Did a ‘Hidden Hand’ Instigate the Modern Occult?
The strange life of an intriguing theory that won’t go away
No consideration of modern occult history is complete without confronting what has come to be called the “hidden hand” theory.
The backstory of this drama is so serpentine that it nearly defies summation, which is part of its charm. The other part of the theory’s charm is that, in whole or portion, it just might be true.
To recover this thread requires unwinding the clock to 1884, when a secretive European occult order called the H.B. of L., for Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, appeared in England. Even the group’s name is laced with intrigue.
Historian Joscelyn Godwin notes: “The order in question has always been known by its initials alone, which leaves it ambiguous whether the L. stands for Luxor or Light (though they may mean the same thing).” [1]
The H.B. of L. founders claimed below-ground existence since the group’s covert formation in Egypt in 1870. Although to outer appearances, lesser in scale, ambition, and storied members than the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the H.B. of L. was probably the first initiatory order to provide instruction in practical magick couched in the Western tradition.
