Brotherhood of Saturn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Brotherhood of Saturn ("Fraternitas Saturni", FS) is a German magical order founded under the leadership of Eugen Grosche in 1928.^[1]

1 History
2 Known members
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The Fraternitas Saturni was founded by Eugen Grosche, aka Gregor A. Gregorius, following the Weida Conference. This conference was meant to consolidate Crowley's claims to be the Outer Head of the Ordo Templi Orientis and the expected World Teacher. The conference consisted of Crowley's entourage of Leila Waddell and Norman Mudd and the members of Heinrich Traenker's Pansophia Lodge. Traenker had served as a X° for Reuss up until his death.

The conference was not a smooth event and before Crowley even arrived the seeds of schism had been planted. Karl Johannes Germer, who would later go on to be Crowley's right hand man, had translated Liber Al vel Legis into German and while the majority of the Pansophical Lodge had no problems with and some even accepted it, notably Germer, Grosche and Martha Kuntzel. The Beast was successful in his aspirations for the meeting, voted to the office of OHO by Traenker, Mudd, C.S. Jones (who was not present) and Waddell and as the World Teacher prophesied by Mme. Blavatsky. The situation would quickly turn sour and not only did Traenker withdraw his support of Aleister Crowley but so did the rest of the involved parties. This led to a schism in the Pansophical Lodge where those who accepted the teachings of Crowley would go on to found the Fraternitas Saturni and the Pansophical Lodge would be officially closed. Kuntzel and Germer would join Crowley's orders, the A∴A∴ and O.T.O. while the majority of the members of the Pansophical Lodge would join Grosche in his endeavours with the F∴S∴ including notable film pioneer Albin Grau.

The F∴S∴ would make formal acceptance of the Book of the Law but they would not answer to Crowley. They still thought of him as an important teacher and Grosche would try to provide pretense that the order operated with Crowley's blessings through a series of forged letters from Crowley and letters he had sent to Crowley that would go unanswered. This resulted in the F∴S∴ developing a unique and interesting take on Crowley's teachings about Thelema more in line with Astrological thought than the teachings of the Golden Dawn. Uniquely there was not much of an emphasis on the Qabala and Tarot within the F∴S∴ when compared to other Orders founded in the early 20th century.

In 1936, the FS was prohibited by the Nazi regime. Gregorius as well as other leaders of the lodge emigrated in order to avoid imprisonment. After World War II Gregorius was able to reunite the brothers and bring the lodge back to full blossom.

Grosche was arrested for a year by the Nazi government on the grounds of being a Socialist. Curiously enough, his connection to Aleister Crowley was cited by the Gestapo as the main reason for his detainment. Following the war's end, he became affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany in the Soviet Zone.

In 1957 there were lodges in Hamburg and Stuttgart, with the grandlodge in Berlin. By the time of Grosche's death in 1964 the FS was again Germany's biggest magickal order. But following Grosche's death, there were turbulences and confusion concerning the position of Grandmaster.

The most important degrees in the initiatory system of the FS are the "Gradus Mercurii", the "Gradus Solis" and the "Gradus Pentalphae", the grade of the five pointed star or pentagram. The work of the "Gradus Pentalphae" is centered around tantric mysticism and sexual magicks, it is said that all the secret knowledge of the OTO is contained within the "Gradus Pentalphae".

The system of degrees was changed shortly before Grosche died. Originally, there were ten degrees within the FS, not including the "novice", who was not a regular member but a candidate to the FS, and the Grandmaster, which was no degree in those days but a position held by a single master of the highest degree ("Magister Aquarii") guiding the affairs of the lodge. The "Gradus Mercurii" (Fellow Craft) was the second degree in the original system, followed by the "Gradus Solis" (Master) and the "Gradus Pentalphae".

After the reformation of the degree system and its expansion to 33 degrees, the "Gradus Mercurii" was 8°, "Gradus Solis" became 12° and the "Gradus Pentalphae" became 18°.

In 1957 the FS became a legal organisation, registered as "Fraternitas Saturni, eingetragener Verein". In 1979 most of the ordained masters left the Fraternitas Saturni to form the Ordo Saturni, the remaining brothers of the FSeV found new attempts on magick and still work under the name "Fraternitas Saturni", despite the fact that no master remained to keep the tradition connected to the original FS alive.

In 1993 one of the so-called masters ("Immanuel-succession") found another Saturnian order, the Communitas Saturni. Another Saturnian lodge (Grand Lodge "Gregor A. Gregorius") formed during the 1990s in southern Germany, but after a period of conflicts this lodge merged with the FS.

There has been much misinformation published about the Fraternitas Saturni over the years, mostly based in what little information Francis King was able to glean about the order. For a more concise and accurate account of the Fraternitas Saturni, see the works of Peter Koenig (in German). The widely hailed book Fire & Ice by Stephen Flowers contains mostly forgeries from the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}