'Heinrich Tränker' by Volker Lechler
Review: Volker Lechler, with contributions by Wolfgang Kistemann, Heinrich Tränker als Theosoph, Rosenkreuzer und Pansoph, self published by the author, 2013, 720 pages, 179 images, limited edition of 800 linen hardcover books
by Frater Acher
Editorial note: The reviews of Volker Lechler’s critical volumes take a unique place in Paralibrum’s collection. Both tomes are available in German language only, yet provide essential new insights into several of the most influential groups in the tradition of Modern Western Magic. Frater Acher is extracting and summarising many of the books’ key insights, and thus enables English speaking readers to stay up to date with critical research findings. Rather than being classical book reviews, these articles resemble longer essays in their own right. For German speaking readers, of course, they hope to be inspiration to read Mr. Lechler’s books in the original.
Part 1
1. Introduction
How do you review a book that begins to dismantle the myths of an entire tradition? A tradition that depends so much on the numinous, the ill-defined such as Western Ritual Magic. A tradition that was only able to develop in the absence of books like this. Such books are the results of decades of research, countless hours, weeks and months in old archives, of reading, re-reading and cross-referencing handwritten notes, letters and biographical evidence left behind by their now famous authors. Such books begin to replace myth with fact and craving for a mythical past with the knowledge of what truly happened. It is books like these that make the busts of our ancestors tumble and threaten to reduce them to what they truly were - people who struggled to understand the path of magic just as we do today. Yet, maybe even more drastic to some, books like these threaten to make entire lodge egregores tumble and fall - in the bright light of historic facts, in the mirror that reveals our ancestors’ flaws and lies born from their desire to recreate a romantic past rather than recognising it for what it was.
I am honestly asking, how do you review such a book? Especially for a mainly English speaking audience when the book covers the life and magico-mystical work of one Heinrich Tränker of whom few people outside of the German speaking countries ever heard? (Note: Heinrich Tränker doesn’t even have his own entry in the English-language Wikipedia as of today.) Well, I guess my answer is I am not really sure how to best approach this. Yet I’ll try my very best to share at least a few flashlights of insight and significant connections that dawned on me while reading these wonderful 600+ pages.
In doing so, allow me to approach this in two parts. In the first part I am aiming to share a general introduction to who Heinrich Tränker was and why he and his work are of significance to any occult practitioner in the West. In the second part of the review I am taking a closer look at Tränker’s personal work, the inner philosophy and outer school of magic he helped to establish and what we can learn from it almost a hundred years later.
My main intend in writing this review is also twofold. Firstly, my aim is to draw as much attention to Mr. Lechler’s liminal publication as possible, ideally attention beyond the German speaking countries. Without a doubt this is the most significant and best written book on the modern history of Western Magic I have come across. Secondly, I would love to support a subtle breakdown of the language barriers that still separate the English from the German speaking tradition of Western Ritual Magic. Having read, studied and practiced in both I can see how much there is to learn from both ends - and how many of the stories we tell ourselves within the confines of one national culture need rewriting in the bright light of historic facts.
I am deeply thankful to Mr. Lechler and Mr. Kistemann for spending all the years they did in preparing such an important publication for a notoriously small audience.
2. On Heinrich Tränker and the early 20th century Occult Revival
Heinrich Tränker (6.8.1880 - 22.5.1956) was a German bookseller, antiquarian and prominent occultist of his time. In the 1920s he was the founder of the ‘Collegium Pansophicum’ as well as the ‘Allgemeine Pansophische Schule’ (General School of Pansophia) which quickly turned into fertile soil to attract, shape and grow many occultists who became formative for the tradition of Western Magic in the German speaking countries as we know it today. Tränker also was named X° (Rex Summus) of the Ordo Templi Orientis by Theodor Reuss in May 1920; this happened however purely via written communication and without the two of them ever meeting in person or Tränker playing an active role in the affairs of the order. The main context in which Tränker’s name tends to appear in English speaking publications is his involvement in what came to be known later on as the ‘Weida Conference’ in 1925. But more about this later on.
To my knowledge Mr. Lechler’s book is the first attempt to write a full biography of Heinrich Tränker. Previous attempts by Adolf Hemberger and Peter König to establish an overview of critical source texts and biographical material have to be called out. However, neither of them seemed to aim to unite all of this material in a truly critical study of Tränker’s life, applying academic standards and providing meticulous research in terms of references of sources. And so this is the huge gap that Mr. Lechler’s book is filling. In doing so, however, it not only lays out and then cuts through the maze of historic and occult material that brings to life the personality of Mr. Tränker, his lifelong relationships as well as his unique vision of the mystical path and its particular history. As mentioned above, the impact of Mr. Lechler’s book goes way beyond this: It ultimately challenges many of the founding-myths surrounding the re-emergence of the magical tradition in the German speaking countries during the period from the late 19th century to the early 1960s.
The reason for such broad and significant impact can be found in two main criteria. Firstly, it is grounded in Mr. Tränker’s obsession with old books, occult, magical, mystical and most importantly Rosicrucian manuscripts. In accumulating one of the most significant libraries on these subjects in his time he himself turned into the hub around which many of the spokes of occult currents and traditions of his time revolved. If you lived in the 1920s to 1950s in the German speaking countries and were seriously interested in the occult, theosophic, rosicrucian or pansophic path Mr. Tränker’s name or one of his many pseudonyms would be amongst the first things you’d hear when asking for guidance. Not necessarily because of his gift in lecturing, giving public speeches or even running occult lodges - all of which he did for most of his adult life yet with debatable skills at best. Instead, he turned into such hub mainly because of his vast amount of occult resources, source texts and seemingly unlimited knowledge of it.
Think about - in a world without Facebook, the internet and Google-Books one of the scarcest, yet most essential resources of all was knowledge. Especially if it was occult by nature, stemming from mainly oral traditions initially and rarely had ever been published or held in open libraries before. The mysteries during these times still seemed to sleep between the covers of a book. Just think of the mysterious Cipher manuscripts, the Book of Abramelin the Mage or the rediscovered diaries of Dr. John Dee. Even most of the English speaking magical traditions seek reference to a mythical origin-story by using the gateway of ancient manuscripts and long lost books… And Heinrich Tränker in his time and for the German speaking countries in particular was the guardian of the threshold, the holder of the keys to most of this arcane knowledge.
Now, let me highlight a couple of the spokes that turned the wheel of our tradition and are essentially connected to Mr. Tränker’s work and influence. Should you be able to read German of course I strongly recommend to buy and read Mr. Lechler’s book for as long as copies are available. What I can provide in the following is nothing but a few snapshots to illustrate the importance of Mr. Tränker’s influence:
The Theosophic Society in Germany: Tränker was a member of the Theosophic Society from around 1902 until the 1920s. It was here that he met significant mentors of his such as Otto Gebhardi and first came in touch with the Rosicrucian philosophy and the teachings of the so called Asiatic Brethren. In 1908 he founded his own academic second-hand bookshop and in the following year already was a founding member and director of the ‘Theosophische Kultur-Verlag’; i.e. one of the publishing arms of the Theosophic Society in Germany. It was during these years (1909-1914) that Tränker begun to lay the foundation to his significant library of occult and philosophical writings. Unfortunately when he left in 1914 he had accumulated significant financial losses to the publishing house he headed and the suspicion was brought up that these losses in return were directly linked to the gains of Tränker’s private and strictly catalogue-based second-hand bookshop.
Zentrale für praktischen Okkultismus (Centre for practical Occultism): It was around 1910 when Tränker came up with another idea that was intended to serve multiple purposes at the same time. His ‘Centre for practical Occultism’ was a venture that offered individual advice on almost any occult subject. All one had to do was to send a letter to its ‘headquarter’, i.e. Tränker’s address at the time in Leipzig and include the fee as well as return postage. Tränker would then reply to each letter - drawing most of his knowledge from his already extensive library of occult source works. Beside the fact that such a venture put his library to financial use without needing to borrow any of the books, it also helped broadening Tränker’s own social network and reputation in occult circles. As so often in his life Tränker aimed to combine the knowledge of the past with the reality and needs of an emerging modern society.
The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, AMORC: The story of the connection between Tränker and Harvey Spencer Lewis is one of the many truly fascinating chapters of the book. It reveals so much about the genuine desire of both men to create continuation in the teachings and organisation of what they believed to be the authentic Rosicrucians. Yet, equipped with Volker Lechler’s precise historical knowledge and his meticulous research we quickly learn to see how perception created reality for both of them rather than the other way around.
It was Spencer Lewis who contacted Tränker in 1930, seeking for someone to help establish AMORC in Germany as well as - and seemingly even more importantly - to provide legitimate acknowledgement of his claim to continue a direct line of ancient Rosicrucians. The following exchange of letters between Spencer Lewis and Tränker is a testament to the fact how wonderful people can argue about what basically is an imagined past. Tränker claimed authority over the true history of the Rosicrucians and quickly dismantled Spencer Lewis’ rosicrucian genealogy. He then pointed out what he believed to be the authentic sources and unbroken chain of Rosicrucian philosophy and teachings. It has to be highlighted that Tränker was convinced these sources were to be found in Germany and the German philosophers of the past only. We will hear more about this assumed German pedigree later on. Finally, the exchange between both men resulted in Spencer Lewis buying a significant amount of doublets from Tränker’s library. An outcome that certainly had its financial benefit for Tränker. However, in return it allowed Spencer Lewis to come up with the following announcement in his November 1930 edition of the ‘Rosicrucian Digest’:
“I wish that we could tell our members at the present time of the many valuable books, manuscripts and papers of rare teachings, and marvellous knowledge that are now revealed to us and the rest of the world from the archives and ‘tomb’ of the original R.-C. foundations.” (Lechler, p. 406)
Spencer Lewis also offered membership in his AMORC to Tränker and asked if they wouldn’t want to confirm each other in writing that they actually were true Rosicrucians. (Isn’t this lovely? It makes me want to hug, Mr. Lewis!) However, Tränker rejected both, having had found his own mystery school of Pansophia at the time already and replied to Spencer Lewis:
“Mutual confirmations, charters, etc. we do not need; instead we will see how the spirit of the rosy-cross will turn the inside to the outside and whether we will recognise each other in front the gates of the City of the Pyramids.” (Lechler, p. 406)
The Ordo Templi Orientis and the ‘Weida Conference’: When Theodor Reuss, the founder of the OTO died in 1923, Aleister Crowley, Frater Achad and Heinrich Tränker were under the impression they were the only remaining X° of the small and highly fragmented order at the time. Thus in their eyes it fell to them to decide who should become the next worldwide Outer Head of the Order (OHO, also known as Frater Superior). Crowley represented the order for Ireland and the British Islands, Frater Achad for America and Canada (as well as deputy rights for Ireland and the British Islands granted by Crowley) and Tränker for Germany. Neither of them seemed to know about the Swiss OTO lodges at this point. Tränker himself on the other hand only knew of three remaining OTO members in Germany and felt that the order had been crippled from the beginning by Reuss’ imbalanced character. Therefore he was happy for Achad and Crowley to agree on the succession between themselves. Still, he suggested for everyone to come together and discuss the matter jointly - most likely as he hoped to generate official support for his Pansophic movement.
Now, fast forward two years into 1925 and zoom into a small, god-forsaken village close to the Czech-German border, Hohenleuben. This is where one the strangest episodes of our 20th century history in Western Magic is about to begin. It remains to be hoped that at some not so distant point in the future a gifted stage-play author will grab this wonderful material and craft a whole evening of splendid entertainment from it: In June 1925 after many letters and loop ways Crowley is finally about to arrive in Hohenleuben to meet Heinrich Tränker. However, one has to remember that Tränker didn’t speak any English - all letters had between him and Achad or Crowley had been translated by third persons. Also, at this point in 1925 he, like many others, did not know that Aleister Crowley was the same person as the author of the writings signed with the names of either Perdurabo or To Mega Therion. Finally, what Tränker equally didn’t expect was the fact that Crowley was at least equally attracted by Tränker’s occult knowledge as he was by claims the latter had made in letters to him: to be able to easily raise 100.000 Marks if needed at any point in time. As we all know, Crowley was never shy to ask for other people to fund his private life - pardon me! - the Great Work.
Much to Tränker’s surprise Crowley didn’t arrive on his own but under the entourage of three other people - all of whom would stay at his remote home for several weeks and turn the house into a beeyard of occult students who came to see the ‘Great Beast’ with their own eyes. Of course this was not at all what Tränker, a lover of books, Rosicrucian wisdom and seclusion, had intended when he invited Crowley. Nor was it what his wife or domestic budget had been prepared for… The following pages in Lechler’s book begin to reconstruct the events of these weeks in minute detail, quote and cross-reference letters written by eye witnesses in later years, some of them never published before, and uncover countless inconsistencies and a lot of wishful thinking in earlier publications on the matter.
What remains after all are the ghosts of two occult scholars of very different practice and pedigree who crossed their paths in the most surreal context one could imagine: Neither of them speaking the language of the other, depending on constant simultaneous translation, locked into the boundaries of the most down-to-earth living conditions of Tränker’s modest house in the middle of nowhere, half an hour march away from the next trafficable street. One of them used to being flattered, the other used to being left alone. One of them on a journey to become the next living Redeemer, the other on a journey to help everyone redeem themselves. One of them having soaked up most of his occult knowledge while traveling around the globe and leading a lifestyle where every minute was practice, the other having breathed in most of his wisdom from the pages of ancient manuscripts, living a lifestyle where every minute was reflection…
After they had fallen out, after Crowley and his entourage had moved to a friend’s house in the nearby town of Weida, the fundamental difference between these two great minds became more and more apparent. Crowley had quickly spotted the vulnerable points in Tränker’s personality as well as the resources the latter held confined and was reluctant to contribute to Crowley’s Great Work. Thus he asked Tränker in one of the many letters they exchanged during these weeks
to sell off his entire vast and extraordinary valuable library as the books had become a demon constraining him,
to use this money to pay all his debts and found a headquarter for the order in Weida where he would be able to work for free,
to contribute all the remaining funds to Crowley’s work and
to send his rigid wife on at least a yearlong journey, of course on her own, in order to overcome her small-mindedness and allow her to unfold her to discover her true will.
Tränker in return had equally strong opinions on significant decisions Crowley should take. He asked Crowley
to accept the burden and responsibilities of his current life and willingly consent to carry these alone instead of asking for constant support from others,
to establish at least a full year of silence on any matters of his magical orders,
to handover the entire material of the magical order Argentum Astrum to Tränker in German translation,
to continue to allow Tränker to publish all of this lodge material in the German speaking countries and finally
to exclude any material relating to his Liber al vel Legis as Tränker disregarded this work in particular and, as he expressed it, “had no use for it” (Lechler, p. 306).
Now, as readers we hold the privilege of a historic perspective; we know the subsequent life-events of both protagonists as they unfolded from 1925 onwards until the end of their lifetimes. It is fair to say that both of them had laid the foundations as well as most of the granular details of their magical heritages at this time of their lives already.
It is deeply ironic - but for either of them to truly break through to a new level of insights and perspective on their magical paths the recommendations they gave to each other might have been perfectly reasonable advice? For Crowley to finally begin to stand on his own feet and stop living of other people’s budgets would have meant a huge change of lifestyle; that combined with a year of silence on all matters of his magical orders might have given us a very different version of himself during the last 22 years of his life? Equally so for Tränker: to depart from what had become the foundation and source of all of his knowledge, his valuable library, to also depart from his constraining wife and to begin to draw wisdom from practice and deeds rather than reflections and words would certainly have changed the last 31 years of his life in no insignificant ways. It seems sometimes our enemies see the clearest what is truly holding us back? And it is our decision how to deal with the uncomfortable truth they represent to us which determines the events in our lives to come.
Ironically much of the advice Crowley and Tränker gave to each other was used as a script for their future years but whatever force governed their fates: Tränker indeed divorced from his wife and lost the majority of his beloved library during WWII to the Nazis. Crowley ended up in poverty, forgotten by most and veiled in unintended silence.
Fraternitas Saturni: There is no need to highlight much of the connection between Tränker’s work and the origins of the notoriously famous German magical order ‘Fraternitas Saturni’. This particular event is touched upon several times in the current first volume and will be covered in extensive detail in Lechler's forthcoming second volume of the series ‘Building blocks of the Occult Lodges’ (Bausteine zum okkulten Logenwesen). This second volume is planned for early 2014 already and will focus on the constitutional years of the FS in particular. However, in order to share some perspective for the English speaking audience let me highlight a few key aspects of Tränker’s contribution.
As we will see in the second part of this book review Tränker founded many Pansophic lodges across Germany in the early 1920s. One of these independently operating lodges was located out of Berlin from 1924 until 1926 and called ‘Pansophic lodge of the light-seeking brethren Orient Berlin’ (Pansophische Loge der lichtsuchenden Brüder Orient Berlin). It was founded and led by one Eugen Grosche (1888 - 1964), who in later years would be contributing significantly to the landscape of German language magical publications under the pen-name of ‘Gregor A Gregorius’ (Latin for ‘The Taller amongst the Tall’).
Speaking in general terms, it’s fair to say the foundation of the Fraternitas Saturni was a direct result of the closing of the Pansophic lodge in Berlin in 1926. Both, the closing down of one lodge and the opening of a new order had been undertaken by the same protagonists indeed. But what had led to these events? In particular - we learn from the puzzle pieced together in Lechler’s book from countless personal letters between the protagonists - it was Grosche’s dissatisfaction with the lack of guidance from Tränker on matters of the Pansophic lodge.
With this critique we are hitting upon one of the particular approaches of Tränker that lift him beyond the tides of his time: Tränker believed that none of the Pansophic lodges should be directed centrally by him or anybody else as far as their practice and activities were concerned. He saw his role as the provider of the essential Pansophic philosophy around which all of the local activities were meant to rotate; as well as the provider of much of the reading material for each lodge and a loose framework of group rituals. Yet, he emphasised to each ‘Master of the Chair’ that these rituals were not meant to be followed by the letter. Instead each lodge should feel free to adjust and evolve them based on their own studies and progress towards the vision of a Pansophic ideal.
Essentially what we find in Tränker is a man whose occult philosophy emerged in the pre-industrial centuries; however, his approach to teaching it pointed beyond the age of modernism already. At the same time Tränker lacked behind and saw beyond his own time: His loose leadership style of the Pansophic lodges resembles the working approach we encounter again decades later amongst many Chaos-Magicians in the 1980s. If we open the boundaries further, we even find a similar approach in corporate environments today where companies such as Google aim to increase their output of innovation and break-through thinking by breaking down divisional barriers as well as reducing directive leadership to a minimum. What Grosche and many others at the time weren’t ready for was the painful realisation that no leader and no lodge - whether they operate in the occult or everyday realm - are able to point us to our path. What they can do, however, is to equip us with knowledge, tools, resources and a network of like minded people. From the remaining letters and lodge instructions, it seems such an idea was pretty close to what Tränker intended for his Pansophic lodges.
“Each lodge is independent in all of its activities and assumes a name as a first step. (…) Anytype of organisation that is rigid, fixed, heavy-handed or material has to be avoided. Because over time it would result in the inability to follow the impulses of the Spirit which itself is absolutely free.” (Tränker, Instructions for setting up a pansophic lodge, quoted after Lechler, p. 207, translated by Fra.Acher)
In Lechler’s forthcoming 2nd volume we will learn a lot about how the original order of the Fraternitas Saturni had been set up. It certainly will be telling to see how much time its leaders spent with erecting new operating structures for all of its members to adopt and subject themselves to - versus how much time they spent supporting them to try to fly without such crutches?
Throughout his lifetime Heinrich Tränker stood firmly grounded with one feet in the 16th century and with the other in the future. Which is maybe why connecting with the present tense was the hardest thing for him? And which is maybe also why so many people weren’t ready to follow him to either of these two places? Tränker’s occult legacy therefore remained untold for a very long time - and still does so today outside of the German speaking countries. In this first part of the book review we took a brief glance at how this legacy informed and shaped many of our current occult traditions. In the second upcoming part we will take a closer look at the actual content and premises of Tränker’s Pansophic movement - and if he himself was able to remain true to them.
Part 2
3. On the Pansophic ideal
In order to understand the Pansophic ideal Tränker was promoting throughout most of his lifetime we need to go back all the way to the 17th century. Here we come across a now famous scholar and teacher who by many was perceived as a madman during his own time: Johann Amos Comenius (1592 - 1670).
Without exaggeration Comenius today is called the father of our modern education, pedagogy and didactics. He had learned from the direct mentorship of Johannes Valentinus Andreae - a critical link in the Rosicrucian lineage - who also recognised Comenius as his intellectual heir (source 1 / source 2). Thus in understanding Comenius’ attempts to radically reform the educative system of his time we need also need to be conscious of the Rosicrucian agenda he maintained throughout this lifetime:
“Andreae was inspired by their correspondence to pass the torch to Comenius, whom he entrusted with the task of promoting the ‘General Reformation of the Whole World’, as it is called in the Fama. The passionate Comenius hardly needed encouragement in this respect. From then on, his life was devoted to developing the high ideals of the Rosicrucians and other kindred spirits into a method which everyone might practise, irrespective of his or her individual background, and which would lead step by step to God, the source of Light itself.” (Rachel Ritman, The College of Light)
Or in Comenius' on words:
“ (…) we may hope that 'an Art of Arts, a Science of Sciences, a Wisdom of Wisdom, a Light of Light' shall at length be possessed. The inventions of previous ages, navigation and printing, have opened a way for the spread of light. We may expect that we stand on the threshold of yet greater advances. (…) There should be a College, or a sacred society, devoted to the common welfare of mankind, and held together by some laws and rules. A great need for the spread of light is that there should be a universal language which all can understand. The learned men of the new order will devote themselves to this problem. So will the light of the Gospel, as well as the light of learning, be spread throughout the world.” (— Via Lucis, published 1648 and 1668, source)
Comenius translated the Rosicrucian ideals into practice in the most radical way: he aimed at nothing less but at the root of every society, its educative system. Thus his goal was to completely revolutionise the philosophy, framework and premises of the education system of the 17th century in Europe. At later stages in his life Comenius summarised his particularly approach in the ideal of ‘Pansophia’; a term derived from the greek roots of ‘pan’ (all) and ‘sophia’ (wisdom) which is best translated as omniscience or universal wisdom. Comenius’ goal of a pansophic approach to education was nothing less but to create an educative system that was able to teach everything to everyone in a truly holistic manner („Omnes omnia omnino excoli“).
Now, such a goal might seem straight forward today, yet even still during Tränker’s times it was hugely aspirational. Just pause for a moment and reflect: the European witch-hunts were still at its peak during the beginning of the 17th century, the Thirty Year’s War had devastated vast parts of Europe and the bubonic plague - often called the Black Death - had been slashing cities, communities and whole countries for more than 250 years already and would continue to do so for another 150 at least. I guess it’s fair to say that surviving during these times wasn’t exactly a smooth ride. Average life expectancy in e.g. England during these days hovered somewhere between 25 and 40 years. Take all of these tolls into account that people were wrestling with in their everyday lives - and here comes a clergyman from extremely poor family conditions somewhere from the middle of nowhere in Moravia without even a doctor’s degree and challenges potentates across Europe to do nothing less but:
open all schools for children from any social background
provide particular support for impoverished children
introduce mixed gender classes across the country
spent huge amounts of money to write and print schoolbooks for all pupils
combine text and pictures in all of these textbooks in a completely unknown way at the time
sub-divide and arrange all content in gradual increase of complexity class by class
rethink each lesson’s teaching concept to appeal to as many senses of the pupils as possible
completely redesign the way priests were trained to become teachers in such schools
and adopt and embrace the concept of life-long learning for anyone who left school.
"Everything wherever possible should be presented to the senses, what is visible to the face, what is audible to the ear, what is smelling to the odour, what is tasteful to the taste, what is tactile to the touch. And if something can be picked up by different senses at once it should be presented to all of these at once.” (Comenius , cit. n Flitner 1954, p. 135; source wikipedia)
It’s easy to understand Comenius was no man of few enemies. Which is also why he traveled a lot throughout his life - including Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Netherlands and Royal Hungary - always on the lookout for support from wealthy people to fund and foster his educative revolution.
Ultimately, however, Comenius succeeded: He was given permission to establish a school in a town in Northern Hungary that would take a completely revolutionary approach to teaching and follow his suggestions in practice. Despite a vast amount of challenges and constant attacks by local reactionaries he succeeded in setting up the first three of seven classes planned. However, in addition this school also gave Comenius a laboratory environment to test many of his new ideas in practice. As a result his influence across Europe continued to grow, his highly influential book ’Janua Linguarum Reserata’ (The Door of Languages Unlocked) was ultimately translated into twelve European and several Asian languages and an illustrated version of the book published in 1658 became the first ever picture book as well as full cyclopaedia for children. Comenius’ collective works until the present day not only provide the beginning and much of the backbone of Western pedagogy and didactics; they also mark the fulminant origin story of the concept of Pansophia.
Now, let’s look at Comenius’ achievements in an occult light and explore the significance they might have had for Tränker - and could still have for any practicing magician today?
In order to do this we need to understand what fuelled Comenius’ activism and ideas? We need to understand what the ideal or vision was that made him ruin his life several times, risk everything, leave his wife and children behind and propagate concepts that challenged most of the established authorities of his time? What this truly was, was a very simple realisation. It was the insight that nothing would change for the better, unless people would become more educated. It was the understanding that ‘not loving wisdom would be foolish’ and not allowing people to access the necessary knowledge would be preparing one’s own ruin - one generation at a time.
This is the Pansophic ideal: ‘Omnes omnia omnino excoli.’ To teach everything to everyone in a holistic manner. To open the gates of knowledge to all people and to all of their senses. To make exploration, learning and the search for wisdom a choice of life for everyone. This is the shape the Rosicrucian heritage took under Comenius - and while making its way into our public education system was overlooked and forgotten by most magicians ever since.
With the exception of Heinrich Tränker. He genuinely related to Comenius' Pansophic vision of teaching everything to everyone in a holistic manner. Rather than talking about ‘armchair magicians’ like many of us to today, Tränker just as Comenius understood the privilege of being able to study and practice. They knew about the luxury of being able to engage with the world both through books as well as sensual experience. They valued the depth and continuity such an approach to learning provided for everyone, just as the sharpness of tools that would shape one’s own mind and perceptions. In essence this is what most of our magical ancestors fought for centuries: having such vast, unfiltered access to knowledge and learning, free of social ranks, gender confinements or other conditions.
"If there were no books we would all be completely raw and uneducated, as we possessed no knowledge of the past, nor of divine or human things. Even if we had any knowledge, it resembled the legends which have been changed a thousand times by the constant instability of oral tradition. What a divine gift these books are for the human spirit! No greater could you want for a life of memory and judgment. Not loving them means not to love wisdom. But not to love wisdom means to be a fool. Which is an insult to the divine Creator, who wants us to be his own image." (Comenius : About the right use of books, the main tools of education. 28 November 1650; source wikipedia)
4. Tränker’s biography as lessons from a magical life
“Pansophy has and knows no limits, is also never finished nor complete.” (Heinrich Tränker, quoted after Lechler, p. 199)
It is in light of such Rosicrucian heritage that we need to look at the work of Heinrich Tränker. At least that is how he himself seemed to have looked at it: as someone aiming to form another link from the past into the present in the long chain of Rosicrucian lineage. Tränker’s goals essentially were no different from Comenius’; however, his approach to bringing them to life was very different as was his focus on the particular occult or magico-mystical aspects of teaching and learning.
“The teachers of Pansophy send their students on the practical occult path and are free from anxiety psychosis of a left-hand or right-hand path. All paths sooner or later will lead to the goal as long as we aim to assume unity or consciousness of unity within the evolutionary process. Every path is the right one if it leads to inner self-absorption, to realisation of the all underlying unity and self-knowledge.” (Lechler, p. 199)
The beginnings of Tränker’s attempts to establish a Pansophic organisation reach back as far as 1917. What originally began with evening lectures in private living rooms during the First World War turned into a life-long journey of trying to marry an ancient, yet revolutionary concept of wisdom-seeking with a world caught in upheaval between two world wars and their destructive consequences.
By the late 1920s Tränker had founded more than half a dozen Pansophic lodges across Germany. He had established a designated publishing house which printed and distributed occult studying materials for his students as well as one of the first schools of magic based upon a full correspondence course system. However, none of these achievements were financially successful nor managed to become self-sustaining entities that could run independent of Tränker’s guidance, input and energy. By the late 1930s Tränker’s vision of establishing a system of lodges and teaching curriculum that fostered the attainment of gnosis through ‘all-wisdom’ had turned into a machinery that soaked all life out of him. By the time Tränker died in the 1950s he had failed to build a successor committed to his vision, most of the lodges he once had established had been closed down during WWII and power fights within the remaining arms of the O.T.O. overshadowed the actual work he had been trying to initiate all his life.
Structure in magic has a funny way of ruining the people trying to uphold it. It seems the forces we deal with as magicians are so ancient and powerful, so beyond human control that they don’t accept being locked up in directions and patterns controlled by humans for a very long time. Equally, it could be that magic just has a tendency to bring out the worst in people - as its history is so closely interconnected with the search and strive for personal power. The life of Heinrich Tränker is no exception to this rule; in fact it is one of the best examples I have ever come across to highlight and teach us these principles and dangers of engaging with magic?
Even though flawed by my own limitations let me try to pull out a few of these lessons. They might be helpful in avoiding some of the traps Tränker fell into, while not giving up on the journey altogether:
Don’t seek to control. — Tränker just as many magical students and teachers struggled with this one throughout his life. While always distancing himself from the role of a ‘master’ he never let go of the idea it would take a structured organisation to propagate and foster the study of the Pansophic path. A great example is his ‘Tatbund Pansophia’ (‘League of Pansophic Action’, see Lechler, p. 496ff) which he founded in the 1930s. In the charter of this organisation Tränker lays out so much structure and detail on a few pages only, it is immediately obvious that it would kill any living spirit amongst its members right off the get go… Whenever we come up with a new project, a new shiny idea to impose on the world, I wonder how much time we take to reflect on whether it is actually necessary? Or whether our obsession with anything new and within our own control, might outshine the actual need for it? Rather than trying to fulfil our desire to be creators, we could ask what needs mediating through us?
Don’t try to predict the journey. — As we have seen during the review of the events at the ‘Weida Conference’ Tränker just as Crowley weren’t ready to let go of any of their convictions how the magical work in question should be approached. Both of them were fundamentally convinced they knew how to advance the Great Work. However, as a result of their rigid approaches both of them stalled their own progress in the long run and thus significantly limited their work… Whenever we hit a brick wall and feel life is hitting us real hard, maybe it is time to let go of the plans we created for ourselves? Adopting the idea that life knows what it does to us in order to get us to a certain place can help overcome so much suffering. If all it takes is to admit that we were actually wrong, it seems a reasonable price to pay?
Don’t seek to create a legacy. — This one is so obvious it is painful to see it being repeated over and over again in magical currents. Teachers see students as mediums of transportations for their personal legacy, they see them as the stone into which they carve their images to be maintained for the future. Of course creating a legacy in such way has never worked and will never do so. Leaving a legacy behind doesn’t mean our name or our actions will be remembered; it means the spirit to which we contributed can continue to express itself and will find new forms and shapes to come to life within. Tränker did a huge service to maintain the spirit Comenius and many other of his ancestors had paid service to before. He truly did become a link in the invisible chain - and he passed on the work to others following him. Yet, I doubt if he ever felt such pride or satisfaction or fulfilment in his own lifetime? Maybe that is because he needed his legacy to assume a certain form or else he failed to recognise it?
Don't force your life to fit the mysteries. — The chapter in Lechler’s book on Tränker’s attempts to teach sex-magic is a wonderful example of this premise. In painstaking detail Tränker is instructing one of his students, Soror Jehewida on how to grow her sexual powers, how and when to touch herself, how to extract certain fluids from her own body and how to capture these - all in service of the Great Work. In his instructions he is following what he believes to be ancient mysteries of sex-magic, derived from Indian and Asian sources predominantly. Unfortunately, many of the documents he drew his ‘knowledge’ from were spoiled with translation errors, incomplete or simply spurious. Also, of course none of these documents knew about the times Tränker was living in - the rigid and abusive relation to anything bodily embedded into everyone growing up in the early 20th century - and thus couldn’t take these into account in their teachings. Whatever the shape of these mysteries was in the past it doesn’t seem Tränker paused to ask what it should be in his present age? Instead, he blindly trusted the books and conversations he had on the topic and passed them on as the seemingly infallible teachings of sex-magic.
As a result he not only ruined the life of one of his students, but in having sex with her while still being married and covering his actions under the banner of the ‘Great Work’ he also disrespected his wife and completely compromised his own Pansophic values (see image on the left)… Whenever the price we pay in order to bring certain mysteries to life begins to ruin our lives - or even worse: the ones of our loved ones - it might be a good moment to pause? Just because a mystery was approached and practiced in a certain shape or form in the old days, it doesn’t mean this shape is still appropriate today? Maybe it is exactly this what defines our role in ensuring the mysteries stay alive: Finding expressions for their truth that enrich our present age rather than destroy it? Orthodoxy thus would turn into an engine of innovation itself, for maintaining a mystery would require to constantly reinvent its expression.
5. Conclusion
Volker Lechler’s biography of Heinrich Tränker opens a profound new perspective on our magical past as it emerged in the early 20th century. Based on the life and work of Tränker as its central hub the book paints an equally broad and incredibly accurate and detailed picture of the origin stories of many of our current magical orders and how they were formed by the personalities and human weaknesses of their founders.
Acquiring such knowledge and understanding of one’s own tradition’s history is so much more than satisfying academic or historic curiosity. It enables today’s students of magic to consciously realise the human errors woven into the tapestry of tradition they learn from. In fact, it is fundamental to learning how to distinguish between the tools that teach us - and the flaws these will always come with - and the actual work we aim to achieve as magicians.
Tradition is a garment that we need to learn how to wear. It is a necessary evil that at the same time empowers us as well as confines us. It empowers us to change and adjust it as soon as we learned how to wear it. And it equally confines us - should we fall to the misperception of identifying ourselves with the clothes we have donned.
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
the proper study of mankind is man.
(Alexander Pope, 1688-1744)