Raymond Bernard (esotericist)
Raymond Bernard (19 May 1923 – 10 January 2006) was a French esotericist and freemason. He was the Grand Master of AMORC, a large Rosicrucian order, in Francophone countries. He separately founded several other esoteric organizations, including the Renewed Order of the Temple.   

 Early life 
Raymond Bernard was born in Bourg-d’Oisans, Isère on 19 May 1923. He was raised in a Catholic family who had origins in Dauphiné, and attended secondary school in Grenoble. He studied law at a school there, though his studies were interrupted by the Second World War.

 Esotericism 
In 1941, he was introduced to esotericism by an English Rosicrucian by the name of Edith Lynn, and a few years later he came into contact with the Jeanne Guesdon, as well as Ralph M. Lewis, both high ranking AMORC figures. In 1952 he was admitted to AMORC's inner knighthood, and Lewis appointed him an administrator of the organization in 1965; Lewis then appointed him as AMORC's grand master in Francophone countries, a post he held from 1959 to 1977. He served many positions in the organization, structuring it in Francophone nations (especially African ones). Due to the resulting success, he acquired a château for AMORC in 1969, which became the headquarters of the Francophone Grand Lodge in 1973. In the 1950s, he was also involved in Italian Freemasonry, and joined the French Grande Loge nationale française Opéra, where he achieved the three symbolic grades given out by the organization.

At this time, he was initiated into the  (OMT), which Lewis gave him the responsibility to re-establish in France; he did this alongside AMORC, though given the reputation OMT had in the United States this was made difficult. In 1970, he founded the Renewed Order of the Temple (, ORT) of which he became the secret grand master until 1972. The group was founded at the suggestion of Julien Origas, also a member of AMORC, to which Bernard enthusiastically agreed. The creation of this group was supposedly validated by a "White Cardinal" apparition that had appeared to Bernard in Rome. He left this group entirely in the following years, and it was then led by Origas. Following the death of Origas, ORT schismed, and one of the resulting schismatic organizations later formed the Order of the Solar Temple, a group notorious for the mass murder-suicides committed by its members.

He resigned from AMORC in 1987, after which he founded the  (CIRCES) and  (OSTI), both of which aimed to continue Templar ideals but did not claim a direct lineage from the original Templars. He was also head of Circles International, which combined Templar ideals with New Age ones. He was the Grand Master of both groups, and they merged in 1993, with CIRCES becoming the charity wing of the OSTI as the . In the late 1990s he entrusted responsibility of the organization to Yves Jayet, giving him the status of Grand Master, after which he had no direct control. He joined the Grande Loge de France in 1991 following his departure from AMORC.

He wrote several books that included representations of esoteric elements like Agartha, Rosicrucian orders, as well as an occult world government controlled by a figured called "Maha"; these were allegorical works, though many took them literally.

 Later life and death 
His influence is significant in Africa, where he spread AMORC through French-speaking countries and their heads of state. He died on 10 January 2006.

 Bibliography 

 Rendez-vous secret à Rome (1969)
 Messages du sanctum céleste (1970)
 Fragments de sagesse rosicrucienne (1971)
 Nouveaux messages du sanctum céleste (1973)
 Lettres de nulle part (1978)
 La Cathédrale cosmique (1994)
 Enseignements du maître de la connaissance (1995)

 References 

 Sources 
 
 
 
 
 

 Further reading 
 

 External links 
 

Category:1923 births
Category:2006 deaths
Category:Esotericists
Category:French writers
Category:Freemasons