Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten. A Preliminary History

28 Pages·1995·0.999 MB·English

by  Steven Marc Harris

Von Unaussprechlicheo Kulten
A Prtltpnnary History
Steven M&rc Harm
Monographs ш Contemporary Metaphysics
No. I
Celesdal Enlightenment Press
Buffalo, New York
CopTTiRht О 1995 Steven Mite Нал». AU ligho
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Many occultisn are famiHar with the fact
that Von JtMZt’s magnum орш» NamUss Oelti,
wa$ 6nt pubbahcd in 1Θ39, and are aware of the
theories of vast historical epochs and of the
belieia and rituals of various cults that claimed a
direct connection with those times. However, the
events which shspcd the maloDg of the book are
not as well known.
Fortunately, a ntrmber of eyewitness
accounts have survived, mahing it posable to
reconstruct This period. The most fasdnating and
derailed is Alexis Ladeau*s ^jmeutenas^Prieikkb
Wilbtlm V$n JuHsif published in 1846 by Btidewah
in London, and reprinted by Kielkopf Press in
1898, Unfortunately, this book was reconstructed
&om a diary kept by Ladeau and some scholars
have pointed out discrepancies and references to
events following Ladeau’s suicide in 1840 that
cast questions upon how much the book has
been touched up by a ghost wnter and bow
much is authentic. Even \Hth rh«« in mind,
Ladeau's book remains invaluable in any
hiscotkal research of Von Junzt and his IU«vk
BmA.
Alexis Ladeau was well known in social
circles of the time, bang related to the old
French &тДу of de Lndeau de Nevers. His father
was executed, as many nobles of the time of the
French revolution were, in Paris under orders of
Joseph Foucbe, who accused ΰΜ поЫапял of
treasoo. Most hkdj Foucbe issued ϋκ artcst
warrant under a &be char^ со advance his own
agenda of endica&ng all private property. Alexi·'
mother» Anne de Ladeau, was able to escape and
eventually give birth to Alexis on October 28»
1794 in Vienna, Austria only three months after
Alexis* father's arrest. Alexis Ladeau and his
mother returned to Napokonk France in 1799
with the ргебх of the family name dropped.
Alexis l^adeau and Von Junxt first met cn
1825, in Paris, at tbe home of a strange prophet
called Ganaeau, an aged man who wore a
woman's doab and babbled about tbe cieaooo of
the universe and tbe fid] of man to a growing
number of disciples. Tbe two men, who wrre to
become life-long friends, choose seats neat to
each other and remained obhvious to the other's
existence until the questkming period after the
prophet’s initia] lecture.
As IЫ iutfHfd to tbe beardtd man's
(Сайтам) tndkss empty mysticism, / eould hoid back no
knffr afiv (bokt rtmarks on this man's igmranet. /
asked the oid man hov he^Uhe (oaldpassiMy bnnfi
about mb a worid that had mart in commek wish
VaUairt's Pangloss than the worid that we ail isthabtS<
A il sat down to theJeers oft hef foap, tbe tpmtman
nod tom, a German ^leman^ inSrodneed bmstfa s
l^rie^ieb iP'iiheim Van }ая^ and smn/ioned smder bu
breath ofs neh nrftferies that ailafGastmam's nedm
teoebenfy еоШ m iongr hoid nry attention, (p.9)
'rhus began the close friendship of two
men who were destined to die within a week of
each other 14 years later. After the lecture»
ladeau and Von JunzT retired to a nearby
restaurant where, l^eau writes» they spoke until
four in the morning about strange pbces and
peoples. At the time» Von Junzt was in Paris
seeking a rare 8th century manuscript of the The
Gumad and mentioned to Ladeau that he was
thinking of writing a book detailing the
discovenes he had made. At the time, l4deau
says, he regarded this idea as an utter
impossibility given the temper of the times.
It was in 18!)S, when Alexis Ladeau was
preparing to spend the summer months in
Naples» chat Von Junit’s idea of writing Von
Unaufipnebheben Ku/fen became a reality. Ladeau
had stopped en route in Bern to visit a mutual
friend of Von Junzt and his» Thomas Bovet.
Bovec cold Ladeau that Von Jtinzt had returned
recently to his estate in Miltenbeig and that
Ladeau should visit him. Von Junzt's response to
l4deau’s letter was a polite refusal claiming lack
nf time and proper accommodation to entertain
a visitor because of current woric on writing a
book. But while Alexis was preparing to leave for
Rome, with the coach actually at the door, a
telegram arrived saying, “Come to Milrenberg at
once, wanted immediately · Von Junzt.” (p.107)
Because of the recent rumors of the
strange behavior of his old friend, Ladeau said
that he could not help being on his guard as he
climbed the steps of the b^e manor house at the
Vofi Jm tt Emtc oo the evening of hie &rmL
He found t thirtyOcnc jeu old man who teemed
Ю go from λ hanh panaoid to a tnsiBig lovial
£nend within an hour.
/ Ысатf n/ibttm4ftr ibi ЫМ ejm yj ntnd ai
ius^w ikm ^^m eeL · W'e Ыф tSe
hit memj$an^ $$ SeeibAmntm mt4 the
Отя/. AU tbt п\фи Ы w^uid Ьеря lo talk
vaiiabfy aimm шшкШя^ Ы had diseewnd, *>ф hJdH
mmφmaad^a^JηgmщUmgi^^
лкклвя Ы had made tn hts myagss, h t he ^eke
femful^ eft he 'k^s'and / maid see tbal be mas (kse h
ф.П0)
Soon after thii, ^deau was able to
coovioce Von Jinat to be visited bj a local
doctor weekly while they began to work together
on the ЬоЫц Им UamaspmbSebea Кмбея.
As the book began to take shape. Von
Junat and Ladeau took oo a daily routine. At ш
tn the morning, the butler, Otto, would waken
Von juntt, who then rose and dressed, and was
at bis wnong deak by seven. Breakfast was at
ei^i when the day's mail would be read, and
then Von junct would гешт to hia writing.
I'heir main meal was served at one. but Von
junat might not respond for hours to the
hwsdbdl anoouftoi^ it, depending how well his
writv^ was gotng. FmaBy at seven he put his
work asvle, and I.jdeau and be would spend
pleasant evening together". By nme, the two
would retire to bed unttl the next morning.
During this period. Von Junzt would refuse to
ipctk «bout vhat be vu wim ^ се|ш§ he
(Hcnd that all woidd become dear once the book
wM firuabed. *П>еу had frar veiton at thia ome,
the rouoaeof their days punctuated оЫу by the
taneekly vmt of Voojmat's doctor, who usually
stayed an hour, and an occanonal appearance by
Voo Janet's youi^er bcothet, Auguatus, who
resided \jp Aorth, ίο Cologne, auperviaaog the
coal mines that supplied the income of the Von
Junzt ^nily. Moat of Voo Junzt's ome was spent
wurkwg oo he book, which had been advertued
by the Dusseklorf pubbiher, Gottfned Mulder,
early in l^S as a "a complete, grapbe, ind
oomporaove hiacocy of the many sens^te bekefs,
supcfststtnis praetkea. domestic pecukarioes,
sacred writingi, systems of phdosophy, legends
and traditions, customs and habits of tnen of the
l^nspeakabte Cults throughout the ancient
world." But the work had gone slowly. Before
Ladeau had arrived. Von Junzt had only managed
tn put together outlines for a few chaptera. It was
L^deaa's s^sporove presence and Ыа abdiry to
manage the dady afhdn of the bouaehold. that
tehevad Von jum from the dMractiona that
would have most assuredly prevented Ут
('ят/ертШпп Kahn from ever being written.
The peaceful routine life that Udeau had
been abk to estabksh for the gestation of Von
)uQst*s book, however, ώά not hat long. Early m
IНЭ6, an anonymous pamphlet was dismbuied
throughout Dtisseldorf, that accused Von Junzt
of being a fraud and a swindler, or even wotk, a
member of a secret society that had been behind
the French Revuludon. Von jun2t charged
with conspiring to overthrow the recent ertaoon
of the ZoUverein. a tariff union that included
most of the Prussian states» by undermining
(^hriibanity and morals. The pamphlet took the
form of an open letter to the Austrian foreign
minister, Klemens vun Mettcmich, who was a
itaunch conservative and also the main force
behind the recent unification of the various
)*russian states.
l*he author of the pamphlet is stiU
unknown though there hive been many theories
on his identity. John Grant, in his biogr^hy Vm
The ГогрШя E^hrer, brings forth the idea
that the pamphlet author was the poet Heinrich
I leinc. 'Ihis theory fails to explain why Heine, a
Jew, would have written a defense of Christianity
and it also mistakenly places Heine in Prussia at a
time when Heine was in fact living in Pads. A
more likely conjecture is brought up by Arthur
Gottenham, tn ТЫ Увя who
identifies (he author as Rudolph Donner.
Conner was a young pubbshcr ui Dusseldorf
who was, in 183ύ, just starting his own business
aad would have taken the opportuiuty to attack
the competition gladly. In fact, Dooner was later
arrested in for fraud when he published a
pamphlet that espoused radscal liberal ideas and
indicated that it was a competitive publisher
behind the pamphlet. In any case, the author’s
identity may never come to light, but the
dramatic effect on Von Junzt was evident from
the start. “I shall never forget the day Gottfried
Mukler came to the liatate to give щ a copy of
the pamphlet.” t^adcau records in bis
R/mmieM.
иГАмГ a awd, l$$A thep mpbkt
At ттщ^. After Ы Ш /mkdU tb$k ώιη^ξ darner, /
fftberfd the ctaragr fe kjmk ея the reem'j deer,
Ш6Φ^m^tJfΦlШ. After a th tl шЫкА tntmd the
mm tepi^FneAkh timing ^ the weadev Ueka^ Ш
!Ш At 9φί. Н/ tarmi h ж wrA the kek efЫ тк
aad tfwf άφάτ. \n tht н<гял^у eftA mmeat, he
turmd йя me еЬомЬц An*tyoapf \t^ don't
you ком m t Go! Ъфпуоы гам_>мг oum герШаНоя ^
Ьещ htrtl Не»f ooUsh i шяи to heUew that the voHd
шwш^JhfiЫsh$яL^ΎrшM(md.шAhШ eAfi
At immaiiffie av had beta шагка^ ояfor At tost e ^
monAi a»d threw it mto thtfirepiaee. (p.2I0)
Luddy, l.adeau was able to save the
rough copy of Von Vnatu^mbkehtn KjJten before
it was totally coflsmed by the (Uroes. Ladeau
relates how Von junzt tore the damaged
manuscr^t from his hands, fearful that be should
read It, and announced that he would continue to
^msh the work, but the finished chapten would
be cebted from tbeir present focm to one that
would be obscure to aD but the uninmated.
Out of this crucial testing period came
the nucleus of Von UnoHsAmhUAen Кякгя as we
know it. Voo JuAit has justifiably been accused
of having a **poisonous way of suggesting more
than he stated**. The (ext is rife w»h bro^ hsots
10
and subtle allusktns and it is obviom that пилу
of these arc deliberate. The main question for
scholars is if these obscuiilies are because of Von
juDzf s belief that “the worid was (not) ready for
this book!"' Of if the reason laid in a fear of
prosecution by the government. Arthur
Gotcenham, in ТЫ Ven Тн^ку believes that
the obscuriccs in the work were an attempt to
protect Von Junzt from some of the numerous
cults that he had joined in his quest for occult
knowledge. In particular, Gottenham mentions
the Gornia Slann Cult which was known to be
strong in the Dusseldorf area. Gottenham's
theory, though, lacks any historical reference. It
IS generally agreed that Von Junzt did not fear
any reprisals from any of the cults he covers in
Von {}пали^п(ЫкЬа1 In a letter sent to
Goil fried Mulder in 1837, Von Junst appears to
feel that the cults he knows of wouldn’t harm
him because “they know the value of secrecy and
any punishment they would lay upon me, would
only announce their leaHty to the world. I know
спог^, my friend, to insuie my survival.”
Goiienham acknowledges chat Von junzt
appeared confident, but he si^gests that Von
Junzt was suffering from insanity at the rime and
only wrote the book with die hope diat he could
count on the cults' need for obscurity to escape
persecution. But in his bk^rapby, John Grant
makes the excellent observation that Von junzt
appears to have contacted one of the "nameless
cults” in 1837 and, if Gottenham was right, Von
Junzt should have avoided any of the cults all