Martinism:

The Way of the Heart

Steven Armstrong, SI
In this article RCUI Instructor and long time Martinist member Steven Armstrong presents
the Way of the Heart as it has been practiced in various traditions throughout history including
in the Traditional Martinist Order.

entral and foundational to Mar- II, Chokhmah was translated as Sophia.

C tinism and the Traditional

Martinist Order is La Voie Car-
diaque, The Way of the Heart. Far from
This translation is known as the Septuagint.
Perhaps her most famous appearance is
in Proverbs 8:22-36; 9:1-6:
being emotional or sentimental, this is
one of the most widespread spiritual paths Adonai [the Lord] made me as the be-
on the planet, embraced by countless spir- ginning of his way,
itualities. And it is effective. the first of his ancient works.
The Way of the Heart is part of what I was appointed before the world,
some scholars call the Sophia Tradition.
before the start, before the earth’s be-
Sophia, or Wisdom, has many meanings.
ginnings.
One of these is the Gnostic Myth of So-
phia, in which she is an Aeon, emanated When I was brought forth, there were
from the One, who falls from grace and is no ocean depths,
one of the ways that the material world is no springs brimming with water.
created. But that is not the Sophia that we I was brought forth before the hills,
will be dealing with in this study, although before the mountains had settled in
there are connections to our Sophia.1 place;
Sophia he had not yet made the earth, the
fields,
The Sophia of the Way of the Heart is a or even the earth’s first grains of dust.
feminine image of the Divine. One of her When he established the heavens, I was
earliest appearances is in Plato’s Protagoras, there.
where Wisdom is one of the four cardinal
When he drew the horizon’s circle on
virtues. Of course, her name is part of the
the deep,
whole field of philosophy, which means
love of Wisdom. when he set the skies above in place,
when the fountains of the deep poured
Even more strikingly, Wisdom is wide-
forth,
ly present in the Hebrew Scriptures. The
Hebrew word for Wisdom is Chokhmah, when he prescribed boundaries for the
familiar to students of Kabbalah as the sea,
second of the Sephirot. When the Jewish so that its water would not transgress
community of Alexandria translated the his command,
Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the late when he marked out the foundations of
second century BCE by order of Ptolemy the earth,
Page 49
 I was with him as someone he could icrucian Digest in 2007,2 praise Wisdom
trust. and her followers. As an Essene document,
For me, every day was pure delight, this would have been well known to John
as I played in his presence all the time, the Baptist and the Master Yeshua.
playing everywhere on his earth, Judaism has enshrined this concept
and delighting to be with humankind. of the feminine Divine manifestation as
Shekhinah, both in Eternity and here be-
low. That is why each Rosicrucian Temple
Therefore, children, listen to me: has a Shekhinah at its center, the Divine
happy are those who keep my ways. presence within the Temple.
Hear instruction, and grow wise; Christianity continued this Wisdom
do not refuse it. Tradition. Eastern Orthodox, Byzantine
How happy the person who listens to and Roman Catholics, and the Reformed
me, Churches (Anglicans and Protestants) all
who watches daily at my gates consider Sophia as a feminine manifesta-
and waits outside my doors. tion of the Divine. In Orthodoxy, Icons
of Holy Sophia have all of the earmarks of
For he who finds me finds life
the Icons of Christ. Indeed, as in Neopla-
and obtains the favor of Adonai. tonism, especially in Philo, Sophia and the
But he who misses me harms himself; Logos are linked, perhaps even the same.
all who hate me love death. Holy Wisdom is Sophia/Logos incarnate
in the Christ. She is seen as Divine. In the
Wisdom has built herself a house; nineteenth century, some Russian mystical
theologians (Sophiologists) even attempted
she has carved her seven pillars.
to find a way of integrating Sophia as one
She has prepared her food, spiced her
wine,
and she has set her table.
She has sent out her young girls [with
invitations]:
she calls from the heights of the city,
“Whoever is unsure of himself, turn in
here!”
To someone weak-willed she says,
“Come and eat my food!
Drink the wine I have mixed!
Don’t stay unsure of yourself, but live!
Walk in the way of understanding!”
In addition to this passage, Wisdom is
a major theme in the Psalms, the Song of
Songs, Ecclesiastes, the Book of Wisdom,
the Wisdom of Sirach, and Baruch in the
Septuagint. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, Balev
Rosicrucian
Digest Tahor (The Blessings of the Wise), pub-
No. 1 lished in an original translation in the Ros-
2014
Page 50
of the Persons of the Trinity. Of course, the Certainly the Egyptians understood
central Church of the Roman Empire was the vital role of the brain during life. We
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. know they practiced trepanning, a surgi-
cal procedure to drill through the skull to
The Spiritual Marriage relieve pressure on the brain. We have an-
Among mystics of all these Christian cient remains where the hole had grown
groups, the ultimate goal is the spiritual shut, evidence of the success of this proce-
marriage of the soul with Sophia. Chris- dure. Furthermore, they knew that certain
tian Mystics as diverse as Jacob Boehme kinds of head injuries could cause loss of
(Lutheran), Hildegard von Bingen (Cath- speech and other disorders.
olic), and Vladimir Solovyev and Sergius They also knew, however, that the
Bulgakov (Orthodox) all worked toward brain was only needed on this plane of ex-
this goal. istence as a kind of interface between the
Nor is this Wisdom tradition confined soul and the body. Both here and in the
to Judaism and Christianity. Through afterlife, it is the Heart that is the true cen-
Neoplatonism, Sophia has a central role in ter of Wisdom, of the human person. The
Islam, especially Sufism. The Bezels of Wis- Heart (or more properly, the Heart Center,
dom, often attributed to Ibn Arabi, speaks one of the seven major psychic centers), is
of the “transcendent divine wisdom.”3 the true seat of consciousness, and is the
Broadly speaking, the Sophia Tradition Center which can most directly commune
in the West is known as Theosophy (Divine with the Divine rhythm of all that is, man-
Wisdom).4 (This is not to be confused ifest and unmanifest.5
with the Theosophical Society, which is a The tool used to awaken the Heart to
spiritual organization which began in the this rhythm, and to attune the whole per-
late nineteenth century in India.) It has son with it, is known in Martinism, and
parallels in practically all world spiritual in the West in general, as The Prayer of
traditions as we will soon see. the Heart. Its most basic manifestation is
Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, whose deep rhythmic breathing, while mentally
teachings and approaches are transmitted repeating a name or a mantra which repre-
in the Traditional Martinist Order, was a sents the deepest mysticism of the practi-
major theosophist in eighteenth century tioner, breathing in and breathing out.
France. He held Jacob Boehme as his “sec- At the beginning, an aspirant will do
ond teacher,” and learned German so that this for periods of time, consciously. For
he could translate his works into French. those who practice this ancient art as-
One of the treasures carried on in the Mar- siduously, it becomes second nature, and
tinist Order is the primary practice of the becomes part of the fabric of their lives,
Divine Wisdom Tradition: The Prayer of following the injunction to “pray cease-
the Heart. lessly.” Let us take a moment to review the
The Prayer of the Heart manifestation of The Prayer of the Heart
in several world traditions.
The Prayer of the Heart is as old as
humanity itself. Students visiting the Heart-Centered Prayer in the
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose Abrahamic Traditions
often ask why the ancient Egyptians dis-
posed of the brain but kept the heart and In Judaism, this heart-centered prayer
replaced it during the mummification pro- consists of using these methods while
cess. mentally reciting the Divine Names while
Page 51
 slowly mentally reading a prayer, or a pas-
sage from Scripture, sometimes repeating
one word or phrase for many iterations.
Originally a Monastic practice, Ignatius
of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, refers
to something very similar in “The Three
Methods of Praying” in the Spiritual Ex-
ercises. Through the work of the Society of
Jesus, this has become better known today.
meditating. In Kabbalah, this is usually the Islam’s heart practice is known as Dhi-
meditative recitation of the 72 Names of kr or Zikr, meaning invocation. It is the
God from the Sepher Yezirah. repeated and rhythmic recitation, usually
Christian heart-centered prayer is mentally, of phrases with which one “Re-
most commonly practiced by Eastern members Allah.” Many sections of the
Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, who Qur’an recommend this practice highly.
use the phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son Most typically citations from the Qur’an
of God, have mercy on me, the sinner,” or exclamations such as “God is Greatest!”
or simply the Name “Jesus.” This ancient or “There is no God but God!”7 are used.
practice, part of the mystical discipline
known as Hesychasm (Being Quiet), was Practices in the East and Beyond
made popular in the West with the pub- Japa is the form that the heart prayer
lication of a translation of The Way of a takes in Hinduism and Tibetan Bud-
Pilgrim6 in 1931 from the Russian original dhism. Usually accompanied by the use of
dating from at least 1884. The simple nar- a 108-bead chain, the practitioner repeats
rative is the story of a Russian pilgrim and a mantra or Divine name mentally. Com-
his use of the Prayer of the Heart (known mon mantras are Aum, Hare Krishna, and
in Christianity more commonly as “The Om Mani Padme Hum. Japa means “to
Jesus Prayer”). It is often practiced using utter with a low voice, repeat internally.”
a knotted bead rope known as Chotkis or
Komboskini. The Roman Catholic Rosary In Pure Land Buddhism, Nianfo
is a slightly different variation of this. or Nembutsu is the repetitive prayer for
“mindfulness of the Buddha.” It consists
In Western literature, J.D. Salinger most commonly of the rhythmic repetition
used The Way of a Pilgrim and this prayer of the name of Amitabha Buddha: Namo
as the central theme in his 1961 short Amitabhaya, “Homage to Infinite Light.”
story collection, Franny and Zooey, further The practice dates from at least the first
popularizing this form of meditation. He century BCE. It is also translated into the
compares it to usages in Hinduism and languages of the culture of the practitioner.
Buddhism. Today, not only Eastern Or-
thodox and Byzantine Catholics, but also Sikhs also practice repetition of the
all Catholics, Anglicans, and many main- Divine Name with 108-bead chains, and
stream Protestants use this ancient heart­ members of the Baha’i tradition follow a
centered prayer. similar practice. Shamanism often uses re-
petitive formulas in its many meditative
In addition to this, the Western Me- practices as well.
diaeval practice of Lectio Divina (Divine
Rosicrucian Reading) is still widely practiced today. Esoteric Traditions
Digest In this approach, the practitioner rhyth- While Rosicrucians do not have a di-
No. 1
2014 mically breathes in and out while very rect analogue with the Prayer of the Heart,
Page 52
the use of Vowel Sounds and the Lost It should be no surprise that with the
Word are quite similar.8 In addition, the central place that the concepts of “Wis-
Mystics of the Essene/Carmelite/Rosicru- dom” and “Word” have in the Primordial
cian Vizcaino expedition to Carmel/Mon- Tradition, and as many traditions consider
terey in 1602 were well initiated into this that the universe was created by the utter-
form of deep mental meditation. The first ance of a word or sound, that the Prayer of
Rosicrucian Expedition to North Ameri- the Heart would hold the central place in
ca certainly had heart-centered Mystical Martinism, and indeed, in so many mysti-
prayer as its center. cal paths.
....... ......

The second round of Rosicrucian work

......
.....
.. ........

...... .........
.. ....
in North America also had strong ties to

....
....
....
....... ......

this type of Meditation. The Ephrata Clois-

ter and Johannes Kelpius were steeped in ENDNOTES
the traditions of Pietism, which is allied 1. For other conceptions of Sophia, see Caitlin Mat-
thews, Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, Bride of God.
to deep mystical heart prayer. Shakers and (Wheaton: Quest, 2001).
modern-day Quakers often practice this 2. Dead Sea Scrolls. “Balev Tahor: The Blessings of the
kind of mental prayer. Wise” (4Q525:1.1-2, 2.1-12). Translated by Sean
Eyer. Rosicrucian Digest 86:2 (2007): 32. http://
Martinists practice the Prayer of the rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2007/
Heart in its direct and most basic form, us- online%20digest/articles/05_balev_tahor.pdf
3. Ibn Arabi, The Pearls of Wisdom. Translated by
ing the name of the Grand Architect of the Mukhtar Hussain Ali. http://www.universaltheoso-
Universe in the mental repetition. This is phy.com/sacred-texts/the-pearls-of-wisdom/
commemorated each year near the Winter 4. The best introduction to Western Theosophy (Di-
vine Wisdom Tradition) is three books by Arthur
Solstice. Versluis: Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christi-
In fact, this practice is one of the most anity (Hudson: Lindisfarne, 1994); Wisdom’s Chil-
powerful ways to bring about the goal de- dren: A Christian Esoteric Tradition. Suny Series in
Western Esoteric Traditions (Albany NY: State Uni-
voutly sought by Louis-Claude de Saint- versity of New York Press: 1999); Wisdom’s Book:
Martin and all Martinists: The Sophia Anthology (St Paul: Paragon House,
2000). With the references in these works, the stu-
... the only initiation I advocate and dent will also be able to connect with Islamic and
search for with all the ardor of my soul Jewish theosophy.
is the one through which we can enter 5. See the excellent discussion of this in Cynthia
Bourgeault, The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaim-
into the heart of God and make God’s ing An Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart (San
heart enter our own, there to make an Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2003).
indissoluble marriage which makes us 6. The Way of a Pilgrim and A Pilgrim Continues His
Way (1991) Olga Savin (translator), Thomas Hop-
friend, brother, and spouse of our Di- ko (foreword) (Boston: Shambhala 2001).
vine Repairer. 7. Perhaps the greatest Western scholar of Islamic
Mysticism was Henry Corbin (1903-1978). A fine
There is no other mystery to arrive introduction to his work may be found in Tom
at this holy initiation than to go more Cheetham, The World Turned Inside Out: Henry
and more down into the depths of our Corbin and Islamic Mysticisms (New Orleans: Spring
Journal, 2003).
being, and not let go till we can bring 8. Two fine Rosicrucian studies on the Way of the
forth the living vivifying root, because Heart and related topics are by the Quebecois
then all the fruit which we ought to Rose+Croix University International instructor
Aline Charest: La Priere du coeur (Paris: Diffusion
bear, according to our kind, will be pro- Rosicrucienne, 2008); Les grandes voies de l’amour
duced within and without us naturally, (Paris: Diffusion Rosicrucienne, 2003).
as we see occurs with our earthly trees, 9. Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, “The Way of the
Heart,” letter of June 19, 1797 to Kirchberger, Bar-
because they are attached to their par- on of Liebistorf. Published in Pantacle 2 (2002):
ticular root, and do not cease to draw 24-25 (San Jose, English Grand Lodge for the
up its sap.9 Americas, 2002).

Page 53