I was at work thinking about how to start this paper & I asked my coworker what came to mind when I said the word “Mesmerism.” He said “being hypnotized, like being under a spell.” This response reflects the common understanding of Mesmerism, I imagine that most people would have a similar answer. What is not as commonly known is who this concept is named after.
Franz Anton Mesmer, born in 1734 Germany, would live to make history in both the world of science & the world of secret societies. While he was adept in astronomy & medicine, his mark was left by venturing outside of how these fields were conventionally understood. He observed sympathies between the planetary bodies, realizing that they were connected & transferred energy between one another, despite being separated by space. As a true esotericist, his realizations about the heavens above were mirrored below in the world that he inhabited. He conducted experiments & developed theories around these phenomena throughout his life. He coined the term “Animal Magnetism,” sometimes remembered as “Mesmerism.”
Mesmerism developed in several directions, one of which would become known to the world as the psychiatric practice of “hypnosis.” Relaxation & repetition are combined to induce trance states, which allow information to be received by someone’s mind without their awareness. Impressions are normally processed by the ego & personality as they are received, trance states subdue the conscious mind, allowing impressions to take root without the individuals personality getting in the way. The unconscious mind is the fertile soil that all conscious phenomenon sprout forth from. The hypnotist tills this soil & sows seeds therein. The victim/patient can neither observe nor resist the changes occurring within their psyche. Mesmer’s work with the unconscious mind would pave the way for Sigmund Freud.
Franz Anton Mesmer is the key historical figure linking secret societies & mind control.
The influence of Animal Magnetism on the occult revival of the 18th century cannot be understated. The techniques used in hypnosis are only a branch of the methods employed by initiatory schools. Invisible magnetic currents are directed in sync with symbolic visual impressions & verbal invocations to induce changes in the psycho-sexual makeup of the individual & therefore is his reality.
The next key figure to develop the theory & practice of animal magnetism, was a man named Paschal Beverly Randolph, an African American Rosicrucian born in New York during the time of Abraham Lincoln. He ascended to the heights of the secret fraternities of America, becoming a leader of Rosicrucian Movement. The secret societies that sprang up in Mesmer’s homeland in the century following his death (such as the Ordo Templi Orientis & the Fraternitas Saturni who employed animal magnetism in their rituals), owed as much to Randolph as they did to Mesmer. This is because Randolph introduced a key element, the key element, sex. The subtle magnetic force animating life is sexual in nature & finds its strongest expression in sexual polarity. Randolph & the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor were responsible for pioneering the techniques that would later become associated with names like Crowley. The Brotherhood claimed to have inherited this secret knowledge from Sufi sources, though they were undoubtedly influenced by the more local impact of Mesmer.
Mesmer was a highly initiated member of the Bavarian Illuminati. Mesmer’s ideas were circulated among illuminists & Freemasons in lodges and study groups. The centrality of illuminism to Mesmer’s life work is carved in stone at his tomb in Meersburg, Germany. His grave is under a triangular alter atop a three-step pyramid. The front bears an all-seeing eye within a triangle radiating a corona of light, with “F. R. Mesmer” written below.
The next side displays a diagram of the planets and the moon, depicted at specific places in their cyclical journey. These seem to be the placements of the planets in Mesmer’s birth chart.
The third side displays the date of Mesmer’s death, decorated with Masonic symbolism & illuminist motifs. The Masonic Blazing Star stands shining atop a torch of light with a twig of Acacia in the background.
The top of this triangular altar is perhaps the most mysterious surface. A compass in the middle surrounded by an ouroboros serpent swallowing its own tail. Within this circle are mysterious inscriptions, placed so that the compass will point towards them during the appointed times. This appears to be an esoteric calendar of sorts.
Franz Anton Mesmer was buried in the fashion of a highly revered saint. The ornamentation of his tomb almost implies a ritual function. The diagram of his birth chart displays the astrological conditions in which he entered the world, while the compass on top is a living tool that can determine astrological, if not electro-magnetic, circumstances in the present. Being that Mesmer was an astronomer who’s theories depended on magnetism, it is fitting that his grave should contain a compass, constantly reacting to the earth’s magnetic current at any given time, and it’s functioning to this very day.
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