Quest Magazine

The Mythic Journey: The Meaning of Myth as a Guide for Life

By Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000, Paperback, 288 pages.

Myths are mirrors. They reflect the interests of the person who looks into them, so the same myth means different things to different people. Some ancient peoples thought of myths as accounts of the actual doings of gods and heroes. Others, more literal-and historical-minded, thought of myths as the exaggerated reports of famous human beings (a view called euhemerism after Euhemerus, the fellow who popularized it). Later, others thought that myths were stories allegorizing nature, storms, the agricultural cycle, and other aspects of our environment. Today the favorite interpretation is social-psychological---myths are about what goes on inside us and between one of us and another. This book is a collection of myths from many parts of the world, concisely retold, illustrated with handsome color reproductions of paintings, and interpreted as guidelines for human behavior--understanding ourselves and how we relate to others. There is yet another way of looking at myths, as symbols of the spiritual process that goes on inside us and all around us and connects us with everything. But that's a view for a different book.

By Adam Moledina
Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, n.d. [ca. 1999]. Paperback, xx + 72 pages.

People become vegetarians for a variety of reasons: physical health, spiritual discipline, esthetics, and moral values. This booklet addresses the last motive by graphic and illustrated descriptions of how animals are raised and captured, transported, and slaughtered for food. It is realistic and not for the queasy. But if the Greek philosopher was correct in saying that the unexamined life is not worth living, this booklet can help make life worth living for both the people who read it and the animals whose fate it describes.

-J.A.

January/February 2001

The Golden Dawn Scrapbook: The Rise and Fall of a Magical Order

By R. A. Gilbert
York Beach, ME: Weiser, 1997, Hardback, paperback, 200 pages.

This is not a book for someone looking for a glorification of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. As the author says in the introduction, he seems to concentrate on the follies and misdeeds of the members because that is what the story of the Order largely involves. Nevertheless, this is a very interesting and informative book, full of insight and information about the principal actors: the men William Wynn Wescott, Samuel Mathers, and William Woodman; and the women Mina Mathers, Annie Horniman, and Florence Farr. Woven into the fabric of the story are also such monumental figures as William Butler Yeats, A. E. Waite, Aleister Crowley, and Paul F. Case. A very interesting chapter about the ritual of the order is also included. There is some slight mention of connections with the Theosophical Society. The work is lavishly illustrated with photographs, copies of significant letters, and diagrams.

The construction of the book is curious, for it is neither a chronological history nor a doctrinal analysis. It is, as the title says, "a scrapbook." Each chapter stands more or less on its own and deals with one topic or incident or group of persons, though the whole tale is interwoven and complex. As a result, the neophyte reader may find some passages difficult to follow. At other times the text seems to go over the same territory once again. Nevertheless, when one finishes the book, one has a sense of the whole and feels well introduced to one of the great occult movements of the modern world. Despite the chicanery and sometimes outright dishonesty involved, it would appear that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts and that, after all, there may be much to learn from both the accomplishments and misdeeds of this late Victorian and early twentieth-century movement.

-JAY G. WILLIAMS

January/February 2001

The Mystery Schools

2nd ed. By Grace F. Knoche
Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1999, Hardback, paperback, x + 98 pages.

Originally published in 1940 and updated for its second edition, this book presents a short but comprehensive Theosophical overview of the Mystery tradition. It surveys such topics as the origins of the confraternity of Adepts, the first Mystery Schools and their purposes, the degrees of initiation, the distinction between lesser and greater Mysteries, the closing of the Classical Mystery Schools, and the Mystery Schools of today. The reader who wants a concise, reliable, and readable introduction to the subject from a Theosophical perspective can do no better-than to consult this book. It gives the casual reader a satisfying first glimpse of the subject; and it is a useful starting point for the student who wants to probe even deeper.

-JOHN ALGEO