Paul Sédir

Life

He was born to Hippolyte de Loup and his wife Séraphine Foeller on rue de la Lainerie in Dinan, Brittany. The couple were from Neustadt near Fulda in Germany. He was not in Brittany for long and spent most of his childhood in Paris, joining the Banque de France on 28 October 1892 as an "auxiliary agent" and remaining in the same job for twenty years in the "Dépôts de titres". He had been teaching himself about esotericism for around two, years when he met Papus (Dr Gérard Encausse) in 1889 at the "Librairie du Merveilleux" bookshop, founded by Lucien Chamuel around 1888, a gathering-place for those interested in the subject as well as a publishing house and conference hall. Papus immediately became a close friend, opening his personal library of works on symbolism, philosophy and esotericism to Le Loup, who was eager for knowledge. He began collaborating with Papus, through whom he also met Stanislas de Guaita, who also gave him access to his library. Sédir was a prolific writer and constantly contributed in writing articles for Papus' magazine Le Voile d'Isis. He was initiated into the Martinist Order, in which he became Superior Inconnu Initiateur [Superior Unknown Inititator] and a member of the Supereme Council before leaving the Order in 1910.