Gérard Encausse

Early life

Gérard Encausse, whose father Louis worked as a chemist, came into the world on 13 July 1865 in A Coruña, Spain, to a Spanish mother and a French father. At age four he moved with his family to Paris, where he later attended school. During his youth, he devoted long hours at the Bibliothèque Nationale to exploring the Kabbalah, occult tarot, magic, alchemy, and the works of Eliphas Lévi. After Madame Blavatsky established the French Theosophical Society in 1884–1885, Encausse joined it briefly but left because he objected to its focus on Eastern forms of occultism.

Career

In 1888, Encausse co-founded the Librairie du Merveilleux, a Parisian publishing house for esoteric works, and launched the journal L’Initiation, which he edited for nearly two decades. His pseudonym Papus came from the Nuctemeron of Apollonius of Tyana, where it denotes the genius of medicine, reflecting his dual interest in healing and occult philosophy. He was a member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn temple in Paris, Memphis-Misraim, and likely other esoteric or paramasonic organizations, and authored several occult books.

He was also a spiritual student of the French spiritualist healer Anthelme Nizier Philippe, known as Maître Philippe de Lyon. Despite his occult activities, Encausse pursued conventional academic studies at the University of Paris, earning his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1894 with a dissertation on Philosophical Anatomy, and opened a successful clinic on rue Rodin. He visited Russia three times, in 1901, 1905, and 1906, serving Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra as both physician and occult consultant.

It has been incorrectly claimed that in October 1905 he conjured the spirit of Alexander III, who prophesied the Tsar's downfall; Encausse's followers allege he told the Tsar he could magically avert the prophecy while alive. Nicholas retained the throne until 141 days after Papus' death. Although Encausse acted as a mediumistic spiritual advisor to the Tsar and Tsarina, he later warned them in correspondence against the influence of Rasputin. His early tarot and Kabbalah studies were inspired by Éliphas Lévi, whose translation of the Nuctemeron of Apollonius of Tyana provided Encausse with his pen name.