For hundreds of years people have speculated about the true meaning of Masonic Rituals. Their mystery has
captivated the interest of both detractors of the craft and great minds within the order. The degrees of Freemasonry are said to be moral lessons in the form of three ritual plays - a claim that is viewed with some suspicion by many. Even Freemasons themselves find they have a nagging sense that there must be something more to these rituals - something great, something important, something magical…
Miracle-worker or man of straw? Count Alessandro Cagliostro was a cult figure of European society in the tumultuous years leading to the French Revolution. An alchemist, healer and Freemason, he inspired both wild devotion and savage ridicule - and novels by Alexander Dumas, a drama by Goethe and Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. The Masonic Magcian investigates this enigmatic man, his life and times.
Cagliostro's sincere belief in the magical powers, including immortality, conferred by his Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry won him fame, but made him dangerous enemies, too. His celebrated travels through the Middle East and the capitals of Europe ended abruptly in Rome in 1789, where he was arrested by the Inquisition and condemned to death.
The Masonic Magician tells Cagliostro's extraordinary story, complete with the first English translation of the Egyptian Rite ever published. The authors examine the case made against him, that he was an impostor and finds that the Roman Church, and history itself, have done him a terrible injustice.
This engaging account, drawing on remarkable new documentary evidence, shows that the man condemned was a genuine visionary and true champion of Freemasonry. His teachings have much to reveal to us today not just of the mysteries of Freemasonry, but of the mysterious hostility the movement continues to attract.
by: Philippa Faulks and Robert L D Cooper
Publisher: Watkins Publishing
Product code: N7685
ISBN: 9781905857685
Price: £16.99 In this book you will discover:
- Count Cagliostro's teachings claim to reveal the true origins of Freemasonry.
- The genuine rituals of Ancient Egypt apparently survived unpolluted in Cagliostro's Egyptian Rite - they have now become part of mainstream Freemasonry.
- Cagliostro's "secret" and explains the reasons why the Church and its Inquisition feared and ultimately condemned him.
- How alchemy,the seven planets and seven heavenly angels relate to the purpose of Freemasonry.
The book is now available (before the official publication date from the Grand Lodge online shop. To order The Masonic Magician from the online shop click here or on any previous link.
Here is a review taken from the American website Amazon.com
WOW!!! Freemasons, Martinists, Rosicrucians, Gnostic students, Alchemy students, Hermetic students, and Cabalistic students, you must buy this book, now! Why? For two reasons. One, because this is currently the best book in the world written on the life and times of one the Occult's and Initiactic fraternal world's most enigmatic characters. And two, because chances are high you will meet the enigmatic Count Cagliostro somewhere in your studies or be involved in a rite or two which has been directly or indirectly influenced by him. Authors Philippa Faulks and Brother Robert Cooper have constructed a great book complete with an Index, Glossary, Appendices, Endnotes, and Bibliography, which will satisfy all scholars. The color plates are lovely to look at and serve to place the reader in the context of the time period in which Brother Count Cagliostro lived and died. The Illustration
