I have no
idea what to make of this material. ”The Irreconcilable Gnomes” was first published
in 1910 by American occultist Reuben Swinburne Clymer, the founder of the Fraternitas
Rosae Crucis (FRC), a Rosicrucian group which still exists. Today, the FRC is
probably very small, but Clymer was apparently something of a big shot in the esoteric
world (or was it underworld) back in the days.
This extremely
weird text was marketed as a kind of sequel to the 17th century occult work
”Comte de Gabalis”, which exposited at length on the character of ”elementals”
or elemental spirits representing earth, fire, air and water. In Clymer´s text,
a narrator visits Ireland and meets a prince of the gnomes, the spirits of the
earth. The gnome and the narrator soon find themselves in a tedious and part
incomprehensible conversation on the exact nature of the human soul. Clymer seems
to take the side of the gnome. My sole take away from these somewhat bizarre ramblings
is that the gnome has a less ”dualist” perspective on soul and body, even implying
that the body is somewhat ”higher” since it causes passion and sin in the soul.
The occult point is that in order to save our souls, we first have to save our bodies
– and indeed, the author was a practitioner of alternative medicine.
The second
part of the tract contains Clymer´s creative reinterpretations of several grimoires.
The FRC grand master had apparently published his own versions of several grimoires,
with all references to black magic excised! He also reveals that lengthy magical
rituals can be replaced by astrological talismans, which are much more efficient
and easier to learn…
Definitely
not my cup of tea (not even herb tea), and too many typographical errors in the
most recent edition (Tal Warwick´s) but perhaps a must have if you are into gnomids
and such.
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