In eighteenth-century France, alongside lodges devoted to brotherhood and moral philosophy, there arose systems of high degrees with far more radical spiritual ambitions. The most singular was the one founded by Martinès de Pasqually: an order that presented itself as Masonic, but whose purpose was the practice of genuine theurgy, that is, ritual operations aimed at making contact with spiritual powers. From this order derives, by various routes, the whole tradition we now call Martinist.
An elusive figure
Relatively little is known about the life of Martinès de Pasqually. The sources place him in France from the 1750s, active in various towns in the south, especially Bordeaux, where he settled for several years. His origins, date of birth and education are still debated by scholars.
Martinès presented himself as the holder of a handed-down knowledge, which he said he had received through his family. On this basis he built a system of degrees to be grafted onto existing Freemasonry.
The Order of the Élus Coëns
The order's full name was the Order of Knight Masons Élus Coëns of the Universe. The word cohen, in Hebrew, means priest: the Élus Coëns were therefore, in the founder's intention, a priestly class. In 1767 Martinès established a Sovereign Tribunal in Paris as the order's governing body.
The degree structure comprised:
| Class | Degrees |
|---|---|
| Blue degrees | Apprentice, Fellow, Master, Elect Master |
| Porch | Apprentice, Fellow and Master Coën |
| Temple | Grand Master Coën or Grand Architect, Knight of the East, Commander of the East |
| Supreme degree | Réau-Croix |
The Réau-Croix degree was the summit of the order and gave access to the highest operations.
The Treatise on Reintegration
Martinès's doctrine is set out in the Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings into their First Properties, Virtues and Spiritual and Divine Powers, which remained in manuscript and was published only at the end of the nineteenth century. It is a complex text that rereads the first books of the Bible in a cosmological and spiritual key.
Its main themes are these:
- certain spirits, emanated by God, rebelled and fell;
- primordial man was emanated to contain and reintegrate them, but fell in turn;
- the fall separated him from his original condition and imprisoned him in matter;
- man's task is reintegration, that is, the return to his first condition;
- on this path he can be helped by intermediary spirits and by ritual works.
The theurgic operations
The most characteristic aspect of the order was its operations. The Réau-Croix performed complex rites on set dates, especially around the equinoxes. Circles and signs were traced on the floor, lights were lit in precise positions, invocations and prayers were recited, often after periods of fasting and preparation.
The stated aim was to obtain "passes", that is luminous or audible manifestations interpreted as signs of the presence of beneficent spirits and of the operator's reconciliation. The correspondence between Martinès and his disciples frequently describes their anticipation of these signs and their disappointment when they failed to appear.
The disciples
The order's members included figures who were to leave a deep mark:
- Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, a Lyon silk merchant, who later passed on part of the doctrine in the Rectified Scottish Rite;
- Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, a young officer who was for a time Martinès's secretary and later developed his own inner way;
- Jean-Jacques du Roy d'Hauterive, among the most active operators.
Departure and death
In 1772 Martinès left for Saint-Domingue, in the Antilles, for reasons connected with an inheritance. He never returned to France: he died at Port-au-Prince in 1774. Without his guidance the order quickly weakened. Some temples continued to work for a few years, but by the end of the century the Élus Coëns had practically disappeared as an organisation.
A lasting legacy
The importance of the Élus Coëns is measured not by how long they lasted but by their influence. The doctrine of reintegration passed, transformed, into the inner degrees of the Rectified Scottish Rite thanks to Willermoz, and into the spirituality of Saint-Martin, who preferred the way of the heart to theurgy. In the nineteenth century Saint-Martin's name became the reference point of the Martinist Order. In this way a small, short-lived order gave rise to one of the most enduring currents of Western Christian esotericism.
In short
- Martinès de Pasqually founded in the eighteenth century the Order of Knight Masons Élus Coëns of the Universe.
- The order, with a Sovereign Tribunal in Paris from 1767, culminated in the Réau-Croix degree.
- Its doctrine, set out in the Treatise on Reintegration, speaks of man's fall and return.
- The theurgic operations, especially at the equinoxes, sought signs of spiritual presence.
- Willermoz and Saint-Martin passed on its legacy in different forms.
