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1El Ven.
2H:: Jean Bricaud (1881-1943) Fue patriarca gnóstico, Rector de la Orden de la Rosa Cruz y Gran Maestro de la Orden Martinista de Lyon, así como Presidente de la Sociedad Ocultista Internacional.
3Fue también Gran Hierofante, para Francia del Rito Masónico de Menfis-Misraím, asumiendo tal puesto el 10 de dic. de 1919, pues dicho puesto había quedado acéfalo desde el 25 de septiembre de 1918, por el fallecimiento del Hno.
4Dettré, quien había sucedido al Gran Maestro PAPUS.
5El Hno.
6Jean Bricaud es, casi en todo, el opuesto de Willermoz: Nace el 11 de febrero de 1881 en el pueblito de Thoy y su familia lo dedicó al sacerdocio, razón por la cual estudió en el Pequeño Seminario de Meximieux.
7Basta mirar si fisonomía para reconocer en seguida las faces del místico, de salud delicada y de fuertes tendencias por lo psicológico y lo metafísico.
8Desde 1897 abandona los estudios sacerdotales y se hace empleado de banco y estudiante de ocultismo.
9Frecuente centros espiritistas y estudia el magnetismo con el Maestro Phillipe Niziers (Amo), así como Cábala con Jacques Charrot, uno de los discípulos de Eliphas Levi.
10El Gnosticismo le atrae y lo estudia con Sophronius (Dr.Fugairon), así como la filosofía sintética con Revel.
11Se hace iniciar en la Masonería y más tarde en el Martinismo, prefiriendo luego la vía willermozista, es decir, de tendencia masónica.
12En 1901 abandona su primera vía gnóstica y da su adhesión a Synesius, patriarca gnóstico de gran valor.
13Publica sus primeros libros en 1902.
14En 1904 publica “Primeros elementos de ocultismo”.
15Se casa en 1905 pero, sin felicidad en este matrimonio, se divorciará en 1911.
16En 1906 crece su actividad y publica “Elementos de Astrología” y un folleto sobre la “Pequeña Iglesia Concordatoria”.
17Se liga más íntimamente con Sophronius, el doctor gnóstico que tendrá sobre Bricaud una influencia quizás desfavorable, pues le lleva a querer ver todo bajo el ángulo de la razón fría, tanto que en 1907, ambos se separan del místico Synesius por hallarlo más poeta que filósofo y más artista que teólogo; siente demasiado y no discute bastante, por lo visto.
18Después sigue Bricaud trabajando en pequeñas obras destinadas a difundir la Gnosis, de una manera “racional”, ES DECIR, COMO DOGMA FILOSÓFICO.
19En 1908, Bricaud, aún sin asistir, se interesa por el gran Congreso Espiritual Internacional, organizado por Papus, bajo los auspicios del Martinismo, de cuya escuela Bricaud poseía el 3er.
20Grado desde 1903.
21Se había dedicado más, es verdad, como ya dije, al estudio de la parte willermozista, es decir, al filosofismo de logia y Bricaud se plegó a los que opinaban que Papus había reorganizado el Martinismo sobre bases deferentes del willermozismo, lo que era verdad, pues Papus hizo del Martinismo una escuela de Iniciación completa, mixta, mística y curando por millones.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1The Venerable
2Brother Jean Bricaud (1881–1943) [Sic: the heading prints 1943; the article itself gives his death correctly as 21 February 1934]. He was Gnostic patriarch, Rector of the Order of the Rose-Cross and Grand Master of the Martinist Order of Lyon, as well as President of the International Occultist Society.
3He was also Grand Hierophant for France of the Masonic Rite of Memphis-Misraïm, assuming that post on 10 December 1919, since it had been vacant from 25 September 1918 through the death of Brother
4Détré, who had succeeded Grand Master PAPUS.
5Brother
6Jean Bricaud is, in almost everything, the opposite of Willermoz. He is born on 11 February 1881 in the little town of Thoy, and his family destined him for the priesthood, for which reason he studied at the Little Seminary of Meximieux.
7One need only look at his physiognomy to recognise at once the aspects of the mystic — of delicate health and with strong leanings toward the psychological and the metaphysical.
8From 1897 he abandons his priestly studies and becomes a bank clerk and a student of occultism.
9He frequents spiritist centres and studies magnetism with Master Philippe Nizier (Amo), as well as Kabbalah with Jacques Charrot, one of the disciples of Eliphas Lévi.
10Gnosticism attracts him and he studies it with Sophronius (Dr. Fugairon), as well as synthetic philosophy with Revel.
11He has himself initiated into Masonry and later into Martinism, afterwards preferring the Willermozist way — that is, the one of masonic tendency.
12In 1901 he abandons his first gnostic way and gives his adherence to Synesius, a gnostic patriarch of great worth.
13He publishes his first books in 1902.
14In 1904 he publishes “First Elements of Occultism”.
15He marries in 1905 but, finding no happiness in this marriage, will divorce in 1911.
16In 1906 his activity grows and he publishes “Elements of Astrology” and a pamphlet on the “Little Concordatory Church”.
17He binds himself more closely to Sophronius, the gnostic doctor who was to have a perhaps unfavourable influence upon Bricaud, leading him to see everything under the angle of cold reason — so much so that in 1907 the two separate from the mystic Synesius, finding him more poet than philosopher and more artist than theologian: he feels too much and does not argue enough, apparently.
18Afterwards Bricaud goes on working at small works intended to spread the Gnosis in a “rational” manner — THAT IS, AS PHILOSOPHICAL DOGMA.
19In 1908 Bricaud, though not attending, takes an interest in the great International Spiritualist Congress organised by Papus under the auspices of Martinism, of whose school Bricaud had held the 3rd
20Degree since 1903.
21He had devoted himself more, it is true, as I have said, to the study of the Willermozist part — that is, to lodge philosophism; and Bricaud sided with those who held that Papus had reorganised Martinism on bases different from Willermozism, which was true, for Papus made of Martinism a complete school of Initiation, mixed, mystical, and healing by the million.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
Here the article states the real difference between the two branches, and does not pretend it is small: Bricaud's Martinism excluded mixed initiation and admitted only masons, and therefore grew more slowly than Papus's "by virtue of the necessity of gathering only masons and of excluding women". Montevideo follows Papus, and says so.
And then the generosity: although Bricaud's branch went another way, "all who work for the same ideal… ought to feel themselves brothers", and he is commemorated every 21 February regardless. The magazine states a disagreement and then refuses to make it a quarrel.
The correct date, in the body of the article: Bricaud died 21 February 1934, aged 53, having named Chevillon his successor. Chevillon was alive when this was printed and was murdered in March 1944, fourteen months later.
"1872 – CEDAIOR – 1943." The founder of the South American Martinist Order died on 22 January 1943, three weeks before this number went out, and the magazine announces it in five lines with the biography promised for the next issue. Nº 9 p. 2, printed the month before, had described him installing the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross at Curitiba in 1927 and continuing as its President "in Active Silence". This is the last issue in which he is written of as living.
The 21st of February carries three commemorations at once — Willermoz, the Unknown Martinists, and Bricaud — and the issue gives one article to each. It is the only number in the run built entirely around a single date.
Willermoz was indeed a contemporary of Martines de Pasqually and the pivotal figure of Lyon masonry. The dates here are close but not exact against the standard references, which give his birth as 10 July 1730 rather than the 1st, and his death as 29 May 1824 rather than the 20th. The internal arithmetic holds either way: 1730 to 1824 is the 94 years the article states.
The meeting that matters: Willermoz, in Paris on silk business in early 1767, is initiated by Martines de Pasqually into the Rite of the Élus Coëns — "the basis of the future Martinism". The article is careful to date it and to explain why he was in Paris at all, which is the kind of detail that makes a chronology checkable.
A striking piece of internal criticism: Martines protests that Willermoz was raised to Rose-Croix prematurely by a badly executed ceremonial, and predicts it will mark his whole initiatic life. The article then endorses the prediction — "Willermoz never achieved much either in the magical or in the mystical way". A commemorative piece that declines to flatter its subject.
The Convent des Gaules of 1778 and the Convent of Wilhelmsbad of 1782 are both historical, as is Willermoz's achievement in carrying the grades of Profès and Grand Profès — Élus Coën teaching in masonic dress — into the Strict Observance. The article's account of the backlash is also fair: the reform did not take in the lodges.
Willermoz's turn to magnetism in 1784 and his entry into "La Concorde" belong to the real Lyon story, and Mesmer was in France in exactly those years. The diagnosis of diseases in horses "afterwards verified by autopsy" is reported by the article, not evidenced.
The Cahier de l'Agent Inconnu is genuine and is the best-known document of the Lyon circle — revelations received from 1785 through a young woman described as a magnetic subject. The article calls this the summit of Willermoz's personal mystical career, and on the evidence of the archive that is a defensible judgement.
The verdict is the most honest sentence in the article: revere in him "not a great initiate but, especially, the man of heart", who attempted the hardest thing — "to try to re-spiritualise masonic rites" — and then, drily, "whoever has tried it knows what it means."
The closing point is made deliberately and is the magazine's own position: women have always had the right to be initiated in truly initiatic rites, and Willermoz initiated his own sister and Mlle. de Chevrier. It sets up the criticism of Bricaud two pages later for excluding them.
The heading is wrong. It prints "Jean Bricaud (1881–1943)"; the article itself gives his death correctly at p. 6 as 21 February 1934, at the age of 53 — which is right, and which is why the 21st of February is a commemoration at all. 1881 to 1934 is 53 years; 1881 to 1943 would be 62. The compositor appears to have set the current year. Marked [Sic] in the translation.
Two threads open here. Bricaud studied magnetism with Maître Philippe of Lyon — "Philippe Nizier (Amo)" — who reappears on p. 17 as one of the Masters most often seen or felt by members of the Order. And he studied Kabbalah with Jacques Charrot, "one of the disciples of Eliphas Lévi", which puts the magazine two steps from Lévi by its own account.
The chain of office is accurately given: Téder (Charles Détré) succeeded Papus and died on 25 September 1918, leaving the Memphis-Misraïm hierophancy vacant until Bricaud assumed it on 10 December 1919. The dates are the ones the Order's own records give.
The commemoration of the Unknown Martinists is analysed on three planes — moral, astral, spiritual — and the middle one is the most revealing: performing the ceremony is said to set the accumulated work of the dead vibrating in the terrestrial atmosphere and so to "re-vitalise the Invisible Current of the Order". Memory is treated as a mechanism, not a sentiment.
Paschimottanasana is correctly named and described — seated, legs extended, forehead to the knees, the great toes grasped — and the instruction to hold the breath throughout and to increase by one minute a day to a maximum of ten is specific enough to follow. The half posture offered to those who cannot fold is sound teaching.
The claims made for this posture are the most extensive in the run: cure of liver inflammation, gastritis, lumbago, rheumatic pain, haemorrhoids, constipation, and the disappearance of neck wrinkles. These are reproduced as printed and are not endorsed. The account of the spleen absorbing solar energy and individualising it as "pale rose" particles is period occult physiology, not anatomy.
The glossary on Ida, Pingala and Sushumna is accurate to the tradition: the left current negative and lunar, the right positive and solar, the central channel between them, with Sushumna also identified with the spinal cord. Naming Pingala "the Vehicle of the Gods" and locating the doctrine in a Taraka Raja Yoga school is a Theosophical framing rather than a Sanskrit one.
The annual report is the most administratively candid document in the run. The Grand Council grew from 13 members to 17; it aims at 21 "as it was in the time of Papus and as it ought to be, in accordance with our internal Law Nº 1". An occult order publishing its own constitutional arithmetic is unusual.
1,122 documents passed through the register, and the writer stops to note "the influence of the numbers 11 and 22". The count is real and the numerology is imposed on it — the same move as the fifteen conspirators becoming Tarot XV in Nº 9. Worth marking because the arithmetic elsewhere in this report is scrupulous.
The cash account reconciles, but only on the second of two figures given for receipts. A balance of $411.00 brought forward and a closing balance of $3,147.85 require receipts of $2,736.85 — which is the figure the article itself uses two lines later. The $2,736.65 printed here is a slip of two digits.
The most human passage in the volume. Outsiders ask, "fraternally", what these men live on — and the President answers in public, by name: Asuri Kapila, Surya and Pitágoras have small private incomes and live very modestly on them; Jehel gives language lessons. And then the detail that settles it: the Order owes Surya $550, more than a third of its annual dues income. Nobody is drawing from it; one of them is lending to it.
"In our Order the Degrees are not given away out of friendship nor sold for gain." The claim is then supported with numbers — 17 members raised across all grades in a year, out of hundreds — which is a low enough proportion to be credible.
Third statement of parentage in three issues: the review is "made in the image and likeness of the one Papus created". Nº 2.9 p. 1 said it of the body, Nº 1.6 p. 4 named him founder of both; here it is listed as one of the year's achievements.
And here the Ramana thread closes a circle. Among the currents the Order reports serving in 1942 is "The Ramana Ashrama (the Venerable Master Maharshi)" — the same ashram a Uruguayan contributor had described visiting in Nº 1, pp. 22–25. What read as one traveller's account turns out to have been an institutional relationship.
The stated directive is explicit and worth recording given what the run is screened for: a fraternal welcome to every teaching, eastern or western, "without preferences of race, of continent or of sect, and without the predominance of one sex over the other". Printed in February 1943.
The exhibition included portraits of "the Masters Maharshi and Saint-Martin" by Sister Fátima, and 106 works by Brother Sadananda including portraits of Peter Deunov and Krishnamurti. Deunov and Krishnamurti were living men in 1942. The Press has not located the catalogue; the works are recorded as described.
A three-month radio programme — "The Hour of the Mysterious Sciences", on La Voz del Aire — and a "Chain of Thought" of hundreds petitioning nightly at 21h30 for the sick. It was discontinued for want of money. This is the magazine at its most concretely institutional: a broadcast schedule, a station name, and an hour.
The cures reported here — a cardiac case given up by doctors, pulmonary lesions cicatrised in under three months, a "miraculous" operation, an obstetric intervention — are reproduced as printed and are not endorsed. No records are cited beyond the Order's own minutes, and no physician is named. Note that the writer himself sets "miraculous" in quotation marks and follows it with "(??)".
The five Masters said to be most often seen or felt are named: Amo (Maître Philippe of Lyon), Maharshi, Papus, Subrahmaniayananda and Aurobindo. Four of the five appear elsewhere in the run as historical figures with documented lives; the list reads as a map of the Order's actual affiliations rather than a pantheon.
Stanislas de Guaita and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky are named among beings seen on special occasions. The Press holds Guaita's Le Serpent de la Genèse, acquired for Nº 9 — so a figure the Order reports encountering in vision is one whose actual book now sits in the library beside this issue.
The balance sheet checks out almost everywhere and fails in two places. Correct: furniture 1,022.78 less 120 gives 902.78; publications 309.30 less 26.40 gives 282.90; cash 3,147.85 less 3,054.55 gives 93.30; the GIDEE contribution 410.16 less 44 gives 366.16; and both grand totals balance exactly at 9,699.84 and 4,309.88. Wrong: rents 1,775 less 600 is 1,175, not the 1,165 printed. And Objects of Worship at 230.60 less a deduction printed as 2.36 gives 228.24, not the 218.24 shown — the true deduction must be 12.36, a digit lost at the column edge. For a hand-set table of twenty accounts, two slips is a good showing.