Studies in the Tradition Published

The Grand Council has approved the publication on these pages of the Studies in the Tradition, six public studies prepared for its fortieth year by officers of the Order and by the Warden Emeritus. They are published together with A Chronology of the Tradition, A Reading Guide for Enquirers, an enlarged Glossary, and two new pages on the Teachings, describing the Rule of Daily Practice and the Symbols of the Order.

In June the Council announced that the Fortieth Convocation, in September 2027, would include a public programme of lectures and an exhibition from the Library. The Studies are the written part of that programme. They answer, at modest length and as plainly as their authors could manage, the question most often put to the Chancery by enquirers: where the teaching of the Order comes from. Each tells the history of one part of the Tradition as the best scholarship now tells it, and says briefly what the Order has made of it.

The studies and their authors are as follows. The Thrice-Greatest, on the Hermetic writings, by Caspar Lindqvist, Warden Emeritus. The Fame and the Confession, on the Rosicrucian manifestos, by Sir Anselm Dyer, Warden of Studies. The Elect Priests and the Beneficent Knights, on Martinez de Pasqually and Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, by the present writer. The Unknown Philosopher, on Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, by Dame Imogen Carrow, Grand Prior. The Unknown Superiors, on the Martinist revival, by Sir Tobias Fenwick-Hale, Grand Chancellor. And The Knight of the Spirit, on chivalry in the Tradition, by Dame Rosalind Achterberg, Grand Master.

Four of the authors will lecture in public during 2027, two of them on the subjects of their studies; the lectures are listed on the page on Convocations and Events. The exhibition at the Fortieth Convocation, to be called From Hermes to Harrowmere, will be drawn from the Ashby, Marchetti-Vale and Lindqvist Collections and will follow the order of the Chronology.

The Studies are not instructional papers of the degrees and reveal nothing that is reserved to the members. Nor do they pass judgment among the bodies of the Tradition now existing; where they name historic bodies whose successors continue today, the Order claims no connection with them. Printed copies will be available without charge at each of the public lectures, and may be requested by post from the Chancery at Post Box 1987, Harrowmere Station. They are not for sale.

The Keeper wishes to thank the authors, the Preceptors who read the studies in draft, and the members of the Rose and Cup who gave their autumn working weekend to the Library so that the sources could be checked against the shelves.

Dame Beatrix Olander
Keeper of the Library