Travis Simpkins

The Masonic Magician:

The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro

and His Egyptian Rite

by Philippa Faulks and Robert L.D. Cooper

Watkins Publishing, 2008

Brief Review by Travis Simpkins

Long misunderstood and mislabeled as a charlatan, Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (also known as Giuseppe or Joseph Balsamo) continues to fascinate historians and stir debate within the academic realms of Freemasonry and the Catholic Church. Arrested, tried and condemned in 1789, with no provable offense beyond being a Freemason, Count Cagliostro's squalid imprisonment and lonely death is just one of the many injustices perpetrated at the hands on the Inquisition.

In The Masonic Magician: The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and His Egyptian Rite, Philippa Faulks and Robert L.D. Cooper provide a long overdue examination of Cagliostro's Masonic career with an unbiased view not found in earlier volumes. The work began in earnest when Bob Cooper, himself a renowned Freemason and curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, had the text of a handwritten copy of Cagliostro's ritual of Egyptian Freemasonry translated from the original French. It is beautiful document, full of ancient Hermetic wisdom and esoteric values. The text, once rightly examined, provided clear evidence of Cagliostro's love and respect for the Craft… and his desire to build upon it's degrees and teachings (through his new Egyptian Rite) for the betterment of mankind. However, it was precisely in this desire to help humanity that he fell afoul of the Church. "Cagliostro was in possession of something the Church wanted to destroy- he offered mankind a chance to reach divine enlightenment without a church, without a priest and without fear."
Just as interesting as the printed Egyptian Freemasonry ritual are the biographical elements provided by the authors, giving proper context as to how Cagliostro fit into the Age of Enlightenment. An occultist, he sought to unravel and master the mysteries of the ancients: Alchemy, Astrology and Theurgy. Cagliostro saw the Philosopher's Stone not merely as a means to turn base metals into gold, but as an attempt to achieve "the moral and spiritual birth of mankind." In Freemasonry, Cagliostro found a useful tool in symbolism, believing that "symbols can unlock the hidden connecting door between the microcosm (this world) and the macrocosm (the spiritual world)."
Well worth the cover price and the time spent reading it, The Masonic Magician is a concise masterwork in Masonic Education and a well-versed portrait of a misunderstood genius.