In many esoteric traditions it is important to know one’s “lineage”, and with that, the source of one’s teachings. Great care may be taken to preserve the accuracy of “transmissions” and “empowerments”. I am thinking here specifically of various lineages in Tibetan Buddhism, but in general there is an interest in understanding the retrieval, perpetuation, and handing-on of knowledge as it applies to successive generations of occultists composed of chains of teacher and pupil.

I am certainly no exception to this. Many students of the esoteric and of Kabbalah alive today in the UK can trace their lineage back to three individuals – Glyn Davies, Alan Bain and Tony Potter – who began to meet in Soho in the centre of London in the 1950s. I am (at some remove) one of those students.

The hard detective work of tracing and recording their work and influence has been done by Cherry Gilchrist and Rod Thorn and recorded on two websites. The first, titled “The SOHO Cabalists“, can be found at

http://www.soho-tree.com/

The second site is titled “Historical Sketches in Esoteric Britain” and can be found at

https://esoterichistory.wordpress.com/