Cagliostro Masonry

7/25/2019 Cagliostro Masonry

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The Egyptian Masonry Of

Cagliostro

Arthur Edward Waite


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THE EGYPTIAN MASONRY OF CAGLIOSTRO

Alternativejudgments on the Grand CophtVoice of the Holy TribunalExpert opinion on his Rn-xA possibility which lies behind itRag Fair ofMagical MasonryA general 4ology for Minor RITES in respect of theirsincerityThe mythical George CoftonThe hand of Cagliostro in theGRADESPoints in defence of EGYPTIAN MAsoz.n~yThe Tisar~ DEGREESof the RrraAnAndrogynous SystemThe L.egend ofElias and EnochAn impartial consideration of the ascriptionComparison with othercontent of the Ga.u~asQualifications ofCandidatesASystem of THREEDEGREESThe Neophyte in EGYPTIANMAsONRYIn the GRADES OF ADOP-TIONThe COMPANION Or FELLOW CRAFrThe Egyptian MASTERYConclusion on this System.

LIKE Abraham CowleyMasterof many measuresthe alleged Giuseppe

Alessandro Balsamowho was Master of many Putative Mysteries

flamed the comet ofa season; and as somewhere in the world ofliterature there may be still a few who consider that Co~vley was reallygreat in the royal art of verse, so inthe occult circles, andsuch curiousHouses ofLife, thereare still some who believe that the self-styled CountCagliostro

2whatsoever may have beenhis true namewas one of thosegreat Adepts whoattained to be more than human. It matters littlethatthe voiceofhistory has been heldto have risen up against him withagreat dossierof records: whenthese are inconvenient to deal with, theyarepermitted to sink out ofsight. It matters much more, however, thatthe Holy Inquisition pronounced against him and inspired the Italianlife by which he is perhaps more fully known to infamy than by anyothersingle document. That judgment andthat motived memorial are

The identityof this Sicilian impostor with him who was to appear as Grand

Master of an EGYPTIAN RITE has been challengedas we have seenby MrW. H. Trowbridgein CAGUOSTRO, the SplendourandMiseryofa MasterofMagic,1910.

As, for example, Marc Haven, in La MAITRE INcoIenJ.

Iv

407


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408 THE SECRET TRADITION IN FREEMASONRY

sometimes held sufficient by their bare fact to exonerate him, not onlybefore any tribunal ofsecretand indiciblearts, and anyoccult circle,but alsoat the bar ofunattachedimpartial research, beforewhichthewitnesses areliable to be themselves arraigned. The positionis problematical andwhoshall decide thereon? If the Sacred Office is worse antecedently andworse also in its findings than Occult Tribunals, the rulings of theseare like their science a thingof vanity which deserves to be revokedbeforehand in most cases.

Themost temperateanddetached statement whichcan be madeon thegeneral subject is perhaps that the characteristics of those who devised

magical Rrr!s. and Gi~nESCagliostro, Sclirceder and Schrceppferwere precisely what might be expected from their dedications,

1 whichbelong, intellectually and spiritually, to the deep purlieus frequented byzealots and impostors. Masonry on its magical sidewas allocated to thesecond rather than to the first class; there are alternative cases, but forthe most part it was the Rag Fair of intellectual roguery,and the rogueshad every needful knowledge of their subjectwhich means a meresmattering. It came about in this manner that the purlieus found theirvoice. I shall make an exception, as will be seen, regarding the RITE ofPasqually, who belonged to neither class, and it is partlyfor want ofabetter working classification that his Order must appear in the list ofMagical Inventions. Let me say that it belongs at least to a very highplane of the subject, for the Secret of this Rite was the ecstasy of

prayer. I do not propose for such reason to appear as its unqualifiedapologist; andI asktherefore for the present statement to be regarded asa point offact only. Outside the creations ofthissection, one is inclinedto affirm that thereare few, or comparatively few, MASONIC RITES whichare the workofconsciousimposture; while even for EGvrrr~iN rVL~SONRYsomething remains to be said from another standpoint. Many HIGHGn~Dss are trivial and many are also foolish; some offer preposterousconsiderations to the rational understanding; and some, which other-wise might holdup certain lights, are confusedbeyond hope on the issuesofchronology. But among those which adrasticcriticism wouldheaveover among the rubbish there are at least a few whichhaveserved atolerable purpose. We may say of them what can be saidsometimes ofourselves, andof many like us, in the worldof daily life: Do not letus

despise any instrument which Godsees fit to use, more especiallyifit beourselves. We also serve, andthose above others whodo not stand andwait, though we have heardo n other warrantsthat a certain waiting is notapartfromservice.It is not onlythe indiscriminate enemies ofHIGHGnADE MASoNRY, or

those only who can distinguish in that department between the thingswhich standfor value andthingsof no worth whatever, whohavespoken

L As regards Cagliostro, they appear at full length in a portrait by M rFrankKing, one ofthe latest biographers in England ofthe Sublime Copht.Itclaimsto be actuated by a feeling thathe calls for lighter treatmentthan hasbeen accorded hitherto. The result happens, however, to be pure romance,incorporatingalmost every flctiuouaelement in pastmemorials,fortifiedbyreamsofamazing dialogues.


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o~xA~O1l


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OF MAGICAL AND KABBALISTICAL DEGREES 409

with disdain of Cagliostro and his EG~rr~ RITE.1 When so doing,some have indicated unawares apossibility, at the backoftheirminds,thatit included elements which may have been not entirely negligible; fortheyhavetakenuncommon pains to point O ut thathe was not its author,that he picked up a curious manuscriptat aLondon bookstall andwasfurnished thus withmaterial which was worked up later on into the formofGRADES; or alternatively,thatto thediscovery in question he owed the

actual RrruAx.s.2 I do not knowhow orwith whomthis Legend origin-ated: as itstands, there is no trace of evidence concerning it, and it isset aside thereforenot that the questionsignifies vitally in either sense.It is obvious,on internal evidence, (x) that the Ceremonial was fantasticin character; (2) that itw as almost devoidofMasonic elements; ( ~ ) thatit was a product ofCagliostrosperiod and hadno trace ofantiquity. TheSicilianif he was a Sicilianwas a person of mean education, norwasthe Count as such a scholar, and it is thus antecedently unlikely thathe should have written the books of thewords with hisownhand; butI am of opinion that itwas written under him, because it embodiesprecisely the kind of materials and the mise en scbze which he wanted;while apart from this, the last place in which to come across such aproduction was London at that period; and this will obtain whether

the alleged manuscriptw as preserved in archives or hawked in streets.Having thus disposed ofthe unknown George Cofton, who issupposed

to have possessed or written the root-matter of the ivork, a second pointwhicharises is whether EGYPTIAN M AS ONRY was actuallyso contemptiblea device aspastcriticism assumesrather than affirms on evidence. I havecalled it fantastic, but not of necessity in the sense of a judgment pro-nounced against it: the term applies to the bulk of RITUAL procedurein the Cx~rr and the HIGH GRADES. I have said that it is devoid ofauthentic Masonic elements, but the statement obtains equally as to agreat mass of G R A D E S whichare not for that reason without interest alongtheir ownlines. An unbiassed review of the RITuALs should lead us toconclude that, while apart from living value, they were decorative,dramatic and withal sufficiently suggestive to have obtained the promi-

nence which they enjoyed for a short period in the jumbled MasonryofFrance.

There are various descriptive accounts available, and I have citedoneofthem elsewhere. What follows is, however, a summary ofinformationdrawnfrom other andin fact several sources.3

Thoseincluded who hadevidentlyno idea ofits UrruAl. content. A notableerample is Albert G. Mackey, s.v. CAGLIOSTRO, in his ENCYCLOPJEDIA or Fm-r~r~so~y. For this American authority EGYrrIAN MASONRY was a grandschemeo f imposture, but he fails even to specify its DEGREES and is soignorantof itshistory that he speaks ofE~rrmw LODGESexisting in London.Mr King suggests that the curious manuscript dealt with Kabbalistica!

practices only. Op. cit., p.xo8. But this is meresupposition. See my Naw ENCYcLOPJED1A or Farm~soNRY, i, 93-99, which compares

at length the content of two chiefcodices, that in the Library of the Sco~rnsuGwm Lorica, and that published in the French Martinist Review, entitledLINrrIAT1oN, between 1906 and igog.


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EGYPTIAN MASONRY passed under the CRAFTtitles, and it was conferred

upon both sexesapparently in separate Temples. It was intended toreplace the CRAFT, whichex hypothesioffered a vestige only of theTrue Mystery and a shadow of the real illumination; but in order tosecure the end more certainly, according to the mind of Cagliostro, theMasonicqualification was requiredof his male candidates. The RectifiedORDER OF TH E GOLDEN AND R O S Y CROSS, as reformed in 1777, saidsubstantially the same thing in its variant manner of languagethatMasonry was a Brotherhoodof the appearance of light in the naturalworld only, andthat the true light was shiningin thecentreofthe Mystic

Cross. This Institution exacted also the Masonic qualification, but didnot initiate womenat least in those departments which preceded andemerged as a R~Fo~iED RITE.

The imputed foundersofEGYPTIAN MASONRY were Enoch andElias=

Elijah, the most mystical among the Prophets of the Old Alliance, wellchosenforthisreason, andmore especially as theyleft nothingin writing,some reputable apocrypha notwithstanding. Elias connects with theTradition of Alchemy, seeing that his rebirth in an artist of that namewas announced by Paracelsus and expected by ardent disciples of theSage ofHohenheim. Great things were promisedto the CityofHermeticTriumph when Elias Artists should come. Enoch and the Pillars onwhich he perpetuatedthe kno~vledge of theworld before the Flood havestood up always as beacons on the more external side of the SecretTradition.

The ascription which I have mentioned has been placed naturally tothe account against Cagliostro; but I should like to understand in whatsense it ismore culpable thanany other Legendofthe HIGH GRAUES. On

theliteral surface, and in that kind of understanding, they were each andall mendacious; and ifoneor more ofthemas I have tried to shewareto be understood symbolically, andas affirmations of a Secret Traditionperpetuatedin Masonry, I know ofno formofthe parable which.cateris

paribusis better or more suggestive than the fable concerning the twoScripture-Prophets.

1 The view usually taken depends of course fromtheprofferedantecedents ofCagliostro, forwhom in other respects I ammaking no apology. He hadno part assuredly in any one of the Holy

Traditions; but the existenceor possibility of these has not been presentto the mindofthe criticism undernotice, andI see no reason for condemn-ing the Sicilian illumind in respect of a most patent fiction whenhistoricaltheses like that ofthe R E D CRoss OF ROME AND CONSTANTINEhave been suffered to pass unassailedalmost as if the vanity ofsuch

claims went without saying.The Legendwhatever the verdictgoes on to affirm that Enochand Elias instructed the Priesthood ofEgyptin theirformofMasonicArt;but I do not find that the line oftransmission fromtheseseers ofold tothe dayof Louis XVI is clearly, or at all, indicated. Cagliostro indeedpretendedto have drunkat many Oriental fountainsofwisdom, but there

~ Itmay be noted, however, that Enoch had figured already in Masonictraditional literature.


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OF MAGICAL AND KABBALISTICAL DEGREES ~ii

is nothing in his history to indicate evidentiallythat he hadevencrossedover from Sicily to the northern coast of Africa. This is perhaps tooclearly accepting his disputed identity with Balsamo. But if we settheascription aside, he is without known antecedents andthereis utterlynothing in hiscareer which wouldjustify belief in his ownunsupportedstory,had it no miraculous elements.

So far in respect of his RITE in its dubiousorigin. The nextpoint toestablish is that it was magical in character ; but the elements wereexceedingly simple, being confined to a dramatic mise en sc~ne, accom-

panied by extravagant personal claims. I shall not speak of the debtwhich the maker owed to Mesmer, or of the high probability that hepossessed some proportionof that semi-occult power which was spokenofas Magnetismat the period. It was perhaps from Mesmers method,rather than fromCagliostros recollection concerningthecommunicationof Apostolical Succession, that it was his custom to breathe upon hisdisciples whentheywere made EGYPTIANAP Pa~rrIcEs. For this purposethe Neophyte knelt before him, while the fumes of swinging thuriblesentranced his senses. Fortherest,the most magical operation whichtookplace at theMasonicslances was identical with one that was followed byDr Dee during several decades ofyears. This was the induction ofvision in crystalsby the mediation of Kelley in thecase of the Elizabethanoccultphilosopher and in the case of Cagliostroby that of boys or girls

who were in a state of maiden purityaccording to the hypothesis, atleast. There is evidence to shewthat theMagus believed in this simpleprocess and attempted seriouslytherebyto establish communication withthe prophet Moses. It is on record that the experiment was, however,always a failure. Now, it is difficult to dabble in the occultartsas thecommonspiritist medium knows, among many otherswithout discover-

ing that thereare ungauged possibilities in the psychicside ofour humanpersonality; andit is likely enoughthat Cagliostro may have had sufficientcasual experiencein this direction to give him a certain airofseriousnessover his EGYPTIAN MASONRY. He did not exactly know when certainphenomena might occur spontaneously with his lucids; he hoped thatthey would occuralways, but he preparedbyfraud againstfailure. This,however, would mean only that they were instructed how to play their

partto see, ifsee they might, and to say otherwise that which had beenlearned by rote.

By a collation of many casual testimonies drawn from Masonicsources of the past, and by the history of Cagliostro otherwise, welearn that he promised his followers both physical and moralregeneration. He claimed that by the First Matter, when it waschanged into the Philosophical Stone, and by the Acacia, Symbol ofImmortality,theywould enter into astate ofrenewed youth. His penta-gram, moreover, on which angels were said to have impressed theirciphers and seals, would purify and restore hi s Initiates to thatprimitiveinnocence ofwhich man has beendeprivedby sin. Thequalifications on

1 Waits: op. cit., i, pp . g~, g 6.

~ Cf . ibid., p. 96.


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the part ofCandidates were a belief in the Immortalityof the Soul and,as I have intimated, in the case ofmen, the possession of the C~.prDEGREES. The Statutes andRegulations of theROYAL LODGE 0 1 WISDOMTRIUMPHING, being the Mom~ LODGE O F HIGH EGYPTIAN MASONRYfor East and West ,1 specify three Grades as comprised by the system.These were EGYPTIAN APPRENTICE, EGYPTIAN COMPANION or CRAFrsMANand EGYPTIAN MASTER. At the end ofh is experience the Candidate wassupposedperhaps by the hypothesis of the RITEto have exterminatedvicefrom his nature, to be acquaintedwith the TrueMatter of theW ise,through intercourse with the Superiors Elect who encompass the throneof the Great Architect of the Universe. These Intelligences are SevenAngels who preside over the seven planets; and their names, most ofwhich are familiarin CeremonialMagic,were enumeratedin the followingsequence: Anael, Angel of the Sun; Michael, Angel of the Moon;Raphael, who was allocated to Mars; Gabriel, referred to Mercury;

Uriel, the Angel of Jupiter; Zobiachel, attributed to Venus; andAnachiel, the ruler o fSaturn.

In the G R A .nE of Neophytecorresponding to ENTERED APPRENTICEthe Candidate was preparedin a vestibule containing a representation ofthe Great Pyramid and thefigure of Time guarding a cavern. He wasintroduced into the Temple by virtue ofhis ordinary Masonic titles andas a seeker for the true Masonry which flourished among the wise ofEgypt. He knelt before Cagliostro, who posed as the Grand Copht,Founder and M asterof the Rrrxin a ll parts of theglobe; andthe M asterbreathed, as we have seen, upon him. This took place no t only amidstthe swinging ofcensers but the recital ofexorcisms calculatedalso axhypothesito effect Moral Regeneration. The Postulant was instructedin seven philosophical operations: (r) in connection with the healthand

disease ofman; (a) on metals andthe medicine thereof; ( ~ ) on the useof occult forces to increase natural heat and that whichthe alchemiststermthe radicalhumidityof things; (4) on the liquefaction ofthe solid;( ~ ) on the congelation ofthe liquid; (6) on the mystery of the possibleand impossible; and () on the means of doing good with the utmostsecrecy. Moral Regeneration notwithstanding, theso-called knowledgeof the GRADE dwelt on the physical side ofAlchemy, as well as on thesearchafter G odandthe examination ofSelf, allworkundertaken being forthepromotion of theDivine Glory. The othersubjects recommended forstudyduringthe period ofthe Novitiate were Natural and SupernaturalPhilosophy. Of the second there is no explanation; but NaturalPhilosophy was described as the Marriage of the Sun and Moon andknowledge of the seven metals. The maxim was: Qui agnoscitmartem,

cognoscit attainwhich notwithstanding the transmutation of iron intogold was by no means a favouriteattempt on thepart of Alchemists. As

I Itwas locatedatthe Orient ofLyons.I have saidelsewhere that theGa~u,ssof theRrrE,a s exhibited in the Lecnares

attached thereto, were purely a nd simply those ofHermeticMasonry, other-wise aichemical in character. The fact is notable in viewof the elementaryMagic foundin the ceremonial procedure. Op. cit.,pp. 9 7, g8.


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OF MAGICAL AND KABBALISTICAL DEGREE S ~

connected with Alchemy, the discourse dwelt upon the First Matter,which is said to be an Unveiled Mysteryfor those who are elect ofGodand to be possessed bythem. It is symbolised by the Masonic Acacia,1while its mercurial part is denotedby the rough or unhewn stone. It isthis which must suffer the death ofPhilosophical Putrefaction and then

the Stone of Philosophy is composed therefrom. The Blazing Starrepresents Supernatural Philosophyand its formis that of a Heptagram,signifying the Seven Angels about the Throne of God, who are Inter-mediaries between God and Man. In correspondence with the divisionsofphilosophy, as here stated, the term of the system was dual, being

(x) moral and (2) physical regeneration; but the word moral mustbe interpretedrather widely. Divine aid was necessary to the progress ofthe Candidate, and he was recommended meditation daily for a spaceof threehours.

In the case of Female Apprentices who, ifthey were not receivedasI have suggestedin a separate Temple, were initiated alternatively atspecial meetings, the wife of Cagliostro, otherwise Countess Lorenza,in her capacityas Gi~.z.m MIsrREss, said to the Candidate: I breathe

upon you, that thetruth which wepossess may penetrate your heartandmay germinate therein. So shall it strengthen your spiritual natureandso confirm you in the faith of your Brothersand Sisters. We consti-tute you aDaughter of the true EgyptianAdoption, to be recognised assuch by all members of the RrrE andto enjoy the same prerogatives.3

There were, at least by the hypothesis, three years of Novitiatepresumably in both classesbetween the First and Second DEGREE,during whichtheCandidate was supposedto put in practicethe counselsof his Reception. The Ceremony of Advancement took place in thepresence of twelve Masters, and the Presiding Officer said: By thepowerwhich I hold from theGrand Copht, Founder ofour Order, and bythe Grace of God, I confer upon you the GaADE OF COMPANION andconstitute you aGuardianofthe new knowledge which wecommunicate

in virtueofthe sacred names, Hm..Ios,signifying the Sun; M E N E ,whichreferredto the Moon; and TETRAGRAMMATON. The Candidate was madeacquainted with further symbolsofthe First Matter in the form of Bread

andWine. Hewas given RedWineto drink, andthis is a clear issue onthe symbolical side; but it is confused by the further indication thatAdonhiramis also theFirst Matter and that this must be killed. There ishere a reflectionfrom the system attributed to L. G. de St.Victor, whereinthis nameis attributed to the traditional MASTERBUILDER. There are alsoanalogies with the later GRADES of Memphis, which drew somethingtherefore from EGIvrIAN MASONRY. There is finally an intimation thatthe Sacred Rose gives knowledge ofthe First Matter. The discourse is

I believethat this interpretationispeculiar to the RrrzofCagliostro. But we

haveseen thathe termedthe planet alao a Symbol of Immortality.

Compare Baron Techoudys CATECHISM, a s cited on p. 379. It will b e seenthat the Blazing Stari s theBreathofDivineLife.This is on the authority ofthe Italian Lzn, published under the auspices

of the Apostolic Chamber. Theword-bookof the ADoP~rxvE RITE of Cagliostrowas also printedin LIwIminON ,and containsthe ADDRESS cited.


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concerned with moral and Spiritual Regeneration, and the Candidate isadvised to purify himselfwithin.Itwas only in the GRADE OF MASmR that the Dee-likemagical aspects

appeared, forit was therethat theDove, being a clairvoyant girl or boy,was shut up inaTabernacle and, prior to the introduction of theCandi-date, was interrogated as to his fitness. This Ceremony was performedwith great reverence, beginning with an invocation addressed to God byall present,who solicited that the power possessed by man before theF41might be communicated to the Instrument thus chosen as a mediatorbetween the Seven Planetary Spirits andthe Chiefof the Lodge. The

Dovedemandedo n her orhispart thegrace to actworthily. The GrandCopht breathed also upon the child. If the answer were affirmative inrespect of the Candidate, he was brought into theTemple and into thepresence of two Masters, who represented Solomon and the King ofTyre. They sat upon a single throne, reproducing an arrangement whichwe have met with previously. One ofthem was clothed in white and theother in blue bordered with gold, while on either side of them were thenames of the Seven Angels. Twelve other Masters were present, andthese were sa]uted as Elect ofGod. The Can didatewas also the symbolofa Phienix rising from a nest oftire. Theprocedure ofhi s receptionowed comparatively little to the Culminating DEGREE of the C RA F T. Herenounced all hi s past life and was directed to prostrate himself on theground, with hi s face laid against it. Prayers were recited over him;

he was raised up, created a Master and decorated with theinsignia of theGRADE. The Dove was interrogated finally to ascertain whether thatwhich had been done was agreeableto the Divinity. TheO bligation ofaMasterincludedblind Obedienceas well asperfectsecrecy. The discourseof theGIWE turned again upon theSymbol of theRose, as representing afurther type of the First Matter.2 Some additional explanations weregiven concerning the two Regenerations which I have described asconstituting the termofthe System. Thatwhichiscalled moraldependedon prayerandmeditation continued for a period offorty days,followingaspecific rule. That ofthe physical kind lasted for thesame period, andit is this which the Cardinalde Rohan issupposedto have undergone, butwithout much profit to himself, atthe instance ofCagliostro.3

When a woman was made a Mistress, the acting Mistress, or Chief

Officerof the Temple, represented the Queen of Sheba, and she alone

This, however, is of course a foregone conclusion. CagI.iostro would haveseen to itthat each and every Postulant w as desirable from his point of view,whence it follows that the Dove w as made to understand that her or his answermustbe alwaysin the affirmative. Any seeing faculty wouldhave been ezercisedinother directions, whichdo not transpire.It i s to be fearedthat the pupil ofAithotas proveshimself a mere tyroover

the Symbols ofAlchemy. Had he known the LEXIcoN ofRulandus, anna z6:zhe would have rememberedthat ROSA =Tartar, for thatP hysicianto an Emperor,while Tartaritselfsignified the calculus ofwine, bothnot a little remotefromthe FirstMatterofthe Wise.The sorry recitalofthis foolish business is given at lengthby everybiographer

ofdie Adept, and is fortunately notto o urpurpose here.

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