The Reading List, Continued
Jan. 7th, 2023 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
I have several more books in my get-to stack for these posts, and will get to them shortly -- well, in and among all my other projects! -- but here's one that definitely deserves a shout-out. Most of my readers will be familiar by now with the writings of Dion Fortune, aka Violet Mary Firth. Not many people are familiar with the writings of her teacher, the remarkable Dr. Theodore Moriarty. (No, not that Dr. Moriarty -- though I'm waiting for a Sherlock Holmes fanfic to make that equation someday.) Moriarty was the original of Fortune's fictional character Dr. Taverner, the hero of her occult detective short stories. (That's him below on the right, with two friends.) He was one of the least publicity-hungry British occult teachers of his day, and he never published a book during his own lifetime, but several book-length collections of his lectures were circulated in typescript among his students. Those have been hot properties in the occult scene for a good long time now. Fortunately some of his most important writings have just been published. Here's the blurb:
"Now available in print for the first time, The Mystery of Man by Theodore Moriarty.
"Theodore Moriarty (1873-1923) was Dion Fortune's first esoteric teacher, and is widely believed to have been the real-life inspiration behind the protagonist of her collection of short stories, The Secrets of Doctor Taverner. Approaching the centenary of his death, Holythorn Press is delighted to announce the first-time publication of The Mystery of Man, containing selected lectures from Moriarty's course for his private students as well as an extensive introduction by the editors."Covering Evolution, Anthropology, Psychology and Comparative Religion from an esoteric standpoint, these lectures are complex and profound, and will be of interest to students of Theosophy, Hermetics, Rosicrucianism and Esoteric Psychology. In addition, they are of special relevance to students of Dion Fortune and the Western Mystery Tradition.
"The detailed introduction by James North explains the background and context to Moriarty's philosophy, their connection with Dion Fortune's teachings and the question of their continuing relevance today. The editors have also endeavoured to correct the misinformation about Moriarty's biography and give a fuller account of the facts of Moriarty’s life, his work as an alternative healer, and his esoteric school."
Interested? You can get a copy here.
James Moriarty, bother or more likely a cousin to Theodore?
Date: 2023-01-07 09:15 pm (UTC)Re: James Moriarty, bother or more likely a cousin to Theodore?
Date: 2023-01-08 12:09 am (UTC)Interesting books come in threes.
Date: 2023-01-08 01:45 am (UTC)I assume you've heard of Sasha Chaitow's Son of Prometheus: The Life and Work of Joséphin Péladan as well.
There's also an English translation of Franz Bardon's previously unpublished An Aid for Introspection that just came out last month.
So many interesting books, so little time and shelf space!
Re: Interesting books come in threes.
Date: 2023-01-08 06:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-08 05:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-08 06:17 pm (UTC)