moreau de dammartin- the obscure 19th century French occult
I was scrolling through eBay auctions one evening when I came across a conspicuous work. It was a listing for a Hell Fire Club book, of which I was not familiar. HFC is a small boutique independent publisher of rare facsimiles, typically on obscure occult or esoteric works. Many of the prints are limited runs, hand bound, quarter leather wrapped, and generally only produced with very high-quality materials.
This particular piece was titled “The Origins of The Hieroglyphical Characters of All Nations” and was written by the obscure Moreau de Dammartin. I had never heard of Dammartin, nor the title. So, I began trying to research, the purchase price was considerably low for a HFC book and my curiosity was piqued to say the least. I had to know why it was so low and If I was a fool for considering it.
Unsurprisingly, this obscure occult facsimile, published in 1839, of which I had heard little of, generated hardly any internet results. Suddenly, I was no longer compelled to acquire it for the sake of library curation, but to study this as an actual specimen of occult influence that predated the Golden Dawn Era, Crowley and even Levi.
I took the gamble and ordered the piece and while I waited patiently for it to arrive, I pulled the only thread of Dammartin that I was actually able to find. That of which being that he may have been a direct influence on Eliphas Levi, though he had allegedly had not accredited him as such an inspiration.
The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic is a more recent translation by Micheal Greer and Mark Mikituk is unquestionably contains less bias than the original AE Waite’s version, Transcendental Magic, Its Doctrine and Ritual. As Mikituk himself alludes, he is a third party translator, less concerned with any conveniences of motive that would pertain to an existing scholarly framework within the esoteric community.
Waite’s version tends to expose the fact that Levi, to many, may have been persuasively inclined to Catholicism. Waite seemed to be somewhat resentful of this alleged motivation by Levi and happened to be quite critical in his translation as a result. Mikituk’s translation, however, does illustrate a man building a metaphysical model who was deeply rooted in Catholic faith. I would be hard pressed to say he was a devout one, much less he borrows much of his imagery and language from his foundational faith.
It was my takeaway that Levi was less concerned with disputing the arbitrary fact of whether the Catholic faith was or was not ultimate truth, as much as he was demonstrating a surmounting testimony of what he calls the primitive religion. The idea of which is bold but far more interesting in whether or not Catholicism or any other religion for that matter is absolute. In fact, Levi, explicitly warns against any efforts to diminish or marginalize another’s position. Instead he preaches on virtues mostly.
For those unfamiliar with Levi, allow me to explain briefly as it is somewhat quintessential to understanding what the hell Dammartin was trying, or rather did. Levi, like all occult minded individuals are predisposed to an unusual type of thinking that the Myers Brigs Foundation would call “highly intuitive.” Understanding Levi’s mind would probably be the most logical approach to why he wrote a late 1800’s Grimoire in the first place.
Intuitive thinkers tend to relate and process the world through correlation to their existing framework. New ideas are integrated, not just observed. After reading Levi, I can confidently say he, like all Magi-minded individuals seem to possess an affinity towards integrating and expanding their own inner model of the world through analogy, poetic inferences and highly symbolic thinking.
This type of symbolic thinking is contrary to the opposing mental framework of sensory perception. Sensors perceive the facts conceptually and often are better at memorizing solitary facts, details and specifics. This is not to say that Levi’s insights were not highly detailed, they were, yet his thesis was built upon a complex cathedral of his own metaphysical making.
So, what is it about Levi that compelled AE Waite, and other occultists to study him? As above mentioned, his bold and complex narrative of a primitive religion is likely what garners that respect from scholars even today.
Tarot, according to Levi is this primitive religion. In case you’re wondering how a deck of cards transcends to becoming a religion, this is where the intuitive nature of Levi’s magical thinking really kicks in.
The Major Arcana of Tarot are the most recognizable, non- suited segment of a traditional deck of 78 cards. They consist of the recognizable, Fool, Hierophant, Sun, Moon, Death, Devil, Magician and so on. Initially referred to as the 22 Trumps, these cards directly correlate to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This association predates Levi, and even Dammartin, likely as recent as the preceding century. However, this association only inspired a more elaborate attempt at mastering correspondence.
It seems Douglas Adams, in his 1978, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was not the first to postulate “What is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?” No, and of which we cannot be certain Dammartin asked it first, yet he was perhaps the most radical individual to attempt to answer it. Forty-two seemed a reasonable enough solution for Adams, yet Dammartin would settle for no less than the unique correspondences of 6,000 characters plotted meticulously on 34 plates. But the real question is: Was he right, and the world just didn’t deserve to know his truths?- or- Was his ambition drowned in overreach?
Levi’s model would be less sophisticated, less detailed, and potentially undeservedly, less arcane. But why? Had he not robbed Dammartin of his revelations and coined them his own? Not quite.
Levi, like Dammartin, took these associations of the Hebrew alphabet as a testament that there was some primordial universality to the nature of Tarot. His Doctrine of High Magic is a slow reveal to this very premise. However, after seeing Dammartin’s Origins of Hieroglyphical Characters, I can honestly say that Levi’s ambitions stopped quite short of his predecessors.
However, to say that Levi had directly robbed Dammartin is perhaps dismissible after seeing what both men accomplished. Levi, was very concerned with the correspondences of several ancient symbols. Those being, but not limited to: the Sphynx, the Tetramorph, the Tetragramaton, and of course Tarot and its implications to Kabbalah. Dammartin was far less satisfied with such a petite arsenal, instead attempted to integrate any and all symbols, with tarot, Kabbalah, and perhaps more broadly: the constellations.
Constellations is perhaps where Dammartin felt the most confident drawing his correlations to satisfaction and felt content enough to establish them as more fundamental than even Levi’s primary religion. Does this make Dammartin more universal and thus, an absolute authority of universal correspondence in the realm of occult science? Sadly, probably not, but it was a valiant effort.
Levi’s assertions follow a similar convergence, as do all magical systems. Causal and corollary artifacts are presented with infallible accuracy. Reading Levi, the synchronism of indisputable facts slowly drift into a gradual indictment of intuitive reasoning. A good Charlatan blurs the line of fact, convergence and speculative reasoning so well, the threshold is unrecognizable.
The more elaborate a temple becomes, the more detailed and disputable the doctrines of it become. Levi built an intuitive temple from contemporary reasoning and ancient wisdom, but by the end, his rituals and criteria appear indistinguishable from the same wit of dogmas from lesser practices.
Dammartin’s efforts, unfortunately, are far more vulnerable to claims of speculative reasoning as his temple is far more in-depth. However, I am grateful he did it. I think we all should be. This is because I think the best of us feel a Prima Materia is undiscoverable. I think those of us with similar intuitions often wished ourselves to create a similar correspondence, however, the cost of such labor is beyond the scope of the reward. For Dammartin, it was of near complete obsolescence.
As we approached the two-centurion anniversary of The Origins of The Hieroglyphical Characters of All Nations, it is devastating to consider. The cover of the facsimile shows that Dammartin’s efforts sold for 8 Francs in 1839. Today, I purchased this rare, limited edition for only $69USD. Seeming a large inflation, yet, I will say that other limited HFC runs yield double, to quadruple that premium in secondary markets.
To say whether or not Dammartin deserved obscurity, is not for me to fairly access. I do believe that it was something essential to produce, and absolutely should be studied. I have studied it with perhaps, greater tenacity than other, much more renowned pieces. Still, I am left with much to desire from it.
How can one postulate that something that presents 6,000 characters in correspondence claim that it was both overreach and left some to be desire? Well, some things that feel natural in the association that he presents are the Constellation Sagittarius, Caduceus, psyche, lover’s card in Tarot. This is just one example of his reasoning. Visually, there is a correspondence of progression, I would absolutely love to prescribe to the reasoning that the symmetry of these symbols subverts some myth to the imagination. Yet, I am left short.
Some opportunities of observation show that he did not integrate an Elder Futhark in his systems. Why would a 19thcentury French Occultist fail to integrate Germanic runes into his correspondence, yet insist on every language of the Far East be present in his Western Philosophy? Perhaps, I am brazen to ridicule the one exclusion, but the evolution of his glyphs on their charts undoubtably present much forced articulation.
I recall an instant in not too recent history where I had started drawing a mandala to explore a similar type of magical system. Intuitively, I believed that I could chart in one wheel, the zodiac, the tarot, the 72 Solomonic Demons, the Angels that rule the Hours, and Kaballah values in one array. I was determined that something of reason could be determined from their alignment and I would uncover something from the arrangement.
My ambitions in this exercise, could only be articulated through some sort of desperate effort to connect archetypes of magick to a temporal cycle. I am still ambitious that such a feat could be accomplished, though the initial effort presented more logical fallacies than the impulse inferred.
Why do we who love and study things occult divulge into endless efforts to make gold from lead by means of reason and trial? I can only assume that is because we deserve to find the one inference by which all else can be derived. Douglass stopped at 42. Dammartin is perhaps the bravest to continue his system despite how forced it may have been.
It’s easy for anyone to see the spark. It takes courage to build a temple. Perhaps the cathedral is taking things too far, but someone had to build it. If we never build another, we should at least appreciate the craft of the fool who was brave enough to attempt it. Even if he did lay up the wall and lock himself inside before properly signing the cornerstone.
