Category: Historical Figures
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Introduction to the Pre-Socratic Sages Part I: The Traditional Seven Sages and their famous Maxims
THE STANDARD TRADITIONAL SEVEN SAGES OF ANCIENT GREECE The Seven Sages (or Seven Wise Men) of ancient Greece were a group of renowned statesmen, lawgivers, and thinkers from the 7th–6th centuries BCE, celebrated for their practical wisdom and pithy maxims. Ancient sources vary on the exact list, but the most traditional and commonly accepted ones…
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Introduction to Black Classical Republicanism and its Influence on early Black Intellectuals
EARLY BLACK INTELLECTUALS AND THE INFLUENCE OF CLASSICISM AND REPUBLICANISM In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a small but influential group of Black intellectuals engaged deeply with Greco-Roman classics and the ideals of classical republicanism. This engagement was multifaceted in that they drew on ancient texts to demonstrate Black intellectual capacity in the…
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Third Republic Civic Republicanism, Esoteric Movements and Protestantism in France Belle Epoque Era
INTRODUCTION Historical figures involved in French Third Republic (1870–1940) politics were generally opposed to the monarchy, aligning with the prevailing republican and anti-clerical sentiments of the era, though there are nuances in this time within esoteric currents. The Theosophical Society in France, officially established as a section in 1899, attracted and propelled several notable figures who were…
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Abolitionist David Walker turns Fire into Radical Revolution against Slaveholding Republic
David Walker turns ancient philosophy of Fire into radical revolutionary resistance against the slaveholding Republic. DAVID WALKER’S APPEAL AS THE FULLEST AMERICAN EMBODIMENT OF THE ARCHAIC PHILOSOPHY OF FIRE David Walker’s Appeal (1829) is indeed the fullest and single most American embodiment of the ancient tradition of FIRE come down to us through the philosophy…
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The Conflicted Albert Pike, and a Wounded Union: Early Years 1830s to 1880s
INTRODUCTION: ECLECTIC MASONIC PHILOSOPHER IN CONFLICT Albert Pike’s editorial career exhibits a philosopher highly in conflict with himself, and I hope his inner conflicts alongside his philosophical legacy may provide us the chance for reflection about similar men of our day. People fixate on Albert Pike’s pro-slavery stance (and often exaggerate or distort it) for…
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The Reluctant Messiah: Truth about Jiddu Krishnamurti and Theosophy
INTRODUCTION Jiddu Krishnamurti, “Great Liberator or Failed Messiah,” asks Luis S. R. Vas in his highly insightful book about the relations between Jiddu Krishnamurti and the Theosophical Society. This story is about a young boy that became an important philosophical teacher throughout the 20th century. Groomed by theosophists, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater to…
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Case of the Masters, their Disciples and Sponsors behind the Theosophical Movement
INTRODUCTION THIS SERIES WILL PROVIDE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE AND HISTORY about the “the Masters” that were said to be secret sponsors behind the Theosophical Movement and its operations. These circles of adepts, including their disciples and associates were said to have activities in South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, the Americas…
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Riding the Tiger of Modernity | Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad on Julius Evola
SHAYKH ABDAL HAKIM MURAD ON JULIUS EVOLA COUNTER-CULTURE “…so Evola is a point of reference for people who are seeking an alternative, but unfortunately because of his possibly xenophobic blindspot when it came to Europe’s “third heritage”. . . .the Heritage of Islam — Gaudí’s move was definitely in the direction of the underestimated Ishmaelite…
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Marc Demarest on the Armchair Occultist, Godfrey Higgins: Modern Occultism, and the Professionalization of History
THE ARMCHAIR OCCULTIST: GODFREY HIGGINS, ANACALYPSIS AND MODERN OCCULTISM LECTURE Emma Hardinge Britten Archive. The Church, Christian Spiritualists, and the professional establishment sought to control the influence of occultists. Anacalypsis becomes a popular rediscovery of literature at the time Isis Unveiled is published. Marc Demarest explains how the tyros of Occult Literature and Mythography (1820s-1870s)…
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U.G. Krishnamurti: Recollects the Second-Generation Theosophical Society
Second Generation refers to a shifted leadership in the Theosophical Society, with international headquarters in Adyar, Madras, post-1890’s, and led by Annie Besant in 1907 til her death. The second generation Theosophists drift from a teaching of progressive evolution to a program of “progressive millenialism,” says Catherine Wessinger, in her The Second Generation Leaders of…
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The Mystery of Comte de Saint-Germain
“Anyone who admits one of the practical truths of the Occult Sciences taught by the Cabala, tacitly admits them all. It must be Hamlet’s “to be or not to be…” A FEW QUESTIONS TO HIRAF The noble courtier, Comte de Saint-Germain — not to be confused with Frenchmen Claude Louis de Saint-Germain (1707-1778) — was…
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“Blavatsky” Film | Italian Theosophical Society Centennial Documentary
“Blavatsky,” 2002 England film. For subtitles in English or another language, click Settings → Subtitles → Auto-Translate → English.
The American Minervan 