“Yeats once proclaimed of his mystical pursuits that “an Adept must be always seeking ways of giving the purest substance of his soul to fill the emptiness of other souls.” Hassett’s record of how Yeats engaged himself with the various living Muses who inspired his work is a vivid depiction of how the creative process actually works. His analysis of the art resulting from that effort is a living testimony to the ways in which Yeats maximized his talent by engaging himself openly, passionately and courageously with his deepest and most intimate aspirations and drives. As such, Yeats’ life-affirming artistic achievement is at one with his religious convictions. The incredible poetry and plays of Yeats are, like the mercies of sainthood, a gift to mankind. Joseph Hassett deserves enormous credit for teaching us that lesson. His study of how the sanctifying energy of love functions in the life of a great artist is itself a labor of love and a much-needed corrective to those who would dismiss the art of Yeats by dismissing the tortuous, sacrificial methods by which it was created. Like his subject, Hassett’s book is a work of great intellectual and human significance that will stand the test of time.”
Grand Temple of Horus Behdety 