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Saturn Worship & Occult Symbolism
For thousands of years the entire world has been worshiping Saturn. The cult has never stopped and its rites are still present to this day. Saturn, dubbed the “Lord of the Rings”, is the reason why we exchange rings at weddings or put halos on the heads of godly people. Since ancient times, sages gazed at the stars, admiring their heavenly glow and attributing them godly powers, based on their effect on humans. Before the Great Flood, Saturn was regarded by all mankind as the supreme god and ruler of the kings.
Occult researchers affirm that Saturn ruled the kingdom of Atlantis and became the divine ancestor of all earthly patriarchs and kings. The cult has been perpetuated through numerous gods during Antiquity. Chronos, or Saturn, Dionysos, Hyperion, Atlas, Hercules, were all connected with ‘a great Saturnian continent;’ they were kings that ruled over countries on the western shores of the Mediterranean, Africa and Spain.
Saturn in Semitic Civilizations
In Egyptian mythology Isis is considered Saturn’s eldest daughter: “I am Isis, Queen of this country. I was instructed by Mercury. No one can destroy the laws which I have established. I am the eldest daughter of Saturn, most ancient of the Gods”. Semitic civilizations referred to the god Saturn as “El”. The supreme deity was represented by a black cube. Ancient Hebrews represented Saturn with the six pointed star, which later became the Star of David (it also had many other esoteric meanings).
Saturn in Western Civilizations
In western civilizations Saturn always had a negative, if not evil significance. In ancient times, it has been called “The Greater Malefic” which was opposed to Jupiter, “The Greater Benefic”. Saturn is esoterically associated with man’s limitations, restrictions, death and decay.
The Greeks and the Romans worshiped Saturn. His Greek name was “Kronos”, the ruler of time, time being the main factor inevitably leading to the death of mortals. Traditional representations of the “grim reaper” originate from the attributes of the god Saturn, who held the sickle with which he slain his father.
Saturn and Satan
Saturn has also been associated with Satan and this, for numerous reasons. First, many authors argue that the word Satan is derived from the word Saturn. Second, Saturn is associated with the color black as well as Satan. Third, Ancients considered Saturn to be the farthest planet from the sun , the latter being associated with the principle of Good. (Note that Pluto never was considered a planet). Saturn is consequently the celestial body that is the less exposed to the sun’s divine light and thus associated with the coldness of the principle of Evil. Finally, the “great god Pan”, the horned deity, represented Saturn in ancient paganism. This half-man half-goat creature is considered the ancestor of our modern depictions of Satan. Pan was depicted with horns due to the fact it represented Saturn, the ruler of the house of Capricorn which symbol is a goat.
Pan was the controlling spirit of the lower worlds. He was portrayed roaming through the forests, penis erect, drunk and lascivious, frolicking with nymphs and piping his way through the wild. We might say he ruled the lower nature of man, its animal side, not unlike Satan. It is the necessary counterpart of the principle of Good. Masonic authors clearly associate Saturn with Satan. Saturn is the opposite to Jupiter; his symbol is the cross above the sign of Luna. He is the Satan, the Tempter, or rather the Tester. His function is to chastise and tame the unruly passions in the primitive man.
The Fraternitas Saturni
Despite acknowledging its association with Evil, secret societies find the veneration of Saturn necessary to obtain illumination. Example of a secret society worshiping Saturn’s principle is the “Fraternitas Saturni” (The Brotherhood of Saturn). This occult organization openly embodies the hidden side of Saturn worship. The order is still onre of the most active and important magical society today, but from its formal beginnings around 1926 until 1970 it was almost totally secret. The Brotherhood of Saturn holds a unique place in the history of the revival of the Western magical tradition.
The Fraternitas Saturni (FS), the Brotherhood of Saturn, has become known through descriptions which emphasize the magical aspects of this lodge’s work or else its darker side. The FS preserves a vibrant Thelemic current of magical tradition and practice. Fraternitas Saturni is (or was) the most unabashedly Luciferian organization in the modern Western occult revival, and its practice of sexual occultism perhaps the most elaborately detailed of any such lodge. The FS represents a unique blend of astrological cosmology, neo-Gnostic daemonology, sexual occultism, and Freemasonic organizational principles.
The three most unique aspects of FS doctrine are:
1) the astrosophical teaching of Saturnus as the Demiurge ruling over the present stage of cosmic evolution,
2) the Luciferian aspect of the Dark Light,
3) the teachings of sexual occultism.
A History of the Brotherhood of Saturn
It is held that there were Saturnian Brotherhoods working as early as the end of the 1600s in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. Also, it is indicated that there is a mystical connection between the Greco-Roman Saturnian Principle (fatum, fate) and the old Germanic high god, Wotan, whose name is also spelled in these documents as "Fuotan"; hence the link with fatum.
Later, it was emphasized that the Brotherhood had its origins in the rituals of the Roman Saturnalia (which takes place around December 27th), which made clear the FS's tendency away from the Christian world-view and toward a darker side of things. At one point, apparently between 1927 and 1933, there was a provision of the group that only "Christians" (i.e., non-Jews) could be initiated and that all neophytes had to acknowledge the basic "Nordic" ideology of the lodge. This is mentioned to indicate the underlying belief that the FS itself has its mystical origins in the North, and that there was indeed an early Saturnian Brotherhood in the Scandinavian region whose history remains quite obscure. It was to these dim roots that the early FS traced its origins. As far as the Scandinavian Brotherhood of Saturn that was supposed to have been working during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is concerned, all that is said is that it was active in alchemy and in mathematical and Pythagorean mysticism, and that this group was probably based on an even earlier brotherhood in the region.
Saturnian Brotherhood was revived in Warsaw by the mathematician and mystic Joseph Maria Hoëne-Wronski (1776-1853). This lodge have had outer courts in Krakow, Posen, and Thorn. Ultimately these lodges were destroyed by various wars.
Hoëne-Wronski spent most of his life as a Polish expatriate in France, where he is generally held to have been the magical initiator of Alphonse Louis Constant, or as he was better known, Eliphas Levi. Hoëne-Wronski was indeed an "occult master" involved with the ideas of the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and the teachings of Jakob Boehme, but he was also a well- respected (if a bit eccentric) mathematician and philosopher of his day. He was also dedicated to romantic social reform movements, and was the leader of a group called the "Antinomian Union." Among other things, Hoëne-Wronski held that humanity was to pass through five evolutionary stages, and that his theories would open the way to the fifth and final stage. Perhaps the most important of Hoëne-Wronski's theories was his Principle of the Absolute, which held that knowledge of truth was possible through human reason combined with a secret mathematical formula. Related to this was Law of Creation, which posited that man could "create reality" from the sum of his sense impressions, combined with a mathematical formula.
Besides the O.T.O. there was another group that had attracted Crowley's attention in 1925 — the Pansophical Lodge, or Pansophia. It became formalized as the "Grand Pansophical Lodge." Important initiate of this lodge was Karl Germer (Br. Saturnus), who was also the paid personal secretary of Heinrich Tränker. Tränker was the head of a whole eclectic, occult, "pansophical" movement made up of several orders, lodges, and societies. Some of his authority was derived from Theodor Reuss. It was from contact between this group and Crowley that the Fraternitas Saturni came to be founded in 1928.
The "Pansophical Society" was a study group founded just after the war in Berlin. Their areas of interest included Gnosticism, the ancient mysteries of Greece, Egypt, and Babylon, as well as problems of philosophy, religious history, metaphysics, depth-psychology, "cosmosophy," and the Kabbalah. In the early 1920s, Tränker founded a Collegium Pansophicum. This organization, gave Tränker's work a more Masonic, orderly cast, and acted as a background for the publication of some of Tränker's occult works. In 1921 all the Pansophical streams governed by Tränker were brought together in the Grand Pansophical Lodge (of the Light-Seeking Brethren) of the Orient-Berlin.
Besides Tränker, one of the leading members of this lodge was Karl Germer (Frater Saturnus), who was Tränker's secretary and who later became the Grand Treasurer General of Crowley's O.T.O., and eventually Outer Head of the Order upon Crowley's death in 1947. With regard to the quasi-Masonic background of the FS, these are the supposed German origins of Die Goldene Dämmerung —the Golden Dawn - magical order founded in England in 1888. Its own tradition holds that its authority was derived from a German order of the same name.
One historical factor that may have led to this was the traditional presence of "Secret Chiefs" (Superiores Incogniti) in the Masonic Order of the "Strict Observance," active since the middle of the eighteenth century. There were sufficiently deep and long-term, network-like connections between the German and English Masonic and quasi-Masonic groups to warrant the idea that these Secret Chiefs were thought to be akin to those of the Masonic Strikte Observanz. As a feature of organization and doctrine this concept is inexactly reflected in the FS as the GOTOS entity — the guiding force of the order embodied in the 33°, which is actually the superhuman Saturnian Demiurge.
In 1925, the most important event leading to the emergence of the FS took place. Master Recnartus invited Aleister Crowley to his house in Weida in Thuringia, Germany. The purpose of this meeting was to confer the leadership of the groups controlled by Tränker onto Crowley. During the months and years following the meeting at Weida, Gregor A. Gregorius must have been studying and assimilating Crowley's teachings, as well as those of the Pansophists, Rosicrucians, and others in his environs. In 1926, the Pansophical Lodge was ritually closed and dissolved. On the following May 8, five Fratres founded the Fraternitas Saturni. This was to be a magical order which accepted the Law of Thelema, but which was to be totally independent of any other magical order. A few days later Gregorius wrote to the Beast, informing him of the aims of this revived Saturnian Lodge. A full one-third of the members of the Pansophical Lodge became the core of initiates of the FS. The actual accomplishment of Gregorius and the FS was a more or less cohesive synthesis of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry, Luciferianism, astrological mythology, Crowleyanity (or Thelemism), sex-magical practices of the old O.T.O., various Indian yogic systems, and medieval and modern doctrines of Alchemy and Ritual Magic.
Brotherhood Of Saturn
The Fraternitas Saturni (FS), the Brotherhood of Saturn, has become known to English readers through fragmentary descriptions which emphasize the sensational, sex-magical aspects of this lodge's work or else its darker, more Satanic, side.1 This is understandable in light of the fact that the FS is (or was) the most unabashedly Luciferian organization in the modern Western occult revival, and its practice of sexual occultism perhaps the most elaborately detailed of any such lodge. The FS represents a unique blend of astrological cosmology, neo-Gnostic daemonology, sexual occultism, and Freemasonic organizational principles. This grand synthesis was originally the vision of one man, the long-time Grand Master of the FS, Gregor A. Gregorius.
This book is probably the first attempt ever made in any language to present a comprehensive view of the history, organization, doctrines, rituals and practices of the most powerful and influential magical lodge in modern Germany. The "compendium" of FS material cited in Richard Cavendish's Encyclopedia of the Unexplained is an enormous, but sometimes disorganized, trove of documentation which was collected by Prof. Dr. Adolf Hemberger of the University of Giessen, West Germany.2 Other recent treatments of the FS in German have also made use of the mountains of documentary evidence, but have made little attempt to organize it comprehensively.3 Here, I will try to present an organized and comprehensive outline of this magical lodge. The reader should be advised that the author is not an initiate of the FS. However, I had the advice and consultation of the Brotherhood, as is cited in the Acknowledgments. I hope that this combination, coupled with my longtime experience in the history and practice of magic, will provide a sense of objective sympathy.
The FS is an organization that has undergone several transformations during its most recent manifestation (from about 1927 to the present). Most of the material used for this book and the ideas discussed in it have been drawn from the period when Gregorius was Grand Master, or shortly thereafter (to about 1970). Therefore, it cannot be assumed that doctrines or practices discussed in these pages are in fact still a part of the current doctrines and practices of the FS in Germany.
In these pages there is, however, a complete vision of the lodge, including many of its most secret doctrines and ritual practices from that earlier period. A comprehensive overview of its organizational structure of thirty-three degrees of initiation is one key to the understanding of the lodge's work and purpose. The chapter on the doctrines of the FS is concentrated on what is perhaps the three most unique aspects of FS doctrine: 1) the astrosophical teaching of Saturnus as the Demiurge ruling over the present stage of cosmic evolution, 2) the strongly Luciferian aspect of this doctrine, and 3) the teachings of sexo-cosmology and sexual occultism—the Yoga of the Dark Light—as it is tied up with these theories.
The rituals presented here are complete treatments of rites found in archival material. They amply demonstrate the liturgical scope of the Brotherhood, and provide further significant insights into their philosophy that are inaccessible in theoretical discussions.
After studying the doctrines of the FS for almost a decade, and after significant experimentation with a number of its formulae, I believe that the Brotherhood of Saturn indeed holds a unique place in the history of the revival of the Western magical tradition. For too long, the English-speaking magical forum has been ignorant of the exact nature of German occultism and magic. Although a great deal of "English occultism" is actually, or supposedly, derived from sources in her Continental sister nation (e.g. Rosicrucianism, the Golden Dawn [cf. cipher manuscripts], even the O.T.O. itself), little has been done in the way of systematically analyzing this vast and vibrant world. Generally, it might be said that what the Golden
Dawn has been to Anglo-American occultism over the past hundred years, the Fraternitas Saturni has been to German occultism. But whereas the "secrets" of the GD have been published and reprinted over and over, the mysteries of the FS have—until recently— remained behind a veil of obscurity. Therefore, anyone who would really understand the depths of the magical subculture of today, be it in German or Anglo-American society, needs to have a thorough grasp of the history and doctrines of the Brotherhood of Saturn.
As with all organizations of an occult nature, accurate and consistent historical data for the FS is hard to obtain. On some aspects there is an abundance of information, while on others we are left to speculate. In this chapter, I want to trace the history of the FS as an organization and as an idea, and at the same time remain as much as possible within the context of events in the contemporary occult subculture.
Documents within the FS1 point to the idea that on some mystical level there is a connection between the ancient mysteries of the Germanic past and the Fraternitas Saturni. It is held that there were Satur-nian Brotherhoods working as early as the end of the 1600s in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. Also, it is indicated that there is a mystical connection between he Greco-Roman Saturnian Principle {fatum, fate)
and the old Germanic high god, Wotan, whose name is also spelled in these documents as "Fuotan"; hence the link with fatum. Supposedly both Hoene-Wronski2 in the nineteenth century and Gregorius in the twentieth century made these connections. This Fuotan is seen as the All-ruling Principle of Fate, which does not itself succumb to the ultimate "Twilight of the Gods." It is understandable in light of the neo-Romantic Ger-manicism prevalent in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany that FS doctrine would to some extent derive from the Germanic (or as they would have it, "Aryan") North rather than from the Mediterranean region.3 Later, it was emphasized that the Brotherhood had its origins in the rituals of the Roman Saturnalia (which takes place around December 27th),4 which made clear the FS's tendency away from the Christian world-view and toward a darker side of things. At one point, apparently between 1927 and 1933, there was a provision of the group that only "Christians" (i.e., non-Jews) could be initiated and that all neophytes had to acknowledge the basic "Nordic" ideology of the lodge.
This is mentioned to indicate the underlying belief that the FS itself has its mystical origins in the North, and that there was indeed an early Saturnian Brotherhood in the Scandinavian region whose history remains quite obscure. It was to these dim roots that the early FS traced its origins.
As far as the Scandinavian Brotherhood of Saturn that was supposed to have been working during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is concerned, all that is said is that it was active in alchemy and in mathematical and Pythagorean mysticism, and that this group was probably based on an even earlier brotherhood in the region. By the end of the eighteenth century those lodges had disappeared and nothing further was heard of them.5
According to FS documents, a Saturnian Brotherhood was revived in Warsaw by the mathematician and mystic Joseph Maria Hoene-Wronski (1776-1853). This lodge was said to have had outer courts in Krakow, Posen, and Thorn. Ultimately these lodges were destroyed by various wars.6
Although the mysterious Hoene-Wronski may have indeed revived a Saturnian lodge in Poland, the historical record makes it clear that he could not have remained active there, because by the time he was twenty-one he was studying philosophy in Germany.7 Hoene-Wronski spent most of his life as a Polish expatriate in France, where he is generally held to have been the magical initiator of Alphonse Louis Constant, or as he was better known, Eliphas Levi.8 Hoene-Wronski was indeed an "occult master" involved with the ideas of the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and the teachings of Jakob Boehme, but he was also a well-respected (if a bit eccentric) mathematician and philosopher of his day. He was also dedicated to romantic social reform movements, and was the leader of a group called the "Antinomian Union." Among other things, Hoene-Wronski held that humanity was to pass through five evolutionary stages, and that his theories would open the way to the fifth and final stage. Perhaps the most important of Hoene-Wronski's theories was his Principle of the Absolute, which held that knowledge of truth was possible through human reason combined with a secret mathematical formula However, he never seems to have been able to communicate this formula. Related to this was his Law of Creation, which posited that man could "create reality" from the sum of his sense impressions, again combined with a mathematical formula.
The historical connections between Hoene-Wronski and the FS are tenuous, but there are several points on which his theories and legacy touch upon the later development of the FS itself. Certainly not the least of these is his role as initiator of Eliphas Levi (between the years 1850 and 1853), who was to be instrumental in the general occult revival of the late nineteenth century.
Doctrines of the Brotherhood of Saturn
Doctrines and teachings concealed within the magical lodge Fraternitas Saturni are wrapped in the dark cloak of the Demiurge Saturnus, and are truly revealed only to those elect of Saturn who are able to comprehend and understand the Saturn-Gnosis. This gnosis is sometimes dark and foreboding. It uncovers the dark side of the Aquarian Age—an age to be ruled by Saturn. But it is also enlightened by the "higher octave" of Saturn—Lucifer—and by the dark light of Saturnian yoga, or sexual mysticism and Cosmosophy.
The teachings of the FS are highly eclectic. This is understandable given the lodge's "pansophical" origins. "Pansophical" here means "wisdom that encompasses all other forms of wisdom." In the early part of the twentieth century there were several "-sophies," all based on analogy with Blavatsky's Theo-sophy. There was the "ariosophy" of von List, von Liebenfels and others, and the Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner. The original pansophy of Heinrich Tränker was an attempt to synthesize all forms of occult teachings then in practice. This, however, proved a difficult task, as there seemed to be no unifying element or central focus for the maelstorm of occult lore swirling around in the pansophical movement.
It was the Fraternitas Saturni, directly or indirectly through the acceptance of the Aeonic Law of Thelema, which provided the necessary elements of cohesion to the pansophical approach. In this chapter we will concentrate on those things which make the FS teachings unique and give them definite shape. Underlying all of this is the usual post-Theosophical mixture of Eastern and Western doctrines and practices to be found in quasi-Masonic orders of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, e.g. the Golden Dawn and its derivatives. The elements that make the FS unique are its focus on the Saturn archetype, the Saturnian mythos of a new aeon based on an astrological process, and an unabashed Luciferianism. Further aspects which, although not unique to the Brotherhood, added to the lodge's working focus are: the doctrines and practices of sexual magic (principally taken over from the O.T.O.), and the Law of Thelema, which had been formally accepted from the Master Therion (Aleister Crowley) at the inception of the FS.
From the standpoint of existing magical and mystical traditions, the FS is a mixture of Eastern and Western streams. From Eastern (really Indian) ideologies come the themes of awakening of thechakra system in the magician,1 the laws of reincarnation and karma,
and the practice of tantric sexual mysticism. From various branches of the Western tradition come the doctrines of Ritual Magic, Astrology, Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism and, of course, the overriding Masonic form of the lodge's organization and ritual. The documents indicate that the Eastern influence became stronger after the reorganization of the lodge. Within the FS teachings, special emphasis is placed on crystal and mirror magic, pendulum magic, and "daimonic magic.”
Saturn-Gnosis
The gnosis of the FS is a complex set of magical doctrines. These include a special path of initiation as well as a complete astral or planetary cosmosophy and a Luciferian element. In many regards the Saturn-Gnosis is in accordance with what is known of the Ophite and Barbelo Gnostic sects of antiquity.5 Gnosis is a form of knowledge concerning the cosmos to which the individual feels called, or "elected," and which is based not on the belief in certain dogmas but rather on deep personal experience. The teachings, practices and rituals of the FS are intended to provide just such an initiatory experience.
Although in ancient times Gnosticism existed in a myriad of often mutually incompatible sects, there were certain doctrines common to most of them. First, they held that there existed a godhead beyond all categories as well as a three-fold god subsisting in the fullness of being (pleroma), or light. This divine realm of fullness of being transcends the place in the world where matter exists; these two realms are separated by a great barrier (horos). How these realms became separate is a matter of diverse speculation, however, what is certain among the Gnostics is that our world was not created by the god of light, but rather by an entity that resulted from a deficiency in the pleroma. This deficiency came about either through progressive degeneration as the outflow of being got further and further from its source, or through a conscious withdrawal of divine will (thelema) from the outer reaches. By whatever process, lesser independent entities arose in the graduated levels (called aeons) of the new cosmos. These entities were called archons. One of these archons is the entity—or demiurge—that created our world of matter. This entity is identified by some Gnostics with Jehova (YHVH), the god of the Old Testament. Finally, it was held that man, as a mixed entity consisting of elements with origins in both the world of light (of God) and the world of darkness (of the demiurge), could only be redeemed by knowledge {gnosis). This knowledge was a direct experience of being, not something acquired by learning or even by conclusions reached by logical methods. The demiurge Jehovah demanded faith (pistis); the "Good God" could only be reached through gnosis.
These astrophysical phenomena are seen as the outward manifestations of the "War in Heaven." The Luciferian Principle is understood as an expelled spark of the divine which has struggled through the darkness of matter, where this principle manifests itself as crystalline structure and as light. It struggled its way further through the kingdoms of plants and animals, and eventually emerged in humankind where the spark was liberated. Although generally ignorant of its true home and origin, this spark does carry in itself the memories of its primal state.
It is a mainstay of Saturnian gnosis that the darkness contains the light. Therefore the darkness is necessary for light to exist. It follows then that in fact the darkness is superior to the light—ohne Finsternis leuchtet kein Licht! This light is activated within the matrix of darkness by the Logos—of the Demiurge Saturnus—that constantly speaks the words: "Let there be light!" The outermost station of this light is in the planetary sphere of Saturn, where the light melts into darkness.
As the solar system stands now, there is a dynamic tension between the centrifugal force (the outer limits of which are defined by Saturn) and the centripetal force (the center of which is the Sun). The centrifugal force—outward moving power—is the force of creativity and manifestation wielded by the Demiurge Saturnus, which is an expression of that force. This is the "divine negative" as the Creative Principle.36 The centripetal force—the centralizing or concentrative power—is that of restriction and limitation ruled by the Solar Logos: the Chrestos Principle. Chrestos is Greek for "the good one." These two forces are in continuous balance and each force contains the seed-principle of its opposite. There is, therefore, a profound and incomprehensible darkness at the center of the Solar Logos. This is the object of the Saturnian Solar Cult. At the same time, those who serve Saturn are also conducting a spiritualized solar cult in that they are promoting the return of the lost son (Saturn),who was hurled out of the Sun to his paternal Solar sphere.
According to FS teachings, the Earth is also a complex sphere. Parallel to the physical plane of existence on this planet are two other planes or dimensions: the astral underlying this physical plane and the mental overlying it. Magically these are respectively seen as the darkness and light the magician must master in his work. Interestingly, the secret doctrine has it that the astral dimension has historically been interpreted as "hell," while the mental zone has been seen as "heaven."
Kabbalistically, the effects of the negative causal principle of Saturn, which corresponds to the third sephira, called Binah (Understanding), is reflected in the ninth sephira, called Yesod (Foundation), which corresponds to the Moon. Therefore, in the astrosoph-ical doctrines of the FS, the effects of Saturn (= 3) are transmitted through the Moon (= 9)—the power of Saturn squared (3 ).
The state of dynamic tension in which the cosmos finds itself is, according to the laws of cosmic ice, eventually going to collapse. In fact, this collapse is already underway. Astronomically, this is a process of various planetary bodies being reabsorbed into the Sun. On the spiritual level this is tantamount to the principles, of which these planets are manifestations, being redeemed. Four planets have been redeemed as the FS doctrine has it. Two, Vulkan and Hermes, have already been consumed by the Sun, while Mercury and Venus have been drawn within its sphere of influence. At some point, Jupiter and Saturn will merge, combining the mildness of Jupiter with the severity of Saturn. This will give rise to a new Golden Age. Eventually all the planets of the solar system will be thus "redeemed," bringing to an end this cycle of existence. In this whole process Gregorius said that the "task of spiritual humanity is to participate consciously in the evolution of the Earth in order to redeem her."
AEONIC COSMOSOPHY The Dark Side of the Aquarian Age
The strict doctrines concerning cosmic aeons (from Greek aion, age) have their origin in Gnostic teachings of the early centuries of our era. This concept, although it had a certain magical role in ancient times, became enormously important with the magical work of Aleister Crowley following 1904. The FS, inspired by Crowley and by the current astrological speculations concerning the dawn of a New Age of Aquarius, developed its own aeonic philosophy. It is essential to understand this philosophy if the whole work of the Brotherhood is to be grasped.
The ancient Gnostic sects of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions held that the aeons were the emanations of God. These emanations descended from the fullness (pleroma) of God's light into the darkness. Aeons are made up of an array of elements, the archons that rule them, the angels (Greek aggeloi, messengers) that provide for their dynamic interaction with the cosmos, the "reasons" (Greek logoi, or "words"), etc. In Gnostic practice these aeons were seen as barriers through which the initiate would have to pass after death until he gained the pleroma. In actual Gnostic teaching, then, an aeon is a phenomenon of time/ space.4 The Earth may pass though "ages" ruled over by archons ("rulers") of astrologically determined periods of time, but the individual soul of a man must also pass through the barriers of the aeon in order to return to the light. So much for the ancient doctrine.
In Cairo, Egypt, Aleister Crowley received the text of a book dictated to him by a praeternatural entity identified as Aiwass or Aiwaz. This happened in 1904, and from that time on Crowley began to preach the advent of a new aeon, the Aeon of Horus, which in turn superceded the Aeons of Isis and Osiris. It is clear that Crowley understood himself as an agent and an indespensable element of this new aeon, the Word of the Aeon made flesh. From that point he was to function as a Magus (although he was not to claim that grade until 1915), and as the Utterer of an Aeonic Word. Theoretically, it became his task and his curse to attempt to articulate this Word, which is QeXrifia (Thelema), the True Will. In this the Great Beast had synthesized the old Gnostic idea of a natural progression of the aeonic rulers on Earth and the idea of a godlike intervention from above, exemplified in the Gnostic Christology.
Crowley had conjured a new way of magical thinking with his aeonic formulation, and it was one that struck a few responsive cords. Gregor A. Grego-rius accepted the advent of the aeonic current of Thelema but did not accept Crowley's system (A.'.A.'. or O.T.O.), nor his authority in non-aeonic matters. In 1948 Crowley's own disciple, Charles Stansfield Jones (Frater Achad), claimed to have uttered a new Word superceding that of Thelema. Achad's Word was supposedly Ma-Ion or Ma'at—the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice. All this turned out rather badly, as Jones ended his days in obscurity and insanity.
Of course, many hold to orthodox notions of "aeonic questions" pronounced more or less clearly by Aleister Crowley, while others even attempt to work with Achad's formulation. The dynamic understanding of the Setian Xeper, as continually articulated by its Magus, provides a more individuated and clearly articulated aeonic pathway than any of the previous attempts to work with such "Aeonic Words." In any event, some perspective on these aeonic concepts cannot be ignored when one is trying to understand the history of magical thinking in twentieth-century Western tradition. In the FS the advent of the new aeon is seen first and foremost in astrological terms. It is the equivalent of the Age of Aquarius, ruled by the planetary archon Saturnus. The role of the Master Therion's Aeonic Word seems to be of secondary importance. What might be of widespread interest is the magico-astrological insight into the fact that the Aquarian Age will be one ultimately ruled by the dark Saturno-Uranian archon or demiurge.
The cosmosophy of the FS is dependent on the natural procession of the equinoxes into the sign of Aquarius, which as a sign of the zodiac is traditionally said to be ruled by the planet Saturn. With the discovery of trans-Saturnian planets, and after astrology had synthesized them into its system, the planet Uranus was also said to rule this sign. This physical event, as well as the other astrophysical phenomena taking place in the cosmos and more particularly within our solar system, are reflections of metaphysical events occurring simultaneously with the physical ones. The same can be said for the birth of the solar system, and its eventual entropic collapse.
Although it is stated that "every age or epoch contains within itself the power necessary to its own fulfillment," humanity as a whole resists this realization. It is only open to and known by the truly elect within a society. Humanity is for the most part still dominated by an unyielding law of self-destruction that rules in all realms of being, organic as well as inorganic. Knowledge and experience of the archdai-monic principle embodied in Saturn can, however, free the initiate from the laws of cause and effect. In other terms, man can liberate himself from his own karma. Beyond the moral aspects of this, these ideas are also useful in formulating a notion of how Satur-nian magic works. It is the progression of the individual beyond the threshold—beyond the barrier—in order to become separate from the internal, objective cosmos. In theory, the Aquarian Age, the aeon of Saturn, should be manifest first and foremost within the magically elect.
The influence of the coming Aquarian Age is being guided by the Demiurge Saturnus, which is in turn being transformed through Uranian influence. The present, fading Piscean Age is (was) ruled by Jupiter, under the hidden influence of Neptune. The Neptunian influence is thought to be exercising tremendous force at the close of the Piscean Age in the area of politics; hence the upsurge in collectivistic and communistic ideals. This tide will, however, suddenly turn, and this influx will be destroyed by the surging Uranian power. According to Saturnian teachings, the confusion of today's world is mainly due to the con vergence of the two competing and conflicting aeonic streams, the incoming Aquarian and the outgoing Piscean. It will be up to the emerging Saturno-Uranian spirit and its elect to bring a new order out of this chaos. In this process the old nature of Saturn is undergoing a transformation as well. It is becoming more "spiritual," while at the same time it retains its basic quality of stability and solidity. The synthesis of these qualities leads to a powerful balance in which the powers of the spirit are directed and manifested in exacting, precise ways which are as yet unheard of. In the Saturnian view, there does seem, to be sure, a dark side of the Age of Aquarius. Based on some fairly objectively interpreted astrological teachings, it could be concluded that the Aquarian Age will only appear to be one of rational and humanitarian egalitarianism. The Saturno-Uranian reality looming behind this world of appearances will be one of an enlightened system of control by a ruling elite—the final reign of the Illuminati.
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Saturn Worship & Occult Symbolism
For thousands of years the entire world has been worshiping Saturn. The cult has never stopped and its rites are still present to this day. Saturn, dubbed the “Lord of the Rings”, is the reason why we exchange rings at weddings or put halos on the heads of godly people. Since ancient times, sages gazed at the stars, admiring their heavenly glow and attributing them godly powers, based on their effect on humans. Before the Great Flood, Saturn was regarded by all mankind as the supreme god and ruler of the kings.
Occult researchers affirm that Saturn ruled the kingdom of Atlantis and became the divine ancestor of all earthly patriarchs and kings. The cult has been perpetuated through numerous gods during Antiquity. Chronos, or Saturn, Dionysos, Hyperion, Atlas, Hercules, were all connected with ‘a great Saturnian continent;’ they were kings that ruled over countries on the western shores of the Mediterranean, Africa and Spain.
Saturn in Semitic Civilizations
In Egyptian mythology Isis is considered Saturn’s eldest daughter: “I am Isis, Queen of this country. I was instructed by Mercury. No one can destroy the laws which I have established. I am the eldest daughter of Saturn, most ancient of the Gods”. Semitic civilizations referred to the god Saturn as “El”. The supreme deity was represented by a black cube. Ancient Hebrews represented Saturn with the six pointed star, which later became the Star of David (it also had many other esoteric meanings).
Saturn in Western Civilizations
In western civilizations Saturn always had a negative, if not evil significance. In ancient times, it has been called “The Greater Malefic” which was opposed to Jupiter, “The Greater Benefic”. Saturn is esoterically associated with man’s limitations, restrictions, death and decay.
The Greeks and the Romans worshiped Saturn. His Greek name was “Kronos”, the ruler of time, time being the main factor inevitably leading to the death of mortals. Traditional representations of the “grim reaper” originate from the attributes of the god Saturn, who held the sickle with which he slain his father.
Saturn and Satan
Saturn has also been associated with Satan and this, for numerous reasons. First, many authors argue that the word Satan is derived from the word Saturn. Second, Saturn is associated with the color black as well as Satan. Third, Ancients considered Saturn to be the farthest planet from the sun , the latter being associated with the principle of Good. (Note that Pluto never was considered a planet). Saturn is consequently the celestial body that is the less exposed to the sun’s divine light and thus associated with the coldness of the principle of Evil. Finally, the “great god Pan”, the horned deity, represented Saturn in ancient paganism. This half-man half-goat creature is considered the ancestor of our modern depictions of Satan. Pan was depicted with horns due to the fact it represented Saturn, the ruler of the house of Capricorn which symbol is a goat.
Pan was the controlling spirit of the lower worlds. He was portrayed roaming through the forests, penis erect, drunk and lascivious, frolicking with nymphs and piping his way through the wild. We might say he ruled the lower nature of man, its animal side, not unlike Satan. It is the necessary counterpart of the principle of Good. Masonic authors clearly associate Saturn with Satan. Saturn is the opposite to Jupiter; his symbol is the cross above the sign of Luna. He is the Satan, the Tempter, or rather the Tester. His function is to chastise and tame the unruly passions in the primitive man.
The Fraternitas Saturni
Despite acknowledging its association with Evil, secret societies find the veneration of Saturn necessary to obtain illumination. Example of a secret society worshiping Saturn’s principle is the “Fraternitas Saturni” (The Brotherhood of Saturn). This occult organization openly embodies the hidden side of Saturn worship. The order is still onre of the most active and important magical society today, but from its formal beginnings around 1926 until 1970 it was almost totally secret. The Brotherhood of Saturn holds a unique place in the history of the revival of the Western magical tradition.
The Fraternitas Saturni (FS), the Brotherhood of Saturn, has become known through descriptions which emphasize the magical aspects of this lodge’s work or else its darker side. The FS preserves a vibrant Thelemic current of magical tradition and practice. Fraternitas Saturni is (or was) the most unabashedly Luciferian organization in the modern Western occult revival, and its practice of sexual occultism perhaps the most elaborately detailed of any such lodge. The FS represents a unique blend of astrological cosmology, neo-Gnostic daemonology, sexual occultism, and Freemasonic organizational principles.
The three most unique aspects of FS doctrine are:
1) the astrosophical teaching of Saturnus as the Demiurge ruling over the present stage of cosmic evolution,
2) the Luciferian aspect of the Dark Light,
3) the teachings of sexual occultism.
A History of the Brotherhood of Saturn
It is held that there were Saturnian Brotherhoods working as early as the end of the 1600s in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. Also, it is indicated that there is a mystical connection between the Greco-Roman Saturnian Principle (fatum, fate) and the old Germanic high god, Wotan, whose name is also spelled in these documents as "Fuotan"; hence the link with fatum.
Later, it was emphasized that the Brotherhood had its origins in the rituals of the Roman Saturnalia (which takes place around December 27th), which made clear the FS's tendency away from the Christian world-view and toward a darker side of things. At one point, apparently between 1927 and 1933, there was a provision of the group that only "Christians" (i.e., non-Jews) could be initiated and that all neophytes had to acknowledge the basic "Nordic" ideology of the lodge. This is mentioned to indicate the underlying belief that the FS itself has its mystical origins in the North, and that there was indeed an early Saturnian Brotherhood in the Scandinavian region whose history remains quite obscure. It was to these dim roots that the early FS traced its origins. As far as the Scandinavian Brotherhood of Saturn that was supposed to have been working during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is concerned, all that is said is that it was active in alchemy and in mathematical and Pythagorean mysticism, and that this group was probably based on an even earlier brotherhood in the region.
Saturnian Brotherhood was revived in Warsaw by the mathematician and mystic Joseph Maria Hoëne-Wronski (1776-1853). This lodge have had outer courts in Krakow, Posen, and Thorn. Ultimately these lodges were destroyed by various wars.
Hoëne-Wronski spent most of his life as a Polish expatriate in France, where he is generally held to have been the magical initiator of Alphonse Louis Constant, or as he was better known, Eliphas Levi. Hoëne-Wronski was indeed an "occult master" involved with the ideas of the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and the teachings of Jakob Boehme, but he was also a well- respected (if a bit eccentric) mathematician and philosopher of his day. He was also dedicated to romantic social reform movements, and was the leader of a group called the "Antinomian Union." Among other things, Hoëne-Wronski held that humanity was to pass through five evolutionary stages, and that his theories would open the way to the fifth and final stage. Perhaps the most important of Hoëne-Wronski's theories was his Principle of the Absolute, which held that knowledge of truth was possible through human reason combined with a secret mathematical formula. Related to this was Law of Creation, which posited that man could "create reality" from the sum of his sense impressions, combined with a mathematical formula.
Besides the O.T.O. there was another group that had attracted Crowley's attention in 1925 — the Pansophical Lodge, or Pansophia. It became formalized as the "Grand Pansophical Lodge." Important initiate of this lodge was Karl Germer (Br. Saturnus), who was also the paid personal secretary of Heinrich Tränker. Tränker was the head of a whole eclectic, occult, "pansophical" movement made up of several orders, lodges, and societies. Some of his authority was derived from Theodor Reuss. It was from contact between this group and Crowley that the Fraternitas Saturni came to be founded in 1928.
The "Pansophical Society" was a study group founded just after the war in Berlin. Their areas of interest included Gnosticism, the ancient mysteries of Greece, Egypt, and Babylon, as well as problems of philosophy, religious history, metaphysics, depth-psychology, "cosmosophy," and the Kabbalah. In the early 1920s, Tränker founded a Collegium Pansophicum. This organization, gave Tränker's work a more Masonic, orderly cast, and acted as a background for the publication of some of Tränker's occult works. In 1921 all the Pansophical streams governed by Tränker were brought together in the Grand Pansophical Lodge (of the Light-Seeking Brethren) of the Orient-Berlin.
Besides Tränker, one of the leading members of this lodge was Karl Germer (Frater Saturnus), who was Tränker's secretary and who later became the Grand Treasurer General of Crowley's O.T.O., and eventually Outer Head of the Order upon Crowley's death in 1947. With regard to the quasi-Masonic background of the FS, these are the supposed German origins of Die Goldene Dämmerung —the Golden Dawn - magical order founded in England in 1888. Its own tradition holds that its authority was derived from a German order of the same name.
One historical factor that may have led to this was the traditional presence of "Secret Chiefs" (Superiores Incogniti) in the Masonic Order of the "Strict Observance," active since the middle of the eighteenth century. There were sufficiently deep and long-term, network-like connections between the German and English Masonic and quasi-Masonic groups to warrant the idea that these Secret Chiefs were thought to be akin to those of the Masonic Strikte Observanz. As a feature of organization and doctrine this concept is inexactly reflected in the FS as the GOTOS entity — the guiding force of the order embodied in the 33°, which is actually the superhuman Saturnian Demiurge.
In 1925, the most important event leading to the emergence of the FS took place. Master Recnartus invited Aleister Crowley to his house in Weida in Thuringia, Germany. The purpose of this meeting was to confer the leadership of the groups controlled by Tränker onto Crowley. During the months and years following the meeting at Weida, Gregor A. Gregorius must have been studying and assimilating Crowley's teachings, as well as those of the Pansophists, Rosicrucians, and others in his environs. In 1926, the Pansophical Lodge was ritually closed and dissolved. On the following May 8, five Fratres founded the Fraternitas Saturni. This was to be a magical order which accepted the Law of Thelema, but which was to be totally independent of any other magical order. A few days later Gregorius wrote to the Beast, informing him of the aims of this revived Saturnian Lodge. A full one-third of the members of the Pansophical Lodge became the core of initiates of the FS. The actual accomplishment of Gregorius and the FS was a more or less cohesive synthesis of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry, Luciferianism, astrological mythology, Crowleyanity (or Thelemism), sex-magical practices of the old O.T.O., various Indian yogic systems, and medieval and modern doctrines of Alchemy and Ritual Magic.
Brotherhood Of Saturn
The Fraternitas Saturni (FS), the Brotherhood of Saturn, has become known to English readers through fragmentary descriptions which emphasize the sensational, sex-magical aspects of this lodge's work or else its darker, more Satanic, side.1 This is understandable in light of the fact that the FS is (or was) the most unabashedly Luciferian organization in the modern Western occult revival, and its practice of sexual occultism perhaps the most elaborately detailed of any such lodge. The FS represents a unique blend of astrological cosmology, neo-Gnostic daemonology, sexual occultism, and Freemasonic organizational principles. This grand synthesis was originally the vision of one man, the long-time Grand Master of the FS, Gregor A. Gregorius.
This book is probably the first attempt ever made in any language to present a comprehensive view of the history, organization, doctrines, rituals and practices of the most powerful and influential magical lodge in modern Germany. The "compendium" of FS material cited in Richard Cavendish's Encyclopedia of the Unexplained is an enormous, but sometimes disorganized, trove of documentation which was collected by Prof. Dr. Adolf Hemberger of the University of Giessen, West Germany.2 Other recent treatments of the FS in German have also made use of the mountains of documentary evidence, but have made little attempt to organize it comprehensively.3 Here, I will try to present an organized and comprehensive outline of this magical lodge. The reader should be advised that the author is not an initiate of the FS. However, I had the advice and consultation of the Brotherhood, as is cited in the Acknowledgments. I hope that this combination, coupled with my longtime experience in the history and practice of magic, will provide a sense of objective sympathy.
The FS is an organization that has undergone several transformations during its most recent manifestation (from about 1927 to the present). Most of the material used for this book and the ideas discussed in it have been drawn from the period when Gregorius was Grand Master, or shortly thereafter (to about 1970). Therefore, it cannot be assumed that doctrines or practices discussed in these pages are in fact still a part of the current doctrines and practices of the FS in Germany.
In these pages there is, however, a complete vision of the lodge, including many of its most secret doctrines and ritual practices from that earlier period. A comprehensive overview of its organizational structure of thirty-three degrees of initiation is one key to the understanding of the lodge's work and purpose. The chapter on the doctrines of the FS is concentrated on what is perhaps the three most unique aspects of FS doctrine: 1) the astrosophical teaching of Saturnus as the Demiurge ruling over the present stage of cosmic evolution, 2) the strongly Luciferian aspect of this doctrine, and 3) the teachings of sexo-cosmology and sexual occultism—the Yoga of the Dark Light—as it is tied up with these theories.
The rituals presented here are complete treatments of rites found in archival material. They amply demonstrate the liturgical scope of the Brotherhood, and provide further significant insights into their philosophy that are inaccessible in theoretical discussions.
After studying the doctrines of the FS for almost a decade, and after significant experimentation with a number of its formulae, I believe that the Brotherhood of Saturn indeed holds a unique place in the history of the revival of the Western magical tradition. For too long, the English-speaking magical forum has been ignorant of the exact nature of German occultism and magic. Although a great deal of "English occultism" is actually, or supposedly, derived from sources in her Continental sister nation (e.g. Rosicrucianism, the Golden Dawn [cf. cipher manuscripts], even the O.T.O. itself), little has been done in the way of systematically analyzing this vast and vibrant world. Generally, it might be said that what the Golden
Dawn has been to Anglo-American occultism over the past hundred years, the Fraternitas Saturni has been to German occultism. But whereas the "secrets" of the GD have been published and reprinted over and over, the mysteries of the FS have—until recently— remained behind a veil of obscurity. Therefore, anyone who would really understand the depths of the magical subculture of today, be it in German or Anglo-American society, needs to have a thorough grasp of the history and doctrines of the Brotherhood of Saturn.
As with all organizations of an occult nature, accurate and consistent historical data for the FS is hard to obtain. On some aspects there is an abundance of information, while on others we are left to speculate. In this chapter, I want to trace the history of the FS as an organization and as an idea, and at the same time remain as much as possible within the context of events in the contemporary occult subculture.
Documents within the FS1 point to the idea that on some mystical level there is a connection between the ancient mysteries of the Germanic past and the Fraternitas Saturni. It is held that there were Satur-nian Brotherhoods working as early as the end of the 1600s in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. Also, it is indicated that there is a mystical connection between he Greco-Roman Saturnian Principle {fatum, fate)
and the old Germanic high god, Wotan, whose name is also spelled in these documents as "Fuotan"; hence the link with fatum. Supposedly both Hoene-Wronski2 in the nineteenth century and Gregorius in the twentieth century made these connections. This Fuotan is seen as the All-ruling Principle of Fate, which does not itself succumb to the ultimate "Twilight of the Gods." It is understandable in light of the neo-Romantic Ger-manicism prevalent in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany that FS doctrine would to some extent derive from the Germanic (or as they would have it, "Aryan") North rather than from the Mediterranean region.3 Later, it was emphasized that the Brotherhood had its origins in the rituals of the Roman Saturnalia (which takes place around December 27th),4 which made clear the FS's tendency away from the Christian world-view and toward a darker side of things. At one point, apparently between 1927 and 1933, there was a provision of the group that only "Christians" (i.e., non-Jews) could be initiated and that all neophytes had to acknowledge the basic "Nordic" ideology of the lodge.
This is mentioned to indicate the underlying belief that the FS itself has its mystical origins in the North, and that there was indeed an early Saturnian Brotherhood in the Scandinavian region whose history remains quite obscure. It was to these dim roots that the early FS traced its origins.
As far as the Scandinavian Brotherhood of Saturn that was supposed to have been working during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is concerned, all that is said is that it was active in alchemy and in mathematical and Pythagorean mysticism, and that this group was probably based on an even earlier brotherhood in the region. By the end of the eighteenth century those lodges had disappeared and nothing further was heard of them.5
According to FS documents, a Saturnian Brotherhood was revived in Warsaw by the mathematician and mystic Joseph Maria Hoene-Wronski (1776-1853). This lodge was said to have had outer courts in Krakow, Posen, and Thorn. Ultimately these lodges were destroyed by various wars.6
Although the mysterious Hoene-Wronski may have indeed revived a Saturnian lodge in Poland, the historical record makes it clear that he could not have remained active there, because by the time he was twenty-one he was studying philosophy in Germany.7 Hoene-Wronski spent most of his life as a Polish expatriate in France, where he is generally held to have been the magical initiator of Alphonse Louis Constant, or as he was better known, Eliphas Levi.8 Hoene-Wronski was indeed an "occult master" involved with the ideas of the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and the teachings of Jakob Boehme, but he was also a well-respected (if a bit eccentric) mathematician and philosopher of his day. He was also dedicated to romantic social reform movements, and was the leader of a group called the "Antinomian Union." Among other things, Hoene-Wronski held that humanity was to pass through five evolutionary stages, and that his theories would open the way to the fifth and final stage. Perhaps the most important of Hoene-Wronski's theories was his Principle of the Absolute, which held that knowledge of truth was possible through human reason combined with a secret mathematical formula However, he never seems to have been able to communicate this formula. Related to this was his Law of Creation, which posited that man could "create reality" from the sum of his sense impressions, again combined with a mathematical formula.
The historical connections between Hoene-Wronski and the FS are tenuous, but there are several points on which his theories and legacy touch upon the later development of the FS itself. Certainly not the least of these is his role as initiator of Eliphas Levi (between the years 1850 and 1853), who was to be instrumental in the general occult revival of the late nineteenth century.
Doctrines of the Brotherhood of Saturn
Doctrines and teachings concealed within the magical lodge Fraternitas Saturni are wrapped in the dark cloak of the Demiurge Saturnus, and are truly revealed only to those elect of Saturn who are able to comprehend and understand the Saturn-Gnosis. This gnosis is sometimes dark and foreboding. It uncovers the dark side of the Aquarian Age—an age to be ruled by Saturn. But it is also enlightened by the "higher octave" of Saturn—Lucifer—and by the dark light of Saturnian yoga, or sexual mysticism and Cosmosophy.
The teachings of the FS are highly eclectic. This is understandable given the lodge's "pansophical" origins. "Pansophical" here means "wisdom that encompasses all other forms of wisdom." In the early part of the twentieth century there were several "-sophies," all based on analogy with Blavatsky's Theo-sophy. There was the "ariosophy" of von List, von Liebenfels and others, and the Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner. The original pansophy of Heinrich Tränker was an attempt to synthesize all forms of occult teachings then in practice. This, however, proved a difficult task, as there seemed to be no unifying element or central focus for the maelstorm of occult lore swirling around in the pansophical movement.
It was the Fraternitas Saturni, directly or indirectly through the acceptance of the Aeonic Law of Thelema, which provided the necessary elements of cohesion to the pansophical approach. In this chapter we will concentrate on those things which make the FS teachings unique and give them definite shape. Underlying all of this is the usual post-Theosophical mixture of Eastern and Western doctrines and practices to be found in quasi-Masonic orders of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, e.g. the Golden Dawn and its derivatives. The elements that make the FS unique are its focus on the Saturn archetype, the Saturnian mythos of a new aeon based on an astrological process, and an unabashed Luciferianism. Further aspects which, although not unique to the Brotherhood, added to the lodge's working focus are: the doctrines and practices of sexual magic (principally taken over from the O.T.O.), and the Law of Thelema, which had been formally accepted from the Master Therion (Aleister Crowley) at the inception of the FS.
From the standpoint of existing magical and mystical traditions, the FS is a mixture of Eastern and Western streams. From Eastern (really Indian) ideologies come the themes of awakening of thechakra system in the magician,1 the laws of reincarnation and karma,
and the practice of tantric sexual mysticism. From various branches of the Western tradition come the doctrines of Ritual Magic, Astrology, Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism and, of course, the overriding Masonic form of the lodge's organization and ritual. The documents indicate that the Eastern influence became stronger after the reorganization of the lodge. Within the FS teachings, special emphasis is placed on crystal and mirror magic, pendulum magic, and "daimonic magic.”
Saturn-Gnosis
The gnosis of the FS is a complex set of magical doctrines. These include a special path of initiation as well as a complete astral or planetary cosmosophy and a Luciferian element. In many regards the Saturn-Gnosis is in accordance with what is known of the Ophite and Barbelo Gnostic sects of antiquity.5 Gnosis is a form of knowledge concerning the cosmos to which the individual feels called, or "elected," and which is based not on the belief in certain dogmas but rather on deep personal experience. The teachings, practices and rituals of the FS are intended to provide just such an initiatory experience.
Although in ancient times Gnosticism existed in a myriad of often mutually incompatible sects, there were certain doctrines common to most of them. First, they held that there existed a godhead beyond all categories as well as a three-fold god subsisting in the fullness of being (pleroma), or light. This divine realm of fullness of being transcends the place in the world where matter exists; these two realms are separated by a great barrier (horos). How these realms became separate is a matter of diverse speculation, however, what is certain among the Gnostics is that our world was not created by the god of light, but rather by an entity that resulted from a deficiency in the pleroma. This deficiency came about either through progressive degeneration as the outflow of being got further and further from its source, or through a conscious withdrawal of divine will (thelema) from the outer reaches. By whatever process, lesser independent entities arose in the graduated levels (called aeons) of the new cosmos. These entities were called archons. One of these archons is the entity—or demiurge—that created our world of matter. This entity is identified by some Gnostics with Jehova (YHVH), the god of the Old Testament. Finally, it was held that man, as a mixed entity consisting of elements with origins in both the world of light (of God) and the world of darkness (of the demiurge), could only be redeemed by knowledge {gnosis). This knowledge was a direct experience of being, not something acquired by learning or even by conclusions reached by logical methods. The demiurge Jehovah demanded faith (pistis); the "Good God" could only be reached through gnosis.
These astrophysical phenomena are seen as the outward manifestations of the "War in Heaven." The Luciferian Principle is understood as an expelled spark of the divine which has struggled through the darkness of matter, where this principle manifests itself as crystalline structure and as light. It struggled its way further through the kingdoms of plants and animals, and eventually emerged in humankind where the spark was liberated. Although generally ignorant of its true home and origin, this spark does carry in itself the memories of its primal state.
It is a mainstay of Saturnian gnosis that the darkness contains the light. Therefore the darkness is necessary for light to exist. It follows then that in fact the darkness is superior to the light—ohne Finsternis leuchtet kein Licht! This light is activated within the matrix of darkness by the Logos—of the Demiurge Saturnus—that constantly speaks the words: "Let there be light!" The outermost station of this light is in the planetary sphere of Saturn, where the light melts into darkness.
As the solar system stands now, there is a dynamic tension between the centrifugal force (the outer limits of which are defined by Saturn) and the centripetal force (the center of which is the Sun). The centrifugal force—outward moving power—is the force of creativity and manifestation wielded by the Demiurge Saturnus, which is an expression of that force. This is the "divine negative" as the Creative Principle.36 The centripetal force—the centralizing or concentrative power—is that of restriction and limitation ruled by the Solar Logos: the Chrestos Principle. Chrestos is Greek for "the good one." These two forces are in continuous balance and each force contains the seed-principle of its opposite. There is, therefore, a profound and incomprehensible darkness at the center of the Solar Logos. This is the object of the Saturnian Solar Cult. At the same time, those who serve Saturn are also conducting a spiritualized solar cult in that they are promoting the return of the lost son (Saturn),who was hurled out of the Sun to his paternal Solar sphere.
According to FS teachings, the Earth is also a complex sphere. Parallel to the physical plane of existence on this planet are two other planes or dimensions: the astral underlying this physical plane and the mental overlying it. Magically these are respectively seen as the darkness and light the magician must master in his work. Interestingly, the secret doctrine has it that the astral dimension has historically been interpreted as "hell," while the mental zone has been seen as "heaven."
Kabbalistically, the effects of the negative causal principle of Saturn, which corresponds to the third sephira, called Binah (Understanding), is reflected in the ninth sephira, called Yesod (Foundation), which corresponds to the Moon. Therefore, in the astrosoph-ical doctrines of the FS, the effects of Saturn (= 3) are transmitted through the Moon (= 9)—the power of Saturn squared (3 ).
The state of dynamic tension in which the cosmos finds itself is, according to the laws of cosmic ice, eventually going to collapse. In fact, this collapse is already underway. Astronomically, this is a process of various planetary bodies being reabsorbed into the Sun. On the spiritual level this is tantamount to the principles, of which these planets are manifestations, being redeemed. Four planets have been redeemed as the FS doctrine has it. Two, Vulkan and Hermes, have already been consumed by the Sun, while Mercury and Venus have been drawn within its sphere of influence. At some point, Jupiter and Saturn will merge, combining the mildness of Jupiter with the severity of Saturn. This will give rise to a new Golden Age. Eventually all the planets of the solar system will be thus "redeemed," bringing to an end this cycle of existence. In this whole process Gregorius said that the "task of spiritual humanity is to participate consciously in the evolution of the Earth in order to redeem her."
AEONIC COSMOSOPHY The Dark Side of the Aquarian Age
The strict doctrines concerning cosmic aeons (from Greek aion, age) have their origin in Gnostic teachings of the early centuries of our era. This concept, although it had a certain magical role in ancient times, became enormously important with the magical work of Aleister Crowley following 1904. The FS, inspired by Crowley and by the current astrological speculations concerning the dawn of a New Age of Aquarius, developed its own aeonic philosophy. It is essential to understand this philosophy if the whole work of the Brotherhood is to be grasped.
The ancient Gnostic sects of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions held that the aeons were the emanations of God. These emanations descended from the fullness (pleroma) of God's light into the darkness. Aeons are made up of an array of elements, the archons that rule them, the angels (Greek aggeloi, messengers) that provide for their dynamic interaction with the cosmos, the "reasons" (Greek logoi, or "words"), etc. In Gnostic practice these aeons were seen as barriers through which the initiate would have to pass after death until he gained the pleroma. In actual Gnostic teaching, then, an aeon is a phenomenon of time/ space.4 The Earth may pass though "ages" ruled over by archons ("rulers") of astrologically determined periods of time, but the individual soul of a man must also pass through the barriers of the aeon in order to return to the light. So much for the ancient doctrine.
In Cairo, Egypt, Aleister Crowley received the text of a book dictated to him by a praeternatural entity identified as Aiwass or Aiwaz. This happened in 1904, and from that time on Crowley began to preach the advent of a new aeon, the Aeon of Horus, which in turn superceded the Aeons of Isis and Osiris. It is clear that Crowley understood himself as an agent and an indespensable element of this new aeon, the Word of the Aeon made flesh. From that point he was to function as a Magus (although he was not to claim that grade until 1915), and as the Utterer of an Aeonic Word. Theoretically, it became his task and his curse to attempt to articulate this Word, which is QeXrifia (Thelema), the True Will. In this the Great Beast had synthesized the old Gnostic idea of a natural progression of the aeonic rulers on Earth and the idea of a godlike intervention from above, exemplified in the Gnostic Christology.
Crowley had conjured a new way of magical thinking with his aeonic formulation, and it was one that struck a few responsive cords. Gregor A. Grego-rius accepted the advent of the aeonic current of Thelema but did not accept Crowley's system (A.'.A.'. or O.T.O.), nor his authority in non-aeonic matters. In 1948 Crowley's own disciple, Charles Stansfield Jones (Frater Achad), claimed to have uttered a new Word superceding that of Thelema. Achad's Word was supposedly Ma-Ion or Ma'at—the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice. All this turned out rather badly, as Jones ended his days in obscurity and insanity.
Of course, many hold to orthodox notions of "aeonic questions" pronounced more or less clearly by Aleister Crowley, while others even attempt to work with Achad's formulation. The dynamic understanding of the Setian Xeper, as continually articulated by its Magus, provides a more individuated and clearly articulated aeonic pathway than any of the previous attempts to work with such "Aeonic Words." In any event, some perspective on these aeonic concepts cannot be ignored when one is trying to understand the history of magical thinking in twentieth-century Western tradition. In the FS the advent of the new aeon is seen first and foremost in astrological terms. It is the equivalent of the Age of Aquarius, ruled by the planetary archon Saturnus. The role of the Master Therion's Aeonic Word seems to be of secondary importance. What might be of widespread interest is the magico-astrological insight into the fact that the Aquarian Age will be one ultimately ruled by the dark Saturno-Uranian archon or demiurge.
The cosmosophy of the FS is dependent on the natural procession of the equinoxes into the sign of Aquarius, which as a sign of the zodiac is traditionally said to be ruled by the planet Saturn. With the discovery of trans-Saturnian planets, and after astrology had synthesized them into its system, the planet Uranus was also said to rule this sign. This physical event, as well as the other astrophysical phenomena taking place in the cosmos and more particularly within our solar system, are reflections of metaphysical events occurring simultaneously with the physical ones. The same can be said for the birth of the solar system, and its eventual entropic collapse.
Although it is stated that "every age or epoch contains within itself the power necessary to its own fulfillment," humanity as a whole resists this realization. It is only open to and known by the truly elect within a society. Humanity is for the most part still dominated by an unyielding law of self-destruction that rules in all realms of being, organic as well as inorganic. Knowledge and experience of the archdai-monic principle embodied in Saturn can, however, free the initiate from the laws of cause and effect. In other terms, man can liberate himself from his own karma. Beyond the moral aspects of this, these ideas are also useful in formulating a notion of how Satur-nian magic works. It is the progression of the individual beyond the threshold—beyond the barrier—in order to become separate from the internal, objective cosmos. In theory, the Aquarian Age, the aeon of Saturn, should be manifest first and foremost within the magically elect.
The influence of the coming Aquarian Age is being guided by the Demiurge Saturnus, which is in turn being transformed through Uranian influence. The present, fading Piscean Age is (was) ruled by Jupiter, under the hidden influence of Neptune. The Neptunian influence is thought to be exercising tremendous force at the close of the Piscean Age in the area of politics; hence the upsurge in collectivistic and communistic ideals. This tide will, however, suddenly turn, and this influx will be destroyed by the surging Uranian power. According to Saturnian teachings, the confusion of today's world is mainly due to the con vergence of the two competing and conflicting aeonic streams, the incoming Aquarian and the outgoing Piscean. It will be up to the emerging Saturno-Uranian spirit and its elect to bring a new order out of this chaos. In this process the old nature of Saturn is undergoing a transformation as well. It is becoming more "spiritual," while at the same time it retains its basic quality of stability and solidity. The synthesis of these qualities leads to a powerful balance in which the powers of the spirit are directed and manifested in exacting, precise ways which are as yet unheard of. In the Saturnian view, there does seem, to be sure, a dark side of the Age of Aquarius. Based on some fairly objectively interpreted astrological teachings, it could be concluded that the Aquarian Age will only appear to be one of rational and humanitarian egalitarianism. The Saturno-Uranian reality looming behind this world of appearances will be one of an enlightened system of control by a ruling elite—the final reign of the Illuminati.