Tubal Cain and the White City

Ray Johnson tracked down the whereabouts of a statue of Tubal Cain which was a part of the Columbian Exhibition of 1893.  Long thought missing, it turns out Tubal Cain is safe and sound in Peotone, IL.

Please read more at:  http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-strange-haunted-history/2013/01/tubal-cain-left-the-white-city-with-no-forwarding-address/

Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, the OTO and Chicago

There is a bit of confusion surrounding the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light.  What was it, and what was its connection to the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor?  Were they one and the same?  Many seem to be under the impression that they were, and it's an easy enough conclusion to jump to. 

There are rumors of a Hermetic Brotherhood of Light operating early enough for Paschal Beverly Randolph to have been a member, and persisting long enough to eventually transform into the OTO.  There are rumors that the highly influential Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor had ties to Chicago.  The whole situation is quite confusing, and it doesn't make matters easier when considering that many of these organizations had habits that included claiming a lineage of over 4000 years, associating themselves with names of those long dead.

Here is what I have been able to determine.  Of course, I would love to hear from anyone with more information.

The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was founded in 1870 and premiered publicly in 1884.  The H.B.L. was heavily inspired by the teachings of Paschal Beverly Randolph, though they later drew a bit of distance from him after deeming his suicide to be unsavory.  They also had a bit of a rivalry with the Theosophical Society - despite sharing many similar beliefs, approaches and even members, the two organizations had a bit of a public sparring match.

Despite rumors, I have yet to find any information linking the H.B.L. to Chicago.  The Theosophical Society was already firmly established here, and I have to wonder if they had a mutual understanding to keep their distance.  Still the influence of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was felt in Chicago, with several splinter groups arising here.

"Dr. W.P. Phelon and his wife, both of whom were prominent Theosophists and members of the H.B. of L., founded and ran the curiously named "Hermetic Brotherhood of Atlantis, Luxor and Elephantae," first in Chicago and then in San Francisco, and published a variety of "Hermetic Manuscripts" and a Hermetic Journal." -The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism, Jocelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel and John P Deveny.

After moving to San Francisco, the Phelons apparently shortened their organization's name to simply "the Hermetic Brotherhood," with their publishing company being the "Hermetic Book Concern."  Their chosen symbolism is interesting in that it employs an ouroboros lifted directly from the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, with a winged swastika, combining symbolism from both the H.B. of L. and the Theosophical Society.

Another organization following the H.B. of L. with links to Chicago was the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light:
"Finally, there was the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, founded or reorganized in Chicago or in Boston in 1895, whose teachings fed the streams of sexual practice flowing into the Ordo Templi Orientis of Theodor Reuss and eventually into the works of Aleister Crowley." -The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism, Jocelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel and John P Deveny.

Information regarding the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light is scarce.  Even authorities on the subject seem unsure as to its origins - was it a group inspired by the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, or was it the other way around?  What is known is that the teachings of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light went on to inspire, if not itself become, the Ordo Templi Orientis.

From the 1917 constitution of the OTO, by Theodor Reuss:
"While numberless societies, associations, orders, groups, etc., have been founded during the last thirty years in all parts of the civilised world, all following some line of occult study, yet there is but ONE ancient organization of genuine Mystics which shows to the seeker after truth a Royal Road to discover the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity and to the Unveiling of the One Hermetic Truth.
This organization is known at the present time as the:
Ancient Order of Oriental Templars
Ordo Templi Orientis
Otherwise: The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light."

 Did a Chicago organization have a hand in the eventual organization of the OTO?  Perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising, considering the fact that both Aleister Crowley and Charles Stansfeld Jones (Frater Achad) lived here at one point.

Chicago, Satan's Sanctum

Unfortunately this 1899 book is about local crime.  Still, the cover is charming enough. 
The entire book is available to download as PDF from archive.orghttp://archive.org/details/chicagosatanssan00curo

Steinway Hall

Built in 1896, Steinway Hall was located at 64 E Van Buren St.  The building went through a variety of name changes over the years and also housed a number of activities of interest to readers here.

Image courtesy the Steinway Hall Wikipedia page.

In its early days, the 11-story office building housed a number of architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright (who remained in the building until 1908). During this time, Steinway Hall was briefly being advertised as a "Temple of Magic."

Image courtesy the Chicago Magic blog.  While focusing on stage magic, there is definitely information of interest.

Image of the theater during it's run as the "Punch and Judy Theater" courtesy the Cinema Treasures website.


The 850-seat theater in the building originally was a branch of Ziegfeld's theaters (while the Follies were taking off in New York, Flo Ziegfeld was originally from Chicago).  The theater was home to acts such as Sophie Tucker and Fatty Arbuckle.  In 1915 the theater's name was changed and Shakespearean plays were produced.

The same theater was rented out by the Theosophical Society, who secured every Sunday for a six month period of time.  During this time, Charles Leadbeater lectured on a variety of subjects relating to the occult and Theosophy.  Leadbeater, having just arrived from England, packed the theater to the extent that would-be listeners regularly had to be turned away at the door.  His lectures here in Chicago would be published as the book Some Glimpses of Occultism Ancient and Modern.

In 1941, after the schism of C.F. Russell's Choronzon Club, one of the splinter groups housed itself at Steinway Hall (practically around the corner from the Fine Arts Building where they had previously met).  They would remain here until the 1960s, when they would return to the Fine Arts Building.    For more information on this, please visit my previous post regarding C.F. Russell and the Fine Arts Building.

Around this time the theater was being used to show adult movies.  Public sentiment had swayed against the building, and it was demolished on April 5, 1970.  Apparently it was written in the Chicago Tribune that “Few, if any, will mourn it.”

In its place, we now have a parking lot.

William Walker Atkinson, the Kyballion and the Yogi Publication Society

I've been putting off posting about William Walker Atkinson due to the fact that there is such a wealth of information that I honestly don't know where to begin.  Simply put, Atkinson was a writer, publisher and major player in the New Thought Movement.  The full story is much more complicated than that.

Atkinson (1862 - 1932) worked in a variety of professions, settling into the role of lawyer while in Pennsylvania.  After a variety of ups and downs in his personal life, he disappeared for six weeks around the turn of the century with a renewed passion for life and interest in the occult.  At this point he immediately moved to Chicago and began writing articles under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms, including Theron Q. Dumont and Yogi Ramacharaka.

In Chicago he also founded the Yogi Publication Society, which was located in the  Masonic Temple building - the name sounded great for the publishing company, but there was actually no Masonic affiliation with the Yogi Publication Society.  The Masonic Temple was the city's first skyscraper - the Masons met on the top floors, the rest were rented to a variety of different businesses.

The Yogi Publication Society published the Kyballion, a book of Hermetic teachings which was compiled by "Three Initiates."  Shrouded in mystery, it is now accepted that Atkinson himself wrote this book.

The Chicago Examiner, in 1910, with an article introducing yoga to the general public via Atkinson's pseudonym, Yogi Ramacharaka (here spelled Ramachakra).

The Yogi Publication Society still exists, though their website leaves a bit to be desired. 

Luckily for us, Philip Deslippe has dedicated himself to unraveling the mysteries surround Atkinson's life and abundant literary output.  He has recently released a definitive edition of the Kyballion.

For an excellent interview with Deslippe regarding Atkinson, visit this podcast on Occult of Personality.  After you listen to that interview, listen to all of the remaining on the site, as they are all excellent.

Of note to those paying attention, Atkinson co-authored one book with infamous local L.W. de Laurence entitled Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing.

The Bangs Sisters - Chicago's spiritualist portrait painters

Mary "May" Bangs (born 1864) and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Snow Bangs (born in 1860) were mediums, getting publicity for contacting the dead at a very early age, with written reports of their seances dating at least as early as 1872.  Eventually the duo would become famous for materializing painted portraits of the dead.

 From the Wikipedia entry on the Bangs Sisters

The pair gained quite a following, with patrons regularly attending seances at their home in Chicago.  They also were the subject of numerous venomous newspaper articles and police raids - in 1888 one raid resulted in the death of Lizzie's 7 year old daughter.  After this incident, the sisters released this card:

 

Even marriage was scandalous for the Bangs sisters.

There was a lot of speculation regarding the method employed in the creation of the portraits of the dead.  Many believed that they were painted over enlarged photographs and/or painted by students hired from the Art Institute.

Video showing many of the Bangs Sisters' "precipitated" portraits, with some notes about the supernatural nature of the paintings themselves.

Chicago Followers of Strange Religions

Chicago Tribune - April 16, 1899

Isis Worshipers, Martinists, Hermeticism and more. 

UPDATE:  Blogspot reduced the size of this image.  I've uploaded a larger, legible 6.3 mb  jpeg of this article here:  http://www2.zshare.ma/r1gm8ufd5efv
 

Towertown, sexuality and the occult in Chicago at the turn of the century

Today I spent a bit of time poking around the Encyclopedia of Chicago, an interesting database provided via the Chicago History Museum.  I was interested to read about an area known as Towertown which I had never heard mention of before.  Doesn't this sound amazing?

"Neighborhood in the Near North Side Community Area. Towertown was Chicago's bohemia in the early twentieth century. Lacking precise boundaries, the district took its name from the Water Tower, which stood to its north and east on Michigan Avenue. An art colony took root in Towertown when Anna and Lambert Tree built Tree Studios to tempt artists to stay in Chicago after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The concentration of artists, writers, and poets attracted bookshops and coffeehouses, the most famous of which was the Dill Pickle Club. Soapbox orators gathered in Bughouse Square to debate the issues of the day. Gays, lesbians, and experimenters in free love took refuge among Towertown's radicals. By the mid-1920s, rising property values driven by the luxury shopping district on nearby Michigan Avenue were pricing out many of the artists. Towertown became a tourist attraction, further alienating its bohemian denizens. By the Great Depression, the art colony had dispersed."
-Amanda Seligman

"By the mid-1920s, many of these writers had left Chicago. After their departure, according to sociologist Harvey W. Zorbaugh, Towertown became a popular destination for “egocentric poseurs, neurotics, rebels against the conventions of Main Street or the gossip of the foreign community, seekers of atmosphere, dabblers in the occult, dilettantes in the arts, or parties to drab lapses from a moral code which the city had not yet destroyed.” Chicago's bohemia turned conventional, and its alternatives to traditional gender roles, sexual relations, and work habits became part of a broader transformation in social mores."
-Timothy B. Spears

Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor

I plan on posting a bit more on this subject when I get a chance, but I found this link with quite a bit of interesting material regarding Chicago and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor in the late 19th century.  There is an obvious bias here, but still some information of interest.

https://theeyelessowl.wordpress.com/tag/hermetic-brotherhood-of-luxor/