Robert Ambelain was born on September 2, 1907, in Paris and died there on May 27, 1997. From his adolescence, his curiosity about the occult led him to frequent specialized libraries, fascinated by Fulcanelli and Martinez de Pasqually. Between 1936 and 1942, he published a three-volume Treatise on Esoteric Astrology, thus demonstrating his mastery of sacred astrology.
A committed Freemason, he was initiated in 1939 into the Rite of Memphis-Misraïm by Constant Chevillon, before reaching the highest degrees and serving as the worldwide Grand Master from 1960 to 1985. In 1942, he revived the Order of the Élus Coëns (Élus-Cohens), the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross, and founded the Apostolic Gnostic Church, becoming patriarch under the name "Tau Jean III." His Gnostic commitment began in 1946 when he was consecrated bishop in the Universal Gnostic Church.
Robert Ambelain left a prolific body of work: forty-two books covering astrology, cartomancy, alchemy, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, vampirism, tarot, and the controversial history of Christianity (notably Jesus or the Mortal Secret of the Templars). He used the occult pseudonym "Aurifer" and was recognized as a historian, man of letters, and a major, sometimes controversial, figure in 20th-century Masonic esotericism.
