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The Morning of the Magicians by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier... taught me live your life in the visible and the invisible world . --Paolo Coelho
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It is not science-fiction, although it cites myths on which that literary form has fed. Nor is it a collection of bizarre facts, though the Angel of the Bizarre might well find himself at home in it. It is not a scientific contribution, a vehicle for an exotic teaching, a testament, a document, a fable. It is simply an account - at times figurative, at times factual - of a first excursion into some as yet scarcely explored realms of consciousness. The Morning of the Magicians is a classic of radical literature, a book that has challenged assumptions and conventional knowledge for decades. It has shaken the foundations of beliefs all over the world and may be the most influential book published in the twentieth century. Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier spent years searching "through all the regions of consciousness, to the frontiers of science and tradition" and opened their minds to any fact or theory that went beyond the frontier of current theories. The result is this remarkable work, and the stream of possibilities that it contains: Do mutants exist, are they a future form of man? Does extrasensory perception reveal that human consciousness has advanced beyond its currently accepted limits? What connects the ancient art of alchemy and modern atomic physics?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is Life seen from a "Fantastic Realism" perspective: Life interpreted, not by means of the exotic or the bizarre, but rather by means of a blank-canvassed imaginative mind. That is, the mind without prejudice which only looks at the facts and takes no notice of thoughts or ideas inculcated by Society or by experience. The book is not about escaping reality but rather about new ways of interpreting it. Interpretations which could even account for the deepest of existentialist questions.
From this perspective, the authors put on paper different readings of what has happened in the past and what may lie ahead. Notably, a perfected human race, of which some specimens are said to be already amongst us.
From this perspective, the authors put on paper different readings of what has happened in the past and what may lie ahead. Notably, a perfected human race, of which some specimens are said to be already amongst us.
For the curious and practical mind, the authors propose forgotten or rather ignored sources of information and research. One of these sources is alchemy. A science which is believed to have reached a great understanding of Nature and its powers.
This book, to me, was a starting platform. Facts and myths intermingle to form an account of a trip to the unexplored realms of consciousness. If anything, you'll find here a source of ideas to think about and "investigate" further, always with an open mind. Or at the least with as unprejudiced a mind as possible. I have to say that, although no interpretation is imposed upon us some may seem difficult to process.
The index shows carefully structured and entitled chapters making the browsing easier. The authors even propose to choose whatever destination we fancy. Chapters may be read unordered although some could probably awake curiosity about the previous one.
I certainly don't regret having read it, I regret the authors didn't later publish further explorations of their assumptions. Actually, they sort of leave it to us to explore and draw our very own conclusions. We are asked to believe...in us.
This book was first published in French in the 1960's by Editions Gallimard.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Remarkable work that came out in France in 1960, in Denmark 1963; I read it over and over again at the time though I understood little at the age of 14-16. The book contained, for the times, completely unheard-of concepts, one of them that the international emancipation and solidarity of the working classes were of little importance, something that had profound influence on my world view afterwards.
Taking another look at "Morning of the Magicians" - you'll find what the content is all about elsewhere - I think it still holds a position as the most important book of that remarkable decade, much more so than "Chariot of the Gods" by von Däniken or, in a completery different vein, Herbert Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man".
Heavily criticized for lack of source material, hard proof, empirical research, control of facts, footnotes and bibliography I think you could bear with that for sheer excitement and with some of the over-dramatizations or exaggerations. There's no denying that Louis Pauwells is a man of very grande gestures. For example: There's a dramatic reference in the part II dealing with Nazi occultism to a book by Jack Fishman: The Seven Men of Spandau. In reality, there is nothing unusual about this matter-of-fact description of the lives of Rudolf Hess a.o. in the Spandau Prison after World War II, once you consult the book referred to.
Another source pointed out by critics as receiving overdue sensationalist attention by the authors is Hermann Rauschning's "Talks with Hitler"; here I think the authors are justified, however, in their interpretation. Hermann Rauschning - describing Hitler as man going completely mad at times - could not just make up such extraordinary quotes by the Führer.
I think it comes out between the lines that Jacques Bergier is the more, so to speak, naive of the two, although he represents the scientist, and Louis Pauwells is the journalist - who in the following decades entered the scene of political debate by supporting the so-called New (e.g. no longer Marxist) Philosophers Glucksmann and Levi by far exceeding them in taking up Right positions - what a shock to realize he was no part of the 60's movement at all! Let History judge - and let it be known that there would have been no psychedelic etc. 1960's if not for this book!
Taking another look at "Morning of the Magicians" - you'll find what the content is all about elsewhere - I think it still holds a position as the most important book of that remarkable decade, much more so than "Chariot of the Gods" by von Däniken or, in a completery different vein, Herbert Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man".
Heavily criticized for lack of source material, hard proof, empirical research, control of facts, footnotes and bibliography I think you could bear with that for sheer excitement and with some of the over-dramatizations or exaggerations. There's no denying that Louis Pauwells is a man of very grande gestures. For example: There's a dramatic reference in the part II dealing with Nazi occultism to a book by Jack Fishman: The Seven Men of Spandau. In reality, there is nothing unusual about this matter-of-fact description of the lives of Rudolf Hess a.o. in the Spandau Prison after World War II, once you consult the book referred to.
Another source pointed out by critics as receiving overdue sensationalist attention by the authors is Hermann Rauschning's "Talks with Hitler"; here I think the authors are justified, however, in their interpretation. Hermann Rauschning - describing Hitler as man going completely mad at times - could not just make up such extraordinary quotes by the Führer.
I think it comes out between the lines that Jacques Bergier is the more, so to speak, naive of the two, although he represents the scientist, and Louis Pauwells is the journalist - who in the following decades entered the scene of political debate by supporting the so-called New (e.g. no longer Marxist) Philosophers Glucksmann and Levi by far exceeding them in taking up Right positions - what a shock to realize he was no part of the 60's movement at all! Let History judge - and let it be known that there would have been no psychedelic etc. 1960's if not for this book!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An unusual book. Other reviewers imply that it just presents facts and leaves the interpretation open but this isn't really the case - there's a definite stream of opinion behind it, which helps to put it all in context. You can grasp their main idea, though I don't think they spell it out quite clearly enough.
It's worth buying just for the WWII stuff which is the first time I have seen an analysis that actually explains how and why normal people could do what they did in Nazi Germany - it's fortunate that section is so good as it's a large part of the book.
If you're left-hand-path inclined then it may be of relevance that this book is highly recommended by the Temple of Set reading list too.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An interesting read
I first read this book when I was 16, when it was first published in the UK. I found it totally fascinating and compelling.I still read the odd chapter now and again. Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2008 by Mr. Is Greig
Compelling enthralling and thought-provoking
I first read this book in 1966 and I don't think any other book had such an effect on me. I was fourteen and completely thrilled and terrified by the possibilities the authors... Read more
Published on 25 May 2002
a thrilling view on mankind
and even after you've red the book many times, it keeps you in sheer amazement about our world and the role of mankind in, what is believed, the 4-th and final quarter of various... Read more
Published on 24 Nov 2001
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