The Most Holy trinosophia

The Most Holy Trinosophia is, alongside the Templar Ritual book recently published, the most ambitious project undertaken to date by Rose Circle Publications. The original idea for the book came from Michael Osborn, who noted that little had been covered – in English at least – since Manly P. Hall’s book on the subject back in the 1930s. That book was printed in black and white, and the illustration hard to make out. This led Michael to undertake both a new translation and a new interpretation of the work, basing his premise on a comparison of the manuscript with the Egyptian Books of the Dead.

In the mid-1990s the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes, (IRHT), which had been founded in 1937 for the purpose of cataloging all documents and manuscripts from the Mediterranean basin in possession of French libraries, undertook the photographing of a manuscript in the Bibliothèque de Troyes, a much-debated item called La Très Sainte Trinosophe. This book has been attributed to Saint-Germain himself, and also to Cagliostro.

While versions of the color photographs taken by the IRHT have been in circulation in low quality for a few years, permission had never been formally sought to use the images, and thus their use remains open to legal consequences from the French Government for breach of copyright. It was therefore decided to formally approach both the Library in Troyes and the IRHT for permission to use the images. Fortunately, that was granted, with the stipulation that accreditation be given for each image reproduced in the book.

However, there was still a problem! Since the images had been photographed in the 1990s, their quality was not good by modern standards, both because of the low pixel rate of early digital cameras, and because the original images had deteriorated over the centuries and decades it had been in existence: watercolors have a notoriously short shelf-life if exposed to air. The assistance of Steve Adams, who regularly works with the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, was sought, as he is an expert in the field of technical restoration; and he had already demonstrated his expertise in the restoration of the Templar Ritualpublished earlier in the year. His work was spectacular! Not only was he able to upgrade the images to a far higher density using digital techniques not dissimilar to polymerase chain reaction (a technique used to replicate minute samples of DNA to a size capable of being analyzed), he was also able to remove much of the accumulated color fading, fungal invasion and other attacks on the original drawings over the years to produce a series of illustrations which look almost as fresh as the day they were painted.

The final result is a spectacular reissue of a famous alchemical manuscript, allowing the reader to see the entire book as close in size and color to the original manuscript when it was composed. This is complemented by a fascinating Introduction by the commentator, Michael Osborn, which discusses his theories using illustrations from both the Trinosophia and the Book of the Dead; while his translation of the text is both the first new version in English since Hall and provides close-ups of the illustrations from the original manuscript.

Those looking for a very impressive and colorful coffee table book will not be disappointed! Those new to this famous book will find it a fascinating read. Those who find rich alchemical illustrations as a means to effective meditation will love the eye-popping colors. And those who are looking for the closest version to date of this important book for their research need look no further.

To read more and to buy this seminal book, go to: tinyurl.com/47j6etc9