Gerard Encausse (July 13, 1865 - 25 October 1916), whose esoteric pseudonym was Papus, was the Spanish-born French physician, hypnotist, and popularizer of occultism, who founded the modern Martinist Order.
Levi, Tarot, and the Kabbalah
Encausse's early readings in tarot and the lore of the Kabbalah in translation was inspired by the occult writings of Eliphas Levi, whose translation of the "Nuctemeron of Apollonius of Tyana" printed as a supplement to Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855), provided Encausse with his nom de plume: "Papus" means "physician."
1891: l'Ordre des Superieurs Inconnus
In 1891, Encausse claimed to have come into the possession of the original papers of Martinez Paschalis, or de Pasqually (c. 1700-1774), and therewith founded an Order of Martinists called l'Ordre des Superieurs Inconnus. He claimed to have been given authority in the Rite of Saint-Martin by his friend Henri Vicomte de Laage, who claimed that his maternal grandfather had been initiated into the order by Saint-Martin himself, and who had attempted to revive the order in 1887. The Martinist Order was to become a primary focus for Encausse, and continues today as one of his most enduring legacies.
1895 - 1888: The Golden Dawn; Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix
In March 1895, Encausse joined the Ahathoor Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in Paris.
Although Encausse claimed as his "spiritual master" the mysterious magician and healer known as "le Maitre Philippe" (Philippe Nizier), his first actual teacher in the intellectual aspects of occultism was the marquis Joseph Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre (1842 - 1910). Saint-Yves had inherited the papers of one of the great founders of French occultism, Antoine Fabre d'Olivet (1762 - 1825), and it was probably Saint-Yves who introduced Papus to the marquis Stanislas de Guaita (1861 - 1897).
In 1888, Encausse, Saint-Yves and de Guaita joined with Josephin Peladan and Oswald Wirth to found the Rosicrucian Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix.
1908 - 1913: Encausse, Reuss and Paramasonry
Encausse never became a regular (Grand Orient) Freemason. Despite this, he organized what was announced as an "International Masonic Conference" in Paris on June 24, 1908, and at this conference he first met Theodor Reuss, and the two men apparently exchanged patents:
Reuss elevated Encausse as X° of the Ordo Templi Orientis as well as giving him license to establish a "Supreme Grand Council General of the Unified Rites of Ancient and Primitive Masonry for the Grand Orient of France and its Dependencies at Paris." For his part, Encausse assisted Reuss in the formation of the O.T.O. Gnostic Catholic Church as a child of l'Eglise Gnostique de France, thus forming the E.G.C. within the tradition of French neo-gnosticism.
When John Yarker died in 1913, Encausse was elected as his successor to the office of Grand Hierophant (international head) of the Antient and Primitive Rites of Memphis and Mizraim.
Downloadable books (free):
Jantina Helena Looijenga - Runes Around The North Sea And On The ContinentAleister Crowley - Tanhauser A Story Of All Time
Wouter Hanegraaff - Dictionary Of Gnosis And Western Esotericism
Aleister Crowley - Temperance A Tract For The Times
Gerald Massey - Gerald Massey Lectures
