Unknown Hermetic Writings of S. L. MacGregor Mathers and J. W. Brodie-Innes
John William Brodie-Innes (1848 – 1923) was a leading member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn's Amen-Ra Temple in Edinburgh. Born in Moray, Scotland, the son of John Brodie-Innes, a friend of Charles Darwin, he was a lawyer by profession. He was a member of a bibliophile society, the Sette of Odde Volumes, London, and was its president in 1911. He wrote several novels on witchcraft and magic and is believed to have been Dion Fortune's occult teacher.
The book is an attempt to restore a missing, or at least neglected, chapter, in Western intellectual history. The "Hermetic Tradition" in the title is the set of beliefs about the supposed Hermes Trismegistus which Renaissance Europe inherited from the Church Fathers. They variously saw him as an ancient Prophet, and the real source of Plato's philosophy, and perhaps the disciple of Abraham or Moses, maybe even their teacher; or as a wicked tool of Satan. When Greek manuscripts of supposed Hermetic texts became available in Florence, the Medici put a priority on translating them, instead of Plato or Plotinus, and Marsilio Ficino obliged, launching a wave of excitement among some European thinkers.