L'Initiation — Revue philosophique indépendante des Hautes Études, Vol. 1, No. 1 (October 1888)
First issue of Papus's foundational French occult-revival journal L'Initiation (Oct 1888) — a primary source for the late-19th-century esoteric milieu (Martinism, Theosophy, Freemasonry, Hermeticism). Contents include Ch. Barlet on Initiation, Papus on Masonic symbolism, a study of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin by Julien Lejay, Jules Giraud on hashish, and a piece by Joséphin Péladan. Fully public domain and directly citable as a lineage/source reference. The operator maintains a companion translation project ('Iniciacion Translated') derived from this text.
Contents — 2 chapters
Sommaire — contents of the inaugural issue
Philosophie : Initiation — Ch. Barlet. Franc-Maçonnerie : Le Symbolisme dans la F∴M∴ — Papus. Physiognomonie : La Théorie des Tempéraments — Polti et Gary. Sociologie : Claude de Saint-Martin — Julien Lejay. Physiologie appliquée : Le Haschisch — Jules Giraud. Istar : La Légende de l'inceste — Joséphin Péladan. Nouvelle ésotérique : À Brûler — Jules Lermina.
Editorial charter — absolute independence
Chaque rédacteur de l'initiation publie ses articles sous sa seule responsabilité. L'indépendance absolue étant la raison d'être de la Revue, la direction ne se permettra jamais aucune note dans le corps d'un article.
The roots of this work — where its teaching comes from
“This is the life of the gods and of godlike and blessed men, a liberation from the alien that besets us here, a life taking no pleasure in the things of earth, a flight of the alone to the Alone.”Read the original · archive.org ↗— Enneads VI.9.11, trans. Stephen MacKenna
“Guide us to that topmost height of mystic lore which exceedeth light and more than exceedeth knowledge, where the simple, absolute, and unchangeable mysteries of heavenly Truth lie hidden in the dazzling obscurity of the secret Silence.”Read the original · archive.org ↗— The Mystical Theology, ch. 1, trans. C. E. Rolt (1920)
“L'homme n'est rien d'autre que l'évolution devenue consciente d'elle-même.”Read the original · archive.org ↗— Le Phénomène humain (1955), conclusion — 'Man is nothing else than evolution become conscious of itself.'