C. Agrippa here adds the following instructions, copied

from Boethius : —
" The guides on the road to perfection are Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the means to attain this object are Purity, Temperance, Self-control J Chastity, Tranquility of Mind, Contemplation, Adora- tion (Ecstasy), Aspiration, and Virtue J^
If the highest state of spiritual development is attained, the spirit, endowed with the highest spiritual activity of the soul, attracts the truth, and perceives and knows at once the conditions, causes, and effects of all external and internal, natural and divine things. It sees them within the eternal truth like in a mirror of Eternity. By this process Man, while he still remains in eternal nature, may know all that exists in the internal and external world, and see all things.
Mediaeval Philosophers. 49
not merely those which are, but also those which have been/ or which will exist in the future, and, moreover, by being united and identified with the divine power (The Logos), he obtains the power to change things by the power of his (spiritual) Word. Thus man being within nature may be above her and control her laws."
Those who are able to read the works of Cornelius Agrippa by the light of internal reason, will see that a single page of his books contains more wisdom than whole libraries filled with the speculations and theories of our modern philosophers, and his name and doctrines will be remembered and admired when all the illusions and hallucinations of the latter will have sunk into the oblivion which they deserve.
50 In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom.
AMONG THE " ADEPTS."
A BELIEF in the existence of persons endowed with abnormal or extraordinary psychic faculties or magical powers, by which they can produce wonderful effects, such as are not to be explained by the commonly accepted theories of external science, is nothing new. The Bible and the " Acta Sanctorum " are full of accounts of so-called " miracles/' a term which signifies something wonderful, but for all that not anything contrary to the laws of nature. Such " wonders " are performed by the power of the spiritually awakened will. The Yoga philosophy gives a specification of these powers, and describes how they may be acquired.
To those powers belongs the art of making oneself invisible ; of leaving one's body at will and returning to it again ; of projecting one's soul to a distant place; of prolonging physical life for a long period of time ; of transforming base metals into pure gold by alchemical means ; of creating sub- jective illusions which appear to the spectators as objective realities, and of performing numerous other feats, such as belong to the department of Magic, white or black.
There is sufficient evidence going to show that during the time of the Middle Ages there were numerous people exist- ing in whom such psychic faculties had been more or less developed. It was a time during which the imagination of the people as a whole was more active and more directed toward the supersensual and metaphysical aspect of the world. There was more of the true faith, and likewise more superstition to be found than at present, and faith as well as fear are active powers, capable to produce results on the astral plane. From the true faith, the result of spiritual knowledge, spring the powers of the Adept ; from fear and superstition, the phenomena of obsession and sorcery. Persons in possession of magic powers, and especially thos
Among the ** Adepts " $1
who were supposed to know the secrets of Alchemy, were called " Adepts," " Rosicrucians," or " Philosophers," and the greatest of them were supposed to belong to some secret and mysterious society, called " the Brotherhood of the Golden and Rosy Cross"
If we allow a great deal of poetical liberty in the descrip- tions of the members of this fabulous order, charging it to the fruitful imagination of the writers living at the time of the " knights errant," nevertheless, there remains a con- siderable amount of historical evidence going to show that there were persons endowed with abnormal powers; although there is no evidence whatever that they were united among themselves by any external association or sect. Neither would such a farce ever be necessary among those whose internal senses were opened, and who would be drawn together by the ties of the spirit. Having the power of interior perception, they would surely not need any external passwords and signs. The true brothers of the Golden and Rosy Cross were and still are a spiritual society, and therefore the efforts made at that time of finding a real and living, indisputably true Rosicrucian, were as unavailing as was at a more recent period the effott made by a certain London society of proving the existence of real and living Adepts.
The Rosicrucians have been celebrated in prose and in verse ; and their virtues have been extolled by some, while others have denounced them as impostors. Some writers describe them as beings of a superior character, possessed of apparently supernatural knowledge and powers, as men of noble appearance and exercising an invisible but irresistible influence over all with whom they come into contact. They describe them as having the power to read the hearts of men, and to cure the diseases of their bodies by wonderful medicines, or merely by the touch of their hands. They are loved by all and they love all ; but their hearts are invulnerable to sexual love. They never marry. They are sometimes
2 In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom,
described as being of fabulous age, and still appearing in the full vigour of manhood ; as being great travellers and speaking the language of each country where they temporarily reside, as fluently and correctly as if it were their own native tongue ; as possessing the power of render- ing themselves invisible, and again, as often appearing unexpectedly, when their presence is most urgently needed. They are possessed of immense treasures, and have the power to transmute base metals into gold, and yet they despise riches and are contented to live in poverty. They are the wisest of all men, and the knowledge of even the most learned cannot be compared with what they know. They do nothing whatever for the purpose of obtaining fame, for they are dead to ambition ; nevertheless their fame spreads wherever they appear. They are universally honoured, but they seek not for honour, and prefer to remain unnoticed. Palaces are at their disposal, but they prefer the hut of a beggar. They are not proud of their personal attributes, but it is the majesty of the divine principle manifesting itself in them, and shining even through the material envelope called the physical body, which sur- rounds them with an aura commanding the respect and veneration of all who approach. The glory of supermun- dane light which shines through their forms is so great that they may even appear luminous in darkness.*
♦ Before us is a paper, printed in Leipzig, dated May 26th, 1761, which gives the latest news from Koln (Cologne). It says : •* The two prophets who have been imprisoned in this place are still keeping the attention of our citizens on the alert. The court has not yet decided what shall be done. It is useless to chain them, because they possess the wonderful power of bursting even the strongest chains, as it they were threads of linen, and they have done so in the presence of many. They can even in the darkest night see all objects in their prison, because there Is an un- earthly light shining around their heads and coming out of their eyes, which illuminates their surroundings. They seem to be young men, and yet they say that they were at Constantinople in the year 1453, at the time of Mohamed II. ; tney say that they were intimately acquainted with the last Christian emperor at that place. Constantine Palaeologus, and they are in possession of letters written by him and his wife and sister. They say that at the time when they were at Constantinople they were already over 300 years of age . They speak Persian and Chinese and other languages fluently ; they live on nothing but a little bread and water. They per-
Among the ^^ Adepts'' 53
The following is taken from a book entitled " Hermippus Redivivus^ which we will abbreviate as much as possible.
The Sieur Paul Lucas^ who, by the order of Louis XIV., travelled through Greece and Africa in search of antiquities, says, " Being at Broussa, we went to a little mosque. We were introduced into a cloister, where we found four Dervishes, who invited us to their dinner. One of these, who said that he was of the country of the Usbeks (a Tartar tribe) appeared to me more learned than the rest ; and I verily believe he spoke all the languages of the world. After we had conversed for a time in the Turkish language, he asked me whether I could speak Latin, Spanish or Italian. We then spoke in Italian ; but he noticed by my accent that this was not my mother tongue, and when I told him that I was a native of France, he spoke to me in as good French as if he had been brought up at Paris. I asked him how long he had stayed in France, and he answered that he had never been there, but that he desired to visit that country. This man was so learned that, judging from his discourse, he seemed to have lived at least a century; but according to his external appearance he was not more than thirty years of age;
" He told us that he was one of seven friends who had wandered all over the world with a view of perfecting their studies; that at parting they always appointed another meeting at the end of twenty years in a certain town, and that the first who came would wait for the rest. I perceived that Broussa was the place appointed for their present meet- ing. There were a few of them present already, and they seemed to converse with each other with a freedom which spoke of old, acquaintance rather than merely accidental meeting. We spoke of religion, natural philosophy, chemistry, alchemy and the Kabala. I told him that the latter, and especially the notion of the ' Philosopher's
formed some wonderful cures in the neighbouring villages before they were arrested ; savage dogs and wild animals appear to treat them with reverence ; they seem to be well acquainted with the books written by the ancient philosophers, and talk about Pythagoras with great respect. We do not know what to think about these men. Etc., etc."
54 1^^ the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom,
Stone/ were considered by modern savants as mere chimeras. He seemed to know all about ♦ it, and answered : ' The true sage hears all things without being^ scandalized at them ; but though he may have so much politeness as not to shock any ignorant person by his denial when they talk of such things ; yet, let me ask you whether you think that he is obliged to sink his understanding to a level with vulgar minds because they are not able to raise their thoughts to an altitude equal to his ? When I speak of a sage, I mean that kind of a man to whom alone the title " philosopher " properly belongs. He has no sort of tie to the world ; he sees all things die and revive without con- cern ; he has more riches in his power than the greatest of kings, but he tramples them under his feet, and this generous contempt sets him even in the midst of indigence above the power of events.'
'* I said : ' With all these fine maxims, the sage dies as well as other people. What imports it, therefore, to me when I die, to have been either a fool or a philosopher, if wisdom has no prerogative over folly, and one is no more a shield against death than the other ? '
" ' Alas ! ' he answered, ' I see you are absolutely unacquainted with our sublime science, and have never known true philosophy. Learn from me, then, my friend, that such an one as I have described dies indeed, for death is a debt which Nature enacts, and from which therefore no man can be exempt; yet he dies not before his utmost time is fixed. But then you must observe that this period approaches near a thousand years, and to the end of that time a sage may live. He arrives at that end through the knowledge he has of the true medicine. Thus he is able to ward off whatever may impede the animal functions of his body or injure the temperature of his nature ; and is enabled to acquire the knowledge of whatever comes within the cognizance of man.
" Aboriginal man knew the secrets of Nature by the use of his reason, but it was this same reason which blotted his
Among the ^^ Adepts'' 55
knowledge again from his mind, for having attained this kind of natural knowledge, he began to mingle with it his o>wn notions and ideas. This created a confusion which was the effect of a foolish curiosity, and he reduced thereby the work of the Creator to a state of imperfection ; and this is the error which the true sage attempts to redress. The other animals act only by their instinct, which they have preserved as they obtained it at first, and they live as long MOW as they did when they first came into existence. Man is a great deal more perfect than they ; but has he still pre- served that prerogative which he had in the beginning, or has he not lost long ago the glorious privilege of living a thousand years, which, with so much care, he should have studied to preserve ? This the true sages have accomplished, and that you may no more be led into mistakes, let me, assure you that this is what they call the Philosopher's Stone which is not a chimerical science, but a real thing. It is, however, known to a few only, and indeed ' it is impossible that it should be made known to the most of mankind, whom avarice or debauchery destroys, or whom an impetuous desire of life prematurely kills.'
'* ' Surprised at all I heard, I said : ' Would you, then, persuade me that all who have possessed the Philosopher's Stone have likewise lived a thousand years ? ' * Without doubt,' answered he, gravely, ' for whenever a mortal is favoured with that blessing, it depends entirely on his own will whether he shall reach that age of a thousand years, as in his state of innocence the first man might have done.'
" I took the liberty to mention the illustrious Flamel, who, I said, had possessed the Philosopher's Stone, but was now dead as far as I knew. As I mentioned that name, he smiled at my simplicity, and said with an air of mirth : ' Do you really believe Flamel is dead ? No, no, my friend, do noi deceive yourself, for Flamel is living still. It is not above three years ago since I left him and his wife in the Indies ^ and he is one of my best friends.' He was going to tell me how he made Flamel's acquaintance, but stopping himself, he
56 In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom,
said : ' That is little to the purpose. I will rather give you his true history with respect to which, in your country, I daresay, you are not very well acquainted.'
''A little before the time of Flamel there was a Jew of our fraternity; but as through his whole life he had a most ardent affection for his family, he could not help desiring to see them after it once came to his knowledge that they were settled in France. We fore- saw the danger of his voyage, and did all we could to persuade him not to undertake that journey. We succeeded for a while in detaining him ; but at last the passion of see- ing his family grew so strong upon him that he went. At the time of his departure, he made us a solemn promise to return to us as soon as it was possible. He arrived at Paris, and found there his father's descendants in the highest esteem among the Jews. There was also a Rabbi, who was a true philosopher at heart, and who had long been in search of the great secret. Our friend did not hesitate to make himself known to his relatives, he entered into friendly relations with them, and gave them an abundance of light.
" ' But as the matter requires a long time to prepare it, he put into writing the whole process, and, to convince his nephew that he had not told him falsehoods, he made the " projection " in his presence of some ninety pounds of base metal, and turned it into pure gold. The Rabbi, full of admiration, did all he could to persuade our brother to remain with him, but in vain ; for the latter had made up his mind not to break the promise to return to us. When the Jew found this out, he changed his affection into hatred, and his avarice stifling the admonitions of his conscience, he resolved to extinguish one of the lights of the universe. Dissembling his black design, he begged the sage to remain with him only for a few days. He then executed his execrable purpose of murdering our brother, and made himself master of his medicine.
" ' Such horrible actions never remain very long unpunished. Some other crimes he had committed came to
Among the ''Adepts:' 57
light, the Jew was imprisoned, convicted, and burned alive.
" ' Soon after this a persecution of the Jews began in France. Flamel, who was more reasonable than his enraged country- men, and whose honesty was known, became a friend of the Jews, and a Jewish merchant entrusted him with all his books and papers, among which were those of the criminal who had been burned alive, and also the book of our brother ; which had never been carefully examined by the merchant. When Flamel examined that book, his curiosity became aroused by certain figures contained therein, and he began to suspect that it contained great secrets. He got the first leaf, which was written in Hebrew translated, and from the little he learned from that, he became convinced that his suspicion was well founded ; but knowing also that great caution was necessary, he took the following steps : He went into Spain, and, as Jews were settled in many parts of that country, he applied in every place to which he came to the most learned, and engaged each of them to translate a leaf of the book. Having thus obtained a translation of the whole, he returned to France. When he came home, he undertook with his wife the prescribed labours, and in the progress of time they arrived at the secret, by which they acquired immense riches, which they employed in building public edifices, and in doing good to a great many people.
" ' Fame is often accompanied by great dangers ; but a true sage knows how to extricate himself from all kind of perils. Flamel saw that he was in danger of being suspected to possess the Philosopher's Stone, a suspicion which might have caused the loss of his liberty, if not that of his life, and he thought of means to escape all danger. By his advice, his wife pretended to be dangerously sick, and when it was re- ported that she had died, she had already safely passed the frontier of Switzerland. They buried in her place a wooden image in one of the churches which he had founded. Some time aftei*wards he used the same stratagem for himself and joined his wife. You know that there could have been no
58 In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom,
great difficulty in doing this, since in every country, if a man has sufficient money, physicians and priests are always at his service, ready to say or do whatever he directs them. He moreover left a last will dnd testament, directing that a pyramid should be erected to his memory and that of his wife. Since that time both have led a philosophic life, resid- ing sometimes in one country and sometimes in another. This, depend upon my word, is the true history of Flamel and his wife.' "
The well-known fact that the Adepts and alchemists of the middle ages were continually subject to persecutions^ to imprisonment, punishment, torture and death, is the cause that the names of only few of them became publicly known. One reputed alchemist was the Count de Saint Germain^. who lived in 1770 at the Court of France. He appeared to be about forty years of age ; some said he was ninety,, he himself gave his age as being 370 years. He possessed the art of making artificial diamonds and precious stones, he was clairvoyant, could read people's thoughts and fore- tell future events. He possessed an " album," in which many of the most celebrated persons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had signed their names ; he was able to write with both hands at one and the same time, with each on different subjects.
A somewhat similar character was the Count Cagliostro^ whose physical form was born in Italy and received the name Giuseppe Balsamo, The latter was incarcerated in the castle San Angelo at Rome^ and is believed to have died in one of its dungeons. The problem of Cagliastro will not be solved by our historians until they study the true nature of man in its normal and abnormal aspects, when they may, perhaps, discover the fact that two personalities may inhabit one physical organism, and that a man may, perhaps, be a Cagli- ostro at one time and a Balsamo at another.*
* Whether or not the body of a person may be inhabited simultaneously or alternatively by two different individualities, may be a matter for doubt ; but the phenomena of obsession and hypnotism go to show that this is not impossible. Cagliostro said that he was born in the East, and it is
Among the " Adepts:' Sq
I have carefully read the proceedings of the trial of the renowned Count Cagliostro before the tribunal of the inquisi- tion in Rome, and I have found no proof whatever of his having been an impostor. To everyone acquainted with even the elementary teachings of occultism, the phenomena which occurred in his presence do not appear at all unex- plainable, or as having b«en the products of imposture ; but what appears wonderful is the illogical consequence and ignorance of the witnesses for the prosecution, who adrfiit the occurrence of phenomena in his presence, which could not have been produced by his tricks, while in the same breath they denounce him to be an impostor.
To arts of this kind belongs that of making pure gold or silver artificially, of transforming base metals into nobler ones ; of preparing a Universal Panacea out of the principle of Life ; of curing all diseases ; of preparing a lamp which,, by the manner in which it burns, indicates the state of health of an absent friend, with whom it is sympathetically con- nected ; of producing a similar sympathetic or magnetic con- nection between a person and a jewel, a tree, or a mirror ; of producing a living miniature image of the world in a closed glass globe ; of causing the forms of vegetables or animals to reappear out of their ashes after they have been burnt ; of producing artificially man (Homunculi) without the assistance of a female organism ; of preparing a fluid, which rises and falls within the bottle where it is contained, according to the increasing or decreasing moon ; of preparing a glass wherein it will thunder, and lightning will appear,.
certain that he had connections there ; nevertheless, it was proved that he was born in Italy, and that his name was Balsamo. This would, of course, convict him at once among the ignorant of his times and among our writers of encyclopaedias as being an impostor. Nevertheless, a more definite knowledge of the true constitution of man might explain the mystery. That which is the fundamental reality in man, is the will. The phenomena of so-called hypnotism show that the will of one person may oe made to act in another, and during the time that a persDn is obsessed by the will of another, he is also under the influence of the memory of the latter. Those acquainted with occult laws will not find it incredible that the person of Balsamo was influenced aid used by some eastern human spirit, whose name was Cagliostro, and that during such times Balsama believed himself to be, and actually v/as, Cagliostro. Modern spiritualism has a legion of similar facts.
6o In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom.
whenever the same takes place in the air ; of producing an inextinguishable magic fire, an ever-burning lamp ; a magic mirror, where events can be seen taking place in any other part of the world ; a perpetuum mobile^ whose rotation is caused by the rotation of the earth ; a divining rod, for finding water or minerals, or whatever one wishes to find ; a magic ring, which warns the wearer of any approaching danger, and reveals to him many secrets ; of causing love or hate at will ; of making pearls, diamonds, or any other jewels, which cannot be distinguished from natural ones, or causing them to grow larger ; of obtaining power over the elemental spirits of Nature and causing them to render services; of causing the astral spectres of dead persons to appear and talk and answer questions, and many other similar feats, too numerous to mention.
We call that wonderful which is not within our experience, and the causes of which we cannot explain ; we are daily surrounded by marvels, and witnessing the most marvellous phenomena, the causes of which we cannot explain ; but we do not look at them with a sceptical eye, nor are we at all surprised that they occur. On the contrary, we should be -extremely surprised if they once ceased to occur; this merely because we are accustomed to see such things every day. We are surrounded by phenomena of an occult and magic nature, and we live in a laboratory of alchemy. We see how out of a hard little stone — kernel or seed — a germ appears, and grows into a big tree, although we are sure that there was no such tree in the kernel ; and what would be still more astonishing if it were not of daily occun*ence, is that out of a certain kind of seed a certain species of plant only will grow, and no other. We see how out of an eg'g a living bird appears, and yet if we examine the same kind ol egg as long as it is fresh, and open it, we find therein nothing living, and nothing that resembles a bird. We also know that the parent bird does not put a bird into the egg after it is laid, for we may hatch out eggs by artificial heat, and thus produce birds out of the eggj and there is surely
Among the ^^ Adepts r 6i
no bird in the heat. We see how out of a vegetable substance animal substance can grow, for we feed our cattle on grass, hay, and corn, and yet we are certain that there is no flesh in the grass or corn. We see the ever-burning light of the sun spending its heat year after year. We know of nobody who supplies him with fuel, and yet it seems to have always the same temperature. We know that the globe whereon we live revolves and flies with tremendous velocity through space, and yet we do not feel it move, nor do we fall head foremost down in the abyss of space when at night it turns the dark side away from the sun ; we see that the storm blows down houses and trees, and yet that which does the damage is nothing but thin air; we see the body of water of our rivers and lakes, and if we attempt to step on its surface we sink ; but a few weeks or months afterwards we may try it again and find it as hard as rock, able to bear the weight of the skating crowd. There are a thousand other similar marvels in Nature, too numerous to mention.
There are many stories told of these Adepts, and the wonderful things they sometimes performed; how,, in mid-winter, they caused beautiful flowers to grow out of the floor of a room, or produced a shower of roses- in places where no roses were to be found ; how some of them were seen simultaneously in two different places, speaking and acting in each; how they sometimes were attended and served by " supernatural " beings appearing in human forms ; how they were sometimes able to read the future, or see what was going on at a place hundreds of miles away from them; how they could speak languages which they had never studied ; knew the contents of books- which they had never read ; could swallow poison without being harmed; make themselves invisible and visible at will, etc., etc. But the most interesting parts of our research, and at the same time the most pertinent to our object in view, will be historical accounts referring to their ability to make pure gold in an artificial manner — or, to speak.
62 In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom.
more correctly, to transmute other metals into gold, and make gold grow. We shall therefore give a few abbreviated accounts of such authenticated facts : —