MacGuffins
The goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation. The specific nature of a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot. The most common type of MacGuffin is an object, place or person; other types include money, victory, glory, survival, power, love, or other things unexplained. The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and thereafter declines in importance. It may re-appear at the climax of the story, but sometimes is actually forgotten by the end of the story. Multiple MacGuffins are sometimes derisively identified as plot coupons.[1]
WE NEED SOMEONE WE CAN 'COUNT' ON, NOW...
Historical Overview
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/profiles/499/the_count_of_stgermain.html
Historical Overview
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/profiles/499/the_count_of_stgermain.html
Episode Options
Book of Harmony Episode
Fata Morgana Episode
Acoustic Levitation Episode
Elixir of Life Episode
Queen of Spades Episode
Time-Eater Episode
Dragon-Riders Episode
Triangle Book Episode
Masonic Tower Episode
Float Tank Episode
Black Swan Episode
Gem-Hunter Episode
Count Cagliostro Episode
Franz Mesmer Episode
Carnival of Venice Episode
Carpathian Sphinx Episode
When I Was Tesla Episode
Casanova Episode
Vienna Episode
Louis XV Episode
London Episode
Book of Harmony Episode
Fata Morgana Episode
Acoustic Levitation Episode
Elixir of Life Episode
Queen of Spades Episode
Time-Eater Episode
Dragon-Riders Episode
Triangle Book Episode
Masonic Tower Episode
Float Tank Episode
Black Swan Episode
Gem-Hunter Episode
Count Cagliostro Episode
Franz Mesmer Episode
Carnival of Venice Episode
Carpathian Sphinx Episode
When I Was Tesla Episode
Casanova Episode
Vienna Episode
Louis XV Episode
London Episode
Fata Morgana Episode
Star-Crossed Lovers Continuing theme
Premise: Love Magic, Chemical Wedding
Soror Mystica: Rose Noble:
(Amelia Lily Monserrat), Shamanka, Semele Bendis, Alchemene, Rosa Y Santacilia, Melissa Anjouleme, Gisele de Soissons, Maraclea (Greater Shining), Rosamund Graythorne, Sara Damaris, Agnes de Ore
Redhead; green eyes - the audience is never sure if she is his projection or real [she might even be a spirit character throughout, or intermitantly manifest] - she comes in dream sequences, and changes forms, anamorphically and otherwise, sometimes with different names. We never quite know for sure at first if the Count is courting yet another mortal woman or his muse in yet another guise. She uses Bloodline genealogy for "time travelling". St. Germain likewise enters his energy body in reverie and dreams for astral adventures.
But this nurse of his deleriums is always recognizable by her gold coins, inscribed with a rose that she uses to hypnotize and misdirect. Mysterious inscriptions cause the coins to acquire a magical aura, as amulets or products of transmutation, and inexhaustible mines of philosophical gold. Believers in the transmutation of metals had or thought they had coins of silver and of gold, duly stamped with the records of the transmutation.
The daily routine of life gives rise to noble issues -- temptations, trials, darkness, the light and weariness -- form the metal that must be transmuted into the coin of Eternity. Women who embody Artemis are goal-oriented. They enjoy "the chase" of elusive quarry. Their perseverance leads to accomplishment and achievement. Artemis rescued anyone (especially women) in physical danger who appealed for her help. Artemis was the goddess of childbirth. Seeking and anticipation in a goal-directed search. The High Priestess has incorporated the Solar aspect within herself. This is not so with Artemis, as the Amazon.
Soror mystica is:a female alchemist ("mystical sister"), usually paired with a male. She is the Sister in Mystery. In alchemical lore these two work together seeking the philosopher's stone, or Holy Grail - brought together by invisible choreography. The alchemical partnership seeks, in essence, to find each person's own divinity through the conscious assistance of another who, in intimate relationship, mirrors back all the aspects of the other's soul which lay hidden; aspects which either taint or cloud the polished vision through which the divine could otherwise see clearly through human eyes. It is a lengthy process, one requiring commitment and humility to allow its rare completion. The working partnership is like two factories facing one another, which demolish and rebuild the other continually. . . a relationship with the Anima Mundi, the muse, genius, genie, daemon, holy guardian angel, etc
For Jung, the higher stages of individuation were unreachable unless a man projected his anima (or a woman her animus) onto a suitable partner. See transference -- a transference attachment to their own unconscious. She remains in a sort of no-man's-land between consciousness and the unconscious, in the half-shadow, in part belonging or akin to the conscious subject, in part an autonomous being meeting consciousness as such. She is not necessarily obedient to the subject's intentions. She may even be of a higher order, more often than not a source of inspiration or warning, or of supernatural information.
ARTIFEX - If the partnership dissolves, the artifex is reduced to being an alchemist by himself. The soror mystica would most likely pursue her transmutational needs through more esoteric means. When they work together, though, it is the two of them who perform the work of the alchemist - and so, through their cooperation, two become one. This is a different union from a sexual (or sexualized) union of opposites. The union of opposites is potent and creative and intense, an interpenetration of two beings.
The artifex and the soror mystica move fluidly with and around each other while focusing their energies and attentions on some shared purpose, that shared purpose being something OTHER than the possession of each other. And so, theirs is a much more subtle interaction, a fire with much lower heat if you will. Which is not to say that the artifex and soror mystica cannot or should not also be lovers. But they do not have to be. And their shared higher goal does not need to be mutual self-improvement - perhaps it is best if they have some other, outside shared purpose, so that mutual self-improvement comes as a fringe benefit of the work they do together.
A mirror of imagination and guide of the Magus - Soror Mystica represents a number of things.
1. Nature herself, including the ground of the action, even the Cosmos
2. The whole Art of Alchemy.
3. An actual physical partner or assistant of the female variety.
4. The feminine counterpart of the alchemist.
5. The Mercurial principle.
Serrano says, In philosophic alchemy, there exists the idea of the Soror Mystica who works with the alchemist while he mixes his substances in his retorts. . . . At the end, there occurs a mystic wedding. . . . In the processes of individuation worked out in the Jungian laboratory between the patient and the analyst, the same fusion takes place. . . . It is a forbidden love which can only be fulfilled outside of matrimony. . . . While it is true that this love does not exclude physical love, the physical becomes transformed into ritual.
Consider the Tantric practices of India, in which the Siddha magicians attempted to achieve psychic union. The ritual of the Tantras is complicated and mysterious. The . . . woman would usually be one of the sacred prostitutes. . . . Just as in alchemy lead is converted into gold . . . the act of coitus was really intended to ignite the mystic fire at the base of the vertebral column. . . . The woman is a priestess of magic love, whose function is to . . . awaken the . . . chakras of the Tantric hero. . . . The man does not ejaculate the semen, but impregnates himself; and thus the process of creation is reversed and time is stopped. . . . The product of this forbidden love is the Androgyne, the Total Man, Cosmic Man, all of whose . . . centers of consciousness are now awakened. . . .Jung, the magician, had almost alone made it possible for us today to take part in those Mysteries which seem capable of taking us back to that legendary land of the Man-God.
Star-Crossed Lovers Continuing theme
Premise: Love Magic, Chemical Wedding
Soror Mystica: Rose Noble:
(Amelia Lily Monserrat), Shamanka, Semele Bendis, Alchemene, Rosa Y Santacilia, Melissa Anjouleme, Gisele de Soissons, Maraclea (Greater Shining), Rosamund Graythorne, Sara Damaris, Agnes de Ore
Redhead; green eyes - the audience is never sure if she is his projection or real [she might even be a spirit character throughout, or intermitantly manifest] - she comes in dream sequences, and changes forms, anamorphically and otherwise, sometimes with different names. We never quite know for sure at first if the Count is courting yet another mortal woman or his muse in yet another guise. She uses Bloodline genealogy for "time travelling". St. Germain likewise enters his energy body in reverie and dreams for astral adventures.
But this nurse of his deleriums is always recognizable by her gold coins, inscribed with a rose that she uses to hypnotize and misdirect. Mysterious inscriptions cause the coins to acquire a magical aura, as amulets or products of transmutation, and inexhaustible mines of philosophical gold. Believers in the transmutation of metals had or thought they had coins of silver and of gold, duly stamped with the records of the transmutation.
The daily routine of life gives rise to noble issues -- temptations, trials, darkness, the light and weariness -- form the metal that must be transmuted into the coin of Eternity. Women who embody Artemis are goal-oriented. They enjoy "the chase" of elusive quarry. Their perseverance leads to accomplishment and achievement. Artemis rescued anyone (especially women) in physical danger who appealed for her help. Artemis was the goddess of childbirth. Seeking and anticipation in a goal-directed search. The High Priestess has incorporated the Solar aspect within herself. This is not so with Artemis, as the Amazon.
Soror mystica is:a female alchemist ("mystical sister"), usually paired with a male. She is the Sister in Mystery. In alchemical lore these two work together seeking the philosopher's stone, or Holy Grail - brought together by invisible choreography. The alchemical partnership seeks, in essence, to find each person's own divinity through the conscious assistance of another who, in intimate relationship, mirrors back all the aspects of the other's soul which lay hidden; aspects which either taint or cloud the polished vision through which the divine could otherwise see clearly through human eyes. It is a lengthy process, one requiring commitment and humility to allow its rare completion. The working partnership is like two factories facing one another, which demolish and rebuild the other continually. . . a relationship with the Anima Mundi, the muse, genius, genie, daemon, holy guardian angel, etc
For Jung, the higher stages of individuation were unreachable unless a man projected his anima (or a woman her animus) onto a suitable partner. See transference -- a transference attachment to their own unconscious. She remains in a sort of no-man's-land between consciousness and the unconscious, in the half-shadow, in part belonging or akin to the conscious subject, in part an autonomous being meeting consciousness as such. She is not necessarily obedient to the subject's intentions. She may even be of a higher order, more often than not a source of inspiration or warning, or of supernatural information.
ARTIFEX - If the partnership dissolves, the artifex is reduced to being an alchemist by himself. The soror mystica would most likely pursue her transmutational needs through more esoteric means. When they work together, though, it is the two of them who perform the work of the alchemist - and so, through their cooperation, two become one. This is a different union from a sexual (or sexualized) union of opposites. The union of opposites is potent and creative and intense, an interpenetration of two beings.
The artifex and the soror mystica move fluidly with and around each other while focusing their energies and attentions on some shared purpose, that shared purpose being something OTHER than the possession of each other. And so, theirs is a much more subtle interaction, a fire with much lower heat if you will. Which is not to say that the artifex and soror mystica cannot or should not also be lovers. But they do not have to be. And their shared higher goal does not need to be mutual self-improvement - perhaps it is best if they have some other, outside shared purpose, so that mutual self-improvement comes as a fringe benefit of the work they do together.
A mirror of imagination and guide of the Magus - Soror Mystica represents a number of things.
1. Nature herself, including the ground of the action, even the Cosmos
2. The whole Art of Alchemy.
3. An actual physical partner or assistant of the female variety.
4. The feminine counterpart of the alchemist.
5. The Mercurial principle.
Serrano says, In philosophic alchemy, there exists the idea of the Soror Mystica who works with the alchemist while he mixes his substances in his retorts. . . . At the end, there occurs a mystic wedding. . . . In the processes of individuation worked out in the Jungian laboratory between the patient and the analyst, the same fusion takes place. . . . It is a forbidden love which can only be fulfilled outside of matrimony. . . . While it is true that this love does not exclude physical love, the physical becomes transformed into ritual.
Consider the Tantric practices of India, in which the Siddha magicians attempted to achieve psychic union. The ritual of the Tantras is complicated and mysterious. The . . . woman would usually be one of the sacred prostitutes. . . . Just as in alchemy lead is converted into gold . . . the act of coitus was really intended to ignite the mystic fire at the base of the vertebral column. . . . The woman is a priestess of magic love, whose function is to . . . awaken the . . . chakras of the Tantric hero. . . . The man does not ejaculate the semen, but impregnates himself; and thus the process of creation is reversed and time is stopped. . . . The product of this forbidden love is the Androgyne, the Total Man, Cosmic Man, all of whose . . . centers of consciousness are now awakened. . . .Jung, the magician, had almost alone made it possible for us today to take part in those Mysteries which seem capable of taking us back to that legendary land of the Man-God.
Pythagoras and his book, by Raphael
Book of Harmony Episode
Premise: Music of the Spheres
http://www.musicofthespheres.org/Whatismots.htm
Music of the Spheres
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musica_universalis
Musica universalis (lit. universal music, or music of the spheres) or Harmony of the Spheres is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of musica (the Medieval Latin name for music). This 'music' is not usually thought to be literally audible, but a harmonic and/or mathematical and/or religious concept. The idea continued to appeal to thinkers about music until the end of the Renaissance, influencing scholars of many kinds, including humanists. The Music of the Spheres incorporates the metaphysical principle that mathematical relationships express qualities or ‘tones' of energy which manifest in numbers, visual angles, shapes and sounds – all connected within a pattern of proportion. Pythagoras first identified that the pitch of a musical note is in proportion to the length of the string that produces it, and that intervals between harmonious sound frequencies form simple numerical ratios.[1] In a theory known as the Harmony of the Spheres, Pythagoras proposed that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum (orbital resonance) based on their orbital revolution,[2] and that the quality of life on Earth reflects the tenor of celestial sounds which are physically imperceptible to the human ear.[3] Subsequently, Plato described astronomy and music as "twinned" studies of sensual recognition: astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, and both requiring knowledge of numerical proportions. Harmonices Mundi[1] (Latin: The Harmony of the World, 1619) is a book by Johannes Kepler. In the work Kepler discusses harmony and congruence in geometrical forms and physical phenomena. The final section of the work relates his discovery of the so-called "third law of planetary motion".[2]
There is a legend that Pythagoras could hear the 'music of the spheres' enabling him to discover that consonant musical intervals can be expressed in simple ratios of small integers. The tones correlated with the great celestial movements of the day. Pythagoras' concepts were transferred by Plato and others into models about the structure of the universe. Pythagoras told the Egyptian priests that Thoth gave him the ability to hear the music of the spheres. He believed that only Egyptians of the 'right' bloodline, passing successful initiations, could enter the temples and learn the mysteries set in place by the gods at the beginning of time. To learn more he had to win their confidence and needed to appear as a royal soul, begat of the gods and above the sins of man. http://www.crystalinks.com/musicspheres.html
The Rosslyn Stave Angel Music Cipher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy2Dg-ncWoY
Human Genome Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7UEIDftDXk
Premise: Music of the Spheres
http://www.musicofthespheres.org/Whatismots.htm
Music of the Spheres
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musica_universalis
Musica universalis (lit. universal music, or music of the spheres) or Harmony of the Spheres is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of musica (the Medieval Latin name for music). This 'music' is not usually thought to be literally audible, but a harmonic and/or mathematical and/or religious concept. The idea continued to appeal to thinkers about music until the end of the Renaissance, influencing scholars of many kinds, including humanists. The Music of the Spheres incorporates the metaphysical principle that mathematical relationships express qualities or ‘tones' of energy which manifest in numbers, visual angles, shapes and sounds – all connected within a pattern of proportion. Pythagoras first identified that the pitch of a musical note is in proportion to the length of the string that produces it, and that intervals between harmonious sound frequencies form simple numerical ratios.[1] In a theory known as the Harmony of the Spheres, Pythagoras proposed that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum (orbital resonance) based on their orbital revolution,[2] and that the quality of life on Earth reflects the tenor of celestial sounds which are physically imperceptible to the human ear.[3] Subsequently, Plato described astronomy and music as "twinned" studies of sensual recognition: astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, and both requiring knowledge of numerical proportions. Harmonices Mundi[1] (Latin: The Harmony of the World, 1619) is a book by Johannes Kepler. In the work Kepler discusses harmony and congruence in geometrical forms and physical phenomena. The final section of the work relates his discovery of the so-called "third law of planetary motion".[2]
There is a legend that Pythagoras could hear the 'music of the spheres' enabling him to discover that consonant musical intervals can be expressed in simple ratios of small integers. The tones correlated with the great celestial movements of the day. Pythagoras' concepts were transferred by Plato and others into models about the structure of the universe. Pythagoras told the Egyptian priests that Thoth gave him the ability to hear the music of the spheres. He believed that only Egyptians of the 'right' bloodline, passing successful initiations, could enter the temples and learn the mysteries set in place by the gods at the beginning of time. To learn more he had to win their confidence and needed to appear as a royal soul, begat of the gods and above the sins of man. http://www.crystalinks.com/musicspheres.html
The Rosslyn Stave Angel Music Cipher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy2Dg-ncWoY
Human Genome Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7UEIDftDXk
Acoustic Levitation Episode
Premise: Super Acoustics & Consciousness
ACOUSTICS & Effects on Consciousness
Super-Acoustics to Alter Consciousness (... and speak with the dead?)
http://phys.org/wire-news/164386603/ancient-man-used-super-acoustics-to-alter-consciousness-and-spe.html
Researchers detected the presence of a strong double resonance frequency at 70Hz and 114Hz inside a 5,000-years-old mortuary temple on the Mediterranean island of Malta. The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is an underground complex created in the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period as a depository for bones and a shrine for ritual use. A chamber known as "The Oracle Room" has a fabled reputation for exceptional sound behavior.
During testing, a deep male voice tuned to these frequencies stimulated a resonance phenomenon throughout the hypogeum, creating bone-chilling effects. It was reported that sounds echoed for up to 8 seconds. Archaeologist Fernando Coimbra said that he felt the sound crossing his body at high speed, leaving a sensation of relaxation. When it was repeated, the sensation returned and he also had the illusion that the sound was reflected from his body to the ancient red ochre paintings on the walls. One can only imagine the experience in antiquity: standing in what must have been somewhat odorous dark and listening to ritual chant while low light flickered over the bones of one's departed loved ones.
Sound in a Basso/Baritone range of 70 – 130 hz vibrates in a certain way as a natural phenomenon of the environment in the Hypogeum, as it does in Newgrange passage tomb, megalithic cairns and any stone cavity of the right dimensions. At these resonance frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude oscillations, because the system stores vibrational energy. Echoes bounce off the hard surfaces and compound before they fade. Laboratory testing indicates that exposure to these particular resonant frequencies can have a physical effect on human brain activity.
It was demonstrated at the conference that special sound is associated with the sacred: from prehistoric caves in France and Spain to musical stone temples in India; from protected Aztec codexes in Mexico to Eleusinian Mysteries and sanctuaries in Greece to sacred Elamite valleys in Iran. It was human nature to isolate these hyper-acoustic places from mundane daily life and to place high importance to them because abnormal sound behavior implied a divine presence.
In the same conference publication Emeritus Professor Iegor Reznikoff suggests that Ħal Saflieni is a link between Palaeolithic painted caves and Romanesque chapels … "That people sang laments or prayers for the dead in the Hypogeum is certain, for a) it is a universal practice in all oral traditions we know, b) at the same period, around 3,000 BC, we have the Sumerian or Egyptian inscriptions mentioning singing to the Invisible, particularly in relationship with death and Second Life, and finally c) the resonance is so strong in the Hypogeum already when simply speaking, that one is forced to use it and singing becomes natural."
Drs. Lindstrom and Zubrow hint at a more hierarchal purpose for the manipulation of sound. "The Neolithic itself was characterized by cultures focused on new invention…enormous collective collaborations over extended periods of time. For these large-scale projects of agriculture and building, social cohesion and compliance was absolutely necessary."
******
ARCHAEOACOUSTICS : The Archaeology of Sound
http://www.archaeoacoustics.org/
Acoustic Levitation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_levitation
This episode could take SG to the
RIVERBANK LABS
Acoustic Alchemy: Pioneering Esoteric Lab & Think Tank, & Acoustics
How Decoding Shakespeare and Levitation Led to NSA
& Helped Win Two World Wars
http://ionamiller.weebly.com/riverbank-labs-levitation.html
Premise: Super Acoustics & Consciousness
ACOUSTICS & Effects on Consciousness
Super-Acoustics to Alter Consciousness (... and speak with the dead?)
http://phys.org/wire-news/164386603/ancient-man-used-super-acoustics-to-alter-consciousness-and-spe.html
Researchers detected the presence of a strong double resonance frequency at 70Hz and 114Hz inside a 5,000-years-old mortuary temple on the Mediterranean island of Malta. The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is an underground complex created in the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period as a depository for bones and a shrine for ritual use. A chamber known as "The Oracle Room" has a fabled reputation for exceptional sound behavior.
During testing, a deep male voice tuned to these frequencies stimulated a resonance phenomenon throughout the hypogeum, creating bone-chilling effects. It was reported that sounds echoed for up to 8 seconds. Archaeologist Fernando Coimbra said that he felt the sound crossing his body at high speed, leaving a sensation of relaxation. When it was repeated, the sensation returned and he also had the illusion that the sound was reflected from his body to the ancient red ochre paintings on the walls. One can only imagine the experience in antiquity: standing in what must have been somewhat odorous dark and listening to ritual chant while low light flickered over the bones of one's departed loved ones.
Sound in a Basso/Baritone range of 70 – 130 hz vibrates in a certain way as a natural phenomenon of the environment in the Hypogeum, as it does in Newgrange passage tomb, megalithic cairns and any stone cavity of the right dimensions. At these resonance frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude oscillations, because the system stores vibrational energy. Echoes bounce off the hard surfaces and compound before they fade. Laboratory testing indicates that exposure to these particular resonant frequencies can have a physical effect on human brain activity.
It was demonstrated at the conference that special sound is associated with the sacred: from prehistoric caves in France and Spain to musical stone temples in India; from protected Aztec codexes in Mexico to Eleusinian Mysteries and sanctuaries in Greece to sacred Elamite valleys in Iran. It was human nature to isolate these hyper-acoustic places from mundane daily life and to place high importance to them because abnormal sound behavior implied a divine presence.
In the same conference publication Emeritus Professor Iegor Reznikoff suggests that Ħal Saflieni is a link between Palaeolithic painted caves and Romanesque chapels … "That people sang laments or prayers for the dead in the Hypogeum is certain, for a) it is a universal practice in all oral traditions we know, b) at the same period, around 3,000 BC, we have the Sumerian or Egyptian inscriptions mentioning singing to the Invisible, particularly in relationship with death and Second Life, and finally c) the resonance is so strong in the Hypogeum already when simply speaking, that one is forced to use it and singing becomes natural."
Drs. Lindstrom and Zubrow hint at a more hierarchal purpose for the manipulation of sound. "The Neolithic itself was characterized by cultures focused on new invention…enormous collective collaborations over extended periods of time. For these large-scale projects of agriculture and building, social cohesion and compliance was absolutely necessary."
******
ARCHAEOACOUSTICS : The Archaeology of Sound
http://www.archaeoacoustics.org/
Acoustic Levitation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_levitation
This episode could take SG to the
RIVERBANK LABS
Acoustic Alchemy: Pioneering Esoteric Lab & Think Tank, & Acoustics
How Decoding Shakespeare and Levitation Led to NSA
& Helped Win Two World Wars
http://ionamiller.weebly.com/riverbank-labs-levitation.html
Elixir of Life Episode
Premise: Chemical Immortality
Many believe I know the secret of the Elixir of Life, that lay hidden in a place which depicts Earth's final destiny. --Count St. Germain
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/archaeologists-recreate-elixir-long-life-recipe-unearthed-bottle-001772
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elixir_of_life
The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a mythical potion that, when drunk from a certain cup at a certain time, supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. The elixir of life was also said to be able to create life. Related to the myths of Thoth and Hermes Trismegistus, both of whom in various tales are said to have drunk "the white drops" (liquid gold) and thus achieved immortality, it is mentioned in one of the Nag Hammadi texts.[1] Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir.
Comte de St. Germain, an 18th-century nobleman of uncertain origin and mysterious capabilities, was also reputed to have the Elixir and to be several hundred years old. Many European recipes specify that elixir is to be stored in clocks to amplify the effects of immortality on the user. Frenchman Nicolas Flamel was also a reputed creator of the Elixir.
Premise:
Elixir has the magical power to maintain life indefinitely... to raise his frequency, vibration, energy levels, producing physical immortality and nonordinary states.
The Elixir has had hundreds of names (one scholar of Chinese history reportedly found over 1,000 names for it.), including (among others) Amrit Ras or Amrita, Aab-i-Hayat, Maha Ras, Aab-Haiwan, Dancing Water, Chasma-i-Kausar, Mansarover or the Pool of Nectar, Philosopher's stone, and Soma Ras. The word elixir was not used until the 7th century A.D. and derives from the Arabic name for miracle substances, "al iksir". Some view it as a metaphor for the spirit of God (e.g., Jesus's reference to "the Water of Life" or "the Fountain of Life"). "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) The Scots and the Irish adopted the name for their "liquid gold": the Gaelic name for whiskey is uisce beatha, or water of life.
Aab-i-Hayat is Persian and means "water of life".[4] "Chashma-i-Kausar" (not "hasma") is the "Fountain of Bounty," which Muslims believe to be located in Paradise. As for the Indian names, "Amrit Ras" means "immortality juice," "Maha Ras" means "great juice," and "Soma Ras" means "juice of Soma." Soma was a psychoactive drug, by which the poets of the Vedas received their visions, but the plant is no longer known. Later, Soma came to mean the moon. "Ras" later came to mean "sacred mood, which is experienced by listening to good poetry or music"; there are altogether nine of them. Mansarovar, the "mind lake" is the holy lake at the foot of Mt. Kailash in Tibet, close to the source of the Ganges.
The panacea /pænəˈsiːə/, named after the Greek goddess of universal remedy, Panacea, also known as panchrest,[citation needed] was supposed to be a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. It was sought by the alchemists as a connection to the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, a mythical substance which would enable the transmutation of common metals into gold.
Premise: Chemical Immortality
Many believe I know the secret of the Elixir of Life, that lay hidden in a place which depicts Earth's final destiny. --Count St. Germain
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/archaeologists-recreate-elixir-long-life-recipe-unearthed-bottle-001772
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elixir_of_life
The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a mythical potion that, when drunk from a certain cup at a certain time, supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. The elixir of life was also said to be able to create life. Related to the myths of Thoth and Hermes Trismegistus, both of whom in various tales are said to have drunk "the white drops" (liquid gold) and thus achieved immortality, it is mentioned in one of the Nag Hammadi texts.[1] Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir.
Comte de St. Germain, an 18th-century nobleman of uncertain origin and mysterious capabilities, was also reputed to have the Elixir and to be several hundred years old. Many European recipes specify that elixir is to be stored in clocks to amplify the effects of immortality on the user. Frenchman Nicolas Flamel was also a reputed creator of the Elixir.
Premise:
Elixir has the magical power to maintain life indefinitely... to raise his frequency, vibration, energy levels, producing physical immortality and nonordinary states.
The Elixir has had hundreds of names (one scholar of Chinese history reportedly found over 1,000 names for it.), including (among others) Amrit Ras or Amrita, Aab-i-Hayat, Maha Ras, Aab-Haiwan, Dancing Water, Chasma-i-Kausar, Mansarover or the Pool of Nectar, Philosopher's stone, and Soma Ras. The word elixir was not used until the 7th century A.D. and derives from the Arabic name for miracle substances, "al iksir". Some view it as a metaphor for the spirit of God (e.g., Jesus's reference to "the Water of Life" or "the Fountain of Life"). "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) The Scots and the Irish adopted the name for their "liquid gold": the Gaelic name for whiskey is uisce beatha, or water of life.
Aab-i-Hayat is Persian and means "water of life".[4] "Chashma-i-Kausar" (not "hasma") is the "Fountain of Bounty," which Muslims believe to be located in Paradise. As for the Indian names, "Amrit Ras" means "immortality juice," "Maha Ras" means "great juice," and "Soma Ras" means "juice of Soma." Soma was a psychoactive drug, by which the poets of the Vedas received their visions, but the plant is no longer known. Later, Soma came to mean the moon. "Ras" later came to mean "sacred mood, which is experienced by listening to good poetry or music"; there are altogether nine of them. Mansarovar, the "mind lake" is the holy lake at the foot of Mt. Kailash in Tibet, close to the source of the Ganges.
The panacea /pænəˈsiːə/, named after the Greek goddess of universal remedy, Panacea, also known as panchrest,[citation needed] was supposed to be a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. It was sought by the alchemists as a connection to the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, a mythical substance which would enable the transmutation of common metals into gold.
Queen of Spades Episode
Premise: Trickster Turnabout
[this one sounds reminiscent of a Twilight Zone type script]
The Queen of Spades (story)
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Queen of Spades" (Russian: Пиковая дама; translit. Pikovaya dama) is a short story with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. Pu...
View on en.wikipedia.orgPreview by Yahoo
The Queen of Spades (story) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "The Queen of Spades" (Russian: Пиковая дама; translit. Pikovaya dama) is a short story with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. Pushkin wrote the story in autumn 1833 in Boldino[1] and it was first published in the literary magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya in March 1834.[2] The story was the basis of the operas The Queen of Spades (1890) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, La dame de pique (1850) by Fromental Halévy and Pique Dame (1864) by Franz von Suppé[3] (the overture to the Suppé work is all that remains in today's repertoire). It has been filmed various times, the most notable version being a 1949 film by the same name directed by Thorold Dickinson. Contents Plot summary Graffiti, 2008 Hermann, an ethnic German, is an officer of the engineers in the Imperial Russian Army. He constantly watches the other officers gamble, but never plays himself. One night, Tomsky tells a story about his grandmother, an elderly countess. Many years ago, in France, she lost a fortune at cards, and then won it back with the secret of the three winning cards, which she learned from the notorious Count of St. Germain.
Hermann becomes obsessed with obtaining the secret. The countess (who is now 87 years old) has a young ward, Lizavyeta Ivanovna. Hermann sends love letters to Lizavyeta, and persuades her to let him into the house. There Hermann accosts the countess, demanding the secret. She first tells him that story was a joke, but Hermann refuses to believe her. He repeats his demands, but she does not speak. He draws a pistol and threatens her, and the old lady dies of fright. Hermann then flees to the apartment of Lizavyeta in the same building. There he confesses to have killed the countess by fright with his pistol. He defends himself by saying that the pistol was not loaded. He escapes from the house with the aid of Lizavyeta, who is disgusted to learn that his professions of love were a mask for greed. Hermann attends the funeral of the countess, and is terrified to see the countess open her eyes in the coffin and look at him. Later that night, the ghost of the countess appears. The ghost names the secret three cards (three, seven, ace), tells him he must play just once each night and then orders him to marry Lizavyeta. Hermann takes his entire savings to Chekalinsky's salon, where wealthy men gamble for high stakes. On the first night, he bets it all on the three and wins. On the second night, he wins on the seven. On the third night, he bets on the ace — but when cards are shown, he finds he has bet on the Queen of Spades, rather than the ace, and loses everything. When the Queen appears to wink at him, he flees in terror. Hermann goes mad and is committed to an asylum. He is installed in Room 17 at the Obukhov hospital; he answers no questions, but merely mutters with unusual rapidity: "Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen!". Inspiration The character of the old countess was inspired by Princess Natalya Petrovna Galitzine (Princesse Moustache) while Ficquelmont Palace, where Pushkin was a regular guest, is believed to be the frame for the old countess' grand palace in Pushkin's story. Pushkin would also have depicted his own feelings for countess Dolly de Ficquelmont through Hermann's love for Lise. Notes
Premise: Trickster Turnabout
[this one sounds reminiscent of a Twilight Zone type script]
The Queen of Spades (story)
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Queen of Spades" (Russian: Пиковая дама; translit. Pikovaya dama) is a short story with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. Pu...
View on en.wikipedia.orgPreview by Yahoo
The Queen of Spades (story) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "The Queen of Spades" (Russian: Пиковая дама; translit. Pikovaya dama) is a short story with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. Pushkin wrote the story in autumn 1833 in Boldino[1] and it was first published in the literary magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya in March 1834.[2] The story was the basis of the operas The Queen of Spades (1890) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, La dame de pique (1850) by Fromental Halévy and Pique Dame (1864) by Franz von Suppé[3] (the overture to the Suppé work is all that remains in today's repertoire). It has been filmed various times, the most notable version being a 1949 film by the same name directed by Thorold Dickinson. Contents Plot summary Graffiti, 2008 Hermann, an ethnic German, is an officer of the engineers in the Imperial Russian Army. He constantly watches the other officers gamble, but never plays himself. One night, Tomsky tells a story about his grandmother, an elderly countess. Many years ago, in France, she lost a fortune at cards, and then won it back with the secret of the three winning cards, which she learned from the notorious Count of St. Germain.
Hermann becomes obsessed with obtaining the secret. The countess (who is now 87 years old) has a young ward, Lizavyeta Ivanovna. Hermann sends love letters to Lizavyeta, and persuades her to let him into the house. There Hermann accosts the countess, demanding the secret. She first tells him that story was a joke, but Hermann refuses to believe her. He repeats his demands, but she does not speak. He draws a pistol and threatens her, and the old lady dies of fright. Hermann then flees to the apartment of Lizavyeta in the same building. There he confesses to have killed the countess by fright with his pistol. He defends himself by saying that the pistol was not loaded. He escapes from the house with the aid of Lizavyeta, who is disgusted to learn that his professions of love were a mask for greed. Hermann attends the funeral of the countess, and is terrified to see the countess open her eyes in the coffin and look at him. Later that night, the ghost of the countess appears. The ghost names the secret three cards (three, seven, ace), tells him he must play just once each night and then orders him to marry Lizavyeta. Hermann takes his entire savings to Chekalinsky's salon, where wealthy men gamble for high stakes. On the first night, he bets it all on the three and wins. On the second night, he wins on the seven. On the third night, he bets on the ace — but when cards are shown, he finds he has bet on the Queen of Spades, rather than the ace, and loses everything. When the Queen appears to wink at him, he flees in terror. Hermann goes mad and is committed to an asylum. He is installed in Room 17 at the Obukhov hospital; he answers no questions, but merely mutters with unusual rapidity: "Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen!". Inspiration The character of the old countess was inspired by Princess Natalya Petrovna Galitzine (Princesse Moustache) while Ficquelmont Palace, where Pushkin was a regular guest, is believed to be the frame for the old countess' grand palace in Pushkin's story. Pushkin would also have depicted his own feelings for countess Dolly de Ficquelmont through Hermann's love for Lise. Notes
- Binyon, Pushkin: A Biography, p. 424.
- Binyon, Pushkin: A Biography, p. 444.
- The Operatic Pushkin
- Пиковая дама available at Russian Virtual Library (Russian)
- "The Queen of Spades", transl. by Natalie Duddington
Death / Rebirth Episode
Premise: What Price Immortality?
'THE TIME EATER'
Self-Transcending Human: Death May Not Be Final At All
The Hermetic Opus begins with a Descent
Our procreative power mirrors the generativity of the Whole
http://paulijungunusmundus.eu/hknw/holy_wedding_alchemy_modern_man_p1a_e.htm#2
HIDDEN HISTORY
Within years of St. Germain's purported death in 1784, the German town, on a small spit of land between a fjord the Baltic Sea and Windebyer Noor was struck by a giant storm. St. Germain's grave was washed out to sea leaving the issue of his last remains, a moot point. The dragon-riders brewed up a mega-thuunderstorm. The 13 November 1872 Baltic Sea flood hit the coast from Denmark to Pomerania. Of all the German coastal settlements, Eckernförde was most heavily damaged due to its location on Eckernförde Bay which was wide open to the north-east. The entire town was flooded, 78 houses were destroyed, 138 damaged and 112 families became homeless. This 1872 storm surge destroyed his grave.
But this is not the story the family itself tells. Rather, as we shall see, his body was actually replaced by a log. The family claims he sank into a deep coma from porphyria, the family curse, and though declared dead in his catatonic state he was spirited back to his homeland in Transylvania and returned to the Solomonarii, who had raised him from youth, protecting and hiding him from political adversaries. His is identity was safeguarded as a protective measure from the persecutions by the Hapsburg dynasty. His slumber, if it was slumber, was not sleep. They recognized his coma as a regenerative state induced with the Elixir. It felt like dying as the old self died to make way for the new.
St. Germain was attended by another of the secret brotherhood members -- a certain Dr. Victor Frankenstein -- whose ventures in reanimation rose to infamy around 1793, with the creation of his infamous creature. It is widely known that, as a boy, Frankenstein was interested in the works of alchemists such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus, and he longed to discover the fabled elixir of life. Therefore, the Doktor could hardly believe his great fortune. Two times he tries to raise St. Germain, and the third time it works. Later he becomes obsessed with the idea of creating life in inanimate matter through artificial means.
“I am in some sense boundless, my being encompassing the farthest limits of the universe, touching and moving every atom of existence. The same is true of everything else…It is not just that ‘we are all in it’ together. We all are it, rising and falling as one living body.” ----Francis Cook
Intuitive Wisdom can never be realized completely. Symbols of the "self" are produced by unconscious activity. The symbol transforms energy. The cryptogram is a factor in symbolic philosophy. Consistent themes pervade his thought and work.
Nature always reflects the archetype of death/rebirth.
A journey or a battle? A crossroads or a fight?
A stolen life or a gift?
Illness, emotions, relationships and death are among the experiences for which people use metaphors to express, reflect and shape views, feelings, attitudes and needs. Different metaphors "fit" different people or the same person at different times.
http://www.laetusinpraesens.org/musings/dying.php
Premise: What Price Immortality?
'THE TIME EATER'
Self-Transcending Human: Death May Not Be Final At All
The Hermetic Opus begins with a Descent
Our procreative power mirrors the generativity of the Whole
http://paulijungunusmundus.eu/hknw/holy_wedding_alchemy_modern_man_p1a_e.htm#2
HIDDEN HISTORY
Within years of St. Germain's purported death in 1784, the German town, on a small spit of land between a fjord the Baltic Sea and Windebyer Noor was struck by a giant storm. St. Germain's grave was washed out to sea leaving the issue of his last remains, a moot point. The dragon-riders brewed up a mega-thuunderstorm. The 13 November 1872 Baltic Sea flood hit the coast from Denmark to Pomerania. Of all the German coastal settlements, Eckernförde was most heavily damaged due to its location on Eckernförde Bay which was wide open to the north-east. The entire town was flooded, 78 houses were destroyed, 138 damaged and 112 families became homeless. This 1872 storm surge destroyed his grave.
But this is not the story the family itself tells. Rather, as we shall see, his body was actually replaced by a log. The family claims he sank into a deep coma from porphyria, the family curse, and though declared dead in his catatonic state he was spirited back to his homeland in Transylvania and returned to the Solomonarii, who had raised him from youth, protecting and hiding him from political adversaries. His is identity was safeguarded as a protective measure from the persecutions by the Hapsburg dynasty. His slumber, if it was slumber, was not sleep. They recognized his coma as a regenerative state induced with the Elixir. It felt like dying as the old self died to make way for the new.
St. Germain was attended by another of the secret brotherhood members -- a certain Dr. Victor Frankenstein -- whose ventures in reanimation rose to infamy around 1793, with the creation of his infamous creature. It is widely known that, as a boy, Frankenstein was interested in the works of alchemists such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus, and he longed to discover the fabled elixir of life. Therefore, the Doktor could hardly believe his great fortune. Two times he tries to raise St. Germain, and the third time it works. Later he becomes obsessed with the idea of creating life in inanimate matter through artificial means.
“I am in some sense boundless, my being encompassing the farthest limits of the universe, touching and moving every atom of existence. The same is true of everything else…It is not just that ‘we are all in it’ together. We all are it, rising and falling as one living body.” ----Francis Cook
Intuitive Wisdom can never be realized completely. Symbols of the "self" are produced by unconscious activity. The symbol transforms energy. The cryptogram is a factor in symbolic philosophy. Consistent themes pervade his thought and work.
Nature always reflects the archetype of death/rebirth.
A journey or a battle? A crossroads or a fight?
A stolen life or a gift?
Illness, emotions, relationships and death are among the experiences for which people use metaphors to express, reflect and shape views, feelings, attitudes and needs. Different metaphors "fit" different people or the same person at different times.
http://www.laetusinpraesens.org/musings/dying.php
Solomonari Episode
Dragon-Riders
Premise: Immortality Cult
The “Solomonari” are not supernatural creatures, but humans who have learned special abilities -- blending masculine and feminine elements in the psyche. It is said that the children which will became “solomonar”, are born with different signs on them. Later, as the legend says, these children were chosen by experienced Solomonari, taken into forests or in caves, which were usually marked with coded inscriptions. There they learned the art and craft of wizardry, which they later used for fighting against the dark forces of nature and human spirit. They were healers, summoners, thaumaturgs and mastered the highest science and lore about the Universe.
Transylvania has three prominent literary claims to fame: Dracula, Frankenstein, and Count St. Germain. And what they share is the Solomon School -- the fabled and often wrongly demonized Scholomance -- an esoteric mystery school with shamanic roots in the neolithic era.
The Carpathians, an ancient Neanderthal shamanic stronghold, are one of the most active seismic areas in Europe. After learning the secrets of the light and the dark, schooled in their own depths, their final examination involves copying all they knew about humanity into the Solomonar's book.
A key point found repeatedly within alchemy is the idea that the alchemist can only succeed in his work if he approaches it with purity of intent, with a heart free of ulterior agendas (an idea that was mirrored in the Grail myths, where only a knight of pure heart had any hope of finding the Grail). This idea was emphasized by some early scribes who noted with irony that alchemy was notorious for its failed alchemists, i.e. those who sought alchemical success in elaborate and expensive laboratory attempts to create gold but often ended up broke in the process. The esoteric foundation of spiritual alchemy is found in the ancient world-wide myths that deal with the life, death and resurrection of a god. The candidate or initiate is to undergo a similar process, in order to awaken to their divine condition—a type of radical deconstruction and ‘rebirth’. This process involves a number of stages.
Rock of Shadows
Like Giordano Bruno before them, they became legendary wandering alchemists, who have sworn on the "rocks of Solomon" to uphold their way of life. "We will not move from this place until the stars fall from the sky, the earth quakes and the sea comes over the land." The Order of Phosphorus is symbolic of fire illuminated from clay, of light emerging from darkness -- rebirth of the Phoenix from ashes. The central theme of Masonry is the symbolism of the initiation of a Master Mason, with ritual death and resurrection. Rebirth is the way of the ancient Mysteries.
BLACK CHAMBER: DAZZLING DARKNESS
The magicians of this Solomonari guild use psychosensory orchestration and the hidden nature of darkness to reveal light and gnosis within themselves. This iridescent infinity is analogous to the emergence of Zero Point Energy from the Vacuum -- meta-syn light -- All Form is Void. Bright space is the son of dark space, which emerges from the depths of the great dark waters. A new psychic life is realized with the conscious energy body
-- sustainable incarnation phenomena.
Dragon-Riders
Premise: Immortality Cult
The “Solomonari” are not supernatural creatures, but humans who have learned special abilities -- blending masculine and feminine elements in the psyche. It is said that the children which will became “solomonar”, are born with different signs on them. Later, as the legend says, these children were chosen by experienced Solomonari, taken into forests or in caves, which were usually marked with coded inscriptions. There they learned the art and craft of wizardry, which they later used for fighting against the dark forces of nature and human spirit. They were healers, summoners, thaumaturgs and mastered the highest science and lore about the Universe.
Transylvania has three prominent literary claims to fame: Dracula, Frankenstein, and Count St. Germain. And what they share is the Solomon School -- the fabled and often wrongly demonized Scholomance -- an esoteric mystery school with shamanic roots in the neolithic era.
The Carpathians, an ancient Neanderthal shamanic stronghold, are one of the most active seismic areas in Europe. After learning the secrets of the light and the dark, schooled in their own depths, their final examination involves copying all they knew about humanity into the Solomonar's book.
A key point found repeatedly within alchemy is the idea that the alchemist can only succeed in his work if he approaches it with purity of intent, with a heart free of ulterior agendas (an idea that was mirrored in the Grail myths, where only a knight of pure heart had any hope of finding the Grail). This idea was emphasized by some early scribes who noted with irony that alchemy was notorious for its failed alchemists, i.e. those who sought alchemical success in elaborate and expensive laboratory attempts to create gold but often ended up broke in the process. The esoteric foundation of spiritual alchemy is found in the ancient world-wide myths that deal with the life, death and resurrection of a god. The candidate or initiate is to undergo a similar process, in order to awaken to their divine condition—a type of radical deconstruction and ‘rebirth’. This process involves a number of stages.
Rock of Shadows
Like Giordano Bruno before them, they became legendary wandering alchemists, who have sworn on the "rocks of Solomon" to uphold their way of life. "We will not move from this place until the stars fall from the sky, the earth quakes and the sea comes over the land." The Order of Phosphorus is symbolic of fire illuminated from clay, of light emerging from darkness -- rebirth of the Phoenix from ashes. The central theme of Masonry is the symbolism of the initiation of a Master Mason, with ritual death and resurrection. Rebirth is the way of the ancient Mysteries.
BLACK CHAMBER: DAZZLING DARKNESS
The magicians of this Solomonari guild use psychosensory orchestration and the hidden nature of darkness to reveal light and gnosis within themselves. This iridescent infinity is analogous to the emergence of Zero Point Energy from the Vacuum -- meta-syn light -- All Form is Void. Bright space is the son of dark space, which emerges from the depths of the great dark waters. A new psychic life is realized with the conscious energy body
-- sustainable incarnation phenomena.
Triangle Book Episode
Premise: Most Occult Book in the World
All copies of the most occult MS given to his worthy companions are reunited in one grand magical gesture when the Brothers reunite, with the intent of recalibrating the future.
Premise: Most Occult Book in the World
All copies of the most occult MS given to his worthy companions are reunited in one grand magical gesture when the Brothers reunite, with the intent of recalibrating the future.
Masonic Tower Episode
Rosicrucian, Masonic Rites; Circle of Adepts and Royals
at Louisenlund
Premise: Secret Societies
From Iron to Gold:
The Alchemical Carlsmetall of St. Germain
Self-realization and enlightenment have always been the aim of researching alchemists. The legendary transmutation of base metals into gold was only the outward sign that the inner “lightening“ of the alchemist had proceeded far. The Count of Saint Germain was supposed to have mastered the transmutation of metals and precious stones and is regarded as an alchemist who advanced to “Ascended Master“. Historically proven is at least his laboratory work with Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel and the transmutation from iron into the legendary “Carlsmetall“. Von Ulrich Arndt
The Count of Saint Germain is famous as an alchemist, freemason, politician and secret diplomat of different royal houses, globetrotter and healer of the 18th century. Many spectacular and colourful reports exist on his life, and even his death remains in the unknown. Rudolf Steiner considered him to be a reincarnation of the high adept, Christian Rosenkreuz, founder of the Order of the Rosicrucians.
It was exactly the subject of transformation and development of awareness upon which his secret alchemical laboratory work with Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel touched – namely around the elevation of iron to gold. In an energetical sense this transmutation corresponds to a transformation of the aggressive Mars energy to which the iron is allocated, into balanced “golden” sun quality.
This outward transformation has its equivalent in the interior nature of the alchemist. Here the “iron“ state equals an ego which is just starting to become conscious of itself in a confrontation with the environment. This “iron ego“ is now to be developed and perfected into a harmonious personality with higher mental and spiritual qualities – namely into the “sun“ and “gold quality“. Outward sign of this alchemical way which Saint Germain and Landgrave Carl walked together between 1779 and 1784 was the legendary luminous gold-coloured “Carlsmetall”.
Landgrave Carl and Alchemy
Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel, Danish governor for Schleswig-Holstein, resided in Gottdorf Castle in Schleswig, at Louisenlund. This summer residence still maintains the allegorical Hermetic garden with symbols of freemasonry and alchemy. At one time it accommodated the “alchemists’ tower”. It had a large congregation room for the freemasons of Carl's lodge. In its cellar, the Count of St. German established his alchemical laboratory. Some quite practical results of the alchemical laboratory there were new methods for dying, and improving of fabrics, leather, and metals, for which the Ott Manufacture in Eckernförde was taken over by the Count and was extended.
The real work, however, was the “inner alchemy“ into which the Landgrave was introduced by Saint Germain. The aim of the true alchemist has not been the making of gold from base metals like lead or iron, but rather the finding of the ultimate universal remedy – the remedy which transforms body, spirit and soul in equal parts: everything heavy, dark and sick in the human being – symbolized by the “dark” lead or iron – is to be “lighted up”, “enlightened” by the alchemical elixir of life, and turned into health, symbolically into the “light god”.
This transformation or “transmutation is nothing else but the “Great Work“ of alchemy in the human being. Frater Albertus, the well known alchemist of the 20th century, puts this into modern language, “Alchemy is nothing else but a step-by-step elevation of the state of vibrations”. A transformation of the base metal into real gold was only outward proof for an alchemist that the transformation is also possible inside a person, and that he has reached this inner quality.
A scholar of alchemy always had to find the next steps of this development towards the ”gold“ by himself, and had to bring it into harmony with the internal development – and it is exactly this which Landgrave Carl reports in a letter: “He (St, Germain) entrusted him with all his knowledge of the nature of things, but only the rudiments, and he then let me search the means for reaching the purpose by myself and he was immensely happy about my progress. This is what he did in connection with metal and stones. The colours he really taught me, as well as some other very important knowledge.”
The Carlsmetall possessed a gold-like brilliance which, however, turned dark after a certain time – which was the reason why he and his alchemical work with St. Germain were ridiculed by outsiders. In case both had intended a complete transmutation from iron into gold – which is unknown to us – this had in actual fact failed. With respect to the “inner alchemy“, however, this could mean that although Landgrave Carl had far advanced the necessary inner development, he had not yet completed it at that time.
Rosicrucian, Masonic Rites; Circle of Adepts and Royals
at Louisenlund
Premise: Secret Societies
From Iron to Gold:
The Alchemical Carlsmetall of St. Germain
Self-realization and enlightenment have always been the aim of researching alchemists. The legendary transmutation of base metals into gold was only the outward sign that the inner “lightening“ of the alchemist had proceeded far. The Count of Saint Germain was supposed to have mastered the transmutation of metals and precious stones and is regarded as an alchemist who advanced to “Ascended Master“. Historically proven is at least his laboratory work with Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel and the transmutation from iron into the legendary “Carlsmetall“. Von Ulrich Arndt
The Count of Saint Germain is famous as an alchemist, freemason, politician and secret diplomat of different royal houses, globetrotter and healer of the 18th century. Many spectacular and colourful reports exist on his life, and even his death remains in the unknown. Rudolf Steiner considered him to be a reincarnation of the high adept, Christian Rosenkreuz, founder of the Order of the Rosicrucians.
It was exactly the subject of transformation and development of awareness upon which his secret alchemical laboratory work with Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel touched – namely around the elevation of iron to gold. In an energetical sense this transmutation corresponds to a transformation of the aggressive Mars energy to which the iron is allocated, into balanced “golden” sun quality.
This outward transformation has its equivalent in the interior nature of the alchemist. Here the “iron“ state equals an ego which is just starting to become conscious of itself in a confrontation with the environment. This “iron ego“ is now to be developed and perfected into a harmonious personality with higher mental and spiritual qualities – namely into the “sun“ and “gold quality“. Outward sign of this alchemical way which Saint Germain and Landgrave Carl walked together between 1779 and 1784 was the legendary luminous gold-coloured “Carlsmetall”.
Landgrave Carl and Alchemy
Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel, Danish governor for Schleswig-Holstein, resided in Gottdorf Castle in Schleswig, at Louisenlund. This summer residence still maintains the allegorical Hermetic garden with symbols of freemasonry and alchemy. At one time it accommodated the “alchemists’ tower”. It had a large congregation room for the freemasons of Carl's lodge. In its cellar, the Count of St. German established his alchemical laboratory. Some quite practical results of the alchemical laboratory there were new methods for dying, and improving of fabrics, leather, and metals, for which the Ott Manufacture in Eckernförde was taken over by the Count and was extended.
The real work, however, was the “inner alchemy“ into which the Landgrave was introduced by Saint Germain. The aim of the true alchemist has not been the making of gold from base metals like lead or iron, but rather the finding of the ultimate universal remedy – the remedy which transforms body, spirit and soul in equal parts: everything heavy, dark and sick in the human being – symbolized by the “dark” lead or iron – is to be “lighted up”, “enlightened” by the alchemical elixir of life, and turned into health, symbolically into the “light god”.
This transformation or “transmutation is nothing else but the “Great Work“ of alchemy in the human being. Frater Albertus, the well known alchemist of the 20th century, puts this into modern language, “Alchemy is nothing else but a step-by-step elevation of the state of vibrations”. A transformation of the base metal into real gold was only outward proof for an alchemist that the transformation is also possible inside a person, and that he has reached this inner quality.
A scholar of alchemy always had to find the next steps of this development towards the ”gold“ by himself, and had to bring it into harmony with the internal development – and it is exactly this which Landgrave Carl reports in a letter: “He (St, Germain) entrusted him with all his knowledge of the nature of things, but only the rudiments, and he then let me search the means for reaching the purpose by myself and he was immensely happy about my progress. This is what he did in connection with metal and stones. The colours he really taught me, as well as some other very important knowledge.”
The Carlsmetall possessed a gold-like brilliance which, however, turned dark after a certain time – which was the reason why he and his alchemical work with St. Germain were ridiculed by outsiders. In case both had intended a complete transmutation from iron into gold – which is unknown to us – this had in actual fact failed. With respect to the “inner alchemy“, however, this could mean that although Landgrave Carl had far advanced the necessary inner development, he had not yet completed it at that time.
Float Tank Episode
Premise: GNOSIS, Self-Knowledge
A modern St. Germain reawakens to his mission during a float tank session which brings remembrance of deep time.
Premise: GNOSIS, Self-Knowledge
A modern St. Germain reawakens to his mission during a float tank session which brings remembrance of deep time.
Black Swan Episode
Premise: Low Probability High Impact Events
Probably an approaching comet which he finds in his observatory;
Draw on speculative aspects of Thomas's work with Dr. Scharf, father of the Voyager mission
BLACK SWAN EVENTS
1. Climate chaos and environmental degradation; 2. Radical poverty; 3. Geo-politics and energy; 4. Organized crime & extremism; 5. Advanced technologies proliferation -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI; 6. Demographic skews; 7. Resource shortages; 8. Pandemics; 9. Financial systems and systemic risk; as well as 10. Transhumanism and ethics.
The asymmetric threats have led to growing insecurity about employment, health, public safety and the well being of future generations. The asymmetric threats -- many likely to be manifest in Low Probability High Impact and Black Swan events in the 21st century -- are not in spite of globalization but because of it. The same forces of global market integration and technology that have enhanced competitiveness are also the ones that drive anxiety about humanity's security.
Premise: Low Probability High Impact Events
Probably an approaching comet which he finds in his observatory;
Draw on speculative aspects of Thomas's work with Dr. Scharf, father of the Voyager mission
BLACK SWAN EVENTS
1. Climate chaos and environmental degradation; 2. Radical poverty; 3. Geo-politics and energy; 4. Organized crime & extremism; 5. Advanced technologies proliferation -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI; 6. Demographic skews; 7. Resource shortages; 8. Pandemics; 9. Financial systems and systemic risk; as well as 10. Transhumanism and ethics.
The asymmetric threats have led to growing insecurity about employment, health, public safety and the well being of future generations. The asymmetric threats -- many likely to be manifest in Low Probability High Impact and Black Swan events in the 21st century -- are not in spite of globalization but because of it. The same forces of global market integration and technology that have enhanced competitiveness are also the ones that drive anxiety about humanity's security.
Gem-Hunter Episode
Premise: Razzel Dazzel
Heart of Stone
We follow St. Germain to foreign shores, searching for gem stones, including the finest and largest pearls. He deals with the difficulties of finding the miners, avoiding rip offs, and cutting raw stones. Throw in some foreign romance.
The Stone that is No Stone
I am a servant of the Secret Fire. Fire is the test of Gold.
The secret is above all a lucid way of seeing. It incubates in the darkness and silence, and grows until it permeates the entire transmuted being.
Busy not thyself with this world, for with fire We test the gold, and with gold We test Our servants. "Secret fire" is the divine "spark" of life, imbued with Will and Imagination.
The Stone of the Secret Fire was a red fire opal crafted by a Persian sorcerer in 1127 AD. It was created to contain the essence of a powerful and evil Djinn. After witnessing the horrors that the Djinn perpetuated in the Persian king's court, the sorcerer trapped the Djinn inside the stone whereupon it was buried inside of a statue of the Zoroastrian god, Ahura Mazda.
In the original unaltered timeline, the stone remained inside the statue for 870 years until the statue was purchased by American art collector Raymond Beaumont. The statue shattered and the gem was discovered.
with some inexplicable properties within it. -- the power of the Djinn itself
alteration of the past, made it so that the statue of Ahura Mazda never broken and thus, the Djinn was never set free.
Premise: Razzel Dazzel
Heart of Stone
We follow St. Germain to foreign shores, searching for gem stones, including the finest and largest pearls. He deals with the difficulties of finding the miners, avoiding rip offs, and cutting raw stones. Throw in some foreign romance.
The Stone that is No Stone
I am a servant of the Secret Fire. Fire is the test of Gold.
The secret is above all a lucid way of seeing. It incubates in the darkness and silence, and grows until it permeates the entire transmuted being.
Busy not thyself with this world, for with fire We test the gold, and with gold We test Our servants. "Secret fire" is the divine "spark" of life, imbued with Will and Imagination.
The Stone of the Secret Fire was a red fire opal crafted by a Persian sorcerer in 1127 AD. It was created to contain the essence of a powerful and evil Djinn. After witnessing the horrors that the Djinn perpetuated in the Persian king's court, the sorcerer trapped the Djinn inside the stone whereupon it was buried inside of a statue of the Zoroastrian god, Ahura Mazda.
In the original unaltered timeline, the stone remained inside the statue for 870 years until the statue was purchased by American art collector Raymond Beaumont. The statue shattered and the gem was discovered.
with some inexplicable properties within it. -- the power of the Djinn itself
alteration of the past, made it so that the statue of Ahura Mazda never broken and thus, the Djinn was never set free.
Count Cagliostro Episode
Re-Genesis in Naples
Premise: Rejuvenation Ordeal
THE COMTE DI CAGLIOSTRO The "divine" Cagliostro, one moment the idol of Paris, the next a lonely prisoner in a dungeon of the Inquisition, passed like a meteor across the face of France. According to his memoirs written by him during his confinement in the Bastille, Alessandro Cagliostro was born in Malta of a noble but unknown family. He was reared and educated in Arabia under the tutelage of Altotas, a man well versed in several branches of philosophy and science and also a master of the transcendental arts. While Cagliostro's biographers generally ridicule this account, they utterly fail to advance in its stead any logical solution for the source of his magnificent store of arcane knowledge. 1788 CAGLIOSTRO AND THE ILLUMINATI TEACHINGS FROM NAPLES
Did St. Germain teach Cagliostro about his Immortality Elixir? Cagliostro reports:
The hermetic society - which continued in the centuries under different denominations - known as “Neapolitan School”, claims the right to be the oldest known continuous Alchemical Transmutation School in the West. We know today that there were three teaching levels.
The Arcana of the illuminati consist of three degrees or ritual cycles bringing to mastery plus a “High Arcane” (Secretum Secretorum). Their calendar runs according to the lunar cycle, and the 9 days of ritual fasting, during which one must follow complete chastity.
The osiridean transmutation work is performed in pairs: by a woman and a man. The first degree performed by a man consists in a self–assimilation of his sperm, obtained by a self-sexual magic; the short cycle which is more used , covers forty operations, one every 9 days, during one year activity. As for the woman, the sperm is replaced by a microscopic sample of the blood of the Moon.
After the end of the year a third ingredient (differently diversified) is added to the sperm and blood and the compound is drunk over a cyclic period of fasting and light meals still insisting on these numbers: 9, 6, 3 and 1.
In the second degree these operations are repeated (with light variations), by combining all the three ingredients together.
The third degree is based on couple sexual practice where the philosophical amalgam (the three elements together) is “cooked” through the three passages called “Black Mercury”, ”White Mercury” and “Red Mercury” (three different sexual practices performed in pairs: one of sodomy, one without sperm emission and one during menstruation). A new philosophical amalgam will be obtained. Once it is swallowed it should cause the sprouting of the energetic body (called “Body of glory” according to the School terminology).
The final level or Major Arcane, is based on five retreats performed in darkness, each lasting seven days, with a decreasing number of sexual performances (9, 6, 3, 1 and then none, replaced by breathing exercises) where one comes back to the assimilation of one element only (sperm or blood) plus a third ingredient; the absence of light encourages the development of the body of glory and its strengthening.
Only after having finished this work could the illuminati transmutation student, from The School of Naples, face the advanced rituals of the third level, which Cagliostro has handed on from St. Germain through Egyptian Freemasonry.
The commission to create it was given to him by Cavalier Luigi D’Aquino (1739-1783) who according to the tradition was his initiator as well.
Cagliostro met him in Malta in 1766 and stayed with him in Naples in 1773, to receive the instructions which enabled him to found the Egyptian Freemasonry, in Paris, in the same year his master passed away.
The system he created is not, in Masonic terms, a Rite, but an Order: it does not deal with the High Degrees .
Rather it deals with the three “Blue Degrees”of Freemasonry (Apprentice, Fellow-craft and Master) integrated with the thick hermetic symbolism Cagliostro added to it.
Later on because of this device, it developed as a kind of parallel Freemasonry totally independent from the body of the “regular” Freemasonry and practiced only in secret by the illuminati families. This fact allowed Cagliostro to admit women too, although still excluded from the “regular” Lodges, and it gave the necessary independence to prevent the danger of a forced suspension of the transmutation activity. This inconvenience was threatening the Rite of Mizraïm exactly in those years.
When the level of Master is achieved, an opportunity is offered to the Egyptian Brother or the Sister to engage in the famous “Quarantine”, two operations of transmutation, lasting 40 days each.
The first Quarantine: "How to achieve the Pentagon and become morally perfect" has to be practiced by thirteen Masters together. Strongly hybridized with magic-cabalistic elements, it is occasionally reminiscent of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin. It sharpened the subtle faculties of the Master’s body of glory to give him the capacity to correctly explain the enigmatic instructions of the second Quarantine: “How to rejuvenate and become physically perfect”
The following text is almost the unabridged version, written by Cagliostro himself, as handed down from the many Egyptian Lodges still existing today (especially in southern France) :
“The Aspirant has to retreat with a friend in the countryside on a full moon night and locked inside a room he has to suffer from a very exhausting diet for forty days time. The diet consists of scarce food based on light soups and tender cooling laxative vegetables, distilled water beverages or May rain. Each meal must to start with a liquid, a drink and end with a solid snack as a biscuit or bread crust.
On the seventeenth day of this retreat after a small emission of blood, he will start taking some white drops of secret composition. He will have to take six of them in the morning and evening, adding two a day till the thirty-second day. Another blood emission is taken on this day at sunset, the following day he stays in bed till the end of the Quarantine. Then he starts taking the first grain of Original Matter, the same that God has created in order to give man immortality. Because of sin, man has lost the knowledge of it. It can’t be conquered other than by a favor from the Eternal, and Masonic work.“
“After having taken this grain the one who is going to rejuvenate becomes unconscious for three hours and in convulsions he sweats and evacuates continuously.
After having come to himself and changed bed he must be fed with a pound of fat free beef and cooling herbs. If this food makes him feel better on the following day he is given the second grain of Original Matter in a cup of broth that besides the effect of the first grain will cause him a very strong delirious fever .He will lose the skin, and the teeth and hair will fall out. On the following thirty-fifth day if the patient recovers his strength, he will soak in a bath for one hour in neither cold or hot water. On the thirty-sixth day he will have his third and last grain of Original Matter in a glass of vintage and generous wine that will make him sleep quietly and peacefully.
Then the hair grows back, the teeth too and the skin gets healed. When he wakes up he soaks in a new aromatic bath and on the thirty-eighth day he will have a bath in plain water mixed with niter. Later on he gets dressed and starts walking in his room, then on the thirty-ninth day, he takes ten drops of Balsam of the Great Master along with two spoons of red wine. On the fortieth day he will leave the house, rejuvenated and perfectly recharged”.
** According to Louis T. Culling, Grandmaster of an occult lodge called the Great Brotherhood of God), in his Manual of Sex Magick, the main terms in the code, and their translations, are as follows:
RED LION - the male Alchemist, or his penis.
WHITE EAGLE - the Alchemist's mate, or her vagina.
RETORT - the vagina and/or womb.
TRANSMUTATION - (or transubstantiation) an altered state of consciousness.
ELIXIR - the semen.
Re-Genesis in Naples
Premise: Rejuvenation Ordeal
THE COMTE DI CAGLIOSTRO The "divine" Cagliostro, one moment the idol of Paris, the next a lonely prisoner in a dungeon of the Inquisition, passed like a meteor across the face of France. According to his memoirs written by him during his confinement in the Bastille, Alessandro Cagliostro was born in Malta of a noble but unknown family. He was reared and educated in Arabia under the tutelage of Altotas, a man well versed in several branches of philosophy and science and also a master of the transcendental arts. While Cagliostro's biographers generally ridicule this account, they utterly fail to advance in its stead any logical solution for the source of his magnificent store of arcane knowledge. 1788 CAGLIOSTRO AND THE ILLUMINATI TEACHINGS FROM NAPLES
Did St. Germain teach Cagliostro about his Immortality Elixir? Cagliostro reports:
The hermetic society - which continued in the centuries under different denominations - known as “Neapolitan School”, claims the right to be the oldest known continuous Alchemical Transmutation School in the West. We know today that there were three teaching levels.
- In the first level, theoretically, one could learn the fundamentals of Hermetism: the analog science, symbolism (which in the Neapolitan School was extremely rich and detailed with respect to other hermetic schools) and also the “art of memory”.
- In the second level one could start the real transmutation work and according to a superb technique –of mitraic ancient origin characterized by a special kind of sexual magic called “osiridean”.
- In the third level, the transmutation student could use two techniques of individual mastering for the purpose of giving him superior mental powers and starting the regeneration of the physical body.
The Arcana of the illuminati consist of three degrees or ritual cycles bringing to mastery plus a “High Arcane” (Secretum Secretorum). Their calendar runs according to the lunar cycle, and the 9 days of ritual fasting, during which one must follow complete chastity.
The osiridean transmutation work is performed in pairs: by a woman and a man. The first degree performed by a man consists in a self–assimilation of his sperm, obtained by a self-sexual magic; the short cycle which is more used , covers forty operations, one every 9 days, during one year activity. As for the woman, the sperm is replaced by a microscopic sample of the blood of the Moon.
After the end of the year a third ingredient (differently diversified) is added to the sperm and blood and the compound is drunk over a cyclic period of fasting and light meals still insisting on these numbers: 9, 6, 3 and 1.
In the second degree these operations are repeated (with light variations), by combining all the three ingredients together.
The third degree is based on couple sexual practice where the philosophical amalgam (the three elements together) is “cooked” through the three passages called “Black Mercury”, ”White Mercury” and “Red Mercury” (three different sexual practices performed in pairs: one of sodomy, one without sperm emission and one during menstruation). A new philosophical amalgam will be obtained. Once it is swallowed it should cause the sprouting of the energetic body (called “Body of glory” according to the School terminology).
The final level or Major Arcane, is based on five retreats performed in darkness, each lasting seven days, with a decreasing number of sexual performances (9, 6, 3, 1 and then none, replaced by breathing exercises) where one comes back to the assimilation of one element only (sperm or blood) plus a third ingredient; the absence of light encourages the development of the body of glory and its strengthening.
Only after having finished this work could the illuminati transmutation student, from The School of Naples, face the advanced rituals of the third level, which Cagliostro has handed on from St. Germain through Egyptian Freemasonry.
The commission to create it was given to him by Cavalier Luigi D’Aquino (1739-1783) who according to the tradition was his initiator as well.
Cagliostro met him in Malta in 1766 and stayed with him in Naples in 1773, to receive the instructions which enabled him to found the Egyptian Freemasonry, in Paris, in the same year his master passed away.
The system he created is not, in Masonic terms, a Rite, but an Order: it does not deal with the High Degrees .
Rather it deals with the three “Blue Degrees”of Freemasonry (Apprentice, Fellow-craft and Master) integrated with the thick hermetic symbolism Cagliostro added to it.
Later on because of this device, it developed as a kind of parallel Freemasonry totally independent from the body of the “regular” Freemasonry and practiced only in secret by the illuminati families. This fact allowed Cagliostro to admit women too, although still excluded from the “regular” Lodges, and it gave the necessary independence to prevent the danger of a forced suspension of the transmutation activity. This inconvenience was threatening the Rite of Mizraïm exactly in those years.
When the level of Master is achieved, an opportunity is offered to the Egyptian Brother or the Sister to engage in the famous “Quarantine”, two operations of transmutation, lasting 40 days each.
The first Quarantine: "How to achieve the Pentagon and become morally perfect" has to be practiced by thirteen Masters together. Strongly hybridized with magic-cabalistic elements, it is occasionally reminiscent of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin. It sharpened the subtle faculties of the Master’s body of glory to give him the capacity to correctly explain the enigmatic instructions of the second Quarantine: “How to rejuvenate and become physically perfect”
The following text is almost the unabridged version, written by Cagliostro himself, as handed down from the many Egyptian Lodges still existing today (especially in southern France) :
“The Aspirant has to retreat with a friend in the countryside on a full moon night and locked inside a room he has to suffer from a very exhausting diet for forty days time. The diet consists of scarce food based on light soups and tender cooling laxative vegetables, distilled water beverages or May rain. Each meal must to start with a liquid, a drink and end with a solid snack as a biscuit or bread crust.
On the seventeenth day of this retreat after a small emission of blood, he will start taking some white drops of secret composition. He will have to take six of them in the morning and evening, adding two a day till the thirty-second day. Another blood emission is taken on this day at sunset, the following day he stays in bed till the end of the Quarantine. Then he starts taking the first grain of Original Matter, the same that God has created in order to give man immortality. Because of sin, man has lost the knowledge of it. It can’t be conquered other than by a favor from the Eternal, and Masonic work.“
“After having taken this grain the one who is going to rejuvenate becomes unconscious for three hours and in convulsions he sweats and evacuates continuously.
After having come to himself and changed bed he must be fed with a pound of fat free beef and cooling herbs. If this food makes him feel better on the following day he is given the second grain of Original Matter in a cup of broth that besides the effect of the first grain will cause him a very strong delirious fever .He will lose the skin, and the teeth and hair will fall out. On the following thirty-fifth day if the patient recovers his strength, he will soak in a bath for one hour in neither cold or hot water. On the thirty-sixth day he will have his third and last grain of Original Matter in a glass of vintage and generous wine that will make him sleep quietly and peacefully.
Then the hair grows back, the teeth too and the skin gets healed. When he wakes up he soaks in a new aromatic bath and on the thirty-eighth day he will have a bath in plain water mixed with niter. Later on he gets dressed and starts walking in his room, then on the thirty-ninth day, he takes ten drops of Balsam of the Great Master along with two spoons of red wine. On the fortieth day he will leave the house, rejuvenated and perfectly recharged”.
** According to Louis T. Culling, Grandmaster of an occult lodge called the Great Brotherhood of God), in his Manual of Sex Magick, the main terms in the code, and their translations, are as follows:
RED LION - the male Alchemist, or his penis.
WHITE EAGLE - the Alchemist's mate, or her vagina.
RETORT - the vagina and/or womb.
TRANSMUTATION - (or transubstantiation) an altered state of consciousness.
ELIXIR - the semen.
Carnival of Venice Episode
Premise: TBA
Once again, circumstances take SG back to Venice, where he has been on many occassions. He reconnects with old friends, and experiences romantic, political, and clandestine intrigue in the process during the time of Carnival.
The Carnival ends with the Christian celebration of Lent, forty days before Easter on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. The festival is famed for its elaborate masks. Under the rule of the King of Austria, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden. It reappeared gradually in the nineteenth century, but only for short periods and above all for private feasts, where it became an occasion for artistic creations.[5] After a long absence, the Carnival returned to operate in 1979.[6] The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of its efforts. The redevelopment of the masks began as the pursuit of some Venetian college students for the tourist trade. Today, approximately 3 million visitors come to Venice every year for Carnival. One of the most important events is the contest for la maschera più bella ("the most beautiful mask") placed at the last weekend of the Carnival and judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers.
Premise: TBA
Once again, circumstances take SG back to Venice, where he has been on many occassions. He reconnects with old friends, and experiences romantic, political, and clandestine intrigue in the process during the time of Carnival.
The Carnival ends with the Christian celebration of Lent, forty days before Easter on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. The festival is famed for its elaborate masks. Under the rule of the King of Austria, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden. It reappeared gradually in the nineteenth century, but only for short periods and above all for private feasts, where it became an occasion for artistic creations.[5] After a long absence, the Carnival returned to operate in 1979.[6] The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of its efforts. The redevelopment of the masks began as the pursuit of some Venetian college students for the tourist trade. Today, approximately 3 million visitors come to Venice every year for Carnival. One of the most important events is the contest for la maschera più bella ("the most beautiful mask") placed at the last weekend of the Carnival and judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers.
Franz Mesmer Episode
The Secrets of Hypnosis & the Glass Armonica
Franz Anton Mesmer (1815)
Premise: Musical Enchantment
St. Germain shares his secrets of hypnosis with Mesmer
Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) was German physician who developed a theory and clinical practice of 'animal magnetism' or 'mesmerism'. It's from Mesmer that we get the word "mesmerize". He owned a particularly fine glass armonica, played it well, and it was an integral part of his 'mesmerizing' practice. Mesmer, Franklin and Mozart were all Freemasons, a group that enthusiastically welcomed glass music for the promotion of human 'harmony'. Mesmer and Mozart knew each other, and Mesmer and Franklin knew each other (alas Mozart and Franklin never met). Early Years Mesmer was born in the village of Iznang, Swabia. After studying at the Jesuit universities of Dillingen and Ingolstadt, he took up the study of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1759. In 1766 he published a doctoral dissertation with the Latin title De planetarum influxu in corpus humanum ("The Influence of the Planets on the Human Body"), which discussed the influence of the Moon and the planets on the human body and on disease. This wasn't 'medical astrology', however—relying largely on Newton's theory of the tides, Mesmer expounded on certain tides in the human body that might be accounted for by the movements of the sun and moon.1 Mesmer apparently plagiarized2 his dissertation from a work by Richard Mead (1673–1754)—an eminent English physician and Newton's friend.3 In all fairness, however, in Mesmer's day doctoral theses were not expected to be original.4
Soon after receiving his degree, Mesmer married Maria Anna von Posch, a wealthy widow, and established himself as a physician in Vienna. He lived on a splendid estate and patronized the arts.
Mesmer and the Mozarts In 1768, when court intrigue prevented the performance of La Finta Semplice (K51) for which a twelve-year-old Mozart had composed 500 pages of music, Mesmer arranged a performance in his garden of Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne (K50), a one-act opera. It was performed at the Mesmer mansion on an autumn evening (the date remains uncertain) in 1768.5. The performance could not have taken place in his garden theater as it wasn't built yet—it likely took place in his house, perhaps in the garden room. (Deutsch, A Documentary Bio, 84)] While conducting, the composer sat at the keyboard, which he played as a member of the orchestra.6 Mozart later immortalized his former patron by including a joking reference to Mesmer in his opera Cosi fan tutte:
This is that piece
Of magnet
The stone of Mesmer
Who originated
In Germany
And then became so famous7 In 1773 father and son Mozart were in Vienna and encountered the armonica at Franz Mesmer's house. Leopold wrote home to his wife:
Herr von Mesmer, at whose house we lunched on Monday, played to us on Miss Davies's [h]armonica or glass instrument and played very well. It cost him about fifty ducats and it is very beautifully made.8 A few weeks later Leopold brought up the armonica again, mentioning that Wolfgang himself tried playing Mesmer's instrument:
Do you know that Herr von Mesmer plays Miss Davies's harmonica unusually well? He is the only person in Vienna who has learnt it and he possesses a much finer glass instrument than Miss Davies does. Wolfgang too has played upon it. How I should like to have one!9 This would suggest that Mesmer purchased his armonica some time between 1768 and 1773—this instrument became his favorite for the rest of his life. He also played the violoncello and the clavichord. Visiting musicians included Gluck10
Mesmer's musicales took place in the drawing room of the mansion or, if the weather was pleasant, in his open-air theater. He often took an instrumental part in an ensemble with the professionals, accompanying them through established classics like Purcell and Palestrina, introducing works by Gluck, Haydn, or lesser composers then exciting the Viennese ear. The audience usually included acquaintances knowledgeable enough about their host's vanity to ask him for a solo on the glass armonica, his own choice for a display of his virtuosity. 11
Animal Magnetism We know almost nothing of the medical procedures of Dr. Mesmer in this early period. Interestingly it's the letters of the Mozart family that give us glimpses of the treatment of a patient who was to become famous in the history of animal magnetism as one of its first successes: Miss Franziska Oesterlin, who was living in Mesmer's home in 1773. On August 12, 1773, Leopold Mozart wrote to his wife,
The Secrets of Hypnosis & the Glass Armonica
Franz Anton Mesmer (1815)
Premise: Musical Enchantment
St. Germain shares his secrets of hypnosis with Mesmer
Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) was German physician who developed a theory and clinical practice of 'animal magnetism' or 'mesmerism'. It's from Mesmer that we get the word "mesmerize". He owned a particularly fine glass armonica, played it well, and it was an integral part of his 'mesmerizing' practice. Mesmer, Franklin and Mozart were all Freemasons, a group that enthusiastically welcomed glass music for the promotion of human 'harmony'. Mesmer and Mozart knew each other, and Mesmer and Franklin knew each other (alas Mozart and Franklin never met). Early Years Mesmer was born in the village of Iznang, Swabia. After studying at the Jesuit universities of Dillingen and Ingolstadt, he took up the study of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1759. In 1766 he published a doctoral dissertation with the Latin title De planetarum influxu in corpus humanum ("The Influence of the Planets on the Human Body"), which discussed the influence of the Moon and the planets on the human body and on disease. This wasn't 'medical astrology', however—relying largely on Newton's theory of the tides, Mesmer expounded on certain tides in the human body that might be accounted for by the movements of the sun and moon.1 Mesmer apparently plagiarized2 his dissertation from a work by Richard Mead (1673–1754)—an eminent English physician and Newton's friend.3 In all fairness, however, in Mesmer's day doctoral theses were not expected to be original.4
Soon after receiving his degree, Mesmer married Maria Anna von Posch, a wealthy widow, and established himself as a physician in Vienna. He lived on a splendid estate and patronized the arts.
Mesmer and the Mozarts In 1768, when court intrigue prevented the performance of La Finta Semplice (K51) for which a twelve-year-old Mozart had composed 500 pages of music, Mesmer arranged a performance in his garden of Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne (K50), a one-act opera. It was performed at the Mesmer mansion on an autumn evening (the date remains uncertain) in 1768.5. The performance could not have taken place in his garden theater as it wasn't built yet—it likely took place in his house, perhaps in the garden room. (Deutsch, A Documentary Bio, 84)] While conducting, the composer sat at the keyboard, which he played as a member of the orchestra.6 Mozart later immortalized his former patron by including a joking reference to Mesmer in his opera Cosi fan tutte:
This is that piece
Of magnet
The stone of Mesmer
Who originated
In Germany
And then became so famous7 In 1773 father and son Mozart were in Vienna and encountered the armonica at Franz Mesmer's house. Leopold wrote home to his wife:
Herr von Mesmer, at whose house we lunched on Monday, played to us on Miss Davies's [h]armonica or glass instrument and played very well. It cost him about fifty ducats and it is very beautifully made.8 A few weeks later Leopold brought up the armonica again, mentioning that Wolfgang himself tried playing Mesmer's instrument:
Do you know that Herr von Mesmer plays Miss Davies's harmonica unusually well? He is the only person in Vienna who has learnt it and he possesses a much finer glass instrument than Miss Davies does. Wolfgang too has played upon it. How I should like to have one!9 This would suggest that Mesmer purchased his armonica some time between 1768 and 1773—this instrument became his favorite for the rest of his life. He also played the violoncello and the clavichord. Visiting musicians included Gluck10
Mesmer's musicales took place in the drawing room of the mansion or, if the weather was pleasant, in his open-air theater. He often took an instrumental part in an ensemble with the professionals, accompanying them through established classics like Purcell and Palestrina, introducing works by Gluck, Haydn, or lesser composers then exciting the Viennese ear. The audience usually included acquaintances knowledgeable enough about their host's vanity to ask him for a solo on the glass armonica, his own choice for a display of his virtuosity. 11
Animal Magnetism We know almost nothing of the medical procedures of Dr. Mesmer in this early period. Interestingly it's the letters of the Mozart family that give us glimpses of the treatment of a patient who was to become famous in the history of animal magnetism as one of its first successes: Miss Franziska Oesterlin, who was living in Mesmer's home in 1773. On August 12, 1773, Leopold Mozart wrote to his wife,
Intelligence Episode
Carpathian Sphinx
Premise: Cultural Amnesia
Intel agent, St. Germain links up with a female Romanian spy from Ground Zero, with evidence of a lost civilization -- a cult of immortality that survived an ancient catastrophe in the Carpathian heights. Only those mountain secrets can once again help humanity survive a looming disaster. Things are going pretty badly in the Carpathian-Balkan Basin straddling joint reserves of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Bucharest, Fracking has released a long-dormant virus that sweeps through the region like the Black Plague, spread by birds. St. Germain calls on his ancestor Zalmoxis, but the resurrected wizard has his own plan.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/07/romania-shale-chevron-idUKL5N0JM07D20131207
Carpathian Sphinx
Premise: Cultural Amnesia
Intel agent, St. Germain links up with a female Romanian spy from Ground Zero, with evidence of a lost civilization -- a cult of immortality that survived an ancient catastrophe in the Carpathian heights. Only those mountain secrets can once again help humanity survive a looming disaster. Things are going pretty badly in the Carpathian-Balkan Basin straddling joint reserves of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Bucharest, Fracking has released a long-dormant virus that sweeps through the region like the Black Plague, spread by birds. St. Germain calls on his ancestor Zalmoxis, but the resurrected wizard has his own plan.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/07/romania-shale-chevron-idUKL5N0JM07D20131207
When I was Tesla Episode
Avesa Face-Shifter;
Premise: Soul Migration & Inventor
St. Germain was accused of being several brilliant historical figures of the past; why not Tesla, on his last go-round? He finds out that the world and the Powers That Be are not so ready for his vast gifts to humanity. Being ripped off, suppressed, and maligned, his worst suffering came in this embodiment as he watched his hard work for mankind undone by the unscrupulous and greedy.
Perhaps he will aid the Russian scientists now attempting to rebuild his tower and bring power to the world.
http://inhabitat.com/russian-physicists-launch-campaign-to-rebuild-teslas-wardenclyffe-tower-and-power-the-world/
There is an esoteric tradition which tells of the presence of spiritual adepts who have apparently lived for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. The feasibility of this is borne out by the apparent extreme longevity of members of the Noachian dynastic lineage.
Whether you believe it or not, it makes a fascinating tale, which may be more than metaphor or hyperbole. After all, modern Chinese Taoists and Tibetan Buddhists make much the same claim for their own ancestors and lineage of tulkus. Some compilations of Tang dynasty stories tell of children possessed by the spirits (shen) of learned men through avesa or spiritual trance. Hermes Trimegistus may be the first face-shifter who claimed this spiritual power.
SOUL MIGRATION
In Hindusism, Avesa Avatars are considered inspirational embodiments, ritual possession, a channeling trance state. Blavatsky says that a true Brahmana is one who has become a dvija (twice-born or initiate) and one "whose seven forefathers have drunk the juice of the moon-plant (Soma),' and who is a 'Trisuparna' ("three-leaved or -winged" or active in the highest three principles).
Theosophy decribes avesa:
Avesa (Sanskrit) (from a-vis, to enter into); Presence, in-soulment; Vesa means dress and avesa means absorption; possessed with divine powers; an entry and penetration by the divine. An entering, entrance, or taking possession of, as in the instance of an obsession; in later times used to denote a fit of anger or demoniacal frenzy. In occult literature used for the temporary occupancy of a human body for specific purposes by an adept, or to refer to an avatara during the presence of the divine influence on earth. Thus it is similar in meaning to the Tibetan tulku.
Avesa, therefore, means the taking possession of, or temporary embodiment in, a body, human or other, by an outside entity or power. A classical instance of the avesa is the story of Sankaracharya who, to gain in that embodiment the human experiences of a life of another character, entered the body of a raja who had just died, requickened it, and for a time pursued his activities in the body of the former king. (Theosophy Dictionary)
To prevent any misunderstanding it should be realized that the overshadowing of a living person by a more spiritually developed individual is not mediumship in the ordinary sense. It is not the occupation of a living body by the supposed spirit of a deceased person, a "control." The temporary overshadowing or inspiration of a chela or even of an ordinary person by an adept is well known in the East, and is often mentioned in Indian literature. It is recorded that the great teacher Sankaracharya exercised this occult power in his sacred work. It is called avesa. (Ryan, 1975)
THE POWER OF AVESA
Some of those so possessed are ignorant, but what happens when a master practitioner enters the body of another of equal or greater caliber? In a deep sense, all spiritual masters are one and avesa incarnation can expess that profound identity, at-onement. The Adept is re-born consciously, at his will and pleasure in a suitable form. This belief alone could have the effect of ritual drama; symbolic, imaginative action urging the mind to develop states of absorption and expansion, drawing on resources beyond oneself.
The Rosicrucians suggest St. Germain had been Sir Francis Bacon, who was reincarnated from mystic Roger Bacon. A 17th century treatise by the Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars, entitled Comte de Gabalis contains the following illuminating exposition:
"In the Order of the Philosophers are enrolled the names of many Brothers who have feigned death in one place or who have mysteriously disappeared, only to transplant themselves to another....In the higher degrees of the Order, a Philosopher has power to abandon one physical body no longer suited to his purpose, and to occupy another previously prepared for his use. This transition is called an Avesa, and accounts for the fact that many Masters known to history seemingly never die." (Barry Dunford)
Some occultists believe that Sir Francis Bacon continued his mastership through the 18th century as Comte de St. Germaine. The Count was an international spy, ringleader of secret societies, enlightened visionary and proponent of U.S. freedom, urging on the Founding Fathers in their faltering moments. He was absorbed by the spirit of the mystics who came before him, their Presence possessed him utterly, metaphorically if not literally.
The Count carried much of Bacon's agenda and political philosophy forward in a rapidly changing world, ratifying the magical current of Roger Bacon, John Dee, Sir Francis Bacon, and himself. The least we can say is that they shared a common vision. But that vision was an external reality, as grand as it was. But what of the means to accomplish such lofty goals, and what of the inner man of St. Germain?
Avesa Face-Shifter;
Premise: Soul Migration & Inventor
St. Germain was accused of being several brilliant historical figures of the past; why not Tesla, on his last go-round? He finds out that the world and the Powers That Be are not so ready for his vast gifts to humanity. Being ripped off, suppressed, and maligned, his worst suffering came in this embodiment as he watched his hard work for mankind undone by the unscrupulous and greedy.
Perhaps he will aid the Russian scientists now attempting to rebuild his tower and bring power to the world.
http://inhabitat.com/russian-physicists-launch-campaign-to-rebuild-teslas-wardenclyffe-tower-and-power-the-world/
There is an esoteric tradition which tells of the presence of spiritual adepts who have apparently lived for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. The feasibility of this is borne out by the apparent extreme longevity of members of the Noachian dynastic lineage.
Whether you believe it or not, it makes a fascinating tale, which may be more than metaphor or hyperbole. After all, modern Chinese Taoists and Tibetan Buddhists make much the same claim for their own ancestors and lineage of tulkus. Some compilations of Tang dynasty stories tell of children possessed by the spirits (shen) of learned men through avesa or spiritual trance. Hermes Trimegistus may be the first face-shifter who claimed this spiritual power.
SOUL MIGRATION
In Hindusism, Avesa Avatars are considered inspirational embodiments, ritual possession, a channeling trance state. Blavatsky says that a true Brahmana is one who has become a dvija (twice-born or initiate) and one "whose seven forefathers have drunk the juice of the moon-plant (Soma),' and who is a 'Trisuparna' ("three-leaved or -winged" or active in the highest three principles).
Theosophy decribes avesa:
Avesa (Sanskrit) (from a-vis, to enter into); Presence, in-soulment; Vesa means dress and avesa means absorption; possessed with divine powers; an entry and penetration by the divine. An entering, entrance, or taking possession of, as in the instance of an obsession; in later times used to denote a fit of anger or demoniacal frenzy. In occult literature used for the temporary occupancy of a human body for specific purposes by an adept, or to refer to an avatara during the presence of the divine influence on earth. Thus it is similar in meaning to the Tibetan tulku.
Avesa, therefore, means the taking possession of, or temporary embodiment in, a body, human or other, by an outside entity or power. A classical instance of the avesa is the story of Sankaracharya who, to gain in that embodiment the human experiences of a life of another character, entered the body of a raja who had just died, requickened it, and for a time pursued his activities in the body of the former king. (Theosophy Dictionary)
To prevent any misunderstanding it should be realized that the overshadowing of a living person by a more spiritually developed individual is not mediumship in the ordinary sense. It is not the occupation of a living body by the supposed spirit of a deceased person, a "control." The temporary overshadowing or inspiration of a chela or even of an ordinary person by an adept is well known in the East, and is often mentioned in Indian literature. It is recorded that the great teacher Sankaracharya exercised this occult power in his sacred work. It is called avesa. (Ryan, 1975)
THE POWER OF AVESA
Some of those so possessed are ignorant, but what happens when a master practitioner enters the body of another of equal or greater caliber? In a deep sense, all spiritual masters are one and avesa incarnation can expess that profound identity, at-onement. The Adept is re-born consciously, at his will and pleasure in a suitable form. This belief alone could have the effect of ritual drama; symbolic, imaginative action urging the mind to develop states of absorption and expansion, drawing on resources beyond oneself.
The Rosicrucians suggest St. Germain had been Sir Francis Bacon, who was reincarnated from mystic Roger Bacon. A 17th century treatise by the Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars, entitled Comte de Gabalis contains the following illuminating exposition:
"In the Order of the Philosophers are enrolled the names of many Brothers who have feigned death in one place or who have mysteriously disappeared, only to transplant themselves to another....In the higher degrees of the Order, a Philosopher has power to abandon one physical body no longer suited to his purpose, and to occupy another previously prepared for his use. This transition is called an Avesa, and accounts for the fact that many Masters known to history seemingly never die." (Barry Dunford)
Some occultists believe that Sir Francis Bacon continued his mastership through the 18th century as Comte de St. Germaine. The Count was an international spy, ringleader of secret societies, enlightened visionary and proponent of U.S. freedom, urging on the Founding Fathers in their faltering moments. He was absorbed by the spirit of the mystics who came before him, their Presence possessed him utterly, metaphorically if not literally.
The Count carried much of Bacon's agenda and political philosophy forward in a rapidly changing world, ratifying the magical current of Roger Bacon, John Dee, Sir Francis Bacon, and himself. The least we can say is that they shared a common vision. But that vision was an external reality, as grand as it was. But what of the means to accomplish such lofty goals, and what of the inner man of St. Germain?
Casanova Episode
Premise: Impostors
At the Hague, where St. Germain met the infamous lover, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova. Casanova later said of Saint-Germain, "This extraordinary man... would say in an easy, assured manner that he was 300 years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds... all this, he said, was mere trifle to him."
Casanova, of all people, also imitated St-Germain, during a trip to Switzerland in 1760. To further muddy matters, Casanova’s memoirs contain a description of the Count that has sown confusion for centuries – a long beard, an Armenian robe, and an ivory wand. These picturesque details, however, were added by Casanova’s editor, Jules Laforgue and weren’t corrected until the original text was published in 1960. 7
The Armenian robe is a curious touch, since that was Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s favourite outfit. The confusion is understandable; Rousseau himself adopted some of St-Germain’s mannerisms on his trip to England. As Rousseau buffs know, he also befriended a certain Claude Anglancier de St-Germain late in life. This St-Germain was treated to long paranoid letters, coincidentally revolving around Choiseul. Rousseau’s biographers have, on occasion, referred to Claude as the Count of St-Germain.
Giacomo Casanova describes in his memoirs several meetings with the "celebrated and learned impostor". Of his first meeting, in Paris in 1757, he writes:
The most enjoyable dinner I had was with Madame de Robert Gergi, who came with the famous adventurer, known by the name of the Count de St. Germain. This individual, instead of eating, talked from the beginning of the meal to the end, and I followed his example in one respect as I did not eat, but listened to him with the greatest attention. It may safely be said that as a conversationalist he was unequalled.
St. Germain gave himself out for a marvel and always aimed at exciting amazement, which he often succeeded in doing. He was scholar, linguist, musician, and chemist, good-looking, and a perfect ladies' man. For awhile he gave them paints and cosmetics; he flattered them, not that he would make them young again (which he modestly confessed was beyond him) but that their beauty would be preserved by means of a wash which, he said, cost him a lot of money, but which he gave away freely.
He had contrived to gain the favour of Madame de Pompadour, who had spoken about him to the king, for whom he had made a laboratory, in which the monarch — a martyr to boredom — tried to find a little pleasure or distraction, at all events, by making dyes. The king had given him a suite of rooms at Chambord, and a hundred thousand francs for the construction of a laboratory, and according to St. Germain the dyes discovered by the king would have a materially beneficial influence on the quality of French fabrics.
This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks, would say in an easy, assured manner that he was three hundred years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds, professing himself capable of forming, out of ten or twelve small diamonds, one large one of the finest water without any loss of weight. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his manifold eccentricities, I cannot say I thought him offensive. In spite of my knowledge of what he was and in spite of my own feelings, I thought him an astonishing man as he was always astonishing me.[13]
The Italian adventurer, Jacques de Casanova de Seingalt, grudgingly admits that the Comte was an adept of the magical arts and a skilled chemist. Upon his telling St. Germain that he was suffering from an acute disease, the Comte invited Casanova to remain for treatment, saying that he would prepare fifteen pills which in three days would restore him to perfect health.
Of St. Germain's athoeter Casanova writes:
'Then he showed me his magistrum, which he called Athoeter. It was a white liquid contained in a well stopped phial. He told me that this liquid was the universal spirit of Nature and that if the wax of the stopper was pricked ever so slightly, the whole contents would disappear. I begged him to make the experiment. He thereupon gave me the phial and the pin and I myself pricked the wax, when, lo, the phial was empty.'
Casanova relates that one day while visiting St. Germain in his laboratory, the latter asked for a silver coin. In a few moments it was returned to Casanova as pure gold. St. Germain also possessed the secret of melting several small diamonds into one large stone, an art learned in India, he said. While visiting the French Ambassador to The Hague, he broke up a superb diamond of his own manufacture, the duplicate of which he had recently sold for 5500 louis d'or. On another occasion he removed a flaw from a diamond belonging to Louis XV, increasing the value of the stone by 4000 livres. On gala occasions he appeared with a diamond ring on every finger and with shoe-buckles estimated to be worth at least 200,000 francs.
Premise: Impostors
At the Hague, where St. Germain met the infamous lover, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova. Casanova later said of Saint-Germain, "This extraordinary man... would say in an easy, assured manner that he was 300 years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds... all this, he said, was mere trifle to him."
Casanova, of all people, also imitated St-Germain, during a trip to Switzerland in 1760. To further muddy matters, Casanova’s memoirs contain a description of the Count that has sown confusion for centuries – a long beard, an Armenian robe, and an ivory wand. These picturesque details, however, were added by Casanova’s editor, Jules Laforgue and weren’t corrected until the original text was published in 1960. 7
The Armenian robe is a curious touch, since that was Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s favourite outfit. The confusion is understandable; Rousseau himself adopted some of St-Germain’s mannerisms on his trip to England. As Rousseau buffs know, he also befriended a certain Claude Anglancier de St-Germain late in life. This St-Germain was treated to long paranoid letters, coincidentally revolving around Choiseul. Rousseau’s biographers have, on occasion, referred to Claude as the Count of St-Germain.
Giacomo Casanova describes in his memoirs several meetings with the "celebrated and learned impostor". Of his first meeting, in Paris in 1757, he writes:
The most enjoyable dinner I had was with Madame de Robert Gergi, who came with the famous adventurer, known by the name of the Count de St. Germain. This individual, instead of eating, talked from the beginning of the meal to the end, and I followed his example in one respect as I did not eat, but listened to him with the greatest attention. It may safely be said that as a conversationalist he was unequalled.
St. Germain gave himself out for a marvel and always aimed at exciting amazement, which he often succeeded in doing. He was scholar, linguist, musician, and chemist, good-looking, and a perfect ladies' man. For awhile he gave them paints and cosmetics; he flattered them, not that he would make them young again (which he modestly confessed was beyond him) but that their beauty would be preserved by means of a wash which, he said, cost him a lot of money, but which he gave away freely.
He had contrived to gain the favour of Madame de Pompadour, who had spoken about him to the king, for whom he had made a laboratory, in which the monarch — a martyr to boredom — tried to find a little pleasure or distraction, at all events, by making dyes. The king had given him a suite of rooms at Chambord, and a hundred thousand francs for the construction of a laboratory, and according to St. Germain the dyes discovered by the king would have a materially beneficial influence on the quality of French fabrics.
This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks, would say in an easy, assured manner that he was three hundred years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds, professing himself capable of forming, out of ten or twelve small diamonds, one large one of the finest water without any loss of weight. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his manifold eccentricities, I cannot say I thought him offensive. In spite of my knowledge of what he was and in spite of my own feelings, I thought him an astonishing man as he was always astonishing me.[13]
The Italian adventurer, Jacques de Casanova de Seingalt, grudgingly admits that the Comte was an adept of the magical arts and a skilled chemist. Upon his telling St. Germain that he was suffering from an acute disease, the Comte invited Casanova to remain for treatment, saying that he would prepare fifteen pills which in three days would restore him to perfect health.
Of St. Germain's athoeter Casanova writes:
'Then he showed me his magistrum, which he called Athoeter. It was a white liquid contained in a well stopped phial. He told me that this liquid was the universal spirit of Nature and that if the wax of the stopper was pricked ever so slightly, the whole contents would disappear. I begged him to make the experiment. He thereupon gave me the phial and the pin and I myself pricked the wax, when, lo, the phial was empty.'
Casanova relates that one day while visiting St. Germain in his laboratory, the latter asked for a silver coin. In a few moments it was returned to Casanova as pure gold. St. Germain also possessed the secret of melting several small diamonds into one large stone, an art learned in India, he said. While visiting the French Ambassador to The Hague, he broke up a superb diamond of his own manufacture, the duplicate of which he had recently sold for 5500 louis d'or. On another occasion he removed a flaw from a diamond belonging to Louis XV, increasing the value of the stone by 4000 livres. On gala occasions he appeared with a diamond ring on every finger and with shoe-buckles estimated to be worth at least 200,000 francs.
Vienna Episode
Premise: Masonry
"One day the report was spread that the Comte de St. Germain, the most enigmatical of all incomprehensibles, was in Vienna. An electric shock passed through all who knew his name. Our Adept circle was thrilled through and through: St. Germain was in Vienna! . . .
"Barely had Gräffer [his brother Rudolph] recovered from the surprising news, than he flies to Hiniberg, his country seat, where he has his papers. Among these is to be found a letter of recommendation from Casanova, the genial adventurer whom he got to know in Amsterdam, addressed to St. Germain.
"He hurries back to his house of business; there he is informed by the clerk: 'An hour ago a gentleman has been here whose appearance has astonished us all. This gentleman was neither tall nor short, his build was strikingly proportionate, everything about him had the stamp of nobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . He said in French, as it were to himself, not troubling about anyone's presence, the words: "I live in Fedalhofe, the room in which Leibnitz lodged in 1713." We were about to speak, when he was already gone. This last hour we have been, as you see, sir, petrified.' . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"In five minutes Fedalhofe is reached. Leibnitz's room is empty. Nobody knows when 'the American gentleman' will return home. As to luggage, nothing is to be seen but a small iron chest. It is almost dinner time. But who would think of dining! Gräffer is mechanically urged to go and find Baron Linden; he finds him at the 'Ente.' They drive to the Landstrasse, whither a certain something, an obscure presentiment, impels them to drive post haste.
"The laboratory is unlocked; a simultaneous cry of astonishment escapes both; at a table is seated St. Germain, calmly reading a folio, which is a work of Paracelsus. They stand dumb at the threshold; the mysterious intruder slowly closes the book, and slowly rises. Well know the two perplexed men that this apparition can be no other in the world than the man of wonders. The description of the clerk was as a shadow against a reality. It was as if a bright splendour enveloped his whole form. Dignity and sovereignty declared themselves. The men were speechless. The Count steps forward to meet them; they enter. In measured tones, without formality, but in an indescribably ringing tenor, charming the innermost soul, he says in French to Gräffer: 'You have a letter of introduction from Herr von Seingalt; but it is not needed. This gentleman is Baron Linden. I knew that you would both be here at this moment. You have another letter for me from Brühl. But the painter is not to be saved; his lung is gone, he will die July 8th, 1805. A man who is still a child called Buonaparte will be indirectly to blame. And now, gentlemen, I know of your doings; can I be of any service to you? Speak.' But speech was not possible.
"Linden laid a small table, took confectionery from a cupboard in the wall, placed it before him and went into the cellar.
"The Count signs to Gräffer to sit down, seats himself and says: 'I knew your friend Linden would retire, he was compelled. I will serve you alone. I know you through Angelo Soliman, to whom I was able to render service in Africa. If Linden comes I will send him away again.' Gräffer recovered himself; he was, however, too overwhelmed to respond more than with the
words: 'I understand you: I have a presentiment.'
"Meanwhile Linden returns and places two bottles on the table. St. Germain smiles thereat with an indescribable dignity. Linden offers him refreshment. The Count's smile increases to a laugh. 'I ask you,' said he, 'is there any soul on this earth who has ever seen me eat or drink?' He points to the bottles and remarks: 'This Tokay is not direct from Hungary. It comes from my friend Katherine of Russia. She was so well pleased with the sick man's paintings of the engagement at Mödling, that she sent a cask of the same.' Gräffer and Linden were astounded; the wine had been bought from Casanova.
"The Count asked for writing materials; Linden brought them. The 'Wundermann' cuts from a sheet of paper two quarters of the sheet, places them quite close to each other, and seizes a pen with either hand simultaneously. He writes with both, half a page, signs alike, and says: '[You collect autographs, sir; choose one of these sheets, it is a matter of indifference which; the content is the same.' 'No, it is magic,' exclaim both friends, 'stroke for stroke, both handwritings agree, no trace of difference, unheard of!'
"The writer smiles; places both sheets on one another; holds them up against the window-pane; it seems as if there were only one writing to be seen, so exactly is one the facsimile of the other; they appear as if they were impressions from the same copper-plate. The witnesses were struck dumb.
"The Count then said: 'One of these sheets I wish delivered to Angelo as quickly as possible. In a quarter of an hour he is going out with Prince Lichtenstein; the bearer will receive a little box. . . .'
"St. Germain then gradually passed Into a solemn mood. For a few seconds he became rigid as a statue, his eyes, which were always expressive beyond words, became dull and colourless. Presently, however, his whole being became reanimated. He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of his departure, then said: 'I am leaving (ich scheide); do not visit me. Once again will you see me. To-morrow night I am off; I am much needed in Constantinople; then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will have in the next century--trains and steamboats. These will be needed in Germany. The seasons will gradually change--first the spring, then the summer. It is the gradual cessation of time itself, as the announcement of the end of the cycle. I see it all; astrologers and meteorologists know nothing, believe me; one needs to have studied in the Pyramids as I have studied. Towards the end of this century I shall disappear out of Europe, and betake myself to the region of the Himalayas. I will rest; I must rest. Exactly in eighty-five years will people again set eyes on me. Farewell, I love you.' After these solemnly uttered words, the Count repeated the sign with his hand. The two adepts, overpowered by the force of such unprecedented impressions, left the room in a condition of complete stupefaction. In the same moment there fell a sudden heavy shower, accompanied by a peal of thunder. Instinctively they return to the laboratory for shelter. They open the door. St. Germain is no more there. . . .
"Here," continues Gräffer, "my story ends. It is from memory throughout. A peculiar irresistible feeling has compelled me to set down these transactions in writing once more, after so long a time, just to-day, June 15th, 1843.
"Further, I make this remark, that these events have not been hitherto reported. So herewith do I take my leave." 1
The curious character of Franz Gräffer's sketches is striking. From other sources it can be learned that both of these Gräffers were personal friends of St. Germain, both were also Rosicrucians. And though no date is given of the interview here recorded, we can deduce it approximately from another article in the same volume, where it is said: "St. Germain was in the year ’88, or ’89, or ’90, in Vienna, where we had the never-to-be-forgotten honour of meeting him." 1
That the Comte de St. Germain was also a Rosicrucian there is no doubt. Constantly, in the Masonic and Mystic literature of the last century the evidences are found of his intimacy with the prominent Rosicrucians in Hungary and Austria. This mystic body originally sprang up in the central European States; it has, at various times and through different organisations, spread the Sacred Science and Knowledge with which some of its Heads were entrusted--the same message from the one Great Lodge which guides the spiritual evolution of the human race. Traces of this teaching, as given by our mystic, are clearly found, and are quoted by Madame Blavatsky, who mentions a "Cypher Rosicrucian Manuscript" 2 as being in his possession. She emphasises also the entirely Eastern tone of the views held by M. de St. Germain.
The fact that M. de St. Germain possessed this rare work shows the position held by him. Turning
again to The Secret Doctrine, 1 we find his teaching on "Numbers" and their values, and this important passage links him again with the Pythagorean School, whose tenets were purely Eastern. Such passages are of deep interest to the student, for they prove the unity which underlies all the outward diversity of the many societies working under different names, yet with so much in common. On the surface it would appear that better results might have been attained had all these small bodies been welded into one large Society. But in studying the history of the eighteenth century, the reason is evident. In Austria, Italy and France, the Jesuits were all-powerful and crushed out any body of people who showed signs of occult knowledge. Germany was at war, England also at war; any large masses of students would certainly have been suspected of political designs. The various small organizations were safer, and it is evident that M. de St. Germain went from one society to another, guiding and teaching; of his constant connection with the Masonic circles we have other proofs; M. Björnstahl writes in his book of travels:--
"We were guests at the court of the Prince-Hereditary Wilhelm von Hessen-Cassel (brother of Karl von Hessen) at Hanau, near Frankfort.
"As we returned on the 21st of May 1774 to the Castle of Hanau, we found there Lord Cavendish and the Comte de St. Germain; they had come from Lausanne, and were travelling to Cassel and Berlin.
We had made the acquaintance of these gentlemen in Lausanne at the house of Broglio." 1
This is a most interesting statement, for it shows also the continued intercourse of M. de St. Germain with the Bentinck family, with whom he had so much intercourse in 1760 at the Hague.
A Masonic friend 2 sends me the following information and extracts of letters, drawn from Masonic sources in the Royal Library in Wolfenbüttel. He says:--
"With this post I send you a photo of the letter from Count de Welldone to the Duke Friedrich August of Braunschweig, nephew of Ferdinand of Braunschweig, and also from Frederick II. of Prussia, his uncle.
"Dr. K. Weber in 'From four Centuries' writes, vol. I., p. 317:--
"'In October 1776 he came to Leipzig as v. Welldone, where he offered many secrets for the use of the Town Council, that he had gathered together during his travels in Egypt and Asia.'
"The letter from Welldone is in the Wolfenbüttel Library (not in the Archives). There I found various other remarkable letters. All are from and to Freemasons. Among others one from Dubosc, Chamberlain in Leipzig, who on the 15th of March 1777 wrote to Fr. August of Braunschweig:--
"'After a mysterious stay, the actual St. Germain, known at the time under the name of Comte Wethlone (Welldone), who took great care to give us to understand that he hid under this name his true quality of Prince Rákoczy, took a fancy to associate with me.'
"From the minister v. Wurmb (Dresden) on the 19th of May 1777 from Dresden:--
"'I employed the fortnight I spent in Leipzig to feel the pulse of the famous St. Germain who at the present time has taken the name of Comte de Woeldone and besides, at my request he came here to stay some time. I found him between 60 and 70 years old.'"
The original letter of M. de St. Germain has been photographed and the translation is as follows written from Leipzig: it has already been shown that by the Church Records he had a right to this name and was known and acknowledged as Comte de Welldone.
"Monseigneur,
"Will your Highness kindly permit me that I open my heart to you; I am hurt that the Councillor, Mr. du Bosc, used means which could not be agreeable to me, to make me known the Orders You have entrusted him with, according to what he says in his letter, and which surely could by no means concern me; the Baron de Wurmb, as well as the Baron de Bishopswerder will always be honourable witnesses of the rectitude and uprightness of the step I have taken, which was rendered necessary by the respect and the zealous and faithful attachment which I have dedicated to you for my whole life, Monseigneur; the delicacy enjoined me at first to say nothing about my motive.
"I will hasten as much as possible to carry out the affairs both important and indispensable for the locality I am in, in order that I may immediately afterwards have the inexpressible joy of paying my court to you, the best of Princes; when I shall have the honour of being well known to you, Monseigneur, I expect with full certitude from your fine discernment all that justice which is due to me and which will be extremely appreciated by me, coming from your part.
"I am, in duty bound,
"Your respectful, faithful and humble servant
"LE C. DE WELLDONE.
"Leipzig, May 8th, 1777."
Premise: Masonry
"One day the report was spread that the Comte de St. Germain, the most enigmatical of all incomprehensibles, was in Vienna. An electric shock passed through all who knew his name. Our Adept circle was thrilled through and through: St. Germain was in Vienna! . . .
"Barely had Gräffer [his brother Rudolph] recovered from the surprising news, than he flies to Hiniberg, his country seat, where he has his papers. Among these is to be found a letter of recommendation from Casanova, the genial adventurer whom he got to know in Amsterdam, addressed to St. Germain.
"He hurries back to his house of business; there he is informed by the clerk: 'An hour ago a gentleman has been here whose appearance has astonished us all. This gentleman was neither tall nor short, his build was strikingly proportionate, everything about him had the stamp of nobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . He said in French, as it were to himself, not troubling about anyone's presence, the words: "I live in Fedalhofe, the room in which Leibnitz lodged in 1713." We were about to speak, when he was already gone. This last hour we have been, as you see, sir, petrified.' . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"In five minutes Fedalhofe is reached. Leibnitz's room is empty. Nobody knows when 'the American gentleman' will return home. As to luggage, nothing is to be seen but a small iron chest. It is almost dinner time. But who would think of dining! Gräffer is mechanically urged to go and find Baron Linden; he finds him at the 'Ente.' They drive to the Landstrasse, whither a certain something, an obscure presentiment, impels them to drive post haste.
"The laboratory is unlocked; a simultaneous cry of astonishment escapes both; at a table is seated St. Germain, calmly reading a folio, which is a work of Paracelsus. They stand dumb at the threshold; the mysterious intruder slowly closes the book, and slowly rises. Well know the two perplexed men that this apparition can be no other in the world than the man of wonders. The description of the clerk was as a shadow against a reality. It was as if a bright splendour enveloped his whole form. Dignity and sovereignty declared themselves. The men were speechless. The Count steps forward to meet them; they enter. In measured tones, without formality, but in an indescribably ringing tenor, charming the innermost soul, he says in French to Gräffer: 'You have a letter of introduction from Herr von Seingalt; but it is not needed. This gentleman is Baron Linden. I knew that you would both be here at this moment. You have another letter for me from Brühl. But the painter is not to be saved; his lung is gone, he will die July 8th, 1805. A man who is still a child called Buonaparte will be indirectly to blame. And now, gentlemen, I know of your doings; can I be of any service to you? Speak.' But speech was not possible.
"Linden laid a small table, took confectionery from a cupboard in the wall, placed it before him and went into the cellar.
"The Count signs to Gräffer to sit down, seats himself and says: 'I knew your friend Linden would retire, he was compelled. I will serve you alone. I know you through Angelo Soliman, to whom I was able to render service in Africa. If Linden comes I will send him away again.' Gräffer recovered himself; he was, however, too overwhelmed to respond more than with the
words: 'I understand you: I have a presentiment.'
"Meanwhile Linden returns and places two bottles on the table. St. Germain smiles thereat with an indescribable dignity. Linden offers him refreshment. The Count's smile increases to a laugh. 'I ask you,' said he, 'is there any soul on this earth who has ever seen me eat or drink?' He points to the bottles and remarks: 'This Tokay is not direct from Hungary. It comes from my friend Katherine of Russia. She was so well pleased with the sick man's paintings of the engagement at Mödling, that she sent a cask of the same.' Gräffer and Linden were astounded; the wine had been bought from Casanova.
"The Count asked for writing materials; Linden brought them. The 'Wundermann' cuts from a sheet of paper two quarters of the sheet, places them quite close to each other, and seizes a pen with either hand simultaneously. He writes with both, half a page, signs alike, and says: '[You collect autographs, sir; choose one of these sheets, it is a matter of indifference which; the content is the same.' 'No, it is magic,' exclaim both friends, 'stroke for stroke, both handwritings agree, no trace of difference, unheard of!'
"The writer smiles; places both sheets on one another; holds them up against the window-pane; it seems as if there were only one writing to be seen, so exactly is one the facsimile of the other; they appear as if they were impressions from the same copper-plate. The witnesses were struck dumb.
"The Count then said: 'One of these sheets I wish delivered to Angelo as quickly as possible. In a quarter of an hour he is going out with Prince Lichtenstein; the bearer will receive a little box. . . .'
"St. Germain then gradually passed Into a solemn mood. For a few seconds he became rigid as a statue, his eyes, which were always expressive beyond words, became dull and colourless. Presently, however, his whole being became reanimated. He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of his departure, then said: 'I am leaving (ich scheide); do not visit me. Once again will you see me. To-morrow night I am off; I am much needed in Constantinople; then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will have in the next century--trains and steamboats. These will be needed in Germany. The seasons will gradually change--first the spring, then the summer. It is the gradual cessation of time itself, as the announcement of the end of the cycle. I see it all; astrologers and meteorologists know nothing, believe me; one needs to have studied in the Pyramids as I have studied. Towards the end of this century I shall disappear out of Europe, and betake myself to the region of the Himalayas. I will rest; I must rest. Exactly in eighty-five years will people again set eyes on me. Farewell, I love you.' After these solemnly uttered words, the Count repeated the sign with his hand. The two adepts, overpowered by the force of such unprecedented impressions, left the room in a condition of complete stupefaction. In the same moment there fell a sudden heavy shower, accompanied by a peal of thunder. Instinctively they return to the laboratory for shelter. They open the door. St. Germain is no more there. . . .
"Here," continues Gräffer, "my story ends. It is from memory throughout. A peculiar irresistible feeling has compelled me to set down these transactions in writing once more, after so long a time, just to-day, June 15th, 1843.
"Further, I make this remark, that these events have not been hitherto reported. So herewith do I take my leave." 1
The curious character of Franz Gräffer's sketches is striking. From other sources it can be learned that both of these Gräffers were personal friends of St. Germain, both were also Rosicrucians. And though no date is given of the interview here recorded, we can deduce it approximately from another article in the same volume, where it is said: "St. Germain was in the year ’88, or ’89, or ’90, in Vienna, where we had the never-to-be-forgotten honour of meeting him." 1
That the Comte de St. Germain was also a Rosicrucian there is no doubt. Constantly, in the Masonic and Mystic literature of the last century the evidences are found of his intimacy with the prominent Rosicrucians in Hungary and Austria. This mystic body originally sprang up in the central European States; it has, at various times and through different organisations, spread the Sacred Science and Knowledge with which some of its Heads were entrusted--the same message from the one Great Lodge which guides the spiritual evolution of the human race. Traces of this teaching, as given by our mystic, are clearly found, and are quoted by Madame Blavatsky, who mentions a "Cypher Rosicrucian Manuscript" 2 as being in his possession. She emphasises also the entirely Eastern tone of the views held by M. de St. Germain.
The fact that M. de St. Germain possessed this rare work shows the position held by him. Turning
again to The Secret Doctrine, 1 we find his teaching on "Numbers" and their values, and this important passage links him again with the Pythagorean School, whose tenets were purely Eastern. Such passages are of deep interest to the student, for they prove the unity which underlies all the outward diversity of the many societies working under different names, yet with so much in common. On the surface it would appear that better results might have been attained had all these small bodies been welded into one large Society. But in studying the history of the eighteenth century, the reason is evident. In Austria, Italy and France, the Jesuits were all-powerful and crushed out any body of people who showed signs of occult knowledge. Germany was at war, England also at war; any large masses of students would certainly have been suspected of political designs. The various small organizations were safer, and it is evident that M. de St. Germain went from one society to another, guiding and teaching; of his constant connection with the Masonic circles we have other proofs; M. Björnstahl writes in his book of travels:--
"We were guests at the court of the Prince-Hereditary Wilhelm von Hessen-Cassel (brother of Karl von Hessen) at Hanau, near Frankfort.
"As we returned on the 21st of May 1774 to the Castle of Hanau, we found there Lord Cavendish and the Comte de St. Germain; they had come from Lausanne, and were travelling to Cassel and Berlin.
We had made the acquaintance of these gentlemen in Lausanne at the house of Broglio." 1
This is a most interesting statement, for it shows also the continued intercourse of M. de St. Germain with the Bentinck family, with whom he had so much intercourse in 1760 at the Hague.
A Masonic friend 2 sends me the following information and extracts of letters, drawn from Masonic sources in the Royal Library in Wolfenbüttel. He says:--
"With this post I send you a photo of the letter from Count de Welldone to the Duke Friedrich August of Braunschweig, nephew of Ferdinand of Braunschweig, and also from Frederick II. of Prussia, his uncle.
"Dr. K. Weber in 'From four Centuries' writes, vol. I., p. 317:--
"'In October 1776 he came to Leipzig as v. Welldone, where he offered many secrets for the use of the Town Council, that he had gathered together during his travels in Egypt and Asia.'
"The letter from Welldone is in the Wolfenbüttel Library (not in the Archives). There I found various other remarkable letters. All are from and to Freemasons. Among others one from Dubosc, Chamberlain in Leipzig, who on the 15th of March 1777 wrote to Fr. August of Braunschweig:--
"'After a mysterious stay, the actual St. Germain, known at the time under the name of Comte Wethlone (Welldone), who took great care to give us to understand that he hid under this name his true quality of Prince Rákoczy, took a fancy to associate with me.'
"From the minister v. Wurmb (Dresden) on the 19th of May 1777 from Dresden:--
"'I employed the fortnight I spent in Leipzig to feel the pulse of the famous St. Germain who at the present time has taken the name of Comte de Woeldone and besides, at my request he came here to stay some time. I found him between 60 and 70 years old.'"
The original letter of M. de St. Germain has been photographed and the translation is as follows written from Leipzig: it has already been shown that by the Church Records he had a right to this name and was known and acknowledged as Comte de Welldone.
"Monseigneur,
"Will your Highness kindly permit me that I open my heart to you; I am hurt that the Councillor, Mr. du Bosc, used means which could not be agreeable to me, to make me known the Orders You have entrusted him with, according to what he says in his letter, and which surely could by no means concern me; the Baron de Wurmb, as well as the Baron de Bishopswerder will always be honourable witnesses of the rectitude and uprightness of the step I have taken, which was rendered necessary by the respect and the zealous and faithful attachment which I have dedicated to you for my whole life, Monseigneur; the delicacy enjoined me at first to say nothing about my motive.
"I will hasten as much as possible to carry out the affairs both important and indispensable for the locality I am in, in order that I may immediately afterwards have the inexpressible joy of paying my court to you, the best of Princes; when I shall have the honour of being well known to you, Monseigneur, I expect with full certitude from your fine discernment all that justice which is due to me and which will be extremely appreciated by me, coming from your part.
"I am, in duty bound,
"Your respectful, faithful and humble servant
"LE C. DE WELLDONE.
"Leipzig, May 8th, 1777."
Louis XV Episode
Premise: Alchemical Courtier
What St. Germain did for the next three years after leaving Austria is not certain.
St. Germain reappeared in European society again in 1749, this time as a guest of King Louis XV of France. France, a Catholic nation, actively supported the Jacobite cause against the Hanoverians of England. France was also involved in many other foreign intrigues. According to a lady of the French court who later wrote of St. Germain in her memoirs:
From 1749, the King [Louis XV] employed him [St. Germain] on diplomatic missions and he acquitted himself honorably in them.2
King Louis had gained fame as an architect of 18th century secret diplomacy. The acceptance of St. Germain into the French Court and his work for the French king as a political agent is significant for several reasons:
First, it points to the important role that Brotherhood members have played in the creation and operation of national and international intelligence networks throughout history.
Secondly, as a Catholic, King Louis XV adhered to Papal decrees. The papacy was hostile to Freemasonry. Indeed, Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry are both factions with origins in the Brotherhood which have long opposed one another. In 1737, Louis XV issued an edict forbidding all French subjects to have anything to do with Freemasonry.
During the ensuing decades, the French government actively repressed the French Freemasons with police raids and imprisonment. Louis XV’s edict of 1737 was followed a year later by Pope Clement’s Papal Bull which forbade Catholics everywhere from participating in or supporting Freemasonry under penalty of excommunication; yet here was the Count of St. Germain, who would later reveal a life-long involvement in the Brotherhood, residing as a guest of the King. The likely explanation, based upon the known facts of St. Germain’s life, is that he was not so much a Freemason as he was an agent of the higher Brotherhood.
It is also unlikely that the French King understood St. Germain’s role in the Brotherhood network.
St. Germain’s exact activities from 1749 through 1755 are largely unknown. In 1755, he made a second trip to India. He went with English Commander Robert Clive who was on his way there to fight the French! India was a major theatre of war in which a great deal was at stake. Commander Clive was an important leader on the British side.
This trip highlighted once again St. Germain’s remarkable political contacts and his ability to travel back and forth between important leaders of warring camps. One biographer has suggested that the Count may have been acting as a secret agent of King Louis XV of France when he went to India with Clive, for when St. Germain returned, he was awarded in 1758 with an apartment in the French royal palace at Chambord. He was also given laboratory facilities for his chemical and alchemical experiments, in which Louis XV sometimes participated.
St. Germain was clearly a flamboyant and multifaceted character. One of the talents for which he achieved fame was his considerable knowledge of alchemy. (Alchemy mixes mysticism with chemistry and was a staple of Rosicrucian practice.) St. Germain became a topic of gossip in the French court because he claimed to possess the alchemical Elixir of Life. The Elixir was said to be a secret formula which made people physically immortal. This was the same Elixir many European Rosicrucians claimed to possess. St. Germain may have had tongue slightly in cheek when he made the claim, however. He is quoted as saying to King Louis XV,
“Sire, I sometimes amuse myself not by making it believed, but by allowing it to be believed, that I have lived in ancient times.”3
Premise: Alchemical Courtier
What St. Germain did for the next three years after leaving Austria is not certain.
St. Germain reappeared in European society again in 1749, this time as a guest of King Louis XV of France. France, a Catholic nation, actively supported the Jacobite cause against the Hanoverians of England. France was also involved in many other foreign intrigues. According to a lady of the French court who later wrote of St. Germain in her memoirs:
From 1749, the King [Louis XV] employed him [St. Germain] on diplomatic missions and he acquitted himself honorably in them.2
King Louis had gained fame as an architect of 18th century secret diplomacy. The acceptance of St. Germain into the French Court and his work for the French king as a political agent is significant for several reasons:
First, it points to the important role that Brotherhood members have played in the creation and operation of national and international intelligence networks throughout history.
Secondly, as a Catholic, King Louis XV adhered to Papal decrees. The papacy was hostile to Freemasonry. Indeed, Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry are both factions with origins in the Brotherhood which have long opposed one another. In 1737, Louis XV issued an edict forbidding all French subjects to have anything to do with Freemasonry.
During the ensuing decades, the French government actively repressed the French Freemasons with police raids and imprisonment. Louis XV’s edict of 1737 was followed a year later by Pope Clement’s Papal Bull which forbade Catholics everywhere from participating in or supporting Freemasonry under penalty of excommunication; yet here was the Count of St. Germain, who would later reveal a life-long involvement in the Brotherhood, residing as a guest of the King. The likely explanation, based upon the known facts of St. Germain’s life, is that he was not so much a Freemason as he was an agent of the higher Brotherhood.
It is also unlikely that the French King understood St. Germain’s role in the Brotherhood network.
St. Germain’s exact activities from 1749 through 1755 are largely unknown. In 1755, he made a second trip to India. He went with English Commander Robert Clive who was on his way there to fight the French! India was a major theatre of war in which a great deal was at stake. Commander Clive was an important leader on the British side.
This trip highlighted once again St. Germain’s remarkable political contacts and his ability to travel back and forth between important leaders of warring camps. One biographer has suggested that the Count may have been acting as a secret agent of King Louis XV of France when he went to India with Clive, for when St. Germain returned, he was awarded in 1758 with an apartment in the French royal palace at Chambord. He was also given laboratory facilities for his chemical and alchemical experiments, in which Louis XV sometimes participated.
St. Germain was clearly a flamboyant and multifaceted character. One of the talents for which he achieved fame was his considerable knowledge of alchemy. (Alchemy mixes mysticism with chemistry and was a staple of Rosicrucian practice.) St. Germain became a topic of gossip in the French court because he claimed to possess the alchemical Elixir of Life. The Elixir was said to be a secret formula which made people physically immortal. This was the same Elixir many European Rosicrucians claimed to possess. St. Germain may have had tongue slightly in cheek when he made the claim, however. He is quoted as saying to King Louis XV,
“Sire, I sometimes amuse myself not by making it believed, but by allowing it to be believed, that I have lived in ancient times.”3
Undone in London Episode
Premise: Virtuoso & Spy
In 1745, one of the most intriguing people in history visited London; a man who was said to be over two thousand years old! Some said he was in league with the Devil, others thought he was a Himalayan yogi of the highest order; all that we know is that, according to written historical references, a Count St Germain was apparently on the European scene from 1651 to 1896 - a period of 245 years. Unable to explain the incredible lifespan of this man, the historians either omitted him from the history books or claimed several impostors in different time periods were responsible for the myth. But if we face the unadulterated facts about the count as they were written, they paint a very perplexing picture of a phenomenal man.
St. Germain’s first documented appearance in European society occurred in England in 1743. At that time, the Jacobite cause was very strong and the 1745 invasion of Scotland was only two years away. During those two crucial years prior to the invasion, St. Germain resided in London. Only glimpses of his activities during that time are available. St. Germain was a gifted musician and several of his musical compositions were publicly performed in the Little Haymarket Theatre in early February 1745. St. Germain also had several of his trios published by the Walsh company of London.
British authorities did not believe that St. Germain was in London to pursue a musical career, however. In December 1745, with the Jacobite invasion underway, St. Germain was arrested by the British on suspicion of being a Jacobite agent. He was released when rumored letters from Charles Edward, leader of the Stuart invasion, were not found on his person.
Horace Walpole wrote of the arrest afterwards:
. .. t’other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, will not tell who he is or whence, but professes two very wonderful things, the first that he does not go by his right name, and the second, that he never had any dealings, or desire to have any dealings, with any woman—nay, nor with an succedaneum [substitute]. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible.1
After his release, St. Germain departed England and spent one year as the guest of Prince Ferdinand von Lobkowitz, first minister to the Austrian emperor. The War of Austrian Succession was still raging at the time, in which Austria and England were allied against France and Prussia. During this visit to Austria, St. Germain was introduced to the French Minister of War, the Marshal de Belle-Isle, who, in turn, introduced St. Germain to the French court.
This is an intriguing sequence of events. Here we have a man arrested as a suspected enemy of England during a time of war, who then immediately went to stay with a top minister of a nation (Austria) which was allied to England. During that stay, this same man befriended the Minister of War of a nation (France) which was an enemy of Austria! St. Germain’s political contacts on all sides of a raging war were remarkable.
According to David Hunter, the Count contributed some of the songs to L'incostanza delusa, an opera performed at the Haymarket Theatre in London on all but one of the Saturdays from the 9th of February to the 20th of April 1745.[6] Later, in a letter of December of that same year, Horace Walpole mentions the Count St. Germain as being arrested in London on suspicion of espionage (this was during the Jacobite rebellion) but released without charge:
The other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes [two wonderful things, the first] that he does not go by his right name; [and the second that he never had any dealings with any woman - nay, nor with any succedaneum (this was censored by Walpole's editors until 1954)] He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and, what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy.[10]
The Count gave two private musical performances in London in April and May 1749.[6] On one such occasion, Lady Jemima Yorke described how she was 'very much entertain'd by him or at him the whole Time- I mean the Oddness of his Manner which it is impossible not to laugh at, otherwise you know he is very sensible & well-bred in conversation'.[6] She continued:
'He is an Odd Creature, and the more I see him the more curious I am to know something about him. He is everything with everybody: he talks Ingeniously with Mr Wray, Philosophy with Lord Willoughby, and is gallant with Miss Yorke, Miss Carpenter, and all the Young Ladies. But the Character and Philosopher is what he seems to pretend to, and to be a good deal conceited of: the Others are put on to comply with Les Manieres du Monde, but that you are to suppose his real characteristic; and I can't but fancy he is a great Pretender in All kinds of Science, as well as that he really has acquired an uncommon Share in some'.[6]
Walpole reports that St Germain:
'spoke Italian and French with the greatest facility, though it was evident that neither was his language; he understood Polish, and soon learnt to understand English and talk it a little [...] But Spanish or Portuguese seemed his natural language'.[11]
Walpole concludes that the Count was 'a man of Quality who had been in or designed for the Church. He was too great a musician not to have been famous if he had not been a gentleman'.[11] Walpole describes the Count as pale, with 'extremely black' hair and a beard. 'He dressed magnificently, [and] had several jewels' and was clearly receiving 'large remittances, but made no other figure'.[11]
Upon arriving in London after fleeing Holland, St. Germain was once again arrested and released. During this short stay in England, St. Germain published seven violin solos.
EVEN AFTER THE collapse of the Stuart cause, the Knight degrees remained popular and spread rapidly. The pro-Stuart slant vanished in favor of an antimonarchical philosophy in some Templar organizations, and a pro-monarchial sentiment in others. Freemasons practicing the Templar degrees played important political roles on both sides of the monarchy vs. antimonarchy battles going on in the 18thcentury, thereby helping to keep that issue alive in such a way that people would find it something to continuously fight over.
Premise: Virtuoso & Spy
In 1745, one of the most intriguing people in history visited London; a man who was said to be over two thousand years old! Some said he was in league with the Devil, others thought he was a Himalayan yogi of the highest order; all that we know is that, according to written historical references, a Count St Germain was apparently on the European scene from 1651 to 1896 - a period of 245 years. Unable to explain the incredible lifespan of this man, the historians either omitted him from the history books or claimed several impostors in different time periods were responsible for the myth. But if we face the unadulterated facts about the count as they were written, they paint a very perplexing picture of a phenomenal man.
St. Germain’s first documented appearance in European society occurred in England in 1743. At that time, the Jacobite cause was very strong and the 1745 invasion of Scotland was only two years away. During those two crucial years prior to the invasion, St. Germain resided in London. Only glimpses of his activities during that time are available. St. Germain was a gifted musician and several of his musical compositions were publicly performed in the Little Haymarket Theatre in early February 1745. St. Germain also had several of his trios published by the Walsh company of London.
British authorities did not believe that St. Germain was in London to pursue a musical career, however. In December 1745, with the Jacobite invasion underway, St. Germain was arrested by the British on suspicion of being a Jacobite agent. He was released when rumored letters from Charles Edward, leader of the Stuart invasion, were not found on his person.
Horace Walpole wrote of the arrest afterwards:
. .. t’other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, will not tell who he is or whence, but professes two very wonderful things, the first that he does not go by his right name, and the second, that he never had any dealings, or desire to have any dealings, with any woman—nay, nor with an succedaneum [substitute]. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible.1
After his release, St. Germain departed England and spent one year as the guest of Prince Ferdinand von Lobkowitz, first minister to the Austrian emperor. The War of Austrian Succession was still raging at the time, in which Austria and England were allied against France and Prussia. During this visit to Austria, St. Germain was introduced to the French Minister of War, the Marshal de Belle-Isle, who, in turn, introduced St. Germain to the French court.
This is an intriguing sequence of events. Here we have a man arrested as a suspected enemy of England during a time of war, who then immediately went to stay with a top minister of a nation (Austria) which was allied to England. During that stay, this same man befriended the Minister of War of a nation (France) which was an enemy of Austria! St. Germain’s political contacts on all sides of a raging war were remarkable.
According to David Hunter, the Count contributed some of the songs to L'incostanza delusa, an opera performed at the Haymarket Theatre in London on all but one of the Saturdays from the 9th of February to the 20th of April 1745.[6] Later, in a letter of December of that same year, Horace Walpole mentions the Count St. Germain as being arrested in London on suspicion of espionage (this was during the Jacobite rebellion) but released without charge:
The other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes [two wonderful things, the first] that he does not go by his right name; [and the second that he never had any dealings with any woman - nay, nor with any succedaneum (this was censored by Walpole's editors until 1954)] He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and, what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy.[10]
The Count gave two private musical performances in London in April and May 1749.[6] On one such occasion, Lady Jemima Yorke described how she was 'very much entertain'd by him or at him the whole Time- I mean the Oddness of his Manner which it is impossible not to laugh at, otherwise you know he is very sensible & well-bred in conversation'.[6] She continued:
'He is an Odd Creature, and the more I see him the more curious I am to know something about him. He is everything with everybody: he talks Ingeniously with Mr Wray, Philosophy with Lord Willoughby, and is gallant with Miss Yorke, Miss Carpenter, and all the Young Ladies. But the Character and Philosopher is what he seems to pretend to, and to be a good deal conceited of: the Others are put on to comply with Les Manieres du Monde, but that you are to suppose his real characteristic; and I can't but fancy he is a great Pretender in All kinds of Science, as well as that he really has acquired an uncommon Share in some'.[6]
Walpole reports that St Germain:
'spoke Italian and French with the greatest facility, though it was evident that neither was his language; he understood Polish, and soon learnt to understand English and talk it a little [...] But Spanish or Portuguese seemed his natural language'.[11]
Walpole concludes that the Count was 'a man of Quality who had been in or designed for the Church. He was too great a musician not to have been famous if he had not been a gentleman'.[11] Walpole describes the Count as pale, with 'extremely black' hair and a beard. 'He dressed magnificently, [and] had several jewels' and was clearly receiving 'large remittances, but made no other figure'.[11]
Upon arriving in London after fleeing Holland, St. Germain was once again arrested and released. During this short stay in England, St. Germain published seven violin solos.
EVEN AFTER THE collapse of the Stuart cause, the Knight degrees remained popular and spread rapidly. The pro-Stuart slant vanished in favor of an antimonarchical philosophy in some Templar organizations, and a pro-monarchial sentiment in others. Freemasons practicing the Templar degrees played important political roles on both sides of the monarchy vs. antimonarchy battles going on in the 18thcentury, thereby helping to keep that issue alive in such a way that people would find it something to continuously fight over.