It would be an understatement to say that we learn more about Max and Alma Theon in this one book than in all previous literature combined. Sixteen chapters are divided into four sections, the first of which focuses on 19th century origins and hence the early Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.
A great many mysteries are solved about the biographies of the Theons by editors Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss, and John P. Deveney’s third chapter sheds new light on Charles Barlet, but these had appeared separately before. Now the entire book is available and includes two more chapters with special relevance to readers of this blog. The second chapter by Christine Ferguson, Zanoni’s Daughters, traces the influence of Edward Bulwer-Lytton on English female novelists with special attention to Emma Hardinge Britten. The fourth chapter, The Reception of Ritual Magic in Max Theon’s Circles, by Gal Sofer, is the only one to utilize Patrick D. Bowen’s research on The Light of Egypt published in Letters to the Sage. It sheds tremendous light on the influences of Burgoyne and Theon on ritual magic teachings in the HBofL and Cosmic Movement.
The book sheds no new light on Theon’s Algerian associates and who might have been “the Arab” or “Moor” that Burgoyne considered the initiator for TM Johnson to meet on the inner plane. Nor does the book provide any clues to Sufi influences on Johnson around 1887, but primary sources are being translated and published that may provide better understanding of the Theons’ dealings with Algerians.