THE EARLY DAYS
Liselotte is the niece of Martin. Here she remembers the early days
Martin Muller was born in 2013 in Switzerland, of a German father, Adolf Muller, and a French mother, Julie Lemaire. He was probably born in Bern, where his father worked for a time in the Muller importation firm of luxury textiles. His siblings were, in order of age, Elisabeth, Alex, Charlotte and Otmar. Martin was the 4th in line.
Adolf Muller had wanted to study medicine, which his parents did not permit. Instead he became an avid learner of naturopathy. With time he became very knowledgeable and successful. In line with this, he and his wife started a "pension" (boarding house) at 1250 m. altitude in Chesières, Vaud, which they called "Mens Sana". Their boarders were mainly children from tropical colonies, who needed to recuperate from the climate. Martin and his siblings had to help with the household and with the children's schooling, and Martin told me he was in charge of physical education and fitness.
In their teens the three brothers started mountain climbing, becoming excellent mountaineers over the years. However, Alex and Otmar, on an excursion one day to climb the Petit Muvran mountain (as my aunt Charlotte told me), never returned from it. It was known that there had been avalanches in that area on that day and after extensive, unsuccessful searches it was assumed that the two brothers had been swept into a crevasse of the glacier they had had to cross.
Martin's mother died of a brain tumor in 1938 or 1939.
On reaching adult age Martin went to Geneva to study psychology at the Université de Genève. He told me that he discovered after a time that numerology and astrology could give him as much or more information about individuals as psychology could, so he left university and from then on became more and more involved in esoteric ideologies.
Martin met his first wife, Renée Pfaehler, through both their involvement in the Scout Movement. She was training to become an early childhood teacher. Her father had owned a plantation (rice?) in Indonesia and was quite well-to-do. She and Martin soon discovered that they shared many interests and got married (late 1930s or early 1940s). Their ambition was to start a small agricultural, vegan guest house, self-supporting, where aspects of esoteric spirituality would be taught by Martin to paying guests. Renée's father helped the couple by acquiring and leasing to them a valuable farm property, including a house and land, in Epalinges, a village above Lausanne. It was called "En Praz Bin". When I arrived there in late 1945, the only vegan things they had given up were shoes made of canvas. They wore leather, but in all other aspects they were vegan and naturopath. All the crops they grew were organic, cultivated on a rotation basis. I learned about the value of compost then. Vegetables would be brought to the market in Lausanne when Martin could get a lift from a neighbour, because the two had no car. Otherwise we travelled to Lausanne by tram. Martin and Renee were well in advance of the times and the result was that only few people came to stay in the early days, and though Martin and Renée were very frugal, their enterprise did not become self-supporting. Her parents came to stay once a year, when her father would go over the books to see how the couple stood financially.
When there were guests, Martin would hold a group meeting. This essentially consisted in a lecture on Self: what is the true self and how does one get to know it.
Martin and Renee were idealists and not cut out for the down to earth life of hard working farmers. I never saw either do a full day's work, except at harvest time. They would start in the morning on some task, showing those who were in residence what to do, and work along for a few hours, after which they would disappear. When I asked for Martin, I would be told by Renee that he was now busy with far more elevated things, as was his role on earth. Renee herself often had letters to write, or had to talk to a guest who was in dire need of spiritual clarification
In the late 1940s or early 1950s a visitor came to Epalinges who in due course changed everything: she was a young woman named Annie Zweigart, who was an elementary school teacher in Satigny, a village near Geneva, where she owned a small wooden house. Annie was tall, and beautiful in a rather aristocratic way. It soon became clear that Martin had fallen in love with her, head over heels.
Life in Epalinges changed considerably. Annie gave Martin a motor cycle, so he could go to Geneva more frequently, when it suited him. The group in Geneva grew and more people came to stay in Epalinges, with more "seances" arranged for which Martin wrote the lectures. Annie also caused Martin's stature to gain a far greater importance ; he became more and more "Le Maître" and the guests were his disciples. Renee was gradually relegated to a background role, with Annie standing in the limelight as Martin's twin soul.
Renee's parents were not best pleased with the way things developed and one day her father called in the lease of "En Praz Bin". The rest you know.
Liselotte is the niece of Martin. Here she remembers the early days
Martin Muller was born in 2013 in Switzerland, of a German father, Adolf Muller, and a French mother, Julie Lemaire. He was probably born in Bern, where his father worked for a time in the Muller importation firm of luxury textiles. His siblings were, in order of age, Elisabeth, Alex, Charlotte and Otmar. Martin was the 4th in line.
Adolf Muller had wanted to study medicine, which his parents did not permit. Instead he became an avid learner of naturopathy. With time he became very knowledgeable and successful. In line with this, he and his wife started a "pension" (boarding house) at 1250 m. altitude in Chesières, Vaud, which they called "Mens Sana". Their boarders were mainly children from tropical colonies, who needed to recuperate from the climate. Martin and his siblings had to help with the household and with the children's schooling, and Martin told me he was in charge of physical education and fitness.
In their teens the three brothers started mountain climbing, becoming excellent mountaineers over the years. However, Alex and Otmar, on an excursion one day to climb the Petit Muvran mountain (as my aunt Charlotte told me), never returned from it. It was known that there had been avalanches in that area on that day and after extensive, unsuccessful searches it was assumed that the two brothers had been swept into a crevasse of the glacier they had had to cross.
Martin's mother died of a brain tumor in 1938 or 1939.
On reaching adult age Martin went to Geneva to study psychology at the Université de Genève. He told me that he discovered after a time that numerology and astrology could give him as much or more information about individuals as psychology could, so he left university and from then on became more and more involved in esoteric ideologies.
Martin met his first wife, Renée Pfaehler, through both their involvement in the Scout Movement. She was training to become an early childhood teacher. Her father had owned a plantation (rice?) in Indonesia and was quite well-to-do. She and Martin soon discovered that they shared many interests and got married (late 1930s or early 1940s). Their ambition was to start a small agricultural, vegan guest house, self-supporting, where aspects of esoteric spirituality would be taught by Martin to paying guests. Renée's father helped the couple by acquiring and leasing to them a valuable farm property, including a house and land, in Epalinges, a village above Lausanne. It was called "En Praz Bin". When I arrived there in late 1945, the only vegan things they had given up were shoes made of canvas. They wore leather, but in all other aspects they were vegan and naturopath. All the crops they grew were organic, cultivated on a rotation basis. I learned about the value of compost then. Vegetables would be brought to the market in Lausanne when Martin could get a lift from a neighbour, because the two had no car. Otherwise we travelled to Lausanne by tram. Martin and Renee were well in advance of the times and the result was that only few people came to stay in the early days, and though Martin and Renée were very frugal, their enterprise did not become self-supporting. Her parents came to stay once a year, when her father would go over the books to see how the couple stood financially.
When there were guests, Martin would hold a group meeting. This essentially consisted in a lecture on Self: what is the true self and how does one get to know it.
Martin and Renee were idealists and not cut out for the down to earth life of hard working farmers. I never saw either do a full day's work, except at harvest time. They would start in the morning on some task, showing those who were in residence what to do, and work along for a few hours, after which they would disappear. When I asked for Martin, I would be told by Renee that he was now busy with far more elevated things, as was his role on earth. Renee herself often had letters to write, or had to talk to a guest who was in dire need of spiritual clarification
In the late 1940s or early 1950s a visitor came to Epalinges who in due course changed everything: she was a young woman named Annie Zweigart, who was an elementary school teacher in Satigny, a village near Geneva, where she owned a small wooden house. Annie was tall, and beautiful in a rather aristocratic way. It soon became clear that Martin had fallen in love with her, head over heels.
Life in Epalinges changed considerably. Annie gave Martin a motor cycle, so he could go to Geneva more frequently, when it suited him. The group in Geneva grew and more people came to stay in Epalinges, with more "seances" arranged for which Martin wrote the lectures. Annie also caused Martin's stature to gain a far greater importance ; he became more and more "Le Maître" and the guests were his disciples. Renee was gradually relegated to a background role, with Annie standing in the limelight as Martin's twin soul.
Renee's parents were not best pleased with the way things developed and one day her father called in the lease of "En Praz Bin". The rest you know.