The Cult of the Ideal
From roughly 1760-1840, the Industrial Revolution swept the world with major changes in science and industry. This had a profound effect on almost every aspect of daily life throughout the world, and for the first time in human history, there was sustained socioeconomic growth and an increase in living standards of the masses of ordinary people. With the beginning of electrification in the 1880s, the Second Industrial Revolution lasted until mass production in WWI.
At this time, philosophers, mystics, and artists observed the changes in society and wanted to ensure the preservation of esoteric (i.e. inner, secret) wisdom. Consequently, there was great work among the Occultists of the 19th century.
Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918) was born and grew up in southern France, in the area of the Languedoc, region of the Cathar tradition. As a young man he spent much of his time in the library and devoted himself to philosophy. His elder brother, Adrien, was a leading French homeopath, and was connected to the ‘Rosicruciens de Toulouse’, a loose group of hermeticists in the Toulouse area which were active around 1860. The Rosicrucian Order is a legendary and secretive Order that was first publicly documented in the early 17th century. Adrien had received the lineage of the OKR+C from Abbé Lacuria, who received it from Éliphas Lévi, who had been initiated into a Rosicrucian Order in England by E.G. Bulwer-Lytton.
In 1881 (age 23), Péladan moved to Paris and became an art critic and novelist. In 1884, his novel Le Vice suprêmewas published, and attracted the attention 23 year-old Stanislas de Guaita (it was Peladan’s work that originally interested de Guaita in esoteric studies).
Les Compagnons de la Heirophonie
Dr. Gerard Encausse (1865-1916) was a Spanish-born French physician and occultist. Like his English contemporaries Westcott, Mathers & Woodman (founders of the Golden Dawn), Encausse, known by the pseudonym “Papus”, wanted to restore the Western Mystery Tradition, and create an organization in which Occultism was approached as a science equalling the level of science as taught in western universities.[1] Under his direction various ‘research-centers for Occult Sciences’ were developed. In this French collective were an inner-circle of occultists, known as Les Compagnons de la Heirophonie, which consisted of Spiritualists, Martinists, Theosophists, etc. They wanted to raise a new temple of which the corner-stone would be the Rosicrucian and Martinist Orders. Péladan and de Guaita both belonged to this inner circle, and decided to join Papus’ movement.
1888 L’ORDRE KABBALISTIQUE DE LA ROSE-CROIX (OKR+C)
After becoming acquainted, Peladan and de Guaita created a project to rebuild and renovate the Order of the Rose+Croix (the Rosicrucian Brotherhood), which was on the verge of extinction. De Guaita writes in 1890: “Three years ago, the ancient Rocicrucian Order was about to die out, when two direct heirs of this majestic tradition decided to renovate it, by strengthening it on new bases.” In 1888 Peladan and de Guaita founded the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose+Croix (OKR+C). They recruited Papus, and with his help, the order grew rapidly. The majority were Martinists of Papus’ ‘Ordre Martiniste’, founded in 1890. Many of the Parisian occultists were also members of Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society. The Theosophical Society’s eastern orientation disappointed those who were attracted to the western mysteries, so the Order fulfilled a need for them (which was also fulfilled in England in 1888 when the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded).
De Guaita's OKR+C provided training in the Cabala (an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism), conducted examinations and provided university degrees on Cabala topics. De Guaita had a large private library of books on metaphysical issues, magic, and the "hidden sciences." He was nicknamed the "Prince of the Rosicrucian" by his contemporaries for his broad learning on Rosicrucian issues.
1891 L’ORDRE DE LA ROSE+CROIX CATHOLIQUE ET ESTHETIQUE DU TEMPLE ET DU GRAAL
The Catholic and Aesthetic Order of the Rose+Croix of the Temple and the Grail
(Order of the Rose+Croix of the Temple and the Grail)
By the 1890s, de Guaita, Papus, and Péladan’s collaboration became increasingly strained by disagreements. Péladan wanted the order to be accessible only to selected initiates and did not agree on the masonic aspect that Papus wanted to implement into the Order. He took the side of those who criticized Papus’ blend of occultism and Christian mysticism and accused Papus of confusing occultism with esoterism. He then left and founded a competing order.[2] In June 1891 Péladan presented himself as Grand Master of the new Order, which received broad publicity. Peladan openly provoked the OKR+C, which irritated Papus and his associates. On August 5, 1891 the Supreme Counsil of the OKR+C officially announced Peladan’s expulsion from the Counsil.
Finally, in 1891, Peladan founded the ‘Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique et Esthetique du Temple et du Graal’. The foundation-document of the Order was signed August 23 by Péladan, Comte Léonce de Larmandie, Emile Gary de Lacroze, Elémir Bourges, and le Comte Antoine de la Rochefoucauld. This document [“Rules of de Salon de la Rose+Croix”] stated that the purpose of the Order was the restoration of the cult of the ideal in all its splendour and grandeur. The manifest contained 28 guidelines for the artists that would take part in the first major event of the Order, the Salon de la Rose+Croix.
Aims of the Aesthetic Rose+Croix
Peladan considered the modern society of his time as corrupted and perverted, and belived western civilization was doomed to perish under the influence of growing materialism and progressing secularization. He envisaged his Order "as a nucleus from which would emerge a whole set of religious, moral and aestethic values".[3] Despite the opposition he received, Péladan was attempting to pioneer a new religion, which was to take shape through his efforts within the world of art. 1892 he wrote: “All is rotten, all is finished. Decadence is cracking and shaking the Latin foundations... Wretched Modernists, your journey into the void is fatal... You might close down the Church, but the Museum? The Louvre will rule if ever Notre-Dame be destroyed.”
Although Peladan’s group was placed under the triple banner of the Rosicrucian fraternity, the Templars and the Grail Mysteries, it was not an initiatic order in the conventional sense; it was more of a intellectual elite-order intended for Roman-Catholics and artists. Péladan defined the Order as a “Brotherhood of intellectual charity, devoted to the achievement of the Works of Charity according to the Holy Spirit, to increase its Glory and to prepare its Reign.”[4]
Péladan was convinced that the Catholic Church was a repository of knowledge that it had itself forgotten, and it has been stated that he established the order after he’d repeatetly tried in vain to find a hearing within the Catholic Curch. Péladan’s intention was to merge Rosicrucianism with Catholicism, and thus rebuild and rectify the Roman-Catholic tradition. He wanted to restore the ‘worship of an ideal’ with the ‘tradition’ as its base and ‘beauty’ for its means. ‘Tradition’ [doctrine] and ‘beauty’ [art] were key-principles for Péladan. The Order adopted Leonardo da Vinci as patron of the Rose+Croix, Dante Alighieri as patron of the Templars, and finally, Joseph of Arimathea, patron of the Grail.
The Role of Art in Peladan’s Rose+Croix
Peladan’s order aimed at the restoration of the ‘worship of an ideal’ with the ‘tradition’ as its base and ‘beauty’ for its means, and art was a platform for this restoration. As an art critic, Peladan was passionate about the arts and participated in many art magazines of the late nineteenth century.
For Peladan, the beauty expressed in works of art can lead mankind towards Divinity. Art has thus a divine mission. Peladan wrote:
"There is no other truth but God, there is no other beauty than God". Art is the search for God through beauty. For him, art has a divine mission, as the perfect work must not only satisfy the intellect, it must be a platform that elevates the soul. Man’s quest for beauty is motivated by nostalgia for a lost harmony, man instinctively search in all things.
Peladan also borrowed the concept from Barby d’Aurevilly that art could emphasize ‘Good’ by “impressing the moral decadence of humanity to the public" and “showing perversion and corruption in all its intensity.
The following text, written by Joséphin Péladan, reflects his thoughts on art and the artist quite clearly. It is also an excellent example of his stilted usage of language for which he was often criticized and even ridiculed. It is taken from the “Geste Esthétique”, the catalogue of Le Salon de la Rose + Croix, 1892:
Artist, you are a priest: Art is the great mystery and, when your effort leads to a masterpiece, a ray of the divine shines down as on an altar. Oh, true presence of the resplendent divinity, under these supreme names: Vinci, Raphaël, Michel Angel, Beethoven and Wagner.
Artist, you are a king: Art is the true empire; if your hand draws a perfect line, the cherubim themselves descend to take pleasure in it, as in a mirror.
Spiritual design, line of the soul, form of understanding, you incarnate our dreams, Samothrace and Saint Jean, Sistine and Cenacolo, Saint-Ouen, Parsifal, Ninth Symphony, Notre-Dame!
Artist, you are a magus. Art is the great miracle and proves our own immortality.
Who still doubts? Giotto touched the stigmata, the Virgin appeared to Fra Angelico; and Rembrandt proved the resurrection of Lazarus!
Refutation of all pedantic sophistries: Moses is doubted, but then Michelangelo comes; Jesus is not recognized, but then Leonardo comes. Everything is profaned, but immutable and sacred art continues to pray.
Ineffable and serene sublimity, always radiant holy Grail, monstrance and relic, invincible banner, almighty Art, Art-God, I revere you on my knees, last reflection from above on our decay.
To Péladan the true artist is one who has the ability to feel, through contemplation, impulses of the celestial creator verb to make it a work of art. He wrote, “Artist, do you know that art comes down from heaven as life flows from the sun?”
Initiatic Tradition
Allegedly, the candidates for initiation and membership swore by their "eternal life " to "seek, admire and love beauty through the means of art and mystery".
Candidates in the Order were received in three degrees:
1° ECUYER ('Shield-Bearer')
VOW: “Vow of 'Perfection”
- the degree of the “Servants of Work”
2° CHEVALIER ('Knight')
VOW: “Vow of Loyalty”
3° COMMANDEUR ('Commander')
VOW: “Vow of Obedience”
- assigned to the Kabbalistic Sephiroth (for instance, 'Commandeur de Gebura', 'Commandeur de Tiphereth')
The candidate for initiation has to appear before the Grand Master, Péladan, who put to him the following ten questions:
1) "Who are you"
2) "What is your void"
3) "To what is your will tend"
4) "How do you realize yourself"
5) "By what force"
6) "Declare your attractions and repulsions"
7) "Define your glory"
8) "State the hierarchy of Beings"
9) "Name happiness"
10) "Name sorrow"
LES SALONS DE LA ROSE+CROIX [1892-1897]
The Rose+Croix Catholique manifested itself principally though its exhibitions of art, the famous and mythical “Les Salons de la Rose+Croix”. The Salon was conceived and presented by Péladan as ‘geste esthétique’ (epic aesthetic), “a synthesis of the visual arts, literature and music in the spirit of Richard Wagner (whom Péladan venerated) and echoing the ‘chansons de geste’ of the medieval Troubadours.
Peladan’s movement was a literary and aesthetic movement. The activities of ‘L’Ordre de la Rose- Croix Catholique et Esthetique du Temple et du Graal’ were devoted to exhibitions of mystical art (the famous “Les salons de la Rose-Croix”), “evenings dedicated to the fine arts”, and theatre-productions of the Ancient Mysteries.
Peladan was an idealist, and searched for an ideal that was not limited by nature. Therefore, he thought that “Realism ought to be destroyed” and envisioned the creation of a school of idealistic art. This attracted artists and writers who reacted against the naturalism of established art and searched for an ideal of beauty beyond the limits of nature, as well as the “poetes maudites” (accursed poets), who sought to plumb the depths of experience in their search for wisdom.[5]
The Symbolists
Among those artists attracted by Peladan’s movement were the Symbolists. “Symbolism” was born in France and Belgium in the 1880s, and fuelled by the Symbolist literary movement of Baudelaire and Mallarmé. The Salon de la Rose+Croix was in fact Péladan’s own version of the Symbolist expositions that were already organized by the independent Belgian artsociety ‘Les XX’. Their first exhibition of Symbolist painters took place in 1884 at Brussels. The Symbolist movement was based on dreams and the power of the imagination, and adopted the definition of the poet Jean Moréas: “To clothe the idea in perceptible form.”
The First Salon
Peladan’s first Salon was held March 10 – April 10, 1892 in Paris, and was centered around the works of the Symbolists. Sixty-three artists were represented and approximately 250 works exhibited. The exhibition attracted 22,600 visitors and was a huge success. The event was inaugurated with a ceremony with music especially composed by Érik Satie [1866-1925]. At night the attention was shifted to the other arts, music and theatre. These events were presented under the banner of ‘Les Soirées de la Rose-Croix’. Péladan also held lectures on art and mysticism and the music of such composers as Franck, Wagner, Palestrina, d’Indy and Satie. Peladan also had plans for a Choral Society devoted to choral music and the foundation of an exclusive quartet devoted to the music of Beethoven.
Selection of Artists and Themes
Peladan wrote, “Art, this initiatory rite to which only the predestined should be admitted, is being turned into a commonplace to suit the crowd.” Artists for the Salon were selected by a special committee of the Order, whose members carried the title ‘Magnifiques’ [‘The magnificent’].
The manifest of the Order contained a list of requirements for art and sculpture subjects and themes. For instance, no historical themes, patriotic and military themes; no contemporary topics, portraits, rustic scenes, landscapes, seascapes, humoristic topics, picturesque orientalism, animals, sports and Still Lives. The manifest proclaimed the order’s esoteric ideals of art, accepting works dealing directly or indirectly with "Catholicism and Mysticism, Legend, Myth, Allegory, the Dream, the Paraphrase of great poetry, and finally all Lyricism…”. The Order made an exception for the sublime classical/Renaissance nude-paintings of such artists as Leonardo and Primaticcio.
Péladan wanted to restore the original function of a play in the theatre as the manifestation of the Ritual Drama. The most remarkable example of a ritual drama in history, according to Péladan, were the Eleusian Mysteries of Ancient Greece. He wrote a number of plays, the most successful of which (“Le Fils des étoiles”) was accompanied by music by Satie. In the 1893 Constitution of Peladan’s Order, he reveals the plan to found a Theatre School (école d’art théâtral) which he wanted to establish to revive the ancient art of Mystery-plays.
Fate of the Salon de la Rose+Croix
The Salon de la Rose+Croix was organized six times until 1897, but the success of the first Salon de la Rose+Croix was never again achieved. The opening line of the announcement of the second Salon de la Rose+Croix (March/April 1893) was: “Under the Tau, the Greek Cross, the Latin Cross, before the Grail, the Standard and the Crucified Rose”. Each of the ‘Salon de la Rose+Croix’ was placed under the auspices of a Chaldean God :
1892 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of :Samas [Sun]
1893 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Nergal [Mars]
1894 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Mérodack [Jupiter]
1895 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Nebo [Mercury]
1896 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Ishtar [Venus]
1897 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Sin [Moon]
In December 1897, Péladan disbanded his Order and described the disbandement saying, “The formula of art that I defended is now everywhere accepted, and why would one remember the guide that showed the ford, once the river has been crossed.” Disappointment, disputes, lack of recognition and money, and a general opposition from the authorities seem to be a few of Péladan’s motives to disband the Rose+Croix movement. Although Péladan’s activities in art, drama and music were carried out effectively, in the end he considered himself as a failure. He wrote, “In an archaic terminology, totally incompatible in a country of universal suffrage and laicism, I have literally preached in a dead language”.
The Symbolist art movement lost much of its influence after the demise of Peladan’s Salons. Despite his Order’s demise, most of the artists would not deviate much from the ‘edicts of Péladan’ in their careers. Péladan continued his literary activities until his death in 1918. He wrote approximately 90 novels, plays, and studies on art, occultism and mysticism. He published numerous articles, and three of his works received official recognition by the French Academy. He also gave numerous public lecturers in France and abroad.
Notes:
[1] Papus’ effort must be viewed in light of the fact that the modern academic institution is a remnant of the Mysteries and esoteric institutions. According to author and lecturer Manly Hall: “The Egyptians and Greeks had a lot of knowledge about these subjects but they gave this knowledge only to initiates of the esoteric bodies, and they held them under the strongest obligation… In antiquity it wasn’t what you discovered its how you used it that determined what type of a person you were. You weren’t famous because you discovered something you were famous because you contributed to the common good – that it was a better world because you had lived in it, but not simply because you discovered a better weapon. So black magic is the abuse of knowledge, the abuse of the energy of light, the perversion of the principles of science, medicine, law or religion. Black magic is the use of those values which are divinely available to us for purposes contrary to the will of god and the need of humanity and where this happens there’s going to be trouble. You can’t break the rules without hurting yourself in the long run. So here we have a world made up of people who do not care what the consequences are. The only thing they want to do is make a profit at what they discover. Laboring in a universe that is not very kindly to those types of attitudes, somewhere disaster happens. We cannot abuse privileges without suffering physically, mentally, morally and spiritually and bringing our own civilization to ruin. So the black magicians are now mostly in the fields of higher learning – tremendous perverters of knowledge. We are given things without wisdom to use them. We talk about progress and say we are the highest intelligence that ever existed, or that there is no responsibility for our conduct. The universal law will not forget us and when the time it comes it will do what is necessary to correct the tradition.”
[2] ‘Le Tiers-Ordre Intellectuel de la Rose-Croix’, then ‘the Second Temple of the Rose-Croix’, and ‘L’Association de l’Ordre du Temple de la Rose-Croix’.
[3] Christopher McIntosh, Eliphas Levi & the French Occult Revival, 1972.
[4] Constitution de la Rose-Croix, le Temple et le Graal - Paris, 1893, article 1, p. 21.
[5] Pioneer of modern dance, Martha Graham, wrote: “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open… No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”
Sources:
Bogaard, Milko. “Ordre De La Rose+Croix Catholique Et Esthetique Du Temple et Du Graal” (1981).
Rebisse Christian. “Les Salons de la Rose- Croix” (1998).
At this time, philosophers, mystics, and artists observed the changes in society and wanted to ensure the preservation of esoteric (i.e. inner, secret) wisdom. Consequently, there was great work among the Occultists of the 19th century.
Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918) was born and grew up in southern France, in the area of the Languedoc, region of the Cathar tradition. As a young man he spent much of his time in the library and devoted himself to philosophy. His elder brother, Adrien, was a leading French homeopath, and was connected to the ‘Rosicruciens de Toulouse’, a loose group of hermeticists in the Toulouse area which were active around 1860. The Rosicrucian Order is a legendary and secretive Order that was first publicly documented in the early 17th century. Adrien had received the lineage of the OKR+C from Abbé Lacuria, who received it from Éliphas Lévi, who had been initiated into a Rosicrucian Order in England by E.G. Bulwer-Lytton.
In 1881 (age 23), Péladan moved to Paris and became an art critic and novelist. In 1884, his novel Le Vice suprêmewas published, and attracted the attention 23 year-old Stanislas de Guaita (it was Peladan’s work that originally interested de Guaita in esoteric studies).
Les Compagnons de la Heirophonie
Dr. Gerard Encausse (1865-1916) was a Spanish-born French physician and occultist. Like his English contemporaries Westcott, Mathers & Woodman (founders of the Golden Dawn), Encausse, known by the pseudonym “Papus”, wanted to restore the Western Mystery Tradition, and create an organization in which Occultism was approached as a science equalling the level of science as taught in western universities.[1] Under his direction various ‘research-centers for Occult Sciences’ were developed. In this French collective were an inner-circle of occultists, known as Les Compagnons de la Heirophonie, which consisted of Spiritualists, Martinists, Theosophists, etc. They wanted to raise a new temple of which the corner-stone would be the Rosicrucian and Martinist Orders. Péladan and de Guaita both belonged to this inner circle, and decided to join Papus’ movement.
1888 L’ORDRE KABBALISTIQUE DE LA ROSE-CROIX (OKR+C)
After becoming acquainted, Peladan and de Guaita created a project to rebuild and renovate the Order of the Rose+Croix (the Rosicrucian Brotherhood), which was on the verge of extinction. De Guaita writes in 1890: “Three years ago, the ancient Rocicrucian Order was about to die out, when two direct heirs of this majestic tradition decided to renovate it, by strengthening it on new bases.” In 1888 Peladan and de Guaita founded the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose+Croix (OKR+C). They recruited Papus, and with his help, the order grew rapidly. The majority were Martinists of Papus’ ‘Ordre Martiniste’, founded in 1890. Many of the Parisian occultists were also members of Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society. The Theosophical Society’s eastern orientation disappointed those who were attracted to the western mysteries, so the Order fulfilled a need for them (which was also fulfilled in England in 1888 when the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded).
De Guaita's OKR+C provided training in the Cabala (an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism), conducted examinations and provided university degrees on Cabala topics. De Guaita had a large private library of books on metaphysical issues, magic, and the "hidden sciences." He was nicknamed the "Prince of the Rosicrucian" by his contemporaries for his broad learning on Rosicrucian issues.
1891 L’ORDRE DE LA ROSE+CROIX CATHOLIQUE ET ESTHETIQUE DU TEMPLE ET DU GRAAL
The Catholic and Aesthetic Order of the Rose+Croix of the Temple and the Grail
(Order of the Rose+Croix of the Temple and the Grail)
By the 1890s, de Guaita, Papus, and Péladan’s collaboration became increasingly strained by disagreements. Péladan wanted the order to be accessible only to selected initiates and did not agree on the masonic aspect that Papus wanted to implement into the Order. He took the side of those who criticized Papus’ blend of occultism and Christian mysticism and accused Papus of confusing occultism with esoterism. He then left and founded a competing order.[2] In June 1891 Péladan presented himself as Grand Master of the new Order, which received broad publicity. Peladan openly provoked the OKR+C, which irritated Papus and his associates. On August 5, 1891 the Supreme Counsil of the OKR+C officially announced Peladan’s expulsion from the Counsil.
Finally, in 1891, Peladan founded the ‘Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique et Esthetique du Temple et du Graal’. The foundation-document of the Order was signed August 23 by Péladan, Comte Léonce de Larmandie, Emile Gary de Lacroze, Elémir Bourges, and le Comte Antoine de la Rochefoucauld. This document [“Rules of de Salon de la Rose+Croix”] stated that the purpose of the Order was the restoration of the cult of the ideal in all its splendour and grandeur. The manifest contained 28 guidelines for the artists that would take part in the first major event of the Order, the Salon de la Rose+Croix.
Aims of the Aesthetic Rose+Croix
Peladan considered the modern society of his time as corrupted and perverted, and belived western civilization was doomed to perish under the influence of growing materialism and progressing secularization. He envisaged his Order "as a nucleus from which would emerge a whole set of religious, moral and aestethic values".[3] Despite the opposition he received, Péladan was attempting to pioneer a new religion, which was to take shape through his efforts within the world of art. 1892 he wrote: “All is rotten, all is finished. Decadence is cracking and shaking the Latin foundations... Wretched Modernists, your journey into the void is fatal... You might close down the Church, but the Museum? The Louvre will rule if ever Notre-Dame be destroyed.”
Although Peladan’s group was placed under the triple banner of the Rosicrucian fraternity, the Templars and the Grail Mysteries, it was not an initiatic order in the conventional sense; it was more of a intellectual elite-order intended for Roman-Catholics and artists. Péladan defined the Order as a “Brotherhood of intellectual charity, devoted to the achievement of the Works of Charity according to the Holy Spirit, to increase its Glory and to prepare its Reign.”[4]
Péladan was convinced that the Catholic Church was a repository of knowledge that it had itself forgotten, and it has been stated that he established the order after he’d repeatetly tried in vain to find a hearing within the Catholic Curch. Péladan’s intention was to merge Rosicrucianism with Catholicism, and thus rebuild and rectify the Roman-Catholic tradition. He wanted to restore the ‘worship of an ideal’ with the ‘tradition’ as its base and ‘beauty’ for its means. ‘Tradition’ [doctrine] and ‘beauty’ [art] were key-principles for Péladan. The Order adopted Leonardo da Vinci as patron of the Rose+Croix, Dante Alighieri as patron of the Templars, and finally, Joseph of Arimathea, patron of the Grail.
The Role of Art in Peladan’s Rose+Croix
Peladan’s order aimed at the restoration of the ‘worship of an ideal’ with the ‘tradition’ as its base and ‘beauty’ for its means, and art was a platform for this restoration. As an art critic, Peladan was passionate about the arts and participated in many art magazines of the late nineteenth century.
For Peladan, the beauty expressed in works of art can lead mankind towards Divinity. Art has thus a divine mission. Peladan wrote:
"There is no other truth but God, there is no other beauty than God". Art is the search for God through beauty. For him, art has a divine mission, as the perfect work must not only satisfy the intellect, it must be a platform that elevates the soul. Man’s quest for beauty is motivated by nostalgia for a lost harmony, man instinctively search in all things.
Peladan also borrowed the concept from Barby d’Aurevilly that art could emphasize ‘Good’ by “impressing the moral decadence of humanity to the public" and “showing perversion and corruption in all its intensity.
The following text, written by Joséphin Péladan, reflects his thoughts on art and the artist quite clearly. It is also an excellent example of his stilted usage of language for which he was often criticized and even ridiculed. It is taken from the “Geste Esthétique”, the catalogue of Le Salon de la Rose + Croix, 1892:
Artist, you are a priest: Art is the great mystery and, when your effort leads to a masterpiece, a ray of the divine shines down as on an altar. Oh, true presence of the resplendent divinity, under these supreme names: Vinci, Raphaël, Michel Angel, Beethoven and Wagner.
Artist, you are a king: Art is the true empire; if your hand draws a perfect line, the cherubim themselves descend to take pleasure in it, as in a mirror.
Spiritual design, line of the soul, form of understanding, you incarnate our dreams, Samothrace and Saint Jean, Sistine and Cenacolo, Saint-Ouen, Parsifal, Ninth Symphony, Notre-Dame!
Artist, you are a magus. Art is the great miracle and proves our own immortality.
Who still doubts? Giotto touched the stigmata, the Virgin appeared to Fra Angelico; and Rembrandt proved the resurrection of Lazarus!
Refutation of all pedantic sophistries: Moses is doubted, but then Michelangelo comes; Jesus is not recognized, but then Leonardo comes. Everything is profaned, but immutable and sacred art continues to pray.
Ineffable and serene sublimity, always radiant holy Grail, monstrance and relic, invincible banner, almighty Art, Art-God, I revere you on my knees, last reflection from above on our decay.
To Péladan the true artist is one who has the ability to feel, through contemplation, impulses of the celestial creator verb to make it a work of art. He wrote, “Artist, do you know that art comes down from heaven as life flows from the sun?”
Initiatic Tradition
Allegedly, the candidates for initiation and membership swore by their "eternal life " to "seek, admire and love beauty through the means of art and mystery".
Candidates in the Order were received in three degrees:
1° ECUYER ('Shield-Bearer')
VOW: “Vow of 'Perfection”
- the degree of the “Servants of Work”
2° CHEVALIER ('Knight')
VOW: “Vow of Loyalty”
3° COMMANDEUR ('Commander')
VOW: “Vow of Obedience”
- assigned to the Kabbalistic Sephiroth (for instance, 'Commandeur de Gebura', 'Commandeur de Tiphereth')
The candidate for initiation has to appear before the Grand Master, Péladan, who put to him the following ten questions:
1) "Who are you"
2) "What is your void"
3) "To what is your will tend"
4) "How do you realize yourself"
5) "By what force"
6) "Declare your attractions and repulsions"
7) "Define your glory"
8) "State the hierarchy of Beings"
9) "Name happiness"
10) "Name sorrow"
LES SALONS DE LA ROSE+CROIX [1892-1897]
The Rose+Croix Catholique manifested itself principally though its exhibitions of art, the famous and mythical “Les Salons de la Rose+Croix”. The Salon was conceived and presented by Péladan as ‘geste esthétique’ (epic aesthetic), “a synthesis of the visual arts, literature and music in the spirit of Richard Wagner (whom Péladan venerated) and echoing the ‘chansons de geste’ of the medieval Troubadours.
Peladan’s movement was a literary and aesthetic movement. The activities of ‘L’Ordre de la Rose- Croix Catholique et Esthetique du Temple et du Graal’ were devoted to exhibitions of mystical art (the famous “Les salons de la Rose-Croix”), “evenings dedicated to the fine arts”, and theatre-productions of the Ancient Mysteries.
Peladan was an idealist, and searched for an ideal that was not limited by nature. Therefore, he thought that “Realism ought to be destroyed” and envisioned the creation of a school of idealistic art. This attracted artists and writers who reacted against the naturalism of established art and searched for an ideal of beauty beyond the limits of nature, as well as the “poetes maudites” (accursed poets), who sought to plumb the depths of experience in their search for wisdom.[5]
The Symbolists
Among those artists attracted by Peladan’s movement were the Symbolists. “Symbolism” was born in France and Belgium in the 1880s, and fuelled by the Symbolist literary movement of Baudelaire and Mallarmé. The Salon de la Rose+Croix was in fact Péladan’s own version of the Symbolist expositions that were already organized by the independent Belgian artsociety ‘Les XX’. Their first exhibition of Symbolist painters took place in 1884 at Brussels. The Symbolist movement was based on dreams and the power of the imagination, and adopted the definition of the poet Jean Moréas: “To clothe the idea in perceptible form.”
The First Salon
Peladan’s first Salon was held March 10 – April 10, 1892 in Paris, and was centered around the works of the Symbolists. Sixty-three artists were represented and approximately 250 works exhibited. The exhibition attracted 22,600 visitors and was a huge success. The event was inaugurated with a ceremony with music especially composed by Érik Satie [1866-1925]. At night the attention was shifted to the other arts, music and theatre. These events were presented under the banner of ‘Les Soirées de la Rose-Croix’. Péladan also held lectures on art and mysticism and the music of such composers as Franck, Wagner, Palestrina, d’Indy and Satie. Peladan also had plans for a Choral Society devoted to choral music and the foundation of an exclusive quartet devoted to the music of Beethoven.
Selection of Artists and Themes
Peladan wrote, “Art, this initiatory rite to which only the predestined should be admitted, is being turned into a commonplace to suit the crowd.” Artists for the Salon were selected by a special committee of the Order, whose members carried the title ‘Magnifiques’ [‘The magnificent’].
The manifest of the Order contained a list of requirements for art and sculpture subjects and themes. For instance, no historical themes, patriotic and military themes; no contemporary topics, portraits, rustic scenes, landscapes, seascapes, humoristic topics, picturesque orientalism, animals, sports and Still Lives. The manifest proclaimed the order’s esoteric ideals of art, accepting works dealing directly or indirectly with "Catholicism and Mysticism, Legend, Myth, Allegory, the Dream, the Paraphrase of great poetry, and finally all Lyricism…”. The Order made an exception for the sublime classical/Renaissance nude-paintings of such artists as Leonardo and Primaticcio.
Péladan wanted to restore the original function of a play in the theatre as the manifestation of the Ritual Drama. The most remarkable example of a ritual drama in history, according to Péladan, were the Eleusian Mysteries of Ancient Greece. He wrote a number of plays, the most successful of which (“Le Fils des étoiles”) was accompanied by music by Satie. In the 1893 Constitution of Peladan’s Order, he reveals the plan to found a Theatre School (école d’art théâtral) which he wanted to establish to revive the ancient art of Mystery-plays.
Fate of the Salon de la Rose+Croix
The Salon de la Rose+Croix was organized six times until 1897, but the success of the first Salon de la Rose+Croix was never again achieved. The opening line of the announcement of the second Salon de la Rose+Croix (March/April 1893) was: “Under the Tau, the Greek Cross, the Latin Cross, before the Grail, the Standard and the Crucified Rose”. Each of the ‘Salon de la Rose+Croix’ was placed under the auspices of a Chaldean God :
1892 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of :Samas [Sun]
1893 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Nergal [Mars]
1894 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Mérodack [Jupiter]
1895 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Nebo [Mercury]
1896 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Ishtar [Venus]
1897 - Salon de la Rose+Croixunder the auspices of:Sin [Moon]
In December 1897, Péladan disbanded his Order and described the disbandement saying, “The formula of art that I defended is now everywhere accepted, and why would one remember the guide that showed the ford, once the river has been crossed.” Disappointment, disputes, lack of recognition and money, and a general opposition from the authorities seem to be a few of Péladan’s motives to disband the Rose+Croix movement. Although Péladan’s activities in art, drama and music were carried out effectively, in the end he considered himself as a failure. He wrote, “In an archaic terminology, totally incompatible in a country of universal suffrage and laicism, I have literally preached in a dead language”.
The Symbolist art movement lost much of its influence after the demise of Peladan’s Salons. Despite his Order’s demise, most of the artists would not deviate much from the ‘edicts of Péladan’ in their careers. Péladan continued his literary activities until his death in 1918. He wrote approximately 90 novels, plays, and studies on art, occultism and mysticism. He published numerous articles, and three of his works received official recognition by the French Academy. He also gave numerous public lecturers in France and abroad.
Notes:
[1] Papus’ effort must be viewed in light of the fact that the modern academic institution is a remnant of the Mysteries and esoteric institutions. According to author and lecturer Manly Hall: “The Egyptians and Greeks had a lot of knowledge about these subjects but they gave this knowledge only to initiates of the esoteric bodies, and they held them under the strongest obligation… In antiquity it wasn’t what you discovered its how you used it that determined what type of a person you were. You weren’t famous because you discovered something you were famous because you contributed to the common good – that it was a better world because you had lived in it, but not simply because you discovered a better weapon. So black magic is the abuse of knowledge, the abuse of the energy of light, the perversion of the principles of science, medicine, law or religion. Black magic is the use of those values which are divinely available to us for purposes contrary to the will of god and the need of humanity and where this happens there’s going to be trouble. You can’t break the rules without hurting yourself in the long run. So here we have a world made up of people who do not care what the consequences are. The only thing they want to do is make a profit at what they discover. Laboring in a universe that is not very kindly to those types of attitudes, somewhere disaster happens. We cannot abuse privileges without suffering physically, mentally, morally and spiritually and bringing our own civilization to ruin. So the black magicians are now mostly in the fields of higher learning – tremendous perverters of knowledge. We are given things without wisdom to use them. We talk about progress and say we are the highest intelligence that ever existed, or that there is no responsibility for our conduct. The universal law will not forget us and when the time it comes it will do what is necessary to correct the tradition.”
[2] ‘Le Tiers-Ordre Intellectuel de la Rose-Croix’, then ‘the Second Temple of the Rose-Croix’, and ‘L’Association de l’Ordre du Temple de la Rose-Croix’.
[3] Christopher McIntosh, Eliphas Levi & the French Occult Revival, 1972.
[4] Constitution de la Rose-Croix, le Temple et le Graal - Paris, 1893, article 1, p. 21.
[5] Pioneer of modern dance, Martha Graham, wrote: “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open… No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”
Sources:
Bogaard, Milko. “Ordre De La Rose+Croix Catholique Et Esthetique Du Temple et Du Graal” (1981).
Rebisse Christian. “Les Salons de la Rose- Croix” (1998).