Fulcanelli
Encyclopedia
Fulcanelli is almost certainly a pseudonym
assumed, during the early 20th century, by a French
alchemist
and esoteric author, whose identity is still debated. The name Fulcanelli seems to be a play on words: Vulcan the ancient Roman god of fire plus El, a Canaanite name for God and so the Sacred Fire
. The appeal of Fulcanelli as a cultural phenomenon is due partly to the mystery of most aspects of his life and works; one of the anecdotes pertaining to his life retells, in particular, how his most devoted pupil Eugène Canseliet
performed a successful transmutation
of 100 grams of lead
into gold
in a laboratory of the gas works of Sarcelles at the Georgi company with the use of a small quantity of the "Projection Powder
" given to him by his teacher, in the presence of Julien Champagne and Gaston Sauvage.
with his only student, Eugène Canseliet
. Le Mystere des Cathedrales first edition consisted of 300 copies and was published by Jean Schemit at 52 Rue Laffitte, Paris
, France
.
Theories about Fulcanelli speculate that he was one or another famous French occultist of the time: perhaps a member of the former Royal Family (the Valois
), or another member of the Frères d'Heliopolis (Brotherhood of Heliopolis, a society centred around Fulcanelli which included Eugène Canseliet
, Jean-Julien Champagne and Jules Boucher). Patrick Rivière, a student of Canseliet's, believes that Fulcanelli's true identity was Jules Violle
, famous French physicist. In a 1996 book, samples of writing by Jean-Julien Hubert Champagne (born January 23, 1877) and Fulcanelli are compared, and show considerable similarity. In any event, by 1916, Fulcanelli had accepted Canseliet, who was then only sixteen, as his first student. During 1921, he accepted the sons of Ferdinand de Lesseps as students and during 1922, two more students, Jules Boucher and Gaston Sauvage. During 1925, Fulcanelli relocated to 59 rue Rochechouart where he allegedly was successful in transmuting base metals into gold.
During 1960, with the publication of the international bestseller The Morning of the Magicians, Pauwels and Bergier popularized the mystery of the Master Alchemist.
Fulcanelli's Master
Without neglecting the belief of some researchers that Canseliet himself could have been Fulcanelli, Canseliet believed Fulcanelli's Master was Basil Valentine, an alchemist of the 15th century, the theoretical Master at least, for Fulcanelli's initiator may have been his own wife. As Fulcanelli describes in a strange letter he practically kept as a talisman about the completion of the Great Work by someone who is presumably Basil Valentine, he also mentions his own wife: "...When my wife told me the good news" and "...my wife, with the inexplicable intuition of sensitives, had a really strange dream." In other words, when referring to something as important as the Great Work
, he mentions his wife as someone important to the Magnum Opus
. Canseliet points out the mistake made by the Abbé Villain spelling Flamel's wife's name as "Pernelle". Nicolas Flamel himself knows her as "Perrenelle"
or the eternal almighty Lady of the Great Work, Mother Nature herself. According to Canseliet, she is "... La Dame par excellence."
Nazi interest in Alchemy
During the 1920s Franz Tausend
, the German alchemist, was involved with a gold-making project at the same time as General Erich von Ludendorff was involved in the same project presumably to help finance the Nazi Party.
It is believed that on the verge of World War II
, the Abwehr
was in active (but unsuccessful) pursuit of Fulcanelli because of his alleged knowledge of the technology of nuclear weapon
s.
Conclusion
According to Louis Pauwels, Fulcanelli survived World War II
and disappeared completely after the Liberation of Paris
. Every attempt to find him failed. During August 1945, American G-2 (Army Intelligence
) asked Bergier to contact a certain Army major who was in charge of the operation of searching and discovering German research reports on atomic energy. The anonymous U. S. Army major wanted to know the whereabouts of Fulcanelli. Bergier could not say and the army major seemed satisfied Fulcanelli could not be found.
Alchemy in modern times
During 1980, Glenn Seaborg transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth
into gold
at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. His experimental technique, using nuclear physics
, was able to remove protons and neutrons from the bismuth atoms. Seaborg's technique would have been much too expensive to enable routine manufacturing of gold, but his work is the closest achievement, so far, to the mythical Philosopher's Stone
of the ancient alchemists.
(Яков Михайлович Бергер) to warn French atomic physicist André Hellbronner
of man's impending use of nuclear weapons. According to Fulcanelli, nuclear weapons had been used before, by and against humanity. Dr. Hellbronner and Chevillon
among others were assassinated by the Gestapo
towards the end of World War II
.
The meeting between Jacques Bergier and Fulcanelli occurred during June 1937 in a laboratory of the Gas Board in Paris. According to Neil Powell, the following is a translation of the original verbatim transcript of the rendezvous. Fulcanelli told Bergier:
"You're on the brink of success, as indeed are several other of our scientists today. Please, allow me, be very very careful. I warn you... The liberation of nuclear power
is easier than you think and the radioactivity artificially produced can poison the atmosphere of our planet in a very short time, a few years. Moreover, atomic explosives can be produced from a few grains of metal powerful enough to destroy whole cities. I'm telling you this for a fact: the alchemists have known it for a very long time...
"I shall not attempt to prove to you what I'm now going to say but I ask you to repeat it to M. Hellbronner: certain geometrical arrangements of highly purified materials are enough to release atomic forces without having recourse to either electricity
or vacuum
techniques... The secret of alchemy is this: there is a way of manipulating matter and energy so as to produce what modern scientists call 'a field of force
'. The field acts on the observer and puts him in a privileged position vis-à-vis the Universe
. From this position he has access to the realities which are ordinarily hidden from us by time
and space
, matter
and energy
. This is what we call the Great Work."
When Bergier asked Fulcanelli about the Philosopher's Stone, the alchemist answered: "...the vital thing is not the transmutation of metals but that of the experimenter himself. It is an ancient secret that a few people rediscover each century. Unfortunately, only a handful are successful..."
Aftermath
During December 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn
and Fritz Strassmann
sent a manuscript to Naturwissenschaften reporting they had detected the element barium
after bombarding uranium
with neutron
s. Lise Meitner
and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch
correctly interpreted these results as being nuclear fission
.
and there was taken to a castle high in the mountains for a rendezvous with his former master. Canseliet had known Fulcanelli as an old man in his 80s but now the Master had grown younger: he was a man in his 50s. The reunion was brief and Fulcanelli once again disappeared not leaving any trace of his whereabouts.
; even the derivation is different: Cabala is derived from the Latin caballus, a horse, as in the Horse of Troy in the Iliad
. It is basically homophonic and symphonic rather than numerical; it is based on phonetic assonance
and resonance
to echo the Gay Science in the words of the Hellenic
gods spoken in sacred Ancient Greek
nomenclature. According to Walter Lang, who wrote an introduction to the English translation of Fulcanelli's Le Mystère des Cathédrales, the basic principles of the Phonetic Cabala are restored in Fulcanelli's Magnum Opus.
The books are written in a cryptic and erudite manner, replete with Latin
and Greek
puns, alchemical symbolism, double entendre
s, and lectures on and in Argot
and Cant
, all of which serve to keep casual readers ignorant.
A third book, Finis Gloriae Mundi (End of the World's Glory), was also reportedly being prepared for publication. The notes for the book were left for a time with his only student, Canseliet. Fulcanelli decided that the timing for publication of the book was not right and so it was never in fact published. However, a book by the same name, citing Fulcanelli as the author, was published in more recent times. That book has been shown to be a counterfeit.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
assumed, during the early 20th century, by a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
alchemist
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
and esoteric author, whose identity is still debated. The name Fulcanelli seems to be a play on words: Vulcan the ancient Roman god of fire plus El, a Canaanite name for God and so the Sacred Fire
Sacred fire of Vesta
The sacred fire of Vesta was a holy fire in Ancient Rome. The Vestal Virgins were selected by lot and served for thirty years, tending the holy fire and performing other rituals connected to domestic life—among them were the ritual sweeping of the temple on June 15 and the preparation of...
. The appeal of Fulcanelli as a cultural phenomenon is due partly to the mystery of most aspects of his life and works; one of the anecdotes pertaining to his life retells, in particular, how his most devoted pupil Eugène Canseliet
Eugène Canseliet
Eugène Léon Canseliet , was a French writer and alchemist. He was the only student of the mysterious alchemist known as Fulcanelli, and may have been Fulcanelli himself...
performed a successful transmutation
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
of 100 grams of lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
into gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
in a laboratory of the gas works of Sarcelles at the Georgi company with the use of a small quantity of the "Projection Powder
Projection (alchemy)
Projection was the ultimate goal of Western alchemy. Once the Philosopher's stone or powder of projection had been created, the process of Projection would be used to transmute a lesser substance into a higher form, often lead into gold....
" given to him by his teacher, in the presence of Julien Champagne and Gaston Sauvage.
Life
Fulcanelli was undoubtedly a Frenchman, educated profoundly, and learned in the ways of alchemical lore, architecture, art, science, and languages. Fulcanelli wrote two books that were published after his disappearance during 1926, having left his magnum opusMasterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
with his only student, Eugène Canseliet
Eugène Canseliet
Eugène Léon Canseliet , was a French writer and alchemist. He was the only student of the mysterious alchemist known as Fulcanelli, and may have been Fulcanelli himself...
. Le Mystere des Cathedrales first edition consisted of 300 copies and was published by Jean Schemit at 52 Rue Laffitte, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Theories about Fulcanelli speculate that he was one or another famous French occultist of the time: perhaps a member of the former Royal Family (the Valois
Valois Dynasty
The House of Valois was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, succeeding the House of Capet as kings of France from 1328 to 1589...
), or another member of the Frères d'Heliopolis (Brotherhood of Heliopolis, a society centred around Fulcanelli which included Eugène Canseliet
Eugène Canseliet
Eugène Léon Canseliet , was a French writer and alchemist. He was the only student of the mysterious alchemist known as Fulcanelli, and may have been Fulcanelli himself...
, Jean-Julien Champagne and Jules Boucher). Patrick Rivière, a student of Canseliet's, believes that Fulcanelli's true identity was Jules Violle
Jules Violle
Jules Louis Gabriel Violle was a French physicist and inventor.He is notable for having determined the solar constant at Mont Blanc in 1875, and, in 1881, for proposing a standard for luminous intensity, called the Violle, equal to the light emitted by 1 cm² of platinum at its melting point...
, famous French physicist. In a 1996 book, samples of writing by Jean-Julien Hubert Champagne (born January 23, 1877) and Fulcanelli are compared, and show considerable similarity. In any event, by 1916, Fulcanelli had accepted Canseliet, who was then only sixteen, as his first student. During 1921, he accepted the sons of Ferdinand de Lesseps as students and during 1922, two more students, Jules Boucher and Gaston Sauvage. During 1925, Fulcanelli relocated to 59 rue Rochechouart where he allegedly was successful in transmuting base metals into gold.
During 1960, with the publication of the international bestseller The Morning of the Magicians, Pauwels and Bergier popularized the mystery of the Master Alchemist.
Fulcanelli's Master
Without neglecting the belief of some researchers that Canseliet himself could have been Fulcanelli, Canseliet believed Fulcanelli's Master was Basil Valentine, an alchemist of the 15th century, the theoretical Master at least, for Fulcanelli's initiator may have been his own wife. As Fulcanelli describes in a strange letter he practically kept as a talisman about the completion of the Great Work by someone who is presumably Basil Valentine, he also mentions his own wife: "...When my wife told me the good news" and "...my wife, with the inexplicable intuition of sensitives, had a really strange dream." In other words, when referring to something as important as the Great Work
Great Work
The term Great Work is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema.-In Hermeticism:...
, he mentions his wife as someone important to the Magnum Opus
Great Work
The term Great Work is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema.-In Hermeticism:...
. Canseliet points out the mistake made by the Abbé Villain spelling Flamel's wife's name as "Pernelle". Nicolas Flamel himself knows her as "Perrenelle"
Perenelle Flamel
Perenelle Flamel was the wife of the famous 15th century alchemist Nicholas Flamel. Perenelle is believed to have been a widow when she married Nicolas Flamel at the age of 30. Perenelle was also an alchemist in her own right and assisted her husband in his experiments. Some believe she was...
or the eternal almighty Lady of the Great Work, Mother Nature herself. According to Canseliet, she is "... La Dame par excellence."
Nazi interest in Alchemy
During the 1920s Franz Tausend
Franz Tausend
Franz Seraph Tausend, "Der Goldmacher" was a German "alchemist" with bigger dreams than business sense.-Overview:...
, the German alchemist, was involved with a gold-making project at the same time as General Erich von Ludendorff was involved in the same project presumably to help finance the Nazi Party.
It is believed that on the verge of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
was in active (but unsuccessful) pursuit of Fulcanelli because of his alleged knowledge of the technology of nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s.
Conclusion
According to Louis Pauwels, Fulcanelli survived World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and disappeared completely after the Liberation of Paris
Liberation of Paris
The Liberation of Paris took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the surrender of the occupying German garrison on August 25th. It could be regarded by some as the last battle in the Battle for Normandy, though that really ended with the crushing of the Wehrmacht forces between the...
. Every attempt to find him failed. During August 1945, American G-2 (Army Intelligence
Army Intelligence
Army Intelligence may refer to:* The intelligence component of a given nation's army.* In the United States, Army Intelligence is usually referred to as Military Intelligence .-Further reading:...
) asked Bergier to contact a certain Army major who was in charge of the operation of searching and discovering German research reports on atomic energy. The anonymous U. S. Army major wanted to know the whereabouts of Fulcanelli. Bergier could not say and the army major seemed satisfied Fulcanelli could not be found.
Alchemy in modern times
During 1980, Glenn Seaborg transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth
Bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...
into gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. His experimental technique, using nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
, was able to remove protons and neutrons from the bismuth atoms. Seaborg's technique would have been much too expensive to enable routine manufacturing of gold, but his work is the closest achievement, so far, to the mythical Philosopher's Stone
Philosopher's stone
The philosopher's stone is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal...
of the ancient alchemists.
Rendez-vous à Paris
Walter Lang reports that Fulcanelli communicated with Jacques BergierJacques Bergier
Jacques Bergier , was a chemical engineer, member of the French-resistance, spy, journalist and writer...
(Яков Михайлович Бергер) to warn French atomic physicist André Hellbronner
Jacques Bergier
Jacques Bergier , was a chemical engineer, member of the French-resistance, spy, journalist and writer...
of man's impending use of nuclear weapons. According to Fulcanelli, nuclear weapons had been used before, by and against humanity. Dr. Hellbronner and Chevillon
Constant Chevillon
Constant Chevillon was Grand Master of the Freemasonry Rite of Memphis-Misraïm and head of FUDOFSI and other occult societies....
among others were assassinated by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
towards the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The meeting between Jacques Bergier and Fulcanelli occurred during June 1937 in a laboratory of the Gas Board in Paris. According to Neil Powell, the following is a translation of the original verbatim transcript of the rendezvous. Fulcanelli told Bergier:
"You're on the brink of success, as indeed are several other of our scientists today. Please, allow me, be very very careful. I warn you... The liberation of nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
is easier than you think and the radioactivity artificially produced can poison the atmosphere of our planet in a very short time, a few years. Moreover, atomic explosives can be produced from a few grains of metal powerful enough to destroy whole cities. I'm telling you this for a fact: the alchemists have known it for a very long time...
"I shall not attempt to prove to you what I'm now going to say but I ask you to repeat it to M. Hellbronner: certain geometrical arrangements of highly purified materials are enough to release atomic forces without having recourse to either electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
or vacuum
Vacuum
In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
techniques... The secret of alchemy is this: there is a way of manipulating matter and energy so as to produce what modern scientists call 'a field of force
Field (physics)
In physics, a field is a physical quantity associated with each point of spacetime. A field can be classified as a scalar field, a vector field, a spinor field, or a tensor field according to whether the value of the field at each point is a scalar, a vector, a spinor or, more generally, a tensor,...
'. The field acts on the observer and puts him in a privileged position vis-à-vis the Universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
. From this position he has access to the realities which are ordinarily hidden from us by time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
and space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, matter
Matter
Matter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. A common way of defining matter is as anything that has mass and occupies volume...
and energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
. This is what we call the Great Work."
When Bergier asked Fulcanelli about the Philosopher's Stone, the alchemist answered: "...the vital thing is not the transmutation of metals but that of the experimenter himself. It is an ancient secret that a few people rediscover each century. Unfortunately, only a handful are successful..."
Aftermath
During December 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
and Fritz Strassmann
Fritz Strassmann
Friedrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Strassmann was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in 1938, identified barium in the residue after bombarding uranium with neutrons, which led to the interpretation of their results as being from nuclear fission...
sent a manuscript to Naturwissenschaften reporting they had detected the element barium
Barium
Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in Group 2, a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. Barium is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts with...
after bombarding uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
with neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s. Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch
Otto Robert Frisch
Otto Robert Frisch , Austrian-British physicist. With his collaborator Rudolf Peierls he designed the first theoretical mechanism for the detonation of an atomic bomb in 1940.- Overview :...
correctly interpreted these results as being nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
.
Rendezvous in Spain
According to Canseliet, his last encounter with Fulcanelli happened during 1953 (years after his disappearance), when he went to SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and there was taken to a castle high in the mountains for a rendezvous with his former master. Canseliet had known Fulcanelli as an old man in his 80s but now the Master had grown younger: he was a man in his 50s. The reunion was brief and Fulcanelli once again disappeared not leaving any trace of his whereabouts.
The Phonetic Cabala
According to Fulcanelli, the Phonetic Cabala is not the Hebrew KabbalahKabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
; even the derivation is different: Cabala is derived from the Latin caballus, a horse, as in the Horse of Troy in the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
. It is basically homophonic and symphonic rather than numerical; it is based on phonetic assonance
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and together with alliteration and consonance serves as one of the building blocks of verse. For example, in the phrase "Do you like blue?", the is repeated within the sentence and is...
and resonance
Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...
to echo the Gay Science in the words of the Hellenic
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
gods spoken in sacred Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
nomenclature. According to Walter Lang, who wrote an introduction to the English translation of Fulcanelli's Le Mystère des Cathédrales, the basic principles of the Phonetic Cabala are restored in Fulcanelli's Magnum Opus.
Works
The two books by Fulcanelli are- Le Mystère des Cathédrales (The Mystery of the Cathedrals), written during 1922 and published in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
during 1926. - Les Demeures Philosophales (Dwellings of the Philosophers), published in Paris during 1929.
The books are written in a cryptic and erudite manner, replete with Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
puns, alchemical symbolism, double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
s, and lectures on and in Argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
and Cant
Cant (language)
A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...
, all of which serve to keep casual readers ignorant.
A third book, Finis Gloriae Mundi (End of the World's Glory), was also reportedly being prepared for publication. The notes for the book were left for a time with his only student, Canseliet. Fulcanelli decided that the timing for publication of the book was not right and so it was never in fact published. However, a book by the same name, citing Fulcanelli as the author, was published in more recent times. That book has been shown to be a counterfeit.
External links
- The Fulcanelli Mystery by Patrick J. Smith