John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM
Freeman B. Dowd
Lecturer, Author, Rosicrucian, Purveyor of
New Thought
John Wise 10847340 John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com
M.A. Theology and Religious Studies: Western Esotericism University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
Supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Wouter J. Hanegraaff
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
Freeman Benjamin Dowd
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
Table of Contents
Thesis Introduction: Freeman B. Dowd -3
Who was Freeman B. Dowd? -4
Why this study: Problematizing the Issue -6
Chapter One: Freeman B. Dowd’s Life and Travels -8
Academic Writings that address Freeman B. Dowd -8
Tracing Dowd’s Travels -13
Dowd’s Life Prior to His Public Work -14
Meeting up with Paschal Beverly Randolph and the Occult Milieu -17
Life in Waller Texas -20
Writing the New Order -23
Dowd’s Waning Years -25
Chapter Two: Dowd’s Publications -28
A Short Synopsis of Dowd’s published works -28
Hypnotism and the Individual -31
Reincarnation, Rebirth, and Spirit Possession -33
Immortality and the Spiritual Body -36
Love and Sex -40
Love and Mind Power -41
The Double Body: Spiritual Regeneration and the Vastation of the Soul -44
Love Beyond Sex -46
Spiritual Regeneration -49
Chapter Three: Freeman B. Dowd and the Interaction of Multiple Traditions -52
Randolph’s Life and Travels -52
Randolph’s Teachings on Sexual Magic -54
Randolph’s Teachings on Clairvoyance and Magic Mirrors -59
Randolph’s Teachings on Reincarnation -61
Randolph’s Relation To Dowd -64
Dowd’s Occult Milieu, the Convergence of Alternative Religious Thought -65
Spiritualism and the Rosicrucian -66
New Thought -67
The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor -68
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
Introduction: Freeman B. Dowd
“Tracers of history’s missing persons not only have to cut through the massive steel doors of the ruling ideologies, but also through the massive indifference of a systematically stupified society.”1 Recovering lost and ignored witnesses of the past is an arduous task worth the effort it requires. The works of scholars like John Patrick Deveney,2 Joscelyn Godwin,3 and Catherine Albanese,4 among others, have the potential to inspire others to seek out lost knowledge and uncover forgotten figures of the past. Their research, into alternative religious traditions like those of nineteenth century occultism, has helped to shape the identity the field of Western Esoteric studies just as the occultism they have studied shaped the identity of its contemporary American culture.5
This thesis aims to bring to light the figure of Freeman Benjamin Dowd (1828-1910), a nineteenth century photographer, lecturer, author and Rosicrucian who dabbled in the emergent
1 Rosemont, Franklin, Forward to Deveney, John Patrick. Paschal Beverly Randolph: A
Nineteenth Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and Sex Magician. Albany New
York: State University Press of New York, 1997. pp xiii.
2 Deveney, John Patrick. Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and Sex Magician. Albany New York: State University Press of New
York, 1997.
3 Godwin, Joscelyn. Theosophical Enlightenment. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. Also: Godwin, Joscelyn. Chanel, Christian. Deveney, John P. The Hermetic Brotherhood
of Luxor. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1995.
4 Albanese, Catherine L. A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
5 By occult and occultism here I mean 19th-century developments within the history of Western esotericism and a particular form of alternative religious discourse in Western culture. For a fuller discussion of Occultism and Western Esotericism see the above texts from Godwin, Deveney, and Albanese as well as: Hanegraaf, Wouter. Western Esotericism: A Guide for the
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 movement of New Thought in the early twentieth century.6 This thesis seeks to mend the hole in our historical record which has all but forgotten Freeman Dowd, who he was, what he taught, what he wrote and who he interacted with. In so doing, this thesis forms a study of late nineteenth century occult thought. Various academic works like those of Jon Butler and Catherine Albanese have shown the ways in which these alternative traditions formed and characterized important aspects of American religious discourse.7 This thesis paper will focus particularly on Dowd, an individual who identified himself as a Rosicrucian and who was interacting with various alternative religious practitioners in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Who was Freeman B. Dowd?
Though he identified himself as a Rosicrucian, in the mid-nineteenth century a number of figures in the United States labeled themselves as Rosicrucians.8 Therefore, the moniker tells us little of who Dowd was. However, central to these individuals who identified themselves as Rosicrucians and the organizations they created was the person of Paschal Beverly Randolph (d.
6 Though I will discuss this movement further in chapter three of this thesis, by New Thought here I mean the late nineteenth and early twentieth century metaphysical movement stemming from the work of Phineas P. Quimby and later which asserted a philosophy of ideals on mind power. In this system of thought, ideas are the primary reality and all causation in matter stems from the mind. This movement embraces a wide range of thought and practices concerning metaphysical healing and the power of the mind. For more on New Thought see: Braden, Charles S. Spirits in Rebellion. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963.
7Butler,Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1990. See also: Albanese, Catherine L. A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A
Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. 8 Rosicrucianism, an esoteric intiatic order of occult knowledge, can be traced back to the early seventeenth century in Europe. However, Rosicrucianism in America did not begin to form until the mid-nineteenth century.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 1875), a black American Spiritualist and practitioner of sexual magic.9 I first encountered Dowd while researching Randolph. One of the works written by Dowd can be found in the academic title, Rosicrucianism in America, a collection of primary source texts from American history.10 Searching further for who this individual was, I found that Dowd had little modern work written on him and less still about his teachings. Dowd was the direct pupil of Randolph and a prolific author in his own right. Though largely forgotten by history, Dowd was a well-known lecturer, writer, and figurehead of early Rosicrucian orders in America as well as various circles of occult literature and thought of the late nineteenth century.11
Dowd was influential in the uptake of concepts derived from Randolph’s sexual magic into the New Thought Movement particularly the power of love and reincarnation.12 By New Thought I mean the late nineteenth and early twentieth century metaphysical movement stemming from the work of Phineas P. Quimby, and the later work of Emma Curtis Hopkins. This movement generally asserted a philosophy of ideals on mind power and healing.13
9 For the exhaustive biography of Randolph see: Deveney, Paschal Beverly Randolph. 1997. 10 Melton, J. Gordon. Rosicrucianism in America. Garland Publishing Inc: CT 1990.
11 Though I say “orders” plural here, the reality is that there were several small failed startups on the part of Randolph and Dowd. There would be later orders to form from Randolph and Dowd’s work. However, the later formulations of Rosicrucianism such as George Winslow Plummer's Societas Rosicruciana in America and Reuben Swinburne Clymer's Fraternitas Rosae Crucis hold tenuous connections at best to Dowd and Randolph. Though Clymer would trace a direct lineage through Edward Holmes Brown to Freeman Dowd and thereby to Paschal Randolph, evidence for an unbroken lineage is circumspect. See: Clymer, The Rosicrucian Fraternity in
America. Also see: March 5, 1917 issue of Mercury, the journal of the Societas Rosicruciana in
America, in which an obituary with information from Brown is given in dedication to Dowd as a Pioneer Rosicrucian.
12 I will discuss Randolph’s theology of sexual magic and reincarnation in chapter three of this Thesis.
13 I will discuss New Thought in more detail in the third chapter of this thesis: For more on New Thought
see: Melton, J. Gordon. “New Thought and the New Age” in Perspectives on the New Age Lewis, James R. (ed.) and Melton, J. Gordon (ed.) Albany, New York: State University of New York
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 References to Dowd and advertisements for Dowd’s books in dozens of New Thought
journals, both English and German, evidence his popularity in and among this movement.14 Based on the prevalence of both his articles in these journals and the advertisements for his published works, by the late 1890s anyone who was at all interested in New Thought or sex magic in the United States at least knew of Dowd and had probably read him.
Problematizing the Issue
Dowd was involved in some small or large way with several religious entities or
organizations and his unique teachings reflect this interaction. By illuminating the person and life of Dowd in this thesis, I show the ways in which movements such as Spiritualism, Theosophy, nineteenth-century occult initiatic orders like the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, and the burgeoning movement of New Thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were all interacting with one another. Dowd’s life is a seminal example of the currents of thought circulating in the occult world of his era. Dowd is an individual that, I would assert, was important in his time period and has been largely forgotten or overlooked in modern study. He represents a transition in alternative American thought. Therefore, a detailed exegesis of his texts
Press, 1992. Also: Godwin, Joscelyn. Theosophical Enlightenment. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. And: Albanese, Catherine L. A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural
History of American Metaphysical Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. And:
Braden, Charles S. Spirits in Rebellion. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963.
14 I will discuss these references to Dowd and his writing in nineteenth century journals in chapter one of this Thesis.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 and philosophy has the potential to bring nuance and understanding to this formative era in the history of modern Occultism.
Throughout the course of this thesis I will discuss different elements of who Dowd was, what he taught, and what organizations he was involved with. In chapter one I will open by tracing Dowd’s travels and discussing his writing in the Occult Journals of his era. I will move in chapter two to address his published works which include both fiction and educational materials across several books and a serialized novelette. In chapter three I will spend time discussing Dowd’s mentor Paschal Beverly Randolph as well as several organizations with which Dowd interacted or was involved with, concluding by drawing some of the connections of these organizations through the figure of Dowd. By addressing Dowd’s life, his works, and his
acquaintances as well as his interactions with other writers of his time I will show how this study as a whole brings to light the Occult milieu of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
Chapter One: Freeman B. Dowd’s Life and Travels
Little has been written in academia on Dowd’s life and still less has been written on his teachings. Therefore, in this opening chapter I will begin by discussing the work that has been written on Dowd and then move to discuss his life, his travels, and his journalist writings. In the course of tracing Dowd’s biography I will be making reference both to his writings in popular journals of the time as well as record data on Dowd found in Federal Censuses, birth records, marriage licenses, and tomb stones. By piecing together his life and travels I hope to present a comprehensive review of Freeman Benjamin Dowd’s story.
Academic Writings that address Freeman B. Dowd
The prime source of secondary literature on Dowd can be found in John Patrick Deveney’s work on Paschal Beverly Randolph.15 In this seminal text Deveney constructs a thorough biography of Randolph and in so doing discusses aspects of Dowd’s life. Deveney details Dowd’s travels based on his appearance in various journals in the nineteenth century.16 He notes that Dowd appears in Davenport, Iowa, and St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1860s, in Iowa, Arkansas, and Missouri in the 1870s, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and San Francisco, California where he started Temples of the Rosy Cross. He could be found in Hempstead, Texas, in the 1880s and 1890s. Deveney asserts that before this period, in the mid1860s Dowd was a traveling spiritualist, corresponding with Spiritualist journals on the wondrous cures of Spiritualist physicians.17 He was a lecturer and writer who journeyed up and down the Midwest from Davenport, Iowa to Wellsville, Missouri advertising his work entitled Rosicrucia! The
15 Deveney, 1997.
16 Deveney, 1997, pp 471. 17 Deveney, 1997, pp 189.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
Road to Power; Sexual Science; Psychical and Mental Regeneration.18
Around 1869 Dowd played some prominent part in Randolph’s reforming of his
Rosicrucian work into a more organized model. In Randolph's “Seership” published in 1870 he refers to Dowd as the "selected Grandmaster of the magnificent order."19 Dowd's preface to Randolph’s After Death the same year describes him as "Grand Master, Imperial Order of Rosicrucia." These titles are evidence of Dowd’s place, at least, as the figurehead of Randolph’s organization. Deveney makes note that the reason for this elevation of Dowd is unclear since Dowd was the pupil and Randolph was the teacher. He conjectures that Randolph perhaps sought to avert criticism. An alternative theory is that perhaps the controversy of Randolph’s race held sway over his choice to not give this position of honor to himself. At the time, being an
individual of African descent or even one eighth black was a handicap in the racist American culture. Regardless of title, the organization was Randolph's creation and thereby Randolph’s order.
Interestingly, Deveney asserts that Randolph and Dowd had a parting of ways.20 He proclaims
that by early 1871, the situation and good faith between Randolph and Dowd had changed, citing the defection of nine members of Randolph’s order.21 In February, the establishment of what
18 Deveney, 1997, pp 472. In the Religio-Philosophical Journal, Dowd advertised his work Rosicrucia from July 1, 1871-September 16, 1871 (there is a citation error in Deveney). A
similar advertisement sans “rosicrucia” can be found in Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, April 19, 1873. Also in the RPJ are personal and local references to Dowd’s movements from Davenport, Iowa to Wellsville, Missouri.
19 Randolph, Paschal Beverly, Seership!:The Magnetic Mirror, A Practical Guide to Those Who Aspire to Clairvoyance—bsolute. Original and Selected From Various European and Asiatic Adepts. Boston: Randolph and Company, 1870. pp 22. From the Library of Congress. Also:
quoted in Deveney, 1997, 472.
20 Deveney, 1997, 190. This is an assertion for which I do not find sufficient evidence. 21 Ibid.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 Randolph deemed false lodges spurred his denunciation of these nine individuals in his published work The Asiatic Mystery.22 The circumstances surrounding the issuance of the Asiatic Mystery are not entirely clear, but Deveney notes that it appears to mark the division.23 In the Asiatic
Mystery there is no mention of Dowd or of his being the "Grand Master" as prior works had
noted.24 Instead Randolph signed the Asiatic Mystery himself simply as "Secretary ex officio."25 When Randolph published his edition of the Divine Pymander, later in the same year, the prefatory note by Flora S. Russel attributes the manifesto to Randolph as "Supreme Head of the Order."26 Dowd is left out of the extensive dedication to Randolph's 1874 edition of Eulis, and he is ignored in the list of officers given for Randolph’s Triplicate Order in 1875.27 Deveney asserts that other references to Dowd are the result of later reprintings from old plates rather than
evidence of reconciliation or of a continuing relationship. For example, Deveney notes that later reprintings of the 1871 edition of The Rosicrucian's Story did continue to carry the dedication to "Freeman," and his preface to After Death from 1870 continued to be used after Randolph had
22 Ibid.
23 If there was a divide, it may be due to a philosophical deviation of their two systems of thought. Randolph was teaching a more practical magic to be applied physically to the material world. Whereas Dowd, in his writings and teachings, would come to advocate a more cerebral and thought focused philosophy representative of his move toward New Thought and away from Randolph’s material occultism. I will return to this theme in Chapter three as I investigate Dowd’s system of thought in contrast to Randolph’s.
24 Deveney, 1997, 192.
25 Ibid. Note however that “secretary ex officio” is not necessarily parallel or equivalent with Grand Master.
26 Russel, Flora S. “Prefatory Note” in Randolph, Paschal B. Hermes Trismegistus: His Divine Pymander, Also The Asiatic Mystery, The Smaragdine Table and the Song of Brahm. Toledo,
Ohio: Randolph Publishing Company, 1889. pp 10. See also: Deveney, 1997, 192. 27 Deveney, 1997, 192. Note: It could be that when Randolph published The Book of the Triplicate Order, following the San Francisco meeting of the leadership of the Brotherhood of
Eulis, that he left Dowd out of the leadership roster because Dowd was not present at the meeting. He may have been designating the then-present leadership.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 died in 1875. Deveney then cites the 1930 edition of “Seership!” as a further indication of a break with Dowd.28 While the original printing called Dowd "The Selected Grand Master" of the order, the Clymer edition reprinted by Health Research omits Dowd entirely.29 Deveney asserts that Clymer’s desire to draw a lineage of Rosicrucian history through Dowd to Randolph points to the fact that the omission was one of Randolph’s choice rather than an act perpetuated by Clymer’s reprinting in 1930.30 However, I would strongly question Deveney’s assertion of a divide between Randolph and Dowd. His work fails to include the 1875 edition of “Seership!” published in Toledo, Ohio just before Randolph’s death.31 In this edition Dowd is again referred to as the “selected grand master of the magnificent order.”32 This could be, like other references, the result of later reprintings from old plates. However, I have to question the logic of seeing a complete divide between the two figures given the scant evidence.
Moving beyond Deveney’s biography of Randolph, another text which briefly discusses Dowd is the joint work of Godwin, Chanel, and Deveney on the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.33 In this text Dowd is noted as a “quondam” follower of Randolph and a member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.34 Also known as the H.B. of L., the Brotherhood was an order of practical occultism which primarily introduced initiates to the teachings of Randolph.35
28 Deveney, 1997, 473.
29 Randolph, Paschal. Seership; Guide to Soul Sight Quakertown, PA: The Confederate of Initiates 1930. See also: Deveney, 1997, 474.
30 Deveney, 1997, 474. 31 Deveney, 1997, 363.
32 Randolph, Paschal Beverly. Seership! The Magnetic Mirror. A Practical Guide to Those Who Aspire to Clairvoyance-Absolute. Toledo, Ohio: Randolph and Company, 1875. 22.
33 Godwin, Joscelyn. & Chanel, Christian.& Deveney, John P. The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1995.
34 Ibid, 66. 35 Ibid, 61.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 Therefore, Dowd’s association with the order was by no means out of character with his prior work. Also mentioned in this text are Dowd’s contributions to occult journals such as The
Gnostic in San Francisco, California and The Temple in Denver, Colorado.36 Because this text is more a collection of primary sources focused on the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, and not a text on the life of Randolph or Dowd, the works makes very little of Dowd as an entity of note. However, his relationship to Randolph, his involvement in this occult order, and the fact that his published works were advertised in the this orders journal are all points which make a brief discussion of the H.B. of L. necessary later in this thesis.
A third work that touches on Dowd’s life is the 1996 study of Rosicrucianism from French writer Robert Vanloo.37 Here Dowd is referenced in relationship to Randolph’s legacy. He is described as a chemist and photographer with an interest in the Rosicrucians who came into the Brotherhood through Randolph in 1864. Vanloo asserts that after Randolph’s death Dowd struggled to obtain the documents related to the activities of Randolph’s orders but that he went on to found a grand Lodge in Philadelphia in 1878.38 Vanloo makes reference to Dowd’s published works The Temple of the Rosy Cross and The Evolution of Immortality as well as his eventual residence in Texas toward the end of his life.39 He states that, “On April 15, 1907 he [Dowd] retired from office in the Order at the respectable age of 94, leaving the estate to Edward H.
36 Ibid.
37 Vanloo, Robert. Les Rose-Croix Du Nouveau Monde: Aux Sources Du Rosicrucianisme Moderne. Paris: Claire Vigne Publishing, 1996.
38 Ibid, 75. 39 Ibid, 76.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 Brown.”40 Like the work of Chanel, Godwin, and Deveney this text is focused on topics larger than
Dowd’s personal life and therefore makes little note of Dowd’s travels or works in any substantial way. A final work which makes mention of Dowd is the upcoming publication from Dr. Lee Irwin entitled Reincarnation: An Esoteric History.41 In this study Irwin addresses Dowd’s philosophy pertaining to reincarnation.42 Unlike prior works written on Dowd, portions of Irwin’s work focus on Dowd’s
teachings rather than simply drawing a connection to Randolph. Irwin’s analysis of the 1882 text The Temple of the Rosy Cross, asserts that Dowd outlines a process linking soul evolution and involution.43
Irwin expounds upon this process explaining that in Dowd’s system of thought souls evolve or devolve in accordance with their qualities of refinement or spiritualization.44 Irwin also touches on how love and directed will in Dowd’s philosophy are utilized for the creation of a superior spiritual body and directed reincarnation.45 Though Irwin’s work takes great strides toward explaining some of Dowd’s teachings, his work only touches on Dowd for a few brief pages of his book. This upcoming work does not discuss Dowd’s writing in occult journals and also fails to mention Dowd’s other published books.
Tracing Dowd’s Travels
Given the lack of academic work on Dowd’s life, a fuller study is necessary. Dowd’s prolific contribution to various occult journals, as well as his numerous published works, give reason to study Dowd’s origins, his life, his teachings and his travels. Therefore, a more robust biography of Freeman B. Dowd is detailed below. Throughout the course of his life Dowd
40 Ibid, 77.
41 Irwin, Lee. Reincarnation: An Esoteric History. NY: Oxford University Press, 2016. Forthcoming.
42 Ibid, manuscript chapter 5. 43 Ibid.
44 Ibid. 45 Ibid.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 traveled across the United States, was a pupil of the somewhat famous Paschal Beverly
Randolph, interacted with multiple newspapers and journals, wrote several of his own books, and took part in various movements of late 19th century Occultism as well as early 20th century New Thought. Dowd was a traveling lecturer as well as a commercial photographer. He made his way across the United States taking his teachings and philosophy with him. As mentioned above, Dowd’s travels can be traced in part by referencing his writing in Occult journals as well as by referencing the publication houses of his various published works. These sources give some reference for tracing Dowd’s life but they do not paint a complete portrait. Government census data, war records, birth, marriage, and death certificates and gravestone markers all give a fuller picture of Freeman B. Dowd. These somewhat obscure forms of data bring light to the places Dowd called home at different points of his life. They also tell us a bit about his origins and his family as well as his official occupations.
Dowd’s Life Prior to His Public Work
Dowd was born on October 8th 1828 and by the age of 22 had begun to accumulate a small but notable amount of wealth. Pinpointing this exact birthdate is a bit of a challenge as he is listed in different documents with different dates of birth. According to the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis website Soul.org, Dowd was born in 1812.46 This birth year seems to be in concert with the writings of Robert Vanloo but unfortunately, based on more definitive evidence, this date seems to be inaccurate.47 Deveney cites Dowd’s birth date in 1825, a date he likely derived from an article found in the occult journal Mercury written on March 5th 1917, but this date seems to
46 Fraternitas Rosae Crucis. Articles: Freeman B. Dowd. Soul.org, Accessed: Dec 3rd, 2015. 47 VanLoo, 1996, pp 75.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 also be inaccurate.48 Official U.S. Federal censuses taken over the course of Dowd’s life place his birth year in a range from 1826 to 1829.49 However, the most accurate date seems to be Oct 8th, 1828.50 Though the census of his father’s house in 1850 does not directly reference Dowd’s birth, it does record his age as 22 years old.51 In support of this early data, the 1900 census of Waller, Texas is the only Federal census in which his actual birth year is written out, recording the date.52 Born in 1828, Dowd first appears on public record living in his father’s household in Shirland, Illinois as Freeman Doud.53 He was the second born son in a family of nine children.54 By the age of 22 he had already accumulated a small amount of wealth $120 which is listed in his personal estate.55
48 Mercury. Pioneer Rosicrucian Workers in America. No. 3: Freeman B. Dowd. March 5th 1917. URL: iapsop.com, Accessed: Sep 20th, 2015. See also: Deveney, 1997, pp 189.
49 U.S. Census Bureau, 1850-1910.
50 This conclusion is foremost based on a census of his father’s household in 1850. See: U.S. Census Bureau, Shirland Township, Winnebago Country, Illinois, October 8, 1850. National Archives Microfilm Publication M432. Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Accessed: Dec 12th, 2015.
51 Ibid.
52 Other censuses between 1860 and 1910 only recorded the age of participant. Other records which record Dowd’s birth at an earlier or later date are likely due to a lie of convenience. Put simply, Dowd, like so many people often do, was misstating or lying about his age. See: U.S. Census Bureau, Precinct 1, Waller, Texas; June 5, 1900. FHL microfilm: 1241676 Roll: 1676; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0046. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Accessed: Dec 12th, 2015. For other census data see: U.S. Census Bureau: 1860, Riverton, Floyd, Iowa; Nara
Microfilm Roll: M653_322; Page: 328; Image: 328. & 1870, Davenport Ward 2, Scott County,
Iowa; NARA microfilm Roll: M593_418; Page: 207B; Image: 160150. & 1880, Precinct 1, Waller, Texas; NARA microfilm T9 publication Roll: 1331; Family History Film: 1255331;
Page: 394A; Enumeration District: 158. & 1910, Esculapia, Benton, Arkansas; NARA microfilm Roll: T624_44; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0020.
53 Freeman was the son of Zina and Mary Doud of Vermont. See: U.S. Census Bureau, Shirland Township, Winnebago Country, Illinois, October 8, 1850.
54 Ibid.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 In the 1850s and early 1860s, prior to his public writing and lecturing, Dowd underwent a great transition in his life by marrying, fathering four children, and moving to the city of
Davenport where he learned to manage his brother’s photography studio. On August 27th 1855, at the age of 26, Dowd married his first wife, 23 year old Harriet Marvin.56 Three years later Dowd would have his first child, a daughter named Roselle.57 Freeman and Harriet would go on to have four children: Roselle his first daughter, Eva his second daughter born circa 1860, Eugene his first son born circa 1862, and finally Milo his youngest son born circa 1868.58 Dowd appears on public record in 1863, at the age of 34 as a photographer.59 Prior to this period, Dowd had been a farmer in his parents’ household.60 Freeman Dowd’s younger brother Rodolphus opened a photography studio in Davenport, Iowa in September 1862.61 When Rodolphus moved to Illinois, Freeman likely took over this establishment. 62 An ad for “Dowd’s Excelsior Portrait Gallery” is found in an 1863 Davenport city directory.63 This ad identified his studio location at
56 Illinois Marriages, 1763 – 1900. City of Lake, Illinois. License #093M0292 57 U.S. Census Bureau, Davenport Ward 2, Scott County, Iowa; 1870.
58 Ibid.
59 This information comes from the Civil War Draft Registration Record. There is no evidence that Freeman served in the American Civil War, only that he registered for the draft. Dowd never makes reference to time served in the war. Furthermore, in the 1910 Federal census Dowd is not identified as a veteran. (this is the only census containing Dowd which asked for veteran status) See: National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. Civil War Draft Registration Record:
Iowa, Second Congressional District, Vol 1 of 4. Washington, D.C. Consolidated Lists of Civil
War Draft Registration Records: Provost Marshal General's Bureau; Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865. & U.S. Census Bureau, 1910, Esculapia, Benton, Arkansas; NARA microfilm Roll: T624_44; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0020.
60 U.S. Census Bureau, Shirland Township, Winnebago Country, Illinois, October 8, 1850. & Riverton, Floyd, Iowa, 1860.
61 Kelbaugh, Ross J. Directory of Civil War Photographers, vol 3, Western States and Territories, 2nd ed. Baltimore: Historic Graphics, 1992. pp 20.
62 Power, John C. Davenport City Directory, 1863. Davenport: Luse, Lane, and Co. 1863. pp 22. 63 Ibid, 29.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 Brady Street adjoining the State Bank and notes their services: Cartes de Visite both plain and colored as well as the copy of old pictures.64 At this time Dowd had a partner in photography, listed in the Iowa state directory as Daniel Smith.65 Their studio later appears in the 1866 Davenport City Directory with an updated advertisement and then again in 1867 and again in 1870 without an ad.66 Dowd’s move to Davenport and his occupational change to photography put him on the map and would lead him into the next stage of his life, writing to and lecturing for those interested in the occult.
Meeting up with Paschal Beverly Randolph and the Occult Milieu
After the war, Dowd made contact with Randolph and began publically writing in occult journals.67 The date of Randolph and Dowd’s initial contact is difficult to pinpoint, falling
somewhere between his move to Davenport in 1863 and Randolph’s endorsement of Dowd in the preface to the first edition of After Death, published in March 1868.68 Regardless of the exact year, it is obvious that after having contacted and tutored under Randolph, Dowd made a shift toward philosophical writing, submitting his first works to the Religio-Philosophical Journal as
64 Ibid. Cates de Visite is a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854.
65 Hair, James T. comp. and ed. Iowa State Gazetter. Chicago: Baily and Hair, 1865. pp 585. 66 Smithfield A. G. comp. and ed. Davenport City Directory, 1866. Davenport: Luse & Griggs 1866. pp 39 & 94. Also: Root, O.E. Root’s Davenport City Directory. Davenport: Luse & Griggs, December 1866. pp 23 & 101. Also: Montague, A. J., Curtis, J. F. Davenport City
Directory for 1870-1. Davenport: Griggs, Watson, & Day Printers. 1871. pp 98.
67 Randolph was first contacted in the late 1860s by an eager Dowd who was seeking his teaching. A form of this correspondence is recorded in Dowd’s biographical-fiction novel. See: Dowd, Freeman B. The Double Man. Boston: Arena Publishing Company 1895, 34.
68 Randolph, Paschal Beverly. After Death: Disembodied Man. Boston, Mass: Rockwell and Rollins, 1886. Preface.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 early as March of 1869.69 The Religio-Philosophical Journal was a periodical magazine
representative of the progressive side of spiritualism and serves as a good source of information on the controversies that roiled the movement in that period. Many people involved in
spiritualism and reform in the last quarter of the nineteenth century wrote for or to the Religio-Philosophical Journal.70 There is a possibility that Dowd began writing to the RPJ as early as 1866.71 However, this issue of the journal has been lost.72
His 1869 submissions to the RPJ address spiritualist ideas of being, the process of reincarnation, and ideas on the afterlife. Dowd’s philosophy, in these early submissions, clearly displays a belief in reincarnation and a focus on enabling the positive evolution of the soul. He asserted that by enacting the power of love man has the power to become whatever he desires to be. Power gained through the practice of will and love had the ability to enable conscious and directed rebirth.73 Submissions from Dowd attempt to neutralize gender division while also dealing with various human vices such as pride and lust.74 In addition to submitting articles to
69 Dowd, F.B. Rosicrucian of the Temple, "What Are We? Part II” in Religio-Philosophical Journal 3/6/1869. From: iapsop.com
70 Deveney, John P. Religio-Philosophical Journal. “summary” iapsop.com
71 Dowd, Freeman. “Letter from Davenport, Iowa,” in RPJ 3, no. 11 (December 8, 1866: 4. As quoted in: Deveney, 1997, 471.
72 This early entry into the RPJ is noted in: Deveney, 1997, 189 & 471. Deveney asserts that Dowd, at this time, was a traveling spiritualist corresponding with journals on the wondrous cures of spiritual physicians.
73 Dowd, F.B. Rosicrucian of the Temple, "What Are We? Part II” in RPJ 3/6/1869.
74 Dowd, F. B. "Leaves from the Unwritten Life of a Rosicrucian. No. One." In RPJ 6/19/1869. In this essay a Rosicrucian in despair receives a letter and tears it up; the form of man arises from letter,then form of woman; they unite and mingle and become one and then transmutate into hideous shapes of heads, and all forms of pride, lust, and love in an apocalyptic vision.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 the RPJ, Dowd was also advertised by Randolph for selling his magnetic bands for clairvoyant purposes.75
Some of Dowd’s essays in the RPJ are direct responses to his contemporaries. Namely Spiritualist’s with whom he disagreed. Responding to J. B. Ferguson, Dowd made the assertion that the successive lives of human beings are not always progressive, but rather people progress or regress over time, giving reason to why man has not reached a collectively higher state of being.76 Ferguson clearly read Dowd and responded in November of that year, just one month later, followed by a reply from Dowd in December.77
Though his primary target for writing at this time was the RPJ, Dowd interacted with other journals as well. While writing to the Relio-Philosophical Journal in 1869, Dowd also sent articles to The Banner of Light where he asserts, “"All there is of us worthy of immortality, worth preserving and presenting to the Infinite, is our will power.”78 However, these writings were much less frequent.
Through 1870 and 1871 Dowd would send monthly if not weekly writings to the RPJ while he traveled across the East of the nation.79 These articles, while offering some social and
75 Randolph, Paschal B. “Magnetic Band” In RPJ 3/13/1869, 4/10/1869. Iapsop.com 76 Dowd, Freeman. “Progression and Retrogression: No. One.” In RPJ 10/30/1869. Note: Responding to J. B. Ferguson’s 1868 speech in St. Louis. Ferguson was a former minister who became a follower of Spiritualism. He is most well-known for his role in performing the introductions to shows put on by the Davenport Brothers.
77J.B. Ferguson, "Explanatory. The Nature of God" RPJ 11/20/1869. Iapsop.com Also: F.B.
Dowd, "The Rosicrucian's Reply. Dedicated to the Thinking World and Especially to J.B. Ferguson and the Leaders of the Harmonial Philosophy" RPJ 12/25/1869. Iapsop.com 78 Dowd, F.B. "Love and Its Hidden History" Banner of Light Oct 10th 1869. Iapsop.com
79 Dowd, F. B. “Rosicrucian Musings” Aug 12th 1870-Dec 9th 1871. “Rosicrucian Heart Leaves” Jan 8th 1870 & Feb 12th 1870. “Facts” April 9th 1870. “Rosicrucian Ideas of Government” June 25th 1870 & July 2nd 1870. RPJ. Iapsop.com
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 contemporary commentary, attest to Dowd’s own forming philosophy. This philosophy was focused on the power of human will, the union of the sexes, and the essence of being.80 He also continued advertisements during this time, namely for his Rosicrucia: The Road to Power.81 Despite his permanent residence, his photograph studio, and his wife and four children in Davenport; these correspondences with the RPJ place Dowd on the road between Vermont, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Iowa. This continuous correspondence with the journal in conjunction with his lecturing seem to give reason as to why Dowd was often absent from Randolph’s publication materials. After 1871, Dowd went silent for a few years reappearing in 1875 referenced in Randolph’s new edition of “Seership!” Writing again to the RPJ, and traveling up and down the United States, Dowd would set up several Rosicrucian lodges along the way.82
Life in Waller Texas
Some point during this time and before the age of 50, Dowd and his family would move their permanent residence to Waller, Texas.83 They would remain in Waller for the next twenty
80 Ibid. Note: I will discuss Dowd’s philosophy in greater detail in the second chapter of this thesis.
81 Dowd, F.B. "Rosicrucia!!! The Road to Power!! Sexual Science! F.B. Dowd's
Private Lectures to Ladies and Gentlemen. A pamphlet of 60 pages, containing principles, ideas, and advice beyond price. Ignorance is the curse of mankind. Price 50 cents. For sale by the author, F.B. Dowd, of Davenport, Iowa" in RPJ Aug 12th 1871. Iapsop.com
82 Randolph, Paschal Beverly. Seership! The Magnetic Mirror. A Practical Guide to Those Who
Aspire to Clairvoyance-Absolute. Toledo, Ohio: Randolph and Company, 1875. 22. Also: Dowd,
F.B. “The Dying Year” March 20th 1875, “True Greatness” April 24th 1875, “The Orthodox God Opposed to Liberty” June 12th 1875, “The Magic of Voudoo” Nov 4th 1876, “Heart Lines No. 1” Nov 11th 1876. RPJ. Iapsop.com
83 U.S. Census Bureau, Precinct 1, Waller, Texas; 1880. NARA microfilm T9 publication Roll: 1331; Family History Film: 1255331; Page: 394A; Enumeration District: 158.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 years, though Dowd would continue to travel over the course of his life.84 Also of note is the fact that, by this point, Dowd two daughters who had married and moved away from home. However, Eugene age 18 and Milo age 12 came to Texas with their parents.
In 1880, with his move to Texas, Dowd would come to speak at the State Meeting of the Spiritualist and Liberalist Association of Texas, led by Col. Booth of Hempstead. In an
announcement found in the RPJ this organization identifies Dowd as the "Grand Master of the Ancient Order of Rosicrucians" noting that there is only one of that rank in the United States.85 Furthermore, they identify Dowd’s Rosicrucian order as “akin to modern spiritualistic teachings, differing in only a few essential parts."86
In 1882 Dowd would publish his first and most famous book, The Temple of the Rosy
Cross: The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and Transmigrations.87 This work would quickly come
to be well known, receiving several reviews, the first of which was just one year later in March of 1883.88 Unfortunately, this first review was relatively negative. The editor states,
"The author of the above named booklet has long been known as a so-called Rosicrucian, and during the earth-life of P.B. Randolph was much
84U.S. Census Bureau, Precinct 1, Waller, Texas; June 5, 1900. FHL microfilm: 1241676 Roll:
1676; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0046. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Also: 1910,
Esculapia, Benton, Arkansas; NARA microfilm Roll: T624_44; Page: 4B; Enumeration
District: 0020.
85 “The State Meeting” Dec 18th 1880. RPJ. Iapsop.com 86 Ibid.
87Dowd, Freeman B. The Temple of the Rosy Cross: The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and
Transmigrations. 1st ed. Philadelphia: John R. Rue, Jr. Printer, 1882.
88Review” [Dowd] "The Temple of the Rosy Cross" by "W.E.C." March 17th, 1883. RPJ. Iapsop.com.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
afflicted with that erratic character's mysticism . . . . Rosicrucianism was and is simply a form of the so-called magic of the Medieval Ages, with charlatinism and pretence largely permeating its basis of action." Dowd believes in physical immortality here and now; the pre-existence of the soul; that 9/10s of crime is due to vampirism (obsession); true freedom is not loving or hating anything.”89
Fortunately for Dowd, this kind of negative reception would not continue and his book would be lauded for its insight and direction. Dowd’s seminal work would be advertised in several journals including: Occult Magazine, The Religio-Philosophical Journal, The
Banner of Light, and the Star of the Magi.90 His book also received positive reviews in
the Oct 1st 1901 edition of Star of the Magi and the Dec 1st 1901 edition of Adiramled.91 Dowd would go on to publish a collection of educational philosophical works as well as two fiction novels, one in print and the other in serialized publication.
In the mid to late 1880s Dowd would begin a shift toward the burgeoning New Thought Movement, a system of thought very much in line with his philosophy. Dowd began contributing to occult journals which catered to the New Thought movement. Among these journals was The Gnostic, a New Thought Spiritualist journal published in
89 Ibid.
90 See: Occult Magazine Sept 1st, 1885. & Religio-Philosophical Journal July 23rd 1887, Feb 11th 1905. & Banner of Light Oct 22nd 1887, Nov 3rd 1888, Sept 7th 1889, Nov 23rd 1901. & Notes and Queries Jan 1st 1900. & Star of the Magi Sept 1st 1901, Oct 1st 1901, Jan 1st 1902, . &
Adiramled Dec 1st 1901, Feb 1st 1902. Iapsop.com 91 Ibid.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 San Francisco by W.J. Colville, George Chaney, and Dr. Anna Kimball.92 Interestingly,
Dowd’s writing for The Gnostic coincides with his initiation into a new esoteric order.93 Deveney asserts that Dowd joined the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor during this period, specifically September of 1885.94 However, his status was not respected and Dowd was brought on as a neophyte under Peter Davidson.95
This snub by the H.B. of L however, did not stop Dowd’s continued work. In 1888 he would go on to publish the second edition of The Temple of the Rosy Cross in San Francisco, California. A few years later in Boston, in the year 1895, he would publish his second most popular work, a fiction novel entitled The Double Man.96 Sadly, this same year on April 21st Freeman B. Dowd’s first wife, Harriet Jane Dowd would pass away in Waller County, Texas.97
A year and a half after the death of his first wife Dowd would remarry at the age of 66 to Lucy L. Stout age 61, a widow of over 25 years.98 Lucy Stout Dowd would become very active in Freeman’s occult work, submitting poetry in Paul Tyner’s journal
92The Gnostic, 1885-1888. Iapsop. Note: unfortunately the majority of issues for this journal have been lost.
93 An order unaffiliated with the New Thought Movement. 94 Deveney, 1997, 471.
95 Ibid. See also: Godwin, Joscelyn. & Chanel, Christian.& Deveney, John P. The Hermetic
Brotherhood of Luxor. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1995. 66.
96 Dowd, Freeman B. The Double Man, Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1895.
97 U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current. Harriet Jane Dowd. Hempstead Cemetery, Waller County, Texas.
98Louisiana, Marriages, 1718-1925 Lucy L. Stout & Freeman B. Dowd, Oct 26th 1896 Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
The Temple.99 Lucy L. Stout Dowd, was also the initiator in Dowd’s brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, going under the name "Sorona."100
Writing The New Order
In the middle of his career, 1897, Dowd wrote a fiction novel which gave insight into his particular investment in the burgeoning New Though Movement and his
divestment with older more esoteric forms of Occultism. Dowd’s second fictional novel actually comes in the form of a serialized novelette entitled “The New Order” written in 1897. 101 This text was written over the course of several issues of the New Thought Journal Harmony.102 The New Thought concepts central to this work of fiction display Dowd’s bent toward concepts of mind power and away from more material forms of metaphysical practice such as that of his mentor Randolph. Harmony was one of the earliest of the magazines that were of importance in the formative years of the New Thought movement. The periodical was edited by Mrs. Melinda E. Kramer, cofounder of Divine Science. The issues of Harmony contained weekly meditations, selection from the scriptures of various religions, stories and articles, question and answers,
99 Dowd, Lucy Stout. “Magdalen” The Temple September 1898, pp 91. Iapsop.com 100 Deveney, 1997, 471.
101 Dowd, Freeman B. The New Order in Cramer, Malinda E. Harmony spanning both Volume 1&2. San Francisco, CA 1897. iapsop.com
102 This collection of book chapters from 1897 are not simply small editorials, articles, or short stories but rather separate pieces of a larger fiction work, a serialized novel.The prevalence of serialized fiction surged in popularity during the Victorian era, due to a combination of the rise of literacy, technological advances in printing, and improved economics of distribution. A significant majority of novels from the Victorian era first appeared in either monthly or weekly installments in magazines or newspapers.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 correspondences, and notes, including testimonials of healing and some news of the
general movement.103
In Dowd’s novelette, the Firth family and their home narrate a dichotomy between the material magic of esoteric orders and the mind power of New Thought or the “New Order” of the book. In the novel, the father of the household leaves on a seven-year journey to seek occult knowledge among a Rosicrucian order known as the Brotherhood of Eulis. During this time, he is instructed in the traditions and practices of 19th century practical occultism. At the same time, his wife begins interacting with the New Thought discourse of her era, known as The New Order. She opens the Firth home as a metaphysical retreat where mind healing and education of the public become the norm. The husband near the end of the novelette comes to a point of disillusionment with his path in occult magic and submits himself to the teachings of the “New Order” at his wife’s home.104
The New Order novel as a whole is an endorsement of New Thought in opposition to or in supersession of older forms of Occultism. This New Order in the book and its very public practice is placed in opposition to the esoteric nature of prior occult traditions and secret
societies. The husband seeks occult knowledge among the Rosicrucians and the wife delves into New Thought. Mr. Firth comes to see the spiritual progress of his wife’s metaphysical retreat and its focus on the mind power as superior to the teachings he has obtained in the Brotherhood of Eulis. It is possible that given the publishing date of 1897 and Dowd’s admittance into the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor in 1885 that Dowd is directly responding to their mistreatment
103 Dowd, Freeman B. The New Order in Cramer, Malinda E. Harmony spanning both Volume 1&2. San Francisco, CA 1897. iapsop.com
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 of his status.105 The teachings of Mrs. Firth are focused on the illusory nature of the material world and the supreme importance of the power of thought. Forgiveness of oneself and others is deemed a path to salvation, with salvation here being knowledge of truth and escape from untruth-- an entrapment or bondage to one’s appetites and desires.106
The utilization of the title The New Order and its close resemblance to the moniker of New Thought are likely not a coincidence. Dowd was writing in a New Thought journal to a New Thought audience. He was not only in conversation with but operating within the emergent New Thought movement. Aspects of his system prominently display the concepts and ideas characteristic of the modes and patterns which define the New Thought movement’s focus on the power of one’s thoughts or the mind.
Dowd’s Waning Years
Dowd’s worldview is characterized by his interactions with various streams of nineteenth century thought to include Pascal Beverly Randolph and later thinkers. His work represents a bridge between a material sexual magic and the somewhat more mystic mind power of New Thought. Dowd makes a nod to the material sex magic of his predecessor but goes on in his work to discredit the constant physical role of these practices. He states in The New Order that “in the past Rosicrucians have had some practices to induce supreme illumination, which may have been known to some Phallic Worshippers, but of which Theosophists are ignorant. These practices, like the others we have been speaking of, were only sensational developments, and are fast
105 Despite his publications by that time and his direct relationship with Randolph, Dowd appears to have joined the Brotherhood simply as a neophyte. See: Deveney, 1997, 471.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 sinking into disuse.”107 In the last few paragraphs of the novelette, Dowd makes note of the evolution of physical sexual occult practices into more ephemeral powers of the mind. He states, “this story is intended to convey a different idea of the true Rosicrucianism under which term may be included all occultism, whether of theosophists, phallicists, or any other. The New Order of today is the fulfilment or fullness of the past, even as the law of Christ is the fulfilment of all law. Old methods must pass away in the new.”108 Dowd was conscious of his place between Randolph, the occult milieu of the 19th century, and the coming metaphysical thought of the 20th. He made deliberate nods to his past and looked directly toward to the evolution of later forms of occult thought. Dowd looked toward a time when the Occult Revival the late 19th century would flourish and coalesce into a spiritual evolution of mankind in the burgeoning 20th century. He invested in New Thought as the vehicle of that evolution in which the power of the mind and will would take primacy in the pursuit of an immortal body.
Dowd continued to write and publish material into the start of the 20th century. The same year that Dowd published his novelette in The Temple, he also released the third edition of his
Temple of the Rosy Cross in Denver, Colorado.109 Three years later he would publish two new works, one titled Regeneration and the other Evolution.110 The following year Dowd would release his fourth and final edition of The Temple of the Rosy Cross from this same publisher in
107 Dowd, Freeman B. The New Order. Harmony Volume 1 Chapter II: A Revelation, 108. 108 Dowd, Freeman B. The New Order. Harmony Volume 2 Chapter XII: Conclusion, 44. 109 Dowd, Freeman B. The Temple of the Rosy Cross, The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and
Transmigrations. 3rd ed. Denver: Temple Publishing Company, Masonic Temple, 1897.
110 Dowd, Freeman B. Regeneration: Being Part II of The Temple of the Rosy Cross, Salem: The
Eulian Publishing Company, 1900. & Dowd, Freeman B. Evolution of Immortality. Salem, Mass: Eulian Publishing Company, 1900.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 Salem, Massachusetts.111 Dowd, ever the powerhouse of publication and writing then had his fiction novel, The Double Man, translated by Paul Zillmann into German and advertised this work in his June 1904 edition of the Neue Metaphysische Rundschau.112
However, at the age of 78, Dowd was in failing health. He chose to slow his work and travels in order to step down from leading the Fraternita Rosae Crucis. Dowd handed the mantle of leadership to Edward H Brown in 1907. Now, in the waning years of his life, Freeman Dowd and his wife Lucy move to Rogers, Arkansas where he could be taken care of in a Sanitarium.113 On November 1st 1910, a Tuesday, at 4:00 in the afternoon Freeman B. Dowd died, the result of a stroke of paralysis.114 He had been in poor health for some time, partially the result of a previous stroke, but had been able to be on the streets until the day preceding his death. The local paper describes Dowd visiting their office the Friday before complaining of his ill health. With impaired eyesight he found it very difficult to get about the editor stated. Funeral services were held the following day and were conducted by Rev. J.P. Dillon. Freeman Dowd, was eighty-two years old at the time of his death. He was a native of Pennsylvania and had lived in many states during his long life. Those who knew him in those final years described him as a
111 Dowd, Freeman B. The Temple of the Rosy Cross, The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and
Transmigrations. 4th ed. Salem: Eulian Publishing Company, 1901.
112 Dowd, Freeman B. Der Doppel-Mensch. Translation by Paul Zillmann. Found in: Neue
Metaphysische Rundschau June 1904.
113In 1909 the property located at 506 East Spruce Street in Rogers AR was sold to Dr. George
M. Love. Love and his wife Alice had moved to Rogers in 1909, where he had a downtown office for a time. When they bought the building at 506 Spruce Street, they lived in part of it and opened the rest as Love Sanitarium, a small private hospital. This would be the home where Dowd would eventually die.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 socialist and the author of a number of books on religious subjects, being chiefly concerned with “the philosophy of the ancients.”115
Chapter 2: Dowd’s Publications
Freeman B. Dowd is most-known for his relationship to Paschal Beverly Randolph and for his publication of several books. Though much of Dowd’s life and his philosophy can be discussed without addressing his publicized works, as seen in chapter one, a full discussion of this figure is not complete without an exegesis of these published texts. From 1875 to the year 1917 Dowd wrote and published philosophical works across the United States. He published material in Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, San Francisco, California, Denver, Colorado, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and (if you include his post-mortem text) Quakertown,
Pennsylvania.116 His works were advertised and reviewed in various occult journals and would have likely been read by a wide audience within the occult milieu of the late 19th century.
A Short Synopsis of Dowd’s published works
115 Ibid.
116 Dowd, Freeman B:
-The Temple of the Rosy Cross: The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and Transmigrations. 1st ed.
Philadelphia: John R. Rue, Jr. Printer, 1882.
-The Temple of the Rosy Cross, The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and Transmigrations. 2nd ed.
San Francisco, CA: Rosy Cross Publishing Co. 1888.
-The Double Man, Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1895.
-The Temple of the Rosy Cross, The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and Transmigrations. 3rd ed.
Denver: Temple Publishing Company, Masonic Temple, 1897.
-Regeneration: Being Part II of The Temple of the Rosy Cross, Salem: The Eulian Publishing Company, 1900.
-Evolution of Immortality. Salem, Mass: Eulian Publishing Company, 1900.
-The Temple of the Rosy Cross, The Soul, Its Powers, Migrations, and Transmigrations. 4th ed.
Salem: Eulian Publishing Company, 1901.
-The Way: text book for the student of Rosicrucian philosophy. Quakertown, PA: Beverly Hall, 1917.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016
In his first novel, The Double Man, written in 1895, Dowd tells the story of Don LaVelle, a fictional caricature of himself.117 The story focuses on the main character Don, his soul-mate Ina Gray, and her legal guardian Dr. Parker who is the antagonist of the book. Interspersed throughout the novel are philosophical excerpts of Dowd’s philosophy and teachings from his mentor P.B. Randolph. Over the course of the book the perspective of the protagonist, Don, changes, as does the philosophy which the book expounds. This change in perspective, from a focus on the teachings received from Randolph to a more independent philosophy on the creation of an immortal double body is likely a representation of Dowd’s own philosophical journey in life. In this work Dowd tells of self-induced magnetic sleep and the pervasive power of magnetic suggestion. He details particular views on karma, transmigration, and reincarnation, as well as spirit possession. He also offers the reader an interpretation of his changing philosophy of being. Then, in the last several chapters of the book Dowd describes a detailed visionary experience of the afterlife or the “abode of the dead.”118 The purpose of the book seems to be an introduction to Dowd’s philosophy of being, particularly the creation of immortal spiritual bodies meant to escape the cycle of blind reincarnation.
In 1882, Dowd published his most famous work, The Temple of the Rosy Cross, The
Soul, Its Powers, Migrations and Transmigrations.119 This lengthy philosophical text, was
117 Dowd, The Double Man, 1895, This first novel was in part a fictionalized autobiography. Not every aspect of the novel can be taken at face value, such as the last third of the novel in which Dowd and his fictional soul mate journey though the spirit world and various heavens. However, some elements such as the correspondence between Dowd and Randolph are likely based on the actual events rather than a fiction. Similar examples of this kind of writing can be seen in author’s works such as Steven Crane’s short story “The Open Boat” from 1897.
118 Dowd, 1895, 220.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 republished several times as he traveled across the United States, as mentioned above. The
Temple of the Rosy Cross details Dowd’s general philosophy of thought on reincarnation and
draws a roadmap to the attainment of immortality. Though the case could be made that The
Double Man is a difficult, confusing, and esoteric novel, Dowd’s more philosophical texts are of
an esoteric nature such that he chose to explain his philosophy over the course of several educational works.
His next book, Regeneration: Being Part II of the Temple of the Rosy Cross,
complements many of the questions from Part I: The Temple of the Rosy Cross. This sequel book along with his third work, Evolution of Immortality, both published around 1900, interpret the esoteric themes surround human will and sexual love found in his Temple of the Rosy Cross. Much of Dowd’s writing in these texts takes the form of philosophical inquiry answering questions in short often concise excerpts. Dowd presents nuanced definitions of love, sexual union, and the creation of the immortal spiritual double.
His last work entitled, The Way was published by R. Swineburne Clymer’s Beverly Hall Publishing in 1917, seven years after Dowd’s death.120 This work is written in primarily
Christian language and spends much of its time discussing the nature of being and the meaning of God. The text displays a clear bent toward concepts of mind power, ideas not unfamiliar to Dowd’s other work and to the general ideas of the New Thought movement. The Way is a direct though somewhat convoluted address on the nature of being and the primacy of the power of
120 The unpublished nature of this text during Dowd’s lifetime has led me to leave The Way out of my direct analysis in this thesis. The book passed through the publishing house of R.
Swineburne Clymer. Though this text contains much of Dowd’s philosophy, Clymer’s edition is suspect as a source of data and analysis of what Dowd actually taught. Therefore, I have left this brief summary in the context of Dowd’s corpus while not utilizing his work as a source.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 one’s mind over ignorance. Some time is spent in the work discussing the flaws of human duality, male and female, and the need for the spiritual union of love. The text states, “The division of Love into male and female weakens the power of generation, whereby intelligence is generated.”121 This text is a last address to Dowd’s general philosophy of the evolution of immortality through the generative power and union of love. The work also notes the primacy of will over sensation and material substance. The text concludes, “Will, therefore, being superior to sensation, is the deathless principle of life; and, hence, it is the father of it, while desire, or love, is its mother.”122
Throughout this chapter of my thesis I will walk through the various concepts of Dowd’s philosophy. Focusing first on what Dowd actually taught in his published works or more
specifically what he was doing or teaching people to do. Second I will discuss how he hoped to help others achieve those things. What did Dowd think he would achieve or could teach others to achieve? In this second chapter of my thesis, I will address Dowd’s beliefs on clairvoyance and hypnotism, his beliefs surrounding reincarnation and the creation of a double body, and his focus on attaining immortality though the power of will and the enactment of sexual love. Dowd, reinterpreted the physical or material nature of sex, and thereby gave insight into his focus on the metaphysical or cerebral power of the human mind over the material world. This is a theme which runs throughout his teachings on reincarnation and immortality. I will be focusing on Dowd’s 1875 novel The Double Man and his most famous work, The Temple of the Rosy Cross in order to discuss the general philosophy of his work which is spread throughout his various
121 Dowd, The Way, 1917, 49. 122 Ibid, 152.
John Wise 10847340 M.A. Western Esotericism (Thesis) John.Caleb.Wise@gmail.com University of Amsterdam 2014-2016 publications. I will also touch briefly on his later works in the last half of this chapter in order to clarify the nuance of his philosophy on sex and the power of will.
Hypnotism and the Individual
Dowd writes within the first hundred pages of the The Double Man, “It is necessary in the outset to understand certain principles in all occult science. The object being to produce magnetic sleep without an operator…”123 Dowd’s discussion of self-induced magnetic sleep is a literal teaching moment in the novel. In the fifth chapter of Double Man the author breaks the forth wall, meaning he directly addresses the reader outside the context of his story.124 He does so in order to describe the structure and content of his primary character’s laboratory of occult science as well as to create a teaching moment within the fiction narrative.125 After a short description of his small laboratory of magic mirrors, a clear nod to Randolph teachings, the main character returns to the story and explains how it is necessary in hypnotism to limit the radiation of one’s spirit from the body as much as possible. In self-induced magnetic sleep, he explains, there is no mingling of spirits, at least not those of a mundane class, mundane here meaning
123 Dowd, 1895, 69.
124“Breaking the fourth wall” is a stage term for a transgression or crossing of the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set. The “fourth wall” is the window through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play. When a character “breaks” this fourth wall they are able to have a one way conversation with their audience and thereby illustrate a more complex thought or idea. Though utilized by Dowd in his novel, The Double Man, the concept is most often employed in live action settings such as a theater or on entertainment television.
125 Dowd, 1895, 69. Due to the fictional autobiographical nature of the novel, Don LaVelle, the main character, and the writer of the novel Freeman B. Dowd are actually one and the same person despite the narrative of the two being separate entities. Often references to LaVelle title him as Dowd or vice versa. Unfortunately, this writing style can be convoluted and somewhat confusing.
