Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Esoteric mysticism & the tree of the knowledge of good & evi, 18 Dec 1997
By A Customer
Esoteric mysticism, whether it is practiced by the 'white magician' or the 'evil sorcerer', is ultimately such a personal experience that it is seldom verifiable. Therefore, as an historical account of the rise of Hitler to power based on his belief in the magical powers of a Christian relic, the book must be read while swallowing generous portions of salt. Nonetheless, this book is a fascinating glimpse into the self-delusional nature which grips those who aspire to gain power through occult means. Whether they claim, as Ravenscroft does, that he and his cohorts (Rudolf Steiner and Walter Stein, et al,) tried to counter Hitler's evil forces with their good ones, or whether they are Adolph Hitler possessed by the Aramahnic Spirit which seeks out a human being to carry out its destructive will, the book inadvertently teaches all of us a valuable lesson. Those who lend their wills to occult forces lose their humanity and become the tools of the demons they seek to control.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Somebody here don't understand the term "well researched", 10 Dec 2000
By A Customer
Speaking as an educated man, I can say that this book is just about as well researched as your average Spiderman comic.Some of the reviews here confuse the amount of research with the quality of it. A lie is no more true if told 10 times. Some nazis believed in the occult (just as I believe some of the allied top-notch surely did), but Hitler rose to power, not because of some rusty old spear, but because he appealed to the most loathesome and dark areas of humanity: hate, fear and egocentrism. But if you want fun reading and inspiration for screenwriting, comics, roleplaying or conspiracy-bookwriting, this is a must-have.
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
SENSATIONAL NONSENSE FOR THE EASILY GULLIBLE, 27 April 2006
First, let me say what this book is not. It most definitely is NOT a work of scholarship !
So what is it ? It is, in my opinion, a work of sensationalism which reads like a novel, and which will appeal to the sensation seeking, and more easily gullible, members of the reading public. The book is chock full of errors of fact, mistakes, half truths, and "terminological inexactitudes". I wearied of writing corrections in the margins of this book, as I struggled my way through its sometimes ludicrous prose. There is an almost total lack of references to the sources of many of the claimed writings and conversations the author uses in support of his ideas. All this leaves me with an indelible impression that the work seriously lacks veracity. He gets the names wrong of well known personalities in the occult movement, makes a silly error in naming Aleister Crowley's own occult lodge the "Astrum Argentinum", and no it isn't a typo, as it is repeated a few pages later. Worse, he uses spurious facts to try to fit the Thule Gesellschaft to Crowley's Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu in Sicily. For someone from a background as a British Commando, I find it incredible that he would talk, in more than one place, of Germany's "war with England". Germany was never at war with England. It was at war with Britain, of which England is just one small part ! He also describes John Scotus Erigena as an Englishman. Ye Gods, the very name means John the Scot ! The book is full of errors, small and large, like this, and a few that are mega large !
As someone who has been reading around the subject matter of this book for several decades, I could find absolutely nothing to recommend it. It is, in my opinion, sensationalist nonsense which will appeal to a certain group of people of a fanciful mental disposition. For the intelligent reader, however, it holds no charm.
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