The Book that Kills Death

Spanish polymath Don Mario Raimundo Antonio Roso de Luna (1872-1931), known as the Red Magician of Logrosán, synthesizes his knowledge of theosophy, Freemasonry, astronomy, archeology, musicology, history, linguistics, literature, and mythology in The Book That Kills Death, or the Book of Jinas, a sweeping survey of mankind’s relationship with the jinas, the entities of the otherworld. These beings are an early instance of the “ultraterrestrial” concept, a vast metaphysical Other combining gods, djinn, genii, fairies, elementals, Muses, and similar spirits in one ever mutable and enigmatic whole.

Little known in the English-speaking world, Roso de Luna was the primary translator of Helena Blavatsky into Spanish, and a prolific essayist and journalist of mysticism, mythology, and folklore in his own right. He founded the Schola Philosophicae Initiationis alongside Eduardo Alfonso in 1928, and continued to promote his highly synthetic belief system throughout his life, dubbing himself an “Ateneist,” after the monotheism of Akhenaten.