Skip to content

esotericism

Alchemical Hermeticism: The Secret Teachings of Marco Daffi on Initiation – David Pantano (2025)

Baron Ricciardo Ricciardelli (1900-1969) was one of the interesting characters in the Italian esoteric scene of the early 20th century. Ricciardelli used the esoteric name Mörköhekdaph which was later Italianized to the name that he became best known by: Marco Daffi.

For a while, Daffi was in contact with Guiliano Kremmerz (1861–1930 born Ciro Formisano) and also he was familiar with Julius Evola (1898-1974). Even though there is overlap in the subjects that these people and the groups around them studied, and overlap in the people around them, the ‘esoteric scene’ of Italy was not homogenous.

David Pantano presents an interesting anthology with works of Daffi. Much of the material comes from Giammaria Gonnella, a long time contact of Daffi. The present book spans 350+ pages, has letters of Daffi to different people, some articles, and different approaches to the “vitae Daffianae” (biography).

The book is not a nicely structured book with Daffi’s teachings, but a huge pile of very welcome information about and of an interesting thinker and troubled man. It is really great to see that this type of material is getting more and more available and also in English.

2025 Inner Traditions, isbn 1644119978

The Little Religions of Paris – Jules Bois (1894/2024)

Laura Gaie (V Bros publishing house) is not the first to translate and publish this book. She does not give much information about it though. The original book was called Les Petites Religions de Paris and was published in 1894 by Jules Antoine Henri Bois, who was born in Marseille in 1868 and passed away in New York in 1943.

Bois visited small esoteric and religious groups in Paris and makes reports of his visits. He has quite a ‘wooly’ language and had an open mind. You will read a few things about a variety of different groups. Mediterranean heathens, followers of Emanuel Swedenborgh (1688-1772), Theosophical type Buddists, “Theosophes”, but also Satanists (Paladians), Lucifereans, Gnostics and a few more. A few of the people who I have been reading recently are mentioned, usually in passing. It appears that around 1900 there was a lively esoteric ‘scene’ in Paris.

The book is an amusing read, but do not expect any in depth information. Rather the praises of an interested outsider.

2024 V Bros, isbn 978-2487364257

Magic Mirrors – Paul Sédir (1907/2019)

Next name of the Belle Epoque esoteric authors is that of Paul Sédir (1871-1926). Les Miroirs Magiques was translated by Alex Bushman.

After some information about clairvoyance and other abilities, Sédir gives an overview of the use of different kinds of mirrors in different cultures and in different times and also about other types of divination. Sometimes he is quite explicit about the possible techniques that can be used. There is also information about astral worlds and similar subjects.

Even though the subject is not entirely mine, Sédir, just like Stanislaus de Guaita and unlike Jhourney or Papus, has a readable writing style with interesting details.

Divination in theory and practice.

1907/2019, isbn 979-8650697794

Rosicrucian Kabbalah – Alber Jhourney (1887/2019)

Albert Jounet (1863-1923) was an author from the esoteric circles of the French ‘Belle Epoque’. I have been reading more texts of this period recently and Jhourney’s Kabbalah book is mentioned in some of them.

Le Royaume de Dieu (‘the kingdom of God’) is not as much a book about (Jewish or Christian) Kabbalah, but more of ‘a Kabbalistic book’, so to say. About 100 pages filled with aphorisms roughly structured around the sephiroth.

Trinitarian Christian, less focused on the science of his day than other books that I have been reading, but (unfortunately) again not really my cup of tea.

In the Days of the Messiah, the World will be ruled by the Son of God and the great Church of the Magi. The Redeemer will be the Supreme Prophet, the Sovereign Pontiff and the King of Kings.

A random quote to give you an idea of the book. Some of the aphorisms are like this, other are more religious or spiritual, but this is not a learning book about either Kabbalah or Rosicrucianism. Some people may find (and have found) it inspirational.

2019, isbn 979-8634113968

A History of Esotericism – M. Alan Kazlev (2023)

It was a bit of a gamble to buy this A History of Esotericism – From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age with an approach somewhere between academic and spiritual. I was not really impressed.

The book is not much about esotericism. Rather it is a history of religion and philosophy. There does not appear anything new in the book, but perhaps on the positive side, neither did I encounter anything really incorrect or one sided. Kazlev presents a fairly down-to-earth history of human thinking. Here and there some of his preferences shine through, but overall the book is not bad.

Kazlev is not entirely dryly academic, but also not too ‘fluffy’. He starts many centuries in the past and ends with the Stoics of Greece. Perhaps there are plans for the second half of the story.

Not the best Manticore title, but not a bad read.

2023 Manticore Press, isbn 0645670049

The Rosicrucian Handbook & Hermetic Textbook of Success Secrets – George Mentz (2019)

This book caught my attention because of the subtitle: “The Original American Illuminati Loge de Parfaits d’ Écosse ™- 1764”. That sounded like a reference to early ‘high degree’ Freemasonry in America. Connected to Rosicrucianity? In a way yes.

It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twentyfive “haut or hautes” or high degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin with help from Henry Francken, and these lessons are today titled “The Rites of the Royal Secret”.

Not entirely. Morin took his collection of degrees to America, where he tried to organise an Order of the Royal Secret. Francken translated the documents to English. These degrees would form the basis for the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

Mentz sets out to prove that this early high degree Freemasonry was somehow Rosicrucian. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite does indeed have a “Knight Rose Croix” degree (the 18th), but there is no degree with that name in the Morin/Francken manuscript! The predecessor “Knights of White Eagle or Pelican” is there though and already as the 18th degree.

Masonic Rose Croix and The Orders of Rosicruciana / Rose Cross philosophies attempt to gather and harvest the most valuable, mystical, and “life expanding” philosophies that can allow individuals to grow on a spiritual and mental level.

I think even the most esoterically inclined Freemason sees this a bit differently.

Traditional Rosicrucian and Masonic teachings also include many mental exercises and for the practitioner.

I have read one or two (early) Masonic rituals, but I have never encountered any “mental exercises”. Also not in the Morin/Francken texts.

It seems that the author has heard of an early lodge of high degree Freemasonry and used the name to make his book more interesting. Knights Templar are dragged in, he calls the lodge “Societe des Illumines”, but fails to give any information about the lodge or its alleged workings. Also there is little traditional Rosicrucianity in the book.

After the introduction Mentz quickly goes into some sort of “positive thinking” type writing. The “law of attraction”; even the “Kybalion” is used. All kinds of ‘will yourself rich’ type of phrases and countless of exercises in which I miss every connection to either Rosicrucianity or Freemasonry. Towards the end the Confessio Fraternitatis is translated and that is about it.

In spite of all the writing that is not really my cup of tea, I would have hoped for at least a bit more of information about the “Lodge of Parfaits from 1764”, what texts they used, etc. Nothing of all that. The author has just pulled up a few vague references to present his own system.

2019, isbn 1794548661

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

Einführung In Die Westliche Esoterik, Für Freimaurer – Jan Snoek (2011)

This is suprising. This book had been on my wish list for many years. Recently I ran into it while not looking specifically. Happily I read this little book of the eminent Masonic scholar Joannes Augustinus Maria Snoek (1946-) and while writing this review I find out that Salier Verlag has republished the book in June 2024 and it is now quite easy to obtain. (I got a first print.)

Snoek was born in Amsterdam, originally a biologist and chemist, he later studied comparative religion and he was the first professor to tutor Freemasonry in the Netherlands, but he also did the same in Germany.

Initiated in the Netherlands in 1971, Snoek became an avid scholar of Freemasonry both within and without Freemasonry. He is a member of (virtually?) every lodge of investigation in Europe and an active writer, publishing through academic publishing houses, but also Masonic publishers.

The Swiss lodge Modesta Cum Libertate (Alpina) in Zürich, asked Snoek to write an “introduction into Western esotericism, for Freemasons”. Snoek complied and wrote a 270+ page book which is published nicely with a linnen hardcover and with colour plates. A luxury small edition! Since the audience was probably small (members of the lodge?) the book was not easy to find, until recently.

As the title suggests, Snoek wrote an introduction to Western esotericism. After a general introduction, starting with the 2010 problems of the Dutch Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Snoek sets out to shortly introduce astrology, neoplatonism, Gnosticism, Alchemy, Kabbalah, Hermetism, the Astrea cult, Rosicrucianity, stone masons and occultism. As these are no new subjects to me (only Astrea I never really looked at), there is little really new here. Perhaps a bit too little, the author uses ‘the Masonic angle’, details of particular interest to Freemasons. The last chapter “Freemasonry and Western esotericism” is what the reader has been waiting for. Unfortunately Snoek does not really say how some elements found their way into Freemasonry.

All in all the book is exactly what the title promises: an introduction. I am glad that it is now available to a larger audience. An English edition would be even better as the book indeed is a basic introduction into Western esotericism for Freemasons and I think it might benefit a larger audience.

2011 Freimaurerloge Modestia Cum Libertate, republished 2024 Salier Verlag, isbn 3962850686

The Initiatory Ecstasy. From Giordano Bruno to Arturo Reghini – Nicola Bizzi (2024)

This is the title that brought me to Nicola Bizzi, but the third one that I read. It was merely accidental that I read them in chronological order. In his other works, Bizzi also refers to Reghini, but I found the current title first because it has Reghini in the title.

The Initiatory Ecstasy is different from the other two books that I reviewed in that it is less about a specific theme. The book is about philosophy, initiation and ‘wisdom’ and -as we are used to by now- from the perspective of the still existing “Mother Eleusis” current of initiation (see my review of Reflections on the Origin of Freemasonry).

Bizzi shares some ideas with Julius Evola, but is also critical. One time he calls a view of Evola “essentially incomplete and misleading”. Also he is no uncritical follower of Reghini, but as you may guess, there are references here to more than one Italian thinker. Especially interesting are references to authors and titles that I am unfamiliar with.

With a lot of Plato and neo-Platonists, Bizzi sketches a nice picture of “Philo-Sophia”. Of the three books that I read, this one is the most interesting so far. Again, it is but a small book (98 pages), but there are also some larger titles available from Amazon.

Just as in the other two books that I just reviewed, I cannot follow, or even disagree with some things that Bizzi writes, but on the other hand, it is never a bad idea to take note of different opinions. The present title is somewhat less pedantic than the other two. It works better for me when an author just gives a view rather than telling that others are wrong.

2024 Edizioni Aurora Boreale, isbn 979-1255044840

One Single Primordial Tradition? – Nicola Bizzi (2023)

In this little book (59 pages) Bizzi takes a stand against the Traditionalist idea that there is a “transcendent unity of religions; that there is one Source. He bluntly claims that:

the Mystery Traditions of the Eleusinian Mother branch has always vigorously opposed such a view. (Note: “Mother” means the purest and most original branch of the Eleusinian Mysterial tradition and its priesthood. Its derivations (such as, for example, the Orphic branch and the Samothracian branch) were conventionally called “Daughter”.

Yet, I find his reasoning unconvincing. It seems that Bizzi is of the opinion that long ago a rift occurred between “Titanic” and “Olympian” traditions. The “Olympian” version prevailed and Traditionalists talk about that “Olympian” source. Bizzi’s own Eleusinian organisation can be traced back to the “pre-Olympian, and therefor pre-Hellenic, Titanic” branch.

So yes, for us Eleusinians there is a Primordial and original Tradition.

Just not the same as that of the Traditionalists… They are talking about an “Olympian” tradition and Eleusinians are talking about a “Titanic” tradition.

In my opinion the entire discussion is flawed. When -with Traditionalists- you say that there is one Divinity (how can there be multiple?), then there is the one Source, is there not? Does it really matter if one or more traditions sprang from that Source, if these traditions split and split again or if at some point, there was a new, but direct link to the Source? So Bizzi’s Tradition is another (older) one than that of initiatic organisations or religious traditions of today, that does not really answer the question that is asked in the title.

That said, Bizzi’s approach to the subject is somewhat different and therefor ‘refreshing’. Even though I do not agree with everything he writes, the book is somewhat interesting.

2023 Edizioni Aurora Boreale, isbn 979-1255044178