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In 2021, I took a course on "Modern Occultism" sponsored by the Theosophical Society, which was presented by the occult scholar Mitch Horowitz. During one of the lectures he spoke about Pelley at some length, and he was very fair and evenhanded when discussing his life story.

I suppose it's a sad reflection on the current state of our society that I found that treatment surprising and gratifying.

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I have had a few exchanges with adherents of fairly mainstream 20th century metaphysical movements who knew Pelley for his work in that vein. Most of them didn't dwell on the political phase of his career and were able to see the Soulcraft teachings almost entirely apart from it.

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It was much the same here—the focus was on the occult and metaphysical aspects of his career, but at least he didn’t totally ignore the Silver Legion phase. Still, it was interesting stuff, as I didn’t know much about Pelley.

Great writing, by the way—love your newsletter.

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