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.
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