Esoterica Made Easy
I think that most of us understand that many of the early luminaries within Freemasonry, and those influential within it since have taken at least some of their inspiration from earlier esoteric traditions. Surely these traditions and systems are things that a percentage of Masons have always wanted to explore, and it certainly seems that a great many of the young men joining our Lodges today are coming to us for the esoteric side of our Ancient Craft.
Alas, the field is vast. And, let’s be honest, it can be confusing as hell. Compounding both of those difficulties, to use an old term, ‘the wheat has to be separated from the chaff.’
Shamanism, ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and practices, the Ancient Mysteries, Astrology, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Esoteric Christianity, Sufism, Alchemy, Numerology, Magick, Philosophy, Kabbalah, Templar and Grail myths, Rosicrucianism, all of these and more influence the Western Esoteric Tradition, and have influenced Freemasonry from which it sprang.
If you are looking for an excellent primer on all of these movements, and how they have influenced each other over the long march of time, I’ve got just the book for you. To make it even better, it is an easy book to read, fast paced, and interesting.
It’s got an awful title, but other than that, it is a truly superb book. I know that you will enjoy it:
The Tarot, Magic, Alchemy, Hermeticism, & Neoplatonism, 3rd Edition by Robert M. Place.
I know, I know, you are thinking that I’m recommending it because it is a book on Tarot, and I’ve got a fondness for Tarot.
I promise I am not.
I also promise that Tarot isn’t even discussed for hundreds of pages. It’s about all of those things I mentioned above. All of those beliefs that either influenced Western Esotericism in the past, or are an important part of it today.
I wrote in the title of this essay that this was going to be half of a book review. That is because the first half of the book is all about the worldviews and practices that are today accepted under the umbrella of Esoteric Freemasonry.
If you want an excellent grounding in these subjects, that is not overly technical, or a struggle to try and read, I can’t recommend this book high enough. It is superb.
You are not going to learn how to make an Astrological birth chart for anyone, but you are going to learn why the Ancients found Astrology to be of vital importance in determining a man’s personality and character. You are not going to learn how to ascend the pathways up the Tree of Life, but you are going to receive an understanding of just what that Tree symbolizes. You aren’t going to learn how to transmute lead into gold, but you are going to learn about the ‘puffers’ and how they differed from those who viewed Alchemy from the perspective of a spiritual quest. You get the idea.
The book offers a broad overview of a massive subject. This is good for us as Masonic leaders because it means that we can speak intelligently about these subjects to the young men who are interested in them and knocking on our doors. This is also good for us personally, because we just might find a subject or two that truly interests us and that we might want to explore further.
Buy the book. You’ll like it.
The first half anyway. If Tarot isn’t your thing, it’s easy to skip the second half. I promise.
If you decide to buy the book, I recommend that you buy it from Tarotarts.com. Like all of us in this day and age, I buy a lot of things online. I’ve been buying from Tarot Arts for some time now, and I’m pretty darn sure that it is the best online shopping experience I’ve ever had.
And no, I don’t make any money if you buy using the link above. I simply give it because it is a wonderful small business to buy from.
On Sunday evening we will have our weekly gathering over Zoom, Rummer & Grapes. The link will go out to all those holding a paid subscription to Emeth on Sunday afternoon.
Please join us if you can, W Thomas Lamb will be giving us a great report on St. Johns Lodge’s recent trip to Scotland, and all of the Lodges they visited there. You won’t want to miss it.
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The book is ordered. BTW the site you linked too was 1/3 the price of a used copy on amazon. so, yeah, its a good place to buy thhe book. thanks!