Prior to this book I didn't know much about early Theosophy nor some of the early Theosophists/Alchemists like Jacob Boehme, Conrad Beissel, and Johannes Kelpious. It's an incredibly well-written and informative book. The book primarily deals with magickal sects of early Colonial America, like Ephrata Cloister, The Brotherhood of Zion, and 'The Woman in the Wilderness'. These were Theosophic/Rosicrucian sects that operated in PA from the 1690s through the 1800's. It's all stuff you don't normally hear about in American history classes or textbooks of course. It's really amazing that some of the first American colonies were actually founded by groups of highly intellectual people who practiced Alchemy, Qabalah, Astrology, and Hermeticism. They even built America’s first observatory for studying the heavens. Some of their writings and doctrines contain really profound thought, and was in many ways very ahead of its time (though in other ways very much a product of the era).

It's fascinating how different America might be today if some of these sects/orders had really taken hold. The early Theosophical writing of Jacob Boehme and his contemporaries is amazingly deep stuff. It's a whole different animal than the other definition of Theosophy as proselytized by Madame Blavatsky around 1900. Early Theosophic concepts are very Jungian, non-dogmatic, in many ways and also very anti-church, as they felt each person had to discover their own unique route to understanding/connecting to the divine. That kind of independent thinking is never popular with the Control System. It's similar in some ways to the 19th century Transcendentalists, like Emerson. In fact one could say the latter is the progeny of Theosophy. I find it utterly fascinating. It's also no surprise it never really caught on, as it really requires a high degree of imagination, the ability to think abstractly, and keen intellect to fully grasp, and as we know, even today most people have these attributes in short supply.

The book is published by the University of PA and thus a very scholarly and dense treatise. While the book was packed with wonderful and well-researched information, it was also occasionally a tad dry at times. The font was also a bit too small. I found myself growing tired from eye strain after a while. So that aspect was a bit of a chore. Those minor failings aside, it was a fabulous book. I learned a ton. ( )