"High Magic in 24 Lessons" -- Ebay Scam Alert
© 2004
>> I recently purchased an inexpensive pamphlet from ebay written by Franz Bardon called "High Magic in 24 Lessons." In your opinion, is this book a legitimate book of Bardon's writings? <<
No, it was *not* written by Bardon. What it is, is an overly re-translated translation of the German original book, "Seven Hermetic Letters" by Georg Lomer.
Several years prior to writing "Initiation Into Hermetics", Bardon translated the German original of "Seven Hermetic Letters" into Czech language for his Czech students. He felt that, of all the books then available, it at least offered a few workable exercises for a student to begin with. Obviously, when it came to writing IIH, he made clear the ways in which he disagreed with many of Lomer's suggestions, such as the ones you've noted.
At any rate, after Bardon's death the typewritten manuscript of Bardon's translation of Lomer's book was found among his effects. It was mistakenly thought to have been an early writing of Bardon's and so Dieter Ruggeberg had it translated from the Czech into German and published it under Bardon's name as an appendix to the German edition of "Frabato" with the title of "High Magic". Then it was translated again from German into English and also published as an appendix to the English edition of "Frabato". It wasn't until a few years later that it was discovered to be a translation of Lomer's "Seven Hermetic Letters". But that isn't surprising considering that by that point it had been translated from German into Czech into German into English! ;-)
Merkur publishes an English translation taken directly from the German original if you'd care to compare the results.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
22 June 2004