First translated from its original French in 1963, Pauwels and Bergier’s The Morning of the Magicians remains a classic of the mystic and magic genre.
     Its more than 400 pages are literally packed with information. Each page is a treasure trove, unlocking the readers mind to what comes next, as well as shining light on what has just been read.
     One may be familiar with large chunks of information in this book, but one would be hard pressed to find another publication that treats any and all ideas in it with equal respect and admiration.
     Some examples of the ground covered are the ideas of Hans Horbiger, the prominent spiritualist with strong ties to the Nazi Party during World War II. His ideas are given clear and concise coverage, without getting bogged down in the recent hysteria known as ‘Political Correctness’.
     Horbiger’s Theory of Eternal Ice, in a nutshell, was that the universe is in constant struggle between the powers of ice and fire. Attraction and Repulsion, a classic dualist ideology, which Horbiger deftly updated to slot triumphantly into the belief that Nazi Germany was giving birth not only to a new world, but a new religion, and even a new science.
     As Horbiger was to claim: “Objective science is a pernicious invention, a totem of decadence… preliminary to any scientific activities it [is] necessary to know who wants to know.”
     Horbiger’s strange outlook, with the idea that science is a purely elitist pursuit that borders almost on prophethood, reached the ears of Hitler himself, who became one of his most ardent followers, and added his theories to the occult arm of Nazism.
     The way Bergier and Pauwels convey this information is as refreshing today as it must have been when the book was first published over 45 years ago.
     Another prominent thinker given due respect is Charles Fort. An obsessive collector of knowledge reportedly filling cabinet after cabinet with little snatches of information from anywhere and everywhere, Fort and his approach to information gave rise to his own school of comprehension.
     The famous UK publication Fortean Times is named after him, and whether we want to admit, or even think about it at all, the internet in its current incarnation owes a lot to Fort’s ideas on information gathering.
     One could call it ‘alternative thinking’, or ‘thinking outside the box’, when it comes to Fort’s ideas, especially when it relates to modern scientific thinking. Fort took the idea of the observer and the observed one step further, and tossed modern thinking on its head: “Science isolates phenomena to observe them. Fort’s idea was that nothing can be isolated. An isolated object ceases to exist.”
     It’s not just the ideas of the West explored in this book, as many pages are given to Shambhala, the idea of an advanced civilisation in the Gobi Desert wiped out by an atomic cataclysm, and the ancient, always-relevant knowledge known to us since the dawn of man and expressed for eons in the East.
     The book works well being read cover to cover on the readers’ first outing. In fact, the reviewer recommends this approach to the newcomer, as the authors let information seep in, though while also establishing the appropriate mindset to unleash and comprehend such information without completely losing the reader.
     Once taken in from cover to cover, it becomes an invaluable research source for anyone interested in the world of magic and mysticism (and dare the reviewer say, ‘New Age’).
Pauwels and Bergier employ an engaging writing style, coming across excitable, poetic and authoritative.
     The Morning of The Magicians is a reference book with a soul, a treasure chest of information that can pay the ransom of modern societies’ stagnant mental promises, and lo, it has just been re-released and is now all the easier to find. Enjoy having your mind blown.