The man known as Samael Aun Weor was born on the 6th of March, 1917 in Bogota, Colombia. At a young age, he was interested in many transcendental aspects of life – he wanted to know who we are, where we come from, and what is the purpose of life? He began to search for those answers in the different metaphysical schools of those times. He studied Theosophy, Masonry, the systems of Gurjieff, the Gnostic-Rosicrucian tradition, he practiced yoga, studied Krishnamurti etc.

By the age of 17 he was giving lectures at the Theosophical Society and became a member of the Ancient Rosicrucian school (founded by Dr Arnoldo Krumm-Heller / M. Huiracocha) at the age of 18, which served to educate him in practical esotericism.

But after all that he felt something was missing. He became tired of so many theories and yearned to investigate, to awaken, and to enter into the path of initiation. In his very first book, called The Doorway to Initiation or The Perfect Matrimony (1st edition) he explains that after many, incredible efforts, he found the key—or the Great Arcanum–that would allow him to prepare what the alchemists called “the sacred fire of the philosophers” and this granted him the fortune and immense happiness of beginning his process of genuine spiritual initiation. This occurred in 1947 and in 1948, the formation of a small organisation began, which soon after became an international one.

It was his book The Perfect Matrimony, at first—along with so many other written works in the 50’s and 60’s—that most identified the formation of the International Gnostic Movement. And from his second residence in Mexico, he wrote many other treatises about anthropology, psychology, philosophy, art, science, mysticism, Kabbalah, alchemy, medicine, etc. He wrote more than 60 books and gave hundreds of lectures. In essence, Master Samael taught the “Fifth Truth” or in other words sacred sexuality – as the synthesis of all religions, esoteric schools, cultures, civilisations, and races.