Table Of Content

What are those golden builders doing? Where was the burying place Of soft Ethinthus? Near Tyburns fatal tree? Is that Mild Zions hills most ancient promontory: near mournful Ever weeping Paddington? Is that Calvary and Golgotha? Becoming a building of pity and compassion? Lo! The stones are pity, and the bricks, well wrought affections: Enameld with love and kindness, & the tiles engraven gold Labour of merciful hands: the beams and rafters are forgivenness: The mortar and cement of the work, tears of honesty: the nails, And the screws & iron braces, are well wrought blandishments, And well contrived words, firm fixing, never forgotten, Always comforting the remembrance: the floors, humility, The ceilings, devotion: the hearths, thanksgiving: Prepare the furniture O Lambeth in thy pitying looms! The curtains, woven tears & sighs, wrought into lovely forms For comfort, there the secret furniture of Jerusalems chamber Is wrought: Lambeth! The Bride the Lambs Wife loveth thee: 2 Thou art one with her & knowest not of self in thy supreme joy Go on, builders in hope: tho Jerusalem wander far away, Without the gate of Los: among the dark Satanic wheels. Jerusalem XII.25-40. William Blake, 1804 3 4 This edition first published in 2005 by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC York Beach, ME With offices at: 368 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210 www.redwheelweiser.com Copyright © 2002 Tobias Churton All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages. First published in 2002 by Signal Publishing, Lichfield, Staffordshire. Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request from the Library of Congress. ISBN 1-57863-329-X Printed in Canada TCP 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 5 CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Introduction PART ONE THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY Chapter One Hermes - Star of Alexandria The Vision of Hermes Neoplatonism and the Hermetic Tradition Chapter Two Alchemy Zosimos of Panopolis Chapter Three Hermes meets Islam Gnosis in Harran and Baghdad Thabit Thabit and the Gral The Sabian inheritance in the west Alchemy in the middle ages Sir George Ripley (c.1415-1490?) Chapter Four The Hermetic Reniassance The Mercurial Spirit Lodovico Lazzarelli - born again gnostic 6 At the Hermetic bowl In the Sun Chapter Five The Hermetic background to the first Rosicrucians Paracelsus (1483-1541) The Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom Notes to Part One PART TWO THE TRUE STORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS Chapter Six The Fame of the Fraternity The Fama The myth of Christian Rosenkreuz In the House of the Holy Spirit Haslmayr and Paracelsus Plötzkau Chapter Seven The New Age Apocalyptic John Dee: Apocalyptic Prophet Saving the world The Fiery Trigons The breaking of the seals Tobias Hess and the apocalyptic numbers 7 Chapter Eight Hess and Andreae Andreae and radical reform Caspar Schwenckfeld (1489-1561) Sebastian Franck (1499-1542) Piety & Mysticism Christoph Besold (1577-1649) Chapter Nine The Greatest Publicity Stunt of all Time The Rose The Furore begins The Stone falls The Devil in Paris The Assassination of Truth Andreae calls Time Johann Valentin Andreae and History Chapter Ten Others have Laboured Hit by the Stone The Stones in Action Comenius (1592-1671) A new Court at the Hague The Royal Society The Return of the Fama Witch Hunt 8 Haunted by Dee's Spirits Notes to Part Two Illustrations PART THREE ELIAS ASHMOLE (1617-1692) Chapter Eleven A Mighty Good Man His Life Restoration Chapter Twelve Elias Ashmole and the origins of Free Masonry The Mainwarings Warrington - what happened? The Old Charges The Lodge is in the Head – The Acception and the London Masons Company Notes to Part Three Bibliography Index 9 10