18th century predecessor of HPB
Apr 17, 2004 12:11 PM
by stevestubbs
On reflection I remembered that THE THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSART identifies
the predecessor of HPB (according to her reckoning), thus:
Mesmer, Friedrich Anton. The famous physician who rediscovered and
applied practically that magnetic fluid in man which was called
animal magnetism and since then Mesmerism. He was born in Schwaben,
in 1734 and died in 1815. He was an initiated member of the
Brotherhoods of the Fratres Lucis and of Lukshoor (or Luxor), or the
Egyptian Branch ofÆ the latter. It was the Council of Luxor which
selected himùaccording to the orders of the Great Brotherhoodöùt act
in the XVIIIth century as their usual pioneer, sent in the last
quarter of every century to enlighten a small portion of the Western
nations in occult lore. It was St. Germain who supervised the
development of events in this case; and later Cagliostro was
commissioned to help, but having made a series of mistakes, more or
less fatal, he was recalled. Of these three men who were at first
regarded as quacks, Mesmer is already vindicated. The justification
of the two others will follow in the next century. Mesmer founded the
Order of Universal Harmony in 1783, in which presumably only animal
magnetism was taught, but which in reality expounded the tenets of
Hippocrates, the methods of the ancient Asclepieia, the Temples of
Healing, and many other occult sciences.
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