Karl von Eckartshausen was a German Catholic mystic

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

, author, and philosopher.

Born in Haimhausen

Haimhausen

Haimhausen is a municipality in the district of Dachau in Bavaria, Germany, just north of Munich. It has a few shops, including Schlecker, a flower shop and Nahkauf, as well as a Schloss, which is now home to the Bavarian International School. There is a Shell petrol station. It has its own...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Eckartshausen studied philosophy and Bavarian civil law

Civil law (legal system)

Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...

 in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 and Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...

. He was the author of The Cloud upon the Sanctuary (:de:Die Wolke über dem Heiligtum), a work of Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often been connected to mystical theology, especially in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions...

 which was later taken up by occultists. The book was given a high status in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...

, particularly by Arthur Edward Waite

Arthur Edward Waite

Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A...

. It is known to have attracted English author and the founder of Thelema

Thelema

Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...

, Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...

, to the Order. Later he joined the order of the Illuminati

Illuminati

The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...

 founded by Adam Weishaupt

Adam Weishaupt

Johann Adam Weishaupt was a German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati, a secret society with origins in Bavaria.-Early life:...

, but "withdrew his membership soon after discovering that this order only recognized enlightenment through human reason."

von Eckartshausen was acquainted with Johann Georg Schröpfer

Johann Georg Schröpfer

Johann Georg Schröpfer was a German illusionist, freemason, and occultist. He was a pioneer of entertainment séances, being one of the first people to use a magic lantern to project the appearance of ghosts...

, an early pioneer of phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria can refer to:* Phantasmagoria, a type of show using an optical device to display moving images* Phantasmagoria, a video game* Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, a video game sequel to Phantasmagoria...

, and himself experimented with the use of magic lantern

Magic lantern

The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...

s to create "ghost projections" in front of an audience of four or five people. He died in Munich at the age of 50.

Publications

• Aufschlüsse über Magie. [Explanations Concerning Magic.] München [Munich], 1790.
• Aufschlüsse zur Magie aus geprüften Erfahrungen über verborgene philosophische Wissenschaften und verdeckte Geheimnisse der Natur. 4 vols., Munich. 1788-1792.
• Die wichtigsten Hieroglyphen fürs Menschen-Herz. Leipzig, 1796.
• Die Wolke über dem Heiligtum. [The Cloud upon the Sanctuary.]
• Gott ist die reinste Liebe. [God is pure love.] Munich, 1791.
• Magic: the principles of higher knowledge. (translated into English and edited by Gerhard Hanswille & Deborah Brumlich. -- Scarborough, Ont. : Merkur Pub. Co., c1989.)

Sources

• Knowles, George. "Karl von Eckartshausen." Retrieved 15 June 2006.