Rosicrucian Chess: Being a manual of Enochian Chess

This is a very attractive and profusely illustrated book. It gives a fairly exhaustive analysis of the Golden Dawn manuscripts (known as Y.1. & Y.2.) which cover the subject of 'Rosicrucian, or Enochian Chess. Steve Nichols extends his discussion into various other areas of Golden Dawn occultism (including the work of the artist and writer, Ithell Colquhoun). His extended treatment of the subject is both useful and interesting. There are a few minor inaccuracies which are not so much the fault of the writer as such but rather due to the reliance that he, and other Golden Dawn scholars, place on the published Golden Dawn manuscripts as issued by Israel Regardie. There are many errors and inaccuracies in Regardie's work and it is hoped that more scholars will have the opportunity to access the original manuscripts as Steve Nicols enables the reader to do with these particular papers. As an example of one such inaccurate claim (which Steve Nichols reports) Regardie states that the Golden Dawn material regarding the Eastern Tatwas was withdrawn from his Temple. This was decidedly not the case and in fact the Temple produced and used severalother papers on the Tatwas. Other members of the GD also wrote on the subject and their work was used in the Temple. This small point aside, I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Golden Dawn in general, or in Enochian Chess in particular.