On a Prayer relating to an unknown Rosicrucian Magus Ritual
Here is a mystical gem so good I had to share it with you. And here is how I came across it.
At the moment a longer essay is keeping me busy which will focus on an inofficial magus-degree ritual that emerged from the milieu of the Order of the Gold and Rosy Cross in the late 18th century. Central to this text, published in the spirit of the original Rosicrucians, is the motto ‘The True and the Good’ [Das Wahre und Gute]. In fact, the anonymous author states that together with the number 75 and the word Vaudahat this motto was one of the keys that identified the mages in their order who worked from within the sphere of Tiphareth. We will speak much more of this in the upcoming essay, which will be published online for free at the Holy Daimon Project, as well as possibly in a small print release.
In 1791, however, one of the men I most adore published a book of rather unusual prayers. Already back in May 2019 I shared his perls of wisdom on Prudence and Virtue. I am speaking of Carl von Eckartshausen (1752-1803), and for anybody who missed the introduction in 2019: Eckartshausen was a German mystic, philosopher, occultist and alchemist. Most often today he is known as the author of the classic The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary (Die Wolke über dem Heiligthum, 1802), which influenced the early Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley specifically. However, Eckartshausen also was a highly successful lawyer, one of the youngest ever privy councillors at the Munich Court, a Secret Archiver and member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. While he is listed as an early member of Carl Weishaupt's Order of the Illuminati, he quickly left it again and became a prominent critic of the order. His own research mainly delved into mystical, kabbalistic and numerological studies. However, most of all Eckartshausen was obsessed with understanding the human heart – and how to refine it.
And this is where the above mentioned prayer book comes into play: Under the unassuming title ‘God is the Love most Pure’ (London: Hatchard, 1817; original: Gott ist die reinste Liebe, 1790) and over almost three hundred pages Eckartshausen masterfully wove his extensive occult knowledge and hermetic-rosicrucian meditations into what equally could be read as reflections of a Christian natural philosopher. Much to everyone’s surprise, the book turned into a stunning success and saw a huge amount of reprints well into the late 19th century. (The photos in this post are taken from a 1799 reprint, personally bound in leather as a luxurious travel-edition for someone by the initials ‘T.P.’) – Well, and it is in this book, which was published roughly at the same time of our inofficial magus-grade ritual, that we come across a prayer titled ‘On the True and the Good’ (Über das Wahre und Gute).
In the following I am provding my personal translation of this short mystic prayer, followed by the German original. Additionally, I want to add the following few remarks: Wherever you read the word ‘knowledge’ in English, the German original is ‘Erkenntnis’ which equally translates as gnosis. Equally, where you read ‘mind’ or ‘wit’ both terms are translations of the German ‘Verstand’ which holds a stronger connotation to the idea of ‘understanding’ and even ‘prudence’ than the English ‘mind’ might do. Becoming alike to the divine or angelic mind is a key idea of angelic theurgy which we explore in depth in Black Abbot · White Magic. And finally, in a mystic text written by an adept, such as this succinct prayer, every word and its position have been chosen deliberately. Thus if you intend to delve into the mystical layer of the prayer, I suggest to read it slowly. And maybe read it again.
Here is to the True and the Good in all of us – and in a time when we can all need some.
LVX,
Frater Acher
May the serpent bite its tail.
The influence of Eckartshausen and his work extended to all of Europe and was especially perceptible in Germany, England, France and Russia. His system, which is nevertheless in no way innovative, is testimony to a scope and a depth of vision that command admiration. This richness makes him, next to Franz von Baader, one of the most representative gems of Christian theosophy in the last two decades of the German 18th century. (Jaques Fabry, Eckartshausen, in: Wouter Hanegraaff (ed.), Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, Brill 2006, p. 328)
On the True and the Good.
When I look around, my God! and behold the beautiful creation! when I consider your wise commands, All things call to me that truth and goodness are the pillars upon which heaven and earth rest.
It is therefore necessary, O God! that I know what is true and good; and it is this important subject that I will reflect upon today;
Truth and goodness are only you, and true and good is only what you are. Love in knowledge is the good, and love in practice is the true.
Truth and goodness must be united, for truth is an object of knowledge, and goodness is an object of will: - and what would knowledge be without will?
The mind and wisdom of your angels, O Lord!, come into being through the union of the true with the good! without this union is only error and falsehood.
Truth, O God! therefore is you, and true is all that you are: so if I seek truth, I must seek you, become alike to you.
You gave me, my God, will and wit – the wit to know, the will to want what I have come to know. You, my God! are goodness: Everything that has being [Ger- man = Dasein] is good, and everything true that comes close to the exercise of this goodness. When I recognize your goodness, and this knowledge passes into my will, then your goodness becomes visible through me, and my action is true.
So let me realise, my God!, that I must combine the good with the true, and grant me your wisdom so that I may have understanding and will, and do not make me equal to the wise men of the world who have only science instead of understanding, and desire instead of will; you turn my will into the vessel of the good, and my mind into the container of the true. Amen.
Über das Wahre und Gute
Wenn ich umhersehe, mein Gott! und die schöne Schöpfung betrachte! wenn ich deine weisen Anordnungen erwäge, so ruft mir Alles zu, dass Wahrheit und Güte die Stützen sind, worauf Himmel und Erde ruhen.
Notwendig ist es also, o Gott!, dass ich wisse, was wahr und gut; und über die- sen wichtigen Gegenstand will ich heute nachdenken;
Wahrheit und Güte bist nur du, und wahr und gut ist nur das, was du bist. Die Liebe in der Erkenntnis ist das Gute, und die Liebe in der Ausübung das Wahre.
Wahrheit und Güte müssen vereinigt sein; denn Wahrheit ist ein Gegenstand der Erkenntnis, und Güte ein Gegenstand des Willens: – und was wäre die Erkennt- nis ohne den Willen?
Der Verstand und die Weisheit deiner Engel, oh Herr!, Entstehen durch die Ver- bindung des Wahren mit dem Guten! ohne diese Verbindung ist nur Irrtum und Falsches.
Wahrheit, o Gott! bist also du, und wahr ist Alles, was du bist: wenn ich also Wahrheit suche, muss ich dich suchen, dir ähnlich werden.
Du gabst mir, mein Gott!, Willen und Verstand – den Verstand, um zu erkennen; den Willen, um das zu wollen, was ich erkannt habe. Du, mein Gott! bist Güte: Alles was ein Dasein hat, ist gut, und Alles wahr, was der Ausübung dieser Güte nahe kommt. Wenn ich deine Güte erkenne, und diese Erkenntnis in meinen Willen übergeht, dann wird deine Güte durch mich sichtbar, und meine Handlung ist wahr.
Lass mich also erkennen, mein Gott! dass ich das Gute mit dem Wahren verbin- den muss, und gib mir deine Weisheit, damit ich Verstand und Willen habe, und lass mich den Weisen der Welt nicht gleich sein, die statt Verstand nur Wissen- schaft, statt Willen nur Begierde haben; schaff du meinen Willen zum Behältnis des Guten, und meinen Verstand zum Behältnis des Wahren. Amen.