Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743 – 1795) was the alias of the hermeticist Giuseppe Balsamo, a Sicilian by birth. He led a remarkable life by earthly standards, the details of which — whether factual or fanciful — can be found on Wikipedia. Like other Hermeticists of the time, he was eventually put in prison for heresy, where he died.

However, we are more interested in his inner state, not the outward conditions of his life. Julius Evola quotes this passage written by Cagliotro:

I belong neither to any century nor to any particular place; my spiritual being lives its eternal existence outside time and space. When I immerse myself in thought I go back through the Ages. When I extend my spirit to a world existing far from anything you perceive, I can change myself into whatever I wish. Participating consciously in absolute being, I regulate my action according to my surroundings. My country is wherever I happen to set foot at the moment … I am that which is … free and master of life. There are beings who no longer possess guardian angels: I am one of those.

In his role as trickster, Cagliostro was able to travel and obey an intention. Guenon remarked that initiates often traveled under the guise of jugglers or horse traders, something we documented in The Symbolism of the Horse.

If Cagliostro’s claims about himself are true, we can note the following:

• He is aware of himself as transcendent spirit
• “Going back through the ages” may refer to knowledge of previous psychic layers.
• By “regulating his actions according to his surroundings”, he is engaging in “conscious acting”.
• “Master of life” refers to the correct ordering of spirit over soul over body, something mentioned by Evola on many occasions.
• By having no “guardian angel”, he would mean that he has reached higher states of consciousness, which, according to Guenon, are equivalent to angels.