Karl von Eckartshausen (; – ) was a German Catholic mystic, author, and philosopher. Born in

Haimhausen Haimhausen is a municipality located on the Amper River in the district of Dachau in Bavaria, Germany, about 20 Kilometers north of Munich. Geography Haimhausen borders directly on a marshy area called the Dachauer Moos. The landscape around Haim ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Eckartshausen studied philosophy and Bavarian civil law in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Ba ...

. He was the author of ''The Cloud upon the Sanctuary'' ('' :de:Die Wolke über dem Heiligtum''), a work of

Christian mysticism Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

which was later taken up by

occultist The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

s. Translated into English by

Isabelle de Steiger Isabelle de Steiger, née Lace (28 February 1836 – 1 January 1927), was an English painter, theosophist, occultist and writer. She became a member of several esoteric societies in London, and was a close friend and co-worker of Anna Kingsford ...

, the book was given a high status in the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ...

, particularly by

Arthur Edward Waite Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Waite–Smith ...

. It is known to have attracted English author and the founder of

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word ' ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, to the Order. Eckartshausen later joined the order of the

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...

founded by

Adam Weishaupt Johann Adam Weishaupt (; 6 February 1748 – 18 November 1830)''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'Vol. 41, p. 539Engel, Leopold. ''Geschichte des Illuminaten-ordens''. Berlin: H. Bermühler Verlag, 1906.van Dülmen, Richard. ''Der Geheimbund der Ill ...

, but "withdrew his membership soon after discovering that this order only recognized enlightenment through human reason." Von Eckartshausen was acquainted with

Johann Georg Schröpfer Johann Georg Schrepfer, or Johann Georg Schröpfer (1738? – 8 October 1774 in Leipzig), was a German charlatan, independent Freemason and necromancer. He performed ghost-raising séances for which he secretly used special effects, possibly includ ...

, an early pioneer of

phantasmagoria Phantasmagoria (, also fantasmagorie, fantasmagoria) was a form of horror theatre that (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images, such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts, onto walls, smoke, or sem ...

, and himself experimented with the use of

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...

s to create "ghost projections" in front of an audience of four or five people. He died in Munich at the age of 50.

Publications

*''Aufschlüsse über Magie''. xplanations Concerning Magic.München unich 1790.The work was translated by

Josef Vratislav Monse Josef Vratislav Monse (June 15, 1733 – February 6, 1793) was a Moravian lawyer and historian. He was a leading enlightenment figure in the Habsburg monarchy and an early exponent of the Moravian Revival in Moravia. Monse played a key role ...

into Czech language already in 1792 under name cs, Odkryté Tagnosti Cžarodegnjckých Kunsstů k Weystraze a Wyvčowánj obecnjho Lidu o Powěrách a sskodliwých Bludech Sepsané w německé Ržeči od Pána z Eckartshausen *'' Aufschlüsse zur Magie aus geprüften Erfahrungen über verborgene philosophische Wissenschaften und verdeckte Geheimnisse der Natur''. 4 vols., Munich. 1788-1792. *''Die wichtigsten Hieroglyphen fürs Menschen-Herz''. Leipzig, 1796. *''Die Wolke über dem Heiligtum''. he Cloud upon the Sanctuary.*''Gott ist die reinste Liebe''. od is pure love.Munich, 1791. *''Magic: the principles of higher knowledge''. (translated into English and edited by Gerhard Hanswille & Deborah Brumlich. -- Scarborough, Ont. : Merkur Pub. Co., c1989.)

Notes

Sources

* * *Knowles, George.
Karl von Eckartshausen
" Retrieved 15 June 2006.

External links

from Sacred-Texts.com
Aufschlüsse zur Magie aus geprüften Erfahrungen über verborgene philosophische Wissenschaften und verdeckte Geheimnisse der Natur
from th

in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Wolke vor dem Heiligthume
from th

in that Rare Book and Special Collection Division in the

Verschiedenes zum Unterricht und zur Unterhaltung für Liebhaber der Gauckeltasche, des Magnetismus, und anderer Seltenheiten
from th

in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckartshausen, Karl von 1752 births 1803 deaths 18th-century Christian mystics People from Dachau (district) Roman Catholic mystics German male poets