Computer UFO Newsletter
European publication that discusses computer application
to UFO research and databases. At present the newsletter is
published approximately six times per year. Address CUFON,
via Matteotti 85, 22072 Carmenate (Como), Italy.
Le Comte de Gabalis
Title of a strange work published by the Abbé de Montfaucon
de Villars (16351673). It reads like an occult novel, with
mystical commentaries, and has been interpreted by some as a
satire of the writings of La Calprenede (a popular French writer
of the era), but with an added blend of history, philosophy, and
mysticism.
The book became a major source of information for later
discussion on elementary spirits. The author remarks of his
principal character,
Paracelsus says of the practice of Philosophy, this Art is
taught by Gabalis (the spiritual perception of Man). These
words inspired the title Comte de Gabalis which veils the identity
of a great Teacher. . . . The Comtes true identity will be
widely recognized.
The poet Alexander Pope, in his dedication to The Rape of
the Lock, first drafted in 1711, states,
The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted
with. The best account I know of them is in a French book calld
Le Comte de Gabalis, which both in its title and size is so like a
Novel, that many of the Fair Sex have read it for one by mistake.
According to these Gentlemen, the four Elements are inhabited
by Spirits, which they call Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs,
and Salamanders . . . they say, any mortals may enjoy the most
intimate familiarities with these gentle Spirits, upon a condition
very easy to all true Adepts, an inviolate preservation of
Chastity.
The book is also cited by Bulwer Lytton (18031873) in his
occult novel Zanoni.
Sources
de Villars, Abbé. Comte de Gabalis. 1821. Reprint, London
Methuen, 1941. Reprint, Quakertown, Pa. Philosphical Publishing
Co., 1983.
Lytton, Edward Bulwar. Zanoni. London Saunders & Otley,
1842. Reprinted as Zanoni A Rosicrucian Tale. Blauvelt, N.Y.
Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1971.
Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock. N.p., 1821. Reprint,
London Methuen, 1941.
