Jules Denis, Baron du Potet or Dupotet de Sennevoy (12 April 1796 – 1 July 1881) was a French

esotericist Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

. He became a renowned practitioner of mesmerism—the theories first developed by

Franz Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer (; ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called " ani ...

involving

animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, was a protoscientific theory developed by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century in relation to what he claimed to be an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all livi ...

Life

He was born at Sennevoy-le-Haut, the son of Charles Jean-Baptiste Dupotet, seigneur de La Chapelle et de Sennevoy, and Pierrette Babeau Simone. He was married twice, to Aglaé Saunier in Paris in 1833, and the second time to Marie Isaure Hérault. He died in Paris and is buried in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...

Career

Du Potet was a highly successful mesmerist. Some attributed this to the fact he was missing the thumb on his right hand. His reputation was such, apparently, that a man was convicted of murder and executed based on evidence given by "one of Du Potet's clairvoyantes". He operated a free school of magnetism in Paris from 1826 on, and from 1837 to 1845 practised magnetic healing in London, where he successfully treated

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

girls at the North London Hospital and according to a letter to the editor of ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'' his experiments became the talk of the town. For du Potet, who was in correspondence with mesmerists worldwide, mesmerism was, not unlike

Utopian socialism Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...

, an aid in bringing about social transformation, even a revolution. An 1890 article in the English occult magazine ''

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...

'' praises him as an ardent supporter of mesmerism whose "powerful voice" might have stopped the "travesty" of hypnotism. Du Potet also pursued occult applications of mesmerism.

Eliphas Levi Eliphaz is one of Esau's sons in the Bible. Eliphaz or Eliphas is also the given name of: * Eliphaz (Job), another person in the Bible * Eliphaz Dow (1705-1755), the first male executed in New Hampshire, for murder * Eliphaz Fay (1797–1854), f ...

praised him highly in his ''History of Magic'', and said that magnetism had unlocked for him the secrets of magic. Unlike Levi, he believed that trance enabled contact with the dead and with never incarnated spirits, and his circle believed in remote influence by means of magnetic currents. He was a member of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

; his writings were quoted extensively by

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...

, who regarded him as an adept. In '' The Discovery of the Unconscious'',

Henri Ellenberger Henri Frédéric Ellenberger (Nalolo, Barotseland, Rhodesia, 6 November 1905 – Quebec, 1 May 1993) was a Canadian psychiatrist, medical historian, and criminologist, sometimes considered the founding historiographer of psychiatry. Ellenberger i ...

considers him to have "developed ... delusions of grandeur". Du Potet published and edited the ''Journal du magnetisme'' from 1845 to 1861. Books he wrote include ''Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism'' (1838) and ''La magie dévoilée et la science occulte'' (1852), a copy of which was owned by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Footnotes

References

* Gauld, A., ''A History of Hypnotism'', Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Harte, R., ''Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume I: Animal Magnetism: Mesmer/De Puysegur'', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1902

Harte, R., ''Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume II: The Second Commission; Dupotet And Lafontaine; The English School; Braid's Hypnotism; Statuvolism; Pathetism; Electro-Biology'', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1903

External links

''La magie dévoilée et la science occulte'', 1852 edition
at

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potet, Baron du 1796 births 1881 deaths Esotericists French homeopaths People from Yonne