John Henry Mackay, by Wikipedia

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Jakob Lorber
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 5/12/18

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Jakob Lorber.

Jakob Lorber (22 July 1800 – 24 August 1864) was a Christian mystic and visionary from the Duchy of Styria, who promoted liberal Universalism. He referred to himself as "God's scribe". He wrote that on 15 March 1840 he began hearing an 'inner voice' from the region of his heart and thereafter transcribed what it said. By the time of his death 24 years later he had written manuscripts equivalent to more than 10,000 pages in print.

His writings were published posthumously as amounting to a "New Revelation", and the contemporary "Lorber movement" forms one of the major neo-revelationist sects, mostly active in German-speaking Europe, although part of Lorber's writings have also been translated into more than 20 languages (according to the website of the Lorber Publisher) and the world-wide spread adherents do not gather in an institutionalized church, but usually continue to belong to their previous Christian denomination.

Biography

Jakob Lorber was born in Kanischa, a small village in the Jahring parish, Duchy of Styria (now Kaniža pri Jarenini in Lower Styria, Slovenia) to a peasant family, Michael Lorber and his wife Maria, née Tautscher. He was trained as a village teacher.

A brief biography by his friend Karl Gottfried Ritter von Leitner indicates that Lorber was an uncomplicated person.[1]

He was observed while writing by well-educated men in the city of Graz, such as Dr. Carl-Friedrich Zimpel, the mayor of Graz, Anton Hüttenbrenner, his brother the composer Anselm Hüttenbrenner, the poet and Secretary to the Estates Karl Gottfried von Leitner, Dr. Anton Kammerhuber, Leopold Cantily, pharmacist of Graz, and others. These men observed him writing and verified his simple life.[2] Lorber was open and friendly regarding his transcriptions yet found himself involved in small intrigues designed to prove that he was a fake. For instance, the wife of one of his friends was certain that Lorber had studied the material he was pretending to hear from the inner voice, but she never found the scientific books she had supposed he was hiding, eventually finding his only research material to be a single copy of the Bible.[3]

He had musical talent and learned the violin, taking lessons from the virtuoso violinist Paganini, and once giving a violin concert at the La Scala Opera House in Milan. In 1840—the same year he claimed to begin hearing the inner voice—Lorber was offered the position of assistant musical director at the theater in Trieste. He claimed that the inner voice, however, directed him to decline and take up a life of solitude instead. Lorber's writings reveal that the inner voice spoke freely in first person as the voice of Jesus Christ.[4]

Theology, geology, history, free will

Lorber's prose has been described as compelling, moving some readers to compare it with writings by other mystics such as Emanuel Swedenborg, Jakob Boehme and Rudolf Steiner. Lorber himself makes reference to Swedenborg, in his book From Hell to Heaven (book 2 chapter 104 verse 4).

Lorber's work shows a resemblance to Swedenborgianism. His Great Gospel of John is a detailed first-person narrative of Jesus' three-year ministry, around 2,000 pages in length and based on the same structure as the Gospel of John, which is described as an eternal book because of John's continual desire to understand the spiritual interpretation of Jesus' parables. The larger book reiterates Jesus' claim to be God himself by revealing many more astonishing miracles than are found in the original gospels.[improper synthesis?]

The New Revelation teaches that redemption from the fallen state of the world is necessary, but unlike orthodox Christianity, which profess this redemption to come only through the blood of Jesus through his sacrificial death, the New Revelation teaches that it cannot be completed without a personal effort consisting in purification processes and works of love done by the individual.[improper synthesis?]

The Great Gospel of John

In the Great Gospel of John, the narrator, Jesus, explains that he is the creator of the material universe, which was designed both as a confinement of Satan, and so he could take upon himself the condition of a man. He says he did this to inspire his children who could otherwise not perceive him in his primordial form as a spirit. He gives descriptions of the eons of time involved in creating the Earth. He does so in a manner similar to the modern theory of evolution all the way up to the point several thousand years ago when Jesus placed Adam upon the Earth, which at the time contained man-like creatures who did not have free will, being simply the most clever of the animals.[5]

In comprehensive manner, the Great Gospel of John continually emphasizes the importance of free will. In this book, heaven and hell are presented as conditions already within us, expressed according to whether we live in harmony or contrary to God's divine order. The Great Gospel of John also states that the gospels of John and Matthew were written at the time of the events they chronicle; for instance, Lorber writes that Jesus specifically told Matthew to take notes during the Sermon on the Mount.[4] Such an account seems at first contrary to orthodox Christian theology which typically places the authorship of Matthew some years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that of John even later. However, in the Great Gospel of John the narrator explains how this happened. He claims that there were many writers who described him, including several authors named Matthew, who all wrote similarly over a period of many years.

Paul's epistle to the Laodiceans

Lorber claimed to have heard by the inner voice, in 1844, the "lost" letter Paul wrote to the assembly of the Laodiceans, as referred to in Colossians 4:16. [1]

Several texts purporting to be the "lost" letter survive, notably one brief text preserved in medieval Vulgate manuscripts, attested from the 6th century. Another candidate is attributed to Marcion, listed in the Muratorian fragment. Marcion's text is lost, and the Vulgate text is widely recognized as pseudepigraphical, and was decreed uncanonical by the Council of Florence of 1439-43.[6] There is no resemblance between the letters produced by Lorber via the inner voice and the original manuscripts that survived. Publisher of this Lorber manuscript claims that the letter's being lost reflects the falling away of the Church from true Christianity.[7]

Reception

Publication

Lorber posthumously attracted a following, and his writings were published and frequently reprinted, mostly with Lorber & Turm, a dedicated publisher based in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany. The original manuscripts and copies of some of the manuscripts by close friends of Lorber are still preserved in the archives of the Lorber & Turm publisher.

The German philosopher E.F. Schumacher refers to the New Revelation (NR) in his book “A Guide for the Perplexed” as follows: "They (the books of the NR) contain many strange things which are unacceptable to modern mentality, but at the same time contain such plethora of high wisdom and insight that it would be difficult to find anything more impressive in the whole of world literature. Lorber's books, at the same time, are full of statements on scientific matters which flatly contradicted the sciences of his time and anticipated a great deal of modern physics and astronomy. ... There is no rational explanation for the range, profundity and precision of their contents."[8]

Lorber's work is divided into several books which, in aggregate, are called the New Revelation.

His Great Gospel of John was published in ten volumes and frequently reprinted, the 8th edition dating to 1996. The Gospel of Jacob appeared in a 12th edition in 2006.

Lorber's works have partially been translated into English, appearing with Merkur Publishing.[9]

Adherents

Lorber and his friends were members of the Roman Catholic Church, and Lorber's revelations asked them not to leave the church, but to convince it of the genuinely divine nature of the "New Revelation" by leading exemplary lives. However, the First Vatican Council of 1869/1870 set Lorber's writings on the index. Occultist Leopold Engel was one of Lorber's followers, and also wrote an 11th volume, claiming to be a follow up to Lorber's The Great Gospel of John close to 30 years after Lorber's death.

There is a movement of adherents of Lorber's writings (Lorber-Bewegung, Lorberianer, Lorber-Gesellschaften), mostly active in German-speaking Europe. There is no organizational structure beyond small regional circles, While there is no accurate estimate of the total number of adherents, it likely exceeds 100,000 worldwide.[10]

Criticism

One main point of criticism of Lorber's works was the use of the first person as if the writings were dictated by Jesus Christ himself.[11][12][13] Some statements can be considered anti-semitic,[11][12][13][14] and Lorber was in fact noted by the anti-semitic proponents of "Ariosophy" racial mysticism during the 1920, e.g. by Lanz von Liebenfels, who in 1926 published on Jakob Lorber as "the greatest ariosophic medium of the modern era" (das grösste ariosophische Medium der Neuzeit)[15] Then again it is said in the books of Lorber, that salvation comes to all men from the Jews, and that one should in all truth return to Judaism[16] and that the God of the Jews is the only true, eternal God.[17][improper synthesis?] It is also said to be the will of God or Jesus that all men should be friends, whether they are Jews or gentiles.[18][improper synthesis?]

Kurt Hutten, former chairman of the Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW, an apologetic institution of the Evangelical Church in Germany) has identified Swedenborg and Lorber as recipients of equally valid private revelation.[19] Official statements of the EZW are more skeptical, assuming psychological explanations for Lorber's revelations. EZW points to a 1966 Berne dissertation by Antoinette Stettler-Schär which diagnosed Lorber with paranoid schizophrenia. This diagnosis has been dismissed by Bernhard Grom, who diagnoses self-induced hallucination.[20] However the current version of the DSM characterizes a mental disorder as "a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual [which] is associated with present distress...or disability...or with a significant increased risk of suffering.", which leads to the fact that no valid psychological diagnosis can be made in the absence of the subject or of any clinical observations concerning a specific distress or disability occurred during his life.

Andreas Finke, vice-chairman of the EZW, concludes that the content of Lorber's revelations reflect both the period during which they were written down and the knowledge of their author, identifying them as "pious poetry in the best sense of the term, but not divine dictation."[21]

Bibliography

• Das grosse Evangelium Johannis (The Great Gospel of John), first edition 1871, 10 volumes, Lorber-Verlag, 1996 reprint: ISBN 978-3-87495-213-2 ff.
• "condensed version" in English, Zluhan Verlag (1985), ISBN 978-3-87495-305-4.
• Die Haushaltung Gottes (The Household of God), 3 vols., Lorber-Verlag, 5th ed. (1981), ISBN 978-3-87495-200-2.
• English translation: Zluhan Verlag (1995) ISBN 978-3-87495-314-6.
• Die geistige Sonne, 2 vols., Lorber-Verlag, 9th ed. (1996), ISBN 978-3-87495-206-4.
• Die natürliche Sonne Bietigheim Württemberg, Neu-Salems-Verlag (1928)
• Die Heilkraft des Sonnenlichtes, Lorber-Verlag, 2006 reprint: ISBN 978-3-87495-175-3.
• Jenseits der Schwelle: Sterbeszenen, Lorber-Verlag, 2004 reprint (9th ed.): ISBN 978-3-87495-163-0.
• Die Jugend Jesu. Das Jakobus-Evangelium, 12th ed. (1996), ISBN 978-3-87495-164-7.
• Die Fliege: Einblicke in die Wunder der Schöpfung , Zluhan Verlag, 7th ed. (2000), ISBN 978-3-87495-168-5.
• Bischof Martin: Die Entwicklung einer Seele im Jenseits , 3rd ed. (2003), ISBN 978-3-87495-009-1.
• Die drei Tage im Tempel , Zluhan Verlag, 10th ed. (1995), ISBN 978-3-87495-014-5.
• Naturgeheimnisse: Das Naturgeschehen und sein geistiger Hintergrund , Lorber-Verlag, 3rd ed. (1994), ISBN 978-3-87495-045-9.
• Die Wiederkunft Christi: Ein Entwicklungsbild der Menschheit , Zluhan Verlag, 5th ed. (2000), ISBN 978-3-87495-109-8.
• Paulus' Brief an die Gemeinde in Laodizea, Zluhan Verlag; 6th ed. (1993), ISBN 978-3-87495-124-1.
• Briefwechsel Jesu mit Abgarus Ukkama von Edessa, ISBN 978-3-87495-011-4.
• Der Saturn: Darstellung dieses Planeten samt Ring und Monden und seiner Lebewesen, Lorber-Verlag, 4th ed. (2009), ISBN 978-3-87495-048-0.
• Erde und Mond, Zluhan Verlag, 2000 reprint of 4th ed. (1953), ISBN 978-3-87495-165-4.
• Der Großglockner: Ein Evangelium der Berge, Zluhan Verlag, 7th ed. (2009), ISBN 978-3-87495-111-1.
• Ritter von Leitner:Jakob Lorber, der Steiermärkische Theosoph
• Junge Michael:Dokumentation um Jakob Lorber. Books on Demand GmbH, 2004, ISBN 3-8334-1562-2
• Hutten Kurt:Seher - Grübler - Enthusiasten. Das Buch der traditionellen Sekten und religiösen Sonderbewegungen. Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-7918-2130-X
• Pöhlmann Matthias (ed.): "Ich habe euch noch viel zu sagen ...": Gottesboten - Propheten - Neuoffenbarer. EZW-Texte 169. Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen, Berlin 2003, ISSN 0085-0357
• Obst Helmut:Apostel und Propheten der Neuzeit. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-55438-9, ISBN 3-525-55439-7, 233-264
• Gassmann Lothar:Kleines Sekten-HandbuchMago-Bucher, 2005, ISBN 3-9810275-0-7, 92-95
• Stettler Antoinette-Schär:Jakob Lorber: Sektenstifters eines Psychopathologie zur. Dissertation an der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Bern, 1966
• Johanna Böhm: Eine kritische Durchsicht.

References

1. Leitner, Karl Gottfried Ritter von
2. Ist Lorber ein echter Prophet Gottes?
3. Kurt Eggenstein: 'The Prophet J. Lorber Predicts Coming Catastrophies and the True Christianity'
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 December 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2006.
5. Kurt Eggenstein: 'The Prophet J. Lorber Predicts Coming Catastrophies and the True Christianity'
6. The reluctant messenger: The Epistle to the Laodiceans
7. Publisher's introduction to Lorber's Epistle to the Laodiceans
8. A Guide for the Perplexed, Schumacher, 1977, pg. 107
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
10. Horst Reller, Hans Krech & Matthias Kleiminger (eds.): Lorber-Bewegung - Lorber-Gesellschaft - Lorberianer. In: Handbuch Religiöse Gemeinschaften und Weltanschauungen. 6th ed., Gütersloh 2006, 214-226.
11. Himmelsgaben Band 2, 8. Februar 1844
12. Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen, Ich habe euch noch viel zu sagen …”, p. 21
13. Dr. Reinhard Rinnerthaler: Zur Kommunikationsstruktur religiöser Sondergemeinschaften am Beispiel der Jakob-Lorber-Bewegung. p. 82
14. Andreas Fincke, Jesus Christus im Werk Jakob Lorbers: Untersuchungen zum Jesusbild und zur Christologie einer „Neuoffenbarung”, 162ff.
15. published in Zeitschrift für Menschenkenntnis und Schiksalsforschung; noted in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism (1985), p. 256.
16. Lorber: Great Gospel of John, Volume 1, Chapter 187, Paragraph 10
17. Lorber: Great Gospel of John, Volume 1, Chapter 210, Paragraph 13
18. Lorber: Great Gospel of John, Volume 10, Chapter 38, Paragraph 5
19. Kurt Hutten, Seher - Grübler - Enthusiasten. Das Buch der traditionellen Sekten und religiösen Sonderbewegungen. Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-7918-2130-X.
20. EZW, ed. Pöhlmann (2003), p. 10.
21. Jakob Lorbers „Neuoffenbarungen” spiegeln nicht nur die Zeit des 19. Jahrhunderts wider, sondern auch den Kenntnisstand und die geistige Welt ihres Verfassers. (…) Lorbers Texte sind – im besten Sinne des Wortes – fromme Dichtung, aber sie sind kein Diktat Gottes. EZW, ed. Pöhlmann (2003), p. 44

External links

• Works by or about Jakob Lorber at Internet Archive
• His New Word
• Jakob Lorber Online Search Database
• The New Revelation of Jesus Christ - English-Romanian site
• Jakob Lorber Foundation, New Zealand
• Lorber-weblinks
• Jakob Lorber Books . com | Books E-Books Links
• Jakob Lorber: Letter of St. Paul to the Assembly of the Laodiceans
• The Great Gospel of John Vol. 1-10 in English

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William Wynn Westcott (Biography)
December 17, 1848 - July, 1925
by Golden Dawn Biographies
Accessed: 5/12/18

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Background

Dr. William Wynn Westcott was born in Leamington, Warkwickshire, England on December 17, 1848. Dr. Westcott's parents died when he was 10 years old and he was adopted by his uncle who, like his father, was a medical doctor. Dr. Westcott attended Kingston Grammar School at Kingston-upon-Thames, and graduated from University College, London with a Bachelor in Medicine. He soon went into medical practice with his uncle in Soberest. Dr. Westcott was described by associates of his time as "docile, scholarly, industrious, addicted to regalia and histrionics." He seems to have had no "girlfriends" in the ordinarily accepted sense, but had a great many "platonic" friendships with female initiates.

Magical, Mystical & Masonic Life

In 1875 Dr. Westcott joined the Masonic Lodge at Crewkerne, England, and in he 1878 took a two years' hiatus at Hendon, England to study Qabalah and other metaphysical subjects. In 1881, he became deputy Coroner for Hoxton, and during the early 1890's he was appointed Coroner for the North-East of London. Sometime between 1865 and 1878 he was admitted to Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.) which was open only to high-grade Freemasons. Dr. Westcott became Magus of S.R.I.A. in 1890 and became Worshipful Master of the Research Lodge Quatuor Comati as well.

At least two of the Golden Dawn's original founding members were members of Mme. Blavatsky's Theosophical Society- Dr. Westcott and S. L. MacGregor Mathers. It is unclear if Dr. Woodman was a member. In the book, "The Magical Revival", Mr. Kenneth Grant asserts that "...The Golden Dawn was the inner Mystery School of the Order that formulated itself in the outer world as the Theosophical Society." The Theosophical Society antedated the Golden Dawn by six years. Westcott was soon admitted to the nucleus of the Theosophical Society, the Esoteric Section, and became close friends with Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland who were proponents of Christian Esotercism. When the members of the Esoteric Section broke away from the Theosophical Society, they formed the Hermetic Society in 1884, and Westcott was invited to join as an honorary member.

The Golden Dawn

From about 1885 onwards, the publication "Transacdone," which was issued annually by Metropolitan College of the S.R.I.A., indicated an expansion of interests of the S.R.I.A. from spirituality into regular lectures on the Qabalah and papers on Masonic symbolism. Dr. W.R.Woodman, who was Supreme Magus at the time, was a student of the Qabalah, as were Dr. Westcott and Mathers. However, the S.R.I.A. could not and would not be re-organized as a school for Qabalistic and occult study. The need for an organization to teach and research these subjects lead to the birth of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

The Rev. A.F.A. Woodford found the Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscripts in a cupboard where Kenneth Mackenzie (a leading Masonic figure of his time) had stored them. Rev. Woodford showed the manuscripts to Dr. Westcott, due to Westcott's reputation as a scholar of ancient lore. The cipher used in the Golden Dawn manuscripts was similar to one used in the 15th century by Abbott Trithemius to encode some of his writings. This cipher was already known to Westcott when he received the documents from Woodford since he possessed a copy of Trithemius' works on the cipher. Westcott was fully conversant with Masonic rituals, and immediately realized that the Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscripts were a series of five summarized grade initiations. He commissioned S.L. MacGregor Mathers to re-write the rituals into a workable shape. He chose Mathers due to the latter's reputation as a translator of occult texts and his particular experience and erudition with occult lore and the fact that Mathers was both a Masonic Brother and a co-leader of S.R.I.A. Westcott, Woodman, and Mathers were all IVth degree initiates of the S.R.I.A., and thus formed its governing triad. It is little wonder that the first governing triad of the Golden Dawn were these self-same individuals! Superficially the Golden Dawn represented a deepening extension of S.R.I.A.. with its emphasis on Ritual Magic, Alchemy, and the Qabalah.

Dr. Westcott was very influential in the formation and working of the Golden Dawn. He was responsible for running the Golden Dawn in its early years. He was Praemonstrator of the Isis-Urania Temple in London and was the order's organizing genius. His duties included being "recorder of minutes," superintendent of the 5=6 admission, corresponding secretary and treasurer, not to mention the order's Chief Adept in Anglia from 1896 until the schism. Many manuscripts exist to this date written by his hand, which are principal instruction documents for the Golden Dawn and its Second Order. This multiplicity of functions and offices, in addition to his duties as Coroner, must have filled his every minute.

Both Dr. Westcott and Mathers (Dr. Woodman died very early on in the Golden Dawn's history) were both honest, hermetic scholars, and the teaching of their members fell on their shoulders. They taught Qabalah, Alchemy, Astrology, Geomantic and Tarot Divination, Tattwa Vision and the Pentagram Ritual. Much of the background material for these teachings came from Dr. Westcott; his occult and metaphysical library was unrivaled in his day, and was the library of the S.R.I.A.. The grade structure of the Golden Dawn paralleled that of the S.R.I.A., with the exception of the highest degree of Ipsissimus, which was called Jesus in the S.R.I.A..

Another, seemingly unexplored affinity between Westcott and Mathers, is speculated as the anti-vivisection movement in England at the time they were together. There are brief glimpses of this through Westcott, who after all, was a medical doctor and a coroner and who must have participated in his own share of "animal studies'. However, when the esoteric or occult or magical were involved, Westcott seems to have sided directly with Mathers. For example, in Westcott's publication of the Eleusian Mysteries, he refers only [to] the sacrifice of plants and Herb's and perfumes, and omits any reference to the animal sacrifices known associated with the rites. A careful reading of many of Westcott's papers conveys this tenor toward occult studies.

Dr. Westcott stressed the essential nature of having ten grades, for they represent the ten Sephiroth of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. In the Golden Dawn document entitled "Historical Lecture, by VH. Frater Sapere Aude, Praemonstrator of Isis-Urania Temple', Westcott states: "The S.R.I.A. and its branches in the several countries, and the Golden Dawn Order both descended from the same parents and predecessors; the one developed into a masculine and Masonic system; the other remaining the ancient and more extended basis of the admission of all bona-fide students: rich or poor and without regard to sex, may alike go on and prosper without interfering with the tranquillity of the other and can lead true and patient students who can Will - Dare - Learn - and Be Silent to the Summon Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness."

By 1896 the Golden dawn was having many internal problems. And around this time Dr. Westcott was requested by political authorities to cease his occult activities with the Golden Dawn. The Order was achieving a notoriety with the press, and it was not seen fit for a Coroner of the Crown to be made shame of in such a way. Someone had sent a letter to Westcott's superiors to engineer their discoveries. Although Dr. Westcott ceased all outward activities with the Golden Dawn, he was still very much involved with its functioning, through either the Masonic or the S.R.I.A.. channels. Later in 1900 (once the furor has stopped) Dr. Westcott again joined the Golden Dawn in the rival Isis-Urania of the Stella Matutina and became its Praemonstrator. Dr. Westcott never at once sided against Mathers during this entire affair. Neither did he claim or disclaim the proof or lack of the same for the existence of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order.

Publishing

Dr. Westcott published an enormous number of works, besides his medical treatises. He wrote many subjects for the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia; he translated "The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Reg." in 1896 from Levi's work on the Tarot and edited the famous series of monographs entitled, the "Collectanea Hermetica." Many of his writings were in the form of brief handbooks, dealing with such subjects as Alchemy, Astrology, Death, Divination, Numerology, Serpent Myths, Talismans, and Theosophy. He also translated the Sepher Yetzirah into English. Westcott's scholarship, knowledge, and erudition are impeccable. In the field of medicine he published materials on such subjects as alcoholism and suicide. He was accustomed to examining evidence with the greatest possible degree, and most probably conducted more than ten thousand inquests during his period as Coroner 1880 to 1910.

Later Life

In 1918 Dr. Westcott retired from professional life and emigrated to the Republic of South Africa to live with his daughter and son-in-law at Durban to begin work on behalf of the Theosophical Society (and perhaps Masonic work also). He continued his studies, his letters, and his writings. He died in Durban, Republic of South Africa, in July, 1925.