Endnotes

FOREWORD

1. Lechler, Volker. Die ersten Jahre der Fraternitas Saturni: Unter Berücksichtigung des Schriftwechsels zwischen Gregor A. Gregorius (d. i. Eugen Grosche) und Rah-Omir (d. i. Wilhelm Quintscher). Bausteine zum okkulten Logenwesen / Volker Lechler; 2. Stuttgart: Lechler, 2015.

INTRODUCTION. SEEING THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

1. See Howe, “German Occult Organizations,” 91–92, and King, Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion, 115–21.

2. Howe, “German Occult Organizations,” 91–92, and Hemberger, Organisationsformen, Ritual, Lehren und magische Thematik der freimauerischen und freimauerartigen Bünde im deutschen Sprachraum Mitteleuropas, Pt. I: Der mystisch-magische Orden Fraternitas Saturni. Hereafter cited as: Der mystisch-magische Orden FS.

3. Glowka, Deutsche Okkultgruppen 1875–1937, 69–77; Lehmberg, Magische Sonderdrucke und Interna der Fraternitas Saturni; Haack, Die Fraternitas Saturni als Beispiel für einen arkan-mystogenen Geheimorden des 20. Jahrhunderts; and Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni. For information on how these documents came to be published, see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 1. A HISTORY OF THE FRATERNITAS SATURNI

1. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 166.

2. See note 7 below for sources that provide a more complete treatment of Hoëné-Wronski and his possible role in the history of the FS.

3. The best treatments of Ariosophy are Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism, and Webb, The Occult Establishment, 275–344.

4. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 3.

5. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 29.

6. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 29.

7. For further details on Hoëné-Wronski, see Webb, The Occult Underground, 248–58, and Williams, Eliphas Lévi, 66–69.

8. Webb, The Occult Underground, 257, and Williams, Eliphas Lévi, 66.

9. Certainly the most reliable discussion of the doubtful German origins of the Golden Dawn is offered in Howe, The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, 1–33. See also Colquhoun, Sword of Wisdom, 75–131, et passim.

10. See pages 15–35 below.

11. See Webb, The Occult Establishment, 275–79, and Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism.

12. The best general discussion of these organizations is provided in Frick, Die Erleuchteten. See also Melanson, Perfectibilists, and Stauffer, New England and the Bavarian Illuminati.

13. See Hakl, “Franz Sättler (Dr. Musallam) and the Twentieth Century Cult of Adonism,” 18.

14. See Glowka, Deutsche Okkultgruppen, 81–86.

15. See Glowka, Deutsche Okkultgruppen, 92.

16. Bardon, Frabato the Magician.

17. Glowka, Deutsche Okkultgruppen, 68.

18. On the history of Monte Verità and the interconnections of various figures there, see Webb, The Occult Establishment, 59–61.

19. On the history of the O.T.O., see Ad Verbatim, “An Introduction to the History of the O.T.O.”; Melton, “Thelemic Magick in America”; Webb, The Occult Establishment, 59–61, et passim; King, The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O., 9–35; King, Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion, 96–114; and Walker, Tantrism, 109–12.

20. Symonds, The Great Beast, 179.

21. A typescript of a “Statement of relations between myself, Aleister Crowley, and Heinrich Tränker (1925),” is printed in Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, and appears as Appendix E in the present book.

22. See Howe, The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, 1–25.

23. Howe, The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, 7.

24. For a detailed study of the history of the Theosophical Society, see Campbell, Ancient Wisdom Revived.

25. For an in-depth look at the history of Ariosophy and the lives of its major proponents, see Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism.

26. For a general history of runes, see Elliott, Runes, and for a scholarly study of the magical usage of runes, see Flowers, Runes and Magic. For a practical occult study of these symbols, however, see the works of Edred Thorsson, Futhark and Runelore.

27. For an English version, see my translation and edition of List, The Secret of the Runes.

28. Spiesberger’s published works that concentrate on rune-magical aspects are Runenmagie and Runenexerzitien für Jedermann.

29. For a study of the revival of interest in astrology during the early twentieth century in Germany, see Howe, Astrology in the Third Reich.

30. The expanded edition of Gordon’s book also contains material on the FS itself and other relevant groups discussed here; see Gordon, Voluptuous Panic, 192–226.

31. See Churton, Aleister Crowley, the Beast in Berlin, 344–45.

32. See my forthcoming book Gothick Meditations at Midnight for esoteric insights into this and other classic (pre-1975) films of horror and the supernatural.

33. This text appears in translation by Markus Haverkamp at: www.lashtal.com/2208-old-article/ (accessed 10 October 2017). See also Appendix L for further material from this document by Pacitius.

34. The exhaustive study of Grau by Strauss, Albin Grau: Biographie und Oeuvre, has illuminated the life and work of this elusive figure.

35. The events of the “Weida Conference” are reported in Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 29–30; Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 4; and Symonds, The Great Beast, 391–92, 396–97. Crowley’s “Statement of relations between myself, . . .” is reproduced in Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, and here as Appendix E; for the account of Eugen Grosche (Gregorius), see Haack, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 20–25. These events are also discussed in Churton, Aleister Crowley, 60–68.

36. This is according to Gregorius’s account; see Haack, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 22.

37. VolkerLechler’s Heinrich Tränker als Theosoph, Rosenkreuzer und Pansoph is a rare but detailed study of Tränker from a more objective viewpoint than is usually given.

38. See Symonds, The Great Beast, 410–32, and, for a more lively and engaging presentation, see Churton, Aleister Crowley, 60–68.

39. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 30, and Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 3.

40. See Haack, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 28, and Hemberger, Der mystischmagische Orden FS, 30.

41. For a presentation of the FS as it exists today, visit their website: www.fraternitas.de. The website of the Ordo Saturni is: www.ordo-Saturni.info.

CHAPTER 2. DOCTRINES OF THE FRATERNITAS SATURNI

1. See also the book by Gregorius, Die magische Erweckung der Chakra im Aetherkörper des Menschen, a version of which had been published in the May 1951 issue of the Blätter.

2. This theme is dealt with extensively in Magischer Brief 1 (1925); see Gregorius, Magische Briefe.

3. The practice of pendulum magic was the theme of Magischer Brief 5 (1926). A new edition of this was also issued in book form as Gregorius, Pendelmagie.

4. “Satanistische Magie” was the title of Magischer Brief 7 (1926), later reprinted as Gregorius, Satanische Magie.

5. On the various Gnostic sects, see Walker, Gnosticism, 133–60.

6. The most extensive surveys of the ancient forms of Gnosticism are those of Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, and Rudolph, Gnosis, while the book by Walker, Gnosticism, perhaps remains the most convenient.

7. See Fra. Noah, “Gnosis als Weltbild.”

8. These general descriptions can be found in any textbook of astrology, most of which are ultimately derived from Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos.

9. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 243.

10. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 245.

11. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 245. Sorath (Hebrew) is the name of the Spirit of the Sun, the letters of which, when added together according to the rules of gematria, render the sum 666. See, for example, Crowley, “The Temple of Solomon the King,” reprinted from The Equinox (vol. 1, no. 5) in The Qabalah of Aleister Crowley, 35 et passim.

12. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 43.

13. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 162–63.

14. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 163. Note the Nietzschean imagery and terminology here. Friedrich Nietzsche outlined his Apollonian/Dionysian thesis in The Birth of Tragedy, a convenient edition of which is translated by Kaufmann.

15. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 43.

16. These descriptions are taken from Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 162.

17. These terms are discussed in Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 11.

18. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 29.

19. These aims are outlined in Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 6.

20. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 25–26.

21. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 20.

22. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 26–27.

23. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 3.

24. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 249.

25. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 27–28.

26. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 31.

27. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 28.

28. It is virtually impossible to criticize the doctrines of the FS from the perspective of the teachings of archaic Gnostic sects, as they themselves were disparate and even encouraged the practice of wild speculation and doctrinal innovation. Again, the most convenient source materials on Gnosticism available in English are: Walker, Gnosticism; Rudolph, Gnosis; and Jonas, The Gnostic Religion. Also of interest here are Doresse, The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, and Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library.

29. See Pauwels and Bergier, The Morning of the Magicians, 223–32.

30. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 244.

31. See Faulkes, trans., Edda, 9–12, and esoteric commentary by Thorsson, Runelore, 143–46.

32. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 179.

33. See Hemberger,Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 176. The FS doctrines on this subject are a synthesis of Blavatsky’s Theosophy, as outlined in her The Secret Doctrine, and the theories of Hans Hörbiger.

34. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 252.

35. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 243.

36. Gregorius, “Das göttliche und negative Prinzip,” Blätter (March, 1954), 7, and Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 175.

37. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 243 and 252.

38. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 176

39. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 176–77.

40. Gregorius, Magia Cosmosophica (= Magischer Brief 9), 10.

41. For a convenient look at the Gnostic doctrine of aeons, see Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, 51–54; Walker, Gnosticism, 32–34; or Rudolph, Gnosis, 67–87.

42. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 29.

43. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 30.

44. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 46–48.

45. See Br. Leonardo’s article on the “mechanization” of the world in Blätter (September, 1955), 11–15.

46. Gregorius, “Mephistopheles oder Lucifer,” Blätter (April, 1953), 1–7, and Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 34.

47. See, for example, his Satanische Magie, 33–35. On the Barbelo Gnostics in general, and the situation with pre- or non-Christian Gnostics, see Rudolph, Gnosis, 247–50, 285–87; and Walker, Gnosticism, 150–58.

48. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 249.

49. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 249.

50. See Gregorius, “Saturn-Yoga,” in Blätter (August, 1952), 1.

51. Aythos, Die Fraternitas Saturni, 30–32.

52. See Gregorius as cited in Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 85–86.

53. This is discussed by Gregorius in an article entitled “Das Chrestos-Prinzip als esoterische Basis” in Blätter (March, 1954).

54. On the octave structures of Saturn, see Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 34 and 250, and Gregorius in his article “Mephistopheles oder Lucifer?” Blätter (April, 1953), 1–7.

55. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 96.

56. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 84–85.

57. See, for example, King,Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion, 115–19, or Howe, “German Occult Groups,” 91–92.

58. For a sense of the scope of this FS “sexology,” see the bibliography in the 1927 Sexual Magie (= Magischer Brief 8), reprinted in Magische Briefe. On 1920s Berlin as the center of the developing science of sexology, see Haeberle, ed., The Birth of Sexology.

59. For more information on the doctrines and structure of the O.T.O., which has established the standard of sex-magical practice, see King, The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O., and King, Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion, 96–114. Aleister Crowley’s own few explicit works dedicated to this are conveniently available, bound together as Liber Agape/De Arte Magica. An alternate system, also made popular through publication, is presented in Culling, A Manual of Sex Magick.

60. As mentioned before, Gregorius devoted a whole study, Die magische Erweckung der Chakra im Aetherkörper des Menschen, to this topic in 1953.

61. See Rudolph, Gnosis, 71–87; Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, passim; and Walker, Gnosticism, 28–69.

62. For a convenient presentation of the myths surrounding Lilith, see Koltuv, The Book of Lilith.

63. See the discussion of Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 176–77.

64. Gregorius, Blätter (December, 1961), 18; cited in Hemberger, Der mystischmagische Orden FS, 112.

65. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 113–15.

66. Originally published asHandbuch der Sexualmagie (Haar, Germany: Akasha, 1986).

67. See Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga, 9–13.

68. Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga, 13.

69. See Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche, 200–202.

70. For an illuminated interpretation of these possible last words, see Aquino, The Book of Coming Forth by Night, 17–18. One of the most original, engaging, and important books about Crowley and his ideas to be produced in recent years is Webb, Overthrowing the Old Gods.

CHAPTER 3. ORGANIZATION OF THE FRATERNITAS SATURNI

1. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 243.

2. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 251. See also the concept of the “Absolute” promulgated by Hoëné-Wronski and discussed in Webb, The Occult Underground, 258.

3. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 250.

4. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 113.

5. Spiesberger, Magische Einweihung and Magische Praxis. These volumes were previously published under the title Hermetisches ABC by Bauer in 1964.

6. These were published by Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 195–97; and in Die Fraternitas Saturni, Aythos prints the entire document entitled the “Rule of the Rightful-Illuminated-Secret Ritual and Magical Lodge/Grand Lodge FRATERNITAS SATURNI,” which came into effect under Gregorius in April of 1963.

7. For a treatment of these study circles, see Hemberger, Der mystischmagische Orden FS, 169.

CHAPTER 4. MAGICAL WORK

1. One general picture of FS training techniques and elements can be seen in the two-volume Hermetisches ABC by Karl Spiesberger (Fra. Eratus). This work was later retitled Magische Einweihung (vol. I) and Magische Praxis (vol. II). This program was originally set up within the FS and later re-edited by Eratus.

2. The classic text for vocalic breathing is Leser-Lasario, Lehrbuch der Original-Gebärden-Atmung.

3. In Faust’s magical work he began with the contemplation of the Earth-Spirit; see Goethe, Faust (trans. Passage), 22–24.

4. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 243–44, 253.

5. These are available in an old reprint series edited by Scheible, Das Kloster.

6. See Angus, The Mystery Religions, 76–77, 135–38.

7. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 243.

8. This bit of practical work with Kabbalistic principles was offered by Wilhelm Liedtke in an article, “Angewandte Kabbalistik im Alltag” (Applied Practical Kabbalism).

9. See especially Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 23–27, for printed material derived from Exorial.

10. Gregorius offered a fairly detailed description of the use of the order-ring in his article “Ritual des Ringes” in Blätter (July, 1959), 27–28.

11. For details on FS rings, see Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 218–20, and Lehmberg, Magische Sonderdrucke, passim.

12. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 121.

13. SeeHemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 23–27, 90; and Gregorius, Satanische Magie, 29–35.

14. This is also recorded by Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 23–24.

15. These are outlined by Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 90–91.

16. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 95–103.

17. Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 99–100.

18. See Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 96–99, for a description of this.

19. For more information on the stories of alleged Freemasonic Luciferianism, see Webb, The Occult Underground, 144–47, and Rhodes, The Satanic Mass, 186–93. On Carducci and his “Hymn to Satan,” see Zacharias, The Satanic Cult, 125–32.

20. On the general nature of the Saturnian eucharist, see Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 102–3.

21. These are outlined by Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 108.

22. Hemberger only briefly discusses these aspects; see Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 146–47.

23. Quoted in Williams, Eliphas Lévi, 69.

24. See Bardon, Frabato, passim.

25. The only “historical” ritual of this sort ever published for public view is “Die elektrischen Vorspiele” (Electrical Preludes) in Anton LaVey’s compendium The Satanic Rituals, 106–30. The ritual purportedly derives from an early twentieth-century German “Black Order” and even has a German text printed with it, but all evidence shows that the latter text is a (very bad) translation of the English one, and not the other way around. Experimentation with electro-magnetic and other modern magical technological devices is part of the mandate of the Order of the Trapezoid within the Temple of Set.

26. King, Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion, 116–19.

27. This ritual is described by Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 109–10. For a discussion of the more traditional forms of the “Five-M Rite” (Sanskrit panchamakara), see Walker, Tantrism, 65–66; and cf. King, Tantra For Westerners, 14–15, et passim. For another version of the ritual adapted for “Westerners,” see Garrison, Tantra, 103–18.

28. Versions of this practice described by Gregorius are given in Hemberger, Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 110–12, and in Gregorius, Sexual Magie (= Magischer Brief 8), 91–96.

29. See Hemberger,Der mystisch-magische Orden FS, 112. In this whole context Hemberger also makes reference to the German occult novel Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers (an English translation of this work was done by Guy Endore). Ewers and his magico-religious connections are also briefly outlined in the introduction to Strange Tales, an anthology of some of Ewers’s short stories translated into English.

30. Some of Reichenbach’s basic writings were published in English as The Odic Force in 1968.

31. King, Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion, 116–19.

32. This kind of working, also referred to as creating a homunculus, is outlined in a section of Aleister Crowley’s “Secret Instruction of the Ninth Degree” (O.T.O.) called “Of the Homunculus,” printed in King, The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O., 231–39. This is also outlined in Culling, A Manual of Sex Magick, 71–92.

APPENDIX E. STATEMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN MYSELF, ALEISTER CROWLEY, AND HEINRICH TRÄNKER (1925)

1. The version here follows the transcription in Churton, Aleister Crowley, 75–80, based on a copy in the O.T.O. archives.

APPENDIX J. THE ROSICRUCIANS AND THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI

1. An excellent edition of these texts rendered into modern English and with scholarly introductions and commentary, is Godwin, McIntosh, and McIntosh, trans., Rosicrucian Trilogy.

2. Stauffer, New England, 133.

3. Stauffer, New England, 135.

APPENDIX K. AN OUTLINE OF ADONISM

1. Br. Andromedus, “Adonismus,” 15.

2. Br. Andromedus, “Adonismus,” 16.

3. Gregorius, “Die Geheimlehre des Adonis-Kultes,” 11.