Occult theories about Francis Bacon

A number of writers, some of whom were connected with Theosophy, have claimed that Francis Bacon (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), the English philosopher, statesman, scientist, and author, was a member of secret societies; a smaller number claim that he was an Ascended Master and was reincarnated.

Secret societies

Francis Bacon often gathered with the men at Gray's Inn to discuss politics and philosophy, and to try out various theatrical scenes that he admitted writing.^[1] Bacon's alleged connection to the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons has been widely discussed by authors and scholars in many books.^[2] However others, including Daphne du Maurier (in her biography of Bacon), have argued there is no substantive evidence to support claims of involvement with the Rosicrucians.^[3] Historian Dame Frances Yates^[4] does not make the claim that Bacon was a Rosicrucian, but presents evidence that he was nevertheless involved in some of the more closed intellectual movements of his day. She argues that Bacon's movement for the advancement of learning was closely connected with the German Rosicrucian movement, while Bacon's The New Atlantis portrays a land ruled by Rosicrucians. He apparently saw his own movement for the advancement of learning to be in conformity with Rosicrucian ideals.^[5]

In 1618 Francis Bacon decided to secure a lease for York House. This had been his boyhood home in London next to the Queen's York Place before the Bacon family had moved to Gorhambury in the countryside. After Lord Egerton (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England) died, it became available for Bacon to lease. During the next four years this mansion on the Strand (so large that it had 40 fireplaces) served as the home for Francis and Alice Bacon. Over the next four years Bacon would host banquets at York House that were attended by the leading men of the time, including poets, scholars, authors, scientists, lawyers, diplomats, and foreign dignitaries. Within the banquet hall, Francis gathered the greatest leaders in literature, art, law, education, and social reform. On 22 January 1621 in honour of Sir Francis Bacon's sixtieth birthday, a select group of men assembled in the large banquet hall in York House without fanfare for what has been described as a Masonic banquet.^[6] This banquet was to pay tribute to Sir Francis Bacon. Only those of the Rosicrosse (Rosicrucians) and the Masons who were already aware of Bacon's leadership role were invited.^[7] The tables were T-tables with gleaming white drapery, silver, and decorations of flowers. The poet Ben Jonson, a long-time friend of Bacon, gave a Masonic ode to Bacon that day.

There was a depth of love by a large body of men toward Bacon, similar to some degree in the manner that disciples love a Master.^[8] This is especially true when taking into account his membership (and some say leadership) of secret societies such as the Rosicrucians and Freemasons.^[6] In the inner esoteric membership, which included Francis Bacon, vows of celibacy for spiritual reasons were encouraged.^[9][10]

Faked death theory

Various authors^[11][12] have written that there were indications that Francis Bacon had gone into debt while secretly funding the publishing of materials for the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, "Spear-Shakers", "Knights of the Helmet", as well as publishing, with the assistance of Ben Jonson, a selection of the plays that they believe he had written under the pen name of "Shake-Speare" in a "First Folio" in 1623.^{[13][14][15][16]} Furthermore, they allege that Bacon faked his own death, crossed the English Channel, and secretly traveled in disguise after 1626 through France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and other areas utilizing the secret network of Freemasons and Rosicrucians that he was associated with. It is alleged that he continued to write under pseudonyms, as he had done before 1626,^[17] continuing to write as late as 1670 (using the pseudonym "Comte De Gabalis").^[18] Elinor Von Le Coq, wife of Professor Von Le Coq in Berlin, stated that she had found evidence in the German Archives that Francis Bacon stayed after 1626 with the family of Johannes Valentinus Andreae in Germany.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Beginning early in the 20th century in the United States, a number of Ascended Master Teachings organizations^{[23][24][25][26]} began making the claim that Francis Bacon had never died. They believed that soon after completing the "Shake-Speare" plays, he had feigned his own death on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1626 and then traveled extensively outside of England, eventually attaining his physical Ascension to another plane on May 1, 1684 in a castle in Transylvania owned by the Rakoczi family.^[27] Their belief is that Bacon took on the name "Saint Germain" on that date, May 1, 1684, and became an Ascended Master.

References

1. ^ Frances Yates, Theatre of the World, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969
2. ^ Bryan Bevan, The Real Francis Bacon, England: Centaur Press, 1960
3. ^ Daphne du Maurier, The Winding Stair, Biography of Bacon 1976.
4. ^ Frances Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, pages 61 - 68, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979
5. ^ Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972
6. ^ ^{a b} Helene H. Armstrong, Francis Bacon - The Spear Shaker, San Francisco, California: Golden Gate Press, 1985 ISBN 0-9616288-0-4
7. ^ Alfred Dodd, Francis Bacon's Personal Life Story', Volume 2 - The Age of James, England: Rider & Co., 1949, 1986. pages 157 - 158, 425, 502 - 503, 518 - 532
8. ^ Helen Veale, Son of England, India: Indo Polish Library, 1950
9. ^ Peter Dawkins, Dedication to the Light, England: Francis Bacon Research Trust, 1984
10. ^ Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964
11. ^ Mrs. Henry Pott Francis Bacon and His Secret Society, (Reprint: Kessinger Publishing 1997)
12. ^ William T. Smedley Mystery of Francis Bacon, London, 1912 (Reprint: Kessinger Publishing 1997)
13. ^ C. P. Bowditch, The Connection of Francis Bacon, with the First Folio of Shakespeare's Plays and with the Books on Cipher of his Time, Cambridge, 1910
14. ^ Ross Jackson, Shaker of the Speare: The Francis Bacon Story, The Book Guild Ltd. 2005
15. ^ Martin Pares, Knights of the Helmet, 1964
16. ^ W. C. F. Wigston, Bacon, Shakespeare and the Rosicrucians, London England, 1888 (Reprint: Kessinger Publishing, 1997) ISBN 978-1564593382
17. ^ Bertram Theobald, Enter Francis Bacon. The Case for Bacon as the True "Shakespeare", England: Cecil Palmer, 1932
18. ^ Reginald Walter Gibson, Francis Bacon: A Bibliography of His Works and Baconiana to the Year 1750, 1950
19. ^ Bertram Theobald, Francis Bacon Concealed And Revealed, London: Cecil Palmer, 1930
20. ^ Parker Woodward Francis Bacon London: Grafton & Co. 1920. pages 13, 121 - 135
21. ^ Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages "An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings Concealed within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of all Ages" H.S. Crocker Company, Inc. 1928
22. ^ Richard Maurice Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness, A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind, Philadelphia, 1901. Contains an excellent chapter on Bacon's qualities, consciousness and experiences and how they may have influenced his writings.
23. ^ Saint Germain Foundation. The History of the "I AM" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation. Schaumburg, Illinois: Saint Germain Press 2003
24. ^ Luk, A.D.K.. Law of Life — Book II. Pueblo, Colorado: A.D.K. Luk Publications 1989, pages 254 - 267
25. ^ White Paper - Wesak World Congress 2002. Acropolis Sophia Books & Works 2003.
26. ^ Partridge, Christopher ed. New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities Oxford University Press, USA 2004.
27. ^ Schroeder, Werner Ascended Masters and Their Retreats Ascended Master Teaching Foundation 2004, pages 250 - 255