BROTHER XII AND THE AQUARIAN FOUNDATION
The House of Mystery
"Cults,"
the term often applied to movements considered strange and dangerous, are
nothing new. Although most of the literature on the subject arises in response
to the “modern cult” movement beginning in the 1960s, there is abundant
evidence that "cults" existed well before this time. While
conducting research on an organization that holds little resemblance to a cult,
I came across a number of intriguing headlines that eventually led to the
publication of a paper in Communal
Societies (IX/1989: 39-61) entitled “The
Aquarian Foundation.”
The headlines in questions read:
Cult
Holds Members as Slaves on B.C. Island
B.C.
Cult Rites Bared by Witness
Osiris
and Isis met on Train Between Seattle and Chicago
Black Magic, Gold and Guns Feature Strange Cult Case
The
teachings of the Aquarian Foundation fit the millenarian pattern that sometimes
leads to tragic results, such as the Solar Temple and Heaven’s Gate.
The governing idea of this pattern involves the expectation of the
imminent destruction of the present age and civilization and the uprising of a
New Age, called the Aquarian Age by Foundation.
The founder, Edward Arthur Wilson, better known as the Brother XII,
established a community or colony at Cedar-by-the-Sea on Vancouver Island for a
number of reasons, all centering on the preparation for the New Age.
Among its purposes were:
1.
to serve as a retreat or place of residence for foundation members;
2. to serve as a training ground for those selected for work of ‘Restoration’, that is the coming
New
Age;
3. to provide an environment wherein one might live in accordance with the Principles of the
New
Age;
4. to provide training of “certain great Souls,” that is, the children who would inherit the
coming
Age;
5.
to be a center from which the ancient Mysteries would be propagated;
6.
to provide a pattern for the new social order based upon Truth.
The last was an obvious reference to the coming New Age and that the colony was to be a safe haven from the coming destruction of the Old Age. Although idyllic in description, it was not long before tales of misappropriation of funds, tyranny, threats, sexual misconduct, psychological and physical abuse surfaced in a number of court cases. The main characters involved, Brother XII included, were all mature, educated, and serious students of esoteric subjects. They did not reflect the typical membership of a cult, at least as popularly conceived. They were neither young, unsophisticated, nor irresponsible individuals that joined but rather highly articulate and successful individuals, among whom was the novelist and short-story writer Will Levington Comfort. The outcome of this misadventure was ruined lives, people separated from their wealth, disillusionment, and the strange disappearance of Brother XII himself. All this happened between 1928 and 1933. Surely, this movement must be considered a direct precursor to modern cults.
For a more thorough analysis, go to the articles below. For the most complete account of this prototypical cult, see John Oliphant's Brother Twelve: The Incredible Story of Canada's False Prophet (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1991).
The Teachings
of Brother XII
by John Oliphant
The
Aquarian Foundation by James A. Santucci