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Educated at King Edward’s High School, Birmingham, and St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University, Peter is a recognised authority on the Baconian-Rosicrucian philosophies and Ancient Wisdom teachings, including the wisdom enshrined in the Shakespeare plays. One specialised area of research has been into Bacon, Shakespeare, the Rosicrucians and other philosophers of the Renaissance, and to this end The Francis Bacon Research Trust was founded in 1979, of which Peter is the founder-director. Since then Peter has been giving seminars, lectures, workshops and summer schools in the UK, Europe and America, and leading many wisdom tours and geomantic pilgrimages worldwide. He has been giving Wisdom of Shakespeare seminars and workshops since 1985, including at the London Shakespeare Globe Theatre during 1997-2005.

www.peterdawkins.com

I would like to thank all my friends who have helped make this book possible, and in particular the following people: the ‘Roses’ team who have assisted me, edited, illustrated, and helped design and prepare the book for publishing—my wife Sarah, my sons John and Samuel, Anne McQueen Johnston, Michele Beaufoy and Suzy Straw; my ‘professional’ friends who have given me encouragement, information and ideas— especially Mark Rylance (actor and Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre) and his wife Claire Van Kampen (Director of Music and Artistic Assistant of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre), whose 1991 Phoebus Cart production of The Tempest was so memorable, and Hugh Young (playwright and actor-director of Daylight Theatre); and my ‘supportive’ friends who have helped provide the means—Gay Browning, Mary Perry, Mary Pout and Diana Tinson.

Map by John Dawkins.
Illustration 5 based on Mountain High Map images (Mountain High Maps® Copyright © 1993 Digital Wisdom, Inc.).
Illustration 6 reproduced from Man the Grand Symbol of the Mysteries by Manly P. Hall, published by the Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles.
Illustration 9 reproduced by permission of the British Library (8675139.G1118).
Illustration 15 reproduced by p ermission of the British Library (12305.BBB.36).
Illustration 16 reproduced by permission of the British Library (C.48.a.18p19).

All quotations from Shakespeare’s The Tempest are taken from the Arden Shakespeare, edited by Frank Kermode (1954). All quotations from the Bible are taken from The Companion Bible (1974), being the Authorised Version of 1611 as published by the Revisers in their ‘Parallel Bible’ in 1885.

On the Shakespeare Monument, erected c. 1620-23 in Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, to honour the memory of Shakespeare, the great Bard is referred to (in Latin) as ‘A Pylus in judgment, a Socrates in genius, a Maro in art’.

Pylus was the appellation of Nestor, King of Pylus, one of the Argonauts who went in search of the Golden Fleece and who was the most perfect of Homer’s heroes in the Trojan War. As a statesman, ruler and judge, Pylus was renowned for his eloquence, address, wisdom, justice and prudence of mind.

Socrates was the most celebrated philosopher of Greece and a renowned orator. The Delphic Oracle proclaimed him as the wisest of mankind. He was the principal instigator of the great philosophies that have constituted the major traditions of Western civilisation, and was the advocate of clarity and the inductive procedure, for which he was particularly famed. His great aim was the happiness and good of his countrymen, and the reformation of their corrupted morals. By introducing moral philosophy, he induced people to consider themselves, their passions, their opinions, their duties, faculties and actions. He used drama to aid him in this, and the tragedies attributed to his pupil Euripides are said to have been at least partly composed by him, although he remained hidden as a playwright behind the mask of his pupil.

Maro was the surname of Virgil, the greatest of the Roman poets. He was known as the prince of poets and Homer’s successor. He was not only a highly learned scholar and refined writer, but also a high initiate of the Orphic Mysteries as practised at Naples, where he lived for the last part of his life. His ALneid was based upon the Mysteries and Homer’s epic tales, the Iliad and Odyssey.

For Shakespeare to be likened to these three illustrious men—not just one, but all three—is an enormous compliment and says a great deal about the Bard.

This viewpoint is supported by Ben Jonson, a renowned playwright and poet in his own right. In his tributary poem to Shakespeare prefacing the Shakespeare 1st Folio, Jonson refers to his ‘beloved’ friend as an Apollo and Mercury, and as the ‘Sweet Swan of Avon’. Furthermore, implying that Shakespeare was, like him, a noted classical scholar, he declares in his tribute that even if Shakespeare had small Latin and less Greek, he (Ben) would still honour him, calling forth the great Roman and Greek tragedians to hear and applaud his tragedies. As for comedies, Ben can think of no one of the ancient Greeks or Romans who even approaches Shakespeare: he is alone, supreme.

To be likened to the gods Apollo and Mercury, rather than just inspired by them, is a mighty tribute, particularly as coming from the talented and critical poet laureate, Ben Jonson. Apollo is the god of poetic inspiration and illumination, and leader of the choir of Muses. Mercury is the god of eloquence and learning.

The ‘sweet swan’ is a reference to the singing swan, which is sweetest when singing its own ‘swan-song’. This was the symbol of Orpheus, musician to the Argonauts and the originator of the Orphic Mysteries that subsequently became the wisdom teachings and Mysteries of Classical Greece and Rome. These Mysteries formed a foundation of Classical philosophy and of all Platonic and Neoplatonic thought. Orpheus was considered to be the representative of Bacchus, the god of Drama, whose drama was in particular the Mysteries that were performed by the bacchants, bacchantes and eumolpoi (‘good singers’), the initiates and hierophants of the Orphic Mysteries. Both comedy and tragedy, and theatre as such, derive from the Bacchanalian Mysteries. Moreover, the white swan, symbol of Orpheus and the Eumolpoi, is an emblem of Apollo.

Mercury (Roman Mercurius) is derived from the Ancient Egyptian Maa Kheru, meaning ‘the True Word’ and ‘he who is of true voice’. It was a title bestowed on the high initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries—i.e. those who had sung their ‘swan-song’ and undergone psychological death and rebirth,—a title which was still used in the Classical Mysteries. Another Greek name for Mercury was Hermes Trismegistus (i.e. Hermes the Thrice Greatest), but this title was applied specifically to the greatest of all the initiates in any epoch. From this name comes the term ‘Hermetic’ for the great wisdom teachings and developing philosophical thought that have been handed on from the time of the Ancient Egyptians to successive generations and cultures, and of which we are inheritors today via the Neoplatonism of the Renaissance and the great poetry of Shakespeare.

The works of Shakespeare declare him to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the Neoplatonists. His plays are suffused with Renaissance Neoplatonism. To understand this is to understand Shakespeare.

The founders of Renaissance Neoplatonism were Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, both members of the brilliant circle of scholars, writers and artists associated with the Medici court in Florence in the 15th century, under the patronage of the great Cosimo de’ Medici.

Marsilio Ficino (1433-99), a scholar, physician and priest, was commissioned by Cosimo to translate into Latin the Hermetic writings and the dialogues of Plato, together with the Neoplatonic writings of Porphyry, Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite and Plotinus. The translation of the Corpus Hermeticum was ready in 1464 and published in 1471 under the title of Pimander, and the translations of Plato’s dialogues, completed c. 1468, were published as the Platonic Theology in 1474.

Ficino’s understanding, as that of others including St. Augustine, was that a divine theology or wisdom tradition, based on love, began simultaneously with Zoroaster among the Persians and with Hermes Trismegistus (i.e. Thoth) among the Egyptians. They believed that this wisdom tradition led in an unbroken chain to Plato via Orpheus and Pythagoras. It is this wisdom that is reputed to underlie the Hebrew, Orphic and Christian teachings, all of which developed from the blended Hermetic and Magian origin.

Demonstrating that this wisdom tradition was associated with Christianity, with links via Moses and the Zoroastrian Magi, Ficino was able to reconcile Platonic and Neo-Platonic philosophy with Christian theology. He regarded both philosophy and religion as being manifestations of a spiritual life, each needing the other in order to attain the summum bonum or greatest good.

According to the Neoplatonic philosophy that Ficino founded, love is the sustaining principle of the universe, and the attainment of the highest good is dependant not upon the Church but upon an impulse universal to man. The soul is not only immortal, but all souls by an inner urge naturally seek truth and goodness.

Ficino was immeasurably helped in the development of Neoplatonism by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94). Pico joined Ficino’s circle in 1484 and introduced Cabala into Ficino’s Neoplatonism, being the founder or first great exponent of Christian Cabala. In this Pico was following in the footsteps of the poet-philosopher Ramon Lull, who in the 13th century, in Spain, brought together Jewish Cabala, Islamic mysticism and Christian revelation into a single method, which had an enormous influence on succeeding generations. As a result of Pico and Ficino’s partnership, Neoplatonism became a universal philosophy, which blended Hebrew Cabala with the Hermetic, Neoplatonic and Christian teachings, making a synthesis of them all. As a result, the spiritual, magical and scientific core of Renaissance Neoplatonism was born.

Having travelled from Italy into France, this Renaissance Neoplatonism took a strong hold in England in the 16th century, beginning in King Henry VIII’s time and reaching a zenith during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, particularly in the works of William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s knowledge of the Bible is remarkably extensive and detailed. The teachings of the Bible pervade and underlie all his plays to such a degree that the plays seem, in fact, to be dramatised commentaries on and examples of the scriptural teachings, aided by Cabalistic philosophy and the Hermetic wisdom as well as by Shakespeare’s extraordinary observation, insight into and knowledge of human nature.

Not for nothing then, it would seem, was an Englishman urged to possess a copy of both the Bible and the Shakespeare plays, and to always carry them with him when travelling.

Minerva is the Roman name for the Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena, the Tenth (and Chief) Muse, and the especial Muse of Shakespeare. Her Greek name literally means ‘Spear Shaker’, and she was renowned for shaking her spear of light at dark ignorance, exactly as Ben Jonson says of Shakespeare in his Folio tribute:

The intention and hope of this series is to help reveal to lovers of Shakespeare some of the extraordinary and brilliant light concealed in Shakespeare’s plays, and to pay homage to one who has been an exceptional friend and teacher to me and countless others—the great English Bard.

The most striking characteristic of my friend Peter Dawkins is that he does in fact practise what he teaches others. The Philosophy he sees in The Tempest is a philosophy he lives by. You could say he walks his talk, especially as his other passion is Landscape and Architecture. He is a man equally concerned and knowledgeable about what is beneath his feet as above his head.

I find this particularly unusual amongst writers on Shakespeare, perhaps because most writers on Shakespeare don’t imagine his work as philosophy, or as part of a philosophical movement in the Renaissance of Europe. We know so little about the actor from Stratford, and what we do know—the petty law suits against poachers for example—doesn’t marry naturally with the deep compassion, wit and philosophical insight of the plays. But when we compare the plays with the teachings of the Greeks, Romans, Christians, and Jews, we find similar language and a similar search for good.

What do I mean by good? Well, I mean a similar search to distil accurate observation of human, natural and divine activity into a philosophy that helps people to be whole and realise their potential in life. Perhaps a simple way of expressing this is to compare us with England’s patron, St George, known as a warrior, but also, when he is not forced to fight the dragon, a gardener. All gardeners must learn when and how to plant, water and harvest their seed in order to survive. Well, as we learn more and more, both genetically and psychologically, about our soul’s code, the seed of our soul, we should also turn to philosophy to learn how to grow those seeds. I mean by ‘good’ that it would be good for our souls to bear fruit in the actions of our lives.

I share Peter’s belief that Shakespeare’s work was intended by the author to help us create a garden for our souls. I believe he foresaw the growth of science, the division and politicising of religion, and also the decline of philosophy into an academic talking shop. He took a radical and inspired step, by applying the acute observation of natural science to human behaviour, freeing his work from any definite religious bias, and placing his observation, and the observation of the ancient philosophers, in the common and accessible world of popular entertainment, the theatre.

Since I met Peter in 1989, he has helped me to understand why it is that everyone promotes Shakespeare as being so good for you. We know Shakespeare is entertaining, and his work a phenomenon amongst mankind’s achievements, but what is he actually saying to us? There are many interpretations. I find Peter’s one of the most beautiful and one that is beneficial to my life, enriching my ability to live intimately with myself, others, and the world around me, seen and unseen.

I first met Peter while playing Hamlet and Romeo at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Warwickshire. Two friends had come to hear Romeo and began to speak about the alchemical imagery in the play. The use of lead, silver and gold to describe the interior states of Romeo. What they said made enormous sense to me. I asked them where they learnt this stuff, and they said why don’t you come along tomorrow morning to this talk we’re going to. So on Sunday morning, not a natural time for an actor playing Romeo and Hamlet to go anywhere, I dragged myself along to Peter’s talk on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He is a tall man, with a tall wife and even taller children. That Sunday I found myself entering a high ceilinged room, which he had built. He was an architect by profession. Thirty or so people were seated listening to him and a wild old gentleman, Sir George Trevelyan, speak about the meaning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Peter is extremely humble, and speaks quietly. One has the curious impression that he is listening while he speaks. He is always thoroughly prepared with quotes and diagrams, some of which his younger son illustrates for him. He never manages to get through them all, as the talk follows the intuition and enquiry of the group. His knowledge of Shakespeare and the Renaissance philosophical movements is astounding, yet he gets ever so excited about discoveries, and easily breaks into fits of laughter when he gets things wrong. When I first met him, his shyness was tangible. Sir George, who had demanded many years before that Peter spoke about Shakespeare in front of people, would fall asleep after lunch next to Peter, wake with a start, and immediately fire off some of the best acting of Shakespeare I have had the privilege to hear. They were a right pair! But my God the love and enquiry into Shakespeare was deeper than I had ever encountered in any rehearsal room.

What I heard that day, and subsequently at the many talks of Peter’s that I have attended, changed my life as an actor, and inspired me with an appreciation of the foundations and architecture of the Shakespeare work.

That year, my wife and I decided to begin to work directly with Peter on our productions of Shakespeare. The Tempest performed in the Rollright Stone Circle and subsequently at the site of Shakespeare’s Globe, led me to meet Sam Wanamaker and later become the first Artistic Director of the Globe in 1996. Both Sam and Sir George are now sadly gone. I hope that the spirit of their wonderful work lives on in the work that Peter and I do together.

I hope you enjoy this book. Try to remember Peter’s laughter and doubt, if the written word doesn’t answer your question or appears to have signed and sealed what continues to be an open enquiry.

The Tempest, traditionally referred to as Shakespeare’s last play, is reputedly the crown jewel of the Bard’s dramatic works. With this I would whole-heartedly agree. Whether it is his best play in performance depends a lot on how and where it is produced, the actors’ performances and the director’s input; but when The Tempest is produced and acted well, it becomes sheer magic—which, of course, is what the play is about. Moreover, the play seems to summarise all that has gone before it and, more than any other Shakespeare play, provides an insight into the author and his Art, as well as into the knowledge and teachings of the Western Wisdom tradition. The Tempest has always fascinated me, and more than any other Shakespeare play has helped give me a gateway into the sometimes very secret world of our Western Wisdom.

Like the sacred scriptures and the Mysteries, the play has various levels of meaning and possible interpretation, which means that it can provide an almost endless source of knowledge and inspiration to whoever cares to look and feel beyond the first veil. Every time I read or experience a performance of it, for instance, I discover new things, and I am sure that this is, or can be, true for everyone. Moreover, each discovery can be inspirational or catalytic in one’s life, providing explanations for the previously inexplicable and guidance as to the steps that might (or could) lie ahead.

This book is largely the result of various seminars that I gave in England during the summer of 1991, in tandem with the exciting open-air production of The Tempest performed by Mark Rylance and Claire Van Kampen’s acting company, Phoebus Cart, with which I was involved as a friend and consultant. Having written it first as a much larger but unfinished volume, left to mature a while longer, I have drawn on those pages for this shorter, more condensed version for the Wisdom of Shakespeare series. What I have written in this book is by no means an attempt to make a consummate or infallible interpretation of this wonder play, as there are so many jewels of truth to be found in this treasure house of knowledge, but what I have written I hope that you will find useful.

The Tempest as a Mystery play has, of course, been written about before, as has its important psychological content and its Hermetic, Neoplatonic and Cabalistic background and sources, by such eminent scholars and authors as Colin Still, C. G. Jung, W. F. C. Wigston, Frances A. Yates, Noel Cobb, and some others less well known.ⁱⁱ But there is a great deal more that could be said or is waiting to be discovered, and I share in this volume some fresh insights and discoveries that I have found over the course of many years of studying and enjoying the play. Not only this, but in these following pages I endeavour to show the direct association of the play and Shakespeare himself with the Rosicrucians and Freemasons of that vital 16th-17th century period in world history, and the ultimate importance of the play as a summary of the path of initiation.

For the plan of the book, I begin with a sketch of the play’s background history, to set the scene in terms of the writing of the play. It was an exciting period in English history, during which the ‘invisible’ Brethren of the Rosie Cross were beginning to make their work known, and the first successful English colony was being established in North America. Both of those events influence the play profoundly, and the play can be seen as an integral part of those very events, especially the former.

The second chapter summarises the story of the play, scene by scene. This is not only for the benefit of those who do not know the play very well, but also as a help to those who do, as it emphasises the key points that will be discussed in the book.

Since the play is essentially a Mystery play, based on ancient sources, the third chapter sets the scene in terms of the Ancient Mysteries, so that what Shakespeare is doing and what material he uses can be more easily seen.

After dealing with the background history, the story and the sources, the rest of the book (with the exception of the last chapter) devotes itself to peering into the play’s profundity, discovering its light and its music. Its light is a profound wisdom concerning life and the human soul, whilst its music is to be found in the poetry, mathematics and rhythmical structures that underlie the outer sound of the spoken work.

Because Ariel is such a key figure in the play, the investigation begins with a chapter on this artful Spirit, to see what it really is or might be. After this comes a chapter (the fifth) identifying the major plots and themes. The sixth and seventh chapters deal with the major levels and stages of human evolution that are depicted in the play, together with our alchemical progression and initiation through these levels as allegorised in the stories of the characters.

The eighth chapter also deals with this allegorical portrayal of human evolution, but showing the ‘planetary’ progression of the story that is, as far as I know, unique to Shakespeare and Spenser, and which plays the seven ‘notes’ of Pan’s pipes in a special creative sequence. Musicians interested in the harmony of the spheres and the underlying creative ‘sound’ of great poetry and drama should find this food for thought and further investigation.

The ninth chapter looks at the locations used in the play, which form a scenario analogous to the human body—a landscape temple, in other words, in which the Mystery is enacted. This is followed by a chapter devoted to the relationship and the meaning of the names of the characters, which helps to explain what they each represent in the context of the whole play; whilst the penultimate chapter (chapter eleven) discusses Prospero’s Art—his magic.

The final chapter is on the Rosicrucians, of whom Prospero can be seen to be a personification. This chapter outlines a remarkable treasure trail of signposts and hints that link The Tempest and, indeed, the whole of the Shakespeare canon, to the Rosicrucians, and point to Shakespeare as being a Brother of the Rosie Cross.

As in the previous books of this series, I have used the Arden edition of The Tempest when quoting from the play, which I recommend both for its text and notes, although reference to a copy of the original Shakespeare folio is always worth the effort. Biblical quotes are from the Companion Bible. The works of Shakespeare and the Bible go together very well, and I recommend anyone who wishes to enjoy Shakespeare to the full, and understand the Bible more deeply, to have both on hand—as well as experiencing the play in performance, of course!

In this series I am not attempting to provide a bibliography as such, since this could be a weighty matter that unbalances the book itself; but the endnote references should provide ample scope for further research, and the treasure trail can be followed in this way, from one book or author to the next.

The material we are dealing with is Renaissance Neoplatonism, itself derived primarily from Christian, Hebraic, Neoplatonic and Platonic, Pythagorean, Orphic, Hermetic, Ancient Egyptian, Magian and Druidic sources. It is also Rosicrucian, and entirely relevant for this day and age. In exploring this material, and putting it into practice, I wish you great joy and the freedom that it eventually brings.

The Tempest was first printed in the 1st Folio of Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, published in 1623. The play is the first of the plays in the folio and occupies nineteen pages. It is listed as a Comedy, and heads the initial section of fourteen Comedies.

Written in 1610-11, The Tempest is now generally classed as one of Shakespeare’s four great Romances which were produced between the years 1607-11 (viz. Pericles, 1607-8; Cymbeline, 1609-10; The Winter’s Tale, 1610-11; The Tempest, 1610-11), and which form the peak (and culmination) of Shakespeare’s art. Indeed, The Tempest is traditionally considered to be Shakespeare’s last play, although this is held in doubt since Henry VIII appears to have been written later (i.e. possibly 1612-13). The answer may be that The Tempest was indeed the last Shakespeare drama to be written as a complete new play: Henry VIII (originally known as All is True) having been written earlier, in collaboration with John Fletcher, but revised and added to during 1612-13.¹

The Tempest uses material not available until the latter part of 1610. Its first recorded performance took place before King James I at Whitehall on the night of Hallowmas, 1611, performed by Richard Burbage’s company, the King’s Men (formerly known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and affectionately referred to nowadays as Shakespeare’s Company). It was acted again before the Court during the Winter of 1612-13 by the King’s Men, as part of the grand and prolonged entertainments provided for the visit of Frederick, the Elector Palatine, on his betrothal and subsequent marriage to King James’ daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, on St Valentine’s Day 1613.

Because of the masque scene conjured up for the young lovers by Prospero in The Tempest, and Prospero’s emphasis on the importance of chastity before marriage, it has been suggested by several researchers that (a) this masque scene was inserted in 1612 specially for the betrothal celebrations, and (b) the performance took place before the royal couple on their betrothal night, 27th December 1612. If the dating is true, this has a double significance, since the 27th December is the annual festival of St John the Beloved (i.e. the Evangelist), the traditional feast day and annual assembly of the Rosicrucians and higher degree Freemasons.² The masque scene, however, must have been in the original version played in 1611 in order for the structure and meaning of the play to have been complete. This does not lessen its significance in any way as a perfect choice of play to be presented before the royal couple during the celebration of their betrothal.

The Tempest, deliberately placed as the first of the thirty-six plays in the 1623 Folio, and yet being the ‘last’ to be written, acts as a kind of foreword to the rest; for a good foreword is normally the last item to be written, is placed first in the book and summarises all that is to be found in a more detailed way in the rest of the publication. This The Tempest certainly does.

To all intents and purposes The Tempest is a pastoral drama concerned with the beneficial dominion of mankind over nature through virtue and art, in which the greatest art is the skilful knowledge and practice of love, or goodness. In this fashion it shares the basic themes of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, in which seven of the attributes and virtues of King Arthur are personified and symbolically portrayed in a special order that is reiterated in The Tempest. But the dominant theme of The Tempest is founded upon Virgil’s Aneid, in particular Book VI.

Book III of the ALneid concerns the visit of Æneas to the Isles of Shepherds, where the harpies snatch away the food. In Book VI, which provides the major basis of The Tempest, Virgil cryptically reveals the classical Mysteries of initiation, which allegorically led the candidate, via a tempest and the Underworld of Hades, through the Pillars of Hercules to the Fortunate Isles in the West. These magical Isles of Delight were equated with both the central sacred islands of Atlantis and also the ‘apple-green’ Avalon of King Arthur and Merlin, and this description from the Druidic and Arthurian Mysteries is also used in the play.

A large proportion of descriptive material for The Tempest is derived from the various accounts of the New Found Lands of America, which continent Dr. John Dee, Sir Francis Bacon and other Renaissance writers, sages and poets associated with the western mainland continent of Atlantis. For instance, Shakespeare’s dramatic account of the tempest and Prospero’s island is largely inspired by the report of the shipwreck of the Sea-Adventure upon the Bermuda Islands, which occurred on the 25 July 1609, and the subsequent experiences of the crew.

The Sea-Adventure story began in May 1609 when a fleet of nine ships and five hundred colonists on board set out from England to North America, to strengthen Captain John Smith’s Virginian colony at Jamestown. This fleet was sponsored by the Virginia Company, whose principal shareholders and founding members of its Council included William, Earl of Montgomery and Philip, Earl of Pembroke (the ‘Incomparable Paire’ to whom the 1623 Shakespeare Folio is dedicated), the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Southampton, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir George Somers and Sir Thomas Gates.

Ever since the first three (failed) enterprises to colonise North America (in 1583, 1584 and 1587),³ inspired largely by Dr. John Dee, the Sydney-Bacon-Essex group had worked on with the dream of establishing a new and enlightened society, a commonwealth, in a virgin land. The Newfoundland Company, founded in 1607, was one example of this group’s enterprise, which began with a short-lived attempt to establish a fishing colony in Newfoundland, but then in 1610 succeeded in establishing Newfoundland as a colony.⁴ The enterprise that first succeeded, however, was the Virginia one, named after Queen Elizabeth in whose reign the project had begun.

The Virginia Company was first formed as two separate Companies in 1606—the Virginia Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth. Both sent ships to the New World, but only the London Virginia Company had early success, in the settling of Jamestown. The establishment of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, took place on 14 May 1607 by an expedition consisting of three vessels—Sarah Constant, Goodspeed and Discovery—under the command of Captain John Smith. At Jamestown leadership was a problem, although Captain John Smith exerted some sort of control, and in 1609 the Company obtained a new royal charter establishing a new governing council composed entirely of company members who were empowered to appoint an all-powerful governor or governors in the colony. The new council decided on a single governor and appointed Sir Thomas West, Lord De la Warr, to the post. Sir Henry Hobart and Sir Francis Bacon, the latter being at that time the King’s Solicitor-General, prepared the charter for King James’ signature. This charter of 1609 and the later one of 1612 were the beginnings of constitutionalism in North America and the germ of the later Constitution of the United States.

In the end Lord De la Warr was not able to leave England and Sir Thomas Gates was appointed his substitute. Sir Thomas Gates, together with Sir George Somers, sailed in the flagship of the fleet, the Sea-Adventure. However, before the fleet had reached the shores of America a storm blew up which separated the Sea-Adventure from the rest of the fleet. The wind drove the flagship towards the coast of the Bermudas, where the crew were forced to run their ship ashore. Before reaching the shore the ship ‘fell in between two rockes, where she was fast lodged and locked for further budging’. All those on board managed to get safely to shore, as well as saving a large part of the ship’s fittings and stores. The other ships of the fleet, with one exception, managed to reach the mainland of America, with the belief that the Sea-Adventure had perished with all aboard her. A report was sent back to England before the end of 1609 giving news of the storm and the supposed foundering of the Sea-Adventure.

The Bermudas had always been held in a mixture of awe and fear by mariners, since those islands, uninhabited at that time, appeared magical, with a constant stormy play of lightning and thunder around its great towering cliffs. No one went near the islands if they could help it. Some thought they were the abode of ‘witches and devils, which grew by reason of accustomed monstrous thunderstorms and tempests’⁵; others that they were a remnant of the sacred islands of Atlantis, ruled over by Poseidon (Neptune) and Zeus (Jupiter).

Chapter	Page
	Introduction
	Foreword
	Author’s Preface
1	Background
2	The Story
3	The Mysteries
4	Ariel
5	Plots & Themes
6	The Four Levels of Human Evolution
7	The Alchemical Progress of Humanity
	Table 1
8	The Seven Virtues
9	The Three Kingdoms
10	The Characters
11	Nature’s Art
12	The Rosicrucians
	Notes on the Text
	Index