Chapter two goes back to the beginning. 

• It covers Guénon's life from birth until 1908, and examines the nature and consequences of his involvement during the Belle Epoque with the Martinist Order and other occultist groups led by Gérard Encausse ("Papus," 1865-1916), as well as in Guénon's own short-lived occultist group, the Renewed Order of the Temple. 
• The chapter also examines the origins of Perennialism in fifteenth century Italy , of Freemasonry in sixteenth century Scotland , and of Western interest in Hinduism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (in India with Reuben Burrow, in Britain and France , and in America with Ralph Waldo Emerson). It traces these three influences on Guénon through Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society and Encausse, as well as parallel influences on Guénon's collaborator Coomaraswamy.
• The chapter also introduces one of Guénon's first important followers, Georges-Auguste Thomas (1884-1966).

 

Further reading

• Peter Washington, Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums and Misfits who brought Spiritualism to America . New York : Schocken Books, 1995.
• Papus [Gérard Encausse], The Qabalah: Secret Tradition of the West (1892).
• Marie-Sophie André and Christophe Beaufils, Papus, biographie: la Belle Epoque de l'occultisme . Paris : Berg International, 1995.

 

Suggested websites

• Martinist Order
• Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Ancient Martinist Order
• The British Martinist Order
• The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (an excellent mainstream masonic website, with sections on connected phenomena)
• The Theosophical Society
• The Theosophical Society in America
• The Theosophical Society, International Headquarters (#1)
• The Theosophical Society, International Headquarters (#2)

Other resources

• Errata