Skip to content

V Bros

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

Theories And Symbols Of Hermetic Philosophy – Oswald Wirth (1910/2024)

This is a translation of Théories et symboles de la philosophie hermétique (1910). It is yet another V Bros transalation of Laura Gaie.

I bought a few V Bros Kindle publications at the same time and by the time I started reading Theories and Symbols I no longer remembered that it was of Wirth. It is but a short book (54 pages in print) and the whole time I was thinking: mildly interesting, not very groundbreaking or new.

Wirth presents some fairly basic alchemical and Hermetic ideas and makes a reference to Freemasonry here and there. The little book is not boring, but do not expect ‘revelations’.

2024 V Bros, isbn 2487364424

The Hiram Myth and Master Mason’s initiation – Gérard de Nerval (1851/2024)

  • novel

Next up in my reading up with esoteric writings of a century ago is this: “story of the queen of the morning and Soliman, prince of the geniuses”.

The book is announced as a: “fascinating exploration of the esoteric dimensions of Freemasonry”. Gérard de Nerval (née Labrunie, 1808-1855) was a novelist. I suppose I hoped that the present title would be more than just a novel. Well, it is not…

Set in a Turkish story telling coffee house, the story of Hiram is supposedly told by a story teller to his audience. That is what it is: a story. The ‘myth’ as we know it in Freemasonry is touched upon here and there, but De Nerval’s story is larger and not necessarily more interesting.

1851 / 2024 V Bros

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

Hermetic Symbolism In Relation To Alchemy and Freemasonry – Owald Wirth (1910/2025)

Somebody finally took it upon herself (Laura Gaie) to translate some of the works of the emminent Swiss author Oswald Wirth (1860-1943).

Wirth was an esotericist and Freemason. He wrote some often referred books, but his books written in French, remained untranslated for some reason. In 1910 Le Symbolisme hermétique dans ses rapports avec l’alchimie et la franc-maçonnerie was published and 115 years later also people who are not too good with French can read the text.

The translation is 160 pages. Quite a large part are not really texts of Wirth though. There are lengthy texts from the archives of Baron de Tschoudy (Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Théodore de Tschudi (1734-1784) and the Kindle version of Gaie’s book does not make clear if Wirth only wrote short introductions to the text of that he also wrote elucidations within them. The texts are interesting in themselves though, as they represent an early ‘Egyptian’ type of Freemasonry.

Anyway, Wirth’s texts about Alchemy and related subjects are interesting and quite clear. Different subjects are deals with only here and there referring to Freemasonry and then towards the end we get the (Alchemical) Masonic texts of De Tschoudy.

An interesting and long overdue translation.

1910/2025 V Bros. Publishing, isbn 2487364440