In his review, Scott Gosnell takes us on a journey through the living lineage of the Olympic Spirits — from Trithemius and Paracelsus, through Rosicrucian and early modern currents, to twentieth-century folk magic — showing how The Olympic Spirits reconstructs a forgotten tradition that spans nearly five centuries.

I recommend both books wholeheartedly. They are among the most thought-provoking, poetic, and absorbing works I have had the pleasure of reading in recent years. And should you wish to read them side by side,  I can promise you a reading experience of rare richness.

Freemasonry in the Haitian Imaginary is an inspired and inspiring work. Its emphasis on the re-assertion of a people’s essential dignity and agency – that “enlightenment from below” arising from an esoterically-imbued ritual practice and its potential spillover into wider society – is surely one that is sorely needed in this day and age.

[…] So that to experience them in their fullness, re-stored and re-furbished and stripped of historical accretions, is to immerse oneself in a holistic and systematic path of spiritual development with little if no unnecessary baggage. In other words, a literal pilgrimage. I cannot recommend Black Pilgrimage too highly; it is a defining and definitive text of modern esoteric thought and practice. 

[…] George’s engagement with the material is never merely academic. She identifies as an active herbalist and “potion maker” who views her spiritual path as a journey from “the dirt to the divine.” This unique work is to be commended in its presentation of a structured program of magical work based on two intersecting axes.