Paul Sédir (born Yvon Le Loup; 2 January 1871 – 3 February 1926) was a French mystic and esotericist, notable as the author of several works on esotericism and Christian mysticism.

Biography

Living in Paris, he had been teaching himself about esotericism for around two years when in 1899 he met Papus (Dr Gérard Encausse) at the bookshop Librairie du Merveilleux, founded by Lucien Chamuel the year before, a gathering-place for those interested in the subject as well as a publishing house and conference hall. Papus immediately became a close friend, opening his personal occult library of works on symbolism, philosophy and esotericism to Sédir, who was eager for knowledge. He then began collaborating with Papus and joined his circle of French esotericists. Sédir was a prolific writer and constantly contributed in writing articles for Papus’ various magazines, such as Le Voile d’Isis and L’Initiation. He was initiated and then advanced to higher degrees into almost all the esoteric orders of that time, including being a member of the Supreme Council of the newly Ordre Martiniste founded by Papus.

Chamuel published Sédir’s first book Les Miroirs Magiques [Magic Mirrors] in 1894. In this book Sédir wrote: “However, I must add here that this little book is, in a way, a stopgap: I advise everyone against practising magic in any of its forms. To give the reasons for this would require a volume; nevertheless I have written these pages to give the least dangerous method of voluntarily going astral, so that people in a hurry can satisfy their curiosity without running physical risks. There will be other pitfalls, but these will be more long term than the previous ones.” ¹

Sédir knew what he was writing about, as in the past he had done experiments in magic. Rare are those who know what happened and the consequences that followed. All that is possible to say about it, is that Sédir admitted later on: “It is here below those who pay the most dearly”.  May this sentence remind, those presumptuous ones who burn with desire to pass from theory to practice, that they risk drawing upon their future kin, a debt whose payment is, at least, painful.

This clearly shows that Sédir was already aiming to divert his brothers from magic, although in those days he still thought there was a safer way to illumination through other means, particularly divination. Later, he drastically changed his mind when he met someone very peculiar: the thaumaturge Nizier Anthelme Philippe (also known as Maître Philippe of Lyon).

He was deeply touched by Monsieur Philippe, began to frequent him, and with time his life was completely changed. One good day, after a last discussion on magic and astrology at the Ecole Libre des Sciences Hermetiques, those who were following him noticed that the program for the months to come consisted of a series of conferences on the Gospel. That was it: the occultist, the “old man” was disappearing without return, the mystic was revealing himself. He had realised that the esoteric path was wrong; he abandoned his titles, rejecting any initiation and any esoteric ‘wisdom’, and dedicated himself exclusively to the Gospel.

His resignation from the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix was announced in the January 1909 issue of the magazine L’Initiation; Sédir was no longer able to share the views of his former companions from different initiatory paths, so he separated from most of them, and most of them did not understand his choice. For the rest of his life, he devoted himself solely to the Christian path and spreading the Gospel.

Esoteric orders

In a letter dated December 28, 1915, Sédir affirmed to be a member of about 25 esoteric orders, both in France and overseas. Let’s have a look at the main ones: 

Ordre Martiniste [Martinist Order] 

The Martinist Order, founded by Papus and Augustin Chaboseau in 1888-1891; Sédir was a member of the Supreme Council.

As we know, this order was inspired by the legacy of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, known as the “Unknown Philosopher”, who, after having been a disciple of Martinez de Pasqually (1710-1774), published his own works influenced by the thought of his first master and the German philosopher, mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian Jakob Böhme.

Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix [Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross] 

The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross, an initiatory order founded by Stanislas de Guaita and Joséphin Péladan in 1888, which was “a secret society of action for individual and reciprocal exaltation; the defence of its members; the multiplication of their living forces by reversibility; the ruin of the followers of black magic; and finally the struggle to reveal to Christian theology the truths of the Kabbalistic Order”.

The teachings of the OKRC consisted mainly of Astrology, Alchemy, Theurgy, Numerology, and Tarot divination. The OKRC also awarded three grades acquired through extensive examination. At one point Sédir was the actual director of this order. The OKRC was closely attached to the Gnostic Church.

Eglise Gnostique de France [Gnostic Church of France]

The ‘Gnostic Church of France’ was founded in 1890 by the esoteric Freemason Jules Doinel, with the aim of reviving the Cathar religion. Based on the axiom “Faith without Gnosis is dead”, this pseudo-church obviously drew heavily from Catharism, adopting the so-called “Consolamentum” as well as the “Appareillantum”, that is a penitential rite, taking inspiration from the Catholic Mass for the Eucharist. In practice, the Gnostic Church of Doinel was an initiatory society of Masonic inspiration, with a Gnostic mythology and a Cathar ritual. Here Sédir was made a gnostic bishop by Doinel.

The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor

A mystical occult society, the H. B. of L. was supposed to be the “visible expression of an unmanifested centre”. Prior to the rise of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1888, the H. B. of L. was the only order that taught practical occulstism in the Western Mystery Tradition. The order was founded by the Polish Jewish Kabbalist and occultist Max Theon in 1884, who claimed to be initiated by an adept of the “serene, ever-existing and ancient Order of the original H. B. of L.”

The order’s teachings drew heavily from the magico-sexual theories of Paschal Beverly Randolph, who later influenced groups such as the Ordo Templi Orientis. Randolph provided practical instruction for a person seeking to realise directly the truths of occultism, using mirror practice, drugs, and sexual magic. Later on the H. B. of L. cautioned its neophytes that Randolph was only “half-initiated” and that he had fallen into black magic.

It is interesting to note that originally, Papus created the Martinist Order as the outer order of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, but since he was not able to secure the recognition, he opted for the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix.

Fraternitas Thesauri Lucis

The F. T. L. known as Fraternitas Thesauri Lucis, or in French, Fraternité du Trésor Lumineux, was a high Rosicrucian society founded in 1897 by Marc Haven, Sédir and Papus, about which little is actually known. It would seem that it appeared following the death of Stanislas de Guaita and dissensions over his succession within the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross. What is certain is that it was born following the esotericists’ meeting with Monsieur Philippe. The initiation was “essentially Christic” according to Sédir, who was the main leader. This society hardly survived when he left in 1909.

It is interesting to note that also Marc Haven (real name Dr. Emmanuel Lalande) resigned all his initiatory affiliations in 1899 after having met Maitre Philippe and married his daughter.²

Other orders

Among the other orders that Paul Sédir joined, there were also the Alchemial Rose-Croix Society, the Brotherhood of the Illuminated Brethren of the Rose-Croix, and the Misraim Rite.

On the other hand, Sédir does not seem to have been affiliated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an English order founded in 1888 and which seemed to be the most important, the most magical and therefore the most secret of the time. Although Papus did join the external order in 1895 through one of its founders, Samuel Mathers (1854-1918), it is not clear whether he introduced his friends to this magical order, which would be surprising since Papus himself paid little attention to it afterwards. Moreover, we know that Sédir condemned magic very early on, and as this Order was mainly concerned with magic and its practical applications, such membership would have been nonsense for Sédir.

Leaving esotericism

The desire for the absolute led Sédir to explore the mysterious sciences of the esoteric orders, always on the lookout for Truth, for it was Truth that he was constantly seeking. Yet he remained thirsty, sensing that it was not to be found in the complexity of occult formulas, rites and societies.

If 1897 was the landmark year of his meeting with Monsieur Philippe, the living spark of the mystical fire that regenerated him as an apostle of the Gospel, it was between 1908 and the beginning of 1909 that he severed the last ties that bound him to esotericism. It took about 10 years for Sédir to leave esotericism and to enter, with both feet, into the mission assigned to him.

In 1911, when he was in his forties, his activity took a decisive turn. In that year Sédir distanced himself from all esoteric societies because he no longer wanted his name to be associated with them, preferring his teaching to be linked solely to pure Christian mysticism.

Martinism

What I find very interesting is that Sédir completely changed his mind on Martinism.³ In a letter to one of his friend, he wrote that Martinism is “eclectic and antichristic”. Antichristic because he refuted the purely intellectual idea that the comparative study of religions leads one to believe that, since they all resemble each other, they are all equal and that they stem from a single, esoteric, previous religion, the latter outliving the former. He did not judge Papus’ action so much as he warned those close to him against an overly tempting assimilation between the objectives of Martinism, which wanted to be “a modern chivalry of Christianity”, and its own group.

And this is what he wrote in another letter to his friends in December 1913:

“…there is, however, one of these societies, Martinism, described by its leader as a “chivalry of Christ”, whose eclecticism is understood by some of you as being in agreement with our own way of seeing. Such an opinion is wrong. Such an eclectic association, where magists, spiritualists, kabbalists, orientalists, babists and even mystics meet, imposes a deformation on the spiritual work of each of its members, since the ideal of each influences the ideal of all. It is written “Every kingdom divided against itself shall perish”.

This was the final opinion of Sédir on Martinism, despite nowadays many Martinist orders still use his meditations (by the way written after he quit all orders) and disingenuously fail to mention why Sédir left esotericism at once and what was his latest opinion on the esoteric orders and Martinism in particular.

Monsieur Philippe

As for Monsieur Philippe, he condemned all secret societies and the use of magic (the latter because it is presented as a violation of nature, taking by force what does not belong to the adept). This is what he wrote on secret societies: “Secret societies are worthless. They have never done any good to anyone but themselves. They all lead to despotism, it must not be like that. We are all brothers, we must help each other and have no secrets. There must be no preference.” ⁴

On his article “Portrait du Maitre Philippe, un Inconnu”, Paul Sédir wrote: “…and the miracle, the improbable and impossible thing, took place without noise, without us being able to unravel how. All that the witnesses could ever know was that our thaumaturge condemned the practices of esotericism as contrary to divine law, did not use them in any form and did not recommend their theories”.

So, despite being friend to Papus and his circle, Monsieur Philippe never joined any order nor encouraged anyone to join them. Why? He was clearly against them. In my opinion he was trying to save them from the wrong path, he was able to do so with those closest to him, such as Paul Sédir and Marc Haven, but unfortunately unsuccessful with Papus and the others.

Les Amities Spirituelles

In spite of all his activity, Sédir never failed to keep an eye on the contemporary religious movements that were flourishing quite rapidly, such as the Theosophical Society of Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), who founded it in the United States in 1875 with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891). This society pretended to be Christian in order to distance its members from their native religion. In fact Blavatsky was renowned for her reinterpretation of the story of the Fall of man in Genesis 3, where she lauds Satan as a helper of mankind. The Theosophical Society was also led by Annie Besant (1847-1933), who in 1909 tried to convince the young Krishnamurti (1895-1986) that he was the reincarnation of great past masters. Krishnamurti definitively disowned her in 1929. 

According to Sédir, the philosopher and teacher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), who broke away from the Theosophists in 1912 and founded the Anthroposophical Society, was also clearly anti-Christian. Sédir did not fail to remind his friends that during the World War I, Steiner taught in his inner circle pan-German doctrines all devoted to Germany, although he later renounced them. Sédir intended to fight against the influence of these societies in a purely spiritual way, solely through the use of prayer and good example.

He set up a society named Les Amitiés Spirituells [Spiritual Friends], which is still active today, and started giving lectures on Jesus and the Gospel and publishing books. Sédir did not want to be a literary figure, but rather to encourage his listeners to follow the path of faith, first through his lectures and then through his books; he wanted to bring the lost sheeps back to Christ. As Jean Chapas would emphasise, Sédir was a sentinel of the eternal pilgrim, a sentinel destined not to lose those who are close to being lost because of the dangerous path of esotericism, and it is from this perspective that we must understand his work and final mission. It was good that Sédir was present in those times, his influence still being present today, enabling him to bring back, today as yesterday, certain inconsolable souls to Christ and to stop others at the edge of the abyss opening beneath their feet.

To the people he met, Sédir asked what they were looking for. If it is God, then he said that there is no need for initiations, rites and esotericism. The direct path to God is much simpler and it is open to anyone of good will.

Conclusion

René Guénon (1886-1951) went through the Papusian schools in his early days and left a rather harsh assessment of them: “It is impossible to bring together doctrines as dissimilar as all those grouped under the name of spiritualism: such elements can never form a stable edifice. The fault of most of these so-called spiritualist doctrines is that they are nothing more than materialism transposed to another plane, and that they attempt to apply to the realm of the spirit the methods that ordinary science uses to study the material world. These experimental methods will never reveal anything other than simple phenomena on which it is impossible to build any kind of metaphysical theory, because a universal principle cannot be inferred from particular facts. Moreover, the claim to acquire knowledge of the spiritual world through material movements is obviously absurd; it is only within ourselves that we can find the principles of this knowledge, and not in external subjects”.

I very much agree with Guénon on this point. The main difference between Christianism and the gnosticisim of the various esoteric orders is that while Christianism maintains that the soul achieves salvation from eternal damnation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), for Gnosticism, on the other hand, the salvation of the soul depends on a superior and enlightened form of knowledge (gnosis) of man, the world and the universe, which is the result of personal experience and a path of searching for truth. Furthermore, the salvation Christ offers is free and available to everyone (John 3:16), not just a select few who have acquired a special revelation.

Christianism and Gnosticism are irreconcilable, there is actually no such thing as Christian Gnosticism, which is a contradiction in terms, because true Christianity and Gnosticism are mutually exclusive systems of belief. The principles of Gnosticism contradict what it means to be a Christian. Therefore, while some forms of Gnosticism may claim to be Christian, they are in fact decidedly non-Christian.

It is up to each individual to ask himself what it is that he is looking for in esotericism and in the various esoteric orders. For a Christian, all the subjects practiced by the various orders are forbidden by both the Old and New Testament: alchemy, astrology, all kinds of divination, magic, etc. What the various esoteric orders propose is essentially ancient paganism in repackaged form.

The lure of the esoteric world is very powerful to resist, and those Christians inclined to mysticism, not grounded in faith and solid doctrine, often end up joining some sort of movement, being Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, any esoteric order, a new age movement, or an ‘alternative’ religion; with the consequent re-interpretation of the Gospel according to the view of the new movement.

Becoming progressively immersed in esotericism, engaging in practices like Kabbalah, Alchemy, Astrology, Hermeticism, Divination, Secret Traditions, Magic, grimoires, etc., the esoteric practitioner starts seeing these practices as the best route to self-improvement and enlightenment. All the while, he tells himself that nothing he learns and does can be evil because it is all about “love and light.” Unfortunately he knows nothing of the Bible’s teaching that your heart can deceive you (Jeremiah 17:9), and failed to appreciate how Satan, the father of lies, can further that deception.

The ‘new’ spirituality feeds his ego by teaching that there is no right, no wrong, no objective truth – just a landscape of experiences that one’s soul goes through. It gives you false idols to worship, starting with yourself, teaching that you are always perfect where you are and you are doing nothing wrong.

Esotericists commonly believe that they are beyond faith. I was once there, and my empathy runs deep for those who are deceived into the esoteric world. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would help them realise that esotericism with its practices is a dangerous replacement for our true saviour, Jesus Christ.

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Footnotes

1. Les Miroirs Magiques. Paul Sédir, 1884 ↩︎
2. Marc Haven (Le Docteur Emmanuel Lalande), par Mme Emmanuel Lalane, André Lalonde, L. Chamuel. 1934 ↩︎
3. Paul Sédir, une sentinelle. Les Amitiés Spirituelles, 2019 ↩︎
4. Vie et paroles du Maître Philippe. Alfred Haehl, 1959 ↩︎