Opinions?
>>25190402I have heard it is good but also Masonic propaganda
>>25190402I first read it at 19 so didn't have a clue, but after spending 7 years schizomaxxing and coming back to it, he knew his shit, very well.
>>25190402Probably the most respected non-academic work on Esoterica outside of Guenon.
>>25190402You aren't actually going to get esoteric knowledge but you'll get knowledge on what gay larpers and the "elite" think is esoteric knowledge.
I thought it would be Kybalion-tier bullshit but it was surprisingly decent. It's still surface level so you're not reaching gnosis or whatever.
>>25190402You will get plenty of "esoteric" knowledge because all "esoteric" and "occult" means is non socially-acceptable spiritual-belief systems.
>When confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed. While the former may be qualified to solve the riddle of their own destiny, the latter must be led like a flock of sheep and taught in simple language. They depend almost entirely upon the ministrations of the shepherd. The Apostle Paul said that these little ones must be fed with milk, but that meat is the food of strong men. Thoughtlessness is almost synonymous with childishness, while thoughtfulness is symbolic of maturity.
>>25190402Genuinely the most retarded thing ever written. Even superficial knowledge of any of the topics included within will leave you constantly thinking "this shit ain't right chief". If you investigate any of the origins of the bullshit he's rambling about, you end up at figures like Iolo Morganwg who forged hundreds of documents to support Welsh nationalism (in the case of the origins of his sources for the rites and history of druidism). If you have any awareness of neo-platonism, history as known in the 21st century, or early Christianity, you immediately are aware that he's only read protestant commentaries and apologetics from the age of enlightenment/orthodoxy.While I'm sure that there's genuine esoteric groups and works out there, I wouldn't count on this turn of the century retard born of the epoch of rising Pentecostalism, 7th day Adventist, and Jehovah's witnesses doomsday churches among any other of the booming charlatan groups or personalities to give you insight on it.PS: dear anon, you will, in his intro, bear witness to him defending the idea of him removing all annotations and citations. His reasoning is that, if I remember correctly: " I simply know too much shit and have cited so much that my mo-fucking citations in the margins be 1,000 pages n shit. Dat's too much to put in a book nigga". This covered his ass in his day without search engines, but like words, concepts and ideas have etymological trails, and you can follow them to the schizophrenic madmen he learned them from.You will, in the introduction as well (if you are aware of the Indo-Europeans and how we came to know of them through linguistics, genetics, archeology, etc), be led to believe he is making the case that the combined religions, languages, and cultures of all humanity leads back to a proto-civilization much like the Indo-European. He's not saying that. He will bomb-drop the answer as Atlantis.
>>25190402Utter shithouse. Everything that exists was invented by egyptians who were atlanteans. A 1000 page tome is way too much to expound on that one stupid premise. I remember some claims were pretty intriguing but the whole experience was marred by things that were obviously retarded.
>>25190402You can get a free copy from the CIA website. There's not much value in that book unless I'm missing some deeper esoteric layer obscured behind poor research and conjecture.
It covers interesting topics, but I wanted it to be more historical rather indoctrinational.
how many demons/lesser gods and their entailing metaphysics exist for lesser men to follow?
>>25191392>You can get a free copy from the CIA website.the bin laden hard disk?
>>25191339He makes the freemasons look like a cargocult of Egypt. Same does Crowley
>>25192307to be fair Egypt was pretty cool and did not resemble any advanced civilization of the same era (they did not build city walls and had no iron to make advanced weapons)yet they managed to build truly breathtaking buildings/structuresthey survived with minimal changes till Alexander the Great conquered them, which makes them an almost 3000 year old tradition, second only to the Hebrews
bump for esoteric knowledge
this thread made me consider finishing that book (started reading it like 5 years ago, but only got through 2 chapters)
>>25190402>manly pee hole
It's got a lot of info on what the ancients believed, for that alone it's worth the price of purchase.
a certified anime pfp post
>>25194498It becomes unreadable when he starts going into all the mathematical discoveries Pythagoras made. A lot of shit about geometry and music.
>>25195369i actually found my copy, with bookmarks at all, I was halfway to Pythagorasgot enthusiastic about the Corpus Hermetica and started reading that... should have stuck to Secret Teachings, now I'm too jaded lol
>>25195398You should give some of his other books a try. Picrel is a nice little tract. He makes for great bedtime reading, oddly enough.
>>25195434thank youincredible cover
>>25193903it's too dangerous and cannot be disclosed
