Due to the
current political climate and the renewed interest in the relation of occult or
esoteric philosophy and politics, I thought that it would be useful to take a look Manly P.
Hall's The
Secret Destiny of America, 1944 , as it is considered to
be a specific influence on American politics, related to American
exceptionalism. This is the 12th post in a series dealing with politics and controversies related to theosophy that are currently being debated. I hope to wrap up this series with a few more posts on alternative archaeology and Buddhism before the year is over, making for a total of 15 posts.
Since I noticed some possible influences from theosophical
sources, I thought that the following
study would be useful to help further research in that area and clarify
misconceptions regarding conspiracy theories and the like.
The work is a
pro-democracy political essay that presents its argument through
an alternative view to mainstream history that posits the role of a an esoteric
group that has been gradually working for the universal implementation of
democratic societies since ancient Greece, with the United States being considered
to be the long-foreseen central locus for the culmination of this plan of world
democracy. It was written during the second World War, which most likely
inspired the anti-tyranny tone. The work goes on to list a series of well-known
and lesser known historical figures, who have links to this esoteric group and
played roles in advancing its plans. He uses terms such as secret empire,
unknown philosophers and Brotherhood of the Quest.
Chapters 1-7 - The Ancient World
The
first seven chapters cover events in the ancient and medieval periods.
1- The idea that a world
democracy is the secret dream of great classical philosophers is proposed. American leadership in
the Western world is pre-figuring a new order of world ethics and the need to reconstruct the post-war world is discussed.
The idea that American democracy is part of universal plan is introduced. The political significance of people such as Plato and Buddha and ancient mystery religions are considered.
2-
Akhenaton is presented as a pre-cursor for democratic values. 3-
In discussing Plutarch, the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Chinese, he acknowledges the theory of Atlantis. Hall uses the story of the Golden Fleece
to develop a term called ‘the Brotherhood of the Quest’. The Magna Carta is presented
as a proto-democracy innovation,
possible reference to coming race of Edward Bulwer Lytton.
4- Plato’s
Critias is discussed, focusing on political aspects with Solon.
6-Plotinus’ Platonopolis project discussed.
7- Focus on secret societies, including
architectural builders as social reformers, with mention of African tribes,
Eskimos, order of Dionyisan artificers, Hiram Abif, Vitruvius, Medieval, Esoteric History. Probable
reference to The Dionysian Artificers by Hippolyto Joseph da Costa [1820].
Chapters 8-13 - Renaissance,
Enlightenment, Discovery of America
These
chapters discuss how events since the Renaissance have developed the plan of the
advent of American democracy, presenting probable agents of the plan, with
prophecies that corroborate this notion.
10- Various
political utopia writings considered as precursors to democratic revolutions, such as Utopia,
Thomas More, City fo the Sun, Tommasa Campanella, Boccalini.
11- The role of Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis in enlarging bonds of human empire is
considered .
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Serapis flag
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12-
Mayan civilization considered as precursor to American democracy as well as the
seven nations of the Great Lake Indians and the Great Rabbit. He mentions a mysterious
old man, Quetzalcoatl as a secret adept.
13- The role
of Francis Bacon, England, Germany, France
in colonialization of New England, the role of
mystical groups such as Pietists and Kelpius, the role of Benjamin Franklin as adept
agent are discussed.
Chapters 14-20 - Prophecies and
mysterious agents in American History
The
stage moves to the United
States, with more examples of secret
participants of democratic plan and confirming prophecies.
14- Discussion of a series of predictions for US
history, found written in A Vindication of the True Art of Self-Defence,
1724, William Hope, in a copy held by the US Library of Congress.
This is probably the strangest artifact in the book. Why a book on
fencing? How did Hall find this? How did he decipher it? I could not find any
further references on this, except for a William Hope Fencing society that
accepts the story as is, but see 2020 paper by Alexander Will.
15- Hall discusses origin of American flag with a story of
a mysterious stranger who helped design it, from Robert Allen Campbell 1890, Our
Flag, an eclectic historical writer who also wrote "Phallic
Worship", and Philosophic Chiromancy Mysteries of the Hand Revealed
and Explained. The story is un-referenced and contradicts documented accounts
of Benjamin Franklin’s role with the Serapis
Flag. 17- The story of the
declaration of American Independence with a dramatic intervention of a mysterious
stranger, derived from a theosophical reference, A
P Warrington, Adept Influences in America, The Theosophist, May,
1938, pp. 107-125. The story is of doubtful
historical provenance. 
18-
Esoteric aspects of the seal of the United States are discussed. He
references a work by Gaillard
Hunt, The
History of the Seal of the United States, largely based on a
two-volume work written in 1897 by Charles
A. L. Totten, Our Inheritance in the Great Seal of Manasseh, the United
States of America: Its History and Heraldry; and Its Signification unto the
'Great People' thus Sealed.20- He concludes his essay with a
presentation of some principles and values of the eventual world democratic
society. He proposes three levels of fields of research: spiritual (religion),
mental (philosophy) and , physical (arts and crafts) and gives some
inspirational considerations for the future of American democracy: 'In a
democratic way of life the very survival of the State depends upon the
intelligent cooperation of its people. Where men make their own laws, they must
live according to the merits and demerits of the statutes which they have
framed.'
The first Theosophical influence that comes to mind, would be William Q Judge’s well-known article, The Adepts in America in 1776, (October, 1883, with Blavatsky's added commentary), which Hall does not reference.
It turns out, however, that the 1938 issue of The Theosophist that he
references is a kind of special patriotic American spirit issue inspired by the looming
onset of World War Two where the Judge article is quoted prominently. (The issue is from a peak neo-Theosophy period that I do not subscribe too, but it seems to be an interesting historical document.) Besides the story of the Declaration of
Independence speech, he also apparently got the story of the American flag from that issue, as well as the Washington vision. I think that Hall would have done better to have followed the Judge and Blavatsky texts instead of the more doubtful ones that he opted for. Hall discusses Atlantis in terms of political theory and makes only minor use of Theosophical interpretations. The basic American democratic pre-destination idea originating in Ancient Greece does not seem to be of Theosophical provenance (although discussions regarding Atlantis-United States connections existed even in 19th century Theosophical circles).
Otherwise, there is a broadly common use of esoteric traditions (and Blavatsky discusses Nostradamus, relating a prediction of the Crimean War. (Isis Unveiled I, 261. Her main take on European medieval and renaissance esoteric tradition is in chapter 8 of Isis Unveiled, 2)). The
Judge text keeps the reference to secret adepts vague and uses mainstream
historical references, whereas Hall is interested in more detailed accounts of
a prophetic nature, with somewhat more alternative references. Unfortunately, I don't find that the references for the American part hold up as well as the ancient and
Renaissance ones, using several popular and Masonic after-the-fact accounts. Both sources note that idea of American exceptionalism is
inherent in the formal mainstream history of the United States. It may be of interest to note that both Judge and Hall discuss Thomas Paine, but they give him noticeably different treatments, with Judge emphasizing more idealistic, prophetic aspects whereas Hall, somewhat surprisingly, gives a more conventional historical account.
It is beyond the scope of my post to analyze the intrinsic merits of this work (which would be a very interesting task). A preliminary conclusion would be that Hall’s work is
more specifically Masonic, although he seems to avoid making explicit Masonic references (and Judge was a Mason as well) with Hall being the most obvious influence on American politics, (with Ronald Reagan, for example). One could argue, perhaps, that that 1938 Theosophist American history article was a kind of proto-Secret Destiny. UFO, alternative
spirituality/history/archaeology, and unexplained phenomena watchdog Emily
Louise, in a video on Edgar Cayce, mentions how Cayce made some predictions
about the importance of the United
States, implying that it is derived from Theosophical notions of evolution, but no specific details about this are
provided. Note that since all the references to Blavatsky and Theosophy in
the video are of a derogatory nature, therefore it is possible that
there is a negative confirmation bias and a lack of journalist principles of
neutrality and objectivity. A recent Jason Colavito blog post gives some more information on Cayce's Theosophical connections. I would venture to say that both Judge and Hall helped pave the way for the historical study of the considerable esoteric, Masonic, and mystical influences present in the founding and development of the United States. For example:
Gila Valley 9 Masonic Lodge
Further Reading:
Audio version with copious visual research:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ6aqKKzrHU
Recent edition with additional text covering South America:
https://www.prs.org/store/p8/The_Secret_Destiny_of_America__%28Paperback%29__978-158542-622-1.html
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Thomas Paine
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PS - In light of the proliferation of alternative esoteric histories and conspiracy theories in the 20th century, I would like to state that I do not think that writing an alternative history essay exempts one from the standards of rigorous historical research. If anything, it should increase the standards. I do consider that Blavatsky followed rigorous documentation standards. Specific examples that I use are her review of A. E Waite's Rosicrucian history and her use of the works of Jean-Marie Ragon.PPS - Blavatsky's esoteric history touches upon a Jesuit conspiracy theory, which I avoid discussing as I feel that it has been overly misused and misconstrued, although I plan on writing a post about it in the future. For now, I would like to state that she apparently based it on a credible compilation of authentic Jesuit documents: The Principles of the Jesuits, Henry Handley Norris (1839).
