Charter for XXI^st Century Martinist Orders¹“Martinist Order” means any order called “Martinist,” whatever its subsidiary qualification.

Introduction

Throughout the past century, the history of the Order and Martinist Orders remained rich and eventful. If the Order founded by Papus branched out into many branches, this tree was the fruit of the very principle of the Martinist initiation, free initiation, in line, from individual to individual.

Martinist circles, groups, lodges, and orders were, throughout the past century, crucibles that allowed illuminist, occultist, and hermetic currents to endure or to flourish. The freedom, the tolerance, the spirit of research which dominated the Martinist movement, despite some inevitable vicissitudes, allowed many questers to find themselves, independently of their particular paths, in a true companionship under the aegis of the Unknown Philosopher.

The Martinist Order also knew how to welcome into its midst other currents to preserve them and help them experience a new development.

Today, so that this state of mind remains, and that what is alive does not become frozen, there are inscribed in this Charter for XXIst Century Martinist Orders the simple principles that have contributed to the influence of Martinism since Papus.

The adoption of this Charter is free, it confers no rights—only the duties that stem from ethics. No one will have to give an account of it, except to himself and to Providence.

Source: CIREM. Copying encouraged.

I — According to Saint Martin

1

“My sect is Providence, my proselytes are me; my cult is justice.”

“…I am astonished that you found me so infatuated with my feeble merit that I could give my name to my old school or any other. Institutions sometimes serve to mitigate the ills of man, more often to increase them, never to cure them.”

“The only initiation I seek with all the ardor of my soul is that by which we can enter into the heart of God and bring the heart of God into us, to make an indissoluble marriage there, which makes us friends, the brother and the husband of our divine repairer. There is no other mystery in arriving at this holy initiation than to sink deeper and deeper into the depths of our being and to not let go until we have managed to feel the living and life-giving root, because then all the fruits which we were to bear according to our kind naturally occur in us and outside us, as we see happen to our earthly trees, because they are adherent to their particular root and they do not cease to raise up sap.”

2

Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin devoted a large part of his life to the initiatory orders that he frequented, but he did not found any and kept a due reservation for all. Through his work, he initiated a major current of Christian Illuminist thought and invited people to come together in fraternity of spirit. On the verge of death, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin “exhorted all those around him to put their trust in Providence, and to live among themselves as brothers, in the sentiments of the Gospel.”

II — According to Papus

1

Papus founded the Martinist Order in several stages:

• 1884–1885: the first initiations.
• 1887: the first lodge.
• 1887–1890: establishment of the Martinist Order, drafting of statutes and instruction books.
• 1891: constitution of the first Supreme Council.

2

The initiation of 1882 to which Papus refers, and that which Augustine Chaboseau places for him in 1886, initiations which they transmitted to each other in 1888, remain uncertain in their nature and as to their circumstances. They took a different and barely ritualistic form. It is the initiation of Papus, not Papus-Chaboseau, that since the foundation of the Martinist Order constitutes the “Martinist” initiation.

III — According to the Order

1

Papus conceived and defined the Martinist Order as both an initiatory order and a school of moral chivalry²Martinezism, Willermozism, Martinism and Freemasonry by Papus (Bayonne NJ: Rose Circle, 2020). and Christian occultism.

The Christianity of the Martinist Order is marked by Martines de Pasqually’s doctrine of universal Reintegration as well as by Saint-Martin’s cardiac way of internal transmutation, and the occultism is “the set of doctrines and practices based on the theory according to which every object belongs to a unique set and possesses with every other element of this set necessary, intentional, non-temporal, and non-spatial relations,”³L’Occultisme, esquisse d’un monde vivant (Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle, Fr: Chanteloup, 1987). the so-called correspondence theory.

2

Papus and the Companions of Hierophany were animated by the spirit of research, non-dogmatic speculation finding its foundations as well as its results in the operative.

3

Faithful to its title, the Martinist Order focuses mainly on studying and applying the original teaching of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin and understanding the influence of his primary master, Martines de Pasqually, and of Jacob Bœhme, on his doctrine.⁴“It is to Martines de Pasqually that I owe my entry into the higher truths. It is to Jacob Bœhme that I owe the most important steps I have taken in these truths.” Portrait, No. 418 (Paris: Julliard, 1961).

1. First consequence: The Martinist Order is attached to the simplicity of the ritual forms, of which the primitive Martinist Order sets the example.
2. Second consequence: Fraternity and companionship are at the heart of the Martinist experience: “Do not be called Master. Because you have only one Master; and you are all brothers.”⁵Matt. 23:8.
3. Third consequence: A Martinist Order is as independent of any church as it is of any other initiatory order; members remain free to establish any compatible affiliations in the spirit. Equivalences between the ranks of the Martinist Order and those of other initiatory orders have existed. They are devoid of initiatory meaning.
4. Fourth consequence: The Martinist Order invites its members to embark on the path of Reintegration. This implies that it prepares them to free themselves from any form of alienation, including membership in any initiatory order including the Martinist Order.

IV — Fraternity

1

After the death of Papus, the Martinist Order branched out and the process did not stop. Any controversy between Martinist Orders concerning the precedence of one over the others is unseemly, provided that any order qualified as Martinist subscribes to the general principles set out above. Between the Martinist Orders as between the members of each Martinist Order, fraternity is the rule, and competition is admissible only in virtue.

2

All Martinist Orders providing the same initiation, a member of any Martinist Order can and must be received as a visitor in a meeting conducted under the auspices of another Martinist Order.