Joséphin Péladan (28 March 1858, Lyon – 27 June 1918) was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism.
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His eldest brother Adrien studied alchemy and occultism as well. In 1882 he came to Paris where Arsene Houssaye gave him a job on his artistic review, L'Artiste. In 1884 he published his first novel, Le Vice Supreme, which recommended the salvation of man through occult magick of the ancient east.[1]
He claimed that a Babylonian King left the title of "Sâr" to his family. Péladans Le vice suprème was interwoven with Rosicrucian and occult themes. After reading Péladan's novel, the French poet Stanislas de Guaita became interested in occultism. In Paris, De Guaita and Péladan became acquainted, and in 1884, the two decided to try to rebuild the Rosicrucian Brotherhood.
De Guaita and Péladan recruited Gérard Encausse to help rebuild the brotherhood. Encausse, who went by the pseudonym “Papus”, was a Spanish-born French physician and occultist who had written books on magic, Kabbalah and the Tarot. In 1888, De Guaita founded the Cabalistic Order of the Rosicrucian. The Rosicrucian Order is a legendary and secretive Order that was first publicly documented in the early 17th century.
Guaita's Rosicrucian Order provided training in the Kabbalah, an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism, which attempts to reveal hidden mystical insights in the Hebrew Bible and divine nature. The order also conducted examinations and provided university degrees on Kabbalah topics. De Guaita had a large private library of books on metaphysical issues, magic, and the "hidden sciences." He was nicknamed the "Prince of the Rosicrucian" by his contemporaries for his broad learning on Rosicrucian issues.
By the 1890, De Guaita, Papus, and Péladan’s collaboration became increasingly strained by disagreements over strategy and doctrines. De Guaita and Papus lost the support of Péladan, who left to start a competing order. In June 1890, Péladan left the Martinist Order and created a Catholic Order of the Rose and the Cross. Péladan was the leader of the new order, and he took the titles of "Imperator" and "Super Magician".