The Sad State of Spiritual Literature, Part 2 (Franz Bardon, Dion Fortune, Paul Foster Case, Sammy Aun Weor, Et Al.)

In Part 1 of this series, posted here February 2016, I lamented the sad (meaning disappointing) current (or modern) state of spiritual literature – and, by implication, I included dead authors (meaning those deceased in the 20th or 21st century) in my “indictment.”

In this article, I will focus on 20th to 21st century Hermetic Western Mystery Tradition writings, exemplified by the works of occult luminaries such as Franz Bardon, Dion Fortune, Paul Foster Case, Samael Aun Weor, Paul Foster Case, Aleister Crowley, and Manly P. Hall. I’ve written Amazon reviews of books by each of these authors, except for Crowley, whom I’ve read but wasn’t motivated to review.

The bottom line is that none of these authors (nor any of their Western Mystery Tradition contemporaries I’ve encountered) “cracked the cosmic code.” Their writings may impress the non-cognoscenti, but not the cognoscenti. Some of these authors are teeming with occult knowledge, but most of it is historical and cosmological – and their cosmology, for the most part, is flawed. When it comes to real spiritual insight and hermeneutics, they all are lacking.

I’ve read Bardon’s acclaimed “Initiation into Hermetics” and his “The Key to the True Kabbalah” – and I gave each of these a single star in my Amazon reviews. Truly, I couldn’t imagine a more overrated big-name Hermeticist than Franz Bardon -- until I encountered Samael Aun Weor. I read just part of Weor’s “The Initiatic Path in the Practice of Tarot and Kabbalah,” (one star), and that was all it took to convince me of the man’s occult and spiritual idiocy. Paul Foster Case, though overrated by his avid fans, is actually worth reading. I’ve read and reviewed three of his books— “Occult Fundamentals and Spiritual Unfoldment” (four stars), “Esoteric Secrets of Meditation and Magic, Volume 2” (three stars), and “The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages” (two stars). Case very likely was also one of “the Three Initiates” who penned the renowned and still popular “The Kybalion” (four stars). Dion Fortune’s “The Mystical Qabalah” is awful (one star), though it it receives raves reviews from clueless pseudo-mystics. After I read it, I had no interest in checking out further writings by her. I recently perused Manly P. Hall’s “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” (three stars) and it’s an inexpensive occult encyclopedia worth adding to one’s spiritual library. But is Hall a real guru with the “Secret” to the Holy Grail and Philosopher’s Stone? Hardly. I followed up my read of “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” with Hall’s “The Occult Anatomy of Man,” and it revealed Hall’s lack of real insight into esoteric anatomy and the mechanics of spiritual en-Light-enment.

If anyone can point me to any impressive 20th-21st Hermeticist, excluding (Christian Hermeticist) Valentin Tomberg, whom I should read, but perhaps haven’t, please do so. I will be surprised if I’ve missed somebody good.