The origins of the Priory of Sion Part 2: The Angelic Society and the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

 

How to spell Hypnerotomachia

"The Hypnerotomachia has becoma a bible of a cult without a master" concludes Joscelyn Godwin in his commentary on the famous Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, also known as “The Dream of Poliphili”. The later is only barely more pronounceable than the Latin name. Apart from unpronounceable, people have battled with the text for several centuries, often concluding that is incomprehensible too. It was written in a Venetian dialect of the end of the 15th century, into which the author injected several new words, invented or “Latinised” at his own discretion. Several other words were borrowed from Ovid, specifically some words which were solely used by that Latin author. The Hebrew inscriptions are linguistically correct and probably checked or provided by a Rabbi, whereas the Arab texts seem to have been compiled from a dictionary. As such, the book has often been classified as “Hermetic” and as such, has posed a serious question mark, rather than provide any answers. Professor Weiss has labelled it, with some irony, “an important contestant for the title of the most annoying work in Italian literature”.

Of elephants and gardens

That being the state of play, the Dream has inspired many artists, and not the least. One of the better known illustrations is that of an elephant carrying an obelisk on his back. This work inspired Salvador Dali in his Temptation of Saint Anthony, as well as the Italian sculptor Bernini, of Angels and Demons fame. On May 1, 1667, the 200th anniversary of the fictitious events of the Hypnerotomachia, Pope Alexander VII consecrated the statue of the elephant carrying an obelisk of Bernini in Rome… which sits on the site of an ancient temple of Isis.
Its multiple descriptions of temples and gardens have for centuries inspired garden designers, including the famous gardens of the palace of Versailles. As such, if we are looking for a reason why Maurice Barrès was predisposed towards gardens and death, it is very possible that he was inspired by this famous Dream.

The book

In short, the contents of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili are exactly what the title states it is: the search for Polia by Poliphili, their voyage towards the isle of Cytherea, where Venus reigns. At the very end, the adventure is presented as a dream.
The story has two distinct parts. The first recites the events that befall Poliphili when he is searching for Polia. The second part tells the same story, but this time as told by Polia, from her point of view. She states that when she was young, she was a victim of the plague. She made a wish to the goddess Diana that she would become one of her priests if she recovered from the illness. But her submission to Diana was tested by Poliphili, who set himself up on a course to win over Polia. He tries to seduce her, declaring his love, but the object of his desire shows not the slightest interest in him. Full of sorrow, he collapses in front of her.
In this near death experience, the soul of Poliphili searches for more possibilities to win her over, seeking the intervention of Venus, through which Polia will finally be liberated from her adherence to the Temple of Diana. The soul of Poliphili wants to return to his body and take Polia as his wife. Venus consents and lets the little angel Cupid shoot one of his famous arrows in the direction of Polia, which results in finally opening up her heart to the love of Poliphili. The two young lovers obtain the privilege to be taken from the Temple of Diana and take refuge in the Temple of Venus, where a priestess approves of their union. But at the end of this tale, Poliphili realises that the entire story is not so much true, but more like a marvellous dream… only in his dream has he been able to seduce Polia.

The author

Though the author of the Dream was officially anonymous, it seems that shortly after the publication of the work, everyone soon knew who had written it. The book itself contains four discrete elements that betray the identity of the author. The most ingenious clue was found in 1723, in a copy that contained a note detailing the method of how the code had been worked into the book. This copy resided in the library of the Dominican Zattere, in Venice. The commentary is dated June 20, 1512. The code is made up from the first letter of the 38 chapters of the book: “Poliam Frater Franciscvs Colvumna Peramavit”, or “Brother Francesco Colonna has considerably loved Polia”. This phrase thus indicates that the author was a monk, Francesco Colonna. The unknown author who cracked the code added that this person was an inhabitant of Treviso and that Colonna “now lives in Venice, close to the square ‘Giovanni e Paolo’.”
Author Leandro Alberti, in 1517, wrote a book about “famous Dominicans” and mentions one “Francesco Columna of Venice who has truly shown his diverse and multiple ingenuity in a certain book written in the mother tongue”. The brother (Leonardo Crassus) of the author was married to the daughter of the sister of Francesco Columna. This testimony is therefore very promising and compelling evidence and Colonna is now almost universally credited as the author.

So who was Colonna, apart from being from Treviso and living in Venice? Colonna was admitted to the Dominican Order at Treviso in 1433. In 1465, he is a practicing priest. At a time when Savonarola is preaching the “new consciousness” in the streets of Florence, Colonna takes charge of St Marc of Venice, from 1488 to 1493. But in 1496, he lets go of his calling. In 1500, he even requests and is given permission to live outside the perimeter of the monastery.
Savonarola, after the bonfire of the vanities, died in 1498, just before the publication of the Hypnerotomachia. He wanted to re-establish the strict moral rules of Christianity. The monastery to which Colonna belonged was “non reformed”, which meant that the religious community inside was not truly subject to the strict rules of the monastery. Was this perhaps the reason why Colonna lived outside of the monastery? Let us also note that his “leave of absence” occurs around the time the book is published. Colonna died in July (or October) of 1527, at the age of 94… sixty years after having written the first part of his eccentric novel.

Initiation

Though few analysts have interpreted this novel as the story of someone’s initiation, Joscelyn Godwin has at least noted that the “combination of Apuleius of eroticism with pagan bigotry, and the structure of stories within his story make The Golden Ass one of the most direct ancestors of the Hypnerotomachia”. The Golden Ass of Apuleius, aka Metamorphoses, tells the story of an initiate of the Mysteries of Isis. Chapter XI of this text has the central character of the book, Lucius, re-become a human after having been transformed into an ass, and become a witness of the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris. This allows Lucius to see the deity as she truly is, i.e. unveiled, like Venus is seen as she truly is by Poliphili.
Most experts, including Godwin, agree that Johann Valentin Andreae, the “anonymous author” of the Rosicrucian pamphlets that circulated at the start of the 17th century (which includes the “Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz from 1616) was also greatly inspired in his writings by the Dream.
The character of Christian Rosenkreutz is equally on a voyage similar to that of Poliphili. He makes a voyage by boat, is met and greeted by the deities of the sea and ends up on a mysterious island where there alchemical rituals about rebirth are practiced. In this initiatory realm, he discovers a subterranean crypt into which he gains access, accompanied by a love angel (no doubt Cupid), and discovers Venus, asleep and nude.
We note that all of these stories revolve around the discovery of tombs: whether it is Isis, or Venus, or perhaps even a tomb that is more “Saunièrian”, such as perhaps those that are indicated on the famous model?
As there is talk of tombs and angels, we also need to include the name of Maurice Barrès and the initiation of angels, without forgetting the Tomb of Arcadia, an essential ingredient of our first part – and Barrès’ fascination with the theme.

A secret – angelic – society

In 1470, in Venice, the existence of an organisation known as “The Fog” or “The Angelic Society” was reported. It is the same period when Colonna is a prominent citizen of that town. It is a secret, alchemical society, also known under the more Latin name of Voarchadumia. This word, invented for this purpose (like so much of the Hypnerotomachia), means “gold of two perfect cementations”, or “gold twice refined”. It is derived from a Chaldean word meaning “gold” and a Hebrew expression which means “on top rubies”. The organisation is described as a society in which the members, practitioners of alchemy, try to create an ideal “State”, using the principles of the Kaballah. The programme also states that schools and academies should teach the Kaballah. Furthermore, the laws of this State need to be adapted in such a way that they are based on Wisdom and not on Power. Such visions of a new State and a new age, were quite common in late 15th century Italy.
It is stated that Giorgione, an Italian painter of the Venetian school, well-known for his The Sleep of Venus, was a member of this organisation. At the same time, we need to ask whether Francsco Colonna could also have been a member of this organisation. And if this were the case, the Hypernotomachia could indeed be seen as a bible… for it recites an initiation… and this would make it no longer a bible without a master!

Nicolas Poussin

The organisation was made illegal in Venice in 1488. Nevertheless, its doctrine remained published until 1530, specifically in Venice, under the signature of another Venetian priest: Johannes Augustinus Pantheus. At that moment in time, the organisation Voarchadumia crosses the Alps and finds a warm welcome in France. It is – coincidentally? – also the case that the Dream will become a hit in France at roughly the same time. Later, it will inspire the works of men such as Nicolas Poussin, Charles de Perrault, Charles Nodier and Gérard de Nerval. Many of these characters are then worked into – or were always part of? – the story of the mystery of Rennes-le-Château…
The reason for that integration may be because each of them can be seen as a myst in search of esoteric truths, such as those portrayed in the Dream. We should also note that the famous text, “The Red Serpent”, states: “I have in fact neglected to tell you that this is a Dream, which I had this January 17, the feast of St Sulpice.” The text then continues that he wants to tell us “a tale of Perrault.” This is the same Charles Perrault who was inspired by the Dream… and the Angelic Society.
Other famous people have equally been members of this Angelic Society, such as Francois Rabelais, who worked for Gryphe as a corrector. We will come back to this person. To this, we need to add the statements made by Guillaume Postel and Antoine Fumée, contemporaries of Rabelais, who accused Rabelais of being a member of a secret society. Postel noted that “even though he did not directly or indirectly deny the existence of God, he definitely tried to chase him out of Heaven.” Even though such accusations can hardly be considered as hard evidence, it is clear that Rabelais was definitely inspired by the Dream, as is in evidence in his Fifth Book, in which there is a description of a subterranean temple of Bacbuc, which is equivalent to the Temple of Venus.

From Angels to AA

In the 19th century, Grasset d’Orcet (1828-1900) states that “The Fog” was founded by the Lyonnaise printer Gryphe, in the 15th century – for which Rabelais worked. Gryphe was Sébastien Greif, who left his home in Reitlingen, in Wurtemburg, and settled in Lyon in 1522. As symbol for his new organisation, he chose the gryphon, already known to be the symbol of a secret society in Greece, known as Néphès, or “the Fog”. Hence no doubt the name, or perhaps an indication of the fact that the true name of the organisation at the time was not known, except by a pseudonym.
Certain French researchers, such as Jean Robin, have argued that the Voarchadumia was thus transformed into “the Fog”, an organisation which equally could have been the same organisation as an organisation known as the “A.A.”, an acronym not well-known amongst the best of these researchers and hence seldom discussed. Certain authors, such as Count Beguoin and Jean-Claude Meyer, have nevertheless studied the AA. They concluded that this organisation was largely composed of priests, just like the Voarchadumia in Venice! Count Beguoin also identified the AA as the movement that succeeded the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, another priestly organisation from the 17th century, whose HQ was in the church of St Sulpice in Paris. St Sulpice, of course, which is the cherished location of Barrès, Delacroix… and The Da Vinci Code! We should note that even though the Fog was, in France, native to Lyon and always held a presence there, it is equally known that its members soon came from afar and perhaps some only visited Lyon once, to become initiated, with “local gatherings” occurring in other places, such as Paris.

The AA, like the “Compagnie” explains to its members that it has to protect “the Secret” – with capital S – at any cost. The “manual” for the members needs to be read and speaks of a rigour which we would expect to find in a training manual for the intelligence agencies or a terrorist camp: do not tell the secret to anyone, not even to your confessor, or a member of your family. When meeting a comrade in public, do not speak about the organisation and definitely do not say anything whatsoever at all related to it to a stranger or in the presence of a stranger. The manual explains how to work with passwords; how to protect and, if necessary, destroy your cell without leaving a single trace, etc. With such a structure in place, it is clear that whatever the secret it is that the AA tried to protect, the members took their mission very seriously. It also explains why the organisation was largely successful in keeping its existence so silent… and why the nature of their secret – Secret – has so far never been discovered.
Let us briefly come to another enigma, namely that of Angelina and of the priest Gélis. If the latter was affiliated with such a “fraternity”, if only because he too was a priest, it is equally clear that he had made an absolute vow of secrecy. In the possible scenario that Gélis died while trying to protect a secret, which his torturer was trying to extract from him, it is precisely this rigorous indoctrination that the AA had instructed to its members that may have guided Gélis through his ordeal. “Do not tell. No matter what.”

The Angelic Society and the mystery of Rennes-le-Château

In 1626, Polycarpe de la Rivière, Carthusian priest at Ste Croix en Jarez) publishes a work in Lyon, with the title: “Angélique. Les excellences et perfections de l’immortalité de l’âme." – Angelique. The excellences and perfections of the immortality of the soul. We note that the “immortality of the soul” will become a prime preoccupation of another organisation that is straightforwardly linked with members – and researchers – of the Priory of Sion. Having said that, we will not provide any further details on this matter.
Let us note that Saunière, in all discretion, visits Lyon. It is from here, despite the fact that some “researchers” try to argue against the available evidence (“if it does not fit your theory, debate the evidence, but don’t change your theory, whatever you do!”) that he makes short trips towards a small chapel, under the protection of St Mary Magdalene, in the Pilat region. Let us also note that it is in Lyon that he is invited in a “milieu” of Martinists. It is in the same religious environment of people he knows in Lyon that he has connections to people involved in the affair of the famous model. Finally, we need to note that since the installation of the Angelic Society in the town of Lyon, the city has remained, until today, the capital of the secret societies and esoteric France. We also note that a certain document known as the “Codex Bezae”, of recent interest in the story of Rennes-le-Château, also made its appearance in a Lyonese library.
We are not yet at the end of our series of coincidences. We noted the Italian origins of the Angelic Society, in Venice. Next, we find that Nicolas Poussin is present amongst its members. This may explain Barrès references to the tombstone with the reference to ET IN ARCADIA EGO. Nicolas Poussin is a Frenchmen, resident in Rome, who frequently “shuttles” between the pope and the king of France. Perhaps we also need to include the Cassini family, they too immigrants, but from Italy to France… and who only accept to live in France after hard negotiations, only for the duration of a certain mission, which will last three generations.
Let us note that Nicolas Poussin himself was an unwilling party whenever he had to be too close to the French king, but he equally knows that he cannot refuse the demands of his sovereign. It is the same Nicolas Poussin who is cited as a principle accomplice in a famous letter to Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendant of Finances for the French King, in short, his right-hand man. It is the French king who will imprison Fouquet and is said to have gone personally through all of Fouquet’s archives. If the king was indeed convinced that Fouquet had taken money illegally, surely there would not have been a need for the king to go personally through his papers? It suggests that the king was looking for something else? What could that be? Perhaps it is the infamous letter from Louis Fouquet to his brother Nicolas, saying Poussin had given to Louis certain information that he wished to share with his brother at the next meeting; it was a major secret that would likely result in certain privileges from the king. Experts have speculated about the nature of what this secret would be. Some have argued this was most likely an archaeological discovery. Some have – bizarrely – suggested it was a secret related to garden architecture! But in the light of Dream, perhaps it is highly ironic and uttered by those who did not want to say, but merely hint?
We also note a similar mission, between Pope and king, which was accomplished a few decades earlier by Vincent de Paul, who will soon become an important player in worldly affairs, as well as be at the origin of the Compagnie de Saint-Sacrement, with its HQ in St Sulpice.

A final return to the “Great Secret”

In the French edition of the Dream of Poliphili, there is a dedication to Sir Henri de Lenoncourt. Is it a coincidence that it is this Count de Lenoncourt who signs with the pseudonym Lobineau and Schidlof, the pseudo-authors of the “Dossiers Secrets”?
To conclude, at least for the moment, do we not need to note that the Dream of Poliphili and one text of the “Dossiers Secrets”, The Red Serpent, share certain characteristics? We already noted one correspondence above, but we can add more. The Red Serpents speaks about Isis and Mary Magdalene. The Dream speaks of Venus. The two histories resemble themselves in their context, and we have already noted that both texts in the final stage of its initiation are found to be dreams. We can read, in the Red Serpent: “I was filled with emotions. Withdraw me from the mud, I said, and I immediately awoke. I forgot to tell you that this was indeed but a dream.” An intriguing choice of words… suggesting that the author of The Red Serpent was inspired by the Dream. Should we read “the Dream” instead of “a dream”? Just like we are here face to face with “the Secret” and not “a secret”?

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Filip Coppens