Maria de Naglowska

Maria was a completely fascinating woman, in every aspect. Strikingly beautiful and mysterious, she enchanted Paris in that magical time between the two World Wars. She managed to be a mystery to many, despite being very open and in the public eye during most of this period. She was determined to bring about a new age, based on what she called the Third Term of the Trinity, a female principle of God equivalent to the Holy Spirit. The way to this revelation? Through sex. It's a wonder she did not convert all of Paris, as she was reputedly a very striking and beautiful example of Russian womanhood.

This lens is the second in our series of female mystics. Please check our related lenses.

Maria before her appearance in Paris

Maria was born in St. Petersburg, in 1883, to a prominent Czarist family. She attended the best schools, and received the very best education open to a girl at that time and place. Her biography is unfortunately very skimpy prior to her appearance in Western Europe, but given the stature and position her family enjoyed, one can easily imagine her being exposed to the Russian court, and all its events. A very wonderful time to have grown up in the privileged Russian upper class, just prior to its demise at the hand of the Bolsheviks. What little is known and reliable comes from a biography written by one of her main students, Marc Pluquet, and that is an extremely short one.

We know for certain that she fell in love, and married against her family's wishes. Due to the rift this caused, the couple move first to Germany, and then to Switzerland. Her husband, a Zionist by the name of Moise Hopenko, was a young Jewish musician. He fathered 3 children with Maria, before abandoning his family to go to Palestine. Life for Maria becomes difficult at this point, and she takes various jobs simply to stay afloat. Her career as a journalist begins at this time, while in Geneva. She also writes a French Grammar, whose target market was Russian immigrants in the Swiss country. Her progressive ideas tended to get her in trouble with governments wherever she was, another common theme in her life, and she would soon leave Switzerland for Italy, more specifically, Rome.

Most of the 1920s would be spent there, where she was to make several significant contacts. One of these would be the occultist, Julius Evola, and it is assumed by many that they became lovers. They would certainly go on to be associates for many years. While most who have studied Maria assign a lot of weight to Evola's influence, it is clear there were other, equally important ones. There's a good chance she was exposed in Russia to the Khlysti sect, to which Rasputin seems to have belonged. In fact, Maria translated a biography of Rasputin.

Maria, though, credits an old monk in Rome as the one who gave her the basis of her later teachings. The monk supposedly gave her a piece of cardboard on which was drawn a triangle, representing the Christian concept of the Trinity. The first two apexes were labeled as the Father, and the Son. The third, less distinct, was for the Holy Spirit, and to Maria this was a Feminine principle. No one knows how much of her teachings came from this monk, as opposed to herself, but Maria would go on to teach that the Father represented Judaism (reason), whereas the Son represented Christianity (heart), as well as the era that was coming to an end. The feminine spirit represented the new era, which would require a new religion, based on sex, and the reconciliation of the powers of light and darkness.

This last portion is what would get Maria into trouble, as she was soon labeled a Satanist because of it. Not helped in the slightest by her own admission to being a "satanic woman" both in conversation and in her writings. She would go on to teach that both Jesus and Satan were co-equivalent and opposed forces that must be joined to herald the new era of the Feminine Holy Spirit, and a return to God. Much like Aleister Crowley would do around the same period, she embraced the label "Satanist", and certainly paid a price for it, as would Crowley.

In 1929, she would move to Paris.

Paris, 1929 and beyond

Maria arrived in Paris to dire news. She was not to be given a work permit, as necessary then as it is today. She would have to depend on her survival skills, fortunately well-honed by this time. She began work on her best known book, a translation of Paschal Beverly Randolph's Magia Sexualis. It is to her ever lasting credit that she did so, as this book, in its original English, is lost to us today and only survives in Maria's translation to French, from which translations back to English have been made. Many think, however, that more than being a translator, she should appear as a co-author. We cannot compare to the original, of course, but it is supposed that Maria added much of her own material as she was translating, instead of limiting herself to the original work. Probably around two thirds of the resultant book can be credited back to Randolph, the rest is Maria's.

Randolph was a mystic and sex theorist from America, and is also notable in that he was African-American. Despite the racial limitations and inequality of his time, he managed to publish his writings and founded at least one mystical society. Some of his teachings struck a chord in Maria, as they related to sexual matters, always key in her own teachings. Though she certainly would not have agreed with everything Randolph espoused.

While working on the translation, she also started giving free conferences at local cafes, where aside from gathering a following, she often obtained free food and coffee. Her lectures were mostly about the Doctrine of the Third Term of the Trinity, and the first time she publicly revealed her ideas. After a short period, she had enough of a following that she could afford to rent out a large, bare room for her lectures and start charging attendance. She was soon making a living out of it.

This income was supplemented by her publishing activities. Aside from her translation of Randolph's book, she would publish three original works. One would be a metaphysical novelette, The Sacred Rite of Magical Love, which would have some autobiographical material in it thinly disguised as fiction. The other two would be required reading prior to initiation in the mystical society she would start, based on her teachings. These were The Light of Sex and Advanced Sex Magic: The Hanging Mystery Initiation.

Her doctrine stated that there were three cycles through which our universe moves, and these are reflected as the Trinity. In the First, God the Father descends, and this is the equivalent of the Fall. In the Second, the Son attempts to return (this is the base of the triangle) and is a conflict between Jesus and Satan. The final, Third, is the Holy Spirit, or Divine Feminine, who finds the path back to the apex, which can only be done through sexual union. Seeing as the Father is reason (the head), and the Son is compassion (the heart), and the Holy Spirit is sex (the genitalia), the three terms also follow a descent on the body itself, culminating in an ascent back to the head.

Once the cycle is completed, it all starts again, so this is a never ending sequence. Each era has its own societal mores, and its own religion and so on. Therefore, Maria stated that the Third Term of the Trinity would bring with it a new religion to replace Christianity, requiring the union of the Priestess with a male follower to allow a return to Godhead, and the beginning of yet another cycle. I am oversimplifying, of course, and this is inevitable or this would turn out to be yet another book. I would strongly urge you to acquire Maria's actual books so you can read the full material for yourself.

Most of Maria's teaching first saw the light of day through her periodical, La Fleche, before being refined and revised for book form. Originally in French, and each issue an expensive and sought after collectible these days, this new book is the first chance many will have had to read her essays and articles.

La Fleche, the Arrow in English, an Organ of Magical Action, was of course a double entendre, and obviously a very phallic one. Maria started this newspaper as yet another supplement to her income. She contributed a lot of the material, under her own name as well as several pseudonyms. Many of the key occultists of the time would also be contributors, however, and it had some success. Its page count would wane and wax according to Naglowska's finances, but would more commonly be around 8 pages. She would sell these on the street. Some of her longer writings would be serialized first in La Fleche, before being published in book form. It would also carry advertisements for her books.

These three books contain the bulk of Maria's teachings, and as you can see by their titles, they all deal in some fashion or other with sex. Sex to Maria was the defining force of the third, wholly feminine, member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The joining of a man and a woman could serve to invoke this force, as well as the new era. Very similar in principle to what Aleister Crowley would be saying around the same point in time, yet also completely at odds!

I would strongly suggest that those interested purchase these books quickly. Works of this nature tend to small print runs, are soon out of print, and start commanding handsome prices in the secondary book markets!

This book would no longer exist if not for Maria, who translated it from the English to the French while in Paris, and had it published. The original book has since been lost, as in no copies are known to have survived to our time. Thanks to Maria's translation into French, we now have access to it after hers was translated back to English.

The end of an era, or was it?

Naglowska was extremely psychic, and often would accurately foretell future events. One of her more famous predictions was World War II, and please note that she died before the start of the conflict. Nor were her predictions couched in obscure poetic quatrains that could be made to fit almost any event given enough time. Hers were in plain English (well, French), with no opportunity for vagaries. Another of her predictions was her own death.

She was also aware that her teachings would not find fertile ground at the time. Despite her books selling quite well, in fact, they sold out, she refused to reprint them. She stated that it would take another 2 or 3 generations before anyone would appreciate them. At this point, knowing she was close to death, she left Paris for Zurich, and spent her final days staying with her daughter, who lived there. Maria died at age 52, on April 17th, 1936. Approximately a year after predicting her own death. I'd be happy if my stockbrokers were even half as accurate, half of the time.

Incredibly enough, even after decades in obscurity, Maria has of late been making a comeback among the younger generation, as evidenced by this recent musical offering.

Heavy metal tribute to Maria

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