Force de la Verite, La.
Revue psychique, sociale et philosophique.
Amour, Reciprocite, Humanite
1918--1919 Monthly
Paris, France. Language: French. Editor: D.P. Semelas, J. Dupont, F. Courtout. Succeeded by: Eon
Corporate author: Amis de Marie Routchine / Organe de l'Ordre du lys et de l'aigle1/1, 1918-1919. 16 pp., 10 francs a year in France, 12 elsewhere.

The journal's appearance coincided with the death of Marie Routchine ("Dea") on December 30, 1918, and seems to have been a short-lived attempt by Semelas ("Deon") to control the Order of the Lily and the Eagle (l'Ordre du Lys et de l'Aigle) by having Blanche Dupre, the six-year old daughter of Dea and Eugene Dupre, closen as Marie II, the successor of Dea as the Grand Mistress and Venerable Mother of the Order. Her birthday continued to be celebrated as a feast day of the Order until at least 1922 but, as might be expected, she played no role in its activities and she was soon replaced by Anna Humbert-Courtout ("Rea," 1893-1975), the wife of F. Courtout, one of the editors of this journal. Blanche's photograph adorns the journal. The Order was the creation of Marie Routchine. She was a Russian Jew, born in Odessa in 1883 but raised in France. Before the First World War (about 1909) she met Demetrius Platon Semelas in Cairo, where he is said to have initiated her into the last Rosicrucian lodge, the Freres d'Orient, which he had come in contact with at Mount Athos, and in 1915 they began the Order, she as "Dea" and he as "Deon." He was a Greek from Thrace (1884-1924) and heavily involved with Papus's Ordre Martiniste both before and after he came to France in 1915. Marie seems from the articles she wrote (as "Dea") in Semelas's journal La Mediterranee Oriental to have been interested primarily in moral restoration and the proper education of children. The stated goals of the Order seem to reflect these interests: (1) The perfection of the individual. (2) The aid and protection of the weak and suffering, the support of women, widows, orphans, children through a well organized and well coordinated charity. (3) The support of the achievement of the two preceding goals, the achievement of the welfare of the Collectivity and the the establishment in the collective bosom of reciprocity, properly understood." Despite the altruistic goals, the structure to achieve them, set out in the journal and its successor, Eon, were top-heavy with titles (Sovereign Grand Mistresses, Grand Commanders of the North and of the South, Grand Initiators, Grand Archivist, etc.) and, especially in Eon, dissertations on "Orphic Astrosophie, Orphic Philosophy, Psychurgy and Christian Theurgy," and the like. The journal carried a Bulletin of activities in the Order, meetings, appointments, changes in its constitution, etc., and featured news of or articles by the likes of Eugene Dupre (Grand Archivist and father of Marie II), Leon Telot, Robert Weill, Pierre Dupont, Marthe Meriaux, and, notably, Albert Jounet, S.I. and Victor Blanchard (as "Commandeur d'Honneur"). Eon prominently featured communications on Martinism, and the Order is said to continue today as an adjunct of Martinism. BNF

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