Occult Theocracy CHAPTER LXVIII - LXXV

CHAPTER LXVIII

THE HUNG SOCIETY OF CHINA

(Founded about 1815)

This society has also been known as The Triad Society, The Ghee Hon, The Society of Heaven and Earth (T'in Tei Hui), Ts'ing-lin-Kiu, The San-ho-hoei and the Sam-ho-hui.

After the Emperor Kang Hsi issued a Sacred Edict in 1662, ordering the suppression of Buddhism and Taoism in China, the Hung and the White Lotus, the latter a Taoist mystical society also known by the name " White Lily ", are said to have united to fight the Manchu Dynasty as their common enemy.

They are supposed to have finally merged towards 1815 as a secret political occult organization.

In 1851 the Hung broke into open revolt against the Manchus. This is known as the Taiping Revolt and is often alluded to as " The Triad War ". It was led by a village schoolmaster called Hung who, after his defeat by Gordon in 1864, committed suicide.

Since the Taiping revolt the Society has been less conspicuous but it is supposed nevertheless to have inspired the successful revolution which in 1911 overthrew the Manchu Dynasty and established the Republie of which Dr. Sun Yat-Sen assumed the presidency on January 1, 1912.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, nominally a Christian, was a member of the Hung Society, and his first official action as the first President of the Chinese Republic was to enable Yuan Shi-Kai to unite all parties under his presidency. He then accepted for himself the Presidency of Nanking. The people received his proclamation announcing these changes in front of the Ming tombs, and listened while he told the spirits of the Mings that the Manchu despotism, having faller, China was now a Republic.

The Hung ' having been outlawed since 1890 in China as a terrorist organization, now, as a secret society, holds its meetings in the woods at night with the approaches well guarded.

The English branch of this society is at Liverpool where it operates as a mutual benefit and charitable institution.

I, A history of the Hung is given in The Hung Society by J. S. Ward and W. G. Sterling.

As the rights of citation from this book are withheld from the public we are unable to give quotations from it here, but we recommend the first twenty-two pages as of interest to historical students.

CHAPTER LXIX

RITE OF MEMPHIS

(Founded 1815)

This rite was founded in 1815 by Sam Honis (from Cairo), Gabriel Mathieu, Baron Dumas, Marquis de Laroque and Hippolite Labrunie.

The Grand Lodge Osiris in Paris was founded in 1839. Jacques Etienne Marconis was Grand Master.

In his History of Freemasonry, Freke-Gould states that " J. E. Marconis, Grand Hierophant, inaugurated the Rite in person at New York in 1857, and afterwards in 1862 chartered it as a Sovereign Sanctuary — by which body a charter was granted on Jan. 3rd, 1872, for another Sovereign Sanctuary in and for the British Islands whose officers were duly installed Oct. 8th in the same year. "

The order is now known in England as " The Ancient and Primitive Rite. "

On December 30, 1862, the rite of Memphis merged finally into the Grand Orient of France and in England, in 1875 under the name of Ancient and Primitive Rite, it amalgamated with that oi Mizraim which Gould informs us had no separate governing body in chat country.

In 1865, the Grand Orient reduced the original 97 degrees to 33.

A. E. Waite in Devil Worship in France outlines the later history of the rite in the following sentence :

" Garibaldi succeeded Jacques Etienne Marconis of Paris, becoming president of a confederation of the Rites which was brought about by Mr. John Yarker in the year 1881.

CHAPTER LXX

THE CALDERARI

(Founded 1816)

The Calderari del Contrapeso, an offshoot of the Carbonari, came into prominence about 1816.

Their first organizer, The Prince of Canosa, became Minister of Police under Ferdinand, King of Naples, in December, 1819.

The Calderari were the sworn enemies of the Freemasons and Carbonari.

They took the following oath : —

" I, N. N., promise and swear upon the Trinity, as supreme director of the universe, upon this cross, and upon this steel, the avenging instrument of the perjured — to live and die in the Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith, and to defend with my blood this religion, and the society of True Friendship, the Calderari, to which I am about to belong. I swear never to offend, in honour, life, or property, the children of True Friendship ; I promise and swear to all the Knights, true friends, all possible succour that shall depend on me. I swear to initiate no person into the Society before I arrive at the 4th rank. I swear eternal hatred to all Masonry, and to its atrocious protectors ; as well as to all Jansenists, Materialists, Economists, and Illuminati. I swear, as I value my life, never to admit any of them into the Society of Friendship. Lastly, I swear, that if, through wickedness or levity, I suffer myself to commit perjury, I submit to the loss of life as the punishment of my error, and then to be burnt: and may my ashes, scattered to the wind, serve as an example to the children of Friendship throughout the whole world. And so help me God, for the happiness of my soul, and the repose of my conscience. "

For root of this movement see Chapter LXV. For development of this movement see Chapter CXXVI.

CHAPTER LXXI

FRENCH CARBONARISM

(Founded 1820)

The Masonic Lodge Les Amis de la Verite was founded in 1820 by Buchez, Flotard, Bazard and Jou- bert, all Freemasons, for political purposes. On a riot incited by members of this lodge a young man was killed. As a consequence of his death this lodge went out of existence.

One of its former members, Dugied, a Freemason, was initiated into the mysteries of Carbonarism while at Naples. 1 Having conceived the project of introducing this association into France he discussed the matter with another ex-member of the Ami's de la Verite, Flotard, and together they decided to put the idea into practice by taking as a nucleus of the new organization the remains of Les Amis de la Verite.

The society was organized as follows : —

The one " Haute Vente ", central " Ventes " and individual " Ventes " (lodges).

The "Haute Vente" was the committee of direction and action. Two members of the committee having found an adept, the adept would agree with them to form a " Vente ". The adept would become President one of the others censor, the other deputy, the role of the last being to keep in touch with the committee while allowing the president to believe that this committee was only a superior degree of the association;

The censor's business was to inspect the work of the " Ventes ". These three chiefs were then required to annex 17 recruits, thus bringing the number of a lodge up to twenty. Thus constituted, this group was called a central " Vente ". Two of its m?mbers made below what had been made above them, forming an individual " Vente " of the first order, which, repeating the same process formed an ordinary individual " Vente " thus extending indefinitely the ramifications of the sect.

A similar organization, but under different names, was adapted to the army. There the Haute Vente was called the Legion, the central Ventes, the Cohortes, the individual Ventes of the first order the Centuries ; and the ordinary individual Ventes the Manipules.

This double system was intended to puzzle the police, by making it believe that there was a separate assosiation in the army. A further measure of precaution forbade a Carbonaro, under penalty of death, being affiliated to another Vente. This precaution was intended to prevent anyone entering different groups and thus possibly discovering and denouncing the seerets of the society.

The direction of the Ventes was indeed centralized but this unity of control was to be ignored by most of the members.

The Carbonari had no settled principles. It accepted all opinions provided these favoured the elimination of royal families. The imperialists and liberals formed important nuclei. The latter, the sons of middle-class parents, stirred against the government by patriotism, youth and class jealousy, dreamed only of grabbing the influence of the old families. As for what is called the people, it did not count in Carbonarism ; the illustrious role attributed to it later had not yet been invented !

To begin with, the Haute Yente counted only seven members : Dugied, Flotard, Bazard, Buchez, Joubert, Carriol, Limperani. Among them we find again the four heads of the Amis de la Verite.

The Carbonari having prospered, the Haute Vente found it advisable to annex some notable characters. Among others, the Freemason General Lafayette, who, even in old age, had a childish weakness for popularity, accepted the offer to join the conspiracy.

Towards the end of 1820 the society had many branches, notably those of Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulouse, La Bochelle, Poitiers, Colmar, Belfort, etc.

The subversive efforts of this society culminated in an abortive attempt at Bevolution at La Bochelle, and the subsequent arrest of many of its principal members completed its nominal dissolution.

After the debacle at La Rochelle the Amis de la Verite merged into the Amis du Peuple which in turn, in 1832, became the Droits de I'Homme. After its unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the king, (Louis Philippe) in 1835 the remains of the Droits de I'Homme reorganized as the Societe des Families with Blanqui and Barbes as leaders. According to Lucien de la Hodde, 2 Carbonarism in France had ceased to exist by 1822, except for a few obstinates like Charles Teste, (a friend of Babeuf) and Buonarotti who remained faithful to the old organization. Lucien de la Hodde however, while following Carbonarism, lost sight of the Haute Vente which, working through Mazzini and the International Committee of London, directed its work of destruction in France through Ledru Rollin and Felix Pyat. After its collapse in 1836 the Societe des Families became that of the Saisons (seasons) and it was a branch of this society, the Societe dissidents, that served the purpose of the Haute Vente in 1848 by aiding in the terrorisation of Paris and the fall of the Monarchy.

The self-appointed members of the provisional government of France after the abdication of the king were : — Dupont (de l'Eure) Member of the original Carbonari founded in 1820, Arago, Lamartine, Ledru Rollin, Garnier-Pages, Marie, Cremieux.

Lucien de la Hodde was the agent of the French Secret Police, and for 8 years before the revolution of 1848 occupied an exalted position in the ranks of the Revolutionaries.

His conclusions are strangely at variance with the facts which he relates. On page 381, he tells how an indiscretion on the part of Caussidiere, one of his associates, placed the blame of a conspiracy upon Ledru Rollin and, because Ledru Rollin calmly denied knowledge of the affair, de la Hodde accepts his statement without question.

Though a bona-fide student of the subject, it is quite evident that de la Hodde had failed to grasp the principle upon which Revolutionary organizations operate, viz : that of a body of dupes whose particular job is genuinely to believe that their organization is the executive one. Into this one all persons of doubtful revolutionary integrity are steered, and, in this branch of the machine, conscientiously attend to their business, while the real agents do their savage work.

For root of movement see Chapter LXV.

For development of movement see Chapters LXXXV,

XCIII.

CHAPTER LXXII

MODERN KNIGHTS TEMPLAR POLAND

(Founded 1822)

Heckethorn tells us of a sect which arose in Poland in 1818 which he refers to as that of " National Freemasonry ", which borrowed the rites, degrees, and language of Freemasonry, but aimed at national independence. The society was open to persons of all classes, but sought chiefly to enlist soldiers and officials, so as to turn their technical knowledge to account in the day of the struggle. But though numerous, the society lasted only a few years : for disunion arose among the members, and it escaped total dissolution only by transformation. It altered its rites and ceremonies, and henceforth called itself the " Scythers ", in remembrance of the revolution of 1794, in which whole regiments, armed with scythes, had gone into battle.

They met in 1821 at Warsaw, and drew up a new revolutionary scheme, adopting at the same time the new denomination of " Patriotic Society". In the meanwhile, the students of the university of Wilna had formed themselves into a secret society which, however, was discovered by the Russian government and dissolved. In 1822, the Patriotic Society combined with the masonic rite of "Modern Templars", founded in Poland by Captain Maiewski; to the three rites of symbolical masonry was added a fourth, in which the initiated swore to do all in his power towards the liberation of his country. These combined societies brought about the insurrection of 1830. In 1834 was established the society of " Young Poland " by Simon Konarski.

Simon Konarski (1808-1839) was a young Polish patriot and poet, one of the most active members of the Young Poland movement founded by Joseph Mazzini in 1834. He travelled to France, England and Belgium and, in the latter country, namely in Brussels, was in constant touch with Lelewel who had been chosen by Mazzini to become the link between himself and the Polish revolutionists. In Paris, the Young Poland movement was directed by Zwierkowsky.

Simon Konarski was seized by the Russian authorities and executed in 1839 at Wilna.

CHAPTER LXXIII

THE ST. PATRICK BOYS

(Founded 1825)

As regards this organization, Pollard writes " In 1825 the name of the Ribbon men was changed officially to the St. Patrick's Fraternal Organization, otherwise known as ihe St. Patrick's Boys. This change was essential as, like their predecessors the White Boys, ' the eminently Catholic Association of Ribbon men had now been excommunicated by the Catholic Church. "

CHAPTER LXXIV

BRAHMO SOMAJ

(Founded 1830)

The Brahmo Somaj movement, also called Brahmoism or Brahmaism, was founded by Rajah RamMohun Roy (1774-1833), in 1830.

Its main object was to fight idolatrous rites and practices, and, by many, it has been described as a " Hindu Unitarian Church. "

The chief achievement of Ram Mohun Roy was the abolition by Lord William Bentinck of the practice of " suttee " (sacrifice of the widow on the funeral pyre of her husband).

Ram Mohun Roy's principles were Theistic. He had also for several years studied Lamaism in the Himalayas. Having come to England in 1830, he was received with much honour by many sections of society and entertained by Louis Philippe. He was considered a great authority by all those who at that time were conducting spiritualist and psychic researches. He died at Bristol.

A great impulse was given to the Brahmo Somaj by Debendra Nath Tagore (also written Devendranath Takur) who had joined it in 1842 and is considered as its second founder.

Owing to his efforts, the institution became purely Theistic, giving up the authority of the Yedas and eliminating the Vedantic element from the Brahmic covenant. In 1856, Debendra Nath Tagore had also gone to the Himalayas where he spent three years as a disciple of the Tibetan Lamas. Later, he was joined in his work by his friend Keshub Chunder Sen who, however, in 1863, devoured by the ambition of becoming sole leader, attacked the Somaj, heading what one might call the revolt of the " Young Brahmaists " and with his followers seceded from the Mother organization.

The schism gave rise to the formation of another Somaj which was directed by Keshub Chunder Sen under the name Somaj of India, whereas the former organization, remaining under the leadership of Debendra Nath Tagore, was called Adi Samaj or Original Church. It was also named " Conservative ", in opposition to the new institution termed " Progressive ".

Keshub Chunder Sen retained power in his organization ; the foundation stone of the Somaj of India Church was laid at Jhamapukur in Calcutta, in 1868. In 1870 he journeyed to England where he was enthusiastically received by the spiritualist centres of the day, and succeeded in exciting much interest in the political, social and religious affairs of India. In 1878, his disregard for the rules of the Somaj regarding Hindu marriages which he infringed in the matter of the wedding of his own daughter to the young Maha rajah of Kuch Behar, caused another split in the ranks of the Somaj of India. The dissidents then formed the Sadharan Brahmo Somaj.

The career of Keshub Chunder Sen must be followed with interest by students of Theosophy. Therein will they find many of the odd principles and injunctions laid down by H. P. Blavatsky and Annie Besant. For instance, the theocratic system was that promoted by Keshub Chunder Sen in his efforts to found a universal religion which would unite all creeds and symbols ; the Christian Cross, the Crescent, the Vedic Om, the Saiva's trident and the Vaishnava's Khunti. By means of imaginary pilgrimages, he led his adherents successively to the shrines of Moses, Buddha, to the Himalayan heights and Lama teachers, to Jesus and to Mahomet.

Similarly to Annie Besant's Khrishnamurti, he allowed himself to be worshipped as the Saviour of Sinners ; his theory was the reincarnation of Great Men of which he was one. Further, he complacently allowed his followers to raise him to the dignity of a deity. As the Kheshub Chunder Sen's worship increased, there grew also the dogma of Divine Injunction. A salient feature of Keshub's teaching was the belief or blind faith in the revelations claimed to have been made to invisible teachers and spiritual guides and exaction of blind obedience to their commands. We are forcibly reminded of the claim made by H. P. Blavatsky to her followers to sign their blind acceptance of all orders presumably received from invisible masters like her Koot Hoomi.

Another feature which, later, distinguished Keshub Chunder Sen's devotees was the " Bhakti " side of their religion. Unlike " Yoga", the old Hindu type of reli- gious meditation or contemplation, " Bhakti ", which has been chiefly developed by the followers of Chaytania in India, is a manifestation of religious frenzy. It spurns the aspiration to approach God by concentration of thought and desire as well as silent communion, which they deem unprofitable and vain. The philosophy of " Bhakti " is that the love of God must be strong to the point of being maddening. It therefore induces dancing, sobbing, swooning. The more frenzied the manifestations, the greater the religious perfection. A great Bhakta is one who, like the founder of the school, shows the greatest religious madness.

Women devotees of Keshub Chunder Sen's following were formed into a sisterhood in 1881 and one hears of " ladies' journies to the Spirit land ". The readers of " Inquire Within " ' will remember the description of " journeys in the Astral " claimed to have been accomplished by women adepts of the Stella Matutina Order. Soon after, also in 1881, young men were likewise formed into a brotherhood and were initiated into different holy orders. In both cases, the number of initiates was 11. The ceremony of initiation was called New Horn, Sacred Fire or Blazing Agni. Most of the rites are found in the different branches of Theosophy and Anthroposophy, all centred around this sacred fire also named Kundalini.

In 1880, Keshub Chunder Sen had given his organization another name, that of " The New Dispensation ".

It is in the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia that one must seek the amalgamation of Jewish Cabala magic and Hindu magic. The latter swept over Europe with the spread of Theosophy and flourished particularly in England. There it had found a ground in 1830 with the teachings given by Ram Mohun Roy to the spiri- tualists of that day with whom he had formed a Brahmo Somaj circle.

For root of this movement see Chapter XIV.

For development of this movement see Chapters CX and CXXI.

CHAPTER LXXV

THE MORMONS

(Founded 1830)

Soon after the establishment of Mormonism its founder, Joseph Smith, conceived the idea of establishing a Masonic super rite.

In M. R. Werner's book Brigham Young (page 62) the following remark makes this evident.

" Masonry was always popular with the Mormons until Joseph Smith claimed that an angel of the Lord had brought him the lost key-words of several degrees, enabling him to progress further than the highest Masons. The charter of the Mormon lodge was then taken away by the Grand Lodge ".

Joseph Smith, applying his powers of mediumship towards the realization of the ambitious project nurtured by General Pepe, Mazzini and others for the establishment of a super rite, was not necessarily acceptable to the Masonic leaders of his time.

Thus as a Mason he failed but as the founder of a Masonic sect he succeeded.

So much has already been written about the sect of the Mormons that we confine ourselves here to a short sketch of opinion and descriptions given by various authors. The following is extracted from The Encyclo- paedia Britannica, 9th Edition.

" This is a religious non-Christian sect, founded by Joseph Smith at Manchester, New York, in 1830, now settled in Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, United States... Smith was born Dec. 23rd, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, from which place ten years later his parents, a poor, ignorant, thriftless, and not too honest couple, removed to New York, where they settled on a small farm near Palmyra, Wayne County (then Ontario). Four years later, in 1809, they removed to Manchester, some six miles off; and it was at the latter place when fifteen years old that Joseph began to have his alleged visions, in one of which on the night of 21st Sept., 1823, the angel Moroni appeared to him three times, and told him that the Bible of the Western Continent, the supplement to the New Testament, was buried in a certain spot near Manchester. Thither, four years later and after due disciplinary probation, Smith went, and had delivered into his charge by an angel of the Lord a stone box, in which was a volume, 6 inches thick, made of thin gold plates 8 inches by 7, and fastened together by three gold rings. The plates were covered with small writing in the ' reformed Egyptian ' tongue, and were accompanied by a pair of supernatural spectacles, consisting of two crystals set in a silver bow, and called ' Urim and Thummim '; by aid of these, the mystic characters could be read. Being himself unable to read or write fluently, Smith employed as amanuensis one Oliver Cowdery, to whom from behind a curtain, he dictated a translation, which, with the aid of a farmer, Martin Harris, ' who had more money than wit, was printed and published in 1830 under the title of The Book of Mormon and accompanied by the sworn statement of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, that an angel of God had shown them the plates of which the bock was a translation. This testimony all three, on renouncing Mormonism some years later, denounced as false ; but meanwhile it helped Smith to impose on the credulous, particularly in the absence of the gold plates themselves which suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. "

Blanchard draws a parallel between this story of the gold plates and that of the legend of the 14th degree of Scottish Rites Masonry, that of Grand Elect Perfect and Sublime Mason, according to which " the real name oi God was lost, till it was found by Masons, engraved on a three-cornered gold plate, in " the ruins of Enoch. "

In reality, this book " was written in 1812 as an historical romance by one Solomon Spalding, a crack brained preacher; and the MS. falling into the hands of an unscrupulous compositor, Sidney Rigdon, was copied by him, and subsequently given to Joseph Smith. Armed with this book and with self-assumed divine authority, the latter soon began to attract followers. "

Joseph Smith was a Mason.

The Gold Plate trick, having worked so successfully once, was tried again in 1843 when six plates were found by Robert Wiley, a merchant of Kinderhook, Illinois. " The true story of the plates was disclosed " so Stuart Martin writes in The Mystery of Mormonism (page 69), in an affidavit made by W. Fulgate, of Mount Station, Brown County, 111. on June 30th, 1879, when he swore before J. Brown, Justice of the Peace, that the " plates were humbug, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitton, and myself. Whitton, who was a blacksmith, cut the plates out of pieces of copper. Wiley and I made the hieroglyphics by making impressions of beeswax and filling them with acid. " He describes the burial and the finding of the plates, and states that among the spectators at the " discovery " were two Mormon Elders, Marsh and Sharp.

Smith and his followers founded the city of Nauvoo and " such were the powers granted them by this charter as to render the city practically independent of the State Government, and to give Smith all but unlimited civil power. He organized a military body called the Nauvoo legion, of which he constituted himself commander with the title of lieutenant-general, while he was also president of the church and mayor of the city. On April 6th, 1841, the foundations of the new temple were laid, and the city continued to grow rapidly in prosperity and size. "

Smith's career of treason, profligacy, dishonesty, polygamy, spiritism and humbug, came to an abrupt end when the gaol in which he was imprisoned by order of the Governor of the State was broken into by a mob who shot him and his fellow prisoner, his brother Hyram.

As head of the Mormons he was succeeded by Brigham Young (1801-1877).

In 1846, the repeal by the legislature of the charter of Nauvoo resulted in the Mormons being driven from the city.

In March 1849, they held a convention at Salt Lake City, and a State was organized under the name of " Deseret ". "A legislature was elected and a constitution framed, which was sent on to Washington. This, Congress refused to recognize, and by way of compromise for declining to admit the proposed new State into the Union, President Fillmore in 1850 organized the country occupied by the Mormons into the Territory of Utah, with Brigham Young as governor. " Adopting Smith's policy of aggressive military action, Brigham Young, like his predecessor, defied the Federal Government. He died on August 29, 1877, leaving 17 wives and 56 children. 4

The following description of a Mormon ceremony was printed in the Rosicrucian in an article entitled " Ancient and Modern Mysteries " by M. W. Frater Robert Wentworth Little (page 169).

" The converts are then required to purchase white linen garments, which are furnished by the ' high deacon '. They are then conducted to the temple, ushered into a private room, and commanded to undress for the inspection of the presiding elder '. This official, after a minute examination, clothes the neophytes in the linen robes or garments of endowment and conducts them into a large room which is divided by white screens into many small compartments. Each neophyte enters one of the compartments, and is ordered to take off the ' endowment robe ' and to step into a long coffin- shaped tin bath. The elder then pours water upon the naked victim — blessing each member of the body as the water touches it — ' the brain to be clear and strong — the eyes to be bright and sharp — the ears to be quick to hear ', and so on down to the feet — this ceremony being performed upon all, without distinction of sex. A new name is then given to each convert by the elder, who commands them to ' arise and follow me '. A magnificent garden, full of exquisite fruittrees, is the scene of the next ceremony. The candidates are still in a state of nudity, which represents primeval innocence, and the Temptation of our First Parents is the subject of the next drama. The women are directed by an elder personating Satan to pluck an apple from a certain tree, and after they have tasted, to hand it to the men. Brigham Young then appears, and drives them out of the garden with a flaming sword. They return to the temple, implore forgiveness on their knees for all trespasses and transgressions and the ceremony concludes with a benediction upon the new Saints, pronounced by the lips of this polygamous president.

" Such is a brief outline of the ' Rite of Endowment' the details of the scene being, as may readily be conceived, of too obscene a character to be explained at greater length. "

Brigham Young was succeeded by John Taylor, an Englishman and a Freemason. His apostolic successors were Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph Fielding Smith (eldest son of the founder of the order) who died Nov. 19th, 1918, and Heber J. Grant.

About Mormonism and Masonry, Blanchard makes the following remark : " The two institutions are morally and legally the same. "

The Mormon dogma is universality, materialism and pantheism. It blends Judaism and Christianity, aiming at a progressive universal religion while seeking to unite in itself all faiths and the cults of every people on earth.

The Mormon state is a theocratic community at the head of which is a grand priest-president assisted by two others and a travelling council of twelve. Its mysteries are those of spiritism and the seance room.

For root of this movement see Chapter XLVII.