Revealing the secrets and rituals of the Freemasons could only be a literary game for the famous Jules Verne. He continued it even when his relatives began to die ... Did the lesson the Russians taught him teach the writer anything?
Today, the work of Jules Verne seems completely harmless. For example, the novel "In 80 Days Around the World" is now a classic of children's literature (although adults used to read it). Few, however, know that in other books by this French author there are strong anti-German accents ("Five Hundred Million Hindu Rulers") and anti-Semitic themes ("Hector Servadac"). The writer also fell in love with the Russians.
How? After all, in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" Verne went to the hands of the Russians. Under the influence of his publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel he hid that Captain Nemo was a Polish insurgent hunting Russian ships ...
A few years later, the author was not so prudent. Well, in "Michał Strogów" from 1876 he dared to suggest that in Russia there could be a great revolt of the conquered peoples . What if the main character is a heroic tsarist courier, since the whole novel seems to call into question the power of the tsarist regime! That is why Verne's publisher went to the Russian ambassador in Paris to check how to protect himself from possible troubles.
Under the influence of his publisher, Verne hid the identity of Captain Nemo, who was originally supposed to be Polish (illustration by George Roux, public domain).
The problems arose anyway:the book was translated into Russian only after a quarter of a century! In addition, from Eastern Europe suddenly came to France a bizarre rumor that Verne was a Polish Jew hiding her origin . In those days it could have hurt the career of a popular author.
Although there was no Tsarist Ochran at that time (famous for such fakes as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"), but the provocations specialized in the 3rd Division of His Imperial Majesty's Personal Chancellery, who could easily prepare such rumors ...
Tortured and blinded
These examples show how much differently Verne's work was perceived in his time and how "recklessly" the writer acted in choosing the themes for successive best-selling novels. Some biographers, however, claim that he found real poverty when he was imprinted by the Masons.
The article was inspired by the materials collected while writing the book "Verne's Labyrinths", available at Znak.com.pl.
Veiled references to their symbolism and philosophy can be seen in the now forgotten novel "Black India" (1877). French researcher Michel Lamy believes that the writer went even further in the aforementioned "Michał Strogów" - namely revealed Masonic rituals of a higher order.
It would be relatively easy for Verne to obtain information about Masonic rituals for the Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master, but not about the high degrees of initiation, one of which is shown in Michael Strogov. There we see the hero fighting a bear and much later tortured and blinded.
Jules Verne described Masonic rituals that were sworn to keep secret. An 18th-century engraving showing a Masonic initiation (public domain).
We can see a significant similarity in the excerpt from René Le Forestier's book La Franc – maçonnerie templière et occultiste aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles "regarding the degree of Elect or Avenger:" The candidate appears To the Venerable with red-stained gloves, and declares that the blood that stained his hands comes from a bear, a tiger, and a lion that the wicked have set up to guard the entrance to their lair.
A newly initiated member agrees to die under the worst torture, after which his eyes will be stripped of light with red-hot iron, should he ever break his oath of secrecy «. This happened to Michał Strogow after breaking his oath to save his mother Says Lamy.
Rebuses and tragedies
But why were Verne, a writer of fame and money, such troublesome games? Well, all his writing shows that he loved riddles, some he hid between the lines of his novels. And the Rosicrucians and related Freemasonry were even synonymous with a great mystery!
Riddles, secrets ... this was what fascinated Jules Verne. And the Masons or Rosicrucians were the epitome of mystery. "The Temple of the Rosicrucian" by Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618 (public domain).
Maybe that is why the hero of "Mateusz Sandorf" (1885) looks like a Rosicrucian. Also the initials of the title character a year later "Robur the Conquérant" - Robur-le-Conquérant, or RC - look like an allusion to the Rosicrucian (Rose-Croix) and the alleged founder of this movement, Christian Rosenkreutz. Was Verne implying that the freemasons dream of subjugating the world to themselves?
In the same 1886 that Verne was playing such rebuses, was suddenly shot by his nephew (March 9) and the reasons for this attack have never been clarified. A few days later, on March 17, Verne's publisher dies . The following year - the writer's mother. This is a real black series.
There is also the death of the author's beloved brother, Paul, who suffered a heart attack in 1897. Soon after the publication of the novel "Clovis Dardentor" by Jules Verne, which - according to conspiracy theorists - despite its banal form, is associated with a mysterious treasure from Rennes-le-Château, allegedly discovered by the local priest Berenger Sauniere. A treasure associated with the mysticism of the Templars, Rosicrucians and Masons ...
At the Masons and at the Pope
The question whether Verne's life tragedies may be related to the writer's too long language would be considered ridiculous and distasteful, were it not for one more circumstance. At the end of 1904, the writer publishes in episodes "Lord of the World", a continuation of "Robur the Conqueror". A few months later, on March 17, Verne, who is suffering from diabetes, falls seriously ill and after a few days he dies. One more detail - March 17 is the same day when its publisher Hetzel suddenly died after the publication of "Robur the Conqueror" ...
Was Jules Verne a Freemason himself? And why would he visit the Pope then? (photo's author:Felix Nadar, public domain).
Was Verne imprinted on some secret societies, and at least one of the tragic events in his biography was a "warning" against him? Or was the writer playing some kind of double game? The famous Italian vernista Piero Gondolo della Riva indicates that in the summer of 1887 Verne visited the radically anti-clerical lodge of the Grand Orient of Italy in Rome.
The writer himself was probably a Freemason. However, the day before his visit to the anti-church lodge, he was received in audience ... by Pope Leo XIII. By the same who published the famous encyclical "Humanum genus" (1884), directed precisely against Freemasonry. Coincidence?