Brief Guide to Secret Religions: A Complete Guide to Hermetic, Pagan and Esoteric Beliefs

by David V. Barrett

This wide-ranging book explores the diversity of esoteric and occult beliefs. Neo-Paganism is one of the fastest-growing new religions in the western world where witchcraft or Wicca, Druidry, and Urban Shamanism are thriving. Alongside this there has been an upsurge in New Age ideas of an even wider variety, including astrology, Tarot, numerology, and many others. And then there are members of various schools of occult science, practising High Magic. Why this new interest in old beliefs? Why are millions of educated people today abandoning both the established religion of their parents and 21st century scientific rationalism and turning to magic and esoteric teachings? In their search for spirituality those who follow these paths claim to be applying ancient wisdom to the modern world. "The Brief History of Secret Religions", a companion book to "The Brief History of Secret Societies", looks at the history and variety of these esoteric movements, where they came from and what they tell us about the world today. Praise for "The New Believers": "an excellent guide to fringe religions that juxtaposes 'respectable' movements and those conventionally dismissed as cults." ("The Telegraph"). "no-nonsense, comprehensive survey packed with non-judgmental information about the beliefs, aims and activities of such movements." ("Daily Mail").

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Occult, Reference, Spirituality, History

404 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Charlie Crowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been on a quest to learn more about the world of the occult and this book was quite good for that. I would definitely dub it a "comprehensive" guide more so than "complete" but I understand complete makes you want to buy it more. I really enjoyed learning about all the different religions/groups and thought they were displayed quite objectively and gave good room for further study. The legal note for Scientology was wonderful to read and the careful wording required in it's descriptions, hehe. I did find it at times difficult to follow along with references and names thrown about however, that is more to do with me not reading much academic texts within the Arts & Humanities sector so I shall endeavour to remember things better!

[Newt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good basic introduction to the weirdo UFO religions, esoteric societies, and new age hippy cults you sometimes see out and about. The author claims to be objective, which is obviously untrue (i.e. there is no such thing as objectivity), instead being more of a sceptic of these religions than he lets on. But that's a good thing, because they're all nonsense.

A particularly important takeaway on Neo-Paganism is that it is *far* more "neo" than "pagan". Almost everything it is based on is 19th or 20th Century in origin, with a few references here and there to hostile Roman/Christian accounts of said paganism. It is just valid a tradition as, say, Christianity or Hinduism, but don't let anyone fool you that it is an authentic or direct continuation of pre-Christian European religion.

Another important takeaway is that the "new age" movement in general is fundamentally reactionary. It's kind of terrifying how many of their fascistic/hyper-individualist ideas have made it into the mainstream lexicon (terms such as "aura", "vibes", "affirmations", "self-actualisation", "manifesting", etc.).

The sections on specifically esoteric orders like the Rosicrucians and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn were fascinating, again if not only because of how utterly fraudulent they are. The influence of Aleister Crowley (notable rich kid cult leader) on the entire new age/Neo-Pagan/occult/etc. movement is incredible. Lots of wealthy men with delusions of grandeur doing silly rituals and bestowing endless accolades on each other like tinfoil military medals. One particularly obnoxious Crowleyism is the invention of the term "Magick" (as opposed to the usual spelling), which is still used by many occult types now. I wanted to believe that there might be some clever or spiritual rationale to this, but it is literally just to seem edgy as I had initially expected.

I am very glad I read this book, because it has thoroughly vaccinated me against any involvement in the occult: it is a hive of the delusional, the gullible and outright (sometimes self-admitted) con artists. Fundamentally silly people doing silly rituals, many of whom have been given an astonishing amount of entirely undeserved credibility in the mainstream media and even by the state. Plenty of lovely, well-meaning people are involved in these movements, including many real people I respect, but almost all in the delusional/gullible category I'm afraid.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting exploration of various and sundry "non-standard" religions, with a perhaps unfortunate focus on Western creeds in general, and ones present in the UK, in particular. It would've been nice if the scope had been broad enough to include lesser-known religions from Asia, Africa, etc.--though this would have ballooned the page count considerably. Still, there's a lot that's covered here, from UFO-inspired groups, to the surprisingly numerous branches of Rosicrucianism, to Neo-Pagan beliefs. It's not exhaustive, or (contrary to the title's assertion), complete, but it's an interesting look into the tenets and beliefs of a wide swath of fringe religious organizations.

[Katherine]

This is kind of a reference book, with chapters on various esoteric and occult societies and and groups including the OTO, UFO groups, theosophy, Raelians, etc. It’s kind of a British counterpart to Mitch Horowitz’s “Occult America.” There is quite a bit about the various splinters of the Golden Dawn folks, and a section on neo-paganism including Wicca, druidry, and the fellowship of Isis. Think of this as a sampler, and then if you’re really interested in something you’d go find other resources to learn more about it. For me, I’m grateful just for the sampler.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

While sometimes a little pedantic, a Brief Guide to Secret Religions is nevertheless an interesting read and in some areas, down right fascinating.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a reference book, but the author references concepts which are not explained or explored, such as Neo-Platonism. I wasn't sure who this book was aimed at, tbh.

[Jaimie · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book is not one which I would have bought myself, I'm really glad that it was given to me as a gift! Religious/spiritual beliefs have always been something which fascinated me, even through my almost complete lack of belief in any of htem, but it's often hard to know where to start the research because so many books are written by biased fanatics. Barrett presents a decidedly unbiased and straightforward view of all if the religious groups featured, and it was very clear based on his inclusion of quotes from practitioners that his fascination is what drove his research. I was surprised while reading that so many of these secret religions are actually based on Judeo-Christian belief systems, just with different interpretations (mostly revolving around symbolism and ritual) or the beliefs that have dominated Western society for two milleniums. Many blend traditions and beliefs from Eastern practises (meditation seems popular) or refocus on an individual's relationship with their own spirituality - interesting concepts in comparison to te group-dominated and hierarchical Judeo-Christian practises. Obviously the later section of the book, which focus on esoteric and neo-pagan spirituality, were of more personal interest to me, since they are closer to the (loose) beliefs that I hold. Much of this information was not new to me, since I hvae done some basic reading on many of these gropus or had peripheral knowledge of their rituals, but I still appreciated the side by side presentation (and no nonsense approach) of the information. There has been a big research book on druidry tha I've been meaning to read for quite some time, so now I have the motivation to actually do it!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic book. David Barrett did a superb job describing each belief system in an order that made them chronologically make sense as well easy to digest. I honestly went into this book not knowing what to expect. It's nice to know that no matter what each belief system believes or represents, most of them have one underlying message: Don't be a shitty person. (Okay, a couple of them actually DO want you to be a shitty person. :P) Overall, I think this was an excellent book and I had a lot of fun reading it. Seriously, read about the Artherius Society; they're great.

[Cspiess7411 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. The sheer amount of information given and collected in its pages is astounding. As well as the fact that the information is not presented in some sort of scattershot presentation, but rather one of the most cohesive and coherent ways ever. The comparisons that can be made between each of the subjects of the book and their fellows are amazing. Anyone that enjoys learning about humanity and comparing different aspects of religions will enjoy this book. A delight to read.