hermeticism

Today, I wish to discuss an important occult leader of early 20th-century Russia who influenced several generations of occultists both in Russia and the West. Despite his significance, he remained relatively unknown in the West outside of the French Martinist Order until recently.

Grigoriy Ottonovich Mebes was born in 1868 in Riga to a noble family. He graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of St. Petersburg University in 1891. During the 1904-1905 academic year, Mebes, a teacher of mathematics, physics, and French, taught at Tsarskoye Selo. He also taught physics and mathematics at the Nikolaevsky Gymnasium and physics at the women's school of the Ministry of Public Education.

Grigory Ottonovich was a respected teacher at the Page Corps, an elite educational institution attended by members of the highest Russian aristocracy, where he taught from 1906 to 1911. However, records of his teaching activities are scarce. A short memoir mentions G.O. Mebes: "Mebes nervously tugged at his mustache and, breaking the chalk on the blackboard, initiated us into the intricacies of Newton's binomial theorem."

Czeslaw Czynski

In 1910, Mebes's life took a turn that eventually led him to abandon his academic career. In St. Petersburg, he met Czeslaw Czynski, a delegate of the French Martinist Order and a man with a remarkable life story. Like many members of the Russian nobility at that time, Mebes was proficient in French and was strongly influenced by the works of the Martinists, who were active in occult education in France during the 19th and 20th centuries.

By the time he met Czynski, Mebes already had an excellent understanding of the Martinist tradition. Within two months, Czynski initiated Mebes into the degrees of Unknown Superior (S::I::) and Unknown Superior Initiator (S::I::I::), giving him full access to the hidden keys of this initiatory tradition.

Mebes also received a patent to establish a Martinist lodge. By the end of 1910, Papus awarded Mebes a Doctor of Hermeticism diploma from the Academy of Hermeticism, and Mebes became the General Inspector (Secretary) of the St. Petersburg branch of the Order, which he named the "Grand Lodge of Apollonius of Tyana."

In 1911-1912, Mebes, under the pseudonym GOM, gave a popular lecture course in St. Petersburg titled “A Course of the Encyclopedia of Occultism.” These lectures gained widespread acclaim, as evidenced by numerous memoirs and reviews of works on early 20th-century Russian occultism. In his course, GOM combined Kabbalah and Tarot cards into a single system of Arcana (Secrets).

In August 1912, Mebes tried to lead the Russian Martinist lodges and wrote to Papus requesting to be appointed as the Grand Master for Russia. However, he was rejected. In response, Mebes formed his own organization, the "Autonomous Rank of Martinism of Russian Obedience," where he continued to develop the study of Arcana.

an older GOM

In 1924, Martinist and other esoteric groups in Russia ceased their activities completely. Key leaders were arrested and exiled to Siberia, while materials and notebooks were confiscated, hidden, or taken abroad by students. Betrayed by one of his own students, Mebes was arrested by Soviet authorities and charged as the head of a Masonic organization, which was outlawed. He was sentenced to three years in exile, which was later extended by another three years. Mebes was exiled west of the Ural Mountains to Syktyvkar, known as Ust-Sysolsk at that time.

Some sources suggest that Mebes died in the labor camps in 1930 and was buried in Syktyvkar. However, others claim he was released and settled in Veliky Ustyug with his wife, Maria Nesterova, where he passed away in July 1934. The exact location of his burial remains unknown.

Remembering Mebes, Aleksandr Aseev, the publisher of the journal “Occultism and Yoga,” described Grigory Ottonovich as a large, broad-shouldered man with sharp facial features, a heavy nose, and thick eyebrows above calm, attentive gray eyes. He had a thick mustache and a wedge-shaped beard, and his auburn hair was streaked with gray. Mebes typically wore a black frock coat and had a calm, somewhat old-fashioned demeanor. He spoke with exquisite politeness, often inserting jokes into his speech.

Mebes's work produced two masters of Russian esotericism: Vladimir Alekseevich Shmakov, author of "The Sacred Book of Thoth" (1916), and Valentin Arnoldovich Tomberg, author of "Meditations on the Tarot" (1984). Tomberg's book is particularly noted among Catholic believers and clergy.

This was a brief biography of Grigory Ottonovich Mebes (GOM). Next time, I plan to discuss the core tenets of his philosophy.