October 8, 1825 – Paschal Beverly Randolph was born on this date at 70 Canal St. in New York to a black woman named Flora Beverly, who was said to have been a princess from Madagascar, and to a white father, Edmund Randolph. His father, although not of royal stock, was well known in his own sphere. He had been the Governor of the State of Virginia, was present at the Constitutional Convention during the birth of the United States, was the Attorney General to President George Washington, and in 1794 became Secretary of State. The marriage between Flora and Edmund was short-lived, and his parents separated early. His mother was to die at an early age from one of the many epidemics prevalent at the time.

 

Randolph grew up and became a doctor. He was also a partaker of hashish, which he discovered in his travels around the world searching for occult knowledge. He once wrote – “There is no doubt that Confucius, Pythagoras and his disciples, the Alchemists, Hermetists, Illuminati, and mystic bretheren of all ages used it to exalt them while making their researches for the Philosopher’s stone” (1967). He referred to it as the “Secret of Perpetual Youth” and the “Elixir of Life.” He became a noted Spiritualist and writer, credited with establishing the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis in 1858 making it one of the earliest known Rosicrucian orders in America with the first official Lodge opening in San Francisco in 1861.

 

He was an overt spokesman of sexual gnosis, which he claimed had been hidden for centuries in layers of religious symbolism. He once wrote, “Sex power is God power.” He is the author of one of the most important books on sex magic ever written, The Magia Sexualis. It was presumed lost until a surviving copy was found amongst the papers of Maria de Naglowska in French and was finally published in 2012. Randolph also wrote over a dozen other books such as The Unveiling (1860), The Wonderful Story of Ravalette (1863), The Rosicrucian Story (1863), Pre-Adamite Man: demonstrating the existence of the human race upon the earth 100,000 thousand [sic] years ago! (1863 using the alias Griffin Lee), Clairvoyance, How to Produce It (1867), Seership! The Magnetic Mirror (1868), Love and Its Hidden History (1869) and Eulis! The History of Love (1874). Tragically, on July 29th, 1875

 

Randolph died in Toledo, Ohio under disputed circumstances. Lucas County Probate Court records list Randolph’s death as accidental. The newspaper The Toledo Daily Blade claimed Randolph had committed suicide by a self-inflicted wound to the head, despite the fact that many of his writings express his aversion to suicide. After his death he was succeeded by a Mr. Freeman B. Dowd, who was later succeeded by Dr. Edward H. Brown, who in turn was succeeded by R. Swinburne Clymer, the latter stating that a friend of Randolph’s, in a death-bed confession, had conceded that he had shot Randolph in a state of jealousy and temporary insanity.

 

Randolph’s writings are said to have inspired The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, which is also known as the Brotherhood of Eulis. Some historians even point out that his writing inspired the sexual teachings found in The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis. To sum up his philosophy, he once wrote – “The Rosicrucian system is, and never was other else than a door to the ineffable Grand Temple of Eulis.”