Raymond Bernard (esotericist)

Raymond Bernard (19 May 1923 – 10 January 2006) was a French esotericist and freemason. He was the Grand Master of French AMORC, a large Rosicrucian order, in Francophone countries. As part of AMORC, he founded the Renewed Order of the Temple. Following his resigning (or expulsion) from AMORC, he founded several other esoteric orders, including CIRCES and OSTI. As part of CIRCES, he was a personal advisor to the president of Cameroon, Paul Biya.

Raymond Bernard was born in Bourg-d’Oisans, Isère on 19 May 1923. He was raised in a Catholic family who had origins in Dauphiné, and attended secondary school in Grenoble. He studied law at a school there, though his studies were interrupted by the Second World War.

In 1941, he was introduced to esotericism by an English Rosicrucian by the name of Edith Lynn, and a few years later he came into contact with the Jeanne Guesdon, as well as Ralph M. Lewis, both high ranking AMORC figures. In 1952 he was admitted to AMORC's inner knighthood, and Lewis appointed him an administrator of the organization in 1965; Lewis then appointed him as AMORC's grand master in Francophone countries, a post he held from 1959 to 1977. He served many positions in the organization, structuring it in Francophone nations (especially African ones).

Due to the resulting success, he acquired a château for AMORC in 1969, which became the headquarters of the Francophone Grand Lodge in 1973. In the 1950s, he was also involved in Italian Freemasonry, and joined the French Grande Loge nationale française Opéra, where he achieved the three symbolic grades given out by the organization. At this time, he was initiated into the Ordre martiniste traditionnel (OMT), which Lewis gave him the responsibility to re-establish in France; he did this alongside AMORC, though given the reputation OMT had in the United States this was made difficult. In 1963, Raymond Bernard met with Anton Leuprecht, supreme head of the Autonomous Grand Priories of the OSMTJ (those who did not follow Antonio Fontes), and received a personal document recognizing him. Bernard's son Christian Bernard would later become imperator of AMORC.

In 1970, he founded the Renewed Order of the Temple (ORT) of which he became the secret grand master until 1972. The group was founded at the suggestion of Julien Origas, also a member of AMORC, to which Bernard enthusiastically agreed. The creation of this group was supposedly validated by a "White Cardinal" apparition that had appeared to Bernard in Rome, who initiated him as a Templar. This was published in a 1969 book by Bernard. Bernard later admitted that this apparition was purely fictional, along with several other of his claimed mystical sightings, but said all were based on "deeply moving personal mystical experiences". He left this group entirely in the following years, and it was then led by Origas.

He resigned as Grand Master in 1977, through Serge Toussaint, the later Grand Master of French AMORC, declared in 2014 that he had actually been expelled, and that AMORC had nothing to do with any of his later endeavors. Bernard's son Christian Bernard would later become grand master of French AMORC, and later imperator of the global AMORC.

After Bernard resigned as grand master of French AMORC, he founded several other Rosicrucian orders. He fully resigned from AMORC in 1987, after which he founded the Centre international de recherches et d'études spirituelles (CIRCES, founded 1988, later renamed Comité d'Initiatives et de réalisations caritatives et sociales) which aimed to continue Templar ideals but did not claim a direct lineage from the original Templars. He founded the Sovereign Order of the Initiatic Temple (French: Ordre souverain du Temple initiatique, OSTI) in 1971. He was grand master, however this order was largely dormant until 1988, after he left AMORC. CIRCES was popular in Cameroon, and from 1987 on he began spending longer periods in the country. The president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, was a Rosicrucian and donated 40 million francs to the organization in return for Bernard's services; it is likely that Biya was a member of CIRCES.

Biya often invited Bernard to Yaoundé, the country's capital. Bernard was also his personal adviser, to whom he granted a several million Franc allowance. He was the Grand Master of both groups, and they merged in 1993, with CIRCES becoming the charity wing of the OSTI as the Comité d'initiatives et de réalisations caritatives et sociales. In the late 1990s he entrusted responsibility of the organization to Yves Jayet, giving him the status of Grand Master, after which he had no direct control. He joined the Grande Loge de France in 1991 following his departure from AMORC.

He wrote several books that included representations of esoteric elements like Agartha, Rosicrucian orders, as well as an occult world government controlled by a figured called "Maha"; these were allegorical works, though many took them literally.

His influence is significant in Africa, where he spread AMORC through French-speaking countries and their heads of state. He died on 10 January 2006. In 2012, associates of Bernard created a bilingual website to reignite interest in his works, which was launched on his birthday on 19 May; it is organized by specific event, and also discusses the mission of the OSTI.

• Anyangwe, Carlson (2008). Imperialistic Politics In Cameroun: Resistance & The Inception of The Restoration of the Statehood of Southern Cameroons. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG. ISBN 978-9956-558-50-6.
• Caillet, Serge (1997). L'Ordre rénové du Temple: Aux racines du Temple solaire (in French). Paris: Dervy. ISBN 978-2-85076-924-5.
• Caillet, Serge (2001). "BERNARD Raymond". In Chantin, Jean-Pierre (ed.). Les Marges du christianisme: "Sectes", dissidences, ésotérisme. Dictionnaire du monde religieux dans la France contemporaine (in French). Paris: Éditions Beauchesne. ISBN 978-2-7010-1418-0.
• Geschiere, Peter (September 2017). "A "Vortex of Identities": Freemasonry, Witchcraft, and Postcolonial Homophobia". African Studies Review. 60 (2): 7–35. doi:10.1017/asr.2017.52. ISSN 0002-0206.
• Introvigne, Massimo (2000). "The Magic of Death: The Suicides of the Solar Temple". In Wessinger, Catherine (ed.). Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0599-4.
• Introvigne, Massimo (2004). "AMORC". In Clarke, Peter (ed.). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-49970-0.
• Introvigne, Massimo (2006). "Ordeal by Fire: The Tragedy of the Solar Temple". In Lewis, James R. (ed.). The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death. Controversial New Religions. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-5285-4.

• Official website