The Hen with the Golden Egg
Regarded as an occult classic and out of print many years. Written in the early 19th Century by an officer – unnamed – in Napoleon’s army. Ambushed in Egypt, he was saved from certain death from his many wounds by a mysterious Turk who lived in a secret vault in the Great Pyramid. Within this vault were treasure chests of gold and jewels. Even more remarkable was the strange man’s power to summon at will all kinds of spirit beings.
He was allegedly 270 years old and the young Frenchman became his eager disciple, hungry to learn the secret of his mentor’s mysterious and extraordinary powers. He would eventually write this book which he says comprises ‘the science of Magical Talismans and Rings; the art of Necromancy and the Kabbalah, for conjuring the aerial and infernal spirits, sylphs, undines, and gnomes; for acquiring knowledge of the secret sciences, for the gaining of power to command all beings, and for unmasking evil spells and sorceries … From the teachings of Pythagoras, Zoroaster … and other philosophers whose manuscripts escaped from the burning of Ptolemy’s library, translated from the language of the Magi.’
This book is full of wonders.
For example, when the two men emerged from the Pyramid they were attacked by brigands who turned and fled in fright when the appropriate magic words were said. The book goes into detail concerning such words, also reproducing illustrations of the actual talismans to be made and their consecration. The legend in this book is that the possessor of this knowledge could have anything he wanted, whether it was the simultaneous mastery of several languages or the accumulation of riches.
There is detail on numbers and lotteries, and the occult manipulation of playing cards. The culminating wonder of this book is the mentor’s ‘manufacture’ of a black hen (a black hen can also be purchased for the magical aims of this book).
Most people think ‘buried treasure’ and ‘hidden gold’ is a thing of the past. Hardly so. Most of the treasure hidden or buried in times past (by aristocrats and the wealthy fleeing rebellion and civil unrest) remains unfound. There are hoards of Roman coins and treasure yet to be found. The author eventually returned to Marseilles, taking with him the wondrous Black Pullet. The hen, when hearing certain ‘magic words’, will automatically, the book says, lead the treasure hunter to the right place.
The author became fabulously rich.
All the formulae, magic words, descriptions of rings and talismans are here in detail.
This book has acquired a legendary status of its own over the last two centuries. Its content boggles the imagination; how many persons actually pursued it and what they accomplished is unknown.
Translated from the French into English, this is a facsimile of the English edition.
