Confronting the Future: Templar Impulses in the 21st Century

Announcement of a 2009 conference

This major conference will explore the esoteric significance of the Knights Templar, and how their spiritual impulse has continued, and still continues, to evolve and work further. We shall explore their history, their rites, their cultural impulse, and also the ways in which this impulse is opposed or misrepresented. There will be a array of profound lectures—by Judith von Halle, Peter Tradowsky, Jaap van der Haar, Christine Gruwez, Sylvia Francke, and others—illumining the Templars from different esoteric angles; an outing to a local Templar site; discussion groups; artistic workshops and performances.

Our attempt will be not only to understand but also to make a living connection to the inspiration behind the Templars. This influence manifests spiritually, politically, economically—the Templars are often seen as the first bankers—as well as culturally and artistically. There will therefore be a strong artistic element to the week with singing, visual arts, a unique musical performance of a new composition by Gregers Brinch and a workshop (Adrian Locher and Alexander Gifford) on the Templar reincarnation drama within Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Plays.

This open conference is the ninth Historiography Conference organized by the Humanities Section of the School of Spiritual Science. There will be a separate trip to Argyll, Scotland, before the conference, guided by one of the speakers, Horst Biehl, to visit sites holding recently researched evidence of the order’s mysterious final years.

Contributors: Jaap van der Haar, Judith von Halle, Peter Tradowsky, Christine Gruwez, Adrian Locher, Sylvia Francke, Richard Ramsbotham, Gregers Brinch, Alexander Gifford, Alfred Kon, Horst Biehl, Gil McHattie, Alex Naylor, Terry Boardman, and others. The conference will be held at Emerson College, Sussex, UK, 16th to 22nd August 2009. Website: www.emerson.org.uk

Non nobis, Domine...

by Gil McHattie

Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tuo da Gloriam

Not for us, Lord, not for us, but in Thy Name the Glory

During the autumn of 2007 there were several conferences held worldwide to acknowledge the 700th anniversary of the persecution and destruction of the order of the ‘Poor Brothers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon’—the Order of the Knights Templar. A small group from the UK attended a conference in Hamburg. There were some major speakers including Judith von Halle and Peter Tradowsky. It was a deeply moving and thought provoking weekend which encouraged a few of the English speaking contingent to plan a further conference in the UK. Interestingly all the conferences that I am aware of have inspired further conferences and we hope that the UK initiative will inspire further work. It was said in Hamburg that it is becoming more and more important to add truth to the plethora of distortion that surrounds the order, especially now when the Vatican has published the Parchment of Chinon. This document shows that Pope Clement V found the Templars not guilty of heresy, but guilty of lesser infractions of Church law. He still ordered the disbandment of the Order.

The Templars’ spiritual legacy, therefore, needs other voices to give an awareness of the impulse they carried and what it means for today. Rudolf Steiner was aware that 600 years after the persecution he could not speak openly about their rites as it would do harm to the order of the Knights Templar who are also Knights of the Grail.

The order was completely dedicated to the Mystery of Golgotha. It was founded soon after the successes of the first crusade by a Hugues de Payens in 1118–19 in Jerusalem and a major impulse was to protect Jerusalem, where the Mystery of Golgotha had taken place.

The Knights Templar lived so intensely with the reality described by St. Paul, “Not I, but Christ in me,” thus uniting themselves profoundly and inwardly with the Mystery of Golgotha, that many underwent true Christian initiation. This took place not only personally but also on behalf of the whole of humanity.

There is some research to show the leader of this small group of men, Hugues de Payens, was a cousin of Bernard of Clairvaux. One of the men in this group was Andre de Montbard who was also related to Bernard through the maternal line. Another name was that of Hugues, Count of Champagne, a very rich noble who had his seat in Troyes. Bernard of Clairvaux would have had feudal connections to this family. And this mighty Cistercian gave the Knights Templar their rule in 1128 at the Council of Troyes.

And here we find a hint of a further impulse which is that of the Templars’ great alliance with the Cistercians. This was to raise Europe to a higher level, bringing European society into a form where a new, freer kind of Christianity could develop. The Cistercians tamed the wildernesses by choosing sites to settle and cultivate in swamps and deep forests; the Templars laid down roads, developed markets in certain places and were the social, legal aspect of the process. They called each other companions. Both Orders grew significantly and spread throughout Europe and by 1300 there were an estimated 15,000 in the Order of the Knights Templar; most were sergeants, lay brothers, and other workers. The actual Knights numbered around 1,500. These were violently eradicated and large numbers underwent terrible tortures before being burned at the stake. Nevertheless the true spiritual fruit of their work remains as an impulse, now and for future centuries. Rudolf Steiner says of them that ‘a great and mighty task was set, not so much addressing thought than deep feeling, which aimed at strengthening the individual and personal soul life with the intention that it might be entirely absorbed in the progressive stream of Christian evolution’ (25.09.1916).

The conference will open with a talk by Alfred Kon on ‘The Knights contribution to future spirituality, ‘From the Round Table to the Foundation Stone,’ showing the importance of Ireland and the Celtic world in creating a spiritual chalice for the later impulses of the Arthurian Knights and Celtic Christianity. Judith von Halle will speak about ‘Occult Rites and Impulses of the Templars’; her deeply esoteric input will affect the rest of the week’s content. Peter Tradowsky will give a talk on ‘The Meaning for Today of the Destruction of the Order of the Knights Templar’ and will bring us up to date with the reappearance of Soratic impulses and the way forward. Sylvia Francke’s talk will be ‘The Knights Templar, Shipley, and the Mission of Albion’. We will have an optional visit mid week to the site at Shipley. Horst Biehl will share his research in, ‘The Knights Templar in Britain’ and will lead a separate optional trip to Scotland to visit sites with evidence of the final years of the Order.

Morning workshops include Christine Gruwez’ ‘Modernity, Consciousness Soul, and the Initiation into the Mystery of Evil’. Christine has spent very many years leading tours along the old Silk Road and giving workshops and talks on this Manichaean theme. Margaret Jonas will lead ‘Karma through the Mystery Drama’. Margaret compiled and edited the recently published work of Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Knights Templar, the Mystery of the Warrior Monks’. Other workshops will touch on the Rosslyn Chapel, the Masonic order, the esoteric link between the Templars and the early Cistercian Order, the meaning of the Solomonic Temple etc. And there will be workshops in the afternoon working with the mystery drama, music, and painting.