As
covered fairly extensively in our May 2018 posts, due probably to the current
socio-political realities (i.e. the rise of right-wing nationalistic politics
with xenophobic agendas due to refugee problems), there has been a recent
upswing in interest in the relation of politics and the occult, including the
influence of the theosophical movement on Nazism.
It
didn’t take long for people to develop an occult mythology around Nazism. In
Lewis Spence’s 1940 Occult Causes of the Present War, you already
have the anti-occult, satanistic mythologizing of Nazism , but he opposes it
against a Christian worldview instead of a scientific one (the forces of occultism are Satanic and support the Nazis, the forces of Christianity are spiritual and support the Allies). René Guénon’s 1949 Letter
to Julius Evola discusses Aleister Crowley’s role as a black magician
connected to Nazism, and the Nazi regime was amply mythologized in the popular
culture of the wartime period. These ideas coalesced into an opulent conspiracy
theory in 1960, spawning something of a cottage industry in books on Nazism and
the occult. This outgrowth caught the attention of more academic historians
around 1976 and became something of a cottage industry in that field as well (Goodrich-Clarke, pp. 219-225), until the work of Goodrich-Clarke, after which study seems to have slowed down, to the detriment of Blavatsky, because, although the work is impressively researched, it has so many controversial open-ended threads, that it seems to have discouraged further academic research and fomented conspiracy theory speculation.
For
this post, I thought I would add my own small contribution to this question by
looking at the mothership that started it all in 1960, Pauwell and Bergier’s Morning
of the Magicians, a rather funky book that became a surprise bestseller in
France and then caught on with the English market a few years later just in time
for the counter-culture movement.Where to begin in describing this curious
work? Basically one could say that, besides spawning the whole occult Nazism
mythology, it also spawned the whole Eric Von Daniken – Chariot of the Gods
UFO/Ancient Civilization mythology. Moreover, there is also a pre-X-Men-like
notion of a future breed of super-powered mutants spawned from experiments in
nuclear energy.
Blavatsky
and the Theosophical Society get mentioned a few times, and so how is she
portrayed in all of this? They basically take the theosophical White
Magic/Black Magic concept and turn it around. Blavatsky and the TS are said to
have “opened the door to a luciferian East”, ( Pauwels & Bergier, 446)
meaning that they are somehow connected to a hidden lodge of black magicians
which act as a secret governing power behind Hitler and the Nazi regime. He relies on Guénon’s 1921 Théosophisme,
histoire d’une pseudo-religion to discredit Theosophy, implying that Hitler
is an anti-Christ figure, although Guénon gets lumped into the occult Nazi-inspirer
camp as well.
 |
| René Guénon |
Now it
seems that Pauwels had a mystic bent, so it looks like a case of a would-be
mystic, disgruntled with bad experiences with a Gurdjieff group, wrote this
book to settle a score with the occult scene, and set up his own esoteric
current. (Lachman, 1). Therefore Blavatsky, René Guénon, Aleister Crowley, the Golden Dawn and
Gurdjieff all get shot down at one point (Rudolf Steiner somehow gets spared,
perhaps because he was a conspicuous target of Nazi persecution and possibly
due to his Christian bent, Pauwels having had a Roman Catholic upbringing).
 |
| Rudolf Steiner |
Later
on, Blavatsky is credited with the notion of primitive gigantic human beings,
which they adapt (470-71). The actual language is so evasive and ambiguous that is difficult
to tell how they feel about occult philosophy, but basically they’re implying
that all esoteric groups more or less partake of black magic, although their
occult doctrines of ancient giants and evolutionary processes are partially correct, and
the white magicians are represented by modern technological society, with Pauwells
and Bergier giving the correct explanations of occult concepts, that is, in a
more scientific, rationalist, hence materialist, bent.
 |
| Charles Fort |
Ironically,
one can notice the theosophical influence in their approach, with the spiritual
aspect being replaced with atomic-age science and UFOs, a kind of materialistic,
space-age version of Isis Unveiled, if you will (with a Charles Fort influence
as well), or rather volume one of Isis. Volume two of Isis seems to have actually been quite an influence on another milestone of popular esotericism, Baigent, Hunt and Lincoln's 1982 The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail; and so one can see the extent of the Blavatsky influence. Therefore one could posit that this book is very much concerned with
appropriations of theosophical concepts while rejecting the esoteric philosophy
in favor of materialistic, albeit fantastic explanations. The Ancient Astronaut/UFO genre has even been studied as part of the Theosophical Current; Krueger gives a good overview of the theories of how theosophical speculations morphed into the ancient astronaut current (pp. 56-59). Strangely, this type
of material has apparently been considered in communist Russia as excellent
anti-theistic, pro-materialism propaganda (Colavito).
Sadly,
this demonizing portrayal certainly didn’t help Blavatsky’s beleaguered
reputation at the onset of the counter-culture revolution. This book is surely
the main source for a lot of strange conspiracy theories concerning Blavatsky
that can be found on the internet. Fortunately, more recent academic works on
Nazism & the Occult treat Blavatsky with a more cautious, respectful
neutrality of sorts (simply positioning her as the formulator of an esoteric
racial theory). Lachman has a positive ‘there is no bad publicity’
take on this issue, citing Mircea Eliade, he points out how it inspired counter-culture optimism and how it put Blavatsky’s name out there for a
whole new audience (8). I think that the book does serve as a good example of
how influential Theosophy has been in popular culture.
How did
Blavatsky’s mainstream reputation survive this negative portrayal? Briefly, one
can point to a few things. Goodrich-Clarke’s 1985 The Occult Roots of Nazism,
succinctly points out the largely spurious nature of the Morning of the
Magicians Nazi mythology, although Blavatsky does not fare very well in that
book, either (218-221). Lachman (8), May (107) and Kripal (180) have further pointed out the
book’s various problems of historical credibility. Rather remarkably, Goodrich-Clarke
himself does a dramatic about-face and devotes a positive ground-breaking 2004 study
of Blavatsky in his Western Esoteric Masters series, giving her a much needed
boost to her reputation. Also, Antoine Faivre in works such as Access to Western
Esotericism (1994), bucked the trend of the largely Guénon -inspired
negative approach to Theosophy in French publishing and presented Theosophy in
a more articulate and positive light.
Furthermore, William Quinn's 1997 The Only Tradition convincingly pointed out the salient problems of historical accuracy in Guénon’s 1921 Théosophisme (111-114). Sadly, all this did not stop a
publisher from featuring a portrait of Blavatsky on the cover of a recent edition of Morning of the Magicians. Ironically, the more positive aspect of the Blavatsky mythology that developed around World War 2 figures in another landmark of literary pseudo-history, Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow: "It is peacetime again now, no room for the Pigeons
in Trafalgar Square on V-E Night, everyone at the facility that day mad drunk
and hugging and kissing, except for the Blavatskian wing of Psi Section, who
were off on a White Lotos Day pilgrimage to 19 Avenue Road, St. John’s Wood" (269).
 |
| Bergier and Pauwels |
That is
not to say that Pauwels and Bergier did not have credentials. Pauwels was a
successful novelist, journalist and editor and went on to have a successful career
playing off the baby-boomer trends of the period. (Pauwels, Wikipedia). Bergier
was a resistance fighter who was interned in a Nazi prisoner camp. He had a
scientific background as well as an avid interest in science-fiction, helping
to popularize H.P. Lovecraft in France. He went on to write many books on the
supernatural and alternative science (Bergier, Wikipedia). Both were quite
successful at using controversy and sensationalism in the mass media to promote
their interest in the supernatural and paranormal investigation.
 |
| H.P. Lovecraft |
I think
part of what made the book so successful is the literary savvy. Both authors are
very familiar with supernatural fiction and the perception of Nazism in popular
culture and deftly use a lot of the dramatic techniques of supernatural fiction
in presenting something akin to a pulp science-fiction thriller; the addition
of more specific historical references and alternative science is simply an
extension of the feeling of believability that the supernatural literary
techniques strive to instill.
 |
| Jack Kirby's Eternals |
The
book actually reminds me of something out of a Jack Kirby comic book. Kirby, who was also influenced by
American pulp science-fiction of the thirties and forties (Holub) (although Chris
Knowles has a more mystical take on Kirby’s inspiration), has explored similar
themes throughout his career; for example, see his take on the whole Chariot of
the Gods concept, in his Eternals series. Conclusion: as an imaginative pop
culture literary influence addressing the hopes and fears of post-war industrial society, the
book has a certain interest, as an experimental, intuitive alternative historical
essay, it suffers from a woeful proliferation of inaccurate and sketchy
information.
 |
| Nazi concern with super-soldier experiment in Kirby's Captain America |
PS. Note that Blavatsky herself was precisely opposing the type of Satanistic world-view and demonizing tendencies of the monotheistic religions that she is being targeted with. Her critique of religion is mainly against what we would now term fundamentalism, which she described as a materializing and anthropomorphicizing of spiritual concepts. Hence, she considered the religious portrayal of the devil to be a myth, a superstition. Isis Uveiled, vol.2, chap. 10 is a very focused, well-researched essay on this question:
https://universaltheosophy.com/mca/exploring-isis-unveiled/
https://universaltheosophy.com/mca/exploring-isis-unveiled/
References:
Colavito,
Jason. The Strange
Case of "Morning of the Magicians" in Soviet Russia
Goodrich-Clarke,
Nicholas. The Occult Roots of Nazism (1985)
Holub, Chrstian, Jack Kirby at 100: Celebrating the king of comic books (Ocotber 27, 2017)
Kripal, Jeffrey J. Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction,
Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal (2011)
Krueger, Frederic. “The Stargate Simulacrum: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Aliens, and Postmodern Dynamics of Occulture” Aegyptiaca. Journal of the History of Reception of Ancient Egypt No.1 (2017), 47-74
Krueger, Frederic. “The Stargate Simulacrum: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Aliens, and Postmodern Dynamics of Occulture” Aegyptiaca. Journal of the History of Reception of Ancient Egypt No.1 (2017), 47-74
https://www.academia.edu/34053617/The_Stargate_Simulacrum_Ancient_Egypt_Ancient_Aliens_and_Postmodern_Dynamics_of_Occulture
Knowles, Chris. Mind Bomb Prophecies of a Pop Astrognostic. https://secretsun.blogspot.com/2012/01/mindbomb-prophecies-of-pop-astrognostic.html
Knowles, Chris. Mind Bomb Prophecies of a Pop Astrognostic. https://secretsun.blogspot.com/2012/01/mindbomb-prophecies-of-pop-astrognostic.html
Lachman, Gary. The Fantastic Reality of Pauwels and Bergier, New Dawn 165 (Nov-Dec 2017) https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/the-fantastic-reality-of-pauwels-and-bergier
May, Andrew. Pseudoscience and Science
Fiction (2017)
Pauwels, Louis & Jacques Bergier Le Matin des
Magiciens (1960)
Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
Quinn, William. The Only Tradition (1997)
Spence , Lewis. Occult Causes of the Present War,(1940)
Spence , Lewis. Occult Causes of the Present War,(1940)
Wikipedia. Louis Pauwels, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pauwels
See also Gary Lachman’s interview with Antoine Faivre:
Jason Colavito on Blavatsky and the Morning of the Magicians
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/the-copy-and-paste-mysteries-of-the-nine-unknown-men
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/the-copy-and-paste-mysteries-of-the-nine-unknown-men
