Publication Date:March 27, 2008 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
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Perfect not just for new age collections, but for art library holdings as wellJuly 11, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Artistic works often hold hidden occult secrets, and so Ernesto Frers's Secret Societies and the Hermetic Code offers up research ranging from the early paintings of Byzantine times to Dali, and from the Pyramids to architecture. Music also is surveyed in a powerful connection between religious societies and artistic codes, with full-color photos liberally peppered throughout for a pageant of display and visualization. Perfect not just for new age collections, but for art library holdings as well.
Interesting but unreferenced and unevenJuly 10, 2008 6 out of 7 found this review helpful
An interesting read for anyone with Hermetic or occult leanings. The entire piece must be taken with a grain of salt, however, because it is entirely unreferenced. The author does provide a bibliography and, in the absence of references I'm inclined to do some reading from it to see if anything he claims has any accuracy.
That said, the book is mostly very enjoyable. The first section concerning painted art, especially of the Renaissance, was worth the price of the book by itself, providing enough detail to fuel further investigation. The sections on sculpture and architecture are perfectly adequate though not as compelling and the connection to Hermeticism more vague. By the time I got to the section on classical music, things had degenerated into the more general esoteric in the way of connections rather than Hermeticism in specific, the one notable exception being Mozart's Freemasonic influenced work.
For the last section on Satanic rock, I sincerely hope the author intended to switch to satire. It is so hopelessly wrong as to be laughable. He begins by by "proving" Alistair Crowley to be a satanist. Regardless of your personal viewpoint on Crowley; genius, madman, performance artist, or some combination, he wasn't a satanist. The author then goes on to link many of the bands of the sixties and seventies to Crowley or generally to the bragging of these musicians that they are servants of Satan. It is the case that some of these musicians had some affinity with Crowley and it is true that Jimmy Page bought Crowley's Scottish mansion but that is pretty much the extent of true connections to Hermetic in this section. The frustrating thing is that if he had dumped the satanic angle and written about modern rock artists and their connection to Hermeticism, especially Thelemia, he would have had enough material to write a decent piece. I really do have to wonder why the author switched gears from Hermeticism into Satanism suddenly.
I do recommend the book for the first wonderfully written section on Renaissance art. Most of the rest of the book is enjoyable. Read the last section with tongue firmly planted in cheek or just skip it altogether.
