Asia Mysteriosa: The Oracle of Astral Force as a Means of Communication with the Little Lights of the Orient

· Historical reprint in a subject area with a substantial esoteric and occult interest · Preface contains historical information that is new and revelatory · Republished in French in 1997 but never before available in English The first English translation of a famous esoteric work describing the workings of the Oracle of Astral Force, the secret divinatory system of the group known as the Polaires and giving clues to their origin, way of working and sources of inspiration. Alongside it is printed the first edition of the Polaire Bulletin, dated 9 May 1930—effectively the manifesto of the Polaires themselves—and a historical preface by Colum Hayward, outlining the history of the Polaires and of the two publications. In 1929 there burst onto the esoteric scene in Paris a group that had been waiting for a decade to manifest publicly, the Polaires. Furnished with a mathematical oracle that they said gave them direct communication with the Masters in the Himalayas and a six-pointed Star symbol that offered a direction of true spiritual development, they sought to resurrect a long-lost Rosicrucian brotherhood and attracted journalists, poets and intellectuals. Among them were the gentle Maurice Magre, novelist and poet and the founder of the Traditionalist movement, Réné Guénon—who split from them, rejecting Theosophy and Spiritualism too. Magre wrote a book called The Return of the Magi, still popular today, and was a close friend of Otto Rahn, German author of The Crusade against the Grail and one of the most controversial figures in the 1930s because of his flirtation with the shadowy archaeology of Heinrich Himmler. Published in Paris in 1929 to explain the working of the Oracle to the public, ASIA MYSTERIOSA is now translated into English for the first time. This translation brings to a new public a fascinating and neglected piece of the intellectual scene of the 1930s. It will be a welcome contribution to the studies of historians, cryptographers, Cabbalists and all seeking esoteric truth.