As a city steeped in occult history, Los Angeles isn’t unique. Yet, LA’s occult history seems much more a part of its character than New York’s, Chicago’s, or San Francisco’s. Maybe it’s the Hollywood dream machine, holding up a magnifying lens to anything that even remotely interests us. Maybe it’s California’s reputation as a harbor for the bizarre and eccentric. Or, just maybe there is something to it; some unseen, unspoken ambiance that inspires spiritual esotericism and obscure theology. It begs the question, “When does a religion become a cult?” And vice versa? We’ll leave you to draw the distinction as we take a closer look at a short-lived chapter in the book of Hollywood occult. Few, if any, will recall Mazdaznan. But it happened right here. And as the media of the time reminds us, it left an impression.
Master Thought
A mysterious figure (we’ll get to him in a moment) started Mazdaznan in 1890, drawing heavy inspiration from Zoroastrianism and, more specifically, 6th-century Mazdakism. A portmanteau of the Persian words Mazda and Znan, Mazdaznan roughly translates to “master thought.” And many of its teachings fittingly enough promoted the importance of mental and physical health. Mazdaznans believed in a single deity, the Lord God Mazda, and yearned to return the earth to a verdant realm befitting his presence.
The Man of Many Names
It was a man of many names who founded Mazdaznan. To be fair, those many names were partially because of newspapers and “wanted” posters misprinting his name more often than not. But for simplicity’s sake, we’ll call him by the name with which he was born. Ernst Otto Haenisch was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1854, far away in space and time from the houses of the Hollywood occult that would further shape his legacy.
Legend has it he was whisked away to a Persian monastery, Math El-Kharman. There he absorbed meticulous instruction in all of the primary arts and sciences. Not only did this experience inspire Haenisch’s fascination with Persian culture, but also his obsession with the occult. The son of a simple music teacher, Haenisch likely made up his fanciful history based on books he read. No matter the truth, the bottom line remained: Haenisch was a devout student of the occult with lofty aspirations.
The Rise of Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
As a teenager, Haenisch traveled to Utah where he spent time working as a sheepherder while exploring the Mormon faith. He also became involved with a German/Swedish newspaper in the area that acquainted him with printing skills that he would use when Mazdaznan hit its stride. After falling out with the Mormon church, Haenisch decided to use his knowledge to form his own religion. He even took one of his co-workers at the newspaper along with him.
In the mid-1890s, as he continued to define his new religion, Ernst Otto Haenisch became Herr Otto Hanish, Illusionist. Under this loose guise, he traveled as part of a sideshow troupe of magicians. But many would say he hadn’t even begun to dig into his bag of tricks. By the time he left Utah for Illinois at the turn of the 20th century, Herr Otto Hanish was a memory. In his place stood Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish, the definitely-not-German Persian founder of Mazdaznan.
The Dawn of Mazdaznan
While Haenisch had been kicking around the concept of Mazdaznan for years, most historians agree on Chicago as the official launchpad for the belief. It came backed with some serious claims. For one: Haenisch’s childhood excursion to Math El-Kharman was to treat a congenital heart defect; one that he managed to control through breathing exercises. For another: Mazdaznan was a spiritual outlet for approximately 128,000 worshippers of the sun, served by established temples in Persia, Mongolia, and Tibet. As the spiritual leader would tell it, sun worship was supported in sacred writing that pre-dated the building of Rome by nearly 150,000 years.
Mazdaznan Comes to Los Angeles
Unsurprisingly, Mazdaznan was not universally embraced. The more the belief gained traction, the more legal troubles and controversy buried Haenisch. This culminated in December 1914 when, out on bail, Haenisch traveled to a Mazdaznan temple he’d established in San Francisco. During his visit, a bomb detonated, rocketing Haenisch through a window. He escaped with a broken arm and a leg. But the bombing rattled Haenisch. As soon as he was released from his impending prison stint, he decided to move to Los Angeles.
In 1916, Haenisch joined his elderly father, who was still teaching music, in LA. The city may have seemed like fertile ground for new ideas in spiritual expansion. But mainstream society wasn’t comfortable with any attempts to elevate occult beliefs out of their permitted shadows. Despite Angelenos taking a similar regard as Chicagoans for Mazdaznan, Haenisch set his followers up in an Arlington Heights mansion and put his past in printing to work. Soon, the Mazdaznans were mass-producing and distributing their literature all across the city, competing with countless esoteric sects for the attention of wayward Angelenos.
Mazdaznan Beliefs
But what did the Mazdaznans actually believe? Obviously, their creed was nuanced enough to warrant a significant amount of literature, but we can attempt to highlight some of their overarching philosophies. Their Lord God Mazda was directly taken from Zoroastrianism, though Mazdaznan texts tended to put a more direct emphasis on the sun as opposed to a general sky deity. This sun god was represented in the holy trinity of the Father (creativity), Mother (procreation), and Child (a mixture of destiny and salvation).
But ultimately the Mazdaznans thought that the planet could be returned to a pastoral, verdant state; a paradise that would welcome the Lord God Mazda back into their physical presence. And they believed this planetary purification began with their own bodies. Therefore, obscure breathing exercises, strict vegetarian diets, meditative chanting, and unconventional acts of physical self-guidance were also central to Mazdaznan practices.
But, as is the case with so many movements of the Hollywood occult, Mazdaznan had a purported dark side. Yeah, one so dark that it might inspire attempted murder, as evidenced by the bomb that nearly claimed Haenisch’s life. It’s difficult to tell where media fancy begins and reality ends. Again, we leave it to you to distinguish.
For Sun-Worshippers, Mazdaznans Sure Loved White Skin
By 1918, Haenisch was preoccupied with the early days of his Arlington Heights Mazdaznan print shop. But the religion was finding followers around the world. Perhaps one of the most notable was Johannes Itten, a Swiss expressionist artist who would go on to incorporate Mazdaznan philosophies and practices as part of his teachings at the acclaimed Bauhaus art school in Germany.
Itten’s devotion to the Mazdaznan faith would eventually create a schism at the Bauhaus school and ultimately inspire his resignation. But during his time as an instructor at the Bauhaus school, he frequently focused on racial purification as a fundamental of returning the earth to its godly state. Over a series of five lectures he conducted for the school, Itten described what he called the “House of the White Man”.
He envisioned a future of snow-white monks creating art as pure as their blood. When his wife gave birth to a son, Itten excitedly wrote to her that “he is transparent white after all.” While some of Itten’s students converted to Mazdaznan, most attending the Bauhaus school were indifferent, further contributing to his exit.
It’s not fair to pin the actions of one prominent racist on an entire religion. But Mazdaznan tended to attract similar thinking with its promises of the “coming man”. In literature written by Haenisch and published in 1930 by Mazdaznan’s Leipzig-based publishing house, a note included by editor Frieda Ammann stated her hopes that Haenisch’s teachings be “passed on to all of white humanity.” If you really need to be hit over the head with it, Mazdaznan’s European headquarters only accepted pale-skinned Aryans. Oh, and it was called Aryana.
Sexual Abuse Allegations
Racism is a pretty tough act to follow, but if the media of the time is to be believed, Haenisch managed to go even lower. Pretty much since Mazdaznan’s inception, rumors persisted of Haenisch overseeing tantric sexual rituals involving children. In fact, much of his time in Los Angeles was dogged by articles and lawsuits fixating on allegation after allegation of pedophilic sexual abuse. Such declarations are shocking by their nature while also being par for the course of controversial religious leaders across modern history.
But the instances surrounding these accusations manage, amazingly enough, to cast doubt on Haenisch’s complicity in the sexual abuse of minors. In 1918, the Los Angeles Record printed a report claiming that 27 children were being sought to testify against Haenisch in the case of a 13-year-old boy who had been abused by the Mazdaznan leader. Yet, the 27 child witnesses never materialized. And the 13-year-old boy’s father was incensed at the allegations, vehemently defending Haenisch’s character. In fact, it seemed that each case brought against Haenisch also brought the defenses of the parents whose children were allegedly abused.
The Evasive Truth
Looking back through a modern lens it’s hard to determine the truth. Did Haenisch have such a grip on his followers that they protected him over their own children? Were the parents in a profound state of denial? Or was it all a smear campaign by the media to sell papers by attacking the local weirdo? We’ll likely never know the truth of what happened, if anything, behind the closed doors of Mazdaznan temples.
But the lawsuits kept coming. Husbands enraged that their wives had left them for Mazdaznan. Allegations of practicing medicine without a license. And more reports of child abuse. Amidst this turmoil, Haenisch and the Mazdaznans gradually faded into obscurity. At least until a 1940 lawsuit dragged them back into the light. A woman was suing the organization for $1 million, claiming that her minor daughter had been sexually abused in 1934 by a resurrected branch of the group operating out of Norco. During the lawsuit, it was revealed that Haenisch had been dead for four years, succumbing to pneumonia in early 1936.
The Sun Sets on Mazdaznan
However, Mazdaznan didn’t die with Haenisch. The group continued to operate in pockets across the world, distributing literature out of Arlington Heights. In 1980, Mazdaznan headquarters moved to Encinitas where its flame seemed to finally whisper out without much notice, much like its founder had nearly half a century earlier. There are rumbles of torchbearers keeping their beliefs alive in Germany, Canada, and even here in the States. But, for the most part, Mazdaznan remains a footnote buried in the prolific pages of occult Hollywood.
