Secret Societies and the Hermetic Code: The Rosicrucian, Masonic, and Esoteric Transmission in the Arts | 
| Author: Ernesto Frers
Publisher: Destiny Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $7.50
You Save: $9.45 (56%)
New (38) Used (3) from $7.05
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 256598
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 1594772088
Dewey Decimal Number: 700.47
EAN: 9781594772085
ASIN: 1594772088
Publication Date: March 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New. Great images
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Product Description
A look into secrets hidden in music, painting, sculpture, and architecture
• Ranges from paintings of Byzantine icons to Salvador Dali, music from Mozart to Satanic Rock, and mystery sites from the Pyramids to Andrea Palladio’s Villa Cornaro
• Includes more than 100 color and black-and-white images that reveal the mysteries contained in these artistic works
In Secret Societies and the Hermetic Code, Ernesto Frers presents a virtual museum of artistic works that contain occult secrets. The scope of his research ranges from the paintings of Byzantine icons to Salvador Dali, from mystery sites such as the Pyramids to the architecture of Andrea Palladio’s Villa Cornaro. He also discusses the hermetic influence on music evidenced in the works of Mozart through to the modern era of rock and roll.
Frers explains that all cultures encode in their architecture, art, and music the instructions and diagram of their esoteric ritual and faith. He shows how during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Church’s severe censure of anything antithetical to its dogma forced artists to conceal mystical references within the religious images or scenes they depicted. By examining works that have not received such scrutiny before, including those of Titian, di Cosimo, Botticelli, and Rembrandt, Frers brings to light the symbols and cryptic messages hidden in these masterworks. He presents his evidence using more than 100 color and black-and-white images to reveal the mysteries contained in these works of art. He also extends his investigation to the occult leanings of modern-day musicians such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zepplin.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Perfect not just for new age collections, but for art library holdings as well July 11, 2008
Artistic works often hold hidden occult secrets, and so Ernesto Frers's Secret Societies and the Hermetic Code offers up research ranging from the early paintings of Byzantine times to Dali, and from the Pyramids to architecture. Music also is surveyed in a powerful connection between religious societies and artistic codes, with full-color photos liberally peppered throughout for a pageant of display and visualization. Perfect not just for new age collections, but for art library holdings as well.
 Interesting but unreferenced and uneven July 10, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
An interesting read for anyone with Hermetic or occult leanings. The entire piece must be taken with a grain of salt, however, because it is entirely unreferenced. The author does provide a bibliography and, in the absence of references I'm inclined to do some reading from it to see if anything he claims has any accuracy.
That said, the book is mostly very enjoyable. The first section concerning painted art, especially of the Renaissance, was worth the price of the book by itself, providing enough detail to fuel further investigation. The sections on sculpture and architecture are perfectly adequate though not as compelling and the connection to Hermeticism more vague. By the time I got to the section on classical music, things had degenerated into the more general esoteric in the way of connections rather than Hermeticism in specific, the one notable exception being Mozart's Freemasonic influenced work.
For the last section on Satanic rock, I sincerely hope the author intended to switch to satire. It is so hopelessly wrong as to be laughable. He begins by by "proving" Alistair Crowley to be a satanist. Regardless of your personal viewpoint on Crowley; genius, madman, performance artist, or some combination, he wasn't a satanist. The author then goes on to link many of the bands of the sixties and seventies to Crowley or generally to the bragging of these musicians that they are servants of Satan. It is the case that some of these musicians had some affinity with Crowley and it is true that Jimmy Page bought Crowley's Scottish mansion but that is pretty much the extent of true connections to Hermetic in this section. The frustrating thing is that if he had dumped the satanic angle and written about modern rock artists and their connection to Hermeticism, especially Thelemia, he would have had enough material to write a decent piece. I really do have to wonder why the author switched gears from Hermeticism into Satanism suddenly.
I do recommend the book for the first wonderfully written section on Renaissance art. Most of the rest of the book is enjoyable. Read the last section with tongue firmly planted in cheek or just skip it altogether.
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