Dokumentační centrum českého hermetismu

God’s Warriors

The Late 19th Century

Known as “fin de si siècle”, the closing years of the 19th century represented the end of not only a century but also of traditional spiritual values. Europe’s deep-rooted Christian tradition was collapsing under the onslaught of positivism. Natural sciences and industry were experiencing unprecedented boom and faith was expected to be replaced with knowledge. The religion of liberty and progress was on the rise.

As a counter-force to this trend, the human desire for deeper knowledge of the mysterious was being born somewhere on the edge of social life. It was the beginning of the renaissance of Hermetic disciplines, which can be defined a set of teachings about secret sciences, especially alchemy, astrology and magic. The strict secrecy in which these “arts” had been kept changed almost overnight into something resembling a public movement. The lore of ancient Egypt mixed with the Jewish Kabbalah and Oriental – mainly Indian – esoteric teachings. Along with the rapidly spreading wave of spiritualism, these were blended into the so-called occultism

At the end of the 19th century, this wave hit the whole of Europe, as well as Egypt, Tunisia, Indochina, Columbia, Argentina, Cuba and the USA. The three largest centres of the European Hermetic movements were England, France and Germany. Here, orders and societies aimed at wide a range of spiritual activities were coming into being. Prominent among them were Martinists, Theosophists, Spiritualists, Rosicrucians, Neo-Gnostics and Illuminati, whose public work was first reflected in their publishing activity.

Miscellaneous books and journals were published, followed by the founding of specialized bookstores. The public interest was so keen that it was necessary to establish teaching centers, schools and in 1879 even a Paris-based Hermetic university. The representatives, often members of the aristocracy, received initiation here. Having completed their exams, they also obtained diplomas in various fields of Hermeticism and Kabbalah. Thus, Paris became the hub of the Hermetic movement, attracting the restless natures of seekers.[1]

Among these characters was a member of an old noble family, Baron Adolf Franz Leonhardi (16 May 1856 - 11 February 1908) from the South Bohemian town of Stráž nad Nežárkou.[2] Owing to Leonhardi's European activities, the resurrected Hermeticism found its way to Bohemia, falling onto fertile soil that had been cultivated by spreading spiritualism earlier on.[3] Spiritualism thrived above all in the Podkrkonoší region but was “leaking” into large towns as well. It became the most widespread discipline of modern occultism, dealing both theoretically and practically with human life after death. Baron Leonhardi himself was very dedicated to the discipline, frequently holding spiritualist seances at this castle. In practice, this meant conjuring up the spirits of the dead by means of an individual immersed in a trance, a so-called medium. The rapidly spreading interest in this undemanding and widely accessible discipline of mystery study soon created a need for a periodical providing more in-depth treatment of the field. This led to the creation of Život - časopis pro spiritism (Life – A Magazine for Spiritualism), published by Bedřich Ladislav Pícha in Prague-Smíchov from 1896.[4] Besides practical advice on how to work with after-death phenomena, there began to appear articles on philosophy and topics dealing with Christian mysticism. A large majority of the texts were translated from foreign (mostly French, English and German) literature.

In 1891, Baron Leonhardi (his lodge name being Zanoni) founded the Prague-based Theosophical Lodge, which was attended, among others, by the prominent occultist Gustav Meyer - Meyrink (19 January 1868 - 4 December 1932). Like the Baron, Meyrink was a member of numerous European esoteric (secret) groups.[5] Theosophy aimed at integrating the Eastern (especially Indian) and Western occultism on the basis of esoteric Christianity. The primary goal of the teaching was the so-called divine self-knowledge, aiming at spiritual elevation of man and humankind as a whole. Besides spiritualism, Theosophy represented the most widespread branch of Western esotericism. The printing organ of the Theosophical group in Prague (i.e. the Czech Theosophical Society), simultaneously functioning as the editorial office, was the Lotus magazine, first issued in 1897 (its later issues mention the fact that Theosophical groups had appeared on the Czech territory as early as 1875).[6] Among the leading representatives of the periodical were Theosophists Alois Koch (chairman of the Prague Theosophical group) and Jan Bedrníček (1878 – 1939), a practicing astrologer and a prominent member of Společnost pro mystická studia (Society for Mystical Studies), founded in Prague in 1920. Lotus had a fairly wide scope of interest, covering European occultism, the philosophy and practice of yoga as well as the phenomenon of death and reincarnation, a teaching of adopted by Western Theosophy from Indian Theosophy as its crucial idea.

Besides the impact of Theosophy, the formation of the Hermetic movement in the second half of the 19th century was influenced by the teaching of the so-called “unknown philosopher” Louis - Claude de Saint Martin (1743 - 1803), representing a synthesis of Hermeticism and esoteric Christianity. Martinism was spreading fast in Europe, mainly because it was ideologically very tolerant (requiring only a belief in God, in whatever form) and because it was in a close relation to Masonic lodges. The Martinist order was established in Paris in 1888 and probably as early as three years later, a Martinist circle came into being in České Budějovice, led again by Baron Leonhardi.

In 1895, the circle was turned into a lodge called U modré hvězdy (The Blue Star). Among the members was the mystical poet Julius Zeyer (26 May 1841 - 29 January 1901).[7] Soon, the centre of the Martinist movement relocated to Prague,[8] where Sborník pro filosofii, mystiku a okkultismus (Almanac for Philosophy, Mysticism and Occultism) was published from 1897 to 1910. All of this was undertaken with the financial support of Hynek Tichý in the editorial office of Emanuel Hauner, also known under his lodge name of Amis (24 December 1875 - 14 June 1943), a spiritualist, practical researcher into Kabbalah and magic, member of the Metapsychic Society, a Prague Martinist and Freemason. Later, Hauner became a member of the Catholic mystical literary society Sursum (having spent the last quarter of his life in Premonstrate monasteries), translator (after the First World War he was, for instance, an advisor for Sfinx, an occult edition of the publisher Bohumil Janda (1900 – 26 May 1982), and author of the books Stručný nástin některých tajných společností (A Brief Outline of Some Secret Societies) and Slovníček spiritualistický (A Spiritualist Dictionary), writing under the codenames Platon and Aurel Vlach. He also authored some poem collections - Sabbaty duše (Sabbaths of the Soul) and Volání do kosmu (Calling into Cosmos). The actual publisher of the almanac was Hugo Kosterka (9 April 1867 - 31 May 1956), a Prague-based Hermetic and multilingual translator. Later, the periodical changed its name to Sborník pro Gnosticism a okkultism (Almanac for Gnosticism and Occultism).       

During its first year, the almanac simultaneously served as the official printing organ of the first Prague Martinist (sometimes referred to as Theosophical) lodge headed by Karel Dražďák (see below), called Aux trois blancs lotos = The Three White Lotuses (in 1905 rebuilt in co-operation with the Union of the Friends of Philosophy - in which Hauner was also engaged - into the Masonic lodge U tří korunovaných sloupů (The Three Crowned Pillars). The periodical was modelled on the French Martinist magazine L’ Initiation.

 Another prominent Czech occultist stood at the birth of the almanac – a member of the French order Rose - Croix - Cabbalistique, a Freemason (along with Hauner, he founded several Masonic lodges), a Neo-Gnostic and Illuminatus JUDr. Karel Pavel Dražďák (1872 - 1921). It was he who, after successfully completing Papus’ (1865 – 1916) Parisian Faculté des sciences hermétiques, gained a charter to establish a Martinist lodge in Prague, presiding over it for some time (the lodge only functioned briefly; its restoration was later accomplished by the agile Hauner). Dražďák’s lodge name was Apolonius. Thanks to his activities, Czech Martinists succeeded in establishing contact with the important Berlin-based order Memfis Misraim in 1909. Together with Hugo Kosterka, Dražďák had previously worked in the editorial office of the symbolist magazine Moderní revue (Modern Review), which occasionally featured the work of Czech Hermeticians. However, Moderní revue was not restricted to occult themes only.

Prominent among the magazine’s contributors was the writer Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic (24 January 1871 – 5 March 1951), author of the novels Román Manfreda Macmillena (The Novel of Manfred Macmillen), Scarabeus, Ganymedes, Zaostřený obraz (A Focused Picture), poet, admirer of Hermeticism, Martinist (founding member of the lodge Simeon in Ophirus[9] - lodge name Damis), and editor of the final volume of the Okultní a spiritualistická revue (Occult and Spiritualist Review)[10], published in Prague in 1921 - 1924 by Jan Zmatlík (*1869). In addition, Jiří Karásek was among the founding members of the Simeon lodge, using the codename Nikodém. Later, he created the occult-oriented edition Knihovna šťastných lidí (A Library of Happy People). In Sborník pro filosofii, mystiku a okkultismus, issued twice a year, other esoteric trends were presented, such as Illuminatism, aimed – like Freemasonry – at the moral improvement of humankind, and Neo-Gnosticism, striving for the preservation of the “true tradition of Christ”  while reconciling faith with knowledge.

From 1898, the almanac contained two supplements, Sfinx and Gnosis. Sfinx later became the almanac’s literary supplement. In 1907, it featured the following works: Camille Flammarion – Je třeba věřit spiritismu? (Do We Need to Believe in Spiritualism?), Issue 5; Philéas Lebesgue – Portugalský básník Guerra Junqueiro stavší se mystikem (Portuguese Poet Guerra Junqueir Becoming a Mystic), Issue 6; Stanislav Lomnický – Rozumový socialism, jeho prostředky, jeho cíle (Rational Socialism, its Means and Ends), Issue 7. Gnosis went on to become the printing organ of Czech Neo-Gnostic Church (first headed by Dražďák, later by J. Posch).

The editors themselves were adherents of the three above-mentioned esoteric trends. Josef R. Adamíra (1877 - 1953), a Neo-Gnostic (he attempted to reconstruct the Neo-Gnostic church[11], which was probably established in 1907 but disintegrated three years later[12]), presided over the Prague-based Duševědná společnost (Psychic Society) from 1933. He was the holder of the title of Papus’ “Kabbalah Baccalaureate”, researcher into magic and later a member of Prague’s Martinist lodge Simeon, using the name Porfyrios. Similar to Hauner, Adamíra’s flat in 10 Vocelova Street was the hub of the newly forming Czech Hermeticism. Later , Adamíra ran a private occult circle centered on the cult of Isis, the Egyptian goddess. In contrast, Hauner was a Martinist and Dražďák an Illuminatus. Due to its high quality and universality, Sborník pro filosofii, mystiku a okkultismus became a printing organ of the Czech Hermetic movement, and from 1907 an organ of the Czech section of the International League of Free Spiritualist Thinkers, Circle of Friends of Psychical Research, Circle of Rational Socialists, Circle of Fourierists, Circle of Universalists, Circle of Naturians, Czech Alchemical Society and the Faculty of Hermetic Sciences and Free Philosophy.[13]

In addition, there were a number of other, mostly spiritualist[14] and occultist groups, possessing their own periodicals. The first journal on mysticism, Pokoj Tobě (Peace To You), was first published in Prague in 1903. The editor was Josef Štětka, a renowned popularizer of mysticism.

The last known esoteric periodical of the late 19th century was Hvězda záhrobní (The Otherworld Star) of the Prague-based editor, publisher and translator Jaroslav Janeček (28 January 1870 - 24 December 1953). With the subtitle Magazine for Spiritism and Occult Sciences, it was published in the years 1894 - 97.[15] Janeček, using the codename of Emil Wiesner, was a well-known Czech spiritualist, promoter of the teachings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (29 January 1688 – 29 March 1772) and a tireless disseminator of "truths" about the otherworld. This was reflected in the choice of topics covered by Hvězda záhrobní. However, it would be wrong to assume that purely Hermetic disciplines were neglected by the editor.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Janeček started to publish another periodical, Nové slunce – časopis pro psychická studia a harmonický vývoj člověka (The New Sun – a Magazine for Psychic Studies and Harmonious Development of Man), containing a supplement titled Paracelsus. For the purposes of interpretation and translation of Swedenborg’s work, Janeček created and edited a series called Náboženství a život (Religion and Life) and the periodical Nový Jeruzalém (New Jerusalem), published between 1911 and (demonstrably still) 1930. He also established Swedenborská charitní jednota (Swedenborgian Charity Union) and became the spiritual administrator of the local Swedenborgian sect. Among Janeček’s notable works is the book Před branou vyšších světů – psychické síly člověka (At the Gate to Higher Worlds – Man’s Psychic Powers).

One of the major personalities that became engaged in the Czech Hermetic scene at the turn of the 20th century, often leaving behind a body of literary and historical work, was Jan Řebík (1867 - possibly 1951), an enthusiast in the fields of spiritualism, Theosophy and Kabbalah, a Martinist (later head of the first Martinist lodge in České Budějovice), founder (under the lodge name of Origenes) of the first Prague Martinist lodge Simeon, whose legacy was continued in 1938 by the Paragava lodge led by Petr Kohout – Lasenic), a Freemason, Illuminatus and chairman as well as sponsor of Universalia, the society of Czech Hermetics (see the section dedicated to Jan Kefer). Later,  Řebík devoted himself to the study of secret societies, the practice of natural healing and the study of Jesus Christ’s life.

Another noteworthy personality is Karel Weinfurter (27 May 1867[16] - 14 March 1942), initially a spiritualist, Theosophist (a member of the first Prague Theosophical lodge), arbiter on all the matters of the occult, translator, compiler and writer, publisher and popularizer of esoteric literature. Among his works are Ohnivý keř (Burning Bush), Odhalená magie (Magic Revealed), Tajná tradice a učení bratrů Rosekruciánů (Secred Tradition and Teachings of the Rosicrucian Brothers), Astrologie všeobecná (General Astrology), Astrologie speciální (Special Astrology) and Paměti okultisty (Memoirs of an Occultist). He also edited the first two volumes of the magazine Occult and Spiritualist Review (published in 1921 -1923). Above all, however, Weinfurter was the founding member of Psyche, a group (established on 27 November 1929 and dissolved during the war on 9 June 1941) and a magazine of the same name (1924 - 40, 1946 – 48). After Weinfurter’s death, the new editor-in-chief was JUDr. ing. PhD Otakar Čapek[17].

Another name to remember is that of Otakar Zachar (4 January 1870 - 29 November 1921), a brewer from Kladno and expert on medieval alchemy, enthusiastic translator, writer and publisher, Martinist and later the founder of the short-lived Prague group Společnost pro objektivní a experimentální okultismus (Association for Objective and Experimental Occultism, founded in 1922. Zachar's works include O alchymii a českých alchymistech (On Alchemy and Czech Alchemists), Bavor Rodovský z Hustiřan (Bavor Rodovský of Hustiřany), Praktika testamentu Raymunda Lullia (Practice of the Testament of Raymund Lully) and Z dějin spiritismu (From the History of Spiritualism).

The list of noteworthy personalities also includes Odon Kopp (1870 - 1958), a Martinist and generous sponsor of many Czech writers, and Miloš Maixner (4 January 1873 - 5 May 1937), an unconventional Prague Hermetician, opponent of Freemasonry[18], writer, translator and publisher. Maixner was the author of Okkultismus (Occultism), Mantika (Mantics) and Praktická telepatie (Practical Telepathy), as well as founder (1907) and publisher of the magazine Kosmické rozhledy (Cosmic Papers). Next, there was the nobleman Josef Maria Emanuel Lešetický of Lešehrad (15 November 1877 - 30 May 1955), a poet, novelist, playwright and critic, founder of the valuable literary and historical archive - Lešehradeum, historian of Czech classical Rosicrucianism and esoteric societies, and a Freemason.[19] In 1899, Lešehrad co-founded the first Prague Martinist lodge, in which he was listed under the codename Orfeus. He later became a member of the lodge Simeon, having co-founded it with Jan Řebík in 1924.[20] He was also engaged in the Psychic Society and in the order of Stříbrný kruh (The Silver Circle), where he was the central figure. With its programme of national esotericism, the Circle drew on Czech mythology.

Also involved in the order were Ladislav Danko, a member of the Martinist lodge Slavia (in 1919 he published a book called Tarot) and the poet Otakar Březina (13 September 1868 – 25 March 1929). Like Weinfurter, Lešehrad edited the third volume of the magazine Okultní a spiritualistická revue, which was replaced after an interim by Revue šťastných lidí (Happy People’s Review), published from 1929 and edited by Jaroslav Šulc. Stříbrný kruh was in close co-operation with Ibingův mystický kruh (Ibing’s Mystic Circle), an occult-cum-philosophical association cultivating a so-called cosmic philosophy based on the model of Theosophical groups. It was established by Antonie Jelenová aka Ibbing (+ 1923). Prominent members of this circle, Rudolf Adámek (1882 – 1953), an academic painter, and Bohumil Hradečný (7 February 1876 – 21 August 1968), a reputed researcher into mystical alchemy, later became founding members of Universalia, the leading Czech Hermetic society.

The invigoration of the dwindling Czech esoteric scene of the early 20th century was largely due to OTOKAR GRIESE (19 October 1881 - 2 October 1932), a Moravian, originally an adherent of Theosophy and Gnosticism and later a honorary doctor and professor of Hermetic sciences at Papus' university of Hermetic studies. Griese (aka Heliodorus) was a versatile theoretician and practitioner of perhaps all Hermetic disciplines, as well as a tireless disseminator of “lofty occult ideas”. He was initiated into the lower degree of Martinism by a Czech Martinist, electro-homeopath Theodore (sometimes called Bohdan) Krauss (1864 – 1924), based in Regensburg. The highest degree of initiation was bestowed on him by Papus himself, with whom he was in personal contact, thus gaining a charter to establish Martinist lodges. Griese was the founder of the following magazines: Isis, issued with the Paracelsia supplement focused on Hermetic medicines (published as an organ of Czech Martinists in 1905 - 1908, 1910 and 1922 - 1924)[21], Lucifer (1913 - 1914), Initiation (1914) and Pentagram (1919 -1920). He established the Přerov Martinist lodge (1905), the Neo-Gnostic Society and, above all, Svobodná škola věd hermetických (Free School of Hermetic Sciences), a group of editors preparing the translations and editions of texts from all fields of the occult[22]. In addition, he was a writer, founder and sponsor of the Přerov-based Ústřední nakladatelství okkultních děl (Central Publisher of Occult Works) and founder of the brotherhood of Neznámí samaritáni (Unknown Samaritans) “following in the footsteps of the Master of Nazareth”. At the time of Griese’s sojourn in Prague in 13 Táborská Street (1907), his flat became the centre of the national Hermetic movement. His own works include Mumiální hermetická léčba - příspěvek k tajné medicině starých (Mumial Hermetic Tretment – On the Secret Medicine of the Ancients), Prague 1908; Problém očarování (The Problem of Enchantment), Prague around 1908;  Astrologie (Astrology), Přerov 1911; Kosmoskop - jeho význam a užití v okultní praxi (Cosmoscope – Its Significance and Use in Occult Practice), Přerov 1920. Of great significance is his translation of Sefer Jecirah – Kniha o utváření (Sefer Jecirah –The Book of Creation), Přerov 1921. His exemplary life provided the impetus for the formation of Universalia, the Society of Czech Hermeticians.[23]

The last notable Hermetician of the turn of the 20th century was dr. Josef Šimánek (1883 - 1959), an occult novelist and poet, author of Háj Satyrů (The Grove of Satyrs), Bitva Stínů (The Battle of Shadows), Bílá paní (The White Lady), Křišťálový pohár (The Crystal Chalice), Oživlé mramory (Living Marbles), Propasti a plameny (Abysses and Flames), Bratrstvo smutného zálivu (Brotherhood of the Sad Bay), Hudba Acherontu (The Music of Acheront) and Bohové na zemi (Gods on Earth), contributor (1906 – 1909) to the magazíne Proč žijeme (Why We Live), member of the literary society Sursum and a prominent Scout activist. In addition, Šimánek was a co-founder of the Prague Martinist lodge Simeon, bearing the lodge name of Satornilos (in 1910-1918, another large Martinist lodge was active in Prague – Slavia, headed by the paid secret state police informer Jan Maštalíř, who also managed to found Prague’s Templar Order /1910/). Besides Griese’s Přerov-based Martinist lodge, another lodge was set up in Olomouc, headed by František Šídlo and later transferred to Brno. All the Martinists of the period were simultaneously Freemasons. However, Czech Martinists later separated from Freemasonry due to the Freemasons’ increasing political activism.

In this intriguing period, a plethora of minor esoteric groups came into being on the Czech territory. Despite not having any greater impact on the history followed here, they do not deserve to be forgotten. Of these, let us remember the Prague occult group Flammarion, active until at least 1903.

As seen from the above, it is evident that the Czech Hermetic movement, characteristic for its strong organizational and editorial effort, responded swiftly to the atmosphere of the period, entering the century firmly rooted in the re-discovered esoteric tradition, which has been preserved within the Czech nation from time immemorial.

The Early 20th Century and the First Republic

At the very start of the 20th century in the Czech basin (the so-called Czech magic cauldron, in the words of Czech Hermeticians) and the adjoining territory, several master Hermeticians of great significance to the nation were born, whose work has been drawn on to this day. The hitherto last golden age of Czech Hermeticism (end of the 19th century to 1938) was covered with great care by doc. PhDr. Milan Nakonečný (*1932) in his book Novodobý český Hermetismus (Modern Czech Hermeticism), first “published” in three samizdat manuscripts in 1974 and later by the Vodnář publishing house. Naturally, the wartime and postwar periods are also covered, as the work seeks to map the entire lives of the individual Czech Hermeticians. Researchers taking an interest in this period would hardly find a better resource for their study.

As to the giants of Czech Hermeticism, three leading activists must be mentioned. The first was PETR KOHOUT aka Pierre de Lasenic (17 May 1900 - 23 June 1944), a dynamic personality who put his unique stamp on modern Czech Hermeticism; a magician and spagyrian (practitioner of plant alchemy), traveller and leader of Volné sdružení pracovníků okultních (Free Association of Occult Workers)[24], established in 1920-1921 and after his departure abroad led by ing. Robert /sometimes stated as Karel/ Mach). In addition, he was a member of the Martinist lodge Simeon (lodge name of Milan) in the years 1926 - 1927, and a member of the societies New Eulis and Societé egiptienne secréte (esoterically, this order is called Hakasutech - The City of Seth /in 1925 Lasenic failed to establish its Prague section/); In 1932, he set up the Parisian lodge Universalia (a section of Prague’s Universalia, where he was active during his Czech sojourns). He also founded the Hermetic group Horev - Club in 1938 (i.e. a year after his leaving Prague’s Universalia; the founding was preceded by his unsuccessful attempt to set up the Czech Eulis - club, focused on sexual mysteries).[25]

The programme of the Horev-Club, which never had more than twenty members[26], was the study of ancient Egypt’s esotericism. Resembling an esoteric lodge, the club held debates on a variety of esoteric topics and carried out alchemic, spagyric and magic work, including the observation and “photography” of elemental beings. In the late thirties, Lasenic took over from Eliáš the leadership of the second Prague Martinist lodge, naming it Paragava[27] (the press organ of both the club and the lodge was the Horev magazine /1938/; the members were essentially the same). Lasenic contributed to the magazines Logos (1934 - 40) and Herold (its only issue being published in 1933). He was also the editor of the Medium magazine[28]. Yet above all, he was the author of crucial Czech works on Hermeticism Universalismus (Universalism), Prague 1933; Sexuální magie (Sexual Magic), Praha 1933 [29]; Egyptské hieroglyfy a jejich filosofie (Egyptian Hieroglyphs and their Philosohpy), Prague 1935; Alchymie - její teorie a prakse (Alchemy – Its Theory and Practice), Prague 1936; Hermes Trismegistos a jeho zasvěcení (Hermes Trismegistos and His Initiation), Prague 1936; Hermetická iniciace Universalismu na základě rhodostaurotickém (Hermeticist Initiation of Universalism on the Rhodostauric Basis), Prague 1937; Tarot - klíč k iniciaci (Tarot – the Key to Initiation), Prague 1938 and others. Of his lost French written works, let us recall the philosophy of the history of esotericism (L´histoire de l´Esotérisme) and a monograph on the occult significance of jewellery (Symbolisme et lesparures occultes), Paris 1930.

The Viennese Czech FRANTIŠEK JINDŘICH KABELÁK (8 November 1902 - 5 September 1969), an outstanding magician, theurgian and Kabbalist of the Renaissance kind, ever moving between books, his laboratory and magician groups, a member of the Viennese circle Magikon (led by the practical magician and writer Karl Kraus /28 April 1874 – 12 September 1936/), a leading activist of the Prague Universalia (involved in establishing and equipping its alchemic laboratory), for which he wrote and lectured, editor of the magazine Medium and author of numerous Hermetic books and translations. His published works include Kabbalistické zasvěcení (Kabbalistic Initiation), Eulis edition 1940; the translation of  Magia innaturalis, Eulis 1940; Pantakly a charaktery Luny (Pentacles and Lunar Characters), Eulis 1940; Kniha tajemství velikého šemu[30] (The Book of the Secret of the Great Sem), Eulis 1940; Praktická spagyrie (Practical Spagyry), Eulis 1940; Magia Nigrae, Eulis 1940; Herbarium spirituale siderum[31], Eulis 1940; the unfinished Indická astrologie[32] (Indian Astrology), private print 1941; in manuscripts: Kniha o jógu (The Book of Yoga), 1945; Magia Divina; Psychurgie všeobecná a speciální (General and Special Psychurgy); Učení mistrů (Teachings of Masters); Merkabští jezdci (Merkaba Riders) and the little-known Hvězdné letočty (Star Ephemeris), Prague 1943-44. After the war he left Prague for Bečov nad Teplou, where he continued his studies and experiments in magic.

Like Kefer, Kabelák was propelled by a great effort to synthesize his knowledge. The notes in his diaries reveal that he had been working on a monumental Hermetic work. However, he was prevented from composing it by his harsh living conditions. In the 1960s, he commuted to Prague to meet a small circle of people interested in Hermeticism, thus helping to preserve the continuity of the Czech Hermetic movement.

PhDr. JAN KEFER (31 January 1906 - 3 December 1941), an unconventional, tireless and dedicated activist of the Czech Hermetic society Universalia, which, organization-wise, represented the peak of the development of Czech Hermeticism. Universalia had existed as a private study circle since 1920. In 1927, this group of followers of Hermeticism changed its status to the Free Association of Universalia. Officially recognized as a society on 4 May 1930, it initially published hectographed study materials intended to fill the lack of hermetic literature on the Czech book market. In 1932 - 1940, the society published the extensive card Encyclopaedia of Occultism, with Kefer and Lasenic as chief contributors. The basic idea of universalism is captured in the encyclopedia by the following words: „Universalism follows one main goal, the Ultimate Cause or God, whom all beings seek to reach on their various, individually appropriate paths.” For Lasenic, universalism represented a synthesis of all world cultures.

Kefer became a leading spirit of the society, which was busy establishing its various sections (one of them dedicated to astrology), local branches and in 1937 even a laboratory (the workplace of doc. RNDr. Ferdinand Prantl, a prominent expert on alchemy writing under the codename of Lögell). The society’s extensive activity also involved lecturing (in Prague, Kladno, Hradec Králové, Brno /a branch led by Václav Leitleb/, Pilsen, Německý Brod, Třinec, Bratislava, Nové Město nad Váhom and Liptovský Mikuláš) and publishing. The publications include the works of Paracelsus (10 November 1493 - 24 September 1541), Elifas Lévi (1810 - 1875), Stanislas de Guaita (1861 - 1897), Kefer, Lasenic, Kabelák; books on mysticism by J. Š. Kmínek (Universalia’s first chairman), V. Holý and a series of other Czech as well as foreign authors; even the Tibetan Book of the Dead.[33] Of considerable importance is the edition of the “strictly private” Eulis prints, containing, for instance, the translations of some magic grimoars. In 1938, Kefer mentions in Logos that there are 700 adherents of Hermeticism in the Czech Republic while “a few years ago there were no more than ten.” These numbers demonstrate the immense impact of Universalia[34], ruthlessly abolished on 9 June 1941 – the day that dr. Kefer was arrested by the Gestapo (the majority of leading Czech occultists found themselves arrested on that fated morning).

In addition, Jan Kefer was the editor-in-chief of Logos, the society’s magazine, a contributor to Italian Hermetic journals, a Scout activist (selecting future Hermeticians among Boy Scouts)[35], composer, librarian of the National Museum,[36], lecturer of the Free School of Hermetic Sciences (established in 1936 as a continuation of Griese’s school), translator, a modern-age representative of astromagic – the science of overcoming fate – and a versatile practitioner of Hermetic arts, especially theurgy. While his attitude to Indian esotericism was reserved, he held Catholicism in great esteem, describing it as the only „magical Christianity.” Unlike Lasenic, a supporter of lodge-based Hermeticism, Kefer strove to spread the knowledge publicly. He wished for Prague to become a kind of centre of the Hermetic movement and did his utmost to achieve this. He believed in the significant role of Slavs, especially Czechs. Because of his patriotism he was a thorn in the side of the Nazis (for instance, he conducted magical operations against Hitler), who finally tortured him to death in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Kefer’s spiritual master was the French Hermetician Éliphas Lévi, whose books he translated into Czech. Kefer’s literary work comprises Syntetická magie (Synthetic Magic), published in 30 booklets in Prague starting from 1935, unfinished; Theurgie (Theurgy), private print, Prague 1935; Theurgie magické evokace (Theurgy of Magical Evocation) lodge press, Prague 1937;  Praktická astrologie aneb umění předvídání a boje proti osudu (Practical Astrology or the Art of Predicting and Overcoming Fate), Prague 1939; Encyklopedie zapomenutého vědění (Encyclopaedia of Lost Knowledge), Prague 1940, unfinished, and Astrologické diagnostiky (Astrological Diagnostics), Prague 1940, unfinished.

 Another prominent Hermetician of this period was JUDr. Oldřich Eliáš (24 September 1895 - 8 November 1941), an outstanding theoretical Kabbalist (he sought to create a kind of national Kabbalah), expert on magic, practicing chiromantist and spiritualist (allegedly, his mother was a medium), active in the Společnost pro psychická studia[37] (The Society for Psychic Studies), sometimes referred to as Společnost pro psychická bádání (The Society for Psychic Research) – later known as Česká metapsychická společnost (The Czech Metapsychic Society), established in 1922 and headed by Viktor Mikuška[38] and MUDr. Jan Šimsa[39], later a Universalia member. Eliáš was also a publicist, writing for Zmatlík’s Revue Šťastných lidí (Happy People’s Review), published in 1929-33; editor of the magazine Stopy duše (Traces of the Soul), published until 1925; the founding member and lecturer of the Universalia’s Free School of Hermetic Sciences, the founding member and lecturer of the Martinist lodge Simeon with the lodge name Etana, and later a member of the Martinist lodge Gedeon, the Illuminati Order, the Martinist lodge Paragava and Lasenic’s Horev-Club.     

Eliáš maintained contact with contemporary foreign parapychologists and occultists – especially of the German order O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis)[40]. In Brehmen, he even had a personal encounter with Aleister Crowley[41] aka Therion (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947). He published his work in magazines under the codenames Echad and Etelot. His Hermetic literary legacy includes Magie a démonologie ve staré Babylónii (Magic and Demonology in Ancient Babylonia), Prague 1923; Golem - historická studie na podkladě okultním (Golem – Historic Studies on the Occult Background), Prague 1924; Úvod do magie (Introduction to Magic), Prague 1935; Kabbala - pojem, dějiny a prameny (Kabbalah -- Concept, History and Sources), Prague 1938. Like Kefer, Eliáš was arrested by the Gestapo and tortured to death in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Among the Prague Kabbalists who had merit in translating of some major works of Jewish mysticism were Samuel Arje, a Smíchov-based rabbi and author of Pojednání o židovské mystice – Kabbala J.K. Agrippy z Nettesheimu (A Treatise on Jewish Mysticism – the Kabbalah of J.K. Agrippa of Nettesheim), prof. Julius Nestler (+ 1933), a Prague German and a “silent member” of Universalia, and J. Eisenberg, author of Sefer Raziel Hamalach and Kabbala – židovská mystika (Kabbalah – Jewish Mysticism).

The Czech Hermetic scene suffered a great loss in the untimely death of Tabris aka Alois František May (1882 – 18 March 1915), author of the excellent work Okkultismus (1910); he was killed at Gorlic in Halič during the First World War. In the years 1910 - 1914, May published the magazine Nové rozhledy - revue pro souborné studium věd okultních (New Perspectives – Review for the Comprehensive Study of Occult Sciences), from its fifth volume a continuation of the periodical Proč žijeme (Why We Live) – the press organ of the Neodvislá skupina přátel filosofie a vědy (The Independent Group of Friends of Philosophy and Science). The title page bore the emblem of the Martinist order, and the periodical itself was primarily aimed at French Hermeticism. All the members of May family had strong esoteric inclinations; MUDr. Karel May, for instance, was a leading Czech astrologer.

Among other First Republic astrologers were Vojtěch Roučka[42] (*19 April 1893), author of the popular Kurs astrologie (A Course in Astrology) and the intriguing work Siderické kyvadélko (The Sideric Pendulum), prof. M. Boleslavský (real name Miroslav Krum /*2 October 1910/), a prominent Universalia member and author of the much-valued Vědecká astrologie (Scientific Astrology), Jan Polák of Brno and Václav Sadovský of Moravská Ostrava. An astrological/spiritualist yearbook called Pohledy do budoucna (Glimpses of the Future) was published in Prague. The year 1935 saw the foundation of the Okultní a astrologická společnost pro vědecká bádání a pro studia národohospodářská (The Occult and Astrological Society for Scientific Research and Economic Study). Its activity was terminated by the Nazis five years later.

In addition, we cannot refrain from mentioning Jaroslav Matoušek(1872 – 1946), a leading expert on Gnosis and a prominent personality of Kroužek přátel filosofie (The Circle of Friends of Philosophy), established in Prague in 1923. This group was nothing other than an Old Gnostic society. In 1924 – 1928 Matoušek gave lectures on Hermeticism in Café Opera in the Prague quarter of Smíchov. Besides the translations of Jamblich (250? - 330?) and Porphyrus (234? - 305), Matoušek authored a major work called Gnose (Gnosis) and an intriguing study Upíři čili mrtví ssající krev ze živých (Vampires, or the Dead Sucking Blood from the Living). Along with some other Martinists, he was a founder of the Prague lodge Simeon; his lodge name was Kolarbatos.

Another occultist, often derided, was Jaroslav Hojka (6 Noveember 1896 - 9 January 1971), an expert on technological chemistry and, above all, an original researcher into magic and occult chemistry (not to be confused with alchemy). In the 1940s and 1950s he contributed to the Medium magazine. He was the author of the successful book on Hermetic medicine Herbář Klotyldy Hopeové (Clotylda Hope’s Herbary), followed in 1924 by the work Přírodní kosmetické prostředky (Natural Cosmetics), complete with notes on tattvic tides, and the study O původu a pravděpodobnosti pohádek dle okultních nauk (On the Origin and Probability of Fairy Tales According to Occult Teachings). Preserved in typeritten manuscripts are his works Dvanáctková vesmírová jóga – Galaktická jóga. Klíče k vesmírové pravdě (Duodecimal Universal Joga – Galactic Yoga. Keys to the Universal Truth) and Tajemství neexistuje (No Such Thing as a Secret).[43]

It would be a mistake to omit the modern Prague Faustus - JUDr. and PhDr. Jiří Arvéd Smíchovský /later spelt Smichowski/ (1 May 1897 /sometimes the year 1898 is given/ - 22 January 1951). While not contributing to Czech Hermeticism by any major literary work (he only translated several texts for the magazines Psyche and Logos), the part he played in its formation was rather unique.

In the course of his life, Smíchovský took on a variety of projects – he was a spy, Fascist, Freemason (active in the Prague lodge Drei Ringen), theurgian, Jesuit, Satanist, Kabbalist and magician. A multilingual speaker, he lectured for Universalia and published in Logos and Psyche. His friends included František Kabelák (who considered Smíchovský the most experienced Czech magician), Pravoslav Lexa (*1904), an astrologer and member of Universalia, short-term secretary of Weinfurter’s group Psyche (later replaced by Smíchovský), de la Cámara (3 November 1894 /sometimes the date 8 November 1897 is given/ - 8 May 1945), a magician and author of the occult novels Černý mág (The Black Magician), Ve spárech démonů (In the Claws of Demons), Cagliostro, Velmistr svobodných zednářů (Grand Master of the Freemasons), Jeho tajemství (His Secret), Zahrada sfingy (The Garden of the Sphinx), Parfumy zla (Perfumes of Evil), etc., Jiří Wowk, a Czech-based Ukrainian painter, illustrator of some of Cámara’s work, including the 1943 novel Královské potěšení Isis (The Royal Delight of Isis), and Muchin, a former tsarist naval captain and skilled magician. Smíchovký was a friend of Karel Weinfurter, but betrayed him later.[44]

Josef Louda - Theophanus Urešomo Abba (14 December 1901 - 22 December 1975), a dealer in textiles, private French teacher, chemist, successful practicing alchemist of the classical type (working by means of the so-called dry path), a man knowledgeable in mysticism, Tarot, Apocalypse and the key Kabbalist work Zohar. As a member of Universalia he published in Logos and contributed to the card Encyclopaedia of Occultism. From 1930 his trilogy Z odkazu proroků (From the Legacy of the Prophets) was being published by a Prague-based publisher and healer in one person Bedřich Kočí (1869 – 1955), himself the author of a slender book titled O duchovní léčbě (On Spiritual Healing)[45]. The first part of the trilogy was called Transmutace fysická – tajemství alchymické přeměny prvků ve světle chemie současné (Physical Transmulation – the Secret of the Alchemic Transformation of Elements in the Light of Contemporary Chemistry), the second Výklad zjevení Jana Theologa (Exegesis of John the Theoolgist’s Revelation). The third part, dedicated to Tarot, failed to be published due to the German occupation.

Abba saw Tarot as the synthesis of Hermetic teachings. With the help of his spiritual teacher Paracelsus, with whom he maintained psychurgic contact, he authored a briliant voluminous study Dopisy Paracelsovi - XXII arkán Tarotu (Letters to Paracelsus – the XXII Arcana of Tarot) in the years 1947 - 1964. The final typewritten version without pictures amounts to 513 pages. The manuscripts bequeathed by Abba to Milan Nakonečný include the following works: Praktická mystika (Practical Mysticism); Mystika - Autopsychoterapie (Mysticism – Autopsychotherapy), 1964-67; Homunculus, 1966; Vznik všemu živému jen voda dala - esoterismus v umění (Life Arose Through Water Only – Esotericism in Art), 1968; Duše světa (Soul of the World), 1969; Kabbala (Kabbalah) 1970; Esoterická /Hermetická/ miscelanea I - II (Esoteric /Hermetic/Miscellanea I-II), 1974. Among his other works are Dynamická botanika rostlin (Dynamic Botany), 1974, and Vademecum praktického alchymisty (Vademecum of a Practical Alchemist), 1975. Like Kabelák, Louda made journeys to Prague in the 1970s to meet a circle of people interested in Hermeticism.[46]

František Bardon (1 December 1909 - 10 June 1958), a disciple of Wilhelm Quintscher[47] (Rah-Omir, Chacum Kabbalit and other codenames), a versatile Hermetician, clairvoyant, graphologist, storyteller and variety show artist performing under the artistic codename Frabato (this is also the name of his “autobiographic” occult novel).  Abroad, he is considered as one of the leading representatives of modern magic, largely due to his books Brána k opravdovému zasvěcení (The Gate to True Initiation), Praxe magické evokace (The Practice of Magical Evocation) and Klíč k opravdové kabale (The Key to the True Kabbala). His attempt to penetrate the inner circle of Universalia met with the resistance of Kefer as well as Kmínek (they believed him to be a black magician). In Prague, he led a circle of people interested in the occult, for whom he wrote a series of learning texts (mostly under the pseudonym Arian): Runová magie (Rune Magic), Učebnice vysoké magie I. a II. (Textbook of High Magic I and II), etc. According to one of his disciples (dr. M. K.), he owned direct instructions for the making of the Philosopher’s Stone. As one of the few Czech Hermeticians he survived imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, having succeeded in escaping. Through his spagyric healing practice, conducted in the town of Opava, he helped ordinary people as well as cultural and political celebrities from home and abroad. His exclusiveness was resented by the Communists, who arrested him several times and finally left him to die in prison.

Another intriguing personality was the “Faustus from Tábor” - PhDr. Rafael Maria Boušek (20 June 1892 - 27 January 1969), a secondary school teacher of biology and an experimental magician (Griese’s disciple), leaning towards demonology and Satanism.[48] Boušek was a member of the peculiar brotherhood Ordo Militae Templi, in which he held the post of the Great Preceptor.[49] His inheritance, deposited in the Tábor municipal museum, includes (under the label “heraldic study”) his book Armoriale super ordinis militiae templi, written all over by a peculiar secret script and containing colour pictures featuring knightly themes, in which he had taken obvious pleasure. Josef Veselý, who studied this work in depth, assumes it to be a coded magical grimoar.[50]

In connection with Universalia, mention has been made of Josef Štěpán Kmínek (1887 - 1953), called “Wizard” or “Wizard Kmín”. A deeply religious founding member of Universalia and briefly its chairman, he pursued magic in his youth (possessing the ability of direct viewing of the astral realm). Later he moved on to mysticism, emphasizing the life of Jesus Christ as a model to follow. He became a member of the Old Catholic Church and a co-founder of the Czechoslovak Church. His works include Cesta světla (The Path of Light), Cesta práce /universalismus/ (The Path of Labour /Universalism/), Cesta lásky křesťanství (The Path of Christian Love), Správný život (The Right Life) and Universalismus jako náboženství budoucnosti (Universalism as the Religion of the Future). They were all published at Universalia’s expenses.

The mystic Petr Klíma – Toušek (1901 – 1976), had undergone complex spiritual development. He introduced Rosicrucianism to the Czech Republic (having translated and published Tajné figury rosikruciánů ze XVI. a XVII. století /Secret Figures of the Rosicrucians in the 16th and 17th Centuries/, Pilsen 1938) and helped to establish the Rosicrucian society Českobudějovický rosekruciánský kroužek (later headed by Mr. Reitinger). In his youth he pursued evocational magic and yoga. He produced translations (Poimandres, Taoist texts, etc.) and wrote for Weinfurter’s Psyche and Psychická revue (Psychic Review), published in Radvanice near Ostrava until 1949, as well as for Spiritistická revue (Spiritualist Review), published in 1920-37 (in the final, nineteenth year, i.e. 1937-38, its name was changed to Československá revue psychická /Czechoslovak Psychic Review/). In the course of his life, he authored about thirty highly interesting works, e.g. Světlo na západě – teorie a praxe křesťanské mystiky v minulosti a do dnešních dob (Light in the West – Theory and Practice of Christian Mysticism in the Past and Present), Vienna 1931; Hermes Trismegistos, etc. However, only one of his books was published: the mystical guide Cesta do nitra duše – středověká praxe mystická (A Journey into the Inner Soul – the Medieval Mystical Practice), 1947. Klíma was also active in the committe of the post-war group Kruh duchovního bratrstva (Spiritual Brotherhood Circle). Later on, he became one of the Prague leaders of the mystical school focused around Maharishi, whose only Czech disciple he is alleged to have been. He had several successors, including František Malina and Václav Hokův (1932 – 1986), a practitioner of eastern mysticism and Kabbalah as well as author of mystical poetry and intriguing essays known as Curyšská mandala (The Zurich Mandala).

Marie Kubištová /née Formánková/ (2 November 1887 - 29 July 1956), better known under her spiritual name Alma Excelsior, was clairvoyant from the age of four. Having undergone personal initiation in the years 1922 - 1927, she began to write books of the so-called third way, containing the teachings for the sixth Aryan culture, i.e. the Philadeplphian/Slavic culture. She described her difficult life and spiritual development in a multi-volume autobiography Cesta ohně (The Path of Fire), written in 1935 –1937. Her teaching is based on transpersonal experience gained in spiritual realms, which she transferred into her artistic and extensive literary legacy. The considerable number of studies comprising the so-called Zodiacal School include, for instance: Kabbala Archanděla Samuela – Marsu (The Kabbalah of the Archangel Samuel – Mars), 1932; Kabbala archanděla Rafaela (The Kabbalah of the Archangel Raphael), 1932; Kabbala hierarchických bytostí domu Býka (The Kabbalah of the Hierarchic Beings of the House of Taurus), 1933, 1936; Vánoční mystérium (The Christmas Mystery), (1934); Kabbala Měsíce – o silách říše astrální (The Kabbalah of the Moon – on the Forces of the Astral Realm),1935; Kabbala hierarchických bytostí Měsíce (The Kabbalah of the Hierarchic Beings of the Moon),1936; Kabbala archanděla Uriela (The Kabbalah of the Archangel Uriel), 1937; Kabbala Jáhve Bachura (The Kabbalah of Jahveh Bachur), (1938); Kabbala dvaceti čtyř Jáhve (The Kabbalah of Twenty-Four Jahvehs), 1938; Imaginace ze sedmi úrovní říše Kedeš (Imagination from the Seven Levels of the Kedesh Realm,1938); Skrytý zákon Saturna (The Hidden Law of Saturn), 1938.

At the core of Alma Excelsior’s teaching is the observation that the path of Love is the path of transmuting pain into love and evil into good. “The more evolved a human is to become, the greater the evil he must struggle with, for only in this manner will he gain the power to transform and overcome it.” Just as Christ brought the power of masculinity that became the saviour of souls, the feminine principle brings the power to save the physical body so that it becomes the temple of the Divine Body. Marie Kubištová lived in Moravia, mostly in Brno and Boskovice. Her teaching has had many adherents as well as opponents.

František Drtikol /Christoforos/ (3 March 1883 - 13 January 1961) was a world-famous photographer, painter, member of the Theosophical Society and Weinfurter’s Psyche, later a Buddhist [51] and allegedly a sexual magician. From 1945 a member of the Communist Party.

He is claimed to have attained enlightenment at the turn of 1928/29, following his long-term study of ancient Indian Vedas, Upanishads, Buddha’s texts, Taoism and the esoteric exegesis of the Gospels. During the Second World War, his residence at Spořilov became a centre of spiritual training and maturation for a number of people, whom he aided in removing their mental obstacles. “He was shattering the wheels of Fate and the desires that make us slaves”. Among his first disciples to whom he had passed on the complex Buddhist teaching were J. Hešík, František Hein (1914 – 1984) as well as Evžen Štekl (1921 – 2001), who reached enlightenment in 1959.

Drtikol translated a series of fundamental works of Eastern philosophy: Bardo Thedol, Dharma teorie (Dharma Theory) – originally called Problémy buddhistické teorie (Problems of Buddhist Theory), Význam buddhistické nirvány (The Meaning of Buddhist Nirvana), Mádhajámika šástra (Madhayamika Shastra), Astasahásrika pradžňápáramita (Astasahasrika prajnaparamita), Vadžračchédika pradžňápáramita (Vajracchedika prajnaparamita), Jóga a tajná učení Tibetu (Yoga and Secret Teachings of Tibet) – Book II and III, Milarepa – velký tibetský jógi (Milarepa – the Great Tibetan Yogi), Dechová cvičení (Breathing Exercises), Kniha Chudoby (The Book of Poverty), Buddhistická mystéria, neboli Diamantové pravidlo (Buddhist Mysteries, or the Diamant Rule), Upanišady (The Upanishads). He himself was the author of several short treatises, e.g. Od pudu k intuici (From Instinct to Intuition). All of these were later disseminated through samizdat. His views and conduct had an impact on many seekers of spiritual truths, among others RNDr. Míla Tomášová (24 September 1920 - 12 May 2001) and her husband JUDr. Eduard Tomáš (25 November 1908 - 26 May 2002).[52]

The Second World War and the Modern Dark Age

The Second World War took a heavy toll on Czech occultists. Branded “dangerous for the Reich”, esoteric groups and societies were abolished immediately after the occupation in March 1939. The Freemasons, too, were painfully affected by Munich and its aftermath (the “anesthetizing”, i.e. the voluntary termination of activity and the formal demise of the lodges, had already taken place in autumn 1938). Almost all major esotericians found themselves persecuted by the Gestapo for their pre-war activities. Some of them, like dr. Jan Kefer, were offered co-operation with the Nazi-dominated occult societies. These included the Paracelsia lodge and perhaps also the legendary order Thule. Kefer, known for his patriotism, naturally declined the co-operation offer. Later, Kefer and Eliáš were tortured to death in concentration camps.[53] They had both predicted their tragic end. Czech Hermeticism was in ruins. The national esoteric scene was dispersed, with many former colleagues completely unaware of one another’s existence.

Women occultists were being arrested as well. The concentration camp was the final destination of the well-known Czech chiromantist Anna Doubková, the partner of the above-mentioned astrologer and adherent of Indian spiritual teachings Pravoslav Lexa. On the occasion of dr. Kefer’s arrest, the Gestapo confiscated the archive of Universalia[54] (stored in Kefer’s flat) and destroyed the Hermetic laboratory of the society. The same fate befell the laboratory and archive of the Horev-Club. Almost all Universalia members had their books taken away, with all esoteric literature purposefully liquidated by the Nazis. Besides the confiscation of private libraries, books on these subjects were excluded from public lending libraries; the remaining prints were shredded. In one of the “bases” of the Horev-Club in Kárané near Prague, the Gestapo arrested Lasenic. For a month he was held in the Pankrác prison, where Arvéd Smíchovský pleaded for his release with the Gestapo member Kiesewetter[55], who was in charge of persecuting Czech occultists. Moreover, Lasenic skillfully defended himself, which finally led to his release. The stay in prison, however, further exacerbated his poor health. V June 1944 he died in an acute attack of blood spitting[56]. His lungs failed to endure the consequences of extreme dehydration that he had induced during one of his journeys (to the Egyptian Valley of Kings). In the gravest moment, the person by his side was Alois Sedláček - the patron of the Horev-Club, who, along with other members, attempted to maintain the tradition of the society after Lasenic’s death. Of the big three, only Kabelák remained, having been asked by Lasenic shortly before his death to succeed him as the head of Paragava as well as the Horev-klub[57] (which he declined) and continue his study of the ancient Egyptian Horev Light Path. Kabelák later undertook this task in his manuscript study on the “Philosophy of the Fire of Horev”.

The war is over, yet a new Dark Age begins. The Czechoslovak Communist Party seizes power over the state, and harsh totalitarianism ruthlessly persecutes any attempt at spiritual manifestation. Banned are public lectures and gatherings, destroyed yet again are books on occult topics.[58] Nostradamus’ prophecy, published in Logos in summer 1937, speaks of this period in the following words: ”In May 1945, a great and long peace will be made … the present orders will bow down to the orders of individuals … The Russian will extend his realm over the sea shores… The great rule of Antichrist will begin…” However, this period also ushered in a new stage of development for the Czechoslovak esoteric movement. Neglected by historians until now, this movement operated underground until the Velvet Revolution. The following passage, which, for context reasons, cannot and will not deal with “pure” occultism only, represents the first probe into this uncharted yet fascinating phase of national history, which had a fundamental impact on the shaping of the Czech esoteric scene after 1989.

The Period 1945 – 1950

During the Prague Uprising on 8 May 1945, a group of people from the “National Firing Guard”, burned to death the leading Czech fascist (as a member of the German security police he had penned for the Nazis a statement about Czech occultists) and an experimental magician Felix Achil Karel - Josef Clara, Earl Fourier d'Hincourt del Campo, Seigneur de Chéronval de Charny. This act, smacking of the witch-hunt times, represents a symbolic turning point between the ending period and an era that that was to be perhaps even worse and, above all, much longer.

On 15 May 1945, on the basis of a denunciation by his ex-lover Pravoslav Lexa, who was imprisoned in Terezín during the War for his homosexuality, the controversial J. A. Smíchovský was taken into custody. Despite being an active member of Sicherheitsdienst –

the German security police (he produced reports on the Czech mafia, Sokol members, Freemasons and occultists), he was imprisoned by the Nazis three times during the war. On 3 May 1946, he was given life sentence for his collaboration with the Nazi regime. In prison he became an informer, later helping to establish the Communist State Security Service. In 1951 he was disposed of in the Leopoldov prison, probably on an official order.

On 24 November 1945, a permission from the authorities to re-establish Universalia is sought by ing. Josef Danzer[59] (17 August 1907 - 1999) and the lawyer dr. Otto Myslík[60] - members of the astrology section of the pre-war Universalia (active in this section were Kefer’s wife Dagmar /+ 11 July 1942/, ing. Zdeněk Kašpárek and lecturer Erik Hejna, author of Encyklopedie teoretické a praktické astrologie (Encyclopaedia of Theoretical and Practical Astrology), Universalia 1939. The request involved reclaiming Universalia’s possessions, or at least gaining compensation that would enable establishing some material basis for renewed public activity. All is rejected, as “the founding of the group is not in public interest“.

Still, a large amount of occult, spiritualist and mystical literature, carefully hidden from the occupants by booksellers, is now appearing on bookshop counters. A key role in making these books available is played by the well-known publishing house Zmatlík a Palička, situated in Prague’s Letná Square.

After the war, Prague ceases to be the home of František Kabelák, one of our last living Hermeticians. He embarks on a journey of a solitary researcher (severing most of his old contacts, occasionally visiting J. Wowk, maintaining long-term friendship with Vladimír Rohlíček and corresponding with Josef Zavadil). Settling down in the borderland of northwest Bohemia, (Telnice, Vodná[61] and finally Bečov nad Teplou), he builds his magical oratory in a deep forest. In 1948 he considers emigrating to Argentina, where he has relatives, but his plan fails to materialize.

Dr. Prantl-Lögell, too, seeks withdrawal, while still practicing alchemy. Later he faces long-term imprisonment for these pursuits, called “anti-state activity” by the Communists.

On the other hand, Klíma-Toušek moves to Prague in 1946. His small flat in Žižkov is frequented by a handful of disciples and mysticism sympathizers (the newcomers are tested in Rosicrucian symbolism). In the same year, Freemasonic lodges are awakening to their postwar activity (only to be “anesthetized" again in April 1951). Griese’s Mumiální hermetická léčba (Mumial Hermetic Treatment), with supplements by R. A. Svoboda is published in a mimeographed version in the Kruh (Circle) edition.

The following year sees the publication of Tarot - cesta k nesmrtelnosti (Tarot – A Pathway to Immortality) by M. Vlasák, and Tarot by A. R. Svoboda, complete with an original card deck. A year later, Svoboda releases his Astrologie I. Kosmické vlivy a základy astrologie (Astrology I. Cosmic Influences and Foundations of Astrology). Among other books published are the sought-after works of Paul Brunton – Poustevník v Himalájích (The Hermit in the Himalayas), Skrytá nauka za jogou I. a II. sv. (Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga, Vol I and II); all published by the Petr Jež publishing company. V. H. Matula composes his work Hledání kamene mudrců – podstata a smysl alchymie (In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone – the Essence and Meaning of Astrology). In the neighbouring Slovakia, the contributions include the work of the university professor and priest Alexandr Spesz (1889 - 1967): Špiritizmus či parapsychológia (Spiritualism or Parapsychology published in 1946, and two years later Zoltán Marečín’s Astrálne motívy a tajné znamenia v Písme svätom (Astral Motives and Secret Signs in the Holy Bible), published by the author himself. The spiritualist group “Bratrství”  (Brotherhood) continues to issue the periodical Psychická revue (The Psychic Review) in v Ostrava-Radvanice[62], with Jan Rezner as editor-in-chief. Zpravodaj obce československých spiritistů (The Newsletter of the Czechoslovak Spiritualist Community) is published in Prague as late as September 1949.

In 1947, Josef Adamíra edits the magazine Psychická knihovna (The Psychic Library). However, only two volumes are released: Život duše (Life of the Soul) and Septugesima - doba předpostní (Septugesima – the Pre-Lent Period). At the beginning of the next year, the periodical ceases to exist following an official decree. At this time, Adamíra’s flat still plays host to Prague occultists’ meetings over spiritualist séances as well as rituals of the Goddess Isis, whose statue is the focal point of the “magician’s” oratory. Similar to the failure to resurrect Universalia, the attempt to renew the Martinist lodge Paragava is wrecked. Vladimír Rohlíček, the secretary of Lasenic‘s Horev-Club, leaves for Paris in 1947, gaining a new, hastily composed charter to reconstruct this society. However, this is when “the victorious February” of 1948 arrives (in the same year, Lešehrad enters the Communist Party, whereas Abba is forced to surrender his business to the state administration and seek inferior employment). The Communist coup is accompanied by interrogation and warning of Hermeticians against further activity. As a result, the Paragava lodge members as well as others stop working on a group and ritual basis, meeting only selectively and occasionally.

In Opava in 1949, the healer and artist František Bardon is sentenced to a forced labour camp for his practice. Owing to his successful feigning of epilepsy attacks, he is released two months later. By 1949, organized Hermetic movement in Bohemia practically ceases to exist. From now on, the continuity of the tradition and its preservation is reflected in the activity of individuals and small groups. Tracing them nowadays, however, remains a difficult task.

After Lasenic’s death, the leadership of the Horev-Club is taken over by the Master’s favourite disciple Alois Sedláček (Lasenic imparted to him an exact ritual to invoke his postmortem phantom). The members mostly pursue astrology and Tarot interpretation, treasuring the artifacts from their Guru’s legacy (his hair, two ritual swords and a ring, a meditation rug, a magical diary as well as other writings /a charter from Memphis/, photography equipment for experimental work, etc.) and taking care of his grave. Furthermore, they are extending their membership. One of such novices is a former Universalia member, Mr. Ladislav Běhounek (Adonniram) /22 August 1920 – 24 September 2005/, who applied to the society in 1945 (Běhounek was one of the assistants of Kefer’s ritual attack on Hitler, which took place in the Prague quarter of Hloubětín). The admission of new members was preceded by a moral and spiritual test, in which Sedláček would give the novices various philosophical assignments (Běhounek, for instance, was asked to write on the topic of PAIN). These treatises were then read and discussed in the group.[63] Following the successful completion of the entrance examination, the novice was ceremonially admitted to the group.

Besides the above-mentioned members, the post-war group most certainly included Vladimír Rohlíček (after Sedláček’s death, he took over the ”leadership” of the club, with the meetings taking place in Mrs. Nebeská’s flat in Vršovice), Zdena Sedláčková, ing. Jiří Teyrovský (the owner of the largest dry cleaner’s in Prague, later made a grave-digger by the Communist regime), Julie Stejskalová, František Váhala (originally a member of the Paragava Martinist lodge, and subsequently – thanks to Lasenic’s influence – professor of Egyptology at the Faculty of Arts, Prague) and the erudite Stanislav Kulovaný, who later switched to a group of disciples of the yogi and mystic Květoslav Minařík (21 February 1908 /sometimes stated as 21 August 1908/ – 4 July 1974).

The Czech “Milarepa” (1040 – 1123) Květoslav Minařík, devoted his whole life to studying mystical teachings of the East in theory and practice. He compiled an original spiritual teaching based on the combination of psychology and the thinking of contemporary Europeans, presenting it in about eighty works of varied scope: Přímá stezka (The Direct Path),[64] 1939; Vnitřní smysl Nového Zákona (The Inner Meaning of the New Testament),1945; Cesta k dokonalosti (The Path to Perfection); Světlo géniů (The Light of Geniuses), Beseda bohů (The Forum of the Gods); Mahajána (Mahayana); Milarepa; Tajemství Tibetu (Secrets of Tibet); Spása (Salvation); the autobiography Kéčara (Kechara), etc. His disciples include Krista Ledrová (17 June 1897 – 9 June 1975), Jiří Viktora (4 March 1908 – 19 July 1988), JUDr. M. Kovář (29 April 1910 – 13 November 1972) and the present guru of Minařík’s school Josef Studený (*1919).

Of astrologers active in this period, let us mention the phenomenal linguist Emanuel Šimandl (*1899?), who, among other things, experimented with the horoscope of the Republic cast for the day of the declaration of the new constitution, i.e. 9 May 1948. However, this horoscope did not seem to have much correspondence with the actual events. He had also predicted the imprisonment of Home Secretary Barák, which did happen in the end. The State Security attempted to intimidate people of his kind, as predicting political upheavals was at odds with the totalitarian ideas. Despite entering the Communist Party in 1948, Šimandl was sentenced to a year and a half in prison. He was only allowed visits by two of his fellow astrologers: ing. Jindřich Šob, the author of extensive but unfinished work on astrology, and Ladislav Běhounek, specializing in horoscopes famous historical personalities. Šimandl also managed to find in one Koran manuscript the symbol of the Anti-Muhammad in the shape of a sickle and hammer. He is reputed to have discovered an astrological rule to determine the exact time of death from the horoscope of birth. Besides astrology, Šimandl also pursued “Weinfurter-style” mysticism. The Friday meetings of occultists from the whole of Prague took place in his home in Belgická Street in 1946 – 48 (one of the visitors being Petr Klíma). Among Šimandl’s prominent disciples was Vratislav Jan Žižka, an academic painter and active member of Unitaria. In addition, the future mystic and writer Jiří Vacek (*25. 5. 1931) trained with him in his early years.

One of the postwar astrology schools was headed by Antonín R. Svoboda, the author of Kurs Astrologie (A Course in Astrology), published in a mimeographed version in 1947. However, he failed to match the pre-war level of Czech astrological journalism. Some former eminent Prague astrologers (including Josef Danzer) continue to meet in Café Slavia in Národní třída; others are establishing themselves in the Cosmobiological School.  

In 1946, the seriously ill trade union chairman and future Czechoslovak president Antonín Zápotocký (19 December 1884 – 13 November 1957) finds himself in the care of the healer Jan Mikolášek[65] (7 April 1889 – 29 December 1973). Zápotocký was to undergo amputation of his gangrenous leg, a remnant from the Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg concentration camp. The Prague sanatorium Sanopz regarded this procedure as the only possible solution. Yet owing to the intervention of the healer, the patient was cured within three weeks. As a consequence, alternative medicine enjoyed the statesman’s unofficial protection, lasting to his death. As early as January 1959, however, Mikolášek is sentenced in a feigned trial to five years imprisonment. Like many other esotericists, this highly successful[66] herbalist had been watched by the Gestapo during the war. The above-mentioned Gestapo officer Kiesewetter even organized a test of Mikolášek’s abilities before a committee of Nazi doctors, in which the healer was 100% successful. This brought him unwelcome attention of German bosses. He even ended up treating one of the leading officials of NSDAP, Martin Bormann (17 June 1900 – missing from1 May 1945).

Antonín Zápotocký was not the only president to make use of the skills of Czech healers. The recognized herbalist Božena Kamenická[67] (7 August 1898 – September 1996) was visited by another of our presidents, Ludvík Svoboda (25 November 1895 – 20 September 1979).

Postwar Groups

In October 1945, a meeting of leading Czech mystics was called by Božena Weinfurterová (*13 May 1892) to the study (in Šumavská Street) of her deceased husband and chairman of the prewar group Psyche. The very same autumn, the group is re-established (the first meeting taking place on 28 November 1945) on the basis of a presidential decree allowing the renewal of groups dissolved by the occupants.

At the beginning of 1946, a dignified choice of a new chairman is made: PhDr. Ing. JUDr. Otakar Čapek, author of successful books Encyklopedie okultismu, mystiky a všech tajných nauk (Encyclopaedia of Occultism, Mysticism and All Secret Sciences), Proč se znovuzrozujeme (Why We Reincarnate), Ježíš Kristus ve světle mystiky (Jesus Christ in the Light of Mysticism), Zlatá zrnka mystická (Golden Mystical Grains), etc. He and Weinfurterová, by now his wife, begin again to give lectures and publish the Psyche magazine. By their care, the most popular of Weinfurter’s books – Tajné síly přírody a člověka (Secret Forces of Nature and Man), Paměti okultisty (Memories of an Occultist, etc. are re-released. The year 1948 marks an end to their work. Čapek is later imprisoned by the Communists for his spiritual endeavours; Weinfurterová dies in poverty.

After the war, the agile dr. Karel J. Hašpl (26 January 1904 – 27 December 1964) continues the tradition of the Společnost Svobodného bratrství -- SSB (Free Brotherhood Society)[68], founded in 1923 by dr. Norbert Fabián Čapek (3 June 1870 – 30 October 1942; tortured to death in Dachau), by founding the Prague-based Náboženská společnost unitářů československých (Religious Society of Czechoslovak Unitarians) –NSČU. It soon becomes a platform from which the spiritual ideas of a non-denominational universal religion are disseminated to branches in various parts of Bohemia and Moravia (e.g. Jičín, Pardubice, Besednice). The first postwar assembly is held as early as 13 November 1945. This “Religion of Wisdom” studies all the religions of the past without preferring a specific one, conveying their spiritual knowledge in contemporary language. In 1945 – 1951 the NSČU published the magazine Cesty světla (Paths of Light), a continuation of the prewar SSB newsletter.

The book of the mystical writer Míla Tomášová Za čas a prostor (Beyond Time and Space), published by Duha in 1991, reveals that upon arriving in postwar Prague, she met here several spiritually active people at esoteric talks held in Lékařský Dům (Medical House). This is how she encountered Bohuslava Heranová-Panchártková, an editor of mystical literature and a recent founder of the Spiritual Brotherhood Circle (whose members wore silver badges as a sign of affiliation). According to the eyewitness Mr. Cibulka, the Brotherhood’s members were directly linked to Weinfurter’s society Psyche, which had split into several factions after the Nazi arrival (some time earlier there had existed a Bruntonian[69] wing “headed” by Josef Hoznourek[70]). For some time Míla Tomášová became its member. Here, it must be pointed out that Bohuslava Heranová had demonstrably been involved in spiritual activity as early as 1945. In that year she published her Diář týdenních meditací na celý rok (Diary of Weekly Meditations for the Whole Year) and probably sometime later the collection Patero pramenů poznání (Five Sources of Knowledge).[71]

On the first committee of the group were prof. ing. Rudolf Janíček – the well-known translator of Indian texts Bhagavadgíta, Tattwam-asi, etc., JUDr. Rudolf Fiedler (10 November 1879 – 13 May 1962), writing under the codename Rolf Fremont, Hugo Kalista (*1882), ing. Roman Vinopal, the female writer Marie Radoňová-Šárecká (1890 – 1958), Petr Klíma-Toušek and, naturally, Bohuslava Heranová. Among those who joined later were František Roman Jirman[72] (28 December 1895 – 28 December 1971), ing. Jan Gregor, Bohumil Špale, Irena Kellnerová, Růžena Říhová, Marie Koděrová and Ervín Richter.

 According to Tomášová, the Spiritual Brotherhood Circle began to develop promisingly in several sections: mathematical, physical, mystical-yogic and magical. This seems to indicate that there was at least one postwar hermetically active cell. With the year 1948 fast approaching, however, no more than the first few lectures were held. The Circle’s activities were banned, resulting in the withdrawal of the members and followers from the public eye. The meetings were now held in the homes of their acquaintances, such as the flat of the Říha siblings, lifelong devoted seekers of self-knowledge.

The largest amount of information about the activity of the Circle can be gleaned from newsletters and education materials the society published and disseminated among its members. It began its public activity towards the end of 1947 by giving lectures and, from the early 1948, by publishing Věstník Kruhu Duchovního Bratrství (Spiritual Brotherhood Circle Newsletter). The New Year’s greeting by the chairman Fr. Roman Jirman[73] included the following message: Full of hope in the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, we have gathered, at the turn of a new year, as a CIRCLE, to walk  more firmly and assuredly through eternity and infinity towards the fulfillment of God’s work …The secret of God manifests not only in God’s glory but also by the fact of our being. Let the CIRCLE of Spiritual Brotherhood become the revealer of this truth. Herein lies the mystical purpose of the CIRCLE and its universal idea: to initiate people into life, into Being in God…

And if our national emblem bears the motto “The truth prevails”, we add, “Light will arise from Czechoslovakia with the desire that it should benefit not only the Circle members but the Czech nation as well, and through it the entire world.

As can be seen, the pre-February ambitions of the Czech esoteric scene were not small. Unfortunately, they were destined to be short-lived. The influence of Communist propaganda manifested itself as early as late 1948, when the presidium and committee of the Circle announced a new slogan and greeting for 1949: PEACE AND SUCCESS. The political pressure was mounting throughout the year, culminating in April 1950 when Heranová circulated the society’s last “newsletter” bearing the title Korespondence Bohuslavy Heranové (The Correspondence of Bohuslava Heranová). Among other things it says: Thank you, dear sisters and brothers, for your love and loyalty shown towards the idea of the Circle, which we shall continue to serve with dedication. Naturally, we will remain in written contact. To help you maintain your practice, I shall be sending you lessons in mental hygiene (The Written Course in Mental Hygiene) instead of the present Newsletters, with brief accompanying explanations…These lessons represent a kind of self-contained conclusion to our present written courses …This correspondence is only intended for my personal friends and I ask you not to disseminate it publicly. Peace and Success.

At the very end of the newsletter, an extract from a member’s letter is aptly stated:

„The Indian Puranas prophesy that when the Earth is tied in chains, people communicate with each other across long distances and spaces and material worship takes over, Vishnu will, for the last time, incarnate into Kali the Killer and Protector. He will destroy the kingdom of commerce and impose the shudra – the Brotherhood of Labourers. This is God’s will. And on the basis of Communism, which is an exoteric aspect of the spiritual teaching, the human society of the future will …“

The Spiritual Brotherhood Circle was largely preoccupied with lecturing and editing. Besides the Newsletter of the Spiritual Brotherhood Circle, which changed its name into the Spiritual Brotherhood Circle in 1948 and then to the Circle of World Brotherhood in 1949, the society published a series of other written materials, mostly to do with spiritual education. Besides the above-mentioned Written Course in Mental Hygiene, these included small collections titled Škola duchovní jednoty (The School of Spiritual Unity), published from 1948, and well as the bulletins of the individual sections of the Circle.  

In addition to giving lectures, the literary section was very active in publishing. The books published include Meditace a duchovní cvičení na každý den (Daily Meditations and Spiritual Exercises), the work of JUDr. Lubomír Kukla[74] - Člověk a vesmír I. a II. (Man and Universe I and II), dealing with biological philosophy, Vývojová cesta lidstva (The Evolutionary Journey of Mankind), published in 1949, and a more extensive, three-volume book Vesmírné zákony a jejich důvody (Universal Laws and their Causes). Of purely Hermetic character are the writings of the society’s executive chairman MUDr Miroslav Vlasák: O soustavě mikrokosmu t. j. lidské bytosti (On the Microcosmic Set, i. e. the Human Being) and the more extensive Tarot, cesta k nesmrtelnosti (Tarot, the Path to Immortality).[75] Other literary feats of the section include: Dr. Karel Seidenstucker - Spásná nauka Buddhova (The Redeeming Teaching of the Buddha), 1947; Vladimír Novický – Paramhansa Jogananda, 1949 Vol. III; O. Griese + R. A. Svoboda – Mumiální hermetické léčení (Mumial Hermetic Treatment), 1949 Vol. IV; Jaroslav Kočí – Náboženství, mystika, filosofie (Religion, Mysticism, Philosophy), 1949 Vol. VI.[76]

Jaroslav Kočí (1908 – 8 June 1989) was an outstanding mystic from the city of Ostrava. As expressed by Jirman – although a labourer by profession, he worked his own way to inner experience and cognition of what we call mystery, without leaving the path of logic and strict examination and without giving up the real earthly life.[77]

Among the works published outside the literary section was, for instance, Znovuzrození - skutečný vnitřní život - jak člověk dosáhne blaženosti (Rebirth – The True Inner Life – How to Achieve Bliss).

The Circle also had its own Ten Commandments. In contrast with Míla Tomášová’s account, the Circles’s anthologies and other material stored at the DCČH centre make it obvious that in early 1948 there existed three basic sections: mystical, philosophical and literary, as well as courses in mysticism and mystical philosophy (led by academic painter B. Hradečný), astrology - cosmobiology, psychomantry a graphic psychoanalysis. There were either lecture-based and written, or written only. Thus, Hermeticism was represented, at least in the field of astrology. The members met on the Circles’s so-called Club Mondays, or at the Circle’s Spiritual Academy, situated on Slovanský ostrov. Here, public talks were given, featuring such prominent names as Josef Adamíra, Dagmar Vítězná and Bedřich Schick (lecturing on astrology).

On 17 September 1948, the Circles’s representatives (in particular Bohuslava Heranová, Irena Kellnerová /and allegedly even Eduard Tomáš/) were present at Paul Brunton’s visit to Prague, where Brunton passed on a message to the Circle regarding the need to perfect one’s own character. Kellnerová was the first Czech disciple of Brunton’s, lecturing on his philosophy to the Circle’s members.

Branches of the Circle were established in Pilsen, Brno, Olomouc and Pardubice. Bohuslava Heranová functioned as a vital link between seekers and spiritual teachers. For instance, she put Míla Tomášová in touch with Květoslav Minařík, while also recommending to her a kind elderly gentleman, dr. Jan Kolář - a Christian mystic, wholly devoted to his spiritual work but mostly to his Master, about whom he spoke mysteriously and always admiringly in front of Mrs. Tomášová. This mysterious Mr. H. (speculations were made about the names Havlík and Höfert, but the only correct name is Bedřich Hejhal /25 September 1895 – 3 September 1960/), was the “chairman” of a very private and to this day secretive circle of “duchoborci” (“Spiritbusters”). Of interest is Tomášová’s claim that Mr H. had first trained with František Drtikol.[78] Afterwards he followed his own path, founding a school. He compiled a teaching comprising Egyptian, Christian and Eastern traditions, passing it on to his students.

Mr H. possessed considerable astrological and mathematical knowledge, also excelling at Tarot reading and some other psychic skills. Through a certain practice, he is reputed to have been able to gaze inside his followers and recognize the degree of their inner progress. There were about a hundred of these disciples, some continuing to pass on his teaching to this day. The best among these was considered to be Mr. Miloš Cafourek[79] (1901 - 16 May 1973). Another was the successful healer František Vrba (4 December 1877 - 19 April 1973). In her books, Tomášová claims to have been accepted as a disciple herself (however, eyewitnesses differ on that point). From dr. Kolář’s account we know that disciples were only allowed to see the mysterious Mr. H. once a month and had to conform to strict secrecy rules. Everything was watched by the State Security.

The Fifties

The year 1956 sees the final dissolution of what is left of the Spiritual Brotherhood Circle. The activists Roman Jirman, Lubomír Kukla and Eduard Mašek are arrested and kept in the Pankrác prison without trial for a year. Bohuslava Heranová informs the entire group about this, instructing them to burn all the member lists. Before court she claims to have manipulated all the members into religious fanaticism. She is declared mentally ill and the detained members are released (they are “only” to pay for the court expenses). Later, Jirman is discarded from the Union of Writers and becomes a cow herd at Nový Bydžov. In a nearby chalet he meets a circle of adherents at group meditations. Heranová helps him to copy and disseminate his essays. Some members switch over to the Unitarians. The year 1956 is also the last year in the life of our first psychotherapist and ethical therapist Mudr. Ctibor Bezděk (10 March 1872 – 22 February 1956), whose work[80] even managed to arouse the interest of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (7 March 1850 – 14 September 1937), who, according to some sources, himself had pursued spiritualism[81] and hypnosis in his youth.

In Slovakia, MUDr. Eugen Jonáš (* 11 November 1928 /sometimes the date 6 November 1928 is given/) commences research into astrology in connection with human conception, leading to the establishment of an official research centre Astra v Nitra twelve years later.

In this turbulent period, the Communists, just like the Nazis earlier, seek out the leading parapsychologist Břetislav Kafka (14 May 1891 – 27 August 1967). The assignment is clear. His clairvoyants are to help Soviet scientists in their atomic bomb experiments. Kafka is well-known for his successful books Nové základy experimentální psychologie (New Foundations of Experimental Psychology), Svítání v duši (Dawn in the Soul), Kultura rozumu a vůle (The Culture of Reason and Will) and Člověk zítřka (Man of Tomorrow). In 1951, he gains a new disciple: PhDr. Zdeněk Rejdák (7 November 1934 - 24 December 2006), the future Doctor of Psychology and head of the Research Centre for Psychotronics and Juvenology, a Knight of Malta and author of more than 150 texts on psychotronics and a number of books including Telepatie a jasnovidnost (Telepathy and Clairvoyance), 1970; Průvodce po psychotronice (A Guide to Psychotronics) and Perspektivy telepatie (Prospects of Telepathy).

From the 1950s, a female mystic is active on the Czech esoteric scene: Božena Cibulková (6 July 1920 - 2 December 1995), raised without formal education in the poor North Moravian village of Svébohov near Zábřeh. From the age of twenty-six, she experiences extatic states in overwhelming surges of spiritual forces, often causing her physical life-or-death difficulties. In 1950 during Candlemass (already residing in Boskovice /briefly attending the group of Marie Kubištová - Alma Excelsior[82]/ and married to František Cibulka) she experiences an unexpected seven-day mystery of the revelation of Christ, who urges her to give witness of his work for humankind, Earth and Universe and report on the work of angels and heavenly hierarchies. Fully conscious, she enters continuous contact with spiritual teachers, angelic, archangelic and higher beings as well as Christ himself, to fulfill their wish to inform at least a close circle of people who will trust her and co-operate with her in the work aimed at rescuing mankind and the Universe. The dialogue of this universal Logos was captured by Boženka (as she was called by her supporters) in more than 10 000 pages of prayers, odes and hymns, mankind’s speeches about itself, about Nature, the Universe, matter and force fields, in unique texts of personal, national and universal atonement and in texts of personal and universal service.

Cibulková’s work – Slovo Kristovo (The Word of Christ), Vnitřní obroda (Inner Rebirth), Kniha Boží (The Book of God), Logos, Kniha modliteb (The Book of Prayers), Kniha soudu i milosti (The Book of Judgement and Mercy), Vánoce (Christmas), Velikonoce (Easter), Svatodušní (Pentecostal), Cesta duše (The Journey of the Soul), Kniha žalmů (Book of Psalms) and a number of other, mostly brief texts begin to spread through samizdat. Her last public appearance was in Vamberk on 30 September 1995.

On the one hand, Cibulková’s life was marked by tremendous difficulties, partly inflicted by the modern–age Pharisees and scribes, yet on the other hand, there was also exceptional mercy. So-called intended contacts, artificially induced by magical practices, were dismissed by Boženka as forbidden by the Divine order due to the participation of dark forces. She regarded them as dubious, unreliable and dangerous experiments, during which man’s inner freedom is at stake since his will is possessed by negative intelligence. Thus, it would seem that Božena Cibulková expressed in her communications some doubt about certain Hermetic practices. On the other hand, she did not shy away from cyclic laws, reincarnation and the penal processes after death, even drawing attention to the sphere of fallen angels. Be that as it may, the esoteric role Božena Cibulková played in the years of the Communist totalitarianism was significant and even today, esotericists can find in her work valuable themes for contemplation.

Another outstanding practitioner and unique exegetist was a business academy teacher Karel Makoň (12 December 1912 - 1993), based in the city of Pilsen. He attained enlightenment in a German concentration camp, where he had been deported as a university student after 17 November 1939. He used samizdat to spread his spiritual knowledge and lectured to a narrow circle of enthusiastic listeners. His most agile disciple has been Stanislav Kalibán. Of Makoň’s extensive literary legacy, let us mention Utrpení a láska (Suffering and Love), 1936; Umění následovat Krista (The Art of Following Christ), 1971; Blahoslavení (Benediction), 1973; Mystická koncentrace a příprava k ní (Mystical Concentration and the Preparation for It), 1977; Světlo na cestu - výňatky (Light for the Journey – Extracts), 1976-1982.

In the 1960s Prague, a small group of people interested in Hermeticism are taught by František Bardon. The topics include pendulum divination, astral writing, contact with spirit guides and the deceased, etc. Bardon commutes from Opava, where, due to his reputation as a renown healer, he is sought by ailing people from near and far. In Prague he stays in the home of Otylka Votavová (his “secretary”)[83], where his pupils also meet. One of these is Antonín Zadák, the future author of a text on the first three degrees of the spiritual journey, called Vážení a milí (Ladies and Gentlemen). Bardon’s disciples help their teacher redraw pictures and graphs used in his literary works, to which he assigns the individual Tarot arcana. He also intends to write a book of the fifth Tarot card, dealing with alchemy. However, it is too late for him. His arrest (26 March 1958) is predicted in a vision of one of his pupils. He is accused of illegal production and untaxed possession of alcohol (he used it to prepare his medicine) and high treason. Seriously ill, he dies in the Brno prison the same year. Other First Republic activists who died in this period (although not in prison) included Řebík, Adamíra, Lešehrad, Sedláček, Kopp and Šimánek.

Slovakia is the home of an unconventional magician and painter prof. Ján /sometimes the name Jaroslav is given) Okruhlica, a member of the prewar Universalia and a personal friend of Jan Kefer. His magical oratory is situated in Plavecké Podhradí near Malacky. In Kutná Hora, Abba practices mental concentration training, attaining the highest degree of knowledge. In Turnov there lives Lasenic’s most advanced disciple and friend Vladislav Kužel (16 March 1898 – 1965), first a Universalia member and later a kind of external member of the Horev-Club (he participated in creating the cards of Lasenic’s Tarot in 1938-39). In the fifties, he taught private lessons in Hermeticism to the sculptor Jan Solovjev (*1922). The co-operation between the two men gave rise to the book Hovory s Lasenicem (Conversations with Lasenic), published by Trigon in 1993. Kužel is the author of a series of philosophical and Hermetic reflections Úvahy o životě (Thoughts About Life).

At approximately this time, the Theosophist couple Ráčeks become engaged in the Czech esoteric scene. It is from their group that the Tantrist Robert Nový[84] (*1964) emerges, writing some of his works under the codename of Jájánanda. His later samizdat work includes Cesta do starověkého Egypta (A Journey to Ancient Egypt); Cesta do Indie (A Journey to India), Tři mušketýři jejich cesta do Indie (The Three Musketeers and their Journey to India), 1982; Inspirativní evangelium (Inspirational Gospel), 1983; Výroky pána Ježíše - z apokryfních evangelií (The Pronouncements of Lord Jesus – from the Apocryph Gospels), 1984; Lakulíša Tantra: Pránájáma a ásána (Lakulisha Tantra – Pranayama and Asana), 1984; Džapajóga (Japa Yoga), 1984; Náda a Mantra jóga (Nada and Mantra Yoga), 1985; O světech-lókas (On the Worlds – Lokas), 1985; Upanišady Rgvédy (Rigveda Upanishads), 1985; Sámavéda (1985, 1988-90), Bílá Jádžurvéda (White Jajurveda), 1986; Černá Jádžurvéda (Black Jajurveda), 1986; Atharvavéda: Védánta, 1986; Sanjása (1989) and many others.

In the early 1960s, the clairvoyant Kamila Ráčková (among other things, she practiced numerology and reading from coffee grounds) produces the book Cesta sedmi vesmíry (A Journey Through Seven Universes).[85] A group of enthusiasts begins to form around the Tomáš couple, the “pupils” of František Drtikol practicing Eastern mysticism. Some of the books by Eduard Tomáš include 108 meditací (108 Meditations), Milarepa, 999 otázek a odpovědí na cestě Poznání (999 Questions and Answers on the Way to Knowledge), Metafyzické příběhy (Metaphysical Stories), Jóga pozornosti (Yoga of Attention), Úvod do integrální jógy (Introduction to Integral Yoga), etc. An interesting treatise on practical astrology is penned by ing. Otakar Solnař (12 September 1909 – 20 September 1999), who was directly linked to the prewar esoteric school of Anna Wirlová (1896 - 1968), publicly active since 1926.

The Sixties

The sixties begin with the doleful death of the “forgotten genius” Fráňa Drtikol. His teaching, however, is passed on by his followers (among the last being Rostislav Obšnajdr). They, in turn, have their own pupils.[86] František Hein imparts his personal spiritual experience to Karel Mikšovský (1914 – 1977), the skilful translator[87] Zdeněk Jaroš[88], (*1932) and Jiří Scheufler (see below). Hein’s ideas are stored in his samizdat legacy: Vůně Nebes (The Scent of Heaven)[89]; Zlomky poznání (Fragments of Knowledge), 1946; Rozsevač světla (Disseminator of Light), 1948; Evangelium svobody (Gospel of Freedom), 1951; Světélka v temnotách (Tiny Lights in Darkness), 1952; Otec všech (The Father of All), 1953[90]; Nástin Barda (Outline of Bardo); Strohost Pravdy = Hrubý šat (The Austerity of Truth – Rough Attire), 1947 – 1956; Záře skrytého (The Blaze of the Hidden), 1956; Jiskřivost (Effulgence), 1957; Zbožnění Nezměrného (Glorification of the Immesurable); Velebnost Ticha (The Magnificence of Silence), Světlo Pravdy (The Light of the Truth), Poučky a dopisy (Precepts and Letters), 1961 – 1965; K Boží svobodě I (Towards Divine Freedom I), 1961 – 1971;  K Boží svobodě II (Towards Divine Freedom II), 1972 – 1976; Z tajemství Janova Evangelia (From the Secret of St John’s Gospel), 1968; František Drtikol – Osobnost a dílo (František Drtikol – Personality and Work).

Evžen Štekl is visited by Karel Vostatek and later by Karel Funk (*1948). Štekl’s modest literary work consists in his text Vzpomínky na velkého Arhata[91] (Memories of the Great Arhat), circulated by samizdat as well. The growing samizdat activity of various underground groups, including the “Spiritbusters”, causes great concern to the Communists. They attempt to strike back it by publishing “educational” literature degrading spiritual topics to quackery. One of the classic examples of this propagandist literature is the collective work O zázracích a nadpřirozených silách (On Miracles and Supernatural Powers), published by Orbis in Prague in 1961. The book is the transcript of the activities of the Czechoslovak Broadcasting Service, which had aired the topic in spring 1959 as part of the Broadcasting University programme. Its chief mission was to “teach listeners the correct, objective way of thinking….” The programme was so cleverly conceived that about two thousand listeners of the Broadcasting University became involved, writing seminar papers about their personal experience of various manifestations of spiritual spheres. Of these, the editors chose the most “fitting” cases for presentation, for instance the prophecy of an anonymous author from 25 May 1959, claiming that the first human crew will land on the Moon on 2 August 1974, and the complete levelling out of social differences will occur on earth in 2006. Another soothsayer prophesied that the final victory of Communism in the entire world would happen in 1975.

Amidst this strange spiritual pressure, a group of twenty students of Hermeticism is formed around the secrecy-bound František Kabelák. The membership is conditioned by active research in the field. The group meets at one of the departments of the Faculty of Arts in Prague‘s Celetná Street, the workplace of prof. M. Nakonečný (also often persecuted by the State Security). Other members include the young women Máša and Aša Janátová (in the latter’s flat, Milan Nakonečný runs a circle of people interested in Hermeticism, with Abba as one of the lecturers), Miss W. Š., Vladimír Rohlíček, M. Čepelka (*1936) and PhDr. Zdeněk Rejdák (who, owing to his high position in the Party /as a State Security agent he is known under the codename Homér/, obtains an official confirmation of prof. Nakonečný’s involvement in studying the impact of sects and extreme religious movements, enabling Nakonečný to freely access all archives). Here at the Faculty, at the time of the repressive Communist regime, Kabelák paradoxically lectures on magic, Kabbalah and other Hermetic teachings[92] as a preparation for future practical experiments (their exact plan already existing). After these meetings, a narrow circle of enthusiasts would move into a member’s flat, where the debates with Kabelák continued (possibly Rejdák’s flat, where Kabelák would stay overnight when in Prague).

In 1970, the Youth Poetry Club edition releases Kabelák’s translation of Faustus’ (1480? – 1540?) Magia innaturalis. Kabelák, however, does not live to see it, dying in August

1969 (R. M. Boušek dies the same year). The State Security makes several attempts to penetrate the group. Besides the above-mentioned disciples, the people initiated by Kabelák into his teachings (mostly through correspondence) include ing. Josef Zavadil, ing. Josef Straka – a Slovak Hermetician who later emigrated to Australia, and a number of others.

Another group of Hermeticists, formed around Milan Nakonečný, meet at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering opposite UMPRUM (Art-Industrial Museum).

In 1967 (M. Nakonečný gives the year 1966, while yet other sources state 1971 or 1972), the tireless Vladimír Rohlíček initiates an attempt at reconstructing a Martinist lodge in Prague. Also present is the French Grand Master of the order Irene Séguret (among the members was a Paris-based Martinist Milada Libanská /Adalim/). The attempt, however, ends in the typical Czech quarreling and scheming, as well as a lack of interest.

Yet another circle of students of Hermeticism is formed around the personality of Theophanus Abba.[93] The members include Andrej Dragomirecký (*1932), Pavel Turnovský[94] (*19 July 1950) and Martin Stejskal[95] (*1944), who draws Tarot cards for Abba based on his instructions (later published in the Prague samizdat edition Auroboros as 22 tarotových arkán Theophana Abby /22 Tarot Arcana of Theophanus Abba/).

In the Town of Mnichovo Hradiště, Abba – along with his friend, a former Universalia member Josef Pánek (1902 - 1969) and the outstanding medium Božena Ferklová[96] (Beatrice) – practises experimental magic and other investigative Hermetic disciplines.

The political atmosphere of “tightening of belts” was not alleviated until the year 1968[97]. During the “relief” of the Prague Spring period, the hitherto harshly persecuted Květoslav Minařík published a series of articles on yoga in the Lidová demokracie newspaper.  Yoga is pursued in Bohemia by several active circles of people interested in the Indian philosophy and its practice. They are largely introspective types searching for answers to life’s biggest questions regarding psychology, theology and mysticism.

In spring 1967, a body called Koordinační skupina pro výzkum otázek psychotroniky (The Coordination Group for Research into Psychotronics) is established in Prague, headed by MUDr. Jaroslav Stuchlík[98] (1890 - 1967). Its members include dr. Zdeněk Rejdák, doc. Július Krmešský, MUDr. Teodor Rosinský and others.The intensive activity of outstanding researchers leads to the organizing of the first International Congress on Psychotronics, held in Prague 1973. Here, the International Association for Psychotronic Research /IAPR/ is founded, with PhDr. Zdeněk Rejdák, predictably, as the head.

After 1968, the activities of Unitaria are brought back to life, with large numbers of seekers joining at this stage. Catholicism has become somewhat dated while India enjoys tremendous popularity. Many people are gathering around the Orientalist PhDr. Boris Merhaut[99] (*6 January 1924). The most fashionable areas are yoga, Islam and Tibetan mysticism. One of the most agile preachers in the society is no doubt Jiří Scheufler (27 July 1911 - 1996), a professional singer, painter, translator and author of many samizdat publications: Křesťanská mystika (Christian mysticism), Mystická praxe (Mystical Practice), Indická filosofie (Indian Philosophy), Návrat ke Gnosi (Return to Gnosis), Kámen mudrců (The Philosopher’s Stone), Méně známé aspekty jogy a tantrická cesta (Less-known aspects of Hatha Yoga and the Tantric Path), Nagardžunova filosofie (Nagarjuna’s Philosophy), Invalidé a možnosti jejich duchovního vývoje (The Disabled and the Possibilities of Their Spiritual Development) and others.[100]

The interest in esoterics is surging - the forbidden fruit is tempting and in demand. Interesting people are sought after, including astrologers (such as the author of Kabalistická astrologie /Kabbalist Astrology/ Jan Iglauer and the Ostrava-based Vladimír Sládeček (*1930), writing under the codename of Uno Malgrando), healers (among the best-known being Jiří Janča /*1924/ and the clairvoyant Roman Catholic priest František Ferda /31 March 1915 – 1991/, who even managed to astonish scientists from Moscow by his skills, and herbalists (e.g. the group Para-Panacea, headed by the astrologer and herbalist Josef Sucharda from Benešov). The investigative activity is alove all pursued by dr. Z. Rejdák, collaborating with experts such as MUDr. Bohumil Vlk, who uses his own remedy partly made from animal plasma, to efficiently treat cancer. However, Rejdák’s main field of interest is psychotronics (parapsychology), which he divides into three principal areas: telepathy, telegnosis (clairvoyance) a telekinesis. In 1973, the First International Congress on Psychotronics is held in Prague, chaired by Rejdák.

On 1 July 1968, the editors of Hlas ľudu (Voice of the People) establish the Astra Research Centre, headed by dr. E. Jonáš, with a focus on practical research into planned conception in direct link with astrological influences. These activities are followed by the conference “Astrology in the Service of Today’s Mankind”, held by the Astra centre in Nitra on 18 – 21 November of the same year. Related to this development is the publication of the brochure Kapitoly z vedeckej astrologie (Chapters from Scientific Astrology) in 1969.

After Anna Wirlová’s death, her school of mystical initiation is taken over by ing. Otakar Solnař. He receives an instruction from the deceased predecessors to present their teaching in a written form, giving rise to the original work Nové poselství z Prahy (A New Message from Prague), published by Trigon, Prague 1991. He runs his school, whose participants include the well-known healer Josef Zezulka[101] (1912 - 1992) /a teacher of Tomáš Pfeiffer (*1953) / and the psychologist PhDr. Marta Foučková (*1937), until his final days. According to eyewitness accounts, it was a secret but intensive centre of spiritual education. Solnař’s flat in Letná was frequented by dozens of disciples, often under the supervision of State Security agents. However, the brilliant and clairvoyant astrologer Solnař was always able to sense danger well ahead, making sure that he and the whole group were protected. It was from this “workshop” that the middle and high mystical path arose later. Otakar Solnař was an initiate of the 1st order, perfectly clairvoyant, with ties to the highest spiritual worlds. He knew magic but avoided using it, recognizing only mysticism. His samizdat astrological translations include: Výpisky z díla W. Ruckerta “Die Geburtsastrologie” (Excerpts from the Work of W. Ruckert “Die Geburtsastrologie”), Prague 1975; Alfred Witte: Pravidla pro planetární obrazy (Alfred Witte: Rules for Planetary Figures); excerpts from the book, Praha 1984.

The Seventies

In the 1970s, the most visible organization is Unitaria (for instance, Bohdana Čapková – Hašplová’s text Stavitelé chrámů /Temple Builders/ is published in 1977), which, among others, becomes the refuge of Eduard Tomáš (like Květoslav Minařík, Tomáš is called the Czech Milarepa”). He becomes the star speaker of the morning lectures held in the society’s headquarters in Karlova Street in Prague (Tomáš’s lecture cycles in 1964 - 71: Umění klidu mysli /The Art of Peace of Mind/, Jóga velikého symbolu /Yoga of the Great Symbol/, Tajné nauky Tibetu /Secret Teachings of Tibet/). Among the people consulting Tomáš, who lectures on Tibetan yoga, is the mystical writer and member of the prewar society Psyche Ludmila Macešková (22 March 1898 - 3 May 1974), writing under the codename of Jan Kameník. Her work includes Malá suita pro flétnu (A Little Suite for the Flute), Neviditelný let (The Invisible Flight), Okna s anděly (Windows with Angels), Pubertální Henoch (Pubescent Enoch), Učitelka hudby (Music Teacher), Zápisky v noci (Notes in the Night), unpublished works David and Paralipomena and Mystické deníky (Mystical Diaries).

Yoga-practicing groups are appearing at an ever faster rate. It is a relatively strong movement that cannot be dismissed by society. The ideological supervision of the Communists is strong; however, gaps can be found, providing an opportunity for yoga to become even more widespread. In the end, yoga becomes part of the nationwide physical education organization. Officially, only hath yoga can be practised, but people use the situation to do philosophy in the gym“. This attracts even more enthusiasts, reflecting positively on the membership numbers of the Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education. Suddenly, there is great demand for new volunteer instructors, trained by the “old” yoga practitioners. The novices are thus becoming bearers of the ideas of improving general morality – non-harming, non-lying, non-accumulation and non-passionate conduct – i.e. Patanjali’s first degree of Radja Yoga.

An important role in developing the content and methods of the yoga practice in Czechoslovakia is played by the academic Ctibor Dostálek[102] (*3 November 1928). It is he who invites dozens of outstanding yogis to the country. These experts, mainly from India, provide direct help in finalizing the Czech yoga activities. As part of these efforts, the prominent Czech Orientalist DrSc. Dušan Zbavitel[103] (*7 May 1925) commutes to Brno. Here, before the crowded gyms, he gives semi-legal lessons in Sanskrit. Yoga is practiced as a philosophy of life, as an ethical opposition to the Socialist reality and as a help to those suffering physically or spiritually. This period is characterized by great enthusiasm and dedication shown in the harsh conditions of existential risks.[104]

Another group pursuing the study of Hermetic disciplines involved a handful of people meeting in Vladimír Rohlíček’s flat in the 1970s (he, too, was subject to house searches by the State Security). Rohlíček practised according to the instructions he had obtained directly from Lasenic. He had profound knowledge of spagyry and working with magical pentacles. He would cut out all those parts of the Horev-Club diaries that contained dangerous magical formulae. The group also included MUDr. Ryšánek (pursuing alchemy), MUDr. Bláha and Miss W. Š., who, after Rohlíček’s death, (caused – according to her – by his voluntary 40-day fasting) took care of Lasenic’s remains in 1974, settled the debt related to his grave, and on 2 March 1978 ensured the body’s exhumation (all of the ceremonial procedures being watched by the State Security). Some Hermeticians denounced her conduct, and the group was slowly disintegrating.

At this juncture, Theophanus Abba begins preparing for some “minor”alchemic work. In 1975, he is about to build an alchemic laboratory for physical transmutations and the production of spagyric essences at the home of one of his friends – dr. Zdeněk Rejdák in the village of Chaloupky. Death, however, is faster this time, making no exceptions for an alchemist. Other prominent personalities who passed away that year included Vladimír Rohlíček, František Váhala, dr. Hubert Mattern, Petr Klíma-Toušek and the secretary of the former Universalia and the main distributor of the Eulis edition, Vojtěch Kempfer (1919 – 1972).

The attempt to build an alchemic laboratory failed. However, another facility is “quietly” established in Prague at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague: the Psychoenergetic Laboratory[105] for the research into paranormal phenomena. From 1978 to 1986 it is headed by the former education minister and mathematician Prof. RNDr. et PaedDr. František Kahuda CSc. (3 January 1911 – 12 February 1987), who, along with other scientists, seeks to prove that mental energy influences the growth of living organisms and that it can be utilized for diagnosing and healing. Over the course of the laboratory’s existence, many remarkable individuals from all over Czechoslovakia were involved in its work. Among them were the highly successful gynecologist and healer MUDr. Václav Vydra (*1 October 1941) and the healer Karel Kožíšek[106] (8 January 1921 – 20 July 1995), who cooperated with the Moravian branch of the laboratory. This branch was led by MUDr. Lubomír Oliva, the head physician of the Hustopeče hospital. The laboratory was later taken over by Ing. Svatopluk Valent, CSc. Its last head was the outstanding psychic diagnostician and healer ing. Valdemar Grešík (*1962).

In the years of the Communist rule, the mere existence of the Psychoenergetic Laboratory provided protection for the work of Czech healers, often without their knowledge. Naturally, everything was observed by the State Security. In 1978 (under the rule of the Leo sign) Antichrist was supposed to be born of a Catholic priest and a Jewess, according to a prophecy of the Kmínek spiritual family (including J. Š. Kmínek, one of the founders of Universalia, and his son dr. Štěpán Kmínek). After his reaching the age of thirty-two (in 2010), a great war is to break out. The North of Europe will sink and its remains will be settled by Arabs and Africans. Atlantis will probably emerge. Two thirds of mankind will die during this change, and of the remaining third, only half will probably survive. These individuals will be taken to different planets.

The encounter of Josef Veselý (*1953) with dr. Milan Nakonečný in 1980 was an impetus for the birth of the future Czech master magician. Veselý was not spared the State Security persecution either, and as a Charter 77 signatory was moved to Austria as part of the so-called Asanace Project. He used his forced exile to study Judaism and Ancient Semitic Philology at the University of Vienna. He began publishing after his arrival in Bohemia in 1991.

At about this time, a group of so-called Young Hermeticists was formed, whose members included astrologer Pavel Turnovský, Kabbalist Ladislav Moučka and Miss W. Š., dealing with some Turkish magical systems. Among their peers is the Hermetic J. Š from Litovel. These “Young Ones”are involved in publishing Twenty-Two Letters to Paracelsus (mimeographed), a series of studies on astrology and alchemy and other interesting material such as Mimozemské v dějinách (The Extraterrestrial in History), Hermetic almanacs, transcriptions of Kabelák’s work, Nakonečný’s samizdat on the history of Czech Hermeticism, etc.

Samizdat publishing activity is also embarked on by a group of people around Vladislav Zadrobílek (*1932). A group going by cover name of T.F.C. (Tres faciunt collegium) is involved in translating Fulcanelli’s alchemical text Tajemství katedrál (Secret of the Cathedrals), published in 1979 in fifty prints and in 1980 in even sixty prints.

Before the Velvet Revolution

Great interest in the above-mentioned work inspires Zadrobílek to establish a specialized series of Hermetic writings, giving rise to the editions of TREZOR HERMETICISMU (THE VAULT OF HERMETICISM): Hermes Trismegistos Vol. 1. a 2., 1985; Abeceda Hermeticismu (The Hermetic Alphabet), 1985; Pět traktátů (Five Treatises), 1986; Abeceda Hermeticismu (The Hermetic Alphabet), 1986; Novum lumen chemicum, 1987; Skrytá stavba sv. 1. a 2. (The Hidden Edifice, Vol. 1 and 2), 1987; Donum Dei (Donum Dei), 1988; EDICE DOKUMENT (EDITION DOCUMENT): Pýthagoras ze Samu (Pythagoras of Samos), 1987; Hermetický triumf (The Hermetic Triumph), 1987; John Dee, 1988; Physiologus 1988; Zlato času (The Gold of Time); SYMBOLIKA HERMETICISMU (HERMETIC SYMBOLISM): Obrazový atlas Hermeticismu (A Pictorial Atlas of Hermeticism), 1987; O Kamenu mudrců (On the Philosopher’s Stone), 1989; and MIMO EDICE (OUTSIDE THE EDITIONS): Nový hermetický cestopis: Napříč říší královského umění (A New Hermetic Travelogue: Across the Realm of the Royal Art), 1988; Čtyři stručné kapitoly o Umění královském (Four Brief Chapters on the Royal Art), 1989; Splendor solis, 1987. All these works are specifically signed by the simplified letters ABGD.

In the 1980s, a group of friends forms around Drtikol’s follower Evžen Štekl[107], regularly consulting him on their spiritual journey. They include Božena Jančarová, Stanislav Doležal, Aleš Adámek, V. Petřina as well as Ivo Chocholatý, the first one to attain flashes of enlightenment. The attainment of nirvana and the practice of liberation (Jivanmukti) were the content of Drtikol’s and later Štekl’s instructions to the pupils.

There is a peculiar rivalry at work between Kahuda’s Psychoenergetic Laboratory, based in Komsomolská Street in Letná, and dr Rejdák’s Research Centre for Psychotronics and Juvenology[108], situated in Šlikova Street in Břevnov, Prague. Both workplaces are officially “covered” by the Dejvice-based Institute of Chemical Technology. Kahuda’s laboratory experiments with a large number of healers, while Rejdák focuses on several extraordinarily gifted individuals, namely the above-mentioned Father František Ferda of Sušice, the recognized healer Milan Toušek of Zámrsk and Robert Pavlita of Lázně-Bělohrad. The results of the laboratories were presented in research reports and low-cost proceedings, designed for internal use only. There is even film footage of Rejdák’s research.

Slovakia does not stay behind in psychotronics research, either. The year 1984 sees the setting up of Komise psychotroniky Gerontologickej společnosti Slovenskej lekárskej společnosti –KP GS SLS (Psychotronics Commission of the Gerontologist Society of the Slovak Medical Association), headed by MUDr. Gustáv Solár. In the same year, the society initiates its first symposium, called Psychotronics and Health. The event is subsequently held every year until 1990. As the KP GS SLS is unable to cover the whole spectrum of psychotronic phenomena, another institution is established in 1987: Komise Slovenskej rady Československej vedecko - technickej společnosti pre psychotroniku – KSR ČSVTS PP (Commission of the Slovak Council of the Czechoslovak Scientific and Technological Society for Psychotronics), again headed by Gustáv Solár. Both commissions co-operate closely.[109]  Simultaneously, the KSR ČSVTS PP proclaims an official programme for the methodical training of Slovak healers, and since 1988 organizes discussion seminars on biodiagnostics and biotherapy, held at weekends every six months. The meetings are also attended by Czechs.

The work of Rejdák’s Prague psychotronic institution is continued in Slovakia by Pracovisko experimentálnej psychotroniky při Výskumnom ústave živočišnej výroby (The Centre of Experimental Psychotronics at the Research Institute of Animal Production) in Nitra, headed by ing. Andrej Šándor.

As late as 1984, Milan Nakonečný is interrogated by the State Security. In the mid-eighties, however, the interrogations come to an end. Articles dealing with some of the hermetic disciplines are beginning to appear in magazines.[110] In the town of Kroměříž in 1987, Zadrobílek encounters MUDr. Jiří Ryšánek (8 January 1926 – 27 May 1988), an expert on Hermetic symbolism and a translator of a large number of alchemic treatises. Ryšánek becomes a significant help in his publishing activity. In 1988, Nakonečný initiates the founding of the Prague Martinist lodge Lasenic (later, a Freemasonic lodge of the same name is established). A series of other groups are also about to commence their work. In summer 1989, Milan Nakonečný, Vladislav Zadrobílek, Pavel Turnovský, Ladislav Moučka a dr. Blahoslav Janeš (*8 January 1926) are preparing the restoration of Universalia. Some of its pre-war activists are still alive, including Josef Danzer (a member of the astrological section) and Ladislav Málek, the chronicler and recorder of Kefer’s lectures, who helped to save some of the literature and information-packed documentation of the Universalist movement in the country. For Czech esotericists, just like for the rest of the country, the time of the revolution is inexorably drawing nearer.

Sources

Major sources

L. Bardon + M. K., Vzpomínky na Františka Bardona, ASU, Třebíč 1995

D. Ž. Bor, Bdělost toť vše, Trigon, Praha 2002

D. Ž. Bor, Nevědět nic, moci vše, Trigon, 2003

J. Čechurová, Čeští svobodní zednáři, Libri, Praha 2002

F. Drtikol, Duchovní cesta, Svět, Praha 2004

K. Funk, Mystik a učitel František Drtikol, 1993

P. Kalač, Odraz evropského hermetického hnutí konce 19. století v českém periodickém tisku, in: Fenomén smrti v české kultuře 19. století - sborník příspěvků z 20. roč. sympozia k problematice 19.stol. Plzeň, 9. - 11. března 2000, KLP, Praha 2001

J. Kameník, Mystické deníky, Trigon, Praha 1995

E. Lešehrad, Po stopách tajných společností, Praha 1935

M. Nakonečný, Novodobý český hermetismus, samizdat, 1974, později Vodnář, Praha 1995

M. Nakonečný, Martinismus, TOM 1991

J. Mikolášek, Vzpomínky přírodního léčitele, Kruh, Hradec Králové 1991

K. Minařík, Kéčara, Canopus, Praha 1997

M. Plecháč, Spiritismus v Podkrkonoší, YMCA, Praha 1931

Z. Rejdák, Páter František Ferda, Eminent, Praha 1999

J. Sanitrák, Dějiny české mystiky 1 - Legenda Karel Weinfurter, Eminent, Praha 2006

K. Sezemský, Památník půlstoleté činnosti ve spiritismu, Spirit, Nová Paka 1930

P. F. Sezima, Duchové spiritismu a okultismu, nakladatelství V. Kotrba, bez datace

J. Scheufler, Evoluce duchovních snah v Čechách, samizdat, pravděpodobně 1969

J. Scheufler, Mystický učitel Karel Weinfurter a jeho doba, PDN, Olomouc 1991

E. Štekl, Síla moudrosti, Dharmagaia, 1992

E. Tomáš, Paměti mystika I a II, Avatar, Praha 1998, 2000

M. Tomášová, Za čas a prostor, Duha, Praha 1991

Z. Trávníček, Leopold Procházka - první český buddhista, Masarykova universita, Brno 2002

J. Vacek, Jak jsem hledal Boha a nalezl sebe, vlastním nákladem, Praha 2001 -

J. Veselý, Učení mistrů, Vodnář, Praha 2005

Z. Vojtíšek, Encyklopedie náboženských směrů v České republice, Portál, Praha 2004

K. Weinfurter, Paměti mystika, A. Pohlodek, Brno 1999

O. Zachar, Z dějin spiritismu v minulosti, vlastním nákladem, Praha 1914

25 let československého unitářství 1923 – 1948, vydaly Náboženská spol. čs. unitářů a

Spol. Svobodného bratrství, Praha b. d.

Kapitoly z vedeckej astrológie, Pressfoto, Bratislava 1969

Mozaika mystického života Karla Makoně od Stanislava Kalibána, Onyx, Praha 2002

Nové poselství z Prahy, Trigon, Praha 1991

Okolo Květoslava Minaříka, Canopus, Praha b. d.

Paměti Josefa Váchala dřevorytce, Praha 1995

Analogon (Hermetismus - jazyk tradice) 10/I, Praha 1993

Logos – sborník pro esoterní chápání života a kultury, Trigon, Praha 1990 – 2006

Svět magie, I. Ž. Praha 1999 – 2001

Secondary sources

The notes of Martin Chejstovský

Data obtained from periodicals, archives, samizdat, the Internet and above all personal witness accounts.

The archive of Dokumentační centrum českého hermetismu

Dokumentační centrum českého hermetismu

(THE DOCUMENTATION CENTRE OF CZECH HERMETISM)

Experience shows that researching the history of Czech Hermeticism is a difficult task. The reason is that the area lies and will probably always will lie outside the scope of interest of mainstream historians. And, more importantly, the relevant materials are not purposefully stored and processed by any institutions. Writings scattered across private archives are usually destroyed after the death of their owners, ending up in a rubbish bin or, in a better case, in a scrap yard. Numerous examples of this phenomenon could be stated. The history of Czech hermeticism roughly to the year 1948 was mapped by prof. dr. Milan Nakonečný in his book Novodobý český hermetismus (Praha 1995). Literally at the last minute, the author interviewed witnesses and processed the documentation available to him. However, the period from 1948 to 1989 is practically uncharted, while the history of Czech Hermeticism after 1989 is still being made. We believe that it is vital to learn the lessons of the past and make sure that the evidence of the spiritual effort of individuals and groups is preserved for future generations.

This led to the foundation of DOKUMENTAČNÍ CENTRUM ČESKÉHO HERMETISMU /see Svět magie, Issue 9 (3/2001), p. 103-104/ in July 2001. The institution is headed by a young librarian whose professional background is a guarantee of expert work with the archive materials. This fact promises that it will be possible to store the materials for many decades, giving rise to an extensive and comprehensive set of information. The aim of the DCČH is to fill in the missing information related to the history of Czech Hermeticism before 1948, collect data about the hitherto unprocessed period of 1948 - 1989, and continuously document the development of Czech Hermeticism after 1989. Thus, we appeal to everyone capable of helping us in this project. We will be grateful to anyone who can provide us with written or other materials pertaining to the history of Czech Hermeticism, whether in originals or copies. We appeal to witnesses, disciples of major or minor personalities of Czech Hermeticism and members of defunct or still existing occult societies to write their memoirs. We emphasize that we will not “screen” anyone, i.e. decide who has or has not made a significant contribution to the development of Czech Hermeticism; who can or cannot “make history”. All those who have made an honest effort to gain spiritual knowledge are worthy of respect. Simultaneously, we declare that we will not publish the acquired materials without the consent of the people who entrusted them to us. In particular, we will respect the privacy of living people provided that we obtain materials related to them.

Contact address: Petr Kalač, e-mail: dcch@centrum.cz, www.dcch.grimoar.cz

[1] Most of the information contained in the first part of this study, i.e. roughly up to 1945, has been adopted in a shortened form from Milan Nakonečný’s work Modern Czech Hermeticism (VODNÁŘ, Prague 1995). The text, however, has been enriched with new, hitherto unpublished findings and photographs.

[2] The chateau in Stráž later became the residence of the well-known Czech opera singer Ema Destinová (26 June 1878 – 28 January 1930), herself no stranger to the occult. She mentions Leonhardi in her novel Ve stínu modré růže (In the Shade of a Blue Rose) - the Leonhardis had a blue rose in their coat of armour.

[3]According to the claims of Emanuel Lešehrad (see below), Czech spiritualism was persecuted by Austrian authorities as well as the Catholic Church until 1918. During the period of the First Republic, “clairvoyants, card readers and suchlike” were listed in the so-called third class of surveillance by police stations.

[4] Esoteric magazines were the theme of an exhibition called Hvězda záhrobní - hermetická bohemikální periodika (Otherworld Star - Hermetic Bohemical Periodicals), organized by the author of this study in the National Museum’s Cabinet of Book Culture in 1998. Its programme can be found on http://www.nm.cz/vystavy/hvezda/index.htm

[5] Active among Prague’s occultists at this time were the engraver Josef Váchal (23 September 1884 – 10 May 1969) and his friend, the hermetic Josef Šimánek (see below).

[6] The Theosophical Society was founded on 7 September 1875 in New York by Helena Petrovna Blavatska (12 August 1831 – 8 May 1891). Emanuel Lešehrad remarks in his work that at the background of these activities were the Rosicrucians.

[7] Zeyer first sympathized with Prague’s Theosophists; see Naše věda (Our Science), Year 5, 1923, p. 12.

[8] Later, Martinists were publicly active under the name of Československá společnost intelektuálů (Czechoslovak Society of Intellectuals) - ČSI.

[9] It would be wrong to assume that lodge activities were the exclusive domain of men. The Prague Martinist lodge Simeon, founded in 1924, also included the wives of some founding members. Among them were Mrs. Adamírová, Eliášová, Šimánková, Zmatlíková and others. Similarly, the Walhala lodge, established for Austria and Bavaria many years earlier (in 1905) , had among its members Luisa, the second wife of Otokar Griese. Of the male members, let us remember J. Janoušek, F. Šídlo, J. Zmatlík and, naturally, Griese himself (see below).

[10] Karásek published here under the codename J. Lvovský.

[11] The powers to establish Neo-Gnostic churches were granted by the Parisian patriarch Synesius (Fabre de Escortes).

[12] The exact time of the founding of the Neo-Gnostic church varies across sources. Sometimes the year 1900 is given, another source dates it to as late as 1908.

[13] During the last year (1907) of the existence of the Sborník pro filosofii, mystiku a okkultismus, which changed its name at this time to Sborník pro mysticismus a okultismus and became the printing organ of the Neo-Gnostic church, one of the contributing authors was the well-known publicist,Theosophist and member of the Martinist lodge Simeon Pavla Moudrá (26 January 1861 – 19 September 1940). Later, she contributed to Okultní a spiritualistická revue. Her works include Výhody duchovního života (Benefits of Spiritual Life), 1910; Na obranu spiritualismu – vědy duchovní, In Defence of Spiritualism – a Spiritual Science, 1913; Obroda duše (Revival of the Soul) , 1919; Poslání ženy ve světle theosofie (A Woman’s Mission in the Light of Theosophy), 1922; Můj odkaz světu (My Legacy to the Word), 1925, etc.

[14] Spiritualism was not a domain of the Czech territory only. After the establishment of the Republic it spread to Slovakia. The first center was set up in Vrútky, where it was promoted by Baroness Adelma z Vay (1840 – 1925). The city of Bratislava followed suit, the first spiritualist group Jiskra being established here in 1925.

[15] For the topic of Czech hermetic periodicals see Petr Kalač, Odraz evropského hermetického hnutí konce 19. století v českém periodickém tisku (The Reflection of the European Hermetic Movement of the Late 19th Century in the Czech Periodic Press), in: Fenomén smrti v české kultuře 19. století - sborník příspěvků z 20. roč. sympozia k problematice 19. stol. Plzeň, 9 - 11 March 2000, KLP, Prague 2001, and also: Pohled do minulosti

(A Look into the Past), in: Posel záhrobní - Spiritistický časopis věnovaný záhadám duševním - edited by Karel Sezemský (27 October 1860 – 30 November 1936), Nová Paka 1 May 1931, Year XXXI, Issue 6, p. 81-83.

[16] Sometimes the year 1868 is given.

[17] Alongside Weinfurter, the prominent members of Psyche included the Čapek brothers Arnošt (14 July 1898 - 13 May 1977) and Otakar.

[18] Moreover, Maixner was a sworn anti-Semite and Slavophile, which resulted in his falling out with almost all the élite of the Czech occult scene. This markedly contributed to its schism at the turn of the twentieth century.

[19] Lešehrad was very dedicated to the thought of a national, hermetically oriented Freemasonry.

[20] In 1925, however, several members of the Martinist (now) grand-lodge Simeon separated and founded the Gedeon lodge. Initially it was headed by Josef Šimánek and later by doc. MUDr. Vladimír Bergauer (1898 – 1942). He and his wife Gréta, also a member of the lodge, later fell victims to the Nazis, perishing in a concentration camp. Among the approx. 15 members of Gedeon were RNDr. František Prantl, PhDr. Rudolf Vodička, JUDr. Hubert Matter (+1975) - later a universally member lecturing on the “practice of medieval magicians,” and a Hover-Club member Frantisek Holub (29 January 1898 – 3 March 1942? In Auschwitz).

[21] There is evidence of only one issue being published in the final, sixth volume.

[22] Among Griese’s co-workers was a close friend of the poet Otokar Březina (13 September 1868 – 25 March 1929), an unconventional Theosophist and feminist Anna Pamrová (29 June 1860 – 19 September 1945). Her ideas are reflected in the books Alfa (Alpha), O mateřství a pamateřství(On Motherhood and False Motherhood), Cestou k zářnému cíli (On the Path to a Shining Goal), Zápisky nečitelné (Illegible Notes), Odezva z lůna stvoření (Echo from the Womb of Creation), Mé vzpomínky na Otokara Březinu (My Memories of Otokar Březina)  as well as in her correspondence.

[23] In the years 1924 - 26, at the impoverished end of his life, Griese edited the Přerov magazine Maják (Lighthouse). Here he published several articles of his own.

[24] Several occult societies of a similar kind were established at that time. They included Společnost pro objektivní a experimentální okultismus (Society for the Objective and Experimental Occultism), founded in Prague in 1922 and headed by E. Knopp, and Alchymická společnost československá (The Czech Alchemic Society) founded in Prague in 1925 and later transferred to Pilsen. The latter was headed by V. Žikeš and operated under the patronage of the Société alchimique de France itself.

[25] The Eulis-Club had its headquarters in Prague in Na Příkopech č. 14/IV. While it was not involved in public activity, a leaflet was published containing the basic theses of the Eulis. Before Lasenic, perhaps only Griese was initiated into these mysteries.

[26] Besides Lasenic, there is evidence of the following members of the Horev-Club: Oldřich Eliáš (Meir), Eliáš’s

partner called Anika (Iris), Mojmír Eliáš (Marada?), Alois Sedláček (Milota), Zdena Sedláčková (Viola), secretary of the club Vladimír Rohlíček (Timaios), František Váhala (Dachiel) /29 November 1911 - 29 December 1974/, Mrs. Váchalová, a former committee member of Universalia Julie Stejskalová (Amiai ?), Hubert Mattern, Stanislav Kulovaný (10 October 1910 – 8 September 1998), Jiří Teyrovský, Rudolf Libra, Josef Zavadil, František Sýkora (later expelled), Mr. Čulda and Miss Šmídová. An external member of sorts was Vladislav Kužel (Mariel) /16 March 1898 – 1965/, commuting from Turnov.

[27] The charter to establish his “own” Martinist lodges in the Czech Republic was granted to Lasenic in 1937/38 by the Grand Master C. Chevillon (+ 1944). During his sojourns in France, Lasenic also became acquainted with his predecessor J. Bricaudem (+ 1934).

[28] Besides Medium (1933 – 40), a quarterly devoted to occultism, spiritualism, magic, mysticism, astrology and practical psychic science (first published by A. Kodyn, who also published the well-known hectographed work Hrozný a mocný žaltář krále Šalamouna (The Terrible and Mighty Psalter of King Salomon) in 1937, and later by O. Janáček, who markedly improved its quality) and other occult magazines, another periodical was published in Prague from 1930: Úl – čtrnáctidenník pro popularizaci okultismu, mystiky, spiritualismu, magie, psychiky a mantik (The Beehive: A Quarterly for the Popularization of Occultism, Mysticism, Spiritualism, Magic, Psychics and Mantics). It was published by Quido Langhans, but no more than four issues were released.

[29] Lasenic’s Sexual magic was translated from French into Czech by Antonín R. Hoznourek, a true expert on practical magic.

[30] Besides this book, based on Quintscher‘s Adonistisch Denurische Kabbalistik, the work also included the above-mentioned Pantakly a charaktery Luny (Pentacles and Lunar Characters), Charaktery a géniové dní (Characters and Geniuses of Days) and Magické charaktery zvířetníku (Magical Characters of the Zodiac). A series with the working title Knihy kabbbalistických schémat (Books of Kabbalistic Schemas) was thus created, part of the Kabbalistic Initiation.

[31] Three volumes of Herbarium were published in the Eulis edition, but Kabelák had envisaged a nine-volume work, which he almost finished (in manuscripts). In the 1960s he appended the so-called Herbář hermetikův (A Hermetician’s Herbary) to the work.

[32] Kabelák’s Indian Astrology is the translation of the work Vahara Mihira: Brihat Jataka.

[33] Tibetan occultism was studied in Universalia by K. Trčka. In 1938 he published the above-mentioned book Bardo Thedol, a slightly modified translation of František Drtikol (see below), also a member of Universalia. Here in the society, Drtikol published some of his translations of Tibetan Buddhist texts: Jóga Velkého symbolu – Mahamudra (Yoga of the Great Symbol - Mahamudra) and Jóga prázdnoty (Yoga of Emptiness).

[34] The influence of Universalia survived World War II as well as the Communist totalitarianism, and is markedly present in the early 21th century.

[35] Among the members of a Boy Scout group led by Kefer was the future writer Václav Čtvrtek (4 April 1911 – 6 January 1976).

[36] Kefer was aided in gaining the post of the National Museum librarian by dr. Čeněk Zíbrt (12 October 1864 – 14 February 1932), an occultist, and by dr. Josef Volf (8 February 1878 – 12 May 1937), a Freemason, leading historian of Freemasonry and from 1928 the director of the National Museum Library.

[37] The society, whose lectures took place in Kaulich's university house in Prague, was involved in parapsychology and studied the manifestations of almost all the famous contemporary European mediums.

Its leading activist was Judd. Karle Kuchynka (1902 – 1984). Another significant member was MUDr. Rudolf W. Hynek (8 June 1883 - 28 June 1952), a prolific esoteric writer. Among his writings is the work V hlubiny života se nořím (Into Life’s Depths I Delve), Prague 1926.

[38] At the turn of the 1970s, first reports emerge of the intensive experiments in the field of parapsychology conducted by V. Mykuška a K. Kuchynka. In Slovakia, they are seconded by the physicist doc. Július Krmešský CSc. (10 April 1900 - 20 September 1984), from 1959 involved in paraphysical research into the hypothetical quasi-magnetic field. Naturally, the experiments would not have been possible without the Russians commencing similar research earlier.

[39] J. Šimsa is the author of the book Přírodní léčba a domácí lékař (Natural Treatment and the Home Doctor).

[40] The ideas of the O. T. O. were developed from 1917 by the Swiss lodge Libertas et Fraternitas, whose board included Czech dancer Rudolf de Laban (15 December 1879 – 1 July 1958).

[41] From the year 1892, the hermetic order of Golden Dawn, in which Crowley was later active, contained a Czech member, Earl František Otto z Bubna.

[42] V. Roučka lived in Chrást near Chrudim. This was where Lasenic also moved in 1924 after marrying Jarmila Skrčená (also interested in the occult).

[43] See the archive of Dokumentační centrum českého Hermeticismu (Documentation Centre of Czech Hermeticism) /henceforth DCČH/, www.dcch.grimoar.cz). The personality of Jaroslav Hojka was covered in detail by Josef Veselý in the magazine Svět magie (The World of Magic), Issue 5/2000, and in his book Učení mistrů (Teachings of the Masters)

[44] Smíchovský’s dramatic life, symbolic of a person involved in the practice of demonology, was outlined by prof. Milan Nakonečný in his work on modern Czech Hermeticism. The outline was enriched with some interesting facts by Aleš Česal in the magazine Svět magie (The World of Magic), Issue 11 (5/2001).

[45]There is evidence of Bedřich Kočí healing several thousand people.

[46] See Petr Kalač, Herold - Zpravodaj Univeresalie, společnosti českých hermetiků (Herold – the Bulletin of Universalia, Society of Czech Hermeticians), Year III/1996, Issue 4, and Svět Magie, Issue 6/2000.

[47] František Bardon was a close friend of W. Quintscher at the time of their shared imprisonment by the Nazis.

[48] Besides Hermeticians, mystics and other activists, Satanists were naturally at work on the Czech territory as well; in Prague, for instance, they conducted a magical evocation practice. A diary tracing their activity had been preserved until the late 1960s, when it was destroyed. The Czech Satanist scene was covered in greatest detail by Josef Veselý in his work Satanismus, Vodnář, Praha 2003.

[49] The abbreviation P. M. O. M. T., which stood for Praeceptorus magnus ordinis militae templi, was used by Boušek in his signatures as well has on his personal stamp. In all likelihood, the society was a fictitious one.

[50] See Svět magie, Issue 8(2/2001) and 9(3/2001) and also the work Učení Mistrů (Teachings of the Masters) by the same author.

[51] One of the first Buddhists was dr. Leopold Procházka (1879 - 29 March 1944), author of several well-informed books on Buddha’s teaching, e.g. Buddha a jeho učení (The Buddha and His Teaching), 1926. Procházka wanted to become a Buddhist monk on Ceylon, or at least to found the first Buddhist centre in Czechoslovakia. However, as a result of his imprisonment by the Nazis during the war, he was too ill to be able to realize his plans. Totally composed, he died shortly after his release from prison.

[52] Drtikol’s life is described in the book Mystik a učitel František Drtikol (Mystic and Teacher František Drtikol), published in Gemma 89, Praha 1993. Other similar works include the exceptional book Duchovní cesta (Spiritual Journey), Svět, 2004, or the article by Jaroslav Bláhovec in the magazine Svět magie, Issue 3/2000.

[53] Along with other National Museum employees executed by the Nazis, Dr. Kefer’s name has been written in gold letters on the memorial desk of the main building of this institution.

[54] The archive of Universalia was enriched with a series of gifts, such as the collection of magical drugs and mandragoras donated by Emanuel Lešehrad. The DCČH centre aims to continue in this archive activity. Today, its depository houses a large number of valuable objects testifying to the enduring viability of Czech esotericism.

[55] Fritz Kiesewetter (22 November 1902 – executed in Prague 3 March 1947), the Prague Gestapo officer for church matters, was notorious for his cruelty.

[56] The Kohout family suffered from tuberculosis, a condition inherited by Lasenic.

[57] Throughout his life, Kabelák regarded himself as Lasenic’s disciple. In the early 1940s, he even processed the text part of Quintscher’s materials, dealing with the 72 geniuses of the Mercurian sphere.

[58] RNDr. Milan Rýzl, a world-famous parapsychologist since 1967 based in the USA, published several brochures on occultism in a private edition with the aim of maintaining people’s interest in the topic. His key work Základní kniha parapsychologie (Parapsychology: A scientific approach) had not been published in his homeland until the Velvet Revolution.

[59] Ing. Danzer, one of our most respected astrologers, becomes a state police agent in 1962 under the covername Chmel. His personal file reveals that the state police failed to “reform” or deter him. In a person suffering from deformity (dwarf figure) from the age of two, this was a remarkable achievement. In the years 1970 – 90, intensive study was undertaken with Danzer by the future Defence Secretary Doc. Ing. Antonín Baudyš (*9 September 1946).

[60] Soon after the Communist seizure of power, Myslík denied his hermetic orientation and quickly tried to adjust to the new political conditions.

[61] In 1950, he “re-edited” here in five specimen his book 72 geniů a protigeniů Merkurské sféry (72 geniuses of the Mercurian Sphere), a separate part of the book Kniha tajemství Velikého Šému. At this time, Kabelák was seeing the entrepreneur J. Zajíček, who was completely trusted by him and who is claimed to have possessed the complete collection of Kabelák’s writings. However, the State Security later confiscated the whole of Zajíček’s library, which, like many other occult libraries, ended up in a scrapyard.

[62] Besides Radvanický’s group Bratrství (Brotherhood), another spiritualist group, called Život (Life), exists at this time in Uherský Ostrov. There are another four spiritualist groups in Moravia and Silesia. At the Czechoslovak spiritualist congress in Prague, held in June 1933, seventeen spiritualist groups were present, while the total number in the whole republic was twenty-seven. August Jakubička (co-worker of St. J. Bělohradský), estimated the overall number of our spiritualists at that time to be 800 000.

[63] Their manuscripts are stored in the DCČH archive.

[64] In Přímá stezka, Minařík presents an erudite view of magic, while also dealing with astrology elsewhere.

[65] Mikolášek was initiated into the healing practice by the herbalist Josefa Mühlbacherová (29 November 1859 – 24 November 1923) from Velduchy near Rokycany.

[66] Over the course of his healing practice, Mikolášek treated about five million people.

[67] Kamenická began her healing career in 1926, diagnosing patients from their urine.

[68] Besides its extensive lecture activity, the society also published its own magazine Cesty a cíle (Paths and Goals) in 1922 - 1938, a press organ of the new movement and disseminator of its ideas. Other publications included educational leaflets, e.g. Nová brázda (New Groove) and books, e.g. Nálada a její vědomé tvoření (Mood and Its Creation), Rytmus tvůrčího života (Rhythm of Creative Life), Manželství (Marriage). The rapid social development even enabled the organizing of a world congress of free religious societies in Prague in 1927. In 1930, the society split into two, its second faction being called The Religious Society of Czechoslovak Unitarians. On 26 June 1943, the SSB was dissolved by the Nazis. The NSČU continued to function, with some limitations, throughout the war.

[69] Dr. Paul Brunton (1898 – 27 July 1981) first visited Prague in autumn 1937. His stay here, however, was cunningly kept secret from other Psyche members by the Hoznourek cabal, giving rise to a great deal of discord within Weinfurter’s society later on.

[70] Hoznourek was an active writer at the turn of the 1940s. In 1940-41, for instance, he published Sborník Vedanta (The Vedanta Almanac) at his own expenses; only three issues, however, were released. After 1948 Hoznourek mediated contact between Paul Brunton and the Czech followers of his teaching.

[71] Stored in the DCČH archive.

[72] F. R. Jirman later became an alcoholic and his relationship with Heranová was unhappy. His undermining of her authority with other Circle members (wrongly accusing her of wanting to capitalize on her publishing activities) caused blockages in the functioning of the group. Jirman published his works at his own expenses or with various marginal publishing companies. By means of journalism he strove to implement his own projects aimed at the cultivation of mankind. His work includes Klerikalismus a militarismus (Clericalism and Militarism), 1922; Ježíš Kristus – retrospektiva, rozbor filosoficko-metafyzický a nástin evoluční perspektivy (Jesus Christ – Retrospective, Philosophical and Metaphysical Analysis of Evolutionary Perspective), 1927; Hierarchický řád světa (Hierarchic Order of the World), 1934; Zeměkoule v nebi (The Globe in Heaven), (1943),.

[73] Not to be confused with Jiří Jirman (*1901), a founding member of the Simeon Martinist lodge with the lodge name of Marsanes.

[74] Paradoxically, it is possible that he was the first leader of the infamous political club Vlajka (The Flag), which regarded Jews and Freemasons as its arch-enemies.

[75] Vlasák’s intriguing work on Tarot is based on the mystical interpretation of the individual arcana.

[76] In the second part of this brochure, František Heina (under the codename Bratr František) published a collection of his poems.

[77] Jaroslav Kočí was first engaged in Weinfurter’s group Psyche; later he maintained contact with František Drtikol. After the war, he lectured in the Ostrava branch of Psyche until the dissolution of the whole society in 1951. Later he had several disciples.

[78] Earlier, Bedřich Hejhal held the post of a treasurer in Weinfurter’s society Psyche.

[79]Sometimes wrongly stated as Macourek.

[80] C. Bezděk: Etikoterapie – léčení mravností. Záhada nemoci a smrti. (Ethical Therapy – Healing Through Morality. The Mystery of Illness and Death).

[81] In 1925, T. G. Masaryk estimated the number of Czechoslovak spiritualists at two to three hundred thousand (the estimate of M. Plecháč was ten thousand practicing ones). He is even said to have contributed a sum of 3000 crowns to Silesian spiritualists for the building of their communitycentre in Radvanice near Ostrava.

[82] Božena Cibulková wrote a brief text about her involvement in this group, see the DCČH archive.

[83] A number of brief texts dating to this period exist bearing the signature of F. Bardon & O. Votavová: Hermetická věda (Hermetic Science), Zasvěcení (Initiation), Živlové analogie (Elemental Analogies) and probably others.

[84] R. Nový entered the Ráčeks’ group in 1983.

[85] This channelled work dealing with the return of the Golden Age was later published under the title OAI tantra, with the contribution of R. Nový.

[86] The line of Drtikol’s teaching has been preserved to this day.

[87] The translations of Zdeněk Jaroš that have managed to reach seekers include Bhagavadgíta, Džnánajóga (Jnana Yoga), Bhaktijóga (Bhakti Yoga), Sonatanadharma – Univerzální náboženství (Sonatanadharma – Universal Religion), Sebepoznání (Self-Knowledge), Mahá jóga (Maha Yoga), Astasahásrika pradžňápáramitá (Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita), Jóga Prázdnoty (Emptiness Yoga), Čínské příběhy (Chinese Stories), etc.

[88] Z. Jaroš was simultaneously a pupil of Petr Klíma-Toušek and a friend of Professor Miroslav Lžička (1907 – 2006), a Theosophist, yogi, Indologist and disciple of Krishnamurti.

[89] Later included in the books K boží svobodě I a II a nd Hrubý šat.

[90] The work largely deals with Kabbalah.

[91] In 1992, an enhanced version of this work is published, called Síla Moudrosti (The Power of Wisdom). For the first time in the country’s history, a key to secret Buddhist teachings is revealed.

[92] According to eyewitnesses, it was a fundamental introduction to magic.

[93] Frequent meetings of Abba’s followers do not take place until 1973.

[94] Originally a painter of the Surrealist orientation, Pavel Turnovský encountered astrology, which he practices to this day, owing to his Surrealist pursuits in spring 1968. In this period, he also took an interest in alchemy and Kabbalah.

[95] Since 1968, M. Stejskal was involved in the activities of the Surrealist group, where some of the work of Czech Hermeticians found its manifestation.

[96] Ferklová later became Pánek’s wife.

[97] The cultural club of one unnamed agricultural co-operative from South Bohemia even publishes an almanac at this time, dealing with magic.

[98] Organized meetings of university-educated fans of psychotronics had earlier taken place in J. Stuchlík’s flat. Work: Neofatické polyglotie psychotiků (Neiphatics Polyglotism of Psychotics), Triton 2006.

[99] The couple Eliška Merhautová (*28 September 1922) and Boris Merhaut, both experts on India, acquainted the interested public with a series of literary works of Orient. Together, they worked on the translation of the book Prophet by Khalil Gibran (1883 – 10. 4. 1931).

[100] After 1989 Scheufler’s samizdat writings were published: Mysteria tajných společností a rosikruciánská alchymie (Mysteries of Secret Societies and the Rosicrucian Alchemy) and Filosofie dálného východu – Zen (Zen – A Philosophy of the Far East).

[101] Josef Zezulka gained his exceptional abilities suddenly, at Easter 1945. He headed by sight, thought and laying on hands. He called his art “biotronics”. In 1981 – 82, his healing abilities were experimentally studied by the Vimperk Hospital. Zezulka referred to his original spiritual teaching as “the philosophy of Being”. Writings: Bytí (Being), 4 doby (Four Seasons), Životní rytmus (Rhythm of Life), Vývoj (Development), etc.

[102] Dostálek mainly deals with research into the mechanism and adaptation abilities in connection with the study of Eastern medicine and philosophy. He pursues long-term research into Hatha Yoga from the point of view of modern medicine.

[103] In 2004, Dušan Zbavitel was awarded the State Prize for his lifetime translation work. He has translated over a hundred and twenty books from Bengali, Sanskrit, Pali, English and German.

[104] The history of yoga in Bohemia is treated in more detail in Vladimíra Zeman’s text: Zavzpomínání, které nemá obecnou platnost – subjektivní poznámky k vývoji hnutí jógy u nás (Recalling That Has No General Validity – Subjective Remarks on the Development of the Yoga Movement in This Country)  published in the proceedings of the Association of Friends of India and the Czech Yoga Union, published on the occasion of a conference held on 20 November 1999.

[105] In the 1970s, the Psychoenergetic laboratory functioned as part of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University. In 1981, under the abbreviation of PEL, it was transferred to the Institute of Chemical Technology.

[106] Karel Kožíšek stored his legacy in his book Kniha, která léčí (A Book that Heals), Eminent, Praha 1992.

[107] Štekl’s legacy is currently managed by Pavel Šolce.

[108] The Research Centre for Psychotropic’s and Juvenility was founded in 1980, following the 4th IAPR congress held in Monte Carlo. Its 5th year took place in Bratislava in 1983.

[109] The commissions hold joint workshops (Psychotronics in Medicine, Magnetotherapeutical Days, etc.), and publish proceedings.

[110] For instance, Říše hvězd (Realm of the Stars), Issue 69/1988, Jan Tomsa - Astrologie a věda (Astrology and Science).