Papus

Gerard Encausse , known as Papus (July 13rd 1865 with Coruña - October 25th 1916 with Paris) is a occultist French, cofounder of the Ordre Martiniste with Augustin Chaboseau.

Biography

Born from a French father and a Spanish mother, Gerard Anaclet Vincent Encausse passed all his youth to Paris, where it was accepted doctor of medicine. Before even finishing its studies, it had been given for task to fight against the Scientisme of the time by spreading doctrines nourished with the sources of the Western esotericism. Encausse, which was made call Papus according to the name of a spirit of the Nyctameron of Apollonius de Tyane, was an uncontested leader. It was defended to be a miracle-worker or one inspired and was presented in the form of a scientist, an experimenter. He owes his ideas with Saint-Yves d' Alveydre, Wronski and especially with Eliphas Lévi and Fabre d' Olivet. In addition, the thought of Louis-Claude of Saint Martin's day left on him a deep trace starting from 1889 approximately, shortly after its rupture (in 1888) with the Société Théosophique of Mrs. Blavatsky. It is in 1889 also that it is affiliated with the Ordre Kabbalistique of the Rosicrucian brotherhood founded by Péladan and Guaita this year.

The Martiniste Order, created by Papus and Augustin Chaboseau in 1891, owes its name with the memory of Saint Martin's day and perhaps with that of Martines de Pasqually. In its official review, Initiation, founded by Papus in 1888, one raised the names of Stanislas de Guaita, Péladan, Charles Barlet, Matgioi, Marc Haven, Paul Sédir, Albert de Rochas, Lucien Chamuel. But, at least for a long time, the names of Martines de Pasqually, Saint Martin's day, or Willermoz are much quoted there than those of Fabre d' Olivet and Eliphas Lévi. The first martinists of reputation were Paul Adam, Maurice Barrès, Stanislas de Guaita, Victor-Emile Michelet and Péladan.

In addition it set up an organizing group of the courses and the conferences aiming at making discover with the researchers the values of the Western esotericism. It became soon the circle external of the Martiniste Order, and, after being called Free University of Hermetic Sciences , took finally the name of Hermetic Faculty of Science . The courses were numerous (a dozen per month approximately), and the studied subjects went from the Kabbale to the Alchimie and the Tarot, while passing by the history of the hermetic philosophy. Papus, Sédir, V-E Michelet, and A. Chaboseau, inter alia, played the professors. The section Alchemy, directed by François Jollivet-Castellot, is at the origin of the Alchemical Société of France .

This vast hermetic movement, whose Papus was one of the acting hearts, is without any doubt inseparable from the literature Symbolist of this time, although it itself was naturally much more directed towards the mysteries of the occultism than towards the esthetic searchs of Mallarmé or Villiers of Isle-Adam. On their side, the Symbolists hardly found in the revival esoteric but topics of inspiration. The martinism, moreover, seems at that time only one of the many demonstrations of this revival.

Papus had an impressive literary production, which was worth to him the nickname of “Balzac” of the occultism. Of aucuns however reproach him for having missed rigor in its work on the Qabbale. By its talents of popularizer, it contributed to open the spirits of its time to the sharp sources of the analogical thought and creative imagination, continuing in that work that Eliphas Lévi had undertaken ( the Disciples of the occult science , Paris, 1888; elementary Treaty of occultism , Paris, 1898; methodical Treaty of the occult sciences , Paris, 1891; contemporary Occultism , Paris, 1887, etc)

In autumn of 1905, Nicolas II, with the catches with the social disturbances, called it with Tsarskoïe Selo to require council of him. Papus evoked then, during a magic operation, the spirit of Alexandre III, which recommended repression and announced a revolution great scale. Papus affirmed with the Tsar that this revolution would not burst as much as itself would be alive. The Main Philippe of Lyon, genuine guide of Papus, enjoys, him also of a great moral authority near the tsar, with whom it had predicted the birth of the successor to the throne, but the arrival of Raspoutine the évinça. The visit of Papus with Nicolas II, haloed stay of mystery, is only one episode among others in this strange but fertile life.

The Martiniste Order, which quickly recruited members in many countries, will know periods of sleep caused by the wars, but it is again in activity since 1952, thanks to the action of Philippe Encausse, the son of Papus.

Pierre-Augustin Chaboseau, with the assistance of Victor-Emile Michelet, creates the Order Martiniste Traditionnel in 1931. Its members are divided into three degrees and work in heptades (in masonry, one would say ranks and cabins). The highest degree is that of S.I (Higher or Unknown Servant). The women are allowed there as well as the men.

Cette biography is inspired largely by that (under copyleft) which one can find on the http://www.la-rose-bleue.org site. Other photographs of Papus and its entourage are visible with the address: http://www.la-rose-bleue.org/Biographies/Papus.html

Papus seen by its contemporaries

“At old the mystagogues, Papus is the name of the Genius of Science and the Cure. The good Gerard Encausse, officer of health, had affublé themselves of this name without finding it ridiculous. Square of shoulders, squat, almost bedonnant before about thirty, with severe features at the same time the black poupins and, hair, the beard cut in square, it made crack with the armholes its frock coat, which it always wore, and which one felt too narrow for his thick members. ” (Michel de Lézinier, With Huysmans - Walks and memories , Paris, Delpeuch, 1928, p.167)

“That one was the ox among these impromptu evangelists. Very hard-working, excellent organizer, it dug his furrow with the plow of a encyclopedism unfortunately too hasty. He manufactured enormous books of bric and pitcher, with quotations and engravings gathered a little everywhere, amalgamating the texts, without bringing there cete perverse and personal savor which at least emanates from the pages of Guaita. (Jules Wood, Invisible Le Monde , Paris, Flammarion, s.d., p.30)

Works of Papus

Treated elementary of occult science , Paris, Square, 1888.
Key absolute of the occult sciences: the Tarot of the Gipsies , Paris, Square, 1889.
the Philosopher's stone, irrefutable evidence of its existence, Paris, Square, 1889.
the Cabal, methodical summary , Paris, elementary Square, 1892.
Treated of occultism (1893) scientific diffusion, Paris XVII.
Of the treatment of local obesity , Paris, Chamuel, 1898.
Recording devices intended for the study of the subjects and médiums , Paris, 1909.
the Conflict Russo-Japanese and the magnetic numbers , methodical Paris, 1912.
Treated of occult science , in 2 volumes, Dangles Editions, methodical Paris
Traité of magic practices , Editions Dangles, Paris

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