Wednesday, December 25, 2019

A new look at an old Devil, or Saturn is Satan after all




“The Fraternitas Saturni: History, Doctrine, and Rituals of the Magical Order of the Brotherhood of Saturn” is the self-explanatory title of this book by Stephen E Flowers. I have the fourth revised and expanded edition (the current one) published by Inner Traditions. A number of previous editions exist, one of them less self-explanatorily titled “Fire and Ice”. The Fraternitas Saturni is an occult order in Germany formed at some point during the 1920´s by one Gregor A Gregorius (real name Eugen Grosche). The order still exists, but probably doesn´t use the rituals described in this work. Apparently, the whole thing leaked out to the public during the 1960´s. Thus, Flowers is really telling us the old news here! Or so he (or the FS) wants us to believe…

The FS is mostly known for their connections to Aleister Crowley and the OTO. In true Crowleyan fashion, the FS places strong emphasis on ritualized sex magic. The rituals are described in this book - they are very bizarre. Apart from ritual sex (some of it group sex or homosexual in nature), the FS apparently also used illicit drugs, sacrificed animals and practiced something called “electric magic” (which could kill people at a distance). In the unlikely case that actual Gnosis interests you more than this gossip, LOL, sure, “The Fraternitas Saturni” does contain material on that, too.

The metaphysics of the FS are complex and convoluted, so only the barest outline will be attempted here. From Gnosticism, the FS have borrowed the idea that the material world is created not by “God” but by a subordinate Demiurge. This Demiurge is identified with Saturn-Satan and the Beast 666. In contrast to Gnosticism, however, the Demiurge is seen as a *positive* force. He is above all Lucifer, the Light-Bringer who rebelled against “God” (the Solar Logos). The rebellion and fall are positive and necessary for evolution and creativity to appear. So are death and destruction. Lucifer is the “higher octave” of Saturn (the divine being identified with the planet in ancient mythology). So is Uranus. Esoterically, initiation into the Saturnine mysteries is also an initiation into the sphere of Uranus, which represents the next stage of human evolution, the Age of Aquarius. (In traditional astrology, Aquarius was ruled by Saturn, while in modern astrology he is under the rulership of Uranus.)

The duality between Saturn-Lucifer and the Sun-“God” is tempered by a mystical unity between them. Deep inside itself, the Solar Logos has a dark “Satanic” streak, since darkness and chaos are more fundamental than creation and the light (compare Jacob Böhme). The demonic influence inside the Sun is identified as Sorath (Rudolf Steiner also uses this name for a demon in his system). In the same way, Saturn has a “solar” streak and will one day return to the Sun and be “redeemed”. As Demiurge, Saturn also has a “lower octave”. Those who fail to reach the higher octave of Lucifer will simply become blind tools of the Demiurge. The initiates are his brothers and co-workers. The FS adopted Hans Hörbiger´s bizarre “Glacial Cosmology” or “Welteislehre” as their own and coordinated it with their own esoteric speculations. In Hörbiger´s scenario, Earth was cast out of the Sun, and this was esoterically interpreted by the FS as “the fall of Lucifer”. Eventually, the Earth would fall back into the Sun and be destroyed – this is the FS “redemption”. (The original title of this book, "Fire and Ice", is presumably a reference to Hörbiger´s speculations.) 

The path to initiation is an arduous one, and includes meditation, visualizations, lodge rituals, magic with pendulums or mirrors, and the previously mentioned sex magic. The attitude fostered should be one of “compassionless love” (which to me as an outsider seems rather like no love at all). The Fraternitas Saturni believed the work of the order was guided by an anthropomorphic spirit-being known as the GOTOS, which embodied the order´s egregore (energy field created by collective magical rituals). Only the GOTOS could initiate the seekers into the higher Saturnine gnosis. A bust of the GOTOS reveals him to be strikingly similar in appearance to Gregorius, the founder of the FS! I get the impression that the practices of the FS were highly eclectic, drawing from both Eastern sources (such as kundalini yoga and Tantra) and Western ones (ritual magic of the “medieval” kind). The organization of the order resembled that of a Masonic lodge. The Eastern aspects apparently became more important after World War II. There is also a pseudo-Christian influence, since the Solar Logos is said to embody the Chrestus principle (Chrestus, not Christus). The name “Chrestus” obviously comes from Suetonius and some Christian apologists! By contrast, the Kabbalah only plays a minor role in the symbolism of the fraternity (i.e. they don´t use the qliphoth to describe their spiritual pass times).

While Flowers compassionlessly denies that the Brotherhood of Saturn are Satanists, I think most people will see them exactly as that. Sure, they represent a Thelemic Left Hand Path and so on. But that´s precisely what everyone outside the Crowleyan demimonde calls “Satanism”.

It seems Saturn is Satan after all.

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