The Society of Guardians

Sicily (Italy) 1280 - Mid 1400's.

Our early Mystical Christian influences derive from the Spiritual Franciscans (Fraticelli) of Sicily. Our Jewish influences originate with Spanish kabbalist Abraham Abulafia (1240-1292), who travelled to Israel, Syria, and Greece before settling in Sicily where he exchanged ideas with the Franciscans (Hames, 2012). A Franciscan superior of a Friary is called the Custos (Guardian). Abulafia said of these Franciscan Guardians "I saw that that they belonged to the pious among the nations, and the words of religious fools need not be heeded, for the Law of the Lord has been handed to the Masters of Knowledge".  

Italy (1350-1550)

The 'Platonic Academy' in Florence, Italy was later established in the mid 1400's under the patronage of Cosimo de Medici.  Flavius Mithridates (Guiglemo Raymond Moncado) a Jewish Kabbalist from Sicily who converted to Christianity joined the Academy working under Pico Della Mirandolla and Marsilio Ficino to translate a Library containing Kabbalistic texts by Abulafia and his student Joseph Gikkatilla.  Mirandolla and Franciscan Friar Francesco Giorgi Venteto (1466-1540) and Georgios Gemistos Pletho, a Greek Philosopher and scholar were key people in the Academy. It is said that the  order established by this group in 1498 was called "The Fratres Lucis". 

Germany 1510-1930's

The teachings of Christian Cabala (Kabbalah) from Florence were taken to Germany in the early 1500's by Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) who had been a student of Mirandolla and Friar Venteto. Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Spanheim was taught Kabbalah by Reuchlin and was also influenced by Occultist Frater Basilius Valentinius  (Benedictine Prior of the Monastery in Erfurt), who himself was influenced by the traditions of the Rhineland mystics such as Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart. Trithemius's students were Paracelcus and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535). Agrippa lectured at the University of Pavia (Italy) on Hermes Trismegistus, Kabbalah, and the works of Reuchlin, Mirandolla, and Ficino, and was taught mysticism by Friar Paolo Ricci (AKA Camillo Renato), another Sicilian Franciscan.

The Guardians were reportedly  based in Frankfurt-Am-Main, Germany during the late 1700's and were also been referred to as the Brotherhood of Light. This order claimed a connection back to the Platonic Academy in Florence. They admitted prominent Kabbalists such as Ephraim Joseph Hirschfeld (died 1819) and Franz Thomas von Schonfeld (AKA Moses Dobrucshka). Their areas of study were Kabbalah and Mystical Christian Theurgy. Kabbalistic scholar Franz Josef Molitor describes how the founder of the Frankfurt order was initiated by "a Franciscan Friar who possessed occult knowledge received from a Kabbalistic mystical Sect". 

Mouni Sadhu (which means 'silent monk') was the pseudonym of Polish-German occultist Mieczyslaw Demetriusz Sudowski (AKA Michael Sadau), who had been in a European Rosicrucian group during the 1920's, studying the Hermetic tradition of Baron Gregory Ottonovich von Mebes. Mebes was a University Professor, senior Martinist, and the Russian Grand Master of the 'Kabbalistic Order of the Rosy Cross' and the 'Brotherhood of Light' (Fratres Lucis), headed by Gerard Encausse (AKA Papus) in France.

In 1935 Mouni Sadhu stayed at a society in Paris (Les Amites Spirituelles) founded by renowned esotericist, Martinist, and Gnostic Bishop 'Paul Sedir' (Yvon le Loup), an associate of Papus. After WWII Mouni Sadhu immigrated to Melbourne, Australia where he resided until his death in 1972. During his life he had ongoing correspondence with Christian mystic Thomas Merton, and Theosophists C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant and spent years in India as a disciple of Ramana Maharshi. He wrote numerous books including a translation of Sedir's "Initiations", a book on Theurgy, and a book entitled 'Tarot: The Quintessence of Hermetic Occultism'. Michel Tyne Corbold (AKA Michael Freedman) joined the Melbourne sanctuary of the Society, headed by Freedman Burford in 1959, and was also member of Mouni Sadhu's esoteric group . He had previously been a Methodist minister in Western Australia, and later became a renowned meditation teacher through his training in India. Michael's spiritual name within the order was" Thamris Gnostes".

After Freedman Burford's death in 1967 Michael Freedman was made the Senior Guardian. In 1969 he moved to Auckland, New Zealand with his wife, where he worked as a Psychologist. He opened the "Sanctuary of the Angels" in a villa in suburb of Mt Eden and offered monthly Solar Ingress rituals, a weekly Mystical Mass, esoteric study groups, meditation evenings, and spiritual retreats. The order's training included courses on Mysticism, Tarot, Kabbalah, and High Magic, and from 1978 a free correspondence meditation course was published. 

Freedman published New Zealand's leading esoteric journal 'Magic Pentacle', wrote many articles, and translated Latin, Greek, and Hebrew texts into English, including a version of the Kabbalistic 'Sefer Yetzirah', and one of Giordano Bruno's Latin manuscripts. Michael was close friends with Frater Fiat Lux (Frank Salt), a senior adept of the the Whare Ra Temple of the Stella Matutina (Golden Dawn), and  received initiation into that tradition also.  Michael passed to higher planes at Summer Solstice, 1996. 

ABOUT THE CURRENT SENIOR GUARDIAN

The current Senior Guardian has been involved with the Guardians Tradition for over 30 years. He was introduced to Michael Freedman by his mother in 1991 and became a correspondence student, then  attended ceremonies and tuition at the sanctuary until 1996. After Michael's death he continued his studies under other Guardian adepts as well as through Masonic, Rosicrucian, and Esoteric Orders and has led a ritual group of the Celtic Magical Tradition for the last 25 years.

In 2013, he was given a temple charter by Jean de Cabilis and three years later on the 18th of June, 2016 he was invested as Senior Guardian by  Anae S. (Abbess) and Dermot C. (Successor to Michael Freedman). In everyday life the Senior Guardian is a Psychological Therapist, and has also been a University Lecturer. He has a strong interest in Ancient Mythology, Anthropology, World Religions, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and Jungian Psychology. 

The Senior Guardian is an ordained Priest with apostolic succession in the Old Catholic/Liberal Catholic, and Gnostic lines. One of the Gnostic lines  is from Richard Duc de Palatine via Bishop Stephan Hoeller of Ecclesia Gnostica. Palatine was also made the Grandmaster of the Fratres Lucis Order in 1953. The French Gnostic line is via Bernard Fabre Paleprat (1773-1838) down to Jean Bricaud, Victor Blanchard, and Robert Amadou etc.