński, Xsiądz Faust:

We cannot go back to the peoples adoring Indra. But it is there, where are our
Swiatowid, Dziedzilla, Jarowit... 27

Jan Hempel, Z kazań o życiu i wolności. Piast:

Żywia (praslavic godess): “represents the religion and culture of Piasts as

“transhimalayan”, identical to the culture and religion of ancient India.” 28

Miciński and Wawrzeniecki, stated that Svetovid (a four faced-god, the main deity
worshipped by some Slavic tribes, the Master of heavens, war, fertility, and harvest)
was supposed to be a direct reflection of the lingam with four faces of Shiva.29
Furthermore, according to Theosophists, and those involved in the Liberal Ca-
tholic Church in Poland, there is a special place in the Tatra Mountains that might
be seen as a force/power center – that is the Black Lake, where Deva (in the mean-
ing from Hindu mythology), a mighty spiritual being is to be found.
What is interesting, the lake was chosen for a proper place of burial for Juliusz
Słowacki by a group of artists that included many prominent esotericists at the be-
ginning of the 20th century. The following letter concerning the issue includes na-
tional messianic motifs and emphasizes the suffering of the Polish nation:

For such an act of will as bringing Juliusz Słowacki’s body back to the country,
our society, as much as it is oppressed with the burden of misfortune, torn into
pieces and struck with new blows, can and should find the strength. – The
ashes of the Herald of the immortal will of the Nation, of the love of Fatherland,
the Apostle of the idea of sacrifice, brought to our land today may become the
cement to bond together our fragmented quarters, may unite the always
separated classes and the parties running in opposite directions, and breathe
into us, at least for this day, unity and love – and direct the tired eyes of the
living towards an eternal purpose.30

27
Miciński, Xsiądz Faust (Kraków: Spółka Nakładowa “Książka” 1913), 212.
28
Hempel became a member of the Theosophical Society on Juy 23rd, 1921, cf. “Theo-
sophical Society General Register” Vol. VIII, From 8th December 1920 to 7th July 1922, No.
85441–95440, No. 90156.
29
Urszula Makowska, “Wiedza tajemna Wschodu. Tendencje okultystyczne w kulturze
polskiej na przełomie XIX i XX w.” in Orient i orientalizm w sztuce. Materiały Sesji Sto-
warzyszenia Hisotryków Sztuki, Kraków, grudzień 1983, Elżbieta Karwowska ed. (Warszawa:
Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe 1986): 327.
30
List otwarty w sprawie sprowadzenia zwłok Juliusza Słowackiego (open letter sent from
Paris, February 1910) in Sfinks 2/26 (1910), 163.
120 Karolina Maria Hess

There were plans for bringing the ashes of the poet to Poland. According to the
information from 1909, the Cracow bishop didn’t want Słowacki to be buried in the
cathedral on Wawel Hill.

[...] we have come to the conviction that the most suitable burial vault would
be in the granite pyramid in the Kościelec crag above the Black Lake. In its
western, steep wall, two hundred meters above the Black Lake, that is about
half way up its height, there is in the granite surface an immense niche, eighty
meters tall and of significant depth, where due to a natural inclination at the
peak, avalanches or scree do not fall in. In this Tatra mountain chapel there
should be, according to a design by appointed artists, a catacomb sculpted in
the granite, and from the same granite – a large sarcophagus; and the whole
cave should be closed with iron or bronze bars; and there should be monu-
mental steps sculpted in the rock leading to the vault – beginning from the
path that leads to the niche.31

The motif of a place of power at the Black Lake appears also in a note of Władysław
Bocheński to the invocation written by colonel Michał Tokarzewski-Karszewicz.
Tokarzewski was a Theosophist, a freemason (Le Droit Humain) and a priest of the
Liberal Catholic Church. His invocation, as will be seen, is a clear example of Polish
national Messianism in esoteric circles:

We turn to You, the Spirit of the History of Polish statehood, and to You King-
Spirit of the Polish nation. We wish that out nation should grow and perfect
itself in the word of Truth about You and in the deed of fulfilling your Truth
about Poland, our Commonwealth. With the Force of Your Power give us
strength to serve You, guide us with the light of Your Wisdom and let the light
of Your unceasing, all-embracing Love radiate through us across all of Poland.
Peace to all, and the enthusiasm of common creation in the service of the
brotherhood of nations. Amen. Amen. Amen.32

The manuscript with the invocation was for a time in the hands of Bocheński, who
added a note to it: “Nota bene: The Spirit of the History of Polish Statehood is in
Wawel, and the King-Spirit of the Polish nation – by the Black Lake above the
Morskie Oko Lake.”33 Here we get to another power center connected to Polish
history and the idea of Spiritual King who will lead the nation to salvation: the
chakra in Cracow and the Marshall Józef Piłsudzki.

31
List otwarty, 163–164.
32
Daniel Bargiełowski, Po trzykroct pierwszy. Michał Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz. Generał
broni, teozof, wolnomularz, kapłan Kostcioła liberalnokatolickiego, Vol.1(Warszawa: Oficyna
Wydawnicza Rytm 2000), 517–518
33
The note was added to the manuscript in the letter from Bocheński to Bargiełowski, see
Bargiełowski, Po trzykroć pierwszy, 517–518.
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 121

Cracow, Wawel Hill – the Seventh Chakra of the Earth

and its connection to King-Spirit
It is hard to tell for sure who among the esoteric groups for the first time connected
the old legend of Apollonius of Tiana with the power center in Cracow. It is very
possible that it was Wanda Dynowska-Umadevi, but there is no doubt that it is
widely known from the work of another Theosophist, Kazimierz Chodkiewicz
(1892–1980). The topic was elaborated by Chodkiewicz in his publications on
Cracow’s Power Center in Polish, English34, and Italian. Regardless of who first gave
rise to this Theosophical legend, he definitely tried to clarify the topic.
According to Chodkiewicz’s version of the story, Apollonius from Tiana, when he
was travelling around Europe and the world, created Spiritual Centers of Power by
burying special talismans. Appolonius was a messenger of the White Brotherhood
of Adepts. Some of these centers were already active, but some were said to be
activated for important events which will happen in Europe in the future. One of
them is the Occult Centre where now is the city of Cracow. Then Chodkiewicz pre-
sents a part of Besant’s and Leadbeaters’ work Man: Whence, How and Whither
(Adyar 1913) where Cracow is mentioned in the context of migrations of the Nordic
sub-race, which he includes in his story. As one might suppose, Chodkiewicz sup-
ports the theory of Cracow as the birth place of the Aryans.

Fig. 1–2 The Wawel Lotus and the migrations of the Nordic sub-race from Chodkiewicz’ book
(1966:9,11).

34
Kazimierz Chodkiewicz, The Cracow Occult Centre (London: Col. K. Chodkiewicz 1966).
122 Karolina Maria Hess

But where in this story is a place for a national Messianism or the spiritual King
foreseen by Słowacki? Chodkiewicz mentioned that some chakras, or the spiritual
centers were not yet active. In many sources connected to Polish Theosophy we
may learn that the Son of the Nation, who was believed to be the spiritual king, was
Marshall Józef Piłsudzki (1867–1935).35 There are many Theosophical writings ex-
plaining his biography and the symbolic meaning of his political decisions (including
the controversial ones). In any case, Theosophists believed that the burial of the
Marshall on Wawel Hill would (and did) bring the awakening of the Lotus, that is
the Occult Center. There were many problems, in fact, with a proper burial (from the
point of view of Theosophists), as special astrological and other conditions had to
be met, so that the forces needed to open the center could accumulate. Finally, they
succeeded and the Marshall was buried exactly at 10.57 A.M. on the day of May
18th, 1935.36 Then “The Lotus trembled and slowly woke. Its several petals began
to rotate in a new cosmic rhythm. The transformer of the forces of God became
ready to aid Europe in her coming deadly struggle against the forces of Evil, which
threatened our Western Civilization...”37 The burial of the Marshall was just a stage
of the process, as the main war took place in Heaven.38 It is unknown if Theo-
sophists indeed had influence, as they claimed, on the date and hour of Marshal
Piłsudski’s burial, but if they did not, it would be a strange coincidence that he was
buried exactly at the time of the moving lunar holiday Vesak, during full moon.
Vesak is the most important Buddhist festival, celebrated in remembrance of the
birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. In the Theosophical Society it is believed
to be a singular period, during which Buddha confers a special blessing, and pours
forces from higher planes into our physical world. According to Chodkiewicz, rituals
connected to the festival in India and those of Piłsudski’s funeral in Poland worked
together to gather the force from higher planes in order to activate the chakra.

Theosophical New Patriotism

An important role in the Polish Theosophical Society was played by so-called New
Patriotism, a movement closely connected to the traditions of Polish Romantic
Messianism, which combined ideals of universal brotherhood and of a national

35
Piłsudzki was the leader of the armed independence movement during World War I
and after it he became the leader and the most influential figure of Polish political life, in
both his official and unofficial capacities. Many of his actions are controversial to this day.
36
Chodkiewicz, The Cracow Occult Centre, 1–25.
37
Chodkiewicz, The Cracow Occult Centre, 19.
38
Chodkiewicz, The Cracow Occult Centre, 20–25.
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 123

Karma of Poland.39 The Polish Theosophical Society considered itself a teacher of

Europe, a representative of a nation, which, due to its historic experience of subju-
gation and suffering, can introduce a new quality and bring about positive changes
in the international arena.40 Religious acts, and a conception of liberation in an
eschatological sense were merged with an idea of national liberation – the salvation
of individuals became equivalent to the salvation of the nation. In Wanda
Dynowska’s lectures a new idea appeared. Poland is neither Christ nor Winkelried
of the nations, but Kshatriya of the nations.41 The term comes from Sanskrit, it is
one of the four classes of Vedic society. The term traditionally describes the ruling
and military elite. It is where Polish Theosophists found their own role: fighting in
the wartime – and the spiritual war was more important and preceded the wars in
the material world – and keeping the peace in other times. As Dynowska said:

The Polish Section needs to understand that it is not permitted to limit itself to
work in Poland. We can afford not only to cover Poland with a network of
organizations, but to carry this force further. (...) Poland was the “Christian
promontory” and it has the same mission of promontory today. Poland is the
Kshatrija fighting for yours and our freedom. The Polish Section takes over
internally ancient knightly traditions. This is why Poland survived 150 years
of suffering; there is our own fault in it, but also something that no student of
history will understand. Poland is capable of undertaking colossal tasks; it
belongs to the avant-garde.42

The Polish Theosophical Society did not have any political connections at the begin-
ning of its existence. They emerged a few years after its establishment, in the late
1920s. The political issues became very important as the main figures of the society
– Wanda Dynowska and Colonel Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz moved into politics, which
they considered a possible field of activity for the Society. This decision had a huge
impact on the organization’s fate during and after World War II, and ultimately led to
its demise, but this topic extends far beyond the focus of this paper.

39
About Karma of Poland see W.L.B. “Karma of Poland as seen by Polish Theosophists,”
The Theosophist 11 (1942): 409–411.
40
Wanda Dynowska, Lecture for the meeting of the Polish Theosophical Society, 23
March 1927 in Archiwum PAN i PAU, Kazimierz Tokarski KIII–180, j.a. 18.
41
Wanda Dynowska, ibid.
42
Wanda Dynowska, ibid.
124 Karolina Maria Hess

Panorama of esoteric milieus of Messianic character

before World War II
National Messianism and ideas rooted in Romanticism were – as has been shown –
an inspiring influence for the Theosophical movement in Poland. One would be
wrong, however, to take Theosophy as the only example when it comes to the pres-
ence of Messianic inspirations in esoteric milieus in the first half of the 20th century
in Poland. The Theosophical movement did not discover the esoteric aspects of
Romanticism, The Theosophical movement did not discover the esoteric aspects of
Romanticism but we also cannot say that it just followed ideas that were very
popular at the time. Rather these ideas were present in Polish Theosophical circles
from the very beginning, and most possibly inspired individuals and groups treated
as separate phenomena, even if so far it was not clear. In my research I traced many
of these connections and discovered that those well-known individuals who are
considered as “other” Messianistic thinkers were in fact or members of the TS for
some time, or at least were in touch with the milieu. The beginnings of Polish mem-
bership in the Theosophical Society went back to 1887, while only in the first de-
cade of the 20th century some kind of formal lodge was formed, and in 1912 it was
registered as an independent society. Then in 1921 the Polish Theosophical Society
was legalized in Poland, but it became a national section officially in 1923.
One of the institutions closely connected to the Polish Theosophical Society, was
a branch of the Liberal Catholic Church active in Poland. In this case the main
persons of the TS were also responsible for establishing the LCC. Similar situation
was found in Le Droit Humain, and partly in the Order of the Star in the East. The
ideological profiles of all of them, although different, were strongly influenced by
the idea of a Polish Theosophical mission, and therefore, National Messianic ideas
were also present there. Among those who proclaimed conceptions and published
works of Messianistic character there were also individuals connected in various
ways to the pre- and inter-war Theosophical milieus, such as the popular writer and
poet Jadwiga Marcinowska, Mieczysław Geniusz or Eugeniusz Polończyk.43
Another organization involved with Theosophical ideas, but not with the Theoso-
phical Society was Karol Chobot’s Brotherhood of National Rebirth. The Brother-
hood’s aim was to raise the moral and civic consciousness of Polish people.44 In its
ideology, it combined Messianism, Occultism and metapsychology. The journal
“Rebirth” was connected to this organization.

43
Wojciech Roszkowski, Mesjanizm a masoneria okultystyczna w Drugiej Rzeczypos-
politej (Warszawa: Przegląd Powszechny 1983), 209–223.
44
Roszkowski, Mesjanizm, 214.
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 125

To move away from Theosophy, Wojciech Roszkowski notes that the relations
between Messianism and Freemasonry appeared to be quite natural in light of the
fact that almost all nationalist movements in the period of Romanticism and the
Spring of Nations were organized into associations and confederacies employing
masonic ritual. In the positivistic period the connection between Messianism and
Freemasonry was weakened, but near the end of the 19th century, in the Young Po-
land period, they became closely associated again. 45
At that time one could even find groups with “Messianism” in their names, such
as for instance the Messianistic Institute. Its founder was Józef Jankowski (1865–
1935), a writer and philosopher and an expert on Hinduism. His most important
idea was a conception of a political system – Synarchy – in which the highest prin-
ciple would be realized. He also proclaimed the possibility of the Absolute being
incarnated on Earth. 46
Another interesting example is Wincenty Lutosławski’s (1863–1954) “Eleusis”.47
Lutosławski was a renowned philosophy professor, who in his thought combined
the teachings of Plato and of the national Bards. The “Eleusis” was a society pro-
moting abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, gambling and lust. In its stated objectives
it referred to Andrzej Towiański and his Circle of God’s Cause. It aimed at a res-
toration of the Polish nation by hands of elites formed by the society. The members
of “Eleusis” called themselves “els”, from the Greek eleutheroi laon soteres – “free
saviors of people”48.
Many others also wrote about Messianistic ideas, including Jerzy Braun (1901–
1975), Adam Górski (1870–1959), Adam Żółtowski (1881–1958), Gustaw
Olechowski (1874–1959), Stefan Ossowiecki (1877–1944), Władysław Kołodziej
(1897–1978), or Włodzimierz Tarło-Maziński (1889–1967). In my research on the
history and ideas of Polish members of the Theosophical Society I discovered many
connections that were not known or explored before. First of all, it turned out (thank
you to Kurt Leland who pointed this out to me) that Wincenty Lutosławski was a

45
Roszkowski, Mesjanizm, 211. Please note, that apart of the meaning of a philosophical
current and scientific method, in Polish literary history Positivism is a literary current which
succeeds Romanticism, and precedes Young Poland.
46
Roszkowski, Mesjanizm, 211.
47
On esoteric dimensions of Eleusis cf. Małgorzata A. Dulska, Yoga and Spiritualism. The
Concept of the Development of Psychophysical Eleuterism by Vincent Lutoslawski (paper
presented at ESSWE4 Conference, Gothenburg 2013).
48
Marian P. Romaniuk, “Wincenty Lutosławski (1884–19580),” in W trosce o trzeźwość
narodu. Sylwetki najwybitniejszych działaczy trzeźwościowych XIX i XX wieku, Marian P.
Romaniuk ed. (Warszawa: Mazowieckie Centrum Polityki Społecznej, Yamaco 2007), 211–248.
126 Karolina Maria Hess

member of the Theosophical Society in his youth49. Even if later he changed his
views, especially on religion, it had probably more impact on his intellectual form-
ation than we might have guessed before. Furthermore, there were Polish members
of the Theosophical Society in England, among them a physician and homeopath,
Dr. Józef Drzewiecki. Beside his works related to health issues, we can also find a
book (in Polish) On the Philosophy of Hoene-Wroński [O filozofi Hoene-
Wrońskiego]. A Theosophist who became a member in Adyar headquarters, Jadwiga
Marcinowska, wrote a few books focused on Messianistic philosophy, including
Adam Mickiewicz – a prophet of New Poland [Adam Mickiewicz – wieszcz nowej
Polski], and especially important – The Creative Values of Polish Religious Thought:
Indian Philosophy, Christianity, Poland, Hoene-Wroński, Słowacki, Mickiewicz,
Trentowski, Cieszkowski, Krasiński, Libelt [Wartości twórcze religijnej myśli polskiej:
filozofia indyjska, chrześcijaństwo, Polska, Hoene-Wroński, Słowacki, Mickiewicz,
Trentowski, Cieszkowski, Krasiński, Libelt]. The aforementioned Józef Jankowski, al-
though not a Theosophist, was in regular contact with Theosophical circles – it was
him who informed the editors of “The Theosophist” about Drzewiecki’s death, and
from a letter of Kazimierz Stabrowski we learn that Jankowski visited Adyar and
conveyed some personal messages to him. Jankowski, who studied Vedanta, could
have very probably become interested in it under the influence of Theosophy. We
already mentioned the involvement with Theosophy of Taduesz Miciński, who was a
member of the Theosophical lodge Alba. These individuals (and many others)
suplement the picture of Polish Theosophico-Messianistic connections at a time before
the ideas of new patriotism and Poland as Kshatriya of Nations appeared within
Polish Theosopical Society. As can be seen therefore, the connections between Polish
Theosophy and national Messianism were much more complex and historically
inextricable. This topic certainly requires many more detailed studies in the per-
spective of intellectual history. Messianic ideas appeared in circles of various political
orientations. A nationalist right-wing option in a Messianic spirit was represented,
among others, by the Polish Confederacy.50 It is not possible in the paper of this kind
to precisely describe, or even enumerate, all the important people, groups and
movements who used or alluded to the ideas of national Messianism.51

49
He became a member of the lodge Isis, cf. “Theosophical Society General Register” Vol.
I, From 17th November 1875 to 8 th October 1898, No. 1–16120, No. 4037.
50
It was the organization established in 1918 by Mieczysław Geniusz, Antoni Lepraski,
and Czesław Oraczeski. It was the realization of Oraczewski’s idea of the “Army of National
Rebirth”. Roszkowski, Mesjanizm, 213.
51
For more information about relations between Messianism and Esotericism see chapter
11 in Jarosław Tomasiewicz, Naprawa czy zniszczenie demokracji? Tendencje autorytarne
i profaszystowskie w polskiej myśli politycznej 1921–1935 (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uni-
wersytetu Śląskiego 2012), 346–377.
Romanticism and National Messianism in Theosophical Milieus in Poland 127

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MAŁGORZATA ALICJA DULSKA

Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka

Pilchowa

The aim of this article is to present the vision of spiritual world created in the works
of Agnieszka Pilchowa, one of the best known Polish faith healers and clairvoyants
in the interwar period. The key aspects of her vision are the role of humanity in the
world, it’s final destiny and the ways to achieve it, as well as the vision of the future
of civilization.

Biographical note
Though Pilchowa was well known in interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia, today her
name does not raise any particular associations. It is thus necessary to present the
biography of the Clairvoyant of Wisła and an insight in her character. Kazimiera
Chobotowa, one of her closest friends, describes Pilchowa: “Agni – a strange visitor
from the nether world, more accustomed to the world of spirits than of earthly
matter, conscious of the divine work in spirit – she came to preach these truths.
Simple, Christian truths – and how significant in their simplicity.”1 Chobotowa adds
that Agni is one of people of the New Age and her stories of the spiritual world are
in most cases dictated by her spiritual caretaker named Mirjam, the Clairvoyant is
in constant contact with. 2
Agnieszka Pilchowa, deriving from Polish Wysocki family, was born on December
16th 1888 in Zarubek, today Czech Republic.3 Agni was a Pole but due to her place
of birth Czech was her mother language.4 She graduated in Czech Republic and

1
Kazimiera Chobotowa K., Gdy duch się budzi, in: Pilchowa A., Jasnowidzenie, Wisła
1936, s. 12.
2
Ibid., 12 – 13.
3
Władysława Magiera, Cieszyński szlak kobiet 2 (Cieszyn, 2011).
4
Hadyna writes: “she spoke a strange kind of Polish language, which resembled a bit of
Miciński, Towiański, some of Słowacki’s Pisma Mistyczne [Mystical Writings] and some...
Mniszkówna. Agnieszka knew none of these authors, I’m not even sure if she read anything
at all. It makes her writings a lot more interesting.” In: Stanisław Hadyna, Przez okna czasu.
(Kraków, 1993), 14. Pilchowa’s language is full of borrowings from Czech, which makes
reading more difficult. Her deep care about the world, humanity and salvation of every
individual is moving. Despite of suffering, evil and monstrosities often described in her
works, Pilchowa sees hope and prophesies the New Age of mankind.

129
130 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

married Józef Kurletto, with whom she had two children soon after. Since parting
ways with her first husband,5 she has moved to Poland, to a small town of Wisła in
Cieszyn Silesia. There she met her second husband, Jan Pilch, a teacher. The couple
built a villa on a top of Jarzębata’s mountain, which they named Sfinks [Sphinx]. It
has quickly become one of the most important centers of esoteric life not only in
Wisła but also in whole Poland. 6

Wisła esoteric mileus

At this point it is worth noting that Wisła in Cieszyn Silesia was a unique place. In
1920s and 1930s there was an esoteric center, the members of which shared their
interests and beliefs but, most importantly, their mission to preach the manifest
truth, connected with the destiny of Poland. Residents of Wisła constituted the
center’s core, with Pilchowa as a leader. Other members include: Andrzej Podżorski
(1886–1971), Jan Hadyna (1899–1971), Józef Chobot (1875–1942), Kazimiera
Chobotowa (1897–1976), Maria Florkowa (1892–1972). The esotericists of Wisła
have gathered a large group of associates. The “satellite members” of Wisła circle
came from different parts of Poland but were inextricably linked to their center in
Cieszyn Silesia. Maria Przywóska (1868–1938), Józef Świtkowski (1876–1942),
Kazimierz Chodkiewicz (1892–1980) and Stanisław Breyer (1873- date of death
unknown) are worth mentioning in this second group among many others. 7
The Wisła community matches the characteristic of a so-called cultic milieu. This
term, introduced by Colin Campbell in 1972, defines the social foundation from
which the so-called cults (ephemeral, innovative religious phenomena with a po-
tential to develop into a denomination) stem from. A cult milieu is formed by in-
dividuals in search of truths, who construct marginal systems of beliefs. A cult mi-
lieu is, in most cases, set in opposition to social norms and ideals and has the po-
tential of becoming a foundation for new movements, groups or religious com-
munities of mystical or esoteric nature.8
The community has established quite a cohesive and original religious vision of
the world and the conception of its renewal by attributing a unique historical

5
Pilchowa’s marriage with Józef Kurletto’s was annulled after four years, in 1917.
Kurletto was a friend of Agnieszka’s brother. The Clairvoyant was raped by him and forced
to marry him afterwards by her family in: Pamiętniki jasnowidzącej. Z wędrówki życia
poprzez wieki, vol. I, (Wisła, 1930): 107–21.
6
Hadyna, Przez okna czasu, 13.
7
Józef Chobot, Nowoczesny ruch spirytualistyczny w Polsce z szczególnym uwzględnieniem
Polski, (Wisła, 1937), 149–71.
8
Colin Campbell, “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization,” A Sociological Year-
book of Religion in Britain 5 (1972): 119–36.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 131

mission to Poland with a particular focus on the outstanding, spiritually developed

Poles. In order to popularize their ideas, the Wisła community has carried out a
significant publishing work, including editing numerous periodicals, translations of
western esoteric writings and publication of original works. Periodicals published
by the community include Wyzwolenie [Liberation] (edited by Andrzej Kajfosz from
1919 to 1920 and later transformed into Teozofia [Theosophy] which was issued
until 1930), Odrodzenie [Revival] (1921–29), Hejnał [The Bugle Call] (1929–39)
and Wiedza Duchowa [Spiritual Knowledge] (1934), the latter followed by Lotos
[Lotus] (1935–39). The most important publishers include Książnica Wiedzy
Duchowej [The Library of Spiritual Knowledge] and Hejnał [The Bugle Call].9

Agnieszka Pilchowa’s works

Pilchowa’s inspired writings have quickly started to appear in the issues of periodicals
mentioned earlier. In the beginning, the Clairvoyant was publishing under her maiden
name Wysocka.10 After her marriage with Pilch she signed her works as Agnieszka
Pilchowa, Agni P. or A. P. Apart from numerous articles and brochures she also wrote
books, the most famous of which is Pamiętnik Jasnowidzącej. Z wędrówki życia
poprzez wieki [A Clairvoyant’s diary. From the life’s journey throughout the ages],11
which is her opus magnum. Other books by Pilchowa include Życie na ziemi i w
zaświecie czyli wędrówka dusz [Life on earth and in the nether world-metempsy-
chosis],12 Jasnowidzenie [Clairvoyance]13 and Spojrzenie w przyszłość [A look into the
future].14 She was also an author of then very popular occult novels: Zmora [Mare]15
and Umarli mówią [The dead are speaking].16
Presumably Pilchowa was also an author of the so-called Przepowiednia z
Tęgoborza [Tęgoborze Prophecy], the most popular of its kind in Poland before

9
Renata Czyż and Zbigniew Pasek, Monografia Wisły. Kościoły i wspólnoty religijne, vol.
3, (Wisła, 2008), 39–55.
10
Two key works by Wysocka are known: Kilka obrazków chorób umysłowych ich istota,
przyczyny i sposób leczenia zaczerpnięte drogą jasnowidzenia z Rzeszy Ducha i własnego
przeżycia [A couple of images of mental disorders, their nature, causes and healing
techniques taken from the throng of the spirit and own experience] (1922) and W niewoli
żydowskiej czyli wolno w Polsce jak kto chce! Słowo Prawdy do Narodu [In jewish bondage
– heaven can wait in Poland! A word of truth to the nation] (Katowice, 1922).
11
Pamiętniki jasnowidzącej. Z wędrówki życia poprzez wieki, vol. I, Wisła, 1930.
12
Agnieszka Pilchowa, Życie na ziemi i w zaświecie czyli wędrówka dusz, Wisła, 1926.
13
Agnieszka Pilchowa, Jasnowidzenie, Wisła, 1935.
14
Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, Wisła, 1939.
15
A. P., Zmora. Powieść okultystyczna osnuta na tle prawdziwych przeżyć, vol. I, Wisła, 1932.
16
A. P., Umarli mówią vol. II, Wisła, 1933.
132 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

World War II. Verse form, most likely applied to the prophecy by Maria
Szpyrkówna, a friend of Pilchowa, appeared in print on March 27, 1939 in
Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny [Daily Courier Illustrated] issue no. 86 in the article
“Gdy czarny orzeł znak Krzyża splugawi...” Sensacyjna przepowiednia z roku 1893
o przyszłych losach świata [“When the black eagle will defile the sign of the Cross...”
A sensational prophecy from 1893 about the future of the world]. The divination
concerned the future of Poland in particular, the great war and occupation and also,
as it is often interpreted, the election of John Paul II as Pope. 17

The twilight of Wisła’s circles

In 1943 Pilchowa was arrested by the Gestapo, along with her husband and
daughter Janina. The reason for that was probably her son’s, Stanisław Kurletto’s,
participation in aiding Polish Home Army in its fight against Nazi occupying forces.
On December 24, 1943 Agnieszka and Jan were taken to a detention camp in
Mysłowice, from where they have been transferred to Ravensbrück concentration
camp in April 1944. The Clairvoyant has died by execution by the end of 1944 or
at the beginning of 1945, probably in one of the last executions in the camp. 18
Furthermore, during World War II all the esoteric publishers in Wisła were
terminated by the Nazis and their literary output was destroyed. Jan Pilch has sur-
vived the war and after his death in 1976 his villa, Sphinx, was sold to a local in-
dustrial plant as a resort hotel. 19

A Clairvoyant’s diary
The life of the Clairvoyant is shrouded with mystery, created both by herself, her
associates and the people who got to know her. In her writings Pilchowa appears
as a chosen person, gifted with extraordinary abilities which give her an insight into
the world of spirit. Her above-average skills were supposed to be a result of a
cleansing of the karmic deposit and, as she emphasizes in Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej,

17
“‘Gdy czarny orzeł znak Krzyża splugawi...’. Sensacyjna przepowiednia z 1893 o
przyszłych losach świata,” Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny 86 (27.03.1939): 6.
18
Hadyna, Przez okna czasu, 34.
Opinions differ on the exact date of Pilchowa’s death. Józef Dzwonek in his book Wisła w
jarzmie hitlerowskim 1939–1945 [Wisła under nazi occupation 1939–1945] suggests
November 12, 1944, recalling the testimony of Pilchowa’s granddaughter. Hadyna, on the
other hand, claims that Pilchowa died in the last execution in Ravensbrück. According to this
theory, Pilchowa would have died on January 5, 1945 in: Hadyna, Przez okna czasu, 34.
19
Ibid., 8.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 133

her meeting with Jesus Christ in one of his previous incarnations.20 Contact with the
divine thus justifies her role as a teacher and a depositary of divine secrets.
Agni recalls that her clairvoyance and the ability to perceive the astral world
were innate to her and were present in her life since the earliest childhood. A shock-
induced coma is believed to be a turning point for her.21 When unconscious,
Agnieszka claims to have dwelt into the astral world, guided by a being called the
spiritual guardian, who accompanied her from that point on. 22
In her youth, Pilchowa was involved with a group of spiritualists operating in
Radwanice near Ostrava. She has started to develop her skills among them, however
she has quickly withdrawn from participation in their meetings. According to her
diaries, the cause of that were the accusations, that Pilchowa was looking for a good
catch among the members of the group in order to get married quickly.23
Agnieszka was also a well-known faith healer. Her activity began before World
War I but gained nation-wide recognition afterwards. The witnesses recall her using
herbs and mesmeric caressing. There are records of miraculous revivals. According
to legends, Pilchowa was invited to Belweder Palace in Warsaw in order to meet
Józef Piłsudzki, Polish Chief of State, on a number of occasions. The purpose of
those meetings is unknown, it is however suspected that it was connected with
Piłsudzki’s poor health at the time.24
In her writings, the Clairvoyant explains how she can foresee future events. The
astral world was a sort of a matrix for earthly, material reality for her. It was also
a kind of collection, resembling an immense library containing feasibilities of the
events to come. As the Clairvoyant writes, “People come, go and all of their actions
and thoughts are reflected in the enormous kaleidoscope of astral and mental world.

20
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 28–51.
The concepts of Karma and Reincarnation play a key role in Pilchowa’s philosophy. The
Clairvoyant defined Karma as the sum of sins commited by human souls, the latter of which
forgot their divine descent and resorted to evil. Reincarnation, according to her teachings,
is the personation of a soul into a physical body in order to purify karmic concretions. At the
current stage of research one cannot identify the source from which Pilchowa drew her
inspirations and knowledge on subject matter, especially considering the fact that credible
sources claim that she did not read books in: Hadyna, Przez okna czasu, 14. Presumably her
closest associates and leading figures of Wisła esoteric milieu, Jan Hadyna and Józef Pilch,
had influenced those conceptions.
21
In her memoires Pilchowa does not precisely define the circumstances of that event.
The shock is believed to be a result of her meeting a priest, when the Clairvoyant realised
what a root of sin and evil the catholic church is in: Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 76.
22
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 88–96.
23
Ibid., 95.
24
Magiera, Cieszyński szlak, 26–33.
134 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

The great looking glass of justice grasps everybody on its film, similarly to an
earthly camera that imprints them on the screen of life’s scenes”. 25
Astral films are a key concept, as all of the events on earth are reflected on them.
Agni presents the films as something similar to excerpts from a motion picture,
which gifted individuals can read or recreate. Every human with such extraordinary
skills has a thought area, with the help of which he or she is potentially able to read
astral films, knowingly (if one has the capabilities) or unconsciously. These thought
areas are in fact a sphere of battle of good versus evil because, according to
Pilchowa, the forces of both good and evil place their films there, which an unaware
person reads and follows their instructions. 26

Pilchowa’s Astral World

In order to present a comprehensive vision of spiritual world described by Pilchowa
one should begin with the origins of material world and creation, a key term in this
context. It is connected with the anthropogenesis, on which the Clairvoyant
elaborates further in her books and articles. Human souls have emerged out of the
light, called to life in an act of divine love. Pilchowa emphasizes that God is the
essence of good. The creation, which appears as a result of God’s work, is a visible
sign of his infinite goodness. Man-soul, the holder of perfect spiritual body is the
crown of creation. The concept of will that was given to human is worth mentioning
at this point. The will becomes something imperative, a power that justifies the
existence of sin and suffering in both material and astral worlds. Thanks to free will
man can emulate God by starting to create. 27
As a result of their unabashed, experimental creation, humans have distanced
themselves from the Maker and forgot their natural, spiritual plane of existence.28

25
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 5.
26
Hadyna, Przez okna czasu, 43–46.
Essentially, one can assume that, according to Clairvoyant’s interpretation, there are two
kinds of people who perceive the spiritual world. The first are the so-called lunatics. Because
of the enormity of their evil deeds on earth, they descend to astral hell upon death. Unfor-
tunately, the souls that caused evil and reincarnated in order to escape the nether world in
a new body start seeing mares or phantoms. Agnieszka describes them as “surrounded by
a heavy whirlpool” in: Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 19–20. The second category
of people who start seeing the world of spirits, which is unperceivable to most of people, are
individuals who have awoken from the “sleep of the matter”. They have redeemed them-
selves from sin to such extent, that they were given a chance to see the world in its true
nature in: Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 20. Pilchowa is believed to come under the
second category.
27
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 3–22.
28
Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 26.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 135

The souls have created the matter and trapped themselves in it. Because of that they
have lost contact with the light, their divine side. Pilchowa writes: “God has created
us in his own image and likeness and gave us bodies of light, of the purest, subtlest
vibrations of ethereal energy. A miserable, crippled shell of thick matter which now
encumbers our spirit, we have called to life ourselves. The subtler body of ours, the
astral shell in which the spirit manifests life after the death of its bodily shell is our
creation as well, not God’s. It is however more similar to its original form but the
initial power only channels more or less through- the power of Man-God.” 29
The spirits have distanced themselves from the Father so much, that they forgot
where they come from and what they used to be. They have lost the power and
could not create anymore. Trapped in the tangible, they have managed to keep the
divine element within. “That godly spark, smouldering under a thick shell of matter,
is the Child of God nailed to the cross of our petty creation, crying for help, unable
to find the way out of this vicious karmic circle.” 30
Spiritual, or as Pilchowa refers to call it “Astral” world is divided into the Upper
Spheres and the Nether World. The Upper Spheres are a land of subtle energy, in-
habited by enlightened beings. The Nether World, containing astral hell is home to
evil powers, full of inconceivable evil and suffering.31
The whole earthly space is filled with astral. As Pilchowa writes: “Where does our
astral world begin and where does it end? I do not know the words to picture this
vastness, which immures us at its core. [...] From the core of the earth and through
all of its layers and to the surface I see- let’s call it simple, with a single word: astral.
It is admittedly slightly different from the astral outside earthly boundaries and far,
far high, away!”32 Between the Upper and the Nether world is the material world –
the Earth. In Clairvoyant’s perception it is the sphere of an unceasing war waged by
the forces of good and evil. The powers of evil, often called the Evil Will, try to
influence man by all means, in order to sustain their hold of the planet. They know

29
Pilchowa A., Jasnowidzenie, 22–24.
30
Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 26–27.
31
The Nether World is also a place in which the souls, burdened with an immense karmic
debt, appear after death. In an attempt to escape, they choose their next incarnation for two
reasons: firstly, by living in material world they do not realise the vastness of evil in the
universe, secondly, by dwelling in human body they are able to atone for their sins. There are
souls that go to hells or heavens that they have projected throughout their lives. The projected
image was strong enough for them not to see the true image of the world and upon death they
came to a land created by their own notions. In the Upper Spheres, on the other hand, there
are souls that have partially paid their debt. These are often the spirits which have reincarnated
on earth many times before and now their only mission is to help people achieve liberation.
They are the so-called Keepers or Awakeners, beings watching over humans and helping them
achieve spiritual awakening in: Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 52–70.
32
Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 17.
136 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

the ways to project the future, mostly based on creating astral films and disguising
as the creatures of light, i.e. gods or angels. In this form they trick people into
unwittingly helping them in their malicious intent of feeding on their vital energy
and doing more evil.33

Astral beings
One may find it difficult to precisely classify the astral entities described by
Pilchowa.34 The Clairvoyant mentions four basic kinds of creatures: Mares,
Vampires, Larvae and possession-thirsty Spirit Mares are the spirits of people who
were harmed and seek vengeance on their oppressors in a new earthly incarnation.
Vampires in turn connect to unaware humans. They come from astral but are also
able to seek and attack their victims on earth. They slowly drain the vital energy of
their victims and turn them into subjects of the evil will.35 There are also spirits not
allowed to reincarnate in a human body because of the evil they have committed.
They thus haunt people in their sleep and take their bodies. The possessed lose
control of their bodies which usually results in death (Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w
przyszłość, 17–20).
Larvae are the most interesting astral creatures inhabiting earth. The Clairvoyant
claims to have seen them during World War I.36 She brings up graphic images of
columns of soldiers, above which “enormous animals of sorts, bigger than aero-
planes’ floated. Said animals descended upon the battlefields and grew, feeding on
blood, fear and death. These monsters have surrounded the warring, crawled upon
the corpses, bathed in the blood of the fallen.”37 The Larvae were created with the

33
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 9.
34
When presenting the astral bestiary, one novel written by the Clairvoyant is particularly
noteworthy. Zmora [Mare] published in 1932, tells a story of Antoni, a velthy youth haunted
by nightmares. Every night he is attacked by mares, which don’t let him sleep at night and
virtually exhaust him. In order to escape his fears, Antoni starts travelling around the world,
nothing seems to help him, however. As a result of tragical events the young man falls into
lethargy, in which he begins a journey with his guardian in the world of spirits. The analogy
between this story and Pilchowa’s own lethargy, which is believed to be a turning point in her
spiritual awakening, is unmissable in: Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 76–87.
35
Pilchowa A., Jasnowidzenie, 33.
36
“In 1914, high above ground, there floats the incredible world of unperceivable
entities. For 2000 years wars, revolutions, risings- and how little mendings for the good!
Hungry hyenas have gotten through from behind the curtain and surrounded the earth,
thirsty for vapours of blood. How many superintendents at work were there, who led these
monsters set people at variance, set them against each other just to have more blood drained
out of them!” writes Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 42.
37
Ibid., 44.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 137

power of human thoughts. There is only one way to neutralize them: Their maker
must pay his or her karmic debt. When it is paid, the maker experiences a spiritual
shock, which the Clairvoyant compares to a spiritual explosion of light. 38
Not only astral beasts inhabit earth, however: “Our earth welcomes losts of
castaways from this small universe. For everyone it has the bread to feed the body,
but it cannot carry all of them with their spiritual weight, the surplus of evil will,
which they have all miscreated and miscreate still”.39 The Gypsies who, according
to Pilchowa, come from the Moon, serve as a good example. They have turned their
flourishing homeland into a barren desert. The reason for that would be their abuse
of magic. The Clairvoyant claims that “[...] their presence on earth helps the dis-
covery of poisonous gases, death rays and similar means of humanity’s doom and
destruction of the world”.40
Pilchowa prophesies the coming of the Spirit of the truth foretold by the New
Testament, also known as the Consoler. It is not a messiah descending on earth,
however, but rather hundreds of daemons that, governed by love, surround the
earth. Thanks to them the forces of evil would be defeated, which would result in
the cognition of the truth about God, Christ and the true destiny of man. 41
Concerning daemons or guardian spirits, Pilchowa crafts and interesting theory
on planet Mars. She believes in the existence of a civilization superior to ours.
Martians would then resemble humans, but have a developed sixth and seventh
sense, thanks to which they can perceive much more than the earthlings, they also
sense life on other planets. Driven with compassion, they want to help humans in
their spiritual development. They are responsible for the phenomenon of so-called
“noble levitations”- occurrences of a medium levitating during seances.42 “Spirits
from Mars, inspiring a thought and search for spiritual truths on our earth, are si-
milar to our ancient initiates, but have a much clearer image of life in God and His
creation, His love to His children. The earthly spirits of the afterworld realise already
how much the matter and ignorance immure them, they welcome their Martian
friends so that the latter can help them awaken the others”. 43
Pilchowa describes a process that one can define as a pilgrimage of Martian
spirits on earth. Said spirits, according to her record, arm themselves with the
weapon of love in order to fight the evil entities of the astral world. First legions of

38
Ibid., 22–23.
39
Pilchowa A., Jasnowidzenie, 33.
40
Ibid., 34.
41
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, XII.
42
Ibid., XIV.
43
Ibid., XIV–XV.
138 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

martian warriors were believed to have reached earth in Pilchowa’s times. The
Clairvoyant prophesies: “Sacrificial Love is nearing, sacrificial love in the New Age”.44
In this world, a world filled with larvae and vampires, moonmen and martian
guardians lives man, usually restricted from the knowledge about the structure of
reality or his own destiny.

Spiritual awakening
Pilchowa claims that the comprehension of the spiritual world and the true destiny
of every human being comes with accepting oneself as God’s creation. Only by
realizing the divine origins and bonds with the spiritual world one can awaken and
“there is no other way out of a downfall than purification of the spirit through
suffering”.45 Said awakening would result in extrasensory perception, i.e. seeing
entities from the Upper as well as the Nether sphere. Pilchowa also believes that if
a person has partially paid his or her karmic debt and recognized the “genuine
source of truth and love”,46 the beings from the Nether World would not be able to
trick or force them into submission easily. However, people who mastered the so-
called “spiritual vision” which allows them to comprehend the structure of reality,
are more exposed to attacks of the Evil Will.47
The Clairvoyant emphasizes that a physical body is negligible, that it means as
much as a grain of sand on a desert or a droplet in a sea.48 She proves that “Matter
is the doom of spirit, matter still misused, free will, also misused, closes the gateway
to the liberation of spirit. To know oneself – and to regard material world only in a
manner of karmic balance, to pay the debts on the bosom of matter-only to take into
account the need of it to sustain the body, to pay the debt to the last penny in the
body; always to remember that the life, in its right form, originates from the spirit
and only in spirit can it exist”. 49
Eventually, the Christ is the central character, around which the Clairvoyant’s
vision of the world revolves. By his coming he has saved the world from the down-
fall and has partially made up for the karmic debt of mankind as well as thwarted
hell’s plans regarding humans.50 Pilchowa underlines that he was sent to Earth to

44
Ibid., XIV–XV.
45
Ibid., 13.
46
Ibid., 9.
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid.
49
Ibid., 6.
50
Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 24–25.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 139

“awaken” people to spiritual life, “to brighten the existence, the understanding of the
truths of eternal life”.51
Pilchowa in her Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej [Diaries of a Clairvoyant] presents a
vision her spiritual guardian has revealed to her. It shows one of her previous in-
carnations, in which she has personated a woman called Surya. Pilchowa’s tale be-
gins with presenting the Christ through the eyes of Surya, a wealthy and beautiful
Jewish girl preoccupied with laps of luxury and pleasure: “Supposedly very beauti-
ful, with a tender and strong voice, like a bell, ringing powerfully and echoing beau-
tifully; by no vow bound, free and good for everyone. He despises women; even if
the wealthiest and prettiest female came to allure him with her charms, he would
have shut her out and turn to a pauper instead, restoring his health and vitality.”52
Christ represents the world of spirit but Surya still belongs to the material world.
The two eventually meet and it is described like a tryst. Christ brings Surya’s spiri-
tual light out and shows her the true image of the material world. Pilchowa sum-
marizes it as a moment of “conjoining in love with the Son of God.” 53
The ontological opposition of spirit and matter is also reflected in the perception
of Jesus and his mother. Mary was not born but created by the breath of the al-
mighty. The Clairvoyant writes in one of her first works: “Naturally, before Christ
came to the world his mother was born, created by the breath of divine love. Her
whole soul was striving for her father–God all her life. Her soul was often conscious-
ly speaking with her father–God and with pure souls called angels, she was in
magnetic contact with them when there was a need. She knew that God would send
her the Son, His own Son, who would reclaim the wayward and sinful people in faith
and love [...].”54
Pilchowa denies the Catholic dogma of hypostatic union because the spirits were
believed to teach that Jesus was a human only externally. It correlates with the
views of Docetists, according to whom Jesus was not to have a physical body but
only an ethereal, heavenly form. The Clairvoyant claims that Mary was to have such
form as well: “Mary and the Son she bore did not have a body other people on earth
would have [...] Christ did not need a body of thick matter; he was also not created
by magnetic fluids of his neighbour’s blood. He himself as well as his body are the
seed of father-God, which descended upon the pure, magnetic aura of Mary’s soul

51
Pamiętniki Jasnowidzącej, 28.
52
Ibid., 32.
53
Ibid., 35.
54
Wysocka A., “Jasełka wśród burzy świata. (Niewinność, Prawda i zdrada),” Odrodzenie,
Miesięcznik poświęcony sprawom odrodzenia człowieka i badaniem zjawisk duchowych
(Katowice 1922): 2.
140 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

in a moment of her strong prayer.”55 From Pilchowa’s point of view, Christ did not
require a human body as a physical body would in this case deny his divinity. An
ethereal body, on the other hand, would prove his belongingness to the throng of
spirit and constitute his position in the hierarchy of souls.
Reading some parts of the Clairvoyant’s message can lead to another interesting
conclusion. Jesus was sent to earth as a consequence of God’s infinite love to his
creation in astray, man trapped in his material form. Bearing in mind that the battle
of good versus evil was still going on, God has decided to “hide” his son in a body
which resembled human one.56 Jesus’ mission on earth was thus seen as a descent
of the purest creation upon the darkest and filthiest den of sins and evil the earth
was at the time. Because of that, his incarnation was to be kept in great secrecy not
to allow the Evil Will to thwart the divine messenger his mission.57
The coming of the Christ did not deny free will because nobody can be redeemed
against their will. Christ has forgiven the willing spirits their sins as they have
shown their desire for salvation. The spirits that resisted Saviour’s power did not
find redemption as one cannot be forced into it.58 His advent did not deny the
karmic law as well because if karma was abolished, free will, constituted long before
man’s downfall into the world of matter, would also have been violated, as
Agnieszka reasons.59
The Christ, respecting the karmic law, has chosen to carry the burden and accept
the suffering. “This pure, innocent Emissary of God, unblemished with shadow who,
as he testified, was one with his Father-sacrificed himself to our overwhelming evil
to save us from the immense weight that our backs were not able to carry further
and that has obstructed our way towards God.”60 Most of the karmic debt has been
repaid and man could retrieve his spiritual consciousness, understand his own past
and return to spiritual world, in which he would pay the rest of his debts. Pilchowa
writes that “he pulled [...] a symbolical curtain down on this terrifying output of the
past”.61 The significance of Christ’s sacrifice is based also on him being a guide and
a role model to others. He is the guiding light for ones looking for spiritual knowl-
edge and salvation.

55
Ibid. A puzzling question of magnetic fluids described by Pilchowa presumably echoes
the views of Frantz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) and his theories on animal magnetism.
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid., 3.
58
Agnieszka P., Spojrzenie w przyszłość, 28.
59
Ibid., 26.
60
Ibid., 27.
61
Ibid., 28–35.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 141

The concept of unity of all religions, which correlates with the beliefs of the
Theosophists is exemplified in Pilchowa’s vision of the future foretold by Polish
messianic poets. Pilchowa claims that out of all the countries in the world, Poland
and Czechoslovakia are least encumbered with bad karma. Both countries were
supposed to play the main role in carrying forth the mission of the Christ, knowl-
edge about him, the battle of good versus evil and about spiritual worlds. Slavdom,
concentrated as her visions prove around the two countries, was to carry a theo-
sophical manifest of “brotherly coexistence of all the nations on earth and all the
people. [...] Liberty, equality and fraternity meant to accompany the repayment of
karmic debt [...].”62
In 1933 Pilchowa has foretold the tragic future events. She claimed that in the
astral world the Evil Will has already prepared a base for a new world war. The main
spoils of that war would be gases as well as biological weapons. The forces of evil
have designed the astral films to decimate the population with war gases first and
then, by spreading microbes with infectious diseases, “to sow the soil with corpses.”63

The dawn of the New Age

Despite of this apocalyptic tone, Pilchowa also effused about her visions of bright
future, when the sun of the New Age rises. Mankind will then abandon its cities and
thanks to its technological prowess, i.e. the ability to program the weather, would
concentrate on cultivating the soil, fruit-growing and gardening. Life would con-
centrate in the colonies, everyone would have a steady occupation and means of
entertainment. Pilchowa associates it with the high level of human morality. The
increasing power of mankind would lead to development in all the disciplines of sci-
ence but also in telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience and other such skills. As a
result people would have an insight into the astral world, along with the ability to
photograph and record it.64 “The barrage separating the corporeal spirits from the
incorporeal will disappear. The both will be able to communicate freely with one an-
other. Everybody will live as a big family, explicitly supporting each and every indi-
vidual on their path to the highest liberation of the spirit.” 65
Finally, the mankind will be able to free itself from the matter by subtilizing their
bodies. Pilchowa foretells that the time will come when man will only nourish him-
self with water and pills and, on the next stage, will only absorb nourishing fluids
from the air. “This earth will stop being a prison or a vale of tears for us, it will be-

62
Ibid., 73.
63
Pilchowa, Jasnowidzenie, 32.
64
Ibid., 39–45
65
Pilchowa, Jasnowidzenie, 42.
142 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

come paradise. By ennobling the spirit at further stages of life and gathering in-
creasingly more of our powers dispersed in the skies, we will eventually achieve the
enlightenment we came out of, we will retrieve our ancient spiritual power and the
light of cognition, we will become the giants of the universe we used to be in the
very beginning.”66

Influences on the system

In her memories Hadna states, that Pilichowa didn’t read many books. Paintings that
she saw in her visions and Rzesza Ducha was her sole inspiration. In her diaries she
often emphasizes, that her experiences are not conditioned by any philosophy or
doctrine. However, following the fortunes of the Clairvoyant one may recognize
sources and inspirations, that influenced her spiritual and material worldview. The
first trace is the activity of Chech spiritists, to whom (through the short period of
time) Pilichowa belonged.67 After negative experiences with the Czech spiritist
group, residing in Wisła, Pilichowa came under the influence of two charismatic
characters: Jan Hadyna (1899–1871)68 and Józef Chobot (1875 – 1942).69 Both of

66
Ibid., 45.
67
In his book Nowoczesny ruch spirytualistyczny [The Modern Spiritualists Movement]
Chobot mentiones, that the magazine “Posel Zahrobni” had been published since 1900. It’s
editorial staff was translating and publishing spiritualist’s books. In 1920 in Chechoslovakia
four magazines about spiritism had been estabilished: “Duch Czasu”, “Hvezda Budoucnosti”,
“Nesmertelnost”, “Spiritisticka Revue”. All those publicatins were known in the Wisła’s
millieu. In: Chobot J., Nowoczesny ruch spirytualistyczny, Wisła, 1937, 31.
68
Hadyna was born on the 24th of August 1889 in Zamarski near Cieszyn. After finishing
highschool in his hometown, he studied philosophy in Jagiellonian University in Cracow and
Warsaw School of Economics. During the war, in the years 1917–1918, he was an Ausrtian
soldier. After the end of military activities in the region, in the years 1918–1921, he served
in Polish Army. Affiliated with Maria Florkowa (1892–1972), also one of the leading char-
acters in the esoteric movement in Wisła. The founder an the secretary (until 1934) of the
Metaphisical Society in Cracow. Since 1934 he had been an editor and the director of the
publishing house Biblioteka Wiedzy Duchowej. In the same year he founded “Wiedza
Duchowa” monthly, that later evolved into “Lotos”. On the begining he had lived in the
Sphinks Villa on Jarzębata, since 1934 in the Isis Villa vis a vis the Ochorowiczówka house.
He considered himself to be the follower of Julian Ochorowicz. In 1939 Hadyna and
Florkowa moved to Cracow and had lived there untill the end of war. After the war they
wanted to renew their publihing activity yet they were arrested in 1946. Bojda S. and Golec
J., Słownik biograficzny ziemi cieszyńskiej, vol. 2, 66.
69
Chobot was one of the most active members of the Wiślan group. He was born in the
11th of Setember 1875 in Łazach in the Silesian Cieszyn. For many years he worked as a
teacher. Chobot estabilished an organisation “Bractwo Odrodzenia”. He was a publisher of
the “Odrodzenie” magazine. In 1929 he moved in Wisła-Jarzębata. He created a publishing
house called “Książnicę Wiedzy Duchowej” and “Hejnał” magazine. He was the author of
many articles and books such as Nowoczesny ruch spirytystyczny ze szczególnym
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 143

them cooperated with Pilichowa, inspired each other and supported each other’s
editorial works. Crucial lectures, that the Clairvoyant must have heard about from
Hadyna as well as from Chobot, and that seems to be essential for Pilchowa’s philo-
sophy, are the works of Leon Denis70 and Allan Kardec.71 Not only Kardcec, whose
philosophy was probably encountered by Pilichowa during her Czech period, but
also Denis seems to have an important influence on Pilchowa’s visions. The influ-
ence of Andrzej Podżorski (1886–1971),72 a key person in promoting the Theo-
sophical ideas on that terrain, cannot be neglected.

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A. P., “I znów minęły święta Wielkiej Nocy... (Rewelacje otrzymane ze Sfer Ducha za
pośrednictwem p. A. P.),” Hejnał nad Morzem Życia ze Szczytów Prawd Ducha i Praw
Człowieka 4 (1929): 97–103.
———. “Jako w Niebie tak i na Ziemi” (Rewelacje otrzymane ze Sfer Ducha za
pośrednictwem p. A. P.),” Hejnał nad Morzem Życia ze Szczytów Prawd Ducha i Praw
Człowieka, 5 (1929): 129–131.
———. “Jak tworzą się tzw. larwy i wampiry (Wyjątek z dzieła “Zmora” w urywkach),” Hejnał
nad Morzem Życia ze Szczytów Prawd Ducha i Praw Człowieka 6 (1929): 166–171.
———. “Jakie uczucia towarzyszą duchowi, odchodzącemu od ciała podczas konania i po
tzw. śmierci (Rewelacja otrzymane ze sfer duchowych za pośrednictwem A.P.),” Hejnał
nad Morzem Życia ze Szczytów Prawd Ducha i Praw Cz łowieka, 7 (1929): 207.
———. “Święte Nieświętości. Głosy z Górnych Sfer Ducha (podane przez ks. Zbyszka za
pośrednictwem A. P.),” Hejnał nad Morzem Życia ze Szczytów Prawd Ducha i Praw
Człowieka 7 (1929): 199–203.
———. Umarli mówią, Wisła: Wydawnictwo “Hejna ł”, 1933.
———. Zmora. Powieść okultystyczna osnuta na tle prawdziwych przeżyć, Wisła:
Wydawnictwo “Hejnał”, 1932.
Agni, P., “Dieta hamuje rozwój raka,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 4, (1937):
178–180.
———. “Niewidzialne tło Zjazdu Poznańskiego,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 12
(1937): 54–58.

uwzględnieniem Polski (Wisła 1937), I Mesjanizm polski II Bronisław Trentowski (Wisła

1932). He was also a translator.
70
Most important book are: Chrystjanizm a spirytyzm, Wisła, 1936; and Wielka zagadka,
Wisła 1937.
71
Kardec A., Księga duchów, Wisła, 1934.; Ksiega mediów was published in sereies on
Hejnał in 1937.
72
Podżorski was a teacher, a pedagogue, an activist, and a publicist. He estabilished many
organisations and unions such as Volunteer fire department. He also founded Związek
Młodzieży Ewangelickiej in Wisła and Związek Walki z Pijaństwem in 1926. He wrote
Przewodnik po Wiśle, published in 1938.
144 Małgorzata Alicja Dulska

———. “Gdzie są umarli?,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 1, 2, 4 (1937): 32–40;

75–81; 155–157.
———. “Na morzu życia,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej, 1 (1937): 15–20.
———. “Panie, naucz nas modlić się,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 5 (1937):
229.
———. “Uzdrowienie ślepego dziecka (Urywek z pamiętnika.),” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy
Duchowej, 3 (1937): 100–108.
———. “Wchodzimy w znak Wodnika,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 3 (1937):
129–131.
———. “Jak pracują umarli,” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 12 (1937): 550–555.
Agni, “Rosa Duszy” (Rewelacje otrzymane przez Agni), Hejnał nad Morzem Życia ze
Szczytów Prawd Ducha i Praw Cz łowieka 1 (1929): 29–32.
Chobot, Józef, I. Mesjanizm polski: Istota – zasady rodowód i wskazania na przyszłość; II.
Bronisław Trentowski, jego żywot – dzieła i nauki. Wisła: “Książnica Wiedzy Duchowej”,
1938.
Chobotowa, Kazimiera. “Gdy duch się budzi.” In: Pilchowa, A. Jasnowidzenie. Wisła:
Wydawnictwo “Hejnał”, 1936.
Chodkiewicz, Kazimierz. Wiedza Tajemna czy wiedza duchowa. Wisła: Wydawnictwo
“Hejnał”, 1932.
———. Zarys wiedzy duchowej, in: Kalendarz Wiedzy Duchowej 1934, Wisła: Drukarnia
Pawła Mitregi, 1934.
Czarnomski, Jan. “Karta z historji okultyzmu w Polsce,” Lotos 5 (1935): 151–153.
Czyż, Renata; Pasek, Zbigniew. Monografia Wisły. Kościoły i wspólnoty religijne. Vol. 3.
Wisła: Galeria “Na Gojach”, 2008.
“Gdy czarny orzeł znak Krzyża splugawi... Sensacyjna przepowiednia z 1893 o przyszłych
losach świata,” Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny 86 (27.03.1939): 6.
Golec, Józef. Bojda, Stefania. Słownik biograficzny ziemi cieszyńskiej. vol. I, Cieszyn, 1993.
———. Słownik biograficzny ziemi cieszy ńskiej. Vol. II. Cieszyn, 1995.
Hadyna, Stanisław. Przez okna czasu. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Ekologii i Zdrowia,
1993.
Kłos, Jan, “Agni P. i jej zdolności jasnowidzenia,” Hejnał nad morzem życia, ze szczytów
praw ducha i praw człowieka, 3–8 (1929): 71–74; 108–111; 137–142; 171–175;
203–207; 229.
Konarzewski, Dominik; Kawulok, Michał. Od wsi do uzdrowiska. Dziedzictwo architekto-
niczne Wisły. Wisła: Galeria “Na Gojach”, 2009.
Magiera, Władysława. Cieszyński szlak kobiet 2. Cieszyn: Kongres Polaków w Republice
Czeskiej, 2011.
Padół, Roman. Filozofia religii polskiego modernizmu. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie,
1982.
Pamiętnik jasnowidzącej. Z wędrówki życia poprzez wieki. vol. 1, Wisła: Wydawnictwo
“Hejnał”, 1930.
P., Agnieszka. Spojrzenie w przyszłość. Wisła: Wydawnictwo “Hejna ł”, 1939.
Vision of Spiritual World in the Writings of Agnieszka Pilchowa 145

Pilchowa, Agni. “Gdzie są umarli?” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej, 8, 9 (1937):

355–363, 413–419.
———. “Jam jest droga i żywot wieczny.” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej, 10
(1937): 436–440.
———. “Jeruzalem.” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej, 7 (1937): 290–293.
———. “Niepokalaną szatę ducha przywróć nam, Panie.” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy
Duchowej, 6 (1937): 241–243.
———. “Urywek z Pamiętnika.” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej 8 (1937): 314–317.
———. “Na błędnych szlakach twórczości.” Hejnał. Miesięcznik Wiedzy Duchowej, 6
(1937): 275–279.
Pilchowa, Agnieszka. Jasnowidzenie. Wisła: Wydawnictwo “Hejna ł” 1935.
———. Życie na ziemi i w zaświecie czyli wędrówka dusz. Katowice: “Książnica Wiedzy
Duchowej”; Nakładem Redakcji “Odrodzenia”, 1926.
Wysocka, A. “Polska u progu Nowego Roku.” Odrodzenie 10 (1922).
———. W niewoli żydowskiej czyli Wolno w Polsce jak kto chce!: słowo prawdy do Narodu.
Katowice: “Książnica Wiedzy Duchowej”; Nakładem Redakcji “Odrodzenia”, 1922.
Z życia jasnowidzącej Agnieszki Pilchowej. Typescript, in the collection of Beskid’s
Museum in Wisla.
GYÖRGY E. SZÖNYI

The Philosophy of Wine.

A Peculiar Chapter in the Esoteric Philosophy of
Béla Hamvas (1897–1968)

Béla Hamvas is the greatest representative of Western Esotericism in modern Hun-

garian cultural history.1 A spiritual kin of other great traditionalists, such as Guénon
or Évola, he also developed an individual and characteristic world view and in this
respect deserves a distinguished place in a wider European perspective – unfor-
tunately he is still little known outside Hungary. Very few of his works are available
in foreign translations, although his magnum opus, Scientia Sacra has recently been
published in Italian and immediately received very enthusiastic reviews.2 Fortun-
ately, one of his most delightful and lighthearted essays, the main topic of my talk
here, The Philosophy of Wine is also available in English, German, and French. 3
Béla Hamvas (1897–1968) was born to a family of Lutheran pastors serving in
Upper Hungary, today’s Slovakia. After World War I the family moved to Budapest
and here Hamvas studied classical languages, read German and Hungarian at the
university, and received his MA in 1923. He started working as a journalist, but
soon settled as a librarian at the Budapest Public Library, a most congenial occupa-
tion for him. In 1935 he became the co-founder of Károly Kerényi’s circle, Sziget
(‘Island’) in which he published essays on a wide variety of topics, including Russian
mystics (Berdajev) and existentialist philosophers (Heidegger and Jaspers).

1
See my article, “Béla Hamvas” in Wouter J. Hanegraaff et al. ed., Dictionary of Gnosis
and Western Esoterism (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 456–58. Also: Arpad Szakolczai, “Between Tradi-
tion and Christianity: The Axial Age in the Perspective of Béla Hamvas,” in Johann P. Arnason
et al. ed., Axial Civilizations and World History (Leiden: E. J. Brill, Jerusalem Studies in Reli-
gion and Culture, 2005), 107–21.
2
Scientia Sacra (2 vols, Parma: Edizioni all'insegna del Vetro, 2000–2002). See: “Hamvas
Béla itáliai fogadtatása,” in Tradíció. A Metafizikai Tradicionalitás Évkönyve (Budapest: Kvint-
esszencia Liadó, 2004), 260.
3
Béla Hamvas, Philosophie des Weins (tr. Hans Skirecki, Grafing bei München: Editio,
1999); La philosophie du vin (tr. Gábor Kardos, Grafing: Editio); The Philosophy of Wine (tr.
Gábor Csepregi, Szentendre: Editio, 2003). Also: Un livre de prière pour les athées: philoso-
phie du vin (traduit d'après la version anglaise par Béatrice Vierne, Paris: Éd. du Rocher,
2005).

147
148 György E. Szönyi

Fig. 2. Budapest after the siege, February, 1945.

During WW2 he served on the Russian front,

then resumed his job in the library from where in
Fig. 1. Hamvas in the 1920s. 1948 he was made redundant because his views
were found incompatible with the then prevailing
communist ideology.
A particularly shocking event to him was the
destruction of his manuscripts as well as his
huge private library during a bombing attack on
Budapest in 1945. From that time on a long se-
ries of afflictions followed: György [Georg] Lu-
kács, chief ideologue of the Hungarian commun-
ist government prohibited the publication of his
works. Being expelled from the library, he had to
take a job as a stock-attendant in an industrial
plant. In the 1950s he was forced to work at a
power station outside Budapest and could go
home only on weekends.
Even after 1956 when he applied for rehabili-
tation, he was refused being restored in his po-
sition as a librarian. He retired in 1964 and
Fig. 3. The manual worker, 1950s. spent his last years in Budapest as a charismatic
mystic around whom a growing circle a students
gathered.
When he died of a stroke, immediately his cult began. His works were typed and
passed from hand to hand as “samizdat” till the late 1980s from which time on his
writings have been published in comprehensive editions. Today he is widely
appreciated as one of Hungary’s most original philosophers ever.
The Philosophy of Wine 149

Hamvas’ literary output was large and

versatile. He excelled in belle lettres, and
wrote a number of strange novels in which
modernist and mystical elements mix with
grotesque irony. He was an accomplished
essayist, one of the finest in twentieth cen-
tury Hungarian literature. Another genre he
felt at home in was translating and editing-
annotating works of mystical philosophy
from a wide range of cultures and periods:
Fig. 4. The hermetic philosopher, 1960s.
25 chapters of the Veda, the Upanishads,
and The Flowers of Tao (1943); the
Apocalypse of Enoch (1944); Jakob Böhme’s Psychologia vera (1946); the Tabula
smaragdina (1950); Sefer Yetsirah (1954), etc. Particularly notable is his annotated
anthology of ‘The Tradition’ which was published under the title The Great Hall of
the Ancestors (1943) to which he added a monumental introductory essay titled
“Ekstasis.”
Beyond these, Hamvas also wrote major individual works in the form of carefully
constructed and logically arranged monographs, of which none appeared in his life-
time. His opus magnum is Scientia Sacra, the Spiritual Tradition of the Ancients
(1943–44, published in 1988) a compelling account of human wisdom in the midst
of the madness of war.4 Later he completed this work by looking at the relationship
between Christianity and ‘the Tradition’ in a second monograph (Scientia Sacra II,
1960–63).
Hamvas’ philosophy may be termed as “sacral metaphysics,” his approach related
to that of Giulio Evola, Leopold Ziegler, and René Guénon.5 His main concern was
the most ancient past, as remote as the lost Golden Age. As opposed to Rudolf
Steiner, he never thought of mixing the spheres of natural science with that of her-
metism, and claimed that the investigation of nature was confined to the surface of
the material world only.6 This metaphysical traditionalism explains how highly qua-
lified philosophers such as him felt like devoting their life and intellectual activity
to the recovery and preservation of the lost, ancient wisdom, the prisca theologia,
or philosophia perennis.

4
On Scientia Sacra see György E. Szönyi, “Occult Ascension in Troubled Times: The
Ideals of Mankind in Rudolf Steiner and Béla Hamvas,” In M. Kronegger and A-T. Tymie-
niecka ed., Ideals of Mankind (Dordrecht–Boston–London: Kluwer Academic Publishers,
1996, Analecta Husserliana 49), 29–43.
5
See his Da Eraclito a Guénon (Three Essays, tr. Claudio Mutti, Torino: Nino Aragno, 1999).
6
Szönyi, “Occult Ascension in Troubled Times,” 31ff.
150 György E. Szönyi

The Philosophy of Wine belongs to his essays and was written in the summer of
1945, in an idyllic moment, just after the devastating war and a few years before the
dark era of Stalinism. As the editor, Antal Dúl writes, “this work is the apology of the
festive moments of life, of lightheartedness, of joy of existence. This is the Medi-
terranean world of Dionysian rapture and the glittering serenity of Orpheus.”7
The fifty-five pages' text has a tripartite argumentation. On the one hand it is a
warning against blind atheism as well as dogmatic pietism (but is presented as a
“prayer book” offered to the disposal of those errants), from the standpoint of the
enlightened mystic philosopher. On the other hand, it is a metaphysics of wine,
placing this liquid in a complex system of cosmic, elemental, and physiologic corres-
pondences. Finally, he treats the practice of wine drinking as a sacral ceremony and
compares it to love and sexual pleasures, not forgetting about cataloguing the major
Hungarian wine-types and wine-growing areas together with their characteristic
features.
The pretext of writing this essay was that Hamvas needed a topic which could
be suitable to mockingly refute the lifestyle and philosophy of atheists and zealous
dogmatists alike:

I decided to write a prayer book for the atheists. In the distress of our time, I
felt sympathy for the sufferers and wanted to help them in this way. [ . . . ] In-
stead of fighting against them and making efforts to convert them, I feel sorry
for them. And this is not merely a trick. I do not want to take anything away
from them. I would like to offer something else whose absence renders them
quite weak, poor, and – why to deny it? – ridiculous. [ . . . ] I must seize this
occasion to address a few words to the pietists, that shady sect of atheists.
Actually, the pietist is just as godless as the materialist; but, beyond that, he
also has a bad consciousness that prompts him to adopt the externals of true
religion. The pietist would demand that one live on bran and water; he would
like to see the most beautiful women wearing dably cut dresses, he would
forbid laughter, and cover the sun with a black veil. The pietist is an abstainer.8

After the admonishing of the atheists and pietists Hamvas devotes the introduction
to the explanation that his work is necessarily follows a tripartite structure. After all,
every good book consists of three main parts, he remarks jokingly. First comes the

7
Béla Hamvas, Az öt géniusz – A bor filozófiája (ed. Antal Dúl, Szombathely: Életünk
Könyvek, 1988), 176.
8
The Philosophy of Wine, 7–11. Quotations hereafter are from this translation, page
numbers given in parentheses after the text. I have taken the liberty, however, at some
points, wherever I felt suitable, to change the translation and offer a more correct or in my
opinion stylistically better rendering.
The Philosophy of Wine 151

metaphysics of wine, then the nature of wine is treated, and finally follows the cere-
moniality of wine. These three parts correspond with the world history of wine:
metaphysics is the antedeluvian age, when wine did not exist, humans only dreamt
about it; after the Deluge Noah planted the first grapewine, thus initiated a new
world epoch; the third era started with Christ, when he turned the water into wine.
World history will end, he says, when springs and wells will deliver wine, it will fall
from the clouds when raining, and all the waters of the earth will turn to wine, too.
Hamvas starts the explanation of the metaphysics of wine by introducing the
“world of mouth”, the orifice, which is the locus of most direct sensation and experi-
ence – that is tasting. One should think of the habit of the child, who takes everything
(s)he is interested in into the mouth. This is the organ which transfers the food, the
kiss, and the word. The mouth has bi-directional activities: takes as well as gives while
speaking. Nutrition through the mouth is again threefold: eating, drinking, breathing.
The first pertains to the body, the second to the soul, the last to the spirit. Female
spirituality is enhanced by the various perfumes, male by smoking.
The metaphysics of wine is connected with yet another tripartite system, the
three ur-liquids: the warm (tea/coffee, oil, wine), the medium (the blood), and the
cold (water, beer, milk). To sum up:

MOUTH
Speech Nutrition Kiss
(spirit) (matter) (soul)
Food Liquids Breathing
(matter) (soul) (spirit)
Warm Medium Cold
(soul) (spirit) (matter)
TEA/COFFEE, OIL WINE BLOOD WATER, BEER, MILK

Following the traditions of the ancient wisdom, the above correspondences can be
arranged in a larger, cosmic system, too:

LIQUID PLANET DAY MUSIC KEY COLOR METAL NUMBER

Blood Sun Sunday c red gold 1
Water Moon Monday a white silver 2
Beer Mars Tuesday g violet iron 4
Tea/Coffee Mercury Wednesday f yellow quicksilver 7
Oil Jupiter Thursday d blue tin 6
Milk Venus Friday e green copper 5
Wine Saturn Saturday h black lead 3
152 György E. Szönyi

Hamvas argues for the usefulness of the above tables by claiming that order is
not only beautiful, but also handy: it clearly designates the place of wine in the
universe. A well-ordered table can reveal that beneath the surface of variety all is
one, “hen panta einai,” as Heraclitus said. All philosophy is a “hieratic mask” of the
same One.
The cosmic order is in close connection with Saturn, which is the planet of the
Golden Age, the symbol of the primordial harmony. That is why its number is three,
the most basic measure, and this is why it connects to wine, which can lift humans
out of the chaos of the postdeluvian world and temporarily transport them back into
the lost Eden. Thus, wine is also a hieratic mask behind which there is somebody,
a unifying principle of existence, who is at the same time may be “a book, speech,
woman's giggle, a pair of specs, and roast duck.” (24)
Here a digression follows: turning again directly to the atheists Hamvas high-
lights the difference between the abstract and the sensual life. The abstract man
does not use the mouth and even distrustful about the eyes and ears. “Abstract life
is a conceptually designed life, built not upon immediate sensory experiences but
upon so-called ideas. In the modern age we know two sorts of such abstract per-
sons: one is the scientifist, the other is a puritan. It is obvious that both represent
a variety of atheism. The characteristic feature of scientifism is that it ignores love
but knows sexual instinct; it does not work, but produces; it does not take nourish-
ment but consumes... [ . . . ] The puritan is an agressive person. For his attack, the
strength comes, in no small measure, from the belief that he has found the only
right way to live. [ . . . ] He hates nothing more than wine, in other words, nothing
scares him more than wine. (26–7) The atheists are advocates of a bad religion,
while the pantheists, like Hamvas, follow a good religion. All bad religion result from
the antedeluvian sin, but with the rainbow which appeared to Noah, also appeared
wine: “Wine brings back our original life, paradise, and shows us the place where
we will arrive at the time of the final feast of the world.” (31)
One of the accomplished Hungarian interpreters of Hamvas, Antal Dúl sum-
marizes the differences between bad and good religion as follows: “The infallible
sign of bad religion is ‘existence without intoxication.’ The cause is a stiff fear of life,
penetrated deeply into the soul. Nothing is more difficult to achieve than liberation
from this state. Good religion (the vita illuminativa) means higher sobriety. The first
sign of healing: seeing God in stones, trees, fruit, or stars. In love, food, and wine. He
who does not know, says Béla Hamvas, that God is in the cooked ham will not
understand anything of this book. 'I understood that Brahman's highest form is
food.' Whose religion is good? The religion of he who dares to live in an immediate
manner and knows that the joy of life is not something forbidden. Not something
forbidden but, as the Gospel says, a plus. Food, wine, and love are not the goal, but
helpful means. This world is a place of crisis and separation, and everybody has to
The Philosophy of Wine 153

declare his intentions. But in whoever the order is re-established, he does not need
laws, prohibition, and asceticism.” 9
The last element of the metaphysics of wine is its connection with other oils, the
“warm liquids”. Among them the common denominator is that they all accummulate
in plants, those creatures, which in the Garden of Eden best preserved the
spirituality of the world. According to Hamvas, all plants are small genii, daimons,
or angels, and the only way of direct experiencing them is through the oils. Oils,
which are fragrances, and whose most complex of containers are women. “He who,
if possible, wants to acquire many immediate experiences of oils cannot ever leave
women out. He should inhale the scent of a woman's lio and analyze it for a while
for what it is. [ . . . ] These are all little geniuses who tingle in the scent of the lip.”
(34) Let this be a warning to atheists and puritans: just as in the oily fragrances of
women, “In every wine lives an unrepeatable and inimitable specific genius. The
genius is the materialized form of the oil. Its mask. [ . . . ] Wine is a spiritual, olea-
ginous drink. In every kind of wine there lives a little angel who, when we drink the
wine, does not die but joins the innumerable little fairies and angels living inside us.
The little fairy is spell-bound and almost catches fire out of joy. There can be no
defence against this. I say, therefore, a glass of wine is the somersault, the death
jump of atheism.” (36)
The following part discusses the nature of wine and here Hamvas again builds
up a paradigm of semi-occult correspondences: among grape, wine, precious stones
and women. The gist of the argument is, that “the root of every intoxication is love.
Wine is fluid love, precious stone is crystallized love, a woman is a living loving
being. [ . . . ] A precious stone, the Alchemists tell us, is nothing but a pure spiritual
being, namely an angel, who lived at the time of the original Creation. But when man
fell into sin he carried it along with him into matter. It became stone. Still, even as
a stone, it preserved its brilliant purity. This explanation is consistent with my
theory, claiming that, actually, spiritual oils inhabit wines and grapes and they are
geniuses.” (48)
I cannot review here Hamvas's catalogue of Hungarian wines and wine regions,
but I can recommend, if ever one of you wants to get close to Hungarian viniculture,
should start with reading this part of The Philosophy of Wine. A special feature of
this section is the mouth-watering culinary guidance by which we are also recom-
mended with the appropriate food to match the individual wines. Not only food and
wine, but also regions are discussed, creating a fascinating and pioneering cultural
geography with a strong sensual touch.

9
Antal Dúl, “Epilogue to The Philosophy of Wine.” See http://www.hamvasbela.net/
2011/12/good-religion-and-wine-on-philosophy-of.html, access: 2013–10-03.
154 György E. Szönyi

The section on the ceremoniality of wine is rendered under dull-sounding sub-

titles, like “When should I dink and when not?”; “How to drink?” and “Where to
drink?” But these are also heartwarming and at the same time lighthearted and up-
lifting observations.

The question of how also includes what kind of company is best suited for drink-
ing. The cardinal rule: anywhere, anytime, anyhow. The wine's character should
always determine the number of imbibers. There are a few universal wines that
all humanity could drink on the occasion of a great feast, let us say the feast of
world peace. For this purpose, from our wines, I would recommend only the one
from Somló. And, oddly enough, this is the wine of solitary people. For still today
world peace is only the solitary person's intoxication. (77)

The essay is closed with a “last prayer,” on the vita illuminativa. Here Hamvas plays
with the pun that “illumination” means exaltatio as well as drunkenness. And, re-
turning to the atheists, he repeats, that their illness is the illess of abstract life. It can
only be healed by direct, sensual life. “To fall in love with the first woman, without
any delay, to eat well, to walk among flowers, to go to live in a pine forest, to listen
to music, to admire paintings, and to drink wine, wine, and always wine.” (88) His
message to the puritans is that they are not predestined to fall, it is them who keep
themselves in damnation. “Every soul is born whole and cannot lose its health. Be
clever, recover your health. Remedy can be acquired anywhere. Drink. What I offer
you is the oil of purity, the oil of intoxication.” (90)
Should'nt we all take this lesson at face value? Should we?

Bibliography
Dúl, Antal. “Epilogue to The Philosophy of Wine.” Online: http://www.hamvasbela.net/
2011/12/good-religion-and-wine-on-philosophy-of.html, access: 2013–10-03.
H. R. “Hamvas Béla itáliai fogadtatása.” In Tradíció. A Metafizikai Tradicionalitás Évkönyve.
Budapest: Kvintesszencia Liadó, 2004, 260–261.
Hamvas, Béla. The Philosophy of Wine Tr. Gábor Csepregi. Szentendre: Editio, 2003.
———. Philosophie des Weins. Tr. Hans Skirecki. Grafing bei München: Editio, 1999.
———. La philosophie du vin. Tr. Gábor Kardos. Grafing: Editio.
———. Un livre de prière pour les athées: philosophie du vin. Traduit d'après la version
anglaise par Béatrice Vierne. Paris: Éd. du Rocher, 2005.
———. Az öt géniusz – A bor filozófiája. Ed. Antal Dúl. Szombathely: Életünk Könyvek,
1988.
———. Da Eraclito a Guénon. Three Essays, tr. Claudio Mutti. Torino: Nino Aragno, 1999.
———. Scientia Sacra. 2 vols. Parma: Edizioni all'insegna del Vetro, 2000–2002.
The Philosophy of Wine 155

Szakolczai, Arpad. “Between Tradition and Christianity: The Axial Age in the Perspective
of Béla Hamvas.” In Axial Civilizations and World History. Johann P. Arnason et al. ed.
Leiden: E. J. Brill, Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture, 2005.
Szönyi, György E. “Béla Hamvas.” Entry in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esoterism.
Wouter J. Hanegraaff et al. ed. Leiden: Brill, 2005.
———. “Occult Ascension in Troubled Times: The Ideals of Mankind in Rudolf Steiner and
Béla Hamvas,” In Ideals of Mankind. M. Kronegger and A-T. Tymieniecka ed.,
Dordrecht–Boston–London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.
NADEŽDA ELEZOVIĆ

Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe:

Marina Abramović, Tomislav Ćurković, Marko Pogačnik,
Damir Stojnić, Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Igor Zlobec

Introduction
It is nearly impossible for an artist inspired by questions of spiritual and religious
nature to bypass these in his/her art. Impossible, because a conscious artist
searches for spiritual answers at the same time searching for creation in art. Break-
ing this line for an artist would mean giving up one of these paths. Artists covered
in this text never gave up either of these two search paths.
Although visual art criticism and theory tends to represent autonomy and self-
sufficiency of art in terms of religion and esotericism, in her study Occulture and
Modern Art Tessel M. Bauduin highlights some aspects in the development of mo-
dern art, and defends the thesis of the influence of occultism and western esoteric-
ism on creation of modern art”.1 As various exhibitions in the past three decades
have shown, a distinctly religious spiritual thread runs through modern art, with oc-
cultism prominently present,” described Bauduin.2 Spiritual forms are obviously
present in the works of contemporary artists today, and similar to the art of mo-
dernism, they are deeply rooted in the context and mark the starting point for crea-
tion of authentic art expression.

1
Tessel M. Bauduin, “Introduction: Occulture and Modern Art,” Aries 13 (2013): 1–5.
2
Ibid.
Starting with the exhibition Signs of faith. Spirit of avant-garde: Spiritual tendencies in the
art of the 20 th century (Stuttgart 1980). The next important exhibition with the aim to show
the influence of occultism over development of abstract painting was held by Los Angeles
Cuntry Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1986. Named The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting
1890–1985, it referred to the full development of abstract art. Interdisciplinary exhibition
Occultism and avant-garde: From Munch to Mondrian (Frankfurt am Main, 1995), as seen
from the title, signified the relation between occultism and avant-garde art using artists from
late 19th and early decades of the 20th century. Das Bauhausund die Esoterik (Hamm/Würz-
burg 2005) followed. In 2014, Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf organized the exhibition Impres-
sion of Alchemy—Secret of Transformation. Exhibition showed about 250 works of interna-
tional artists of different styles: Joseph Beuys, Jan Brueghel d. Ä., Lucas Cranach, Marcel
Duchamp, Max Ernst, Hendrick Goltzius, Rebecca Horn, Anish Kapoor, Yves Klein, Sigmar
Polke, Neo Rauch, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, David Teniers, among others.

157
158 Nadežda Elezović

This text, Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe, covers six visual
artists who build their expression and their art from their personal spiritual
experiences, those who rely less on symbols developed over centuries, and more on
building their authentic expression through personal spiritual experiences and those
gained through practicing some of the spiritual systems and techniques. In this
sense I will present the diversity of styles and practices based on individual artistic
search for the mysteries of nature and spiritual life. These artists, directed by their
inner essence, question what reality is and in that sense correlate with mythological,
astrologic, hermetic, gnostic and other esoteric traditions and achievements of
quantum mechanics.
In this chapter, I will take a closer look at creative work of artists Damir Stojnić,
Igor Zlobec, Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Marko Pogačnik, Tomislav Ćurković and Marina
Abramović from esoteric point of view. I will present different artistic approaches
to this subject, i.e. through their individual art works, I will show different ways in
which religious topics and religious fields are interpreted in contemporary art.
My approach in this text is equal to the conceptual approach I expressed as a
curator of the authored exhibition Estetika elektriciteta—Spiritualnost i umjetnost
iz fundusa Muzeja moderne i suvremene umjetnosti [Aesthetics of Electricity—Spi-
rituality and Art from the collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary
Art], organized by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka in 2014.3
The exhibition also included two artists represented here, Tomislav Ćurković and
Damir Stojnić, whose work can be found in the collections of MMSU. In this
exhibition, I wanted to practically ascertain that my aspirations are identical when
it comes to esotericism and contemporary art. Furthermore, to deepen the under-
standing of creative works by some of the most important artists of Croatian avant-
garde art, of areas not represented in art criticism, and relating to studies of these
works through esotericism.
In this sense, the approach I represent is similar to that described by Marco Pasi
as the third and fourth ways of possible connection between contemporary art and
esotericism; “When the artistic work becomes a means to introduce extraordinary
experiences, which can be interpreted as having spiritual/mystical/
shamanic/magical qualities” or “when artistic work is the result of direct inspira-
tion/communication from spiritual entities, or of a visionary/mystical experience.”4

3
Nadežda Elezović, Aesthetics of Electricity – Spirituality and Art from the collection of
the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. For more about MMSU collection see:
Inovacije – Akvizicije: suvremeni hrvatski umjetnici – djela iz fundusa [Innovations – Acquisit-
ions : contemporary Croatian artists – holdings artworks], edited by Branko Cerovac, (Croa-
tia: Rijeka: Moderna galerija Rijeka, Muzej moderne i suvremene umjetnosti, 2002), Exhibi-
tion catalogue.
4
Marco Pasi, “Coming forth by night. Contemporary art and the occult,” in Options with
Nostrils, ed. A. Vaillant (Rotterdam: Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, Stern-
berg Press, 2010), 108 .
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 159

Furthermore, this is about self-expression and creation of art, whereby personal

spiritual experiences, attempts to understand them or to use these experience and
translate them into the individual creation authenticity, becomes the starting point
to question possible approaches, practices and expressions within the area of con-
temporary art.

The spatio-temporal framework –

Continuity of avant-garde tendencies
This work covers two generations of artists. Marina Abramović (b. 1946), Serbian
artist with Montenegrin origin and world reputation, then Slovenian artist Marko
Pogačnik (b. 1944) and Croatian artist Vladimir Dodig Trokut (b. 1949) started their
artistic activities in the 1970’s in the countries then belonging to Yugoslavia
(1945–1991). Apart from belonging to the same generation, these three artists are
connected by the artistic and cultural context they participated in. Namely, this art
period between 1966 and 1978 was marked by the boom od avant-garde art forms
in ex-Yugoslav countries, integrated in the term New Art Practices or New Art of the
Seventies used by art historians and theoreticians Marijan Susovski, Ješa Dengri i
Davor Matičević, and these terms are applied to artists covered in this text,
Abramović, Pogačnik and Trokut5. According to Denegri,6 the term New Art Practies
marks the emergence of conceptual, radical, experimental and process-based art
practices in ex-Yugoslav countries, which corresponded and often communicated
with international art scenes in North America and Europe.7 Art theoretician Miško
Šuvaković in the Glossary of Contemporary Art8 says that these practices marked
the leap from the then prevailing style of moderate modernism or socialist
estheticism and indicates change and establishment of a different or atypical art

5
Marijan Susovski, Nova umjetnička praksa u Jugoslaviji 1966–1978 [New Art Practice
in Yugoslavia 1966–1978], (Zagreb: Gallery of Contemporary Art, 1978).
6
Ješa Denegri, “The Historic Avant-gardes, Neo-avant-gardes and Post-avant-gardes a-
cross the art space of Yugoslavia in the 20th century” in Marginal specificities – Regional
Avant-Garde Art 1915–1989, edited by Marinko Sudac (Rijeka: Museum of Modern and
Contemporary Art, Varaždin: Varaždin City Museum, Gallery Center Varaždin, 2007), 6–8.
7
The first exhibition to include and present the new conceptual and radical art forms
was When Attitudes Become Form held at Kunsthalle in Bern in 1968, curated by the famous
art historian Harald Szeemann.
See: When Attitudes Become Form, ed. Harald Szeemann (Bern: Kunsthalle, 1968).
8
Miško Šuvaković, Pojmovnik suvremene umjetnosti [Glossary of Contemporary Art],
(Zagreb: Horetzky, and Ghent: Vlees & Beton 2005), 581–582.
160 Nadežda Elezović

form.9 This includes both individuals and group artists. For example, the following
groups are formed in Croatia: Penzioner Tihomir Simčić [The Pensioner Tihomir
Simčić], Tok [Flow], Crveni Peristil [Red Peristil], Grupa šestorice autora [The group
of six artists]; OHO (later The Šempas Family ) in Slovenia; and KOD, Bosch+Bosch,
Group 143, Ekipa A [Team A]3, Verbumprogram, Autopsia in Serbia. Marko Pogačnik
is one of the actors in the mentioned Slovenian group OHO, later turned into the
group The Šempas Family. Vladimir Dodig Trokut belongs to the group of artists
linked to the artistic action of painting the Peristil in Split, whereby the group was
named Red Peristil.10 This generation of artists, with their approach, aesthetics and
views, strongly influenced the next generation of contemporary artists today, suc-
cessors of the avant-garde and experimenting in art, in search of authentic artistic
expression. Artists Damir Stojnić, Igor Zlobec and Tomislav Ćurković, presented here,
belong to this new generation of artists.
Furthermore, art critics, theoreticians and curators are not united in their attitudes
about the definition of the term of contemporary art; about the question whether all
art production created today can be determined as contemporary art. In this sense,
contemporary art as a term here represents a successor of historical avant-garde
heritage; in the sense of developing new art forms and breaking convention, and
establishing new areas of artistic freedom and emphasizing ethics.11

Damir Stojnić
Artistic preoccupations of Damir Stojnić12 (b. 1972) revolve around metaphysical,
astrological, alchemical and anthroposophical topics and studies, ever since the

9
“Socialist aestheticism developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s into moderate modernism
that becomes the dominant art tendency in Yugoslavia. This art was the middle point be-
tween abstraction and figuration, modernism and traditions, regionalism and international-
ism”. (Šuvaković, 2005), 581–582.
10
See: Impossible Histories – Historical Avant-gardes, Neo-avant-gardes, and Post-avant-gardes
in Yugoslavia, 1918–1991 (ko-urednik), The MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 2003, 2006.
11
According to Catherine Millet (2004, 12–13), most curators today place the birth of
contemporary art in the period between 1960 and 1969, when art forms and movements
such as pop-art, new realism, op-art, kinetic art, minimalist art, colored field painting, fluxus,
happenings appeared, as well as conceptual art, arte povera, land art, body art. Millet says
that “all the different unusual materials, factory articles, natural items and perishable goods,
as well as the artists’ bodies were used in these art forms”... “The contemporary art today
wriggles in this zone of freedom”.
12
Damir Stojnić was born in Rijeka in 1972. He took his BFA at the Academy of Fine Arts
in Zagreb, Croatia in 2000, and attended the post-graduated painting course at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since 2005 he has held the post of assistant professor at
the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. He lives and works in Rijeka and in Istria in Croatia.
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 161

drawings from his series Anarchitecture—Terrarium, created in the period of the

earliest stages of his work – the period between 1992/1993 and 1998 – in black
or color ink lavee, until the recent series of drawings Conflagrations (2014), thema-
tically related to gnostic philosophy. Anarchitecture—Terrarium includes a series
of drawings of massive animal sceneries; herds or flocks of animals on the move
were drawn on paper, created by multiplication of single motifs of buffaloes, deer,
snakes, fish, and later seahorses, butterflies... Through massive scenes of animals
on the move and physical and energetic strength of this move, he suggests the idea
of a collective instinctive impulse, thus relying on the philosophy of C. G. Jung. The
artist himself compares the animal drawing series with cave drawings, emphasizing
that the motif came to him spontaneously, without thinking, deeming that this is in-
born human atavism.
The next series of works named Transparencies, being created simultaneously
with other works over the past ten years, is made in watercolor, i.e. potassium per-
manganate on various old papers found in his environment. He produced several
hundreds of these works, and some of them, as mentioned Rozana Vojvoda in an-
nouncement of the exhibition by Damir Stojnić, Osv(i)jetljavanja [Iluminations], “are
collected in artists books Book of analogies, 1999–2006, and in De isoutopia ilumi-
nographica 2006–2011”, wrote Rosana Vojvoda in announcement of the exhibition
by Damir Stojnić, Iluminations.13

Fig. 1. Damir Stojnić, from the cycle Lanterna magica, 2004–2010,

tempera, potassium permanganate on paper/light box – courtesy of the author

13
Damir Stojnić, “Osv(i)jetljavanja/Illuminations”, curated by Rozana Vojvoda, (Dubrovnik:
Umjetnička galerija Dubrovnik, 2014): 1–46.
162 Nadežda Elezović

Vojvoda wrote: “he creates transparent unities, animal entities are combined with
human figures, whereas unified mythological creatures are created: human deer,
human birds, and a significant number of sheets is dedicated to fluid unities of a
man and a woman.”14 These creatures are created spontaneously, as inner
associations creating themselves on paper. The artistic creation process for Stojnić
has a metaphysical dimension; the act of artistic creation is often a process of
reaching mystical experiences (especially in Stojnić’s ritual fire drawings):

The figures created in Transparencies reminded me of shadow theatre where

characters play some symbolic, esoteric shows which I myself find difficult to
fully understand. I am sometimes moved by the technique, and at other times
by motifs and in some strange process, you reach a technique adequate to
materialize the idea. On the other hand, the way of perception is conditioned
and determined by the technique you have reached. In some mysterious way,
ideas find the right process to manifest themselves. I deeply believe that things
come out of the artist by themselves, but it is difficult to say whether you are
the creator or the ideas were somehow imposed. You do not lead this artistic
process; it is mysterious.15

In this imaginarium, created through a studious, dedicated process that resembles

a process of alchemical dissolving of elements, Stojnić dissolves shapes and figures
releasing their inner form and then brings one transparent layer after another in
order to achieve density, in both artistic and semantic terms. The process used by
Stojnić in creating his imaginarium in Transparencies resembles the alchemical pro-
cess Solve et Coagula.
From 2004 on, he simultaneously works on an opus called Ignisograms. Inso-
grams are fire paintings, created in the quarries of peninsula Istria, and he calls
them his Fire ateliers I and II. These are performances spontaneously created in
front of an audience, and sometimes alone in the “company of horned vipers”, native
poisonous snakes inhabiting rocky areas. In these quarries, Stojnić selects rocks and
then composes different forms and shapes of bigger dimensions. This is how the
forms of butterflies, people, bridges, Pegasus,... Then at night he lights a fire within
these forms and stirs up ember, thus creating reddish structural forms of the
revived forms.

14
Ibid.
15
Elezović, Aesthetics of Electricity, 10.
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 163

This is a creative process which, apart

from the general idea, relies on intuition as
internal leadership for the artist, which not
only affects, but also defines the finality of
an art work. Hereby rituality, symbolism of
elements and personal philosophy embo-
died by sublimed by knowledge of her-
meticism, theosophy, anthropology and own
ideas on the nature of modern art, becomes
the starting point of art work creation.
Incinerating, burning, and fire are materials
and procedures Stojnić used as starting
points in other performances and drawings.
This burning process is viewed by Stojnić as
an analogy with a man, i.e. all living
creatures, whereas heat loss, dissolution and
changing of state is a natural process. In his
recent series Conflagrations, he uses the
Fig. 2. Photo “Sirkeci – Rug Salesmen” from the
substance of charcoal dust to interpret series “Rug Salesmen”,
gnostic topics, as an analogy of dust, i.e. the by Igor Zlobec, 2015 – courtesy of the author
essence of creation and dissolution.16

Igor Zlobec
Igor Zlobec17 (b. 1970) is an artist with gnostic sensibility. He creates art atmo-
spheres and installations with items he found in his direct environment, and some-
times combines them into ambient installations together with collected antiques,
and he is also known after his passion for oriental rugs he had been collecting for
years, which he then exhibits and uses in his artistic practice. In this symbolic and
mystical bond; in carefully manually crafted Persian rugs wasted and trampled on
by human lives or faded by praying prostration, abstract geometric rug designs to
the association of dervish mystic and ritual religious practices he evokes, Zlobec
finds a starting point for his art. He transcribes energetic meaning of these figures
into reality in his work. He often interprets these figures in the public sphere, or
popular culture. In his ambient installations, he uses various, seemingly unimportant

16
Damir Stojnić, Ignisogrami/Konflagracije [Ignisograms/Conflagrations] curated by
Nadežda Elezović, (Rijeka: MMSU, 2015).
17
Igor Zlobec is Zagreb and Istria based artist, born in 1970 in Banja Luka. He graduated
in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb 1997.
164 Nadežda Elezović

objects, photos, items from his surroundings, which only through gallery exhibition
gain the status of artifacts, following the anti-aesthetic of Dada and art tradition of
Marcel Duchamp. Creation is led by inner impulse—individual inner feeling and
understanding of oneself as a spiritual being immersed in everyday reality. Zlobec
additionally expresses this in his work through the aesthetics of trash, and negation
of all common and existing rules of contemporary mainstream art, for the benefit
of values of own individual mythology.
Ambient Satan’s Playing Room is an ambient installation performed in gallery
Otok in Dubrovnik in 2008. Art historian Branko Cerovac (2008), wrote about
Zlobec’s ambient, drawing attention to religious and mystical starting points in
Zlobec’s work. It was created from fragments of found items, paintings, various arti-
facts that serve to present “Satan’s fingers”, “where Satanized metaphysics of the
Game, sacred hazard of ancient gods, found its humble heretic haven”.18 The ex-
hibition also contains a painting made after the photo Satan’s Playing Room,
originally published as a cover of Voodoo Lounge by The Rolling Stones.19 This is
also the title piece in the exhibition where Zlobec presents the Diabolic side of the
work using objects set in mutual context of intertwined meanings.

Vladimir Dodig Trokut

Vladimir Dodig Trokut [Triangle]20 (b. 1949) is an artist, art collector, historian,
theoretician, founder of project of Antimuseum, shaman. Since the beginnings of his
art practice, which dates back to the time of conceptual art in the late 1960’s to the
performances he is doing today, Dodig Trokut uses elements of archetypal, atavistic

18
Branko Cerovac, “Satan’s Playing Room”, zlobecsport (Igor Zlobec’s art blog page), May
23, 2008 (1:18 p.m.), (accessed May 2014), http://new-entries.blogspot.hr/2008_05_01_
archive.html.
19
The Rolling Stones took it from the book Diableries-Satan's Daily Life in the 19th Cen-
tury by Jac Remise, (Balland Editions, 1978). This is a photo from the series of 72 stereo-
scopic photos, originally published in Paris in 1860, showing daily images of hell. Photos
were created by scenes of skeletons and demons previously handcrafted in clay, but they are
also connected with the general mood in Paris at the time, marked by authoritative govern-
ments and wars.
To compare: Black, Candince. Diableries: A Trip to The Underworld: 19th Century Images of
Satan and Hell
20
Vladimir Dodig Trokut, born in 1949 in Kranj, Slovenia, lives in Zagreb. In his biogra-
phy, he presents himself as an art collector, gallerist, museologist, donator, historian, anthro-
pologist, theoretician, lecturer, publicist, and leader of several informal groups: Red Peristil,
Red Peristi Fraction, Group 31, Manifesto 72. He also considers himself the founder of Red
and Red and Black University. Among the wider audience, he is known for his collection and
project of Anti-Museum—the collection of 500,000 artefacts.
See: Artists portfolio website, http://anti-muzej.com/vladimir-dodig-trokut
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 165

language, ritual and magical practices, as well as knowledge and experiences of

Kabala in his art. Dodig declares himself “an anthropological anarchist”21, and as an
artist he considers himself the founder of the art concepts of Black It–Art, Black
Out–Art, Black No–Art. Black It–Art, as he calls it, is considered by Dodig an art
which “follows the idea of now and excludes the idea of the past.” 22
Davor Matičević mentioned, Dodig started practicing art as a poet, creating visual
poems, projects of “writing poetic messages, which included signs and codes of
magical character”,23 then artistic works of processing nature, similar to Land Art,
such as projects Sky Reflex, Burning of Sea and Land.24 Matičević realized as early as
in 1978 that “although the audience misses codes to fully understand his intentions
because they don’t understand this field – there is a present and acceptable aspiration
in Dodig’s work to expand and deepen the areas of mental communication and art in
general”.25 Dodig says about himself that he “starts as a simulation poet”, than he calls
himself the first artist in magic art, and he considers his art “cold”.

These works contain certain coldness which reflects something that connotes
the idea of real. Reality deprived of materialization, and with an added obses-
sive image of something that is in fact its objectification. Although they are in
the mental form.26

When he speaks about art, he says that for him “there is no art, there is life”.

Our artists are sleepers, neither awaken nor awake. Our art is unreal. It is not
real; it does not belong to the dimension of reality. It is neither alchemical, or
real, or realistic. Our art is the art of pure death, it is not anthropological and
this means that it is not archetypal, civilized. I think that art itself is not dead.
Art reflects the idea of consciousness. 27

21
Vladimir Dodig Trokut, “Ja sam sluga umjetnosti (I'm a Servant of Art),“interview by
Nadežda Elezović, Val 8 (summer 2005): 6–7.
22
Ibid.
23
Davor Matičević, “Zagrebački krug [The Zagreb Circle],” in The New Art Prac-
tice:1966–1978, documents 3–6, ed. Marijan Susovski. (Zagreb: Gallery of Contemporary
Art, 1978), 21–28.
24
See: Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Amuleti, čini, arkane (Amulets, spells, arkanas), curated by
Marijan Susovski. (Zagreb: Gallery of Contemporary Art, 1980). Exhibition catalog.
25
Matičević, “Zagreb Circle,” 28.
26
Dodig Trokut, interview by Nadežda Elezović, 2005.
27
Ibid.
166 Nadežda Elezović

When speaking about his work within the

conceptual art group Red Peristyle, Dodig
Trokut refers to the work of Red Peristyle
Fraction and about thirty different artistic
actions performed together with artists
Pave (Pavao) Dulčić, Božo Jelenić, Toma
Ć(Č)aleta. As he describes the character of
performed actions, “these were interven-
tions of metaphysical cosmos immersion
(...) all these works correspond with meta-
physical elements, they are based on al-
chemy and Tao-physics.“ 28
In an interview he gave for the croatian
culture magazine Zarez, interview by
Suzana Marjanić in article published on De-
cember 2002 (Zarez 42–43), he mentions
that the poetic Group 68 developed from
this group, and it worked on the phenomena
Fig. 3. Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Transformations
from Black to White – Only Angels Know, of unification of mysticism and poetics,
performance, Bale, 2002, source: zlobecsport metaphysical and magical formulation; later
on Group 3i. When working precisely
within this group, Dodig mentions occult
acts used for art, i.e. for creating art work.
“In Group 3i I based my work on the late
Dulčić and Čaleta for a long time, and I
often performed invoking them, using
methods of Spiritism”.29 The practice of
creating art using moves and associations
of ritual and magical practice (Kabala Cries
Orgon 24, 2014) was used in numerous
performances he did in the past decades,
often with narrative interpretation of some
Fig. 4. Vladimir Dodig Trokut, performance, of the hermeticism postulates. In an
Gallery O.K., MMC Palach, Rijeka interview for the magazine

28
Suzana Marjanić, “Priroda (u) o umjetnosti performansa (Nature in (of) Performance
Art),” Ethnology Tribune 37, vol. 44 (2014): 94–95.
29
Suzana Marjanić, “Mistički poligoni & akcije-transcendencije,” (Mystical polygons and
actions-transcendences) Zarez, December, 2002, 42–43.
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 167

Zarez, he interprets the performance Transformations from Black to White – Only

the Angels Know, performed in Bale in 2002, through insights gained during per-
forming it, where he sits on an egg in a stony street of this small Istrian town, co-
vered in white feathers all over his body, moving arms as in Kabala practice.

In the performance Transformations from Black to White – Only the Angels

Know, which was performed in Bale, we woke up Druid, Celtic energies, energies
of the witches, mages, wizards, elves and they rebelled, awakened – there was a
cold wind... I literally sat on this egg with these feathers all over me and I literally
for the first time in my life, after I took out all of my teeth and sold them to a
Swiss museum, felt my teeth again from all this cold. These performances are
high risk because we correspond with our inner sexual libido; this is an en-
counter with our libido which marks the encounter with your own conscious-
ness.30

Marijan Susovski (1980) links Trokut’s artistic strategy, on the occasion of Dodig’s
exhibition Amulets, spells, arkanas organized in the Gallery of Contemporary Art in
Zagreb in 1980, to the artistic strategy, i.e. shaman artistic practice of Joseph Beuys.
Based on the tradition of Beuys, who often used everyday items in his conceptual
installations, combined with natural, edible material; pollen, animal fat, wax, milk...
which have healing and mystical properties in shamanism, Dodig exhibits items of
occult practice and objects given magical value. Already in the title of the exhibition
Vladimir Dodig Trokut: Amulets, spells, arkanas, he emphasized the esoteric origin of
the exhibited items. He himself claims that the starting point in his art is shamanism
towards art, whereas he thinks that Beuys moved from art into shamanism.31
Beuys, on the other hand, emphasized the social and healing dimension of art,
art with therapeutic effect, which can treat and heal, and this attitude especially re-
ferred to the German society after World War II. Unlike Joseph Beuys (1921 –
1986) and George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1866/1877–1949) he refers to, Dodig does
not emphasize the didactic and healing role in art, which was represented and
spread by these major artists. Both Beuys and Gurdijeff determined the value of an
art work based on ability to transform a man and affect spiritual growth of indivi-
duals and societies. Dodig takes over the main attitudes of Gurdjieff. Anna Challenger
in her article Gurdjieff's Theory of Art (Gurdjieff International Review, 2012), em-
phasize; “Gurdjieff divides art into ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’, and differentiates art
from non-art using these esthetic criteria”. Subjective art according to Gurdjieff is
not authentic, is a result of mechanical, subconscious human action and here “most

30
Ibid., 43.
31
Elezović, 2005.
168 Nadežda Elezović

of what is usually interpreted as art” belongs (...)—in his introduction to Meetings

with Remarkable Men he asserts that—contemporary civilization is unique in
history in its massive production of soulless, pseudo art.32
Dodig Trokut is known by his collection of items incorporated in the collection
Antimuseum, created as early as 1972, which contains several hundred different his-
torical, social, anthropological, art artifacts and items. According to Trokut, the col-
lection was recognized by the art historian Harald Szeeman, with whom Dodig co-
operated on the project of unifying the Museum of Obsession and Antimuseum. The
Antimuseum collection was donated to the Croatian people, and even though the
Museum was introduced to professional glossaries, an adequate location to store the
collection in accordance with professional standards has not been found yet.

Marko Pogačnik (1944)

The specificity of art by Marko Pogačnik (1944) is the fact that Pogačnik introduces
a completely new paradigm into contemporary art, and art in general.33 Completely
opposite from the l'art pour l'art (art for art’s sake) approach, this is art which in-
cludes and marks communication with cosmic and earth energies, worlds which are
invisible to the eye, to which people are naturally connected.
In the methods of earth healing, Pogačnik uses the medieval geomancy knowl-
edge. Aiming at a harmonious relationship between people and nature, he developed
methods of acupunctural earth healing in the 1980’s, using stone elements with
inscribed symbolic ornamental omens set to acupuncture points of the earth, and
using this process he calls lithopuncture he heals the damaged pulse of nature.
Pogačnik believes that space is alive with its own memory and that through histo-
rical turmoil, the energy of the space is blocked and thus its further harmonized
development is hindered, that covered the topic of geomancy. These blocked ener-
gies of our cities and environment need to be unblocked. He performed acupunc-

32
Anna Challenger, “Gurdjieff's Theory of Art,” Gurdjieff International Review XI, 2 (2012).
Accessed February 20, 20014. ISSN 1524–4784.
33
Marko Pogačnik was born in 1944 in Kranj, Slovenia, and graduated from the Academy
of Fine Arts in 1967, majoring in sculpture. He is one of the founders of the OHO group.
From 1965 to 1971, he worked as a member of the OHO group in the fields of conceptual
art and land art. In 1971 OHO group transformed into a commune to integrate daily life into
the art work – including agriculture and serving as a spiritual center for that time Yugoslavia.
We worked in the field of art as “Šempas family” (1971–79). After 1979 his art work trans-
formed into a specific form of ecological art that he calls lithopuncture and “acupuncture of
the Earth. Parallel to his lithopuncture, after 2005 with his wife Marika, he started to build
art installations in galleries and museums.
See his artsist website:http://www.markopogacnik.com/
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 169

tural healing of landscapes in all countries of Europe and Latin America and some
countries of other continents. Pogačnik speaks of vital energy flows that float on
earth’s surface and calls them Dragon lines. Primordial location forces on Dragon
lines are called dragon forces, where the earth breathes in life from space.
Other earlier researchers spoke about these energy lines of earth, calling them
“ley’s lines”, and often along these lines, there are historical buildings, churches and
nowadays often wolds. Pogačnik considers these points as energetic holy spaces func-
tioning as acupuncture points of the earth, through which cosmic energy of the plant
flows and balances itself. He also developed a school of perception where he teaches
those who are interested into vital energy flows of the earth.
For the healings, he also uses stone panels with engraved energy and symbolic
shapes, so-called cosmograms, which have their inner codes, and when displayed
outside and at precisely defined energetic points, form a sort of land art and have
a healing effect. Cosmograms indicate a special system or organic line shapes,
omens which Pogačnik carves into stone panels, whereby concave line notches
create light contrasts and reflections in the sun which benefit the space. Cosmo-
grams were showcased in galleries, where interactive ambients created for the ex-
hibition spaces also contain and emanate healing properties. For example, the ex-
hibition Labyrinth of multidimensional space, set in Typholological Museum in
Zagreb in 2014, was just like the other Pogačnik’s gallery ambients intended for the
visitors, who were invited to explore space by themselves, touch cosmograms and
thus gain insight into invisible energy appearances in space. Unlike other Land or
Earth artists, who use landscape and nature to realize their work in situ, Pogačnik
uses his own experience working with vital natural
energies and his work is defined by energy lines
and earth points, i.e., as he put it, planet’s chakras.
Pogačnik starts working as an artist in mid-
sixties, he is one of the founders of Slovenian
conceptual art group OHO (1965–1971), which
strongly influenced conceptual art of former
Yugoslavia, but in 1970 the group, although it was
on the rise and recognized within European
conceptual art practice, decides to stop exhibiting
and retreat to the Slovenian village Šempas. Its
avant-garde views on inseparability of art and liv-
ing, the group started exploring outside galleries,
and in 1971 they founded the rural art community
Family from Šempas, on the forest slopes of the
Slovenian village Šempas (where Pogačnik resides
Fig. 5. Marko Pogačnik, Cosmogram
170 Nadežda Elezović

still today with his family)34. Family from Šempas in the art community and natural
isolation, dedicates itself to life in harmony with nature and dealing with trans-
cendental spheres in art, i.e. spiritual interpretations of cosmic processes (Brejc
1978, 14–19).
Milenko Matanović, David Nez, Marko Pogačnik and Andraž Šalamun formed this
group. Tomaž Brejc refers to this period of group’s work (1970–1971) as trans-
cendental conceptualism (Ibid.), where prevailing in their groups there is “focus to-
wards mental concepts and presentation of basic cosmologic states and process
through simple means, and dematerialized forms of action” (Brejc 1978, 14–21).35
These earlier conceptual and Land Art practices of Pogačnik, with emphasized eco-
logical ethics, are important to understand his current art, whereas he has been en-
gaged in earth regeneration and geomancy projects since 1979. With his integral
ecological approach and healing methods, intertwined with his creative work, he
represents the concept of art in the context of harmonic spiritual growth of an indi-
vidual, related with energies of the earth and cosmos.
As an introduction to understanding the process he uses, please see below a
short practical instruction by Pogačnik on how to speak with a tree because “it’s not
hard; anybody can do it”; we have to approach the tree and stand a bit aside, not
lean on it, but stand beside it so that the tree can see us easily. Then from our inner
feeling, “from the heart”, we send our emotional thought to the tree and we allow
communication to be established between us; we try to feel it with our hearts. If we
allow ourselves to feel it, we will soon see the tree respond with its feeling, and
perhaps an inspiration. 36
The term of transcendental conceptualism was inaugurated by the Slovenian theo-
retician Tomaž Brejc to describe specific activities of OHO group in the period of
1970-1971, based on research of spiritual non-visual phenomena, mutual spiritual
relations between group members, realized through dematerialization of art object.

34
Toma Brejc, “The Family at Šempas,” in The New Art Practice in Yugoslavia 1966–1978,
edited by Marijan Susovski. (Zagreb: Gallery of Contemporary Art, 1978), 14–21.
35
They have worked as an art group in Šempas until 1979, until circumstances of farm
life without electricity, telephone line or running water, with small children and without
constant income prevailed. They exhibited as a group in 1978 at the Venice Biennale; the
group is formally still active and its actors cooperate still today on exhibition projects. (On
activities and creations of the OHO group, see individual interviews with group members,
published in the art magazine ARTMargins, in July 2013. http://www.artmargins.com/
index.php/oho-homepage).
36
See “Kako komunicirati z drevesi (How to communicate with a tree)”, http://www.
preprostonaravno.si/sl/geomenatija.
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 171

Tomislav Ćurković (1974)

Among here presented artists, Tomislav Ćurković differs with the subtlety of his
work. Also with the wide range of media he uses to express himself and to create,
from visual art, music and sound, videos and movies, to theatre sets. He is the
author (director, cameraman and music author) of three short films which were re-
corded in his travel over Asia; Punan (2004), Varanasi (2006), Bule (white men)
(2007). The awarded film Bule (White men) tells a story of metaphorical and phy-
sical search for the Bird of Paradise, the rarest and the most beautiful bird in the
world. This is a story of friendship between the natives and the Western people,
their differences and similarities, recorded on plateaus of West Papua. In his film
Varanasi he created a portrait of a town on the river Ganges – Varanasi, one of the
holiest Indian towns; the film tells about holy souls – sadhus and portrays the holi-
est among them, the tantric master in a ritual process of eating human remains
found after the religious act of posthumous body incineration in order to gain spe-
cial powers to heal the sick and establish communication with the dead. 37
From the sketches from his travels, Ćurković creates visual art, installations and
objects where various organic and inorganic material, discarded items, memorabilia
are collected to new ambient sculptures with different meanings. The exhibition Em-
pire (Mali salon/Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka, 2006) comprises
items and installations created in an ambient setting using sound, human body, instal-
lations made of various items and ambient
qualities, with “application of the aversion
effect and the display of transition between
life and death”, as written by the exhibition
curator Nataša Ivančević (2006).38
Regardless of the media, Ćurković’s work
is oriented toward the search for processes
and creations which call upon the aspects of
supreme creation with their atmosphere and
charge. His works are multilayered and
multi-valued; avoiding description is a part
of his artistic strategy, which in the end
results in the impression of the inability to
fully understand the work. Ćurković creates
Fig. 6. Tomislav Ćurković, The fourth dimension installations as closed spaces, cabinets in
collages, mixed media, 2014.
which he searches for imaginary worlds, for
Courtesy of the author

37
It is possible to view the film by contacting the author Tomislav Ćurković.
38
Tomislav Ćurković, “Carstvo/Empire”, curated by Nataša Ivančević. (Rijeka: MMSU,
2016). Exhibition catalog.
172 Nadežda Elezović

the non-existing, but revived creatures in order to metaphysically start the image level
through association of the living (Elezović 2014). Through intuitive leadership, he
composes works using personal inner reflections, associations; as an artist-traveler
who recollects his travels over unknown regions and tries to record them, partly
through his memories and sometimes creation finds its own way.
In recent flat relieves made with tin and other materials such as paper, photos,
cardboard, Ćurković creates collages where he intends to express “the fourth dimen-
sion”. The key question of visual art is how to express that which is visually im-
possible to demonstrate (invisible) without using symbolism or known iconographic
postulates, but using the original and authentic visual language. Ćurković tries to
express time through his collages with spatial dimensions – width, length and
height, forms were created from tin fragments which he bends using origami tech-
nique, moving from the center around which triangular spheres are folded, one over
another. This creates strange spaces that act hypnotically and disorienting on
viewer’s perception. Trying to visualize common space with these dimensions, we
go through changes in perception, in the sense of manipulation of this space, its
modification, extension, where it is possible to enter it and thus see the past or the
future. This is a transcription of mental states into the material of artistic work.
Ćurković is a full artist; he creates new worlds in his work, whether this is instal-
lation, painting or object. He also creates new relations between these worlds.
Hereby he relies on inner intuitive leadership in the work process:

I want everything to keep swimming on this association level... the level of

atmosphere... and again, neither names can be any... some words are simply not
felt as right... the thing is that even I don’t know what exactly I am doing and
I don’t want to know. Why I can place, for example, velvet next to clay, and not
a plastic bag, I don’t know that. But inner laws definitely exist and I can feel
them, but not understand them.39

Furthermore, he creates creatures – forms of some new species from different ele-
ments, such as forms of cut out paper. The flame reviving them is an idea as such.

Marina Abramović (1946)

According to the opinion from the global art criticism, but also to the giant interest
she invokes from the audience, Marina Abramović is one of the most influential artists
today. She dedicated all four decades of her art to performances. Ever since her begin-
nings in the early 1970’s, she has dealt with exploration of body and the physical,
body as an artistic medium through which she communicates with the audience.

39
The quote was taken from private oral and written communication with the artist, May
2014.
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 173

Already in her first performances, Abramović establishes basic determinants of

her total opus; long-term, long-lasting physically and mentally exhausting perform-
ances and testing and overcoming own physical and mental limitations, facing your-
self in front of an audience and simultaneous facing the audience with the deepest
mental limitations and social conventions, interest towards art which changes ideo-
logies. Marina Abramović is now changing contemporary art, by dealing with the
non-material in art, introducing a new paradigm into contemporary art. Material she
uses is the energetic space of mutual contact, transmission of energy between peo-
ple. Within her retrospective exhibition significantly named Marina Abramović: The
Artist Is Present, which was set in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York
in 2012, she performs for 736 hours and 30 minutes (that is, every day, for more
than two months, eight hours a day), sitting still in silence in front of an audience
and using “eye-to-eye” contact emanates feelings of love to the person who sits in
front of her. In the interview published on Museum’s website after the performance,
she explained the substantial and processing level and work method through which
she places herself, like a spiritual leader, into the role of a mediator and thus helps
individuals in the process of establishing contact with themselves.

When you enter the square of light and you sit on that chair, you’re an indi-
vidual, and as an individual you are kind of isolated. And you’re in a very inter-
esting situation because you’re observed by the group (the people waiting to
sit), you’re observed by me, and you’re observing me—so it’s like triple ob-
servation. But then, very soon while you’re having this gaze and looking at me,
you start having this invert and you start looking at yourself. So I am just a
trigger, I am just a mirror and actually they become aware of their own life, of
their own vulnerability, of their own pain, of everything—and that brings the
crying. [They are] really crying about their own self and that is an extremely
emotional moment.40

In order to gain control over her body, her conscious and unconscious reactions,
physical needs and to be able to perform for several days (eight hours a day over
the period of over two months of still sitting in silence and nonverbal communica-
tion with 1,564 individuals), as Abramović described in an interview with James
Franco (2009), she went through many physical and mental preparations; cooper-
ated with many scientists, but also spiritualists, learning various techniques from
Brazilian shamans, Tibetan monks, Australian aborigines.

40
See: Daniela Stigh, Marina Abramović:The Artist Speaks, In New York: MoMA 2010.
http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/06/03/marina-abramovic-the-artist-
speaks
174 Nadežda Elezović

I went to retreat in India because I think when I do performance art I have to

learn how can I control my body. (Cleaning the Mirror, 1990). First you have
to be completely afraid of, and completely terrorized. And then I know that I
have to do it. Nobody would change if they do things what they like. I always
do things I don't like. Because things you don't like, things you are afraid of,
they are unknown. That is really interesting stuff. The moment that you really
can get into the performance space – you are leaving your lower self and you
are transforming to higher self. And this higher self is whole energy you are
putting to. And then really things happened, and every circumstance happened;
you have to accept them and let it go.41

In the 1980’s, she spent her time in the deserts of Australia, in Sahara and Gobi, and
she thinks the desert is the most difficult place to be, the place of the biggest
confrontation with oneself. At the symposium “Art Meets Science and Spirituality”
(1990), in front of her rationally oriented colleagues, she speaks of Tibetan techniques
that help release energy from the cells, the energy that exists in all cells, but is
released in the states of trauma, shock, extreme self-preservation strains. It is signi-
ficant that at this symposium she also spoke about her vision of art in the future, the
21st century art, where she said “that art would not use objects in the future because
the artist will be on that level of consciousness required to transfer the energy to their
audience”.42 The above described performance was realized two decades later.
During her artistic career, she did numerous radical physical performances
where she questioned the limits of physical endurance, and literally facing death in
some (Rhythm 0, Rhythm 5). Among her earlier performances, the most famous is
the often mentioned performance Rhythm 5 (1974), where the artist exposed her-
self naked in front of an audience, offered a table with 72 objects to the audience
in the gallery, such as roses, perfume, lipstick, bread, but also knives, chains and a
loaded gun. After six hours of performing and a growing aggression in the audience,
the performance culminated when one of the visitors reached for the loaded gun
and pointed it at her, after which the performance was terminated. This event
marked a changing point in her work, and she has included the audience in confron-
tation with her own limitations and personality aspects ever since.
In one of the earlier performances named Dragon Head, performed several times
on different locations and with little variation in the period between 1990–1994,

41
Marina Abramović, Interview by James Franco. YouTube video, 4:18. 2009. http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eugnrk8Nfi0&index=22&list=RDAbk44swuaro
42
Interview with Louwrien Wijers and Johan Pijnappel. Art meets
Science and Spirituality, Art and Design, Academy Group, London, 1990. YouTube video,
21.11–24.20.1990, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O383LOPbALs.
Spiritual in Contemporary Art of Southeastern Europe 175

Abramović confronts her fears in front of the audience.43 She stands still on the set,
with a live snake wrapped around her body. The snake, as the oldest mythological
animal and an ambiguous symbol, was chosen by the artist “as an animal that has a
strong negative meaning in Christianity”. Starting with the premises that a snake can
follow energies of the planet wherever it is located, Marina Abramović as a small
energy universe lets the snake follow her personal temperature and the energy of her
body by sliding over her head (LIMA, video Portrait Gallery). The snakes did not move
towards the audience; they stayed on her body because there was ice on the floor
around Abramović and snakes follow heat and energy. Abramović here treats her
body as the form of energy micro-universe that goes through changes, one that
emanates its inner states and affects the worlds around it.
(....) but snakes always follow the geodetic lines of the planet, so I was thinking,
If I am that planet, how they are going to follow my lines, lines of my body.
They just moved around, and they actually moved my body. And I become a
sculpture; I see this is like a sculpture. This snake was enormous; she almost killed
me, by the way. It was a very interesting moment before the audience came: I had
her around my head when she just slipped off and went around my neck. And the
trainer said to me – you have to be absolutely relaxed. My pulse was beating, and
the more pulse beat the more she goes around your neck, so you have to be actually
relax in panic, in order to become like tree – that she can release herself. It was very
good training.44
Her performances carry a strong ritual and symbolic level, such as Cleaning the
Mirror (1995) and the famous video/installation/performance Balkan Baroque from
the Venice Biennale in 1997, where in her performance she reacts to and comments
on the political war situation in former Yugoslavia, conceptually oriented towards the
ritual “cleaning of conscience”. Over four days Abarmović washed raw animal bones
which were filled with worms and smelt terribly, and which filled the dark exhibition
space, whereas the display showed the video of her parents. For her extraordinary
piece she was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale.

43
“It is very important to overcome your own fears and what I do in my work – I stage
them in front of audience. I can’t do that at my home, but in front of audience I get extra
strength, so I can deal with them. So If I can do with myself, you can do in your life, too.
Because I became a sample”, Abramović explained, speaking about confronting her fear in
the performance “Dragon Head” at a lecture at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, 2011. YouTube video, 34:56–36:34.
http://hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/visit/#detail=/bio/location/&collection=visit 2011.
44
Ibid., 34:56–36:34.
176 Nadežda Elezović

Conclusion
As a conclusion, I want to emphasize that these six artists do not represent all artists
whose works carry spiritual elements in the given geographic region. There are
other such artists, and also other different approaches and practices which could
deepen this subject. Also as a conclusion, I want to present influences of individual
works on people because each work of art has the power to transform mental,
spiritual, and emotional patterns. Primarily art, which can affect opening a person’s
mind to higher mental and spiritual spheres. Furthermore, exploring the process of
creation of some works can significantly influence further studies of the subject.

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NEMANJA RADULOVIĆ

Contemporary Magic Healing in Serbia and New Age

One of the commonplaces in the research of contemporary esotericism is that the

fall of Communism in 1989–1990 led to a great wave of magic revival in Eastern
Europe.1 That is not incorrect, of course, but it should be understood in a somewhat
broader sense. Esoteric groups were present even under Communism (e.g. O.T.O. in
Yugoslavia)2 although, predictably enough, after the 1989 the activities and appear-
ance of the new groups rapidly increased; under Communism different types of
healing, too, which we could label as magical or alternative, were highly visible.
Bioenergetics, parapsychology, suggestology, clairvoyancy, and alternative medicine
were present in the media in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Soviet Union, specially in 1980s.3
In Bulgaria the psychic Vanga had official support.4 In the second half of 1980s in
Yugoslavia which, because of the specific political situation was between the Eastern
and Western blocs and was more open to Western influences, there were special
magazines dedicated to anything alternative, from UFO to bioenergetics.5 In the
second half of 1980s bioenergetics and psychics, especially those from Soviet Union

1
On religious revival generally: Miklós Tomka, ed., Expanding Religion: Religious Revival
in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter,
2011).
2
Gordan Djurdjević “Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of occultism
in Former Yugoslavia,” in Occultism in a Global Perspective ed. by Bogdan and G. Djurdjević
(Durham: Acumen), 92; “Ordo Templis Orienti in former Yugoslavia”, accesed April 04. 2016.
(http://www.parareligion.ch/sunrise/naskov.htm).
3
See: Birgit Menzel, “The Occult Revival in Russia Today and its Impact on Literature”,
The Harriman Review, 16: 1 (2007): 1–14.; Alexander A. Panchenko, “Morality, Utopia, Dis-
cipline: New Religious Movements and Soviet Culture”, in Multiple Moralities and Religions
in Post-Soviet Russia, ed. J. Zigon (New York: Berghahn Books, 2011): 119–145; Grażyna
Szwat-Gylybowa, Haeresis bulgarica v blgarskoto kulturno soznanie na XIX i XX vek, Sofija,
2010. (tr. from Polish). 173–184;Djurdjević,“Hidden wisdom”, 79–100. See special issue of
journal Bßlgarski folklor (5, 1993) [Bulgarian folklore] dedicated to ESP and similar pheno-
mena including healing, in 1980s-early 1990s Bulgaria. Milena Benovska-S ‘bkova, “Extra-
Sensers: The Magicians of the New Time”, in The Magical and Aesthetic in the Folklore of
Balkan Slavs, ed. Dejan Ajdačić (Belgrade: Library Vuk Karadžić, 1994), 1491–56; Evgenia
Mitseva, “Old-time Wizards and Present-day Extra-Sensers”, ibid., 156–164.
4
Galina Valtchinova, “State Managment of Seer Vanga”, in Christianity and Modernization
in Eastern Europe, eds. B.R.Berglud and B.A. Porter (Budapest: CEU Press, 2010): 245–268.
5
Magazines Tajne (Secrets) since 1986; Treće oko (Third eye) since 1989; one should
also mention translations of authors such as Dänicken, Puharich, Castaneda, books on para-
psychology, Atlantis, etc.

179
180 Nemanja Radulović

(in perestroika then), like Džuna or Allan Chumak, were present in media. Local
healers soon followed this example. The appearance was “experimental” or “alter-
native” and this semi-scientific self-presentation made it publicly acceptable. It can
be taken that the main narratives of New Age were presented through this type of
speech. At the same time, traditional folk magic was – as is still the case – an active
and living phenomenon both in rural and urban areas. After the 1990 all the
abovementioned phenomena became even more widespread and, what is more
important, they started to become commercialized. The free market opened the
doors for healing businesses, too. Private healers and agencies specialized in this
emerged. This initial step took rather specific shape from 1992 onwards: the eco-
nomic crisis, the economic sanctions introduced that year against Yugoslavia, the
war and political repression made the social scene rampant; different psychics and
healers gained never before seen presence and influence in the public sphere. There
was no legal control and media coverage was immense. (The subject are both
healers and psychics/clairvoyants because both activities were often – although not
always – carried out by the same person).6 This included political subtext, too:
psychics often were giving support to governmental policy and in return they could
run their healing business without obstruction.7
In short, this could be described as phenomenon specific of the 1990s. After the
political change in 2000. the position of healers changed, too. Their work was put
into legal frames with stricter control over their work; some of the healers were pro-
secuted and sentenced to prison sentences; some of them moved to Bosnia, where
the enforcement of law was not as strict, or to Western-European countries where
they operate among expatriates working there as Gastarbeiters– that is to say in-
visible to the authorities. Nonetheless, reducing healing narratives to criminal or
political propaganda only does not answer the question why rogues used precisely
this type of narratives and images, with such meanings? What those narratives
mean in the imaginaire of the people who are seeking their help? As folklorist Lauri
Honko noticed: ‘The therapeutic effectivity of popular or “primitive” medicine cannot
be judged solely from the point of view of modern medicine. It is not only the
methods of healing which distinguish primitive medicine from that of modern times.
There is a very great difference in actual attitude to the problem: both the concept
of disease and the aim of the healing-ritual takes quite another form in primitive so-

6
We are leaving aside the differences between healers and psychics, and clairvoyancy
practice as well; our concern now is the medical aspect of the phenomenon.
7
This is perhaps a unique example where the state television station had a regular slot
on its third channel for an astrologer (Milja Vujanović, who took surname Regulus, movie
star and pioneer of astrology in former Yugoslavia) in the early 1990s – not surprising con-
sidering that the predictions were mostly of a political nature
Contemporary Magic Healing in Serbia and New Age 181

ciety than in modern scientific thinking’.8 This observation (basically derived from
ethnological cultural relativism) can also be applied to modern magic. The influential
media position healing held during the 1990s somewhat decreased, but a simple
superficial look at the web sites or advertisements in magazines, testifies that it only
became less visible, while an impressive percentage of people are still visiting
healers. Field work done by folklorists and ethnologists confirms the same on the
level of traditional culture. We will try to describe the present day situation on the
magic-healing scene and to offer an analysis of the esoteric part of it.
On one hand, traditional folk healing is still very active. On the other hand, there
are practicants who are not in any aspect different from healers in Western Europe
or the U.S.A., working with, chakras, crystals, colors, offering Reiki practices, plus
whole range of alternative medicine (homeopathy, quantum medicine, aromathera-
py).9 It is important to notice that even members of esoteric millieus mostly consider
the “media healers” to be vulgar folksy charlatans. These healers are in a somewhere
grey zone, between traditional folk magic and modern concepts (such as those used
by bioenergetics practitioners or representatives of holistic practices), and we will
pay special attention to them, basing this paper on news reports, media pre-
sentation and self-presentation and interviews with some of the clients; the healers
themselves refused to be interviewed. The cults in question are audience cults
and/or client cults.10 (Using Lindquist’s analysis of the similar phenomenon in
Russia, we can describe it as a type of “marketing magic”). 11
Folklorists and ethnologists in Serbian academia paid attention to them already
in early 1990s, comparing them with traditional folk magic, applying genre analysis
on narratives and noticing how traditional genres, like legends, persist in modern
forms; at the same time, differences were spotted, too, like the use of scientific voca-
bulary or political and propagandistic aims 12

8
Honko, L., “On the Effectivity of Folk-Medicine“ in Papers on Folk Medicine, given at
an Inter-Nordic Symposium at Nordiska Museet, Stockholm, 8–10 May 1961, ed. C.-H
Tillhagen (Stockholm: The Nordic Museum, 1963), 290.
9
The local offshoot of the Bruno Groening circle can be mentioned here, too
10
William Sims Bainbridge, Rodney Stark, “Client and Audience Cults in America”, Soci-
ology of Religion 41 (1980): 199–214.
11
Galina Lindquist, Conjuring Hope: Magic and Healing in Contemporary Russia (New
York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2006), 23–52.
12
Ljiljana Pešikan-Ljuštanović, “Čudesno izlečenje kao tema urbanog predanja” [Miracu-
lous Healing as Subject of Urban Legend], Folkor u Vojvodini 6 (1992): 94–102; Ljiljana
Pešikan-Ljuštanović, “Predanja o čudesnom izlečenju i jezik nauke” [Legends about Mirculous
Healing and Scientific Language], Književna reč 23 (1995), 3–4; Dejan Ajdačić, “Religije i
savremene priče o isceljivanju”[Religions and Contemporary Healing Narratives], in Prilozi
pručvavanju folklora balkanskih Slovena [Contributions to the Study of Folklore of Balkan
182 Nemanja Radulović

Presentation of these magic healers depict them as successful (and rich), and is
accompanied by personal narratives of healed clients. Healers usually use first name
only (or even nick-name) with “vidoviti/vidovita” (clairvoyant/clairvoyante, seer/
seeress) in front of it (Vidoviti Ljubiša, Vidovita Ljubica, Vidoviti Zoran, Vidovita
Radica, Vidoviti Dali). They use a specific mixture of teachings. While syncretism is
the mark of new magical movements generally13, particular elements involved pro-
vide some indications of the cultural processes. This bricolage includes concepts
stemming from New Age and Western esotericism, those from folk magic, and those
belonging to Orthodox Christianity. According to the healers the main cause of all
illnesses and life problems in general (marriage, family, love, job) is black magic. The
main work of healer is skidanje magije (literally: removing magic), just like in
traditional magic. Talismans are provided as a protection. It may be noticed here
that this concept is completely opposite to New Age. (The term is used as defined
by Hanegraaff sensu lato).14 Since New Age is based on progressivism, illness is seen
as spiritual arrest and it should be removed as hindrance on the way of spiritual
development.15 But in the type of healing discussed here the cause of illness is seen
in a more traditional light.16 This folk concept of a magical cause is confronted by
healer’s counteraction. Healers can use remedies from the repertoire of traditional
folk magic, or at least they use operations which look like that. The extent to which
such practice stem from folk tradition and how simulating they are as such (and
what is actually folk and tradition, these terms being reegzamined in moderne
folkloristics) is beyond the scope of this discussion. Here we can take term “tradi-
tional/folk magic” as specific to pre-modern rural societies, although this concept
was put under scrutiny (the implications will be discussed further on). What is more
important is that healers present themselves as followers of folk tradition. At the
same time, they are prone to pose as followers of Orthodox Christianity; icons are
frequently visible on their websites and are used in magical séances, too; they claim
to be deeply religious in sense of practicing Orthodox Christianity and some of them
even claim to be initiated by saints. Although the Orthodox Church, of course, warns

Slavs] (Beograd, s.n.: 2004), 274–276. Lidija Radulović, Okultizam ovde i sada: magija,
religija i pomodni kultovi u Beogradu [Occultism Here and Now: Magic, Religion and Fashion-
able Cults in Belgrade], (Belgrade: Srpski genealoški centar), with special stress on socio-
political contex; the author is not related to the author of this paper.
13
But that is also characteristic of folk religion.
14
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, New Age Religion and Western Culture. Esotericism in the Mir-
ror of Secular Thought (Leiden-New York-London: Brill, 1996), 12; 94–103.
15
Hanegraaff, New Age, 46–55.
16
Causes of illness in traditional worldview are multiple, but our healers tend to stress
harmful magical activity of the others
Contemporary Magic Healing in Serbia and New Age 183

believers not to use the services of the healers and condemns this practice, healers
do not see any contradiction in it.17 An example: one of the healers (Vidovita Radica)
claims to be initiated by fairies (belief in fairies is far from extinct in South Slavic
and Balkan regions)18 and that she gets potions from them. Before ritual she spends
some time in monastery in order to be “spiritually energized” through prayer; when
asked what magic is she readily answers “the focusing of energy”.19 And she uses
tarot cards, too. One of the most famous local “white magi” Lav Geršman uses folk
charms together with tarot and astrology.
While this can be important to researchers of religion, sociologists, ethnologists,
we focus here only on those concepts stemming from Western esoteric tradition.
Among them, the most influential is energy. While the cause of illness is black
magic, the interpretation of magic itself, as given by healers, is that black magic is
negative energy; healer’s counteraction is positive energy.20 Geršman states in his
autobiographical book: “I take positive energy from Nature and by it I remove the
negative one. If a white magus does not use his knowledge his energy does not re-
turn, and the one he has is exhausted quickly... We get strength from the client’s
gratitude... The same is with black magi. They do evil to man, his mother, children...
They got negative energy and the positive [energy] goes to the black magus”.21 Both
black and white magi work on the principle of the conservation of energy, the dif-
ference is whether they use positive or negative energy’.22 “Magic is the art of con-
trolling the energy that everyone has”.23
From healing narratives and interviews we can see that healers as well as their
patients use the concept of energy, obviously being induced by healers.24 In the
terms of ethnopsychiatry the concept of magic is internalized, because it belongs

17
The same in Russia: Lindquist, Conjuring, 29.
18
As testified by contemporary fieldwork by folklorists and ethnologists.
19
magazine Magična zona, 21.05, 2012, http://www.magicnazona.rs/beli-mag-radica-
tomovic-vile-mi-pomazu-da-skinem-nabaceno-zlo/; Svet plus (famous tabloid)10.05 2013:
http://www.svetplus.eu/tag/vidovita-radica/
20
Lidija Radulović, Okultizam ovde i sada, 82–83; See also: thttp://vidovitaradmila.com/
accesed April 21. 2016.
21
Branka Đurišić, Lav Geršman. Tajna Magije: Vizije i saveti [Lav Geršman. The Secret of
Magic: Visions and Advices]. (Beograd: Pharos, 2004), 57–58.
22
Ibid., 66.
23
http://vidovitidali.com accesed April 21. 2016.
24
It is of secondary importance that many of those healing narratives, as presented by
healers themselves, are probably invented; the presence in the media and public mind is our
concern now, as are their appearance and the images they use; in the structure and style
they are same as the narratives of patients collected through other means.
184 Nemanja Radulović

to the pattern of the given culture.25 However, this extends through the internaliza-
tion of new concepts, those coming from New Age and Western esotericism, fore-
most that of the concept of energy. Something similar was noted by R. Bastide long
ago in the case of Brazil, a process he named “the secularization of madness”.
“Lycanthropy” and “religious deliriums” became replaced by “scientific” concepts
(electricity which passes through the body). However, as he noticed, secularization
is still not profanization.26 The terms have been changed but the magical power of
the concept remains. The concept of energy obviously stems from New Age. Its
significance in New Age and the Weltanschauung of New Agers requires no ex-
planation or emphasis. At the same time, as studies of New Age show, despite its
scientific appearance (aimed at legitimization) the very concept of energy stems
from Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Swedenborg.27 Elements of classical
Western esotericism are thus incorporated in New Age; now, New Age is not only
a specific cult milieu, it is part of contemporary culture, as James Lewis pointed
out,28 – or occulture, in Partridge’s term29. Other elements, characteristic not of New
Age only but of Western esotericism of an older type can be found too. For example,
talismans are widely used in folk magic too, but here we can find the Jupiter talis-
man, “Egyptian talismans”, the Knot of Isis; or spiritualistic use of letters and moving
board. Some older esoteric concepts were channeled through New Age to contemp-
orary magic healing in Serbia.

Nonetheless, there remain differences between two concepts. The energy concept
still does not lead to holism or some optimism. Worldview remains dualistic. There
is no personal transformation, but curing the illness is the main point; in that sense
this concept is still pre-modern. “Many New Age-believers would emphasize that
their aim is not the elimination of suffering, but the promotion of health. This subtle
shift of perspective is important to note. It contains a polemical thrust aimed at offi-
cial health care, which is criticized for focusing on “fixing” diseases while promoting

25
We use term ethnopsychiatry as founded in the classical works of Devereux.
26
Roger Bastide, Sociologie des maladies mentales (Paris: Flammarion, 1965), 269.
27
Catherine L. Albanese, “The Magical Staff: Quantum Healing in the New Age,” in Per-
spectives on New Age, eds. James R. Lewis and Joseph Gordon Melton (Albany: SUNY Press,
1992), 68–74; James R. Lewis, “Approaches to the Study of the New Age Movement”, in
Perspectives on New Age, eds. James R. Lewis, Joseph Gordon Melton (Albany: SUNY Press,
1992), 3; Wouter J. Hanegraaff, New Age Religion and Western Culture. Esotericism in the
Mirror of Secular Thought (Leiden-New York-London: Brill, 1996), 400.
28
James R. Lewis, introduction to Perspectives on New Age, eds. James R. Lewis and
Joseph Gordon Melton (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992), X.
29
Christopher Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West 1, Alternative Spiritualities, Sac-
ralization, Popular Culture and Occulture (London-New York: T&T Clark International, 2004).
Contemporary Magic Healing in Serbia and New Age 185

an unhealthy lifestyle at the same time”.30 In the case of Serbian contemporary me-
dia healers, the traditional perception is still maintained under modern jargon. Also,
the net of black magic is incompatible with the love and brotherhood ideology of
New Age. If Hanegraaff sees the ideology of personal growth and personal responsi-
bility as essential for New Age healing31, then we can say that here we are dealing
with the completely opposite worldview, where responsibility for the illness comes
from the other.
In a way, the abovementioned traits correspond to the issues of identity in con-
temporary Serbian society: on one hand there are national, local, traditional ele-
ments; on the other it is connected to elements that are perceived as modern and
Western.32 As followers of national Church they present themselves as followers of
tradition, as respectable family men and women, who are obviously not involved in
any kind of black magic. Use of folk elements confirms that the healer is rooted in
tradition; but New Age scientific language and esoteric elements provide an air of
modernity. This is not only a bricolage, but perhaps an analogon – we deliberately
avoid the word “reflection”– of the broader picture of identity, between national tra-
dition on one side and relation towards Europe on the other.

But still, we hesitate to explain the phenomenon in the terms of identity only, con-
sidering that it would be a type of reduction. It is a much deeper issue of the rela-
tion between magic and modernity, or between magic and cultural processes.
We dare to take the Serbian example as the paradigm for transitional societies,
or in broader context, societies that entered modernity lately. There is a large mass
of people whose worldview can be described as traditional. In spite of moderniza-
tion and Communism which enforced Enlightenment discourse, for these people the
world never became completelly disenchanted.33 A new layer was superimposed on
this traditional worldview, stemming from contemporary New Age concepts. Old
concepts are now being interpreted in modern terms. New Age terminology (such
as energy) provides them with a kind of emic hermeneutics (which still shows the

30
Hanegraaff, New Age, 46.
31
Hanegraaff, New Age, 243; 300–301.
32
About national identity in modern esoteric movements in Eastern European cultures:
Nemanja Radulović, “Slavia Esoterica between East and West”, Ricerche slavistiche 13 (LIX)
(2015): 73–102.
33
Of course, I refer here to Weberian concept of disenchantment used extensively by the
post-Favrian generation of scholars. Beside Hanegraaf ‘s 1996. synthesis on New Age (see
bibliography) see also Wouter J. Hanegraaff, “How Magic Survived the Disenchantment of
the World”, Religion 33 (2003), 357–380. Also: Kocku von Stuckrad “Reenchanting Nature.
Modern Western Shamanism and Ninetenth-Century Thought”, Journal of the American
Academy of Religion, 70 (2002), 771–799.
186 Nemanja Radulović

need to legitimate a worldview that is socially stigmatized in a way). It is also possible

to notice the interaction between traditional folk culture and imported elements of
contemporary culture. It challenges again the popular idea – the heritage of the
Romantic concept of folklore – of untouched folk tradition. At the same time it
challenges the popular idea of esotericism as being hidden34. Here we can see the
popularization and divulgation of esoteric concepts to the furthest extent. In a sense,
the abovementioned esotericists and practitioners of alternative medicine are correct
in labeling these healers as vulgar: the word vulgar should be understood etymo-
logically, as the root of divulgation.
In terms of cultural history that interaction is actually far from being new. As an
example we can take contacts between rural, traditional, folk magic on one hand
and learned magic on the other (not in a sense of anthropological (Frazerian, for
example) universalistic concept of the same magical principles: historicaly speaking,
there was active interaction between two currents of magic in Europe). Up to the
20th century learned magic – divinatory books, grimoires or magic sigils – entered
European folk transmission through chapbooks.35 Ethnologists and folklorists were
aware long ago of such exchange. And, on the other hand, as is well known, Agrippa
or Paracelsus took from folk magic. This examples from Western and Central
Europe are confirmed in Eastern Europe, too. Interesting example existed in 18th and
19th century Russia, where popular editions of Eckartshausen and Jung-Stilling
entered the folk sects and influenced their teachings.36At the same time the elite did
not shun from the folk clairvoyants and healers.

34
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, “Esotericism”, in: Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism
eds. Wouter Hanegraaff et. alii (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2006), 336–340; somewhat different
in: Kocku von Stuckrad, Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.
Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2010), 54–59.
35
Owen Davies, Grimoires. A History of Magic Books (Oxford: University Press),
107–109; 113ff; 118ff; 153; 165;for contemporary period: 185; Rudolf Schenda, Volk ohne
Buch: Studien zur Sozialgeschichte der populären Lesestoffe 1770–1910 (Frankfurt am
Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 1970), 104; 124, 140 (f. 133), 233–234; 253;480. Bernard
Husson, preface to Le grand et le petit Albert (Paris: Etditions Pierre Belfond, 1978),16–18;
Robert, Mandrou Robert, “Littérature de colportage et mentalités paysannes XVIIe et XVIIIe
siècles,” Études rurales 15 (1964): 84–85.
36
F. Fedorenko, Sekty, ih vera i dela [Cults, their believes and deeds](Moscow, Izdateljstvo
politicheskoy literatury, 1965), 58; 65. On different divinatory books in Russian popular
culture: Faith Wigzell, Reading Russian Fortune: Print Culture, Gender and Divination in
Russia from 1765 (Cambridge: University Press, 1998). For more on folk magic and de-
monology and their interactions with learned culture in Eastern and Central Europe: Gabor
Klaniczay and Eva Pocs, eds., Christian Demonology and Popular Mythology (Demons, Spirits,
Witches 2) (Budapest, New York: CEU Press, 2006).
Contemporary Magic Healing in Serbia and New Age 187

Serbian ethnographical material recorded in 19th century includes references to

Sator Arepo formula37 (also present elsewhere in European folklore, obviously stem-
ming from learned sources) or to pentagrams and hexagrams (“Solomon’s letter”) ob-
viously derived from written sources. The other example can be Spiritualism. The new
phenomenon in 19th century Serbia was introduced as preoccupation of high classes,
of the tiny layer of urban intellectuals; but it quickly reached the broadest audience,
the popular masses and became intermingled with one current in popular religiosity.38
Mixing of New Age energy concept with folk practices shows the continuity of this
process and the range of globalization of New Age. In the broader ethnological sense
two cultures, high and popular, learned and folk, have always interacted, they are in
the continuous process of exchange, the gap between them being not so wide.39
Talking about medicine, “the contrast between modern and primitive medicine in fact
arose comparatively late”,40 in the 17th century (that is to say at the same time when
Bakhtin and P. Burke saw as watershed between learned and popular culture).

Hanegraff noticed that “New Age healing & growth movements are structurally similar
to healing practices known in traditional societies”41. It seems that this example shows
similarities not only in structural order, but in direct cultural exchange. In the same
way, as we talk about folk religion, folk Christianity or Islam, perhaps we can also talk
about folk New Age?42

37
Ichiro Ito, “Sator formula kak zagovor v balto-slavyanskoi pismenoy i fol’klornoi
tradicii” [Sator formula as an Incantation in Balto-Slavic Written and Folk Tradition] in
Zajedničko u slovenskom folkloru[Common Elements in Slavic Folklore] (Belgrade, Institute
for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2012), 107–127. For pre-
Modern period and written sources: Robert Mathiesen, “Magic in Slavia Orthodoxa: The
Written Traditon”, in Henry Maguire ed., Byzantine Magic (Washington: Dumbarton Oakes
Research Library and Collection, 2008), 155–177.
38
Radmila Radić, Narodna verovanja, religija i spiritizam u srpskom društvu 19. i u prvoj
polovini 20. veka [Folk Beliefs, Religion and Spiritualism in Serbian Society in 19 th and in the
First Half of the 20 th century] (Belgrade:Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije, 2009), 196–245.
For general overview of interactions between written and oral traditions in Southern Eastern
Europe: Klaus Roth, ed., Südosteuropäische Popularliteratur im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
(Südosteuropa-Geselschaft, Münchner Vereinigung für Volkskunde, München, 1993).
39
Burke‘s conception (Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, New York, 1978) was
criticized by Ginzburg (Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and The Worms: The Cosmos of a Six-
teenth-Century Miller, Baltimor: John Hopkins, 1992), 125–126.
40
Honko, “On the Effectivity”, 291.
41
Hanegraaff, New Age, 103;cf. 43, too. We noticed certain essential differences in the
worldview, but we can speak of the folklorization of new Age.
42
Term “popular New Age“ has already been applied to Brasilian “Valley of Dawn“ move-
ment (Vale do Amanhecer): Amurabi Pereira do Oliveira, “Nova era à Brasileira: a new age
popular do Vale do amanhecer“, Interaçőes-Cultura e Comunidade 4 (2009): 31–50.
188 Nemanja Radulović

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NOEL PUTNIK

Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots:

Neoshamanism in Serbia

In this essay I examine a contemporary Serbian esoteric group known by the name
Drevni koreni (“ancient roots”), a group that was, to the best of my knowledge, the
first in Serbia to practice neoshamanism—or modern Western shamanism—in an
organized fashion. My aim is to delineate the main traits of this society’s practices
and beliefs, with an emphasis on the ambiguities of their self-identification (under-
stood both as shamanic and neoshamanic), as well as on the charismatic figure of
their founder and leader Ratomir Vučković, mostly known by the name Dr. Vuk
(“wolf”). In its loosely institutionalized form the Ancient Roots existed for roughly
a decade, from 2001 to 2010, which was the year of Vučković’s death.1 Following
that period, several of his most prominent disciples have founded their own neo-
shamanic “schools” or continued with individual practice in different capacities.
I have been able to study the activities of the Ancient Roots and its branches in
a variety of ways. My main written sources of information were Vučković’s books
and articles, as well as the media coverage and various internet contents. Even more
importantly, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of active practitioners
from the original group and discuss with them the various aspects of their en-
gagement in neoshamanism. I have also been allowed to closely observe some of
their regular practices carried on by one of the successor schools. This period of ob-
servation lasted, with occasional interruptions, from February 2011 to June 2014.
Finally, I was able to conduct a formal interview with Miljan Žarić, one of Vučković’s
principal disciples and the founder of the Integralni trening (“integral training”), one
of the still active branches of the Ancient Roots.2 This interview, along with the
written sources, the collected field data, and the thematic and narrative analysis of
these data, form the basis of the examination presented in this essay.

1
The main source of information for the Ancient Roots used to be the society’s official
website www.drevnikoreni.org.yu, which, however, does not exist any more. The homepage
of the website, with some useful basic data referred to in this essay, has been archived at
http://archive.is/M64ks [last accessed: 10/4/2016].
2
Audio recorded interview with Miljan Žarić, Belgrade, 30/3/2014.

191
192 Noel Putnik

A Comparative Perspective: Croatia and Hungary

In conducting my own research, I have been able to rely upon two important
precursors, which provided a valuable comparative perspective within the broader
context of the east-central European esoteric milieu. These two case studies deal
with the contemporary neoshamanic “scenes” in Croatia and Hungary: the former
was conducted by Deniver Vukelić, the latter by László Kürti.3 The analytical ad-
vantages of such a perspective are evident. All the three countries share a similar
communist background, be it with regional variations (unlike former Yugoslavia,
Hungary was a member of the Warsaw Pact, with a considerably more repressive
system over certain periods of time). In all of them the loosening of ideological grips
lead to an apparently abrupt blossoming of various esoteric trends and organi-
zations that Gordan Djurdjevic has aptly termed an “occult boom.”4 Although, due
to the differences in the political climate, this boom first started in Yugoslavia (al-
ready during the 1970s), the activities of authors such as Béla Hamvas (1897–
1968) testify to a lively interest in the esoteric even in the communist Hungary.
Moreover, we shall see that in the case of neoshamanism Hungary was in some
respects even ahead of Croatia and Serbia.
With a sharp critical eye, Deniver Vukelić examines the uses of the terms “sha-
manism” and “shaman” in the context of various esoteric trends in Croatia by
analyzing the self-representation and activities of two self-proclaimed Croatian sha-
mans: Vladimir Dodig Trokut and Zoran Tepurić. Dodig is a well-known multimedia
and conceptual artist whose engagement with the occult began already in the
1970s through his acquaintance with the various forms of mostly Western esoteric
lore. Much of his extravagant present-day public performance, in which he presents
himself as a “clairvoyant, mystic, magus, esoteric, alchemist, shaman, hermetist,
exorcist,”5 has nothing to do with what the author defines as shamanism stricto
sensu: the religious beliefs and practices of the Siberian and mid-Asian tribes.6 Dodig

3
Deniver Vukelić, “Problemi identifikacije i identiteta u hrvatskih ‘šamana’ s kraja 20.
i početka 21. stoljeća” [The Problems of the Identification and Identity of the Croatian
‘Shamans’ at the Turn of the 21st Century], Studia ethnologica Croatica, Vol. 24 (2012):
167–94. László Kürti, “Psychic Phenomena, Neoshamanism, and the Cultic Milieu in
Hungary,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 4, No. 2
(2001): 322–50.
4
Gordan Djurdjević, “Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of oc-
cultism in Former Yugoslavia,” in Occultism in a Global Perspective, ed. Henrik Bogdan and
Gordan Djurdjević (Durham: Acumen, 2014), 80. Djurdjević’s survey provides a much needed
academic insight into the development of esotericism in the communist Yugoslavia.
5
Vukelić, “Problemi identifikacije,” 176.
6
Ibid., 167. See the author’s informed and nuanced discussion on the existing defini-
tions of shamanism.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 193

is not at all interested in achieving ecstatic states of consciousness for the sake of
communicating with the spirit world. In fact, he has admitted to the examiner that
he is accustomed of presenting himself as a shaman only for the sake of
convenience, “so that the public could have a better idea of what he is doing.”7 The
author concludes that Dodig uses this label in its most general, terminologically con-
taminated sense denoting a magical practitioner of any kind; as a matter of fact,
Dodig’s practice appears to have very tenuous connections even with neoshaman-
ism taken in any of its broad and evasive meanings. One is thus tempted to think
that Dodig’s peculiar mixture of yoga, talismanic magic, shiatsu, Tarot, and a vast
number of other disciplines articulated in his artistic production would be more
suitable for analysis within Christopher Partridge’s concept of occulture. 8
Zoran Tepurić, the other Croatian shaman, is an entirely different case. Educated
in mining engineering, a rather down-to-earth vocation that he regularly emphasizes
as a way to intellectually legitimize himself in the public, Tepurić discovered early
in his life that he possessed paranormal and psychic gifts. This led him to the study
of various esoteric doctrines and techniques, mostly Gaia Therapeutic established
by the English healer Shimara Kumara and a complex set of practices developed by
the Serbian esotericist Živorad Mihajlović Slavinski.9 It was only towards the end of
the 1990s that “an Australian shaman” told him of Babalawo Fabunmi, a renowned
priest of Ifá, a religion and system of divination originating from West Africa.10
Intrigued by this, Tepurić traveled to Brazil to meet Fabunmi, whereupon he was
introduced into the new teaching and made a Babalawo (priest) himself (Tepurić’s
initiated name is Babalawo Fayori). He now runs a school of his own called the
Golden Lotus. He offers courses, performs public rituals such as purifying the ener-
gies of certain spaces and initiates disciples.11 Although the doctrines of Ifá form the
core of his eclectic teaching, he also presents himself as a shaman, again with the
same purpose: “so that people could more easily recognize certain functions [per-

7
Ibid., 179.
8
See, for instance, Nina Kokkinen, “Occulture as an Analytical Tool in the Study of Art,”
ARIES. Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 13 (2013): 7–36. See also Stefanie v.
Schnurbein, “Shamanism in the Old Norse Tradition: A Theory between Ideological Camps,”
History of Religions, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2003): 132, where she aptly refers to the example of
Joseph Beuys.
9
On Slavinski, a well-known figure in the Serbian esoteric circles, see Djurdjevic, “Hidden
wisdom,” 86–95.
10
Vukelić, “Problemi identifikacije,” 184.
11
However, the teaching still remains largely unknown in Croatia. By 2011 (the year of
Vukelić’s field work with Tepurić) there were only ten initiated members of this group.
194 Noel Putnik

formed by him].”12 However, it appears that, in contrast to Dodig, Tepurić indeed

views the doctrines and practices of Ifá as akin to the traditional Asian shamanism,
not least due to the use of ritual drums and the importance of altered states of con-
sciousness in certain ritual situations. Vukelić subscribes to this view, concluding
that “in its main features the system of Ifá is very close to shamanism in stricto
sensu (even though Tepurić’s practice is predominantly neoshamanistic).” 13
Last but not least, both Vladimir Dodig and Zoran Tepurić claim that their “sha-
manic” teachings have roots in the Croatian folk tradition: Dodig speaks of “a lost
shamanic tradition from the Dinara Mountain and the coastal regions of Croatia that
he has revived,” whereas Tepurić, with more modesty, speaks of the essential con-
gruence between the teachings of Ifá and the autochthonous Croatian experience
of nature and spirituality.14 Such inventions of indigenous shamanic traditions ap-
pear to be important landmarks of neoshamanism in the region. Unfortunately,
Vukelić does not provide any details on these interesting cultural parallels. One
might conclude that, according to the author, only Zoran Tepurić and his few fol-
lowers stand for authentic Croatian neoshamans, their “shamanism” being a reinter-
pretation of an African religious tradition. Vukelić mentions no other examples save
Dodig.15
László Kürti gives a somewhat different picture of the situation in Hungary.16 To
begin with, it appears that neoshamanism in Hungary preceded that in Croatia for
at least a decade and possibly much more (if one takes the turn of the century as
the starting point of Tepurić’s practice). Secondly, it is a far more popular pheno-
menon in Hungary: writing in 2001, Kürti mentions already several neoshamanic
schools and hundreds of practitioners across the country. The rise of neoshamanism
in Hungary appears to be closely connected to the personality of Gábor Papp, an art
historian who emerged as an “alternative thinker” already in the 1980s.17 Papp and
his followers discovered and popularized an unknown visionary from the communist

12
Vukelić, “Problemi identifikacije,” 185. See also his discussion on the main tenets and
practices of Ifá, with an emphasis on the role of trance.
13
Ibid., 190.
14
Ibid., 174, 186.
15
It is, of course, reasonable to assume that Dodig and Tepurić are not the only ones
teaching neoshamanism in Croatia, but the author makes it clear that he has chosen the most
exemplary cases.
16
In contrast to Vukelić’s approach, his essay is an all-encompassing study of the
development of various kinds of esoteric trends in the post-communist Hungary somewhat
similar to Djurdjevic’s survey of esotericism in former Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, his brief
account of the rise of neoshamanism in Hungary is a valuable contribution to the study of
this phenomenon in its regional boundaries.
17
Kürti, “Psychic Phenomena,” 336.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 195

time, Paál Zoltán (1913–1982), who had written a cryptohistorical book titled
Arvisura, a work destined to become the bible of many Hungarian neoshamans.
The Arvisura reveals a hidden mythical history of the Hungarians, which reaches
back to the end of the fifth millennium BC, when a confederation of 24 Hun tribes
emerged and made their way to the inlands of Asia. Their original religion was sha-
manic, which implies that the present-day Hungarians are natural heirs of the “ge-
nuine” shamanic tradition. Moreover, the author of the book is widely believed to
have been an initiated shaman himself. At the end of the World War II he found
himself in Slovakia, where by a strange twist of fate he met a Soviet soldier of the
Mansi ethnic origin, a descendant of an ancient Siberian shamanic lineage. The two
men became close friends and the Mansi passed on to Paál Zoltán the ancient
knowledge of shamanism that he had received from his grandfather, an esteemed
shaman of his tribe. At that time he also initiated Zoltán and obliged him to write
down the revealed knowledge for the benefit of the general population. Thus, at
some later point in his life, Zoltán wrote the Arvisura, but this work was to be un-
earthed only with the fall of communism and at the initiative of Gábor Papp.18 No
doubt, it was a seed that fell on fertile soil. 19
With his eye on the Arvisura as a testimony of the Hungarian ancient religion,
Papp was instrumental in spreading neoshamanism in Hungary during the 1990s.
In 1995 he even led a mission to Siberia with the intention of finding some of the
locations described in the Arvisura. During their stay in the Khanty-Mansi auto-
nomous region of Russia he and his followers improvised various shamanic rituals
which included drumming, singing, incantations etc. In Kürti’s words, “they were
hoping to reverse the evil energies caused by modernization and sovietization.”20
Even more importantly, a member of Papp’s group was a Hungarian shaman (the
author does not provide his name but only mentions that he is a theater director)
initiated by none other than Michael Harner, head of the Foundation for Shamanic
Studies, one of the world’s most important trendsetters in neoshamanism.21 It turns

18
Ibid., 348.
19
The important question of shamanistic remnants in Hungarian folklore remains out of
the scope of this essay, surpassing the contemporary phenomenon of neoshamanism. On the
possible ties between the Hungarians and shamanism in Siberia see Mihály Hoppál, “Shaman-
ism and the Belief System of Ancient Hungarians,” in Shamans and Traditions (Vol 13). Bib-
liotheca Shamanistica (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2007), 77–96. For a more general discus-
sion on what Carlo Ginzburg calls a “hypothesis of a Eurasian continuum” see Carlo Ginzburg,
Ecstasies. Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath (New York: Pantheon Books, 1991), 207–25.
20
Kürti, “Psychic Phenomena,” 336.
21
On his concept of “core shamanism” see Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman (San
Francisco: HarperCollins, 1982). On Harner and his academic background in anthropology
see Kocku von Stuckrad, “Reenchanting Nature: Modern Western Shamanism and Nine-
196 Noel Putnik

out that Harner visited Hungary several times and initiated a number of disciples,
who went on initiating others in what would be a peculiar mixture of Harner’s con-
cept of core shamanism and the “reconstructed” Siberian-Hungarian shamanism re-
introduced by the Arvisura.
Kürti emphasizes that Hungarian neoshamanism, with all its insistence on
authenticity and ancient roots, has no problems cooperating with various other
forms of esotericism and alternative religions.22 He mentions another prominent
shamanic teacher, András Kovács, who founded a shaman school (Táltos Iskola) and
a “Shamanic Church” in the eastern town of Nyiregyháza. One of the main features
of Kovács’ school is its eclecticism, since various supernatural phenomena and alter-
native practices are studied there in addition to neoshamanism.
Several conclusions can be drawn from my brief overview of neoshamanism in
Croatia and Hungary. The emergence of the phenomenon was connected to a very
limited number of persons (in contrast to e.g. astrology) who already had a back-
ground in various esoteric disciplines mostly of Western origin. In one way or an-
other, these persons came in touch with a tradition that they interpreted as sha-
manic. They further promulgated and legitimized these “shamanisms” by linking
them to various local alternative spiritual traditions and/or mythical notions of the
nation’s identity. Finally, they usually started their own schools, where they offered
shamanic initiation to the disciples. The Serbian example fits this paradigm in most
of its aspects.

Dr. Wolf: a Man with Almost no Biography

As already stated above, the Ancient Roots was founded in 2001. The official web-
site of the group claimed that it was the only school of neoshamanism in Serbia and
Montenegro (at that time still parts of a single state). Certainly, it cannot be taken
for granted that prior to the Ancient Roots there had been no attempts at practicing
neoshamanism in Serbia, whether individually or in groups. However, even if such
cases existed, they were never made public, at least not to my present knowledge.23
What strikes an observer even vaguely familiar with the esoteric milieu of Serbia
as it started to develop in the 1970s, and especially as it blossomed during the

teenth-Century Thought,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 70, No. 4
(2002): 776–77.
22
Kürti, “Psychic Phenomena,” 337. He gives the example of an International Shaman
Expo held in 1997.
23
It should be noted that in recent years there appeared proponents of neoshamanism
who are not related to the Ancient Roots. Časlav Hadži Nikolić has popularized the forms of
“shamanism” that he encountered in South America, whereas Milan Jovanović has brought
his experiences from Russia.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 197

1990s, is a comparatively late date of the emergence of organized neoshamanic

practice. In this respect the situation in Serbia closely corresponds to that in Croatia,
which is understandable considering the common recent past of the two countries.
Still, given the already mentioned “occult boom” in former Yugoslavia, it comes as
a surprise that more than two decades had passed before neoshamanism estab-
lished its public presence. Namely, it was already in 1977 that a Serbo-Croatian
translation of Carlos Castaneda’s first and most important book, The Teachings of
Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, was published. The phenomenon of modern
Western shamanism soon caught significant public attention, which was testified by
the frequency of later editions: in the period of only four years, from 1977 to 1981,
five different Castaneda’s books were translated and published, some even several
times.24 And yet, in the rich and ever-growing offer of various esoteric ideas, works,
and projects there was no clear emphasis on either shamanism or neoshamanism. It
had to wait for the return to Serbia of a man who, much like Zoran Tepurić and Paál
Zoltán, needed to go ad fontes for inspiration, instruction, and initiation.
Ratomir Vučković appeared on the public scene sometime in the late 1990s, upon
his return from abroad. He started writing articles and books on various esoteric to-
pics such as healing, channeling, astrology and, of course, shamanism. He also began
some kind of psychotherapy treating people who suffered from drug or alcohol ad-
diction, suicidal tendencies, depressive states, etc. It appears that his school grew out
of his therapeutic practice, but it is hard to tell with certainty as very little reliable
information can be gathered about his life. All my efforts to find Vučković’s compre-
hensive biography have so far remained fruitless. His books do not contain a standard
biographical note. Almost no usable biographical data can be retrieved from the inter-
net. Most of what is known about Dr. Wolf comes from his own statements, the sparse
pieces of information scattered in his books, and the testimonies of his disciples.
Vučković was born sometime in 1941.25 He supposedly earned a degree in psy-
chiatry, but also dedicated a part of his career to aviation psychology (the title of
one of his non-shamanic books is The Elements of Fear in Aviation Jobs). Even
though the exact nature of his professional career remains utterly murky, his claim
of a degree fits well one of the main traits of neoshamanism formulated by Kocku

24
Until the end of the century there were almost fifty different editions of Castaneda’s
books and works dealing with his controversial oeuvre, which is a significant number for a
small book publishing market.
25
I infer this year from Vučković s own testimony given in one of his very few television
appearances. In an interview conducted in 2003 he mentioned that he was sixty-two: Inter-
view with Ratomir Vučković, RTV Yu Eco, Subotica 2003, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=bK8krjGc8OI [last accessed: 12/4/2016]. He also claimed that he was a “retired
psychiatrist,” which would imply that he once had a regular medical career. This claim re-
mains to be confirmed.
198 Noel Putnik

von Stuckrad, namely academic knowledge as its important feature: “Starting with
the seminal work of Carlos Castaneda, the popularization of academic knowledge
became an important feature of modern western shamanism. Most major shamanic
protagonists hold a degree in anthropology [...] and try to combine this education
with a spiritual practice outside academia.”26 The examples are numerous: Castaneda,
Michael Harner, Neville Drury, etc. We should recall that Zoran Tepurić insists on
using his engineer’s abbreviation (“dipl. inž.” in Croatian and Serbian) even in a con-
text that has nothing to do with mining engineering. Furthermore, Gábor Papp has
acted as a promoter of neoshamanism in Hungary from the position of an art his-
torian. Dr. Wolf made his academic (or rather medical) title an integral part of his
shamanic pseudonym. He insisted on the links between his therapeutic practice and
his teaching activities.27 Although von Stuckrad stresses anthropology as a specific
meeting point between “academic research and religious practicing,” it is safe to say
that the emphasis on any kind of academic background in this context functions as
a mechanism for the neoshamans’ societal legitimation.
The crucial, albeit quite vague, detail about Vučković was given on the website
of the Ancient Roots: “The only school of neoshamanism is run by Dr. Wolf, who has
been initiated in Canada and later on proclaimed a shaman teacher in Mexico.”28
This has been amplified by Žarić: “He was initiated in Canada, where he resided with
some Indian tribes in the area of the Great Lakes. His teacher was an American
Indian. He spent some time with him in a reservation. It was not long, only a few
months, but enough for him to become a shaman.”29 At some later point, according
to Žarić, Vučković moved to Mexico, where he was “recognized” by a local nagual
and eventually made a nagual himself.
There is another significant biographical detail that we learn from Vučković him-
self: at some unspecified time he had experienced clinical death that lasted for seven-
teen minutes. This experience “revealed to me the mystery of death and initiated me
into the world of alternative knowledge.”30 He did not provide any further information
with regard to this intriguing event. Nevertheless, it is possible to interpret it as one

26
Stuckrad, “Reenchanting Nature,” 774.
27
I might add that among Vučković’s main disciples and successors Miljan Žarić studied
psychology, and Mirjana Djurdjević obtained a degree in medicine. On the emergence of
neoshamanism in the academy and art see also Robert J. Wallis, Shamans/Neo-shamans.
Ecstasy, Alternative Archaeologies and Contemporary Pagans (London: Routledge, 2003),
24–28.
28
Vučković himself puts his Canadian initiation in 1982, and the Mexican one in 1989
(Interview with Vučković, 2003).
29
Interview with Žarić, 2014.
30
Interview with Vučković, 2003.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 199

of the standard forms of “praeparatio shamanica,” which include going through all
sorts of personal crises and dangerous situations such as diseases, accidents, etc. (For
Paál Zoltán it meant going to a war zone in Slovakia and risking his life.)31
In my opinion, the lack of Vučković s available biographical data might be partly
explained by his intentional self-mystification. Such a conclusion is supported by his
response to the TV interviewer’s question: “Who are you exactly?” Somewhat pre-
tentiously, Vučković replies: “It is hard to say who I am. Probably I am no one and
everything.” This kind of image-buidling goes hand in hand with Dr. Wolf s reluct-
ance—or inability—to provide any specifics on his shamanic training in Canada and
Mexico and the exact traditions he relied upon.32 Needless to say, he did not take the
term “shamanism” as denoting only the religious practices of certain native peoples
of Asia, but rather as pointing to any similar form of “primitive” spiritualism, such as
that practiced among the Native American tribes. This is the way “shamanism” is
understood by all of his disciples that I have had the opportunity to meet.33
Throughout the existence of his school Vučković was an uncontested, charis-
matic authority among his followers. He was a fatherly, cultic figure for his disciples,
and even up to this day there is a considerable mythical aura around his name. All
of Vučković s initiates I have met claim that they witnessed his supernatural powers
a number of times. These included an almost unlimited capability of astral
projection, telepathy, and an irresistible power of persuading and controlling the
minds of others. According to Žarić, he was able to maintain up to seven separate
states of consciousness simultaneously and could even influence local weather
conditions! He was perfectly capable of lucid dreaming, one of the most important
techniques that he taught his disciples. 34

31
This general trait of shamanism was discussed in detail already by Mircea Eliade, Sha-
manism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), 50–72.
32
Parallels with Castaneda’s case are evident; on Castaneda’s need to “erase personal
history” imposed on him by Don Juan and several inconsistent versions of his biography see
Wallis, Shamans/Neo-shamans, 40–41.
33
For a comprehensive discussion on various uses and definitions of “shamanism” see
Ronald Hutton, Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination (London:
Hambledon, 2001), vii–viii. See also Schnurbein, “Shamanism,” 116–19.
34
In one of his books Vučković even hinted at his possible immortality by saying “if I
ever die”; see Ratomir Vučković–Doktor Vuk, Vodič za buduće šamane [A Guide for Future
Shamans] (Subotica: Copyprint, 2003), 70. According to his disciples, he was so powerful
that he could control the duration of his life. Some of them even believe in his post mortem
astral presence and guidance.
200 Noel Putnik

Vučković’s spiritual pseudonym was partly a well chosen pun: on the one side, it
is a common nickname coming from his surname (based on the Serbian word “vuk,”
meaning “wolf”); on the other, it stood for one of his power animals or tutelary spirits.
He claimed that he had several and that the main one was squirrel. Identifying one’s
tutelary spirit was one of the initial assignments for his disciples.35

The Practices of the Ancient Roots

Dr. Wolf’s school offered both theoretical and practical training in neoshamanism
in the form of courses, workshops, weekly training sessions, and occasional summer
camps. As stated on the official website, there were no special requirements for join-
ing the school except for a strong desire to develop one’s mental and physical
abilities.
Whenever possible, the groups gathered in the outdoors, in remote parks or on
the outskirts of Belgrade. However, the most important and intense part of the train-
ing took place during the summer camps, which could last up to two weeks. This
was also the time when shamanic initiations were granted to the successful
candidates. The most common camp location was Golija, a remote mountain in
southwest Serbia that was regarded by Dr. Wolf as an area charged with powerful
energy. According to the participants that I have had the opportunity to talk with,
the camp activities were based on a variety of military-type drills. The trainees used
to be subjected to extreme physical and mental exhaustion by being forced into
hard labor, extremely long walks, endless cycles of physical exercise, sleep and food
deprivation, etc. These were accompanied by various techniques for inducing
ecstasy and identifying one’s tutelary spirit, such as the controlled incitement of astral
projection, hypnosis and self-hypnosis, etc. “The ultimate goal of the exercises was to
stop the process of thinking and attain an altered state of consciousness.”36
The most advanced students were faced with additional, often dangerous and
fearsome assignments, such as spending nights alone in the woods without a tent
or reaching states that bordered a psychophysical collapse. Vučković did not use
hallucinogens but sometimes resorted to alcohol as a substance capable of causing
rapid changes of consciousness. In other words, he by no means avoided distress,
fear, and pain; on the contrary, these states were regularly inflicted upon the best

35
Vučković’s alleged powers and his considerable reputation have attracted some
academic interest too. Sometime in the early 2000s he was invited to present himself to the
professors and students of the Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, at the Faculty
of Philosophy of the Belgrade University. As an undergraduate student of Classics I attended
the event myself, but unfortunately I am unable to recollect the content of the discussion.
It was the only time I saw Vučković personally.
36
Interview with Žarić, 2014.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 201

candidates as tokens of a more “serious” initiation. “He exposed those of us that he

considered particularly gifted to extreme maltreatment [sic], mental and other.
Eventually it resulted in some sort of enlightenment.”37 The average and under-
average candidates usually received only a mild, or even symbolic, form of initiation,
with no extreme measures applied. In Žarić s estimate, there were only five or six
people altogether who received such a drastic treatment (and almost all of them
have succeeded Vučković with their teaching practice). 38
In his interview Miljan Žarić described his own initiation: it had taken place on
the Golija Mountain and lasted six days. During that period he was allowed to sleep
only about two hours a day, while at night he had to go to the woods and walk
alone without stopping for hours. In the morning he would join the others for their
regular exercises. In the daytime he was burdened with additional physical labor
such as digging trenches, and his food rations were reduced to the minimum. Each
evening Vučković made Žarić drink large quantities of alcohol with him. As a con-
sequence, he experienced occasional intense and fearsome hallucinations such as
seeing a giant snake crawling around his legs. The crucial element of this prepar-
atory procedure was Vučković’s constant influence on the candidate by means of
subliminal suggestions. In this state of mind Žarić was finally initiated by being
transferred to the astral sphere. “My task was to visit a certain place and see some-
thing there, and then to return and describe in detail what I saw. I did so, and they
confirmed it and said I just earned my initiation. It was Wolf and two others who as-
sisted him. Later on I assisted Wolf in the same way [monitoring the candidate and
confirming his visions].”39 Žarić described the astral place that he had visited as the
shamanic Lower World.

The Problems of Self-Identification

The members of the Ancient Roots have never denied the highly eclectic nature of
their neoshamanic practice. After all, the official website openly proclaimed that Dr.
Wolf’s school was neoshamanic. Transcending one’s common state of consciousness
with the idea of entering a different level of reality and communicating with the
entities residing there was the chief purpose of the exercises offered to the neo-
phytes. But in order to fulfill this purpose both Vučković and his successors

37
Ibid.
38
Speaking of quantities, I have been unable to determine even the approximate number
of all those who attended Dr. Wolf’s courses. My rough estimate is that this number was
certainly not less than one hundred, and it was possibly much higher. The group seems to
have been very tight over the years. However, Vučković’s mention of “thousands of my
children” in his TV interview is probably pure exaggeration.
39
Interview with Žarić, 2014.
202 Noel Putnik

regularly resorted to the elements of various non-shamanic traditions such as

Qigong, yoga, and Western occultism. Moreover, there was another explicitly pro-
claimed goal, that of attaining spiritual enlightenment and self-realization, in which
one recognizes a conceptual framework clearly surpassing those of “classical” sha-
manisms. It reflects narratives common to the various forms of New Age spiritu-
ality.40 In other words, the objectives set by Dr. Wolf were in full accord with what
Michael York has termed “the essential thrust of New Age concerns with personal
transformation.”41
As I already mentioned, the neoshamanic exercises developed by Vučković had
two principal aims for the practitioner: to stop the thought process and to become
receptive of various manifestations of the “universal energy” (which practically
amounted to reaching a state of trance). In order to achieve these goals, the can-
didates underwent a complex set of exercises beginning with some preparatory
ones. Plain physical exercise aimed at exhausting the body and disabling the mental
processes that commonly prevent one from perceiving the universal energy. The
pranayama techniques were used to calm the mind, while the hatha yoga asanas
unblocked the flow of energy. Finally, Qigong exercises were introduced to help the
candidates cultivate their energy on a more advanced level. Qigong was especially
highly regarded by Dr. Wolf, who saw it as a discipline descending directly from the
ancient Middle Asian forms of shamanism.42 The eclectic nature of Vučković’s neo-
shamanic training is thus more than evident.
In his view, the next stage of the training was more “shamanic” in nature: it con-
sisted of the so-called energy exercises, which was an important part of his me-
thod.43 Energy exercises were described by Carlos Castaneda in one of his latest
books.44 He claimed that this type of exercise, for which he used the term “ten-
segrity,” was an authentic technique of the North American shamans for inducing
ecstatic trance. Energy exercises are based on the strong visualization of energy bar-
riers that the practitioner overcomes by executing complex bodily movements com-
bined with proper breathing and intense concentration. Performed properly, these
exercises are supposed to result in a gradual change of consciousness and, even-

40
On the fundamental features of this type of spirituality see Olav Hammer, “New Age
Movement,” in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, ed. Wouter J. Hanegraaff
(Leiden: Brill, 2006), 855–61.
41
Michael York, “The Role of Fear in Traditional and Contemporary Shamanism,” in
Miedo y religion, ed. Francisco Diez de Velasco (Madrid: Ediciones del Orto, 2002), 171. See
also Stuckrad, “Reenchanting Nature,” 775.
42
Vučković, Vodič za buduće šamane, 117–21.
43
Ibid., 178–223. The chapter treating this topic is titled “Magical Motions.”
44
Carlos Castaneda, Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient
Mexico (New York: HarperCollins, 1998).
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 203

tually, in a state of trance. They can be fostered by ritual music played on the
shamanic drum, by dancing or in some other way. Among Vučković’s successors,
Miljan Žarić has attributed particular importance to this aspect of the training.
On the other hand, it should be pointed out that the members of the Ancient
Roots have consistently emphasized the authentic shamanic background of their
spiritual enterprise. In other words, despite their clearly New Age agenda, they be-
lieve that Vučković’s school has preserved the elements of “classical” shamanism to
a significant degree. They base their claim for this partial authenticity on several
arguments. The main purpose of the communication with the spirit world reached
through training is to develop various healing powers, as well as to become capable
of gaining aid of supernatural agencies in various other ways. Against such a cri-
terion, Dr. Wolf’s teaching does not seem to differ substantially from traditional sha-
manisms practiced by various indigenous peoples around the world. Similarly, his
neoshamanic psychotherapy can be interpreted as a service to the local community,
which was the main social role of traditional shamans.
The most important argument in this regard is the presence of fear and pain in Dr.
Wolf’s neoshamanic training, which was clearly exemplified by Žarić’s initiation. As
pointed out by some researchers, various modes of modern Western shamanism tend
to omit anything that might be unpleasant to the practitioners by denying the reality
of fear, pain, and evil. Thus Michael York makes the following important remark:

The contrast between New Age shamanism and pagan shamanism in a modern
Western context revolves around the role of fear. In traditional shamanism, the
shaman’s initiation is an ordeal involving pain, hardship and terror before
undergoing reconstitution and rebirth. New Age, by contrast, is a religious per-
spective that denies the ultimate reality of the negative, and this would devalue
the role of fear as well. But in seeking to dismiss the fearsome, New Age also has
the propensity to eliminate a central feature of religion qua religion, namely, the
experience of awe. The encounter with the mysterium tremendum engenders a
mixed emotion of fear, reverence and wonder. If, however, all becomes ‘sweet-
ness and light’ through a New Age agenda, there is no dread. But without the ex-
perience of fear, there can be no real experience of the awesome. New Age sha-
manism would then seem to constitute an incomplete form of shamanism—one
which does not include the central feature of shamanic initiation.45

Kocku von Stuckrad concurs with this view when he points out that “comparing it
with indigenous shamanisms, it is noteworthy that modern western shamanism—at
least in its more New Age emphasis—tends to deny the reality of intrinsically nefari-

45
York, “The Role of Fear in Shamanism,” 173.
204 Noel Putnik

ous spirits.”46 As a telling example of this distinction I refer to one of Miljan Žarić’s
weekend training sessions that I have had the opportunity to observe.
The session took place in the forested area of the memorial center Jajinci in Bel-
grade. This memorial center was the site of mass murders during World War II,
when the German occupational forces executed approximately 80.000 people, most-
ly prisoners from the local concentration camps. I pointed out to Žarić that, ac-
cording to his belief system, such a dreadful place was expected to be charged with
evil, pain, and negative energy in general, which made the choice of the location
rather strange and questionable. I was replied that what really mattered was the
strong presence of energy itself, beyond our perceptions and interpretations of its
nature. In other words, “bad” energy can be as useful as “good” energy if it is suffici-
ently strong and properly channeled. According to Žarić, Jajinci is “the single most
energized spot in Belgrade” and as such it is exceptionally suitable for inciting the
altered states of consciousness. If one takes into account York’s and Stuckrad’s dis-
tinction given above, such an inclusive attitude toward things commonly perceived
as bad and negative indeed appears as one of the key arguments for the closer links
with “classical” shamanism.

Inventing the Shamanic Past

As I pointed out above, the cases of neoshamanism in Croatia and Hungary reveal
a tendency to legitimize one’s spiritual practices and beliefs by viewing them as a
continuation or reinvention of a long forgotten national or folk tradition.47 The same
observation can be made with regard to Vučković’s school. The official website of
the Ancient Roots stated the following: “Shamanism and shamanic elements could
be found in religions throughout the world already since the Paleolithic times. Sha-
manism is ancient and universal. (...) Since many of our folk customs are undoubt-
edly of shamanic nature [‘our’ meaning Serbian and Montenegrin], we have a perfect
genetic [sic] predisposition for accepting shamanism.” 48
Hidden behind these words is a precise ethnographical reference. Dr. Wolf ex-
plicated it in his interview: “In Montenegro and Herzegovina there are even nowadays
people called zduhači, who represent our own version of them [i.e. shamans]. These
[shamanic] teachings have been present among us from times immemorial, but we
have not studied them sufficiently.” In his own interview Žarić confirms his teacher’s

46
Stuckrad, “Reenchanting Nature,” 775.
47
It is clear that this tendency is more pronounced in Hungary due to the origin of the
Hungarians as a Uralic-speaking people distantly related to some Asian shamanic cultures.
See also Wallis, Shamans/Neo-shamans, 106–40, for “Celtic” and “Northern” shamanisms,
and Schnurbein, “Shamanism,” 116–38, for the “Old Norse shamanism.”
48
See note 1 of this essay for the reference.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 205

remarks: “Zduhači were very similar to shamans in that they served the community
as healers, but also by acting against various bad influences. One of the things they
were in charge of was weather conditions. One could say they were the shamans of
our region.”
There are indeed some similarities between shamans and zduhači such as their
supernatural power, service to the local community, and the ability to perform extra-
ordinary deeds in the state of trance. However, there are considerable differences
as well. The old belief in the existence of zduhači used to be widespread in the
southwest parts of the Slavic Balkan area (Montenegro, Herzegovina, and Western
Serbia). A zduhač was considered to be “a man who possessed extraordinary
supernatural abilities, but only while asleep. During that time his spirit left his body
and controlled winds, dispelled clouds, and fought other zduhači.”49 According to
another definition, it was “a man or an animal with demoniac features that had the
power to counteract storms (...) and fight enemies while flying in the air, thus pro-
tecting his region.”50 A zduhač looked like an ordinary man who would fall asleep
when faced with a threat for his community. He would then defend the community
and wake up tired and exhausted, often with wounds received in his battles. 51
The differences are evident. For instance, a zduhač could be an animal as well;
according to some scholars,52 there are even compelling similarities to the belief in
dragons among the people of East Serbia. Moreover, the dynamics of achieving the
state of trance differed considerably in the case of zduhači. Unlike shamans, they
could perform their extraordinary deeds only while asleep (although one cannot
exclude the possibility that common people interpreted the state of trance as simple
sleep). In any case, Vučković s reinvention of the Serbian shamanic past is, not sur-
prisingly, troubled by considerable difficulties. The presence of certain parallels,
such as entering trance-like states for the sake of helping the community, does not
prove the hypothesis of universal shamanism. These parallels are simply not suf-
ficient, and the differences are considerable. 53

49
Špiro Kulišić, Petar Ž. Petrović and Nikola Pantelić, ed., Srpski mitološki rečnik [Dic-
tionary of Serbian Mythology] (Belgrade: Etnografski Institut SANU, 1998), 196.
50
Svetlana M. Tolstoj and Ljubinko Radenković, ed., Slovenska mitologija. Enciklopedijski
rečnik [Encyclopedic Dictionary of Slavic Mythology] (Belgrade: Zepter Book World, 2001),
196.
51
See the cited literature for more information on the topic. Some scholars link this word
(which also appears in the forms “stuhać”, “stuha,” “stuva” etc.) with Greek στοιχεÃον, “ele-
ment,” “elementary force,” which would make zduhač a “master or elementary forces.”
52
Kulišić et al., Srpski mitološki rečnik, 198.
53
It should be remembered that on the basis of this argument Jan Bremmer refuted E.
R. Dodds’ famous hypothesis of the ancient Greek shamanism: Jan Bremmer, The Early Greek
Concepts of the Soul (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), 24–53.
206 Noel Putnik

Anti-Discursive Attitude
Finally, I should mention one more argument—if it could be considered so—which
some of the members of the Ancient Roots have advanced in their claim for authen-
ticity. It is a dominant attitude of the group that might be termed anti-discursive or
even anti-intellectual, in which they recognize traces of the genuine, indigenous
shamanic communities untouched by Western logocentrism. Vučković wrote three
books dedicated to shamanism.54 However, these books had almost no significance
for the training process; they were not used as handbooks, as one might expect. In
fact, they were considered almost worthless even by his disciples, quite contrary to
Paál Zoltán’s Arvisura.
In brief, all three are surprisingly shallow pieces of literature when contrasted
to the cultic status of their author. Each book is a patchwork of too broadly con-
ceived topics that are sometimes only loosely connected to shamanism. The do-
minant tone is that of an anthropologist-turned-shaman, with the plenty of ethno-
graphical material borrowed directly from James Frazer, Eliade, and other authors.
Some chapters look like separate articles not very skillfully integrated into the
whole. One finds in these books quite superficial discussions on topics as distant as
Aztec astrology and the Sephirotic tree.
When I confronted Miljan Žarić with this question, he replied that Vučković had
intentionally written his books in that manner: “I asked him once why he embar-
rassed himself by producing such trash [sic], and he replied that he did it partly out
of fun and for money, and partly to emphasize the non-verbal character of his sha-
manic training.”55 In fact, Dr. Wolf stated it himself in one of these books: “It is not
by chance that in this kind of books one cannot find any relevant instructions. One
can efficiently and safely learn these things only by submitting oneself directly to
a spiritual teacher.”56 The same pertains to his public lectures and interviews. Ac-
cording to Žarić, nothing he taught his disciples came through words since discur-
sive language was not the way of the authentic, indigenous shamans.
Certainly, such a claim, when expressed through words, contradicts itself. One
wonders about the ways in which Dr. Wolf taught his disciples. Their unanimous
answer is that he taught them by influencing their minds on a deeper, subconscious
level in the course of their shamanic training. 57

54
He called them a “shamanic trilogy”: Šamani – sinovi neba [Shamans – the Sons of the
Sky, 2000], Vodič za buduće šamane [A Guide for Future Shamans, 2003], and Šamanske
terapije [Shamanic Therapies, 2005].
55
Interview with Žarić, 2014.
56
Vučković, Vodič za buduće šamane, 228. This is, of course, another esoteric topos with
a long tradition. One remembers, for instance, Cornelius Agrippa and his concept of dispersa
intentio: Agrippa s Occult Philosophy is not a textbook of magic; it only contains hints
carefully scattered throughout the text.
57
This kind of teaching effectively amounts to neuro-linguistic programming, on whose
role as a typical New Age technique see York, “The Role of Fear in Shamanism,” 182.
Dr. Wolf and the Ancient Roots: Neoshamanism in Serbia 207

Conclusion: “Shamania” or a Genuine Quest for the Otherworld?

The material presented in this essay marks only the beginning of a study that
needs to be developed in several directions. The biographical particulars of Ratomir
Vučković are certainly one of them. A more detailed survey on the neoshamanic
schools that succeeded the Ancient Roots would shed more light on the social and
intellectual identification of the present-day neoshamans in Serbia. A thorough
academic research into the New Age spirituality in Serbia would help better
contextualize the role of neoshamanism itself. Finally, the question of authenticity
that has preoccupied Vučković and some of his followers merits a more in-depth
analysis from the viewpoint of the anthropology and sociology of religion. However,
since topics such as this one often seem to require some kind of an overall
assessment, if not a verdict, it too must be briefly addressed here.
There is a tendency among some scholars to “denounce the fascination for sha-
manism within our Western societies, particularly acute among ‘shamanists,’ ‘sha-
maniacs,’ or ‘shamanologists’ suffering from ‘shamanitis,’ a modern disease trans-
mitted by a wide range of media.”58 In most cases this strongly negative attitude
comes from the notion that neoshamanism, no matter how one defines it, has hijacked
the “real thing,” that is, the genuine, “pure” shamanism in any of its forms of appear-
ance.59 Michael York speaks of the terminological abuse of “shamanism” as a Euro-
centric misnomer,60 although he considers it a convenient generic designation in re-
ligious studies and does not share this kind of contempt for “shamania.”
Against the criteria commonly set forth by purist scholars it might seem easy to
dismiss Ratomir Vučković as simply one among many hijackers of the kind. How-
ever, such dismissals do not explain much. In my opinion, the case of the Ancient
Roots, like so many other contemporary subcultural forms of spirituality, goes
beyond the problems of authentication and falsification. It should be viewed within
the broader context of the resacralization of nature in a disenchanted world, which
has informed a considerable part of the modern quest for spiritual alternatives.61

58
Isabelle Charleux, Review of The Concept of Shamanism. Uses and Abuses, ed. Henri-
Paul Francfort, Roberte N. Hamayon and Paul G. Bahn, Anthropos, Bd. 98, H. 2 (2003): 548.
59
See, for instance, The Concept of Shamanism. In this volume of proceedings one finds tel-
ling examples of such attitude. See also Kocku von Stuckrad, Review of The Concept of Sha-
manism. Uses and Abuses, ed. Henri-Paul Francfort, Roberte N. Hamayon and Paul G. Bahn,
Numen, Vol. 50, Fasc.1 (2003): 119–21, for a harsh critique of this kind of academic bias.
60
York, “The Role of Fear in Shamanism,” 171.
61
See Stuckrad, “Reenchanting Nature,” 771–99, for an important discussion on this
issue and his understanding of neoshamanism as “a specific counterreaction to modern
tendencies toward the exclusion of the sacred” (quote on 773).
208 Noel Putnik

This context becomes even more significant in the case of ex-communist countries
like former Yugoslavia, in which the processes of disenchantment had their own
historical peculiarities. Examined within this framework, Dr. Wolf’s roots might not
be as shallow as one would think.

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1983.
Castaneda, Carlos. Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient
Mexico. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.
Charleux, Isabelle. Review of The Concept of Shamanism. Uses and Abuses, edited by
Francfort, Henri-Paul, Roberte N. Hamayon and Paul G. Bahn, ed. Anthropos, Bd. 98,
H. 2 (2003): 548–51.
Djurdjević, Gordan. “Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of occultism
in Former Yugoslavia.” In Occultism in a Global Perspective, edited by Henrik Bogdan
and Gordan Djurdjević, 79–100. Durham: Acumen, 2014.
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1972.
Francfort, Henri-Paul, Roberte N. Hamayon and Paul G. Bahn, ed. The Concept of Sha-
manism. Uses and Abuses. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2001.
Ginzburg, Carlo. Ecstasies. Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. New York: Pantheon Books,
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Hammer, Olav. “New Age Movement.” In Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism,
edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, 855–61. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1982.
Hoppál, Mihály. “Shamanism and the Belief System of Ancient Hungarians.” In Shamans
and Traditions (Vol 13). Bibliotheca Shamanistica, 77–96. Budapest: Akadémiai Ki-
adó, 2007.
Hutton, Ronald. Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination. London:
Hambledon, 2001.
Kokkinen, Nina. “Occulture as an Analytical Tool in the Study of Art.” ARIES. Journal for
the Study of Western Esotericism 13 (2013): 7–36.
Kulišić, Špiro, Petar Ž. Petrović and Nikola Pantelić, ed. Srpski mitološki rečnik. Belgrade:
Etnografski institut SANU, 1998.
Kürti László. “Psychic Phenomena, Neoshamanism, and the Cultic Milieu in Hungary.” Nova
Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2001):
322–50.
Schnurbein, Stefanie v. “Shamanism in the Old Norse Tradition: A Theory between Ide-
ological Camps.” History of Religions, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2003): 116–38.
Stuckrad, Kocku von. “Reenchanting Nature: Modern Western Shamanism and Nineteenth-
Century Thought.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 70, No. 4 (2002):
771–99.
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———. Review of The Concept of Shamanism. Uses and Abuses, edited by Francfort,
Henri-Paul, Roberte N. Hamayon, and Paul G. Bahn. Numen, Vol. 50, Fasc.1 (2003):
119–21.
Tolstoj M. Svetlana and Ljubinko Radenković, ed. Slovenska mitologija. Enciklopedijski
rečnik. Belgrade: Zepter Book World, 2001.
Vučković, Ratomir—Doktor Vuk, 2003. Vodič za buduće šamane. Subotica: Copyprint,
2003.
———. 2003. Interview with Ratomir Vučković. RTV Yu Eco, Subotica (March 2003).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK8krjGc8OI.
Vukelić, Deniver. “Problemi identifikacije i identiteta u hrvatskih ‘šamana’ s kraja 20. i
početka 21. stoljeća.” Studia ethnologica Croatica, Vol. 24 (2012): 167–94.
Wallis, Robert J. Shamans/Neo-shamans. Ecstasy, Alternative Archaeologies and Con-
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York, Michael. “The Role of Fear in Traditional and Contemporary Shamanism.” In Miedo
y religion, edited by Francisco Diez de Velasco. Madrid: Ediciones del Orto, 2002.
MÁRTON SZENTPÉTERI

The Body of Christ and Hiram

The Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino
and the Cappella Sansevero in Naples 1

“From time immemorial God has been conceived in empirical forms,

including a personification after the image of man.
And yet every such conception is at the same time in the nature of a veil.
God is not what we may see with our eyes.” 2
Karl Jaspers

Raimondo di Sangro, the 7th Prince of Sansevero proved to be a leading figure of the
Neapolitan radical Enlightenment and as such he was the first Grand Master of the
Freemasons in the Mezzogiorno.3 His family chapel, the famous Cappella San-
severo­namely the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà or as it is called by the popolo
[people] of Naples: the Pietatella­is a renowned treasure house of late baroque art
including the truly capturing Cristo velato [Veiled Christ] by Giuseppe Sanmartino.
[See Fig. 1.] From the very beginning, several speculations have emerged with
respect to the iconographic programme of the chapel describing it not only in
Catholic terms, but in the frameworks of Masonic symbolism. According to this
double encoding the Cappella Sansevero is in fact a mutus liber, the Masonic
testament of Raimondo di Sangro built in stones.4 While providing the hitherto most
reliable discussion of the topic, Rosanna Cioffi sought to interpret the Cristo velato

1
Due to different reasons the study of Freemasonry has been neglected by the vast
majority of the academic world up until recently. Nowadays, on the contrary, research into
Freemasonry is an emergent and legitimate field of interdisciplinary research which is certainly
not maintained any more solely by amateurish Mason historians or charlatans of different
sorts. This applies to the study of the history of Italian Freemasonry as well, which could be
represented in general by the achievement of such eminent authors as Carlo Francovich,
Giuseppe Giarizzo, Gian Mario Cazzaniga or Aldo Alessandro Mola to mention but a few. On
the emergence of the study of Freemasonry as a legitimate field of academic research see e.
g. Porset. 2014. Special thanks go to my colleagues Bálint Újhelyi, Klára Lévai and Róbert Péter.
2
Jaspers. 1954. 47–48.
3
See Cioffi. 1994. [1987]. 71–102. Leen Spruit's foreword to Di Sangro. 2002. 9–63.
See also Höbel. 2010. 18–41. On Neapolitan Freemasonry in general see D'Ayala. 1998
[1897–1898], Rao. 2006.
4
Oderisio de Sangro expressed harsh criticism against this view and its representatives
though without any serious argumentation. De Sangro. 1991. 139.

211
212 Márton Szentpéteri

as a key element of this Masonic reading of the chapel, however, she could not
provide decisive archival sources that support the otherwise truly convincing
hypothesis claiming that the veiled corpse not only embodies the Christ, but also the
mythical Masonic figure of Hiram Abif.5 Combining the view points of recent
archival research conducted by Ruggiero di Castiglione, that of Warburgian art
history, cultural anthropology and cultural semiotics, history of Freemasonry and
ritual studies, I hope to firmly prove Cioffi's original thesis in this paper, claiming
that the sculpture was indeed intended to embody Hiram Abif and the Christ at the
very same time with far-reaching consequences.6 As is well known to the scholars
of the history of Freemasonry, during the raising of the master the candidates
reborn as Hiram Abif. The analogy to be discussed here between the Christ and
Hiram Abif embodied in the Cristo velato clearly shows that the Masonic mastership
can be seen as the imitation of Christ, and accordingly, the raising is actually can
be experienced as an act of spiritual resurrection as well. This seemingly
blasphemous interpretation naturally raises tantalizing questions concerning the
real identity of the Cappella Sansevero.

Fig. 1. Cristo Velato by Giuseppe Sammartino

(Museo Cappella Sansevero, Naples, Italy; Photo by Massimo Velo)

Meanings Veiled
The very complex artistic programme of the Cappella Sansevero owes its unique
fame to the person who commissioned and partly designed it and was consequently
spiritus rector of the artistic interventions in the chapel—the legendary figure of the

5
Cioffi. 1994. [1987]. 113.
6
This paper is based on my Hungarian article, see Szentpéteri. 2011. The interpretation
provided by Höbel. 2010. seems to me rather exaggerated and missing the point clearly
identifiable after di Castiglione's research. Nevertheless, Höbel's monograph is very useful
in many other respect.
The Body of Christ and Hiram 213

early modern Naples, prince Raimondo di Sangro (1710–1771).7 Here, we are

talking about that Principe di Sansevero, who has been one of the most renowned
figures of the history of the Neapolitan Freemasonry being the first Grand Master
in Southern Italy. However, in the Neapolitan folklore he still appears to this day
primarily as a magician—“the Neapolitan incarnation of Doctor Faustus” (l’incar-
nazione napoletana del dottor Faust) as Benedetto Croce once put it.8 He is the key
figure of the Napoli Noir comparable only to Frankenstein or Dracula, who activates
all the secret powers of the “Underground of Naples” (Napoli sotterranea) in the
popular fantasy with his hocus-pocus and alchemist experiments creating a
sanctuary lamp that burns with “eternal flames” and an amphibian chariot which is
moving by itself, dissecting corpses, as a necromancer awaking the dead, making
gold and even a few homunculi in the secret crypt of his church and laboratory at
home.9 In reality, Raimondo di Sangro was one of the key figures of the radical
Enlightenment in Naples, a European aristocrat of Freemason spirit actively sup-
porting enlightened absolutism, who could be best described by his Masonic deeds,
Alchemical experiments, huge scholarly library, expanded scholarly book publishing
activities and his international academic network.10 But his chef d'oeuvre is
undoubtedly the Pietatella, the refurbished chapel of the Sansevero family, a trea-
sure house of the masterpieces of Naples’ late Baroque; the works of Bernardino
Landini, Giulio Mencaglia, Giacomo Lazzari, Fortunato Onelli, Carlo Amalfi, Fran-
cesco Maria Russo, Paolo Persico, Francesco Celebrano, and especially Francesco
Queirolo, Antonio Corradini and Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720–1793). As it will be
discussed below in more detail, the iconographic programme of the Sansevero
Chapel is undoubtedly determined by Freemasonry. The three most famous allegoric
sculptures in this respect are beyond dispute the Disinganno [Disillusion] by
Queirolo, the Pudicizia velata [Modesty Veiled] by Corradini and the Cristo velato
by Sanmartino—especially these latter two capture the attention of critics, due to
the fact that though these sculptures were carved from a single block of marble, the
carved veil covering them is breathtakingly true to life.

7
Though one finds dozens of books devoted to him with varying scholarly quality, a
truly reliable intellectual biography of Raimondo di Sangro is yet to be written. See e. g.
Miccinelli. 1982. De Sangro. 1991. Sansone Vagni. 1992. Capecelatro. 2000. Lista. 2005.
Golia. 2009. Höbel. 2010.
8
Croce. 2002 [1919]. 327–329.
9
On his experiments in general see Buonoconto. 1997. Of the lume eterno see Di
Sangro. 1993. [1756.] On the carrozza marittima see the 24. July, 1770 issue of the La
Gazzetta di Napoli. De Sangro. 1991. 73–76. Höbel. 38–39. On the macchine anatomiche see
Dacome–Peters. 2007, 161–177.
10
Cioffi. 1994 [1987.] Höbel. 2010. 13–39. See also Leen Spruit's introduction to Di
Sangro. 2002. 9–63.
214 Márton Szentpéteri

The Pietatella is clearly a canonical work; numerous art history surveys of high
standards mention and deal with it to a certain extent. However, usually—perhaps
precisely because of their everlasting popularity and the mystical atmosphere sur-
rounding the church—a certain degree of malice is always present in the scholarly
interpretations of the pieces. For example, Rudolf Wittkover in the renowned series
of The Pelican History of Art describes the most famous sculptures of the Pietatella
as typical exemplars of late Baroque decadence: “[n]othing is left of the spiritual
integrity of the great Roman Baroque churches and chapels, and the monuments [i.
e. that of the Pietatella] excel by virtue of their technical bravura rather than
through Christian spirituality.”11 Qeirolo’s Disinganno, which liberates man from its
earthly captivity, stands at the end of an evolutionary line in Wittkover’s opinion,
and while Gian Lorenzo Bernini used his realism and the corresponding fine
polishing of surfaces to express the ethics of Catholic renewal after Trident, by
Queirolo all of this becomes mere technical bravura.12 And Corradini’s veiled
Pudicizia stands before us in Wittkover’s description as the true exemplar of down-
right “hypertrophic virtuosity”, just like the Cristo velato of Sanmartino, who simply
imitates Corradini in the view of the eminent intellectual historian.13 Upon entering
the church the spectator is indeed greeted by what seems at first sight a thick chaos
of works of art balancing on the borderline of kitsch thin as hair; however, in Naples
all of it inexplicably seems to work. This overflowing form of virtuosity in this too
chaotic (scil. troppo casinata) and extremely busy city with her highly intensified
life, in spite of all our egghead reasoning, actually has a completely natural feel to
it. In a city where the relics of the past never become real historical monuments, and
precisely for this reason the different ages live there simultaneously, the seeming
feverishness of the Pietatella is the norm.14 It is normal, as the supernatural miracle
at Naples—which may be understood solely within the most superstitious Southern
Catholicism—where the blood of San Gennaro boils up on schedule three times a
year before the eyes of the devout crowd.15

11
Wittkower. 1973. 454–456. Here: 454.
12
Wittkower. 1973. 456.
13
Loc. Cit.
14
Niola. 2003. 19–32.
15
About this see Niola. 1997. 77–94. The Neapolitan folklore believes that in his labora-
tory Raimondo di Sangro concocted a liquid same as the Saint’s blood. According to urban
legends it is not impossible that the alchemist Prince also had something to do with the ever
repeating miracle of the Saint. Nevertheless it’s a fact that the Prince made a similar relic,
which reproduced—thus questioned—the miracle of San Gennaro’s blood. No doubt, some
of the contemporaries viewed it as sheer charlatanry. Acton. 1998 [1957]. 102–103. See
also Oderisio De Sangro's criticsm of Atcon: De Sangro. 1991. 77–78. On Catholicism and
superstition in the Mezzogiorno see e. g. De Martino. 2001 [1959].
The Body of Christ and Hiram 215

In any case, the Cappella Sansevero, and especially Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ
stir the imagination of visitors even today, whether they are devoted laymen or pro-
fessional historians, and this is the reason why these works are undoubtedly among
the most important places of interest in Naples to this day. No wonder that they
appear in the same way in Naples’ contemporary songs—for example in Federico
Salvatore’s Se io fossi San Gennaro [If I were San Gennaro], scolding the general
conditions of the city—, just like in the books of the distinct anthropologist Marino
Niola, who is probably the person most familiar with the city’s culture.16 The latter
in his book Sui palchi delle stelle [On the Stages of Stars] offers a quite different,
affirmative interpretation than that of Wittkover of the transparent veil motif, which
covers the Pietatella’s marble Christ. As he notes, the veils are the “masks of God,
the visible marks of an indeterminate substance, which in itself is so unable to
convey any meaning and unspeakable, that it may only be indicated by means of
deictic signs.”17 He elaborates this in the respective footnote essay:

In the Cappella Sansevero, the crucial exemplar of the spirit of Neapolitan

Baroque, the metaphor of veiling becomes literal in the famous Cristo velato
carved by Giuseppe Sammartino following the commission of Raimondo di
Sangro. The very marble veil, covering the figure, serves to unveil the mortal
presence of the Son of Man. It is the veil, meaning ‘stage’ in an etymological
sense, which exhibits by hiding, and as such becomes the sign of direct inex-
pressibility; a deictic sign. On the outermost border of language and meaning
the deictic signs are indeed the places, where the transition between meaning
and indication becomes realised. A presence which is neither unspeakable, nor
can have any direct meaning, is conjured up and manifested by an act or object
of indication. The very characteristic of these allusive »veils« is indeed the
deixis, or indication.18

16
See the seventh stanza: “Lo sa il Cristo ch’è velato di vergogna e di mistero / Da quel
nobile alchimista principe di Sansevero / [...] che il colpevole è il denaro”. Ibid. L’osceno del
villaggio [The Obscene from the Village], 2002.
17
“Luminose e cangianti velature – come il trompe l`oeil marmoreo che copre il [sic!] la
figura del Cristo nella Cappella Sansevero – sono dunque le maschere di dio, segni visibili
di un substantia indeterminata, in sé insignificabile e indicibile che può solo apparire essere
indicata per segni deittici.” Niola. 1995. 46.
18
“Nella Cappella Sansevero, esempio cruciale dello spirito barocco napoletano, la meta-
fora della velatura diventa lettera nel celebre »Cristo velato«, scolpito da Giuseppe Sammar-
tino su commissione di Raimondo di Sangro. È proprio il velo marmoreo che ne ricopre la
figura, a svelare la praesentia mortale del Figlio dell`Uomo. Scena nel senso etimologico, il
velo, che esibisce nascondendo, si fa così segno una indicibilità diretta, si fa segno deittico.
Al limite estremo del linguaggio e della significazione, i segni deittici sono infatti il luogo in
cui si attua il passaggio dal significare al mostrare. Una praesentia che non può esser detta
né signficata direttamente, viene evocata e manifestata attraverso un atto, o un ogetto di
216 Márton Szentpéteri

Regarding our subject this brief semiotic analysis of Niola, following the path of
Giorgio Agamben, Emile Benveniste, and Louis Trolle Hjelmslev, is quite important.
Whereas Wittkover saw in the veils the non plus ultra of decadency, the hyper-
trophic virtuosity of the more and more empty late Baroque, Niola describes them,
on the contrary, as deictic signs, which are able to singularly indicating or produc-
ing the presence of the divine. As it will be pointed out below, the two seemingly
contradictory statements may be interpreted as complementary of each other, for
it becomes hopefully clear, that the masonic iconography of the Pietatella is indeed
rather alien to the objectives of the Catholic renewal propagated chiefly by the
Jesuits, but at the same time it still offers a unique form of the sacred.

The Temple of Masonic Meaning: Baroque Art in Masonic Context

Rosanna Cioffi’s monograph, La Cappel-
la Sansevero: Arte barocca e ideologia
massonica [The Sansevero Chapel:
Baroque Art and Masonic Ideology],
first published in 1987, was probably
the first modern comprehensive
analysis of the subject that used reliable
sources related to the history of
Freemasonry and—apart from a very
few factual mistakes concerning mainly
the rituals—it approached reassuringly
the masonic sources of the Cappella
Sansevero’s genesis. The book, still
essential in the subject, made the first
truly scholarly proposal for the analysis
of the Cappella Sansevero’s masonic
iconography. Here, I will only
summarise a part of her claims con-
Fig. 2. 3rd degree tracing board from the cerning the Cristo velato. For the very
so called Löwen collection (National Archive, reason that Cioffi in relation with this
Hermannstadt / Nagyszeben / Sibiu, Romania)

indicazione. La specificità di questi »veli« allusivi è appunto la deixis, l`indicazione.” Op. cit.
49. n 25. With a slight misinterpretation Niola obviously has the velum or velarium of the
Roman theatres of the imperial period in mind, when hinting at the veil’s etymology, but
these used to cover the auditorium to protect it from the rain or sunlight. The predecessor
of today’s theatre curtain was the auleum. Unlike now, it was lowered during the play, and
pulled up at the end of the scene, so obviously it was behind the actors.
The Body of Christ and Hiram 217

monument of crucial importance gets to the closest to prove her assumptions con-
cerning the Cappella Sansevero as a whole. In her book, Cioffi calls our attention to
a series of engravings published in Paris in 1754 and since then copied in dozens
of forms, called Les coutumes de Franc-maçons dans leurs assemblées, prin-
cipalement pour la réception des apprentiffs et des maîtres, tout nouvellement et
sincèrement decouvertes [The Customs of Freemasons in their assemblies, primarily
for receipt of apprentices and masters, all newly and sincerely discovered],
and within this to those images depicting the raising of the master mason. [See Fig.
2.] In these well known prints the candidates to master's degree are always covered
in veil. After outlining the legend of Hiram, which is of essential importance for
Freemasonry since the second half of 1720's and defines the master's degree, Cioffi
assumes that according to the intention of its Mason contractor, Raimondo di
Sangro; the Veiled Christ most probably represents the deceased Hiram as well—the
great master builder of Solomon’s Temple, who was killed by evil and impatient
fellow crafts, that is the Ruffians.19 Cioffi cannot prove the parallel satisfyingly,
however, so it remains a mere assumption in her book at the end. Yet, to be sure,
precisely this evidence would provide the key to clearly prove that the Cappella
Sansevero is a Masonic Temple.
Fortunately, the research of masonic rituals presents a clear basis for supporting
Cioffi’s intuitive interpretation. Jan Snoek in his essay entitled The Evolution of the
Hiramic Legend in England and France proved satisfyingly with thorough analysis
that in the early stage of the development of master's degree the ritual is
undoubtedly went in accordance with the logic of unio mystica.20 After finding
Hiram Abif, who was killed by the evil Ruffians, as stated in Samuel Prichard’s ex-
posure from 1730 entitled Masonry Dissected, he was buried in the Sanctum sanc-
torum; although no earthly mortal at all was allowed to set foot there apart from the
Jewish High Priest once a year, on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kippur], but only
after a long and intricate purifying ritual process. It is needless to say that in the
Holy of Holies thus no mortals have ever been buried. The version of Masonry
Dissected, as Snoek demonstrates it, slowly disappears from the traditions of English
Freemasonry, while survives in the French. According to Le Sceau Rompu [The
Broken Seal] from 1745 for example Hiram was buried in “the Sanctuary of

19
“Questa stampa è l’unica testimonianza iconografica che mi è parsa avere qualche
attinenza con il Cristo velato della Cappella Sansevero [...] Se Raimondo, come si può ritenere,
è editore del Grado di maestro scozzese conservato nell’Archivio Segreto Vaticano, non è da
escludere che nel Cristo del Sanmartino egli [ti. Raimondo di Sangro] abbia voluto adombrare
il tema della morte del grande architetto del tempio di Salomone e del grande architetto
dell’universo, Dio, morto dopo essersi fatto uomo.” Cioffi. 1994. [1987.] 113.
20
Snoek. 2003. 11–53. Snoek. 1999. 59–92. See also Snoek. 1994. 5–53. Róbert. 2008.
143–152. Here: 150–151.
218 Márton Szentpéteri

Fig. 3. Assemblée de Francs-Maçons pour la Réception des Maîtres

(La Bibliothèque Electronique de Lisieux – Une collection de textes littéraires et documentaires du
domaine public de langue française proposée par la Médiathèque intercommunale André Malraux,
Lisieux, France)

the Church” (le Sanctuaire du Temple). This text introduced another important
element into the traditions of masonic catechisms, too, since here can be read for
the first time, that a triangle shaped medallion was placed on the tomb of Hiram
with the inscription of God’s ineffable Hebrew name, the tetragrammaton on it.21
[See Fig. 3.] Without following all along Snoek in his analysis, let’s quote for now
only his conclusion relevant to our subject:

It should be clear by now that placing the name of God on the tomb of Hiram
was a functional equivalent to his being buried in the Sanctum sanctorum. Both
make clear that Hiram is in fact Jahweh. It is precisely that which renders the
third degree ritual an initiation of a very well-known kind: the candidate is
identified with a hero, who turns out to be (a) deity. In that way, the ritual Unio
Mystica between the candidate and the divinity is expressed and realized.22

21
Snoek. 2003. 30–34.
22
Loc. Cit. 34.
The Body of Christ and Hiram 219

If it was still insufficient to convince someone that there was close relation between
the figures of Hiram and Christ during the early development of the masonic
master's degree in the 18th century, one finds even more telling examples among the
early versions of the French high degree rituals which clearly state this parallel such
as in the case of a 1765 Rosicrucian manuscript now kept in the library of the
Grand Orient de France titled Ms de Condom, Grade de Chevalier de l'Aigle, ou
Souverain Prince Rose-Croix d'Héredom, sous le titre de Parfait Maçon, septième et
dernier grade de la Maçonnerie [Mr Condom, Grade of the Knight of Eagle, or
Supreme Prince of the Rose-Croix of Heredom, under the title of Perfect Mason,
seventh and ultimate grade of Masonry].23 Same applies to a passage in the 1774
French instruction entitled Origine et object de la Franche Maçonnerie [The Origin
and Subject of Free Masonry] written with respect to the high degree of Ecossais:

During the seventy years of captivity we searched in vain the tomb of our
Master Hiram hidden under the ruins of the Temple; everything that we
learned at the end is that he was the symbol of the son of the Great Architect
of the Universe [la figure du fils du Grand Architecte de l'Univers]. Those who
see in Hiram the figure of Jesus Christ [la figure de Jesus-Christ] render similar
the three assassins [i. e. the Ruffians] with Judas, Caifas and Pilate. 24

In Irène Mainguy's corresponding conclusion “Hiram was no one else than the type
of Jesus Christ” to many of the 18 th century French masons.25
Further to this, recent research into the history of Mezzogiorno Freemasonry
provide new and in this case undoubtedly decisive evidences. Ruggiero di Casti-
glione summarises in six thick volumes his archival findings, and in the second
volume of La massoneria nelle due Sicilie e i «fratelli» meridionali del '700 [Free-
masonry of the Two Sicilies and the Southern “Brethren” of the 18th Century] titled
Città di Napoli [The City of Naples], published in 2008, among other things presents
the list of Raimondo di Sangro’s lodge, and the short biographies of the lodge
members with thorough corresponding bibliographies. By now it might not be sur-
prising that the renowned sculptor of the Cristo velato—who even became a
member of the Real Academia di Belle Arti di Napoli in 1772 upon the recom-
mendation of the legendary architect, Luigi Vanvitelli—was a Freemason, and at that

23
Mainguy. 2007. 232–233.
24
Origine et object de la Franche Maçonnerie augmentés de discours relatifs à cet Ordre.
Genève, 1774, 43. As quoted by Mainguy. 2007. 233–234.
25
Mainguy. 2007. 234.
220 Márton Szentpéteri

in the very lodge of Raimondo di Sangro!26 But more important than this, in a letter
of 14 November 1753 addressed to the also famous Freemason Louis Henri
Théodore Tschoudy, the Principe di Sansevero makes clear the meaning of the
Cristo velato intended by him:

[A]nd among these [i. e. the monuments] it was ordered and completed the one that
represents Our Lord the Dead Jesus Christ in a transparent veil (Mak-Benak) left to
oneself, thus making its creator famous in the world, the young Neapolitan
sculptor, G[iuseppe] Sanmartino, our brother and excellent apprentice.27

So if it was questionable so far that the Cristo velato represents Hiram at the same
time, there’s no more reason for additional doubts, because the Grand Master of
Naples after the phrase “a transparent veil” (un velo trasparente) put into paren-
theses one of the best known master's words—Mak-Benak—for his Masonic
brother, the word which according to numerous variants of the Hiram legend,
replayed in dramatised form during the master's elevation ceremony, was uttered
for the first time by those, who found the dead body of Hiram, when they tried to
lift his body, but “the flesh fell from the bones”. From all this it becomes completely
clear that in the Cristo velato the well-known Christian image of the classical pietà
/ deposizione becomes one with the masonic act of raising with singular artistic
power. Furthermore, it means that in the 18th century for some Neapolitan masons
the degree of a master not simply meant the unio mystica in itself, as Snoek stated
above, but also “the following of Christ” (imitatio Christi). Consequently the Cappella
Sansevero in this respect can easily be described as a Masonic Temple without the
slightest shadow of any doubt.
After all of this, it is no wonder that the artistic programme of the Cappella
Sansevero does not reflect the ideology of post-Trident Catholicism. So Wittkover’s
conviction of this sort actually proves to be reliable at any case, since the Pietatella
proved to be the symbolic testament of the Grand Master of Neapolitan Free-
masonry, prohibited by the Bourbon Charles III upon the pressure of the Jesuits,
then that of Rome.28 The Pietatella's iconographic programme was conceived in a

26
The 31st name on the list of the lodge, with bibliographical data see. Di Castiglione.
2006–2014. 2. vol. 48–50. For the latest monograph see Catello. 2004.
27
“[E] tra queste è stata compita e lustrata quella denotante Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo
Morto incolto in un velo trasparente (Mak-Benak): e rende celebre al Mondo l’Autore, il
giovine scultore Napoletano G[iuseppe]. Sanmartino, nostro Fratello, ottimo Apprendente”.
Here the author quotes the sixth page of the so called “documento Savarese” which is
available only in a private collection (scil. Collezione privata Savarese). See Di Castiglione.
2006–2014. 2. vol. 15. 49.
28
Höbel. 2010. 53–60. See also Oderisio De Sangro's harsh criticism of this interpreta-
tion: De Sangro. 1991. 139.
The Body of Christ and Hiram 221

time when Raimondo di Sangro could only represent his Masonic conviction in this
symbolic form. By all means, Raimondo di Sangro and his brethren represented in
all probability a tolerant form of Christianity independent of any denominations,
that religious minimum being very near to natural religion, which was expressed by
the The Constitutions of the Freemasons of 1723 conceived of by the Huguenot
refugee, Jean Théophile Desaguliers among others and written by the Presbyterian
James Anderson.29 According to these new masonic regulations, which were able to
transcend the horrors of the religiously motivated bloodshed of the 17th century,
any denomination’s members may join Freemasonry, provided that the candidates
practice the principle of “Brotherly-Love”, that is to say, “obey the moral Law”. This
is the “Catholick [scil. Universal] Religion” which the new Freemasons adopted, and
it is by no means to be confused with the post-Trident Catholicism. By the way, this
reflects an astonishing similarity with that how Spinoza talks about faith in the
Tractatus theologico-politicus [Theological-Political Treatise] following the golden
rule of the Sermon on the Mount. In his view the most important criteria of faith is
the “obedience” to moral laws (obedientia) and the “love for those in one’s
proximity” (amor erga proximum). From the argument of Spinoza it is also revealed
that if the latter is realised—in an active manner, namely in the form of “justice”
(justitia) and “charity” (charitas)—, at the same time it amounts to the realisation of
the first condition, that is to say, the love for one’s fellows means the obedience to
moral laws. Anything other than this is adiaphora, or insignificant concerning the
Bible, and particularly the essence of the teachings of Christ, thinks the philosopher
of the Tractatus.
Arriving at our conclusion it is worth to point out an issue not yet thoroughly
discussed. We shall go back to Niola’s semiotic interpretation, and ask again, what
the Veiled Christ might show to us after we have clarified the Masonic background
of Sanmartino's masterpiece. Raimondo di Sangro used the verb denotare [to
denote] in his letter to the baron Tschoudy, where the velo trasparente [transparent
veil] became the symbol of the mystery of the raising to the degree of a master due
to the direct appearance of the Master's word in parentheses: Mak-Benak. The
Veiled Christ as a deictic sculpture in consequence demonstrates that the master's
degree is actually an imitatio Christi. But owing to the symbolic style of thinking of
Freemasonry and the deixis embodied by the monument we should not understand
this dogmatically, that is to say, the interpretation of the artefact remains
deliberately open. Therefore, we do not claim any universally valid interpretation,

29
Berman. 2012. Although it is true that the constitutions that were mainly used in
Naples between 1750 and 1765 (Statuti Preliminari) clearly excluded the Jews, the Turks
(i. e. Muslims), the Heathens and the professed Atheists as was common to Hanoverian
lodges as well in the beginning. Bonanno. 2013 [1974–1978]. 59. 63. On Neapolitan Ma-
sonry in the period see Francovich. 1974. 48–69.
222 Márton Szentpéteri

which might provide once and for all the meaning of the artefact for eternity. The
Cristo velato might function, of course, in the spirit of the credo quia absurdum, and
may be interpreted in a way that being a deictic sign it points at the ineffable that
human language is unable to grasp, just like Christ himself can be described as the
most perfect accommodatio of the Word of God: the Eternal became a man, and
died as a man to redeem the world, then rose from the dead to give hope for
mortals. The virtuoso realism of the Cristo velato, its captivating lifelikeness,
however, might manifest something else also inconceivable, essentially unspeakable
for the living: death itself. As a memento mori the deixis in this case points at the
corpse of a once alive man, now undisturbed of suffering. At that of Jesus, we might
say and not at that of the Christ, who rose from the dead as the son of God. The
Cristo velato points at the corpse of Jesus, in this case, who was a human. The
greatest philosopher of love, maybe the greatest moral teacher of humanity, who is
eternal in the spirit of his teachings, provided that his memory is being kept alive,
and people still understand and follow his teachings; the teachings of which Spinoza
spoke above in the Tractatus, and which is the essence of Freemasonry as well
according to The Constitutions of Anderson. The master mason, raised to the 3rd
degree, in this interpretation consequently does not rise from the dead, but reborn
to real life which by now looks death straight in the face. Precisely this Socratic
attitude makes possible for the master to live an authentic life and help his fellows
and the human kind in general with love, thus participating personally in the
building of the earthly temple of virtues.30

30
Among plenty of further interpretative options the one—based on a fundamental
distinction between the “religious” and the “aesthetic gaze”—by Roger Scruton goes to a
completely different direction: “Imagine a sacred statue of the god, placed within its shrine,
visited by worshippers who lay their gifts before it. Among the visitors is an enlightened
philosopher. He does not worship, since he no longer believes in the god; but he is moved
by the reverential atmosphere, by the sublime stillness of the sculpture, and the serene belief
to which it testifies. He does not address the image with religious feeling as his neighbours
do; he does not treat it as an avenue through which another and higher being can be ap-
proached and mollified. His emotion attaches to the image itself. The signifier has become
the signified. It is [...] the statue, which is or contains the meaning of the shrine. The en-
lightened visitor directs his attention to the stone, to the way it is worked and finished, to
the expression on the face of the god, and the breathing limbs of marble. It is an image of
the divine, replete with a more than human tenderness and concern. These epithets describe
not the god but the statue. The enlightened visitor does not believe the sacred story; so far
as he is concerned, the god is a fiction. His awe is not religious, but aesthetic. To put it an-
other way: he rejoices in the statue, not for the god's sake, but for his own sake. Every mean-
ing that he finds in this marble figure resides, for him, in the figure itself. To the believer the
statue is a means to the god; to the philosopher the god is a means to the statue. Yet neither
is guilty of idolatry.” Scruton. 2005. 33–34.
The Body of Christ and Hiram 223

Prologue: Beyond Meaning?

When trying to understand the meaning of the sculpture in the context of the
iconographic programme of the chapel, I mostly remained in the hermeneutic para-
digm, naturally, except in the case of #deixis,. By all means, the semiotic analysis by
Marino Niola based on the idea of deictic signs opens up a truly inspiring, but rather
uncertain perspective of experiencing the Cristo velato in the paradigm of the non-
hermeneutic. This should be the point of a future paper written with the intention
of broadening the scope with approaches that try to explore the ritual use of the
sculpture before and beyond meaning, in terms of the Gumbrechtian production of
presence and the Shusterman way of somaesthetics among others.31 This
perspective would naturally be open to an approach in which history is conceived
of as a sort of magic or initiation in a sense that magic makes present something
that is otherwise absent and the initiation into history consequently means
techniques of presentification here, that is, the aesthetization of history at the end
with the benign illusion of making the past tangible.32 With telling words Karin
Dannelh talks about the significance of this tangibility for historians:

To the historian the reconstruction of a story from documents is key. To the

historian of objects, however, the physical experience of the three-dimensional
things that is packed with sensual information, has to be of at least as much
importance. To pick up an artefact is to engage with the past on so direct and
so immediate a level, it approaches something magical. The experiences of
weight, surface texture, sound and smell are part of the physicality of objects.
They are an essential part of what artefacts have to offer the historian, and can
be experienced with many of our senses, including sight, touch, balance,
hearing and smell.33

This magical approach to history through objects can be further galvanized by ritual
studies according to which “[i]n ritual, the world as lived and the world as imagined,
fused under the agency of a single set of symbolic forms, turns out to be the same
world.”34 In this perspective, the Cristo velato—as key to the symbolic use of the
Capella Sansevero in Masonic terms—becomes the key element of fusing our lived
world of the present with the imagined world of the Neapolitan Masonic past.

31
Shusterman. 2008.
32
Gumbrecht. 2004.
33
Dannelh. 2009. 130. Emphasis mine.
34
Geertz. 1973. 111–113. See also Bell. 1992.
224 Márton Szentpéteri

Furthermore, this ritualization of history might help us to better understand the

aesthetics of performativity experienced by Neapolitan masons by means of their
rites spiritually guided by the presence of the Cristo velato. In the performances of
everyday life one's identity is getting reconstituted each and every day in inter-
personal communication and in the creative interaction between persons and ob-
jects, in which subjects create objects and objects respectively mould subjects in
their mutual cultural biography. In the Cappella Sansevero the very performance of
the Masonic ritual most probably applying the Cristo velato as key ritual object
might enhanced the recreation of one's identity simultaneously reaffirming the
identity of the ritual community in the interaction between the highly engaging
sculpture and the devoted initiates.35
In the perspective of the non-hermeneutic, one might refer to many other tan-
talizing concepts besides the above known to scholars of material culture studies
or design culture studies such as cultivation or thing theory in general, all of them
regarding the objects as social agents or social relations going far beyond the world
of Cartesian dualism in which physical objects are viewed as socially and culturally
dead, if not instantly devilish far from being intelligent or intelligible.36 Undoubtedly,
of all of these concepts and theories the one that of material engagement seems to
be the most promising at the moment, according to which, our mind is seen as
partly constituted in the realm of the designed environment, rather than solely
being situated in our head. Naturally, this changes dramatically the way how the
relationship between cognition and material culture is understood and explained.
In this context, things—such as artefacts used for ritual purposes—are taken as
cognitive extensions of the human body.37 It is more than plausible then, that the
true Masonic essence of the Cristo velato can only be captured in its presence
during the ritual performance. The same applies, naturally, to its parallel Catholic
substance experienced by devotees during a Mass. However, I assume something
changes fundamentally when it is seen as a piece of art—born, by the way, around
the difficult birth of autonomous fine art itself with a capital A—in the current art
world of museums, galleries, churches, chapels and other sightseeing highlights of
a spectacular modern city. It is a highly fascinating question for an intellectual
historian, whether this view of art theory or history, that is the “aesthetic gaze” is
indeed able to create a context in which the sculpture is experienced in its cultural
entirety. But this is, in fact, another issue to deal with, in another paper.

35
For further information on the performative perspective of Freemasonry see Hassel-
mann. 2014.
36
Csíkszentmihályi–Rochberg-Halton. 1981. Brown. 2001.
37
Malafouris. 2013.
The Body of Christ and Hiram 225

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JOHN MACMURPHY

Distorted Transmission of
Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah1

Introduction
Abraham Abulafia (1239–1291) was one of the most influential Jewish mystics of
the 13th century. His unique brand of practice earned him the title in modern
scholarship as the founder of ecstatic Kabbalah.2 However, his eccentric knowledge
and popularity caused some friction with some of his contemporaries, such as the
alleged Solomon Ibn Adret (1235–1310),3 one of the most powerful rabbinic au-
thorities of that time. Ordinarily, the Jewish authority would not be threatened by
new esoteric doctrines which were typically narrow and did not comprise an all-en-
compassing way of life that would contradict the halachitic decrees.4 However, the
combination of Abulafia’s messianism and his superior knowledge of Kabbalah may
have represented a danger to Ibn Adret’s authority.5 This, in turn, led to a ban
against all of Abulafia’s works.6 As Judeo-Christian mysticism and philosophy
scholar Harvey Hames explains:

Though found in hundreds of manuscripts, aside from the publication of a few

short works and excerpts in the late nineteenth and twentieth century, nothing
[of the Abulafian corpus] had been published. This by no means reflected a lack
of interest in Abulafia’s Kabbalah, but was the direct result of the ban promul-

1
The following paper is based largely on my research MA thesis written for the Relig-
ious Studies program at the University of Amsterdam in 2015, titled: “Abraham Abulafia and
the Academy: A reevaluation.”
2
Idel, Studies, ix.
3
For a general overview of Solomon Ibn Adert, see Hames, Art, 65–82; with respect to
Abraham Abulafia, see Wolfson, Abraham, 2, 5, 95, 100, 202; Hames, Like, 5, 9, 34, 44–48,
98. It should be mentioned that in my Research MA thesis I provide evidence that Ibn
Adret’s main criticism was not directed toward Abulafia as most scholars believe, but to a
miracle worker called ‘The Prophet of Avila.’ It then follows that the ban that was placed on
Abulafia’s works was a simple case of mistaken identity, see MacMurphy, “Abraham
Abulafia.” 17–31.
4
Idel, “Rashba,” 245.
5
Ibid., 247; Cf, n. 3.
6
Cf, n.3.

229
230 John MacMurphy

gated by Solomon ibn Adret against his works. This ban was so effective, that it
was only toward the end of the last decade of the twentieth century, some six
hundred years after the ban was placed, and some four hundred years after the
invention of the printing press, that ultra-orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, students
of Abulafian Kabbalah, decided to print his works.7

As we can see, the impact of the ban resonated for hundreds of years, despite the
interest in Abulafia’s ecstatic knowledge. One of the ways of which this unique form
of knowledge was able to transcend the ban is by embedding Abulafia’s doctrines
and even excerpts from his corpus in other works which were later published. A
prime example of this is Sefer ha-Peli’ah (The Book of Wonder), an early kabbalitic
work which contains, among other things, excerpts from Abulafia’s own texts.
Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), the father of modern academic study of Jewish
Mysticism, places the authorship of Sefer ha-Peli’ah in Spain8 – although, later
research indicates a Byzantine background with a presumed date of around the end
of the 14th century.9
This work, which was distributed extensively in Central and Eastern Europe rang-
ing from Prague, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Germany, was extremely influential
across many kabbalistic circles, including the eastern European based Hasidim
movement that originated with Israel Ben Eliezer (1698–1760), also known as, the
Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name), or the acronym – Besht. As Moshe Idel,
one of the most respected scholars of the history and philosophy of Kabbalah
explains:

Since Sefer ha-Peliy'ah is a well-known Kabbalistic text, there is no reason not

to assume that the Besht was acquainted with it, and that it served in this par-
ticular case as an intermediary between Abulafia's theory of the combination
of letters and that of the early Hasidic masters ... this Kabbalistic classic is
replete with lengthy passages copied verbatim from Abulafia's books, and the
possible contribution of those quotes to the Hasidic theory of language still
awaits a detailed investigation. 10

In the spirit of Idel’s proposition, the aim of this paper is to serve as the first initial
step toward understanding the influence of Abulafia’s Kabbalah in Sefer ha-Peli’ah
on the Hasidim movement and, in turn, other kabbalistic circles. The primary focus

7
Hames, Like Angels, 9.
8
Scholem, Kabbalah, 65, 68.
9
Idel, “Kanah,” 759.
10
Idel, Hasidim, 57.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 231

is to demonstrate that Abulafia’s works survived by Sefer ha-Peli’ah contain certain

alterations in the text that were added later by a different author. Thus, before
examining how Abulafia may have contributed to Hasidic thought, a detailed com-
parative analysis is merited in order to determine exactly what was written by
Abulafia versus the author of Sefer ha-Peli’ah. While a full comparative analysis is
beyond the scope of this study, this paper will show that even a small alteration in
the text, could have far reaching unpredictable scholarly implications which may
lead to a complete re-evaluation of certain academic areas that hitherto remained
unquestioned.

Distorted Transmission
In “the Beginnings of Christian Kabbalah,” Gershom Scholem asserts that the pheno-
mena of Christian Kabbalah began with Jews who converted to Christianity.11 Scholem
proposes that the earliest documented account appears in Abulafia’s Gan Na’ul (The
Sealed Garden) and it involves a group of Abulafia’s pupils whom Abulafia berates for
mis-utilizing his kabbalistic exegesis techniques to find Christological content in the
Old Testament to the point where they converted to Christianity. As evidence,
Scholem provides the following quote: “from this the madmen and the fools allowed
themselves to be seduced and become apostates.”12 However, Scholem provides the
quote from Sefer ha-Pli’ah and not from the Abulafian Corpus itself.
In order to shed further light on this, the full excerpt from Abulafia’s Gan Na’ul
will need to be compared with the version that appears in Sefer ha-Pli’ah. The fol-
lowing is the section as it appears in Abulafia’s work:

And with the permutations certain [letter] arrangements came out in the op-
posite manner, as I have heard that the fools permute the words “(in his sha-
dow) I sat down with great delight” (song of songs 2:3), and they say (the one
who is crucified) as the permutation [of the word ‘shadow’]. And whoever inter-
preted this said (in the shadow of the one who is crucified) and I sat down with
great delight, the one who went on this [interpretation], did not know the text
‘his corpse shall not hang on the tree’ (Deuteronomy 21:23) as it is viewed as
‘for he who is hanged is the curse of God’ and he would not have sat in delight
(in his shadow) and the one who wants to hang himself can be hung from a
great tree. And this is foolishness and evil from the one who derives heresy out
of the Torah.13

11
Scholem, “Beginnings,” 24.
12
Ibid., 45.
13
Abulafia, Gan Na’ul, 23. I am using the transcribed version which was edited by Amnon
Gross. Emphasis and content in square brackets are mine.
232 John MacMurphy

As we can see, Abulafia heard that a group of people, possibly his students, have
been using the kabbalistic exegesis technique of letter permutations in order to
change the sequence of the letters in the word “in his shadow”14 to the word “cru-
cified”.15 This, in turn, produces a highly Christological message of ‘sitting with great
delight next to the one who was crucified’. However, according to Abulafia, this
interpretation will contradict the Old Testament as God views a body which is hung
from a tree as a curse. Abulafia then uses a euphemism by saying that those who
wish to ‘hang themselves’, that is, follow the Christian interpretation, will actually
hang themselves on a tree – or rather, be cursed by God. It is worth noting that
Scholem’s quote which claims that the people were seduced by this interpretation
and converted to Christianity is glaringly absent.
In Sefer ha-Pli’ah we see ample similarities with the original Abulafian text. How-
ever, it is far from being identical. The full quote is as follows:

And the permutations give birth to inverted understandings just as the fools
invert the word ‘in his shadow I sat down with great delight’, and they say that
‘in his shadow’ turns into [the word] ‘crucified’ and so they say that in the
shadow of the crucified I sat down with great delight. And from this the mad-
men and the fools are seduced and become apostates, may their name be
stricken from the book of life, if they knew the verse ‘his corpse shall not hang
on the tree for he who is hanged is the curse of God’ they would not have sat
down with great delight in his shadow and this is foolishness and evilness to
derive heresy out of the Torah.16

Here we see that the author of Sefer ha-Pli’ah, for the most part, keeps the same
content as the original text from Abulafia. However, we see that, apart from the
general changes in the grammar (i.e., tenses, conjugation, etc.), Abulafia’s euphem-
ism is omitted from the text and the verse which Scholem quotes from is added. It
is quite possible that the author of Sefer ha-Pli’ah found Abulafia’s euphuism too
vague and decided to replace it with his own understating of Abulafia’s sentence.
Scholem defends his usage of Sefer ha-Pli’ah as a more reliable witness to
Abulafia’s text by claiming that the original manuscript was redacted by Christian
censors. However, it would seem more likely that the censors would have either
erased this small excerpt in its entirety, or at least, redact Abulafia’s concerns about
the misinterpretation. Leaving the part where kabbalistic exegesis has led to the
conversion of Jewish people into Christianity would appear to serve the Christian
authority.

14
Hebrew: wlcb
15
Hebrew: bwlc
16
Sefer ha-Pli’ah, 74B. Emphasis and content in square brackets are mine.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 233

In addition, apart from the claim that the people were seduced and converted,
we see that the author adds: “may their name be stricken from the book of life”. It
should be noted that this expression is not used anywhere in the Abulafian corpus.
This strongly suggests that the insertion does in fact come from the author of Sefer
ha-Pli’ah himself, as oppose to Abulafia. It will then follow that the distorted
Abulafian text which was survived in Sefer ha-Pli’ah can be viewed to include a type
of a running commentary by its author. However, a careful delineation analysis must
be done in order to unravel the distortion.

Abulafia’s Pupils
Based on the previous analysis, it would seem unlikely that the people whom
Abulafia berates were, as Scholem purports: “a group of pupils whom he [Abulafia]
had taught in Capua and who later apostatized.”17 The question then remains, who
were these students? Since it is unlikely that these were Jews who converted after
realizing the Christological content in the Hebrew bible, it seems more plausible that
this group had some sort of a Christian agenda from the get go. It will then follow,
that by utilizing the kabbalistic letter permutation technique they were confirming
the Christian message, rather than discovering it – that is, the group of students
were most likely already Christians.
One clue from the Abulafian corpus may help shed some light on this possible
group of Christians. In Sefer ha-Edut (The Book of Testimony), Abulafia recounts the
story where he sought an audience with Pope Nicholas III (fl. 1277–1280).18 As the
story goes,19 Abulafia had a prophetic vision in Barcelona in the year 1270. In this
vision, God commanded him to go to Rome and see the Pope. The story continues
by expounding on Abulafia’s journey to Rome. He passed through Trani and Capua,
writing further works and even escaping capture after a group of Jews turned him
in to the local authorities. Abulafia claimed that his escape was due to divine
intervention which would have most likely strengthened his resolve to complete his
mission.
In the year 1280, right before Rosh ha-Shana (Jewish New Year) Abulafia arrived
to Rome. The Pope, according to what Abulafia had heard, ordered his gateman that
if Abulafia showed up in the name of all “yahadut”, literary Jewry, that he should be
stopped, taken out of town and burned. The Pope himself was not in Rome at the
time but in Soriano, a town which was one day distance from Rome. Abulafia was

17
Scholem, “Beginnings,” 25.
18
Cardinal Orsini, who later became Pope Nicholas III took over from John XXI (c.1215–
1277), see Maxwell-Stuart, Chronicle,119.
19
For the full account see Abualfia, Sefer ha-Edut, 57–58. For an English translation, see
Hames, Like Angels, 83; Kaplan, Meditation, 68–69.
234 John MacMurphy

not deterred; he secluded himself in order to receive more prophetic visions and
wrote this Sefer ha-Edut as a testimony to God’s miraculous intervention in saving
his life. Abulafia then relays that despite all the warnings, he tried to go to Soriano
to see the Pope. Upon approaching the town gates he was greeted by a messenger
who conveyed that the Pope had died a day before. 20
At this point Abulafia says he was detained (nitpas)21 in Rome by the ‘Little
Brothers’ that is, members of the Franciscan order. Interestingly enough, Moshe Idel
connects Abulafia’s affinity to the Franciscans through the Pope, as he explains: “It
is possible that Abulafia assumed that he could find a sympathetic ear with Pope
Nicholas III. The Pope was the custodian of the faction called 'the minorities’22 –
Abulafia would have certainly recognized the great affection Saint Francis felt
toward the name of Jesus, a fondness that with the passage of time, even in the
days of Abulafia, became a significant theological precept.”23 Apart from common
denominator of the devotion to the divine name, it should be mentioned that the
Franciscans were no strangers to ecstatic mysticism with its roots in the tradition
of the Hebrew prophets.24 Ewert H. Cousins (1927–2009), who conducted extensive
research into Franciscan theology, makes a further connection to the Jewish mystics
themselves, as he explains:

The visionary mysticism which flourished among the Hebrew prophets was
cultivated by the Merkabah [chariot] tradition, a major current of Jewish mysti-
cism which continued from the first century B.C until the tenth century ...
Although there are probably no discernible historical influences on Francis,
there is a typological similarity between his imagery [of his visions] and that
cultivated the Merkabah tradition, due at least in part to the fact that they both
drew from the same source of prophetic imagery.25

The connection between the Franciscans and the Jewish mystics is even more in-
triguing when we consider that Saint Bonaventure (c.1221–1274), a contemporary

20
Pope Nicholas III died prematurely from a stroke in 1280, see Maxwell-Stuart,
Chronicle,119.
21
Hebrew: Xptn
22
The name of the then newly founded Franciscan organization was the Order of Friars
Minor (Ordo Fratrum Minorum) – literally translated, the Order of the Little Brothers.
23
Idel, “Abraham,” 14.
24
Cousins, “Francis,” 165. The connection to the prophets comes from the description
of the visions of Saint Francis which appear to be in continuity with the visionary experi-
ences of the Hebrew Prophets – resulting in Francis being referred to as a prophet by his
followers such as Bonaventure, see ibid., 172.
25
Ibid., 173.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 235

of Abulafia, who was also considered to be Second Founder of the Franciscan

order,26 authored a book entitled The Tree of Life – a collection of ecstatic visuali-
zation meditations designed for the purpose of achieving divine union. 27
While the aforementioned commonalities between Abulafia and the Franciscans
may have been his motivation to seek them out, based on Abulafia’s account, we do
know that he stayed with them for a period of twenty-eight days, which started on
the Fast of Gedalya and ended on the first day of the month Marheshvan.28 At first
glance, the account of Abulafia spending time with the Franciscans does not seem
to be so extraordinary. However, certain indications encoded29 in the text suggest
that Abulafia may have actually been teaching and possibly demonstrating his
prophetic techniques to them.
The first clue is that the word nitpas in the Hebrew could be literally translated
as detained or captured. This seems to suggest that Abulafia was imprisoned by the
Franciscans. However, Harvey Hames points out that this word does not carry with
it any negative connotations and is mentioned a few times within the Abulafian
corpus.30 In addition, if we examine the other references of this verb we see that
Abulafia uses it to denote an idea that is being ‘captured’ in one’s mind.31 Abulafia
may have been insinuating here that his ideas, namely, his teachings, were being
captured or appropriated by the Franciscans.
Another clue is that the location where Abulafia was detained was the Franciscan
seminary.32 Apart from the obvious point that a seminary is a place of study, the fact
that Abulafia did not mention that he spent time in a Franciscan prison is
noteworthy. As Hames explains: “The Franciscan prisons were not known for their
creature comforts and surely would have merited a mention if that is where he had
spent this period.”33

26
Bonaventure was the Minister General of the Franciscan Order and was considered one
of the Major philosopher-theologians of the 13 th century, see ibid., 168.
27
Cousins, “Francis,” 183–186.
28
The second month of the Jewish year.
29
Abulafia is known to encode a secret hidden layer of meaning in his writings. As Jewish
mysticism and philosophy scholar, Elliot Wolfson explains: ‘The power of Abulafia's intellect
is evident in the manner that he anchors difficult theological ideas through the exegetical
techniques.... Anyone who has tried to read Abulafia knows it is impossible to get through one
page without a pen and pad ready at hand to decode the many mathematical and linguistic
associations that he establishes in an effort to link together disparate expressions and con-
cepts,’ see Wolfson, Abraham, 2. For Abulafia’s unique use of language, see Idel, Language.
30
Hames, Like Angels, 142, n. 43.
31
For example citations, see Ibid.
32
be-midrasham. Hebrew: ~Xrdmb
33
Hames, Like Angels, 100–101.
236 John MacMurphy

Moreover, in addition to Hames’s observations, the word “stayed” literally means

“stood”. Thus, Abulafia is describing himself as “standing” in the seminary,34 which
implies that he was lecturing. Elsewhere in his writings, Abulafia relates this term
to the process of transmission of mystical knowledge which has the ability to purify
the ones who receive it. As Abulafia explains: “... when the serpent had sexual
intercourse with Eve, he was the adulterer and he is the one who cast his foulness
in her. And [the] Israel[ites] who stood before Mount Sinai, their foulness ceased.
While the gentiles, who have not stood on [before] Mount Sinai, their foulness did
not cease.”35 According to tradition, the Sinaitic Revelation – which literally means,
the ‘standing of Mount Sinai’ (Ma’amad Har Sinai), is where Moses not only received
the Torah from God but also Kabbalah36 – hence the very first transmission of divine
kabbalistic gnosis.37 Thus, Abulafia's cryptic use of the phrase “stood in their
seminary” may suggest that Abulafia actually stood in front of an audience, that is,
the Friars, and disseminated his prophetic ‘purifying’ knowledge to them.
In addition, the start date of the twenty-eight day period fell on the ‘Fast of
Gedalya’, one of the minor Jewish fast days which occurs usually one day after the

34
The word ‘stayed’ (dm[) in the Hebrew can literally mean ‘stood’.
35
Abulafia, Hayey ha-Olam ha-Ba, 8. Hebrew: hb lyjmh awhw @awnh awhX hwx l[ Xxn tayb
?!tmhwz hqsp al ynys rh l[ wdm[ alX ~yywg ]!tmhwz hqsp ynys rh l[ wdm[X larXyw ?amhwz
Abulafia is echoing the Jewish literature here, see Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat Tractate, 146a.
36
The origins of this is in the mishna where it states in Pirkei Avot 1:1 that ‘Moses re-
ceived the Torah from Sinai’. The term ‘received’ (kibel) is from the same root as Kabbalah
– hence the idea that the transmission of the esoteric knowledge occurred in addition to
exoteric Torah. Abulafia quite emphatically uses this verse as a way to address the issue of
divine prophetic revelation versus knowledge obtained through rationalism – pointing out
that the verse does not say that Moses rationalized, or intellectualized the Torah from
[Mount] Sinai, see Abulafia, Sheva Netivot ha-Torah, 102. In addition, Abulafia connects the
term Sinai to the word sne (bush) – associating the flames of the burning bush perceived by
Moses to a type of prophetic fire one perceives during ecstasy. Abulafia gives the examples
of Moses seeing the divine angel within the flames of the burning bush, and that the Torah
is said to have been written with black fire over white fire, see Abulafia, Sefer ha-Edut, 66.
Abulafia also relates Mount Sinai itself to a prophetic ladder, as viewed in Jacob’s dream in
Genesis 28:10–19. As such, the prophetic experience is one of ascension. The ladder itself
is described by Abulafia to consist of divine names, and in turn, their corresponding sefirot,
see Abulafia, Sheva Netivot ha-Torah, 102–103. Thus, the path to ecstasy is analogous to
climbing up the Tree of Life.
37
It should be mentioned that some sources assert that other earlier biblical figures
received divine knowledge as well. For example, the content of the book Raziel ha-Mal’ach
(The Angel Raziel), is said to have been given to Adam; there are also the Book(s) of Enoch
which relay Enoch’s divine knowledge and experience; and Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Forma-
tion) which is attributed to Abraham whom Abulafia considers to be the very first prophet,
see Abulafia, Sefer ha-Heshek, 67.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 237

Jewish New Year.38 The significance of this fast may relate to the preliminary pro-
cess which Abulafia employed as preparation for the induction of the ecstatic expe-
rience.39 The mention of the fast on the first day of his stay with the Friars may
suggest that Abulafia was preparing to initiate his prophetic techniques – either for
the purpose of demonstration, tutelage or both.
Lastly, the Pope’s orders to his gatemen were that if Abulafia came to talk to him
in the name of all “yahadut,” that he should be captured and burned. Both Idel and
Hames agree the Abulafia’s use of the term “yahadut” actually does not relate to the
common term ‘Jewry’ but to Abulafia’s prophetic techniques.40 It will then follow that
Abulafia went to see the Pope specifically to teach him his kabbalistic methods.
However, since the Pope died a day before Abulafia arrived, Abulafia may have in-
stituted an alternative course of action, whereby he instructed the Franciscans in the
Pope’s stead – thus, completing his self proclaimed divinely inspired mission.
As we can see, it is quite possible that the group of students who employed
Abualfia’s kabbalistic exegesis techniques were none other the Franciscans them-
selves. However, while Abulafia’s mission was inspired by God, his overall motiva-
tion for seeking Christians in order to teach them Kabbalah is still unclear. Did he
have a personal agenda? Or was he just simply following divine orders? In the next
section we will explore whether there were other circumstances that may have
contributed to Abulafia’s actions.

Abulafia’s Messianism
It could be argued that Abulafia’s messianism started right with his birth. He was
born in Saragossa, northeastern Spain, in the first Jewish month of Tishrei in the
year 1239,41 which corresponds to the year 5000 – the Jewish millennium. This

38
According to Hames, in the year 1280, the fast of Gedalya fell on August 29 – one day
after the Jewish New year which started on the evening of August 27 and extended to the
following day of August 28, see Ibid., 100.
39
In The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia, Moshe Idel claims that there is no
mention of radical asceticism, such as fasting, in Abulafia’s works, see Idel, Mystical, 143–
144. However, the mention of the ‘fast of Gedalya’ suggests that Abulafia did in fact observe
the Jewish laws of fasting. Thus, it is quite possible that he may have incorporated the timing
of these fasts into his ecstatic practice. While further evidence is required to support this
claim, it seems reasonable to assume that since fasting was widely utilized to gain ecstatic
states in many traditions, and the fact that post-Abulafian ecstatic Kabbalah (directed by
Abulafia’s students) did involve ascetic practices, that Abulafia himself did practice some
form of asceticism as well. For the ascetic nature of other traditions and the post-Abulafian
ecstatic Kabbalah, see ibid.
40
Hames, Like Angels, 84–85; Idel, “Abraham,” 11–15.
41
Hames, Like Angels, 32.
238 John MacMurphy

date carries within it a meaning of its own as it signifies the beginning of the sixth
day. Jewish tradition holds that each millennium relates to one day of the first week
of creation. Hence, the sixth day refers to the time right before the messianic age
– the seventh millennium or the sabbath. The tradition also holds that prior to the
messianic age there will come the ‘age of prophecy’ – a notion which undoubtedly
influenced Abulafia from an early age.42
Abulafia’s upbringing consisted of his father teaching him the Torah and Tal-
mudic studies. However, it was not until the age of twenty, when Abulafia started
his travels, that his unique ecstatic and prophetic kabbalistic techniques started to
develop. In addition, during this time, Abulafia boasted that he intended to find the
mythical Sambation, a river which, according to the tradition, kept the exiled ten
tribes of Israel dispersed until the age of redemption.43 Abulafia ventured to the
Holy Land, Greece, Southern Italy and then Catalonia.44 The aforementioned pro-
phetic vision he experienced in 1270 during his stay in Barcelona was his very first
achievement. In addition to the instruction of going to Rome, it was revealed to him
that he must teach his techniques to both Jews and non-Jews as a way to usher in
the age of redemption. The reference to instruct the non-Jews appears to be directly
referencing Christians as demonstrated by his quest to see the Pope and his
incident with the Franciscans. With regard to the distribution of his teachings,
Moshe Idel explains: “... [Abulafia] believed that the dissemination of his ecstatic
Kabbalah, based on combinations of letters and divine names, would enable the
whole nation to reach a spiritual state, which is tantamount to a certain vision of
Messianism.”45 And, in fact, in 1276 we see Abulafia’s initial messianic proclama-
tions.46 While Abulafia’s dissemination attempts to the Jews are quite evident,47 one
could view his endeavor to see the pope and his time with the Franciscan friars as

42
Berger, “Messianic,” 252. For a description of the millennia as they relate to the age
of redemption in the Zohar, see Matt, Zohar: Pritzker Vol. II, 180. Matt’s commentary on
Zohar I: 117a suggests that the Zohar is asserting that the age of redemption will actually
come into effect sixty years after the beginning of the sixth millennium or around the year
1300 (the year 1240 plus 60 years), see ibid.
43
Idel suggests that Abulafia’s quest to find the Sambatyon river in the year 1260 was
actually his attempt to find the Mongols – who at that time invaded the land of Israel – under
the assumption that they were the ten lost tribes of Israel, see Idel, “Beginnings of Kabbalah,”
9. For more about the Mongols as they relate to messianic expectations, see ibid., 8–12.
44
Hames, “Between,” 304.
45
Idel, Ascensions, 148. For Abulafia’s messianism, see Berger, “Messianic,” 250–255;
Idel, Studies; 45–62, Idel, “Contribution,” 138–141; Idel, “Time,” 155–185; Idel, Messianic
Mystics, 58–100.
46
Hames, Like Angels, 7.
47
For a good example, see Kaplan, Meditation, 321 n.37.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 239

a culmination of his attempt to provide the non-Jews first hand knowledge of his
unique kabbalistic methods – thereby fulfilling his messianic quest which ushers in
the birth of the age of redemption. As it relates to the Franciscans directly, we see a
clue in the way Abulafia depicts the length of time his spent with them. Abulafia
represents the number “twenty-eight” using the letters kaf and het – spelling the word
“koah” which literally means ‘strength’ or ‘power’. However, as it relates to the popular
Jewish axiom: “from potential to actuality” (min ha-koah el ha-poal) – “koah” can also
be referred to as ‘potential’.48 This interpretation helps solidify the argument that by
providing kabbalistic tutelage to the Christians, Abulafia activates the ‘potential’ which
can bring about the age of redemption – the ‘actuality’.49
Abulafia is presumed to have died on the island of Comtino near Sicily towards
the end of 1291.50 While he never explicitly stated whether his messianic mission
was successful, with respect to approaching the Jewish people with his knowledge,
Abulafia indicates that, with a few minor exceptions, they were not receptive to his
teachings, as Abulafia states: “... Only a few people of the wise men of Israel wanted
to hear from his [Abulafia’s] mouth the wisdom of the name and the intricacies of
its procedures.”51 In addition, his messianic mission was viewed negatively by cer-
tain Jewish groups who, in turn, had Abulafia persecuted52 and even arrested by the
local authorities as we have seen in the case of his journey to Rome.
With respect to the divine decree to teach his methods to the non-Jews, Abulafia
conveys disappointment as well. In Sefer ha-Ot (The Book of the Sign), which was
written about eight years after the event with the Franciscans,53 Abulafia wrote:
“And the Lord has commanded [Abulafia] to speak to the non-Jews ... and so he did
and they accepted the message from the Lord. Albeit, they did not return to the

48
For Hames’s analysis of the word ‘Koah’, see Hames, Like Angels, 142, n. 43.
49
Hames also numerically correlates the word “koah” to the word ‘Jesus’, see ibid. If this
is the case, we may see an indication that the ‘potential’ for the new age lies with the
Christians. However, it should be mentioned that in simple gematria the word ‘Jesus’ is
three-hundred and sixteen – as oppose to ‘koah’ which, as discussed, is twenty-eight. While
Hames may be using an advanced form of gematria to arrive at his conclusions (possibly the
AI”K BC”R method where both ‘Jesus’ and ‘koah’ are numerically equal to the value of ten),
he does not elaborate on his calculations.
50
Idel, Mystical, 3.
51
Abulafia, sefer ha-ot, 22. Hebrew: whypm [wmXl wcr larXy ymkx yXna tcqm qr
hytwklhm twl[mw ~Xh tmkx. It should be mentioned that the verse continues with
Abulafia berating the Jewish people – saying that they are more interested in calculating
their riches as opposed to using his unique method of calculations (Gematria) which pro-
duces the ecstatic state, see ibid., 24–25.
52
Ibid., 22.
53
Sefer ha-Ot was written when Abulafia was forty-eight. Hames, Like Angels, 119, n. 8.
240 John MacMurphy

Lord ....”54 This passage seems to suggest that unlike the Jewish people whom
Abulafia approached, the Christians actually were interested and were receptive to
his teachings. However, Abulafia mentions that they did not return to the Lord
which seems to suggest that while Abulafia had fulfilled his own task, the result did
not meet his expectation.
Elsewhere in the Abulafian writings, the word ‘return’ is explained by the quote
from Ecclesiastes 12:7 “... and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” This
passage appears to exemplify the prophetic experience.55 Moreover, Abulafia’s refer-
ence to the word return signifies coming full circle and as such it can be related to the
concept of an ‘era’ or an ‘age’.56 Given this understanding, Abulafia may be implying
that while the Franciscans accepted his teachings, they did not utilize them as
intended. In other words, rather than using the letter permutation and gematria
techniques to achieve ecstatic states, they may have used them instead to reaffirm
their faith by finding hidden Christological references in the Hebrew bible.
As mentioned earlier, the common interest in ecstatic practice between the Fran-
ciscans and the Jewish mystics may have been the reason Abulafia was attracted
to the Franciscan order. However, could it be that Abulafia’s presence and
interaction with the Franciscans help re-inforce the Franciscan practice of the de-
votion to the holy name to the point where it became, as Idel describes it “a signi-
ficant theological precept”? 57
While a full investigation is beyond the scope of this current study, it should be
mentioned that the devotion to the holy name was specifically championed by the
Franciscans58 and that certain aspects of their practice throughout the centuries
may be reminiscent of Abulafia’s methods. For example, while the primary divine
name used in Abulafia’s system was the four letter name of God (YHVH), the Fran-
ciscans were known to use the Christogram, a monogram consisting of a three-letter
combination (YHS or IHS) representing the name of Jesus, for their meditations and

54
Abulafia, Sefer ha-Ot, 17. Hebrew: rbdyw !k X[yw wmXb ??? ~ywgl rbdl hwhy whwcyw
?hwhy la wbX al qr ?hwhy trwXbb wnymayw ~hl.
55
In the works of Abulafia, the concept of ‘returning to God’ is exemplified by the term
of devekut (cleaving). This concept not only refers to the attachment to God but also to the
mystical union with the divine. For an analysis of the concept of devekut (cleaving) with
relation to Abulafia’s, see Idel, Mystical, 124–134.
56
Abulafia, Sefer Hayei ha-Nephesh, 31.
57
Cf. n. 23.
58
Walsh, Dictionary, 125–126. The first complete treatise on the holy name of Jesus was
written by a Franciscan named Guibert of Tournai (c. 1200–1284), see ibid.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 241

devotional prayers.59 Other practices, such as the quarantore, where instead of the
letters of the Hebrew alphabet – as it is in the Abulafian practice – the image of the
crucifix is visualized and intended to be imprinted unto the heart.60 Moreover, there
are the practices of lectio divina and lectio spirituales which involves deep
contemplative meditations on biblical text, which in itself is considered to be
representative of the Logos, and include not only the sounding of the text out loud
but also meditating on the images that arise within the practitioner’s mind during
the silence61 – not unlike, Abulafia’s contemplations on biblical verses or his vocal
meditations on the divine names.62
It then follows that between Abulafia’s account and the possible resemblance of
his methods within Franciscan practice, there may be very strong correlation between
the Franciscans and the group of supposed pupils who, according to Abulafia, utilized
the letter permutation technique to change the word ‘in his shadow’ to ‘crucified’.
Thus, it may very well be that this group of students which Sefer ha-Pli’ah classifies
as apostates are, in fact, the Franciscans which Abulafia spent time with in Rome. If
this is the case, the scholarly perception on the emergence of the phenomenon of
Christian Kabbalah will need to be re-evaluated.

59
Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380–1444) was the most famous promoter of the Chris-
togram, often conducting sermon tours where the three-letter name was inscribed on a wax
tablet and displayed for veneration – with at least one witness claiming that people were
liberated from demons, Robson, Franciscans, 195, 197, 200. Saint Bernardine’s focus on the
holy name also caused him to be delated to Pope Martin V (1369–1431) by Augustinian and
Dominican friars who perceived this practice as superstition – Saint Bernardine was later
acquitted, see ibid., 195.
60
Roest, “Discipline,” 444–445.
61
Hammond, “Contemplation,” 127–128.
62
It should be mentioned that the Franciscans themselves may have had a traceable
impact on Abulafia’s practice as well. For example, the Franciscans promoted the practice
of head movement(s) in the form of bowing in conjunction with their devotion to the holy
name, see Walsh, Dictionary, 125–126. While this practice was around since the middle of
the 13th century it was commanded by decree in the Second Council of Lyon in 1274, see
ibid. One of Abulafia’s most known meditations involve the movement of the head in dif-
ferent bow-like motions coupled with the recitation of the divine names with different vowel
sounds, see Idel, Mystical, 28–29. This technique is first featured in Hayey ha-Olam ha-Ba
(Life of the World to Come), one of Abulafia’s most elaborated prophetic manuals. Interes-
tingly enough, this book was composed when Abulafia was forty years old, see Abulafia,
Hayey ha-Olam ha-Ba, i. And, considering that the encounter with the Franciscans occurred
around Abulafia’s fortieth birthday, this would mean that the book was written right after
Abulafia’s meeting with the Franciscans. The explanatory nature of the book may be indica-
tive of Abulafia’s attempt to make his system more accessible to an audience with a non-
Jewish background.
242 John MacMurphy

The Emergence of Christian Kabbalah

Defining the term Christian Kabbalah is not an easy task. Thus far, many scholars
attribute Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494)63 as the father of Christian
Kabbalah.64 However, it should be mentioned that historians usually acknowledge
that religious phenomenon starts as an emerging trend, rather from a full fledged
person or event.65
Scholem defines Christian Kabbalah as: “... the interpretation of kabbalistic texts
in the interests of Christianity (or, to be more precise, Catholicism); or the use of
kabbalistic concepts and methodology in support of Christian dogma.”66 Scholem
opts to avoid the usual terminology which scholars have used to identify Jewish
Kabbalah and instead employs a unique working definition for Christian Kabbalah.
Unlike Scholem, Moshe Idel does not provide a definition for Christian Kabbalah.
However, he does introduce certain qualifications. Idel begins by proposing that “...
the question would be not when a Christian has adopted some forms of Jewish
esoteric traditions, but when a Christian thinker has adopted a Kabbalistic type of
thinking.”67 Idel emphasizes that in order to qualify Christian authors as actual
kabbalists, it must be determined that the Jewish elements which they utilized
became a considerable part of the Christian circle. Moreover, the writings of such
kabbalists should produce some sort of a cultural impact that would sustain and
continue the emerging trend.68
The differences between Scholem and Idel’s approaches is quite evident when
we try to explore the emerging trend of Christian Kabbalah prior to Pico. For ex-
ample, according to Scholem’s definition, the Christian born thinker Ramon Llull
(c.1232–c.1316), who used kabbalistic knowledge to help convert Jews to Christian-
ity, may very well qualify as a Christian kabbalist. Trying to explain Llull’s kab-

63
For a good introduction into Pico and his relationship with Jewish mysticism, see
Wirszubski, Pico. For Pico’s theory of allegory and his specialized form of biblical hermeneu-
tics, see Black, Pico. For a translation of Pico’s kabbalistic conclusions, see Pico, Syncretism;
Waite, Holy, 445–452. For a comprehensive bibliographic overview of the scholarship sur-
rounding Pico in English, see Karr, Study of Christian, 9–12, http://www.digital-brilliance.
com/kab/karr/ccinea.pdf.
64
Some of these scholars include J.L. Blau, G. Lloyd Jones and Chaim Wirszubski, see
Blau, Christian, 19; Jones, “Introduction,” 16; Wirszubski, “Giovanni,” http://www.jewish
virtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_15753.html.
65
Idel, “Introduction,” v. It is worth noting that Gershom Scholem’s milestone book en-
titled: ‘Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism’ exemplifies this view as well.
66
Scholem, “Beginnings,” 17.
67
Idel, “Introduction,” v-vi.
68
Ibid., v-vii.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 243

balistic knowledge, Hames theorizes that the public debates and discourses between
the Jewish philosophers and the kabbalists provided an opening for Llull to gain ac-
cess to this knowledge. As Hames explains:

... [Given the public discourses] it will be more comprehensible how someone
like Llull would have been able to access this ‘esoteric’ tradition. Because the
theosophical ideas were being openly promoted as an alternative theology, any
Christian really interested in his Jewish contemporaries, and who sought out
religious leaders with whom to discuss these issues, would have been able to
grasp the central tenets of Kabbalah.69

However, Idel excludes certain Christian authors, such as Llull, who employed
“esoteric types of Jewish lore”70 in their writings. Apart from the lack of impact that
these figures had, Idel emphasizes that the Jewish components utilized by such
authors were not integrated into Christian circles and, as such, cannot be labeled
as Christian Kabbalah. Hames also disagrees with the classification of Llull as a
kabbalist.71 Citing from Idel’s criteria, Hames does not believe that Llull has ab-
sorbed the kabbalistic knowledge to the point where he started to think as a kab-
balist.72 Despite this, with respect to Llull and Scholem’s definition, Hames does ac-
knowledge that: “ Llull’s creative use of certain aspects of Kabbalah to strengthen
and help demonstrate the truth of the Christian faith, should be seen, at least on one
level, as the start of Christian appropriation of the Kabbalah.” 73
However, apart from Christian-born authors there is also the phenomenon of
Jewish converts. While technically Christian, the apostates have intimate first-hand
knowledge of the Jewish tradition. This makes them perfect candidates as early pio-
neers of the Christian Kabbalah trend. Some notable apostates who precede Pico
include Flavius Mithridates, who was not only Pico’s teacher but who also translated
many works for his student from Hebrew to Latin, including Sefer ha-Bahir, one of
the earliest works of Jewish Kabbalah.74 Prior to Mithridates, there was Paulus de
Heredia (c.1420–c.1490) whom, according to renowned Zohar (The Book of
Splendor) scholar Yehuda Liebes, actually preserved and quoted accurate excerpts
from the Zohar which, due to the highly Christological content, were later redacted

69
Ibid., 26.
70
Ibid., vi.
71
Hames, Art, 27.
72
Ibid., 288. For a more detailed breakdown of why Hames does not consider Llull to be
a kabbalist, see Ibid., 27–28; 118–189.
73
Ibid., 288.
74
For more about Mithridates’ translations, see Wirszubski, Pico, 69–118.
244 John MacMurphy

by Jewish scribes.75 Finally, one of the earliest and most notable apostates is Abner
of Burgos (c.1270–c.1347), who after his conversion changed his name to Alfonso
Valladolid. Scholem refers to Valladolid as: “The first converted Jew to refer
specifically to the Kabbalah ....”76 Valladolid is also known for his efforts to resolve
the first three sefirot of Keter (Crown), Hochma (Wisdom) and Bina (Understanding)
to the Holy Trinity.77
However, Idel is critical about considering the apostates as early pioneers of the
Christian trend as their writings did not produce the necessary cultural impact that
would qualify them as such. As Idel explains: “... the uses of Kabbalah in the writings
of converts like Alfonso de Validolid or Paulus de Heredia did not incite the
imagination of their contemporaries, and they did not produce significant repercus-
sions.”78 Idel concludes that the evidence that we have for classifying certain phe-
nomenon as Christian Kabbalah prior to Pico is “scanty, disparate, and incon-
tinuous.”79
While Scholem’s definition of the Christian trend appears to be flexible, Idel’s set
of criteria appear too restrictive with some fundamental issues. Idel’s perspective
fails to appreciate that the beginning of any emerging trend might not resemble the
same phenomenon after it has been solidified. In other words, the current might
take certain forms early on which, if sustained, may appear differently over time.
We see this exemplified by Idel’s overemphasis on the cultural impact made by the
Christian writers. While Idel is being somewhat vague with regard to qualifying this
criterion, he seems to suggest that in order to establish a continuous trend we must
have evidence of writers referencing previous authors and thus establishing a chain
of links which would demonstrate the trend. The sheer fact that you have some
Christians already dealing with Kabbalah prior to Pico suggests that the beginnings
of this phenomenon had already started to manifest. In addition, considering the
nature of this knowledge is inherently secretive, esoteric, and primarily transmitted
orally – it would be reasonable to suggest that the phenomenon was much larger
than written records imply. Moreover, by qualifying the need for the Jewish ele-
ments to be incorporated into the Christian circle, Idel seems to deemphasize the
pre-existing intimate relationship that already exists between the two belief systems.
For example, it could be argued that the Christian faith’s reliance on the Old Tes-

75
Liebes, Studies, 143. Liebes’s argument goes against that of Scholem and his pro-
minent student Isaiah Tishby who argued that Heredia actually falsified his quotes from the
Zohar, see Ibid.
76
Scholem, “Beginnings,” 26.
77
Liebes, Studies, 142.
78
Idel, “Introduction,” vi.
79
Ibid., vii.
Distorted Transmission of Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah 245

tament gives it a certain pedigree which increases its veracity. The fact that Chris-
tian tenets are often drawn from Judaism reduces the efficacy of Idel’s criteria as
it does not seem to be a useful delineating factor. Moreover, in contrast, one may
argue that in order to establish their own unique brand, it served the Christian
writers, at the outset of the Kabbalah trend, to maintain the Jewish elements as
separate so that the contrasting link to the older tradition may seem more pro-
minent.
As we can see, it would appear that Idel is using Pico as a type of a prototype
that exemplifies a Christian kabbalist. Thus, by design, any person that comes prior
to Pico would automatically be excluded from being classified as a Christian kab-
balist. In other words, Idel’s criteria takes the features of the later phenomenon we
call today as Christian Kabbalah as exemplified by Pico and even his prominent
student Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522),80 and then anachronistically apply them
as requisites to earlier stages of the trend.
With respect to the Franciscans, according to Scholem’s criteria – if they were
in fact provided tutelage in Kabbalah by Abulafia – they would qualify as Christian
kabbalists. Moreover, Hames’s argument about Ramon Llull’s method of acquiring
kabbalistic knowledge could be augmented by a further investigation into Llull’s
close ties to the Friars which may have allowed him direct access to kabbalistic
knowledge as well. While this research is beyond the scope of this present study,
given the preliminary evidence presented in this paper, a new line of inquiry into
the presence of Abulafia’s influence in Llull’s work is merited.81

Conclusion
In this paper we have seen how a comparative analysis between Abulafia’s writings
and secondary works which distorted the original text could have far reaching impli-
cations. As we have seen, the mere addition of the word ‘apostates’ by the author of
Sefer ha-Pli’ah raised many questions about the identity of Abulafia’s students in Gan
Na’ul. This has led us to the time Abulafia spent twenty-eight days with the Fran-
ciscans and by examining the textual clues we have seen that Abulafia may have in
fact taught the Friars his unique approach to Kabbalah. This, in turn, raises the pos-

80
Reuchlin was the author of the two most influential Christian works engaging in Jewish
Kabbalah – De Verbo Mirifico (The Miracle-Working Word) published in 1494 and De Arte
Cabbalistica (The Art of Kabbalah) which was published more than twenty years later in 1517.
81
Abulafia’s influence in Ramon Llull’s works is currently contested in the academy. For
example, in “Ramon Llull and Ecstatic Kabbalah,” Moshe Idel argues that the similar, but not
identical, connection between Llull and Abulafia’s systems, which was seemingly observed
in Pico’s Apologia, is coincidental as Idel provides alternative sources for Llull’s inspiration,
including sources which were used by Abulafia.
246 John MacMurphy

sibility that the people whom Abulafia admonishes in his work for finding Christo-
logical content in the Old Testament are in fact those same Franciscans. We then
examined the scholarly implications of this with relation to qualifying the origins of
Christian Kabbalah. And, while Scholem’s definition seems to embrace the Friars as
kabbalists, Idel’s overly restrictive category dismisses this notion.
The far reaching influence of Sefer ha-Pli’ah spanning across Central and Eastern
Europe, would have no doubt affected many kabbalistic schools, including the
Lurianic fellowship, Sabtai Sevi and his disciples, and especially the Hasidim move-
ment of the Baal Shem Tov. While this paper served as the first initial step toward
understanding the implications of the distorted transmission of Abulafia’s works,
further research is needed to examine how the alterations in the text affected the
recipients of this knowledge directly.

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The Authors

MAŁGORZATA ALICJA DULSKA

PhD candidate, Jagellonian University, Cracow, Poland
<[email protected]>

NADEŽDA ELEZOVIĆ
PhD candidate, University of Zadar; University of Rijeka, Croatia
<[email protected]>

KAROLINA MARIA HESS

PhD candidate, Jagellonian University, Cracow; University of Silesia, Poland
<[email protected]>

JOHN McMURPHY
PhD candidate, Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents
(HHP), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
<[email protected]>

MICHELE OLZI
PhD candidate, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Varese-Como, Italy
<[email protected]>

ÁRON ORBÁN
ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary
<[email protected]>

SPYROS PETRITAKIS
PhD candidate, University of Crete, Greece
<[email protected]>

RAFAŁ T. PRINKE
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
<[email protected]>

NOEL PUTNIK
Alumnus of the Central European University, Budapest; Belgrade, Serbia
<[email protected]>

249
250

NEMANJA RADULOVIĆ
University of Belgrade, Serbia
<[email protected]>

MÁRTON SZENTPÉTERI
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, Hungary
<[email protected]>

GYÖRGY E. SZÖNYI
University of Szeged; Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
<[email protected]>
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