Michael Bertiaux


Michael Paul Bertiaux is an American occultist and Old Catholic Bishop, known for his book Voudon Gnostic Workbook, a 615-page compendium of various occult lessons and research papers spanning the sub-fields of Voodoo, Neo-Pythagoreanism, Thelema and Gnosticism. Long considered by occultists one of the underground classics of 20th century occultism, the book was out of print for many years and fetched increasingly high prices in the antiquarian market before it was reprinted in paperback by Red Wheel/Weiser in 2007. Note that the unique spelling of "voudon" is an innovation of Bertiaux's,. Bertiaux also coined the term vudutronics to refer to his idiosyncratic interpretation of this religion.

Early life

Bertiaux was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 18, 1935. His father was a captain in the merchant navy and his mother was a prominent Theosophist. Bertiaux served as an Episcopalian minister in the Seattle area before traveling to Haiti in 1964.

Voudon and other occult activities

In 1964, Bertiaux traveled to Haiti, where he was initiated into the system of Haitian Vodoun. He settled in Chicago in 1966, where he formed the Neo-Pythagorean Gnostic Church. Bertiaux's interpretation of Vodoun was strongly influenced by Martinism, a Francophone occultist society who pretended to inherit from the teachings of Louis-Claude De Saint Martin, although the regularity and mere existence of such a linkage was questioned, and which became established in Haiti in the 18th century.
Bertiaux had long been associated with the Ordo Templi Orientis Antiqua, a initiatic gnostic-magical order supposedly founded in 1921 in Haiti by the gnostic patriarch and Voudon high priest Lucien-Francois Jean-Maine. The O.T.O.A. "tradition" comes from the gnostic voudon, as practiced in secret societies. There, a synthesis was purportedly developed between European gnostic-hermetic currents, being the heritage of the ancient western initiatic tradition, and Haitian metaphysics. Within the group, the O.T.O.A. works through the Monastery of the Seven Rays system. Both of these organizations cooperate with the gnostic church Ecclesia Gnostica Spiritualis.
La Couleuvre Noire is an independent order founded in 1922, closely cooperating with the O.T.O.A. It is dedicated to the practice of advanced techniques of Gnostic Voudon, a system of "Afro-Atlantean magic". Today, Courtney Willis is the Hierophant and the Sovereign Grand Master Absolute of the L.C.N. as well as the S.G.M.A. of the O.T.O.A. Michael Bertiaux is the Grand Conservateur of the L.C.N. and the Hierophant of the O.T.O.A.
For a period, Michael Bertiaux was also a secretary of the Theosophical Society until moving to Chicago in 1966, where he trained and qualified as a social worker, a job he remained in for just under forty years. He specialized in working with the Chicago Haitian community, which currently has a population of around 5,000-15,000.
Bertiaux's life and occult system are examined in Kenneth Grant's books, Cults of the Shadow, Nightside of Eden, Outside the Circles of Time, and Hecate's Fountain. Grant devotes two entire chapters of Cults of the Shadow to a discussion and analysis of Bertiaux's work in La Couleuvre Noire, as well as a portion of the chapter "Afro-Tantric Tarot of the Kalas."
Bertiaux was also featured in the 1985 book and documentary by Nevill Drury, The Occult Experience.
Bertiaux's magical system is complex, including terms unique to himself, such as the "meon" and "Zoythrian" energies but also drawing on magical extensions of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and the teachings of A. Crowley's Aiwass.
Following his retirement, Bertiaux has focused on his art and writing.

Books

Monastery of the Seven Rays

This is a study course to be read before the Voudon Gnostic Workbook practicum. It was originally published as a mail order study course and is yet to be reprinted in book form.