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The Secrets of ire a n Ic e

A storical Supplement to the Text
1995

The text of Fire and Ice was almost fifteen years in the making.
It was in the mid-1970s that I first learned of the Fraternitas ·
Saturni from articles written in Richard Cavendish's Encyclopedia
of the Unexplained. There I read of a 'monumental compendium' of FS
materials which had been published by a certain German professor
named Adolf Hemberger. The book bore the suitably academic title:
Organizations-forman Rituale Lehren und magische Thematik der
treimauerischen und freimauerartigen Bunde im deutschen
Sprachraum Mitteleuropas. Teil : Der mystisch-magische Orden
Fraternitas Saturni. The idea of such a lodge fascinated me, as I
hoped for a more 'original' form of the kind of magic and mysticism
found among the Golden Dawn materials or the ideas of Aleister
Crowley. I would search through inter-library loan lists for years to
try to find this t e x t to no avail.
In the spring of 1982 I enrolled in a seminar at the University of
Gottingen in Germany entitled: Probleme im Okkultismus: Agrippa ·
' o r blems in Occultism (topic) Agrippa.' Only in Germany could one
get a course like that In any event, the professor who led the

Iseminar
gained was Helmut
access Moiler,
to the noted
text of scholarbyofHemberger
the study the occult.the
Through
title of him
which had started me on my journey toward the Satumian mysteries.
Besides this text, other Satumian materials came to light during my
stay in Germany. Some were being published at the time by a small
sectarian press, while others came through more private channels .
It was also while I was in Germany that I attended some of the
rituals of the Armanen Orden which my researches led me to
conclude were greatly influenced by the ritual methods practiced by
the FS. (This was no doubt due to the fact that the Grand Master of
the Armanen Orden was himself a member of the Brotherhood.) I
mention this because, although I was never an initiate of the FS, my
participation in the rites of the Armanen Orden did, I believe, give
me some practical and experiential insight into the workings of the
FS Lodge.
Originally the book had the academic sounding title: ' The Magical
Order FAATERNITAS SATURNI: The History, Doctrines and Rituals of a
e
Modern
Fire andGerman Ice for Occult Lodge.' This would
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marketing reasons. eventually
It is a factor, often
changed
not to 1/7
8/17/2019 Aquino Michael - The Secret of Fire and Ice
It is unlikely that I will ever again devote the time necessary to
such as the title of a book, its cover design and jacket designs, as produce another complete book-length manuscript on the Fraternitas
well as advertising copy for the book.
• Saturni. However, not long after the publication of Fire and Ice I came
One of the other chief misconceptions about this book stems from into possession of literally thousands of pages of documentary
the fact that I am not, nor have I ever been, a member or initiate of evidence for the FS in addition to the materials I had previously
the FS. The book was written from a purely scholar1y perspective gathered as reflected in the documentation of Fire and Ice This came
using as many original documents as possible to come to a coherent in the form of a set of Blatter fUr angewandte okkulte Lebenskunst
and sympathetically objective interpretation ot the data at hand. To published from 1950 to 1963. It there is a demand, I will perhaps
do this had to use the perspecttves I had gained in other initiatory produce more of these shorter studies in the philosophy and practices
environments. This is true of any scholar or wnter on obscure and of the FS.
difficult topics such as this one represents. We all have our Some Crowley fans were shocked and registered their sense of
prejudices and points of view, absolute objectivity is an outrage at the addition to the Thelemite motto: Co m pass io nl
impossibility. So it comes down to a matter of selecting one's L ove, after the now familiar Do what thou wilt shall be the Whole
viewpoints in order to open the mind of the reader to n e w of the Law, Love is the Law, Love under Will . Some of these had
possibilittes rather than selecting viewpoints that wtll close the obvtously not read 11:21:
mind. A book written on the FS by a Baptist minister would, I should
expect, close the mind, whereas one of my initiatory bent might be We have nothing with the outcast and unfit: let them die in their misery. For they
feel not. omp • Mion is the vice of king s: stamp down the WYetched & the wealc
more likely to point in sympathetic directions. I can report that no
lh1s •s the law of the strong: th•s IS our law and the joy of the world Think not o
member of the FS has complained about my interpretations and lang. upon that lie: That Thou Must O.e : venly thou shalt not di e but live.
vie wp o in ts- and 1 am well acquainted with a number of htgh initiates
in the Brotherhood. Here the intelligence which dictated the Book of the Law instructs
It took two years for Fire and Ice to be publis hed- and this was at in the character of Compassionless Love. (Undoubtedly as the
a time when Llewellyn was usually turning books around from the intelligence had read Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra. It also
manuscript stage to a completed book in the bookstores a ~ t t e r seems that the intelligence was very familiar with the Holy Bible, as
of about six months. The reason for this delay was the dtsturbmg it repeats the words of the Serpent to Eve .. Nequaquam morte
contents of the book. Much of this hinged on the ' S-word,' yes, you moriemini.
guessed it: S -A·T·A·N. . Clearly the recent history of the domestic social policies of the
Ultimately it became necessary to remove some 14 mstances of United States of America shows the virulent and destructive power
the dread name Satan· ' or ' Lucifer' (and even the name ' Anton of compassion. Small evils are magnified to overwhelming evils
L a V e y - apparently the equivalent of Satan ) from the text. Most of through the application of compassion .
these instan-ces occur in chapter 4 of the book. Other changes were Another complaint of some readers of Fire and Ice is that it
also required. includes data written from a Setian perspective. The original text
Now it should be made clear that here again, I am not a promoter included much more of this type of perspective, but some of it was
of the ideas that were originally contained in the manuscript of Fire deleted at the publisher's insistence. To this charge I must plead
and lc - and that to my own way of thinking I do not consider myself guilty as charged. The reason for this is simple, and I offer it here as
to have been then, or to be now, a 'Satanist. ' I became a member of an example of how meaningful works of scholarship are actually
the Temple of Set in February of 1984, and continue to be a b e r created . (This is usually an unconscious process as practiced by most
of that organization. The Temple of Set is a Left-Hand Path lmhatory scholars, but I have given up unconsciousness in such regards.)
organization. (It is perhaps most fully described in Lords of the Left· Scholars, interpreters and commun-icators of various data must of
Hand Path. necessity work through certain models of understanding which they
The disturbing quality of Fire and Ice even extended to the cover have developed within th e m se lve s- these are their th eo ri es o f
art: Often the cover art for Llewellyn publications, beginning in the int erpret at ion. These theories act as l s s through which the
1980s, could be criticized for being too ' hokey or ' namby-pamby.' data is observed and ultimately interpreted in a meaningful way. For
Such could be said of the cover of Rune Might and certainly of me that lens was to a great extent the Left-Hand Path philosophy of
Northern Magic, but not of Nine Doors of Midgard, and certainly not of the Temple of Set. I found that there was much in common between
Fire and Ice. 1 even got reports that members of the Llewellyn staff the philosophies of the FS and the T/S . The accuracy of that lens can
were 'frightened' by the cover art of Fire and Ice. (My complements be measured by reading Appendix A of this work.
to the artist ) It should be noted by all who find the FS material fascinating, and
These stories perhaps give some insight into the reasons behind who would perhaps like to get involved with the FS, that the Order is
the book's ultimate fate ...

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the structure found in Crowley' s system. The synthesis of polar
an entirely German-speaking one and that fluency in that language is opposites is a much stronger theme in Satumian teachings than it is
an absolute prerequisite for membership. It is also only active in the in the writings of other 'Western occult schools.' And it is perhaps
central European geographical area. here that the structural link with the Northern Tradition is strongest.
Personally one of the most gratifying things about the text of Fire From the theories of the 'heretical' astrophysicist Hans Horbiger
and Ice is the fact that in 1993 it was translated into German and (1860·1931) Gregorius gleaned a doctrine of the cosmic tension
published by Ed1tion Ananael as Feuer und cis: Die magischen Lehren between centripetal and centrifugal f o r c e s - between the forces of
des deutschen Geheimordens Fratemitas Satumi. It has now become repulsion/expansion and attraction/contraction. The center of the
the standard general introduction to the order in Germany, Austria cosmos is symbolized by the center of the sun, while the outer limits
and Switzerland. of it is embodied in the orbit of the planet Saturn. (In ancient
Here follow two appendices to the book Fire and Ice. Appendix A is astronomy/ astrology Saturn was the outermost planet as the others
a study of the left-hand path character of the order and Appendix B is were not visible .)
the original, and never-before-printed, preface to Fire and Ice Satumian teachings place a primary emphasis on dar\mess.
written in 1988 by Michael A. Aquino , High Priest of the Temple of Darkness is said to precede light and to provide a matrix for the
Set. manifestation of the light: Without darl<ness there is no light The
'dualism' of the FS is not one that seeks to destroy one pole in favor
Ap pe nd ix A of the other, but rather it seeks to go beyond the polarities t h r o u g h
Th e FS aa a Left-Ha nd Pat h Ord er ex pe ri ence of both e xtre mes .
For Gregorius the New Aeon was to be as much determined by the
Because an open and frank discussion of the role of Satan in the transition into the much anticipated Age of Aquarius as by the
doctrines of the FS were prohibited in order to preserve public Equinox of the Gods perceived by the Beast. In traditional medieval
sensibilities, I thought I would include some of it in this supplement astrology the zodiacal sign of Aquarius is ru led by the planetary
intended tor a more select readership . I draw material for this force of Saturn. In modem forms the planet Uranus is given primary
appendix from the unpublished manuscript of Lords of the Left Hand rulership over that sign.
Path and from two essays by Gregorius entitled 'Mephistopheles oder Gregorius begins his essay on 'Mephistopheles oder Luzifer?' with
Luzifer?' from the April 1953 edition of Blatter fOr angewandte a fascinating discussion of the origins of the name 'Mephistopheles,'
okkulte Lebenskunst (pp. 1-7) and ' Der Mensch in seiner hbchsten which is naturally of great interest to Germans due to the fact that
Erkenntnisreife' (Humanity in its Fullest Intellectual Maturity) the demonic figure in Faust by the greatest German man of letters,
printed in the May, 1961 issue of that same journal. Neithe r of these Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, bore that name . Indeed, it is not just a
articles were available to me at the time of the original writing of 'made up n a m e - it appears in a number of actual magical grimoires
Fire and Ice. dating from the time of the historical Faust. Mephistopheles is
In the manuscript Lords of the Le ft Hand Path I define the left usually interpreted as a Greek word meaning He who does not love
hand path as follows: the light.' An alternate, but more doubtful, theory connects it with
the Hebrew words mephir 'destroyer,' and tophel 'liar.' This seems
... T)I1e left-hand path S ... the path of non-union with the objective umverse. It IS less likely as there is no plausible syntax to connect these isolated
the way of isolating consc1ousness wi th1n the subjectiVe universe and n a state of sell nouns into an actual name . Most interestingly, however, Gregorius
imposed psych1c solitude. relining lhe soul r psyche to ever more perfect levels. The
objectiVe universe then made to harmonize itself with the ot the ind1vidual psyche mentions the name of a Roman female 'demon,' or malevolent spirit,
instead ol the olher way around. Where the right-hand palh is theocentnc o r certainly named 'Melitis.' The Roman historian Tacitus mentions that in the
alleocentric- 'other-cenlered"), lhe left-hand palh is psychecentric, or souVs ell second battle of Cremona, a city in northern Italy embroiled in a civil
centered. Those with1n the leU-hand path may argue over the nature of lhis seiVegotsoul, war around 69-70 CE, the city was sacked and burned and that ' ...only
but that the individual is the epicenler of the path i tself seems undisputed. An eternal
separation of the individual intelligence from the objective universe is sought in the le11· the templ e of Melitis outside the city walls remained standing,
hand path. This amounts to an immortality of the independenl sell consciousness moving defended by its position or the power of its divinity.' Histories Book
within the objective universe and interacting wilh it at will. 111:33) It is noted that Melitis is a goddess of pestilential vapors
placated in many parts of Italy. Gregorius further notes tha t
To begin wi th, let us review some ideas about the Saturnian view subterranean deities, such as Melitis, we re most usually placated
of the cosmos- the world-order. Th e cosmological doctrine of the with human sacrifices which were conducted in conjunction with
S or its Cosmosophy - is based on dualities and the interplay of sexual orgies. Melitis, and demonesses like her, it seems, desired
dualities: light and darkness, inner and outer, male and female. To male counterparts to complete a sexual polarity. Gregorius
some extent this echoes Crowley's ' monistic dualism ' and his speculates that the name Mephistopheles is actually derived from a
polarity between Hadit and N u i t but in some respects it goes beyond

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phrase meaning 'the Lover of Melitis : Mefitis-o-philos. This appears
as far-fetched as the supposed Hebrew etymology of the word, ich bin ein Teil des Tei/s, der anfangs a//es war,
however. ein Teil der Finsternis, die sich das Licht gebar
Whatever the origin or meaning of the name Mephistopheles, the
interpretation of the name is clearly linked to darkness and to the I am a part of the part, that was in the beginning everything,
telluric or chthonic realms below the E a r t h - it is the Demonium of a part of the darkness, that gave birth to the light...
the Earth, or Earth-Spirit as reflected in Goethe's Faust. This Faust : 1349-50
connection is greatly clarified by the Italic lore concerning the
demoness Melitis. This Demonium of the Earth is the most direct link This idea perfectly reflects the Saturn1an concept that the
to the power zone of Saturn, according to Gregorius. Darkness is primary and precedes the Light, and s therefore
The Saturnian initiate must go down into the depths of darkness in necessary to the existence of the Light. There is no Light without
order to rise to the heights of the Saturnian sphere- here we find Darkness. This is true in the cosmic or der - but it is just as true in
echoes of Nietzsche's famous formula represented in the first the lives of individual initiates.
sections of Also Sprach Zarathustra that one must go under ' In Der Mensch in seiner hochsten Erkenntnisre ife (Humanity in its

(untergehen) in order to become the over-man (Ubermensch). Fullest Intellectual Maturity) delivered at the Easter Lodge of the FS
Obviously the FS doctrine of the nature and character of Satan is in 1961 Gregorius discussed the nature of hum anity - and again he
drawn from a structural understanding of the cosmos based on a returns to the model of polarization. As an individual being Gregorius
polarian model- that everything is polarized with 'positive' and sees the human as an entity caught between two opposing poles of
negative' ends of a pole. Furthermore, the FS philosophy, or life or creativity and death or destruction, or between knowledge and
cosmosophy, makes use of an idea perhaps most clearly expressed in ignorance. But, of course, Gregorius does not see these as good
the Buddhistic schools of Madhyamika ( Middle-way ) and the versus 'evil. ' He sees both poles as necessary to the evolution or
Vajrayana ('Thunderbolt-Vehicle') which use versions of the formula: initiation of the individual. However, as the FS philosophy has it, only
maya • nirvana. Philosophically the Madhyamika school claimed that an elite part of humanity will ever be able to see beyond the dualities
in fact there was no difference between maya and nirvana- both were or be able to make practical use of both poles of reality for the
equally void (sunyata) or alternately that the phenomenal world evolution of the self.
(maya) exists only in the mind of the perceiver. Thus, if maya • Ignorance, or Agnosis, (German Nichtwissen), when recognized as
nirvana then indulgence in the phenomenal world can lead to the ) such by the potential initiate, is a true spur to real knowledge or
world of bliss. Maya is used to attain nirvana. In practical terms this understanding. Here we are reminded of the declaration of the oracle
opens the way to antinomianism. Profane things are made pure as ) at Delphi that Socrates was the wisest of men in all Greece because
an exercise of the mind. he claimed to know nothing. All knowledge begins with an
assumption of ignorance. But the ignorance is like a great weight on
According to the la w ol polanzation the negallve pnnciple has absolutely lh same the spirit and s o u l - only the strong will be able to use this
value as the positiVe and the opposition of forces is necessary and a basic condition lor life resistance to enlightenment for the purpose of self-transformation.
in every phase of the me 'lestallon of hie as a maintenance of force. So the negative The all-pervasive ignorance of the masses is a testing mechanism.
Luciferian princ1ple S therefore not only of a divme origin, but it is also just as
necessary as the Chrestos-prfncople as a balancing factor. . . The masses incapable of true Knowledge (gnosis) become prisoners of
Lucifer. the great L1ght-Bearer for human1ty, who fiberates the ego-centric power of unconsciousness where external god-forms are projected in order to
the Solar-Logos wuh his own power, can lunct1on as a factor lor salvation for individuals allay the humans' fear of having to doubt. The Saturnian elite,
who understand spintually just as well as the Chrestos-principle of the Sun ...
however, recognize that they are their own g o d s - they must be for
Therefore to pursue the Cult of Saturn is to grasp the higher octave of this Oemiurge, to
realize the Lucilerian princip le which lies within it as a spiritual and divine power. and there simply are no others. Gregorius writes that the Saturnian
consciously to harmonize this in the service of the Solar-Logos. initiate 'should elevate himself upon the pedestal of a god-like
Blatter April 1953, p. 6 entity, despite his profound knowledge that there is no personal G o d 
just as there is no Devil . ( p. 4
Lucifer is then the higher octave of the Saturnian planetary Despite the insistence upon the initiated individual as the true
sphere, while Satan is the lower octave. The octaves are cosmic measurement of the divine, certain apparently objective figures of
principles, and exist beyond characterizations of good and evil. god-like dimensions play a part in the Saturnian cosmology. These
They simp ly are They exist as harmonics. Each is necessary to the apparent divinities are, however, not gods in the traditional sense.
entirety of the Saturnian sphere, but neither defines the sphere They are either objective concrete phenomena or psychogonic
completely. They are each pars pro t t ~ parts of a whole. projections of individual or collective human minds.
On some level this polarized cosmology was understood by Goethe,
as he has Mephistopheles identify himself as:

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To the former category belong entities such as Satumus - the gold. • Standard we stern magical symbolism ascribes lead to Saturn
creative agency, or demiurge, of the cosmos as well as Lucifer and and gold to the Sun. This is the initiatory application of the
Satanals-- the so-called higher and lower octaves of the Satumian Cosmosophical doctrines of polarization.
planetary sphere. To the latter category belongs the GOTOS, the The chief function of the Brotherhood itself in this process for
egregore of the Fraternitas Saturni This entity has been built up the individual is that the group builds and maintains a constant bond
through the ages as a result of Satumian magical wor1< by individual with the Satumian sphere in the form of the egregore GOTOS. The
magicians and the FS as a whole. The Grand Master of the order egregore is the product of concentrated collective thought forms
stands in a special relationship with this entity as it is identified built up throughout the years by the FS. The bond with this egregore
with the 33° of the o r d e r - the Gradus Ordinis Templi Orientis Satumi both aids in the re-pola rization of the individual toward the
G.O.T.O.S.). Satumian sphere and provides energy for bringing about practical
The archetypes such as Satumus and Lucifer become models for magical ends.
the evolution of the magician. They are the patterns of existence in Because the FS has as one of its main teachings that the world is
the objective universe which initiates use to shape their own paths passing into a so-called Aquarian-Uranian Age a fairly developed
of transformation. But the entities that are the pure products of picture of the envisioned future emerges. lt only bears a fleeting
human will are utilized as tools for the creation of certain magical resemblance to the much publicized Age of Aquarius made popular
eHects. The GOTOS holds together and empowers the FS in a general in the 1960s and 1970s. The astrological sign Aquarius is
way and lends its power to individual members who know the keys to traditionally ruled by Saturn with his dar1< and distant aspects. Only
gaining access to that power. The creation of such egregores or in more modem times, with the discovery of the planets outside the
psychogones (entities generated by the agency of the human psyche or orbit of Saturn, was Aquarius assigned to the planet Uranus.
will) is a common magical te chnique in the FS even on a much smaller This Aquarian-Uranian Age, ruled by Saturn, will be one in which a
scale. spiritual elite will be increasingly powerful. But because the
The structural framewor1< of initiation in the F ratemitas Satumi initiatory process of this Saturnian spiritual elite takes place on a
is provided by the 33 degrees based on the system of the Ancient and very individualized basis, cooperation or fellowship between and
Accepted Scottish Rite . This becomes a vast training curriculum for among initiates will be a great challenge . This is part of the
the acquisition of magical skills and techniques. This progress is significance of the Brotherhood of Saturn itself. The individuals seek
seen as a continuum through the 33 degrees with no annihilation of solitude for their spiritual development, but the physical basis
the self being a part of it. needed to sustain the spiritual solitude requires social cooperation.
The path of Saturn is constantly being called one that is both One unrealized, yet definite part of the Saturnian vision was the
lonely and fraught with danger and s uffering- all of which is taken establishment of a monastery for initiates. This monastery would
on as a matter of self -determined volition. The role of antinomianism serve as an educational center (and vacation site) for most members
in the FS curriculum is significant. Not only is there an emphasis on of the order, while it would be staHed by a group of high grade
dar1< and foreboding images and experiences, which is meant to weed
initiates who would live there. The monastery would provide the kind
out those unfit for Saturnian initiation, but there is also the common
training principle of going against the grain of the initiate s natural of physical and spiritual isolation conducive to Satumian initiation.
Obviously there is nothing evil about the doctrines of the FS.
inclinations. For example, if the person is naturally oriented toward However, at the same time the Brotherhood, because it was able in
intellectual and analytical pursuits, that person might be directed to its early years to remain outside the public spotlight, was not
emphasize emotive and intuitive methods in training. particularty shy about addressing the true nature and character of
The magical methodology created by Gregorius for the FS entities such as Satan and Lucifer in an initiatory context. By so
hinges on experience and knowledge- the experience of the Saturnian doing they discovered for themselves the powerful role these
life and of the sacraments of the Brotherhood and knowledge of the entities can and do play in the transformation of individuals through
Saturnian Cosmosophy or wisdom concerning the cosmic order. magical technologies. lt perhaps seems a shame that more people are
Solitude is cultivated so as to isolate the true subject of the not willing at least to hear about these alternate forms of
transformation- the individual self. The transformational process spirituality- but on the other hand the fact is that widespread
follows along a path defined by the thirty-three degrees leading from acceptance of such ideas is simply not possible.
Earth to the core of the Saturnian sphere. In that sphere, according to
Saturnian Cosmosophy, is the true reality of the Solar-Logos. The Sun
is the polar opposite of Saturn. But because the core on one extreme
contains the essence of its opposite, the path to Saturn is the surest
path to the Sun. In this way the alchemical lead is transformed into

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Appendix B withstand the emergent Powers of Darkness and banish them again to
Preface to Fire and l e e the Outer Spheres.
• by - Today, a half-century later, the world has not yet recovered from
Michael A. Aquino that experience. Tolkien s Mordor is still felt to harbor the ghosts of
Germany is the most disturbing place in the world. Sauron and Morgoth beneath its affable Gemutlichkeit. Germany
Other nations, othe r cultures have their folklore, their remains divided in two; like Siegfried s blade it is thought to be much
superstitions, their sacred groves and magical mountains. Tourists in less dangerous that way. Authors and screenwriters know that
England may imagine primeval Rites of Spring at Stonehenge, while German villains are easily the most diabolical, and if you add a dash
visitors to Egypt or Mexico gaze at the towering pyramids in ecstatic of the supernatural to their m enac e- as in Raiders of the Lost Ark -
awe of their age and grandeur. Pilgrims to Mecca adore a sacred rock an exquisitely frightful combination results .
covered in silk, while in Rome the faithful seek the favor of St. Peter The roots of contemporary Western occultism are also to be found
by kissing the foot of his statue. in the swirling Nacht und Nebel of Germany. The Freemasons, Vehm,
But all these sites, relics, and curios are tacitly assigned to a role Rosicrucians, Ariosophists, Thule Gesellschaft, and Illuminati all
apart from what modern civilization smugly defines as reality. sprang from its enchanted soil. Even the famous Hermetic Order of

Perhaps they were indeed real to an ancient civilization, or even to the Golden Dawn, that most British of occult fraternities, seduced
our own grandparents. In this technological era of computers and aspirants with claims of its German origins. When Reichsfiihrer SS
space shuttles, however, they are dismissed as mere baubles for the Heinrich Himmler constructed Black Magical ritual chambers in
commercial titillation of tourists or religiou s fanatics. Westphalia s Wewelsburg Castle as the MJttelpunkt der Welt he was
In Germany this reassuring distinction does not exist. merely formalizing what occultists had known all along: that here
Sail down the Rhine and you pass castles erected in the mists of was the wellspring of what some call knowledge and others, less
prehistory by gods, giants, or deemons, close by clif fs from whose boldly, call evil .
heights phantom sirens enticed mariners to their doom; the river So why, amid the flood of books on contemporary occultism, has so
itself gleams with a golden hoard which brought about the ruin of the little been written about the esoteric influence of Germany?
ancient world of the gods and inaugurated that of mankind in its The answer is obvious, yet itself so controversial that it is rarely
place. Wander through the Teutoburger Forest to the Externsteine, openly acknowledged. German occultism leads too quickly into
that stark, haunted cairn which fixes the heavens in their place . In forbidden realms such as racial differences, social Darwinism,
the vastness of Thuringia gaze upon the Kyffhiluser mountain wherein unhallowed prehistoric civilizations and Judeeo-Christianity s
the Emperor Barbarossa slumbers, swatting the call of his ancient corruption of the human soul . Few are the authors and publishers who
warriors to lead them again across the frozen wastes to Kharkov. dare tread such dangerous ground, even fortified with suitably pious
Enter Munich s Frauenkirche cathedral across the flagstones wherein disclaimers. As for the self-professed pagans of today s Age of
the impression of the Devil s cloven foot burns to this day. Stroll Aquarius, nestled in gentle fantasies of candles and crystals, they
through the bustling capital of Bonn amidst gleaming skyscrapers and are among the first to cry for suppression of That which lies beyond,
polished Mercedes limousines- then raise your eyes to behold on a fearing that an aroused, hysterical public would savage them as
distant crag the baleful ruins of Drachenfels the fearsome dragon cruelly as it would genuine disciples of the Black Arts.
castle of hushed and unholy legend. In Germany the spectres of Stephen Flowers has dared to open th gate which was not to be
nameless things glide silently among the living, and that which ought opened In a series of books under th nom e plume of Edred
never to be is only too real. Thorsson, he has already unveiled the mysteries of the Runes, that
And so this nation has been instinctively feared by the rest of the most mysterious of magical mechanisms, and has rescued Guido von
world far beyond whatever military or economic power it has held at List s classical treatise on that subject from the obscurity in which
any particular time. When Mussolini dressed his Fasci di it has languished for almost a century . Now in the present work he
Combattimento in black-and -silver uniforms, observers dismissed it has turned his attention to the Fratemitas Satumi. Why has he done
as comic and theatrical. When the same colors appeared on Nazi this? And why for that matter should anyone care about this
Germany s Schutzstaffe/ however, it wasn t in the least amusing. particular institution?
Rather it heralded precisely what Germany s neighbors had dreaded Books on occultism are generally written either by passionate
for so long: the reawakening of ancient sorceries allied with modern pretenders frantic for self -advertisement, or by historians equally
science- Siegfried s enchanted sword reforged in the furnaces of the anxious to disassociate themselves from the bewildering absurdities
Krupps. Against the rest of the Axis, Worfd War II was just another they describe . Stephen Flowers, fortunately for the reader , labors
war . But against Germany it was a holy crusade against a under neither hindrance. The meticulous and methodical scholar, he
metaphysical horror beyond mere politics- a desperate campaign to received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Germanic Studies from

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8/17/2019 Aquino Michael - The Secret of Fire and Ice

the University of Texas and has gone on to teach a series of

distinguished collegiate courses in that field. Just as systematically
he has personally experimented with the various esoteric arts and I
sciences he has investigated, and is not the least apol.ogetic for
having done so. He is quitely recognized as an authority within
several prestigious initiatory environments, and has been a mentor
and counselor to a good many occult authorities whose names are
more widely publicized than hilf own.
He undertook this particular book because the Fraternitas Saturni
seemed to him both significant nd unappreciated as n occult
phenomenon. At first glance it appears to be little more than an early
O.T.O. clone which was a bit more reluctant to be devoured by
Aleister Crowley than its better known predecessor. Certainly its
emphasis upon a sexual interpretation of magic stems from the O.T.O.
Yet, as Flowers points out, the Fraternitas Saturni diverged from the
O.T.O in one very meaningful respect. For Saturnine, magic was a
means of tr nscending a naturally-ordered existence not of ritual
obliteration of the self within it. By this simple affirmation the
Fraternitas Saturni removed itself from the Right-Hand Path and
placed itself squarely on the Via Sinistra whose distinctive feature
is rejection of the universe as it is perceived to be structured.
Nevertheless the fraternity failed to successfully negotiate the
Black Brick Road, relying as it did upon a natural mechanism of the
body - sex - to catalyze its Workings. In n appendix to this book

Flowers explores this delicate subject with more insight and candor
than have ever graced far more turgid writings on the subject-
including those of the Fraternitas aturni itself. Per Flowers
analysis, one can see how so m ny would-be sex magicians have
charged like lemmings into this alluring ocean. If they then vanish
beneath the surface with a grunt and a squeal, should one be
surprised?
You will enjoy this book. You will also learn a great deal from it. It
is written by someone who knows his stuff, on a subject that is
directly relevant to the major occult issues of our time. Let us all
pester the author to write more books like it.

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