Customer Reviews

The Red Lion: The Elixir of Eternal Life

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The Red Lion is one of those rare books that comes along once or twice in a generation. Written under the stress of constant terror and death, as Budapest was under siege during the final days of World War Two, the author brings to her readers a message of hope that surpasses the many New Age slogans about 'love and light' that are passed off as truth or 'occult novels' that are either psuedo-pornographic or just plain dull. If you are interested in reading about the nature of human evolution, the Western occult traditions, and the role of personal relationships across lifetimes, and how it all will come to make sense in the end, then The Red Lion is for you. The Red Lion is more than just an accurate book about alchemy and tantric mysticism, it is a book about life.

Though this work is a novel, no-one should be deceived into thinking that this is anything less than a major alchemical work. A whole range of philosophical and esoteric issues are discussed. This reviewer could only absorb the book in small doses; there was so much to mull over. It's amazing it took over 50 years for this book to be translated into English.

The writer does exhibit a Rosicrucian slant at places. For example, reference to the "Chemical Wedding". The emphasis on the Comte de St. Germaine. At other places Szepes refers to Eastern practices, e.g. the Tibetan practice of bringing to life an inanimate statue which subsequently has to be demolished. Thus the polarity between pyschological projection and 'external' reality is re-established, which tends to become blurred when one sets out on the esoteric path and realizes that there is no distinction between psychological and physical reality. The notion of the homunculus is discussed at length. The Emerald Tablet is given in both Latin and English. The list could go on. A spell-binding book that this reviewer found edifying.

The eternal verities of life unfold in this fast-paced, thrilling novel projected against the background of the last four centuries of European history with such astonishing accuracy as if it were an eye-witness account. As the main character evolves through several incarnations from "the lowest point of the deepest depth" to the pinacle of human achievement, he becomes a Magus, an Adept. Following his struggles, one is lead through the terrors of Gothic scenes of medieval Alchemy and through the full scale of human emotions from the basest sex and power-driven desires to the noblest, selfless service of humanity. One is moved through the tantalizing maze of the psychic world up to the calm and majestic realms of the highest mental worlds. His path takes him through the humble homes of peasants and laborers, through alchemical labratories, possession, exorcism, the inquisition and insane asylums, to royal courts and dark castles of nobility. He meets the Rosicrucians and Freemasons, lives through the French Revolution and World War II. His path crosses the paths of simple folks and kings and queens, fakers and seekers, great and small, the Count St. Germain and Cagliostro, Marie Antoinette and many others. Every one is portrayed with an amazingly clear vision. They become pyschological prototypes leaving the reader with the feeling of having personally known them. The author fullfils her promise as she says in the first chapter: "Come with me. Like a priest of the Orphic Mysteries, I will lead you into the darkness of night, through deep, moonless forrests, down the paths of the netherworld leading to the gates of Hades. Do not be afraid; I have a torch and I know my way. You will not get lost. And at dawn we come to the temple of the rising sun."

The Red Lion puts together, in a narrative form, the secrets of alchemy and its effects on the on the consciousness of those striving to discover the ways of transforming lead into gold. For any true alchemists this is merely a metaphor for the tranformation of body into sprirt. The story of this book traces the experience of one seeker, as he awakens through the pre-mature ingesting of the philosopher's stone in a mad quest for immortality. In this case, the adept had not been spirtitual qualified to undergo such transformation and is consequently thrown up against his own demons. The awakening that occurs, for the main character as well as the reader, is due to the confrontation of the darkness and bringing of light to the deepest part of being. Maria Szepis had written a superb tail about this act of confrontation and draws on much Hermetic research to bring out the theosophical truth in discovering the God of our being.

When I got this book and I began reading it - I couldn't put it down. The book is a fictional alchemical novel and covers the span of four lifetimes of an individual from the point he became curious about the alchemy and the mess he made out of his zeal for the possession of the philosopher's stone before he was mentally, emotionally and spiritually ready to have it, through karmic retributions (consequences) of his errors and the side-effects of going through few lifetimes fully remembering his past deeds and mis-deeds - and all the way to his ultimate spiritual attainment - the rightful possession of the philosopher's stone, all the lessons learned and inner refinements accomplished.

This book very vividly gives a description of the consequences of the choices we make, and the laws of spiritual development, of karma and rebirth. It teaches many valuable lessons about life and spirituality. Another highly recommended book in this genre is "Brother of the Third Degree", which is an incredibly captivating story!

This is a book that I read once in about every five years.
There is so much to learn from this book!

I hope you will read it and learn a lot from it too!

Warum ist die Welt so, wie sie ist, warum gibt es Hunger, Armut und Verbrechen ? Maria Szepes hat in ihrem Roman "Der rote Lvwe" diese Frage von einem ganz neuen Blickwinkel betrachtet. Wiedergeburt als Strafe, Wiedergeburt als Chance. Fast eine kleine Bibel. Leider nicht mehr auf Deutsch erhdltlich, aber trotzdem unbedingt empfehlenswert. Mein Lieblingsbuch ! Eckhard.Willert@hoss.de

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in alchemy and self development. It would fall under the category of "occult pot boiler" but is nevertheless very interesting and informative. I also checked out the publishers' website, which featured an interview with the author, who apparently dictated the book as the bombs were falling on Budapest during World War II. Impressive.

Many people that I know have heartily recommended this novel. Honestly, I don't understand why they embraced it so lovingly. I found this book to be condescending and maleficent. It refers to real alchemists in name only, projecting an aura on them that sometimes borders on the ridiculous, as in the caliper of man that Becher was, or the origins of the Comte de St. Germaine. It thoroughly misinforms as well; the homonculus is not a extradimensional entity bent on the overthrow of God, for example. To find out what the homonculus really is, study Paracelsus. To learn more about Hermetic thought, read Dom Pernety, Flamel or Basil Valentine. It is also a violent and depressing book, and I don't really enjoy violence or depression, two emotions that I had in spades after finishing the book.