Karl von Eckartshausen (1752–1803) was born on June 28, 1752 in Haimhausen, a town near Munich, as the illegitimate child of the Count of Haimhausen and Maria Anna Eckart, daughter of the administrator of his castle. At the age of seven, Eckartshausen experienced dreams of a prophetic and mystical nature, as well as having "visions."

He found his "Memphis," however, his "School of Initiation," in the "Inner Church," through the Society of the Enlightened. He reports on their activities as the Invisible Brotherhood in the Cloud Upon the Sanctuary. They are not subject to time and space, but in order to be effective in the spacio-temporal world over organizations or individual human beings, the inner societies remain more or less hidden.

Eckartshausen must have found such a one, who led him to [his] "Memphis." So, in the year 1792, he writes: "The lesson which I received from a man full of wisdom and goodness, who was raised to the level of vividness..." And in 1795, he wrote: "Whatever you understand under initiation, I do not know. If you believe that I came into close proximity to the higher truths through human lessons, you are in error. I always fled human societies because I found a faithful friend in solitude."

Eckartshausen is one of the few who, through the help of others and through the fulfillment of corresponding conditions, found his way to a new and higher consciousness, and with this derived first-hand wisdom of a higher life, which he communicated to others.

Eckartshausen became a noted naturalist and mystic who also held positions with the Bavarian Prince Elector, Karl Theodor (1777–1793), and from 1799 with the Prince Elector, Maximilian Joseph IV. A member of the Bavarian Academy of the Sciences (until 1800), his activities included law, the natural sciences and philosophy, as well as his writing endeavors. All of these positions served him as platforms and instruments to distribute his metaphysical, theosophical and religious knowledge. He authored well over a hundred writings, among them plays, as well as papers such as The Moral Teachings for the Bavarian Citizen, Concerning the Source of Crimes and the Possibility of Prevention, and Music of the Eyes or the Harmony of Colors.