We have reached such levels of wokeness

This is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. It gives a new meaning to the two contemporary slang words “based” and “woke”. The book covers a number of Swedish occultists from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. As you might imagine, most were quite the characters. If you think Emmanuel Swedenborg was an extreme mystic, think again kiddo – he is the most *moderate* of the people described in this book!

One of the absolute highlights is Sigfrid Aron Forsius (17th century), whose varying social roles included parish priest, court astrologer, university chancellor and translator of Biblical apocrypha. Forsius, who was usually stone drunk, was also notorious for constant conflicts with his wife, who was no angel herself, being charged with attacking another woman and kidnapping her baby. Weirdly, this based (and debased) character became the confidante of both Johannes Bureus (“the Swedish John Dee”) and two kings. Of course, his relation with the notoriously short-tempered Karl IX wasn't always *that* good, since His Majesty suspected the disgraced priest of Polish sympathies, unceremoniously throwing him in the slammer. (Poland and Sweden were enemy nations, Karl IX ironically being the uncle of the Polish king.) Apparently Forsius was saved after Halley's comet had so scared the king that he needed a court astrologer, at which the former gladly volunteered his services! His relation with Karl IX's son and successor Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus) was also somewhat turbulent, since Forsius had somehow daringly included “heretical” prophecies from a recusant peasant in one of his astrological almanacs…

Another colorful personality mentioned in this little book is Hans Pauli, a 16th century Catholic monk in constant conflict with the Lutheran kings of Sweden. With the monastery at Vadstena closed, Pauli was forced to make a living by wandering the mining district of Bergslagen, supposedly exorcising evil spirits from the mineshafts. According to legend, the pro-Catholic king Johan III hired Pauli to exorcise the Sala silver mine, the most important mine in Sweden. When production at the mine declined, the king's advisors drew the somewhat hasty conclusion that black magic was responsible. After successfully restoring silver production (and presumably saving the Swedish economy), Pauli was allowed to return to Vadstena to become father-confessor of the Catholic nuns still housed there. Somewhat ironically, the monk ended his life having serious conflicts with the mother-superior…

Apart from Pauli, Forsius and Bureus, all people mentioned in the book were active during the 18th century, the Golden Age of Swedish occultism (but, interestingly enough, also Swedish science). Swedenborg, the Seer of the North, is well known. However, I didn't know that this “heretic” and de facto schismatic is buried in the Uppsala cathedral, the main Lutheran church building in Sweden! His disciple August Nordenskjöld was a left-wing utopian who tried (and failed) to make gold in order to destroy the gold-based currency system, thereby ushering in an egalitarian millennium. He also tried (and failed) to create a utopian Black state in West Africa, unsullied by the savagery of civilization. Weirdly, Nordenskjöld was employed by King Gustav III, who presumably wanted to confiscate any gold the woke alchemist succeeded in producing! Many occultists during this period, both serious and charlatans, were associated with Gustav III or his brother, duke Karl. Personally, I think the author is too hard on Carl Adolf Boheman, a Rosicrucian who demonstrated his magical abilities to Karl and his wife, leading to a conflict with king Gustav IV Adolf who in sharp contrast to his father Gustav III rejected all forms of occultism. Boheman was forced to leave Sweden, seeking the protection of Karl von Hessen, a German-Danish prince who played a prominent role in Masonry and esotericism during this period. Perhaps I'm partial to Rosicrucians, but I somehow want to believe that Boheman was the real thing...

In the end, I give this entertaining extravaganza, unfortunately only available in the based Swedish language, five stars.