The Story Of The Hermetic Brotherhood Of Light

Book excerpt: Allen Greenfield's essential and revolutionary volume that shines the light on a most interesting phenomenon in the western esoteric tradition - The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light. This group of illuminated scholars created an order and formulated a body of esoteric wisdom whose impact can still be felt today in many active magical orders and traditions. For instance, the magico-sexual theories of one of the order's main protagonists, Paschal Beverly Randolph, influenced groups such as the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), which became Aleister Crowley's main order in the public world. Full of intelligent and illuminating overviews and penetrating comments by Greenfield, this book also contains truly unique archive material never before presented in such a cohesive way.