The Greater Feast of Franz Hartmann part 2

Today, marks the Great Feast of Dr. Franz Hartmann, IX* OTO, who died in 1912 at the age of 73.

Tau Apiryon posted the following biographical notes which originally appeared in Red Flame #2 “Mystery of Mystery” which was reprinted last year in a lovely hardcover edition:

Franz Hartmann was a Bavarian-American physician, occultist, and one of the co-founders of O.T.O., along with Carl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, Henry Klein and Charles Détré. He served in the Bavarian artillery in his youth and then studied Medicine and became a physician. He emigrated to America in 1865, obtained U.S. citizenship and qualified as an M.D. He travelled as a doctor to various cities, and served for a time as a coroner in Georgetown, Colorado. During his travels, he visited a number of Indian tribes and researched their religious beliefs. He developed an interest in Spiritualism, and became active in the Spiritualist circles of New Orleans. He joined the Theosophical Society in 1882, and in 1883, he was invited by Colonel Olcott to come to the T.S. headquarters in Adyar, India. He remained in Adyar until 1885, and was appointed to the eight-member governing board of the T.S. headquarters. During his stay, Hartmann allegedly received up to ten personal letters from the “Mahatmas.”

While Blavatsky and Olcott were away in Europe in 1884, the Society for Psychical Research came to Adyar to investigate the claims of “psychic phenomena.” The report was unfavorable, and Hartmann became enmeshed in the internal politics which resulted. Hartmann left Adyar in 1885 and returned to Bavaria, where he met Carl Kellner. He and Kellner collaborated on the development of the “ligno-sulphite” inhalation therapy for tuberculosis, and Hartmann established a sanitarium near Salzburg to administer this novel treatment technique. While in Austria, he became increasingly involved in the Viennese Theosophical circle centered around Friedrich Eckstein, where he may have had his first contact with Theodor Reuss. Through contacts in the Eckstein group, he was introduced to an elderly Austrian weaver (name unknown) who claimed to be a lineal Rosicrucian initiate, and became this man’s disciple.

In 1902, Hartmann assisted Reuss in obtaining warrants from John Yarker to form a Sovereign Sanctuary in Germany for the Masonic Rites of Memphis and Mizraim, and to form a German Grand Orient for the Cernau Council Scottish Rite. Hartmann initially held high offices in both the Sovereign Sanctuary and the Grand Orient. In 1906, Reuss combined the two organizations under the umbrella of Kellner’s Ordo Templi Orientis, and Hartmann was given the title of “Honorary Grand Master of the Sovereign Sanctuary.”

Hartmann was one of the most prolific writers on occultism of his time, and was the author of The Life and Doctrines of Paracelsus (1887), An Adventure among the Rosicrucians (1887), Magic, White and Black (1888), The Principles of Astrological Geomancy (1889), In the Pronaos of the Temple of Wisdom (1890), The Talking Image of Urur (1890), The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme (1891), Occult Science in Medicine (1893), Among the Gnomes (1895), The Life of Jehoshua (1909), and Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians (1888), which is included in Section 1 of the A:. A:. reading list.

The original is posted here: http://hermetic.com/sabazius/hartmann.htm

P.S. the second printing of Mystery of Mystery, has shipped. If you wish a copy, you can paypal $31 to cover the book, taxes and media mail shipping within the USA to: info@concreat.org