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BaronGregory von Mёbes (1868 (Riga,Latvia, thenRussian Empire) - 1930[1] or 1934[2] (Ust-Sysolsk,Russia, thenSoviet Union), better known by hispseudonymG. O. Mebes[a], was a leader ofRussian Freemasonry, Grand Lodge "Astraea",[3] with more than 200 years of existence at that time, and the founder of the "Initiation School of Western Esotericism".
Mёbes graduated in 1891 from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty ofSaint Petersburg University and from 1904 to 1917 he taught physics, mathematics and French at the Czarskoye Selo Real school and the Nicolaevsky Gymnasium, at the women's school of the Ministry of Public Education and in the Page Corps and the Nicolaevsky Cadet Corps. He gave up his academic career and devoted himself to the study of the esotericism.
Mёbes was one of the leaders ofRussian Freemasonry and theRosicrucian Order, and an active member of theMartinist Lodge and theorician ofoccultism. The Martinist Lodge was a branch of the FrenchKabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross. It was started in Russia by the French OccultistGérard Encausse (Papus). At the end of 1910, Mёbes became the Secretary of the St. Petersburg branch of the Order. In August 1912 there was a schism between members of the Lodge and the St. Petersburg branch of the Order, the lodge "Apollonia" guided by Mёbes(with the initiatory name of Butator), which declared its autonomy as member of an independent Order called "Autonomous Martinist russian Obedience", led by Mёbes, which was also leading the lodge "The Star of the North" of Saint Petersburg . The same year he broke with his first wife, Olga Yevgrafovna Nagornova.
From 1911 to 1912 Mёbes was writing under the pen name GOM, was giving lectures in Petersburg entitledA Concise Encyclopedia of Occultism, which was following the theories of Papus. The lectures were extremely popular . There are many recollections of them which are written in the history of Russian occultism at the beginning of the century. In his lectures, GOM drew inKabbalah andTarot cards into a single entity, based on Arcana of the Tarot. The 11 December 1912 Mëbes initiated Nicolas Rogalev Girs (Nabusar) (1898 - 1972) in the lodge "The Star of the North" of Saint Petersburg.[4] In 1916 the name of the Order was changed in "Order of Martinist Eastern Obedience". The Chapter of the Order consisted of seven persons, and the occult magazineIsis was the official organ of the russian martinists. From 1918 to 1921, Mebes was reading lectures about theZohar in St. Petersburg. His second wife, Maria Nesterova, lectured about the history of religion.
The School had an "external circle", attended by all of his students, as well as some internal groups formed according to the progress of his disciples.
In 1912, Mёbes agreed that his disciples should publish the lessons about the 22Major Arcana of Tarot, lessons through which Mёbes introduced the key concepts of occultism. The book was published asThe Course of Encyclopedia of Occultism, and the first edition sold out quickly.
After theBolshevik coup in late 1917, when the newSoviet regime began persecuting religion and spiritualism, the School continued operating clandestinely. However in 1926, the School and the domicile of its members were raided by Soviet authorities: the documents destroyed and those who were linked the School were arrested. In the middle of 1928 theLeningradskaya Pravda and theKrasnaya Zvezda newspapers reported that "an investigation int the Great Lodge Astraea, led by the 70-year old Black Occultist Mebes, was opened by KGB agents.". Mёbes was arrested and deported to agulag in theSolovetsk islands, in theWhite Sea, sub-Arctic region, where he died in 1930, according to A. M. Aseev,[5] or in 1934 according to B. V. Astromov-Kirichenko.[6]
Nina Rudnikoff (alt. spelling, Nina Roudnikova), a disciple of Mёbes from the internal circle groups at the School, took all of her notes from Mёbes's lessons about the Minor Arcana of Tarot with her when fleeing Russia. InTallinn,Estonia, she entrusted them to her friend, the Russiantheosophist Catarina Sreznewska-Zelenzeff, who was about to leave Europe and move toBrazil. Rudnikoff asked Sreznewska-Zelenzeff to give her notes to "someone dignified" so that the lessons could be preserved.
Years later, in Brazil, Sreznewska-Zelenzeff met Nadia, widow of Gabriel Iellatchitch, another disciple and friend of Mёbes, and they began living together. Nadia's brother, Alexandre Nikitin-Nevelskoy, another follower of Mёbes's School who had a profound knowledge of esotericism, subsequently moved fromChile to live with them. By combining the notes they had, the three of them reestablished the course of the Minor Arcana of Tarot in its entirety, and it was translated into Portuguese.
Some copies of theEncyclopedia reachedBrazil and were read by Marta Pécher,[7] who was impressed by the book and attempted to contact former disciples of Mёbes. She translated the book intoPortuguese and published it under the titleOs arcanos Maiores do Tarô (The Major Arcana of Tarot), edited by Editora Pensamento.
A new English translation of the Tarot Majors course was published on 8 February 2020 by Shin Publications, incorporating notes fromMeditations on the Tarot by Valentin Tomberg at the end of each Arcana.ISBN 978-1-9163365-3-7 They have also now published an English translation of the course on the Minor Arcana and a book by Nina Rudnikoff (Nina Pavlova Roudnikova) called The Solar Way.
Mёbes's work influenced the writerMouni Sadhu, who acknowledged that his book,The Tarot, was based on that of Mebes,[8] and theMéditations sur les 22 arcanes majeurs du Tarot byValentin Tomberg.[9]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).[10]Link to the English Language Tarot Majors
link to the English language Tarot Minors
link to The Solar Way of Nina Rudnikova
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