Germany and Austria have spawned many movements and practices in Western esotericism, including Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Ariosophy, among others.
Early Esotericism
Knights Templar and Freemasonry
The original Knights Templar, founded around 1119, had been a crusading military order, that, at some time, had established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. In 1307, King Philip IV of France mounted a "slanderous campaign" to strip the Order of its economic and political influence. The Templars were accused of Satanic practices, perversions and blasphemy and ruthlessly suppressed; Its leaders were burned on March 18, 1314. The circumstances of their suppression gave rise to legends surrounding the Knights Templar. In Germany, "where the growth of deviant Masonic rites was greatest," the Templar heritage was adopted for irregular Freemasonry. (Freemasonry had been officially founded in England in 1717.)
The idea of chivalric Freemasonry first occurred ca. 1737 in France. In 1775 Baron Gotthelf von Hund (1722–76) founded the Order of Strict Observance, claiming the possession of secret Templar documents which allegedly prove that his order represented the legal Templar succession.
Rosicrucianism
In the 17th century and 18th century, Rosicrucian ideas flourished in varying degrees. Rosicrucianism goes back to the beginning of the 17th century, when three works by Johann Valentin Andreae were printed at Kassel. One of these works, the Chymische Hochzeit, appears to be an alchemical tract, while the other two (for which the authorship of Valentin Andreae is not finally proven) announce the existence of the Rosicrucian Order, which desires a "universal and general reformation of the whole world". Putatively this order was founded by Christian Rosenkreutz, who is supposed to have lived from 1378 to 1484.
In either 1747 or 1757 a quasi-masonic Rosicrucian order of the name Gold- und Rosenkreuz was founded in Berlin, having a 9-grade hierarchy based on the cabalistic Tree of Life; This organisation included King Frederick William II of Prussia and Johann Christoph von Wöllner as members.
German occult revival, 1880–1910
Theosophy
The first German Theosophical Society was established in July 1884, under the presidency of Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden, a conservative German nationalist turned spiritual seeker who sought to establish Theosophy on a "scientific" basis. Between 1886 and 1895 Hübbe-Schleiden published the monthly periodical Die Sphinx. In Vienna, a Theosophical Society was founded in 1887, its president was Friedrich Eckstein. Among his circle at this time Franz Hartmann, a leader of Theosophical work who emphasized personal spiritual experience, and the young Rudolf Steiner were members. A German Theosophical Society, as a branch of the International Theosophical Brotherhood, then was established in 1896 when the American Theosophists around William Quan Judge, Katherine Tingley, E. T. Hargrove and C. F. Wright travelled through Europe. Its president was Franz Hartmann, who also founded a Theosophical lay-monastery at Ascona in 1889. His periodical Lotusblüten (Lotus Blossoms, 1892–1900) was the first German publication to use the Theosophical swastika on its cover.
Hartmann's example provided the impetus for Paul Zillmann to found the Metaphysische Rundschau (Metaphysical Review) in 1896.
Rudolf Steiner was made general secretary of the German Theosophical Society in 1902. Steiner, who was seeking to develop an esoteric path suitable for the modern era, and professed commitment to scientific methodology, was yet oriented towards awakening spiritual experiences in each individual rather than depending upon authorities or gurus. He published Luzifer at Berlin from 1903 to 1908.
In Vienna, there also existed an Association for Occultism, connected to a person called Philipp Maschlufsky. From 1903 he published a periodical called Die Gnosis, that was later absorbed by Rudolf Steiner's periodical Luzifer, and renamed Lucifer-Gnosis.
