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THE MAGUS OF FREEMASONRY The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole – Scientist, Alchemist, and Founder of the Royal Society

INNER TRADITIONS, VERMONT, 2006

First published as MAGUS The Invisible Life of Elias Ashmole
Signal Publishing, 2004

PRAISE from BRENT MORRIS, Editor: SCOTTISH RITE JOURNAL OF FREEMASONRY, Southern Jurisdiction, USA:
Reads like an adventure novel. Ashmole was one of the leading intellectual and spiritual lights of the time, an accomplished alchemist, and close friend of the most brilliant men in England. Churton has given us a compelling picture of Ashmole’s life, the city in which he lived, and the guild structure of the time.

REVIEW by Dr CHRISTOPHER MCINTOSH from esoterica website run by Arthur Versluis, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and Professor in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University

Tobias Churton: Magus: The Invisible Life of Elias Ashmole
(Lichfield, UK, Signal Publishing, 2004). ISBN 0-9543309-2-7. Now published as:
The Magus of Freemasonry (The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole) (Inner Traditions, Vermont)

Reviewed by Christopher McIntosh
Bremen, Germany

Admirers of Tobias Churton’s previous books, such as The Gnostics, The Golden Builders and The Gnostic Philosophy, will not be disappointed by his new biography of one of the most remarkable men England has ever produced: Elias Ashmole, founder member of the Royal Society, Windsor Herald, Astrologer to the King, Alchemist, Hermeticist, early Freemason, founder of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and a “mighty good man”, as his contemporary the antiquarian John Aubrey called him.

Surprisingly this towering figure has had relatively few books devoted to him, the main previous one being C.H. Josten’s massive edition of Ashmole’s writings, published in five volumes by Oxford University Press in 1966, which Churton builds on and acknowledges as “the masterpiece of Ashmole studies”. Perhaps this scarcity of biographies is due to the difficulties of encompassing such a many-faceted figure, “a Renaissance man”, as Churton puts it, “in an era that was slip-sliding away from the limitless ambition of the Renaissance philosophy of human dignity”. Another reason may be a tendency in certain circles to denigrate Ashmole’s contribution to learning. “Ashmole ‘gets in the way’ of a neat classification of eras of knowledge. He is a Renaissance magus-type yet still a rational mathematician and founder member of the Royal Society. He is historically ‘inconvenient’.”

It is clear from these quotes that the author passionately admires Ashmole and the world view that he represents. Churton also has certain things in common with his subject. Both went to Brasenose College, Oxford, and both grew up in Lichfield in Staffordshire – Ashmole was a generous patron of Lichfield’s great cathedral and managed to save part of its library from destruction by Cromwellian vandals during the Civil War. Churton believes that Ashmole has much to teach the present age, which he clearly regards as a decadent one and frequently says so in his eloquent, sometimes abrasive and often witty manner.
“Ashmole would have borne an informed contempt for the ‘modern’ or its twisted offspring, the ‘post-modern’. Rather, we are all part of a living tree whose roots feed us vital sap from the past. That a thing was past did not mean that it ceased to be; rather the present and the future were utterly contingent upon the life that flowed through all time. The folly of man was to forget the reality that all that has been is. ‘It’ is in our eyes, our ears, our homes, our dreams, our aspirations, our blood. The memory required jerking from time to time – that was a task for the antiquarian. Nothing is dead unless it has been killed.”

Readers who find Churton’s particular style refreshing, as I do, will also appreciate the unusual format and presentation of the book. The pages are unusually large for a book of this kind (27 by 21cm) with wide margins to accommodate the many black-and-white photographs and illustrations. As the author explains:
“This is a photo-biography of a type that I hope may become more common in the future. Many a biography suffers from very limited illustrative possibilities, often a result of publishing cots. Modern technology enables a more exciting marriage of text and image. If every picture tells a story, then the reader has the opportunity to enjoy double the value of the research and share in a portion of the author’s pleasure in following the trail of his subject: a process of visual archaeology.”

Churton traces Ashmole’s rise from saddler’s son in Lichfield to one England’s greatest luminaries in a way that brings him vividly to life and makes us share the author’s admiration for him. The book is written from a deep understanding of the Hermetic, alchemical, masonic and Rosicrucian traditions that are so important for a full understanding of Ashmole, who emerges as a seminal figure in many different areas. His alchemical magnum opus, the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, “would become Isaac Newton’s most heavily consulted alchemical text when he came to search for the single divine principle through a thorough working of alchemical experiments”. Churton also throws much light on Ashmole’s important role in the history of Freemasonry – he was one of the earliest recorded initiates into a lodge in a non-operative capacity (at Warrington, Lancashire in 1646). Then of course there is the achievement for which he is probably best known, namely his creation of the Ashmolean Museum, which was partly inspired, as Churton argues, by the notion of a repository of universal knowledge as described in the Rosicrucian writings and in Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis. As the inscription on Ashmole’s tomb in St. Mary’s church, Lambeth, says “so long as the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford endures he will never die”. With these words Tobias Churton concludes this valuable and thought-provoking study of Ashmole’s life.

 

REVIEW by MICHAEL BAIGENT, FREEMASONRY TODAY:

MAGUS. The Invisible Life of Elias Ashmole
Tobias Churton, Large format paperback. xxi and 231 pages, £16.95.

(now available as: THE MAGUS OF FREEMASONRY – The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole, INNER TRADITIONS, Vermont)

Every Freemason who dips even a little into masonic history will read that on October 16th, 1646, Elias Ashmole, was 'made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancashire.' This is the earliest recorded initiation of an English mason. And there the interest seems to stop. Masonic history is notoriously satisfied with its shopping lists of events and notoriously ignorant about the lives and societies these events represent. But in 1646 Ashmole was initiated into an existing lodge which was clearly well established. Where did it come from? What was its context in the society of the time? And Ashmole himself - often dismissed as a dilettante by masons who should know better - was a man with wide interests, impressive knowledge and a rich life where his curiosity was avidly pursued: he was an antiquarian and a Hermetic philosopher of insight and accomplishment. We need to know more. Churton obliges.

Ashmole's birthplace in Breadmarket Street, Lichfield, still exists; we begin there. The Ashmoles were a prominent family in the city, Elias' grandfather was twice mayor. From this small town in an ancient landscape Ashmole moved out into the world. During the Civil War he supported the King; he also studied in Brasenose College, Oxford where he made a particular investigation of astrology (he was a friend of the prominent astrologers, William Lilly and George Wharton) and Hermetic wisdom. Magus provides a particularly welcome study of Ashmole's astrology - it looks like he later provided astrological advice to King Charles II - and his later interest in Freemasonry and Alchemy.
Ashmole always hoped for 'a great flowering of alchemical knowledge and cosmic insight led by coming philosophers'. He avoided religious debate: Churton explains, 'True religion must be rooted in something more than doctrinal disagreement, however sincerely held. Ashmole was always looking for the roots of things. Really, his religion was cosmic, Gnostic and personal. This was, I believe, his ideal Church for England.' Churton writes almost wistfully as if he too believes such would be an ideal Church. As wistfully, I find myself in agreement. Magus is intriguing, fascinating, impeccably researched and well illustrated. And, in his revealing of Ashmole's life, Tobias Churton shows that wisdom, and the search for it, cannot be separated; each depends upon the other.
Michael Baigent

ScribD review by Mogg (Oxford):

Magus: The Invisible Life of Elias Ashmole
By Tobias Churton, 2004, Signal Publishing.
Now available as:
The Magus of Freemasonry (The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole) (Inner Traditions, Vermont)

'Elias Ashmole is a particularly striking case of someone who did well out of the Restoration through his flair at 'remembering' a largely apocryphal golden Stuart past before the civil war. His lasting fame and 'name' rest (in the title of the Ashmolean Museum) upon his dubious acquisition of another man's lifetime collection of rarities, and his subseqent gifting of them to the University of
Oxford'
Lisa Jardine (2002) On a Grander Scale , her biography of Sir Christopher Wren, quoted by Tobias Churton.

The above quote from Jardine provides the raison d'être for Churton's less eloquent but arguable more informed study of the life and impact of the famous antiquarian Elias Ashmole. The house that Elias built as a repository of one of the world's' first museums, is still Oxford's small but wonderful treasure house of scientific history. Recent work to extend the basement turned up Ashmole's alchemical laboratory complete with instruments and human and animal remains. The main exhibit is now divided between the Bodleian library, and the founders room of the new Ashmolean in Broad Street - surely one of the world's great museums. Tradescant's original collection of curiousities is still on display - along with
the only known portrait of John Dee and one of Ashmole himself, along with the gold chain presented to him by a Swedish monarch in gratitude for his monumental History of the Order of the Garter. It is said that the actual chain is missing a few links, a sure sign of the frequent ebbs and flows in the fortunes of the old magus.

Churton's excellent redaction of the life is only made possible by the five volume compilation of Ashmole's diaries, autobiographies and related notes published by OUP in 1966. The author, Conrad Hermann Hubertus Maria Apollinaris (Kurt) Josten (Pheeww! you don't get names like these very often these days) solved Ashmole's cipher and was thus able to do the work. Awarded an honorary DLitt by the university for his troubles, after his retirement as curator of the science museum, he become curator emeritus.

Which all goes to show that Jardine has probably got it wrong and Ashmole was no Hasolle and does deserve his fifteen minutes of fame. If you need more persuasion read Churton's book. Perhaps aimed more at the museum bookshop than the serious contemporary magi, it does nevertheless contain some gems, especially concerning his struggles to remake himself after the defeat of the royalist cause (hurrah) during the protectorate of Cromwell (booo). Ashmole tells how he "went to Maidstone assizes to heare the Witches tryed, and tooke Mr Tradescant with me." The six witches were hanged, accused of bewitching nine children, a man and a woman and £500 worth of cattle lost and corn at sea by witchcraft.' Or account of his relationshp with otherwise puritan ministers who nevertheless had a perchant for 'sorcery'. Mrs John Pordage, whom he was amazed to see 'Clothed all in white Lawne, from the crown of the head to the sole of the Foot, and a white rod in her hand. She was hailing as a prophetess by those dancing country dances about her 'making strange noises". Explaining that they were rejoicing because they had 'overcome the Devil.' Dr Pordage then appeared 'all in black
velvet' and pressed everyone to join in.' or even the more intimate touches of Ashmole's struggles to find a wife or love or was it both? It's difficult to see whether his failures were down to a lack of
good looks or the necessary finances : 'I dreamt in the morning that I put my hand into Mrs Marche's placket (slip) and then to her next petticoat and then to her third and then to her smock, and then pulled it up, and with very little struggling felt her bare cun(?) - well who hasn't had a dream like that??

This is a lively picture of the times. I could have had more information on the magic l work but I learnt a hell of a lot from this densely illustrated and well made book. If you've an interest in the times then buy it. - mogg
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

AMAZON REVIEWS:

**** A Worthwhile Read, 8 Jan 2007
By J. E. Finch "archiver44"

This review is of: The Magus of Freemasonry: The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole - Scientist, Alchemist and Founder of the Royal Society (Paperback)
This is a very complete and detailed Life of Elias Ashmole. It examines all of his interests in considerable depth, and as such there is something to be gained from this book whatever your particular interest. There is plenty of detail about Freemasonry in the seventeenth century, some very interesting insights into Alchemy, some of the reasons behind the founding of the Royal Society and so forth, as well as the basic biographical content.

My interest was mainly in the book as a biography, and as I reached the end of it I felt that I had an understanding not only of what Ashmole did and where he spent his life - the sort of information provided by other shorter missives - but because the author attempts to draw sensible conclusions about Ashmole's reasoning as he deals with the various challenges in his life, I also obtained a feeling for his personality. This is not easy to do and the author is to be congratulated on this achievement.

At a time when some of the wealthy had their private "cabinets of curiosities", Ashmole created the world's first public museum, and the book provides an intriguing insight into Ashmole's motivation for doing this.

If I'm really critical, one aspect that was not so good and that I found annoyed me as I read, was the use of too many metaphors, some of them excruciating - "While Ashmole's wisdom was well rooted and watered in the past, he delighted in the flora of futurity". Or possibly worse, when the author describes something that "...provided the golden thread in the velvet of his life". There are more, but I can't bring myself to repeat them.
In my paperback edition, some of the illustrations were too dark, particularly of houses, churches, view across fields and the like - making it difficult to make out any significant detail in them to the extent that the point of including them was lost.

However this is minor detail and probably only annoying to me because excessive metaphor usage is a pet hate of mine!

Overall a very worthwhile read about a significant seventeenth-century personality who has been neglected in favour of better-known individuals.

 

BLOG Review by:
Name: Christian Ratliff
Location: South Portland, Maine, United States

I am a thirtyish software developer living and working in Maine. I am married with two daughters.
04 July 2008

Breaking the Law
While I have never written a real book review, I have certainly given talks about books and recommend many of them. I know the old aphorism, "Never judge a book by its cover." Added to this appears to be an common law to never review or recommend a book from its first quarter. The true value of a text is ascertained during its great middle and completing finish.

This is a law which I feel compelled to break. Work is terribly busy right now, so I have to work on this flight, but my take-off and landing book is "The Magus of Freemasonry" written by Tobias Churton. I have mentioned this author a number of times in my blog, since he impressed me with his book "The Golden Builders: Alchemists, Rosicrucians, First Freemasons." While at Borders last year I purchased Magus and sat it on my reading queue. What a shame...

The work is a biography of Elias Ashmole, the first man to record his own becoming an Accepted Mason, called today a speculative Freemason. The distinction between so-called "Free" and "Accepted" Masons makes for a pointless inter-jurisdictional debate today, but it meant a great deal during the 17th and 18th centuries. Bro. Ashmole was a famous man in his day as a founding member of the Royal Society, antiquarian and general lover of history, science and alchemy.

At this moment I am in the air over Massachusetts having read about 10% of the book while on the runway and through takeoff. Though I have hundreds of pages yet to read I must strongly recommend this work to all Masons interested in a search for knowledge and understanding of our real 17th and 18th century history. To the general reader, I offer this quotation from the book which, like the stone itself, fell on me and is still blossoming in my brain:

[Ashmole] inhabited a world where science and magick were still handmaidens to religion and philosophy. He was one of the last men of learning to enjoy that world before the family broke up. All too soon, science would leave home to plow her own furrow independently and at times in contempt of her troubled parents. Nevertheless, Ashmole was a founding member o the Royal Society - a harbinger of that fateful parting - and was himself unconcerned with theological disputes. The philosophy he espoused stood above them; and so did he.

If I were wiser and more skilled with words, I might be able to explain the powerful picture those words create in my head. Imagine the history of the Enlightenment period and the eventually antagonistic relationship between science and religion as a painting illuminated by fluorescent lighting. With these few sentences, Churton turns off the lights and opens a window allowing the work to be illuminated by pure sunlight. A new depth and character appears in the work, which was never noticed before.
All this on page two! If the rest of the book is even half this quality, then we should all own a copy of it.

posted by Christian Ratliff @ 6:49 AM 2 Co