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Aleister Crowley – Tobias Churton (2011)

Churton is good at gathering information, so I was curious about “the biography” of Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). Churton came with a book of almost 500 pages (including a large section with notes, bibliography and index). Indeed, there is much to say about the most famous magician of recent times.

During his life, Crowley was frowned upon by many. Only after his passing, less one-sided information started to appear and Churton set out to give an impartial and comprehensive look on the man. Indeed he used sources that are little used, including a large archive of correspondence, diaries, etc. kept at the Warburg Institute in London.

Even as a young man, Crowley travelled all over the world. He visited far away cultures, climbed the highest mountains and everywhere he appears to have known people. It is not entirely clear to me, but one reason seems to be him working as an intelligence officer for different governments. His secret services are well described by Churton and paint an interesting picture.

Churton also paints a picture of Crowley as a person, his relationships, his children, his highs and his many lows. Interesting are references to people such as René Guénon, John Yarker, James Wedgwood and Frieda Harris.
Crowley as a Freemason, his relation to Theosophy, the Golden Dawn, Memphis Misraim, co-Masonry and of course the founding of the Ordo Templi Orientis.

Also you will learn about the Boleskin House in Scotland that was recently opened to the public and the ‘abbey’ in Cefalù (Sicily, Italy) which is nowadays a ruin, but where you can still see the paintings that Crowley himself made.

Comprehensive for sure and showing Crowley as he was and not as other people said he was, makes this a very enjoyable biography.

2021 Watkins Publishing, isbn 9781780280127

The Esotericism of Dante – René Guénon (1925/2025)

Another short (143 pages) VBros translation of a book that has been available in English since 2001 (but which Sophia Perennis also gave another edition in 2025).

Again a compilation of texts, usually not very long. I did not expect the many references to (high degree) Freemasonry which makes the book extra interesting. In general the work is -of course- mostly about the famous Divina Commedia.

Quite an interesting read. Of course with the automatic VBros translation that we know by now.

Strange that the title on the cover is different from the title under which it is listed by the way.

1925 / 2025 VBros, isbn 978-2487364066

Insights Into Islamic Esoterism and Taoism – René Guénon (1973/2024)

The post-humously published compilation of texts Aperçus sur l’ésotérisme islamique et le taoïsme has been published in English before (2004 Sophia Perennis, translation by James Wetmore). Still, Laura Gaie decided to offer it in her VBros automated translation series. Well, now there is an affordable Kindle version and I bought it, so I suppose Gaie expects more people with the same thought.

This small, 86 page, compilation of articles was first made available in 1973 and contains 10 texts about subjects such as different elements of Islamic Esotericism and as the book continues, texts about Taoism. Not such a strange combination when you read the texts.

Not the most groundbreaking work of Guénon, but with affordable Kindle versions, I can now read some works of Guénon that I had not gotten to yet. As with other VBros titles the translations are not always great, but they are understandable and that is what matters.

1973 / 2024 VBros, isbn 2487364432

Sufism In Europe – Francesco Piraino (2024)

To investigate contemporary European Sufism, Piraino (1984-) spent a lot of time in different organisations. He did not just observe from a distance, but participate in both the groups religious and secular activities.

After a general introduction into the subjects, the groups dealt with are Qadiriyya Budhishinshiyya, Alawiyya Darqaqiyya Shadhiliyya, Naqsbandiyya Haqqaniyya and Ahmadiyya Idrisiyya Shadhiliyya.
Some of these groups are small in Europe or for example small in Italy, but larger in France; or relatively big. Piraino undertook his investigations in the two mentioned countries (but has also visited groups in other countries and gives information about even more countries based on other investigations) and takes them as (relatively) exemplary for the rest of Europe.

In a personal way, with many anecdotes, the author describes his experiences with both members and leaders of the different groups. You get a general idea of where the groups come from, how they developed, what kind of people are members, how the organisations work, etc.

The mentioned groups differ quite a bit, from very open to the world, having non-Muslim members for example; to stricter Islamic organisations. Some are very open with music festival open to the public, others are more closed. Also doctrinal there are differences, from spiritual (even leaning towards New Age) to almost dogmatic followers of René Guénon, to of course ‘very Islamic’. It is interesting to see how open some members are. In most groups there are also people visiting the graves of Christian saints for example. Social subjects such as the role of women, the use or alcohol or tabacco are spoken about, the atmosphere during meetings, the ways prayers are performed. Piraino went along on pilgrimages, visited seminars, joined camps and visited a lot of meetings.

The result is an interesting and well readable book about a few forms of Sufism that can be found in the West.

2024 Edinburgh University Press, isbn 1399536109

Freemasonry Made Intelligible To Its Followers – Owald Wirth (1893/2025)

Oswald Wirth (1860-1943), but not alone, wrote three classic books about the three degrees of Freemasonry. La Franc-maçonnerie rendue intelligible à ses adeptes, sa philosophie, son objet, sa méthode, ses moyens, or ‘Freemasonry made intelligible to its followers: its philosophy, its purpose, its method, its means’.

In 1893 appeared Vol. I: Le livre de l’Apprenti : manuel d’instruction rédigé à l’usage des FF. du 1er degré. Vol. I: The Apprentice’s Book: Instruction manual written for the use of 1st degree Freemasons.
In 1912: Vol. II: Le livre du Compagnon : manuel d’instruction rédigé à l’usage des FF. du 2° degré, ‘Vol. II: The Fellowcraft’s book: instruction manual written for the use of the Brr. of the 2nd degree’.
And then in 1922: Vol. III: Le livre du Maître : manuel d’instruction rédigé à l’usage des FF. du 3° degré, ‘Vol. III: The Master’s Book: an instruction manual written for the use of 3rd degree Freemasons’.

From the years of publication you cal already see that these books were not written in haste. It is not like they are massive volumes though, but about 250 pages per volume is quite something still.

For some reason the books are fairly well known among Freemasons, but not very accessible. As a matter of fact, years ago I bought German translations, because I could not find an English translation. Thank you Laura Gaia / VBros for adding this to the collection of classic esoteric works in translations.

In these volumes it is very clear that the translations happened (largely) automatically. Strange translations such as “Companion” for the second degree (indeed “Compagnon”, but in English this would be “Fellowcraft”; “workshop” (“atelier”, more common English would be “lodge”) and “Second Warden” (“Deuxième Surveillant”, would be “Junior Warden” in English), just to name a few examples.

The books are by far not as interesting as I hoped. I expected Wirth’s explanations to be more ‘esoteric’. They are somewhat historical, often quite moralistic and towards the end of each volume he shortly writes about a ‘deeper layer’. Besides a few interesting thoughts, I did not really run into anything ‘profound’.

What is somewhat interesting, is that Wirth was not a fan of the age old Masonic structures with Grand Lodges, “regularity” and things like that. Especially “regular” Freemasons will rise an eyebrow every now and then. Also Wirth is very critical about the ‘high degrees’. He even says that when Freemasons would really understand the third, there would no longer be a need for more degrees.

Three volumes that are certainly worth reading for Freemasons of any sort are now available cheaply for Kind ebooks or in paperback. Volume I here, volume II here and volume III here.

1893 / 2025 VBros, isbn 2487364513

The Twelve keys to Philosophy – Basile Valentin (1599/2024)

A famous short alchemical text that comes in the series of translations by Laura Gaie / VBros.

The work itself is a quite incomprehensible ‘allegorical’ text, so operations, so not decribed as operations.

Then follows a “book 3” in which the previous twelve chapters are explained. This text is quite interesting. A few appendices that follow are less interesting to me.

Not your ultimate alchemical book, but a chance to read this famous, short text in English. The whole book is under 100 pages.

2024 VBros, isbn 979-1029911088

De Goeroe en de Baron – Rick Nieman (2026)

The book ‘the guru and the baron’ was recently published and gets quite some attention. It was written by former news reader Rick Nieman (1965-) and his wife, also a former news reader, Sacha de Boer (1967-). Both journalists, were put on a trail when they bought a summer house in an area with an interesting history. It was the area where the (in)famous “Star camps” used to be held, camps to promote the new world leader Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986).

The baron from the title is Philip van Pallandt (1889-1979) a fortunate and wealthy man who inherited a massive estate that he would gift to the Order of the Star of the East.

Nieman and De Boer made contact with the grandchildren of the baron, got access to what is left of the family archives, which includes letters, photos, documents and what not. I was curious if any new information would have surfaced.

Krishnamurti was discovered and promoted by the Theosophists Annie Besant (1847-1933) and Charles Leadbeater (1854-1934). He was sent to England for eduction and from then on Krishnamurti led a life of luxury.

The book presents a double biography, entwined biographies. The young and idealistic baron was caught by the ideas of the young Theosophical Society and its ideas of the comming Messiah, but even more so, he was caught by the personality of the young Indian man was expected to be the carrier of the world leader. The two became close friends for life.

Van Pallandt is pictured as idealistic. He put his heart and money into several causes and it was on his former estate that the “star camps” have been held from 1924 to 1938, drawing thousands of people from all over the world. Van Pallandt himself had a very intimate friendships, wide interests and he travelled all over the world.

The life of Krishnamurti was already better known, but I suppose Nieman was able to add some new information from the new sources that became available to him. The red thread is here that Krishnamurti both doubted and embraced the role that he was pushed into; until he did no longer.

I find Nieman’s writing style a bit ‘wooly’, but the book presents a well researched and very readable story of two men, the highs and lows in their lives, things that happened around them and all that covering a large period of time that includes both World Wars.

I had some hope that Farwerck would appear in the book, but he does not. I can hardly imagine that he never showed up on the star camps and Van Pallandt was a ‘natural contact’ for him. Moreover, he was a member of the Order.

What we do learn from the book is that Besant and Leadbeater visited Ommen quite a few times. I wonder if they used these occasions to visit co-Masonic or Theosophical lodges during these visits. This -of course- was not Nieman’s point of interest, so not a word about such things. The book may help to spark some investigations in such details though.

The book is a good read. I do not know if there are plans for an English translation.

2026 De Bezig Bij, isbn 9789403135083

On Occult Masonry and Hermetic Initiation – Jean-Marie Ragon (1853/2024)

For many years I have had the 1931 Dutch translation of this (in)famous book. I did not remember much of it, so I decided to get the Kindle version the VBros / Laura Gaie English translation.

It is a bit odd that the book is mostly known by its subtitle, as the actual title is: “Orthodoxie maçonnique”, ‘Masonic orthodoxy’. Or perhaps only a part of the book has become known as the rest of the original title is: “suivie de la Maçonnerie occulte et de l’initiation hermétique”, ‘followed by occult Freemasonry and Hermetic initiation’.

I remember why I did not remember much of the book. It is not all that interesting. There is even not very much about Freemasonry here. Ragon (1781-1862) presents more of a history of esotericism with extra stress on what was hip in his own days. What is quite annoying, is that he uses the term “Masonry” all the time “Iatric Masonry”, “Mesmerian Masonry”, as if anything esoteric is (Free)masonry.

Magic, Alchemy, Theosophy, the esotericism of his age, plants, animals, all good and well, but where is the Freemasonry? The book is not very ‘novel’ or particularly insightful. Just a compilation of descriptions of things esoteric like more were published in these days.

1853 / VBros, isbn 978-2487364141.

Elementary Treatise On Occult Science – Papus (1888/2024)

Another V Bros / Laura Gaie translation of an esoteric classic. This time the famous Traité Élémentaire de Science Occult of Gérard Encause (1865-1916), better known under the name “Papus”.

The Elementary Treatise is a mildly interesting book. In some parts Papus actually does explain “occult science”, but there are also parts in which he apparently only wants to display his knowledge (see how many esoteric authors I can name).

Papus writes about esotericism in the past, treats subjects such as Alchemy, Hermetism and Kabbalah. This is quite interesting, but halfway the book becomes more of a history of which there have been so many. The weirdest theories are presented and Papus keeps hammering on the fact that his thinking holds the middle between science and esotericism. He was obviously impressed by the new Theosophical movement that arose in his day.

The book is partly surprisingly interesting and partly surprisingly dull.

Again the book appears to have been translated automatically. There is a “glossary” at the end of Sédir and the author and some words are much different in English than they are in French, but this piece of text has just been translated, so you find English words under the wrong letter-lemet.

Anyway, thank you Laura Gaie for finally making such classic French texts available to a wider audience.

2024 V Bros, isbn 2487364564

The Origins of Freemasonry – Margaret Jacob (2006)

For some reason I never got to read a book of Jacobs (1943-). She writes about the Enlightenment and within that subject also about Freemasonry. I picked one of her books about the latter subject.

Jacobs does not present a very common history of Freemasonry. She has more of a social interest it seems. The biggest merrit of this book, is that decades ago Jacobs sought access to archives that at the time were not available to the general public. Many not even to scholars that were not Freemasons themselves. Jacobs travelled all over Europe to see what these different archives contained and took a few subjects that she turned into histories.

Still a novel approach is that Jacobs investigated Masonic almanacs. What were they for? How did they differ from the popular ‘general’ almanacs that were popular in the early 18th century? How they they help forge ‘the world of Freemasonry’?

Jacobs presents Freemasonry as a ‘social reform movement’ in which people met who would otherwise would not have met, where different religions cooperated, where the first experiences with democracy took place.
Another such reform was the involvement of women, perhaps still a controversial subject. Jacobs has gathered a lot of information about Freemasonry of “adoption”, so Freemasonry that included women (a precursor of co-Masonry), which in some ways had much different developements than Freemasonry proper. Jacobs looks at the organisation, how roles are divided, ritual development, differences between areas, etc.

2006 University of Pennsylvania Press, isbn 0812219880