A photographic portrait of Abbé Lacuria.

(Born in Lyon on January 6, 1806 & died in Oullins on March the 3rd, 1890)

From the private collection of Suzanne Christoflour-Moiroud.

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With today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA, we are resuming with its Part II the sampler series devoted to Paul François Gaspard Lacuria, commonly known as Abbé Lacuria, dubbed: ‘The French Pythagoras’, a leading figure of the nineteen century French esoteric and philosophic ‘Renaissance’.

The excerpts are from the magazine Atlantis, number 314-Mai-June 1981, number 315-July-August 1981, and number 317-November-December 1981. It was edited by Robert Amadou with a team of personalities close to the work of Abbé Lacuria: Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier, Marie-Louise Guesny, Vlaicu Ionescu and Fernand Rude. All photographic portraits & the illustrations from Lacuria’s manuscripts are from the Atlantis publications.

Part III, to come soon, will concentrate on philosophical & theological fragments-also from the Atlantis publications- about unity, trinity, diversity, etc… A Via-HYGEIA English translation from the original French.

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From the Atlantis Publications,

A Few Esoteric & Mystical Texts

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A letter from Abbé Lacuria to Adrien Péladan

Paris, Mai 15. (The year is not mentioned, so it has to be before Adrien Péladan’s early death in 1885).

‘Mister.

There are no books that tread upon the science of numbers; those that you mentioned are the only known, but they say nothing, or so little. In the second chapter of ‘Les Harmonies de l’Etre‘, I have foreseen that the understanding of numbers ought to be in God the universal science of the creation. I did not suspect, when I wrote it, that I would meet one day a man who had somehow penetrated this very science. Cazotte must have known it, if not at least suspect its existence, because in his ‘Le Diable Amoureux‘, there is a most curious page treading about the influence of numbers upon human events.

To know a bit more the secrets of these influences, one need a sort of revelation and 50 years of meditations and countless combinatory practices, in order to formulate the given principles and make out of it a proper science, which due to its depth, its intrinsic complexity, and all it supposes of knowledge and penetrating insights, makes it hard to fully communicate to someone else. I don’t know if I have succeeded, despite my efforts in my book to pass on this understanding. What I do know, is that I was only able, in diverse circumstances, to observe the resulting influences of these numbers in my life.’

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About True Astrology

Robert Amadou tells us that-even though they probably haven’t met, at least they knew about their respective work-Abbé Lacuria’s conception of astrology is similar, if not identical, to how Eliphas Levi defines it in his ‘Dogme & Rituel de la Haute Magie‘, part 1, chapter XVII:

‘…True astrology, which is a part of the unique and universal dogma of Kabballah, was defiled by the Greeks and the Romans at the time of their decadence; the doctrine of the seven heavens and of the three mobiles, emanated at the origin from the sephirotic decade, the character of the planets rules by angels whose names were changed into those of the pagan divinities, the influence of the spheres, the scale of proportion between the celestial hierarchies corresponding to the human hierarchies, all this had been materialized and made into superstitions by the soothsayers and the makers of horoscopes from the decadence of the classical age well into the Middle-age. To bring back astrology to its primal purity, would be in some way to create a brand new science.’

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Abbé Lacuria-

Influence & Domination

Of The Spirits Upon Everything

‘All the things of the world are under the rule of the genii of the elements, which according to their nature communicate to things their influences, good or bad, fortunate or unfortunate, health or disease, etc.

They govern and rule the Earth and influence its inhabitants to do things good or evil; producing also fortunate or unfortunate events, all these diverse and linked through their direct alliance with the stars. Because the genii, alike human beings, are able to feel their influence and their domination, and this according to their nature. Moreover, these elemental genii are the helpers and servants of the planetary genii, which are, in turn, under the rule and power of the planet angels, who are themselves under the rule and power of the planetary intelligences, who are, in turn, under the rule themselves of the angels that govern the fixed stars…and these angels are  under the rule of the 7 great and sublime angels which assist the ‘Face of God‘.

It is in this order that the spiritual influences flow towards the Earth, and it is how they reach us.

In the spiritual order, it goes the same for evil. But no demons govern fixed stars, nor dwell in them, except the Sun, where they do not dwell there- per-se-but rampage its orb in order to spoil the influences that gush from it.’

The Spiritual Order

Holy Ghost

Yellow, Light, Seraph.
Green, Holiness, Powers.
Grey, Humility, Virtue.

Son
Blue, Wisdom, Cherubs.
Purple, Eternity, Principalities.
Indigo, Justice, Archangels.

Father
Red, Life, Thrones.
Orange, Freedom, Dominations.
White, Innocence, Angels.

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Abbé Lacuria-

Ritual Baptism Of A Talisman

1

Facing East

O ABA, mighty and sublime God, be praised and honored

in all the centuries to come, and may You hear my voice! Amen.

2

Facing West

O Jehova, wise and careful God, manifested, just, divine and merciful,

who lives and rules the past centuries and all those about to come, hear my voice! Amen.

3

Facing North

O king of numbers, mighty God, of all the principles,

hear my voice, as You know the first & the last number! Amen.

4

Facing South

O King of love, merciful and mighty, hear my voice,

as You live and rule for centuries of centuries, resting in the infinite!

5

In the middle facing South

O Jesus, infinite ocean of love and goodness, savior of the planets, hear my voice! May You be merciful, as You live with God-the-Father, in unity of the Holy Ghost-God, for centuries of centuries! Angels of the East & the West, of the South & the North (Note: in the text it is written ‘Aquilon‘, the North wind), may you assist and strengthen me at the very moment! Angels that guard and rule the suns and the planets, may you send your aspects and your influx into this talisman!

6

Facing South

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, by the Great Names of God, ABA and Jehovah, I exorcize you, donkey skin worked by common and impure hands! By the names of ABA and Jehovah, and by the virtues of Jesus-Christ, be cleansed and purified of all stains! May you be delivered of all impure breaths and of the bad eye! Amen.

7

Facing South

May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the almighty, just and merciful God, who made Heaven & Earth in a great surge of love, may He bless this talisman and make it strong and powerful according to Jesus-Christ’s virtues, who lives and rules with the Father in unity with the Holy Ghost, for centuries of centuries! Amen.

8

Facing South

Talisman, I entrust you into the protection

of the great and powerful Angels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel,

and I consecrate you to the great and powerful angel, Michael!

9

Facing South

I baptize you, in the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Ghost,

and I grant you the name: ‘God’s Might‘!

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Source

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Appendix

(not in the Atlantis publications)

‘Abbé Lacuria was a mystic, and his ideas came to him in visions and dreams. The historian of Illuminism, Robert Amadou, has rescued from oblivion a priceless piece of evidence, written by the Abbé on an isolated leaf:

[And on the recto]:

‘It seemed to me that I was climbing the steps of an immense and conical roof which covered everything: they were the degrees of truth. At the moment of reaching the top, I began the following phrase which I had obtained and finished during the half-sleep that preceded the complete dream . . .’

[And on the verso]:

‘When, arriving at the summit, I will be able to say: “Infinite, Infinite, Infinite”; I will shout it so loudly to the other truths that they will all be shaken and vibrant, and the whole of creation will totter and be shaken and judged like the fig-tree hit by a strong wind, and the echoes of the first truth, reverberating from consequence to consequence, will go on to enlighten and renew all creatures from the heights to the depths!‘

What is interesting in this report is the vision of ascent to the summit of a cone “which covered all things.” In ‘Les Harmonies de l’Etre‘, the cone not only serves as a fruitful source of symbols, but there is also the suggestion that God has given the whole of creation the shape of a cone.

Another vision, perhaps from the year 1844, gave Abbé Lacuria the following correspondences: “The arm of God is Liberty; the eye, the Holy Spirit; the forehead, Eternity; the ear, Wisdom; the heart, Justice; Holiness, his whole person.” These are reminiscent of Macroprosopus, the “Great Man” of the Kabbalists. There are no visions in the book, of course, and only a touch of Kabbalah: rather, there are rational arguments, doctrines, and ecstatic prayers. But we can assume that there was some visionary inspiration behind it.’

From Joscelyn Godwin’s ‘Music & the Occult : French Musical Philosophies, 1750-1950‘-Eastman Studies in Music-published by the University of Rochester in 1995. Excerpted from page 98.

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Coming soon:

A Little Paul François Gaspard Lacuria Sampler – Part III

‘A Few Philosophical & Theological Texts’.

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