Manly Palmer Hall

Manly P. Hall
Born	March 18, 1901(1901-03-18) Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Died	August 29, 1990(1990-08-29) (aged 89) Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Philosopher, writer
Language	English
Citizenship	United States
Period	1923–1990
Subjects	Philosophy
Notable work(s)	The Secret Teachings of All Ages The Lost Keys Of Freemasonry
Spouse(s)	Fay Bernice Lee (-1941, her death) Marie Bauer Hall (m. 1950-1990, his death)

Manly Palmer Hall (March 18, 1901 – August 29, 1990) was a Canadian-born author and mystic. He is perhaps most famous for his 1928 work The Secret Teachings of All Ages.

Biography

Early years

Manly P. Hall was born 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario to William S. Hall, a dentist, and Louise Palmer Hall, a chiropractor. In 1923 Hall moved from Canada to Los Angeles, California. In that year he was ordained to the Church of the People and published his first of over 150 works, The Lost Keys Of Freemasonry. Later in 1928, at the age of 27 years, he published The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy^[1][2].

Career as occultist

In 1934, Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) in Los Angeles, California, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization^[3] dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and the occult.^[4]

It is claimed that Hall was made a knight patron of the Masonic Research Group of San Francisco in 1953, although he was not raised as a Mason until 22 November 1954 into Jewel Lodge No. 374 , San Francisco. He later received his 32° in the Valley of San Francisco AASR (SJ).^[5] On December 8, 1973 (47 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Hall was recognized as a 33° Mason (the highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite) at a ceremony held at the Philosophical Research Society (PRS)^[6][7]). The definitive Manly Palmer Hall Archive states that Hall received the 33°, "despite never being initiated into the physical craft."^[8]

In his over 70-year career, Hall delivered approximately 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 150 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles. He appears in the introduction to the 1938 film When Were You Born, a murder mystery that uses astrology as a key plot point.

Legacy

• The PRS still maintains a research library of over 50,000 volumes,^[9] and also sells and publishes metaphysical and spiritual books, mostly those authored by Hall.^[10]

• It was reported in 2010 that President Ronald Reagan adopted some ideas and phrasing from Hall’s book The Secret Destiny of America (1944), using them in speeches and essays.^[11]

Works

• Selected Major Works
  • The Secret Teachings of All Ages, 1928 PRS
  • Meditation Symbols In Eastern & Western Mysticism-Mysteries of the Mandala, The Philosophical Research Society,Inc.,1988. ISBN 0-89314-543-2
  • The Lost Keys Of Freemasonry, 1923
• Other Books & Texts
  • Lectures in Ancient Philosophy: An Introduction to Practical Ideals
  • The Adepts Series PRS
  • Lady of Dreams: A fable in the manner of the Chinese (Los Angeles, 1943)
  • The Blessed Angels: A Monograph
  • Lectures on Ancient Philosophy—An Introduction to the Study and Application of Rational Procedure, The Hall Publishing Company, Los Angeles, First Edition, 1929, Rosicrucian and Masonic Origins (chapter 19)
  • Introduction to Max Heindel's Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine, 1933 [2],
  • The Secret Destiny of America (Los Angeles, 1944)
  • America's Assignment with Destiny (Los Angeles, 1994)
  • Unofficial Listing of All Books by Manly P. Hall, with topics [3]
• Journals
  • Catalogs of articles in The All-Seeing Eye, Horizon, and PRS Journal [4]
• Essays
  • Atlantis, An Interpretation
  • Symbolic Essays
  • Noah and His Wonderful Ark
  • The Fraternity of the Rosecross From: The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall. PRS., 1928 ^{www.fraternidaderosacruz.org}

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers

References

1. ^ Sub Rosa Magazine – Issue 6, October 2006, includes a profile of Hall that mentions a "sole biographical record" called Growing Up With Grandmother; ISBN 0893144207.
2. ^ Manly P. Hall, "The Secret Teachings of All Ages, The Diamond Jubilee Edition" ISBN 0-89314-830-X, page VI
3. ^ The Philosophical Research Society's Tax Exempt Status – The Philosophical Research Society's declaration of its 501(c)3 nonprofit status on its website, retrieved December 12, 2010.
4. ^ "About the Philosophical Research Society". Philosophical Research Society. Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZtkINocD. Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
5. ^ Denslow, William R. (1958). 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. ii. [Trenton, MO. : Missouri Lodge of Research / Educational Bureau, Royal Arch Mason Magazine]. p. 165. 
6. ^ MPH Biography
7. ^ Manly P. Hall's Obituary, Scottish Rite Journal, November, 1990, p. 22. [1]. (Note: archives don't go back this far so this reference is in question. However, the Philosophical Research Society Manly Palmer Hall biography states this (word-for-word) except the text on this page stated the 33° is the highest degree conferred by the Scottish Rite, a rare and high honor, Manly Palmer Hall, was given the highest honor conferred by the Scottish Rite in recognition of his esteemed work: The Grand Cross of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, Washington, D.C. in 1985 (can only be conferred on 33rd Degree Masons). The Supreme Council – Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? – The Methods of Anti-Masons questions Hall's Mason authority status.
8. ^ The Manly Palmer Hall Archive, retrieved September 28, 2009.
9. ^ "About the Philosophical Research Society". University of Southern California Archival Research Center: LA as Subject Database. University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZtkQErVd. Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
10. ^ "About the Philosophical Research Society". McRae’s Bluebook. McRae’s Bluebook. Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZtkUkewg. Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
11. ^ "Reagan and the Occult" by Mitch Horowitz, The Washington Post, Political Bookworm, April 30th, 2010

Further reading

• Sahagun, Louis (2008). Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall. Process. ISBN 193417002X. 

• Horowitz, Mitch (2009/2010). Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation. New York: Bantam. ISBN 978-0553385151. 

External links

• The Manly P. Hall Archive
• Library of Congress holdings
• Philosophical Research Society – Manly Palmer Hall biography
• Fraternidade Rosacruz Max Heindel – Biografia de Manly Palmer Hall
• Video interview with publishers of Hall's Freemasonry books – Tarcher publisher and editor Joel Fotinos and Mitch Horowitz discuss Hall's background, common Freemasonry symbols and famous freemasons
• Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, 1500-1825 The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. A collection of 243 manuscripts detailing the arts of Alchemy, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, and Masonry, gathered by Manly Palmer Hall, author and researcher in the realms of mysticism and the occult.

Persondata
Name	Hall, Manly Palmer
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1901-03-18
Place of birth	Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Date of death	1990-08-29
Place of death	Los Angeles, California