Martines de Pasqually e la Reintegrazione/en

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Martinès de Pasqually (Grenoble 1727 — Saint-Domingue, today Haiti, 1774) is the central figure of 18th-century French esoteric Christianity. He founded between 1754-1758 the Ordre des Élus Coëns de l'Univers (Elect Priests of the Universe, from the Hebrew cohen = priest) — a theurgic Masonic rite of which some rituals of evocation and ceremonial operations remain among the most audacious documented in modern Europe. He left unfinished a Traité de la Réintégration des Êtres (Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings) — a cornerstone work of the hermetic-Masonic cluster documented by the wiki, of which Willermoz is the direct heir and, indirectly, the entire Christian-initiatic side of the tradition that the Convent of Wilhelmsbad (1782) codified as the Régime Écossais Rectifié (RER).

I. Life and context

[VERIFIED] Galtier (La Pierre Philosophale...) places Pasqually in the context of the Jewish communities of the Comtat Venaissin (Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon) — one of the oldest Jewish presences in Europe, maintained in the Papal States when it had been expelled elsewhere.

Pasqually's origins are a subject of historiographical debate: he is called a «Portuguese Jew» by 18th-century writers, although Galtier specifies that the formula did not imply birth in Portugal but «belonging to the networks of Sephardic communities of Mediterranean Europe». A possible origin remains «of Iberian Sephardic lineage with relations also outside French communities» — Morocco, Rome, Livorno, Avignon, Nice.

[VERIFIED] Galtier emphasizes the decisive contextual fact: «Jewish religious schools formed scholars who knew the sacred texts perfectly: Bible, Talmud, Zohar, etc. They taught not only Hebrew, but also Aramaic (then called "Chaldean"). Accomplished Kabbalists, the Portuguese Jews were renowned for their occult knowledge». Pasqually comes from this environment of high Sephardic Kabbalistic tradition — which explains the Kabbalistic-Christian character of his work.

[VERIFIED] Pasqually's Masonic-theurgic activity unfolds in three main stages:

1754-1758: foundation and first patents of the Ordre des Élus Coëns. Pasqually operates in Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon.
1767-1772: period of the Order's greatest development, with Lyon as the center of initiatic transmission. It is in Lyon that Willermoz becomes Pasqually's disciple in 1767, founding with his brother Pierre-Jacques the Élu Coën lodge La Bienfaisance.
1772-1774: Pasqually embarks for Saint-Domingue (today Haiti) to settle an inheritance matter. He does not return from that journey: he dies in Port-au-Prince on September 20, 1774, leaving the Traité de la Réintégration unfinished and the Order without a recognized leader.

II. The Ordre des Élus Coëns

[VERIFIED] Galtier describes the Order as «Masonic Élus Coëns of the Universe of Martinès de Pasqually» (line 1498 original text). The word Coën is the Hebrew כֹּהֵן (priest): the Elect Priests are therefore initiates who exercise a theurgic priesthood — a ritual ministry that operates directly on the invisible plane.

The initiatic structure is articulated in three classes and nine degrees:

Symbolic class (1-3): apprentice, fellow, master (essentially adapted degrees of blue lodge Masonry)
Class of the Port (4-7): apprentice coën, fellow coën, particular coën, master coën
Class of the Cross (8-9): Grand Élu (Réau-Croix)

The higher degrees (particularly the Réau-Croix) involve specific theurgic operations with ritual designs (the pantacles) traced on the ground, divine words in Hebrew, evocations of spiritual entities (angels, demons, souls of the deceased). It is an explicit operative theurgy, not symbolic.

III. The doctrine of Reintegration

Pasqually's central doctrine is the Reintegration of Beings, expounded in his Traité. It is simultaneously a cosmology, an anthropology, and an operative soteriology:

Cosmology: emanation and the fall

God (the Supreme Being) emanates, by pure creative power, a series of spiritual beings. The hierarchy comprises four categories of emanated beings:

Beings of the Divine Quaternary: emanated first, around the Father — perfect, immutable
Beings of the Septenary: spirits that preside over cosmic operations
Beings of the material Universe: forces that animate terrestrial nature
Man: emanated last, image of the Word, endowed with a spiritual power that equals the higher emanated beings

The fall is not only Adam's sin — there is an earlier fall of part of the spiritual beings (an echo of the doctrine of rebel angels, rethought in a Gnostic-Kabbalistic key). Adam had been emanated to compensate for the previous fall — but he in turn falls. Historical humanity is therefore exiled from its primitive condition, imprisoned in matter, but retains the original spiritual power to reascend.

Anthropology: man as a fallen spiritual being

Man is not simply «created in the image of God» — he is an immediate spiritual emanation of the Word. His present condition — a body of matter, sensations, passions — is a provisional condition of exile, not his proper nature. The proper condition is the spiritual-luminous one that the doctrine of the four bodies (solar body, luminous body, Origen's nous, Agrippa's upright-unfallen soul) describes in hermetic language.

Soteriology: the twofold operation

[VERIFIED] The central doctrinal cipher of Pasqually — the one that distinguishes him from all other systems of his time — is the distinction between Reconciliation and Reintegration. Boyer, citing Robert Amadou, states it precisely:

«The constitution of man according to the Kabbalah surpasses the body and the tripartite soul. Two superior states metamorphose us, little worlds, little gods: haya and yehida. No adequate translation point, as far as I know, except for the two modalities of being that Martinès de Pasqually respectively names "Reconciliation" (individual) and "Reintegration" (universal)».

Reconciliation (haya in Kabbalah): the individual recomposition of the initiate — his particular redemption, the return of his own spiritual person to union with the Word. It is the work of one who enters the Élus Coëns and completes their theurgic path.
Reintegration (yehida in Kabbalah): the universal return of all fallen beings to their primitive condition. It is the historical-cosmic fulfillment that precedes and prepares the end of times — the Christian apocatastasis understood in a Kabbalistic-operative sense.

The two operations are not separate. Individual reconciliation contributes to universal reintegration: every Élu Coën who reconciles with the Word accelerates the universal return of all beings.

IV. The legacy

Pasqually's sudden death in 1774 leaves the Order without a unified guide. His legacy branches into two streams:

1. The Lyonese and Willermozian branch (operative-initiatic)

Willermoz inherits the archives and rituals of the Coëns. After Pasqually's death, he continues in the initiatic direction by integrating the doctrine of Reintegration into the system of the Strict Templar Observance that he had encountered through his brother Pierre-Jacques. The Convent of Wilhelmsbad of 1782 marks the turning point: there Willermoz succeeds in having the reformed Strict Observance (the new «Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte») adopt the doctrine of Reintegration as its theoretical core. Thus is born the Régime Écossais Rectifié which is — essentially — the rite that carries forward the Martinèsian legacy in European Freemasonry.

Subsequently, after Wilhelmsbad, Willermoz opens up to magnetism (Société de la Concorde of Lyon, 1783) and seeks to renew Pasqually's doctrine through the revelations of the somnambulist Mlle Rochette — the episode known as «the Incognito Agent».

2. The Saint-Martiniste branch (mystical-literary)

Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803) — the «Philosophe Inconnu» — is also a disciple of Pasqually in Lyon. After the master's death, he progressively abandons the operative theurgic path (rites, evocations, pantacles) judging it dangerous and dispersive, and turns towards an inner mystical path founded on the prayer of the heart and meditation on the Scriptures. His work (L'Homme de désir, 1790; Le Nouvel Homme, 1796) transports the doctrine of Reintegration to a contemplative-Christological plane.

This is the mystical Martinism to which — a century later — Gérard Encausse (Papus) will refer, with the founding of the Ordre Martiniste (1891). See The Filations of the Egyptian Rites for the institutional framework of post-Papus Martinism.

[VERIFIED] Galtier notes a documented internal tension: «Papus's adversaries were adepts of the "operative Martinézism" of Martinès de Pasqually and quite disdainful of the "mystical Martinism" of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin claimed by Papus». Even today the two branches remain distinct: Papusian exoteric Martinism (Papus → Bricaud → Chevillon → Dupont → Ambelain → Kloppel) and the small nuclei of Élus Coëns who have sought to restore the original operative path.

V. The problem of Pasqually's «source»

[VERIFIED] Galtier reports a crucial datum for the wiki, citing a testimony of Charles of Hesse-Cassel: «According to Willermoz, what he had learned of [Waechter]'s doctrine seemed to indicate that it had the same source as the Traité de la Réintégration of Martinès de Pasqually, and that there was reason to believe that Waechter possessed one of the famous originals from which Pasqually declared he had drawn his incomplete teaching».

Pasqually himself, in other words, declared his doctrine not a personal invention but a partial reconstruction based on more ancient sources that he could not obtain in full. The point is important for the methodological position of the wiki: even the most articulated system of the esoteric 18th century presents itself as a resumption of an undocumented earlier tradition, not as an original foundation.

[VERIFIED] Galtier specifies that the Asiatic Brother Hirschfeld declared he possessed «Kabbalistic writings analogous to those from which Martinès de Pasqually had drawn inspiration and whose doctrine he would have distorted». Thus, already in the 18th century, the authenticity and completeness of Pasqually's transmission was debated.

VI. Placement within the cluster

In relation to Egyptian Masonry and Cagliostro

Pasqually and Cagliostro are almost contemporaries (Pasqually 1727-1774, Cagliostro 1743-1795) and operate in the same years in France (Cagliostro is in Lyon in 1784-85 — precisely the city that was Pasqually's center, and where Willermoz is still active). [VERIFIED] Boyer reports an interesting note: «Willermoz reproached Cagliostro for deceptively passing himself off as a Christian». The tension between the two currents — Martinèsian-Christian and Egyptian-Cagliostrian — is documented. They are two parallel responses to the same crisis that the Convent of Wilhelmsbad (1782) attempts to resolve.

In relation to the Arcana Arcanorum

The doctrine of Reintegration and the Arcana Arcanorum are not incompatible — they are to a large extent convergent versions in different languages. Pasqually's individual Reconciliation corresponds — essentially — to the generation of the individual Immortal Body of which The Doctrine of the Immortal Body speaks. Universal Reintegration corresponds to the universal fulfillment that older alchemical traditions speak of as the «ultimate work». The distinction is one of emphasis (Pasqually is more theological-Christian, the AA are more alchemical-Egyptian), not of substance.

In relation to Mesmerism

Pasqually operates before Mesmer (Mesmer publishes in 1779, five years after Pasqually's death). But his theurgic rituals of the Coëns already operate phenomenally on that same subtle plane that magnetism will describe — visions, spirituels entering ritual spaces, passes (evoked numerical passages). When Willermoz, post-Wilhelmsbad, opens up to magnetism (cf. Jean-Baptiste Willermoz), he recognizes in Mesmeric practices a new language for phenomena that Coën theurgy already knew — and attempts to synthesize them.

VII. Living practice in the School

Declared section: living practice of the Paret School (ISI-CNV).

In the School's didactics, the Martinèsian legacy is present as a historical-doctrinal reference, not as direct operative practice — because the Coëns' path was explicitly theurgic (evocations, pantacles, operations with angels and demons) and the School has retained only those elements compatible with its own primarily Egyptian-Italian operative line (see Kremmerz and the Osiridean Egyptian Order, Cagliostro and the Egyptian Rite, Arcana Arcanorum):

The distinction Reconciliation/Reintegration is a fundamental methodological reference: the School works first on individual Reconciliation (the student who reconstructs themselves) and only later hints at universal Reintegration (the cosmic dimension of the work). The operative principle: one who has not reconciled cannot contribute to reintegration.
The principle of man as a fallen spiritual being (Pasqually) is compatible with the doctrine of the four bodies: the luminous body already exists in man but is buried (Osiris/Hiram) and must be brought to the surface. The School uses the language of the four bodies (which is more technical and operative) but recognizes the convergence with Martinèsian doctrine.
The non-original source: the fact that Pasqually himself declared he had received incompletely a more ancient doctrine corresponds to the wiki's principle (cf. The Tradition before the Filations) — tradition precedes its codifications, and no system claims to be original but rather a partial bearer of a broader science. The School positions itself in the same way: it does not claim an original foundation, it recognizes an unbroken line of which it is one of the current voices.
The Saint-Martiniste caution: Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin abandoned Pasqually's operative theurgy because he considered it dangerous and dispersive without adequate inner preparation. The School shares the diagnosis: advanced theurgic practices require first the complete rectification of the three lower bodies. Evocations are not taught to those who have not worked on the terrestrial body, emotions, and will. It is the same thing that Kremmerz formulated with the saying «he who has not made gold externally does not make it within himself».

Documentation status

Statement	Status	Source
Martinès de Pasqually (1727-1774), founder of the Élus Coëns of the Universe, unfinished Traité de la Réintégration	✅ VERIFIED	Boyer p. 7; Galtier — Drive
Jewish-Sephardic origins (Comtat Venaissin), Kabbalistic formation	✅ VERIFIED	Galtier p. 78-79 — Drive
Distinction Reconciliation (individual) / Reintegration (universal), corresponding to Kabbalistic haya/yehida	✅ VERIFIED	Boyer p. 7, citing Robert Amadou — Drive
Willermoz disciple of Pasqually from 1767; Lyonese legacy; integration into the RER post-Wilhelmsbad	✅ VERIFIED	Galtier p. 999, 3306; cf. Jean-Baptiste Willermoz and Convent of Wilhelmsbad
Saint-Martin disciple of Pasqually who abandons theurgy for mysticism; mystical vs operative Martinism	✅ VERIFIED	Galtier p. 4836, citing Vulliaud Histoires et portraits de Rose-Croix 1987 — Drive
Willermoz reproached Cagliostro for deceptively passing himself off as a Christian	✅ VERIFIED	Galtier p. 3344 — Drive
Pasqually declared he had received his doctrine incompletely from more ancient sources	✅ VERIFIED	Galtier p. 6136-6138, citing Charles of Hesse-Cassel — Drive
Hirschfeld of the Asiatic Brothers declared he possessed writings analogous to Pasqually's sources	✅ VERIFIED	Galtier — Drive
Structure of the Élus Coëns: 3 classes, 9 degrees, up to the Réau-Croix	⚠️ HISTORIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE (consolidated historiography, to be consolidated with primary source)	Labouré, Denis, Martinès de Pasqually, SEPP, Paris, 1995; Robert Amadou
Death of Pasqually on September 20, 1774 in Port-au-Prince	⚠️ HISTORIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE	consolidated Martinèsian historiography

Sources

Rémi Boyer et al., Secrets de la franc-maçonnerie égyptienne, foreword by Amadou — Drive ISI-CNV — [VERIFIED]
Gérard Galtier, La Pierre Philosophale et la Tradition des Rites Égyptiens — Drive ISI-CNV — [VERIFIED]
Martinès de Pasqually, Traité de la Réintégration des Êtres (posthumous, first edition 1899 edited by René Le Forestier) — [Pasqually's primary source, to be acquired in full on Drive]
Denis Labouré, Martinès de Pasqually, SEPP, Paris, 1995 — [reference academic historiographical source]
Robert Amadou, works on the Martinèsian tradition — [reference historiographical source]
Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, Des Erreurs et de la Vérité (1775), L'Homme de désir (1790), Le Nouvel Homme (1796) — [primary sources of mystical Martinism]
René Le Forestier, La Franc-Maçonnerie templière et occultiste (1970) — [reference source on the Martinèsian/Templar connection]
Paul Vulliaud, Histoires et portraits de Rose-Croix, 1987 — [cited by Galtier on the tension among Martinists]