A Geographıcal Travel Through Esoterıc Wısdom

8/13/2019 A Geographcal Travel Through Esoterc Wsdom

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Elixir.Thus the book conveys in a way how man purifies to a

man of sanctity through hardy initiations.

Many a researcher have proposed that this book was

written by Johann Valentin Andrea, a Lutheran priest and that

he indeed was behind the founding of the brotherhood. J.

Gordon Melton, in his book Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in

America draws attention to an interesting point: "It is

interesting that Andrea is a fervent Lutheran because Martin

Luther's coat of arms also had a rose and a cross.

Rosencreutz`s Travel to the East

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Rosencreutz`s life

story covers a period of his travels to the Islamic realm of

the East in a quest to obtain Eastern Secrets. According to

this legend, he first goes to Cyprus, intending to travel to

Jerusalem but when his companion dies there he goes to a place

called Damcar as he is directed by some Eastern wise men.

Much doubt has been expressed about the name of the place

Damcar. Many suggested that it would be Damascus in Syria

which was a center of learning. This has led to much

controversy as to whether the travel had actually occurred. In

the Waite translation it is stated that German editions

confused Damasco with Damcar. Damasco is Damascusin

Syria, but Damcar is Dhamar, in Arabia. Therefore, it

should read Damcar rather than Damasco. If one takes a

close look at Abraham Orteliuss ancient map of the Middle

East as shown in Figure 1, one can discern this city which was

a center of learning then. It is in South Yemen where Saabeans

of Arabia lived. The mind in the mists of History would

inevitable wander to their Biblical Queen Belkis who had

traveled to meet King Solomon in Jerusalem.


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Figure 1.

Damcar

Continuing the story; the wise men who knew the secrets

of nature have educated Rosencreutz in the natural sciences

such as medicine, physics, mathematics and alchemy. They also

gave him a secret book called M. It is possible that this

may be the famous Liber Mundi which is said to contain many

secrets.

Three years later Rozenkreutz went on to Egypt where he

studied natural history and metaphysical works of legendary

Hermes Trismegistus. Then he traveled to Fes. Claimed to be in

his own words every year representatives of Arabian

scientists gather here to discuss if better things in arts

(science) have been discovered and whether new experimentation

proved any of their working hypotheses wrong. Eventually new

findings are made to advance Mathematics, Medicine and

Magick.


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If one accepts the year 1378 as the year in which

Christian Rosenkreutz was born, then it appears that his

Middle East adventure must have taken between 1389 and 1402,

before the conquest of Istanbul by the Turks in 1453.

Esotericism

Every belief system has two aspects, one exoteric (open)

and the other esoteric (concealed) as almost a general rule.

Examples are two opposing aspects, like outer and inner, the

visible and the concealed, symbolically in Sufism; the rind

and the flesh.

Usually the exoteric aspect of a religion teaches morals,

giving instructions on being good, tells stories about

happenings of the past. The lessons to be derived from these

instructions and stories are left to the initiate to discover

and these discoveries from time immemorial have been preserved

by the real priests and prophets. They have kept their secrets

in coded words, symbols, allegories, enigmas. These secrets

could only be gained by schooling, the system being to teach

them in stages. This may be called successive initiation to

the knowledge and societies exercising this may be named

Initiatic Societies as suggested by famous Masonic historian

Paul Noudon. At the esoteric core of the doctrine was the idea

of the human beings being able to worship without an

intermediary and molding of minds to purify man towards

(quoting Pike) a-tonement. This means the reversal of a

church centered world to a man centered world and is contrary

to the advantages (material and authoritarian) of the

establishment. The established authority was a King or Sultan

ruling in the name of God. This inevitably had given rise to a

Church-King alliance. Thus, any idea to shake this partnership

had to be banished.


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At certain times the esoteric core had come to light but

was forcibly buried by the establishment. Inquisitions,

tribunals were set up by the oligarchy to punish the heathen

and the rebellious. Now it is time to query how this esoteric

core fed Rose-Croix.

Fountains of Esoteric Knowledge in the East

Figure 2 is a Map of Biblical Fertile Crescent. The name

implies a region where many civilizations lived and left their

marks. At this juncture it is remarkable that for 200000 years

of Human History the intellectual abilities of humans have

been dormant until 4000 BC (a merely 2% of the whole time span

until our time) when the Sumer (Shumar) kingdom shone in this

region. The accumulation of knowledge since then has been

astounding.

Figure 2. The Fertile

Crescent


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The most important esoteric system that the medieval

times inherited from past unknown of this land is Hermeticism.

Thus it is thought expedient to dwell on this vast subject in

as concise a way as possible.

Hermetic Thought

Hermes

A prominent legend of Ancient Egypt is that of Isis-

Osiris-Horus: Set (or Tifon) who is jealous of his Priest-King

brother Osiris, gouges out his eye, kills him and throws parts

of his body in the river Nile. Thus Osiriss wifeIsis becomes

a widow. This widow, after seeking for and finding the body

parts, puts them together, thanks to the grace of sun-god Ra.

Then, using Osirissgenitals, gives birth to a male child

called Heru in ancient Egyptian or Horus in Greek. His name

connects to the sun god Ra who helped Isis to compose his

fathers partsand he has many eyes. His name Horus (plural

Hori because of his numerous eyes) has the syllable Iri which

means eye in Egyptian Hieroglyphics; in fact a symbol of the

eye of Cosmos or of Godly power. The association of his name

with the sun furthers when a branch of Sbis called

Mandeists, St.John the Baptist Christians who baptize by water

and whostill live in Northern Iraq used to call the same Angel

of Illumination Zehrun which they place in the House of the

Sun. In archaic languages, words had consonants only, voiced

when spoken. Hence Hermes is written as HRM. To bring out his

association with the sun; his name is formed as HI-RA-M which

means Illuminated because RA is for The Sun,Light, andIllumination. Similarly, with the letter u it becomes Khur-am

in Persian where Khur means Light, Sun.

In addition, Poimander, which is an addendum to

Corpus Hermeticum means Shepherd of People reminiscent of


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the Shepherd of Hermes in Greek Mythology. Romans called

him Mercury Trismegiste.

According to myth; Hermes is the first in history to

build a Temple to worship God, to talk about medical

science, to warn about the Flood. He has built two

pyramids to preserve wisdom, named them el-Barb and

Ihmm and carved all knowledge of his time on their

walls. These carvings were hieroglyphic and symbolic lest

their meaning be known to the profane. Another legend

says that God had revealed his name to him after

ascending him to heaven. He had then engraved this name

on a golden triangle with its tip down and placed it onan agate stone at the bottom of a deep pit. The pit was

protected by nine arches on top of which he built a

Temple.

Plato mentions Theuth in two places as founder of

Arithmetic, Calculus, Geometry, and other sciences. This is

purported to be ancient Egypts Thoth, Tahuti, Thech,

Tat which all meant Guide. Thoth in Celtic is Toatha

Daath in Kabala; and has become Death inEnglish, perhaps

because of his legendary role of shepherding souls to their

final trial. Ancient Egyptians used the incantation Aa Aa

Tehuti where Aa Aameant Thrice Great. Around 300 BC one

sees Toth-Hermes pair to be interchangeable. When Greeks

translated the sacred Aa Aa Tahuti call in their own

language as Trismegistos, this word gained different

connotations. Some Islamic thinkers ascribe to this triple

name Thrice Wizened and deduce that the blessed triangle

consisting of Prophetdom, Wisdom, and Caliphate;

representative of Prophet Mohammeds authority has been

bestowedon himby God. While Egyptian Toth was transformed


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to Greek Hermes its pure celestial image was lost and it

became a Greek god with cosmic powers.

The short introduction to Hermes above shows that he has

had a prominent place in many cultures. That is why the

philosophy called Hermeticism has been a source for many

esoteric schools of thought.

Hermetic Philosophy (Hermeticism)

In the context of this paper, this subject will be mostly

restricted to the Philosophy rather than the Alchemical aspect

of Hermeticism.

Archaic Hermeticism

Extant Hermetic literature is termed Corpus Hermeticum.

This consists of 17 main Dialogs. One should add to this the

40 passages compiled in AD 50 and the 3 Coptic Manuscripts

discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Archaic Hermetism

is Egyptian which stresses on discovering and revealing the

truth. Emerald Tablet is a work that reflects this

philosophy. According to this belief system all in Universe

has originated from one source, however all were

interconnected. Thus; a change at one place resulted in

another at another place. Macro cosmos (Universe) and Micro

cosmos (Man) wereinterrelated. The idiom As Above so below

reflects this view. Hermeticism supposes soul and body to be

conjoined and that every substance has a soul. Oneness of God

and immortality of the spirit are other elements. At this

stage it is worth stressing that the idea of everything in

cosmos being connected and a cause at one place can bring

about changes at another has been a driving force first for

alchemists and then in time for scientists. An early example

of this is the Sbis of Harran. They tried to utilize the

principle above to influence the course of events by trying to


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influence celestial events like the motion of the Planets.

Their books on astrology and Liber Hermetis are fruits of

such efforts.

Syncretic Hermeticism

The archaic Egyptian Hermeticism has undergone vast

changes in Alexandria that was founded by Alexander the Great

in 331 BC. The consequent syncretism is exemplified when one

considers the Greek Serapis statue to be amalgamated with the

Egyptian Apis originating from a belief in Osiris. The

syncretized Hermetic literature reflected beliefs in Ancient

Egypt, Pentateuch, Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster as well as

Stoicism, Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Pythagorianism and similar

trends of thought. According to Michel Eliade this collection

was a mixture of Judeo-Egyptian syncretism with a grain of

Persian lore. For example; the myth of creation in Poimander

is very similar to that of the Pentateuch. At places the

teachings in Corpus inclines towards Dualist Platonismand

also Pantheist Stoicism:

There is an invisible God in cosmos which is not created

by God directly. Androgynous Nous (the supreme wisdom) gives

existence to a Demiurge who then creates the cosmos and then

the celestial man (Anthropos). Anthropos gets down to Earth

and there unites with Nature (Physis) to give existence to

earthly human beings. Meanwhile however; the sacred primary

Anthropos remains in heavens. It alone gives life to humans.

His life transfers life to self, his light transfers light to

intellect (nous). It is this concept that gives rise to the

thought that man on earth has a mortal and an immortal


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attribute. It is due to this unique characteristic that if man

endeavors he can walk towards god with the help of the sacred

essence within him. According to this stream of thought;

matter is identical with darkness. Light is spirit and

illumination is in spirit. Life on earth is a process of

struggle between matter and spirit. Hermeticism has an

optimistic and a pessimisticaspect. The optimistic one is

Monistic and Pantheist. According to this; nature is good

and beautiful because Invisible God reflects himself there.

Thus, anyone who studies nature and understands its beauty

becomes fulfilled. Man is the third and last point of the

triangle: following God and Cosmos.

The pessimist doctrine asserts that nature is evil

because it has been created not by the Primordial God but by

the Demiurge. Thus anybody who does not turn his back on

nature can never know his God. Since world consists of evil;

one has to be a stranger to it in order to be reborn to the

divine realm.

Esoteric Islam and Hermeticism

Contemporary with the Church of Romes emergence Mohamed;

as a messenger of God appeared in Arabia and called for a

complete surrender to God. This was the beginning of Islam,

the last of the religions with a book named Quran. The Holy

Quran teaches that all revealed religions should be recognized

and to every nation or people a prophet has been sent.

Exoteric and Esoteric aspects are also present in Islam. The

exoteric bases are Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving and

Pilgrimage. Islamic esotericism exists in the Shia sects of

Islam and amongst the Sufi who; while observing the Sacred

Laws (Sharia) also interpret the Holy Quran in mystical ways.

Circumventing the political struggle between the followers of


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Ali, and the Orthodox Moslems headed by the Umayyad dynasty it

can be stated that Alis followers were called Shia (Shiites)

and Alewites in general by some. Many esoteric cults derive

from their various groupings occurring on the bases of

disputes of esoteric nature. Fatimids, Ismailis, Nusairi may

be cited.

Within Islamic esotericism, as in all esoteric movements,

there are steps towards gaining knowledge. This is called the

wisdom of gradual teaching (hikmat at-tadrij). The

invocation to God contains the following declaration of faith:

"There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of

God.Masters of Esoteric thought interpret this as "there isno Truth except Truth". It is said that Prophet Muhammed

instructed his companions Abu Bakr, Ali and Salman al-Farisi

in esoteric Islam. After his death in 632 A.D. they proceeded

to establish their own orders. Nevertheless, due to political

infighting, authority in the Islamic empire became divided.

Those who did not have their share of Esoteric Islam seized

power. Strict religious laws (sharia) were imposed. Therefore

Muslim conservators of esoteric Islam went into hiding.

It is expedient at this stage to see how Hermeticism was

perceived by the Islamic initiates:

In Islamic culture Hermes is known as Idris. He was

nicknamed tailor not because he was one but he could mold

human character like a tailor designed a costume. Traces of

Greek and/or Hebrew belief is apparent in the perception. The

following similarities in sacred texts are supportive of this.

According to the Old Testament Enoch(Uhnuh) is a religious

person, lived for 365 years and was exalted to heaven.

(Tekvin, V/23). Idris (his equivalent) has been mentioned

directly twice in the Quran: The first is Remember Idris too


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because he was a devout Prophet. We exalted him to a sublime

place. (Meryem, 56-57). The second is Remember Ishmael,

Idris, Dhul-kifl (probably Ezekiel). All of them were of the

patient ones. (Enbiya, 85).

In Prophet Mohameds ascension to Heaven story he talks

to Idris on the fourth heaven. This stage of heaven is

associated with the sun constellation and in Mythology this

sign is associated with Hermes as we have seen. This is taken

as further proof of the identicalness of Hermes-Idris.

Some Islamic thinkers consider the term Hermess

Triangle (Hermesl-mselles) as signifying three different

persons named Hermes. The first is Idris who has taught man

about the sky and the Medical Science, Letters of the

Alphabet, how to dress, warned them about the flood. He has

constructed the first temple to worship God. The second Hermes

or the Hermes of Babylon has lived in Babylon after the

deluge and is a master of Medicine, Philosophy, and Perception

in Numbers. Furthermore he has instructed Pythagoras. Legend

has it that this is the Hermes Trismegistos and this Hermes

is the one who found one of the two columns on which all

knowledge was inscribed by Noah before the flood. That is how

he acquired his knowledge. It was he who resurrected the

wisdom and science that was lost in the Deluge. The Third

Hermesor the Hermesof Egypt had lived more recently in a

center of excellence called Munif in Egypt before the rise of

Alexandria. The story has it that he was a student of

Agathodaimon, the alchemist. He established many cities

including Edessa (Urfa today). He wrote books about animals,

plants, medicine, philosophy, alchemy. He had important

manuscripts on astrology and was a teacher of Asclepius. He

has a place to his name in the mountains of Lebanon. These

mountains are significant to some denominations including the


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Druze. On the other hand the Historian Herevi mentions Idriss

place of birth as Harran, and there is a special shrine in

Kufe (Iraq) attributed to him.

Harran (Figure 2) was home to Sabiis who had synthesized

the Babylonian religion with that of Esoteric Greek tradition.

The people of Harran were inheritors of New Pythagorianism and

Hermeticism. Hermetic Sabiis were accepted as people of the

book by Moslems and this later enabled their ideas to be

repeated by later Moslem esotericists. One of their prominent

scientists Sbit bin Kurra has translated Hermess Kitbul-

Nevmis from Syriac to Arabic.The prominent philosopher al-

Kindis student Ibn Tayyib el-Serahs sees Hermes as thefounder of Sbi religion. Semseddin el-Dimask in his book

Nuhbett-Dehr states that the term Sbi derives from

Sabi (child) implying the son of Hermes. To day Sbi

live in Iraq under the name Mandean as a small society. They

are Gnostics called Christians of Saint Johnin reference

to John the Baptist. In Mecrits book named Gyetl-Hakm

the seventh Chapter entitled Tabiat-i Tamme is about Sabiis

and it is said that this chapter was written by Hermes. The

following call on Hermes is interesting: We hail you with all

your names; Utarid in Arabic, Tir in Persian, Harus in Latin,

Hermes in Greek, and Budd in Hindu.

Sufi and Esoteric Movements

During the eighth and ninth centuries, esoteric sages of

Islam openly declared that they were followers of Islamic

esotericism. Many were arrested and questioned. Their

explanation often caused them great distress. Many were

imprisoned and executed.

Actually most of the Sufi Orders act according to the

Islamic law (Sharia). Nevertheless in their teaching they


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refer to esoteric wisdom as a fruit covered by the "rind"

which is the exoteric aspect.

Sufi wear white robes of Lambs wool. Symbolically this

is because Lamb has always been consecrated by the sun. Thus;

wearing this wool awakens their heart towards the luminosity

of the sun guiding them towards the light of wisdom.

Farah, in his Islam states: "The Sufis laid out the

'path' (tariqah) that would lead to gnosis (marifah) or mystic

knowledge of the Lord. The 'path' of ascension to divine union

with God passes through stages known commonly as 'stations' or

'stages': the last stage is that of fana, or passing away in

God, which is the ultimate desire of a successful mystic. The

Sufi at this point ceases to be aware of his physical identity

even though he continues to exist as an individual.

The Hermetic Philosophy" that Part is of the Whole

and the quest to arrive to the whole is a holy journey is

the principle also underlies the Sufi ideal (Vahdet-i-Vucud).

Emebering that Poimander; the addendum to the Corpus

Hermeticum means Shepherd of People; the word Enoichion inPoimander means inside eye, hearts eye in Greek. This

terminology means a lot to the Islamic Sufis. According to

them the hearts eye should open through strife which is

called Cihad to arrive at the whole. Mansur al-Hallaj as a

mystic had realised illumination, (fana), or as Sufis call

passing away in the Divine Beloved, exclaiming:

I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is. We are two

spirits dwelling in one body. When thou seest me thou seest

Him, And when thou seest Him, thou seest us both.

Mansour al-Hallaj was executed in (922). Shortly

afterwards a secret society called the Brethren of Purity

(Ihvan us-Safa) was founded in the Iraqi city of Basra (Figure


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3.) The Brethren supported scientific studies into philosophy,

theology, astrology, metaphysics, cosmology, and the natural

sciences, including botany and zoology. They were also

politically active. They prepared and published an

encyclopedia comprising existing knowledge. They used to

enchant: "He, who knows himself, knows his Lord".

Figure 3.

Mediterranean (800 AD)


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Figure 4. Mediterranean (900 AD)

Figure 5. Mediterranean Fatimid Empire (1000

AD)


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Ismailism and the Fatimid Empire

Figures 3 to 5 above show the political changes in the

Mediterranean basin between 800-1000 AD. It shows the

evolution of the Umayyad-Abbasid Empire into separate

Emirates, the situation in Spain and Sicily and the Fatimid

Empire of later times.

Ismailism deserves special attention from among Islamic

sects. This sect has resulted from a schism in Shiism which

itself is a result of a split in mainline Islam. Shi'ism

developed into two separate directions: the metaphorical

Ismaili group focusing on the mystical path and the

literalistic group focusing on divine law (sharia).

The smaili sect is also named the Seven Imam Shiites.

Following their traits from Wikipedia: As Muslims, the Ismaili

affirm the fundamental Islamic testimony of truth. They believe

Muhammad was the last and final Prophet of God and that the

Quran was revealed through him. All Muslims hold this

revelation to be the culmination of the message that had been

revealed through other prophets of the Abrahamic tradition

before Mohamed, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

Ismailism rose at one point to become the largest branch

of Shiism, and climaxed as a political power with the Fatimid

Empire in the tenth through the twelfth centuries.

In the tenth century Ismailis established the Fatimid

Empire in North Africa.This land since time immemorial has

been inhabited by the indigenous people known as Berber.Someprefer the name Imazighen because Berber was derived from

the term barbari that the Romans gave to the people they

conquered across Northern Africa. They have known invasions

and occupations that date back thousands of years, including

those of the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Vandals, the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27anhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an


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Byzantines, the Arabs, the Spanish, the Turks and the French.

Despite ceaseless efforts by each colonizer to erase and

eradicate this indigenous culture, the latter not only

survived but also constitutes the foundation onto which the

other cultural layers were added. Before conversion to Islam

in the eighth century the Berbers had polytheistic and

animistic religious practices. Many of them were Gnostic

Christians. Berber authors include Saint Augustine,

Tertullian, Apuleius, Saint Cyprian, Lactantius, Ibn Khaldun,

and Ibn Battuta among others.

The Shiite belief of twelve Imams (seven in the case of

Ismailis) with the last one lost (ascended to heaven) andwould return one day to redeem mankind appealed to these

people. Thus the belief systems intermingled.

The Fatimids practiced exoteric Islam in Public. However

they opened the Grand House of Wisdom (Dar-ul-Hikmet) for the

study of esoteric philosophy. There; missionaries (Dais) were

trained and tasked with the propagation of Islamic thought

everywhere including Europe. The Fatimid Caliph was the Grand

Master of the House of Wisdom. Students from East and West

were instructed in their philosophical conferences called

Meetings of Wisdom. (Majalis-al-Hikmet).

In A Short History of the Saracens, the Muslim

historian Ameer Ali says: "the account of the different

degrees of initiation adopted in the House of Wisdom forms

an invaluable record. In fact; the House of Wisdomat Cairo

became the model of all the Freemasonic Lodges created in

Christendom".

The orthodox Sunni rulers in Baghdad disliked the

Esotericism of Fatimids. Hence they started a war against

Hereticsand ended the Fatimid Empire.


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Rose and Cross in Sufism

The symbol of Prophet Mohamed was rose. Since in Islamic

culture love for Mohamed meant having faith in Islam, Rose has

become the symbol of such faith as well. In Islamic culture a

child is named after the person with whose morals the child is

wanted to be associated. Mohameds name means he who praises

(the God). If a person who is named Mohamed does not prove

worthy of this name, the one who has named him as well as the

father would have sinned. This has caused many to use the name

Mehmet instead of Mohamed. This symbol has caused many

Moslems name their children beginning with the Gl which

means Rose in Turkish. The same understanding has used Gl asa suffix to the name of the Prophets wife Aye Aise with

Gl to make it Ayegl. In certain parts of Anatolia they

give priority to Gl and say Glaye.

In Sufism Rose represents sacred beauty. A Rose bud

symbolizes unity, and in addition man conjoined with god

and a blossomed Rose "the appearance of unity in

multiplicity", to "disclose a vital secret". Rose garden means

"openness of heart, a heart cleansed of dirt and ready to

reflect the divine beauty.

It is interesting to cite the Rose and Cross section of a

Masters gratitude prayer which consists of five sections in

order to show the importance attached to the cross. This

incantation is usually exercised squatting in a circle:

There is no God but God repeated four times in four

measures. In the first the head goes right, the second left,

the third above and the fourth below stressing the four points

of the cross. In the meantime the eyes go from left to right

praying for the veil covering the Ego to open and reveal the

divine world. The eyes then go on a vertical line, meanwhile


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praying for the hearts garden of the divine world to open.It

is begged for the secret rose of Sufism to blossom in this

garden at the point of intersection of the imaginary lines of

the cross that was traced by the eye. During these movements

the right hand extends right, left to left then both join on

the heart. The interpretation is that cross is symbolic of the

four elements and of the alchemists cubicle in which they

melt. The changing color of the Rose in the middle from pale

pink to scarlet shows the stages of Alchemic maturity.

The Inroads of Hermetic Esotericism to Europe

Running through all cultures are the threads of an

underground Primordial Tradition which is well concealed.

The Sufis say, "Everything that comes from the Eternal One

yearns to return to Him."

Now is the time to answer the question: How did this

stream of thought found its way to Europe?

A priory one has to emphasize that Celtic, Germanic,

Gothic tribal invasions of Europe (100-300 AD) had destroyed

the culture there: At the beginning of the Middle Ages, all

the West had was Platos Timaios dialogue and a few writings

of Aristo in the name of literature. We can add to these the

writings of Church Fathers inspired by New-Platonism.

St.Augustins(354-400 AD) Sacred State may be an example.

The infusion of esoteric ideas followed diverse routes

mostly originating from North Africa which may be summarized

as follows:

Septimania

The portion of the Roman Empire where the seventh legion

was stationed was named Septimania. It was occupied by

Visigoths in 462 AD. It corresponded roughly with the modern


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French region of Languedoc-Roussillon. Figure 6. Shows its

location.It passed briefly to the Arabsin the eighth century

before its reconquest by theFranks. Septimania was a zoneof

the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia down to the

thirteenth century, though it was culturally and politically

separate from northern France. Thus it was open to a cultural

infusion which occurred through immigration from the Holy

Land, North Africa and within Europe itself. Bogomils hence

Cathars lived there. They were Gnostic Christians to the

chagrin of the authorities in Rome. This gave rise to a

transfer of esoteric knowledge which disturbed the authorities

in Rome. It was finally brought under the control of the

French kings through the Albigensian Crusade. (1209-1229).

However, esoteric wisdom was preserved amongst the people,

facilitating transfer of new ideas.

Figure 6. Septimania
http://tripatlas.com/Languedoc-Roussillonhttp://tripatlas.com/Emirate_of_C%C3%B3rdobahttp://tripatlas.com/Frankshttp://tripatlas.com/Marcheshttp://tripatlas.com/Albigensian_Crusadehttp://tripatlas.com/Albigensian_Crusadehttp://tripatlas.com/Marcheshttp://tripatlas.com/Frankshttp://tripatlas.com/Emirate_of_C%C3%B3rdobahttp://tripatlas.com/Languedoc-Roussillon


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Spain

During the Arab empires of Umayyad (661-750) and

subsequently Abbasid (750-1258), different states in North

Africa were born and disappeared in time. (Figures 3 to 5).

Arab conquest of North Africa has started in 669. In 710 Arabs

crossed the Gibraltar and conquered most of Spain. Their

advance into France was stopped by Charles Martelle in 732.

Thus, Islamic esotericism was imported from North Africa.

Sicily

The Islamic Aghlabi kingdom (800-909 AD) conquered

Sicily which ended in 878 AD (Figure 4). They brought Islamic

thought to this part of the world. However, Sicily then fell

under Norman occupation. King Leon II was very interested in

Esotericism which had taken roots there. He obtained books on

Hermeticism and on Egyptian, Greek Philosophy and established

Collegia in Palermo. This had a marked influence in the

transfer of esoteric ideas to Europe.

Fatimid Empire in North Africa

From North Africa (Figure 5.) the Fatimid rulers (909-

1171) dispatched missionaries (dais) throughout the known

world. Under cover they even infiltrated Christian Europe.

Accomplished in the esoteric doctrine, the dais could use any

outer form - be it artistic, scientific, religious or secular

- to impart universal and perennial truths. Even poetry, for

which the Sufis are renowned, could be used to transfer

spiritual insights from one culture or religion to another.

Their use of allegory and cipher amounted to a secret

language, the universal language of initiates. Together with

wandering Sufis, they transmitted ancient wisdom to Europe.If

one goes back to the story of Rosenkreutzs adventure it may


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be stated that Fez at the time was in fact a center for

philosophical and occult studies: There Abu-Abdullah, Gabir

ben Hayan Imam Jafar al Sadik's alchemy, Ali-as-Sabramallisi's

astrology and magick, Abdarrahman ben Abdallah al Iskari's

esoteric sciences was taught. These studies have been in

existence since the time of Umayyad dynasty.

Arabic Esoteric writings of Neo Platonism have been

transmitted to Europe after the conquest of Spain and Sicily

by the Arabs followed by the Fatimid works. Particularly

Cordoba has become the center for dissemination of such lore.

Averroes (bn-i-Rt) in Cortoba has been one center of

attraction. His esoteric Corpus has become well-read. Manyof his ideas were assimilated by Siger of Brabant and Thomas

Aquinas and others.

Byzantium and Istanbul

The knowledge accumulated in the region of the Arabic

lands in Mesopotamia were translated from Arabic to Greek and

Latin by Assyrian clergy and transmitted to Istanbul Thus

making it a repository of knowledge.

Italy

Collegia have been in existence in Italy since the time

of Pythagoras. (580-500 BC.) George Gemistius Pletho, a

scientist from Byzantium had visited Florence in 1439 with a

mission to join up the Orthodox and Catholic factions of

Christianity. The Duce Cosimo de Medici assigned Marcilio

Ficino, a prominent new Platonist as his assistant. The

conquest of stanbul in 1453 by the Turks caused many

scientiststoemigrate to thewest. In 1460 a copy of Corpus

Hermeticum was brought from Byzantium. The translation by

Marcilio Ficino and the distribution of this source of

esoteric knowledge affected Europe.


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Ficinos student Pico Della Mirandola in 1486 wrote the

book Nine Hundred Conclusions which syncretized Kabalist,

New Platonist and Esoteric Islam. A very important center of

transmission of knowledge was the Florence Academy. Ficinos

most celebrated contribution is The Theology of Plato. In

this book he describes New Platonism and synthesizes it with

Christianity. Amongst other centers; the Academies of Naples,

Venice, Rome, and finally the Comacine near Lake Como are

prominent. This last one has started the Comacine movement

in France which, according to Masonic historian Paul Noudon

has played an important part in the development of

Freemasonry.

Crusades

The soldier-monks who had come to the Holy Land to fight

the infidel encountered myths ideas that they never expected.

They were taken in by the esotericism of the East, adopted

many of the customs and beliefs and carried them back home,

giving rise to another wave of cultural transfer. The crucial

point here is that they were already steeped in esoteric

tradition:

Citing Albert Pike from his Morals and Dogma, page 694:

In 1118 nine Knight Crusaders of the East in whom were

Godefroi de Saint-Omer and Hugues de Payens, consecrated

themselves to religion and took an oath between the hands of

the Patriarch of Constantinople, a See always secretly or

openly hostile to that of Rome from the time of Photius. The

avowed object of the Templars was to protect the Christians

who came to visit the Holy Places: their secret object was the

re-building of the Temple of Salomon on the model Prophesied

by Ezekiel.


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This re-building, formally predicted by Judaizing

Mystics of the earlier ages, had become the secret dream of

the Patriarchs of the Orient. The Temple of Salomon, re-built

and consecrated to the Catholic worship would become, in

effect, the Metropolis of the Universe, the East would prevail

over the West and the Patriarchs of Constantinople would

possess themselves of the Papal power.

In the following paragraphs; Pike states that they in

fact had in mind to search into and establish the Gnostic

Christianity of St. John the Baptist.

This would obviously put the order in a class of

societies following esoteric knowledge outside the bounds of

Orthodox Catholicism.

The crusaders took along construction teams of their

monasteries which were a continuation of Collegias of the

Comacine cited above. A Similar organization called Ftvve

existed in the Ismaili sect. This gave rise to an interchange

of knowledge in architectur and construction. They also

encountered the trade lodges and guilds of the East the

prominent one being Ahi. These institutions all fed on

Islamic esotericism.

This bondage was dictated by political realities. Fatimid

were arch enemies of the Sunni Arabs. Thus they easily allied

with the crusaders. The rituals of the Druz who are successors

of the Fatimids show examples of this cooperation. This sect

has many beliefs based on Christianity which has resulted from

such contact.

Selahattin Eyyubi extinguished the Fatimid state in 1171.

This brought the crusaders close to the most radical branch of

Ismailis: The assasins or the Fedayeen of Hasan Sabbah. Huges

De Payens and other knights visited Hasan Sabah at his Alamut


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castle upon invitation. There they learned about his

organization structure and about their version of the esoteric

doctrine. They amalgamated most of what they had with what

they had learned. They also learned to conceal their real

beliefs which are called takiyye as a doctrine. Ismailis

wore white garments. Templars adopted this custom as well with

the addition of the Red Cross on their chest.

Figure 7. Summary of

Inroads (600-1100)


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Figure 8. Last but One Step (1500-....)

Conclusion

The repercussion of the transfer of these ideas to Europe

has been colossal; ideals like Rationalism, secularity,

freedom of conscience have taken root. This in fact is the

story of the kick start of illumination.

Figure 9. Final Voyage ???


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Documents

A Geographıcal Travel Through Esoterıc Wısdom