Struggle of the Magicians

The time: early 1915, Europe engulfed in the First World War, Russia in a terrorizing October Revolution. The place: a newspaper office in St. Petersburg, a young editor by the name of Peter Ouspensky is reading The Voice of Moscow. Thru spectacles his eyes fall on an advertisement, the headline reads: "The Struggle of the Magicians". The text below it describes an anonymous "Hindu" who has written a ballet set in India and giving a complete and accurate picture of Oriental magic and mysticism there -- fakirs, miracles, sacred dances, hypnosis -- all popular fads at the time in Europe and Russia. The "Hindu" turned out to be none other than the Armenian-Greek spiritual philosopher-scientist Georg Gurdjieff, and the ballet he wrote, his point of entry into the West. Choreographed and staged for the first time more than a century ago, The Struggle became a magnet attracting thousands of spiritually disillusioned men and women to performances in Europe and the U.S., then it simply vanished from sight after WW II. Includes introduction, Movement photos.

Pages: 64, Paperback, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform