Brother of the Third Degree.

Book Review from the Lucifer Magazine August 1895.

By Will L. Garver. [Boston: Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square; 1894.]

This is a work of fiction giving the trials, temptations, failures and final victory of a student of occultism.

Born in Mexico, of parents who are already “ Members of a High Degree,” and who, having passed through the Grihastha stage, finally devote themselves to the service of humanity, Alphonso Colenso is at an early age taken to Paris by Monsieur Garcia, “ an advanced student of the Esculapian School,” there to pursue his medical studies, and at the same time to take the more important step of joining the Brother­ hood. The tests and initiations through which the hero has to pass before being admitted to the Third Degree then come in rapid succession; they are full of imagination, and the interest of the narrative’ is well sustained, though the final test slightly reminds the reader of the Secret Society in Barnaby Rudge, in which the signs of the skull and crossbones figure with great effect.

The author is, however, evidently a student of Theosophy, and has placed before the public in an eminently readable and attractive guise several important teachings, as, for example, “Knowledge is not to be communicated but evolved. Knowledge does not come from without, it comes from within. All your study of books and things is but to establish the instrumental conditions by and through which the Knower can break forth and manifest.” And again, “Thoughts are more powerful and potent than acts. Acts are but the expression of thoughts.” 

  M.

Lucifer Magazine, (1895), Book Review: “Brother of the Third Degree,” Lucifer Magazine, Vol. XVI August 15 1895, No. 96, pp: 524-525.

William Garver was born in in 1867 and died in 1953. Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Garver was a socialist and a candidate of the Socialist Party of Missouri. He was a member of the theosophical society and was also a Freemason. Around the time he was 27, in 1894, he published the novel: Brother of the Third Degree. Although the title of the novel may imply that the story has masonic connotations, the story is wholly an occult novel using theosophical lore and teachings. The novel also has fictional characters that have similar names to those of real historical members of the Theosophical Society. Although the novel was written in the 19th century, it is still worth reading and studying its contents.