This publication is made available for scholarly purposes and does not necessarily imply any endorsement of the spiritual teachings contained therein.

Richard, Duc de Palatine (1916-77) was an Australian spiritual teacher whose work included the synthesis of esoteric, Masonic and religious authorities in an organization called the Sovereign Imperium of the Mysteries, later the Brotherhood and Order of the Pleroma. He was ordained and consecrated bishop within the Order of Antioch by Mar Georgius of Glastonbury (Hugh George de Willmott Newman) and established the church that later became known as the Pre-Nicene Ekklesia. He was succeeded on his death by Archbishop Count George Boyer (1921-2008), a noted esoteric teacher who in 1983 became a bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church. His wife Bishop Leila Boyer led the Pre-Nicene Ekklesia until her death in 2015.

THE HIDDEN CHURCH OF THE ILLUMINATI

BY THE MOST REVD. RICHARD, DUC DE PALATINE

EDITED BY BISHOP LEILA BOYER

WITH A POSTSCRIPT BY ARCHBISHOP COUNT GEORGE BOYER

A review of the Esoteric Tradition from Atlantis to 1963 AD

Updated in 2002 by the Primate of the Pre Nicene Ekklesia

A completely new edition with added material

First Edition:            1963
Second Edition:        1987
Third Edition:           1989
Revised Edition:       2002

The present Grand Hierophant of The Order of the Pleroma who is himself an Initiate of many of the Assemblies of Adepts, can truthfully claim to be in direct succession from the earliest known Mysteries of Light.  It can be established without a shadow of doubt that Richard, Duc de Palatine is the successor of the ancient Mystery Schools, as we shall show.  There is no need for us to fabricate any form of secret history in order to induce people to join the Pleroma; one only has to study the long line of Assemblies which have existed and perpetuated the Gnosis from the last days of Atlantis before it was submerged by the waters in 9,564 B.C.

History shows that there were two streams of the Wisdom Teachings deriving from Atlantis; the first migrating to central Asia and then into India and the Chaldean Mysteries, the second from Atlantis to Egypt (The Mysteries of Isis and Osiris) and then to Greece (Mysteries of Eleusis) then into Asia Minor (Mysteries of Attis and Adonis which were blended with the Mysteries of Mithras and the Essenes).  In B.C. 120 to 70 Christ came to establish the ‘Mysteries of Jesus’ which was a blend of all the earlier Mysteries.  The successions of Christ were the Gnostics and the Essenes (Dead Sea Scrolls); from them came the Catholic Church which destroyed outwardly the Gnostic Movement in the 3rd Century.

The main elements then merged into the Manichaeans of North Africa and Luxor of Egypt; the Tradition then moved to Italy under the guise of the Paulicans and Cathari, thereafter it showed itself in the Orders of Chivalry and then the Templars.  After the Templars were outwardly destroyed the Tradition reappeared in the Fratres Lucis or ‘Brothers of Light’ in Italy in 1498, then it showed itself in the Rose Cross in the 14^th Century, and again in the 18^th Century came the “UNKNOWN PHILOSOPHERS”, Freemasonry and Luxor in America and the Bavarian Illuminati which embodies the various Illuminised Rose Cross, Alchemists and Masons.  This same Order passed to England under Ill. Bro. John Yarker, Jr., and finally in 1961 was to become THE BROTHERHOOD AND ORDER OF THE PLEROMA.

Into this unbroken line of succession from the Mysteries in the person of Richard, Duc de Palatine was blended the apostolic Catholic Succession from the Gnostic Fathers.  This means that all the lines of power and authority from the Mysteries of Antiquity now merge in the person of the Present Grand Hierophant of the Pleroma, meaning that the authority is not vested in a group of people, but in a single individual – namely Richard, Duc de Palatine.

In all the Mysteries, both ancient and modern, the central theme of the teachings was the Divine Nature of Man.  This central fact has never changed from one century to the next.  Although the names and legends have been changed, the main theme is always the same, and unless an organisation embodies this Central Doctrine, we know that it is not in line with the Esoteric Tradition of the ages.

Outline of Our Doctrine

When the Gnostic Teachings were suppressed by the Christian Churches of the East and West, the Hierophants went underground and continued to give teaching and instruction to those who were proved worthy of receiving the same.  After the 3rd Century the Pagan Mysteries were practically abolished by the Christian Emperors of the East and the Popes of the West, the Gnostics, who were the survivors of the Hierophants, divided themselves into three classes, varying in profession and technique and these classes survive to this day.

The three Divisions of the Gnostic Mysteries were: The Sacerdotal, which told of the drama of the Immortal Soul into the Valley of Death where it enters a temporary trance-death.  The second was The Military or Chivalric Orders which followed the drama of the murdered god, which to them symbolised the Immortal Soul of Man, these two orders were suppressed by the Christian Emperors of Rome, but continued their existence under the guise of “strolling priests”, they became prominent during the Crusades and then as the Knights Templars, the basic doctrine of all these was Gnostic Christianity.

We come now to the third class, that of The Artisan, they learned to ‘close the lips’ and as Art was vital to the Church, they were protected, from them came the body of masons who were guilds of workmen who wandered over the face of medieval Europe and were the descendants of the Dionysiac Artificers.  In Rome they appeared as the Roman Collegia and at the fall of Rome some moved to Arabia and another section moved into Lombardy and then into France.  They also moved into India, China and Babylon by the way of old Egypt and Palestine.

The Secret Schools, that is to say the Inner Schools beyond the public Mysteries of Greece, Egypt and Rome were neither fraternal or political, nor were their ideals the same as modern Masonry or Rosicrucians.  They were essentially philosophic and religious institutions; those who were admitted into the Secret Schools were consecrated to the service of the Hidden Church of the Illuminati.

The Discipline used in the Hidden Church was called The Arcane Discipline and was in definite practice in the Christian Church between the 1^st and 4^th centuries.  Those who followed it were known as the Arcane or Gnostic Christians and they kept their doctrines secret and taught the exoteric doctrines along the same lines as the ancient Mysteries.  We know from the writings of many of the Christian Fathers that this system was divided into grades and they were known as:  Catecomonois or learners; Pistoi or faithful; Photozomenoi, Illumined or baptised; Menuemenois or initiated; and the Teleioumenoi or perfected.

Therefore within the Gnostic Arcanum this three-fold division was kept alive until the 16^th Century when the Chivalric, Masonic and Sacerdotal were separated.  Within the Arcane Church we have the division of 3 x 3 = 9, the name being the Perfected Man.  These three were shown as the inner division, symbolised as baptism, communion and the consecration by chrism, this division has been carried on into the Pleroma as purification, illumination and then perfection.  The second division is comprised of the Deacon, Priest and Bishop, they are shown in the esoteric portion of the Gnostic Church as meaning that every initiate passes through these three stages, but when the Gnostics were finally suppressed, the Catholic Church reserved these three offices for their clergy.  Finally, we have the third division as the monks, members and catechumens and they represent the exoteric division of the church.

We must also remember that the Druids had this 3 x 3 = 9 division in their own system and when they were destroyed they re-appeared as the Culdees, and had rites which resembled the Pagan and Gnostic Mysteries.  In the so-called Apostolican Constitutions, the church is compared to a ship, the minister or bishop is the captain, the deacons become the mariners, and the congregation are the passengers.  This is also shown in the Egyptian, Grecian, Chaldean, Ionic, Gnostic, Druidic and Grail Mysteries, they all refer to the age-old three divisions within the Hidden Church.

In the Stromata of Clemens Alexandrinus the organisation of the Arcane Church is shown as “Degrees of Glory in Heaven corresponding with the dignitaries of the church below”.  Meaning that the 3 x 3 = 9 refers to the invisible anatomy of man – the immortal spirit, the divine soul and the human soul, each aspect is made up of the three vestures or Robes of Glory, these three sets of three Robes of Glory make up the whole man,  which was also shown as the number Nine.  Dionysus the Areopagite states that the divisions were based upon the heavenly and ecclesiastical hierarchies.

In the Catholic Gnostic Mass this three-fold division is called upon in the Preface as: Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones which comprise the powers of the Hidden Secret Church, then we have the Dominions, Virtues, and Powers making up the Esoteric Church and when Principalities, Archangels and Angels making up the Exoteric Church.  In these one will see that the three sets of three represent the powers inherent within the three aspects of man.

It is obvious that we can only skirt the exoteric and esoteric histories of the Hidden Church, but we will endeavour to give some hints for the reader to continue his own investigations.  If there are any of our readers who are Masons, let them take note: The Speculative Masonry which came into being in 1717 is based upon spurious constitutions and they have changed the Legend from the drama of the Christos to that of Hiram Abiff, by doing so they have destroyed the last vestige of connection with the ancient Gnostics and the Mysteries.

The first three degrees which constitute the Craft or Blue Lodges should constitute the outer or exoteric aspect of the Hidden Church, then we have the 4^th and the 18^th Degrees which constitute the Esoteric Church and then from the 28^th to the 33^rd you have the Hidden Church.  The word ‘Lodge’ is the same as Church or Ecclesia.  Therefore, up to 1717 the Operative Masons were also divided into three classes patterned upon the divisions of the Mysteries.

Now it is obvious that there is a definite connection between the Pleroma and the Gnostic Mystery System, otherwise how could it be possible for the Pleroma to have direct connections with the Gnostics?

One of the most sacred and closely guarded secrets contained within the Mysteries and their successors was the knowledge of the Hidden Church which we know as The Invisible Empire of Light (Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood) and the methods whereby an advanced Initiate could gain admittance to the Empire.  But although many seek the Path which leads to the Empire very few are chosen, simply because very few are prepared to undergo the superhuman tests of courage and fortitude.  These tests are not symbolical as given in the speculative masonry of today, but they are, as they were in olden days, actual tests.  Of the hundreds who wait at the doors for admission, very few realise their objective.

Before we can continue with our discussion we must try to trace the line of descent from the Mysteries to the present day Order of the Pleroma.  The Kabbalists owe their system to Esdras and it was carried on to the time of the Roman occupation of Jerusalem, and Philo states: “the law of Moses is like a living creature whose body is the literal sense, but the soul is the more inward and hidden meaning, covered under the sense of the letter.”  They claim that the Kabbalah is divided into ‘three veils’ indicating the exoteric, esoteric and Hidden Church of the Kabbalah, or the Vestibule; the Holy Place; and in the third the Sanctum Sanctorum.  These three are again divided into 3 x 3 = 9 and the One – the Ain Soph Aur, the Supreme Mystery, so we have the Chaldean Book of Numbers and countersigns, somewhat similar to the present Masonic Royal Arch degree.  From them came the Essenes. But it must be remembered that Moses or Moishe received his wisdom from that of the Egyptian blended with the Chaldeans from India.

The Essenes were a branch of the Assideans and Chasidim and were the Hierophants of the Egyptian Mysteries when Ahmasis ruined the sacred Temples, and they sought protection within the Temple Order of Basra.  Their hidden records state that Jeshu ben Pandira (Jesus), a nephew of Queen Salome the widow of Alexandrinus or Alexander Jannuai II, King of Judaea, went to Egypt and became a Hierophant and then returned to the Essenes and proclaimed the Mysteries.  He was stoned to death and hung on a tree at Lydia, about the year 71 BC, as indicated in the Gemera.  These Essenes were called the Jewish Gnostics, but this is not strictly correct, as they were influenced by Adonis in Syria, of Serapis in Egypt, Dionysius and Bacchas in Greece and also by the Mysteries of Mithra.  It is logical, therefore, to state that Jesus tried to blend all these systems into what is known as the ‘Mysteries of Jesus’.  There is also evidence that when the Essene Church faded in about 300 AD, beginning with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 78 AD, the Catholic Church came into being.  We leave the inference to the reader to work out!

There is also evidence to show that the Essenes were but a branch of a yet wider movement directed by a group of powerful Adepts, linked to them we also find the Therapeutae of Egypt who flourished at Alexandria, the real birth place of Christian Gnosticism, then we have the Nazarenes, sometimes called Sabeans – the followers of Sabius who lived on the shores of Galilee.  The Ebionites whom Jerome called the genuine primitive Christians were linked to the Nazarenes in a common bond, and we find that Paul, Joseph, Samson and Samuel all claim to be Nazars.  From them came the founders of the Christian form of the Arcane Discipline which had survived publicly until the end of the 4^th Century, then faded from public knowledge to re-emerge in later centuries under different names and guises.

Secret History states that Jeshu ben Pandira (Jesus) founded the ‘Mysteries of Jesus’ in 74 BC, and after his death in 71 BC, the Mysteries remained secret until 46 AD, when Paul of Tarsus became the Grand Hierophant, and there are many statements made by him which link him to the Hidden Church.  In fact, his ‘illumination’ and the qualififications demanded for this power are identical to those taught in the Pleroma.  From Paul came the Christian Gnostics themselves and this is evidenced by the statements of Marcion 136 AD and Prodicus, 120 AD.  He was followed by Valentinius and Basilides about 130 AD, then there were Simon Magnus, Menander, Cerenthius and Dostheus, and after them came Saturnius of Antioch.

If one will read Pistis Sophia  in the three layers of meaning, one will find the exoteric, esoteric and the Arcane Discipline clearly shown.  Later we find Clement of Alexandria, a pupil of Ammonius Saccas himself an Initiate of the Mysteries of Serapis and Isis, he transmitted his Gnosis to Origen and it was he who attempted to blend the Jewish and Egyptian into one.

The Ophites were a Gnostic Fraternity in Egypt.  Their conception of Jesus was that he allowed the Immortal Spirit to descend into the Christos, who in turn descended into Jesus the Man, thus Jesus became the God-Man in the flesh, this teaching is again identical to that of the Pleroma.  The Christos is the Eternal Pilgrim, and was always shown being overshadowed by a Living Serpent with three heads, the three-fold nature of the Soul, and they also claimed that the Good Serpent (soul) descends to earth.

The Gnostics also drew heavily upon the College of Rabbis at Babylon, who also held to the 3 x 3 = 9 system.  The College was founded at Babylon after the destruction of Israel.  Samuel was the chief of a College at Ramah; Elisha at Jericho and Hillel had a regular dual school and became the Founder of the Sect of Pharisees, hence we know the reason for the latter putting Jesus to death, being as he was a Hierophant of the hated Egyptian Mysteries.  Then we have the Carpocratians of Alexandria, whose founder was a direct disciple of Jeshu ben Pandira and claimed that Jeshu derived the Mysteries of his religion from the temple of Isis in Egypt, they also had their grips, signs and words; symbols and degrees and used the 3 x 3 = 9 system of initiation.

Bardisanes was born at Edessa and taught a Gnostic system composed of Indian, Chaldean and Egyptian mystery teachings, he also followed the earlier Gnostic sects in their degrees and initiatory system.  From him, perhaps indirectly came Mani of Persia who became a Gnostic and derived teaching from Buddhist, Brahmin and Egyptian sources, he also had three grades made up of 3 x 3 = 9 and his Gnostic sect in common with the others had secret initiations and forms of recognition.  In fact, the present three Masonic initiations possess the same grips and signs as the Manichaeans, such as ‘sign, oris, manumet finaus’ or a word, the grip, and of the breast.

So the contest between the Catholic Christianity and Gnostic Christianity can be resolved into this: The historical Jesus, the Christ of the Church; and the second, the ancient Christos of the Cult of Serapis, with a spiritual Christos to be developed within the Soul of each Perfected Gnostic.  So we find that the Roman Section followed the views of Peter (?) and the Jewish Gnostics.  The Gnostics opposing the Church followed the teachings of Paul, Origen and the British Culdees.  It was entirely due to the lack of the Arcane Discipline that a conflict ensued between the two opposing ideas, resulting in the Mythos being taken at literal history by one, and the Mythos being interpreted spiritually by the other.  It was the Church, however, which won in the end combining the two aspects of the teaching both exoterically.

With the collapse of the State Mystery Systems, the Hidden Schools still continued in close secret until the time of Jeshu ben Pandira, who, in order to perpetuate the Hidden Wisdom or the Gnosis, founded his own Mysteries.  Then came the great Gnostic Doctors who gave to his Church a practical philosophy, they too drew upon all the existing Mystery Religions, as St Augustine states: “What is nowadays called the Christian religion was in existence among ancient people, and has continually existed from the very origin of the human race…”  When the Church destroyed the great Gnostic Movement and the last public sect, that of the Manichaeans, the Church took over and claimed that Christianity stemmed from the life and death of an unknown (to secular history) Jesus of Nazareth.

In the 6^th Century the Manichaeans were put to the sword, some escaped to Europe, others gave much to the Sufis and the Dervishes of Islam.  In 657, the Gnostic Manichaeans re-appeared as the Paulicians in Armenia who followed the teachings of Paul, Marcion and Mani, but the Romish Church instigated their destruction by the sword.  They emerged again as the Cathari in Southern France who were again exterminated by the Roman Inquisition.  They perpetuated in close secret the Arcane Discipline and Gnostic teachings.  In the 8^th Century St Benedict founded his Order and retained many of the Gnostic teachings and discipline.

Some of the persecuted Gnostics took the names of the Euchites, the Bogomiles, Albigenses and later as the Lollards, they travelled all over Europe, seeking those who were spiritually worthy and continuing secretly to teach the Arcane Discipline and above all the grand Mythos of the Soul.  In the 8^th Century there appeared a society  calling itself the Holy Vehm of German Westphalia and then in Spain appeared a society designated the Hermandad.  Both of these again followed the Arcane Discipline and held to the Gnostic Christos.  Then came the Alchemists who were originally Gnostics and taught the Mystic Marriage of the Sun and Moon or the Divine Soul with the human Soul of Man.

Sufficient has been given to show with proof that up to the 8^th Century Gnosticism survived in various forms from its inception many hundreds of years before the beginning of the Christian Era.  It is obvious that the link between Masonry and other Secret Orders is to be founding Gnosticism and the Arcane Discipline.

Historic Christianity

With regards to Historic Christianity, there is evidence to state that historic Christianity did not come into its own until about the 4^th Century, and no earlier.  We know now that whilst the Mysteries of Jesus were known to have existed between BC 71 and 46 AD, very few individuals knew anything about them, it was only in the 2^nd Century that Valentinius was ordered to allow some portion of the secret rituals to fall into the hands of the Jewish Gnostics.  Before he obeyed his orders, however, he stripped the manuscripts of the Keys to make them innocuous and to keep inviolate the Arcane Discipline and reserved it for those who had advanced spiritually enough to appreciate it.  Those who received this document, being carnal men, did not have the insight to know that it was Mystic Drama concerning the Christ-Soul and the human Soul-Jesus, and they claimed, therefore, that it was the history of their god and accepted the exoteric version and proceeded to take from the old religions those portions which would give the foundations for a historical man.

In spite of the deliberate mistranslations and interpretations of the original gospel, there is still sufficient within the New Testament to give to the discriminating student the teachings of the Arcane Discipline and the method whereby he or she can effect the Mystic Marriage.  It is because they have not the Discipline that the Church is failing every day, this also applies to the present-day Masons and the other so-called Mystic Orders one finds in the West today.  The very fact that they do not follow the Principles of the Arcane Discipline shows with absolute certainly that they are not the real descendants of the Gnostics or the Ancient Mysteries from Atlantis. See: Ignatius Donnelly – “Atlantis”.

From the 8^th to the 18^th Century

We have seen that up to the 8^th Century the Gnostic Tradition was still flourishing in various parts of Europe and in the Middle East.  There is sufficient evidence from extant writings to show that the Gnostics were the descendants of the pagan Mystery Schools and also retained the Arcane Discipline.  It is interesting to note that even at this late date, the various Gnostic sects divided their doctrine into three aspects, namely: The Sacredotal, The Military and the Artisan, these became the exoteric, esoteric and Hidden Church.  These three divisions are known today as Masonry, the Occultists and the Mystics.  Unlike the days of old, these three divisions of the Mysteries have today become separate and in many cases antagonistic to one another.

In reality, these divisions are also divided into 3 x 3 = 9, as we shall show.  Masonry is divided into three main groups or stages of initiations, the first three are exoteric, the next three are the esoteric and the final three the Hidden Church, but as with the Church these divisions are interpreted exoterically.  When we come to Occultism we again find these three showing themselves, you have the ordinary member making up the outer or exoteric section, then you have the Inner Schools making up the esoteric and the Initiates and Princes of Light making up the Hidden Church.  In Mysticism, again these three are shown, you have the beginner along the path of purification and then the path of Illumination and finally the Hidden Church of the Perfected Ones which is composed of the Princes, Mediators, Messengers and so on.

Plato states that the Perfect Man is symbolised as the number 10, this means that the nine with the Immortal Spirit, fulfilling the Law of Permutation or the Revolution of the Spiritual Self.  So we have the first set of three – the human Soul (three vehicles); then the second – the Divine Soul (three vehicles) and finally the next three – the Immortal Spirit which becomes ONE with the Godhead making up the Perfect Man or TEN – the Alpha and the Omega of Evolution.

There is still some confusion in the minds of modern scholars as to what we mean by the Sacred Mysteries.  The ‘Mysteries’ were called by the Greeks Teletai, or finishings and this was used in conjunction with the word mou which meant “Keeping a closed mouth”.  The mysteries, therefore, were observances, generally kept secret from the profane and uninitiated, in which were taught by dramatic representation and other methods, the nature of the human Spirit, and its relation to the human Soul, and then the method of its purification, illumination and restoration to its higher life to become the Perfect Man.

The Teacher in the Mysteries was known as the Hierophant, or the OLD MAN, he represented to the Candidate his Divine Soul, and was veiled to symbolise that the Soul is always veiled to the uninitiated and unpurified.  The only part of the Hierophant which was allowed to be seen was his feet, symbolising the human Soul of Man. As the neophyte passed each Initiation the Hierophant, by the clever use of lights, became progressively visible to the neophyte.  This symbolised the man becoming more and more purified in order to allow the glory of the Soul to become visible to the human Soul.  The Hierophant became the revealer or ‘Pater’ of the Mysteries of God in the same manner as the Divine Soul becomes the revealer of the Mysteries to the human Soul of Man.

Plato and many other of the Initiates all state that the Mysteries were highly religious, moral and beneficent.  It was considered that if the neophyte passed through the nine initiations within the School he was eligible to become a Member of the Hidden Church of Illumined Souls.  G R S Mead states: “In short, the Mysteries were in every country a series of dramatic performances, in which the mysteries of cosmogony and nature, in general, were personified by the priests and neophytes, who enacted the parts of the various gods and goddesses, repeating supposed scenes (allegories) from their respective lives.  These were explained in their hidden meaning to the candidates for initiation, and incorporated into philosophical doctrines.”  This is in fact the exoteric teachings of the Arcane Discipline.

The Roman Church having borrowed all their rites and dogmas from the Pagan Mysteries, shows this connection with the Mysteries in the consecration of a Cardinal, the candidate is commanded “to keep his eyes and mouth shut on his consecration,” this was also the injunction given to the Mystae or first-grade Initiate.  The Masonic System also has the same injunction, but not in the modern Rosicrucian Systems.  The drawing of the right hand across the throat indicates that they have to keep their mouth closed at all times concerning their supposed Mysteries.  The Mystae was blindfolded, slip-shod and a cable-tow was put around his neck when he took his Initiation, the rest of the Obligation can be found in the ancient Schools, but again is missing from the present Rosicrucian Systems.  We feel at liberty to divulge these details, as they have already been exposed many times over the last two centuries and Masonically speaking may be found by anyone with the price of the necessary book!

Christian Gnosticism grew out of the teachings of Jeshu ben Pandira (Jesus), who was himself  a Hierophant of the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris at Sais in Egypt, so it is logical to assume, in spite of the lack of substantiating evidence, that Jeshu and the Gnostics faithfully carried on the Tradition intact.  This would seem that Jeshu was the vital link between the Mysteries and the later Gnostics, just as Gnosticism is the vital link between the Orders of Labour, Quest, Military and Masonic Orders.  We must then pose this question: If the Masons and Rosicrucians are the direct descendants of the Gnostics, why is it that they have failed to carry on the Arcane Discipline and the Legend of the Christos?

Just as the Hierophant was the sole expounder of the esoteric secrets and doctrines, he would naturally sit in the East, it was also forbidden to pronounce his name before the uninitiated persons.  Therefore, an Initiate was one who had been received into them and had revealed to him the mysteries and secrets of the Immortal Spirit.  We find that the word initiation comes from the Latin initia, which means the basic or first principles of a science.  The original initiatory system was abolished with the fall of the last of the public Mysteries at Arles in France in the 7^th Century.  The only kind of initiation now known to the public is merely a type of initiation but these are definitely not the real Initiations.

In brief, the Mysteries represented the passage of the Soul from a higher life into mortal life and then from mortal life into finite death, and the varied experiences of the disembodied Soul in the world of subjectivity.  In this day, the secrets of initiation have been lost, except within the Hidden Assemblies of the Adepts in Europe, America and the East, and here we are not referring to the Masonic, Rosicrucian or any other fancy-named order or orders.  The latter ask their candidates to pass through sundry meaningless ceremonies to be initiated into a self-concocted solar legend, be it Hiram Abiff or Christian Rosenkreuz.

In order to show clearly that Jesus and Paul were, as is shown in Christian Writ, initiates of the Pagan Mysteries, the word ‘Innocents’ was a nickname given to the Initiates of a system before the Christian era.  Jeshu refers to the ‘Innocents’ and we find that the Innocents of Lydia were put to death by Alexander Jannuai, to the number of several thousands, about 100 BC.  This historical fact gave rise to the legend of the 40,000 innocent babes murdered by Herod while searching for the infant Jesus.  The former is a little known historical fact whereas the second story is a fable, as Herod was dead four years before the supposed birth of Jesus.

The Alchemists came into existence long before Christianity, and we find that most of the Alchemists were Gnostics and formed themselves into secret Brotherhoods beginning with Emperor Julian.  We also find that there appeared a long line of Gnosto-Alchemists such as Cedrinus, 491, then Zosimus the Panopilite, Morenus, the Calid, the son of Gized the Second, Sultan of Egypt about 725.  Geber came about 730, then came Avicenna about 980.  From this time they migrated to Spain and Germany, then we have Gerhard of Cremona, 1130; Arnold de Villanova, 1240; Roger Bacon, 1215; Albertus Magnus, 1270; Raymond Lully, 1320, and many others.  This branch became merged into the Order of the Rose Cross and the Knights Templars.

The Order of the Temple was formed in 1118 and also retained the 3 x 3 = 9 system of discipline until 1313 when they were shamefully destroyed.  After this the remainder of the High Knights went underground and continued their work.  In 1498, a Group of Initiates met in the City of Florence to form the Fratres Lucis they restored the Arcane Discipline and remained in secret in spite of the Church’s attempt to destroy them.  There is a suspicion that Dante was one of their number.  They joined with the Alchemists and Rose Cross Orders.

These were followed by the founding of the Quest of the San Grail in England, France and Germany to which certain of the Templar and Gnostic traditions were blended, as well as that of the Culdees of England.

Many of the survivors of the Albegenses re-appeared among the Troubadours or strolling players and they also carried the 3 x 3 = 9 system and the Arcane Discipline.

In 1115 there appeared at Cologne a society called the Magical Union, their Allegory was the Rose and the Cross.  They also used the 3 x 3 = 9 system.  Their doctrines were based upon the Christos Myth of Gnosticism.  In 1282 there appeared another compact school who were the first to use the word Macon, which was later corrupted to Masonry.  John Tauler, a Dominican monk established a society embodying the Rose and the Cross in the early part of the 14^th Century, the members recognised each other by secret grips and also followed the Arcane Discipline.  In the same year there appeared another society called Fraternitas Rose Crucis, and then in 1398, Christian Rosenkreuz founded the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross.  There is also evidence to show that Paracelsus was also a member of the Rose Cross, and became the Monarch of the Rosicrucian Society.

At Lubeck about 1485 there existed a Guild of Compass Brothers.  In 1480 there existed a School in Rome called the Platonic Academy, its objects were the revival of the Platonic and Gnostic teachings.  In the same year the Brotherhood of the Trowel existed in Florence and this continued until the 18^th Century.  The above Societies taught the Gnosis under the guise of the Rose and the Cross and embodied the Arcane Discipline.  In the 16^th Century Cornelius Agrippa established in Paris and elsewhere a secret body known as the Theosophical Society, and he also formed a branch in London in 1510.  In 1484 there was a Rose Cross society called the Fraternitatus Rosarii at Selwick in Denmark which was connected with the Arcane Discipline.  A Society called Militia Crucifera Evangelica was known to have existed in Lunenburg in 1571 and taught the doctrines of the Inner and Outer Man symbolised by the Rose and the Cross.  In 1570 Michael Maier stated that the Brethren of the Wise Men existed in his day, and this was later revived as the Brethren of the Golden Rosy Cross.

In 1614 there appeared The Fama and  The Confessio by J W Andrae, and it is known that Andrae founded his own society called the  Christian Fraternity.  In 1622 there also existed at The Hague a Rosy Cross Society with branches in many countries in Europe.  The question which the Reader is prompted to ask himself is, if the story of Christian Rosenkreuz is fictitious, how is it that there existed Rose Cross Societies long before Andrae published the Fama and Confessio?  It is obvious that the modern bodies styled ‘Rosicrucian’ have nothing to do with the original Rose Cross bodies, since they lack the 3 x 3 = 9 system and the Arcane Discipline.

We have now come to the beginning of the 17^th Century and we must leave this section and revert to the beginnings of the Culdees in England.

There is no clear evidence that Masonry existed before 1717 but we know that before this date there existed the Arcane Colleges which combined the three-fold division of activity.  In circa 45-52 AD, there existed a College of Roman Artisans at Chichester, England, which had originated at Rome and Alexandria, when the Romans left England the members of the College broke up and migrated to various towns and formed the Guilds devoted to the work of building, and from them came what was to be known as the Guilds of Operative Masons.  At the same time we know that the three Archdruids became Archbishops, and the Chief Druids became Bishops, this was done upon the acceptance of Christianity by King Lucius in AD 155. These bishops, monks and priests of the Christian Britons became known as the Culdees, The Servants of God, and they carried the Arcane Discipline with them and embodied it within the framework of Celtic Christianity.  They were considered by Rome to be heretical of course.  Their principle Colleges were at York and they spread their teachings to Bath and as far as Hadrian’s Wall, but they were not Masonic as we know it, they were known as the ARCANE COLLEGE with an integral part of the Discipline.

It was from England in 589, that Columban went to Burgundy and established the Arcane Colleges in France and Germany.  European so-called Masonry is derived from these Culdees of France.  Prior to the 5^th Century, the construction of their churches was after the model of the ancient Egyptian temples which were divided into three sections corresponding to the exoteric, the esoteric doctrines and the Hidden Church.  In 524, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon defeated the Saxons and then called a Council at York.  Arthur was a Romanised Briton and founded the Legend of San Grael embodying the Druidic and Culdee doctrines, blended with the Arcane Discipline from the Roman College at Chichester.

The Holy Grail is the Soul of Man, inheritor and guardian of a Divine Spark wherein dwells an ever-shining and vital mirroring of the Divine Soul-Life.  This legend although essentially Christian in its origin, contains many of the most abstruse doctrines drawn from the Gnostic Mysteries.  Joseph of Arimathea represents the stage of man before the Fall.  The Cycle of Merlin and Arthur is the exoteric cycle, the Cycle of Gawain and Lancelot represent the esoteric and Percival and Galahad represent the Hidden Church. In this, the Soul becomes the abiding place of the Divine Presence.  The Castle of the Grail is the human temple of the Holy Spirit through the Soul and in the Gnostic Mass of the Holy Grail, the Celebrant is the Soul itself, “a priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek.”

With the conquest of England and the Teutonic nations, the Arcane Colleges became extinct insofar as the Military and Sacredotal sections were concerned, these two sections began to fade from public knowledge and remained in existence under a veil of the closest secrecy, but the Artisans remained in their Guilds using their own discipline and landmarks with their main headquarters at York.  At the same time the Roman Collegia was forced to close and fled to Lake Como where it became known as the Magestri Comacenes who hired themselves into Building Guilds and while the Church still needed to build churches and monasteries, these Craftsmen were protected by the Church, not from choice, but from necessity.

The fact there has existed from very ancient times bands or Colleges of Builders does not imply that they were “Masons”.  Even up to 1717, the Guilds were separate and had their own rituals and doctrines.  It is extraordinary that in the year that Speculative Masonry was fully established in England and France the Roman Church declared against them.  There seems to be no attempt to explain this important fact.  Why did the Church suffer the Building Guilds for so long and then suddenly change and rule against them?  We say that from the 18^th Century what is known as Masonry changed its purpose and the real Grand Masters withdrew from the Guilds and formed Secret Masonry.

In the 18^th Century, the hidden Adepts of the Mysteries remained in the background, they still retained the Arcane Discipline and the 3 x 3 = 9 division, the doctrines were fundamentally Gnostic and Culdee.  As far as the Gentlemen Speculative Masons were concerned, the Secret Masons are absolutely unknown.  It was due to the retirement of the Illumined Masters that Speculative Masons changed the Legend of Christos into the Legend of Hiram Abiff.  This act of Anderson broke off all connection with the great Gnostic stream which began in the 4^th Century and faded in the 18^th Century, at least from public knowledge.

The 18^th Century to Today

From the beginning of the 18^th Century all trace of the Arcane Discipline and the Gnostic Tradition seemed to have faded from public knowledge, but it still remained in Europe, it became a closely guarded secret among the Adepts of the Hidden Church.  It was with the withdrawal of the Master Adepts behind the veil of silence that there began to be formed many spurious and clandestine bodies with equally spurious histories.  Because no one could lay hold of the Adepts of the Templars, Rose Cross and Gnostics, these new organisations denied their existence.  This opened the way to unscrupulous men who concocted fabulous histories for their bodies and passed them off on to their unsuspecting dupes and they created spurious rituals with the outward sign of authenticity.  Into this mystery-mongering and spurious orders stepped the Jesuits of Paris and Berlin who finalised the creation of spurious Masonic, Templar and Rose Cross Orders.

Actually, there is very little real evidence and information left of the aims, means and doctrines of the various Secret Fraternities.  This is due to the terrible OBLIGATION which each Brother was obliged to take THE SODALIAN OATH – that he would not reveal any of their teachings or aims and the means to implement their purpose.  There is another reason why the public cannot find the meeting places of the Adepts, because there are none.  The Illumined Adept has the ability to create many thought-images of Himself simultaneously on the emotional region (astral), these thought-images are the simulacra of the Adept’s Soul, they are activated by the consciousness and becomes perceptible to the inhabitants of the emotional region.

For fear of persecution from the Roman and Protestant Churches the Adepts could not show themselves to their pupils, so when a pupil was ready the Adept made himself known through one of these simulacra whilst the pupil was out of his body during the sleep state.  There he was taught and trained, but even when he returned to the body, he still remembered his OATH and training and kept his lips sealed lest the slightest indiscretion would bring upon him the wrath of the Church.  This meant that the Assemblies were actual in name only, as far as this physical plane was concerned, but were actual in fact in the inner realms of the Spirit.  Hence the reasons why so little factual evidence is available to the student.

This meant that you had the genuine Adepts and the spurious adepts.  The histories from the 18^th Century abound with the machinations of the spurious adepts and from them have come the present bodies styling themselves Templars, Rose Cross and Hermetic Orders, including many of the present High Grade Masonic Rites.  Because they are self-created orders, they are devoid of any spiritual connection with the Adepts of the Hidden Church.  We are fully aware of the so-called claims made by the various societies and have patiently sifted them and when we have rejected the fabulous histories what have we left?  Simply the results of a group of very fertile speculations, which, when they are placed against the extant sources of knowledge, fact and history, prove themselves to be worthless and can be thrown into the dust bin where all rubbish is normally disposed.

The great European Adept who used the nom-de-plum of the ‘Comte de St Germain’ inspired the formation of the Alumbrados of France and Mystics of Belgium, then the Theosophical Illuminati of Wilhelmsbad which became merged with the Bavarian Illuminati of 1776.  They were the depositories of the Arcane Discipline as their rituals show.  In 1776 The Order of the Illuminati was formed in Bavaria by Adam Weishaupt and he also was inspired to restore the Arcane 3 x 3 = 9 system of degrees.  Their doctrines were based upon those of Mani of Persia and the early Gnostics.

The 3 x 3 = 9 system was made up of the following: 1^st degree, Novice; 2^nd degree, Minerval; and 3^rd degree, the Minor Illuminee, these constitute the exoteric section.  Then we have the 4^th degree, Major Illuminee; 5^th degree, Director Illuminee, Masonically, now equal to their own Scottish Knight; and finally, 6^th degree, Epot, these constituted the esoteric section and then we have 7^th degree, Regent; 8^th degree, Mage, and finally the 9^th degree, King Man.  At the death of Weishaupt, Dr Leopold Engell revived the Order in 1880 and recruited a membership drawn from the various Illuminised Masonic, Templar and Rose Cross Groups.

Finally the Order passed under the control of Ill. Bro. John Yarker, Jr. – Grand Master of the Ancient and Primitive Rite.  He also was an Initiate of all the known Assembles of Adepts and was recognised as one of the leading authorities on Initiatory Orders.  Yarker transmitted the original Order of the Illuminati to Dr Herbert James Monzani-Heard in 1913, who then installed Dr Hugh George de Willmott Newman on 29^th January 1945 and then in 1955, Dr Newman installed Richard, Duc de Palatine as the Grand Master of the Order of the Illuminati, who did then withdraw the Order from the Masonic influence and consequently restored the Arcane Discipline and the 3 x 3 = 9 system of degrees, excepting that the Initiations are not taken on the inner levels whilst the neophyte is out of the body during sleep, at least for the present.

In January 1961, The Grand Hierophant changed the name of the Order from that of “Illuminati” into that of the “Pleroma” as it was found that it answered our purpose far more adequately.  One of the reasons being that the original body was brought forward for the conditions of the 18^th Century, and since we are now in the 20^th Century, the conditions are not the same, also since this is the century when a Messenger descends from the Highest to sound the key-note for this century, the old form of procedure would not and could not meet the new conditions.  It was also realised that since the Illuminati had become mixed up with the political upheavals in the 18^th Century due to the machinations of the Jesuits, it was decided to cleanse the Order from all taint of being a political tool.

Now, you may say that all of this is very interesting, but what has it to do with me and my self-realisation of the Divine within me?  My friends, the past is just as important to the present as the present is to the future.  If we believe in evolution of the Spirit, then we must know that the past, present and future is but one moment of time in the consciousness of the Father of All.

We are told that the “law of the Medes and Persians changeth not,” meaning that the Laws which govern the spirit and form changeth not, they were the same yesterday as they are today and will be in the future, that which changes is the form through which the Law operates, the Law is eternal.  By this means, it is logical to assume that we can verify the present through the past, if we are to accept Einsteins’s Theory of Space-Time-Continuum, then we must realise space is the distance between two given points, and the time-sequence, the passing of energy from one point to another with a continuum of consciousness between the two points.

Bearing in mind the above, you will note that, say, about 9564 BC when the Island of Atlantis sunk to the present time, the energy which caused Atlantis to sink did not stop with the sinking, it continued on from then to the present time, there is a space through which the energy had to pass, but it also took time for the energy to reach us here, but there is a unity between the space and the time which is called a continuum.

We know that the Will of God is this continuum and Its purpose is the same today as it was millions of human years ago when this earth became solidified and man appeared on it.  Since God Himself always obeys higher Laws than ours, we in turn obey His Laws just as mankind in the future will continue to obey the Laws of Being.

The institution of the Mysteries began after the sinking of Atlantis, there were certain flexible rules and procedures instituted by the Adepts who founded them for they were designed to be perpetuated to the end of the occupation of the human race on this planet.  Bearing in mind the CONTINUUM OF GOD’S WILL, we will see that the rules and procedures which were instituted untold ages ago also must be applicable today, notwithstanding the constant changing of the form from century to century, the fundamentals of the Mysteries have remained the same.

So in order to prove the authenticity of the present forms, we must trace our steps back to the beginnings, to see if the substance and the intention has been continuous in every century up to the present day.  This is the only means available to un-illumined man whereby he may check the veracity of the system of teaching he is following.  Now we must ask ourselves, what are the Landmarks which have survived through the centuries in spite of the changing forms?  They are very simple:  The implementation of the Arcane Discipline is the first landmark to look for.  The second is the 3 x 3 = 9 System of Initiatory Degrees, the third being an unbroken Line of Grand Masters from the Founder of the particular system you are interest in.

Then we must look for the Doctrine of the Dual Souls of Man and the method of attainment through the three stages of purification, illumination and then perfection.  Then you must look for the three stages of knowledge or the veils through which the neophyte has to pass, they are the exoteric or outer, the esoteric or inner, then the Hidden Church or Section.  Then finally, the Grand Hierophant or Master must be in the position to demonstrate the Powers and Qualities of the Soul through Illumination or Mediatorship.  You may discount any claims made through a Spiritualist medium no matter how high their quality.

Now let us put these examples to the test: Let us take the Pleroma and see if it follows the ancient Landmarks: It does teach the Arcane Discipline and has the initiatory system of 3 x 3 = 9 which are taken by the neophyte whilst out of the body at night, at least for the present.  It also has the three stages, being as they are the Brotherhood giving the exoteric knowledge, the Order teaching the esoteric principles of Illumination, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light making up the last three degrees of this Section, and finally you have the Hidden Church standing behind the outer three.

We must also check upon the Grand Hierophant and see if he has an unbroken line of succession from the Founders.  This can be shown:  The Power and Authority of the Pleroma is vested in the person of Richard, Duc de Palatine coming from the Illuminati, Rose Cross, the Templars, the Brothers of Light, from the Albigenses and Paulicians, who were the successors of the Cathari and the Manichaeans, they owe their existence to the Gnostics, who were derived from the Mysteries of Egypt, Greece, Chaldea, who again claim that their Masters came from the Island of Atlantis.  Plato states that the Emperor of Atlantis was a Divine Ruler and Grand Master of the Atlanteans. This constitutes the Philosophical Section.

The present Grand Hierophant is also a Gnostic Bishop and claims an unbroken line of succession from the College of Antioch, which owed its existence to St Paul and he in turn claimed authority from Jeshu ben Pandira, who in turn was a Grand Hierophant of the Mysteries of Isis and Serapis.  The Hierophant of the Pleroma links twelve lines of the Apostolic Succession in his person.  This constitutes the Sacredotal Section.

The present Grand Hierophant is also a Sovereign Grand Master General of three High Grades of Masonic Rites.  (a) The Ancient and Primitive Rite, or The Rite of Memphis which claims for its source the Copts of Egypt, who were the last of the Egyptian Initiates (b) The Rite of Misraim which is derived from the Illuminati of Avignon.  In 1782 an Egyptian for the ancient Brotherhood of Luxor, raised Gad Bedarride of Cavillon to another degree and granted him full authority.  The Brotherhood of Luxor (Egyptian branch) owes its authority to the Grand Hierophant of the Temple of Sais in Egypt.  The Brotherhood also founded another branch in America just before the War of Independence and has functioned in that country ever since, practically unknown to the general public, they are in communion with the Brotherhoods of Mt Shasta and Yucatan (c) The Order of the Temple of England and Paris, which was later connected with the Order of the Illuminati and this authority is now vested in the present Grand Hierophant.  Through the Illuminati came the connections with the Rose Cross and Martinists.

Added to this list comes the Grand Inspector General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry through New York in the United States. Then he became a 33^rd Degree Mason of the Ancient and Accepted Rite which was founded by certain members of the Templar Order and of the Rite of Perfection 25^th degree, it also owed its existence through the Rite of Strict Observance and the Martinist Order through Martines Pasqually which he received from Count Cagliostro, who again received his own authority from the Comte de St Germain, who in turn claimed to have his authority from the Christians of St John at Basra, in Persia, who, themselves, can prove an unbroken line of authority from the Gnostics.  It is not commonly known that Basilides, the Gnostic Bishop consecrated the first Bishop of Constantinople.  This constitutes the Artisan Section.

As with the Mysteries, the doctrines of the descent of the Soul to earth, its death to its spiritual heritage, burial in the tomb of matter and its final restitution with the Immortal Spirit, was carried on by the Gnostics and their successors to the 15^th Century, then it was passed to the Rose Cross and then the Illuminati and finally into the Pleroma, being achieved through purification, illumination and then perfection.

To complete this draft of succession, brief as it is, we must add one more link of authority: The Roman Collegia sent Artisans to the town of Chichester in England between 46-52 AD, they remained there until the Romans left Britain when they migrated to York to become known as the Arcane College.  In 155 AD, at the instigation of King Lucius, the Gnostic Christians who had migrated to the west of England accepted the three Arch-druids as the three future Archbishops of Celtic Britain and joined the Arcane College to become known as the Culdees or Primitive British Christians.  A number migrated to Avignon in France and founded a College there.  The British Church still survived in spite of the Roman Church, one of the lines of Apostolic Succession vested in the Grand Hierophant is derived from the Ancient British Church.

In spite of the brief details given, it must be obvious to any observant student that the Pleroma and its Grand Hierophant stand in the direct line of succession with the Gnostics and the Pagan Mysteries, and the fact that it retains all the ancient Landmarks within its framework should shatter once and for all any doubt in our minds that the Pleroma cannot prove its Spiritual Authority.  As one member states: ‘And if there are those who still doubt, there is one way of absolute proof.  Let them follow the teachings as taught and lived by our Leader, and let their lives subsequently demonstrate to them the unmistakable validity of its Truth.’  Further, we can say, spend a little time studying the histories of the known Chivalric, Alchemistic, Rose Cross and Masonic Orders, and you will find a thin line of authority and succession running through and linking them to the Pagan Mysteries and the Gnostics, then trace from the beginning of the 18^th Century the movements of the many occult or spiritual bodies and you will see that they finally merge into the Order of the Pleroma and then down to Richard, Duc de Palatine.

It is not to be wondered that we having in our person so many valid lines of authority, should speak out at the pretensions of many of the pseudo-occult and Masonic bodies which exist today, knowing perfectly well that they are unable to prove their descent from the Pagan Mysteries.

We will now leave the rest to you, make of it what you will!

The Army of the Elect

We have endeavoured to give a brief outline of the descent of the Gnosis from the days of Atlantis to the present day and how it was merged into the Brotherhood and Order of the Pleroma, but it must be clearly understood, that although the Pleroma is publicly known to the world, there are also a number of other bodies who have remained unknown to the general public.  They also are the recipients of the Gnosis.  There is a very definite connection between the Pleroma and the hidden bodies and this link was forged by the initiation of Richard, Duc de Palatine into each and every one of them.  It could be said that the Pleroma is the Outer School belonging to the Hidden Church.

The Hidden Church or The Invisible Empire of Light constitutes the Army of Evolving Souls of all mankind.  This Army is made up of the ordinary soldier in the ranks whose lesson it is to obey the regulations of the Army, but as the human Soul graduates from the ranks and becomes an NCO, he now assumes more responsibility and graduates further and further out of the ranks as he learns more and more of the regulations and learns to accept more important responsibility in order that he shall become a captain or colonel and eventually a general and so on.

As in any army, so you have the various ranks of responsibility in the Army of Souls, as every stage or initiation is successfully passed the student-soldier is granted a commission from the King of the Empire.  This process is known to the outer world as the Path of Holiness.  This Army obeys the Will of the King under its Commanding Officer who is known in the West as St Michael.  This Hidden Church or Empire is governed in the same manner as the Kingdom of Great Britain is governed.  You have the King and His Ministers of the various departments of Life, they are called the Princes of Light.  Each Prince has under Him a descending ladder of Minor Officials, these being the Initiates ranging from the 1^st degree to the 4^th degree.  Each one of these Initiates has around him a smaller group of pupils whom he directs in the business of the King, they are known as the Younger Brothers whilst the Initiates are the Elder Brothers.  Each Member of the Army owes complete obedience to the King of the Invisible Empire of Light.

The King rules two kingdoms, yet in reality the two kingdoms are but the life and form aspects of the one Kingdom of Light.  So from age to age from the Invisible Church a great Prince of Light becomes an Ambassador of the King and descends to earth to assume a mortal body in order to teach and help mankind along the Path of Light.  These Princes have come to every civilisation and restated in the form and language suitable to the people of the Kingdom of Earth the age-old facts of his eventual restoration to his Spiritual Home.

In every century, seven of these Ambassadors descend to earth and are responsible for the quickening of the seven departments of man’s earthly endeavours, they deal with:  the Leadership, Teaching, Philosophic, The Artisan, The Mystic and the Organisation aspects.  Each Ambassador may be a pupil of a Master or an Initiate and it is his or her responsibility to sound the key-note for the new age, in the main these embodiments of the Light come silently and fulfil their task and then pass away before the majority of the people realise that God has walked amongst them and the great opportunity they have missed.

Let us not run away with the stupid notion that the Ambassador is a creature from another planet or someone who must be bowed down before and adored – in fact, the Ambassador is more likely to appear to be more ordinary than yourselves – in other words, he will be, or is, a person just like the rest of us no different in every way – he may be born a prince or a labourer but this concerns the outer shell only.  The inner nature of the Ambassador is always veiled to the public, for instance, if he is a century Messenger, he will have the human and Divine Souls perfectly aligned, as in the case of Jacob Boehme and H P Blavatsky, he also becomes an embodiment of God.  Should the century be at the end of a minor cycle, then you will find that his human and Divine Souls are aligned with the Immortal Spirit, he then becomes the embodiment of God the Holy Spirit and in the case of a major cycle, he will embody the Consciousness of God the Son through his Spirit, Soul and Human Soul.

Within the Mysteries and the Gnostic System this knowledge of the Invisible Empire of Light was only trusted to the highest Initiates as it was considered that it was far too dangerous to be in the hands of the uneducated and un-initiated.  This has been amply proved with Theosophy and its aftermath.  H P Blavatsky states: ‘There is hardly a medium who has not claimed to have seen them (The Princes of Light.)  Every bogus swindling society, for commercial purposes, now claims to be guided and directed by ‘Masters’ often supposed to be far higher than ours! … prompted either by desire for lucre, vanity, or irresponsible mediumship … had we acted on the principle of silence, such desecration would never have occurred.’  The Princes and their pupils adopt different tactics today and a pupil is under a solemn obligation never to reveal to the public, not even their trusted friends, that they are a pupil of a Prince or Master.

Go into any occult society and you will hear the empty claims of being a pupil of a master, in most cases they are the apt pupil of their own subconscious mind.  Ultimately, the burden of proof rests with them.  We ourselves have often been told that such and such a person is a pupil of ‘Comte de St German’ and we have to laugh silently to ourselves.  We have never heard the Adept who used this title called by this name, we have a secret name for Him, just as He has a secret name for us.

The lives of these Ambassadors embody the outlines of the Wisdom of God, each one dramatises the various stages in the life of the Soul of Man, each one becomes the embodiment of God for a short period of time, then must discard the mortal body and descend again to become the helper of the next Ambassador.  Each Messenger teaches the three-fold stages of attainment, through purification, then attaining Illumination, and reaching Perfection.  They again always embodied the three levels of instruction to their pupils – The Public Teachings which are exoteric in nature, and for their immediate pupils the esoteric and then for the pledged pupils the Knowledge of the Hidden Church.

Many of the earlier Ambassadors who founded the Mysteries were the Gods who descended to earth and instituted the 3 x 3 = 9 system of initiation.  It was considered that if a neophyte had passed through the nine stages of the upward climb to the Summit, he was then ready to take the 1^st Initiation into the Empire of Light.  Each stage of the Mysteries enabled the neophyte to become progressively spiritualised and be in the position to behold God face to face, this was the last and most aweful for the Mysteries.

One will find the outlines of the Hidden Church running through their doctrines and in all the succeeding manifestations of the Gnosis up to and including the beginning of the 18^th Century.  One of the reasons for the withdrawal of the true Hierophants was due to the coming of the Industrial Revolution which began to sweep Europe and the Americas, men began to turn from spiritual things and concentrated upon the accumulating of worldly wealth, every discovery made by man was turned towards selfish ends.  This was one of the reasons for Their withdrawal and the founding of Masonry and a few of the more genuine occult bodies.

The culmination of the materialisation of science, religion and philosophy had been reached at the beginning of this century (1900).  In order to combat this spread of materialism the Empire sent forth a great Adept, one of the most enigmatic personages of the century.  One thing is certain, the Comte de St Germain – whatever his real patronymic may have been – had a right to his name and title, he bought a property called San Germano, in the Italian Tyrol, and paid the Pope for the title.  He came to re-organise the Schools of Europe, and one will find his moving hand through all the societies between 1700 to the end of the 19^th Century, he also came to restore as much as possible the remaining Gnostic bodies and blend them into a single channel, that is to say the outer bodies, and His work and inspiration moved Adam Weishaupt to form The Order of the Illuminati.

There is sufficient evidence to show that he was the agent for the Templars, Rose Cross and many other Secret Assemblies, there is a suspicion, that he was preparing for the Minor Messenger who was to appear in 1975.  Let us see His movements: He inspired the Order of the Illuminati, and showed Anton Mesmer the principles of magnetism or Magnetic Masonry.  We know that the Brothers of Light of 1498 used this form of healing and also that Paracelsus practised it in his own work.  Mesmer discovered the magnetic fluid in man, he was initiated into the Fratres Lucis and the Egyptian Branch of the Brotherhood of Luxor, and it was They who elected him as the Messenger for the 18^th Century, and his work was supervised by St Germain, later Cagliostro was brought in to help, but he made mistakes and was recalled and banished to the Bastille to die there.

In 1848, H P Blavatsky was commissioned to act as the Messenger for the 19^th Century, her work was two-fold: to show the underlying unity of all religions and philosophies and to reveal the facts concerning the Empire of Light and secondly to reveal as much as that century could accept concerning the nature of the duality of Man and the methods of its restitution to its original purity.  This latter doctrine was entrusted to a few pledged pupils in London.  She was sent to Tibet to finish her three-fold training in the Arcane Discipline, she fulfilled the first stage, that of Purification and Illumination and it was under this natural faculty she was able to write ‘THE SECRET DOCTRINE’ with the help of her two Masters, we also know that ‘St Germain’ gave her considerable help in her work.

It was obviously planned that the Theosophical Society should follow the Arcane Discipline when she formed the Outer Society, with the Society itself she formed the Esoteric Section, and when she came to London she formed the “Pledged Section” of the Hidden Church.  When HPB died in 1891, she left no instructions for the continuation of both the Esoteric and Hidden Sections, they ceased to exist with her death.  The first split occurred in the society when both Judge and Besant claimed to be the Head of the Esoteric Section, but in point of fact, neither of them could claim this authority, as there was no authority to claim!

Dr Besant went to Paris and was initiated into Freemasonry.  She and a number of fellow Theosophists formed Co-Masonry, which, today, has now become a barren and lifeless organisation.  C W Leadbeater, a former Anglican Minister, joined with Bishop Wedgwood to form the Liberal Catholic Church and this also has become a semi-orthodox church teaching Theosophy instead of Gnosticism.  It was obvious that it was the intention of the Two Masters to form a new impulse based upon the three-fold division of the Philosophic (The Theosophical Society), the Sacerdotal (Liberal Catholic Church) and the Artisan (International Co-Masonry), but this effort was frustrated by the blindness of Annie Besant and C W Leadbeater.  Since this triple movement failed to implement the Arcane Discipline and the Gnosis of the Soul, it failed in its purpose and has become a stumbling block for the reception of the new impulse.  By this failure the line of Esoteric Tradition was broken.  What happens next?

H P Blavatsky stated that another Ambassador for the 20^th Century would make his or her appearance about 1975, they could be a pupil or Initiate who would reveal and demonstrate the final proofs of the Divine Nature of Man and the method of its restitution with its original purity.  Who the next Messenger will be we will have to leave to the future. 

Since H P Blavatsky was commissioned by the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood to act as Their Messenger under the guidance of two of its Brothers, her work was obviously devoted to the preparing of the ground for the 20^th Century, her work failed to achieve the goal for which it was intended.  Will the next Messenger succeed or fail?  Who can tell?

If Anton Mesmer was commissioned by the Brotherhood of Luxor to be the Messenger for the 18^th Century, then he too failed partially in his labours by the blunders of Cagliostro, just as HPB partially failed through the blunders of the governing Council of the Theosophical Society under the Presidency of Henry S Olcott, will the next Messenger also fail to achieve his or her objective through the blindness of one or a number of their Helpers?

If Mesmer was sent by the Brotherhood of Luxor and HPB by the Tibetan Brotherhood, it may be that the next Messenger will be sent forth by the Templars and Rose Cross Brotherhoods and the Messenger for the 21^st Century will be sent forth by the Esoteric Arcane College.  This may be supposition, but there are certain facts which could give some substance to the above.  When the ‘Comte de St Germain’  DIED, he was reported to have said that He would be away from Europe for about a century and then He would return to continue His labours for the Empire.

There are reports from various Centres that ‘St Germain’ is again active in Europe, England and America.  In spite of the many and confusing claims both genuine and false, there seems to emerge a fairly clear picture, that this Adept is definitely working for this century, he has been reported to have been in St Petersburg in Russia before the Revolution and to have warned the Czar of Russia of coming events.  At a Council held in Paris before the last war of the Heads of many of the Assemblies, St Germain presided.  From the deliberations of this Council a directive was sent out to a number of the Brothers in various parts of the world to be prepared to work with the new impulse.  It would appear fairly obvious that the next Messenger would work under the supervision of the ‘Comte de St Germain’.

It may be well to make this perfectly clear to all and sundry, The Order of the Pleroma does not claim to be the only organisation teaching and practising the Arcane Discipline, there are many small private Schools scattered around the globe following the Discipline under various forms, but what we do state is that the Pleroma is the only public body proclaiming the ancient Arcane Discipline and that it can trace its descent and authority from the ancient Mystery Schools.

The Pleroma can appeal only to and assist individuals who have outgrown the need for Father-figures and organised spirituality, since they have realised that the real Image of the Father-figure is not external but is an internal Self and that the method to achieve the realisation of this Real Self is by one’s own personal effort.  Therefore, it is logical that achievement of the Real Man cannot be made through organised spirituality, but on the other hand, such organised bodies can and will assist the individual a part of the way, then they are on their own.  The Pleroma is not organised spirituality, it is a method to be followed in one’s personal life, all that the Pleroma can do for its Members is to point the way and assist the member in whatever way it can, but in the main, the work must be done by the members alone.  Hence the reason why the Pleroma cannot make any promises to you, for to do so would be gross dishonesty.

There is sufficient evidence to show that the Princes of Light do try to impress suitable individuals to form organised groups of students in the hope that such a group will become a channel whereby the Will of the Father may become manifest on earth, but there is always the danger of this effort being frustrated by the lower nature of both the leader and its members for when self-seeking, pride and arrogance gain the upper hand the channel becomes clogged and the Power from on High cannot flow forth, the body concerned then becomes useless in the Hand of the Father.   In the main, organisations which have been formed with high and pure aspirations in the beginning generally become crystallised in their ways of thinking and behaviour and are unable to change with the ever increasing tempo of life, they then become outmoded and useless in the New Age.

If the body follows the Arcane Discipline then it must according to the Law of Change also change from time to time in order to meet the conditions of the new impulse, but it is where there manifests a resistance to this change within the Group that we find the group falling short of the Plan of God.

Unlike most organised bodies, the Pleroma is not strictly an organised body, since it only has one Outer Head who realises that the Will of God is directive in its drives and its purpose is unchangeable, but that its form of expression is changeable.  Therefore, the Pleroma remains flexible and can change when it is necessary to change.  This process of change is evident both in the writings of its Head and the framework in 1955.

There is a saying that when a body refuses to change then it ceases to have any value in human life, in fact, it can and does act as a rigid wall to further progress for the student.  Hence the reason for our criticisms of most of the old-established spiritual movements, they have obviously outlived their usefulness and instead of changing with nature, they seek to retain the status quo upon which they first began.  In order to retain this status quo, they are compelled to enter into acts which are in the main antagonistic to the Will of God.

Before the Pleroma accomplishes its objective for this age, there must be further changes in its structure, it must be prepared to scrap its present form of presentation, if it has been proved to be ineffectual and adopt another approach.  Admittedly, there will be those members who will resent this change and will retire, taking with them members of like mind to form another body without due authority from the Empire of Light, but in spite of this and other contingencies, the main directive drive of the Outer Head will continue along the line of the Thought of the Empire.

Finally, there is always a period of slow growth for any group, the foundation stones have to be squared and laid firmly before the super-structure is built, the stones are actually human beings who are able to fit into the foundations for the future.  Each stone must be squared, levelled and oriented to the Higher Self, then the foundations will be firm and lasting.  This period of preparation is nearing an end for the Pleroma when the doors will be opened to all and sundry, but until we have a band of Illumined of partially illumined men and women to build upon, this period of change and preparation must continue until the expansion of the Pleroma, when it is ready then the Hidden Section will be formed, that of The Pre-Nicene Catholic Church and not before.  One stage becomes the foundations for the erection of the next stage and so on ad infinitum.

Pre History

The history of Atlantis is the key to the various mythologies of the ancient Mediterranean and Central American nations and can also be the hidden key to the doctrine of the Army of the Elect.  In order to understand our meaning, we must remember that it always has been the human tendency to attach Divine attributes to great earthly rulers and wise men and this tendency is one deeply implanted in human nature.  In this light there can be no question that these ancient gods and super-men were originally human beings.

The priest of Sais in Egypt said to Solon, the great Law Giver, that the Greeks were ignorant of their past history, whereas it has been proved that the civilisation of Egypt was old and established at the time of Manes, the first known king of Egypt.  This has been shown by their institutions, their laws, and their most brilliant achievements.  Recent findings have placed the beginnings of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Hindu cultures at round about 11,500 BC, which could coincide with the shattering destruction of Plato’s Island of Atlantis in 9564 BC

There is evidence to show that Egypt was already a colony of Atlantis, whereas Greece became a culture after the fate of Atlantis.  Poseidon, the first King of Atlantis built the first city of Athens and it was his son Eumolpus who founded the Mysteries of Eleusis and became the first Hierophant.  The Traditions of Greece, Attica, and the Egyptians state that their people came from the mountains of an island in the midst of the ocean in the remote west and which stood beyond the western confines of the known earth.  The Greeks say that their gods came from Olympus or the Garden of the Hesperides which was situated at the extreme limit of Africa beyond the Pillars of Hercules, they all speak of the Atlanteans as being wise, and that they communicated their wisdom to men beyond their island, this means that the Rulers of Atlantis civilised the people with whom they came into contact.

Further, when one studies the traditions of the Egyptians, Greeks, North Africans, Chaldeans and Jews, etc., all look to the islands in the west as the source of their civilisations, their mythologies of the people are various memories of the history of Atlantis and its Divine Rulers.  The Empire of the Titans was very extensive, they ruled over Phrygia, Trace, Italy, the Island of Crete, Spain, Ireland and Brittany, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Chaldea are all connected with the post-deluge civilisations of the Mediterranean, then we find similar cultures and civilisations extending from the north to the south in the Americas whose traditions also claim that their forefathers came from the land within the midst of the ocean towards the east.

All of the above tends to show that the foundations and fountain-head of the Arcane Discipline stems from Plato’s fabled Island of Atlantis, a land and a time where men lived in a Golden Age, where the people lived as gods in a land of plenty, with many mountains and a beautiful level plain, through which flowed four navigable rivers which were also used for irrigation the land was divided into ten kingdoms which were ruled by ten fabulous kings who were part-takers of the divine nature and preserved their sanctity and were the Guardians of the Land of Eden wherein were to be found the Golden Apples of Eternal Life.

The Sceptre of Poseidon, the three-pronged Trident, was considered the mark of perfection, but it also indicated the three divisions of the Good Law, and the application of the Good Law in this Golden Age of Atlantis was administered by nine of the fabulous kings which were subject to Poseidon the Divine Emperor, here we have a hint of the 3 x 3 = 9 system which combining the Hierophant gives the perfect number TEN of Plato.  Atlantis was divided into three races, one was warlike, one peaceful, and the third were navigators of the globe.  Here we have the legend of the two opposing natures within man and also the two principles in the cosmos.

The history of Atlantis covered many ages and successive generations of Divine Kings.  The island was surrounded by a great circular ditch into which flowed four rivers in the form of a cross, this was the pre-Christian emblem of the Garden of Eden.  It implies that mankind in those ancient times was fully conscious of their divine nature, but after the destruction of Atlantis the Egyptians claimed that “no divinity has appeared in human shape”, man began to forget that he was a divine being who had descended from the gods.  Once realising that the basis of the legend and teaching of the Arcane Discipline is to be found in Plato’s narrative of Atlantis and Heredotus’s description of the grandeur of ancient Egypt, or Prescott’s picture of the civilisation of Peru, all stand witness to the incredible ancestry of the Discipline.

The wisdom and knowledge of man and the universe attained by the Atlanteans were never lost through its destruction, as Plato tells us that this vast power was gathered into one empire which stretched from Egypt to Peru, a vast consolidated empire covered the whole of the known world.  It was only when the central kingdom of Atlantis was destroyed by water that the memory of this land passed into legend and mythology.  This event occurred about 10,000 years BC

In order to preserve the records of man’s divine past and his history, the descendents of the Divine Kings founded the Mystery Religions of the remaining nations: In Egypt the Mysteries were founded by Thoth a son of the last king of Atlantis and in Athens by Eumolpus, by Moses or Meropes in Judaea, Gilgamesh of Chaldea, Manu of the Hindus, King Satyavrta of the Vedas.  In America, the Aztecs claim that Nata founded their Mysteries.  In all these founders we find the prefix of either AD or AT being placed at the beginning of their names, surely as a reminder of their motherland – Atlantis – the cradle of the present races of mankind.

In order to explain the similarities of the arts, sciences, habits, customs and traditions to be found on both sides of the Atlantic, it is stupid to accept the notion that the people on both sides of the Atlantic invented their cultures simultaneously, the only logical explanation is that where the Atlantic is now was once a vast land or island which acted as stepping stones from one sphere to another.  To state that the Mediterranean expositions of the Arcane Discipline were evolved independently to those exposed on the American continent is foolish, it is logical that they all were derived from a fountain-head, which is to be found in the Lost Atlantis.

It is not our purpose to show that the existence of Atlantis can be proven to be a fact in history, as there are others who are better equipped to deal with this question.  Our purpose in presenting the foregoing is simply to show that the foundations of what we call Occult Science or the Arcane Discipline originated in Atlantis, and that at the root of our legends, myths and traditions of the Mystery System is to be found the memory of a time when men walked the earth as gods and as a living witness that man will again walk the earth as a God-Incarnate.  To those who may try to decry our claims, let them first hesitate a little and study the religious beliefs of the people on both sides of the Atlantic, they will find a continuum of doctrines, principles and the reasons for the establishment of the Mysteries.

The basis of all the Mystery Systems of the planet tell the same story, the story of the fall of man from his divine state and of his being banished to the darkness of the tomb of flesh within the valley of death, and the method of his restitution to his higher nature. For instance, the tradition of Poseidon, the last king of Atlantis being the ruler of the seas, having the Three-fold Trident and being the Emperor over nine kings, should unfold to the reader a vast field of exploration. Here you have the Trinity of Man shown in the Trident – Spirit, Soul and Body.  The Ten Kings are simply the Ten Sephiroths of the Kabala and the Ten Units of Plato.  The Circle around Atlantis and the Four Rivers flowing into it from the plain, are surely the story of the personality of man and its four-fold vestures.  The Golden Apples of the Hesperides and the plucking of them by man, surely is the Biblical Story of Eden.

So the Gnosis or the Wisdom Religion is, surely, the legendising of the memory of man when he was a Divine Man.  Surely the story of the Four Titans (Atlanteans) chaining Prometheus (the divine mankind) to the mountain crag (gross physical bodies) and the tearing out his heart every seven years (the continual fall into gross physical bodies life after life), and many hundreds of other stories to be found in the religious beliefs of the ancients and which have been carried down to our own day, have their origin in the fabulous days of Golden Atlantis.  They are records of what man was and will be in the future.

One of the most sacred of all the tenets of the Mysteries was the knowledge of “The Army of the Elect.”  Just as in the Golden Age when man walked with the gods, they considered themselves as the “Elect of Mankind,” so we have today men who have restored themselves to this station in life.  But as the Cycle of Evolution surged forward, mankind were compelled to leave this Golden Age of Purity and descend into materialisation, the dense clothing which man assumed tended to cloud his memory of his former home and he became conscious of the world around him.  In order not to allow man to entirely forget his Divine Heritage, the Divine Instructors of Atlantis caused the mysteries to be established in the remaining nations, and in these Mysteries were preserved the memory, the aims and the means whereby man could once again become as he was in Atlantis.

The Army of the Elect comprised the whole of the Celestial Hierarchy which stretched like the Ladder of Jacob between the Supreme Man and man in the flesh.  The members of this Great Army are great Souls who have attained, or who are nearing the apex of human evolution.   These Men who have gained mastery over their human nature and thus are able to live unimpeded by the “man of flesh,” and owing to their long training and discipline are once again in possession of knowledge and power commensurate with the stage of man in Atlantis.

Generally the Members of this wonderful army are sometimes called Adepts or Masters who come voluntarily back to earth to help humanity, this means that instead of passing on to higher levels of evolution, they make the supreme sacrifice and remain with humanity until it has reached Their stage.  It is only the Adepts who are called Masters who accept the responsibility of training pupils, but these pupils must have reached a certain standard of inner unfoldment, normally the stage when their Immortal Soul has gained to a measure control over their human reflection in the flesh.  But there are other Adepts who do not take pupils but work with the Great Plan in other directions.

These Adepts have passed what is known as the Fourth Initiation or the Crucifixion in the Christian Writ, but a Master-Adept is one who has attained the Fifth Initiation or the Ascension.  These Initiations are taken within the Invisible Empire of Light.  Therefore, those who have passed the fourth have reached individual salvation, the stage when the Divine Soul is completely merged into the human Soul.  Whereas those who have attained the fifth have completed their human evolution, the stage has been reached when the human Soul ceases to exist as a separate point of consciousness and is merged completely into the Divine Soul.

The SUPREME LODGE or ASSEMBLY is at present called the “Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood” which is at present located in the Gobi Desert in Asia.  The Supreme Lodge was first formed in the “City of the Golden Gate” of Atlantis, and when in 9564 BC, Atlantis sank, the Lodge Migrated to Egypt and then to Asia.  But the residence of the King of the World was moved to the Gobi some million BC, owing to the impending systematic destruction of Atlantis.

The Head of this Hierarchy has for its Head the King of the World, sometimes called the “Divine Emperor”, “Prester John” of the Chivalric Legend, “Sanat Kumara” of the Vedas, “Christ the King” of modern Catholicism, and the “Father” of Jesus.  He was known as Poseidon of Atlantis, the surname of the ancient kings of Atlantis, Chronos of Greece, the Putah of the Egyptians.  This King descended from Venus some 16 million years ago to take over the rulership of this our earth.  We have called this Hierarchy the “Invisible Empire of Light” for obvious reasons.  This Hierarchy of Ten Mighty Beings guide and drives the vast complex machine of Evolution to its final destiny.  It would appear that the civilisation of Atlantis was the materialisation of the Empire of material forms.

This vast Empire of Light which comprises the whole of the visible and invisible Energies of God is composed of Ten great Officials.  This vast field of Evolution is called the PLEROMA and is the Field of Evolution for the Supreme Man-Soul of our Solar System standing above and yet within the Pleroma we have the Logos (God) who shows Himself in Three Aspects: God the Father, the Will to Create; the Son, the Wisdom to Create and finally, the Holy Spirit, the results of the first two.  From the Four comes the Seven Spirits before the Pleromic Throne, they are responsible to the Logos for the evolution of the visible and invisible Planet.

Then we have the Four Lords of Destiny who are responsible for the balancing of the two Forces in Nature and Man, within the Pleroma.  Hence we see the Four Rivers flowing within the Circle of Atlantis.  These Beings never descend lower than the seventh region of the Pleroma, but They are represented by Human Beings on every level within the Pleroma.  Therefore, the word PLEROMA is a Gnostic term denoting the Supreme Soul, it is SPACE, developed and divided into a series of Aeons or Rulers of the Regions of Existence.

We must remember that these Ten Mighty Beings do not belong strictly to our earth Evolution as such, yet in a mysterious way they embody the earth evolution within Themselves.  They belong to the Logos of the Solar System strictly speaking, as we have tried to show in the Monographs of the Order of the Pleroma.  They are actually fragments of the Supreme Solar Soul and are solely responsible for the fulfilment of their part of the Solar Evolution.

Let us explain this paradox in this wise: The Solar Logos follows the same pattern as does the Planetary Logos.  It also manifests as a Solar Trinity, then through the Four Expressions are formed the Seven Planets and the three hidden planets, so you have the Ten Solar Beings.  But the planetary Logos becomes the Ruling Providence or God for its respective Pleroma.  So you have ten smaller Pleromas making up the Solar Pleroma.

Just as the Solar God is compelled to fragment Its Life to form the Ten Planets which make up our Solar System, so does the Planetary Logos follow the same procedure.  It fragments itself into the parts and the parts fall into the various regions of its essence, as the One lives in the parts by virtue of its original fragmentation of Itself, so the parts live in the Whole.

We now know that matter is simply the crystalisation of Divine Energy or Light and since this Light is the Pleroma of all Being, the logical term to give the Governing Intelligences is the “Empire of Light”.  This means that you will have the explanation as to why we say that you are not “members” of the Pleroma, but you are actually the Pleroma itself.  Just as every part of the Pleroma is responsible and dependent upon the parts for its existence and well-being in order to bring the WHOLE to Perfection.

It will now be seen that the choice of title for this organism was not made without careful thought on our part, we took the designation of the Parent Whole.  “As above; as below, that which is mirrored in the Whole must be reflected in the parts, and for the Whole to become perfected, so the parts must first become perfected in man.”

From 1977 Until The Present Day

by

Archbishop Count George Boyer

Since Richard, Duc de Palatine died in 1977 the work of the Gnosis has taken on many guises and has appeared in many forms.

In the USA the Gnostic movement has formed a consortium under the banner of the Eglise Gnostique Catholique Apostolique (EGCA), now consisting on many forms of the Gnostic Church, including the link up with the churches in France. In England we have taken a more secluded approach in order to implement links with the more esoteric side of the Gnostic Teachings

Our church in Britain has been re-named, under Bishop Boyer, and is now known as the Pre Nicene Ekklesia, in succession from the original church, The Pre Nicene Church founded by the Late Richard, Duc de Palatine in 1953.  This church follows the same Eucharist as the original church and teaches the same doctrines.

In an Announcement from the Empire of Light made in October 1997 the Grand Archon, Count George Boyer, changed the name of the Brotherhood and Order of the Pleroma to The Guardians of the Way, retaining the same authorities of that organisation. This change was motivated for the reasons explained on page 21 of this publication, and because Richard, Duc de Palatine’s work, especially the esoteric side, continues in close contact with the Adepts working on the ‘inner levels’.  Little is mentioned about the Inner Section, The Ekklesia Spiritualis, for which Count Boyer has now become the Outer Head and the door will open for those prepared to take the steps required of them to qualify for membership.  This move will take members of the Church into a higher sphere of their spiritual evolution, onwards towards the Hidden Church revealed in this document.

Richard Duc de Palatine has given hints about the Ekklesia Spiritualis in part V. of his work The Disciplina Arcani, and further references are found within this work as the ‘Elect’.

To clarify the difference between Cosmic Initiation and the initiations in most other orders or groups – during the process of Cosmic Initiation the candidate experiences the actual requirements needed for the degree into which he is being initiated, unlike the initiations given in many Masonic, Rose Cross and Martinist Orders where the member is simply stepped up according to the length of time they have been a member, or according to how much has been contributed to the order in material terms, and only go through an exoteric ritual.  During the process of a Cosmic Initiation the candidate comes under the direction of our invisible Mentors, and the candidate can experience either a painful time or one of beautiful peace: in this way the process actually takes one through the portals of inner experience, and one grows nearer to becoming an Adept within the Hidden Church or the Empire of Light.

The present Christian Church is not entirely unaware of the Disciplina Arcani because a Roman Catholic Priest, Edward Yarnold SJ, has written a book called “The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation”, wherein there is a whole chapter on this subject, but because he is not an Initiate of the Mysteries he has missed the real depths of its meaning. Further information can be found in “Gnostic and Historic Christianity” by Gerald Massey, “The Arcane Schools” by John Yarker Jnr., and “The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary” by Karl von Eckhartshausen.  Whilst little reference is given to the Discipline within the present Rose Cross and Masonic type fraternities, it is, nevertheless, still preserved and practiced in the more esoteric schools.

The 3 x 3  = 9 system mentioned in this work by Richard is now operated, mainly by the inner processes that are set to work within the student, and is not applied in a ritual sense.  We have found that when a candidate enters the Mysteries proper, the right conditions are immediately set in place by the Hidden Church to which our work belongs.

The study of the true mysteries is not an intellectual one akin to the pursuit of academic or theological knowledge, although at later stages the candidate needs to become erudite in the application of the doctrines should he be called upon to teach others.  Whilst the early stages of training are done in collectives, the more advanced training is undertaken on a one-to-one basis, during which entry into the higher areas of awareness is made possible.  The teacher cannot give you the advanced initiations, the candidate has to undergo these from the inside of their being.  It is a personal process, and only when the candidate has completed the primary stages of purification can it take place.  The Hidden Church is in control of all work done – it is not the work of the teacher to do this, but he, or she, does trigger the commencement.

Thus, the teachings given by the Guardians have their source within the Solar Intelligence Itself, and are not ‘channelled’ by means of an intervening entity.  They are given to the student directly from this Source, and therefore remain untainted even by the mind of the teacher.  This is the true and genuine method which has always been in existence throughout the ages from those great beings who live unrecognised within the community of mankind.  Only Purity, Patience and Perseverance will get you there.