In late nineteenth-century Paris the Rosicrucian ideal came back to life in two very different forms. On one side, a rigorous order of study devoted to Kabbalah and the occult sciences; on the other, an artistic movement that sought to put art back at the service of the ideal and the sacred. Both experiences were born from the same people, quickly parted ways, and left their mark on the history of esotericism as well as on Symbolist art.
Stanislas de Guaita
Stanislas de Guaita, born in 1861 in Lorraine to a family of Italian origin, was a poet who discovered occultism by reading Éliphas Lévi. He assembled a vast library of esoteric texts and devoted himself to writing a major work, The Serpent of Genesis, still unfinished at his death in 1897.
The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross
In 1888 Guaita founded, together with Joséphin Péladan and Papus, the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross. The order was directed by a supreme council of twelve members, six known and six who were to remain unknown, on a model recalling the secrecy of the legendary brotherhood.
Unlike many other groups, the order had a decidedly intellectual character. Its grades were modelled on university degrees:
| Grade | Content |
|---|---|
| Bachelor of Kabbalah | First level of study |
| Licentiate of Kabbalah | Deeper study of texts and symbols |
| Doctor of Kabbalah | Highest grade, with a thesis to defend |
Candidates had to pass examinations on Kabbalah, the Hermetic tradition and the history of esoteric doctrines. The order thus presented itself as a school, where initiation was tied to study and to the testing of knowledge.
Joséphin Péladan, the "Sâr"
Joséphin Péladan, born in Lyon in 1858, was a writer and art critic. A theatrical personality, he gave himself the Assyrian title of "Sâr" and liked to appear in eccentric dress. He was a fervent Catholic, convinced that art should express the ideal, beauty and mystery, against the prevailing realism and naturalism.
His cycle of novels, entitled The Latin Decadence, enjoyed some success in the literary circles of the time.
The split
Relations between Péladan and the other founders soon soured. Péladan reproached Guaita's order for an approach too close to occultism and insufficiently respectful of Catholic orthodoxy. In 1890-1891 he left the order and founded the Order of the Catholic Rose-Cross of the Temple and the Grail.
The quarrel between the two groups, waged in newspapers and journals, was dubbed by the press the "war of the two roses". It is a telling episode of the ferment of Parisian occultism, and of its rivalries.
The Salons de la Rose+Croix
Péladan's most famous initiative was the Salons de la Rose+Croix, art exhibitions held in Paris from 1892 to 1897. The first Salon took place in March 1892 at the Durand-Ruel gallery and drew large crowds.
Péladan published a set of rules stating which subjects were welcome and which were excluded:
- mystical, legendary, mythological and allegorical subjects were welcome;
- painting of ideas, dream and symbol was valued;
- history painting, realistic landscape, still life and scenes of contemporary life were excluded.
The Salons showed artists now remembered as exponents of European Symbolism, including the Belgians Fernand Khnopff and Jean Delville and the Swiss Carlos Schwabe, who designed the famous poster for the first Salon. Erik Satie composed the Sonneries de la Rose+Croix for the movement.
Art as initiation
For Péladan the artist was a kind of priest, and the work of art a means of raising the viewer towards the ideal. The Salons were not just exhibitions but true celebrations, opened with ceremonies and accompanied by music. In this vision aesthetic experience took on an almost initiatory value: contemplating beauty meant drawing nearer to the divine.
After 1897
The last Salon was held in 1897, the same year Guaita died. The Kabbalistic Order passed under the leadership of other members, including François-Charles Barlet, and continued to exist in reduced form for some years. Péladan carried on writing until his death in 1918.
A twofold legacy
These two Rosicrucian experiences show two ways of understanding tradition: as a science to be studied methodically, and as an inspiration to be translated into artistic forms. Both spring from the idea that modern culture had lost contact with the sacred and that it had to be found again, through study or through beauty.
In short
- In 1888 Stanislas de Guaita founded the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross with Péladan and Papus.
- The order had university-style grades: bachelor, licentiate and doctor of Kabbalah.
- Péladan broke away and founded the Catholic Rose-Cross of the Temple and the Grail.
- The Salons de la Rose+Croix, from 1892 to 1897, brought together European Symbolist artists.
- Guaita died in 1897; the order survived for some years in reduced form.
