St. Germain (Theosophy)

Legend

St. Germain, as one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, is credited with near god-like powers and with longevity. It is believed that Sir Francis Bacon faked his own death on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1626, attended his own funeral and made his way from England to Transylvania where he found lodging in a castle owned by the Rakóczi family. There, on 1 May 1684, Bacon, by using alchemy, became an immortal occult master and adopted the name Saint Germain and became one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, a group of beings that, Theosophists believe, form a Spiritual Hierarchy of planet Earth sometimes called the Ascended Masters. Thus, according to these beliefs, St. Germain was a mysterious manifestation of the "resurrected form" (or "resurrection body") of Sir Francis Bacon.

Some write that his name St. Germain was invented by him as a French version of the Latin Sanctus Germanus, meaning "Holy Brother". In the Ascended Master Teachings (but not in traditional Theosophy), the Master R, or the Master Rakóczi, also known as the Great Divine Director (a term introduced by Guy Ballard in the 1930s) is a separate and distinct being from St. Germain – the Master Rakoczi is regarded in the Ascended Master Teachings as a name used by the Great Divine Director when he was functioning as Saint Germain's teacher in the Great White Brotherhood of Ascended Masters.

Biographies

There are several "authoritative" biographers who usually do not agree with one another. Probably the two best-known biographies are Isabel Cooper-Oakley's The Count of St. Germain (1912) and Jean Overton-Fuller's The Comte de Saint-Germain: Last Scion of the House of Rakoczy (1988). The former is a compilation of letters, diaries and private records written about the Count by members of the French aristocracy who knew him in the 18th century. Dr. Raymond Bernard's book The Great Secret – St. Germain is biographical and covers many aspects of the Counts' life including his conflation with Sir Francis Bacon and the author of the Shakespearean opus. Manly Palmer Hall in his The Secret Teachings of All Ages, describes some of the same attributes as Dr. Bernard, including the attribution of the writings of Shakespeare to a great adept like Francis Bacon, who could be amalgamated with the Count of St. Germain.

There have also been numerous French and German biographies, among them Der Wiedergänger: Das zeitlose Leben des Grafen von Saint-Germain by Peter Krassa, Le Comte de Saint-Germain by Marie-Raymonde Delorme and L'énigmatique Comte De Saint-Germain by Pierre Ceria and François Ethuin.

Occult biography

A book titled The Great Secret, Count St. Germain, by Dr. Raymond Bernard purports that St. Germain was actually Francis Bacon by birth, and later authored the complete Plays attributed to Shakespeare. He also contends, as does the Saint Germain Foundation in Schaumburg, Illinois, that Francis Bacon was the child of Queen Elizabeth and Lord Dudley but that it was kept quiet. According to the theory, Francis was raised by the Bacon family. Yet, throughout the Shakespearean canon, there are numerous hints that the author knows of his true birth, as revealed in the explicit clues in the text of the plays themselves, in pictures, as well as the cipher code that he employed.

Books claimed by Guy Ballard to have been dictated to him by Saint Germain

Saint Germain is the central figure in the Saint Germain Series of Books published by the Saint Germain Press (the publishing arm of the Saint Germain Foundation). The first two volumes, Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence, written by Godfre Ray King, describe Saint Germain as an Ascended Master, like Jesus, who is assisting humanity. Godfre Ray King is the pen-name for Guy Warren Ballard. In these first two books, he discusses his personal experiences with Saint Germain and reveals many teachings that are in harmony with Theosophy and some other works referenced above. The third volume, The 'I AM' Discourses, contains material that is foundational to the sacred scriptures of the "I AM" Religious Activity, founded in 1930, the first of the Ascended Master Teachings religions.

There are 20 Volumes in the Saint Germain Series of Books, which are also referred to as the "Green Books." Another work of great importance, the Comte de Gabalis, is said to be from the hand of Sir Francis Bacon before he Ascended and returned as Sanctus Germanus, the "Holy Brother Herman," or Saint Germain. First printed in 1670, the book includes a picture of the Polish Rider, a famous painting at the Frick Collection in New York City, which is said to be of Sir Francis Bacon, a.k.a. the Comte de Gabalis, or the Count of the Cabala. Lotus Ray King (Edna Ballard's pen name), wife of Guy Ballard, talked about this book having been authored by the Ascended Master Saint Germain in the Round Table Talks of the "I AM" Religious Activity.

Claimed encounters with Saint Germain

Several Theosophists and practitioners of alternate esoteric traditions have claimed to have met Saint Germain in the late 19th or early 20th centuries:

Esoteric activities

Many groups honor Saint Germain as a supernatural being called a Master of the Ancient Wisdom or an Ascended master. In the Ascended Master Teachings he is referred to simply as Saint Germain, or as the Ascended Master Saint Germain. As an Ascended Master, Saint Germain is believed to have many magical powers such as the ability to teleport, levitate, walk through walls, and to inspire people by telepathy, among others.

Theosophists consider him to be a Mahatma, Masters of the Ancient Wisdom or Adept. Helena Blavatsky said that he was one of her Masters of Wisdom and hinted that he had given her secret documents. Some esoteric groups credit him with inspiring the Founding Fathers to draft the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as providing the design of the Great Seal of the United States. (See Manly Palmer Hall's Secret Teachings of All Ages.) In New Age beliefs, Saint Germain is always associated with the color violet, the jewel amethyst, and the Maltese cross rendered in violet (usually the iron cross style cross patee version). He is also regarded as the "Chohan of the Seventh Ray" According to Theosophy, the Seven Rays are seven metaphysical principles that govern both individual souls and the unfolding of each 2,158-year-long Astrological Age. Since according to Theosophy the next Astrological Age, the Age of Aquarius, will be governed by the Seventh (Violet) Ray (the Ray of Ceremonial Order), Saint Germain is sometimes called "The Hierarch of the Age of Aquarius". According to the Ascended Master Teachings, Saint Germain is "The God of Freedom for this system of worlds." According to the Ascended Master Teachings, the preliminary lead-up to the beginning of the Age of Aquarius began on 1 July 1956, when Ascended Master Saint Germain became the Hierarch of the Age of Aquarius, replacing the former Astrological Age Hierarch, the Ascended Master Jesus, who had been for almost 2,000 years the "Hierarch of the Age of Pisces".

In the works authored by Alice A. Bailey, Saint Germain is called Master Rakóczi or the Master R. (In the Ascended Master Teachings, the Master Rakoczi [ otherwise known as the Great Divine Director ] is regarded as Saint Germain's teacher in the Great White Brotherhood of Ascended Masters.) Alice A. Bailey's book The Externalisation of the Hierarchy (a compilation of earlier revelations published posthumously in 1957) gives the most information about his reputed role as a Spiritual Master. Saint Germain's spiritual title is said to be Lord of Civilization, and his task is the establishment of the new civilization of the Age of Aquarius. He is said to telepathically influence people who are seen by him as being instrumental in bringing about the new civilization of the Age of Aquarius. Alice A. Bailey stated that "sometime after AD 2025," the Jesus, the Master Rakóczi (Saint Germain), Kuthumi, and others in the Spiritual Hierarchy would "externalise", i.e., descend from the spiritual worlds, and interact in visible tangible bodies on the Earth in ashrams, surrounded by their disciples. Alice A. Bailey said that St. Germain is the "manager of the executive council of the Christ"(Theosophists regard "the Master Jesus" and "Christ" as two separate and distinct beings. They believe in the Gnostic Christology espoused by Cerinthus (fl. c. 100 AD), according to which "Christ" is a being who was incarnated in Jesus only during the three years of the ministry of Jesus). According to certain Theosophists, "Christ" is identified as being a highly developed spiritual entity whose actual name is Maitreya. This Maitreya is the same being known in Buddhism as the Bodhisattva Maitreya, who is in training to become the next Buddha on Earth. According to Alice A. Bailey, the "executive council of the Christ" is a specific subgroup of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, charged with preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ and the consequent inauguration of the Age of Aquarius.

According to Benjamin Creme, when Ascended Master Saint Germain externalizes on the physical plane, one of the major activities of his ashram will be developing new forms of new-age music.

Previous incarnations

According to Theosophy and the Ascended Master Teachings, Saint Germain was incarnated as: (see notes 1, 2, and 3 for sources): (Note: Not all Theosophical and Ascended Master Teaching groups accept all of these incarnations as valid. St. Germain's incarnations as St. Alban, Proclus, Roger Bacon and Sir Francis Bacon are universally accepted.)

Ascension into masterhood

According to the Ascended Master Teachings, Francis Bacon made it appear that he died on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1626, and he even attended his own "funeral" in disguise. It is believed by the adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings that he then traveled secretly to Transylvania (then part of Hungary, now part of Romania) to the Rakoczy Mansion of the royal family of Hungary. Finally on 1 May 1684 he is believed to have attained (by his knowledge of alchemy) his physical Ascension (attaining immortality and eternal youth [ the sixth level of Initiation]) at which time Francis Bacon adopted the name "Saint Germain."

Skeptical view

The scholar K. Paul Johnson maintains that the "Masters" that Madame Blavatsky wrote about and produced letters from were actually idealizations of people who were her mentors.

Also see the article "Talking to the Dead and Other Amusements" by Paul Zweig New York Times 5 October 1980, which maintains that Madame Blavatsky's revelations were fraudulent.