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Nimbo-Cumulus:
A Review of The
Cloud upon the Sanctuary
The text,
in the form of six Letters, by Karl von Eckartshausen (1752-1803), a
now-obscure courtier in Enlightenment Bavaria, is squarely in the
tradition of Christian mysticism. For many readers, his frequent
resort to statements of Christian dogma, occasionally belied by
inclusive statements about the oneness of all true mystical experience
across times and cultures, could become wearying. However, there is
something a little different about this particular Christian mystic, which
has made him worthy of study by some rather unlikely folk. Indeed, one of
the book's many claims to fame is that it was instrumental in convincing
the young Aleister Crowley to seek membership in the Golden Dawn in 1898,
although it is very likely that when A. E. Waite recommended the book to
Crowley, he was trying to dissuade the younger man from his interest in
practical magick. Mme. Steiger’s translation was first published in serial numbers of a magazine called The Unknown World from January to June 1895. This magazine of occult and Hermetic speculation was edited by A. E. Waite. The first book publication was in 1896; the present volume is based on the third edition. The
Front Matter This edition is very
heavy on front matter: 47 pages vs. 137 pages of the original text and
translator's notes. Readers who are interested in the book because of its
relationship to the Hermetic tradition in modern times might, quite
seriously, buy the book just for this material. There is a running
argument between these covers, carried out over the course of two hundred
years, among a quite diverse group of people, and exemplifying a vaster
dialog among all people of spiritual bent in all places and times. Working outward from
von Eckartshausen's actual text, we find a twenty-five page introduction
by A. E. Waite (added to the third edition of 1903), slightly over two
pages of preface by J. W. Brodie-Innes, and twelve pages of foreword by
Masonic historian Edward Dunning. The names Waite,
Brodie-Innes, and indeed de Steiger, are all familiar to students of the
Western Hermetic tradition, as early members of the Golden Dawn and its
various spin-offs. While the little essay by Brodie-Innes is little more
than esoteric cheerleading, it is certainly well enough written. Waite, of
course, is also familiar as the author of The Book of Ceremonial Magic
and others, and translator Isabelle de Steiger’s name appears in
conjunction with his in many places. Dunning's other public work is a
history of the Masonic writings of Waite. Dunning asserts baldly
that von Eckartshausen had been a member of Weishaupt's Illuminati,
whereas Waite is at great pains to deny any such affiliations (one is
tempted to make a joke about Illuminati censors insisting that both
assertions appear in the book). If the Illuminati were (as reputed) of the
Enlightenment tradition, rational and Deist, then von Eckartshausen must
have had a dire break with them, indeed, because there is much criticism
in Letter I of exactly the intellectual tendencies most characteristic of
the period. Those familiar with Waite's writings will know that he is highly scholarly, endlessly verbose, and tirelessly opposed to the actual practice of magick. It is very interesting to watch him critique the degree of von Eckartshausen's enlightenment, completely unaware of just how unenlightened he himself seems to the psychically alive reader. It does not help that at every juncture where he might prove otherwise, he draws the curtain of sworn secrecy across his discourse. The
Heart of the Matter I found the actual text
very appealing, once I got past the religiosity of its surface. It is,
indeed, a manifesto of Christian Hermeticism, in which the Light is a
synonym for the spiritual Mercurius, the Prima Materia out of which the
dense, visible world of Assia has hardened to set up the Oldest Game of
spiritual hide-and-seek. The author affirms that enlightened people of all
places and times belong to an Interior Church of which all exoteric
religions are variously-distorted reflections, and that the realization of
this One Thing (in the words of the Emerald Tablet) gives rise to a
natural morality based in love. Never mind that he keeps spiraling back to
affirm that this One Thing is some Middle Eastern Rabbi named Yeheshua, or
Jesus the Christ, or something, and cannot possibly also be named Hermes
or Gautama or Ningishzida or Isis, when actually, if there is only One
Thing, it doesn't need a name. He describes this
Interior Church as if it were a mystical Order of those called to the
Light, complete with descriptions of degrees, but then disclaims that
there is any actual organization to it, other than the fact that God
sometimes causes members to recognize each other, and that at any moment
there is one Head of the Interior Church. This can be read as written, as
Waite and most people would, or as a description of a secretive order that
one can find and join, as Crowley did. I recommend that people of all traditions forgive von Eckartshausen his naïveté and his Jesus fixation long enough to read some of his work with suspended judgment. Certainly it can serve as a gentle introduction to those who have not read much Christian mystical writing and possibly will read very little more of it. What
is the Matter? This is not the fault
of the present volume, but when are we going to actually get the message?
It is both amusing and depressing to see the von Eckartshausens and the A.
E. Waites of the world drone on about the virtues, indeed the necessity,
of Christianity when it is clear that von Eckartshausen's enlightenment is
universal and his ways of expressing it in limited language come straight
from the Neoplatonists and Hermeticists, even where those reached him
through the filter of other Christians. This book probably won't actually settle any of the age-old disputes. It is still a worthwhile book to have on one's shelf if one cares about these things. If one wishes to test this assertion without investing the price of a paperback, one can sample the text on the web[1]. Some
Other Matters This is a nicely produced book, typeset in Garamond and Old Style, with decent size and contrast of print, and generally well-made. This is important, because if this book is meant for you, you will be spending a lot of time holding it, and it helps that it reads well and handles nicely. The covers are reasonably heavy and the cover design and photograph by Phillip Augusta (presumably the New England photographer and not the king of the same name of Third Crusade fame) are exquisite. Those considerations are good for those people who will buy this book because it “needs to be in their library." Sources. 1.
Grinder, A. The Cloud upon the Sanctuary. 2002 Adepti.com. 28 Sept.
2003 http://www.adepti.com/docs/eck.pdf.
This is scanned from the 1895 magazine serialization, and differs at least
slightly from the book edition. 2.
Grinder, A. The Hermetic and Rosicrucian Mystery (A. E. Waite).
Sept. 2002 Adepti.com. 28 Sept. 2003 http://www.adepti.com/docs/hrmyst2.pdf. 3.
Waite, Arthur Edward. "The Hermetic and Rosicrucian Mystery." The
Occult Review. 8.4 (October) (1908). 4.
Waite, Arthur Edward. The Book of Ceremonial Magic (1911).
Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1997. 5.
von Eckartshausen, Karl. The Cloud upon the Sanctuary. Berwick,
Maine: Ibis Press, 2003. This
review appeared in Issue 7 of Cup of Wonder.
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