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biography

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

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

The Life And Death Of John Yarker – David Harrison (2024)

As the author says, a biography of John Yarker (1833-1913) was long overdue. In 2024 finally the book that Yarker deserved came out through the British Masonic publisher Lewis Masonic.

Here I immediately saw a problem. Since Brexit, getting books from the UK is not only expensive, but also a pain. It will get stuck at customs, I have to pay extra, etc. I waited out the second edition (there was a luxury edition first) in the hope that it would appear in the catalogues of continental booksellers, but still no luck. I got the second (paperback) edition and had the problems that I expected…

Harrison wrote a 350+ book about one of the most interesting Masonic authors or the last century. Joining “regular” Freemasonry at a young age, Yarker got a liking for the esoteric, but soon realised that “regular” Freemasonry was not going to fulfil his needs. He slowly but surely started to move towards the “fringes” of the world of Freemasonry. Exotic rites, exotic organisations, some linked to Freemasonry, some not. Yarker performed historical investigations, transcribed rituals, wrote rituals, founded a wealth of different organisations, had a vast network and liked to collect titles, both Masonic and other.

From the early days of his life, detailed descriptions of Yarker’s Masonic career, the people he was in contact with, the orders that he founded, how people viewed him, how his work continued after his death (including the development of the OTO ritual) an extensive bibliography. Harrison created a wonderful biograpy of a wonderful man, a biography that was long overdue.

2024/5 Lewis Masonic

Of Errors And Truth – Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin (2021)

In the 18th and 19th century there have been many authors about whom many have heard, but not many have read their texts. Only relatively recently texts of such thinkers have become available in English and often these translations are not academic publications. Where is the ‘serious’ interest in people who have helped shape the (esoteric) world?

So here we have a translation of Des erreurs et de la vérité (1775) of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803). Some Martinists decided to make some of the basic works of their system available to the general public. An interesting idea.

Charles Lucien de Lièvre is the translator of the book and he wrote the preface. At least the Kindle version turned to be a strange book. It seems that Lièvre wrote most of the book with only here and there a quote of Saint-Martin. He speaks of people who have not understood Martinism, there is a biography of sorts, he speaks of real and false Martinism, etc.

After about 60 pages a translation of the book of Saint-Martin follows. Short chapters in which Saint-Martin mostly reacts to scientific findings of his time. The book is not really ‘spiritual’ or even ‘esoteric’.

The introduction is too much ‘I know it all, everybody else knows nothing’ and the text of Martin is … can I say: “dated”?

I applaud the effort that was made to make texts such as this available to an audience that does not master French, though.

2001, ISBN 979-8781413188

The Secret King – Moynihan & Flowers (2007)

The second and revised edition is starting to have the price of the original edition. Good that there is also a Kindle version with a normal price.

“The Myth and Reality of Nazi Occultism” is the subtitle of the book and this is also the theme of the introduction, the most interesting part in my opinion. Michael Moynihan and Stephen Flowers describe how the myth of Nazi occultism took root and how it developped. Basically, there is but one person to whom the myth can be acribed: Karl Maria Willigut (1866-1946), also known as Weisthor, Jarl Widar and Lobesam.

Here we have a high ranking person who actually experimented with the occult. He was also a fairly active author. There is an interesting history why Willigut thought he stood in a long, magical tradition, his theories, alleged troubles between “Irminists” and “Wotanists”. At the end of the book there is an interview of Manfred Lenz with Gabriele Dechend who knew Willigut when she was young. The interview has some interesting details, such as that the symbol of the Wewelsburg (see cover of the book) was only called “black sun” in hinsight.

Between these introductions and appendices, there are translations of texts of Willigut. He had a very messy, inpenetrable, tickly layered writing style with all kinds of mythological and occult references. Hard to read, hard to follow. The texts do contain writings such as Gotos-Kalanda and the Halgarita Charms.

I found the texts of Willigut the least interesting part of the book.

2007 Feral House, isbn 1932595252

The Hermetic Physician – Daffi / Pantano (2022)

The story of this book is actually more interesting than the book itself. Pantano I knew from his Numen book The Magic Door, an introduction into the Italian occult scene. I now know that he borrowed the title from a book of Giuliano Kremmerz (1861–1930 born Ciro Formisano). Pantano announced a new book which is going to include Kremmerz and that is what led me to this title from 2022.

Kremmerz had some followers in his day and he founded several “Fraternity of Myriam” groups. Marco Daffi (1900-1969 born Ricciardo Ricciardelli) knew Kremmerz, but was not a Myriam member. In 1981 he published a critical history of Kremmerz’ groups and the different Myriam groups that came or continued after Kremmerz’ death (Giuliano Kremmerz e la Fr+Tm+ di Miriam 1981). Many Kremmerz followers were not pleased with that publication.

Pantano has translated the book of Daffi and added some more material. In the book you will mostly learn about the Myrian groups, not too much about Kremmerz and his ideas. Also, as the title suggests, there is more focus on Kremmerz as an esoteric physician, than as an esotericist proper. The book gives an idea of the Italian occult scene around the year 1900 and Daffi tries to show that even when ‘the master’ is of high calibre, his followers not necessarily are as well.

As appendices you will get some texts of Kremmerz. Some purely organisational for the Myriam groups, but also his introduction to magic. For more about that side of Kremmerz, I refer the recently reviewed The Hermetic Science of Transformation.