Comte de Gabalis

The Comte De Gabalis is a sacred text for Rosicrucians and spiritual adepts. It is composed of five discourses given by a Count or spiritual master to the student or aspirant. It was anonymously published in 1670 under the title Comte De Gabalis. The meaning suggests the Count of the Cabala as the text is cabalistic in nature. The "Holy Cabala" is mentioned explicitly throughout. The first English translation was rendered in 1680. Only in later publishings did the name Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars become attached to this work as being its author.^[1]

Nevertheless, the importance of who the Comte actually is, is hinted at and among Spiritual societies and groups, it is held to be 'The Polish Rider' -- as he rode westward. At the beginning of the text is a painting by Rembrandt titled The Polish Rider. This painting can be viewed at the Frick Collection, New York City. However, those there who attend to this painting are not aware of who the 'Polish Rider' is.

Rosicrucian adepts and members of certain spiritual organizations, such as the "I AM" Activity or Saint Germain Foundation, believe that it is Sir Francis Bacon — who, they claim, wrote the Shakespeare plays, employing the pen name "William Shakespeare" — earlier in his illustrious career. Therefore, Francis Bacon at a later date, and just prior to 1670, would have given five discourses under another another pen name 'Comte De Gabalis'. This personage, it is held, disappeared for a time before returning again before the public with a new and final name 'Sanctus Germanus' which means "Germain or Pertaining to the Saints". Today, this name is widely known and recognized as being the Ascended Master Saint Germain.

Highlights in this work include prints by Rembrandt, scroll of The Birth of Jesus as related in the Koran, explanation of famous stories and histories such as Melusine, so forth. In English editions published by The Brothers, an extensive commentary by Lotus Dudley was included. The commentary is simply a means of assisting the reader to understand the points being made in the text which are historical and based in fact. Thus, it is considered a work of nonfiction. However, to an everyday reader, it is often considered a novel or work of fantasy.

C.H. Bjerregaard says,

To a reader who cannot or will not believe that the Comte de Gabalis was a real person, but merely a fiction...., the advice is that he leave the question open and attend to the teachings of the book.... All this has meaning to those only of the Inner Life... .....the man and the book...leave a subtle influence upon the mind and prepare it for a flight upwards.^[2]

The book begins with a quote by Tertullian: "When a thing is hidden away with so much pains, merely to reveal it is to destroy it".

The book consists of five Discourses that center on the topic:

1. Nature of the Divine Principle in Man: The Student meets the Comte
2. Evolution of the Divine Principle in Man: The People of the Elements
3. Man's Place in Nature: The Oracles
4. Children of the Sun: Children of the Philosophers
5. The Life of the True Light is Radiation: Charity of the Philosophers

Mary Baker Eddy is quoted in the Brother's Edition commentary, added by Lotus Dudley, stating, "Divorces should warn the age of some fundamental error in the marriage state.^[3] This underscores the purpose of the text which is for a young man or woman to refrain from all sensual contact with the opposite gender and employ that energy for a higher purpose and good. Not only is this the way to spiritual understanding but, according to the text, the original divine plan for humanity. The first or original sin between Adam and Eve was sexual (eating of the fruit). They were not intended to physically unite but to refrain. As a result, the representatives of humanity lost their divine ability to commune with God, and had to work or labor to survive; and for the first time, women gave birth in pain. The children were not heroic and thus born in "original sin" since the birth was a result of wrong sexual use. But, other "Trees" and "Fruits" were available and God-given.

Genesis  6:4 "There were giants in the Earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." This was the divine plan that heroic, "mighty men" would be born from the "sons of God", which are the "Children of the Elohim", partnered and mated with the "children of men" -- humans. The children of the Elohim are the mortal Beings of the Elements. Paracelsus discussed these very evolved beings as Gnomes, Nymphs, Sylphs and Salamanders. The females are called Gnomides, Nymphs, Sylphids and Salamanders or Salamandrines. They are in-between the Angelic and human kingdoms. In purity, they are higher than almost all humans except for Adepts, Philosophers and Sages—because they do not have an Unfed Flame or Eternal Spirit. Thus, they are mortal. The original divine plan was for them to unite with humans, who, having an Unfed Flame, were able to transcend the human qualities and become Eternal and Immortal. Through this union, the Being of the Elements hoped to share in this Immortality and be given the same opportunity to Ascend to God, the Father-Mother of all.

Socrates himself through the hand of Plato, states that the "daimonas" were highly evolved. These are the elemental spirit beings. The Comte also quotes Saint Augustine who notes the many occurrences of such meetings of humans with so-called satyrs, fauns and the like. The Comte states that the Beings of the Elements were the givers of the Oracles and because of their powers, were looked at as gods. They were the gods of the ancient Greeks. In the Hebrew Bible, mention is made of the teraphim, and the Comte states that the Beings of the Elements spoke through these to enlighten their owners as well as through virgin maidens who became priestesses. They were the purveyor of oracles to the masses and lived a life of purity to do so. Everyone or anyone who would wish to contact such a being is called to a life of purity, chastity and prayer.

The Comte tells the student not to seek after human relationship and marriage, but to know that marriage with a Gnomide, Nymph, Sylphid or Salamander is a much higher calling. This is the calling of the true sage or philosopher. The Gnome or Gnomide is of the Earth Element. The Nymph is of the Water Element. The Sylph or Sylphid is of the Air Element, and the Salamander is of the Fire Element. The Fire Element being the highest and purest element, the Salamander people are noted for their great beauty. They also live longer than any other element because of this purity; up to 1,200 years. In comparison, a Gnome, Nymph or Sylph may live three to five hundred years. But again, they are mortal so they would, at the end of their lifespan, die.

For a human who passes on after a life of 70 or so years, they will experience re-birth (the law of re-embodiment), and so will have another chance to obtain the goal of life; and if successful, will Ascend. The original divine plan, was for such a human to lead a Being of the Element to Eternal Life—where he or she would not die but become immortal like their partner.

The Comte gives example after example of such unions, their children and the historical stories of those who have become Immortalized or assisted in the Immortalization of a Being of the Elements. Those who misunderstood, such as religious organizations, often condemned these relationships. Hence, the definitions of such beings as being incubi or succubi, demons, devils, or animals; while their partners were often labeled as witches or sorcerers.^[4]

Lord Francis Bacon's (Shakespeare's) plays abound in elemental beings: Puck and Ariel. Alexander Pope was influenced by the Comte De Gabalis in his Rosicrucian poem The Rape of the Lock. Sylphs have been the favorites of the bards. The Mahabharata is full of stories about beings of the elements and their heroic offspring with their human partners. Similar themes and references are found in Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey in which the elemental beings as noted by the Comte appear as gods and goddesses such as the mighty Zeus, Hera, Aprodite, Athena, Apollo, and Achilles, son of a mortal man and the goddess nymph Thetis.^[5] La Motte Fouqué wrote about a beautiful water-nymph in his novella Undine, and Sir Walter Scott endowed the White Lady of Avenel with many of the attributes of the Nymphs. See Lord Lytton's Zanoni, James Barrie's Tinker Bell; and the bowlers Rip Van Winkle encountered in the Catskill Mountains. The story of Melusina is based on the historical marriage of a gentleman and a water Nymph. Charles Mackay, father of Marie Corelli, wrote "Salamandrine", a poem about a great love between a human and a female Salamander. Cabalism, in general, influenced many mediaeval poems as well as the writings of Dante.

Text

• The text of the Comte De Gabalis at sacred.texts.com
• The text of the Comte De Gabalis at archive.org
• Comte De Gabalis, 1914 or 1922 English edition, The Brothers: Macoy & Masonic Supply Co.
• Comte De Gabalis, 1992 English edition, Kessinger Publishing ISBN 1564592014

References

1. ^ Comte De Gabalis, 1914 or 1922 English edition, The Brothers: Macoy & Masonic Supply Co.
2. ^ Theosophic journal The World xix 1914 pp 116–121
3. ^ Comte De Gabalis, 1922 Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co. pg. 124
4. ^ Comte De Gabalis, 1914 or 1922 English edition, The Brothers: Macoy & Masonic Supply Co.
5. ^ The Iliad by Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics, 1990