P325 Count Cagliostro's Cross

Count Alessandro Cagliostro is considered to be one of the greatest figures in the occult world, being well practiced in alchemy, scrying, psychic healing and other forms of magic, as well as being a devout Catholic.

He was born to a poor family as Giuseppe Balsamo in Palermo, Sicily in 1743. During a troubled childhood, Cagliostro was sent to a Benedictine monastery where it was discovered that he had a great talent for medicine and chemistry. He eventually ran away and fell into bad company, during which time he convinced many people, including many practicing alchemists, that he was able to transmute metals and create gold.

Cagliostro took to travelling the world, visiting Egypt, Greece, Persia, Rhodes, India and Ethiopia and studying any occult and alchemical knowledge that he could find there. At the age of 23 he left for Malta where he was initiated into the Order of the Knights of Malta. While there, he studied alchemy, the Kabbalah and other profound occult secrets.

In 1768 he returned to Italy where the newly self styled Count was accused of fraud and other crimes, but later married the beautiful Lorenza Feliciani, known as Serafina. Then, around 1769 he and Serafina went to London where he joined the Freemasons and became involved with the Comte de Saint-Germain and the creation of an 'elixir of immortal life'. His expertise and his reputation continued to spread rapidly throughout the world and he moved to Paris, quickly to became a favourite of King Louis XVI and the French court at Versailles.

Cagliostro went to Rome with his wife in late 1789, again taking up the practice of medicine and séances, but in 1791 the Inquisition arrested him for establishing a Masonic Lodge there. He was imprisoned in the Castle of Saint Angelo in Rome and tried, accused of heresy, magic, conjuring, and Freemasonry. There, Cagliostro was sentenced to death by the Inquisition but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in the Castle of Saint Angelo by Pope Pius VI.

He lived 52 years ostensibly, dying in prison on August 26, 1795, however, rumours persisted after his 'death' that he had miraculously escaped and remained alive and a confirmed Rosicrucian

B54 Count Cagliostro's Cross Buckle

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