Max Théon
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'''Max Théon''' ([[1848]]-[[1927]]) perhaps born Louis-Maximilian Bimstein, was a Polish Jewish [[Kabbalah|Kabbalist]] and [[Occultism|Occultist]]. In [[London]] while still a young man, he established The [[Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor]] in [[1870]], but seemed to have little to do with the day to day running of the organisation, or indeed its actual teachings (Chanel ''et al'', ''Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor'').
There is some dispute over whether Theon taught [[Blavatsky]] at some stage; [[the Mother]] in [[The Agenda (Mother)|The Agenda]] says he did, Chanel et al. considers this unlikely, while [[K. Paul Johnson]] argues in ''The Masters Revealed'' that the ''[[mahatma]]'' [[Tuitit Bey]] is actually Theon.
In [[1885]] Theon married Mary Chrystine Woodroffe Ware [[Alma Theon|(Madame Alma Theon)]], and the following year the couple moved to [[Paris]]. In December 1887, the Theons left France for Algiers, where they were later joined by Alma Theon's friend Augusta Roife (Miss Teresa), and acquired a large estate in Zarif, a suburb of [[Tlemcen]], Algeria. However Theon would still go on frequent visits to Paris.
Theon gathered a number of students, including [[Louis Themanlys]] and [[Charles Barlet]], and they established the "[[Cosmic Movement]]". This was based on material, called the [[Cosmic Tradition]], received or perhaps [[channeling|channelled]] by Theon's wife. They established the journal ''[[Cosmic Review]]'', for the "study and re-establishment of the original Tradition". Theon stated that his wife Alma was the moving spirit behind this idea, and without her the Tradition and the [[cosmic philosophy]] would never have come about.
Louis was a friend of [[Matteo Alfassa]], the brother of Mirra Alfassa (who would later associate with [[Sri Aurobindo]] and became [[the Mother]]), and in 1905 or 1906 Mirra travelled to Tlemcen to study occultism under Theon (Sujata Nahar, ''Mirra the Occultist''). The Mother mentions that [[Sri Aurobindo]] and Theon had independently and at the same time arrived at some similar conclusions about evolution of human consciousness without having met each other. The Mother's design of Sri Aurobindo's symbol is very similar to that of Theon's, with only small changes in the proportions of the central square (''[[The Agenda (Mother)|Mother's Agenda]]'', vol 3, p.454).
The death of his wife in [[1908]] was a huge blow to Theon, from which he never really recovered. He fell into a deep depression, and cancelled the Cosmic Movement. During this time he was cared for by his followers. He recovered somewhat but never retained his former status. Theon died at Tlemcen on [[4 March]] 1927.
==References==
* Christian Chanel, Joscelyn Godwin, and John Patrick Deveney, ''The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism'' [[Samuel Weiser]] 1995
* [[K. Paul Johnson]] ''The Masters Revealed: Madame Blavatsky and the Myth of the Great White Lodge'', SUNY Press,
* The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) ''Mother's Agenda'' (ed. by [[Satprem]])
* [[Sujata Nahar|Nahar, Sujata]], ''Mother's Chronicles, book three - Mirra the Occultist'', Institut de Recherches Évolutives, Paris
* Themanlys, Pascal ''Visions of the Eternal Present'', Argaman, Jerusalem, 1991
==External links==
* [http://www.kheper.net/topics/Theon/ The Life and Teachings of Max Theon (Aia Aziz)]
* [http://www.abpw.net/cosmique/index.htm Review Cosmique] by [[Pascal Themanlys]]
[[Category:Max Theon|Theon, Max]]
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