The Occult of Peronality FB page reminds us that this is the birthday of Francis Barrett (1774-1830)
They post:
“Barrett described himself, on the title-page of The Magus, the book on which his reputation rests, as a ‘Professor of Chemistry, natural and occult Philosophy, the Cabala, &c., &c.’ This was a somewhat grandiose claim for a man whose profession was that of apothecary and it brought derision from his contemporaries: the poet Robert Southey described him as a rascal who ‘professes to teach the occult sciences’ while being ‘a greater rogue than Solomon’.”
“His reputation thus stands or falls with The Magus which, despite its many faults, exercised a significant influence on the ideas and the writings of the many magicians and would-be Rosicrucians who flourished during the “occult revival” of the later 19th century. Nothing like it was published subsequently until members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn began to produce their own editions and translations of magical and kabbalistic texts from 1889 onwards. That The Magus also was being regularly reprinted and is still being read late in the 20th century is a testament to the genius of its enigmatic author.” – Robert A. Gilbert, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, p.163-4
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