“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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