Manly P. Hall

Manly Palmer Hall (18 March 1901 – 29 August 1990) was a Canadian writer, lecturer, astrologer, and mystic. Over his 70-year career he gave thousands of lectures and published over 150 volumes, of which the best known is The Secret Teachings of All Ages. In 1934, he founded the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles.

Early life Hall was born in 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to Louise Antist (née Palmer) Hall (1877–1953), a chiropractor and member of the Rosicrucian Fellowship, and William S. Hall, a dentist. Hall is said to have never known his father. Hall was ordained a minister in the Church of the People on 17 May 1923. Only a few days after his ordination, he was elected "permanent pastor" of the church. Owing to economic conditions resulting from the Great Depression, he acquired the collection for below the typical market price. Caroline Lloyd died in 1946 and in her will left Hall a house, $15,000 in cash, and an annual percentage of her family's oil field shares, valued at approximately $10,000 per year, for the next 38 years. As one writer put it: "The result was a gorgeous, dreamlike book of mysterious symbols, concise essays and colorful renderings of mythical beasts rising out of the sea, and angelic beings with lions' heads presiding over somber initiation rites in torch-lit temples of ancestral civilizations that had mastered latent powers beyond the reach of modern man."

Further publications and lectures After the success of The Secret Teachings of All Ages Hall went on to publish several books, the major of which included, The Dionysian Artificers (1936), Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians (1937), and Masonic Orders of Fraternity (1950). Continuing his career into his seventies and beyond, Hall delivered approximately 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 200 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles. Hall appears in the introduction to the 1938 film When Were You Born, a murder mystery that uses astrology as a key plot point. Hall wrote the original story for the film (screenplay by Anthony Coldeway) and is also credited as the narrator.

In 1942, Hall spoke to a large audience at Carnegie Hall, on "The Secret Destiny of America," which later became a book of the same title. Through a series of stories, his book alleged that a secret order of philosophers created the idea of America as a country based on religious freedom and self-governance. In one of the stories that Hall cites as evidence of America's exceptionalism, he claims that an angel was present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and inspiring them with God's words.

Personal life Hall and his followers went to extreme lengths to keep any rumors or information that could tarnish his image from being publicized, Marie Schweikert Bauer Hall died 21 April 2005. dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and the occult. The PRS still maintains a research library of over 50,000 volumes, and also sells and publishes metaphysical and spiritual books, mostly those authored by Hall. His original alchemical collection was so vast and well-informed that even Carl G. Jung consulted it when writing his study Psychology and Alchemy (1944). He held centuries-old and beautifully illustrated books, such as first editions of H.P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888), with her handwritten notes, as well as alchemical and Rosicrucian codices, and a triangular cipher manuscript attributed to the Count of St. Germain. After his death, some of Manly Hall's rare alchemy books were sold to keep the PRS in operation. "Acquisition of the Manly Palmer Hall Collection in 1995 provided the Getty Research Institute with one of the world's leading collections of alchemy, esoterica, and hermetica."

Hall was a Knight Patron of the Masonic Research Group of San Francisco, with which he was associated for a number of years prior to his Masonic affiliations. On 28 June 1954, Hall was initiated as a Freemason into Jewel Lodge No. 374, San Francisco (now the United Lodge); passed 20 September 1954; and raised 22 November 1954. He took the Scottish Rite Degrees a year later. He later received his 32° in the Valley of San Francisco AASR (SJ). On 8 December 1973 (45 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Hall was recognized as a 33° Mason (the second highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite) at a ceremony held at the Philosophical Research Society (PRS).

Dubbed the "Sage of Los Angeles", Hall once wrote scripts for Hollywood film studios, and as a result became friendly with numerous prominent figures in public life, the arts, and many professions. He was a close friend of the original Dracula actor, Bela Lugosi, and country singer John Denver, and he was said to be on friendly terms with former actor and future President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who, according to Hall's fellow lecturer at the Philosophical Research Society, Stephan A. Hoeller, even visited him at his office. He was also friends with Elvis Presley, with whom he exchanged frequent phone calls. the mystery of Hall's death was never fully solved.

Selected works Manly P. Hall published over 150 books and essays in his lifetime, here follows a short selection of notable works.

Books

Periodicals The All-Seeing Eye. Los Angeles: Manly P. Hall (1923, 1924), Hall Publishing Company (1925–1931). . A Monthly Letter. Los Angeles: The Phoenix Press. 1934–1949. .

Archival Collections Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, circa 1500-1825 Box 16 Manuscripts Box 25 Manuscripts Box 36 Manuscripts

Early Essays and Monthly Letters c. 1920–1923, Symbolic Essays c. 1926–1927, Noah and His Wonderful Ark c. 1930–1940s, Atlantis: An Interpretation