Martinez de Pasqually

Biography

Jacques de Livron Joachim de la Tour de la Casa Martinez (Martinès) de Pasqually (c.1727–1774) was a mystic, theurgist, and theosopher of uncertain origin. In 1761, he founded the l'Ordre de Chevaliers Maçons Élus Coëns de l'Univers, commonly referred to as the Élus Coëns. He was also the tutor, initiator, and friend of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, and the Abbé Pierre Fournié. Martinez de Pasqually, whose biography is continually being researched due to the need for more documentation, first appears in the history of French freemasonry in 1754.

His exact date and place of birth, as well as his true nationality, are unknown. Several authors propose that he was a converso Jew of either Portuguese or Spanish origins. He was the son of Martinez Pasqualis (b. circa 1671), of Bordeaux, whose origins were probably Portuguese. His father claimed to hold a legitimate Masonic patent granted by the Old Pretender, James III (1686-1766). However, the name of the King is that of Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), who did not ascend to the Pretence as King Charles III until his father's death.  Although army certificates attest to Pasqually and a brother having served in the Regiment of Edinburgh Dragoons until at least 1747, the patent is dated 20th May 1738, and so its provenance is questionable. The patent granted Pasqually senior the rank of Deputy Grand Master with “the power to erect temples to the glory of the Grand Architect.” Interestingly, this patent was transmissible at death to his son, Pasqually. Willermoz alludes to this when he wrote that Pasqually “had succeeded his father.”  

Martinez was raised as a Master Mason at Montpellier in 1754 and is believed to have been actively involved in the Chapter Juges Ecossais . It may be to this chapter that the Masonic patent relates.

Nevertheless, at some point in 1760 Pasqually's Regiment du Foix–Infanterie arrived home from a tour in Saint-Domingue and he began attending lodges, presenting to them a hieroglyphical chart conferring on him the status of an officer of the Juges Ecossais. In 1765 he spent several months' leave with the Augustinian Friars on the Quai de la Seine, Paris, where he met and recruited the nephew of the Grand Prior, the Abbe Fournie, into the Élus Coëns. Certain similarities between Pasqually's theurgy and Portuguese hermetic thought led philosopher Sampaio Bruno (1857-1915) to argue that he was probably of Portuguese origin, and the register of Dublin Lodge 206 confirms the membership of one Martines de Pasqually from Bordeaux and his brother as Jewish Freemasons. In 1772, Pasqually went to collect an inheritance on Saint-Domingue. He died there in January 1774.

Doctrine

Pasqually’s doctrine is understood by reference to both his "Particular Doctrine" (practical, operative theurgical workings), and his "General Doctrine" (theological and cosmological teachings). Both doctrines comprise what is known today as "Martinezism".

The Universal Table

The Universal Table of the Élus Coëns shared many apparent similarities with Gnostic cosmogony, but Pasqually's theology differed markedly from it. In Gnosticism, the Demiurgos (Δημιουργός) ("Half-Maker" or "Craftsman") was a supernatural entity already in rebellion against God when the physical world was created. The Demiurge forcibly incarnated spirit-life into temporal matter. In contrast, in Pasqually's system there was a total absence of a Demiurge. He taught that the Trinitarian God alone was responsible for Creation. Thus, realising that some of his spiritual creations had evil intentions, God conceived of the material universe as a place to contain and eventually redeem them. In this material sphere, the fallen entities (whom Pasqually termed "demoniac spirits") would exercise their free will, having broken from God in order to go about their nefarious purposes. God created the archetypal man, Adam, to govern these prevaricating beings.

Man was made in God’s image, and given unique powers over Creation. Initially, Adam occupied a glorious form and existed in a state bliss. Creation was, therefore, good, and it came about via the Thought of God operated by Adam and his spiritual helpers. Indeed, Pasqually equated Adam with the Great Architect in Freemasonry, and this designation was, therefore and consequentially, incompatible with Gnosticism's Demiurge, who created a world of chaos from the outset, ex nihilo. Thus, while Adam was created as the Man-God of the world, it was God who freely bestowed powers upon Adam and created the conditions for him to go about this work with the help of the good spirits and elemental forces under his direction.

Another disparity between Martinezism and Gnosticism is seen in their divergent views on the doctrine of sin. In Pasqually’s General Doctrine, Adam sinned ("prevaricated") when he sought to create life independently of God and without his dispensation. Adam was influenced by the evil spirits already present in creation to make these lesser beings worship him. While there are parallels with the Demiurge, the critical distinction was that, in Martinezism, Adam was tempted by the prevaricating spirits he was sent to punish and exercised his free will to disobey God's commandments. Sin, therefore, was the fault of Man. For the Gnostics, however, human beings were sparks of the Divine Substance carried into the physical world by the Demiurge. Thus, for Pasqually, Man's present condition is the direct result of Original Sin, inherited through concupiscence in an Augustinian sense. Human beings remain susceptible to the influence of evil but we are not faultless.

For Pasqually, Man is accountable to God (who alone can save him). Man must act morally to restore his spirit to the position once held before Adam's Fall. It is no coincidence therefore that knightly values and chivalric codes were required by Pasqually's Élus Coëns, and whom, as a consequence, were usually (although not exclusively) recruited from within high-grade Freemasonry. Martinezism therefore had a very different eschatology to Gnostic systems teaching salvation solely by knowledge. Pasqually’s General Doctrine was catholic, because men can only attain personal restoration, regeneration and eventual reintegration through the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ alone, since he is the “one mediator between God and man” (1 Tm 2:5-6). Further, the Élus Coën must carry with him his fellow humanity, and the spiritual beings over whom he was given responsibility. Man, therefore, still has his original task of overseeing the universal creation and restoring the evil spirits to complete, and cannot deviate from the Creator's will in that mission.

There is therefore little that is genuinely Gnostic in Pasqually’s General Doctrine. His system was, in fact, closer to Christianised mystical Jewish esotericism. Pasqually maintained that the original, Adamic faith ("cult") was corrupted by the Fall. Remnants of it survived, and was preserved through the patriarchs and elect prophets or guides of the Old Covenant until the advent of the Messianic era under Christ. The patriarchs and the Temple cult had prepared for the Incarnation, and Christ's appearance on earth was considered a restorative and regenerative event. The physical incarnation of Christ came about through this unbroken lineage. Pasqually’s writings do not suggest anything other than acceptance of the dual nature of Christ as fully man and fully God, one indivisible person in two natures. Pasqually argued that only through Christ as the "Repairer" and "Regenerator" can those sealed in him retrace their path of ascent and fully restore the Adamic form of humanity.

The Élus Coëns were a secret priesthood of Kohanim whose lineage lay in unbroken lineage from the patriarchs. They existed as a hidden Church, secretly operating ancient Temple theurgy within the sacramental life of the visible, apostolic Church. The purpose of the Order was to clear away the prevaricating spirits in readiness for Christ's return, and eventual culmination of the hiatus between the pre-messianic age and the coming Kingdom of Heaven. The elect priests were to follow strict moral and religious regimen, and who, after years of training and preparation, would perform exorcistic operations. This was achieved by practising certain rites, where suitably advanced Coëns named angelic entities who would appear in operations as passes. These occurred mostly in the form of numinous characters or hieroglyphs ("glyphs") representing the spirits invoked by the operator as proof that he was on the correct path of regeneration. Pasqually utilised existing grimoires for the purpose, and Christianised them accordingly. Thus, Pasqually's Particular Doctrine operated a form of magic that sought to replicate the theurgy of the Jerusalem Temple, but which required every member of the Order to be subscribing Catholics in full communion with the Church and to partake in its sacramental life.

Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings

Pasqually wrote his Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings (French: Traité de la Réintégration des êtres dans leurs premières propriétés, vertus et puissance spirituelles et divines) between 1772-73. Initially, the treatise was intended as an internal document and doctrine for the Élus Coëns. The book was incomplete at the time of his death in early 1774, but soon outgrew the narrow framework of his Order, and began to influence the spiritual and philosophical life of others. It continues to influence occultism, Christian mysticism, and spiritual philosophy and esoteric orders around the world consider it one of the fundamental books of their tradition.

There are two known versions of the work. The first, the so-called 'original version' was published by the Martinist researcher Robert Amadou in French in 1974, in Paris by Éditions Robert Dumas. The second version was also discovered by Robert Amadou in 1978, is known as the 'manuscript of Saint-Martin'. A facsimile of this version, was published by one of the Rosicrucian almanacs of France in 1993, under the title Traité sur la Réintégration des êtres.An extensive English translation incorporating both versions has recently been published more by M.R. Osborne.

The Lessons of Lyons

Although not written by Pasqually himself, the content contained in the collection of notes, catechisms and journal entries made by the Élus Coëns meeting at Lyon, France, between 1774-1776 preserve much of his original teachings. Composed by Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz and Jean-Jacques Du Roy d'Hauterive, The Lessons of Lyons (or Lessons of Lyon) are a contemporary commentary on the instructions given by Pasqually. They were originally transcribed and published in French by Robert Amadou, and more recently in English by M.R. Osborne.

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