The Feast of Max Heindel
Today is the anniversary of the death of the "Rosicrucian" Max Heindel (1865-1919), an erstwhile Theosophist who lectured, published, and organized in the US in the early decades of the 20th century. My first significant reading in his instructions was the book Freemasonry and Catholicism. When I acquired the volume, I supposed that it would be some sort of fanciful history regarding the two institutions that have occasioned the most absurd aspirations and paranoia in the modern West. Or perhaps it would have something to do with comparative liturgy from an esoteric perspective, like one might get from C.W. Leadbeater. But no, it treats "The Cosmic Facts Underlying These Two Great Institutions As Determined by Occult Investigation"!
What that means is that it presents an anthropogony and spiritual typology in which there are two complementary, yet antagonistic, human alignments, each represented in the sphere of Western polity by one of these "Great Institutions." Freemasonry is made up of the "Sons of Cain," who are governmental, rational, magical, and masculine, operating under the Martial presidency of Lucifer and his angels. Catholicism is the vehicle of the "Sons of Seth," who are ecclesiastical, contemplative, mystical, and feminine, operating under the Lunar presidency of Jehovah and his angels. All of this is worked into a baroque Theosophical dispensationalism, summed in a gloriously crazy chart of "Evolution Under Human and Superhuman Rulers" between pages 56 and 57. That chart shows humanity developing from a hermaphroditic vegetative state, through the sexual division idealized in the masculine Hiram Abiff and feminine Virgin Mary, to a future post-sexual New Jerusalem.
While Heindel disclaims any formal Masonic initiation on his own part, he professes a greater sympathy with the Masonic alignment than the Catholic one. Much of the book is given over to his recounting of a myth that he attributes to Masonic lore, a variant on biblical narratives in which Eve was prior to Adam, and mother to Cain by Lucifer. Cain was thus "the widow's son" because of Lucifer's desertion of Eve. King Solomon and Hiram Abiff are presented as the chief agents of Jehovah and Lucifer, respectively, in a story regarding Solomon's sexual jealousy for the Queen of Sheba. Solomon is reincarnated as Jesus of Nazareth, but has to vacate that body for the career of the Christ who takes over at his Jordan baptism. And Lazarus is the reincarnated Hiram Abiff, raised by Christ. (Got all that?)
Along the way, Heindel also discusses certain notions of practical occultism, particularly a reading of alchemy focused on psychology and diet. At one point, he indicates that Rosicrucian adepts can take on new bodies, somewhat like Time Lords regenerate in Doctor Who (63-65).
I cannot credit this book with much value in terms of fact, sentiment, or potential to inspire, but it was sufficiently novel and entertaining that I cannot say I will never read further in the works of its author.
What that means is that it presents an anthropogony and spiritual typology in which there are two complementary, yet antagonistic, human alignments, each represented in the sphere of Western polity by one of these "Great Institutions." Freemasonry is made up of the "Sons of Cain," who are governmental, rational, magical, and masculine, operating under the Martial presidency of Lucifer and his angels. Catholicism is the vehicle of the "Sons of Seth," who are ecclesiastical, contemplative, mystical, and feminine, operating under the Lunar presidency of Jehovah and his angels. All of this is worked into a baroque Theosophical dispensationalism, summed in a gloriously crazy chart of "Evolution Under Human and Superhuman Rulers" between pages 56 and 57. That chart shows humanity developing from a hermaphroditic vegetative state, through the sexual division idealized in the masculine Hiram Abiff and feminine Virgin Mary, to a future post-sexual New Jerusalem.
While Heindel disclaims any formal Masonic initiation on his own part, he professes a greater sympathy with the Masonic alignment than the Catholic one. Much of the book is given over to his recounting of a myth that he attributes to Masonic lore, a variant on biblical narratives in which Eve was prior to Adam, and mother to Cain by Lucifer. Cain was thus "the widow's son" because of Lucifer's desertion of Eve. King Solomon and Hiram Abiff are presented as the chief agents of Jehovah and Lucifer, respectively, in a story regarding Solomon's sexual jealousy for the Queen of Sheba. Solomon is reincarnated as Jesus of Nazareth, but has to vacate that body for the career of the Christ who takes over at his Jordan baptism. And Lazarus is the reincarnated Hiram Abiff, raised by Christ. (Got all that?)
Along the way, Heindel also discusses certain notions of practical occultism, particularly a reading of alchemy focused on psychology and diet. At one point, he indicates that Rosicrucian adepts can take on new bodies, somewhat like Time Lords regenerate in Doctor Who (63-65).
I cannot credit this book with much value in terms of fact, sentiment, or potential to inspire, but it was sufficiently novel and entertaining that I cannot say I will never read further in the works of its author.