HieroSolis: La Voie de l'Aurore

At the time of writing, the book is only available in French.

It is rare that a French book on occultism (well, at least since Eliphas Lévi's: "Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie") is a 'must read' and should be available in as many languages as possible.

This is one of those books.

That I know the author personally doesn't have (much) to do with it - it only made me know, while reading the book, that it's a 'real' one - from the practice to the world.

And that is not always the case when it comes to books about occultism in general and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn specifically.

Well, that's not really accurate - the key authors of books about the Golden Dawn have all been either members of the original order or of off-shoots that are based on it.

Still, in our day and age, it is really difficult to get into touch with an active member of one of those "off shoots" that are actually 'authentic' (whatever that means) and not based on 2nd or 3rd hand material that was adjusted and put into practice by a "more or less well meaning crowd of people".

As the name is not legally protected, everybody theoretically could open a group practicing magic and claim to be an authentic follow-up organisation of the original.

But back to this book.

What I really enjoyed while reading it was that it doesn't try to be "just another version of what is already out there in abundance". Since Israel Regardie has published, more or less uncommented, the vault of the original documents of the Golden Dawn, there has been a wealth of authors publishing rituals, 'secrets', or long-winding overviews about the history of the original organisation and the diverse follow-up groups.

If one is interested in any of those, they should just grab the next Regardie, Zalewski or Cicero.

HieroSolis has chosen another approach: a concise and really well-written overview of the (briefly put) history of the organisation, the various spiritual, religious and esoteric traditions it was based upon and what organisations it branched out into.

That part is held rather brief, and is therefore one of the best overviews to get a general idea about the Golden Dawn and the impact it had on Western Occultism as a whole.

What then follows is a walk-through the symbols, grade system and other areas of interest for people either having joined a "Golden Dawn inspired" group or considering to do such a thing.

What this results in is a really well-written "one stop shop" for all things concerning the Golden Dawn and it also puts into the right light what one should expect upon joining the order (and what one shouldn't expect!).

From my personal point of view and experience, even having already read a couple of books about the topic, the book was helping me to gain clarity about many different points of my knowledge, assumptions and practice.

I therefore highly recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.

Stephen King: "Fairy Tale"

Stephen King:

Fairy Tale

 The most important thing first: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!

It is already speculated if "Fairy Tale" signals the beginning of a new writing style era for The King. Could be, but I truly don't care.

This book, I can imagine, was something he needed to write at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. A "feel good" book so to speak.

When normal people huddle in front of the fire and and eat comfort food, a person like Stephen King seems to write a "comfort book".

And I thank him for that.

I started the pandemic reading through Murakami's "19Q4", a book that reflected the strange stages that I was going through while confined to my Paris apartment. At the end of that book, I wouldn't have been surprised to see actually two moons appear in the sky above.

In "Fairy Tale", the hero also enters another world, and there, too, two moons circle above the sky. The parallels between King and Murakami end here, though. The other world in 19Q4 is a parallel version of our world, whereas Empis, the Fairy Tale world Charles (Sharly?) enters is a real "Other".

The book is firmly divided into two parts - the beginning is in the US state of Illinois and introduces the reader to the protagonist. The hero is a 17 year old boy named Charlie Reade and he is a bit like Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter a bit of a blank canvass, too.

Yes, King goes through great length to add some back story to Charlies life - like he loss of the mother when still a child and having had to deal with an alcoholic father (King probably hands out first-hand knowledge here) and that's all fine, but in the end the I-perspective of that "template young man with a great love for a dog and a tendency to serve others" fulfills the perfect task of allowing a broad spectrum of readers to jump on his back like the Snab and see the adventure through his or her own eyes.

The influence of Baum and Lovecraft is very strong in this book, and probably of a couple of other authors that I am not familiar with.

Be that as it may - the story is captivating, a real "page turner" and the "Master of Horror" plays nice in this book. Yes, there are tough moments and also some gruesome ones, but overall this book is as wholesome as a King novel can get.

And I loved it.

I also loved the many references to the "Stephen King Expanded Universe" aka "The Dark Tower" series strewn in here and there. And the references, openly stated, to many pop culture trophies. This is not a "The Walking Dead" setting where no one knows the word "Zombie".

Mr. King - thank you for that one. It was the perfect read through a challenging autumn that had me stressed out and then getting unexpectedly fired from my job just at the beginning of Christmas season.

From Paris with Love,

Hakim aks "Elric"