The Mystical Seven was a society founded in 1837 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Members were called Mystics. The society died in 1890, with its surviving temples merging into other national fraternities. Restarted as a local honorary at Wesleyan, the society apparently continues as two rival groups.
Early history
The Mystical Seven was founded in 1837, just six years after the founding of Wesleyan University. It was recognized by the university on October 16, 1837.[1]: 25 It was Wesleyan's first society, founded a half year before Eclectic (May 1838). Of the seven founding members, senior Hamilton Brewer was recognized as primus inter pares behind the establishment of the society. The members met each week at their meeting space in the furnished attic of Wesleyan's North College. The society began Wesleyan's first student publication, The Classic, in 1840.[2]
The Mystical Seven is always referred to as a society, but in its 19th Century form it was one of the early college fraternities. Through the 1840s and 1850s it was a peer organization with Wesleyan's Eclectic Society, Psi Upsilon, Alpha Delta Phi and Chi Psi. However, instead of Greek references, it chose Hebraic. The I.K.A. at Trinity (1829), and Skull and Bones at Yale (1832), were other nearby non-Greek inspired college fraternities.
From about 1856 to 1865 the Mystical Seven was partners in the Alpha Eating Club with the Eclectic Society.[3]
The society was especially known for the quality of its arcana. "Never have I seen anything so original, so quaint, so completely unique, or irresistible in its solemn humor, as the Mystical Seven initiation and the ceremonies of its meetings."[1]: 16 A similar commentator noted that the Mystical Seven, "in some respects [was] among the most ambitious efforts at creating a college secret society with a good ritual."[4]: 356
The Mystical Seven also had a serious academic and philosophical aspect, including public events like bringing Ralph Waldo Emerson to speak at the campus, or later Orestes Brownson, whose address to the society was later published as "Social Reform: An Address Before the Society of the Mystical Seven".[5]
The Mystical Seven was the first college fraternal organization to admit women, and initiated several during the 1840s. Later a law was enacted in the society that allowed the wife of a member to become initiated at that member's discretion.
The Mystical Seven expanded to several other universities. The chapters of the society were recognized as "temples", with the "Temple of the Wand" being the parent chapter at Wesleyan. In 1841, the first temple was founded outside of Wesleyan, when Mystical Seven was established at Emory University.[2] Henry Branham brought the society from Wesleyan to Emory, and there interested the president of the university, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, the humorist author of Georgia Scenes, in membership. Branham later became Longstreet's son-in-law. Longstreet, his two daughters, and his two sons-in-law were all eventually made Mystics. Historical accounts conflict as to whether or not the Temple of the Wand recognized the legitimacy of any of the other temples founded throughout southern universities. The Emory and Centenary temples were founded by Wesleyan Mystics, who both claimed approval by the Temple of the Wand. The Georgia temple (at what was then known as Franklin College) was founded by George McIntosh Troup Hurt, a Mystic alumnus of Emory. The founder of the Mississippi temple is not known, but Henry Branham – who was living in Oxford, Mississippi at the time and active in campus politics – was likely involved.
Temples
Chapters of the Mystical Seven are known as temples. During its first iteration, temples of the Mystical Seven were as follows. Those that merged into other organizations are noted in bold, temples that went dormant without merger are listed in italics. [6]
Since the Mystical Seven introduced the idea of the college fraternity into the South, it had considerable influence on the development of organizations in the Antebellum South. All private college societies were, for a time, called 'Mystic Associations' in Georgia.[9] A competitor society called W.W.W. was designed on principles more similar to the Mystical Seven than to Northern college fraternities.[4]: 364 It has also been assumed that a society for adult men, not connected to colleges and universities, called the Order of Heptasophs, was at least organized on principles parallel to the Mystical Seven, if not by alumni of the Mystical Seven themselves. The resemblances of the ceremonies of the two societies "cannot be given at length; but they leave little room for doubt that...the Heptasophs or Seven Wise Men...is an indirect descendent of the Mystical Seven college fraternity," according to one source.[4]: 179
Mystic Seven Fraternity and Phi Theta Alpha
In the early 1880s, the Virginia temple was virtually alone. In 1884, it created chapters at North Carolina and Davidson. In the following year, it reconstituted itself as the Mystic Seven Fraternity, and briefly used the name Phi Theta Alpha.[10] This new society was led by Cooper D. Schmidt. The fraternity had lost almost all the traditions of the older society, motivating leaders of the society to reach out to Northern (Wesleyan) alumni, including Dr. Pierce, to organize a catalogue and begin publication of The Mystic Messenger in 1878, which included annual reports and stories about the history of the society. The organization, now with four active chapters, began negotiations with Beta Theta Pi in 1888, and merged with Beta Theta Pi the following year.[11]
Subsequent history at Wesleyan
The Mystical Seven society became dormant at Wesleyan in 1861;[4]: 178 it had not been meeting as a society since 1858. In 1867, a petitioning group for a Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter claimed initiation into the Mystical Seven for the purposes of securing a ΔΚΕcharter, which was successful.[7]
In 1868, the ΔΚΕ members formed a new society called Owl & Wand, which was to be a senior society and use the premises of the old Mystical Seven (the attic of North College). As a senior society, it took as members individuals who were already members of four-year college fraternities,[7][8] and was considered an 'honorary'. In 1890, the Owl & Wand group claimed to be a direct extension of the older society.[p] After 70 years of existence the senior society died off in the 1960s but several Mystical Seven alumni restarted the society by 1970–71. At a time when historically single-sex student groups were pressured to become coed, the new Mystical Seven embraced this change, which helped it to survive a decade that was detrimental to many other student societies and fraternities. The society, as it was rebuilt in the 1970s, has continued successfully to the present day.
During the 1980s, a separate group of students also decided to re-establish the original society. Much work was employed in reconstructing the practices of the original society including the addition of much written material from several sources. The two Mystical Seven groups clashed during 1990, (and again in 2001), in a dispute over which group was legitimate. Today, the two groups co-exist with little interaction with each other.
The meeting place of the senior society Mystical Seven on Wyllys Avenue, known as the Mystic Templum, was gutted by fire in 1995. The building remained boarded up until it was razed in the summer of 2007. The seven-sided building, with seven-sashed windows and a seven-paneled door, had been dedicated in 1912.
Notable alumni
Wesleyan Alumni, Temple of the Wand:[1]: 54 ff [12]
^ abThe Mystical Seven's first temple at Wesleyan abandoned the national it had created to join ΔΚΕ. It was briefly re-established in 1899, but the latter group similarly left to join ΒΘΠ.
^ abThe Emory and Georgia temples folded due to their schools' faculties banning student membership in unapproved secret societies.
^The Transylvania temple was destroyed during the Mexican War. (noted in Price)
^During the time the temple was active, an early name used by the University of Georgia was Franklin College, to denote its first building, housing the College of Arts and Sciences.
^The Mississippi temple was revived after the Civil War by an antebellum member, but folded in 1878 when its last member graduated.
^The Mississippi temple was reported to have "created the Virginia temple", but the cryptic note says it "did not pass to it the traditions of the society." (noted in Price)
^There is confusion regarding the formation date of this temple. Price's book says 1848, but a handwritten scroll from Star "mystic" (~member) Edwin Hamilton Dial, now in the archives of Beta Theta Pi, has its formation date as specifically 8 October 1859.
^Centenary College was located in Jackson, Louisiana while the Mystical Seven were active on the campus.
^The Centenary temple did not survive the Civil War.
^ abGenesee Wesleyan was located in Lima, New York while the Mystical Seven were active on the campus; the school was moved to Syracuse in 1870.
^The Genesee (now Syracuse) temple withdrew, soon to join ΔΚΕ, when the college moved to Syracuse.
^ΒΘΠ's Omicron chapter had been dormant since 1875, but was restored with absorption of the Mystical Seven's Temple of the Hands and Torch in 1890.
^ΒΘΠ's Eta chapter had been dormant since 1860, but was restored with absorption of the Mystical Seven's Temple of the Star and of the South in 1889. This temple of the Mystical Seven had been founded by the Temple of the Hands and Torch from Virginia.
^ΒΘΠ's Phi Alpha chapter had been dormant since 1862, but was restored with absorption of the Mystical Seven's Temple of the Sword and Shield in 1890. This temple of the Mystical Seven had been founded by the Temple of the Hands and Torch from Virginia.
^ abFormed as The Owl and Wand Society in 1890 by ΔΚΕ members upon the demise of Wand Temple that year (when The Mystical Seven's second restoration on the campus went to ΒΘΠ), the new Owl and Wand was constituted as an honor society, open to seniors, including those of other fraternities,[8] and met in the Wand Temple's former space, the attic of North College. It was purported to be based on the rituals and symbolism of the Mystical Seven, and continued to be known by that name. Owl and Wand records claim that the society existed into the 1960's; later campus groups have revived it under two separate banners, first in 1971 and by a rival group in 1980. A fire damaged its original building, or "tomb", in 1995, which was boarded up and then razed in 2007. The University notes the existence of both groups on its website, accessed 30 Jun 2022.
^Detractors claim that the 1890 restoration was made without any knowledge of the workings of the fraternal order of the Mystical Seven or an intent to restore them.
^Alumni Record of Wesleyan University, Annals, Frank W. Nicholson, ed., 1883 edition, pg. xcviii
^ abcdStevens, Albert C. (1907). Cyclopedia of Fraternities: A Compilation of Existing Authentic Information and the Results of Original Investigation as to the Origin, Derivation, Founders, Development, Aims, Emblems, Character, and Personnel of More Than Six Hundred Secret Societies in the United States. E. B. Treat and Company.
^Social Reform: An Address Before the Society of the Mystical Seven, August 7, 1844. Boston: Waite, Pearce, & Co. 1844. p. 42.
