Rocky Mountain Atelier TMO Master's Message

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

It has been my honor to initiate eight new members into the Associate Degree in January! There will be another Associate Degree Initiation at the April Associate Weekend Intensive also (this has been postponed to May 16th). This is wonderful to see so many Sisters and Brothers joining our Order as Martinists.

Those doing Home Studies are considered to be Students of Martinism while those studying the lessons in the Temple format – the traditional method of “mouth to ear” learning are considered to be Martinists. There is as much to be learned from the comments in the forums after each lesson by the members present, as there is to gained from the material presented in each lesson.

According to the Traditional Martinist Order literature:

“The Traditional Martinist Order is an Initiatic Order rooted within the Western Esoteric Tradition whose teachings come from the writings of Louis Claude de Saint Martin and his teachers Martinez de Pasqually and Jacob Boehme. Its beautiful teachings and rites instruct us in how to achieve the act of living harmoniously within the Way of the Heart.

Its name is derived from that of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, a great mystic and powerful Illuminist living in France in the 1700s. He wrote many books under the name of "The Unknown Philosopher" concerning our nature and our relationship to the universe. Through him, the Traditional Martinist Order is linked to a tradition with roots going back to the Primordial Tradition, at a time when humanity was privileged to unite itself freely with the Divine, without any intermediary.

Martinists study the natural relationships that exist between the Divine, the Universe, and Humanity. The universe and humanity form a whole, two progressions linked one to the other and evolving together. If we wish to understand our true nature we must look toward the Divine, says Saint-Martin, for "we can only read ourselves in the Divine, only understand ourselves in the Divine splendor." If we are no longer in a position today to reach this understanding it is because we have made the error of separating ourselves from the Divine and losing ourselves in the world of appearances, the temporal world. We have, to some degree, fallen asleep to the spiritual world. Our inner Temple is in ruins.

To become a Martinist is to undertake the reconstruction of the Inner Temple. The Martinist relies on two pillars to build this everlasting Temple—that of initiation and that of the Martinist teachings. Initiation denotes the beginning of this great work, for it is at this moment that we receive the seed of light that constitutes the foundation of our work. It is then up to us to work to bring into being this light and make it shine.

Worldly initiations are a necessary preliminary to Martinists, though we see them as earthly representations of a greater transformation. They only become meaningful when we receive the “central initiation.” Saint-Martin tells us that this initiation is that by which “we can enter into the heart of the Divine, and make the Divine’s heart enter into us, there to form an indissoluble marriage which will make us the spouse of our Divine Redeemer. There is no other mystery in arriving at this holy initiation than to delve further and further into the depths of our being, and not let go until we can bring forth the living, vivifying root, because then, all the fruit which we ought to bear, according to our kind, will be produced within and without ourselves naturally."

If you have not had an opportunity to participate in Temple activities, we encourage you to join a Conventicle at the Rocky Mountain Atelier if you are eligible!

May you ever Dwell in the Eternal Light of Wisdom,

Terry Orlikoski, SI

Master Rocky Mountain Atelier

Traditional Martinist Order