As you can see from the photos, the effort and craftsmanship that went into the physical creation of this book are just as minute as they were for the first volume: Bound in dark-green linen and stamped with the intricate design of the original lodge seal of the FS, the book speaks to the same level of loving attention to detail that we also find in Mr.Lechler's historic research. The reproduction of the countless original and extremely rare documents - most of them appearing in print for the first time - is flawless and allows to immerse the reader deeply into the time and spirit of the occult scene of the early 20th century.

Now, with the recent publication of this 2nd book in the series, let’s recall two essential learnings we took away from the first volume. Especially for a non German-speaking audience that didn’t had the pleasure to read the first book themselves. These learnings are not only applicable to our tradition of Western Magic in general, but also form a helpful backdrop for the review of the second volume in this young series:

We learned that all good work dies within the shadow of men who consider themselves more important than what they contribute to. As soon as the ego and the cause begin to blur, all inner contacts tend to withdraw. Ego as such might not kill the inner contacts but it sure bores them to death and makes them lose interest quickly - giving way to parasites and other spiritual and worldly scavengers who happily feed off the unfinished work. Keeping it stuck, open and arduous like a scar unable to heal. If this was partly true for Heinrich Tränker’s life, it became most apparent in the events that today are known as the ‘Weida conference’ and turned into a clash of egos between Tränker and Crowley. I recommend a re-read of these events in case you happened to miss them - especially as due to their importance they form the first and extended chapters of the 2nd volume.

Secondly, we learned that people who partake in any particular tradition love to look back on their predecessors and past in pride. Even if there is little to be proud of, constructing a past that fills the cracks and gaps in one’s own self-confidence seems to be a topoi, a repeating cultural pattern we humans seem to thrive on. Here we are faced with the flip-side of the saying ‘we are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants’. Because accepting that actually everyone was a dwarf - and our ancestors no wiser or powerful than us - is something most traditions cannot. In these cases historic and mythical past are forced to match and overlap - and the battle over orthodoxy begins. This is also what we discover in Tränker’s biography - and his life-long attempt to establish authority over the one singular version of truth, of an unbroken philosophical, mystical chain of adepts reaching far back into our collective past.

If the stories of our ancestors remain broken and unfinished, like so many of our own, we have the tendency to finish them for them. In fact, this is a wonderful service to our ancestors and has been the soil for myths over millennia. Yet, trying to control, confine and ‘purify’ this living lore, into one orthodox truth, into a single version of a story is where danger sleeps. It kills off the living spirit of our tradition, the constant renewal of our lore. Each myth we keep alive, deserves the right to change again with each mind it passes through. We leave a trace on them, just like they leave a trace on us.

Just like the previous release, Mr.Lechler’s new book on 'The First Years of the Fraternitas Saturni' will proof to be of timeless value to future magicians and occult researchers. Without ever being judgemental or subjectively coloured in perspective the book continues to dismantle many of the myths of our tradition, which we allowed to turn cold and into false orthodoxy. The results of Mr.Lechler's painful private studies in archives all across the German speaking countries continue to break open the stone we, i.e. the German speaking tradition of magic believed to firmly rest upon. In doing so, Mr. Lechler’s second book offers a vast amount of new perspective, new interpretations and - hopefully - of new, living stories of magic to come.