The Council of Twelve

Sidgwick further comments, “The number of the club varied, but never exceeded twelve.” 83 Groups of twelve have dominated esoteric organizations perennially. The Rosicrucians, for example, were directed by a council of twelve, of whom six were known and six remain unknown. 84 Today among New Agers, “The Council of Twelve” is being channeled. 85 The New Age Dictionary includes a citation for an occult book published in 1900 entitled The Gospel of The Holy Twelve. 86 This fixation on groups of twelve, led by a leader, permeates Vera Alder’s New Age handbook, When Humanity Comes of Age. She sees in her crystal ball a group of twelve men, “of the highest spiritual training,” reigning with the Anti-Christ in the “New World Order.” She writes:

Thus the whole World Government would rest upon the ultimate guidance and influence of the Spiritual Cabinet… [based on] the Twelve Labours of Hercules, The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac and Christ and His Twelve Disciples. 87

Westcott would have agreed wholeheartedly. He was chairman of the Christian Union for Promoting International Concord. 88 He saw “the spiritual” advancing to a complete sovereignty over the whole world.” 89

In the 1930’s the Eranus Club would be seen as a platform for arch-Theosophist Alice Bailey and mother of the current New Age movement. Webb’s Occult Establishment, in the chapter “The Hermetic Academy,” cites this group’s self-stated goals as the study of Theosophy, Mysticism, the esoteric sciences and Philosophies and all forms of spiritual research. He closes saying, “The Eranos Conferences are a compendium of all the elements of the Occult Revival.” 90