Manly Palmer Hall & The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Monoliths exist. The Occult and Esotericism in the West has many, but there are only a handful that almost everyone who calls themselves a seeker knows and will cite by name. One of them was written by a quiet but imposing figure, who seemingly out of nowhere at the age of twenty-seven wrote a book that cut to the very heart of philosophical esotericism. His name was Manly Palmer Hall and his book The Secret Teachings of All Ages stands to this day as a book that is both daunting and dizzyingly vast. But what can we take from this work now, and what do we make of its enigmatic and mystical author? Welcome back to the Fools Gallery.

Show Notes

• The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Palmer Hall – Also available in a much less visually engaging but still extremely worthy Reader’s Edition
• Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall by Louis Sahagun – Truth be told, I had more fun reading this than I expected to. Great bio
• The Seeker’s Guide to The Secret Teachings of All Ages: The Authorized Companion to Manly P. Hall’s Esoteric Landmark by Mitch Horowitz – A fun little book. Not so much about the content of the Book but some observations around it
• The Philosophical Research Society – Nonprofit Research Institute founded by Manly Palmer Hall. If you’re in Los Angeles, pay it a visit!
• Manly Palmer Hall Society YouTube Channel – A ridiculous amount of content here
• A Documentary about MPH
• Inside the Secret Teachings of All Ages – MPH Lecture
• A Forgotten Father of the New Age: Manly P. Hall and His Impact on American Metaphysical Religion by Brandon Wilson – Fantastic essay
• The Initiates of the Flame by Manly Palmer Hall – His first published work
• Rosicrucianism
• I did a whole episode about Rosicrucianism, y’know
• The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians by Tobias Churton
• A critical review of SToAA
• The Death of Manly P. Hall
• The Maestro and the Boy: The Kindness of Manly P. Hall
• When Were You Born – A really…. Tedious film by Manly P. Hall about Astrology. Watch the first 10 mins to see MPH in his imposing glory
• Mitch Horowitz has been very touched by the work and life of MPH. He has many videos in which he discusses MPH and the influence he had
• Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation by Mitch Horowitz – A full chapter is dedicated to MPH
• What You Can’t Learn Collecting Esoteric Books
• Manly Palmer Hall and his Lecture on Jung and Flying Saucers – A somewhat fun lecture
• The Secret History of the World by Mark Booth
• The Secret Teachers of the Western World by Gary Lachman – Honestly, this is the book I now recommend for those who are new seekers. Much more compelling than SToAA and less speculative
• About as close as we have to a Manly Palmer Hall these days is Dan Attrell The Modern Hermeticist. This is a great YouTube Channel full of awesome videos