Since he was quite young, he was interested in many transcendental aspects of life – he wanted to know who we are, where we come from, what the purpose of life is?

He began to search for those answers in the different metaphysical schools of those times. He studied theosophy, masonry, systems of Gurjieff, the Gnostic-Rosicrucian tradition, he practiced yoga, studied Kriahnamurti etc. But after all that he felt something was missing. He became tired of so many theories and yearned to investigate, to awaken, and to enter into the path of initiation…

In his very first book, called The Doorway to Initiation or The Perfect Matrimony (1st edition) he explains that after many, incredible efforts, he found the key—or the Great Arcanum–that would allow him to prepare what the alchemists called “the sacred fire of the philosopher’s” and this granted him the fortune and immense happiness of awakening on the altar of initiation. This occurred in 1947 and in 1948, the formation of a small organisation began, which soon after became an international one.

It was his book The Perfect Matrimony, at first—along with so many other written works in the 50’s and 60’s—that most identified the formation of the International Gnostic Movement. In the mid 50’s he left Colombia, traveling with his family through Central America and then took up residence in Mexico where he lived for the remainder of his life. And from his second residence in Mexico, he wrote many other treatises about anthropology, psychology, philosophy, art, science, mysticism, Kabbalah, alchemy, medicine, etc. All up he wrote more than 60 books and gave hundreds of lectures. In essence, Master Samael taught the “Fifth Truth” or in other words sacred sexuality – as the synthesis of all religions, esoteric schools, cultures, civilisations, and races.