H. B. of L. (Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor)

“There is the whole Chaldean tradition, and there is also the Vedic tradition, and there was very certainly a tradition anterior to both that split into two branches. Well, all these occult experiences have been the same. Only the description differs depending upon the country and the language. The story of creation is not told from a metaphysical or psychological point of view, but from an objective point of view, and this story is as real as our stories of historical periods. Of course, it’s not the only way of seeing, but it is just as legitimate a way as the others, and in any event, it recognizes the concrete reality of all these divine beings. Even now, the experiences of Western occultists and those of Eastern occultists exhibit great similarities. The only difference is in the way they are expressed, but the manipulation of the forces is the same.
         I learned all this through Théon. Probably, he was .. I don’t know if he was Russian or Polish (a Russian or Polish Jew), he never said who he really was or where he was born, nor his age nor anything.
         He had assumed two names: one was an Arab name he had adopted when he took refuge in Algeria (I don’t know for what reason). After having worked with Blavatsky and having founded an occult society in Egypt, he went to Algeria, and there he first called himself ‘Aia Aziz’ (a word of Arabic origin meaning ‘the beloved’). Then, when he began setting up his Cosmic Review and his ‘cosmic group’, he called himself Max Théon, meaning the supreme God (!), the greatest God! And no one knew him by any other name than these two – Aia Aziz or Max Théon.”

“The H. B. of L. first came to notice in the latter part of 1884, when a discreet advertisement appeared in an English edition of The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus. It invited aspirants to contact a mysterious personage called Theosi or Theon, in the care of the publisher or an American agent.”

“The curious would-be occultist would then receive a letter from an individual acting on the ‘Grand Master's’ behalf, asking for a photograph and a natal horoscope, so that it might be seen whether he or she was suited for occultism. Failing that, the aspirant was to send the necessary information for drawing up a horoscope, together with a small fee for the service. No list of members survives, but we know that some applicants were rejected, which lends at least an appearance of good faith to an organization that was frequently dismissed by its enemies as a money-making fraud. While most European members were men, women predominated in America.”

“Those who were accepted as neophytes received in due course their initiatic materials: pledges, questionnaires, and the revelation of the H. B. of L.’s true name and degrees. The name was given on a slip of paper that was to be burned after reading. After a delay sometimes amounting to years, the rituals for self-initiation were disclosed.”

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“Having established contact with a named representative of the Brotherhood, the neophyte would enter into regular correspondence with his or her mentor, who in turn would dispense a series of manuscripts setting forth the doctrines and occult practices of the Order. The basic manuscripts were already circulating by late 1884. Over the years they were supplemented by additional ones. All were designed to prepare the neophytes for their eventual initiations and to aid them in progressing through the degrees and grades of the Brotherhood — degrees and grades which were seen as paralleling the possibilities of the human state. These manuscript teachings were given under a pledge of secrecy which was almost universally preserved inviolate. It is thus only by great good fortune that an almost complete set of them survives.
         In many cases, the mentor would be someone already known to the neophyte, and their relationship would be friendly and often face-to-face. Such was the situation in England where the H. B. of L.’s agent was the Rev. William Alexander Ayton, a man of wide acquaintance in the worlds of occultism and ‘fringe’ Masonry, and in France, where the agent was the similarly well-connected Albert Faucheux (known as “F.-Ch. Barlet”) Both these men encouraged their confreres to join the new Brotherhood, and explained its workings in easy and informal terms. When they could not answer their neophytes’ questions someone higher up in the Brotherhood might respond personally.
         The world of the occultists was a small one, and a single person might well belong to several different societies and have a passing acquaintance with most of their members. Word of the H. B. of L. would have got around quickly in these circles.”

(Mother shows Satprem some pamphlets printed during Théon's time, “Fundamental Axioms of Cosmic Philosophy”, which have just been found among some old papers.)

“This is pretty funny!...
         It was in both French and English. He called it “Fundamental Axioms of Cosmic Philosophy”. It was the work of a certain French metaphysician who was well known around the turn of the century – his name began with a B. He met Théon in Egypt when Théon was with Blavatsky; they started a magazine with an ancient Egyptian name (I can't recall what it was), and then he told Théon (Théon must have already known French) to publish a Cosmic Review and the “Cosmic Books“. And this B. is the one who formulated all this gobbledygook.”

(Mother:) “This B. seems to have had the idea that the perfect man, the immortal man, would be spherical! And then Théon always used to say (he told me the whole story himself): “I told him it wasn't possible, it would be too impractical – people couldn't kiss!” His idea of a joke. Théon also told me that when B. came to Tlemcen (they first met in Egypt, then again in Tlemcen), he saw the house Théon was building and asked, “Why is your house painted red? Does it have some mystical significance?” And Théon replied, “No, it's because red goes well with green!” So you get the picture. But I don't remember his name any more; in his time he was very well known, he was a contemporary of the fellow who wrote The Great Initiates.

Schuré?

Yes, Edouard Schuré. He was a contemporary of Edouard Schuré, a bit older (I met Schuré, by the way – a rather hollow individual). His name began with a B and he's the one who formulated these ‘Axioms’.

You once mentioned someone called Barley [Barlet]....

Ah, that's it! Barley. Yes, it must be Barley.
         Madame Théon, who was English, was the one who wrote, but she used to write stories, while this ... this looks like Barley's work to me, because I read something at the end, on the last page, which is rather.... It's pathetic, actually, it's all really pathetic.”

“Setting aside these later differences in doctrine, it is possible, and illuminating, to see the H. B. of L. in the context of a large-scale movement within Western esotericism, of which the early Theosophical Society was also a part. Its driving idea, that of a Universal Tradition of Wisdom descending in unbroken order from the Golden Age before the Deluge, had become a cornerstone of occultism by the mid-century. The ultimate source of information was usually Godfrey Higgins’ Anacalypsis (1836), or, for the French-speaking world, the works of Fabre d’Olivet, Creuzer, de Rougement, Jacolliot and Frederic Portal (see Laurant 1975, 29-37). It was obvious to all concerned that some ancient wisdom must lie hidden in the fragments of ancient mythology and in the obscure oriental texts that were beginning to appear in the 19th century, and it was hoped that living schools of adepts — probably in the East — still preserved this wisdom intact and could impart it in a practical way to the seeker.”

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See also

• Max Théon
• Revue Cosmique
• Theosophy

External links

• E-book: The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor by Godwin, Chanel and Deveney (on Auro e-Books)