Eco: Foucalt's Pendulum by eco foucault (ebook smartphone .txt) 📕

who, in his mind, had robbed himof Lorenza. But it was the matter of an instant.

"Postel studies Hebrew,tries to demonstrate that it's the common matrix of all languages,translates the Zohar and the Bahir, has contacts with thecabalists, broaches a plan for universal peace similar to that ofthe German Rosicrucian groups, tries to convince the king of Franceto form an alliance with the sultan, visits Greece, Syria, AsiaMinor, studies Arabic¡X in a word, he retraces the itinerary ofChristian Rosencreutz. And it is no accident that he signs somewritings with the name of Rosispergius, ¡¥he who scatters dew.'Gassendi in his Examen Philosophiae Fluddanae says that Rosencreutzdoes not derive from rosa but from ros, dew. In one of hismanuscripts he speaks of a secret to be guarded until the time isripe, and he says: ¡¥That pearls may not be cast before swine.' Doyou know where else this gospel quotation appears? On the titlepage of The Chemical Wedding. And Father Marin Mersenne, indenouncing the Rosicrucian Fludd, says he is made of the same stuifas atheus magnus Postel. Furthermore, it seems Dee and Postel metin 1550, but perhaps they didn't yet know that they were both grandmasters of the Plan, scheduled to meet thirty years later, in1584.

"Now, Posteldeclares¡Xhear ye, hear ye¡Xthat, being a direct descendant of theoldest son of Noah, and since Noah is the founder of the Celticrace and therefore of the civilization of the Druids, the king ofFrance is the only legitimate pretender to the title king of theworld. That's right, he talks about the King of the World¡Xbutthree centuries before d'Alveydre. We'll skip the fact that hefalls in love with an old hag, Joanna, and considers her the divineSophia; the man probably didn't have all his marbles. But powerfulenemies he did have; they called him dog, execrable monster, cloacaof all heresies, a being possessed by a legion of demons. All thesame, even with the Joanna scandal, the Inquisition doesn'tconsider him a heretic, only amens, a bit of a nut, let's say. Thetruth is, the Church doesn't dare destroy the man, because theyknow he's the spokesman of some fairly powerful group. I wouldpoint out to you, Diotallevi, that Postel travels also in theOrient and is a contemporary of Isaac Luria. Draw whateverconclusions you like. Well, in 1564, the year in which Dee writeshis Monas Hieroglyphica, Postel retracts his heresies and retiresto...guess where? The monastery of Saint-Martin-des-Champs! What'she waiting for? Obviously, he's waiting for 1584."

"Obviously," Diotallevisaid.

I went on: "Are weagreed, then? Postel is grand master of the French group, awaitingthe appointment with the English. But he dies in 1581, three yearsbefore it. Conclusions: first, the 1584 mishap took place becauseat that crucial moment a keen mind was missing, since Postel wouldhave been able to figure out what was going on in the confusion ofthe calendars; second, Saint-Martin was a place where the Templarswere safe, always at home, where the man responsible for the thirdmeeting immured himself and waited. Saint-Martin-des-Champs was theRefuge!"

"It all fits, like amosaic."

"Stick with me. At thetime of the failed appointment Bacon is only twenty-three. But in1621 he becomes Viscount St. Albans. What does he find in theancestral possessions? A mystery. Note that this is the year he isaccused of corruption and imprisoned for a while. He had unearthedsomething that caused fear in someone. In whom? This is when Baconunderstood that Saint-Martin should be watched; he conceived theidea of putting his House of Solomon there, the laboratory inwhich, through experimental means, the secret could bediscovered."

"But," Diotallevi asked,"how do we find the link between Bacon's followers and therevolutionary groups of the late eighteenth century?"

"Could Freemasonry bethe answer?" Belbo said.

"Splendid idea.Actually, Aglie suggested it to us that night at thecastle."

"We should reconstructthe events. What exactly was going on then in thosecircles?"

75

The only ones whoelude....the eternal sleep....are those who in life are able toorient their mind toward the higher way. The initiates, the Adepts,are at the edge of that path. Having achieved memory, anamnesis, inthe expression of Plutarch, they become free, they proceed withoutbonds. Crowned, they celebrate the "mysteries" and see on earth thethrong of those who are not initiated and are not "pure," those whoare crushed and pushing one another in the mud and in thedarkness.

¡XJulius Evola, Latradizione ermetica, Rome, Edizioni Mediterranee, 1971, p.Ill

Rashly I volunteered todo some quick research. I soon regretted it. I found myself in amorass of books, in which it was difficult to distinguishhistorical fact from hermetic gossip, and reliable information fromflights of fancy. Working like a machine for a week/1 drew up abewildering list of sects, lodges, conventicles. I occasionallyshuddered on encountering familiar names I didn't expect to comeupon in such company, and there were chronological coincidencesthat I felt were curious enough to be noted down. I showed thisdocument to my two accomplices.

1645 London: Ashmolefounds Invisible College, Rosicrucian in inspiration.

1660 From the InvisibleCollege is born the Royal Society; and from the Royal Society, aseveryone knows, the Masons.

1666 Paris: founding ofAcademic Royal des Sciences.

1707 Birth ofClaude-Louis de Saint-Germain, if he was really born.

1717 Creation of theGreat Lodge in London.

1721 Anderson drafts theconstitutions of English Masonry. Initiated in London, Peter theGreat founds a lodge in Russia.

1730 Montesquieu,passing through London, is initiated.

1737 Ramsay asserts theTemplar origin of Masonry. Origin of the Scottish rite, henceforthin conflict with the Great Lodge of London.

1738 Frederick, thencrown prince of Prussia, is initiated. Later he is patron ofEncyclopedists.

1740 Various lodgescreated in France around this year: Ecos-sais Fideles of Toulouse,Souverain ConseU Sublime, Mere Loge Ecossaise du Grand GlobeFrancais, College des Sublimes Princes du Royal Secret of Bordeaux,Cour des Souverains Commandeurs du Temple of Carcassonne,Philadelphes of Narbonne, Chapitre des Rose-Croix of Montpellier,Sublimes Elus de la Verite....

1743 First publicappearance of Comte de Saint-Germain. In Lyon, the degree ofchevalier kadosch originates, its task being to vindicateTemplars.

1753 Willermoz foundslodge of Parfaite Amitie.

1754 Martinez Pasqualisfounds Temple of the Elus Cohen (perhaps in 1760).

1756 Baron von Hundfounds Templar Strict Observance, inspired, some say, by FrederickII of Prussia. For the first time there is talk of the UnknownSuperiors. Some insinuate that the Unknown Superiors are Frederickand Voltaire.

1758 Saint-Germainarrives in Paris and offers his services to