The Book of Secrets

The Book of Secrets is all about secret societies, symbols, rituals, and people whom have impacted the occult community. From the Red Wheel/Weiser website:

You’ll discover:

Key Concepts: the Great Work, the Universal Force, Polarity, the Four Elements, Magick and Mysticism, Esoteric Anatomy, Qabalah, Alchemy, Astrology, the Astral Plane, and more.

Symbolism: More than 100 secrets symbols, words, objects, including their meanings and the secret powers they invoke.

Secret Societies and Holy Orders: The gatekeepers and the transmitters of sacred knowledge: Freemasons, O.T.O., Cathars, Templars, Assassins. Pineda places them all in history and geography and explains who they are/were and what they stood for.

Luminaries and Seers: More than 200 legends and historical personages: Hermes Trismegistus, Jesus, Siddartha, Osiris, and other seers from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the 19th and 20th centuries

This is very true. There are tons of different things covered in this book. However, I found it to be lacking. There was only a small amount of information given unless the topic was Free Masons, Knights Templar, and Aleister Crowley. Basically the three most popular topics within secret societies and the occult. I had high hopes for learning more about a wide variety and perhaps even learn something new. Sadly it all seemed more like common knowledge and fluff. This book could have potentially been twice as long had there been more in depth discussion about the various signs, symbols, rituals, secret societies, and concepts. Even just more in depth research to give us a tidbit of something that couldn’t be easily found with a Google search.

Although I didn’t particularly care for this book, it does have one redeeming quality. It is perfect for the person who knows absolutely nothing in the areas that it covers. That person will get enough info to whet the palate and be interested in studying more. The rest of us will have to keep our eyes peeled for a better book.

The Book of Secrets
Esoteric Societies and Holy Orders, Luminaries and Seers, Symbols and Rituals, and the Key Concepts of Occult Sciences Through the Ages and Around the World
Daniel Pineda
ISBN: 9781578634859
Book (Paperback)
Weiser Books
$15.95

**Disclosure**

Weiser Books sent me a copy of The Book of Secrets to review in exchange for this post. All opinions are mine and not swayed by Weiser Books in any way.