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The Masonic Magician: The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and His Egyptian Rite by Philippa Faulks and Robert L D Cooper tells Count Cagliostro's extraordinary story, complete with the first English translation of the Egyptian Rite ever published. Count Alessandro Cagliostro was a cult figure in European society in the tumultuous years leading to the French Revolution. As an alchemist, healer, and Freemason, he inspired both wild devotion and savage ridicule, becoming the subject of novels by Alexander Dumas, a drama by Goethe, and Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute." But Cagliostro's sincere belief in the magical powers, even the immortality, of what he called the Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry made him dangerous enemies, too. In 1789, he was arrested by the Inquisition and condemned to death for heresy. Now, the discovery of a mysterious manuscript found in the Archives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland may shine a light on Cagliostro's secret spiritual teachings, and allow us, finally, a full understanding of his beliefs.