Secret Wisdom: The Occult Universe Revealed

by David Conway

Understand the true nature and the hidden history of the occult--a lost tradition with life-enhancing possibilities. Here, find out precisely what esoteric belief has to say about the universe, its origins and development, and our place within the scheme of it all. More important, see how to access the hidden reality that lies beyond the familiar, everyday world that we take so much for granted. All the deliberate mystification used by too many writers in this field are stripped away, and the discoveries of both science and occultism become the means of increasing self-awareness. Explore it to improve your own life--and humanity as a whole.

Genres: Nonfiction, Esoterica

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Experience of a reality imperceptible to our senses is something I grew up with. That did not inhibit me, however, from seeking to understand it or explore how it might impact, if at all, on the everyday world in which I lived and felt fully at home. Already as a teenager I was reading Rudolf Steiner and Madame Blavatsky (and, it must be said, making little sense of either) as well as Aleister Crowley, the literature of Spiritualism and the musings of Carl Gustav Jung. In addition I was being taught about herbs and country lore by an elderly sheep farmer in the hills of North Wales, a man whose reputation as a magician – that's real magic not the smoke and mirrors kind – was never questioned by people in our neighbourhood.

All of this I have described in my most recent book, Magic Without Mirrors, its subtitle “the making of a magician” intended to signal that I, too, was destined to follow in my teacher's footsteps.

When still in my twenties and barely out of college I wrote my first book, Magic: an occult primer, published by Jonathan Cape and described, to my surprise, as as "one of the best books on magic written in the twentieth century, and one of the best introductions to magic (an altogether rarer phenomenon) , written in any century" (Colin Wilson). There then followed, hard on its heels, The Magic of Herbs and, a few years later, Secret Wisdom: the occult universe explored (though “explored” was inadvertently changed to “revealed” in a recent paperback edition). Some newspaper reviewers predicted I would become a cult figure. I never aspired to that and, happily, it never happened.

What never left me, however, is my curiosity about the wider reality mentioned above and our unique place within it. I have never pretended to know all the answers but by now, I hope, I have learned to ask the right questions. And it's in looking for answers that I invite my readers to join me - in each of my books. My hope is that by the final page of the latest one, Magic without Mirrors, those answers will be within the grasp of everyone.

Reviews

[Tom Cöle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect follow-up to Mr. Conway's first book, Magic: an Occult Primer. Secret Wisdom elucidates occult philosophy and magical practice in a clear and concise way and introduces, for the first time, some elements of autobiography detailing the author's own supernatural experiences. While the book only runs to 186 pages (in the edition of it that I own at any rate) it is so densely packed with ideas you will want to reflect upon that it will doubtless take even the keenest reader some time to finish. I wouldn't suggest tackling this book unless you've had some general acquaintance with both philosophy and the occult - some of the ideas, particularly about Atlantis and Lemuria and the chapter dealing with the ego's journey through the astral plane, will strike unprepared readers as preposterous - but, to be frank, if you've heard of the book, chances are that you're ready for its secrets. A rare treat for aspiring occultists, because this book is free from the obfuscation and starry-eyed credulity which plagues much occult literature. It's also possessed of a dry humour, which endears the author to the reader no end. For anyone interested in getting 'under the bonnet' of the occult and discovering what it's all about, I can scarcely think of a better book.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging, disconcerting and ultimately rewarding. I'm happy I discovered this book. I found it at just the right time.