Magician [Magus] – a person skilled in the mysterious and hidden art of magic, the ability to attain objectives, acquire knowledge, or perform works of wonder using supernatural or nonrational means.
Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena) through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. The term can also refer to the practices employed by a person asserting this influence, and to beliefs that explain various events and phenomena in such terms. In many cultures, magic is under pressure from, and in competition with, scientific and religious conceptual systems.1
Scientists have for centuries given us an insight into the underlying laws of the physical universe and revealed the hidden workings of the world in which we live. Cagliostro and his mystical contemporaries had a similar goal, but for them it was the unseen world that would reveal its mysteries. Inspired by ancient esoteric texts, such as The Corpus Hermeticum (also known as The Hermetica), they were convinced they could discover the secret workings of the universe directly from its Creator, by becoming at one with the Mind of God. Cagliostro also had a personal vision to fulfill, one that he believed would not only revive Freemasonry, as he then saw it, but would lead to the regeneration of the whole of mankind through moral and physical rejuvenation.
To set the scene for Cagliostro’s vision, we need to look further into the era he was born. The 1700s were aptly named the ‘Age of Enlightenment’. Long gone were the Dark Ages of the thousand years prior to the Renaissance, and the oppression of the pre-Restoration era was receding with every decade. The time for radical thinking and the nurturing of the wonders of science was blossoming. Philosophers and free thinkers were in abundance and they felt more liberated in their ability to voice their new and exciting doctrines. The Renaissance had been the literal rebirth of pagan philosophy and theology, but it had been overshadowed by the genuine fear of reprisal from members of the orthodox religion who were ardent subscribers to persecuting anyone who was deemed heretical. The term ‘pagan’ is not to be confused with the modern-day interpretation – it literally means ‘country dweller’ and those folk would have had their own religious concepts. It is a euphemism for those who held beliefs natural to their environment and culture; it is not an encompassing terminology for Wiccans, witches or neo-goddess worshippers as in contemporary use.
During the Renaissance all manner of radical philosophies blossomed, many rediscovered from the early years of civilization. Neo-Platonism emerged, underpinning all the nonrational aspects and can be considered as the umbrella under which the other elements operated. According to the philosophy of Neo-Platonism, the cosmos is an organic whole in which each part is connected to all the others. The borders between matter and spirit are indistinct and everything on the Earth is alive and imbued with the spirit of the Divine. Man is linked to the universe by a complex system of spiritual influences, forces and connections and an example of this is to be found in the practice of astrology and alchemy, both of which were prevalent at the time. The new thinkers believed that the ancients held the key to the pinnacles of spirituality and Renaissance man strove to recreate those teachings and apply them to the new age – it was quite literally a rebirth of wisdom.
The most obvious candidates for revival of their spiritual and moral philosophy were the ancient Egyptians. At the time they were the oldest known civilization and one that had been revered by many over the centuries. The primary interest lay in the practice of Hermetics; Cagliostro and his contemporaries themselves followed the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, the Greek name for Thoth, the ancient Egyptian man-become-god. Thoth was revered as a god of ancient Egypt around 3000 bc and is depicted in tomb and temple as the Ibis-headed scribe, messenger of the gods and recorder of the deeds of mankind. In the afterlife court, the Great Hall of Judgment, Thoth would be in attendance to judge whether the deceased had achieved spiritual wisdom and purity and could then accordingly ascribe a place in heaven. He was master of geometry, astronomy, architecture, medicine and religion and was said to have taught these to the Egyptians. It is thought that Thoth wrote a series of texts that would stand the test of time to be discovered by enlightened ones, who would then understand his teachings and be able to transcend themselves from mere mortals to the state of blissful immortality.
It is thanks to the Greeks, in part, that we still have these invaluable teachings, for along with others thirsting for knowledge in the 2nd and 3rd centuries bc, they transcribed the texts of many ancient sages and philosophers. During the third century bc the Greek ruler Ptolemy II instigated the establishing of the great libraries and museums of Alexandria. This magnificent city was founded by Alexander the Great, who was thought of by the Egyptians to be the Son of Ra (the ancient Egyptian Sun god), basically a leader and Pharaoh by divine right. It was to this city of learning that earnest travellers from all over the world flocked to quench their thirst for Egyptian knowledge. Men and women of all religions met to discuss philosophy, mythology and theology and the well-known library at Alexandria was stocked with nigh on half a million scrolls, documenting some of the most important information mankind would ever see. Treatises on Plato, Pythagoras, Buddhism, ancient Egyptian religion, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, astrology, geometry, the Greek myths and very early Christianity were studied and discussed; never before had there been such a hub of knowledge.
The Greeks identified Thoth with their own god Hermes, also a messenger of the gods and the guide of souls in the underworld. In order to distinguish the Egyptian Hermes from their own, they called him Hermes Trismegistus meaning ‘Thrice-Great’. It was his collective written knowledge that became Corpus Hermeticum or The Hermetica. This awesome text is perhaps one of the most important spiritual documents ever to have been found, for it indicates how men may transcend themselves and become as gods. A beautiful and poetic text, it describes how Thoth, through his becoming at one with the mind of god (Nous), witnesses the creation of the world and understands the natural law of the universe.
Unfortunately Alexandria’s centre of learning was soon to be no more; with the advent of the Roman Empire came intolerance to other religions or forms of worship. Heretics, or those going against the doctrine of the Church, were killed. Libraries and museums were sacked, and the scrolls, papyri and tablets destroyed. Pagan temples were defaced and shut down and book burning became the order of the day. No longer would there be tolerance and free thinking. Ancient Egypt was dead; the Roman Empire was divided into the Western and Eastern Empires. Reunited by Constantine, they divided once more upon his death, the Western Empire gradually collapsed under Germanic invasion and the last emperor was overthrown in ad 476. The Dark Ages descended in the Western world but meanwhile the Eastern Empire continued to thrive under Christian rulers until the 8th-century Islamic conquests weakened their hold. Not until the 16th century would the ancient spiritual doctrines once more re-emerge in Europe with the Renaissance or ‘rebirth’ of radical thought.
Luckily transcriptions of The Hermetica had travelled out of Egypt when the scholars fled to avoid the Christian onslaught and over the centuries made an impact on various religions both orthodox and nonorthodox. Five hundred years after the fall of the libraries at Alexandria, followers of the Muslim faith created an empire of learning. Philosophy, religion and science were brought together and in Baghdad, at the beginning of the 9th century, the first ever university was created. It was aptly named the House of Wisdom and it was here that many of the early pagan texts were translated and secretly studied. Once again the texts of ancient Egypt were held in great veneration and The Hermetica was exalted into the highest position, becoming the secret inspiration for various offshoots of the Muslim religion. Some mystic Muslims, known as the Sufi, believed that their ancestry could be traced back to Hermes Trismegistus. The text itself was taken on as the holy book by the unorthodox sect, the Harranian Sabians.
However, once again religious orthodoxy was about to rear its ugly head. Just like the Christians, the Muslims were beginning to call for strict observance to their doctrine and intolerance to other religions was mounting. Heretics were to be punished and they found a perfect example in the Sufi philosopher Yahya Suhrawardi (1155–91) who had dedicated his life linking the ‘original religion’ to that of Islam. According to authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy,2 Suhrawardi believed that in ancient times there had been a single doctrine that had been revealed to Thoth and that this had been passed down through the generations of sages directly to the Sufi mystic Al Hallaj (c.858–922).3 This did not impress the orthodox clerics and, like Al Hallaj before him, Suhrawardi was executed as a heretic.
Still largely unheard of today unless you happen to be an Egyptologist or a student of the esoteric, The Hermetica has been handed down through the ages to those who had the spirit to understand its immense teachings. During the 1400s an agent of Cosimo de Medici had been commissioned to seek out and obtain ancient sacred texts and in 1460 he brought back a copy of The Hermetica. The Hermetic revival in the Renaissance can be traced to a Latin translation of 1471 entitled De Postate et Sapientia Dei by Marsilio Ficino (1433–99), who was a member of the de Medici court. It was during this period that interest in the life of the Pharaohs and their temple priests was coming to the fore. Obsessed by symbols, the hieroglyphs used by the ancients fascinated the Renaissance thinkers and they believed that the Egyptians had used them as a secret means of communing with the occult world. This was entirely in line with Neo-Platonic thought and it became a challenge to attempt to break the ‘code’ of the ancients. This in itself fuelled the movement known as Hermeticism.
Hermeticism is wide in its scope and contains various trains of thought, including the concepts of cause and effect, reincarnation, duality and the central maxim ‘as above, so below’. It is a complex philosophy and one that remains open to interpretation by the individual. It had, or has, no dogma; there is no ‘head office’, no official detailed or accepted beliefs – however, it is primarily panentheist (all-in-God), that there is one god, one great cause – the initiator of the universe, to whom the whole world and mankind was attributed, all living things created by and therefore perceived as having a divine spark. It is a beautiful concept and one which many have readily accepted as a companion to Freemasonry over the centuries; its lack of dogma and a belief in a creator being sits comfortably with the views held by Masons. Could there be more to the origins of Freemasonry than most people think? So what was this vision that not only spurred Cagliostro on, but was first received by Hermes, the man, during his direct meditations with the Creator of the universe? During his teachings with the Mind of God, Hermes was initiated into the mysteries of creation and it was then he received his divine mission to become a spiritual guide for mankind. Only through the wisdom of the ‘Nous’ (the Greek term for the ‘mind of god’) could those who walk in darkness be brought into the light. This, we believe, was what Cagliostro felt was his mission also; he often talked of bringing the light into seekers’ lives and called himself the ‘Friend of Mankind’.
The beginning of the vision of Hermes is described as follows, taken from an early translation of The Hermetica, ‘The Second Book’ called ‘Poimandres’. 4
Hermes begins to meditate:
My Thoughts being once seriously busied about the things that are, and my Understanding lifted up, all my bodily Senses being exceedingly holden back, as it is with them that are very heavy of sleep, by reason either of fullness of meat, or of bodily labour.
He then sees a figure and hears a voice ask him what he wants:
Me thought I saw one of an exceeding great stature, and an infinite greatness call me by my name, and say unto me, ‘What wouldest thou Hear and See? or what wouldest thou Understand, to Learn, and Know!’ Then said I, ‘Who art Thou?’
‘I am,’ quoth he, ‘Poimandres, the mind of the Great Lord, the most Mighty and absolute Emperor: I know what thou wouldest have, and I am always present with thee.’ Then said I, ‘I would Learn the Things that art, and Understand the Nature of them and know God.’
‘How?’ said he.
I answered, ‘That I would gladly hear.’
Then he, ‘Have me again in thy mind, and whatsoever thou wouldst learn, I will teach thee.’
He then goes on to describe a mystical vision showing the creation of the universe, which would become the foundation for all his teachings. At first he sees a ‘gentle and joyous’, all-encompassing divine light, which as he continues to watch, generates a dark swelling water.
When he had thus said, he was changed in his Idea or Form and straightway in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened unto me: and I saw an infinite Sight, all things were become light, both sweet and exceedingly pleasant; and I was wonderfully delighted in the beholding it.
He is later informed that the light is the ‘Mind of God’ and the darkness of the water is the unlimited creative potential from which the universe will manifest. This is similar to the theory of the Big Bang, the modern scientific creation theory whereby an explosion of light and energy slowly shapes itself to become the void that is space, from where planets, suns and moons and life forms are eventually born. Hermes hears from this turbulent dark water a terrifying cry, reminiscent of the pain of birth.
But after a little while, there was a darkness made in part, coming down obliquely, fearful and hideous, which seemed unto me to be changed into a Certain Moist Nature, unspeakably troubled, which yielded a smoke as from fire; and from whence proceeded a voice unutterable, and very mournful, but inarticulate, insomuch that it seemed to have come from the Light. From the Light is then issued a Word which calms the maelstrom.
The word is ‘order’, and is the underlying structure for God’s creation.
Then from that Light, a certain Holy Word joined itself unto Nature, and out flew the pure and unmixed Fire from the moist Nature upward on high; it is exceeding Light, and Sharp, and Operative withal. And the Air which was also light, followed the Spirit and mounted up to Fire (from the Earth and the Water) insomuch that it seemed to hang and depend upon it. And the Earth and the Water stayed by themselves so mingled together, that the Earth could not be seen for the Water, but they were moved, because of the Spiritual Word that was carried upon them.
The Divine (Poimandres) then asks of Hermes whether he understands what he has just seen.
Then said Poimandres unto me, ‘Dost thou understand this Vision, and what it meaneth?’
‘I shall know,’ said I.
Then said he, ‘I am that Light, the Mind, thy God, who am before that Moist Nature that appeareth out of Darkness, and that Bright and Lightful Word from the Mind is the Son of God.’
This piece is probably the most quoted from The Hermetica. It is a very important and basic system of connecting with the Divine and one which almost all religions incorporate in the form of meditation and prayer.
The Hermetica would have been studied by millions of other seekers before Count Cagliostro first discovered its wisdom. In fact the list of the most noted students before and after him reads like a metaphysical, scientific, artistic and philosophical Who’s Who (see Appendix One). From its beginning in Egypt, this remarkable text has been passed down from society to society becoming absorbed into orthodox and fringe religions along the way. From Egypt the text passed through Chaldea (where it is believed the founders of astrology originated); from here some of the wisdom was absorbed into the Orphic Hymns of Orpheus, which then inspired Zoroaster, Pythagoras and Plato.
Over the centuries Hermeticism blended itself into many of the dogmas and religions in true syncretic form; its framework of magic, alchemy and astrology was bolstered by the Jewish Cabala and Christian mysticism. So when it was ‘rediscovered’ during the Renaissance it rekindled a revolution in alchemy and once more metamorphosed into a different form with the incorporation of the magical influences of magicians such as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), Paracelsus (1493–1541) and John Dee (1527–1608/9). Although the text lives on, it has been changed many times either through poor translation or misunderstanding, but within it we can salvage what remains of true Egyptian teaching, something we should never underestimate. The beauty and wisdom of ancient Egypt has slipped into every spiritual teaching known to man. One example is that of the Christian Psalm 104, which holds many characteristics of one of the Hymns to the Aten dedicated to the monotheistic deity worshipped in Egypt during the reign of Akhenaton (c.1351–4 BC). It is believed that Jewish emigrants sang the hymns to keep up their spirits, the spirit of the Aten walking with them out of Egypt.
THE EMERALD TABLET
The teachings of Hermes Trismegistus have always played a huge part in the lives of the alchemists, along with the simple 13-line script engraved on a piece of emerald. Known as The Emerald Tablet, Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or the Secret of Hermes, it is an ancient Hermetic text, also believed to have been scribed by Hermes. It reveals a similar message to that of Poimandres, the creation of the world and the four elements by the Divine and the mysteries of the micro/macrocosm. However, it also purports to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations – the first matter or the philosopher’s stone, the holy grail of all alchemists, and the means of turning base metal into gold and for producing the elixir of life.
The translation reads:
It is true, without any error, and it is the sum of truth; that which is above is also that which is below, for the performance of the wonders of a certain one thing, and as all things arise from one Stone, so also they were generated from one common Substance, which includes the four elements created by God. And among other miracles the said Stone is born of the First Matter. The sun is its Father, the moon its Mother, the wind bears it in its womb, and it is nursed by the earth. Itself is the Father of the whole earth, and the whole potency thereof. If it be transmuted into earth, then the earth separates from the fire that which is most subtle from that which is hard, operating gently and with great artifice. Then the Stone ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends from heaven to earth, and receives the choicest influences of both heaven and earth. If you can perform this you have the glory of the world, and are able to put to flight all diseases, and to transmute all metals. It overcomes Mercury, which is subtle, and penetrates all hard and solid bodies. Hence it is compared with the world. Hence I am called Hermes, having the three parts of the whole world of philosophy.
Newton’s translation
Sir Isaac Newton studied the Tablet’s wisdom and a translation made by him was found in his papers relating to alchemy:
1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
2. That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of only one thing.
3. And as all things have been & arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother.
5. The wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.
6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.
8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior & inferior.
9. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
10. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.
11a. So was the world created.
12. From this are & do come admirable adaptations where of the means (or process) is here in this.
13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
Commentary on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes – The Glory of the World
Many commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Johannes Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Albertus Magnus, and as seen above, Isaac Newton. This mysterious text has survived in our collective unconscious to the present day; its influence has been seen in the work of Carl Jung and most recently in the book and film, The Secret.
The following text is a commentary on the Emerald Tablet which was included in the text Musaeum Hermeticum of 1625, first published in German as Gloria Mundi sonsten Paradeiss Taffel, Frankfurt, 1620.
Hermes is right in saying that our Art is true, and has been rightly handed down by the Sages; all doubts concerning it have arisen through false interpretation of the mystic language of the philosophers. But, since they are loth to confess their own ignorance, their readers prefer to say that the words of the Sages are imposture and falsehood. The fault really lies with the ignorant reader, who does not understand the style of the Philosophers. If, in the interpretation of our books, they would suffer themselves to be guided by the teaching of Nature, rather than by their own foolish notions, they would not miss the mark so hopelessly. By the words which follow: ‘That which is above is also that which is below’, he describes the Matter of our Art, which, though one, is divided into two things, the volatile water which rises upward, and the earth which lies at the bottom, and becomes fixed. But when the reunion takes place, the body becomes spirit, and the spirit becomes body, the earth is changed into water and becomes volatile; the water is transmuted into body, and becomes fixed. When bodies become spirits, and spirits bodies, your work is finished, for then that which rises upward and that which descends downward become one body. Therefore the Sage says that that which is above is that which is below, meaning that, after having been separated into two substances (from being one substance), they are again joined together into one substance, i.e., an union which can never be dissolved, and possesses such virtue and efficacy that it can do in one moment what the Sun cannot accomplish in a thousand years. And this miracle is wrought by a thing which is despised and rejected by the multitude. Again, the Sage tells us that all things were created, and are still generated, from one first substance and consist of the same elementary material; and in this first substance God has appointed the four elements, which represent a common material into which it might perhaps be possible to resolve all things. Its development is brought about by the distillation of the Sun and Moon. For it is operated upon by the natural heat of the Sun and Moon, which stirs up its internal action, and multiplies each thing after its kind, imparting to the substance a specific form. The soul, or nutritive principle, is the earth which receives the rays of the Sun and Moon, and therewith feeds her children as with mother’s milk. Thus the Sun is the father, the Moon is the mother, the Earth the nurse – and in this substance is that which we require. He who can take it and prepare it is truly to be envied. It is separated by the Sun and Moon in the form of a vapour, and collected in the place where it is found. When Hermes adds that ‘the air bears it in its womb, the Earth is its nurse, the whole world its Father’, he means that when the substance of our Stone is dissolved, then the wind bears it in its womb, i.e., the air bears up the substance in the form of water, in which is hid fire, the soul of the Stone, and fire is the Father of the whole world. Thus, the volatile substance rises upward, while that which remains at the bottom, is the ‘whole world’ (seeing that our Art is compared to a ‘small world’). Hence Hermes calls fire the father of the whole world, because it is the Sun of our Art, and air, Moon, and water ascend from it; the Earth is the nurse of the Stone, i.e., when the Earth receives the rays of the Sun and Moon, a new body is born, like a new foetus in the mother’s womb. The Earth receives and digests the light of Sun and Moon, and imparts food to its foetus day by day, till it becomes great and strong, and puts off its blackness and defilement, and is changed to a different colour. This, ‘child’, which is called ‘our daughter’, represents our Stone, which is born anew of the Sun and Moon, as you may easily see, when the spirit, or the water that ascended, is gradually transmuted into the body, and the body is born anew, and grows and increases in size like the foetus in the mother’s womb. Thus the Stone is generated from the first substance, which contains the four elements; it is brought forth by two things, the body and the spirit; the wind bears it in its womb, for it carries the Stone upward from Earth to heaven, and down again from heaven to Earth. Thus the Stone receives increase from above and from below, and is born a second time, just as every other foetus is generated in the maternal womb; as all created things bring forth their young, even so does the air, or wind, bring forth our Stone. When Hermes adds, ‘Its power, or virtue, is entire, when it is transmuted into earth’, he means that when the spirit is transmuted into the body, it receives its full strength and virtue. For as yet the spirit is volatile, and not fixed, or permanent. If it is to be fixed, we must proceed as the baker does in baking bread. We must impart only a little of the spirit to the body at a time, just as the baker only puts a little leaven to his meal, and with it leavens the whole lump. The spirit, which is our leaven, in like fashion transmutes the whole body into its own substance. Therefore the body must be leavened again and again, until the whole lump is thoroughly pervaded with the power of the leaven. In our Art the body leavens the spirit, and transmutes it into one body, and the spirit leavens the body, and transmutes it into one spirit. And the two, when they have become one, receive power to leaven all things, into which they are injected, with their own virtue. The Sage continues: ‘If you gently separate the earth from the water, the subtle from the hard, the Stone ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends from heaven to earth, and receives its virtue from above and from below. By this process you obtain the glory and brightness of the whole world. With it you can put to flight poverty, disease, and weariness; for it overcomes the subtle mercury, and penetrates all hard and firm bodies.’ He means that all who would accomplish this task must separate the moist from the dry, the water from the earth. The water, or fire, being subtle, ascends, while the body is hard, and remains where it is. The separation must be accomplished by gentle heat, i.e., in the temperate bath of the Sages, which acts slowly, and is neither too hot nor too cold. Then the Stone ascends to heaven, and again descends from heaven to earth. The spirit and body are first separated, then again joined together by gentle coction, of a temperature resembling that with which a hen hatches her eggs. Such is the preparation of the substance, which is worth the whole world, whence it is also called a ‘little world’. The possession of the Stone will yield you the greatest delight, and unspeakably precious comfort. It will also set forth to you in a typical form the creation of the world. It will enable you to cast out all disease from the human body, to drive away poverty, and to have a good understanding of the secrets of Nature. The Stone has virtue to transmute mercury into gold and silver, and to penetrate all hard and firm bodies, such as precious stones and metals. You cannot ask a better gift of God than this gift, which is greater than all other gifts. Hence Hermes may justly call himself by the proud title of ‘Hermes Trismegistus’, who holds the three parts of the whole world of wisdom.
You can imagine how the highly creative minds of the 17th century and beyond would have been desperate to unravel the mysteries of the ancients, to know the wisdom of the whole universe, which according to ancient teaching comprised of three parts – Alchemy, Astrology and Theurgy.
Alchemy
Alchemy – Al-Kemet – was believed to have originated in ancient Egypt as coming from Kemet which was the original name of Egypt. It is the investigation of nature, along with a philosophical and spiritual practice which combines elements of chemistry, physics, astrology, metallurgy and medicine. Inspired by 17th- and 18th-century engravings, the word ‘alchemist’ conjures up mental images of robed sages in antiquarian laboratories attempting to transmute lead or other base metals into gold, and indeed this was a large part of it. This process could only be achieved by securing the fabled philosopher’s stone (philosophi lapis), a mythical substance that was supposedly able to make the transformation. The philosopher’s stone could also be used as, or to help create, the ‘elixir of life’– a liquid reputed to make someone appear younger or even to achieve a state of immortality.
During the Renaissance period, the search for the philosopher’s stone was a major preoccupation for many, particularly those with the disposable income to be able to either set up their own laboratory or pay an alchemist to do it for them. Many dignitaries and members of royalty were the official sponsors of anyone who proclaimed an ability to change lead into gold or produce the much desired youth elixir; something that Cagliostro was reputed to be rather good at. This may appear at first glance to imply that the already rich were greedy for yet more riches and a rather selfish desire for immortality over the less fortunate. But alchemy was much more than a materialistic ideal; it was a deeply mystical and philosophical practice to improve the spiritual state of mankind.
The figurative representation of the alchemist tucked away in his laboratory playing with metals and various other elements, is not much more than a simple visual allegory. Behind the quaintly romantic feel is a quest for spiritual perfection – the transmutation of the metals is symbolic of the state of change required in the human to transcend our base nature and transform into a purer, higher state of being, the moral equivalent of gold. Once again an esoteric practice mirrors that of Freemasonry or vice versa. In the ritual, a rough and a smooth ashlar (block of stone) are used to demonstrate the transformation required for the candidate. The rough ashlar shows the candidate as a non-Mason, who then through the teachings of Freemasonry is able to chip away at the rough edges of his nature to become representative of the smooth ashlar – a perfect square, a perfected human being.
Alchemists from time immemorial have attempted to tap into the hidden spiritual forces that connect everything, to move from the microcosm to the macrocosm. When this was understood, the alchemist could then potentially be able to manipulate these forces for the goodness of mankind. Spiritual perfection was a highly desirable aim because in achieving it, not only would the successful alchemist become as one with the divine essence that imbued everything, he would through his own improvement improve the spiritual wellbeing of humankind.
However, this process was something that needed to be achieved with great secrecy. It was believed that the search for the philosopher’s stone could only be undertaken by individuals or groups of adepts skilled in the mystic arts, and secrecy was necessary as the majority of people were simply incapable of understanding the principles of alchemy. The wisdom of the ancients was intended for the pure of heart who would not seek it solely for their own selfinterest. Secrecy was also necessary, for misunderstanding of the alchemists’ work could also lead to persecution. This preservation of the art led to a large number of secret societies throughout 18th-century Europe wherein the knowledge was contained so that it would not become diluted by the common practice of the populace.
The alchemists and other magicians believed that symbols were keys to the unseen, being able to both reveal and conceal the divine essence. As their meanings could not be successfully put into words, the pictorial references were handed down from generation to generation – so not only did the alchemists meet in secret but they taught and learnt in secret, with signs and sigils that ordinary folk could not decipher. Not just a secret society, but a society with secrets.
Alchemy became so popular that decrees were issued by various authorities to ban its use. The earliest ban had been in 144 bc in China. Diocletian banned the production of silver and gold in the 3rd-century ad supposedly out of fear ‘lest the opulence of the Egyptians should inspire them [the people] with confidence to rebel against the empire’. Almost a thousand years later, Pope John XXI (c.1215–77) issued a bull condemning the alchemists Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–74) and Roger Bacon (c.1214–94), amongst many others, for their heretical work. Aquinas was already dead but Bacon was imprisoned for 14 years. In the 14th century, Pope John XXII forbade the transmutation of base metals into gold. In 1403 King Henry IV banned alchemy in England, only allowing it to be performed under royal licence. The ban appeared to be a paradox stemming from the fear of production of real gold and the indignation invoked by the fake.
Astrology
Within the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, it is stated that the ancient Persian prophet Zoroaster was the first to comprehend the movements of the celestial bodies, and then passed on this knowledge to the rest of mankind. The Hermetics believed that the movements of the planets had meanings beyond that of their observable orbits – that although the heavenly bodies had an impact on the affairs of mankind, they merely influenced rather than dictated. This influence worked via a variety of occult forces, and knowledge of these forces and their associations allowed them to be manipulated, thereby offering insight and wisdom. This knowledge was not something to be exploited and rather than an individual obtaining an astrologer to draw up a personal horoscope, it was thought that by tapping into these spiritual forces, primarily through the practice of magic and alchemy, spiritual benefits could ideally be obtained for the whole of mankind as well as for the individual.
Theurgy
‘The Art of Divine Works’ – considered to be the practical aspect of alchemy, involving the use of magical ritual. During the Renaissance, magic was considered to be of two distinct types – black and white. Black magic or goetia was the attempt to communicate with and control demons and other evil spirits. If control was not possible, alliance would be the next best thing. Theurgy was the complete opposite, often described as ‘divine magic’. This was an attempt by the alchemist or magician to create an alliance with the divine spirits, such as angels, archangels and ultimately God. In modern times we would not categorize this as white magic for it involves the manipulation or coercion of spiritual forces and therefore borders on ‘grey’ magic. White magic could now be categorized as a purely connective relationship with God.
The use of ritual magic, theurgy, was the key by which alchemical endeavours were brought to fruition, the aim being to achieve ‘theosis’ or unity with the Godhead. This would bring about spiritual perfection for the magician and therefore achieve the Hermetic principle of spreading this beneficence to all of mankind.
These three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe – alchemy, astrology and theurgy – are often described by the Hermetists as the ‘operations’ of the Sun, the Moon and the stars. This is again reflected within Freemasonry, which also makes use of the symbols representing the three heavenly bodies.
THE INSPIRATION FOR CAGLIOSTRO’S MISSION
These teachings were to be the catalyst for Cagliostro, for along with his study of the Hermetic path he saw that there was something that reflected many of these ideals and values – Freemasonry. His love of Egypt (Hermetics), his desire for purity and the transformation of mankind, combined with Freemasonry was a potent force. If he could just amalgamate the three things that he felt were the key to the regeneration of humankind then he would be able to pass on these wonderful teachings for time immemorial. His vision was of a perfected world whereby all religions would be tolerated, wherein all men would be charitable to one another and that communion with the divine essence itself could be realized. The constitutions of Freemasonry mixed with a potent blend of esoterica and the result would be a spiritual utopia.
What an amazing task! What a dangerous notion. These things, as with alchemy and the occult sciences, should ideally have been kept secret. Ordinary people would not understand and so they were not really an issue, but the Church on the other hand understood far too much, and it was the one to be afraid of. Even in the 100 years after the Renaissance, it was not wise to digress too far from the path of orthodox religion and, although the Age of Enlightenment certainly brought about a new wave of thinkers, it was still prudent to be reasonably covert about your practices. However, there were several rather flamboyant characters that were already setting the stage for Cagliostro; a plethora of mystics, healers, alchemists and philosophers. One was the Count de St Germain, an enigmatic figure who also claimed that he was of an immortal nature.
Acording to one account, the Cagliostros paid a visit to the Count de St Germain. In his usual eccentric manner, St Germain arranged their meeting for the hour of two o’clock in the morning, at which time Cagliostro and Seraphina were to present themselves at the Count’s temple of mystery. The Count de St Germain was to be found sitting upon the altar, with two acolytes swinging golden censers at his feet. In the book Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers,5 published anonymously in 1815, the following is recorded as having occurred between the magicians:
The divinity bore upon his breast a diamond pentagram of almost intolerable radiance. A majestic statue, white and diaphanous, upheld on the steps of the altar a vase inscribed, ‘Elixir of Immortality’, while a vast mirror was on the wall, and before it a living being, majestic as the statue, walked to and fro. Above the mirror were these singular words – ‘Store House of Wandering Souls’. The most solemn silence prevailed in this sacred retreat, but at length a voice, which seemed hardly a voice, pronounced these words – ‘Who are you? Whence come you? What would you?’ Then the Count and Countess Cagliostro prostrated themselves, and the former answered after a long pause, ‘I come to invoke the God of the faithful, the Son of Nature, the Sire of Truth. I come to demand of him one of the fourteen thousand seven hundred secrets which are treasured in his breast, I come to proclaim myself his slave, his apostle, his martyr.’ The divinity did not respond, but after a long silence, the same voice asked – ‘What does the partner of thy long wanderings intend?’ ‘To obey and to serve,’ Seraphina answered. Simultaneously with her words, profound darkness succeeded the glare of light, uproar followed on tranquillity, terror on trust, and a sharp and menacing voice cried loudly – ‘Woe to those who cannot stand the tests.’ Husband and wife were immediately separated to undergo their respective trials, which they endured with exemplary fortitude and which are detailed in the text of their memoirs. When the romantic mummery was over, the two postulants were led back into the temple with the promise of admission to the divine mysteries. There a man mysteriously draped in a long mantle cried out to them – ‘Know ye that the Arcanum of our great art is the government of mankind, and that the one means to rule them is never to tell them the truth. Do not foolishly regulate your actions according to the rules of common sense; rather outrage reason and courageously maintain every unbelievable absurdity. Remember that reproduction is the palmary active power in nature, politics and society alike; that it is a mania with mortals to be immortal, to know the future without understanding the present, and to be spiritual while all that surrounds them is material.’
After this harangue the orator genuflected devoutly before the divinity of the temple and retired. At the same moment a man of gigantic stature led the countess to the feet of the immortal Count de St Germain who thus spoke: ‘Elected from my tendrest youth to the things of greatness, I employed myself in ascertaining the nature of veritable glory. Politics appeared to me nothing but the science of deception, tactics the art of assassination, philosophy the ambitious imbecility of complete irrationality; physics fine fancies about Nature and the continual mistakes of persons suddenly transplanted, into a country which is utterly unknown to them; theology the science of the misery which results from human pride; history the melancholy spectacle of perpetual perfidy and blundering. Thence I concluded that the statesman was a skilful liar, the hero an illustrious idiot, the philosopher an eccentric creature, the physician a pitiable and blind man, the theologian a fanatical pedagogue, and the historian a word monger. Then did I hear of the divinity of this temple. I cast my cares upon him, with my incertitudes and aspirations. When he took possession of my soul he caused me to perceive all objects in a new light; I began to read futurity. This universe so limited, so narrow, so desert, was now enlarged. I abode not only with those who are, but with those who were. He united me to the loveliest women of antiquity. I found it eminently delectable to know all without studying anything, to dispose of the treasures of the earth without the solicitations of monarchs, to rule the elements rather than men. Heaven made me liberal; I have sufficient to satisfy my taste; all that surrounds me is rich, loving, predestined.’
The illustrious Count de St Germain was often confused with being one and the same as Count Cagliostro; they were both reputed to have discovered and used the elixir of life and some say they were both known as the ‘Wandering Jew’, a figure from a medieval Christian myth (see page 88).
Cagliostro’s contemporaries were perhaps less colourful in appearance and manner but equally as immersed in the mysteries of the universe.
Martinez de Pasqually was reputed to have been born in 1727. His full name was Jacques de Livron Joachim de la Tour de la Casa Martinez de Pasqually. His Rite was cabalistic and Hermetic in its teachings, and was known as the Rite of Elected Cohens or Priests. It comprised the following grades:
1. Apprentice
2. Companion
3. Particular Master (corresponding to the three Craft degrees)
4. Grand Elect Master
5. Apprentice Cohen
6. Companion Cohen
7. Master Cohen
8. Grand Master Architect
9. Knight Commander
Pasqually’s work was theurgic and sought union with the Deity. Like Cagliostro, he used the ancient symbols and words and communed with the angelic beings.
According to Arthur Edward Waite:
Pasqually was born somewhere in the parish of Notre Dame, belonging to the diocese of Grenoble, but the date is unknown. He is first heard of in the year 1760 at Toulouse. He carried his strange Rite of Theurgic Priesthood from Toulouse to Bordeaux, from Bordeaux to Lyons, from Lyons to Paris, seeking its recognition everywhere at the centres of Grand Lodges and Chapters.6
In 1768 Pasqually settled in Paris, where he established the Sovereign Tribunal of the Rite. Learning that property had been bequeathed to him in the island of San Domingo, he decided to take up residence and he was not seen in Europe again. He established a Lodge in Port-au-Prince, and another in Lêogane. He continued to correspond with the lodges in France and they received in the following years more formulas for magical evocations and procedures that would be used in the higher degrees of the system. In 1773 Pasqually sent a ‘Répertoire général des noms et nombres en jonction avec les caractères et hièroglyphes’ to France. This was a general system to be employed in the invocation and evocation of spirits. In 1774 he constructed initiation rituals for women who wished to be admitted to the Order. He died in 1779 at Port-au-Prince.
One of Pasqually’s disciples in Paris was Louis Claude de St Martin, subsequently known as the ‘Unknown Philosopher’.
Louis-Claude Saint-Martin (1743–1803) was a French philosopher and occultist. It was when based at an army garrison in Bordeaux that he became a student of Pasqually. He left the army in 1771 to become a mystical preacher and he was welcomed around Europe for his sublime oration. He became involved with Jacob Boehme, the German Christian mystic and later translated many of his works into French. Saint-Martin was heavily influenced by Franz Mesmer and Emanuel Swedenborg. It is undecided as to whether Saint-Martin himself founded the Order of Martinists. This was an esoteric mystical tradition with an emphasis on meditation. They believed in Christ as ‘The Repairer’ who would enable individuals to realize a state of innocence such as existed before the Fall of Man. It is more likely that Saint-Martin’s disciples continued his teachings throughout Europe and when a young Parisian doctor called Gerard Encausse (later known as Papus) became acquainted with them that the Order became realized.
In 1884, along with some of his associates, Encausse established the Ordre Martiniste. The Order survived until the First World War when Papus died, as did many other leaders of the Order, on the battlefield fulfilling his duty as a doctor. A fragment of the Order remained and splintered into competing groups. The Second World War was almost as disastrous for them due to Hitler’s hatred of secret societies and orders, and many of the followers died in the concentration camps. Martinism still exists to this day and is a fast growing organization. Other societies that align themselves with Martinism are the Elus-Cohens (Pasqually’s society) and the Scottish Rectified Rite (Chevaliers Bénéficients de la Cité-Sainte – CBCS), originally a Masonic Rite of Strict Observance founded in the late 18th century by Jean-Baptiste Willermoz (1730–1824), a student of Pasqually and contemporary of Saint-Martin. The CBCS is still in existence today as a Masonic rite and as a rite open to women.
Friedrich Joseph Wilhelm Schroeder was a precursor of Cagliostro and a doctor and professor of pharmacology, who was born at Bielfeld, Prussia, on 19 March 1733. He devoted himself to chemistry, alchemy and occultism. In 1766, he founded a Chapter of True and Ancient Rose-Croix Masons at Marburburg. Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry describes him:
In 1779, he [Schroeder] organized in a lodge of Sarreburg a school or Rite, founded on magic, theosophy, and alchemy, which consisted of seven high degrees; four high degrees founded on the occult sciences being superadded to the original three Symbolic degrees. This Rite, called the ‘Rectified Rose-Croix’, was only practised by two lodges under the constitution of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg. Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque (p.183) calls him the Cagliostro of Germany, and Oliver terms him an adventurer. But it is perhaps more just that we should attribute to him a diseased imagination and misdirected studies than a bad heart or impure practices.
Franz Anton Mesmer was born 23 May 1734. At the age of 9 he entered a monastery school and at 15 won a scholarship. When he was 18, he obtained a place at the University of Ingolstadt, where he studied the writings of Paracelsus and obtained the degree of doctor of philosophy. He studied law for a while in Vienna, but his interest in Paracelsus fired him with a determination to become a doctor and he took up the study of medicine under Dr van Swieten, one of the foremost physicians of the day.
According to a Theosophist Society lecture, Dr Mesmer was ‘deeply fond of music, playing with skill the piano and cello’. His home was soon the meeting place of the music lovers of Vienna, Haydn and Mozart becoming daily visitors. When the Director of the Imperial Opera refused to present an opera by Mozart on the grounds that he (then 12 years old) was too young to compose an opera, Dr Mesmer took pity on the young artist and presented Mozart’s first work to the public in his own garden theatre. Mozart acknowledged this service by inserting a complimentary reference to Dr Mesmer in his Cosi fan Tutte. In 1776 an important event occurred in Dr Mesmer’s life. One day a stranger appeared at his door, introducing himself as the Count de St Germain.
‘You must be the gentleman whose anonymous letter I received yesterday,’ Dr Mesmer remarked as he took his caller into his study. ‘Yes,’ St Germain replied, ‘I am he.’ ‘You wish to speak with me on the subject of magnetism?’ Dr Mesmer inquired. ‘I do,’ St Germain replied. ‘That is why I came to Vienna.’ Dr Mesmer then told his guest of his magnetic experiments, confessing that he was still confused about the higher aspects of magnetism. ‘Who can enlighten me?’ he asked. ‘I can,’ said the Count, with the assurance, ‘it is my duty to do so.’ The conversation which took place on that memorable afternoon lasted for several hours.7
The scientific work of Mesmer is discussed by all his biographers but his occult involvement is not so well known. Mesmer was not only a Mason, but was also an initiated member of two occult fraternities, the Fratres Lucis and the Brotherhood of Luxor. But his healing work will be his most remembered mission; he almost gave up everything in the desire to treat the sick and injured, turning his house into a hospital of sorts. However, his methods were curious and opened him to much derision and humiliation.
He first began to use magnets on his patients, but after his talk with Saint Germain, he moved on to the use of ‘animal magnetism’. ‘Animal magnetism’ according to Theosophical teachings is:
… a fluid, a correlation of atoms on metaphysical planes, which exudes from every human being in a greater or less degree. Some people have the power to emit this fluid consciously, through their eyes and fingertips, and most of the healing ‘miracles’ of history are based upon this psychophysical power in man.
Mesmer’s unorthodox ways caused him much grief and he left Austria for France where he received the patronage of the aristocracy, not least that of Marie Antoinette. But this did not avert further suspicion and in 1784 he was denounced as an impostor and left France to work as an unknown healer, undisturbed in Frauenfeld:
a little village about twenty miles from Zurich. There he continued his research work and gave free treatments to his humble peasant neighbours who had never even heard of the famous Dr Mesmer.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian and Christian mystic. He was well known as an inventor and scientist. Aged 56 he entered into a spiritual phase, and began to have intense dreams and visions. This brought about a spiritual revelation in him, whereby he claimed he had been appointed by God to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that, with divine aid, he could freely visit heaven and hell and talk with angels, demons and other spirits. In the last 28 years of his life, he wrote and published 18 theological works and several that remained unpublished.
He was a talented psychic and one aspect of Swedenborg’s writing that is often discussed is his ideas of marriage. Although a bachelor all his life, that did not prevent him from writing in depth about the subject. ‘A righteous marriage,’ he argues, ‘is intended to be a continuous spiritual refinement of both parties, and such a union would be maintained in the afterlife.’8 He saw marriage as being fundamentally about union – of wisdom, physically represented in the man, and of love, physically represented in the female.
Faith is a union of the two qualities of reason (represented by the man) and intention (represented by the female). And, similarly, the wisdom of God has its corresponding part in the love from the Church.
Swedenborg was sharply opposed to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as three separate persons; he claimed that the three were merely different aspects of the one God. He felt that Divinity was a union within one person that could not be divided. He also believed that salvation was only possible through the conjunction of faith and charity in a person. For Swedenborg the physical world was a result of spiritual cause, the laws of nature reflecting the spiritual laws and the material world reflecting its spiritual counterpart. This is reflective of the Hermetic principle ‘as above, so below’. His ideas had an enormous effect on many, including William Blake, W B Yeats, etc. It was also the influence of his teachings and qualities that went towards the founding of the Masonic First Rite of Swedenborg, by Dom Antoine Joseph Pernety (1716–96).
Dom Antoine Joseph Pernety It is possibly Pernety who was the inspiration for Cagliostro’s early forays into Egyptian tradition and ritual. Pernety was a French Hermetic alchemist and also, interestingly enough, a Benedictine monk from the Abbey of St Germain des Prés in Paris. He was known for founding a Masonic rite entitled the Hermetic Ritual of Perfection which had originally been used by an esoteric Masonic sect called the Illuminati of Avignon.
Unfortunately, Pernety was persecuted by the Jesuits and had to leave Avignon for Berlin, where he was placed under the protection of King Frederick II. Frederick was a well-known supporter of Freemasonry, having been initiated in 1738, and so afforded Pernety safety in the position of curator of the Berlin Library. Whilst in Berlin, Pernety practised a form of Hermetic/ Egyptian talismanic and astral magic and performed séances for the German aristocracy, for whom he reputedly invoked the power of spirits and angels. Cagliostro made the acquaintance of Pernety whilst staying with some Masonic patrons in Leipzig and it is likely that they shared many an evening conversing on the higher mystical arts.
It is also possible that during his travels, Cagliostro became acquainted with Prince Raimondo di Sangro (1710–71). Di Sangro, a Freemason and head of a Neoplolitan Lodge, was excommunicated by the Catholic Church for his Masonic activities (later revoked by Benedict XIV) but he was also a master alchemist. During Cagliostro’s interviews with the Inquisition interrogators, it is recorded that he had been taught by ‘a Prince in Naples who had a great passion for chemistry’. The Holy Fathers did not believe him, but later rumination has provided the idea that di Sangro was that Prince.
It has to be understood that in the libraries of these scholars and magicians were probably also copies of the ancient magical texts such as the Lesser and Greater Key of Solomon, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosphy and the works of Paracelsus and other great alchemists and theurgists.
It is also very pertinent that during the 1770s, Germany was a hotbed of secret societies and Masonic orders, including one known as the African Architects. This was reputed to have been founded by Frederick von Koppen, who was also believed to have written a peculiar Masonic text called the Crata Repoa. This was a work purporting to contain authentic rituals used by the ancient Egyptian priests during initiations within the great pyramids. These rituals are now thought to have been inspired by Jean Terrasson’s Masonic novel The Life of Sethos published in 1731, which included large amounts of information gleaned from Greek texts relating to the mysteries of Egypt. It is likely that Cagliostro was familiar not only with the novel but with the rituals then incorporated into various Masonic Lodges throughout France during the mid-1700s.
When putting the life and work of Cagliostro into perspective, we must remember that occultists and mystics were reasonably common in an era where new discoveries, both scientific and philosophical, were happening all the time. After the Renaissance there was a flood of free-thinkers, both of a romantic and scientific ilk. Perhaps nowadays we unfairly view true eccentricity as a mental illness not to be tolerated or encouraged, but we are happy to accept the still prevalent ‘New Age’ concepts as long as they fit in with our ideal view of the world. We effectively still have the charlatans and the fake mediums, the snake-oil salesmen, the badly trained healers offering divine healing and whispering of immortal life. We also, luckily, still have those that are properly trained and skilful in their divine mission, many of whom can be found in the Masonic Lodges of today.
THE MASTER MAGICIAN – PSYCHIC, ALCHEMIST AND HEALER
Cagliostro was by all accounts an accomplished psychic. According to several testimonies, the Count was considerably accurate in his predictions, sometimes extremely so. His mystical séances involved the use of a dove; a young boy or girl to act as the scryer (seer). This was exceptionally common, ‘doves’ having been employed by magicians for centuries; the young person being in a state of virgin innocence that was believed to afford pure communication with the spirit realm. These children would be trusted with the power to command the seven spirits that surround the divine throne and in turn preside over the seven planets. The boy or girl would then kneel in front of a globe of clear water which was placed on a table covered with a black cloth. Another method would be to use a vase filled with water and oil floated on the surface. Concentration on the liquid would invariably lead to a state of partial or complete hypnosis and their clairvoyant abilities would manifest. Cagliostro would make strange mesmeric passes and summon the angels to enter the receptacle, whereby the dove would observe the visions and describe events taking place at the time or ones that would soon come to pass. On occasions, Cagliostro would use a crystal sphere instead of the water globe or vase, and more rarely a metallic mirror which he carried with him. This was documented on the authority of Madame du Barry, the mistress of Louis XV. After Louis’ death, she spent her banishment from the court at her houses in Paris and Versailles. It was in Paris that she was introduced to Cagliostro by Cardinal de Rohan who, after discussing the subject of Mesmer and magnetism, declared:
My dear Madame … the magnetic séances of Mesmer are not to be compared with the magic of my friend the Comte de Cagliostro. He is a genuine Rosicrucian who holds communion with the elemental spirits. He is able to pierce the veil of the future by his necromantic power. Permit me to introduce him to you.
Intrigued by her friend’s proclamation, Madame du Barry excitedly invited the Count to visit her the next day. The following day, accompanied by the Cardinal, the Grand Copht (Copht or Copt meaning a native Egyptian Christian or one claiming descent from ancient Egypt) arrived resplendent in diamonds and carrying a jewel-encrusted walking stick. Aside from his spectacular, if not somewhat tasteless attire, Madame du Barry was struck by the power she felt emanating from the magician’s eyes and she realized that she was in the presence of no mere charlatan.
After discussing the question of sorcery, Cagliostro presented her with a leather case that he took from the breast pocket of his coat. He explained that it contained a magic mirror and that within she may see events from the past and future. He boldly hastened to add that – ‘If the vision be not to your liking, do not blame me. You use the mirror at your own risk.’
Madame du Barry proceeded to open the case and inside found a ‘metallic glass in an ebony frame ornamented with a variety of magical characters in gold and silver.’ The Count recited some cabalistic words and asked her to gaze into the mirror. As commanded, she obeyed and after a few moments fainted clean away! This was recorded in her memoirs, but she gave no clue as to what she had witnessed in the glass.
So what can we conclude from this? The Grand Copht obviously did his job well in as much that Madame du Barry certainly received a visitation in the mirror, but not one to her liking. Perhaps she saw a visitation of her own demise, her head upon the block of the guillotine and then held aloft by its blonde hair for public execration? The magic mirror has held many a vision over the centuries, whether in its glass form or as ink held in the palm of the hand as practised by the ancient Egyptians; whatever the case it seemed to have had a rather definite effect on the ageing Madame for she further writes that she refused to see Cagliostro under any circumstances after that fateful day.
Another description of Cagliostro’s hypnotic powers was recounted by the Baroness Henriette Louise d’Oberkirch (1754–1803), who upon first meeting him, was informed:
You lost your mother a long time ago. You hardly remember her. You were an only child. You have one daughter, and she will be an only child. You will have no more children.
Her attendant that day was, as before, Cardinal de Rohan. The Baroness was naturally miffed at the impertinence of Cagliostro’s remarks, but was persuaded to respond to him by the Cardinal. She reluctantly admitted the truth about herself, verifying his prediction about the number of children.
The Baroness was somewhat enchanted, although slightly perturbed, by the extravagant persona of Cagliostro and described him thus in Mémoires de la Baronne d’Oberkirch:
He was not absolutely handsome, but a more remarkable physiognomy has never been offered to my observation. He had a depth of look that was supernatural; I really cannot describe the expression of his eyes, they were at one time all aflame, and at another glazed like ice; he attracted and yet he repelled; he inspired fear and yet excited an insurmountable curiosity … It is certain if I had not dominated the desire which drew me towards the marvellous, I should myself, possibly, have become the dupe of this intriguer. You see the unknown is always so seductive! What I cannot disguise is that there was in Cagliostro an almost devilish power, he fascinated the mind, and he took power of the intellect.9
Cagliostro’s relationship with Cardinal de Rohan was a cordial one. Invited to stay at the Cardinal’s episcopal palace, he presented de Rohan with a diamond worth 20,000 livres, which he claimed to have manufactured. On this premise the Cardinal had a laboratory installed in the palace where Cagliostro could undertake his alchemical experiments. It was there that Cardinal de Rohan states that he saw Cagliostro transmute base metals into gold. Spiritual séances were also held at the palace and Baroness d’Oberkirch recorded in her memoirs that Cagliostro also predicted the death of Empress Marie Theresa of Austria.
He even foretold the hour at which she would expire. Cardinal de Rohan told it to me in the evening, and it was five days after that the news arrived.
His favour with Cardinal de Rohan continued and when he arrived in Paris in 1785, the Cardinal chose and even furnished a house for him. He was received by the Parisians with fervour; desperate for new sensations they welcomed him with open arms, his séances full of noblemen and aristocracy. The house in the Rue St Claude bustled with admirers and his mystical proceedings were held in the specially furnished Chambre Egyptienne. Adorned with concave mirrors, statues of Anubis, Isis and the Apis bull and the walls covered in hieroglyphs, it was to create the perfect ambiance for the materialization of the spirits. Cagliostro would appear robed in black silk with hieroglyphs embroidered in red. On his head he wore a turban of cloth ornamented with jewels, and a chain of emeralds lay on his breast, to which were attached scarabs and cabalistic symbols in all colours and metals. Around his waist he wore a sword with a handle shaped like a cross and draped from a red silken cord.
Around Paris he was hailed as a marvel; the sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828) carved a bust in marble from which bronze and plaster replicas were made and sold. Francesco Bartolozzi (1727–1815) made engravings on which the inscription read:
De l’ami des humains reconnaissez les traits
Tous ses jours sont marqués par de nouveaux bienfaits,
Il prolonge la vie, il secourt l’indigence,
Le plaisir d’être utile est seul sa recompense
Recognize the marks of the friend of humanity
Every day is marked by new beneficence,
He prolongs life and succors the indigent,
The pleasure of being useful is his only recompense.
These were poignant words and reflective of a very powerful and benevolent personality. However, his ‘do-gooding’ caused a stir amongst certain jealous nobles who, on witnessing his remarkable healing effects, decided to bring him down a peg or two by setting him up for a very public fall. According to one account,10 Cagliostro was before an audience of illustrious people and three beggars were presented to him asking for a cure to their respective ailments. One was deaf, another blind and the third suffering from a terrible skin condition. The Count blessed them and urged them on their way assuring them of their cure, at which point the three ‘beggars’ burst into laughter and threw back their hoods to reveal themselves as the young noblemen who had set out to humiliate him. The crowd began to jeer at Cagliostro, to which he responded solemnly declaring that ‘… if you are not deserving of what I give you, I can take it back!’ At that moment the three young men began to panic and cry out, for one had become deaf, the other blind and the third afflicted by painful skin lesions. A lesson learned and one that Cagliostro apparently felt was just, for he forgave them and restored them to their former health. It was said that after this spectacle, no one doubted the healing powers of Count Cagliostro.
CAGLIOSTRO’S ALCHEMICAL OPERATIONS
Cagliostro is remembered for his alchemical operations. Following is an account of how, on 7 June 1780, he transmuted base metal into silver during a visit to a Masonic Lodge in Warsaw. One of the members recorded a description of the experiment:
Cagliostro made me weigh out a pound of quicksilver which had been my property and had been already purified. Before that he had bidden me distil some rainwater till all liquid had evaporated leaving a deposit which he called Virgin Earth or secunda materia. Of this there remained about 16 grains. On his instructions I had also prepared an extract of lead.
After all these preparations were complete he went into the lodge, and he entrusted me with the task of carrying out the whole experiment with my own hands. I did this under his instructions in the following way: The Virgin Earth was put into a flask, and half the quicksilver was poured over it. Then I added 30 drops of the lead extract. When the flask was then shaken a little, the quicksilver appeared to be dead or frozen stiff. I then poured lead extract into the remaining quicksilver, but this quicksilver remained unaltered. So I had to pour the two lots of quicksilver together into a larger flask. After I had shaken the quicksilver, however, for some time, all assumed the same consistency. Its colour turned dirty grey.
The whole was now shaken into a bowl which it half filled. Cagliostro next gave me a small piece of paper, which proved to be only the outer wrapping of two others. The innermost contained a shining carminecoloured powder, weighing perhaps one-tenth of a grain. The powder was shaken into the bowl, and Cagliostro then swallowed the three wrapping papers.
While this was going on I filled up the bowl with plaster of Paris, which had already been prepared with warm water. Though the bowl was already full, Cagliostro took it out of my hands, added some more plaster of Paris, and pressed it firmly with his hands. Then he gave it back to me to dry it over a charcoal fire.
The bowl was now placed in a bed of ashes over the wind furnace. The fire was lit and the bowl left over it for half an hour. It was then taken out with a pair of tongs and carried into the lodge. The bowl was there broken, and in the bottom lay a lump of silver weighing fourteen ounces and a half.
There have been other accounts to say that Cagliostro faked his operations but whether this was just a case of a jealous rival or indignant colleague, we will never know. Cardinal de Rohan had faith in Cagliostro and so did many of his other sponsors. Perhaps, as with all alchemists who realized that the true operations were in the spiritual actions of the individual, Cagliostro had to ‘perform’ to satisfy the curiosity of the masses.
Cagliostro was not only an adept in magic but also a proficient herbalist. He made it a priority to help those who were ill or neglected physically. As mentioned earlier, whilst in Strasburg he is reputed to have healed 15,000 people. This he did with a combination of the laying on of hands, using mesmeric passes (magnetic healing) or by the administration of formulas and tinctures. He was particularly famous for his pommade pour le visage – a cream for the face that had reputedly remarkable youth-enhancing effects and was exceedingly popular amongst the ladies of high society.
He was, however, famously in possession of the fabled elixir of life, also known as the ‘elixir of immortality’ or the ‘water of life’.11 This quintessence (attributed to the five elements) was the alchemist’s goal: the legendary potion that would give them eternal youth or the power over life and death; related to the myths of Enoch, Thoth/Hermes Trismegistus, who were all believed to have drunk the liquid gold or the ‘white drops’ and then gone on to achieve immortality. The elixir has been sought all over the world, recipes mainly consisting of the use of gold, a harmless but allegedly potent medicine. The emperors of China paid alchemists huge amounts to discover the formula, often falling foul of toxic recipes that included arsenic and mercury; in India, similar recipes using precious materials exist although it is not known whether alchemy came to India from China or vice versa. In Europe there were several alchemists who were reputed to have used the elixir to excellent effect, the most notable being Nicolas Flamel, his wife Pernelle and the Count de St Germain.
Eliphas Lévi, the famous French occultist, spoke of Cagliostro’s mystical elixir of life:
There was much talk in the last century about an adept accused of charlatanism, who was termed in his lifetime the divine Cagliostro. It is known that he practised evocations and that in this art he was surpassed only by the illuminated Schroepffer. It is said also that he boasted of his power in binding sympathies, and that he claimed to be in possession of the secret of the Great Work; but that which rendered him still more famous was a certain elixir of life, which immediately restored to the aged the strength and vitality of youth. The basis of this composition was malvoisie wine, and it was obtained by distilling the sperm of certain animals with the sap of certain plants. We are in possession of the recipe, but our reasons for withholding it will be understood readily.12
So far we have not been able to track down the full recipe which Lévi tantalizingly mentions was in his possession!
Cagliostro was a powerfully effective healer by all accounts, and his reputation was such that rich and poor alike flocked to him wherever he took up residence. Dumas Père writes:
Cagliostro was heard to say to his patients: ‘I desire your illness to disappear’ and ‘I command you to be cured!’…That secret power he called his ‘master stroke’ – that of the great initiated, regenerated by Hiram and blessed with the gift of light, of life.13
When asked by the famous pastor Johann Lavater about the secret of his art, Cagliostro answered with a motto of Paracelsus – ‘In herbis, verbis et lapidibus’ meaning ‘in herbs, words and stones’. This is attributed to Paracelsus’ famous formulas that consisted of remedies made from herbs, roots and flowering plants; crushed minerals and various powders and the use of the Word. The theurgist commands and the Word causes an effect. Cagliostro, as did many before and after, believed that the Rosicrucian philosophy of intuition before knowledge and illumination before science was the secret to divine healing. The composer and historian Jean-Benjamin de Laborde (1734–94) gave an account of Cagliostro’s healing clinics:
I have just come from his audience. Picture to yourself a vast hall filled with unfortunate creatures, almost all of them destitute, raising to heaven their hands so feeble that they can barely lift them to beg for the Count’s charity. He listens to them, one after another, remembers every word each one says, leaves the room for a minute and then comes back laden with remedies which he dispenses to each of those unfortunate souls, repeating to each one what had been told him about that individual’s ills, and assuring all of them that they would soon be well again if they followed his prescriptions faithfully. But those remedies alone would be insufficient, for the patients need soup to give them strength to support themselves. Few of those poor souls have the means to buy anything. The sensitive Count divides his purse among them. Happier to give than to receive, his joy is shown by his compassion. Those wretched people, filled with gratitude, love and respect, fall at his feet, clasping his knees, calling him their saviour, their father, their God. The good man is touched, his eyes fill with tears. He tries to hide them but he cannot. He weeps and the entire throng bursts into tears with him. Blessed tears that delight the heart, whose charm cannot be conceived unless one has been fortunate enough to weep the same way.14
The Magician’s Seal
It was amongst Cagliostro’s personal effects that the Inquisition found a peculiar seal (see also Chapter 3) bearing the symbol of a snake pierced by an arrow and holding an apple in its mouth. The letters L (followed by 3 dots in a triangular formation) P (followed by 3 dots …) D (followed by 3 dots …) were engraved upon it. The three dots arranged in the triangular form are considered to represent the triune God dwelling in heaven. The practice was begun in 1774 by the Grand Orient of France; Masons who used the symbol as a ‘period’ after their initials were often referred to as ‘Three Point Brothers’. It is still used by Masons in the US, particularly those of the Scottish Rite, although the meaning is not always recognized.
Figure 2 An example of Cagliostro’s Serpent Seal – the original was destroyed by the Inquisition
Eliphas Lévi commented upon the apparent symbolism:
As explained by the cabalistic letters of the names Acharat and Althotas, it expresses the chief characteristics of the Great Arcanum and the Great Work. It is a serpent pierced by an arrow, thus representing the letter Aleph, an image of the union between active and passive, spirit and life, will and light. The arrow is that of the antique Apollo, while the serpent is the python of fable, the green dragon of Hermetic philosophy. The letter Aleph represents equilibrated unity. This pentacle is reproduced under various forms in the talismans of old magic … The arrow signifies the active principle, will, magical action, the coagulation of the dissolvent, the fixation of the volatile by projection and the penetration of the earth by fire. The union of the two (the serpent and arrow) is the universal balance, the Great Arcanum, the Great Work, the equilibrium of Joachin and Boaz. The initials LPD, which accompany this figure, signify Liberty, Power, Duty; also Light, Proportion, Density; and Law, Principle, Right. The Freemasons have changed the order of these initials, and in the form of LDP they render them as Liberté de Penser, Liberty of Thought, inscribing these on a symbolical bridge; but for those who are not initiated they substitute Liberté de Passer, Liberty of Passage. In the records of the prosecution of Cagliostro it is said that the examination elicited another meaning as follows: Lilia destrue pedibus: Trample the lilies under foot; and in support of this version may be cited a Masonic medal of the sixteenth or the seventeenth century, depicting a branch of lilies severed by a sword, having these words on the exergue: Talem dabit ultio messem – Revenge shall give this harvest.15
Again we have a blend of alchemy, cabala, Hermeticism and Freemasonry in this description, all subjects that Cagliostro was proficient in.
Cagliostro himself described the cipher to the Inquisition interrogators:
… the serpent with the apple in its mouth, which I have adopted for my crest, and which denotes the cause of original sin, and of the subsequent fall. The redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the arrow which has pierced the serpent; and this we ought to keep constantly before our eyes and in our hearts.
The symbol of the serpent also occurs within another Masonic and Egyptianinspired work, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, where in the first scene, a serpent is slain by the hero. (See Chapter 8 for further significance of this connection).
THE ROSICRUCIAN CONNECTION
Although it has never been officially asserted that Cagliostro was Rosicrucian, it is obvious that he was well learned in their philosophy and modern-day Rosicrucians view him as a Master. The present forms of Rosicrucian initiations include many elements of Cagliostro’s Ritual, particularly the layout and presentation of the Lodges. The triangular altar, the Shekinah (tabernacle) and the use of the ‘dove’ (the child medium used in séances and rituals) have been adopted by the Rosicrucian Order; the position of ‘dove’ is held by children of Rosicrucian parents and represents purity of conscience within the temple.
The Rosicrucians believe that Cagliostro was the son of the Grand Master of Malta and that Althotas, his teacher, was also of Rosicrucian origin. They mention that he was a high initiate of all the orders of the time, and given the highest honours in the Rite of Swedenborg, Pasqually’s Order of Elus-Cohen, the Secret Degree of the Rose Croix and the position of Grand Master of the Scottish Rite. He worked with Louis-Claude de Saint Martin, the Count de Saint Germain and allegedly initiated a young lieutenant called Napoleon, who later became the Emperor of France.
The Rosicrucian Order write:
Cagliostro was an emissary of the Great White Brotherhood, dedicated to a mission of transforming the heart of society from what it was at the time.16
Wherever the truth lies, Cagliostro has had an enormous effect on the spiritual beliefs of the day, whether we are aware of it or not. He also had a rather strong influence on Freemasonry, not only in the 1700s but also that of our modern day. Later in the book we look at the possible origins and structure of Cagliostro’s system of Egyptian Freemasonry and also its relevance to regular Freemasonry both ancient and modern.