HIRAM ERASTUS BUTLER

 

 

Hiram Erastus Butler (1841-1916) was an American born in Pennsylvania. Initially he worked as logger who chopped off a few fingers in his work. He then claimed to have spent 14 years as a hermit before appearing in Boston in the 1880s as the pseudonyms: Adhy-Apaka, alias the Hellenic Ethnomedon, Enphoron, alias the Greco-Tibetan, Ens-movens, Om Mane Padmi Aum.

 

In 1887 Butler sought to impart a more advanced and welcoming teaching than the Theosophists, he associated with a charlatan named Eli Ohmart (aka Vidya-Nyaika) who pretending to be a great initiate, and together they founded an "Esoteric Society" named GNKR which are the initials of "The Genii of Nations, Knowledges, and Religions".

 

This organization pretending to teach "all the mysteries, and among others, the power of acquiring vast wealth," but it ended up failing under accusations from the press and Theosophists.

 

But this scandal also tarnished the reputation of the Theosophical Society because Butler pretended to have been a Theosophist and he used theosophical concepts.

 

William Judge who was the president of the American section affirmed that examining the archives, he discovered that Butler had never belonged to the Theosophical Society, but despite this, a part of the public did not pay attention to that and considered that the fraudulence of the GNKR "also checked the deceptions of the Theosophical Society."

 

(What William Judge wrote about Butler and Ohmart you can read here.)

 

 

In 1891 Butler went to live in California with twelve of his followers and settled on a 500-acre homestead overlooking the American River, near the town of Applegate. There, they built an 18-room house, established a farm, and set up a printing press so that Butler could continue publishing his books and his magazine.

 

Butler established on that farm a utopian community called "The Esoteric Fraternity" which later became known as "The Order of Melchizedek," which was based on astrology, radical celibacy (despite Butler's reputation for womanizing) and development of the will as the path to the New Illumination.

 

That cult was intended to prepare its followers to run a worldwide religious dictatorship, and faded from history after a still-unsolved murder claimed one of its member.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Butler's most famous work was Solar Biology, first published in 1887, in which he simplified astrology by basing horoscopes on sun and moon signs, rather than on complex planetary movements. Scholarly astrologers assert that this is an incorrect way to analyze astrology, but many less knowledgeable astrologers adopted Butler's formulas, especially those who write for the newspapers.

 

Others of his books were:

 

·        Esoteric Significance of Color

·        Gathering the Good of All

·        Narrow Way of Attainment (1901)

·        Practical Methods to Insure Success (1893)

·        The Goal of Life, Or, Science and Revelation (1908)

·        The Highway of Success

·        The Idea of God

·        The Paradox

·        The Seven Creative Principles (1887)

·        The Subjugation of the Body

·        The Three Ways

·        Who Is Able to Walk the Narrow Way?

 

 

 

His magazines

 

Butler began to publish monthly his Esoteric magazine in Boston starting in July 1887, and the journal was advertised as:

 

"A magazine devoted to Advanced and Practical Esoteric Thought; Oriental and Occidental Theosophy; The New Illumination; How to Climb the Heights of Mental and Spiritual Power; the Science of Understanding, which gives the key to important ancient works. It tells how to make Attainments and ultimate the Ideal of the Ages. It teaches how to secure health and impart the same to others through the law of Mind and Soul vibrations. It expounds many long-hidden truths," etc.

 

Butler continued to publish his magazine later in California.

 

From 1894 to 1899 large sections of this magazine were published under the title "The Revised Esoteric," but also extensive portions were omitted. In the preface Butler explained this, saying that:

 

-         "It was our policy in the beginning of this Magazine to accept articles without criticism that we regarded as unfit, in order that the people might to think for themselves, and thus be enabled to judge between truth and error."

 

This argument sounds very little credible and it is most likely that Butler had internal conflicts and therefore later rejected much of the material that he had originally published in his magazine.

 

In September 1900, he changed its magazine name to "The Occult and Biological Journal". And from September 1902, he again changed the name to "The Bible Review".

 

His followers continued to publish this magazine after his death (in 1916) until 1943, but from 1926 they changed the name to "The Christian Esoteric".

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Hiram Erastus Butler was one of the first liars to take advantage of the fame of the Theosophical Society to create his sect.