Amor Hereos, or How One Brother Was Visited by an Invisible Being: Lived Spirituality among Russian Freemasons in the 1810s

There was nothing else for it; I got down to those books which had now been found; so imagine me, a 19th-century man, poring over huge folios and assiduously reading their content: on prime matter, on elemental electricity, on the soul of the sun, on northern dampness, on stellar spirits and all sorts of things like that. It is amusing, and tedious, and interesting.

—V. F. Odoevskii, The Sylph

The spirits' realm is easy to tear open, They lie there waiting under a thin cover, And, hearing quietly, they storm aloft.

—F. Schiller, The Maid of Orleans

In a folder of Masonic papers from the archive of Sergei Stepanovich Lanskoi and Stepan Vasi'evich Ieshevskii, which contains accounts of mysterious events from the lives of late 18th-/early 19th-century Russian freemasons, I found a curious correspondence between two elder Masons regarding a third, more junior one, who had entered into physical contact with an invisible being.¹ This being, as the brother admitted to his guide, had been visiting him constantly since the summer of 1819, generally entering his body through his belly and causing him incomparable spiritual and physical pleasure. He felt "at first a kind of gentle envelopment take hold of him, which strove toward his breast and was always directed toward his heart." Then the "contact occasionally became livelier and quite palpable, to the point where his whole body was suffused with a kind of fire, more delightful than painful," and, "having finally entered him, this being took rest in him, luxuriated, and generally made its presence felt in the most delightful manner, never arousing in him any kind of evil thoughts or carnal desires." These visitations could take place at any time of the day or night and in any situation, but more often than not they took place when the brother was in bed.

This brother's mentor turned to a certain authoritative Moscow addressee with the question of what this being was and what to do in case of such contact. In his letter, he gave a detailed description of the character of the sensations experienced by his apprentice, the external circumstances of the visitations, their consequences, the measures taken by the brethren, and the character and biography of this Mason. It was specially noted that according to the brother, the visitations did not elicit in him any carnal desires but, quite the contrary, were accompanied by pious thoughts. Meanwhile, "once, during his sleep (late at night), he was given a kiss so tangible that he awoke and could still feel its sweetness. It seemed to him that he had been kissed upon the lips and tongue. After this, the usual visitations continued."

In his short reply the Moscow Mason indicated that this was an exceptionally important event, and he supposed that the brother in question had entered into contact with one of the elemental spirits of the female sex, the good or evil nature of which could be ascertained only by means of careful inquiries and prayers; until then he needed to take care and not betray the being with any other woman. In the answer that concluded the correspondence, the mentor wrote that his apprentice had tearfully confessed that some of the visitations by the being "had concluded in an impure manner, i.e., with physical arousal and even ejaculation." This revelation frightened his brethren, and they demanded that he refuse communication with this dangerous guest. He obeyed, but he "grew bored and cold." After some time, however, the being visited him again, spoke with him for the first time, and called herself his beloved and friend. With that the correspondence, dated by its authors December 1819–March 1820, breaks off.

This manuscript consists of two "parts," written on paper of different formats: the first two letters (the inquiry of the Petersburg Mason and the reply with the instructions of his Moscow correspondent) are on four large sewn sheets of grayish paper;² the third letter (the new message of the Petersburg Mason, entitled...