Despite being buried in oblivion by most of us today, Dr. phil. Franz Sättler was quite a remarkable figurehead of the 20th century German speaking occultism. Born on 7th March 1883 in Brüx, Bohemia and deceased about 1942 in Nazi captivity, Sättler during his lifetime was not only a remarkable and highly gifted orientalist, travel writer from the Orient and co-author of the first German-Persian dictionary, but also a spy, a magician, a dealer in occult books and services, a social reformer, a rebel for sexual freedom and - obviously - the founder of the cult of Adonism. Surprisingly, the English Wikipedia page on Adonism provides a better overview than the German one does, and I strongly recommended for further reading.

Sättler, or Dr. Musallam as he liked to call himself, claimed that Adonism was the attempt to restore the ancient Ur-religion of mankind. He looked upon it as the genuine essence and true cosmology behind the ancient cults of the Chaldeans, Babylonians and Zoroastrians - traces of which can still be found in active practice, according to Sättler, amongst the Yezidi and Nusayris. During his extensive travels in the Middle East, Sättler claimed to have been initiated into its last surviving order 'Nizam el-Khaf'. There - in a mystical land called Nuristan, different from the region of the same name in Afghanistan - he was allowed to enter the sanctuary of Bit Nur - the House of Light - where the ancient records of Adonism are safely hidden from the world.

Today's significance of Sättler's works might be found less in his practical magical instructions as conveyed in his 'Zauberbibel', but rather in the gnostic-luciferian mythology he creatively re-wrote and spread amongst occult circles in the early 20th century. Strong echoes of it can be found not only in the teachings of Wilhelm (Rah Omir) Quintscher - who continued to proclaim himself an Adonist even after his fallout with Sättler - but also in the mythology of the Fraternitas Saturni. Moreover - while oriental in its language, code and context - the gnostic-luciferian mythology of Sättler's Adonism itself can be understood as an echo of earlier works of the German occult tradition - in particular such as Georg von Welling's 18th century 'Opus mago-cabbalisticum et theosophicum'.

Furthermore, strong parallels can be identified between the eroto-magical instructions of Adonism and the teachings of P.B. Randolph and his Brotherhood of Eulis. However, as H.T. Hakl states in his brilliant introduction to Sättler ('Der Adept', AAGW 2004) it is unlikely that Sättler copied from Randolph's writings; instead further research will need to validate if not both streams of occult transmission originally emerged from independent visits to the Nusayri sect and genuine insights into their occult inner teachings.

Without diving any deeper into the fascinating opus of Dr.Musallam, aka Franz Sättler, we can identify several significant aspects of his work which hopefully will inspire further research into this almost forgotten occult current of the 20th century: