At FNAC, Barcelona, 28 november 2000
First of all, I would like to discuss the deep sense of The Message Rediscovered, and then continue with a description of the man I knew over a period of 4 years.
The Message Rediscovered belongs to the filiation of the masters of Hermeticism. To name but a few, we have Homer, Virgil, Ramon Llull, Arnald de Vilanova, Paracels, H.Khunrath, Dante, Cervantes, N. Valois, Cornelius Agrippa, Eugenius Philalethe and many more that escape me at this moment. What is more, I have not mentioned those belonging to the Muslim and Jewish tradition.
It seems that L.Cattiaux re-established and found again this hermetic filiation interrupted since the end of the 17th century.
Perhaps on this occasion we should remind ourselves as to what Hermeticism actually consists of. The hermetic science comes from Egypt by way of the god Toth, the god of the prophetic word, friend and confidante of Osiris, whose Greek equivalent is Hermes, and Latin equivalent is Mercury. For the Christians, this god of the word is Christ. For this reason, the Christian hermeticists call him Hermes-Christ.
The mysteries of the prophecy are none other than those of the Word that is Divine Thought incarnated.
In the Bible, it is said that Adam before the fall or original sin, named the creatures in Paradise, that is to say he created them with the Word. Then, he lost this task as creator. This means that exiled Man in this world below lost the Adamic Word.
In a well-known and one of the most beautiful masonic rituals, the 18th grade of the Rosy Cross, there exists a reference to this lost Word that has to be found again.
But this is no more than a ritual, that is to say a simple teaching that cannot have an effect without a wise Expert that brings it to life. Hermes-Toth is at the same time the Adept in possession of the Divine Word, and this very same Word. The Hermetic philosophers gave Mercury’s name a certain tangible substance, a necessary part when preparing the Great Work.
This seems to be the mystery of the hermetic science or Chemical Kabalah of the alchemists that talk about their living gold. Kabalah in Hebrew means ‘reception’, it is the gift of Hermes-Christ, and Chemical refers to a fusion, as if the fusion of two things comes from this gift, or to put it another way, the union of that which is above with that which is below.
The whole meaning of the hermetic message is none other than the recuperation of the lost Word by our first parents, that is to say the regeneration of the fallen man.
This is the one and only message, the transmission of this gift that saves one from death. It is a message that is always the same, repeated from the beginning by all the sages of humanity in their writings, but expressed in different ways with varying images and symbols, according to the times and according to the people.
The Message Rediscovered demonstrates this fact with quotations from different Holy Scriptures placed at the beginning and at the end of each of its chapters or books.
Louis Cattiaux said:
« Hermeticism is the very nucleus of tradition and for this reason it can include all aspects of the tradition represented by different religions. »
LOUIS CATTIAUX
*
THE MAN
We knew Cattiaux from 1949-1953, the year he died. When we met him in 1949, he had already spent the previous 10 years writing The Message Rediscovered. The following verse from book xviii was written approximately around this time:
« It has taken ten years to write the Book, therefore, who will refuse to read it during the same period of time before asking useless questions? »
« The more we stir the mud the more it clouds up and the more we let it rest the more it will choose in a natural way. »
He had written 18 of the 40 books that make up the work.In 1946, the first 12 books were published at the expense of the author and that is how my brother and I found out about the Message and its author.
I do not know if it is very useful to talk about the author; it would be like describing the donkey and forgetting about the treasure that it carries, or talking about the piano without considering the artist that plays the instrument.
This is how idolatry of the person comes about and how fanaticism is fostered, to the detriment of the message transmitted by the man or to the detriment of his teachings. However, it is true that without a donkey the divine treasure cannot be brought to or granted to men in the world below, and without a piano, the heavenly music cannot be heard by the exiled man. But one should not be confused with the other. Anyway, Cattiaux did everything he could to prevent the idolatry of the person. We are talking about an unusual person, at first sight a disconcerting person, but happy, funny, with a great sense of humour. We mentioned disconcerting, with unpredictable reactions, guided by a peculiar logic that took his visitors by surprise; he loved shocking people and even scandalising them, but always with good humour. He was one of those men without any complexes, completely free in the world, and who lived intensely in the present just like a happy child would do and without malice.
He was often a charlatan and a clown, refusing to take the world seriously, not even himself. If he taught, he was not masterly, preferring to teach like a fool that possesses the art of saying things to those who wish to listen, while making the rest laugh without offending them.
« We have decided to put on the dress of a charlatan, as the despicable lack of interest of those in the world is easier to tolerate than its interested admiration – The book is like the ark which holds and transmits the secret of the Unique. Many will have it, but few will penetrate it. » (XXIII, 61)
« We consider ourselves handicapped, useless and stupid when we rest in the contemplation of the Unique or we call ourselves charlatan, juggler and clown when we teach his holy law in the world.- It is not our place to take ourselves seriously nor expect others to do so. This is up to God, who can look into the interiors of creatures clearly. » (XX, 66)
« We are ignorant before the scholars that are triumphant.
We are lost before the imbeciles that are triumphant.
We are useless before the workers that are triumphant.
We are mad before the reasoners that are triumphant.
We are wretched before the rich that are triumphant.
We are reprobate before the so called well-meaning that are triumphant.
We are lost before the reassured that are triumphant.
We are despicable before the powerful that are triumphant.
We are abstruse before the intelligent that are triumphant.
We are buried before the agitated that are triumphant.
We are ashamed before the hypocrites that are triumphant.
We are stupid before the illuminated that are triumphant.
We are inept before the skilful that are triumphant.
We are dumb before the speech makers that are triumphant.
We are idiots before the cunning that are triumphant.
We are coward before the heroes that are triumphant.
We are deserter before the enlisted that are triumphant.
We are displaced before the world that is triumphant.
And perhaps also because we are truthful and healthy before the sons of God who is triumphant? » (XXVII, 17)
I have an amusing anecdote that I am going to tell you about the line «We are stupid before the illuminated who are triumphant». It is the anecdote about the illuminated yogi master who goes to visit Cattiaux at his house. The master had earlier on, made an appointment to see Cattiaux. Cattiaux, at the expected time of arrival of the yogi was in the basement, wearing shorts and handling coal; he was dirty and came out of the basement covered in black dust. Cattiaux’s wife let the yogi into the house and took him to the door of the basement. The yogi was wearing an immaculate white robe. When he saw Cattiaux, dirty and black from the coal, he wrapped himself in his white robe and left without ever coming back.
There is another anecdote about Cattiaux the man who loved scandalising. (Cattiaux attended a Christmas mass with my family. At a certain point, he got up and in front of everybody, bowed reverently to the wooden stove).
Cattiaux was very well-known in Paris, above all amongst artists and esoteric groups. People considered him to be an original painter who painted strange pictures or a magician lost in the 20th century; an original person. However, very few people suspected the true man hidden under this appearance, the man who was writing his message verse by verse. Only through the book which took 14 years to write, was he able to demonstrate his true personality.
It was then that he was friendly, enthusiastic and communicative and one could sense that he was keeping an immense secret inside him and it was then that he behaved like a true friend. With reference to this, we suggest that you read The Collected Letters of Louis Cattiaux (Beya Editions, Belgium, 2013). This man always lived in the present and each verse of the book was written as a continuing confrontation of a reality, events, meetings, and daily conversations that he alone could contemplate within himself.
In this way thoughts, maxims were immediately written on the first paper that came to hand and kept in a drawer. When he had sufficient verses, he organised them to form a new book. It was in this way that he worked on The Message Rediscovered, little by little.
This book is for everyone, for all believers, and it answers all those who question it, each according to their desire and abilities, as long as it is meditated upon with simplicity and without prejudice. It is a book that becomes a faithful friend for those who engage with it diligently.
