The 33rd Degree

This is the one-volume edition of an originally two-volume work, “Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism”, edited by Wouter J Hanegraaf with contributions from Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek and Jean-Pierre Brach.

When I was younger, encyclopedias like this didn't exist. At least I didn't see any! That is, scholarly encyclopedias with no particular intention to entertain. There *were* encyclopedias about matters occult and esoteric, but these were geared at a mass market (even when written by experts) and were obviously intended to entertain, titillate and sensationalize – at least to some extent. A Scandinavian classic in this genre is Poul Fersling's “Naturligt Övernaturligt”. No hard feelings, many people were “initiated” by Fersling, but the world has moved on…

In Hanegraaf's “Dictionary”, so-called respectable subjects rub shoulders with the “usual suspects” from the local metaphysical bookstore. The respectable include entries on Aristotelianism, Augustine, Albertus Magnus and Dante. On the decidedly less respectable side, there is Ariosophy, Egyptomany (otherwise known as pyramidiocy), Aleister Crowley, Julius Evola and Bô-Yin-Râ (whatever that is – I forgot to check). The entries on Bogomilism and the Carpocrathians might wet your strange appetites, while the super-scholarly can indulge in the very long entry on Alchemy (history of). Probably due to its continental provenance, the book contains a lot of material on French and German esotericists.

Probably indispensable, if you want to reach the 33rd degree of your local fraternity. I learned a lot just by reading two entries, but I won't reveal which ones! It's an esoteric dictionary, after all…