No discussion of contemporary occult history can overlook the intriguing concept known as the "hidden hand" theory. This theory's narrative is so convoluted that it almost resists summarization, which adds to its allure. Moreover, there is a possibility that it holds some truth.

To trace this narrative back, we find ourselves in 1884, with the emergence of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor (H.B. of L.) in England, a secretive European occult society. The very name of this group is steeped in mystery.

Historian Joscelyn Godwin highlights that the order has always been referred to by its initials, leaving the meaning of the "L." ambiguous—whether it stands for Luxor or Light, both of which might convey similar meanings.

The founders of the H.B. of L. claimed to have had a secretive existence since their covert establishment in Egypt in 1870. Though they appeared less grand in scale and ambition than the more famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the H.B. of L. was likely the first organization to teach practical magick rooted in Western traditions.

Historian Kabbalist Max Théon (circa 1848–1927), born Louis-Maximilian Bimstein in Warsaw, was one of the known founders with a genuine occult lineage. Around 1905 or 1906, while in Algeria, he mentored Parisian seeker Mirra Alfassa (1878–1973), who later collaborated with the renowned Vedic teacher Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950).

The documents of the H.B. of L. suggest that Théon was connected to the original Brotherhood of Luxor, a group mentioned in the Mahatma letters associated with Theosophy. Alfassa also stated that Théon taught H.P. Blavatsky (1831–1891), the co-founder of Theosophy. This connection was similarly noted by the esteemed Traditionalist philosopher René Guénon.

11. Paul Johnson, a scholar of esotericism, posits that Théon might have been the individual known as "Tuitit Bey," who signed early letters from the Brotherhood of Luxor. The Brotherhood itself might be a collective term for occultists with whom Blavatsky interacted in Egypt.

However, this remains speculative, and "whether there was indeed any link between the two brotherhoods is one of the unresolved mysteries of esoteric history," as noted by Godwin, Christian Chanel, and John P. Deveney in their critical work, The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.

They also observe that Guénon held a particular disdain for modern occult organizations, except for the H.B. of L., for which he had a distinct respect, especially for Théon. This respect was reflected in his choice not to attack Théon, unlike his approach toward many of his contemporaries in the occult realm.

It should be noted that Théon's involvement with the H.B. of L. beyond its inception appears limited.

During the 1880s, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, with branches across Europe and the United States, found itself in a competitive stance against Theosophy. Like the Golden Dawn, the founders of the H.B. of L.—including violin-maker Peter Davidson and Thomas Henry Burgoyne, who faced legal issues for minor fraud—believed that Theosophy was deficient in practical occult education, such as the use of oracles and clairvoyance. The H.B. of L. thus aimed to fill this educational gap.

A significant source of inspiration for the H.B. of L. came from magickian Paschal Beverly Randolph. Before his passing in 1875, Randolph, along with his followers, viewed magick as an intensely practical endeavor.

Randolph promoted sex magick, which involves channeling sexual energy to achieve one's desires, a technique also embraced by the British occultist Aleister Crowley.

The H.B. of L. materials emphasized that such practices should only be utilized for spiritual growth and the cultivation of impersonal love, a limitation that might have disappointed some eager practitioners. Guénon suggested that the external workings of the H.B. of L. may have roots in Randolph's Brotherhood of Eulis.

An intriguing narrative surrounding the origins of modern occultism and the H.B. of L. has been explored by various scholars, including Guénon, the controversial C.J. Harrison, and the notable writer Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–1899), with Joscelyn Godwin providing an insightful historical account.

The "hidden hand" theory is so intricate that engaging with its source material can create a sense of intellectual disorientation. Yet, the theory presents enough nuance and intelligent cross-references from diverse origins that it warrants attention from those studying occult history.

A word of caution for the reader: my rendition of the "hidden hand" theory is merely an interpretation. I am synthesizing my narrative from various records, which converge on certain themes while omitting details that stray too far from my focus. I offer adequate citations for those interested in delving deeper into this topic.

Similar to Theosophy, the H.B. of L. claimed to receive insights from hidden adepts. This loosely organized group of concealed mentors grew increasingly concerned by 1840 about the Western world’s descent into rigid materialism.

These unseen leaders could be classified into three factions: the Liberal Brothers, who aimed to use occultism for collective benefit; the Conservative Brothers, who sought to keep esoteric knowledge hidden; and the Brothers of the Left-Hand Path, who intended to use occult practices for personal gain, often with mysterious motivations.

During this period, the Liberal Brothers persuaded the Conservative Brothers to create Spiritualist phenomena in the West, particularly in America, to combat the rise of materialism. The resulting spirit communications were orchestrated by these super-initiates rather than genuine messages from the deceased. This covert orchestration was behind the famed Rochester rappings of 1848.

However, as the narrative goes, the Spiritualism movement quickly spiraled out of control, with mediums asserting the existence of disembodied entities and reincarnation, a concept rejected by both Liberal and Conservative Brothers (to which Guénon was particularly opposed).

According to Godwin, this group of adepts had beliefs that extended well beyond those of typical American Spiritualists, including notions of "sub-mundane elementals and super-mundane angels," while most Spiritualists believed solely in the spirits of the recently deceased.

This shift represented a significant misstep in their plan, as the Spiritualist exhibitions became wildly unpredictable, leading to the proliferation of erroneous ideas and pseudotheologies.

The Liberal and Conservative Brothers sought a means to counteract the unintended myths of their failed strategy, leading to the involvement of Madame H.P. Blavatsky.

In the early 1870s, Blavatsky traveled between Egypt and Russia. In June 1873, she was summoned to Paris, where her mission was laid out. However, she resisted by demanding entry into an unnamed initiatory order. After being denied, she was sent to America with little notice, as noted by her collaborator Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907).

Blavatsky later wrote to British medium William Stainton Moses in 1875, stating, "I was sent from Paris to America to validate the phenomena and their authenticity, and to expose the fallacy of the spiritualistic theory regarding spirits."

Upon arriving in America, Blavatsky demonstrated her autonomy by again demanding entry into a secret order—threatening to disrupt the order’s activities in the U.S. if denied.

Ultimately, the Brothers decided in April 1878, through their American branch, to confine her in a state of "occult imprisonment."

Yet, the Brothers of the Left-Hand Path, for their own enigmatic reasons, liberated Blavatsky. These Left-Hand Brothers, potentially Hindu nationalists, sent her to India, where she played a pivotal role in the early independence movement. Early Theosophist A.O. Hume (1829–1912) claimed to have initiated the Indian National Congress under the guidance of "advanced initiates."

Hume had a complex relationship with Blavatsky, often critiquing her portrayal of the masters while having his own connections to a network of "advanced initiates."

Historian K. Paul Johnson quotes a private letter from Hume in 1883, describing a group of men, primarily of Asian heritage, who were deeply invested in India's welfare and progress, possessing unique faculties that no other group did.

In the same correspondence, Hume recounts his initial introduction to a secret society in Paris called "the Association" in 1848, from which he distanced himself, but later reconciled with through Blavatsky and Olcott, despite their differing mentors.

Johnson suggests that Hume may have been in contact with the same unnamed source mentioned by C.J. Harrison in his theories regarding the "hidden hand"—or perhaps even the source itself.

Returning to Madame Blavatsky during her supposed psychic confinement, her sister Vera Petrovna de Zhelihovsky wrote in Lucifer, the journal Blavatsky founded:

> "In the spring of 1878, a peculiar incident occurred with Madame Blavatsky. One morning, while working, she abruptly lost consciousness and remained in this state for five days. Her lethargy was so profound that she would have been buried if a telegram from a 'Master' in Bombay had not reached Colonel Olcott, who was present at the time, stating: 'Fear not; she is neither dead nor ill, but needs rest; she has overexerted herself... She will recover.' She did recover and felt so rejuvenated that she doubted having slept for five days. Shortly after this episode, Blavatsky resolved to travel to India."

Did such a plan ever exist? Were there secret orders of brothers, each with their own agendas?

It is worth noting that the phenomena of Spiritualism led to the emergence of parapsychology, a direct challenge to philosophical materialism in modernity.

The events surrounding Blavatsky's unconsciousness and her subsequent journey to India—persuading a reluctant Olcott to accompany her—had significant political repercussions, contributing to the rise of the Indian independence movement.

Some contemporaries observed that Blavatsky produced her most enduring works, The Secret Doctrine, The Key to Theosophy, and The Voice of Silence, only after being "freed from service to hidden Masters," as Johnson articulated.

Olcott expressed in his 1875 work on Spiritualism, People from the Other World: "After encountering this remarkable woman... I am almost inclined to believe that the accounts of Eastern fables are merely straightforward narratives of fact; and that this very American surge of spiritualistic phenomena is orchestrated by an Order that, while relying on unseen agents for its outcomes, exists among men on Earth."

Guénon, while criticizing Theosophy as a "pseudo-religion" and a modern distortion of esoteric principles, also regarded the hauntings in Hydesville, New York, in 1848—the trigger for modern Spiritualism—as the result of a hidden hand.

He stated in The Spiritist Fallacy (1923): "According to information from the H.B. of L., the initial 'spiritist' occurrences were not the work of 'spirits,' but rather of individuals acting from a distance through means known only to a few initiates, who were precisely members of the 'inner circle' of the H.B. of L."

Guénon speculated that suffragist and occultist Emma Hardinge Britten was affiliated with the H.B. of L. around 1870, suggesting the group's early, albeit clandestine, establishment.

This brings us back to the career of Emma Hardinge Britten and her 1876 work Ghost Land, a significant source in this discussion. Ghost Land was published in two installments: the first in Emma's magazine The Western Star in 1872 and the complete book released four years later.

Emma referred to the work as a memoir of a mysterious European occultist and nobleman known only as "Chevalier Louis de B." She claimed to have edited and translated the Chevalier’s true account of his occult experiences without revealing his identity.

Chevalier Louis represents an early iteration of the hidden hand theory. He recounted being introduced into a circle of Berlin occultists during his youth in the 1830s, a group described as "the German branch of a very ancient secret society." The initiates used Mesmeric techniques, aided by nitrous oxide, to induce him into a trance, enabling him to manifest poltergeist-like occurrences:

> "On one occasion, the society placed me into a profound sleep using vital magnetism and nitrous oxide vapors, directing my 'atmospheric spirit,' alongside two other mediums, to a castle in Bohemia, where they had acquaintances. There, we were instructed to create disturbances by throwing stones, moving objects, making noises, etc. I assert, upon my honor as a truth-seeker, that these disturbances were caused by the spirits of myself and two other living subjects, although we had no recollection of our actions. We later viewed a detailed newspaper account of the hauntings at Baron von L's castle, of which we were the authors."

To summarize, the Hydesville "spirit rappings" began in late March 1848. According to the hidden hand theory, unknown brothers—who dismissed simplistic beliefs in the soul's immortality—used physical means on living subjects to create phenomena at the Fox family's cabin and other Spiritualist events.

To clarify the brothers’ stance on reincarnation and existence after death, I believe it is pertinent to revisit Guénon's Spiritist Fallacy: "It is not a matter of returning to the same state of existence... but rather a transition to other states of existence, defined by entirely different conditions from those experienced by humans."

As Joscelyn Godwin elaborated in his series on the hidden hand, "The mechanism of the [Spiritualist] experiment seemingly involved young mediums being rendered unconscious via hypnosis and laughing gas, with their 'atmospheric spirits,' referred to as 'doubles,' projected to a distance by their controllers, allowing them to operate on the physical plane." This aligns with Emma and Louis's recollections.

British psychical researcher Eric Dingwall (1890–1986) speculated that Emma's Chevalier Louis was likely Joseph Henry Louis de Palm (1809–1876), or Baron de Palm, who died the same year as the book’s publication and was the subject of Henry Olcott's first cremation ceremony in New York.

Scholar G.R.S. Mead (1863–1933) suggested that Chevalier Louis represented the "inner life" of Edward Bulwer Lytton (1803–1873), author of occult-themed novels such as Vril (1871) and the renowned Zanoni (1842), which posited the existence of nearly immortal masters.

More recently, medieval philologist Robert Mathiesen has convincingly argued that Chevalier Louis was the occult writer Ernest de Bunsen (1819–1903), a moderate Prussian noble.

"If this individual is indeed Louis de B—," Mathiesen stated in his 2001 study The Unseen Worlds of Emma Hardinge Britten, "he may have been granted his father's title of 'Chevalier.' Moreover, there were compelling practical reasons for concealing his identity. His father, Christian Carl Josias von Bunsen, was a prominent scholar of religious history and a renowned diplomat who served as Prussian ambassador to England during 1841–1854."

Mathiesen also identified other characters in Ghost Land, including the mysterious mirror-gazer "Mr. H." as British scryer and antiquarian Frederick Hockley (1809–1885), linking real individuals to the narrative.

In the context of modern history, the hidden hand theory is the epitome of esotericism. Therefore, its references do not correspond precisely to conventional interpretations.

To clarify one such reference, the term lefthand in this discussion is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit vamachara ("left-handed attainment").

The concept entered Western discourse through Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine, where she described a reversed pentagram—marking one of the earliest appearances of this symbol in modern Western thought (earlier referenced in Eliphas Lévi's Ritual of High Magic in 1855)—and wrote: "The esoteric symbol of Kali Yuga is the five-pointed star reversed... the sign of human sorcery, with its two points (horns) raised heavenward, a position recognized by every occultist as representing the 'left-hand' path, utilized in ceremonial magic."

Contemporary Christian scholar John Smulo, often referred to as a "Left-Hand Christian philosopher," concurs with this historical origin but intriguingly adds that another possible source for the term could be found in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus distinguishes between the sheep (followers of Christ) on his right and the goats (those who did not follow Christ) on his left (Matthew 25:33).

The Left-Hand Path embodies an ethical and spiritual perspective that could be articulated as "My Will Be Done." This notion stands as a more forthright philosophical contrast to the Lord’s Prayer invocation of "Thy Will Be Done," which is frequently invoked with an equivalent meaning, whether consciously or subconsciously.

The Left-Hand Path is occasionally equated with the "dark side" or Satanism—though such comparisons are often made with insufficient nuance and understanding to be genuinely informative.

While the Left-Hand Path is not inherently Satanic, it does not preclude individuals from exploring Satanism on their terms. Some modern seekers identifying with the Left-Hand Path may not necessarily adhere to beliefs in deities or non-physical realities but may utilize rituals and symbols to focus their will.

Returning to the hidden-hand theory—much to some readers' relief—the Left-Hand Brothers, in my interpretation, were not necessarily malevolent but rather advocates for their own objectives.

They recognized Blavatsky as a vital, useful, and perhaps predestined—albeit unpredictable—agent, thus liberating her from her comatose or suspended condition.

The precise aims of the Left-Hand Brothers remain ambiguous, although they seemed to involve catalyzing Indian independence. Blavatsky herself did not articulate these elements in such terms. Thus unfolds one of the most fascinating and enigmatic puzzles within modern occultism.