Bavarian Catholic Christian mysticism

Karl von Eckartshausen

1752 – 1803

Karl von Eckartshausen was a Bavarian Catholic mystic and author who briefly joined the Illuminati before withdrawing on doctrinal grounds, and whose The Cloud upon the Sanctuary (1793) described an invisible inner spiritual church of illuminated adepts existing beyond all external religious institutions. The book became a foundational text in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — a copy was said to be given to every initiate — and directly influenced A.E. Waite, Aleister Crowley, and the entire tradition of esoteric inner-order mysticism that posits a hidden community of advanced spiritual practitioners. His vision of a Secret Church behind all churches became one of the most influential ideas in modern Western esotericism.