Magic, or the Secret System

VI

...most [noble] privileges and the most unrecognized mainsprings Original: Springfedern; a mechanical metaphor for the hidden inner motives or driving forces of human nature. of human nature. Finally, while some false critics would rather accuse the entire ancient world Original: Vorwelt; referring to the primordial or pre-Flood era, which esoteric traditions often viewed as a time of superior, direct divine knowledge. of folly and deceit than admit that they themselves—with their arbitrary statutes and powerless fantasies—cannot begin to reach the obscure wisdom and clever simplicity of those days, others come forward. These others demonstrate a harmony and a natural connection between the hidden knowledge of antiquity and the secret teachings of the present. This connection is so little known because it requires anointed eyes A metaphor for spiritual perception or divine illumination, suggesting that one cannot understand these truths through intellect alone., and the mere elements of the world Original Greek: στοιχεία τȣ Κοσμȣ (stoicheia tou kosmou). A reference to Colossians 2:8, referring to basic worldly principles or material knowledge that falls short of spiritual truth. do not suffice for it.

In our days, a previously little-known society has chosen to step out somewhat from its hidden sanctuary and make itself known through two remarkable writings, which are, in their way, almost classical *),

*) 1. Of Errors and Truth, or Men Recalled to the Universal Principle of Knowledge Original: Des Erreurs et de la Vérité &c. by Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, published under the pseudonym "The Unknown Philosopher." at Edinburgh 1775. Second edition at Salomopolis Original: Salomopolis; Greek for "City of Solomon," a common symbolic place of publication used in occult literature to avoid censorship and signal the text's mystical nature. 1781.