Did a "Hidden Hand" Revive the Occult?

An esoteric backstory too compelling to overlook

Symbol of the H. B. of L., circa 1870 [?]

Friends, As a chronicler (and practitioner) of occultism, I use the tools of a historian. I often say that supposition, however elegant, is not sourcing. Some of my more ambitious-minded colleagues and readers find my approach frustratingly conservative. But I determined at the outset of this journey that occult and esoteric history deserve tools of scholarship. I also call myself a “believing historian” insofar as I participate in many of the movements I document. I note all this because I am presenting a hard-won exegesis of a truly opaque but compelling alternative strand of history, which I consider the esoteric of the esoteric. -M-

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No rendering of modern occult history is complete without considering what has come to be called the “hidden-hand” theory.

The backstory of this drama is so serpentine that it nearly defies summation, which is part of its charm. The other part of the theory’s charm is that, in whole or part, it just might be true.

To recover this thread requires winding back the clock to 1884, when a secretive European occult order called the H.B. of L., for Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, appeared in England. Even the group’s name is laced with intrigue.