Quotes:Ashmole, Elias

Zirkoff, Boris

Ashmole, Elias. British antiquarian, b. at Lichfield, May 3, 1617; d. May 18, 1692. He was the son of a saddler. Became a solicitor, 1638, and was appointed commissioner of excise, 1644; later was commissioned captain of horse. He was a high favorite at the court of Charles II; was made Windsor herald, comptroller, and accountantgeneral of excise, commissioner for Surinam and comptroller of the White Office; was nominated for the office of Garter king-of-arms, but declined in favor of Sir William Dugdale, whose daughter he married after the death of his second wife. In 1677, he presented to the Univ, of Oxford the first public collection of curiosities in the kingdom, which became the Ashmolean Museum, further enriched after Ashmole’s death. One of the chief interests of his life was heraldry and antiquarian research, some of the results of which were embodied in his great work entitled The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the most noble Order of the Garter (London, 1672).

A less known side of his character was his profound interest in astrology, alchemy and mystical lore. It is probable that this interest was aroused by Sir George Wharton and the famous astrologer William Lilly. From the methodical diaries kept by Ashmole himself, we leam that he was associated with various astrologers, kabalists, Rosicrucians, alchemists and early Freemasons, although his entries in the diary are couched in cautious language and suggest more than they actually give out. According to one of the entries, namely, Jan. 13, 1653, it would appear that “Father” Backhouse, an obscure alchemist, communicated to Ashmole as a legacy “in syllables, the true matter of the Philosophers’ Stone.” This circumstance is most likely related to the fact that Ashmole published anonymously a work entitled Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (London, 1652), and some five years later made public the works of an anonymous adept under the title of The Way to Bliss. In the preface to this work, the true author is spoken of as an Englishman, one of the “Anonymi.” The work also speaks of “a Nation of Wise-men” whose description reminds us of the Adepts and Initiates of the Theosophical tradition.

Ashmole was also a leading member of the Society of Astrologers who met at Masons’ Hall. On October 16, 1646, he was initiated a Freemason at Warrington, Lancashire. This fact has been considered 566 for a long time as an important Masonic landmark, and Ashmole has been spoken of as the first gentleman not associated with the building arts to be accepted into the Craft. Writing about Ashmole, H.P.B. says (Isis Unveiled, Vol. II, p. 349):

“Who was, in fact, the first operative Mason of any consequence? Elias Ashmole, the last of the Rosicrucians and alchemists. Admitted to the freedom of the Operative Masons’ Company in London, in 1646, he died in 1692. At that time Masonry was not what it became later; it was neither a political nor a Christian institution, but a true secret organization, which admitted into the ties of fellowship all men anxious to obtain the priceless boon of liberty of conscience and avoid clerical persecution ...”

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 11, pp. 565-566